Have any of you ever seen "While you were out" on HGTV? Well, I'm a HGTV junkie, so I love that show... it's a makeover shoe where one family member or friend chooses a special home makeover project for a loved one and surprises them while they are away. Upon their return, they are usually overjoyed by the fact that they have a new bedroom or bathroom or whatever room. Well, picture this at the Stover house this weekend. The boys were at Grammy and Pa's and Mommy and Daddy did a "while you were out" project. We transformed their room from a frog-themed nursery to a BIG BOY superhero room...complete with bunk beds. Billy and I worked our little tails off yesterday. Originally, I'd asked Billy if he was up for a road trip to Columbus Ohio to go to the Pottery Barn outlet. I'm a self-proclaimed Pottery Barn junkie and an outlet... oh my. But, Billy wasn't on board, so we switched gears and decided to go into Louisville "just to look for ideas" for the boys room. Our day started with an innocent trip to Louisville where we enjoyed a quiet lunch. We got the idea to go to USA baby to check out the bunk beds. We've been looking around, but honestly dragging our heals for some reason. We had found some we were getting ready to order online, but wanted to double check a few stores just to make sure. Well, the ones we liked there originally - several months ago - were.on.clearance. And then an extra 10% off for a one day sale. So, we bought them. Fully expecting them to say "thanks for your purchase, it'll be ready for pick up in 6-8 weeks" - we were pleasantly surprised when they told us it was all in stock. Holy moly - the wheels started turning. It wasn't until then that our "While you were out" plans started taking on a life of their own. We scrambled to make a plan - first we needed a truck to pick them up. Second we needed mattresses. (USA baby also had those on sale!!!!!). Third we needed bedding. So I batted my eyes and casually suggested Pottery Barn Kids. :-) :-) :-) We got some great deals on some really cute bedding and picked up a couple of Batman accessories (those weren't on sale, but I just couldn't resist) and ran to Macy's for a couple of sets of twin sheets and we were off. While we were zooming around the mall, we were anxiously awaiting a call from our friend Chris B (THANK YOU!!!!!!) to tell us he was on his way with his truck. So we finished our business at the mall and met him at the store to get our loot. And then the madness ensued. We got home and worked for 9 hours straight putting together the beds, a dresser, bookshelf and night stand, which I found at Target all for $130 - SCORE!!! Our little thumbs were so tired from all the screws, bolts, nuts and whatever else those tool and pieces are called. When we finally crawled into bed, our project was nearly complete. Oh - forgot to mention that we also painted two walls in their room at some point during the craziness. We had to wait until today, when the walls were dry to put everything in place. And it looks amazing. And the best part is this..... the boys were so excited! Jacob even said, "this is the best surprise ever!" There's still a couple of things I have planned for the room - I want to create some little superhero pieces of art for the wall above the dresser and there's a huge Batman Decal at Pottery Barn that I think I will get Jacob for his birthday and I'd like to have a cute little lamp. Oh and I need to change the window treatment. So finishing touches will be forthcoming. BUT, it's close and we felt like we'd run a marathon. We were so proud that we did it all.by.ourselves. We are not the handy-man type of couple, so we were oh so proud!

"I had the best day in the world"

Here's my big boy with his cool Batman back pack... (I have no idea who that mystery guy is in the background...weird)


Contemplating the world ahead of him... on the way to preschool!



Oh my, I love this one. Jacob, your daddy is the best role model. Thank you Jesus for such a Godly father and husband!

Welcome to Preschool big boy!

That's Jacob and his teacher, Mrs. Boyd. We already know she's going to be a blessing to our family!

And at the end of his first day of preschool - here's what Jacob had to say... "I HAD THE BEST DAY IN THE WORLD MOMMY!"

Twas the night before preschool

Twas the night before Preschool in the Stover House,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The boys were all snuggled in their beds with care,
With hopes of tomorrow in the late summer air.
Baby Jonathan won’t know exactly what to do,
When his best friend “Bubup” goes off to preschool .
Baby, oh baby, how can it be?
My first born munchkin is getting big you see.
Tomorrow is the first day of Jacob’s new preschool.
He’s so excited because he knows it will be cool.
He will play, learn and grow
And make lots of great friends, I know.
Then why, oh why, do I still feel sad?
Because my baby’s no longer a baby for his mom and dad.
He’s growing so big, so strong and so smart.
I love him, I love him with all of my heart.
Now, go. Go Jacob Go. Be who you are.
Love Jesus, Love others and you will go far.
Always know how much you are loved.
I love you forever I love you for always my little bug. :-)

Letter of the Day = Lesson of the Year!

So, the letter of the day yesterday was "J" - a popular letter at our house. :-) So, you'd think that "J" day would be an easy one for me. Well, I had so much to choose from, I focused on three specific activities: Jesus dying on the Cross, Jack and Jill nursery rhyme (we even acted it out... so funny!), and finally, the story of Jonah and the whale. We had much fun doing art and telling the stories on our chalk board. Of course, there's no more powerful story than Jesus on the Cross, but honestly, I was struck by how much my boys seemed to learn about Jonah. And oh my word, me too. The Bible encourages a childlike faith and teaching these stories to my boys is helping me do that. I love their questions. Here's some of their questions about Jonah: Why didn't he just obey? Wouldn't that be easier? Was he scared in that fish? Did he want his mommy? How did the fish find him? Here's some of MY questions that arose too - Why does God love us so much that He's willing to give us second (and third and fourth) chances when we deliberately disobey him? Why is disobedience so enticing? Why is it so easy? What blessings have I missed because I simply didn't want to do something God told me to do? What if He chose (chooses) NOT to give me a second chance when I disobey?
Wow - didn't expect a simple letter of the day to have such a profound impact on me. Thank you Lord for continually teaching me. Even through my children.

Lunch Conversations

I have so many bloggy ideas running through my head... so many in fact that they are probably up there fighting in all that unused brain space that used to be occupied by fully functioning brain cells that turned to mush when I became a mommy. So, stay tuned, hopefully I'll get to empty out my brain and my computer chip soon, but today's post is so special. Today at lunch, the sweetest thing happened. Jacob said, "i love you mommy." And I said, " I love you too, bug." Jonathan said, "i love you mommy." and I said, "I love you too sweetie!" Jacob then said, "you know who else is here that loves us?" Jonathan said, "WHO?" Jacob said, "Jesus." Jonathan said, " I don't see him." So then they ran back and forth to the living room to see Jesus - we have a picture of Jesus on the cross in the living room. After a few minutes of them running into the living room, I decided to bring Jesus to the table so they could see Jesus and eat at the same time. Well, what happened next is definitely in the top 5 all time favorite moments of mommyhood thus far. Here's the conversation:

Jacob: Look Jonathan, here's Jesus on the Cross. He has lots of Boo Boos."

Jonathan: Boo Boos? I want see.

Jacob: Boo Boos are from the crown of thorns and the roman soldiers because they were mean to him and cut him and hurt him with a stick.

Jonathan: Jesus Cross?

Jacob: Then he was up on the Cross with nails.

Jonathan: (pointing to the verse beside the picture) What's that?

Jacob: That says God so loved the world that he gave his son Jesus.

Then Jacob told him the whole story verbatim from his little Bible - even getting the details about Judas in there. Then he said, "you know what Jonathan? JESUS IS ALIVE."

Awesome, don't you think? I think Jacob will be saved early and I pray that God will use his life in mighty ways. Jonathan too. Wow... my heart is full of praise today and everyday for these sweet boys. Even when I feel like I might pull my hair out some days. :-)

momma feels sad!

Okay, so this is a confession of gargantuous proportions (I have no idea if gargantuous is even a word and if it is, heck if I know if I spelled it right). My big boy hurt my feelings tonight in a big way. Now, you must know that I was awake last night fighting the good fight with Jonathan - he is out of his crib and we are in full sleep training in the big bed mode- from 1 am til 4:30 am. So, admittedly, I'm a little tired and thus, probably more easily upset. Tonight, Jacob has been 99.9% perfect. and .1% mean and hurtful. We played outside in the sprinkler and he didn't want to come in, but finally he complied. While I was bringing him inside, he said "I am angry with you and I'm not living here anymore." I just said, "okay honey. You can be mad at me, but you still have to follow the rules." Then, he was downstairs mumbling things about me and I could hear them, but I chose not to say anything. He's entitled to vent, right? Even if it is to his little Mickey figurine. So after about 5 minutes, he turned back into "sweet 99.9% perfect Jacob" for most of the evening. Until bedtime. He was not a happy camper and screamed bloody murder for a few minutes. Again, I said, you can be mad, but you still have to obey. He went into his room and I gave him a kiss and said, "I love you very much, even when you scream." He said (THE WORDS EVERY MOTHER DREADS TO HEAR) "I don't love you and I want a new mommy." To that, I said calmly, " okay, but it's still bedtime. I love you. You hurt my heart and I'm not telling you stories right now. I want you to think about your words and how hurtful they are. If you continue to use hurtful words with mommy, I will take your TV out of your room tonight" (GULP). And I didn't tell him stories. I kissed him and walked out. Billy's in there right now telling him nite nite stories. Jacob came out and apologized and gave me a hug, which I know was sincere and very very sweet, but why is it that my heart really is sad about his words? I mean, come on... he's 3 and I'm 32. I know better. And he's very very sleepy, obviously.
On another note.... I'm happy to report that as of this moment, Jonathan is happily snoring away in his big boy bed. Here's praying tonight is much much much much better than last night. I know you can do it big boy!!!! Mommy and Daddy believe in you!

This post is made possible by the letter "C"

So, I've been trying to be somewhat creative the last few days (primarily because it's been so stinkin' hot outside) and we've been featuring a letter of the day at the Stover house. Well, we're three days in and you guessed it, today's letter has been "C." The order of pics in this post is kind of backwards... I should have posted the pic I wanted first last, and I can't figure out how to move it all now, so carry on. Ignore my backward post. :-)



And, of course - what a way to top off the "C" day by (drum roll please) TAKING DOWN THE CRIB!!!!! Holy moly, my baby is getting so big. The Crib said it's final goodbye today after last night, our little Houdini got out with a 6 foot mattress stacked up against the only way we thought we could escape. We've had it turned around, and against the wall for several months. We even used a kitchen chair on one side to keep him in. BUT, the thud I heard over the monitor last night was the last straw as he somehow managed to climb out over the tallest part. I really thought he'd broken his neck. This little crib has been a fixture in our house for over four years. Hard to believe. I was a little sad tonight taking it down. I must admit! But, I'm happy to report that another little bambino is going to get to use it. We're so glad that our friends Anna and Chris are gonna get some good use out of our beautiful crib. There's a few little teeth marks, but other than that, it's in great shape. Maggie Sue - here's to many many wonderful dreams in this bed sweetie!!!!!!




This was loads of fun... we gathered all the stuff around the house we could think of that starts with "c" - well, mommy did most of the gathering. I was way more into this project that the boys were. :-) Here' s just few of the treasures we found around the house: cashews, Clubhouse, cars, computers, candles, circles, carrots, cooking spray, cash register, checkbook, cresent rolls, Curious George, crayons... Fun Stuff, let me tell you!










Fun pics of ice Cream Cones with Cherries

These are two pictures of Jesus Christ dying on the Cross (by Jacob). I know you can't see the details, but oh my - amazing. There are orange tears. There's a sign that says king and the little dots are the nails. Oh and there's the two "bad guys" beside Jesus too.

prayer time

Okay - so I know I just posted one of these, but I want to remember them forever, so here's another one.

Jacob:
Dear Jesus,
Thank you or dying on the cross and thank you for loving us. Thank you for making us. Thank you for making Andy-Tales and I pray that he had a great day in Haiti and thank you for Mommy and Daddy and TVs. We love you God, Amen.


Totally unscripted and unprovoked. No coaching at all. I swear! And just for clarification, Andy-Tales is one of our dearest friends and one of our ministers at church. He just got back from a mission trip to Haiti. We mentioned it every time we passed Andy-Tales' house the week he was gone and would say things like," oh I hope Andy-tales is safe in Haiti." We tried to explain what a "mission trip" was. Jacob is a sponge... taking everything in. Andy-tales has left his mark on many people - the Stover house is blessed because of him!

Nite Nite Prayer from Jacob tonight

Dear Jesus, we love you and we just thank you for dying on the cross and for loving us and for our house and being God's son and for my mommy and daddy and Jonathan. Thank you for healing those people in the Bible and making that man's eyes better. That was cool. We love you God, amen.

Questions from an almost 4-year old...

So, my child is very inquisitive. And very verbal. Seriously - anyone who knows him says he talks like a grown up. Too bad he doesn't reason like one. :-) Anyway, here's the deal... last night was a particularly hard night for me and Jacob. He was a little too defiant for my liking (he really pushes my buttons some days) and I had had it. I yelled - I know, what a horrible thing for a mommy to do, but this bloggy thing is all about honestly, right??? I yelled loud and sent him up to his room to "think about this ugly attitude and come out when you can be sweet." So a half hour later, and much screaming from him and mommy needing a timeout downstairs, I sat my sweet little man down to have a talk. I was calm and apologized for yelling but explained to him the importance of obedience and respect for his mommy and daddy. I told him about a couple of Bible verses and explained that because we believe the Bible is our instruction book that we should do what it says, because that makes God happy. He asked me, "mommy, is God mad at me for being ugly?" Well, I wanted to cry at that point - I was really getting a glimpse of how sweet his little heart an be. Then, the conversation somehow started to lead to the Cross. Jacob was very inquisitive and 100% interested and clued into what I was saying. I tried to use kid-friendly words to describe what happened on the Cross. He kept asking me to tell the story again and again - each time asking more questions and wanting more clarification. At one point, he said, "mommy, do we have a picture of Jesus dying on the cross?" I started to say no, but then he said, "I think we do - down in our living room." Sure enough, we do. We have a beautiful framed print of Jesus dying on the cross with John 3:16 scripted beside it. Now, please keep in mind that we had never ever pointed out that picture to Jacob. It's been there since before he was born, but we never mention it. (shame on us, actually!) That should remind us that kids are so observant and are watching every single thing in their surroundings. It didn't end there though. At nite nite time, we always tell Jacob stories and say prayers together. Last night, he wanted the story about the Cross - over and over and over again. Then during prayer, he wanted to do it and he thanked Jesus for dying on the cross. Amazing. And today at play date at Aunt Rachie's house, the first thing he asked her was, "Aunt Rachie - do you have a picture of Jesus dying on the cross?" We found one of Walker's picture Bibles and I read him the story several times.

I know this is a little long and I'm rambling somewhat... I'm still trying to process all this. I desperately want my kids to understand the power of the cross and what it symbolizes. I want with all my heart for my kids to choose to obey and love Jesus with all their hearts, souls, minds and strength. I have been praying for them since before they were born. The reality that it's our job to teach them these truths leaves me humbled and scared, if I'm being honest. God, my prayer today is that You give me the words to help my precious little guy understand what the Cross means and all that it stands for. May the stories his daddy and I share with him now stick with him all the days of his life.

To infinity and beyond!

So we had so much fun today making rockets and a school bus out of some cardboard boxes. I've been saving them for a while and Billy kept saying... "can't I throw them away now???" Well, honey, we put them to good use. Fun times. AND, didn't Jacob do a great job writing his name? Yeah!!! I can't even describe in words how grateful I feel to be working part time right now. I am praying for extra patience and I will now be the primary disciplinarian and am working extra hard to teach the boys about God and how important obedience is... My extra time with the boys is nothing short of a miracle and I want to make the most of every.single.second.

Wordless Wednesday... just doesn't get any sweeter than this!

if you like to talk to tomatos...

What fun we had today! Our dear friend Rachie (go visit her at babywebbsite.com) told us last night that Bob and Larry were going to be at Lifeway today and asked us if we wanted to go... well, of course we did! And we had so much fun. For those of you who don't know who Bob and Larry are, they are the main characters from the Veggie Tales - a sweet Christian-based cartoon and my kiddos love them. Heck, I'll admit it... I like them too. A lot. :-)

Happy Birthday to my very best friend!

Happy Birthday my love! Hope your day is super special! In honor of your 35th birthday, here are 35 things I love love love love love about you!

1. your faith in God

2. consistency - what you see is what you get with you and I love that. You are the same at home, at work, with buddies, with judges.. What a great quality!

3. your willingness to help out so much at home - we really are partners and I couldn't do this whole "home" thin without you!

4. your positive attitude

5. your total and complete acceptance of me

6. your willingness to "get your hands dirty" and help change diapers. :-)

7. you are the best daddy!!!

8. I love when you read books to the boys - even when you want to watch ESPN

9. your patience (Lord sure knew that I'd need a patient man!)

10. your kindness towards others - our little family, but also just everyone

11. your genuineness

12. your willingness to take charge of our finances - balancing the checkbook, receipts, all that stuff that I'm just not very good at!

13. You are a very thoughtful gift giver

14. you work hard to find us babysitters fairly frequently so we can have date nights

15. you are a genuinely happy person - I love that. It's evident that you have the joy of the Lord in your heart.

15. I love that you check in with me frequently when we're apart! I love getting little text messages or phone calls during the day. I never get tired of hearing your voice.

16. your passion for sports (even though I don't always seem supportive) I love that you love sports and all things "manly."

17. Your willingness to lead our family toward Christ

18. Your selfless attitude

19. Your support for me whatever I do

20. I love that you are my "go to" person (think Meredith and what's her face on Greys Anatomy...)

21. You are my biggest fan - you encourage me to exercise, you cheer me on at work, you support my "wild hairs"

22. You love my cooking - and I love that you appreciate that. :-)

23. your tolerance of my silly questions - like "mmm, honey, what's your biggest regret in life?" Or "mmm, honey, if you could wave a magic want for our kids, what would you wish?" - and of course I always seem to ask you those questions when you are literally 95% asleep at night. :-)

24. you are very funny

25. you always make me listen to the words of songs - I just don't pay good attention to them

26. you really do complete me - we make a good team! In parenthood, you are patient when I'm about to pull my hair out. At work, you are positive when I'm about to scream my head off...

27. I love that you love the same TV shows that I do - we have such fun watching our shows.

28. you tolerate me picking at you - pulling hairs, pulling stray eyebrows, getting rid of unwanted hair... :-) sounds gross, but I do like it.

29. You always make me feel safe. I never ever once think about checking the doors at night, because I know you've already done it.

30. You go the extra mile to make me feel loved - you go out late at night to get me gas in the car if I need it, you go get me Nestle Quik when I "NEED" it... without even questioning how silly it may be.

31. You honor me as your wife and always say nice things about me to other people.

32. Your innate ability to be a great daddy to our boys - you are really a great dad!

33. you keep my secrets - I can totally trust you!

34. You are honorable, reliable and giving

35. I love you more and more every day! I have no doubt that God created you just for me! Here's to many many more years of "doing life" and serving God together.

Happy Birthday America!

July 4 has always been one of my favorite holidays. When I was little, my family always got together for a cookout at my pappaw's house. He loved fireworks. My mom and my Auntie Pat didn't like the little whistling chasers or firecrackers, and my dad, who's a little bit mischievous, would always sneak up on them and light them right around them. Fun times. Now, we're making new traditions with our little family and I love that too. We've had a very busy weekend! Friday, our friends the Gaithers came over and the boys enjoyed fast wagon rides down the hill and several games of chase. Mommy got to snuggle with baby Charlie who is OH SO CUTE! Saturday, we played with our caterpillar sprinkler and went to a cookout/hayride at Ms. Maureen's family's house and Sunday, we went to church and then went swimming at Susan and Bryan's and THEN went to a wedding reception... Whew - I'm tired just typing all that. The boys were troopers with all that ripping and running and had so much fun. I don't think I've ever seen dirtier or more tired boys. But, I just couldn't let the day get away without some fireworks. So, I got a little (I mean teeny tiny - embarrassingly small) bag of fireworks and we did them in the driveway right before bedtime. Here' s the cool thing about having small children though... they thought my meager little fireworks were AWESOME and they kept saying "thanks mommy for getting us fireworks." Literally, we had about 4-5 little fireworks and the boys just clapped after each one. Such fun! I'm so thankful to live in this country where we can worship freely and not live in fear every day. Thank you Jesus for that! Hope your holiday weekend's been packed with family time and that you feel as blessed as I do!

(oh - nite nite time wasn't so much fun... that's a post for another day though.) :-)

My little guy's not so little anymore!!!!!!!!!

So, I was going to do a post about all the fun we've been having lately and I will do so, but instead, I'm shamelessly using this post to get some advice from my bloggy friends out there. So, my Jonathan has decided that cribs are for babies and apparently, he just doesn't think he's a baby anymore. Two nights ago, he climbed out twice and we put him back in bed both times and said beds are for sleeping. Last night, he did great going to sleep, but he woke up at 6, climbed out and came downstairs. Nap time today was no better. I put him back in his crib about 8 times I think. The final time, I put a couple of books in there...that seemed to work and now, he's snoring away. I've read on the Internet some tips and I basically did what most of the tips said... be consistent and firm. Make no eye contact and keep putting him back. I kept putting him back, but in all honestly, I did sing the Barney song to him ever blasted time I put him in today. So, at least tonight, I'll know better. Here's my question though... should we (GULP) go ahead and take the crib down and transition him to the toddler bed? Or should we just try to train him to stay in the crib? I've watched his gymnastics-like moves as he catapults out of the crib. He's actually quite graceful and some how lands on his feet every single time. So, I don't really think he'll hurt himself, but I just don't know what to do about the crib thing...Anyone with wise words for me here? THANKS!!!

Our daddy...

Our Daddy is the COOLEST... really he is. He probably won't even tell mommy that we snuck onto her bloggy page to write all about him. Mommy thinks we're in bed, but she has no idea what we really do when she lays us down. :-) Yesterday was Daddy's special day and we just love him so much. Here's some of the reasons we love him. * he plays with us... we mean really plays. He loves to play cars and baseball and chase and pretend. * he takes us fun places. On days when daddy stays home with us, we go on cool adventures like to Walmart and Lowes. He even lets us ride on the tractors at Lowes. * he gives us treats (but don't tell mommy!) He especially gives us Popsicles. Super hero ones. * he tells good stories at nite nite time. * he always drives really safe and makes sure we have our seat belts on. Even when we don't want to. * he runs really fast, but not as fast as me or my brother (jacob). * he shares his drinks with me (again, don't tell mommy - I even got some coke at the movies the other day.) * he doesn't play favorites. Really, we know he loves us both so very very much.

In case you didn't know, our daddy's name is Billy. He is tall and smart and handsome and fun and really really cool. We really love him and want to be just like him when we get big. Really we do!

wordless wednesday

(well...almost wordless... yep, those are my shoes. Funny boys!)

Special Date Day!

I started something (sumpin) that I hope will be a monthly tradition. I took Jacob on a special breakfast date on Saturday. I told him about it on Friday, and he couldn't stop talking about it. He was so excited when I got home from exercise class on Saturday morning that he was waiting on the front porch. We had a blast! He chose Cracker Barrel for his special date and he was so charming and sweet... and so grown up, I might add. Spending one on one time with the kiddos is so hard, since they are always together. So, I'm going to try really hard to make it a priority to spend one on one time with each of my special boys. After breakfast, (don't try this at home, friends.) Jacob and I went to Weeds N Things to buy a wedding shower gift for some good friends of ours. THAT IS NOT A STORE FOR LITTLE BOYS!!!!! Jacob was so good, but we almost had to buy about 20 candles. Yikes... he knocked over a big stack because "I just need to blow it out mommy." He was a trooper though... at least they have lots of monogrammed stuff, so I took the opportunity to quiz him on his letters while I waited for them to wrap my present.

Happy Birthday, Little Buddy!

Dear Little Buddy,

I cannot believe you are already a whole two years old! Seems like only yesterday, you were using my bladder as a trampoline. Fun times! You have so much personality and we just love you so much! You had a really fun birthday party and I hope you know how special you are. We always try to create a birthday theme that will be just exactly what the special birthday boy would like and this year, we didn't even hesitate to choose Barney ("darney") for your party. You love him! I ordered you a HUGE Barney balloon and I will never ever forget your face when you saw it. If you could have snuggled and slept with it, you would have. So fun! You had Barney on your cake and some little Barney plates too. You love love love Barney...not sure why, exactly, but you do!

You also love trains and I'm so glad we got you your very first train set for your birthday present. It's so cute to watch you play with it! You say "I dee I dee" (watch me watch me) when you put the trains on the tracks. The wooden tracks would have frustrated you, but your Papaw fixed it for you so that it doesn't come apart so easily.

You continue to be a fantastic sleeper and we are so glad about that. You are still in your crib and seem to really love it there! You still love your bear and monkey and sleep with them every night. You also still have your pacis - I know we should probably take them away, but I just can't bear to think of you as THAT grown up. You only get them to sleep, so I'm not too worried. I know though when I go to your 2 year check up next week at the Pediatrician's office, I'll probably get a little lecture. Oops.

Here's some other things you are really interested in right now: puzzles, balls, slides and books. You are really getting good at puzzles. You even "help" your brother - it's so cute watching the two of you work together. We've raised up your little Tikes basketball goal to up the challenge for you. (you have to keep up with your buddies Walker and Caden!!!) :-) You got a new swing set for your birthday also, and YOU LOVE IT!!!!! I hear "Idee Idee" a million times a day to watch you go up the rock wall and down your slide. I'm so glad you like it so much!

Jonathan, I hope the rest of your life is as happy as you've made me the first two years with you. I love that you are so compliant (most of the time) and you almost always say "otay" when mommy asks you to do something. I love that you think the "little piggy" trick is the funniest thing on the planet. I love that you are working so hard to learn your words. I love that you yell "momma HEP" at the top of your lungs when you need something - even if it's as simple as you spilled a tiny drop of yogurt on your Elmo shirt. I love how you admire and follow your brother. I love that you like to learn and want to do "big kid" things. You even try to "Poppy" on the tree like our big bro does. I love that you say "shoo wee" every time I change your diaper. I love that you are most definitely a daddy's boy and while I'm a smidgen jealous, I'm so thankful you get to have such a great daddy. He loves you very much!!

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE the way you clasp your hands to pray with mommy every night when I lay you down and say your prayers. Special memories. I hope I never ever forget how great it is to be your mommy. I love you so much and pray that you learn to love about Jesus and choose to follow him all the days of your life!

Love always, MOMMY