Grandparents

This one is dedicated to grandparents. Just because. 

 Yesterday, I let Jonah have bubbles in his bath. He looked up at me and said, "Hey, I wanna look like Grandpa!" I had to take a picture so Grandpa Atkins could see...

I had this shirt for Jonah, back in the day. I know I put it on him once or twice, but it was really the wrong season for him. It works great for our girl. And I was especially proud of that cute bow I made to match it. (just so happened to have that ribbon, which is a perfect match)

And this one is 'just because it is cute.' I was glad I got a picture of this funny moment...she was looking so intently/angrily at Jonathan. I love it! 

little guy, little bike, big words!

Jonah and I were out "riding" his bike today. I was going to just snap a few photos, but then he got to talking so I hit *record.*

He cracks me up. 

I want to save this video forever!

i love his little voice. 

Project Day. (aka, the day I got the dishes done)

Today is a big day around here, but I'm going to post more about that later in the week, as I forgot to take a picture of the man of the house before he left this morning. 

In other news, Jonah has been a busy guy today. 

He has been really wanting to make play dough lately. I have resisted play dough for a long while. In fact, he never new it existed until his babysitter brought some over a couple of months ago.  (funny how she hasn't been asked back lately...just kidding, we love her lots)

So, we made play dough. We made it green, per the little guy's request. And it is already put away. And by that I mean it will not be used again anytime soon. Gosh, I dislike that stuff.(rather, I dislike what it does to my rugs)

But, I sure do like making it with my favorite little man. 

Neon Green play dough (with glitter sparkles). 

 Ingredients: 

1 C Flour 

1 C Water 

1/4 C Salt 

1 TBSP Vegetable Oil 

2 tsp Cream of Tarter 

Food Coloring 

Sparkles (optional) 

Sauce Pan and Wooden Spoon 

Little helping hands.
Mix everything (stirring constantly) over medium heat until it balls up in a huge clump. 

Then, since one big project a day is not enough, we tried this new idea. 

We put baking soda in the bottom of a pie pan. Then Jonah used the dropper to drop food-colored vinegar into the pan. FUN! He loved it. I wish I could say it kept him busy for hours, but we ran out of baking soda. (at least we ran out of what I'd allotted for this project).

And THAT is how, on this beautiful sunny day, I got my dishes done. That and a little method we like to call "let the baby cry it out."

Guest Writing

I got to do a new thing this week. My friend Carissa sent out an email recently, inviting her friends to be guest writers on her blog while she is on vacation. I jumped at the chance to do something out of the ordinary and new to me! She had a series of "prompts" for her guest writers to use if they wanted. She also encouraged us to think off of the cuff. It was fun. I think I like to write. (which is becoming more evident with the wordiness of this post!) 

Anyway, my post is featured this morning and I thought I'd share it...

CLICK HERE.

Thank-you, Carissa for including me. It's an honor. 

Happy Thursday. 

Hillbilly Spa

As you know, I spend my days with our sweet two-year-old. And we haven't hit the jackpot (kinda hard to hit it when you don't play it). So, Jonah and I treated ourselves to a little foot scrubbing the other day. I set him up in his beach chair in the shower! 

Fancy, no? You like?

 our feet together

And finally, a little follow-up lotion. 

I didn't take a final picture of my own feet, but I promise they are polished now. I had to wait until Jonah was napping. He likes to paint his toenails if he sees me doing it. And I planned on using Siren Red. Since Siren Red wasn't something I wanted on his toes, I just avoided that whole battle. 

Sweet Summertime

Nothing says summer like Pop Ice Popsicles. 

And nothing says sweet like this kid.

Put them together and you have Sweet Summertime!

The things my kid says.

these quotes may not interest people all that much, but I want them recorded permanently....

In the car last night Jonah dropped the toy he'd been playing with. He said something like "oh no! what gonna do?" I commented back to him "Are you asking what Mommy's going to do?" To which he said: "No, not Mama. Oh nooo! What JONAH going to do?"

Yesterday afternoon he was playing golf in his room while I swept the other floors in the house. He was armed with two golf balls and a plastic bat that he was using for a club. All of the sudden he (very proudly) exclaimed:  "I got A DOUBLE BOGEY, Mama!" That's what comes of watching golf on tv and watching Jonathan play Tiger Woods Golf on our Wii.

And many of you may have seen my recent Facebook post, but some of you may not have. A couple of weeks ago Jonah was in a phase of calling me "babe." This followed spring break when Jonathan was home more than usual (since there were no schools needing substitutes). One specific example was when the two of them were on the couch. Jonah called to me in the kitchen saying: "please, may I have a drink, Babe?" We were in stitches! 

The next week he had one instance of calling me "Amy." I didn't react much and he hasn't done it since. He wasn't being disrespectful...I guess he's just making some observations/learning how his little world works.

A Sporting Good Time

I first uploaded each of these pictures individually, but it wasn't as enjoyable to look at. So, I made one of my fun collages! Aren't you excited!

If you have met Jonah, then you know he loves to play ball. Any ball, he's not picky. But, he doesn't limit himself to just balls. He likes anything that is done outside, or anything athletic (although he doesn't yet know the word or meaning of 'athletic')

above you see Jonah:

• wearing a bike helmet (the way he thinks it should look)
• sporting BEN's tennis racket (it had to be Ben's)
• with his fave....the basketball
• ready for swimming

• being Joe Cool
• playing t-ball with Molly
• drying off after swimming

below you will see Jonah playing his own little made-up game...

Football on the Hammock, or "weeep" 

(since that's what I call the word he keeps repeating):

I did not put the ball on the hammock.
This was all Jonah's doing...no form of weird parental torture! 

Weekend Update: Perfect Friday Night

My recipe for a perfect Friday night includes two boys, some fun puzzles, and a pizza!! I've listened to lots of laughing and dried a few tears...we're living it up! 

(what they don't know is that we're all going to bed early too)

Flooring Makeover: Part 1

As I mentioned the other day, we recently tackled the living/dining room with laminate wood flooring. Jonathan's parents came up on a Thursday and helped out. I don't have the final "after" pictures taken yet. I was going to wait to take those after we got all the last bits of trim installed. Those bits of trim haven't come in yet, so I might just go for the pictures without. Anyway. Today I'd like to share pictures of Jonah helping out! 

Playing with some toy cars. He had to keep changing locations because of our  moving things around.

Daddy's little helper. I just love this photo!!

We Jonathan had to scrape up the backer board from where the linoleum was in the foyer. It was a rough yucky mess.  

Here we see our faithful helper lounging on the oddly arranged furniture.

All of the above are pictures that involve removing the nasty carpet. It took 2 1/2 days to get it all out. Then we got to move on to the exciting part. There was a LOT of measuring and RE-measuring. (that's the part they don't show you on those home improvement shows).  This last photo shows a bit of the finished product. Jonah was helping hammer the baseboard back in place.

And....the best little video....Jonah "measuring and marking" like his Daddy!

Ultrasound Day!

Do you like the shirt my sister found for me? I thought it was pretty clever. This is me at 20 1/2 weeks. The black is a little slimming...and the photo just doesn't show much of the baby bump, but it is there. 

We have an appointment for an ultrasound this afternoon. We hope to learn the gender of our sweet little baby and maybe decide on a name! We are still certain of our girl name, but may be hung up on the boy name. I've taken full advantage of my present state and changed my mind! 

Jonah has decided on the name he likes...no matter the gender. He thinks we should name the baby:

"Chesco Nollie" 

(aka:Franchesco Bernoulli)...

...after this Cars2 character! 

Sorry, sweetie. that isn't going to happen. 

February Hodgepodge.

I realized today it's been a while since I posted anything. I've still been taking pictures, I just haven't taken time to share much lately. 

So, here are some pictures I took last month:

Jonah modeling his awesome coat and hat that Grammy Pammy made for him.
The picture was taken on a Sunday; when it was actually cold!

Jonah with his favorite color of lollipop.
(more about lollipops later. hint: they are a reward for a very specific thing)

This was one of those moments that Jonah got into mischief and I took a picture. He dumped out all 10lbs of potatoes I had just purchased. He did put them all back in the bag after the two of us struggled through a minor disagreement on the matter.

Today we began the process of tearing out carpet and installing laminate wood in the living/dining room. I've documented quite a bit in photos already. There will be some good footage for a post or two soon!

Having a Ball in the Bath

some days are like that

Some days there is only one way for me to get anything done around the house. Now, don't let that fool you. There are many many days that very little is even attempted. However, there is the rare occasion that I MUST get a bit of housework done and my little sweetie just can't comply. SO, I work around it.

Do you see his pitiful runny-nosed face? I want to reach into the picture and wipe his nose. 

As you can see, Jonah wasn't feeling the best yesterday. So, I strapped him on and went about my work. He soon grew tired of the sling and decided he didn't need to be held anymore. 

He and I are both getting bigger (yes, I think I'm finally growing a baby belly). So, I know the day I can no longer lift/hold him is coming quickly. Until that day, I will work in all the holding I can. 

What if...

I found this funny video today. 

Happy Thursday.

If Joseph and Mary used Facebook.

Boys of Fall

So, today, we woke up to the first snow of the season. It's just a pretty little dusting. Jonah doesn't know what to think of it. In honor of that, I thought I'd feature one of our wonderfully mild fall days.

I love these boys. They are very dear to me. I love watching them play together.

I couldn't resist taking some cute fall pictures of my little sweetie that day. 

Enjoy!

Bath with a GLOW.

Well, I just keep thinking about all those birthday pictures sitting in the files, waiting to be uploaded. I still feel overwhelmed by them, so they will sit a while longer! (there are so many good pics...and I haven't yet figured out my "angle" on all of them.) Someday...hopefully before the month is out! 

Anyway...back to the bath. I did something fun the other day. I found some glow sticks on clearance at the store. I put them in a bubble bath for Jonah and he LOVED it. He had so much fun with it!!  Bubbles really make the difference, too. They add to the "glow" factor...spreading the light around! 

(don't worry, I didn't let him put them in his mouth)

And if that isn't enough fun for you...just look at him on this video:

The package came with 10 sticks. I've only used four of them so far (two at a time). To tell the whole truth, I really wanted to put all 10 in there at once. I would love to see it with two packages!!! (I like colorful things).

Five for Friday: hodgepodge edition

disclaimer: i do not have any cohesive thoughts today.  next week isn't looking so hot either.

1.Well, Friday has rolled around again. Have you reached a point in the week where you could use a good laugh? I am not one to love tattoos...but this one is pretty clever and made me chuckle. 

2.I might need to chuckle a bit more to burn off the calories from this new recipe I tried out yesterday. Unfortunately I didn't have any toffee bits nor pecans to add. We ate it on graham crackers. It wasn't the best thing I've eaten in my life, but that doesn't mean I walked away from the bowl quickly...at all! 

3.Fact: We do not own Horton Hears a Who on DVD. (gasp)

 Jonah saw part of it for the first time today. 

 He really likes Horton's silly moves. Every time Horton did something funny, Jonah said "adin (again)" to the t.v.

4.Oh, and a little BIG, flashy update for the Man of the House. 

Jonathan registered today for the American Board of Certification for Teacher Excellence.

That probably deserves an entire post. I'll work on that, but you can pray for him to study hard and pass the test at the end!! I think he will make a swell teacher!

5.Next week's Five for Friday post will be all about this guy:

since he will be turning TWO!! 

That's right...this coming Sunday kicks off BIRTHDAY WEEK. 

stay tuned.

(aren't you glad I didn't commit to a top ten list on Friday's...I know I sure am!)

Proper Coffee...and something worthwhile.

In honor of the weather changing to that crisp coolness which makes coffee drinking so delectable...I give you A Proper Cup of Coffee (by a folk group from my neck of the woods...Trout Fishing in America.) 

I dare you to listen to the whole thing (or at least stick with it through the chorus.) 

It is a silly silly song. I also dare you to try singing along!

My mother will not be able to stand it. 

And then, after listening, go fire up your Proper Copper Coffee Pots!

Traditional Turkish Coffee in a Copper Pot

Does anyone else find this "less-than-proper?" 

I don't think I could choke that down. 

I'll stick with what I know best.

ok, enough. go drink a cup of coffee and read some other blog with more worthwhile content. 

Here is a blog that will do:

My friend Amy and her husband are in the middle of an adoption ordeal. It was smooth until the baby was born and they discovered there were some legal issues. They AND another family have legal documents for adopting the baby boy. They attended a custody hearing yesterday which gave them more insight into the process, but did not result in a placement of their son. They are still waiting for a final answer, but trusting God with all the details. 

Read more at Becoming Five.

I LOVE Fall

Fall is beautiful. 

And it smells amazing! (I wish I could capture smell in a photo)

Things I love about Fall

*crisp cool air

*freshly fallen leaves

*marigolds

*snuggling under a blanket 

*bonfires

Fall Foods 

(which, for some reason, always taste better when the weather is cool)

*pumpkin spice latte

*apple pie

*frito pie

*hot chocolate

*most any kind of soup