a trip home

Now that we've been back for 3 weeks, maybe I should finally get around to putting up some pictures! Actually, I sent some pictures through the mail to the grandparents and the auntie, and I didn't want them to see them here first. I think it's more fun through the mail. :)

We went home for about 2 1/2 weeks. We spent the first half of the trip with my parents and the second half with Thomas's. We also got to see his sister, who was home on break from teaching in Korea, and for one day, my little brother. Jamie had the BEST vacation. He love-love-loves his grandparents, more than any kid I've ever seen, especially considering how rarely he sees them! I still get daily requests for them to come play or go with us to the park.

The pictures do a pretty good job showing how we spent our time (except that we don't have any pictures of ourselves watching the Olympics or taking notes, both of which Thomas and I spent a huge chunk of time on!), so without further ado...

making play-dough with Grandma

We had been hearing about "making a fire with Grandpa" ever since we got home from Christmas. Grandpa was kind enough to oblige Jamie's wishes, even in the middle of the summer!

gathering treasures

He climbed up the jungle gym all by himself!

washing strawberries with Grammy

At the farmer's market. I am completely jealous of Kirksville's farmer's market prices! Most things were about half the price they are in Knoxville!

Our trip coincided with the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Kirksville, so we went to the reenactment. 

the baptism of our friends' new baby Quinn. (Emily is his godmother)

Jamie and Anthony. This day at the Woehlks' house made a big impression! We are still hearing about Liza and Dominic!

piano lesson with (crazy) Uncle Johnny

Digging in the backyard was a favorite activity the whole trip!

Jamie and Papy

I desperately wish we lived closer! Jamie would be in heaven if he could see his grandparents all the time. I know we'll be hearing about everyone until the next time we get to go home.

growth

same baby, same bookcase...

June 7, 2011

August 25, 2012

recent Jamie-isms

Jamie [after I told him we were going to show Aunt Emily a picture of him wearing the outfit she got him for his birthday]: Emily going to be happy. She going to say, "Oh my goodness."

Jamie: Darth Vader is a bad guy. Stormtroopers are bad guys. They are friends with Darth Vader. They snuggle him.

Thomas: What does Daddy do all day?
Jamie: Play with Jamie.
Thomas: What does Mommy do?
Jamie: Vacuum.

Jamie: Darth Vader is a daddy.
Me: Um, yes, actually.
Jamie: Darth Vader is a bad daddy. Grandpa is a good grandpa.

Jamie: Darth Vader is a bad guy. He's a guy who's bad.

Jamie: What's that?
Me: That's my mouth.
Jamie: It sings. It tells Jamie a story.

Me: Jamie, why are you so wiggly?
Jamie [to his rabbit]: Peter, why are you so wiggly? Peter not know. I teach him to know.

time out

The other day Jamie was playing with these little tiny animals. They were mine when I was little and we brought them back with us from our recent trip home.

 He decided that this cow needed a time out...

 

 ...possibly a bit excessive, don't you think?

how I spent my summer vacation

Want to see the pictures that really capture my summer?

And this doesn't include the numerous JSTOR articles I also read. Lucky me!

I just finished typing up all my notes. What a relief...except then I added up just how many I've taken. The grand total: Turns out that with the notes from each individual novel, all the articles, and all the books, I have 272 pages of notes....for what will likely be about a 60 page thesis. Oops.

Next up, actually writing the dang thing.

You know what's a lot more fun than working on my thesis? Hanging out with my boys at the farmer's market.

I love our little family!

Jamie's new friend

Jamie has a new best friend.

Thanks to his daddy, Jamie knows more about Star Wars than the average 2 year old. He was a Jedi last Halloween, and he is constantly talking about Darth Vader and stormtroopers and Yoda. One day in the car, he informed me that we were "going to Chewbacca's house." Just yesterday he let me know that Darth Vader was coming to our house to play with toys.

In the past couple days, his interest has been taken to a new level. For some reason he has latched on to the idea of Yoda. All day long, Yoda was there with us, doing whatever Jamie was doing: he went with us to Target and to the library, and Jamie reminded me over and over that he was with us in the car. When we had dinner tonight, Jamie absolutely insisted that I set a place for Yoda.

And give him some food.

That is one silly boy.

July 4th + A Visit from Uncle Matt

I am: a) deathly tired of taking notes and b) woefully behind on blogging.

Cue new blog post.

My brother Matthew came to visit over the 4th of July. We all loved having him here, but I'm pretty sure Jamie loved it most of all! He had so much fun playing with his Uncle Matt!

 

We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate the 4th, due to a combination of Matt driving to Knoxville that day, amateur fireworks apparently being illegal in Knox County, and having a 2-year-old whose bedtime is 8:00. But we did have a really good dinner! The boys took care of grilling some extra delicious burgers while I made corn-on-the-cob, baked beans, homemade buns for the burgers, and crumb-topped apple pie for dessert. Yum! Thanks to the amazing view from our balcony, we were able to see several different fireworks displays, albeit from quite a distance and consequently not so big, but at least our holiday was not completely lacking in fireworks.

Thomas had school the next couple days, so Jamie and I kept Matt busy at the park, the library, and of course the zoo!

 We picked Thomas up after the zoo and got lunch at an Indian restaurant, where I managed to capture a classic Jamie face.

what a goober

 We really enjoyed having a visitor, and we hope Matthew enjoyed his trip too (and that Jamie didn't completely wear him out!).

trucks

Somebody in our apartment complex didn't have a very good morning, but I know one little boy who sure did...