The Letter H and Such

Jansen insisted on taking the letter "H" to bed with him at naptime yesterday. Sometimes he gets really preoccupied with a certain letter of the alphabet and it's his favorite for the day/week. Some of the chosen ones: "S", "A", "O", "H" (interchangeable with "I." Jansen likes to turn the "H" so it looks like "I." This can also be done with "M" and "W.")

I've mentioned before that Jansen loves the movie "Cars." I bought him these little cars from the movie and he adores them. When Nate got home from school today Jansen wanted to go to a little hill at our complex that looks out onto a busy road so that they could watch the cars drive by while he held "his cars."

And last but not least, a Cincinnati Chili smile. For those of you who don't know, Cincinnati Chili is another name for Skyline Chili, which is a chili restaurant based in Cincinnati, Ohio. There is a recipe for it in one of Nate's grandma's cookbooks and we love it!

Memorial Day BBQ

Nate and I decided that having a BBQ on Memorial Day was a must. We lucked out and actually found a picnic spot (the parks were SOOO busy), dodged the rain, and when Nate got paged an hour before the BBQ, we found someone to cover for him. We had some awesome food: BBQed pineapple, homemade ice cream, cream soda, yummy salads, etc. The subject of birds came up a few times...including Nate being called "The Bird Whisperer" and being asked if he had brought his "bird goggles." (She meant binoculars. I think I like bird goggles better!)

Had to take a picture of this real quick before pulling it out of his mouth.

Love at first sight.

These are some of the oh-so-enjoyable girls that make life out here great.

Sunday Morning

Jansen started out the Sunday morning by

reading from the Ensign. Hah hah. He picked

it up and started looking through it so I

snapped this picture.

His ear infection has
been a real bugger and he's had a fever on and
off of about 102 for a few days. We've been
keeping him inside and out of the hot sun...
and of course he is going crazy. So we went out
early this morning on a little walk to get some
of his wiggles out.

Here is Nate posing with a snake. It's to the right of him, in the bush.

Rocks, rocks, rocks. Rocks rock.

And now I need to line them all up. I hope none of you pay very much attention to Jansen's clothes in these entries. Somehow I always seem to take pictures of him in his orphan outfits. Oh well.

Starring Jansen

To all Jansen's adoring fans:
In this blog, he brings to the stage a never-before-seen combination of performance, passion, and technical innovation.
From the artist: “This show marks a turning point in my professional journey,” he said. “It will guide me to self-discovery, to push the limits of performance and offer a new stage experience to my devoted fans.”




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Thank you. Thank you. I love you all.
For international tour and travel packages contact: my mom.

Poor Little Guy

Jansen woke up REALLY ornery today. At first I thought it was all about wanting to go outside...which I was not about to do at 6:30 in the morning. We had all day to play outside. He cried and whined for a couple hours and I was trying everything I could to make him happy...popsicles, cookies, watch a movie, go outside, go on a drive (which we did), play games on the computer, etc. Nothing worked, which is very unusual. I wouldn't normally cater to him like this but I felt like he was out of control and needed some distraction so that he could get a hold of himself. He didn't have a fever or any other symptoms besides being extremely fussy so I didn't suspect sickness. But as the morning continued I could tell he was NOT himself and something was wrong. It was so strange, most of the morning he kept wanting me to take him out to the car. As I mentioned, I thought maybe he wanted to go on a drive or to hold the steering wheel or something. But he acted like he wanted to sit in his car seat and go somewhere. Again, very unusual. When I did drive around with him he was still very unhappy, so I was stumped. I eventually made an appointment with the doctor and it ends up he had ruptured his eardrum. Poor kid! I can't help but wonder if he was trying to get me to take him to the doctor this morning...hah hah. I guess I'll never know!

Guilty

In case any of you have ever wondered what Jansen

does when I am working on the blog...

Sunny Day

My condolences to our viewers in Utah and Washington...according to weather.com it appears that your day was not quite so warm and sunny. This little park is our newest and greatest discovery. To state the obvious, Jansen loves it. He is getting braver and braver about touching the water. He doesn't quite understand that it's okay for his shorts to get wet and he gets a little bugged when they do...but not for long. I will have to take a picture sometime of the statues at the top of the hill by this park...3 REALLY big bunnies dancing in a circle holding hands. Weird.

Today

Jansen was really eager to sit and read by Nate this

morning. I can't believe what a typical "boy" he

is turning out to be. The book he is reading is about

airplanes. He also LOVES trucks, buses, and wheels

right now. And of course bugs. He loves to watch

parts from the movie "Cars," and it's so cute because

he gets scared pretty easily and always runs to me

if they rev their engines too loud or something.

He was pretty naughty at church today though.

He bit one boy pretty badly and tried it on a couple

of others. I thought we were through with that stage!

Then, when I sit him on my lap and tell him not to

bite, he tries to bite me and when that doesn't

work he just bites himself. He really is a very good

kid most of the time. :)

The Owls

These are the mommy and daddy screech owls

These are the three babies

How do YOU feel about owls? Well, here in the Nye household we
like them. A friend of ours told us where we could see

these screech owls and I take a lot of pride in the fact that when we

went to see them I spotted them before

Nate! I think it's because I had Lasik surgery. I love that one on the

right peeking around the leaf...and I am not sure what is going on

with the headless one on the left. If I remember right, they did

all have heads. The whole outing ended with Jansen grabbing some

poison ivy. We poured the rest of his milk from his sippy cup

on it and then ran to the car and rinsed his hand again with

some water. I think that did the trick because he really

didn't develop a rash. Thank goodness! Speaking of the evils

that lurk in the outdoors, I forgot to share that we went

on a walk a few weeks ago and all had a tick or two on our clothes.

I was so horrified. But we're all okay. I am thankful for my husband

who has taught me how to spot poison ivy and ticks. I would not have

been able to do this a month ago.

Saying Prayers

Jansen is so funny. We have been teaching him for awhile now what to do when we say a prayer and his little mind is just overloaded trying to fold his arms, close his eyes, and bow his head all at the same time. I took this video of him trying to do it all. Whenever it's time to pray he usually folds his arms for a minute and then spends most of the rest of the time with his hands over his eyes.


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7-Eleven

So there IS a down side to our move to a house. Each of the last 3 apartments we have lived in had a 7-Eleven right around the corner. Real easy to get to when I have those late night Slurpee and chocolate donut cravings. This house does not have a 7-Eleven on the corner. It has made me reconsider our decision...but I can still get there in the car within a few minutes and I guess that's just a sacrifice I will have to make.

Road Trip!

We're back! We left for Palmyra, NY, last Thursday and

got home Sunday evening. We had such a great time.

We went to the beach in Erie, PA, visited all the church

history sites in Palmyra, NY, went to an amazing

state park with incredible waterfalls, stayed in

downtown Buffalo, NY, and then saw

THE waterfalls---Niagra Falls! If you want to

see ALL the photos from our trip click on the photo at

the bottom of this page.

NY Road Trip

My Enemies

Some of you are all too familiar with my desire for Jansen to have the perfect sleeping environment. Hanging blankets over his window so it's really dark, the "soothing" sound machine, checking the overnight low so I know which pajamas to put him in, a fairly rigid bedtime and pre-bedtime routine, etc. I think this all stems from his major sleep issues as an infant...I am still haunted by it all. But the thing that I really go overboard on is wanting it to be quiet while he is sleeping. I insist on everyone using whispers if there is an absolute need to communicate, give dirty looks to the missionaries if they laugh too loud, no flushing the toilet, etc. Nate knows he is not allowed to tap his razor on the sink in the morning when he is shaving because I am just positive that Jansen can hear it and is in a light sleep phase so he will surely wake up. And there are a couple of perpetrators who should thank their lucky stars they are still alive. The leaf blower man and the garbage man. The noises created by these outlaws is unbelievable. The leaf blower man walks right by Jansen's window and revs his little leaf blower machine SO loud. And the thing is, there isn't even anything to blow away. And if there was, what's he gonna do...blow it down the sidewalk a few feet so that he can walk over to it and blow it again? Sometimes I stand at the door and try to get the courage to go out and ask him to skip our section of the complex. And you wouldn't believe the way the garbage man bangs the dumpsters against his truck. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. Oh, and one more racketeer came out this evening. The-boy-who-drags-his-metal-wagon-upside-down-along-the-sidewalk. He and I had a little talk together. Well this blog has gone on long enough...I have to include one more detail though...I don't even know for sure if any of these things have ever actually woken Jansen up. But they could. So I will continue my vigilant effort to protect my child's sleep environment.

Why I Love Nate

Why I LOVE My Husband

Well it's been three years! My life is just a tiny bit different

than it was before I met Nate. And it's been even better than

I could have ever imagined. For those of you who hate mushy,

you may want to stop reading now. For the rest of

you, here's a list of just a few of the reasons why I love

my husband.

1. He always cleans up every last hair after he has given himself a haircut.
2. After working ALL night he walks in the door and hears how excited Jansen is to go outside and ride his bike; so he takes him out. Before he has even had some breakfast, before a nap...what an amazing dad.
3. Because he insisted we stop and buy a rose or two from a stranger on the side of the freeway. One or two ended up being a dozen and they were a lot more than he had planned on...but they look really pretty!
4. He still holds my hand.
5. He did the rest of the dishes when he got up with Jansen this morning. And he pushed Jansen around the house on his trike because Nate says, "I know what boys like to do."
   
   
   
   

Hot Wheels

My mom bought Jansen this trike while she was here

visiting. He just loves it and mostly scoots around.

When not in use, it lives in our bedroom; another

reason we are excited to move!

There are lots of exciting things to see on our

daily route down the sidewalk.

Some are even worth stopping for.

Anyone else love doing this as a kid? For some reason

we always called it "making ice cream." He will tip

it over and then spin the wheels and pedals. It's

just as much fun as riding it!