He's BAAAAACK!!!!

So. Not to blow this out of proportion or anything, but...

DADDY IS HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




The reunion was sweet and life could NOT be better.






To this point, I am happy to report that although both Mom and Dad were a little concerned about how the transition back into life with Daddy would be, it could not be going smoother. After a quick reunion, life has quickly resumed to normal.


In the very short time he has been back, here is a snapshot of what we've been doing.


First, I have been wow'ing Dad with all of my cool tricks. I like to sing, count, and narrate everything that is going on around me. This is one area that Dad is still getting used to... When he left, I was probably talking about 10% of what I am now. Now, I read street signs (ie. act like a backseat driver), demand that "kid music" be played exclusively in the car, and just generally make sure Daddy is apprised of everything I am doing.

Using my voice so much leaves me parched...





I have also been showing him how talented I am at baseball. Check out the form and the crazy face. Don't underestimate my diminutive size. I'm pretty intimidating if you're in close vicinity.



Pause. Must use ball to kill ants.

While I enjoy this activity probably more than I should, it does somewhat stress me out when I get done crushing the ants and then realize their bodies are stuck on my ball. Mom gets the distinct privlege of cleaning them off. Lucky lady.



Here we are showing that baseball is a very serious sport and should not be taken lightly...

Oh who am I kidding!? I can't take anything seriously!



So where has Mom been? Well, while Daddy and I have been running around like madmen, she has been taking it easy. These days, she is good for sitting on the sidelines, cheering me on and giving orders to Dad (didn't take long, right?). That baby in her belly is making her really slow.

What up baby?! You still got nothing on me! (Yeah, that's right. I like to trash talk the baby in her belly. That is... when I acknowledge he exists.)



Lastly, within 24 hours of Daddy's arrival, we decided to expand our family even more. Please let me introduce the newest member of our family.

His name is "Fish." Original, eh? At first, I declared that he was a she and should be named "Princess." That lasted, oh, about 1 minute before I abandoned that idea and declared the fish was indeed a boy and should be named "Man." Finally, I have settled on the classic name "Fish." It's not fussy or pretentious - just right for our tiny friend.

If left to my own devices, I would have given Fish the entire contents of his fish food. Unfortunately, I was regulated before that could happen.

In all seriousness, please know how thankful our family is to everyone who prayed and supported us over the past year. We are so blessed to have such loving family and friends. What could have been a very tough situation was made MUCH easier by everyone who loves us. We truly can't say thank you enough.

Now... stay tuned. Big introduction for another new family member (a human one this time) is coming in just about two weeks!!!

Southern Living

Per usual, life has been a tad busy for me... Mom just uprooted me again (for the 5th time this year, but hey - who's counting?) and moved me to the South. However, before we could leave, I had some business to attend to.

First, I had to get my teeth checked out. I have grown EIGHT new ones since Dad left. What can I say? I'm a late bloomer!

"Miss Kaffy" (one of my mom's good buddies) checked me out.



Of course she had never seen pearly whites like mine. It's doubtful that she ever will again...



Then I had a few more chances to work on my pilot's license. Uncle Stew assisted me in this by flying to Peedles and Poppy's to see me before I blew out of town.



Of course, I needed exactly no assistance because my flying is so money.



And lastly, Daddy sent me a super cool video to remind me that he'll be home soon and that all of these moves will be worth it. While I'm still a little doubtful on that front, he did to pacify me by taping himself reading "One Fish, Two Fish" which I deeply love.

Here I am with my Yop fingers. Go read the book if you don't know what this means. It's my favorite part.



The trip down South was pretty brutal. I was not a fan of leaving Peedles and Poppy at all. BUT upon arriving at our new house, I had a special treat! Aunt Mel came to visit me!



We did all sorts of cool things, but the highlight was learning how to poke fire ant piles with a stick. Mom is thrilled that I learned this.

Whatevs, Mom. We totally know what we're doing.



It was a downer when Mel left, but Easter was right around the corner.

Egg hunt anyone? I DOMINATED this year. Looted up like nobody's business and managed to wrangle a serious candy stash for Mom. Still not sure how that worked out, but she seems jazzed.

Here I am getting myself psyched up for the competition.



And here I am schooling the other toddlers on how to aggressively hunt for those little plastic jewels of goodness.



Celebratory shot.



I was not aware at the time, but that egg hunt was just the first of three. As I honed my skills, I became more adept at collecting prizes. By the third hunt, some families just went home when they saw me pop out of my carseat.

Yeah. It's true.

Granny joined me for one of them which was totally awesome.



I think she was duly impressed. And please note Mom bending over. She whined the entire time, but only too happily collected and ate the candy afterwards.



After all of that, Granny taught me how to color eggs.

Super fun until I spilled the entire cup of VERY concentrated (extra Paas tablets seemed like such a good idea at the time) of green dye.



Despite this minor setback, I had great success.

Please... meet my "magic egg." He was fun to play with. Fun to crack. And fun to eat.

However, it was not fun when I asked for him the next day and he was gone. Not fun at all.



When Easter morning rolled around, I found a basket of treats that was apparently left by a bunny? Not sure about that, but the basket was pretty sweet.

Here I am inspecting party chicks which arrived in my basket. Just making sure they are suitable passengers for my dump truck.

They were... until all of their feathers started coming off. Weird. And slightly creepy.



All in all, Easter was great and life in general has become sweet again. Now we are just counting down the days until Daddy gets home (so close).

Until the next episode... a happy belated Easter to you all!

WHATUP PEEPS!? I'll tell you! Daylight savings time! WOOOHOOO!!!!!



And now that I have that out of my system... an update.

Although life in general is fantatsic, I have been missing my Daddy a lot lately. And while he is coming home relatively soon (less than 2 months!), Mom and company have been working overtime to keep me occupied and entertained.

And by the way - who knew that I would get such great attention from a couple meltdowns? Seriously... had I realized this, I would have jumped on the "emotion bandwagon" four months ago when he left!

So what have we done? Well, first up - we tackled winter sports!

Mmmmhmmm... I like to be pulled up the very steep hill by my very pregnant Mommy. Sure, her breathing sounds like a freight train by the time she reaches the top and she says something about blood loss in her head, but I am fresh and ready for a run down the hill!



Peedles took me down the first few times to get a good path cut. But once that was done...



...I started flying solo.

Here I am at the end of the hill, very distressed about the rope. It stressed me out that I couldn't get a proper handle on it with my giant paw-mittens. I am not even sure that I registered how fast I was going that time.



OH! And after sledding, I built a snowman. Yes, he is very tiny, but actually ended up being the perfect size for me to kick down (about 10 seconds after this picture).



Uncle Stew came in a few days later and we had a jam session.

It was intense.



Then a few days after that, my buddy Finn gave me a bunch of puzzles.

At first, I thought they would be super easy to tackle, but soon realized that they were deceptively difficult - at least for Poppy anyway. After patient instruction, he really got the hang of it!



Here I am after a successful completion of TWO puzzles. I celebrated by taking my pants off. Funny... now that I think about it, no one else celebrates this way. Noted.

Another very important task that has been left in my oh-so-capable hands is feeding the "reindeer." (Also known as plain ol' deer.)

Here, I am getting my corn to dish out.

And here I am, very thoughtfully, picking out each location that the piles of corn should be placed. This is not a job to be taken lightly. Put a pile in the wrong place and a reindeer could die from starvation.

I'm just sayin'.

Yay for me! Saving reindeer one day at a time.

Another fun outing that we have had is going to a farm to see horses. Here I am demanding that this one come over immediately to see me.

Oops. That approach backfired.



And I have saved the best for last.

You will NOT believe where Mom and Peedles took me. Guesses? TO SEE NIKI MOUSE ON ICE!! (No, not a typo. I call him "Niki Mouse." Apparently the irony is lost on me, but it sent Mom and Peedles into fits of giggles when I yelled "Where are you Niki? Where are you!?" at the show.)

The show was mesmerizing... Mom was SUPER shocked that I sat still for longer than 5 minutes. She thought it was going to be a miracle if we lasted until intermission.

Uh, yeah - WRONG. Two hours and a bucket of popcorn later - and I had to be peeled out of my chair to go home.

Here I am, perhaps more excited that I have ever been before, with my special bucket. Oh, the joy it brought me.

So that is pretty much the rundown of what's been going on lately.

Hope you're keeping it real.

I am.

Change is coming...

I am happy to say that my Mom's only New Years resolution was to learn how to bake. While it has been a little touch and go with her results, I have been happy to be her sous chef. I'm not even going to pretend that the stuff we make is clean. It's pretty much a lock that my hand has gone into the dough or batter at least once - most likely more.



She has also (for an unknown reason to me) recently learned about jello jigglers and keeps making them. THEY ARE GROSSSSS.

Stop making them. Enough said.



So I'm sure you remember my news about a new baby. Well, according to Mom... there has been a slight regression where my behavior is concerned. As more and more baby stuff gets pulled out, the more I try to claim it for myself. Here I am, stuffed into a bumbo seat.

I say "good luck to you, baby. May the best man win." (In case it's not clear - I am the best man.)



In other news, but apparently somewhat related, I got booted from my crib. Sure, my new sleeping digs are cool, but I still have my eye on the crib. We'll see how things pan out.



OH!!! Check it out - my new "air force bingdaids!" I love them so, but wear them only when I do not have a booboo. I mean seriously - if my booboo is covered up, how am I supposed to constantly point it out, talk about it, and tell mom to "wook at it?" I think you can see my dilemma.



Moving on... we just got back to Peedles and Poppy's house after moving all of our stuff into the new Casa Jackson in southern Georgia. It is pretty rad... Mom and I hadn't seen our stuff since spring of last year. Playing with all of my toys again was glorious! Simply glorious.

Here I am, just a few miles from the border of FL mind you, bundled up in a coat while playing outside. It was FRIGID. There is something wrong with that.

Also, one might think that there is something wrong with a football going into the basketball hoop. They'd be wrong.

Well, well, well... what have we here? Could it be me... in the baby's room... marking my territory? Yep - dig it.

In case it isn't clear, I am still not real sure about this baby. In fact, despite the fact that Mom has made it abundantly clear this baby will live with us, have his own room, toys, etc..., I keep insisting that babies do not live in our house, but rather in stars. Jesus and dogs also live in stars. So good luck getting that baby out of a star.

Poppy came and joined us in the new house too!! Not sure about the others, but he was a HUGE help to me... HE FIXED MY TRAIN TABLE!!! Now it makes all sorts of fun sounds. Mom is super psyched about this.

And for a parting shot... the circle. My new house has a big loop that I can run around. Obviously, I am fast all of the time, but I am at my fastest when naked. It's like little wings attach to my feet and I just soar. See below for proof.

Hope you enjoyed the latest and greatest! I have been slacking on getting posts up here but will try to do better. You'd think I'd be on top of this with dad overseas, but alas, I am not.