My Sanity

Sometimes I question the wisdom of some of my decisions. Enter: driving seven hours in the car, with both of my children, by myself. Add to that the fact that when I arrive in Iowa my parents will not be there so I will be unloading a week's worth of stuff into my parent's NOT childproofed house by myself. I'm praying that the massive load of rain we've been getting will be over by the time I make the trek home.

It's all for a good cause: in the name of friendship and family. My dear friend, Abby, will be in Iowa this coming week so I want to see her. Jamie doesn't have the vacation time to be up there for very long (and he's in meetings through Sunday that he can't miss) so I'm going by myself. I try to see several friends when I'm in that neck of the woods, we're seeing Jamie's family, and I want to relax with my family so it's worth the potentially unpleasant traveling situation. The next time I post: I'll be there, enjoying the small town life for a week.

Ninevah

A conversation overheard between Jonathan and Jamie over the weekend:

Jonathan: "Daddy, get the gold and put it in the back." of the little car he rides
Daddy: "OK, where are we going?"
Jonathan: "Ninevah."
Daddy (not hearing the first time):"Where did you say we were going?"
Jonathan: "To the city of Ninevah with Jonah."

Guess the kid listens when we read his little Bible.

Like Clockwork

Jonathan got his first tooth at six months and the doctor told me this was the perfectly average age for a first tooth. Caleb will be six months old next Monday and guess what I felt this morning? A tooth starting to poke through. He's been tempermental and irritable for the past several days, but this isn't abnormal (we have have lots of these "phases") so I thought nothing of it. Here's to the start of happy chewing ~

Off and Going

Aunt Amy bought this scooter for Jonathan at a garage sale. Some of the best $3 I've spent in a while. He loves this thing and is good at it already. He just strapped on his helmet and took off. It made him seem quite older than his two and a half years. Whenever things like this happen it makes me feel sentimental about the passing years. It also makes me so thankful that I have relished and enjoyed these past two years with him.

We have video of him on the scooter so I'll post that soon ~

Sarah

MOTORCYCLE!!!

Jamie's parents rode the nearly 400 miles to our house from their house on their Honda Goldwing motorcycle.  Jonathan was elated!  He got on and off and pushed buttons and had a wonderful time sitting on the front and back of the motorcycle.  

He played outside with Grandpa all morning.  What a wonderful change of pace for us!  Jonathan loved having the new playmate (and having him all to himself... no sharing with Caleb like he has grown accustomed to doing with Jamie and I).  He is exhausted and sleeping for his nap. 

Caleb is now rolling over.  Took this little one a while to accomplish that feat.  He doesn't do it all of the time, but it has been repeated several times so I'm certain it's not a fluke.

Here's to more nice weather and great playing!

Finger Painting

Jonathan and I finger painted this morning. We tested the washability of the paints. He had it in his hair, on his arms, legs, feet, hands, and his clothes were covered. The mess required a hose and lots of soap. It sure was fun - great to be a kid (or a mom of one)!

A delightful day

Yesterday was beautiful. Beautiful. We enjoyed an evening outside yesterday. Here are Jamie and Caleb, chilling on the deck.

I let Jonathan play in the sink full of water yesterday morning. He used tons of soap to "wash his hands" and then he put a lot of suds on his face. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm shaving. Like Daddy." Here he is: sudsy face and all!

Mowing Machine

We hope to have Jonathan at full lawn mowing capacity in short order. He loves to use little mower and was quite proud of the lawn yesterday.

Caleb's Face

Caleb makes this face a lot. What a cutie! The face then progresses into this one:

My Boys are...

growing like crazy and keeping me always on my toes. One of my dear friends commented to me that I seemed weary. I am sleeping about 1-2 hours less per night than I would like to be sleeping (and thinking that this is pretty good considering the ages of my children). Jamie has been very busy in April and May, and I forsee that continuing for a couple of months until the new hire is up and running. There are no "lunch breaks" in this job. But, I have a hard time imagining my life any other way.

Fun things that I wouldn't have missed for the world:

~ This morning we were preparing to leave for a birthday party for one of Jonathan's little friends and he told me that he wanted to write on the card. When I asked him what he wanted to write, he said: "Isaac David White." That was his little friend's name. He "wrote" Isaac's "full name" on the card and was quite proud to give it to him.

~ Jonathan loves to watch the washing machine fill up with water and dump the detergent in the machine. I'm training him to love laundry early. Our washing machine is crazy loud so that may be part of the appeal of it. We hope to have a new one (we can only do laundry when both boys are awake because the thing is so loud it wakes them up no matter how deep the sleep) soon!

~ Caleb is a very strong kid, but has yet to roll over. He'll probably be sitting up before he can roll over. He seems much closer to being able to sit for longer periods of time than he does to rolling over with regularity.

~ Jonathan loves to make homeade granola with me. He grabs pieces of the brown sugar from the bowl and eats them at a rapid rate. He'll say, "I want a big hunka sugar".

~ This may not be blog worthy, but oh well. Jonathan has started kind of fiddling with his nose. I told him the other day that picking our nose was not a good idea. He said, "But Mom, I just have to get that green thing outta there." NICE. I suggested a tissue and have been working hard on encouraging their use.

Happy Friday!

Hokey Pokey

We visited some friends at the beginning of May, and Jonathan loved playing with their daughter, Anna. Anna has an Elmo doll that does the Hokey Pokey, and this is the video of Anna and Jonathan joining Elmo.

Soul Food

Some might think the title of this post refers to some sort of delectable item for the taste buds. Not for me. My soul food was a wonderful day with my husband and children yesterday. We had a wonderful college student come over and watch the boys while we went on bike ride for a couple of hours. Then, we came home to help with lunch and nap stuff. After all was settled around here we left for another couple of hours for lunch and perusing at the book store.

When we arrived home the boys were just waking up so we enjoyed an afternoon at the park and dinner outside as a family. It couldn't have been more perfect. I needed the reprieve from the daily grind and so did Jamie. I could live that day over and over and over.

Baptism

Our nephew, Jacob James Lien, was baptized on Saturday night. We were honored to be godparents to the little guy. Nate's dad is a pastor and baptized his grandson and sang a solo for the church service. I wouldn't have chosen to be anywhere else... it was perfect. Jacob was a charmer for all of the people and seemed just delighted with the activity of the weekend. We pray that he will come to know his Lord more and more as he grows. The Liens with the grandparents
Iverson Family

Nate, Carla and Jacob

Just Boys

I just love them... love them, love them, love them!

The boys, "playing trains"

Easter basket on the head, "Look at my helmet, Mom!"

Some of you might find it odd to see my five month old "standing" at the train table with. As my father affectionately calls him, "the stiff one" loves to stand. He gets really ticked when required to sit for too long. So, Jamie thought he was ready to watch Jonathan play trains. He loved it. I think he will be clamoring to keep up with whatever his older brother might be doing from now on!