A day at the park

Last week on Jonah's birthday we took the kidlets to the park for some play time.  I brought my camera along with so I could get some cute pictures of them while they played.

Hopefully we'll be getting some family pictures taken in the next couple of weeks.  I just need to finish Sophie's Easter outfit and we'll be set!

I have a 3 year old

We had such a fun birthday with Jonah this year.  He's old enough and completely understands that it was HIS day yesterday.  I had to remind him several times that if he doesn't learn to share with Sophie, she'll never want to play with him (probably not true but I had to try something).  Sophie is always interested in what Jonah is doing and would play nicely with him if he'd let her...but he doesn't, so she'll steal his toy and say, "MY!!!" and smirk in his direction.  I think she knows she can get to her older brother already.  Good girl!

We started the festivities on Sunday with our family dinner.  I made Jonah's birthday cake into Wii Remotes--or Wii-motes--since he's really only crazy about the Wii right now.  When he looked at it he said, "But I wanted boxing gloves!"  I just used my mom powers and before it hit my ears it turned nicely to, "Wow! Thanks, Mom!!".

The wonderful thing about Jonah's birthday being in March is that we get to outfit him for the summer.  He got lots of new outdoor toys and has really enjoyed being outside playing with the nice weather.  He played his first game of catch yesterday with his daddy and his new glove and ball and had a blast.  We took him to the park where he insisted on bringing his new bowling set (pins and all) to play with on the slide--ski-ball style.

We convinced him that Smashburger was the place to dine on his birthday and I enjoyed myself another awesome burger.  Jonah and Sophie devoured their hot dogs.

I sat in bed a few nights ago, thinking of the night I went into labor with Jonah and I can't believe its been three years.

I love my children more than I could ever imagine and I am so blessed to be a mother.  It truly is unlike anything else in the world.

Something like 18 inches

Who knows how much hair I actually cut off?  Let's just say I went from the longest my hair has ever been, to the shortest.  This was no spur of the moment cut, either.  I have never researched and planned for a hairdo as long as I did for this one.  I figured if I was going to be drastic, I had better make sure I got exactly what I wanted.

First things first:  Find yourself a good stylist! Check.  I don't mean to brag but I have access to one of the most talented stylists.  Laura is truly amazing.  Brilliant.  I knew she'd know exactly how to get to where I wanted to be.

Second:  Prepare the people around you.  To tell you the truth, everyone around me was more attached to my long locks than I was.  Don't get me wrong.  I loved my long hair.  But I was ready for a change.  I began dropping hints of a change to Jon months ago.  Yes, MONTHS.  Just before I left for my haircut, I had a little pep talk with my mother-in-law (I was giving the pep talk).  I think it worked--she didn't collapse when I got home.

Third:  Research the do.  Done and done.  I've been thinking about doing this for years and figured it was the right time and I knew (from many months of observations and digging up photos) exactly what I wanted.

So, here we are.  18 (or so) inches chopped!  I can't be happier!  I may never grow my hair out again!

The End

I look like Daddy!

I asked Jonah if he wanted to look like his daddy and have short hair and he said yes--several times--since I asked him about 20 times to make sure I was doing the right thing by cutting off his blond locks. So this morning, I broke out the scissors, put him in front of the TV and a half hour later, we had a new Jonah!

I can't believe how big he looks without his long hair. I love it. I think he's the most handsome little boy ever!! (with a perfectly shaped head, mind you.)

Before

Cutting the hair. Thank goodness for TV and snacks.

Jon's favorite part of the whole proceedings. The Mullet.

What a handsome thing!

On another note, we baked cookies (not an unusual thing in our house) for family night this week and had so much fun! Jonah has a love/hate relationship with the mixer--and ever other household appliance that makes loud noise. He says, "Mom, just do it softerly!" (my heart melts.)

We sang primary songs and then talked about the Sabbath and how we do things like going to church, reading the scriptures, and showing love for our family (all things he learned in Nursery on Sunday). I've found that it's much easier for him to get something out of family night when we use his handout from Nursery from the week before so its something that is already fresh on his mind. Plus he LOVES to show off his artwork on the handout.

Sorry for the blur.

We usually only get through one scripture and then Jonah says a beautiful prayer to close the festivities. He loves to say the prayer all by himself and it usually goes like this, "Heavenly Father, thank you for day, go play, thank you for all our blessings, thank you for the food, please bless the food, please help us to sleep well and have good dreams (usually repeated twice--maybe for good measure), and then he closes it perfectly. It's a wonderful thing to hear your child say a prayer or sing a primary song all by themselves.

Sophie has finally started walking and she just loves her independence. She still loves to eat everything in sight and even surprised me this week when she helped her self several times to my raw broccoli on my salad.

Fun in the laundry basket!

I love this stage

Jonah rambles non-stop.  From the second he wakes up to the second his eyes close he is talking.  Needless to say, he provides constant entertainment.

The other day Jon was playing one of Jonah's made-up ball games in the family room while I put Sophie to bed.  I warned Jonah that he only had five more minutes before bed.  They continued playing until Jon got his phone out to look at something and Jonah said in frustration, "Dad, we don't have time for this!" 

One night we put Sophie to bed and took Jonah for a quick trip to the mall to look for something (don't worry, we didn't leave Sophie alone) and on our way out of the mall, Jon was carrying Jonah on his shoulders.  Jonah sighed, exasperated, and said, "Whew!  I really, really believe (with more conviction than ever) that is has been a really long day, Mom."

Another night before bed, Jonah's bear was "giving him kisses" and Jonah was giggling when Mamou came up to Jonah and said, "Oh, that's such a nice bear!  Can I give him a hug goodnight?"  Jonah handed over the bear and while Mamou hugged the bear he said, "No!  Mamou, you're smashing him with your "boops"!

These are just a few of the funnies.