Mee-oh!

No matter how cold it gets, one thing we try to do to get out of the house is go get the mail, or 'mee-oh,' as Jack likes to say.

Note the one dollar beanie on his head, complete with ear flaps. One dollah! I bought 4.

Said house we try to escape from, at least once a day. Except Sunday. Because ther is no mail on Sundays. But you probably already knew that.

I feel like Jackers is really tall. He's as tall as some 3 years-old we know, and way taller than most of the 2 year-olds Jack runs around with. He's for sure already at least 36 inches; we'll have to see what the official measurement is at the doctors' office; April 24th. Update to follow.

Jack is actually pretty good with the keys, if you give him the right one pointing in the right direction.

Keeper of the key.

Work it.......

Mama Bird and Baby. He's not so baby anymore......

The Three Amigos.

I am getting hairy. You know you can tell you're a man when you can grow hair on your face and your chest. I'm half-way there, baby!

The beautiful people.

Another successful trip to get the mail completed.

New Species

From the Associated Press

Recent rumors surrounding the sighting of a new species in the wilderness area of 'American Fork' have the scientific community in an uproar. What is this new species, and where did it come from? Is the supply of goldfish crackers in real danger of diminishing to unsustainable levels? Is there any truth to the wild stories circulating about the the overwhelming cuteness associated with encountering the little buggers, and are such encounters safe?

These rare photos show attempts made by the surrounding community of 'Belle Monet' to corral some of these extrodinary critters in a vain attempt at domestication.

The attempt, while not successful, did give desperate scientists a chance to better study the creatures and attempt to learn something about them.

The best guess by the scientific community tell us that the creatures range in size and shape dramatically. Some have blondish hair, and some have darker shades, but all are about three feet in height, with a tremendous capacity for high-pitched screaming the likes of which the scientific community is at a loss to explain. Dr S Taylor claims that his research indicates the noises can be emitted as both signs of pleasure and "sheer joy," as he stated, but also in times of distress.

In the rare photo above, the group of critters can be seen interacting with each other and objects commonly found in their habitat. The bottles contain something similar to juice, althought it goes by many names or none at all. The creatures have been observed to have powerful methods of food aquisition, sometimes employing smiling gestures or even the forceful technique know as 'grab-and-run," which requires no sounds at all.

These shots indicate that the creatures enjoy dirt. Some argue that much can be learned from them, and some scientists are hopefull that not only will we be able to harness the energy that these creatures produce, but also some cures.

Much like cats and dogs eat grass when they are sick, the world waits with baited breath to see what results these actions produce....

As is evidenced by this photo, these two appear to be engaging in some sort of dirt worship service.

Some scientists claim to be able to determine the sex of the critters, but most of these guesses are based on the as-yet unproven idea that the males can be identified as having dirt smeared on their faces, hands and everywhere else dirt can possibly be smeared, but these assumptions have yet to gain very much credence with the broader scientific world.

The creatures seem to be capable of communicating with each other in what sounds like normal human speech patterns. Indeed, many of the mutterings sound very much like English-if early reports can be believed and substantiated.

Note the almost diabolical facination with the 'dirt worship service.' Also note the hands, covered in the yuckiest material possible. Scientists are still amazed at the capacity these creatures have for discovering the dirtiest possible materials to smear, taste and scatter.

The amount of time spent by these two in this spot of dirt was estimated to be at twenty minutes, which gives scientists some indication of just how important this dirt worship service is. Neither creature left until they were completely covered, and at one point, they were observed helping to ensure complete coverage of each other. This rare sight of cooperation was noted with glee, as cooperation in a trait not often observed with this group.

While the creatures only seem to 'work' together in mischief, they can sometimes be observed using a different approach. Scientists have termed it 'cuteness,' and they are working on establishing a mathematical corollation between how cute a creature is and how much trouble it can cause. The concensus so far is that the cuter a critter, the more trouble it is. This is viewed as defense mechanism on the part of the critters, which would go a long way in explaining why there are so many, and why more keep showing up, and why the ones that do cause the most trouble are still here.

Prolonged exposure to or contact with these creatures has been observed to do one of two surprsingly different things-either increase desire to "have one of our own," or increase the number of times one says things like "what was I thinking?" and "nobody told me about this part." How something could have such a polarizing effect on people is still being evaluated.

Making direct eye contact is not recommended, as it can lead to diminushed stocks of goldfish crackers, juice and wipes.

This level of observation is rare, as most moments when the critters are quiet are usually taken advantage of for other things, such as not going stark raving mad, or "quiet time, " as it is also known.

Those who risk such foolish behavior as looking directly into the eye part of the critter place themsleves at serious risk for heart-warming moments. Please do so only if you are healthy enough for heart-melting experience, as the effects are not yet known to be reversable. Once your heart has been melted, it is hard to ever go back.

Boots!

Once upon a time, I was a little boy. No seriously, I was once little. And I had boots. My mom and dad still have these boots, and it is sooooo cute to see them now and imagine I was ever small enough to fit in them. So I recently decided that it was time for Jack to get a pair.

I found these at Famous, but-they are plastic, but-they are only 10 bucks. So, I still plan on getting him some REAL cowboy boots, in leather so they'll last forever, but for now, these will do just fine.

Also, they are the only footwear that Jack can get on himself, goodness though he tries. Sometimes I'll just stand and watch him try to put a hat or a jacket on by himself and just laugh. I know-I'm a terrible human beaner, uh, I mean 'being', but it's too funny. I should get pictures of him trying to dress himself.....that would be good.

Any-who, these are the first pictures of the Boy and his Boots. He gets kind of excited about cowboys and such, probably because one of his favorite DVD's is an Elmo one that is all about cowboys and the Wild Wild West. Howdy Cowboy Jackers!

Also, because of this infatuation, I had been wanting to get the boy a hobby horse, but on this last trip to El Paso, my dad found my old one and now Jack has it. I'm kinda geeked about it, actually.

This whole being-a-parent-thing and having him play with toys I enjoyed when I was a littl'un is kinda cool. Sniff, sniff, tear.......

Therefore, the plentitude of photos continues, mostly for the benefit of my parents, 820 miles away in El Paso, and Heathers' parents, 860 miles away in Seattle. (All mileage estimates approximate, but close enough to be...... ironic? funny? sad?)

Also, I forgot to mention, my pops refused to let me have said cowboy boots. I used to use them all the way up until high school, as bookends, I would keep pens in them and stuff.

This is Jack deciding that he was "All done, all done."

Then the fashion show continued with me deciding I needed to know if he would look better in pants with the pant leg on the inside or the outside of his new boots. Jack might've though that was kinda silly.

But he got back on his "Orsey," anyway.

And rode off into the sunset.... in our kitchen.

Meanwhile I was still deciding. Pant leg in or out? Hmmmmmm........

So that's it. The boy has his boots, and even though they're plastic, they're a good place to start.

Ok, so can we go outside now?

It's that time again....

.......When your vacuum cleaner puts out a delicious burning hair smell because your hair is super-long and gets stuck in everything, so you seriously start considering getting a haircut. Or a vacuum/mulcher combination machine. Does anyone else with long hair have that problem? Or, I guess I could get Heather something a little better than the cheapest Dirt Devil Target had to offer.

This is Heather's last haircut, the summer before Jack was born. It turned out pretty cute.

Yeah, so I was at work today, cutting some girls' hair, and her creepy husband took a picture of my ankles.....yeah, wierd, huh? He's probably one of those wierdo dudes who likes feet.....I gotta get a new job....

Hmmmm.....I kinda like that.

And then you blow-dry it........it's growing on me.

Heather also had enough length to donate to Locks of Love. It is long enough now that we'll be able to do that again for sure.

We almost didn't donate the hair.

However, in the end, a wall mounting of Heather's locks just would not have gone well with our living room decor.

Lovely.

Loved it!

So we are either getting Heather a haircut (and maybe me, too, cuz I'm starting to look a little shaggoriffic myself-though no where near Mrs. Lady Godiva) or we are getting a new vacuum. Maybe a Dyson? The little one with the ball? We'll see.......and keep you posted of course.