Pictures from Mr. Mike

More pictures, as promised!

Here are Daddy and Mr. Mike recovering after the marathon

Mommy and Daddy celebrate after it's over.  Sorry they are kind of squinty.

The grownups seem to think this is a funny picture, but I don't see anything funny about it at all.

Let's Pray for Baby Micah

My little buddy that I haven't met yet, Baby Micah, needs our prayers.  He has grown big enough to get his open heart surgery, and he's having it on Monday.  Many of you have been praying for him all along, but if you haven't prayed for him yet, we hope you will pray about his surgery.  I'm sure his parents would love it if you stopped by their blog to read about it and leave them a comment to let them know you'll be praying.  Open heart surgery for a sweet little baby is a scary thing to think about.  We love you, Micah, and we'll be praying for you!

WFMW: Wonderful Wedding Gift (by Mommy)

It's Works for Me Wednesday! If you're a new visitor, welcome! Our posts are usually written from Jonathan's point of view, but on Wednesdays, I sometimes take over.

I want to share about a wedding gift that we received from Jeff's parents' friends, Roger and Marlene.  It's simple, useful, heartfelt, and enduring...it's a homemade cookbook!

Marlene took a simple photo album for 4x6 pictures and filled it with recipes (and also some Bible verses and other wisdom.)  I love this cookbook.  I can look through and choose a recipe knowing that a real wife has actually used this recipe and her family has probably actually eaten it!  And, spills and smudges don't hurt the recipes.  As you can see here, some of the recipes are typed, and some are photocopied.

Some of you crafty gals might enjoy making this into a scrapbook type project, but I think something simple like my book would be enjoyed and used just as much.  A new bride might appreciate this sweet gift even more than the things on her registry.

And as you can see, I'm still using it...it "Works for Me!"

If you have a moment, please help us rename our blog by participating in the polls over to the right or leaving a suggestion here.  Feel free to leave a comment to let us know you stopped by.  And, read more great tips at Rocks in My Dryer!

What I'm Reading

My current favorite book is The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton.  You know that I already love this author.  Mommy remembers this book from one of her college classes on reading.  (Can you believe that they even have reading classes in college?)  We brought this library book with us on our weekend trip, and I think I must have requested it as a bedtime story seventeen times.  It's a great book, little buddies.  I hope you can find it at your library!

Marathon Weekend

Here are the pictures of our weekend away.  Click on any of them to see them larger.

Here's the sunset the night before Daddy's marathon.  It was too chilly to spend much time on the beach.

Here's the balloon that I chose to give to Daddy at the finish line.

Here I am with Daddy at the finish line.  We were so proud of daddy for finishing a very difficult course on a warm day and setting a new personal record.  My dad is the best!

Here are Daddy and Mr. Mike recovering.  Mr. Mike has some better pictures that we'll share soon.

The frog needed a nap just like the rest of us...especially Daddy.

The day after the marathon, the trip got fun for me.  We went to the aquarium!  I had been excited for days.  Special thanks to Aunt Corinne and her parents for the free guest passes.  It was such a special day!

I loved watching the fish, especially the big sharks.

I got my wish to touch starfish!

This is so much fun for little kids and big kids!

More touching.

This is what I call the Scary Place, and I really didn't like it at first.  It's a glass tunnel that has a wave crashing over it every few seconds.  After I got over not liking it, it became my favorite.  It's a great place to sit on your mom's lap.

Here are the fish enjoying the crashes of those waves.

And here's the real ocean.  We're looking at the sea lions and birds and divers.

Daddy and I like to touch the sea creatures.

Hello, little fish!

These jellyfish were Mommy's favorites.  We were all amazed at the huge variety of ocean creatures God made.

When we took a lunch break and I was almost done with my sandwich, Mommy surprised me by letting me choose a shark cookie.  Sharks (the real ones, not the cookies) were what I was most excited about at the aquarium, but if you ask me my favorite, I'll tell you I liked the sea otters best.

The shark had to take a swim before I shared it with Mommy and Daddy.  I should mention that Mommy had some local clam chowder in a bread bowl, which she said was fantastic.  I tried it like a good sport.  Daddy had some yummy local artichokes.

Clowning around with Mr. Mike and Ms. Karen

"May I please have Daddy hold me."

We're Back!

We just had a fantastic time cheering Daddy on in his first marathon since I've been in the world. He beat his personal best time and we're so proud of him. We have lots of stories to tell, but we're tired, and we're all going to bed in our own rooms. Little buddies, in case you wonder, it's very hard to fall asleep in a hotel room with your parents. It can be done, but it takes awhile, depending on how much talking they need to do. Anyway, I'm posting two movies just for you to help you be patient until tomorrow when we'll hopefully be awake enough to share some pictures and tell some stories.  (By the way, I hope you'll comment with an idea or two on Mommy's post below.  She got a couple of helpful responses, but she'd LOVE some more.  She needs HELP!)

OK, here are the penguins...


and the jellies!  Enjoy, little buddies!

**UPDATED**From Mommy

Hi everyone,

Soon our blog will have a slightly different look!  I've won a free blog header, custom designed for our blog.  If you click on the Mommy Blogger badge to the right, you can see the web designers who will be sharing the header with all of us!

I've been thinking about doing a slightly different title for our blog as well as slightly different small script under the title.  (Our blog content won't change, though...it will still be written from Jonathan's point of view except when I take over.  :)  )  I need to share that with the designers.  Do you have any suggestions for title and text?  I'd LOVE to read your ideas!  Just leave me a comment!  I need some help getting those creative juices flowing.  Just don't use our last name or location.  Thank you!!!

**UPDATE**  I'm going to keep this post at the top of the blog for the next few days in hopes that I'll get some ideas from you...you can look down below this post for new pictures as I post them.  Enjoy!

Today's Quotes

"I'm having a rough day."

"Daddy is thirty-three years old and I'm three years old.  My numbers are different than Daddy's."

Crafty Kids

As you know, I'm not as into crafts as my mom would prefer.  I'd rather build with the crayons than color with them.  

My mom forgot to read Design Mom this week, and her guest mom was very crafty.  This mom posted a list of crafty sites for kids.  Let's leave them here for my mom, and maybe she and I can come to an agreement as to what needs to be done with crayons.  I hope enjoy them, too!

Now and Then

Pizza Day Now!
Pizza Day Then!

An Excellent Day

I have to tell you all about yesterday!  I spent a fantastic morning with Ella.  We found new ways to play with the Exersaucer.

We also went to the library for storytime and a craft.  I liked the stories but played with puzzles instead of doing the craft.  I left that to Ella since she is so crafty.  Ms. Jen helped Mommy choose some new library books for me to read, and when I'm done, I'll give someone else a turn.  After the library, we had lunch at a sandwich shop, and I had grilled cheese, my favorite.

After Ella's house was Pizza Day!

This guy is an expert at coloring, and he's only four!

Here's Daddy showing me how to make my pizza dough.

Mr. Joel was there with Ella (a different Ella, of course) and Mary.

This is what flour is for.

Here we are watching the pizza travel through the oven.

Did I mention I liked watching Calvin color?

Here's a group picture of the kids who got to come to Pizza Day.  Let's do it again next year!

More Quotes

What I said about my hands when Mommy came to get my from my nap:

"I have trees today!  These are the leaves and these are the branches!  These trees are broccoli!"

And what I said about Silly Sally, the great book Ms. Jen chose for me at the library:

"That's kind of a funny name for a book!"

It's easy to impress my parents with a few carefully chosen words.

Today's Quote

(After stopping at Sonic for a kid's meal for each of us...probably one of two times we eat there each year.)

"May I please have my chicken lips, Mommy."

She Has a Little, Little Tail!

Silly Words

Bite Back!

Click on the photo to learn what $10 can do!

Too Much!

Yesterday, as my mom mentioned, was a little bit too full for us.  Mommy likes to have more wiggle room in her day, and I like to have time to play at home.  Usually that happens, but not yesterday!  Here's what we did yesterday:

• MOPS
• A quick visit with Great Grandma
• Naptime
• Gymnastics class
• Dinner with good friends at their house

Yes, you did read that correctly-a gymnastics class!  In May, our favorite mom/kid activities will be finishing for the year:  MOPS, BSF, and Moms Time Out will all be taking a break.  My mom and dad have been watching me and thinking about what I might like to do this summer besides play and relax (and we'll do lots of that!)  I'm becoming more and more boyish in my play (meaning more rambunctious and physical) but still not super coordinated.  So, they thought I might like to run, jump, and tumble somewhere besides the living room.

All the gymnastics places around here give at least one free trial class for new kids.  So, I get to try them all out and then my mom and dad will choose the one that's best for our family.  I had a ton of fun yesterday at my class.  I was grinning 95% of the time.  (5% of the time I was crying because I was scared of the bar.)  But I sure had a great time.  I can't wait until my next trial class...on Friday.

Works for Me Wednesday (by Mommy)

It's Works for Me Wednesday!  I'm not contributing this week due to an over-full day yesterday, but hop on over to Rocks in My Dryer (you'll see it in the sidebar to the right) and take a look.  It's great fun to see all the tips people share and click on the ones that pertain to you and your family.  Enjoy!

For the Nursery

My mom was inspired by one of her favorite blogs to make this tree for the nursery.  If you'd like to read more about it, you can visit our adoption blog.  There are more pictures there, too.  Enjoy!

**Updated!  Guess what-Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer mentioned this project here.  I'm so flattered!  Thanks, Shannon!**

Strawberries with Kacy

One of my favorite things about our MOPS group is that, after we're done having kid time, we're invited to the big room where the ladies meet to eat their leftover snacks.  Today, I got to eat pineapple, grapes, and strawberries.  Here's my friend Kacy enjoying strawberries with me.

Calling

I've had a lot of calling to do lately. First I called my Dad. Then I called Grandma. Then I called Caleb. It's a lot of fun to make calls!  Thank goodness Great Grandma made sure I had my own phone.

For a Little Girl: from Mommy

You might remember this post I wrote about the cardigan hack for a little girl.  Well, Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer did it again...she found this post for turning a men's shirt from Goodwill into a darling toddler dress.  It's quite a bit more ambitious as far as the level of sewing required, but hopefully one of you out there will be inspired.  Enjoy!

The floor

"I'm building the floor of our house-the floor with carpet.  I'm putting the soil in first."

Today's Quote

(While playing trains with Daddy)

"This is the Harry Connick, Jr. railroad!"

How to Use Crayons

My mom found these great triangle crayons at Target and thought they'd help me with my grip when I write.  As you can see, I found something much more interesting to do with them.  While I was building, my good buddy, Caleb, called.  He wanted to talk to me!  It was great.  It was hard to explain my building to Caleb, so here are some pictures for you, buddy.  (Sorry it took a few days to post them.)  The day these pictures were taken was a great day for Mommy because she got calls from three friends who are moms of my little buddies:  Jamey's mommy, Emma Claire's mommy, and Caleb's mommy.  We still miss all of our old friends very much, even if we haven't talked to them all on the phone lately.  But back to the crayons:  I highly recommend them.  I don't know if they help with gripping, but they are great for building!