Just hangin' out, messin' around

Jasper went to his friend Emily's volleyball game with sitter Alissa on Tuesday and got home a little before 6. Emily is the older of Alissa's two daughters and is a seventh grader at Ankeny Christian Academy.

It was a casual night at home with Cheerio snacks before dinner, a nice walk after dinner and some fun playing with his farm animals and blocks before reading books and bedtime.

As you can see, MOST of the Cheerios that he was supposed to be snacking on ended up falling off the table. He sat there long enough that they stuck to his pants when he got up. He fell on his butt shortly after we got him down from his seat, smashing all the Cheerios into dust on our kitchen floor. We thought it was pretty dang funny!

The other photos are just J messing around, showing off the sticker (on his shirt) that he got for being nice today at day care. He wasn't thrilled with the idea of getting his photo taken with his dad. (Couldn't be the beard, could it?)

And, by the way, that is me — Jasper's dad — in the photo. (You may not be able to tell, since he looks NOTHING like me.)

Soccer Saturday

We went to watch Cousin Sydney play soccer Sept. 26 in Stuart. She played two games and scored three goals. She's a great player! One photo in this post is of Syd's celebration after a goal. Nothing big, she just flashed a smile to her family on the sideline.

Jasper loved watching the game but really wanted to get out there and play himself. He tried a couple of times, but somebody was always there to stop him before he went and stole the soccer ball from the big kids. He did get to play a little with Syd before her game and being the soccer fan that she is, Nat was teaching him how to kick the ball.

Soccer (continued)

Just a few more from the soccer game, including Jasper showing Gramp Paul how much he likes juice, welcoming Grams Debbie to the game, and more.

Can you hear me now?

With Uncle John calling in the background, Jasper was sure the phone was for Grandpa Paul Saturday during Sydney's soccer games in Stuart.

Even funnier: we at lunch at Legends today (Sunday) after the girls (Nat, Melissa, Debbie, Doris) went to 'Wicked.' The phone kept ringing at the restaurant. Jasper wanted to make sure employees knew to answer the phone so every time it rang he let out his 'Oh!' or 'Wah!' Funny, but I suppose you had to be there.

Southeast Polk homecoming parade

Tonight was Southeast Polk's homecoming parade. While Natalie was helping get everything organized at the beginning of the parade, Jasper P and I set up shop on a corner near my office. As I often do at these events, I mixed business and pleasure, enjoying some 'daddy-Jasper' time while taking photos for the paper.

It's the second SEP homecoming parade J has been to, and it's funny how much things have changed. Last year he liked what he saw, but didn't really care about any of it. This year — to no surprise — he was THRILLED with the tractors that pulled some floats, the big trucks, the dogs walking with the folks from the Altoona Dog Park, and a few other entries like the dancing girls.

The photos are pretty much just J's reaction to the parade. The one with the biggest smile is when he saw the dogs. The one with him leaning forward in anticipation is when he heard a tractor coming. Another is his reaction to the mini-chopper motorcycles - he even held up his hands and made the 'brrroooommm, brrroooommm, brrroooommm' sounds.

Hawks day

Nat and I left Jasper with Grandma Vicki in Waukee and headed east Saturday, Sept. 19 with Jared and Heidi Gillespie. Destination: Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.

The Gillespies were gracious enough to let us use two of their season tickets. The weather was great. The company was even better. And the Hawks dominated Arizona defensively and found their rhythm offensively in the second half. It was 'Blackout' Saturday so it gave us a reason to buy new black T-shirts.

We met up with our friends Matt Hemphill and his girlfriend Sarah Underhill (the Hills), their families and many other tailgaters, including former Simpson roommate Brandon Newell who I see about once every 5 years. Newell and I teamed up to beat Matt's dad and sister in a game of ladder golf, when his sister, Lindsey, was sure they'd win. She should be embarrassed.

We also ran into friends Dan and Erin Benner, who we don't see nearly enough. They're brainwashing their son, Jack, who's about a year younger than Jasper to be an Iowa fan as well. Woo hoo!

Photos in this post include:

- Matt Hemphill, Brandon Newell, Adam and Jared Gillespie

- The Hills (Matt Hemphill and Sarah Underhill), the Gillespies (Jared and Heidi) and us

- Nat, Heidi and Sarah

- The whole tailgating crew (I'm not about to try to list all of 'em)

Hawk family

The Wilsons celebrated Iowa-Iowa State Gameday 2009 by breaking out the Hawkeye gear and cheering on our favorite college football team. Iowa beat the Cyclones easily so, as it often is, the day became more about food, drink and fun — and there was plenty of all that — rather than football.

We watched most of the game with the Gillespies - Kyle, Ami, Payson and Zoe. They're all Cyclone fans, but we still let them in.

I say 'most' because by the fourth quarter Iowa had the game wrapped up so Kyl, Payson, Zoe and I fired up the Guitar Hero 5 game I bought that week. Kind of an impulse buy, you'd say, but it's fun and something that all ages enjoy. We're still working on the easy level and afraid to add that fourth finger. (Guitar Hero players will know what that means.)

The Iowa-Iowa State rivalry will always be a special one for the Wilsons. This game two years ago (Sept. 15, 2007 I believe) was the day we announced to our families and friends that Nat was pregnant. Still remember the smiles, hugs and grandma Debbie's 'All right!' at the table in she and dad's dining room.

Something we'll remember forever.

GO HAWKS!

Smile, Zoe

Zoe Gillespie was able to flash a cute smile Sept. 3 after her daddy's football game in the UNI-Dome. Kyl is the coach of Green Mountain-Garwin.

He's a BLUR!

Jasper likes to go. And go. And go.

Here's a photo I took of him running around the playground at Anderson Elementary in Bondurant tonight during the Bondurant-Farrar vs. Albia football game.

Happy Birthday Hank!

Jasper stayed with Grams and Gramps while we ventured out to Samurai, a Hibachi grill over on the W-E-S-T Side of Des Moines. We met up with some of the Simpson clan to surprise Hank Norem for his 30th birthday. Hank and Melissa just moved to Des Moines from Kansas City and are building a house in Norwalk - welcome back, guys! We're glad you're here! We had a great time hanging out and just catching up with everyone.

Mole Hunting 101

Ok, so Adam is a little obsessed with catching the moles that ruin our yard. I understand moles are annoying and they really have wreaked havoc on some parts of our yard, BUT his obsession is a little crazy, meaning...at times he has actually driven our car on our yard to get rid of the mole tracks, he's tried traps, and smoke bombs and almost anything you can think of, but they keep coming back.

So, now it's an official 'sport' at the Wilson household to go "mole hunting." Jasper and Daddy search out the new tracks, get the hose, try to drown the moles so they'll come out of the hole, where daddy is eagerly waiting to teach the moles a lesson.

Jasper loves to stomp down the tracks and on this night, he was even pointing out where daddy should put the hose.

A Trip to the Zoo with the Klines

This past week was Chamber Night at the Zoo, where area Chambers of Commerce members and their families received discounted tickets. Our friend, Heidi Kline and her two boys, Zach and Gabe decided to come along with Jasper and I. It was a gorgeous evening and the boys had a good time with each other!