Sibling Love.

Jadon brings tremendous joy to all of us. Jacob's face is just full of love when he is making Jadon laugh. Last night Jadon was very sleepy and he was in Shelby's arms. She was walking around with him. He had his head on her shoulder and was talking softly. He was just snuggled right into her arms. I noticed that every time she told him she loved him he would smile. It was just adorable. She just kept saying "I just love him so much"! Jadon has both of them wrapped around his little finger. We are truly blessed with all of our kids! I am enjoying every moment.

One of Jadon's new favorite things is closing doors. He likes to play peekaboo with a door too. Jacob and Jadon were having a lot of fun the other morning. So precious!

Now if I could only get the older two to feel that way about each other! Is that too much to ask? LOL!

A Day in the Life of Jadon

Most people think that the first few months of your child's life are the most difficult. The constant feedings, lots of poopy diapers, and very little sleep. I was right there in agreement...until a few weeks ago. That was when my curious, smiley, determined little son discovered how to move about his world. I realize that I was an accomplice to all that has taken place in the past few weeks. I wanted nothing more than to see my challenged son navigate in his world. I was his loudest cheerleader. However, I am exhausted in a whole new way now.

I think I have been continuously "Jadon proofing" the house for three weeks now. Just when I think I have everything he can't have put up or inaccessible in some way he finds something else he wants to explore.

Jadon's top ten things to try and get to:
1. Dog Water
2. Dog food
3. Anything on the table by Daddy's recliner (his newspaper, his glass of water)
4. The cabinet with all the goodies (i.e. the snack cabinet).
5. The cabinet with all the plastic cups and plates. Though now that I know Mommy does not mind me unloading the cabinet it has lost some of it allure.
6. The toilet.
7. The dirt in the planter.
8. The potato basket.
9. The Christmas tree.
10. Anything under the Christmas tree.

Phew! I am tired just making this list. I feel like we make a circuit from one of these things to the next. Fortunately, I can close the bathroom door and shut the gate to the backroom so he can't get into the dog water and food. The thing that amazes me the most is how fast he is. He moves with lightning speed. One minute he is playing innocently with a toy and the next minute he is happily splashing in the dogs water. He seems to know he is not supposed to be doing certain things. He is always very quiet when he is getting into mischief.

Jadon getting into the snack cabinet.


Jadon is very busy searching for something yummy!



To try in redirect Jadon to things he can play with I have introduced him to the pots and pans cabinet, the dish towel drawer, and the cabinet that hold the baking sheets. I want him to be able to explore his world with out constantly telling him "no".

Jadon likes to pretend he is stirring something.


Bang! Bang! This is fun Mom!



Today, Jadon got into the snack cabinet. Not a first for him. He has played in the snack cabinet for a few months. Up until now the crinkle sound of the bags has entertained him. However, in the last few weeks he has been introduced to some of the items in the snack cabinet. He loves saltine crackers, Cherrios, and vanilla wafers. Today he spotted the box that held the vanilla wafers. He pulled it out, opened the box, pulled out the bag that held the cookies. He looked at me to see if I would stop him. Deciding that it was safe to proceed he stuck his hand in the bag and retrieved a "cookie". Yum, sweet victory! Here is some video of this event. As you can see for yourself he is ignoring me and savoring his cookie.

A New Tradition

Last year when we put up our 14 year old artificial tree we decided it would be the last year for that tree. It was starting to show its age. So this year we thought we would try something we had never done before. Get a real tree!! I was so excited. I had always had real trees at my house growing up and remember how good they smelled. Instead of just going to the store a picking one that was already cut (boring) we decided to see if we could find a tree farm. It turns out that there are several in our area. We choose Talbott's which is in Green Valley. A short 25 miles drive from our house. On Saturday morning we got up nice and early to head to Talbott's. When we arrived we found a saw to cut down our tree then we all hopped on the tractor pulled hay rack to ride out to where the trees were. We scoped out a few prospects on the ride and when the tractor stopped we hopped off to begin our search. It is not easy getting four people (Jadon has so say yet) to agree on the perfect tree. Fortunately two of us have full veto power over the other two. I love being a parent! After finding at least four trees that one person or another declared to be our perfect tree we found one that most of us agreed on. Shelby was still stuck on the tree prior to this one. Jake had the saw down and ready to cut before we could even say go. I got the feeling he was growing tired of the debate. Jake tried to saw through the tree trunk himself but in the end needed a little help from Dad. Now that the perfect Nafziger Christmas tree was cut it was time to hitch a ride back to the building on the next tractor. When we arrived back at the building they took our tree a put it in a shaker to all the loose needles off, then they sent it through a baler to tie up the branches for the trip home.

When we got home we sat up the tree stand and brought in our tree. We soon realized that we had forgotten an important part of choosing a tree. Check to make sure the trunk is straight! Oops. Our trees trunk is a little crooked but we got it somewhat straight. Hey, it is our first time. Next year we will remember to check the trunk!

Sunday we put the lights on our tree and the kids did the ornaments. Now we just have to remember to water it!

The first tree we came to. A little short.


Matt and Jadon are measuring the width of a tree.



Shelby is pretty sure this is the one.




We point out to Shelby that is has a big dead spot in the back.


This is "The One"


Matt and Jake cut down our Christmas tree.






Our tree is home!


I will post pictures soon of it decorated.

New Family Pictures and Jadon's Nine Months Pictures

Today we got our first family picture with Jadon in it! Jadon also got his nine month pictures taken. I can't believe he is that old already. I am very happy with how the pictures turned out. I love them!

Another first!!

This morning I watched Jadon pull himself up to stand on his feet. He has been pulling up to things for a couple weeks now but prior to this morning had not made it any farther than his knees. This morning when he did it he looked at me with a huge grin. I started cheering and clapping. He got excited, did a little happy dance, then fell. I could not believe it when this afternoon I caught him on his feet again. This time he was a little more stable. I had time to grab the camera, snap a few pictures. I was thrilled when he was still standing and I was able to get some video. I even captured him falling and pulling up to stand again!!

I am just amazed at how determined he is. It is not easy to pull yourself up with one arm and balance!! Such a big boy!!

Jadon Scoots!!!

Jadon has been mobile for awhile now but he has been very sneaky about it. I will put him on one side of the living room and look back a few minutes later and he is on the other side of the room. Then I would sit and watch him for awhile and he would not move anywhere. I think park of it was that he was still figuring it all out himself. Well he has the hang of it now! He does it all the time. He can get wherever he wants to go and in a hurry. I knew that even though he can't crawl he would figure out a way to get around. He is such a big boy!

Trick or Treating

Jadon was a ferocious lion for Halloween. I love this costume. Jake was a zombie. He was originally supposed to go to a Halloween party but it was canceled when the host of the party came down with the flu so he went trick or treating with Jadon. Shelby has helped her Grandma Cindy pass out candy at her house for a few years now. She usually throws on a witch hat or something to be a little festive. This years she recruited her friend Theresa to help her pass out candy and they dressed up like hippies.

Jadon was a hit in his lion costume. Jake was a hit with his knife throught the head also. It was nice to see some people we don't usually get to see and visit with a few of them. We only went around to a few houses of people we knew then we went to show Jadon's costume to all the aunts and uncles. Jadon was exhausted by the time the night was over.

Our little cutie!











All three kids on Halloween 2009.


Hippies!


The Tree Huggers.



On the way to the first house.



Jadon asleep on Grandma's shoulder after returning from trick or treating.


Jadon wiped out!

The Marching Zombies

On Halloween the Dee-Mack High School marching band signed up to march in the Deer Creek Halloween Parade. Since they were playing "Thriller" the band instructor asked them to dress up like Zombies.

It was a little chilly on Saturday afternoon so we waited in the truck for the parade to start. We got Jadon out of his car seat while we waited and brought him up front. He thought he was hot stuff sitting up front with Daddy.

The band was missing several people but they sounded great! They also looked very interesting. Jake was happy because he got a lot of candy.

Jadon says "I'll drive Dad".


Look at me Mom!


Watching the parade.


Dee-Mack Marching Zombies



Shelby is in the front row in the red shirt.

Jadon Rocks Out!

Jadon loves this dog that plays the song "Witch Doctor". He really gets into it and is very serious too. I tried for a week to get video of him grooving to the music and every time I got the camera out he would not do it. Finally I got video of him. Almost perfect except for the short appearance made by Dakota.

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

On Sunday we went to Ackerman Farms in Morton to pick out pumpkins to carve. This was Jadon's first trip to the pumpkin patch. Matt picked out a very interesting looking gourd to carve. Shelby and Jake wanted to pick a gourd out also but we all decided that we would choose one this year to try. We were not sure if it was going to work out. We were worried that the gourd might be solid inside. I am sure that next year there will be several gourds if this one works out. We also picked up a cooking pumpkin for Jadon to try. We will see how he likes it. All kinds of squash are his favorites. A pumpkin is closely related so I am thinking he will like it.

Daddy and Jadon.


Everyone helping Matt pick out his gourd.


My three kids!


Jadon has his pumpkins...he is ready to go!

Pumpkin Carving Time.

Jadon in the middle of all the pumpkins. Most are bigger than him!


Last night we finally carved the gourd and pumpkins that we picked out at Ackerman Farms on Sunday. Jadon was very interested in what we are doing. I let him roll his pumpkin around on the floor for a little while. His pumpkin was as big as him I think! Shelby and Jake help Jadon pick his out at the pumpkin patch. Matt decided he wanted to carve a gourd this year. He found a rather odd shaped and bumpy gourd. He carved it to look like a wild boar. Shelby did a cyclops for the second year in a row. Jake, Jadon, and I all did silly faces.

Matt tried to get Jadon to help clean out his pumpkin. Jadon was not so sure about the gunk coming out of the pumpkin at first. Then he got brave and started picking it up and mooshing it in his fingers. Inevitably it went straight to his mouth. He made a funny face and was probably thinking that this stuff tasted nothing like the pumpkin mom had been feeding him for lunch the last few days. I bought a cooking pumpkin while we were at the pumpkin patch on Sunday. Matt cooked it and pureed it. Jadon has been enjoying it for the last few days.

All pumpkin's looked great glowing on the porch in the dark. After we were done carving our pumpkins we watched The Legend of Sleepy Hollow while we ate baked pumpkins seeds. It was an evening full of fun family time.

Jadon playing with his pumpkin prior to carving.


Shelby and Jacob concentrating hard on their pumpkins.



Daddy trying to get Jadon to help get the guts out.


Jadon trying to decide what he thinks of this stuff.


Matt's gourd lit up.


All five pumpkins glowing!

Homecoming 2009

Shelby went to her first homecoming dance on Saturday. I still can't believe she is so grown up! We went shopping for a dress last week. We found a really cute dress and then went over to Grandma Jan's to see if we could borrow a pair of shoes. Shelby is lucky. She wears the same size shoes as Mom, Dani and me. Lots of choices! While we were there my mom convinced Shelby to try on one of my old prom dresses she had kept. She thought it would be cute on her. She was right! It fit her perfectly! Shelby thought it was really cool also. By the time we got home Shelby had decided to wear my dress instead of the one we just bought. Fine with me! I can take the other one back! Just for fun I got out my prom picture from 1993. What a hoot!


Shelby did not have a date for homecoming so she went with a group of friends. It was a little chilly and I felt bad for all the girls in their sleeveless dresses. I am sure once they got on the dance floor they were fine. The group she went with met at Applebees for dinner and then went to the dance. I told Shelby to request a song for me and call me when they played it. She was too chicken to request it but they ended up playing it anyway. I got a phone call but unfortunately could not hear the song. To much other noise. Oh well....

Theresa, Shelby and Kaylee at the dance.

Theresa and Shelby







L to R: Jacob P., Theresa, Shelby, and Jacob L.