Way back WHENsday

These pictures were all taken during this week in 2007. He was so little but I can see his personality in these pictures. 2 years...wow!

Lots to learn

As I was getting Jonah out of his carseat at church tonight, I was explaining to him how to unbuckle the carseat. He has never been allowed to touch the buckles, for obvious reasons. He has always known that was off limits so when you get him out, he moves his hands away from all buckles. I decided it was time to teach him how to undo them so he can help. After we talked about that, we shut the door to the van then started walking into the building for Wednesday Night supper. He was holding my hand and looked up at me and said "Mommy, there is SO much you need teach me!" I started laughing because that was so random and so very sweet. He said "Don't laugh mommy. I love for you to teach me things. You know a lot!" Seriously...such a sweet (and funny) boy!!

Our House

People keep asking me to post pictures of our house. So, here it is. I'm pretty sure they mean the inside but it just isn't picture worthy yet. There are still so many small things to be done. I'm really hoping to get some things finished after this big consignment sale is behind me. So, for now, let me introduce you to the outside of our house.

MSU vs. UF

Several weeks ago, we had one of the Sunday School classes over the MS State/Florida game. We were (obviously) the only MSU fans so Dan went to the office to get every piece of MSU decor he had. We scattered it around our house and mixed it in with the food. We were so happy to have all MSU stuff to show our support. Then Amy and Hannah showed up with UF brownies!!!


Jonah stuck pretty close to Eli in the beginning. I think he wanted to make sure Eli knew it was his house and his stuff. But, pretty soon after arriving, poor Eli had to go to bed so he missed out on most of the fun.
At one point, Jonah grabbed the blanket and got on the couch next to "Aunt Keri's" brother, Nate. Nate is actually Keri's husband but Jonah is convinced he is her brother. Keri is somewhat concerned with how Jonah will respond when she and Nate have a baby.


Is she not precious? Savannah is 7 months old and over the top cute. Jonah tried to teach her to crawl but she didn't quite get it...that night. Just a few days later, she was crawling all over the place. She must have tucked his lessons away in her mind for later use.

Max went from person to person who would hold him and treat him like a baby. He isn't the least bit spoiled and never demands attention. Ahem!

Jonah enjoyed playing with Keaton and after just a few (okay, several) reminders, he did okay with sharing HIS toys. When Hannah and Amy first arrived, he actually went to his room to get toys for Hanna to play with. That was huge!
I tried to get a picture with Keaton, Jonah and Gentry Rose. Jonah just looked at me and smiled because he knows if he will then I will go away with the camera. I must teach Keaton and Gentry Rose this trick! :-)

Crawling lessons with Jonah proved unsuccessful but Savannah reminded Jonah how to roll over.

Nicole and Jonah both sported their team spirit in jerseys. Unfortunately, Nicole's spirit helped her team. While our bulldogs lost the game, we were quite thrilled with their effort.

Breakfast with Pops

If you know Darryl at all, then you know he is quite the cook. He got up Sunday morning to cook breakfast for us. Our resident chef wanted to help. Pops let him crack the eggs. Then Pops realized why we don't let him crack the eggs. Pops had to fish all the shells out of the eggs.
As they were cooking, Denise happened to notice they both had hair sticking up in the same place. I don't think Darryl knew I captured this on film. I guess he does now. :-)


Jonah's most favorite food in the entire world is definitely breakfast food so this was perfect for him. He gobbled up every single bite. If only we could convince them to sell their land in Montana and come to DeLand instead??? Hmmm...

Actually...

Watching a child develop a vocabulary is one the most interesting things I have ever experienced. It amazes me to hear Jonah use a new word in the correct context. His latest word is ACTUALLY. It seems he uses it in most sentences now and I smile every time.

• We were at Breakfast in Orlando (post coming about that later) with some friends from a former church. Dan handed Jonah a game of Jenga and asked if he wanted to sit down and play it. Jonah took it from him, sat down then with wide eyes said "Actually, I need to potty!" (first time I hear him use the word)
• Jonah was in the bathtub last night when I told him he he needed to wash off so he could get out, put pjs on then brush his teeth. He said "Actually, I just want a sucker.)

What kind of ice cream?

Last week, I picked Jonah up from school and headed to the mall in Sanford. I had a few things to return and knew he would enjoy the indoor playground there. It was quickly evident that some of the kids there were not disciplined the same way Jonah is. There were a couple of boys who appeared to be a few months older than him that were very, very mean to the other children. I watched this with sadness because their moms did nothing to stop this. Then, right before my very eyes, my little boy was treated unfairly by them and had some ugly things said to him!

My mama bear/mother hen blood started boiling. This was the first real experience I had of a child treating MY baby inappropriately. He looked at me with sadness then the tears started to flow. He was heartbroken and so was I. I redirected his attention to something else and then it happened again. The same boys pushed him off of car he has playing on and told him he didn't have any friends because he was ugly. Well, by this point, my blood was boiling at the apathy from the mothers of those boys that I just got Jonah out of there. I explained to him that those boys did and said ugly things and talked to him about how that made him feel. I tried to help him understand how his actions could make someone else feel the way he did.

He did not want to leave but I knew things were only going to get worse if we stayed so I did what all good parenting books suggest...I bribed him!!! I said, "Jonah, let's go and if you come right now, I will get you a milkshake, which is ice cream." He loves ice cream but since we were leaving I needed something he could have in the car. I did not think he had ever had a milk shake before so I was explaining what it was. We strolled through the mall for a few minutes when he looked at me and said "Mommy, what color is witches ice cream?"

HA! When I said "which is ice cream," he thought I said WITCHES ice cream. He was all excited about trying that.

"All this fun stuff"

Jonah has become a fan of checking the mail. The past few weeks have found our mailbox full of cards and "special surprises" for him from family and friends in Vidalia. This one from Mammy and Clare came before the ballgame the other night. He asked me where they lived and I told him "Vidalia, where we used to live." He quickly reminded me that "we lived in Louisiana!"

Mr. Money Bags

Jonah received a card in the mail from Jimmy and Cathy a couple of weeks ago. They suggested he buy ice cream with the money they enclosed. I should have never told Jonah what that card said. He drove us crazy asking to go get ice cream with "his money!" So, after the football game two weeks ago, we headed to Baskin Robbins. I've never been so happy to give up a $5 bill.

DHS ballgame

We went to the DeLand High School football game a couple of weeks ago. It started at almost Jonah's bedtime so we weren't sure how long he would last. We hoped to make it through halftime. Something came on inside of him when he heard the band play the first time and the kid became a dancing machine. At several spots during the game, NO ONE around us was watching the game because Mr. Soul Train was putting on a show of his own. I have countless videos from the night. I'm posting a few at the end just to prove how much he danced.






We did our typical "move around a lot" during the game so we could find different church members to sit with and spend time with. Our last stop was in front of Chris and Jennifer Fowler. That is when the dancing almost ceased. He got intimidated or something?