A gift and a Brusha, Brusha...

A BIG thank you to Grammy, who sent this cool froggy shirt. It has glow in the dark frogs printed on the shirt and three snap-on frogs! Very cool! Grammy got it in Minnesota on her latest adventure for work.





The other day when I was helping Jaiden brush his teeth I started singing this little song to him. He asks for it now. Tonight I thought I would have Jamie video it so you could see him singing. He is so funny when we get the camera out now....he wants to see the pictures, as you'll hear in the video.

Chores or fun? You decide....

Well, one of the things about this new house that we really like is the big yard. However, it's a double edge sword. With a big yard, comes lots of grass to mow. Jamie made the best of it by having Jaiden come help. I think the bubble mower gave the yard just the right finishing touch. :) Jaiden sure enjoyed himself a lot. He also played in his sand box this afternoon. The weather was cooler than usual, yet sunny, so it was a perfect time for him to get out and play.

This weekend we finally decided to take a drive outside the Tri-Cities. We drove East on I-182 towards Walla Walla. What a pretty drive. We drove over the Snake River, along the Columbia until it turned south towards Oregon, then a little north and east. Along the way we drove past the Whitman Mission and Fort Walla Walla. We didn't stop this time because Jaiden was asleep. When we got to Walla Walla we drove around to get a feel for the town. There are parts we like, but overall it was not impressive. It was Sunday and most of the shops and restaurants downtown were closed. Whitman College is an interesting little campus. It reminds me of UPS a bit in Tacoma. In fact a lot of the town reminded us of the Proctor part of Tacoma...lots of older houses. We found a really cool park a mile or so from the Whitman campus. Very cool with a great play area. Here is the only picture that we took during the trip because we didn't really stop anywhere other than to get lunch at El Sombrero, which by the way has AWESOME mexican food.

A weekend at the park...

Grandma and Grandpa came over for the weekend to get their Jaiden fix. We went to the park on Saturday and got these wonderful pictures.

Jaiden sure had fun!!!

More about Morgan...

Some comparison pictures to ponder...

My sis-in-law put up some new pics, and being the proud auntie that I am, I have to share! Enjoy!! He is so adorable! He has some of the same traits as Jaiden, but a lot more hair!

Our budding Artist!

The teachers at daycare have been telling me that Jaiden really enjoys art time at daycare. They say that he is the first to the tables when they say it is project time, especially when they are going to paint. So...Jamie and I went to Toys'R Us and got some painting supplies today after Jaiden's Dr. appointment and dinner. When we got home, Jaiden did not want to go play with his toys and usual. All he wanted to do is paint.

So, first we did some watercolors...

**Yes, he has a big shiner on his forehead. He was walking around the corner from his playroom, carrying his Elmo chair, and wasn't looking. He ran right into the corner of the door. Jamie gave him a kiss and let him go back to play because it didn't look like he had hit it that bad. When I noticed it, he already had a big lump and a bruise. I tried to put ice on it, but being the 2 yr. old that he is, he wouldn't let me. So, there it is....**

Then we got out the real paint and had some more fun...

Some more of Jaiden's antics....notice the shoes are on the wrong feet and thus the funny walk and look on his face. :)

I finally got my dining room set the other day. Jaiden gives his stamp of approval. He loves the bench seat that we got with it.

Dog Daze at the Stipp household...

Here are some cute photos Jamie took of the dogs having fun in the house. They have really adjusted well, I think. To the left, we have Abigail (Abbie). She loves to lay on our new carpet near the kitchen. She has gotten very grey in the muzzle this last year, but that is to be expected with red dachsies.

To the right we have our oldest, Toby. He doesn't seem like the oldest though because he is constantly running circles around our couch like he's in the Indy 500 or something. Here he is posturing to get the other dogs to chase him.

Eli is the funniest of them all, I think. He is just a dufus (sp?). He used to be a very independent dog when he was a puppy, but now he is a cuttlepuss. He loves his beard scratched. He has been the clown of the pack and keeps things lively around the house.

Last, but not least, we have Ellie. She is Eli's daughter. We adopted her from my mom and dad after they decided to keep two of the puppies from Rosie and Eli's litter. Rufus is the other puppy, he's a wire haired also. Anyway, Ellie is officially named Caramella Macchiato because of her carmel dappled color. She was originally named Dora the Explorer because she got into everything, dug out of the yard, and generally EXPLORED her world. However, my grandmother, DORA, took offense to her name being used (even though we called the dog Dorie) and thus she is now Ellie, short for Caramella. I think that her original name fits to a "T" though because she is still causing trouble. She loves to chase Toby around the couch and dig holes outside. She is constantly wanting attention and will not stop licking!

When they all get riled up this is what we get...

I'm a new auntie!!!

Well, today has been an emotional rollercoaster. My sister-in-law was pregnant and due last Saturday with her first child. She was supposed to be induced today, however her body had other plans. She went into labor before they could start the pitocin. I was unable to make the trip over for the birth so I have been calling every couple hours. First we thought she was making good progress, then she got her epidural, then she made some more progress, then everything stalled, then the big news...c-section! Whew! I myself was an emotional reck today, I can't imagine what it must have been like in that labor room all day. In the end though, everyone is healthy and doing fine. The new addition is Morgan Kemp Wax. He was born around 6 p.m. and was 8 lbs. 10.4 oz., 20.5" long, with a whopping head circumference of 14.5". Surprisingly after some research on Jaiden's size when he was born, I found out that Jaiden had a head circumference of 14.5", 20.5 in long, and 8 lbs. 13 oz. WOW! Almost the same size! Here is Morgan with his proud papa...

Jaiden and I went to the park to keep ourselves occupied today. Here he is on the playground.

Lastly, I took this pic when we went to dinner last night at Red Lobster. I was wearing a new braclet I bought for work and Jaiden is facinated with it. This picture captures his comedic side. What a ham!

Dachsie Heaven.....Our Entertainment

Our backyard is not the biggest in the area. It's not even a quarter of an acre...but it is daschie heaven. The dogs LOVE it back there. Toby (pictured here) will not come in the house when it is time to kennel up, or come in for the night.

Here he is sleeping in the shade. All the dogs like to do this and then they will get up and move into the sun to sunbathe. Abigail is our little sun goddess. We have to watch her carefully because she will sit in the sun for too long and overheat.

Our Entertainment

This summer we have spent a lot of our time (when we are not working on the house) trying to relax. One of the things that we have found that we like to do together is play Guitar Hero and Rock Band. When we moved in we had to solve the problem of the insert above the fireplace that was too small for our TV. So, we had someone come in and install a box with a shelf to hold our cable box and mount the TV on the wall. Now we can really do some gaming and movie watching! The guy who installed it talked us into mounting it lower than we had originally wanted. He said that it is better for your neck and back when you are sitting on the couch watching. Boy, was he right. I never really thought about it in our other house, but now I see the difference. It is so much more comfortable that in our other house where the TV was way above the fireplace. Besides the TV, we have a regular comedy show going on at our house most of the time. Mr. Jaiden likes to climb, bounce, run, jump, hop, and crawl everywhere.

As you can see here, he likes to be upside down and regularly rolls over and puts his feet in the air on the couch. Here he was excited because he just got done playing Mater-National with Daddy. Yes, he is VERY spoiled. He has a XBox 360 game, although, it's mainly for us to play and him to watch. He likes the little movies in between the gameplay. Overall, I think he is making the adjustment very well.

He is so cute. He frequently says, "Momma, happy here. Daddy, happy here." Which means that he is happy we are home with him. When we come home he says, "Our house. New house." He frequently tells us, "Momma, wake up." or "Daddy, wake up." Which means that's who he wants to wake him up in the morning or after nap. :)