Ball Boy

Jasper is so into balls.

In this photo there are 8 balls.

He loves to bounce them and play catch. His favorite thing is to lift the balls high over his head and hurl them at you. His yellow beach ball is a favorite.

Busy Day with a Busy Little Man

Jasper decided that he needed ride around on my shoulders while I prepared dinner tonight -- which meant it took quite a while to prepare a simple meal.

Even though I am exhausted at the end of the day, I am very grateful for the chance that I have to spend my days with him.

Swinging and Sliding

After story time this morning Jasper and I met Whitney and Brenna at the Paseo Verde Park.

Whitney and I were friends in college, and I haven't seen her in years. It was so great to see her and catch up.

Our play date didn't last long -- as both of our one year old's were ready for their naps!

New Game in Town

Jasper loves playing with his ball sorter. I got this fun toy used for 50 cents -- only problem -- no balls. :>

I finally got a 4 pack of ping pong balls and Jasper went to town.

I love it when he puts his hands down the holes in the top to see if he can grab the balls on their way down.

Our Colors

Choosing the colors for all 3800 square feet of our home just about made me crazy.

When we bought our house the colors were extremely obnoxious, so we had no choice but to paint. When I say extremely obnoxious, I mean -- metallic gold bathrooms, metallic blue and metallic silver bedrooms. We even had a metallic silver ceiling in one of the bedrooms AND the kitchen ceiling was green. Enough said.

I tried to take photos of our paint colors, but I found that it isn't easy to get a photograph to portray the exact color. Our contractor used Devoe paint, and unfortunately they don't have photos of their paint swatches online.

We chose tan, brown and blues for our color scheme. I tried really hard to have "flow" in the house with the continuity of color. Jasper's room is a little brighter and doesn't really blend as well with the other colors. It is a great blue for his room though and looks nice.

Before I go any further I must say that I am VERY GRATEFUL to my friends who came over and gave me their opinion on the colors, as I was burning through quart after quart of paint to find the right color. It helped me to be able to bounce my ideas off others. THANK YOU!

We have a very large cut out in our stairwell that we had painted Deep Brown. It is a color that is similar to our dark brown hardwood floors. Using Deep Brown is my attempt to tie the color of the hardwood floors into the entire color scheme. Our family room, downstairs guest room, and the craft explosion room have dark brown hardwood floors.The back wall of the family room and our front door is Fudge Cookie. We tried to pick a color that brought out the cinammon colors in the slate on each side of this wall.We decided on Spa Blue downstairs for an accent wall and some architectural beams that frame the family room and kitchen. The tile in the formal living and dining room has some blue in it, so I was trying to bring out the blue in the tile.

Upstairs we used it on our bathroom and on an an accent wall in our bedroom. The marble in our bathroom floor has a lot of dark brown and our bathroom cabinets are a dark cherry wood. SPa Blue looks great with the floor and cabinets.

I love Spa Blue, and I was very tempted to have our entire room be this color. But it is a little heavy and looks a very dark at times.My office (sewing room, a.k.a. craft explosion), the guest room, and most of our bedroom is Mild Wind. This color looks great with the dark brown hardwood floors, and surprisingly it looks really good with the tan carpet in our bedroom too.
Jasper's room and sink area are Blue Hydragnea.
The main color of the house is Camel Tan. The downstairs hallways, most of the formal living and dining room, and most of the family room is this color. The stairwell, loft, and upstairs hallways are all camel tan as well.
Mike's office, the laundry room, and Baby #2's room and bath are Traditional Tan. So are 3 of the bathrooms. And no, that is not an announcement that I am pregnant. We're just being hopeful. :>


This color is just one step down from Camel Tan, and you can barely tell the difference, since the rooms that we used it in are smaller spaces than the large areas where we used the darker shade of Camel Tan.

Another Story Time

We are obsessed with story time. We're having so much fun that we signed up at the Gibson Library for story time with Miss Marcie on Tuesday mornings.

I was worried that it would just be a repeat of our Thursday story time at the Paseo Verde library, but I was very wrong. It is different AND wonderful.

Miss Marcie encourages the kids to dance around and explore the whole time. That is right up Jasper's alley.

He had a great time climbing around, and even sat in my lap for a couple books today.

Little Snuggler

Today Jasper has been a snuggly little guy.

Usually he is too busy running around to take time to snuggle.

I hope that there are more snuggly days to come!

Tiny Helper

"Here you go mom." Jasper can't talk yet, but I think that's what he is trying to tell me.

As I have said before, Jasper loves the dishwasher. Lately he likes to help me unload the dishwasher.

He takes out each utensil, one by one, and then hand them to me to put in the silverware drawer.

And as you can see -- shiny forks are a favorite.

It takes about 20 times longer, but it is a lot of fun for Jasper, and he feels like he is helping me out.

Mr. Fix-It, Jr.

Jasper got his hands on our antenna and completely destroyed it in five minutes. He did a thorough investigation of the device, but ended up breaking it.

He seems to be more of a destroyer than a fixer. :>

The Mother Lode

Jasper loves silverware --emphasis on SILVERware. My guess is that he is taken in by it's luster.

I actually considered completely switching over to plastic kiddie utensils because I was so tired of Jasper feeling like he always needed to take my silverware away from me while I was trying to eat. We went through a phase last month where he needed a fork in each hand while he was in his high chair. Not a plastic IKEA kids-ware fork, a big boy silver fork.

The other day was thrilled to find the bin that we packed all of the silverware and kitchen utensils in. He hit the mother lode.

New Fridge

Jasper thinks that the refrigerator is for climbing...and storing food.

He loves the fact that our new fridge has a higher step up. Just the right height for a little climbing fun before he grabs a drink and a snack.

I think he needs a walk-in refrigerator.

Bicycle Built for You

Jasper is totally into bikes these days.

It's a little embarrassing when we are at someone else's house and Jasper tries to commandeer his friend's bike.

Jasper loves to ride his bike in our front yard and driveway.

At first I felt badly for him because he kept running off the cement into the rocks. Then I figured out that he was trying to run into the rocks. I guess it is his version of off-roading. Silly boy!

Surprise!

I tried to plan a surprise birthday party two weeks ago for Mike at his office.

I got busted when the receptionist patched my call through to the office manager (who's office is next to Mike's). Her phone was in speaker mode, so Mike hears the receptionist say -- I have Angela for you on line one.

Five minutes later, outside his office he hears this at his secretary's desk (who's phone is also in speaker mode) -- Angela is on line one.

Mysteriously a meeting then appears on Mike's calendar the afternoon of his birthday with a client who Mike just got off the phone with. And of course the client told Mike that he doesn't need to meet with Mike for a while.

Mike then questions his office manager -- Why did my wife call you? Oh -- she replies -- she just wanted to tell me how cute Jasper is. Mike -- huh?

Mike then drills his secretary. Why do I have a meeting with this client on the afternoon of MY BIRTHDAY?

And that was the end of the SURPRISE birthday party.

But I don't give up so easily. So I decided to plan a Valentine's Day surprise lunch with Jasper and I at our favorite Italian restuarant. Here's the email I sent to Mike's secretary:

Will you please block Mike's calendar off from 11-12:30 on Feb. 13th.
Title of meeting: Your wife and Jasper would like to SURPRISE you and take you to lunch for Valentine's Day at La Golosita.

Home Sweet Home

We are so excited to be in our new home. We love it!

Jasper is having a great time and loves to explore all 547,200 inches of the house.

A great BIG THANK YOU to everyone who helped us move and get ready to move.

And an EXTRA BIG THANK YOU to my sweetheart Mike for going above and beyond!

Today is the Day!

Ready or not, we're moving at 8AM this morning.

Wish us luck!

THANK YOU to everyone who is pitching in to help!