Grandpa turns 82!

My grandfather turned 82 this week and Jared, JR and I all headed out to Homedale along with my parent's and sister this Sunday to celebrate. We practiced singing 'Happy Birthday' with JR before we went out and he did a pretty good job. But then when we got out there, oh boy did he sing it with gusto! It was so cute but of course none of us was able to get it on video. Typical.

Anywho, we did awesome stuff between when we could get Grandpa off the dance floor (he just loves shufflin' to the 'Party Rock' song) like take pictures of our webbed toes.

Me and Grandpa...

Me, Grandpa, Mercedes...

Then Grandpa and I had a little photo op. All the Homedale paparazzi were dying to get a shot of us together. We stayed separate on the red carpet but did pose for one picture once inside the VIP lounge.

All I have to say is that it was a pretty wild celebration, wish you all could have been there. Party of the century pretty much.

Happy Birthday Grandpa! 

Slices of Life: Christmas

Christmas was a little different this year. Jared had to work on Christmas day, my brother and sister-in-law were out of town and our typical routine and activities didn't happen as usual. So here are just a couple of "slices" of our Christmas this year rather then a lengthy blog post.

If JR looks really upset in some of these pictures it's because he was. His schedule was totally off and we had to wake him up to do presents. It was kind of comical actually.

Halloween

My mom bought JR a pumpkin Halloween costume on sale last year in November so we dressed him up in it one day and he wore it around and over to Grandma's house so she could see it.

And while we were there we watched Veggie Tales like we always do at Grandma's house...

For actual Halloween JR moonlighted as a ventriloquist dummy.

We went to Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday night. Everyone thought he was a vampire!

Playing games in the cultural hall...

Posing for pictures in front of our decorated car,,,

Ready to Trick-or-Treat!

Dragging his HEAVY candy bag!

Stowing away in the trunk post trick-or-treating...

On Halloween night we went trick-or-treating with JR's cousins (Jared's brother and his kids).

We were so happy to get a great picture of all the kids together.

Full of Hot Air?

So these catch up posts are going to be pretty brief! I like to blog and am happy to be back at it after JR destroyed our old laptop but posting things that happened one and two months ago means lack of the little details.

So we went to the Spirit of Boise Hot air Balloon Classic at the end of August. Uncle Maitland and aunt Katie joined us in the wee hours of the morning. We all said we went just for JR but in the end I think we all thought it was pretty cool and we never remembered all the logistics that went in to launching the balloons from when my mom used to take us as kids.

Up close watching the first balloon inflate...

FIRE!

Very exciting!

Watching with uncle Matt...

Oh hey Ma! Don't bother me. I'm lookin' at the balloons...

Okay I hate the way I look but I can't use that as an excuse not to remember these moments...

And more balloons...

Snow Cones and Roaring Springs...

On Thursday night Mercedes came over because I had a doctor appointment in the early morning and she was kind enough as usual to watch JR so she just spent the night so I didn't have to wake him up early and bring him over there.

After I came back and JR had woken up we decided to go get snow cones. JR got a mini watermelon...

He loved it but was a little shocked at how cold it was when he would take a big bite!

Then on Saturday (today I guess) we went with Mercedes to Roaring Springs. JR is so much fun at the water park this year! Mercedes took him down the slide in the kiddie pool a bunch of times.

I was zoomed way in on this picture when I first downloaded it onto my computer and I just love the expression on JR's face. A mix of terror and pure joy...

I went down with them a couple of times too but as Mercedes will probably tell you I am a fraidy-cat and won't take JR by myself. Don't judge me because I am afraid of two feet of water. People drown in the bathtub, you know that right???

Moving on...to the teeter-totter. JR quite enjoys the teeter-totter when not on the slide. However he prefers it if he is the only person on it and either you are pushing him up and down or her is just climbing on and off of it when he pleases. Which would be fine if I weren't worried about some other kid climbing onto the other side and hitting him in the face with it.

It was awesome this time because he kept his hat on the entire time with no protesting at all. Also, I brought his little tube with the leg holes and he happily floated the endless river. Yay.

All that excitement results in one tired toddler after a couple of hours though which leads to this...

He never ever falls asleep in the car for short distance rides so I know he was wiped out!

July 4th

Independence Day this year meant work for both Jared and me. We both have early schedules and had to work 6am to 2:30pm. This meant JR had to wake up super early from his slumber because his Uncle Maitlnd and Aunt Katie were kind enough to babysit him and bring him up to Garden Valley where the rest of the family was hanging out.

JR with Mo and Aunt Cathie's new puppy Bella although we aren't sure who is walking who...

The cousins filled up lots of water balloons and I think JR was about ready to launch one here...

JR was made a Junior Deputy/Firefighter and got to sit in the big fire truck with Uncle Maitland...

I guess they put sunscreen in his hair to protect his scalp. It did wonders for his hairstyle...



Jared and I arrived just in time for the parade and we thought JR would be pretty excited to see us but as it turned out he was pretty mad that we woke him up ridiculously early, dropped him off at Maitland and Katie's and didn't come get him until the evening. He spent almost the entire time at the parade with Grandpa Fritzley...



That evening we went up to Jared's parents cabin. They have the topmost lot on Castle Mountain and they took us in their "buggy" on the four wheeler trails to go check out a sheep herder who moves through with 500 head every summer. He travels 17 miles across the mountains. They were not too far at all from the cabin and we got really close to them. It was pretty cool actually and I was really sad that I didn't grab my camera.



June 25th: Cars II with the cousins

A few of the pictures I took at the theater today when we went to see Cars II

JR with his cousin Tal...

Tal is super fun and it always amazes me how JR takes to him even though he only sees him about once every six months or so.

The kids got stick-on moustaches out of the vending machines.

They were hilarious!

JR and Uncle Maitland...

The three Amigos. I guess Maitland has real hair and didn't need a moustache...

All ready for the movie...

And if you were wondering then yes, the moustache stayed on the entire movie plus all of nap time so even Daddy got to see it when he got home from work.

And finally, a shot of the whole game (minus my mom and Aunt Andrea)...

5 'clock shadow

So I guess I have been kind of absent on the blog as of late. But let's face it, our lives are not that exciting. Anyway, I will try to fix that and be better about blogging this summer and post lots of cute pictures of JR, which is the only reason anyone reads this at all.

So lets get to the main event: JR's first shave!

The other day Jared was starting to shave and JR was standing in the bathroom watching him with fascination so Jared decided he would teach JR how to shave.

Lathering up...

 A little resistance...

Finally, no more stuble!

I think he mostly wanted to splash in the water. He was eyeing it the whole time...

Daddy even gave JR a little Axe spritz when all was said and done...

What a stylin' little dude!

Pictures from the park to come soon, I promise!