Oscar's Funny Face

Part of the Louisiana Thanksgiving Tour 2010 was having Oscar show everyone his "funny face". Chris and I have no idea where this face started, but it cracks everyone up when he is willing to show them. During his birthday party in Monroe I was able to capture the process, enjoy!

Happy Birthday Oscar (Monroe)

The jauberry gang is back from another great trip to Louisiana. We started our vacation off in Monroe and had an early second birthday party for Oscar. Kelly had a cake made from one of Oscar's favorite movies and he was so happy. I think one of his favorite gifts was the cake toppers! Grandma and Pappy came in from St Joseph and it was great getting to see them, especially with Oscar. Thanks to everyone who made this day so special.

Capitol Christmas Tree

This year when they light the Capitol Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C., and you think that is the most beautiful tree you have ever seen, and you wonder where they get such a perfect tree, wonder no longer...... they got it from Wyoming! That's right, the 2010 Capitol Christmas Tree is from Wyoming, from the Bridger Teton Forest. Us lucky Jacksonites were the only people in the country to see it before it is crated to ship all the way to Washington D.C. and unveiled at the nation's capitol. On Saturday, they had a parade and we were all allowed to view it before is it crated. It gave us a reason to get out of the house and ride our bikes to the town square. I cannot really say it was as exciting as people on the radio wanted us to believe, but it is great for our state and our lovely Bridger Teton Forest.

Happy All Hallow's Eve

After waiting and waiting for the perfect costume, okay the cheapest costume, I finally bought Oscar his monkey suit. My mom had it easy. I was in dance, so whatever my costume was for recitals, that is what I dressed up as for Halloween. Also, girls are so much easier when trying to create costumes. Black leotard + black stockings + $2 cat ear headband + makeup = cat costume. In fact, leotard + stocking + ___________ can equal many costumes and you have to have the leotard and stockings for dance class anyways. No fair! That's it! Oscar is going to start ballet classes!
So back to Halloween...... We meet the Gotham's and Rachel & Joel to go trick-or-treating on the town square. This works out great because we can do one side of the square and be done. Oscar cannot eat candy for a number of reasons (mainly I am horrible, mean mom who does not think he needs 14 snickers) so we do not have to visit that many places. Although as soon as someone dropped a Dum Dum sucker in his basket, it was over. We had to give it to him because our little monkey was going bananas in the middle of everyone. So most of these pictures feature Oscar and his Dum Dum sucker.
Oscar was happy to see his two dragon friends Parker and Joel, and we had a great time hanging out with them. My sweet little Hanna was a butterfly, but I never got to see her because she slept the whole time.
Right now Halloween is this crazy 30 minutes and then it is over. I look forward to the days when we can go for two or three hours around rich neighborhoods, and then I can pick all the Almond Joys out of the basket for myself. That will be a great Halloween indeed.

Pumpkin Carving Party

With the fall weather fast approaching, what better way to get in the mood than a pumpkin carving party! On Saturday we had several friends over to carve pumpkins and celebrate fall. Thanks to my friend Kate, and her lovely blog KateSchmate, I made Chocolate Dipped Sea Salt Potato Chips for a fun appetizer. Chris had a great idea to sprinkle cayenne pepper on half of the batch- so yummy! Oscar loved the pepper ones, but Parker thought they were a little too hot for him. Pam made apple cider, Chris made wild game (deer & buffalo) chili, and I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins to round out our menu. The weather on Saturday morning was great, but by the time of the party, it was grey, cloudy, and starting to drizzle. We brought our table inside our garage and carved the pumpkins out of the rain. Everyone had a great time picking out designs to carve, pulling pumpkin guts out, and drinking beer. After the carving, we all went inside for yummy, hot chili and muffins with Parker's favorite, whip cream.

Oscar after one too many chocolate chips from Daddy.

Chris, Matt Kissel, Lindsay Travis, Matt Gotham, Paul Kinnard, Pam Gotham

Pumpkins and Park

Last Saturday (October 16) was the Fall Festival in the square. Jackson teachers buy pumpkins for cost and sale them in the square for a fund raiser. The rain started not long after we got to the "pumpkin patch", so we had to make our selection quickly. We saw just about every child in Oscar's class, and convinced a few of them to go to the park with us since the festival was getting a little crowded. Joel, Jesse, and Oscar had so much fun running around, swinging, and sliding. Oscar even surprised us and went down the tunnel slide head first several times, which he is usually scared to slide down at all. Good thing we kept taking advantage of the weather, because it is snowing today (October 25).

Joel

Oscar & Jesse

Afternoon at Calico

We went to Calico a couple of weekends ago to enjoy some of the last eating outside weather we are going to have for a long time. Calico has the best pizza and best of all they have a huge yard where kids can run around while parents observe from the decks. Oscar and Parker had a great time throwing frisbees, finding sticks, and other activities that make toddler boys happy. What a lovely night, especially since the snow is coming very soon.

Who is the most beautiful Goddaughter in the whole world?

More Fall Fun Photos

Here are some photos from the same fall day I had blogged about earlier, but they were too cute to leave out. Especially since they are rare photos of Oscar & George together.

Their moments of love are few and far between, you will soon see why.

Oscar loved throwing the pine cones and leaves in the air.

Now you see why George was skeptical earlier about the love

as the pine cone is heading for his head.

Granite Hot Springs (Perfect Saturday)

On Saturday, we decided to go to Granite Hot Springs to have some outdoor fun before we have to put on 14 articles of clothing to go outside. This is the only hot springs I am interested in because it is a cement pool that is fed by a hot spring. You will never see Jessica in a natural, gummy, soft bottom hot springs- yuck! Granite Hot Springs is lovely for people who want to be in nature, but do not want to be a full fledged hippie yet.
The water was a great temperature and Oscar had a great time! He even surprised both of us and went underwater many times. I do not understand why that is fine but try to pour some water over his head in a bathtub later that night and he is crying. Oscar is a mastermind of keeping his parents guessing.
After swimming for an hour, because that is about all your can do when the water is 100 degrees, we dried off and went in search of a campsite. Chris and I had made chili earlier and Pam had made cornbread muffins and berry cobbler. We heated the chili on our campsite stove and sat around eating dinner and dessert looking at the beautiful colors of the sky change as nightfall set it around us.
As my favorite father-in-law said about our plans earlier that day while dying in the 95 degree Louisiana heat, "Some people just have all the perks."

Fall Fun

Fall is lovely, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pies, pumpkins on the front stairs, beautiful colored leaves falling all over my yard that I have to rake.........
Fall has finally arrive in Jackson and we are getting into the spirit. We took Oscar to the local nursery and while buying pumpkins for our front steps, we let him pick out his very own pumpkin. He loves his pumpkin. He loves throwing it, kicking it, mainly showing his love in his special toddler boy way.
Chris also got his very own pumpkin because, in his opinion, is the perfect pumpkin for carving. We will have to see what Chris carves, ideas? My suggestions are:
I heart Jessica (yeah, that will be the day)
LA Tech symbol
Saints
Jack-O-Lantern
I will post photos when it is done so you can marvel at his work, or I won't because it never got carved. Now Chris will have to carve it or everyone (all 3 jauberry readers) will know!
No carving Oscar's pumpkin though, that is his special fall buddy.