My Little Cowboy

This picture was taken yesterday when Jonah insisted on wearing his cowboy boots with his play clothes outfit. He did go out in public like this, by the way. I'm not sure I could have done it. But my mom took him to the store like that. Precious!

Jonah has been getting more helpful around the house. I'm noticing some task-oriented traits about him, like his dad. He loves to accomplish what you ask him to. His new "job" around the house is putting away the tupperware and the kids plates and cups, when I'm unloading the dishwasher. I copied my sister-in-law Amy with that one. But he's also starting to help me sort laundry and does a really good job at it! He remembers which bins I've told him that different things go in. Amazing. I know his enthusiasm for chores will not last long, so I'm enjoying it this week while he still thinks it's fun to do stuff like that. Wish I could keep him from finding out that we're not actually playing when we do those things.

Last night was so fun. I had a girls night out with a few girls from church. My friend Jenny finished writing a book for Pine Cove that she's been working on all year, so I'd told her we had to celebrate when she finished. So, she, Stephanie, and I (we're all in the same community group) met up with Meghan (a staff wife in Athens that we hung out with at our women's retreat a couple months ago and haven't seen since) and had dinner. It was amazing to just sit around the table for 3 hours talking, then we spent an hour and a half at Marble Slab. So yummy. The restaurant we went to is definitely one of my new favorites. It's called Julian's, and it's really really really good Asian food. Think Pei-Wei type food but a real sit-down place. If you're ever in Tyler, that's a great eating-out option that I highly recommend. Anyway, we laughed so much, and it was very refreshing. I'm really thankful for the new friends God is providing here. Speaking of new friends, another girl Ame and I are going to Dallas one day next week to go shopping.....YEA YEA YEA. I'm so excited.

Only two more days until my other two favorite little kids arrive. Blake and his family will be traveling tomorrow and will get to Tyler on Thursday morning. We are about to go crazy we are so looking forward to their visit!! Tomorrow Jonah and I are going back to Pump It Up (which we went to last week), a place that has big, inflatable jump houses and slides. We're meeting some friends there tomorrow. Jonah LOVES this place. We've been staying pretty busy lately. I realized we've had some kind of fun outing, playdate, or lunch with friends almost every day the last couple of weeks. I'm the kind of girl who likes to get out and do stuff like that, and it's good for us because Jonah loves it. Although maybe you're doing a little much when your child wakes up saying, "bye bye?" every morning. He's always ready to GO! I've also been trying to work on his birthday party invitations this week, and I just get so sad doing it because I realize how big Jonah really is and how fast the last two years have gone. Every mommy says that, I know. But I can't overemphasize its emotional impact. Did I mention that Jonah drank juice out of a regular (non-sippy) cup all by himself this week? He didn't spill. I had tears down my face. He's getting more and more grown-up and independent all of the time. But also, he's getting more and more affectionate, so I'm loving that!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT AMY!!!!!! Hope it's a great one!