Jonah for President!

Jonah realized this year that ANYONE could become president, that they don't have to be born into a certain family or live in a specific area.  His logical conclusion was, of course, that HE could be president one day.  Here's his platform:  "I don't believe in ghosts or monsters.  I believe in people.  I believe in God.  I do believe in satan but I don't believe anything he says."

He's got my vote.  :)

Policeman Jonah

Last night Jonah announced to me his intention to become a policeman when he grows up.  

He just had a few questions.

#1  Do I have to go to college?  (No, but you should.  You'll be more prepared and make more money as a college graduate than you would otherwise.)

#2  How will I know who the bad guys are?  Like, when do I pull out my gun?  (You'll go to the police academy, have lots of training, and you'll most likely know who the bad guys are.)

#3  But really, how do I know when to pull out my gun?  I don't want to shoot the wrong person.  (Yes, that would be bad.  You'll only use your gun if someone's life is being threatened.)

"I see," he said, "So when I see someone pull their sword out and try to stab a girl, then I know I should pull out my gun and stop them."

Um...yes, I think you've got it!  Lol!

Cub Scouts

Sam and I ended up being Cub Scout leaders for the 2011/2012 school year.  We were in charge of the Tiger Cubs (Jonah's troop).  Henry was a Bear Cub in another troop.  I'm not exactly sure how we got signed up to be the troop leaders, but we did enjoy the experience-especially the super cool shirts.

 Jonah was the reason we got involved with cub scouts in the first place.  

 He had heard about it and thought that it would be the very best activity for him.  Since Henry was involved in other sports at the time, we initially told him that he couldn't be in cub scouts, but it turned out that he could go on the same nights that we were there with Jonah.  So it actually worked out wonderfully for everyone!  Bridget came along with us to Jonah's class and was able to participate in the crafts and snacks and games.

The meetings were fairly structured but required a lot of parent participation-and our group's parents weren't very interested in participating.  So we just tried to keep it fun and get the requirements done as best as we could.  :)  We set up a snack rotation, planned games and crafts, and made sure the kids were earning their patches and beads as we went along.  We were also required to set up one field trip a month.  We went fun places like the fire station, and the local Christian radio station:

The cub scouts also had a chance to be in a parade!  When we got to the meet-up place the morning of the parade, it was raining and kind of cold.  Both my boys decided they wouldn't prefer to be in the parade after all, so we opted to watch from the sidelines. 

 Some of the meeting were super fun, like the one where they brought in "The Creature Teacher", who let everyone touch a tarantula.  Yuck!

Before the big cub scout camp out, we had a tent-building meeting.  The kids really enjoyed learning to put up a tent, and we packed them each a s'mores snack in a ziploc to enjoy while they played.

Near the end of the school year, we had one final meeting and had everyone come to our house for a bonfire.  The kids roasted marshmallows, met our goats, and ran around outside for a while.  We had mostly city kids in our group, and they all really enjoyed coming out to our place and having some freedom to enjoy nature a bit.  They all had so much fun!  

   It was fun to be a cub scout leader for a season, but at the end of the year Sam and I passed the torch to another parent to take over the leadership.  We decided that since we have so many other activities throughout the year that cub scouts wasn't the best one for our family.  We also spend lots of time outdoors and enjoy the experiences they were focusing on as a family.  We are thankful for the year that we had with such a fun group! 

Jonah and Bridget-best of friends!

Am I the only one who got to see a parade today? 

This morning Jonah and Bridget came downstairs to the living room, marching and playing drums. They circled Henry and me once, then grabbed walmart sacks full of candy and started launching the candy at us. 

They followed it up with one final circle and then left with no explanation.

 Life with these two around is never dull.  They are such good friends and whenever they have free time, they are usually together.  

Jonah and Bridget...you crack me up!  Thanks for making life more fun and always reminding me to seize the day.    :)

Jonah in the Kitchen

(Jonah in the apron that his Grammy made him for his birthday this year.)
One of Jonah's favorite places to be is in the kitchen, helping with whatever I happen to be working on at the time. I love this of course, because it's also one of my favorite places to be. :)

This afternoon, Jonah was mixing up pizza crust in the kitchen while I supervised and cleaned out some cupboards.

I pulled out a punch bowl that hasn't seen the light of day in about four years and set it on the counter. Jonah asked why and I told him I was putting it into our upcoming garage sale.

"Say what?" Jonah was incredulous. "Why in the world would you get rid of THAT? It's so pretty!"

I explained that it was something I previously found useful but don't use much anymore and now it just takes up space.

Jonah's reply? "Well I would think you could just keep it and give it to my wife when I get married. I think she would like it."

Jonah is 7 years old!!!

Jonah's 7th birthday was on February 7th...making this his GOLDEN birthday! :)

We knew it had to be special. We've been hearing that this one was coming up for a looooong time. Jonah woke up to a smiley face of fruit on his special birthday plate...

...followed by chocolate chip pancakes that he helped make. So fun!

We had a great morning. A little while after breakfast, Kelly and Jordan and Matthew came over, we all piled into the van, and we headed to Dallas. The first stop was for lunch at a mall. The kids picked McDonald's and Kelly and I ate from Chick-fil-A. I loved having a food court and options...the kids loved having a 3-story mall!

Our next stop was this place:

Great Wolf Lodge (a really fun wolf-themed hotel with an indoor waterpark)! Jonah had asked if we could go there for a night for his birthday, and since it was his golden birthday and all...of course we said yes.
The first thing we did was toss our stuff into our rooms, slip on swimsuits and head to the water park!

After a couple hours of fun swimming, slides, and playing in the water, we were ready to dry off for a little bit. Grandma Austin and Jim had bought Jonah a magic wand and a magiquest game (which is an interactive game played throughout the entire hotel). We played for a while and finished a number of quests before realizing it was time to start thinking about dinner.
So Kelly, the kids and I headed down the road to a Steak and Shake for dinner. It was a fun place to eat, with paper hats and cardboard cars to entertain the kids while we waited on our food. The kids were a little disappointed that we wouldn't order them the huge, fancy, signature milkshakes, but we had a special surprise waiting for them back at the hotel.

Sam and Jon had worked that morning, met up and drove together to meet us at the hotel! They had stopped at Costco on the way and grabbed an ENORMOUS (no joke, it weighed 10 pounds!) chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. YUMMY! Jonah was super excited.

We sang to him, tried our best to finish off big pieces of the yummy cake and ice cream, and then opened presents. It was SUCH a fun time.
By the time we were done it was really too late for more swimming, so we played a little more magiquest and then headed down to the lobby for storytime. The hotel puts on a great show with singing and moving trees, then the story teller tells a fun adventure story--although these guys might put on a slightly better show...

After the story hour, one of the wolves came out to take pictures with the kids. Of course, ALL of the kids wanted to have their picture with her:

Henry and Jonah were a little concerned that they might not be able to handle sharing a bed, since they usually don't sleep together. Turns out they didn't have a problem with it at all!

The next morning we had bananas and instant oatmeal, and watched cartoons during breakfast! It was Jonah's ideal morning.
We had lots more fun swimming, sliding, tubing, playing, and exploring the waterpark. We also took time to finish the magiquest game and thought it was one of the most fun parts of the visit.

One of the best things Jonah got for his birthday was a shaving kit...which altered Jonah's mornings dramatically. Now every morning, the first thing Jonah does is head into Sam's bathroom so he can shave with his Dad. (This might be my favorite thing!)

We got to celebrate with Grammy and Grandpop a few days later too. Grammy knew how much Jonah loves to help in the kitchen and had made him his very own apron! She also made him a photo book from his time at Grandkid's Camp last summer...both gifts were so special and are treasured by our little Bear.

Happy Birthday Jonah! We are so thankful that God gave us you. You are a special boy with loads of creativity, gentleness, compassion and friendliness. It is so fun to have you in our lives. :) Love you! :)

Spring 2011 Sports

Spring sports are always so fun...this year Henry played soccer for the Jayhawks again. His coaches (Coach Dave and Coach Lyle) are so incredible, patient, loving guys. They really make being a part of their team fun. And all of their hard work paid off...this year the Jayhawks won every single game they played!!! The kids were all pretty pleased to be on an undefeated team.

Henry is the one in blue, kicking in a goal. He had quite a few goals this year and was one of the leading scorers for his team.

2011 Spring Jayhawks
(Coach Dave, Jayden, Quinton, Cody, ?, Kaylee, Tyler, Brett, Dillon, Henry, Bella, Kiana, Coach Lyle)
Jonah was back in action on the t-ball field this spring. Jonah just adores the game of baseball. He loves every little part about it and gets so excited about every practice and game.

During a few games this year, Jonah got to play catcher. While I don't think that is his favorite position (it requires paying attention to where the ball is ALL the time, and that is pretty difficult!), he really enjoyed wearing the 'gear' for it.
Jonah's hitting really improved this year. While last season he struggled with sometimes hitting the tee, this year Jonah whacked the ball right out into the infield every time! It was really great to see the fruit of all his hard work practicing.
The highlight of the games, of course, is the sno-cone. What a way to cool down! :)
We are blessed to live in an area that offers fun, family-friendly sports for our kids to participate in, and we are so grateful for the coaches and officials who donate so much of their time to make it all happen!

Easter Pictures

We went camping over Easter, so we didn't have the traditional church service this year. Our kids had already gotten new Easter clothes before we realized we would be camping, so I made sure to get some great pictures of them a few weeks ago. Henry wasn't really happy with the suit I bought him (the button down shirt is purple and he thinks that makes it a girl color), so I just let him pick something he would be comfortable wearing. Happy Easter!

Henry David, age 7Samuel Jonah, age 6Bridget Mary, age 3

Sweet Brothers

One day this week, Henry found himself in trouble for a minor little issue. I sent him to his room to think about what happened, and he was to come back out when he was ready to talk about it and had a better attitude.Jonah was greatly distressed at having Henry stuck in his room. For this very social child, there could be no worse punishment. (Of course he doesn't realize that Henry actually appreciates time alone now and again!) Less than ten minutes after Henry was sent away, Jonah came to me to plead Henry's case. His brilliant idea to 'free' Henry from the miserable punishment that I had bestowed on him was this: "I'll go up to Henry's room and take his place, so that he can come out and play!"

What a sacrifice! I didn't take him up on it, but I was so touched by his generous and selfless offer. Jonah is blessed with such a compassionate heart! :)

A (surprise!) visit from my Mom...day 1

We told the kids that for Jonah's birthday we had a little surprise for them. I was going to take them to the airport to watch the airplanes. I explained that we wouldn't be in a hurry like when we're picking someone up, but we could just look around and watch some take-offs and landings.

It was an extraordinarily cold and windy day, so we drove through the private airport first. The kids enjoyed the smaller planes and each picked out which was their favorite.

Then I told them we could head over to the main airport and look at the big airplanes coming in and leaving. Our (tiny, little bitty) airport doesn't have much inside, but they always have some sort of vehicle on display. Recently it is one of those three wheeled motorcycles, and the kids really wanted to check that out. We killed some time there until I got a text from my mom saying that her plane was on the ground.

At that point we headed to a little courtyard in the airport that is just outside security. The kids had brought themselves a snack (someone left a partial bag of powdered donuts at our house), so they sat down on a bench to enjoy it. I made sure they chose a bench facing the door that Grandma would walk through shortly. :)

Jonah was busy passing out donuts when he happened to look up and see his Grandma walking through the door. It took him a minute to realize what was going on...he said, "Hey! That looks just like...isn't that GRANDMA? What are you DOING here???"

Henry ran right over to give her a hug, but then stepped back to just observe. He doesn't like surprises all that much, but he was very excited to see her! The other two just kept talking...things like, "What are you doing here at OUR airport?" and "I can't believe we ran into you HERE!" It was hilarious. I think it took quite a while for them to realize that she was staying for a few days.
We took Grandma to lunch (the birthday boy picked Taco Bell) and then headed home. We had a birthday dinner for Jonah that night with my mom and Sam's dad. Sam's mom ended up with the flu that night and couldn't join us.

We had a fun time celebrating Jonah! He is so thankful for each and every gift, no matter how big or small. I just love that about him. After dinner the kids settled in for a movie (Jonah got this one from Grandma and Jim for his birthday!), and the adults played a few rounds of cards.
Grandma showing up was such a fun birthday surprise for Jonah! She was able to stay for three more days, and we had a lot of fun while she was here! :)

Calling all superheroes...Jonah's 6th birthday!

Jonah turned six this year and decided he would have a superhero birthday party. He invited all his friends and told them to make sure to bring their cape or costumes along. We made awesome superhero masks for everyone that came, and Jonah decided on cupcakes AND cheesecake brownies, since he couldn't pick just one. :)

He really wanted a pin-the-cape on the superhero game, so we created this superhero and a bunch of masks and capes. Jonah was so excited about this part of his party. He just loves organized games!

The kids lined up into two lines...one for the masks, one for the capes. I was VERY grateful for my friend Kari's help. She is a born teacher and is good with crowd control.

Three of my beautiful friends and mamas of Jonah's friends: Sheridyn, Alisa, Kelly

The birthday boy himself, enjoying his moment.

My favorite picture of the day. These two are simply the best of friends, and they make my heart so happy. They spend their days looking out for one another and playing graciously together.

Happy Birthday, sweet Jonah! We love you! You have the best imagination, most generous spirit, and a heart that seeks after God. We are proud of you and love watching you grow. :)