Afternoons with Miss J

For the last few months Miss J has been coming to our house once a week or so to join Jasper and I in crafting and sewing.

She has 5 other siblings, so her mom doesn't have oodles of time to sit around and sew. :> She is 8, but acts like she is 18.

If I am on my game, I have a loaf of bread that finishes baking upon her arrival.

We like to have a slice of hot homemade bread and chocolate milk for our snack before we start our projects. It helps you sew better, you know.

Last week we finished a taggie blanket for her new baby brother. She picked out the vintage cowboy print because her family is "a little bit cowboy".

Previously we made a matching pillow with an applique initial "F", which she was happy to present to her baby brother as a Nevada Day/ Halloween present. Apparently he loves it. :>

Favorite Truck: Follow-up

Just a little evidence that Jasper does EVERYTHING with a truck or car in his hand.

I really don't know anything that he can't do while toting a car or truck.

He spent 30 minutes playing on his climbing toy WITH his truck in hand at ALL TIMES. He is all boy!

Mike's Kitchen Tools

For over a year Mike has been requesting a drawer to house his favorite kitchen utensils. He if often frustrated when he can't find what he needs in the jam packed utensil drawers.

















A couple of weeks ago I finally did a complete reorganization on all of the kitchen drawers. And guess what I discovered?

Mike doesn't even need a whole drawer. his items fit perfectly in a little crock. He is quite happy, AND I didn't have to give up a drawer.

The takeaways from this story are:
(1) My husband is so easy to please.
(2) I should not have put this task off for a year. I put it off because I did not want to give up one of my utensil drawers-- and in the end I didn't have to.

If felt great to go through every single drawer and organize and it really is easier to find things. :>

Favorite Truck

For memory sake, I want to document Jasper's all time favorite truck (so far).

I bought this beauty at Goodwill for a quarter, ran it through the dishwasher for a round of sanitizing, and it has been in Jasper's hand ever since.

This truck is frequently using it's large tires to roll over just about everything, including sippy cups.

If Jasper gets grumpy while you are changing his diaper, just do a couple of "vroom, vroom" noises and run the truck over his belly a few times. He thinks that is so funny.

Yes, that's a little trick that Mike made up. Because honestly, I think more along the lines of tickling, not running body parts over with cars. That's the difference between boys and girls.

Secret Cheerios

In an effort to try not to say "NO" to Jasper all day long, we have a special cabinet that houses Cheerios. It is actually the colander and bowl cabinet, but it now doubles as the secret Cheerio cabinet.

When Jasper gets into cupboards that he is not supposed to be in, I direct him to his special cabinet where the answer is always "YES".

I keep a handful of Cheerios out on the shelf, and Jasper just wonders over to his special cupboard when he gets hungry and starts snacking. This is helpful, because then I know he is hungry.