Clifford visits school

Jack's school is having a book fair this week. This evening they held a story hour with milk & cookies, and there was a celebrity guest appearance by Clifford the Big Red Dog. He showed up at school this morning while the children were on the playground, and when I picked Jack up this afternoon, I got quite an earful about Clifford's visit. Although Jack repeatedly mentioned that he DID NOT give Clifford a hug, I was excited to go back and meet him myself.
So, after dinner, Jack put on his pajamas (part of the theme for the evening), and we loaded up to go hear some stories and meet Clifford. Jack was pumped! He chattered the whole way there about getting to see Clifford.
The picture above shows how close we got to actually meeting him. Jack was VERY interested in watching Clifford from a distance and kept wanting to go back to see him, but he did not want to get too close.
As I was putting him to bed tonight, he asked for several Clifford stories. As I finished the stories and began our bedtime prayer, I thanked God for Jack's school and for all of the fun things he gets to do there, like getting a visit from Clifford. Jack quickly followed that with, "And thank you for Clifford not giving me five. And, thank you for Clifford not giving me a hug." That's the first time I've ever heard anyone thank God for NOT getting hugged! Pretty funny!

He makes his mommy proud!

Because we live in Starkville, sometimes I worry that Jack will not know the things that I love and that make me who I am, so I make every effort to tell him about my roots. Generally, Brent is supportive of this, but when it comes to teaching him about great college sports, we do end up at odds. I have taught Jack the LSU fight song and tell him stories of the great LSU traditions. He's been to a few sporting events at MSU against LSU, but he hasn't experienced as much LSU as I would like. I'm never sure if I'm really getting through. He does like "the tiger song," but on occasion he will shout, "Go LSU Bulldogs!" That does give me heartache, but it must be confusing! Poor thing!
(These pictures are from our visit with Mike in July. Nobody can tell me that is not one beautiful animal and a much cooler mascot than most!)
So, this morning, I was pleased to get the following text message from a good friend of ours, Jeff Adkerson. It said, "You will be proud to know, Em saw an LSU Tiger and said, 'It's a tiger, like Jack Fountain wears.' She now associates Jack as a Tiger fan. Mission accomplished." I think I shed a tear when I got this message. Mission accomplished, indeed!

We will be taking Jack to his first LSU game at Tiger Stadium in a couple of weeks. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

I've got a t-shirt like Daddy!

Here are Jack and Brent showing off their matching KISS t-shirts. Can you guess who bought them??

This morning Jack made his way into the kitchen before Brent and me. The picture above is what we found. He decided to go ahead and fix his own breakfast. He got out the Cheerios, a large mixing bowl, and the brown sugar. He dumped the whole box of cereal into the bowl and topped it off with some sugar. He actually didn't spill much of the cereal and didn't use nearly as much sugar as I would have expected. (It looked like he only added a few pinches.) Fortunately, he didn't decide to add milk! (And, no, he isn't wearing any pants!)

Jack & Em

Last night Amy Adkerson and I had bunko and our husbands were both occupied, so Ms. Debbie came over to our house to play with Jack and Emily. Ms. Debbie works with Amy and goes to church with us; she is great with the kiddos! Judging from the pics she took, they had a great time! (Side note: If anyone reading this blog is looking for a Christmas hint for Jack, the boy could really use a more authentic cowboy hat!)

Vocabulary Lesson by Jack

Horsey-corn = unicorn
Football man = football player
Horseman = cowboy (Really, let's just think about this for a minute, it is a man on a horse, not a boy on a cow. The kid has a point!)
Eggplant? (Now that is a word that just doesn't make any sense.)

Jack's first pun:
A few days ago, Brent was shaving and squirted some shave gel into Jack's hand. He told Jack to rub his hands together to make a lather. So, Jack rubbed his hands together and held up a handful of white lather and said, "That's foam?" Brent said, "Yes, that's foam." (Keep in mind that Brent said, "lather." Jack supplied the word "foam.") Then Jack held his hand up to his ear and said, "Hello." (Get it? He said "foam" and then acted like it was a "phone." I'm not sure how well this translates in a blog, but we sure have gotten a good laugh out of it.)

Daddy's boy:
Brent had surgery on his shoulder yesterday and is wearing a massive sling now. He is wearing XXXL shirts over the sling because he cannot move his arm. So, last night when Sue and I were finished telling Jack goodnight, he asked for Brent to come in and tell him one last story. Brent went in and told him a story and leaned down to give him a last kiss for the night. It was dark, and Jack said, "Like this, Daddy?" Brent wasn't sure what he was talking about, so he looked a little closer and Jack had one arm pulled under his shirt next to his body just like Brent. He really is turning into a Daddy's boy, and it sure is sweet!

Four dogs, three cats, nine adults, & one toddler

Thanks to hurricane Gustav, we have had quite a bit of company for the last couple of days. My family is here from Lafayette, Sue is here from Natchez, and very close family friends, Jananne & Annie (I call Jananne my other mother), are here from NOLA. Everyone brought their pets, so it is a little crazy around here. The dogs didn't get along well at first, but now they have all settled in and are playing nicely together. Above are some of the evacuees staring at the television awaiting the news about the storm. Below is a picture of my driveway with eight cars in it. And, unlike the Biblical story, not everyone has arrived in pairs. So, we have three air mattresses strategically placed around the house (one in Jack's room, one in the foyer, and one by the backdoor.) Jack has enjoyed the company and the air mattresses!

Sleeping, soccer, & a birthday party

Jack still likes to bring some of his favorite things to bed for naptime. Here he is sleeping soundly with his baseball mitt.

This Coke t-shirt was Brent's when he was little.

Friday night we went to the MSU soccer game. We played with the Adkersons, Edelblutes, & Stapletons. The kids had a great time running and playing together. Of course, nobody had a camera, but when we got home I got a picture of Jack with the paw print painted on his face.

Avi Grace is already almost ONE! We went over to her house for cake and ice cream on Saturday. She is getting to be such a big girl! Kelli had baby pools and a squirting hose that the children had a blast with!