Debate

Craig is sure that Jack is going to be a linebacker or rodeo clown. I think he will be an amazing musician. I think these pictures speak for themselves!!!

I Have No Idea...

where Jack would have learned how to drink out of a pop bottle! :) One of my bad habits, is drinking diet coke. Jack was playing with an empty bottle today. It kept him entertained for a long time!

Behind

Jack has been trying to turn door knobs and open doors. He hasn't quite figured it out, but I'm sure it is only a matter of time.


He loves to watch the carousel that Grandma Patty gave him for Christmas last year. He has been watching it a lot lately.
It may be hard to see in the picture, but all three children at Thanksgiving dinner (2 yrs old, 14 months, and 8 weeks,) filled their diapers at the same time. They were all three laying next to each other on the floor getting their pants changed.


These are some recent pictures. We had a very nice Thanksgiving with Craig's side of the family. Today I am going to try to get the Christmas decorations out and put up in the living room. I have decided to put up a small tree. I know Jack would not leave the big tree alone. I will be at church every night this next week for dress rehearsals and performances of Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. After this week, things may be back to being a little more normal! It will be so nice to have evenings at home again. Jack is growing, cutting molars and doing so many cute things. We are having so much fun with him!

What To Do First

I haven't taken any pictures lately. I will try to get on that soon. I've just been extremely busy . We are down to 8 rehearsals before the performances of the musical and I am so ready to be done! I'm also trying to get things in order to go to Guatemala (support letter, copies of passport, application completed, get addresses together, etc., etc.,) I have added a couple more piano students, I'm trying to continue to get up early and exercise every day (so I'm in good shape for Guatemala and life), take care of Jack and try to keep my house kind of in order. With the house, I'm just doing the minimum until the musical is over. My plan is to really clean when I get out the Christmas decorations. I can't wait!!! I have decided to put a small tree up on a table this year. Jack is just drawn to the decorations within his reach in our house. I really don't get it. Every day he goes to the ones he can reach and I move them out of his reach every day. He's much more interested in boring decorations than he is his toys. Craig and I are both so excited for Christmas and starting our own family traditions this year. Yesterday, I got out all of the Christmas music and started playing it. It is my favorite!

There isn't a whole lot blog-worthy to report here today. I am really looking forward to having most of the weekend at home. I need to reclaim my house. I have been running in and out and dumping here and there. I spent a lot of the day at church today learning how to run a laptop hooked up to a midi-keyboard that was ordered for the upcoming musical. It plays all of the orchestration. We had to program cuts into the music where we have edited some. It took some time but will be well worth it. Tomorrow we have rehearsal from 10-2 so I will be at church a lot of the day tomorrow too. The musical along with piano and flute lessons every day, and of course having a 13-month old don't leave much down time.

Jack has been extra fun the last couple days. He's been almost giddy happy. He is learning how to give kisses which is so cute. He practices on some of his toys. He is trying more and more to talk too. He took his first step yesterday between the couch and the coffee table. He hasn't done it again.

As I look around, there are so many things I could do, but I think I will go to bed instead.

Received my passport in the mail today. Hate the picture. Stuck with it for 10 years.

Morning Coffee

When Jack sees Craig with his morning coffee, he wants a cup to hold too. He pretends to drink from his coffee mug :)

Bring On The Cold

We tried Jack's winter coat and hat today as it is very chilly and windy. He looked like an eskimo once we finally got him fastened into the car seat. I'm just thankful he didn't seem to mind getting all bundled up.

Today Jack spent quite a while getting his hair just right before we went to Wal-Mart. :) (There is a mirror in front of him on the floor.)

Trick-Or-Treating

We went Trick-or-Treating with Harrison and his mommy. We had a lot of fun! What a cute cow and jack-o-lantern!

Today

Even though the length of my list really doesn't change much, there are days when I feel more overwhelmed than others. Today is one of those days. There is a lot going on between now and Christmas. I think I will feel better when "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" is finished. This is the musical that 4th grade and up is doing at our church the last weekend of November. It will be so good. The kids, director and choreographer are soooo talented! I am playing the piano. It is consuming a lot of my free time right now but it is fun. I have Trick-or-Treating pictures I will try to post later today.

Beautiful Sunday

I had looked at the wrong day on the calendar for Sunday. I thought I had practice for the high school musical but didn't. We went out for a little while and stopped at Hoopes. Jack picked out his own little pumpkin and held it all the way home. So cute!!! We also petted the bunnies and fed a goat that they had. When we were home, Jack helped daddy blow some of the leaves in the backyard into a pile. I just LOVE this time of year!

Jack's 1st Wedding

We attended Craig's cousin's wedding Saturday night. It was beautiful. Jack did very well and had a lot of fun playing with cousins. He also had a blowout diaper that he shared with Craig. A lot of it was on the sleeve of Craig's dress shirt. I think I need a bigger diaper bag so that I can start packing extra clothes for Craig and I too.

Project

I am lacking ambition and motivation to get much done. I'm not sure why. I have to work upstairs and started today. We don't have enough room in our closet to have all of our clothes out at once, so out-of-season clothes are packed away in Jack's closet. Our room is a disaster as Craig and I have both been searching for sweatshirts and sweaters and pulling them out and we have luggage out still from our trip to Ohio. Today I started working on it. It is difficult with Jack as there really isn't room for him to play. He plays pretty well for a while in the pack-n-play. I plan on getting some more done tonight after he goes to bed. This weekend is jam packed again. I'm looking forward to Monday :).

I let Jack try the straw in my water the other day. Now he wants to drink from a straw all the time. If he sees one, he starts pointing and squeeling.

Buddies

Harrison and Jack are so cute together. Jack and I went shopping with Amy and Harrison last week. It was fun to watch them "communicate" and share their lunch with each other.

We've just been really busy this week. I have taken a couple pictures. I will try to post them tomorrow. Jack is learning all kinds of new things and we are so AMAZED at the things he understands and seems to know. Today he took a comb out of the drawer in my grandma's bathroom and started rubbing it on his head trying to comb his hair. If I ask him where his pacifier, socks, shoes, coat, pajamas, etc. are, he will go get them. Craig and I are realizing we will have to watch EVERYTHING we say and do. He has picked up on things we haven't shown him or talked to him about. I still get about 3-4 dirty diapers a week that come out of the diaper all over his clothes. Is this normal? Friends that I talk to, say that their children don't seem to have this problem. We are using bigger diapers too, and this doesn't seem to help.

Oreo

Oreo is Jack's rocking horse. He has been afraid of Oreo for a while. He would cry if we sat him on Oreo or pushed the ear to make Oreo whinny and shake his head and tail. Oreo has been in Jack's room and I have slowly been trying to help Jack become more comfortable with his horse. Now he LOVES Oreo, so much so, that he was becoming a distraction at nap time. He would stand in the end of the crib and point and jabber at Oreo. This week we brought him back downstairs. Jack plays with him all the time! He loves to pet his horse, sit on him, give him drinks out of his sippy cup and I think he has even offered his pacifier to Oreo a couple times. It is very sweet.

Beautiful Campus

I know I am biased, but Cedarville has a really beautiful campus. They have added several buildings since I graduated. This is the new student center which houses the cafeteria, bookstore, coffee house, and theater for plays.

This is the chapel and music building. This opened the fall of my senior year. I had most of my classes here. The center for music is the Bolthouse Center for Music. William Bolthouse donated (and still does donate) a lot of money to the university. He owns a farm in California that grows carrots mostly, along with several other things. You can buy Bolthouse carrots and other vegetables at Wal-Mart.

Cardboard Canoe Races

A homecoming tradition is the freshmen engineering student cardboard canoe races. It is a project for one of their classes. They build cardboard canoes and then two teams at a time, race across the lake on campus. I felt so bad for those that just got off shore and sank immediately. It is a graded project. At the end they have a demolition derby for the boats that made it across the lake. It was such a HOT afternoon this year that I'm sure those that sank didn't mind too much. We did find a spot under a shade tree to watch.