Christmas with my family

We celebrated with my parents on Christmas Eve. My sister and Nate were with his parents in California, so we missed them tons. Our tradition is to attend church, have spaghetti and red jello dinner, and open gifts that evening. Jonathan was getting help from Grammie with one of his presents. What is this? I'm not sure, but I'm sure if I rip it open I'll find out.
This is the wild man in action... he found these little chairs and loved feeling like a "big boy" by sitting on it, trying to stand on it, etc.
I wish our visit to Iowa could have been longer but we are thankful that we got to enjoy time there. Best wishes for a safe and happy new year!
Sarah

Sledding, Part II

I was the only one who didn't dump him into a pile of snow or end up tipping over with him. This is possibly the best photo of the whole vacation. After tipping over with Jonathan, my mother started laughing so hard that she had trouble getting up out of the snow. If you've ever seen my mother laugh - this is not hard to believe. She laughs so hard that she forgets to breathe.
Daddy trying to comfort the little man after the snowy run down the hill.
Enough of the sledding adventures... hope you all had a good laugh. We sure did!
Sarah

Sledding, Part I

There was a decent amount of snow at my parent's house in Iowa, so we dressed Jonathan up in this full body snowsuit that I wore as a child. It had boots and mittens that buttoned to the suit. Genius - his current coat has no such thing and we've already lost one pair of mittens. Jonathan looks a bit bewildered at the dressing process for the snowy outing. On the way to the sledding hill. Isn't he just CUTE?
After a run down the hill with Daddy, Jonathan is covered in snow. We thought it might be a little bit better with Grandpa, but no such luck. They tipped over and rolled in the snow. Jonathan looks unhappy because he is. He didn't like the snow in his face.
Jonathan and Daddy. Ready for "snow in the face" at the end of the hill.
My dad (Gramps) and Jonathan after the crash. Good thing snow is soft.
More later...

Christmas with the Guilds

Our first stop in Iowa was Christmas with the Guild side of the family. We had a horrendous trip to Iowa on Thursday night due to fog, so we were most grateful to have arrived safely. The Guild Christmas gatherings never lack for excitement due to the presence of many children. Jonathan is the ninth grandchild on that side. Here are 6 of the 9 kids. The other three are in California. Jonathan is the youngest by five years.
Jonathan was getting quite sleepy by the time we opened gifts so it took a bit of encouragement to keep him on track.

Although the gifts are nice and thank you for them... I really like this large box. Hmmm... wonder how I will get out of here? Sara Sahagun... this is the photo of Jonathan opening the gift from you. Thank you!
The next post will be a thrilling one of our sledding adventures in the snowy wonderful... I know, you are on the edge of your seat.

Sarah

Playing with the blinds, oh my!

This maybe should have been a moment of parental redirection, but it became a photo moment instead. Jonathan loves the blinds that hang by the sliding glass door in our house. This is him being his usual wild man self and playing with them. I have made the executive decision I don't care if he plays with them... he cannot hurt himself with them and they seem to be virtually undestructible.

The wild man is becoming more verbal all the time - I didn't realize how much fun hearing all of the words developing might be. I'll try to videotape some of the chatter.

Merry Christmas!

Sarah

Joining the 3-0 Club

Jamie loves to plan surprises... and my 30th birthday was no exception. He knows me well enough to know that big parties where the attention is on me are not my thing. So, he planned something a little bit different. I got 30 gifts (very few of them being material gifts) and many of the gifts were having people visit. My parents came for the actually birthday and we had a wonderful day together. Laid back, relaxed and fun. They were gifts #9 and #10. Many of you sent wishes - thank you! Your wishes were one of my gifts. The last gift that I will share about is the visit from two of my college/early married days friends, Kristin and Jessie. They live 6 hours away and they showed up on my doorstep at 9pm singing happy birthday holding the signs that you see here... I was SHOCKED - to say the least! Part of that gift was the arrival of my sister and Nate (gifts #25 and #26) for the weekend. I got to enjoy a wonderful day of catching up and hanging out with old friends and my sister... I am so lucky! We had a great time! Here are the four of us back at our place...
Enough about me... this blog's star returns to the spotlight: he is enthralled with coloring and crayons these days. We spent 30 minutes coloring yesterday. This is his thoughtful, artist pose.
Jamie's parents bought Jonathan this shirt... doesn't he look like a little man here? The pants I put with it were ENORMOUS so they had to come off. Jonathan began to resemble the kids you see who's pants are sagging to their knees. It made it nearly impossible for him to walk.

I hope this finds you enjoying the holiday season in preparation for Jesus' birthday ~ S ~

We are still here...

It has been several busy weeks - hence the lack of blogging... We have had many wonderful visitors and have thoroughly enjoyed the time with family and friends. We took these photos when my sister was here for Thanksgiving - we wanted some family photos and I loved the little hat that Jonathan was wearing.


My family came for Thanksgiving and we enjoyed great times with them. It was great to have them here! After they headed home, Jamie's parents came for a week to visit. Jonathan enjoyed lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa Guild, and he was great when they watched him overnight.

During the time that Maynard and Judy were here, we settled some little details with the house deal gone bad from this summer and bought a different house. We close on the new house in early January - I can hardly wait.

I will update more in a day or so - as the past week has brought much excitement to our lives. Excitement in a good way.

Hope you are all enjoying the holiday festivities ~
Sarah

Jump, Jump!

Jonathan has been going to a little class at the YMCA for kids ages 1-3 (with a parent) that is like a kiddie version of gymnastics. They get to do whatever they want for 30 minutes on the equipment as the mothers/fathers chase around after them to insure that they aren't getting injured. Jonathan loves the trampolines. These photos are his attempt to make the box into a trampoline...

JUMP! JUMP!!
Hmmm - this doesn't work as well as the trampolines?!?!
I'm cute, none the less. I bet I could jump off of this box - hmmm, I think I'll try that.

~Sarah~

Lots of work, not a lot of play

Although we had the chance to visit family in Michigan last weekend, the month of November has been and will be quite consumed with Jamie's working. Unfortunately. He has weekend obligations for work on 3 out of 5 weekends and this is in addition to busy work weeks. I am looking forward to the Christmas season for many reasons, but one of them is the break from the long work weeks.

Thought I would include some additional photos from our trip to MI. Papa and Jonathan playing with the large legos. Jonathan, Whitney and Estella playing "jump, jump" on part of the toy box.
Papa, Jamie and Jonathan... three generations of "men" in the family. Judy (Jamie's mother) is the link between Papa and Jamie. Aren't they three good looking guys?
God Bless ~ Sarah ~

Great-grandparents and more...

Jamie has two living grandparents, and they are married to each other and reside in Michigan. They were the only grandparents at our wedding, and they are both around ninety and still going STRONG. Jonathan had never met them, and we really wanted that to happen. Last weekend we flew to Michigan to spend the weekend with Mamaw and Papa and the Myers side of Jamie's family. His Uncle Rick and Aunt Jean were so gracious to host the three of us for the weekend, and we enjoyed the quality time with all of the family up there.

Papa and Jonathan...
Jonathan and Whitney (Ryan's (his cousin) 20 month old daughter)
Jonathan loved all of the toys at Rick and Jean's place.
The three of us with Mamaw and Papa.
Estella (Carrie's (Jamie's other cousin) daughter) loved playing Barbies and I got to live like a kid again and play Barbies, doctor, kitchen, etc. to my heart's content.

On a side note: Jonathan's napping seems to have taken a miraculous turn for the better. So, to any parents who lament poor napping by their children: there is HOPE!

~Sarah~

Fumble Trauma

He picks up the football... He's on the run, it looks like it might be a touchdown...
He fumbles the ball and loses all composure.
After being utterly inconsolable about his faux pax, he is comforted by a hug, kiss and a banana for a snack. P.S. We also discuss cross country, and he runs with me.
~S~

My Mother's Favorite Day of the Year

My mother's favorite day of the year is the day that we turn the clocks back and get an extra hour of sleep. I contend that anyone with small children would not claim this day as one of their favorites. Jonathan didn't realize that we turned the clocks back so he was up at 6am instead of 7 or 730am. Bright eyed and bush-tailed. Ready for the day.

Jamie got his guitar out to play the other night, and Jonathan thought that it was one of the best things he had yet to see. He had great fun strumming with Daddy.Jonathan loves the fridge, and on this day he grabbed the mustard out of the door and walked around talking about it banging it on things. I confiscated the bottle before any spilling occurred.
The little Hawkeye playing with the pumpkin playground ball that his Aunt Amy gave him. Amy - he loves it! Our friends, the Baileys, came to visit this past weekend. The Baileys are a busy family of five - Lauren is five, Nathan is two, and Adrienne is 4 months. Amber and I enjoyed the chance to talk a bit and catch up during nap times and the kids played and had fun together!! We miss them, and the chance to see them and catch up was delightful. This is a shot of Jonathan and Nathan playing a little music.

From our house to yours via some amazing technology that I will never fully understand ~ Sarah

Halloween Fun

When a child is one year old, dressing them up in a costume for Halloween is solely for the enjoyment of the parents. In the Guild household it is for the enjoyment of the mother. So, I picked this cute outfit that was not too constricting so he could easily walk around but had the appropriate level of "cuteness". A contemplative animal. Contemplating what item might be delicious to taste: leaves or dirt?
A loveable animal, isn't he? Although he is Mr. Independence at this phase in life, he still gives his mommy and daddy hugs and kisses.

This phase of Jonathan's life is quite enjoyable for me in many ways:

1. He entertains himself by simply walking around. Requires minimal toys and can be done in a variety of places.

2. He sleeps quite well and is still contained in a crib.

3. He is funny. He has started to develop his own sense of humor, and it really livens up the days.

Happy Halloween ~ S ~

Shower for the Clapps

Aliya Marie Clapp was born to Kyle and Angela on October 1st. They are good friends of ours, and I wanted to have a shower to celebrate. With all of our moving chaos it didn't work out until after Aliya made her debut. Take a look...

The co-hostess for the shower, Kris Gruenebaum. She is our wonderful, wonderful, wonderful realtor from before we moved. She sold our house in rapid time. We didn't realize how good she was until our experience here.
Kyle and Aliya. Isn't she a cute daddy's girl?
I would like to proudly claim that I put her to sleep. She is cashed out here.
Ang and her sister-in-law, Ranee. Ranee has a little daughter who is only 9 months older than Aliya. I'm sure that the two of them will have a wonderful time together.
Later ~ S ~