A few of her favorite things

Jersi and I have had to get creative with things to keep her entertained in our little 900 sq. ft. apartment. Here's what we've come up with.

Going up and down the stairs.

She loves to climb up the stairs. For fear that her journey will end, she stops right before the very top step. She then stands up holding onto the handrail and tries to go DOWN the stairs (scary!). She gets such a kick out of holding onto the handrail. I think she feels like a big girl when she does it.

Playing with our 1960-something vacuum cleaner.

I tell her that I'm going to vacuum and she starts running around in circles. Once I turn the vacuum on, she runs up to it then abruptly stops, turns around, and runs away as fast as she can yelling. She's obviously frightened by it but must also like it because once I turn it off, she goes right up to it and starts playing with it.

Her Daddy's shoes.

She loves to put them on and wave to us. She also likes to bring our shoes to us and set them on top of our feet. It's funny because she'll pick up Jase's shoes and lug them across the whole room crying because they're so heavy for her. Silly little girl, just don't pick them up!

And last, but definately not least, is books!

I seriously think she might be obsessed. When she was really young I could read all day to her and she would love it. Then she went through a phase where she didn't want anything to do with them. Now it's like she has a one track mind when she's with her books and I think at least two thirds of her day is spent flipping through the pages, pointing to, and yelling at, all the pictures.

Such a precious little munchkin!

3 Words

I have three words for the dinner that we made tonight.
Dee - lici - ous.

4 chicken breasts in a crockpot

2 cups salsa

1 packet HOT 'N' SPICY taco seasoning

cook 4-6 hours on high

add 1 cup sour cream and shred chicken

serve with nachos or tacos

enjoy!

Jase's post-thesis defense-pose

Look Ma, no hands...I mean no stress. Yep, it's finally done. Well, almost. Just a few minor revisions that should be finished up this week and the rest will be history.

To explain, today was the day that Jase presented his research findings from the project he's been working on for the past 3 years to his thesis committee. His research focused on understanding how we perceive other people that have different types of dental presentations, such as crowding, missing teeth, overbite, etc. and how that might change our view of their attractiveness, intelligence, personality and whether we'd want to interact with them. The findings were really quite interesting. If you're interested, let me know and I can have Jase send you 164 pages of exhilarating bedtime reading that you and your family can enjoy over and over again.:) Only a few more weeks to go and the final step will be graduation! Here we come sweet Carolina!!

One year

Happy 1st Birthday to our little munchkin! We love you to pieces!

Jersi loves agua!

This video is a little long, but she was having so much fun with her water. She also showed off her latest abilities to blow kisses, wave goodbye and even manage a vocal "bye-bye" at the end. Jersi was trying to splash Britta, but Jersi gets it herself in the end. When she starts laughing, it's contagious and you can't help but laugh along with her before its said and done.

Dancin' & Walkin'

She's our mini Stevie Wonder.


This news is about a week old, but our baby is walking! So fun!

BFF

Sam and Jersi have been friends since day one (at least Jersi's day one). They have done lots of things together this past year and have become great friends! At least Kristin and I think so. Too bad that we're all moving away in two months :( There was a possibility that Sam and his family would be moving to NC just like us, but that didn't work out. I think Jersi was pretty bummed about it. I guess they will just have to continue on with a long-distance relationship. Here are some sweet memories of their year long courtship:


Sam holding Jersi at one of her first Sundays at church.

Playing in the exersaucer at Sam's house. Sam was showing Jersi all the cool things the exersaucer can do.

Playing in the nursing room in BabyGap at the mall.

Going in for the steal!

Hanging out in a store at the mall. This is right before Jersi fell off the chair! She wasn't smiling then.

Sam teaching Jersi all about the big highchair. I think this is where she learned to climb under things and to duck her head.

The weather has been unusually warm here so Kristin and I have been able to get outside some with the kids. This was Jersi's first wagon ride and she loved it. Sam made sure that he had his fishing pole with him so he could 'catch some fish'.

Jase and I dropped Jersi off at Sam's house one afternoon so we could take advantage of the 30% off sales. They had fun playing and eating snacks together.

We'll miss you guys!

Visit home to NC

We took our final "visit" to NC before we move back this Summer. Jersi and I spent the first week with my family in Chapel Hill before Jase joined us. He had meetings for the business, but we found some down time to enjoy both his and my family. The weather and company made it hard to leave when the time was up. We look forward to moving home and enjoying it all regularly. Just a few more months...


Joby, Jerni, and Jersi in their Sunday Best. Jerni even has her purse. How cute!

Jersi discovered two new things while on vacation. She now loves climbing over, around, and especially under pieces of furniture no matter how cumbersome the challenge may be. She even knows to duck her head to avoid the all-too-common bumps. She also discovered the water tower with handles just within her reach. It didn't take long for her to realize that the red didn't work, but the blue one flowed every time. She'd let some out and then splash in the bin below. That cycle repeated as often as she could excape our watch: Pour, splash, repeat.


Busted, "wet" handed!


Jersi loved walking along with the support of the banister posts-her favorite place in the house. It wasn't uncommon to find her yelling to anyone and everyone down below. She loved the new place with so much to explore.

Joby and Jersi doing the Doe-see-doe.


Here is the evidence of a "free makeover" from MaryKay. They lay it on pretty thick (in more ways than one) for you to buy buy buy. However, Jenn and I were strong and resisted the temptation. Don't we look nice!

A shout-out

I love these two so much!

Jase is getting ready to graduate in a couple months (WOO-HOO!!) and has been sooo busy at school recently, trying to wrap everything up. I don't know how he does it, but he manages to get all his work done at school, be home every night for dinner, and to play with Jersi before she goes to bed. He never comes home stressed or complains about how busy he is. He's always been very good about leaving school at school. And I love him so much for it! He's the best partner that I could have ever wished for.

And Jersi? From day one she has been such an easy baby to take care of. She's pretty much always happy and I love that she's the happiest in my arms. She keeps me company all day while 'dada' is at school working hard, and is always the first to greet him at the door by crawling as fast as she can to it while yelling squeals of delight. We're so happy that she's ours!

Just wanted to give a shout-out to my two favorite people in the whole world. There's no one else that I'd rather be with than you two. You guys are the best!

9 Months

Jersi turned nine months today!

Smile for the camera!

Jersi and I went to Kristin's house this morning for a playdate/nine month birthday celebration with Sammy. Sam and Jersi had fun playing together and even had a little snack on the rug. I couldn't believe that Jersi was able to sit there, with her own little bowl, and put puffs in her mouth without any help, and didn't want to get up and start crawling around. She looked like such a big girl sitting there. She's really growing up. Fast!


She's going to be a year old so soon! Time really does fly..

Happy nine months to our little honey!!

This little girl...

loves to stand up,


and loves to drool, I mean, smile!!