Did you know...

Did you know that JP SMILES when he's underwater? SERIOUSLY!

Fun at the Farmstead!

We had a good time at the Deanna Rose Farmstead today. JP said his favorite part was when one of the goats was trying to eat my shirt. LOL Here are a few pictures....

JP's Buddy:


Digging in the sand! Pedaling the tractors. He made about 5 laps around the track and those things are tough to pedal... especially up the little hill! He couldn't really do it since they are so heavy the last time we were there... a sure sign he's growing up!

A fun new area so the kids can splash in the water from the waterfall. Always popular!
My heartbreaker:
We had fun but it did get pretty hot. We're off to the pool now!

2+2

OK... so most of you know that JP loves numbers. He's been counting in the 100's for quite awhile and loves to recite his phone number, jersey numbers, etc. Now he's getting into addition! He knows all of the basics: 1+1, 2+2, 4+2, 5+2, 5+5, etc. It's crazy! Yes... he counts them out on his fingers but then after a time or 2 he has them memorized. This may be a common thing for almost 4 year olds but he's got his mom impressed! :)

He's also getting into reading and is getting quite good with certain words. Sometimes I don't know if he's READING or just remembers the words from before but there are times when I know he's reading because he sounds it out... hooked on phonics! My little smarty-pants!

School!

JP is so excited for school again. Last night at dinner the conversation went something like this...

Me: JP.. do you know what tomorrow is?
JP: School!!!!
Me: What are you going to do at school tomorrow?
JP: Play with Hayden... he's my buddy.
Me: Who else will you play with?
JP: No one. Just Hayden. (LOL!) He's the mouse. (Symbol)
Me: Who are your teachers?
JP: Mrs. Kupfer, Mrs. Willis and Mrs. Wuertz. I love school.

I was impressed that he remembered all of their names!

Meet "Juan Wayne"

Meet "Juan Wayne", JP's newest friend! This is the coolest thing that my friend, Andrea, told me about. They are called Curly Q Cuties http://www.curlyqcuties.com/
and you go online and create your very own monster by choosing color, body style, eyes, etc and once you design your monster and pay for it they make it just like you ordered and ship it to you! Such a cool concept. JP got such a kick out of creating "Juan" and he just opened up the box and was SO excited to see him! Oh... don't ask where he comes up with these names because I have no clue.

I highly recommend the Curly Q Cuties... they even have PINK!




In case you were wondering, JP introduced Froggy to Juan and they get along extremely well. Too funny to hear him talking to his buddies in the other room!

Growing up...

JP is definately growing up! He's starting to "mature" with his actions and reactions to things. Yesterday he was helping himself to a snack and it was close to dinner so I said, "JP, that's your last snack before dinner, OK?" and he said, "No snack, No Problem!" LOL! Today the same thing happened when he was going to get his Leapster off the counter and I told him that we were leaving so he needed to leave it there. Again, "No Computer, No Problem!" So much better than getting an argument or a whiney voice!!!

He had a big day today.. swimming AND golf! Lucky boy! (Mommy too.)

First Day of School!!!!

Today was JP's first day of preschool at Aldersgate. He was so excited too. He was in my car at 8am waiting for me to finish getting ready! LOL We don't leave until 8:20 so he was ahead of the game. I took my camera hoping to get some pics of him in his class but once the doors open they didn't want parents to come in to make the transition easier. The funny thing was when they did open the doors he and his friend, Hayden, just went running in and I didn't even get to say goodbye! :) Think he was excited? I got a couple of pics:

Sitting on the bench outside of school:
Clowning with Hayden... they were hugging and playing as soon as Hayden got there again... best friends maybe?

Waiting for the doors to open: I took this through a window so you can't see all of his room or classmates but you can see some of them in circle time. Look! JP and Hayden are next to each other! Funny how their symbols ended up right next to each other. (the kids sit on their symbol... JP is the dinosaur this year.)

Let's see... His favorite activity today: Playing with play-doh and riding bikes outside.

Re: his snack:

Me: JP, what did you eat for a snack today?

JP: Nothing.

Me: Why? What did they have?

JP: I don't know what it was... it was "grody". Hmmm....

****And a special THANK YOU to my dear friend, Sarah, who made my awesome new header for the blog! THANK YOU SARAH! You are the best!!!!!

"Do you like this one?"

JP and I hit the Circle of Friends sale at Gymboree today. You gotta love a good sale. JP loves to pick out his clothes... it's quite funny! When we went to The Children's Place awhile back all the shirts he picked were football related. Today he picked a cute pirate ship long sleeved tee but he vetoed my skull/pirate hoodie. He also picked out some new underwear (boycotted the halloween styles) and some cool camo pants. I encourage him to choose because then I know he'll want to wear it later!

I must say he was very patient waiting in line as well since we had to wait 30 minutes just to check out.

Oh.. and this may be a rare day. He's taking a nap! He's still really tired from our weekend getaway and I want him to be well rested for school tomorrow. First day! YAY!

"Little Phelps"

Our little fish enjoying the pool at Cooper Creek this weekend.

CANNONBALL!!!!!!!!
TORNADO TWIST JUMP! (I was making him wear the vest since I wasn't in there with him)
"Just chillin' in the pool, Mom."
Being cute:
And just because it's funny:

We had a great weekend!

Just being 3...

It's one of those days where my kid is definately acting 3. First we were washing Jim's truck and he would spray after I wiped. He was doing well until he decided to just spray me in the head as I was washing the truck. I was not happy so I took the hose and sprayed him back and he was really upset about that but he got the point.

Then he was driving his dumptruck around and he decided it would be fun to drive it in the street from our house to Alice's house (next door). So of course I marched across the yard to scold him about it ( he knows the street is off limits) and he proceeded to try to drive away from me while laughing. Good thing the dumptruck only goes 4mph.

Then he took a water glass to the water dispenser on the fridge and decided to fill it up. Fine, he does it all the time. But then I heard water splattering from the office and I ran in there and he was just watching it overflow and there was water all over the kitchen floor. He's still in time out.

Is it time to leave town yet?

How can I not smile when he's sitting in his chair in the dining room peeking around the corner and smiling at me as I'm typing this. Wow. I love this kid... even when he does act like a little devil. :)

JP's got Ink

Remember when JP was scared of tattoos? Once I got one on his forearm he was OK and realized they weren't "scary". He's always just had Lightning McQueen or zoo animals. The secretary from work sent home some "Rock and Roll" tattoos for him and now he's all inked up. He's got 2 electric guitars on his forearms, a bird/eagle of some sort on his upperarm and ROCK AND ROLL going around his ankle as well as a winged guitar on the other ankle. Too funny! Can't wait to see him with the skull/crossbones. :)

Phelps!

You gotta love the Olympics and definately the swimming! JP is totally nutso over Michael Phelps. All we hear is Phelps this and Phelps that. "I want big muscles like Phelps. Phelps is fast. Phelps is the best swimmer in the world." And it goes on and on....

So we DVR the swimming races so he can watch them the next day and if a race comes on that MP is NOT swimming in JP gets mad. So Jim and I have resorted to telling him once the race starts that "Yes! There's Michael Phelps! He's in lane 6!" even though it's someone else. LOL If we don't then JP won't shut up about "Phelps". LOL!

Goodbye Neighbor

Lots of exciting things happening on my street! I woke up to find 2 police cars in front of the house next door. Next thing I know there is a semi-truck being loaded with everything from inside the house. Then another truck with a trailer. Then the neighbors vehicle shows up with someone else driving it and the license plate already removed. You break the law... they seize your possessions! YIKES!

The guy has always seemed shady to me. Not sure what he did but he's 67 years old and in BIG trouble now!

Guess we'll be getting new neighbors in the near future.

Mr. Agreeable

I'm loving how agreeable JP is these days. He'll ask for something like... "May I watch Noggin, please?" and I'll say, "I don't think so, JP. Let's do something else or go outside." and he'll just say, " O-kaaaaay." And the way he says it is too cute. Love it!

FORE!

JP got to play some golf yesterday. He did pretty good! After a few minutes he started connecting on his first attempt and he even hit a few into the air. Here he is at work:

Tee it up!

Address the ball: Back swing:

Follow through! Oops! He missed that one but he kept his head down! LOL

He really enjoyed playing and now that Daddy has a better work schedule I think we'll be able to go out and play more often. Our golf pros asked why he didn't play Junior Golf this summer.... Uhhh, because he's 3!!!

Under the Sea

Check this out! Thank you, Aunt Kat and Cousin Kate for painting JP's walls! It looks awesome and JP LOVES it. He named the sharks....

Meet: Michael Phelps
and this is Michael Phelps II. LOL!
I love the jellyfish, Kate! His room looks so much better now. Next on the list? A new dresser (big boy/wood) and possible a desk/chair set for the corner. We'll eliminate the white baby furniture one of these days.

R.I.P. George

George died last night. JP was ok... he said, "I cried yesterday... I'm sad but I'm ok."

He's been watching the Olympics this afternoon and every race that comes on in swimming he says, " Where is Phelps? Is he resting? Is he thinking? That's not Phelps! I want Phelps!" LOL! He's obsessed.

Poor George.

OK.. George the lizard is sick. Really sick. The poor thing isn't eating and looks terrible. I believe he'll be in lizard heaven very soon and we told JP that he was sick and probably going to die and he cried. And cried. And cried. He was SO sad! I was not expecting that reaction at all and he just wanted to go and get another lizard right away. I told him we would wait and see what happens for now. Wow.. did those tears get to me!!!!

Good news... Aunt Kat is here! We're going to do some back to school shopping tomorrow for Kate and she brought her paints and talent and she and Kate already have some sharks, fish, seaweed, seahorse and snail already penciled on the wall! YAY!!!! JP wanted to help so he helped draw the eye on one of the sharks. :)

Swimming with Kate and JP

Some videos for your viewing pleasure!!!

As you can see... Kate wants to join the circus. She's mastering her flips and her next challenge? Flips on a tight rope!

JP is swimming to the wall... reach and pull, JP!!!!

Listen to what he says after he swims to the steps... and GO JP for swimming while holding your breath!!!

"Where are all the girl sharks?" LOL!!!!!!!

How old are you?

We went to Joanne's ETC and the lady at the fabric counter said to JP: "How old are you? What grade are you in?" JP said, " I'm three and I'm starting kindergarten!"

HA. Not so fast, kid.

Of course she thought he was older and was oogling over his eyes.

The Saint

Now you can't tell me that JP doesn't have the best Grandma... ever! Check out what she made for him!!!

Now all we need are some sharks on the walls! :) Aunt What???????? Kate??????????

Blueberries!

Michigan blueberries are the best... and I'm not the only one who thinks so!!!!!

Yes, he ate the entire bowl.

No, Grandma...

We went to visit Gramzy and Grandpa as well as Aunt "Whaaaatttt", Uncle Steve and Kate today. We had fun and JP was enjoying the spotlight as usual. Gramzy asked JP if he was excited for the Olympics and he said yes... he was going to watch swimming. Then Grandma said, "Are you going to watch the swimmers dive off the board and race?" and JP said, " It's not a diving board grandma.... they are starting blocks!" LOL!!!! And don't you forget it!! :)

Cooling Down

What do you do when it's 100 degrees outside and you don't have a pool in your backyard? Why turn on the sprinkler, of course!!!!




Looks like fun, doesn't it?

Who Knew?

If you ever need a babysitter for an hour or so....


TRY THIS: BUBBLEWRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who knew it could be so fun and fascinating???

Scary Part 2

I had a return to make at ToysRus today so JP went in with me and I thought it would be fun to shop around a bit. It was... until we passed the Star Wars section and JP saw Darth Vader. MOG! He wanted to just leave the toy store! What kid WANTS to leave a toy store? We walked on by and he still wasn't happy and then announced that he had to poop (nerves?) and after that he was OK with looking at Hot Wheels and Monster Trucks. The poor kid even gets nervous if I TALK about Darth Vader! *sigh*

We met a friend for lunch and then needed to get crickets for George and we find out that our little pet store is closing! How sad. It was so fun to go in there and shop since it had such a cozy atomosphere but now we'll have to visit the box store pet shop. So they are having a 40% off everything sale and we stocked up on bedding and food for Zip and got her a new "house" for her cage. They didn't have the crickets for George though. Poor George!