Happy Birthday Countdown!!! Jonathan's 4th and 5th years...

Christmas 2008. Jonathan was one handsome 5 year old!

This was one of our many, many Christmas card rejects from 2008. Looking back through them just now, I think they are all completely precious. I have no idea how I ever eliminated any of them!

Jonathan and I at his 5th birthday party! I am so proud of my boy, always was, and always will be.

Ta-da! Jon was showing off the Spongebob Squarepants I made him for his 5th birthday. I think this was actually my practice one. I made the real one the day of. But they were both real cakes... and they were both somehow eaten. This was the first time I ever attempted to decorate a cake. It turned out to be a little more difficult and stressful than I thought! But Jonathan really did love it. And even better, we had a Spongebob pinata that year! It was like an I Hate Spongebob party... first we beat the candy out of him with a stick, and then we ate him. :)

We were at Grandma Jane's in Kentucky. Jonathan was giving Anna a piggy back ride. So sweet!

Winter of 2008. Jonathan was 4 and Anna was 2. As I looked through these pictures, I found it harder to find one of Jon by himself. He and Anna are together in most of them. In the above pic, he was using the mouse and playing computer. He was happy to let Anna tag along. MOST of the time.

Jonathan and Anna working together at the beach. Jonathan had just turned 4, which meant that Anna was approaching 2! I can't believe it has been 3 years since this picture was taken.

Jonathan at his 4th birthday party! He had a Transformers theme! This was also the year (2007) that we went to Disney for the first time. We were going to just take him, and leave Anna behind, but he insisted she go along because he knew "she would really want to see the princess castle." Always such a good kid!

Happy Birthday Countdown!!! Jonathan's 3

Jonathan at the pumpkin patch again... right before his 4th birthday!

Anna and Jonathan had some fun getting in Mama's wallet.

When Jonathan was 3, he went through a major Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phase. Also, he took to wearing jackets even though it was July.

Jonathan at his school in Spring of 2007.

Jonathan was pretty excited about his first big boy bike!!! I still remember how surprised he was that Christmas morning. 3 years old!

Our annual Magic Oats Christmas Eve tradition. It is even better to attract Santa and his reindeer when you are dressed like Superman!

Jonathan selected a pretty heavy pumpkin. No problem for him!

Jonathan had just turned 3 in this picture! We were at the pumpkin patch.

Happy Birthday Countdown!!! Jonathan's 2!

Jonathan had just turned 2 in this picture. He loved the beach, he always did his most important work there. He was always industrious at the beach, very intent on working hard in the sand.

So... when Jonathan was 2, he invented his infamous troll face. So ugly it's cute!

Jonathan, 2 years old, loved to climb up and down the sanddunes at the beach.

That's not a baby doll he was holding! This was Anna's first night home, which just happened to be Christmas Eve. Jonathan asked if he could hold her. It was such a sweet moment. I'll never forget.

Now, call me crazy, but I SWEAR Anna was smiling up at him a little. They really loved each other. Jonathan never let her cry for a second. "Mama! Mama! Anna is crying! She needs you!" He always spoke for her and stuck up for her and would include her in his play. Of course, now they are older, and they do fight. But they also still have fun together.

Jonathan in his pajamas, 2 years old. My sweet little man.

So... in this picture... I was about 7 months pregnant with Anna! I didn't show too much with her until closer to the end. Jonathan would have his baby sister in about 2 months. He was a great big brother right from the start, once he got over his initial disappointment that she wasn't a baby pony. He thought the fetal monitor always sounded like a galloping horse... I guess. Not exactly sure how that confusion started. He wasn't talking a whole lot at this point.

Summer of 2005... Jonathan is starting to grow up so fast! I like this picture because in the background you can see all of his toys. They gradually took over our living room. He was always a very happy go lucky sort of baby and toddler, always interested in everything, always able to stay content.

This was Valentine's Day, 2005. Jonathan's first trip to Sea World! We have spent many happy days there since.

Christmas Eve 2004! Jonathan started walking this evening! I remember it so well because we were at Christmas Eve service and he just started walking all over! He was 14 months old.

Nona's pantry is a perennial favorite for all the kids. He loved to get in here and pull stuff out and stack it. I remember those shoes. They had marks on the rubber toes from him crawling.

This was at Thanksgiving at Nona and Poppa's house! November 2004

Jonathan's Second Halloween! His first Halloween he was only about 2 weeks old. So for his first real trick-or-treating experience, he dressed up as Blue from Blue's Clues, which was his absolute favorite show! Justine was dressed up like... Cleopatra? I think? She was in first grade, the grade Jonathan is in now! And now she is in seventh grade. Time goes by...

Happy Birthday Countdown!!! Jonathan's First Year

Happy Birthday, Little Man! Here he was, totally immersed in his first birthday cake!

Dave took this of Jonathan at the park, and we both adore this picture. He always held onto his ear like this when he was sleepy. And that expression... totally him.

Jonathan sitting by his first pumpkin! We carved it on his first birthday. I don't know WHAT was going on with that hair! So cute!

About 9 months old... This was his first hair "cut" although I don't think it officially counted since I did it with kitchen shears with him in his highchair distracted by that orange popsicle! He went straight into the bath after that! I did this the night before we left to visit New York (see him in the suitcase below!)

Jonathan was ready for his first trip to New York! He climbed inside the suitcase.

Jonathan teethed forever. It took SO much drooling to get that first tooth!

Here he was, sitting on his blanket, playing with some toys. Maggie used to come over and try to get him to play tug of war with her. She never quite understood that he was a baby. They got along well and he always loved her.

Here is him a few months later... see how the hair has started to grow back in on the sides? He was sitting up now and playing. He loved to play with paper.

He lost all of the hair off the sides of his head, and kept this long combover piece on top! It was so funny!

This was when he was about 3 months old.

Jonathan turns 7 in six days! So I want to post once each day showing some pictures from his first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth years. I am selecting these pictures at random; some of them I can't recall looking at for years. It is neat to see how he has changed.

New Hampshire, Part 2

Abe-y Baby

Mama Dooligan is in New Hampshire for a long weekend!]
I got to meet my nephew Abe today! Or as Anna calls him, Abe-y Baby. Which I think is so sweet. I can't wait for Jon and Anna to meet Abe. Hopefully someday soon. It was only a 3 hour direct flight here!

Abe with his Mom and Dad, Erin and Cory. We went out to eat and he was so calm and chill the whole time. He is so wide-eyed and watchful. He is very interested in everything around him and I am pretty sure he is brilliant. Seriously. I mean, I don't know the statistics for how many geniuses you can have in one family, but it just keeps happening for us!

We picked him up from school on way home from airport. I sat in the backseat with him. He just kept staring at me, like, "Who is this strange lady they put in the backseat with me?" He was looking at me so intently. I really think he knew it was a new face.

So I will stay until Sunday. I miss Dave and the kids, but it is really so good to be here. Also, it is nice to get a break from the heat. I am wearing a sweater as I type this! A sweater! Those of you who live in Florida can appreciate the novelty of wearing a sweater in September!

Order Out of Chaos

The kids have too many stuffed animals. Many of them are Webkinz and since they have names, adoption certificates, and virtual counterparts, it seems really mean to just get rid of them. Anyways, all on his own, Jon spent some hours sorting and classifying his stuffed animals. How many horses does he have? 5! There are several pages to his book that he made by stapling paper together, and he explained that he chose to use the sticky notes because if he gets another frog, for example, he can just lift that piece of paper off and replace it with "frog 2." Isn't that so stinking clever of my boy???? A 100 on his spelling test for the week in the row, and now he already knows how to spell all the words for Friday today. My son is so smart. Also, a little odd. Like this weekend he asked if he could turn a q-tip into a pet. He put it in a little container and then added water and some soap to nourish it. Then he added more q-tips and said they were his q-tip family. Then Anna had to make her own q-tip family box. Then they spent yesterday and today having territorial showdowns over 2 empty boxes they brought in from the garage into our living room. There is one box that is clearly more desirable, and they have had some good fights over getting time in that box. Why do we buy toys? Seriously!

Okay... as I type, Jonathan is doing his homework. Dave is telling him his words and he has to draw a picture showing the meaning. One of his words is that. He quickly drew an arrow pointing to a circle to symbolize that. Isn't that SO smart! I mean, I have had a really looong day, but if someone asked me to draw a picture representing the word that, I don't think I would have come up with that so quickly!

Jonathan's First Spelling Test!

Jonathan was so proud of his 100% on his first spelling test ever! But then,this week,when we got the next list of words,and I started helping him study, he said, WHAT! You mean I have to do THIS AGAIN???

I barely had the heart to tell him... um,yeah, like every week until 6th grade, probably. :)

Since I was Super Speller Dork Extraordinaire, I always loved spelling tests. And now, I get to help him with his lists. But like he told me when I was helping him study last week, "I just don't understand. How can someone NOT know how to spell words like these?"

Words from Wednesday

Jonathan: Mama! Today's the twenty-two-th day of school!
(getting in the car after school, talking about how he wonders if he will ever get to be student of the week... He figures he will since it is the twenty-two-th day of school and he has never had his name written in The Book. The Book is sort of like the clips of yesteryear.)

Anna: Hold on, Mama. I just have to blog on. Let me get blogged on to my account, OK?
(playing with her Leapster, and wanting to show me one of her new (virtual) pet poodles)

Jonathan: Um..., that's what I usually say to Daddy.
(I fell and hurt my right hand last week, and I have it in a brace off and on, and I was holding a Gatorade bottle out to Jon. I asked him, here Buddy, can you open this for me?)

**Speaking of Buddy, every once in a while, like on Wednesday, I absentmindedly call Anna "Buddy." She invariably replies: Who is Buddy? I am NOT Buddy. Bubba is Buddy.**

Anna

"Yesterday we went to music class and Pastor Tim showed us a lot of instruments. We learned about the different instrument families. There is the drum family, the strings family, the metal family. He showed us a clarinet. There was a trumpet, which was metal but like golden."
(referring to her music class at preschool)

"My nose kept dropping."
(referring to her stuffed up nose)

"Mama, there is only one month left in August!"
(referring to the end of the month August)

"Well that's because you wore flip flops to school instead of sneakers! You're ALWAYS supposed to wear sneakers to school."
(referring to my tripping over stairs and falling at school; she wasn't exactly sympathetic)

"I wish I had a ladder up to God so I could see him. But I could never have a ladder THAT tall. Besides how could you even find him? Where would you even look, North? South? Cause there's clouds EVERYWHERE! Ok... let me get this straight. God has a REALLY big house to fit all the died people. So we are looking for a really big cloud. That might be his house."
(in car today, looking out the windows at the sky)