For the Grandparents

Since we don't have real internet, it's difficult to Skype or Google chat so the grandparents are never able to see Jack and here him at the same time, so here are some videos. Up first, Jack and his abc's. He knows some, but generally will guess 'B'. R is our favorite. 

Next is Jack and some words.

Helicopter was a guess, so was kitty but he usually knows that one. Jack had to run off and find his hippo (appo) and then we were able to resume.

Jack will often ask for 'Wavie' on the weekends, so we have to tell him Levi is with his family. I would have like to gotten more words but if I'd mention outside, shoes, socks, or walk he would run out like he did on cracker. We like that he says a pretty good apple (sounds like his hippo sometimes though) but then applesauce is ah-wa-wa-wa. Pacificer is somehow wa-wa. He'll stand at the gate at the bottom of the stairs asking for his wa-wa, since he only can have it upstairs for sleeping.
Jack is also great at having conversations in his own language.

Too bad it is impossible to get his really good jabbers on video, but there you go, talking Jack.

Green Thumb Wanted

This is a picture of the garden plot that we use. A guy in our ward let us use some of his space, and it has been thrilling. We only have a small portion of a bed and only planted 5 plants but that small amount has gotten me hooked. It is so fun to see the stuff you plant actually produce. I'm so looking forward to a time when we can have a nice vegetable and herb garden in our own backyard. Next year I'm going to try and get our own plot and I can't tell you how exciting that will be. We grew:

Cilantro, and harvested the coriander.

Cucumbers. Although they died and we don't know why. We got a handful at least.

Jalapenos. These have been great. I have dozens chopped and frozen to pull out when I need them.

Hot banana peppers. They did the best and I have the least use for them.

So here is our little area. We also have a bell pepper plant but there were no peppers yet when I took these pictures (way back in early July). Since then we have had 4, but one rotted. Kind of a disappointing turn out. Just behind the guys in this picture is a patch of green beans that we adopted. (Some kids from the ward planted them a long time ago and haven't been back since so I've taken over.)

Jack likes to help water, and play in the mud.

So what did we do with the banana peppers? Made pepper jelly! This is a family tradition from my side and Chris has accepted it with open arms, and mouth. This was my first time canning anything and I was really nervous, but it worked out. Hooray! Then I was on a little canning kick and made some raspberry jam with a free sample of pectin I got. To complete my 2011 jam collection, I got a package with northwest blackberry jam from my parents. 

In other news, Jack is doing fine. He has become very attached to his blankie (ki-ki) and has to have all the time. He tries to take it outside but we draw the line there. If he has been playing without it and then sees it he gets all excited and says hi to it (hi ki-ki!) and tackles it.

Jack is now down to one nap a day. I have Levi and Jack napping in the same room now. They need to have a barrier so they can't see each other and a fan for white noise, but they sleep thank goodness. I really like this schedule actually because Levi still takes a second nap and during that time I can get dinner ready. (I let him sleep until 6pm, right before he gets picked up-I hope his parents don't mind!)

I now understand why toddlers are so tiring. All this week I've felt like a bad parent because all day I'm telling Jack not to take all the books off the self or take all the cords from the ottoman or all the tupperware from the drawer or all the cans of food from the shelf. There is only so much baby proofing I can do and still manage to store all our stuff. He is a constant machine of destruction. What is worse is that he likes to throw things now, at Levi. What is even worse is Levi usually laughs, encouraging Jack to throw even more things at him. So frustrating, but that's the life of a child.

One Year Later

Today is our one year anniversary of coming to Maryland. (Although we were greeted on our anniversary with an earthquake, so I'm not sure what Maryland is trying to say to us...) Last year at this time was so crazy and stressful, life has definitively calmed down for now, thank goodness. We know our way around now, are all settled into our house and making it our own, and are lucky to have friends out here. One good thing about moving into a struggling ward is that everyone welcomes you with open arms, and we couldn't be more grateful. Chris is about to start his 2nd year of school, and he has started a research project. For now it is just a project, but it could lead to his candidacy (one of those hoops you have to jump through before they let you out).
So life is great. Here is what has been going on:

It's been hot. It has cooled off for now thank goodness.

 Babies are just happier without clothes.

And this is what happens when you leave your kid with Dad while you have a presidency meeting.

(Chris took a picture! I was so proud)
Jack loves water (picture him vigorously shaking his hand almost like he's waving doing the sign for water.) We've had a lot of thunderstorms lately, usually we have to go outside and watch them. He doesn't hesitate to go out and play.

A couple of times the rain has started during a mealtime, and in order for Jack to keep eating, he has to see what is going on.

Jack is addicted to outside. One of his clearest words that he says is "outsiiiiide?" Then he asks for his "shoooes" and a "walk" (this is wa but really sharp). We can't touch the door without him demanding that we let him out. It's getting difficult.

Recently Chris's family came out for a visit. While they were here Jack learned how to use an ipad and we went out to Annapolis to see boats and eat crab cakes. It's a neat place.

Some other pictures I found recently:

I honestly don't remember this event, I saw the picture on my camera and laughed. Apparently Jack got up on the table and found his mirror so I took a picture.

These pictures were from my phone while we were up in Seattle. I love how Jack and Sabrina have matching expressions. They must be related.

Just the other day Jack brought me my camera and was whining for me to do something with it. I told him to smile and he actually posed. When I looked at the picture I was surprised at how old he looks!

 That about sums it up for now.
By the way, we survived the earthquake just fine, just a few pictures fell off the wall and a few things fell off shelves but there are no cracks in the walls so we're good. It was Chris's first!

Not Crafty, Just Resourceful

Since moving, I’ve had (and still have) a list of projects to keep me busy. Among them have been some “crafts.” I’m really not crafty, but instead I try to use what is around me to my advantage.

My first project was Jack’s room. While pregnant I would hear about everyone getting their nurseries ready for when their babies come, but we couldn’t do that since Jack was going to be in our living room. Now that we’re in a two bedroom I could finally do a kid’s room. I made the name decoration and the boarder from junk mail and a lot of double stick tape. It took a long time to do all the shapes but it was fun and I’m pleased with how it turned out.

I also wanted a wreath on our front door to make it a little more homey. Since we have plenty of trees and fallen branches, I hot-glued a bunch of sticks together and made a wreath for $0. The fabric will rotate with the seasons and holidays, made from little tablecloths my mom gave me, which I converted to sashes for the wreath.

Jack finally outgrew the weight limit on his infant car seat so I had to find him a bigger one. We ended up with this sweet little thing. Seriously. 

I was not going to pay an extra $20 for a more “manly” color scheme, I figured I could take care of that myself and keep the money. We have a bunch of t-shirts that are someday going to be made into a quilt and so I stole some of the blank squares to come up with this cover. I sewed the squares together and then hand sewed them to the car seat. It works.

The last project doesn’t really qualify as resourceful, but it took up a lot of time and effort so I can’t not mention it. Originally I had a plan to sew a couch cover to make our couch match the décor of our living room better. All too quickly I decided I didn’t want to do that much work and so I just sewed the fabric directly onto the couch, kind of like I re-upholstered it.

Before (best picture I have, Jack was such a wee little baby!):

After:

It's like a brand new couch. Thanks again to my aunt who gave it to us when we got married, hopefully it will continue to last us long after we move.

My current project involves scraping 70 years worth of paint off our door jams so the doors will actually close. Hooray for lead paint exposure! 

continued...

Yeah, kids are fun, especially around large bodies of water, like lakes for instance. Mason Lake in particular. Hilary’s family has access to a cabin on Mason Lake and some of her fondest memories take place there. It was, therefore, a must for her to introduce Jack to the cabin on the lake.

     The history actually runs a little deeper. Hilary’s father has video evidence of Hilary, as a baby, playing on the shore by the cabin and putting rocks from the lake in her mouth. Fast forward a quarter of a century and you get this: 

That’s right. Jack playing on the same shore, and possible putting the same rocks in his mouth. Let me also draw your attention to the dark spots in the left-hand sky in the above picture. No, they aren’t UFOs. It’s just globs of lake mud Jack has pulled of the bottom and tried to throw out into the lake. You see, Jack likes to throw the rocks as well as taste them. But moving position takes a lot of work, so after you’ve thrown all the rocks that are right in front of you his opinion is keep on digging. Thus, we have and mud flung into the air. Notice that it doesn’t have much forward motion to it. In fact, for most of the day Jack had a huge drying blob of mud just above his forehead. He’s good at getting the dirt up but, not away.

     On the contrary, dirt and Jack usually stay quite close. Consider if you will, the aftermath of giving him a large piece of licorice.

We now have a fair guess of how Jack would look with a goatee. (Look, above his left eye. It’s the remnant of the lake mud he threw up there earlier. ) Before we move on to a more thorough discussion of candy on our trip, let me show you that Jack also went for his first boat ride. 

He described it as, “okay, but not something you’d want to do everyday.”

     Getting back to candy. There was a lot more candy being handed out than I would have expected. Jack tried marshmallows for the first time and instantly fell in lust with them.

 In this he was following in his cousin’s footsteps. Here we see Celia and Jack, who having found the marshmallow stash are now looking hopefully at those who give them out. Well, Jack is looking hopeful anyway. Celia is pictured riding the ring pop dragon. You can tell from the glazed look (get it?) in her eye that it’ll be a while before she needs another mallow.

     The best candy experience was without doubt the Lindor truffles in the car. One day we decided against all common sense to do some shopping at the mall. On the way we unexpectedly came into the possession of some Lindor truffles.

     Well, a wrapped piece of candy could make a fine distraction for a toddler confined to a car seat.  Unless your toddler goes all truffle vampire on you. It must have taken a fair amount of pressure to push his teeth through the wrapper, but I think Jack was willing to pay the price. He certainly didn’t want to give the thing up.

 With all that candy running around his bloodstream it’s no surprise Jack decided to take in some exercise at the mall. He decided that escalators are about the coolest thing there, but I wasn’t too keen on his climbing on them by himself. Thus it was that I escorted him onto the bottom of the down escalator in the hopes he would grow tired of its incessant backward motion. I was wrong. He took to it like a professional treadmiller (assuming there are such people) and with a determined look on his face walked on and on.

 That’s about it for the Seattle trip. Let’s end with a family pose to remind us that there are other people in the world than Jack. I see this picture as typifying the trip as a whole; the adults are seen as “normal” and the kids as “normal for children under the age of four.” 

Vacation to the Emerald City

I’m happy to announce that we made it home. It’s always nice to get away on a vacation, and it’s always nice to come home. Especially when the to and from involves lengthy flights with a 14 month old. To be fair Jack did pretty well. But no toddler likes to be confined to a pair of seats for five hours, and no parents (even those with the best of preparations) can convince them they don’t want to explore the rest of the plane but would rather, in fact, like a nap. 

Jack napped pretty well on our flight to Seattle (with layover in the beautiful LA X), but only napped for 15 or 20 minutes just prior to landing on the way home. This made the transition to Seattle not so bad, while the go home adjustment is ongoing.

     Let us not dwell on the travel. The most interesting part of the sandwich is what goes on between the slices of bread (usually), so let us move on to the meat, cheese, and maybe even the horseradish of our trip.

     The compelling reason to go to Seattle (other than 65 degree weather in the midst of a Maryland heat wave) was that both of Hilary’s siblings and their families would be there with us. This allowed Jack the opportunity to mix with his Alaskan cousins (they are in fact his only cousins) for the first time since he has become more interactive. For instance, he was able to hear his big cousin Celia sing on their great-grandmother’s hearth. Truth be told Jack didn’t seem to care much for the singing, but when people clapped he ran to join in.

  Jack also developed a relationship with his younger cousin Sabrina. They were set up with neighboring highchairs during meals. They soon became quite adept and stealing each other’s food. I believe it was clear to everyone that Jack started it. He remembers the good old days eating puffs and mum mums (Sabrina is still waiting on teeth) and was quick to purloin one or twelve from her tray. Sabrina fought back by snatching his orange juice and the rest, as they say, was history.

The three cousins all together were always a lot of “fun.” Consider the following story in pictures. It is a simple story, that of “Hey, let’s get a nice picture of all the cousins together.” I will let you fill in the between the shots action of various parents and grandparents who gave their all by seating, reseating, asking, imploring, pleading, and bribing the kids into the final shot, which we will dub “good enough.” I will for your enjoyment provide some probable thoughts of these young ones below each picture.

Celia: Can you believe they let me get away with sitting up here? I will look above and to the right of the camera until they offer me marshmallows.

Sabrina: I wonder just how far I can lean over before I pitch onto my face? I’ll bet my balance will improve if I look at the camera, but not the lens.

Jack: Man, did you see how fast I was. I went from sitting down to jumping off the couch in no time! Also, what camera?

 Celia: Ah Hahahaha! Hee hee hee!

Sabrina: I can’t believe I’m the only one whose eyes are even visible to the camera. It’s like you guys aren’t even trying to take a nice picture.

Jack: I’ll teach you to steal my juice.

Celia: Still holding out for marshmallows.

Sabrina: Hey, this thing I’m looking at is way more entertaining than this camera circus in front of me.

Jack: Hey, there’s a camera.

            Yeah, kids are fun, especially around large bodies of water.

*And so this post has been sitting on my computer since Sunday waiting for Chris to finish it, but it is just too hot hot hot to do anything so this will be posted now and continued later. 

Fireworks in DC

The Fourth of July has become perhaps my favorite holiday. I like that it still means what it is supposed to; you can’t go to an independence day celebration without feeling at least a little bit patriotic. Plus I really like fireworks. They are so fun and spectacular and the chemistry is pretty cool too. It would be so much fun to be a firework developer (something to look into…graduate programs?) I was actually a little sad to leave Provo because I really liked the freedom festival where we could go to the hot-air balloon launch, walk the parade route backwards, and sit outside the stadium for the stadium of fire. Then I remembered, we are moving to the nation’s capital, they should be able to throw some awesome celebration. I’ve been pushing back Jack’s schedule so that he would be able to stay up late for fireworks and be able to adjust to Pacific time when we go to Seattle on Thursday. So after Jack got up from his second nap (at 7:15 pm) we headed out to the metro and into the city. We went to the Jefferson Memorial to watch the fireworks along side the Washington monument and across the tidal basin.

After waiting half an hour, the fireworks started. I was so looking forward to Jack enjoying the fireworks, but actually, he was quite scared. We thought he would be well prepared because we’ve had several thunderstorms (with some very loud thunder, it’s made me jump) and Jack has done great. Jack really likes Dr. Seuss’s Mr. Brown making thunder; he will find the page and go “boo, boo, boo!” and so we say “boom boom boom!” when it thunders and he likes it. No such luck with the fireworks though. He kept trying to run away from them, and managed to get free and went to the lap of a stranger (luckily he was wearing a BYU shirt so at least Jack knows who he can trust!). Jack settled down after a bit and started to watch, he even clapped. It was a really neat experience to celebrate in DC at my favorite memorial along with other people clapping and cheering to celebrate our country.

And then we had to make the exodus back to the metro with everyone else. We had heard horror stories about getting out of the city, and luckily it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Getting into the metro station was the worst, we were crammed body to body with everyone trying to get down one escalator, but we were only in that crowd for about 10 minutes. We all made it home and were in bed before midnight, so we call the night a success. We will probably be staying more local for the rest of our stay in DC, but I needed to be in the city at least once just because we can.