Jonathan on names...

"We saw a guy with blue hair in the grocery store. Daddy said his name was Buzz Are."


"The funny guy in Thomas said To-MAH-toes. ToMAHto is the nickname for Tomato."

Halloween

I know it's been awhile since Halloween, but just couldn't resist posting a few pictures. For Halloween this year we went trick or treating with some friends from church. It was super fun. Elisa was once again Tinkerbell. Here she is with her little fairy friends:

Jonathan was a doggie. This is the costume Elisa wore two years ago, and it is Jonathan's absolute favorite thing in our dress up clothes. He often wears the doggie, so it was very appropriate for Halloween. 

This was the first time that the kids went trick or treating with friends. Jonathan didn't quite get it at first. At the first house he wandered inside as the homeowners were passing out candy. He was quite a ways inside by the time I got up to the front door and started calling for him to come back out. As we walked to the next house I tried to explain to him that we don't go inside, we just get our candy and leave. But at the next house once again he wandered in. Well, after the second house he seemed to get it and things went smoothly. He only wandered into one other house before we were done... funny kid.

Jonathan's Birthday

 Guess who's a big three-year old now?

newborn

1 year

2 years

3 years

We celebrated Jonathan's birthday with a simple party with family and a few close friends. It was a beautiful afternoon so we took the celebration outdoors. Jonathan is super into Thomas the train right now. He loved his Thomas cake; and I loved that I didn't have to make it. He got a little extra help from the wind in blowing out his candles... but I don't think he noticed.  

Jonathan, you are such a fun little boy. You are cute, funny, easy-going, and cheerful. You are a great playmate to your sister. I love to hear you guys giggling together. You are outgoing and like to make other people smile and laugh. You love your cars, trucks, and trains and spend hours each day playing with them. I'm so glad we have you in our family!

Chinese Garden Adventure

Today we went to the Chinese Garden here in downtown Portland. The brochure said it is the most authentic Chinese garden outside of China... I don't know whether to believe the brochure or not. But nonetheless it was beautiful and tranquil. It was like stepping into another world. I kind of forgot we were still downtown, except that every once in awhile over the tops of the curved roofs I would catch glimpses of skyscrapers. 

The garden takes up one city block, but it's amazing how much they fit into that little space. There are paths leading through it different ways, and different vistas from each angle. The sound of a waterfall blocks out the city traffic noise. It really is quite a calming, tranquil experience. Except, I suppose, for the sounds of our children. 

 The kids loved watching the big Koi.

They liked using the "flower" doorway as a slide.

The kids had a really fun time. When I told her earlier in the day that we were going to a Chinese garden Leesi said, "That doesn't sound very fun." But in the car when we were leaving she said, "I didn't think it was going to be fun, but it was fun!" I was glad she had amended her opinion.

BSF

This past year I've been attending Bible Study Fellowship. I take the kids too, and they have a program for them while I'm in the adult study. One of the genius things about BSF is that they teach the kids the same thing as what the adults are going through. At first, we were going through Acts and each week I would tell Elisa what my "story" was about. She would look at me with wide eyes and say, "We had that story too!" Lately the adult study has been going through different epistles, so it's a little harder to know what they are talking about with the kids.

It's been funny to see some of the things they are picking up on in their classes. Last night Jonathan took a little notebook out of Grammy's purse. He told me, "It's the Bible." Then he held it facing out, like an adult doing story time would hold a book so that the kids could see it. And he repeated over and over, "The Bible is a treasure book, it has true words." He has also taken to hopping around the house like a frog, which looks extremely tiring. I'm pretty sure it's a BSF strategy to get 2-year-old energy out.

Sometimes the things they pick up on come out in unexpected ways. A few months back Elisa and I were playing a game with a couple of wands from her dress up stuff. We were taking turns waving our wands and then pointing them while saying magic words. We started with old favorites like, "Bippity, boppity, boo" and "Abracadabra" and then progressed to silly nonsense phrases like, "Ella McStella" etc. We had been going at this game for quite some time, and all of our magic words had been used and reused many times, when all of a sudden Leesi pointed her wand and exclaimed, "In the name of Jesus Christ!" It was so surprising, it was all I could do not to burst out laughing. Later I was thinking about this, wondering where she could have gotten this phrase. I decided it must be from BSF. After all, we were going through Acts, and there were probably a few times where people did things in the name of Jesus Christ.

Easter Festivities

We had a great Easter weekend. Couldn't have asked for any nicer weather. We had a lot of fun with friends at our church's annual Easter egg hunt. Then went to church on Sunday and then headed out to Grammy's house for the afternoon.

I taught the 3-5 year old class during church. Which, honestly, I wasn't really looking forward to. I was envisioning a lot of extra kids in class... and it can already be a little crazy in there. But there ended up being fewer kids than normal, and it was a complete pleasure to spend the morning with them. It was such a privilege to tell them the Easter story. Of course, most of them have heard it by now, but they're still young enough that it's somewhat new. We talked about how we all do wrong things that make it so we can't be with God, but Jesus took our consequence, so that now we can know God. One little girl adamantly refused to admit that she had ever done anything wrong. When I asked if she'd ever gotten a time out she said that once a really really long time ago she had gotten a time out. One little girl was looking more and more serious as the story went on. Then when Jesus raised from the dead she looked relieved, and broke into a little smile. For some reason, being with the kids made Easter fresh and real to me in a way that sitting through the service wouldn't have. It ended up being a total blessing.

After I had told them the story, we broke out a small set of resurrection eggs that I had made up. I just did 6 eggs (bread, cross, cloth, rock, angel, empty) and had a child volunteer to open one and show it around. Then had the kids tell me about that part of the story. It's such a great activity for kids this age. They loved it, and we ended up going through them twice. Today, I had Leesi go through them with Jonathan and tell him the story while showing him the eggs. They did it quite a few times, and then Leesi said that she wanted to do it with Arthur (a baby I watch), so she did it with him too. Arthur did his part by happily chewing on an egg.

At Grammy's house we had a wonderful lunch with the family. Then relaxed (I even napped!) for awhile. Leesi and I made resurrection rolls in the afternoon. When Jonathan opened his up we explained that it was empty just like Jesus' tomb. Jesus isn't there anymore, he's risen! Jonathan kept on looking in his roll and then saying, "It's empty! He's not there. He went away." I don't think he had the slightest clue what we were talking about, but it made some sort of impression on him nonetheless.

Here are some pictures from our weekend:

Chocolate face after the church Easter Egg hunt.

Dying eggs.

Jonathan kept asking, "Can I eat it now Mommy?" I finally gave in, and he spent most of the time peeling and eating the eggs while the rest of us dyed them. (By the way, he's wearing an apron, not a sundress... at first he didn't want an apron, so we took his shirt off. Then he decided he did want one, so we put one on... made for quite the fashion statement.)

Doing a fun cross craft from my friend Christa's blog. As we were doing it Leesi told me, "This is going to be the most beautiful craft I ever made." So sweet.

Easter morning and on our way to church.

Leesi proudly showing off the eggs she found in Grammy's yard.

Jonathan playing "I Spy"

Jonathan: I pie wi ma w'il eye some tin... fan! (clearly looking at the white ceiling fan)

Me: Something fan? Do you mean something white?

Jonathan: Some tin white.

Elisa: Is it the fan?

Jonathan: nooo

Elisa: Is it the door?

Jonathan: nooo ... It da boo bag!

Us: Oh, the blue bag!

Almost ready for a big boy bed...

So I posted this on Facebook. But I wanted to post it here too, so that when I look back I'll remember.

A few mornings ago I was awake, but still in bed and pretty soon I heard Leesi say (through the monitor), "You did it Buddy! Do you wanna come snuggle in bed with me?"

Yes indeed, Jonathan has learned to get out of his crib (and the Pack'n'Play that he naps in too).

At least there was one person in the family who was excited for him.

Fall Activities

Just some fun fall things we've been up to lately.

A trip to the pumpkin patch with Grammy.

Finding the perfect pumpkins.

Washing the pumpkins.

Our finished Jack-o-lanterns, an octopus and a smiley face.

A fall art project - trees made by painting with q-tips.

We had so much fun that Leesi asked to do this a second time.

Happy Fall!

Halloween

Just wanted to post a picture from Halloween. Tigger and Tinkerbell. We had a fun time this year. Leesi is now totally old enough to realize that Halloween means she gets candy. Also, she was excited about her Tinkerbell costume (although she didn't want to wear the wings). Jonathan didn't want to put on a costume at all. But he saw some other kids in costumes, so he was a little more willing to let me put the Tigger costume on him. He started to protest a little as I put his legs in. But once it was on, he was totally fine with it. This was Leesi's costume two years ago.

We went to the school's halloween party. Greg was doing balloon animals for the kids there, which was fun. But he didn't get to go trick or treating with us. So after we were done at the party we just went around to the student apartments on campus and came home with a perfectly reasonable amount of candy.

Earler in the day on Halloween Elisa and I did a Jack-O-lantern sponge painting project. It was super fun, and has made me want to do more sponge painting!

Jonathan at two

So, my sweet little boy is now a big 2-year-old.

He is entering a new phase of willfulness... go figure. All of a sudden he is falling apart and screaming when things don't go quite the way he wants them to. It has been a little challenging for me, but at least I've experienced this before with Leesi... so it isn't a huge surprise.

But the willfulness isn't all there is to him. He is still a sweetheart. He loves to snuggle and be held. At night he gives me a hug, a squeeze, and a kiss. He lays his head on one of my shoulders and says "huuuuug", then switches to the other shoulder and says "squeeeeze", then last a kiss complete with smacking sound.

He is beginning to be quite the talker. He has gone about learning to talk in a whole different way than Leesi. He repeats everything. Now, I think he understands everything we say to him. But even before he understood, he would repeat back whatever you said. He strings long sentences together (even like 8 word sentences sometimes!). Leesi didn't repeat things as much. She thought a lot more before saying things. Jonathan has been an experiential learner. He likes to pray. He starts by saying something that sounds sort of like Jesus, and then he says a long string of nonsense words, and then "Amen!"

Jonathan loves to sing. Some of his favorites are Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABCs (with letters... but not necessarily in the right order!), Jesus Loves Me, My God is So Great, Old MacDonald etc. The last few nights, right before I leave their bedroom, I've been singing "God has smiled on me" which is a song I used to sing to them when they were babies. A couple nights ago they both all of a sudden started singing along. It was a sweet, sweet moment to hear Leesi and Jonathan's little voices singing, "God has smiled on me; He has set me free. God has smiled on me; He's been good to me."

In some ways he is such a boy. He loves trucks, trains, and things that go. When he's riding in the car he is content just to look out the window and watch the cars go by. He comments on any big trucks we see. And he always points out trains or the Max, and then says "Toot, toot!" He loves playing with balls. He has taken a particular interest in basketball, quite apart from anything we have done. My parents sometimes hang a bucket on a nail from a post on their deck and Jonathan goes to town "making baskets". He also has a fairly deep little voice. And is quite pushy (literally), which my mom says is kind of a boy thing.

But in other ways he breaks the gender stereotypes (which I think is fairly normal). He likes to wear little clips in his hair, and he likes to put on bracelets and necklaces. He sees Leesi getting her hair fixed and wearing jewelry and he wants to get in on the action too. Today I took him to Bible study with two little clips in his hair. I'm not quite sure what his teachers thought of that when I dropped him off... but all I can say is that some days I just have to pick my battles, and today that one wasn't worth fighting.

So here are his stats at 2:

Height: 37 1/4 inches (97%)

Weight: 28lbs. 9oz. (59%)

Jonathan's Party

Last weekend we had a birthday party for Jonathan. We decided to go with a theme of "Trains, Planes, and Automobiles" since that encompasses so many things Jonathan loves. Here are some of the highlights:

A masking tape road went in a circle around the room. The kids just ran and ran and ran pushing their various big vehicles. They loved it!

A coloring table was a good place to rest for awhile after all that running.

We also had a bean pool which the kids loved. They played in the beans with various cups and small trucks. It was a popular station.

We had really yummy food. We (by which I mean Greg) grilled chicken in a yummy marinade. There were so many compliments on the chicken. We also had chicken nuggets (for the kiddos), fruit, caesar salad, crackers and cheese, chips and artichoke dip, jello salad, and bread. I tried to make a variety of things that would please both the kids and the adults.

The piece de resistance of the meal was definitely the cake. My friend Lori and I made the cake. Actually, I did the grunt work and Lori was the cake artist. She sculpted the cake and did all the decorating work at the end. Isn't it amazing? I helped her until we had gotten all the train cars frosted. Then I left to get set up for the party. When I first saw it at the party I couldn't believe how good it looked. The kids loved it too. On the caboose door you can see where a little finger tried to get in. :-)

When we sang Happy Birthday to Jonathan he sang along. He even inserted his name in the proper place. So cute. For a few weeks beforehand we had been singing Happy Birthday at lunch or dinner time and then Jonathan and Leesi would dip their fork into their applesauce, or ketchup, or yogurt and hold it out, saying "blow-out-the-candle." And we would all take turns "blowing it out". I'm not exactly sure how this got started, but Jonathan had plenty of practice blowing out the candle. So when it came time he blew out his candles, no problem.

We put up pictures of Jonathan on one wall, along with our happy birthday banner. And I put out his first year photo book for people to browse through. I love looking back on old pictures and remembering! We had a gorgeous day for the party. It was warm and sunny. You can see the beautiful sunlight streaming in the windows in this picture.

Greg and I spent a few hours (while watching t.v.) folding red and blue paper airplanes for this garland. I was trying to think of a cheap way to bring something festive to a large white room. I think it worked pretty well. Although, the picture doesn't quite do it justice.

At the end of the party we had a competition for the adults. A paper airplane contest: one piece of paper, one throw to see who could get the farthest. Everyone got into it. The kids loved watching too. It was hilarious to see all the airplanes that only made it a foot or two.

We had the party in a room on campus that's across from our apartment. It worked out great. Plenty of room for everyone and for the kids to run. But it was a little bit of a challenge in that we didn't have much time ahead of time for setup. We also had to bring everything over from our house. I was running a little behind (of course), so it was craziness right before the party started. I enlisted the help of everyone who showed up early. My parents, brother, sister-in-law, Wanda, and my friend Becca all helped with the crazy set-up process. We couldn't have done it without them. And then at the end, so many people helped us clean up. I ended the night feeling so thankful for friends and family. (And feeling like next time we're going to have a simpler party!) Overall, the party was a fun time to celebrate a little boy who has charmed us over the last two years with his smile and his funny little ways. Happy Birthday Buddy!

Afternoon Adventure

This little cutie is about to turn two.

Jonathan is a typical boy who loves all things-that-go.

This afternoon we went out by the airport to watch the planes take off and land. The kids loved it.

"HI AIRPLANE!"

Evening at the river

Tonight we went to a birthday party for a little friend. It was at Kelly Point Park, which is a park at the point where the Columbia and Willamette Rivers meet. We had such a lovely evening hanging out with friends, eating good food, and watching the kids play on the river bank in the sand.

There were a couple of kid moments that I wanted to record, so I don't forget them... they were so precious.

There was a little meadow by the picnic tables where we were eating, and Jonathan walked around picking dandelions (think white fluff, not yellow flower), until his hands were full of bouquets of puffy balls. He kept saying "bubble, bubble... blow." At one point he had six or seven dandelions in his hands. It was so cute.

Later we were walking back to the parking lot, about a 5 minute walk. The sun had gone down, and it was quite dark. Since our kids usually go to sleep while it is still light (at least in the summer) Elisa was talking about how dark it was and how she couldn't see. I told her "You know what helps your eyes see better in the dark?... Carrots." She thought on this for awhile and then asked me, "You know what else helps you see better in the dark?... Flashlights."

It was just such a lovely evening. It felt good to relax with friends in a beautiful setting.

Get your boots on!

But Mom... Why can't I go outside?

WHY?!?

So Pretty!

Nice to meet you kitty

Conversation between the kids:

Elisa: (in a kind of motherly, teachy way) "Jonathan, this is Hello Kitty. Can you say Hello Kitty?"

Jonathan: "Hi Kitty"

Elisa: (a little exasperated) "No, no, not hi Kitty. It's Hello Kitty."

Jonathan: "Hi Kitty"

Elisa: (now speaking slowly and enunciating each syllable) "No, it's Hel-lo Kit-ty"

and the conversation went on that way for awhile.

Water play

My friend Becca, knowing that Greg was going to be gone a lot in July, put together a little water-play kit for the kids. She wanted me to have something to get out for them that I didn't have to generate myself. She bought a big aluminum turkey roasting pan, a silver goblet and tray, a copper kettle, a bunch of pretty glass and natural stones, and some little plastic water animals. I got it out the other day and the kids had so much fun! Elisa played with it first... before long she had taken off all of her clothes so that she could play freely without worrying about getting her clothes wet. I think she really wanted to climb right in herself... but I assured her that she wouldn't fit. Jonathan played with it next. He had so much fun, pouring and scooping rocks. I think another option might be to use it outside... maybe in our little blow-up pool. Then they could really get into it, literally.