Grandma's House

Jack and I went to Grandma Lissa's house for the weekend. I decided Wednesday that it was time to get away so I kept it a secret from Jack until I picked him up from school on Friday. The last time I told him we were going to go see her and Uncle Mike, he conned his way out of school early by being so fussy the daycare didn't want to deal with him. This time I was smarter and waited to tell him where we were going until after I had buckled him in the car. I brought two of his favorite animals, Taco and Fireworks, along.

It was such a beautiful day on Friday. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and did I mention it was Friday??
Aunt Jesii loves the windmills, so I got a picture. Look at that sky!
** Side note: That cloud looming in the distance stayed in the distance.

The only downside to driving with a toddler AFTER he has taken a two and a half hour nap at daycare is that the only thing he wants to do is play baseball and tell you he has to go potty. It's obvious why I veto baseball - something about going 75 mph and attempting to catch a ball doesn't seem safe. As for Jack telling me he has to go potty, well I'm not such a risk taker when it comes to that. I'm all about being accident free. He is well potty trained, so when he does tell me he needs to go, I listen. We stopped four times on our way over - usually we only stop once if he takes a nap. Just before Bliss, Jack decided he had to go and luckily, this time, he mentioned it BEFORE the exit. He was glad to get out of the car and was running as fast as he could from the door of the building to the door of the car. I managed to get him to stand still long enough to get a picture. Good job Mom! :)

Don't mind his shorts: all the boys at daycare are potty trained or potty training so the extra 3T pants that are usually available should one of them have an accident (like Jack did earlier), were gone. These are 5T. They fell down when he ran.

Cut to Grandma's house.
After dinner, Jack, Uncle Mike, and I headed over to our friend's house. Chris and Jordan have a little boy, Teagen (remember him from trunk or treating last year?) who is usually extremely shy. I was so surprised when TKO (his initials) talked to me and PLAYED WITH JACK!. Even Teagen's dad was surprised. They had a lot of fun playing basketball, building with Legos, and making a complete mess.

Jack and I went home to Grandma's late so I was not surprised when he fell asleep after singing his ABCs and Twinkle star only once instead of 5 times.

Saturday morning we had pancakes and watched the squirrels eat from the feeders Grandma's neighbors put on the fence. Watching the squirrels has always been one of Jack's favorite activities. Later, Jack and Grandma went to the store with the intention to get bubbles for Jack's bath. Somehow they managed to return with a new bike, baseball bat and balls, a big Toy Story ball, Easy Mac, and a "wallet" which is really a pack of gum. No bubbles. Grandma said they walked through most of KMart and she just couldn't resist spoiling him. I don't blame her, he is very good at becoming incredibly cute when he wants something.
Like his new bike? I sure do. Oh, yeah, Jack likes it too. 

We went to visit Michelle and Phillip at their house so we could see the kitties Saturday afternoon. Jack had asked me if the kitties would bite, I told him that they were nice and he replied with something along the lines of Good 'cause if they bite me I say, STUPID KITTY!

We had a good visit with our friends. We talked about school mostly. Phillip is taking a literature class and they were working on poems about Adam and Eve's initial "baby making" experience. The metaphors were, well, thought provoking? Each person in class had to write a few, then they vote for the good ones and then send them to some poetry to a magazine. Phillip is always good for an awkward moment - and he's proud of that.

Jack was getting tired, so he didn't give hugs and kisses goodbye. He just laid on the arm of the couch and pouted. 

We did see three of the kitties,, none of them wanted to be near Jack - so there was no biting. He chased Jo (who's kind of special) into the window well. He was trying to find her when we left. 

 Jack showed off his new baseball bat, too. I made the executive decision to keep it in the car so that he didn't destory anything inside of the house. Michelle caught him before he went "all Carrie Underwood" on Phillip's truck. (He wasn't really going to hit it.)

I got him buckled, he gave me kisses, and he got his nap gear on. Nap gear includes his baseball hat (hard hat), baseball bat, and a baseball.

How can you play in your dreams without all the gear, right?

Jack fell asleep before we got to the end of the street. He does that all the time. Unfortunately, that meant that he didn't get to see his favorite Rexburg landmark. Jack likes to talk about Moroni. He said he wants to take him down from there. 

While Jack took a nap, Grandma Lissa and I quilted. Grandma made a lot of quilt frames for her sisters and self around Christmas time but hadn't used them to make a quilt yet. So we decided to start with a simple one for Jack.

This blanket has sat in pieces for almost a year. We made Jack a green baseball blanket around his second birthday and have been too caught up with life to make the red one. Grandma has shown Jack the fabric the night before and he said that he liked it. I wasn't surprised, the kid is obsessed with baseball. 

The backside of the blanket made quilting tricky. We used minky fabric, you know, that really soft almost fur like fabric that all people love (aka microplush). Well, minky stretches a lot and not really logically. It didn't help either that people in WalMart's craft department can't cut in a straight line. Fun, huh? We managed to get it stretched right on the frames, found a scrap of really thick batting large enough, and put the top of the quilt on. 

My mom said that sometimes I'm so smart, I'm dumb. I have NO IDEA why she says that. (I was goofing around to make her laugh.)

Anyway, we managed to tie the quilt with no other fiascos. We laid it out on her craft table in her craft room to trim it. I'm so jealous of her craft room. It's very organized and there is plenty of room to make things. One day I will have a craft room too. I cut the excess fabric and batting from the sides and left the hand stitching to bind the edges for my mom.

She was on the phone too when she took this picture so she can't actually be mad at me for "not helping". I was making plans to go see Alice in Wonderland with Mike (who was in his room no more than 10 feet away).We went to the 3D showing, which is my new favorite way to watch movies but I wish I could reuse my 3D glasses and just pay regular price instead of buying new glasses with my ticket every time. I'm glad I got to go out with my friends. We had a good time. I would recommend the movie. I know that I got a lot of inspiration from the costumes and scenery for other craft projects. More on that another day...

Jack woke up from his nap and found a cookie in the kitchen. I swear this kid can sniff-out sugary foods. It's like he just knows there is candy or a cookie or something and wont rest until he finds it. He's sneaky about it, too. I had started making a stuffed kitty/creature from a pattern found inside the bag of batting. It didn't turn out well.

Grandma and Jack ate popcorn and watched Wind and the Willows while I went to the movie. They were both sound asleep when I got home.

Sunday morning Grandma made scones - YUM! Nothing better than fried dough covered in sugar. Jack played baseball ALL morning with Uncle Mike. He's getting really good and NEVER gives up.  The last time we visited, Jack and Uncle Mike played ball too. But they matched.Grey sweat pants, white shirts, and "baseball" hats. Can you tell who is in charge by the size of the bats they hold? I can. 

We watched Napoleon Dynamite while we ate our scones. Jack danced his little booty off during the final scene. Grandma and I just about died laughing. I got my camera out and started the scene over so Jack would dance again. It was too cute! See for yourself:

If the movie doesn't show up, go to our actual blog to see it: jenn-and-jack.blogspot.com

We packed up all of our stuff, including the new toys, and got ready to go. I like to plan to leave just before nap time. It makes the drive much faster. Jack said good bye to Mike and Grandma, got snuggled up with his new blanket and was sound asleep before we made it to the highway. He slept for a good three hours. Which almost made up for the fact that we had to stop to go potty 4 times in the last 100 miles of the drive.

Isn't he precious?