Random Happenings From the Last Week and a Half

Well, I haven't written in a while, and a bunch of things kept happening that made me think I needed to blog, but I kept letting it build up. And now that I'm finally sitting down to do it, I can't remember most of them! So here are a few things that have been keeping us busy lately (from what I can recall)....

The rest of the visit we had with my brother and his family was so good. We had lots of fun with them and they are now safely back home. Jonah still is asking if Nathan and Maggie are there every time we go to Gigi's house! He really doesn't understand why they were here all the time for four days and now they're gone. We all really miss you guys! One of the photos I'm going to post is from when we all gathered around to watch the Kentucky Derby. Jonah is sitting with Blake, holding a stuffed horse and watching the "horsies" race. He loved it. Can't wait for their next visit!



Last Wednesday, my friend Kate and I went to Dallas, Arlington to be exact, during the day to hang out with our friends Holly and Kelli at Holly's house. Kelli's little girl was at mother's day out, so we didn't see her, so that left us all hanging out with five little boys, including Kelli's five week old Campbell. That was a lot of little boys! It was so much fun. Kate's oldest child, Brantley, and Jonah are really good buds now, so they played together so well. All of them did. It was so fun seeing my friend Holly's little Tyce. No, make that big Tyce. He's adorable. We all talked and laughed at all sorts of things. Kate and I decided it was one of the most fun days ever, and since the kids were so amazingly good traveling, we need to do it more often! I just love those good friend-days. Here is a picture of me and Holly. Next time I see her....little Haven should be here! Also, a picture of the boys, minus Campbell. Such sweeties.







In other news....I bought a dining room table! I got a great deal on an antique table and chairs that my mom's neighbor was selling in a garage sale. It needs some work.....repainting the top of the table and distressing it to match the rest of the table and chairs and reupholstering the seat cushions of the chairs. I wasn't expecting to buy furniture for my dining room (which is a formal dining/living combo that has just been used as a playroom since we moved in) for a looooong time, but since I made such a spontaneous purchase that I'm very happy about, I now have to remove all the toys from the playroom and disperse them to other well-hidden places. I wasn't ready for that. So I've been working on a lot of reorganizing lately....moving toys into cabinets in the family room, into the sunroom, into Jonah's closet, into the attic, and into the trash. LOVE getting rid of stuff. I used to be a hoarder, if you don't know. I've recovered. I may be leaning towards the opposite extreme. I really don't like having extra stuff around the house. Especially when my child really truly only plays with about three things. Who needs toys? There will be times I will really miss having a playroom. But not today. I'm pretty excited about my dining room furniture. When I get around to actually doing the work on it, which should be in the next week, I'll be sure to post some before and after pics.

Yesterday, my friend Ame and I took our boys (hers is a 10-month old angel) to Dallas and shopped our little hearts out. And our boys' hearts too. Man, they were troopers. We made a lot of progress in just a part of a day. We went to a couple of really great fabric stores that had TONS of choices and amazing prices. So, if anyone is ever needing a new fabric place to look, let me know, and I'll tell you how to get to these. My major shopping goal was to find fabric for my new dining chairs, and I found it right away! I was so excited. And very thankful that God does fabric-shopping too. (There's a lot of fun stuff on His resume, by the way.) I will definitely be going back there. We lunched at Le Madeleine, went to Shops at Willow Bend, the mega Marshalls, and Northpark. I hadn't been to northpark since all of the renovations had been complete. It was amazing. Although Jonah was great being carried all over the Metroplex and not getting a nap, I still will not do this to him very often! It was a little tiring. But we had so much fun. I really enjoyed getting to spend time with this new friend. We talked and talked and talked, and it was very enjoyable. And Jonah loves her baby. I really am glad to have been able to make two Dallas trips in the last week....breaths of fresh air! =)

We had several families over for a ice cream party on Saturday night. Other than rain forcing us indoors for what was supposed to be an outside party and that meaning that I had to actually clean ALL of my house before they came, it was a blast. Jonah LOVES parties. He gets really excited. He kept calling the ice cream "party cake"....he doesn't really understand that there's a difference between different types of sweets. He lumps all desserts into one cateogory: party cake. He thinks birthday parties are the best thing ever invented. He's only really been to one, and he wasn't there long enough to really know what it was about. But still, he's decided that we need to have "bertday" parties every day. Anytime we're with friends or going to see friends, he gets excited that we're going to a "bertday! yay!"It's rather amusing. As for his own upcoming birthday, I don't think he has a clue what to really expect. Except that he knows there will be cake. He's not going to know what hit him. I'm going to do a whole different post soon about what Jonah's been up to lately. You wouldn't believe how fast he's changing. He's a little MAN now. The last two months have brought huge changes. We're getting ready for a trip to Bartlesville next week. We'll be there Thursday the 24th through Memorial Day, so it will be a nice, long visit with family. Joel's oldest niece Amber is graduating high school, so we're coming in for that. Hope to see some of you friends in Bville too!

Jonah climbing (with help, of course) in our backyard Magnolia tree:

Love Those Luces!

We're having so much fun having Blake, Amy, Nathan, and Maggie visiting. They got here yesterday, and Jonah has enjoyed all of them immensely. Much to our surprise, he and Maggie have really taken a liking to each other this time! They are playing together so well. They're definitely buds now. Jonah still adores "Na-Na" too. Thought I'd go ahead and post some pics of our time with them yesterday, cause who knows, there may be lots more photos coming by the end of their trip! I love the pic of Jonah and Maggie digging around in the pantry. That's what they like to do. They love to go get a snack and then when Mom and Dad tell them they can't have it, they go straight to Gigi or Papa T to get what they want. They're smart though, it hasn't taken them long to learn to just skip over mom and dad and take their requests straight to the grandparents! And they've learned there's power in numbers. They work together on these little projects.

By the way...

I do realize how nerdy I am for my last post, and I DON"T CARE. =)

My Mavericks

My husband knows that there are two other men in the world that I love. One is the anesthesiologist that gave me my epidural when I had Jonah. The second is Dirk Nowitzki, who gave a spectacular display of athletic genius to bring the Mavericks back in the last three minutes of the game against the Warriors last night. Love him.
Anyway, Mavericks won. I'm elated. Ready for game 6.

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!

The Funniest Thing I Have EVER Seen...

Today at the gym, I witnessed the funniest thing. I usually miss stuff like this, so I am really thrilled I got to see it. Please know that I am only laughing at this now that I know no one was hurt. Even so, I'm a little bit evil for thinking it's so funny, I realize that. There was an elderly lady (say, about 70 years old) walking on the treadmill. I was on a bike behind her, and I caught a glimpse of something happening really fast and looked up to see her fall on the treadmill and slide off the back of the treadmill on her stomach. We've all seen those falls on youtube and the like, but wait, there's more. As if that wasn't bad enough, when she fell, her pants got stuck in the side of the treadmill track, and as she struggled trying to get up so she could stop the treadmill as it continued to run, it pulled her pants right off! She was laying on the floor/end of the treadmill with her pants all the way down, showing off her big white granny panties! There happened to be quite a few elderly people there, and about six old men just stopped and stared at her in her panties! One of them was on the treadmill right next to her, trying to stop hers, but he was slow in doing so, mainly because he was so distracted looking at this woman lose her clothes. It was absolutely hysterical. I dared not laugh until I got in my car to leave, but ever since, I laugh so hard just thinking about it. I must say, she handled it with such grace and dignity. I would have been in tears, and there would be no way I'd ever return to the same gym. But she held her head high and walked on. She had some bruising but said she was fine. I'm sure she'll be sore tomorrow! Wish you all could have seen it and shared in this great pleasure with me.

Busy week

There is one week that all mothers in Tyler seem to live for. It is the big event that draws together so many different women and connects moms who would otherwise have nothing or very little in common. This is a very social town (sometimes in a bad way, sometimes not), but I believe this to be one of the top-rated social events going on here. Excitement has been brewing for months, and it's the most common discussion topic in any playgroup or circle of moms. I could feel the tension of anticipation everywhere this week, as the event got closer and closer. I had decided in my mind not to participate in the emotional contagion that accompanied this event, convinced that the women's enthusiasm was probably unmerited or at least excessive. The whole thing seemed a little borderline occult-ish, to me. Just kidding about that last part, but it is a BIG deal here. It's this huge, three-day children's consignment sale that sells brand-name kids' clothing, toys, items, maternity clothes, furniture, and home-decorative items. EVERYONE goes. No joke. If you sell items or volunteer to work at the sale, you get to attend a special preview sale, and I went on Wednesday night to that. I wasn't kidding about it being a social event. We met up, shopped, and hung out afterwards at IHOP until midnight. It was all anyone had been talking about for weeks, so I was preparing myself all this week to expect that it's probably not as great or fun as anyone says. I went into self-protective mode, wanting to guard against disappointment. Oh my goodness. You wouldn't believe how fun it was. I way underestimated how much good stuff I'd find. And yes, I spent too much money on stuff I didn't really need right now. At least now I know to budget for it every year, like so many friends here do. So, yep....I've been sucked in. My new obsession is this consignment sale (check it out - www.cccsale.com), and I'm already getting excited for the next one in September. Even if you live a few hours away, you should consider coming to this sale. You could stay with me! It's SO great. I found some clothes and shoes for Jonah, although maybe not quite as much as I'd hoped for in the size he's wearing right now. Also, I wasn't looking for baby items, but I found things that I know I'd want to have for a next baby whenever I do get pregnant again (Lord-willing), so I got a Moses basket that's so cute... and a Baby Bjorn for $15. Yes, that's right. I said $15!!! It's in perfect shape. I was thrilled. The Moses basket was my biggest splurge there (still way cheaper than in the stores), I hesitated since it's not really a necessity. My friend Kate was supposed to tell me that I didn't need it. She failed me. I went home with it. Joel didn't really understand that purchase.

Jonah got a new DVD and just one toy, because I've been trying to figure out how to get rid of some of the toys in our playroom. Somehow there's just too much. So I didn't let myself linger in the toy area for long, but I couldn't pass up this one toy - the Elefun game, where the elephant blows butterflies out of his trunk and you catch them with your net. Jonah was so excited about it, although he has yet to catch any of them in his net. He just gets really excited, almost deliriously so, yelling out the colors of the butterflies that shoot out. And then says "more! more!" each time we're done.

Speaking of my little man.....he's still so funny and getting even funnier by the day. One of his favorite mealtime choices is cheese-toast. Well, I made him some toast with strawberry jelly on it one day for breakfast, and he got really happy and said, "red cheese-toast!" I tried to explain that it didn't have cheese on it, but he had made up his mind that that's what he'd call it, and he's said it so many times since. His most common statement over the last three or four weeks has been the single-word "nnn-nere" which translated, means, "in there," (but also refers to "out there," "over there," and "through there") and has all of a sudden been replaced by multi-word phrases and entire sentences. I still can't believe how fast their speech develops once you hit a certain point! One morning this week, we got him out of bed and brought him into our bed for a few minutes before we got up for the day, and he said very clearly, "Daddy in there, on the bed" as we got into bed. As of this week, he rarely leaves out a part of speech. Prepositions and all. It's just funny, because my mom has talked a lot about how teaching kindergarten, she saw that every kid seemed to have a certain natural aptitude in an area of learning, either more skilled in language or in the math & sciences. So we've really seen this week where Jonah is probably going to be a language-boy. Some of the biggest enjoyment I have as a parent (and it was my favorite part of nannying too) is the process of trying to teach my child and watching him learn new things and especially getting to have little discoveries of the natural abilities and gifts God has given him. I think it will be most gratifying, exhilarating even, to see how he grows up to use those skills to influence his world and what God has created him to do. He's just seemed a lot older to me this week. I feel like he's not a baby anymore, and as fun as it is in a lot of ways, my heart is a little sad, realizing how fast he's changing and growing up. Just today, we had a big-boy moment that almost brought me to tears. We were in the car and Jonah was letting me know his nose was running, but since I was driving, I just handed him a Kleenex, and he wiped his own nose. HE WIPED HIS OWN NOSE! I thought, "he's not supposed to be doing that!" It seemed like such a grown-up thing to do. I think this mom is going to have a break-down the week of his 2-year birthday. I'll start praying now about having peace with this growing-up thing!

Tomorrow, we will be spending most of the day with family. My great-aunt and great-uncle from Gig Harbor, WA will be in town, and so aunts, uncle, and cousins are coming too, and we are all having lunch over at my mom's. I'm excited!