Sunday, April 30, 2006

A Very Merry Unbirthday!














Jaden and Daddy April 29, 2006- We were at
temple square because Nellie was shooting
some engagement pictures. We were both
soaking due to our previous romp in the Gateway fountain.


Rather than writing about the week in chronological order, I will instead talk about the most important thing, and then continue talking about other unimportant things. (HINT- If you want to avoid boredom, just read the first section)

Friday, the 28th was exactly sixth months to the day that our beautiful baby (or not so baby) boy came to live with us. We got up early and headed down to the Utah County courthouse. We arrived at 9:20ish and as we walked in, we noticed three or four signs stating no cameras were allowed in the building. Figuring it was worth a try, we opened our mouths and the security personnel simply said "Adoption?" "Go right on through." This was good, but it did make me wonder how safe a policy it really is, considering they let us walk through, and set off the metal detectors without even emptying our pockets. Oh well, we got there safe. The court episode lasted all of ten or fifteen minutes. The judge came in, we got sworn in, Nell gave some testimony, I gave a teeny tiny bit of testimony, and that was it. The judge even let us get some good pictures of us in the court. It was really exciting, but honestly more comforting than anything. He is now ours, and we can even get him on our medical insurance.

I thought the finalization would be an exciting day, but after our tender short moment in court, we went to Mimi's Cafe. At Mimi's Jaden went back to his normal behavior and life was back to normal. Things feel the same way they always have, but it is nice to know everything is done. I think Nellie and I are most excited for our temple sealing. We are going to be sealed in the Salt Lake temple on May 27th, and I think that will be the day I breathe a true sigh of relief.

This week Jaden has morphed into a puppy. What started as a game between he and Mom has become an almost full time character. He does typical puppy things, including the puppy kisses he gives his mommy nonstop in the morning. Our puppy is special also, in addition to the whimpering and barking that he has down, he also has the ability to become Super Puppy, and Gorilla Pup. Super Puppy came about when Nellie was working on his quilt, and Jaden found a chunk of train fabric. Drawing from a Thomas episode, he convinced Nellie to tie the 'cape' around him. Super Puppy is very photogenic, but most images are too high res for my computer. I have to get Nell to e-mail me a bunch of pics so I can post them. Gorilla pup is just Jaden playing a puppy with a gorilla mask on. It is pretty funny to watch.

In molding Jaden to become a cougar ultimately, I have taught him how to tackle. We play a game where I tell him I have the football, and he runs after me, wraps his arms, and I fall. I then reciprocate, and he gets tackled, albeit very gently. It is cute when he initiates the game and runs up to me and says "I got foo ball," and runs away. For the BYU fans out there, I am teaching him how to wrap up.

This week has been pretty good, but I don't really have much more to say. We love all of you, and hope you are all feeling well and doing better.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Family Home Evening

Tonight we sat down for family home evening, always an ordeal in our house. Family home evening is where we try to spend some time learning about the gospel and how our family can be better and closer. It seems like Nell and I must be paying for how we behaved as children during family home evening. Jaden bounces off the walls and has a hard time concentrating on anything for longer than half a second. The highlight was when we sang "I Hope they Call me on a Mission," Jaden knows about half the words, and he catches up on some when they have already been sung. It is cute, and sometimes he tells me "Daddy, I go mission!" For instance I asked if he wanted to go to bed the other day and he said, "no, I go mission." One day he'll realize what he is actually asking for.

We went to the grocery store to do some shopping and get ice cream for family home evening treat. Unfortunately we listened to Jaden when he told us he wanted chocolate, and by the end of our store round he was pretty well marked. I wonder why vanilla ends up so much cleaner.

Jaden turns into a monster when its time to go to sleep. Tonight he screamed and screamed, but the trend is that when he gets overly upset, it is when he falls asleep the fastest. I think he is at his cutest in his sleep.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

This is NOT Off to a Good Start

When I started this Blog, I envisioned the end of Doogie Houser MD, where he writes his journal and goes to bed. I guess Doogie was really before his time. I'm more like the guy who turns his school assignment in two days late and only meeting half the requirements. The concept of a blog to me was about Janelle and I getting to share our lives with people who are too far away to be involved day to day. Okay, it was mostly about showing everyone how cute Jaden is. Let's hope that I can fulfill the end to which I started this blog.

The best news of the week is that we sat down with our lawyer on Thursday and scheduled our adoption finalization! This Friday, the 28th, we will be in court first thing in the morning. It is exciting to think that after six months of living with slight anxiety over what
could happen that we get to officially say he is ours!!!

We recently added a new member to the family, he is red and is named James...no it's not a cat or dog, it is a train. Jaden finally, after a month of urging, used the toilet to do something other than urinate in, and James was his reward. On Saturday he spent much of the day sharing his track with both Thomas and James. His favorite new game involves putting Thomas right in the way of James and then bossing Thomas to get out of the way, then saying "no, ask nicely!" To which James apparently replies "I would like you move, Thomas, please." It is nice that something we are teaching him is apparently taking root.

We took Jaden to the zoo on Wednesday, he got to hang out with his cousin Kai. Their favorite thing wasn't an animal at all, it was the train, but they seem to share an affinity for snakes. Go figure.

With her last final out of the way at BYU, Nellie has finally finished most of college. She got news this week that she will be doing an internship at BYU's Museum of Art (MOA for those of you who are into the lingo). This is pretty exciting because it will still allow her to graduate in August, rather than wait until December. With school winding down, I swear I see her twitch just a little when people ask her how long it took to finish school. "You know, a lot of people go to college for seven years,"-Tommy Callahan "I know, they're called doctors."-Richard Hayden. (from Tommy Boy)

I spent Saturday putting the downstairs bathroom back together with my dad and brother Ben. Truth be told, I really didn't do nearly as much as my father or brother. In the end we almost have a bathroom that is ready to use, and close to being ready to decorate. I tinkered on other small projects like pulling down two sattelite dish posts (sans actually satellites) on the roof, and getting rid of the dearth of weeds on our driveway. Fixing up this house will be financially worthwhile, but I don't know we will be able to leave after everything is finished. I also spent some time this week taking care of small details for the business. Nell has agreed to do some photography for my homepage, which I think is great, nothing like having a professional that I can bribe with ice cream.

That is about all for this week. I am working on setting up an account of pictures on Flickr. com, there will be a link on the right of the page, but I am trying to figure out how to link directly up with it so there can be more than one or two pictures in the body of the blog.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Easter-The First Holiday Observed on this Blog!

Easter is a lot more fun when you have a kid. I used to think it was fun back when I was a boy to color easter eggs, and later to hide them for my siblings. Today was a great easter day. This morning, before we went to church, we spent some time trying to teach Jaden about why we celebrate easter. We watched a video about the ressurection and I have the feeling that about 1/100,000 of what I said sunk in...always good to know something good is happening.
I'm sad to report that in terms of providing our son with a traditional easter, we failed. Nellie worked on Saturday so we didn't end up coloring eggs, and we didn't even give him his basket until after church (around 2:30). I don't think the boy minded, he happily ate his candy. We did get him a cute easter outfit, which his mom picked out, and dad tried to get some good photos to share. I am still learning to master that digital camera of Nell's (think normal digital camera on steroids). If Jaden looks unreponsive it's because he was watching Thomas the Tank Engine and couldn't be too bothered to look at dad.
We went over to my parents for a family dinner, it was good and a little hectic. It's funny to see my family grow up and expand. Even my little sister Becca had her boyfriend over, and with the four cousins it seems like my parents house was teeming with activity.
Overall, I definately reccomend any holiday with children over one without. Jaden is a stud.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

It's ALIVE

After months of anticipation, and weeks of planning, and days of speculation (actually there was no wait at all...) The Perkins Family Blog is here...