I Will Be Your Friend

One of Jack's favorite CD's is "Sing-A-Long with Putumayo". What? You are now asking It is a wonderful CD and there are many cd's that they offer. Check it out here. His recent favorite has been "Old MacDonald had a Farm" (remember him singing to himself in his room?) But in the last few days he's wanted to hear one called "I Will Be Your Friend". Today in the car he said, "Jack want hear I be your friend". I said, "You want to listen to I will be your friend?" He said, "Ok". When I put it on he said, "I be your friend, Mommy." Here are the words to the song and I think you can listen to it at the website.

If you’ve got troubles
And you need a helpin’ hand,
If you’ve got troubles
And you need a helpin’ hand,
If you’ve got troubles
And you need a helpin’ hand,
Come to me,
I will be your friend.

Chorus:
I will be your friend,
I will be your friend.
If you’ve got troubles
And you need a helpin’ hand,
Come to me,
I will be your friend.

If you are hungry
And you’ve got no place to stay,
If you are hungry
And you’ve got no place to stay,
If you are hungry
And you’ve got no place to stay,
Come to me,

I will be your friend.
I will be your friend (oh Lordy!),
I will be your friend.
If you are hungry
And you’ve got no place to stay,
Come to me,
I will be your friend.

If you are lonely
And you’ve got nobody to love (have mercy!),
If you are lonely
And you’ve got no one to love,
If you are lonely
And you’ve got nobody to love,
Come to me,
I will be your friend.

I will be your friend,
I will be your friend.
If you are lonely
And you need somebody to love,
Come to me,
I will be your friend.

Dewek & Abecca

Unfortunately, the University of Tennessee football team lost again this past weekend. It is not looking good for the VOLS. Lucky for us, and Jack, our friends Derek & Rebecca came to share in the misery. It took about 30 seconds for Jack to warm up to them and then he wasn't quite the rest of the day. I think Rebecca might be his new best friend. He wanted them to play with Lightning McQueen, Big Red Big Truck, Tow Mater, Jack's choo choo train, his airplane and even his toys that make music. I think they have now seen all of Jack's toys and understand his language pretty well since he talked non-stop. The downside is that they may never want to watch a football game with us again, since they didn't get to do much watching! :) When they left, I started to wonder, "Do they think he's as smart and cute as we do or is the constant activity a little too much?" I mean he seriously did not stop from a few minutes after they got here until the time they left. If Rebecca would get up off the floor to watch the game and sit back on the couch, within seconds Jack was over there trying to get her back on the floor. Jarred and I would both offer to play whatever he wanted to play but he would just say, "Abecca play with it." At one point Jack would run around the kitchen table, give Derek a high 5, jump in Rebecca's lap and then do it all over again. The one time Derek forgot to high 5, he said, "Dewek, dewek." Derek taught him a little dance and he thought it was funny. I hope they had as much fun as Jack did and I hope they weren't quite as tired as we are at the end of the day!

Jack, Dewek & Abecca

Jack eating cookie 1 of 4. Maybe that has something to do with the energy level?

Getting Abecca to play with Lightning McQueen.

Dewek made him a cape out of the paper towels. He got a kick out of that and wanted him to do it over and over.

Playing a little peek-a-boo.

Not wanting me to take his picture.

I hope your football team is doing better than mine.

The Vol Navy

The University of Tennessee sits on the Tennessee River and every weekend before the home games, hundreds of fans bring their "oyo tiny" boats and park along the river. Many boats are big enough to live on and I think some people do spend the entire football season on their boats. I thought Jack would enjoy seeing the really big boats all along the river but he was unimpressed because he could not get on them. When we talked about going to see the boats, he got really excited and talked about seeing them and cars. I told him we might see cars, but mostly just boats. He told me he wanted to ring the bells. It took me awhile to realize that he was talking about the boats and cars at Wonderland Park, in Amarillo, that he had so much fun on back in June. Regardless of how much fun Jack had, it is always impressive to walk down Volunteer Landing and see all the boats.

This boat, "Dealership", belongs to the family that owns the dealership in Knoxville that mom and dad advertise for.

There are lots of these bears painted around town. This is the Tennessee River Bear.

I hope this is how the Gators feel tomorrow.

A few of the "oyo tiny" boats.

More boats.

Jack & Daddy.

Jack posing for me.

Even the flowers are ready for the big game.

It's really too dark, but this is a shot of the Vol Navy with the stadium in the background. It was getting late and I was running out of daylight.

This is one of our favorite restaurants on the left, Calhoun's, with more Vol Navy boats parked beside it. We would have been fools to try to eat there tonight. First, it's Friday night and second, Tennessee plays Florida tomorrow so it's hard to get a table when a few thousand others are trying to get one, too. If you read this before 3:30 eastern time on Saturday, root for the Vols. I will root for your team... unless it's Florida.

A really fun place

Last week Jarred had softball practice at a really nice park. It's by the water, has a great walking trail, a great playground and it's nowhere near our house. Bummer. He had practice again tonight so we went again because as he was sliding last week Jack tells me, "This a really fun place, Mommy, really fun!" How could I not take him after that? Here we are, enjoying the really fun place.

Jack is picking flowers and trying to give them to Jarred. That's him in the background.

Jack sliding.
Peek-A-Booing through the rails on the playground.

See how pretty it is?

He is watching the water to see if he can see dolphins.

A cute little log cabin.

Popo and Momo Jo came, too.

I think they are still looking for dolphins.

Jack & Popo walking on the choo choo tracks, against Momo Jo's advice.

After going down the big slide!

The weather was great, gas was back at a fairly reasonable ($3.49) rate so it was really a good night.

Gas & Trees

With gas prices at $4.99 a gallon in Knoxville over the weekend, we didn't have much choice but to stay at home and enjoy each others company. Fortunately, we had very good company. Kelly and Abbott came over to cheer on Jarred and Popo as they cut up and cleared away the trees. Unfortunately, it was one of the hottest weekends we've had lately so we (the girls and kiddos) stayed inside a lot while Jarred and Popo worked really really hard.

Kelly & Abbott snuggling a little bit.

We found Jack a new toy, because he needs more, a CARS tent.

He got Aunt Kelly to play inside, too.

Abbott, totally relaxed on the porch swing.

Jack is learning to like Aunt Kelly.

Look closely, you can see the mud and snot on his face. Anyone want a kiss?

Popo is excited about his new trailer, it got broken in real good this weekend!

Dumping a load of tree branches while Jack supervises.

Before they started sawing...

After the weekend. There's still lots to do, but they made a lot of progress. The weather has cooled down a lot so that may allow them to work longer this weekend. Gas has dropped back down to $3.99 a gallon, but we're hoping for more. Apparently, we had the highest gas prices in the country after Ike. We're really not sure why.

We all help somehow...

How the guys help cut up the trees:

Dad makes sure he's wearing his Elvis safey goggles. This lets him sing and cut up trees at the same time.

Dad cutting up trees.

Jarred cutting up trees.

Both of them working really hard.

How the girls help cut up trees:

Mom tests out her balancing skills.

And tries a new breed of watermelon.

Jack and I try it too. Oak watermelon is tasty.

I show off my old balance beam routines.

I think I still have excellent form. Should I try out for the 2012 Olympics?

As you can see, it was quite a busy day, everyone working really hard to get the trees cut up and moved. Mom and I worked up a huge sweat because we were working so hard. I'm sure tomorrow will be more of the same, plus we have some more help now. Kelly and Abbott were here and we're giving a chainsaw to both of them. Are you sure you don't want to come over and help, too?

Jack & Mommy Build a Garage

His teachers at school all have the same thing to say about Jack, "He was so chatty today!" Here is about 6 minutes of what every day is like. Plus, you get to see how smart he is! :)

Here are a few things to listen for:

He names colors, he counts (sort of), he says "um, yes", he tells me where to put things, he talks about his little tiny blocks- "oyo tiny one" in a high pitch voice. Enjoy!

Silly Jack, Again

Here are just a few cute pictures of Jack...

For those of you who watched "Friends", this is Jack's "Flock of Seagulls" hairdo.

This had excited him because it has a tractor on it. Nevermind that it is probably cutting off the circulation in his head and came in a gift set with 6 month clothes. He wore it about half the day with the rest of his tractor gear. Yes, the pants have tractors on them, too.

Silly face.