weekend update

it was another busy weekend at llvj. saturday started with a pancake breakfast at our friends' house. they had hosted our other beach-going friends' kids for a sleepover. jack was not invited because he was deemed too little. wise call. as it turned out, miss phia -- jack's elder by a year -- had to be picked up by her parents at 11 p.m.

but all were in good spirits when we arrived just after 9 and were welcomed with chocolate chip pancakes. jack was quite pleased. no photos of this event were taken, as mostly we were concerned with corralling 5 children who had just eaten chocolate chip pancakes and were on a sugar rush ... but trust us when we say it was a lot of fun.

after lunch and a nap, jack and mommy headed to a big adventure -- the big top! that's right, we went to the circus!



but look closely ... that grey-haired man in the picture is not daddy ...

in fact, it's the father of one of jack's good buddies/girlfriends:

her mommy hooked us up with tickets to a corporate suite. sadly, daddy had to stay home -- stupid ethics restrictions! but, for my money (which in this case was no money), it's the only way to manage the circus with a 1.75 year old who won't stay in his seat for long and who is slightly wary of all the noise and flashing lights and spectacle.

and even with our luxury digs, jack wanted to leave the box and just run around a bit ... which we did at intermission ...

but all in all, he did really well and enjoyed it much more and for much longer than daddy and i thought he would. he particularly seemed to like the tigers, the horses, the dogs, and the acrobats. and he liked clapping. and he really liked the birthday party full of 5 year old girls in the next box ... but that's a different post ...

and that leads us to sunday. jack got dressed, looked in the mirror to see how cute he was (at mommy's urging) and promptly kissed himself and said, "love you" to his reflection. then, he pointed to the camera on the fireplace mantle and said, "cheese, mommy." so he asked that this picture be taken. and he even sat down to pose for it. he also requested to wear this hat. he certainly knows his mind.



after a morning at the park, we had a restful nap and then did some cleaning. this was a huge hit with jack. we took the handle off the big swiffer and he pushed it around the floor (even under the couch), he used the duster, and he even "swept" the rug with the carpet broom. he was a cleaning machine (and incidentally he's available for your spring cleaning needs at very reasonable rates)!

jack even took this picture of daddy cleaning (all by himself!):

all this tidying was in anticipation of a visit by jack's girlfriend and likely future wife kay taylor. she and jack hung out at our house and the playground while their respective daddies went to opening day at the new nats stadium.

the visit was a big success, but keeping a toddler from inadvertently mauling an infant with an over-exuberance of love requires two hands ... so no photos were taken at this event either.

it was a jack-tastic weekend! but really ... aren't they all?