Guest Poster - Aunt Melissa

I stole Jasper after work on Friday and brought him home with me. We headed out to Grandma and Gramps house for some Easter Egg Coloring. And I use that term very loosely. Jasper's first egg went right in his mouth, and when he didn't enjoy the shell cracking in his mouth, he threw it to the floor. We resorted to finger painting and playing in water while the other kids colored eggs. I took a few videos...


Coloring Eggs 1 (2009) from Melissa Wilder on Vimeo.


Jasper Finger Painting from Melissa Wilder on Vimeo.


Jasper Plaing in the Water! from Melissa Wilder on Vimeo.


Jasper Playing in the Water 2 from Melissa Wilder on Vimeo.

Easter at the Wilsons

Saturday we had Easter at Paul and Debbie Wilson's with the Wilders, Henrys, Niederkleins and great-grandma Doris Diddy.

A wild egg hunt was followed by a big lunch. We flew kites, rode bikes and 4-wheelers — J drove one all by himself!!! — played in the dirt and sand and had a great day.

We even found out that J has his father's skin, pale and easily sun-burned. By the time we got home his cheeks were rosy pink (my forehead was more red than pink) and his hands and wrists that weren't covered by his jacket were a matching shade. (Don't worry, buddy ... today was a once-in-your-lifetime mistake I made, not carrying my sun screen. We'll thwart that darn sun's rays from now on. And someday you and I will invent that SPF 1,000 that'll make us invisible not just to the sun, but to everyone!)

In these photos, Jasper is shown putting eggs into his doggy basket and with grandma Debbie, showing her how much more fun that dead plant is than the egg at the foot of a tree; cousin Sydney Wilder is pretty proud of her basket, which she filled full of eggs; and the kids — cousins Emma and Isaac Henry, J and cousins Syd and Kyren Wilder — pose together after the hunt.

Great times!

I posted a handful of blogs from today, so enjoy!

Easter snapshots 01

Here's the first of two posts with snapshots from Easter at grandpa Paul and grandma Debbie's house.

These photos include Jasper staring at me during the egg hunt; great-aunt Becky and great-grandma Doris looking on while leaning on the LP tank; J getting a shoulder ride behind Becky and Doris; and cousin Sydney and J lounging in the yard after the hunt.

Easter snapshots 02

Here are a few more ...

Photos in this post include Jasper with Nat; grandpa Paul and J chasing cousin Sydney; cousin Rick flying a kite in the field while grandma Debbie, cousin Emma, Nat, J, grandpa Paul and aunt Melissa watch; and cousin Syd showing off on the jungle gym.

Boys ... boys ... boys!

The boys had plenty to do Saturday at the Wilson's, including flying kites, climbing trees (can you find Kyren?) and just having a darn good time!

J and gramps

Jasper got some major quality time with grandpa Paul on Saturday, most of it having to do with dirt, sand, sticks ... you get the picture.

Sand pile!!!

Jasper was introduced to the sand pile Saturday at grandpa Paul and grandma Debbie's house.

Yes, one photo shows him piling a handful of sand into his mouth before any of us could stop him. He was not pleased, yet he did it one other time.

Coming and going

I took the opportunity to snap a few photos as Natalie and Jasper walked toward — then past — me Saturday at grandpa Paul and grandma Debbie's house.

Hello?

Jasper is very good at pretending he's on the phone, putting whatever's near — shoes, remotes, sticks and this, grandpa Paul's dog training remote, sometimes even a phone! — to his ear and jabbering away.

EASTER BUNNY!

Jasper visited the Easter Bunny at Jordan Creek Thursday night in what was nearly a disaster.

We arrived to read a sign that said he'd return by 5:40, only it was 6 at that point. We ate while we waited and he finally showed up around 6:30. A 30 minute wait in line was worth it, as Jasper got to use his new walking skills to wander around the mall, getting a lot of people watching done in the process.

When it was finally his turn, he wasted no time walking straight to the big, white bunny with his arms outstretched. He had his regular 'serious' face on for most of the time, but gave up a couple of grins when the bunny tickled him.

Grandma Vicki joined us for dinner and the bunny visit.

It's the second time he's visited the Easter bunny, with many, many more to come I'm sure.

First Easter egg hunt!

Jasper had his first Easter egg hunt and met the Easter bunny on his dad's birthday, April 4, at the Hy-Vee in Altoona. He was more interested in the clumps of dirt on the ground and the sticks he found, but he ended up with one egg among a few other prizes (including the water bottle his mom got for herself).

More birthday party photos

In this post, there's photos of Jasper with Melissa and Isabelle Meyer; with great grandma and grandpa Trissel; and the Wilsons (Adam, Natalie and J) with great-aunts Linda Latimer and Candy Henderson and great-grandma Alice Henderson.

Birthday party

It took me a week (and one day) but here are a few photos from Jasper's first birthday party. More than 30 people came to grandma Vicki's house in Waukee for the party, which had kind of a puppy theme complete with paw cakes, doggy bone cookies and more.

J got way more gifts than he needed, but he — and we — appreciate them all. He loves the new blocks and musical instruments he got, and did very well unwrapping everything one-by-one and not getting distracted by a certain toy (except maybe his new toy remote control).

Photos in this post include J beginning to unwrap gifts; him celebrating with his own personal cake; J and cousin Syd playing in his new wagon from gma Vicki; J, Syd and aunt Melissa; and the Wilsons (Adam, Nat and J) and the Gillespies (Ami, Payson and Zoe).

More photos to come.

Thanks again to everyone!