stickers, pipe cleaner curlies & an ipod shuffle

aka. how to kill time with a 2 year old.

first a picture of one of jonah's very first household craft projects. i picked up some cars stickers (jonah's all time favorite movie) and he helped me decorate his booster chair.

look how proud he is. "see daddy!"

i took this pic with my camera phone and sent it to daddy since he was traveling last week.

let's see? what do they have in the $1 section at target today? ah ha! pipe cleaners! that sounds like fun!

no! i couldn't possibly hold still long enough for you to get a picture mama!!! ahhh! it's torture!

boy, these things are almost as much fun as black olives.

now. how to get them off?

i decided to give myself a pedicure and then lay down and take a picture. guess who wanted his pipe cleaners back? btw, do you like my flip flop tan line?

so guess who needed to get the other camera and lay down and take a picture of his own feet. how did he even get that camera that was up on the desk? tall little monkey!

later it was time for some tuneage. check out how my shuffle is just his size... and clipped to his little pocket.

jonah was lovin' it!

psalm 34 ate cookies

our women's ministry had received a request from the prison ministry for homemade cookies, so lara asked if i wanted to come over and bake while we let the boys play. what a great idea! you mean we get to eat chocolate chip cookie dough and serve God at the same time?! is there a down side here?

this was such a cool service project! i mean aside from getting to eat cookie dough, i really did feel like we were making a difference in the lives of others. as instructed, lara and i prayed over the cookies while we were mixing and scooping and baking. at first we both thought it seemed a little weird... "God, please stir in the hearts of the prisoners who receive these cookies... let them taste and see the goodness of the Lord".

we even named our cookies psalm 34:8 cookies, although on my way home I decided we should have spelled it ps 34 ate cookies - i've got a copyright on that! don't you try to steal it! (psalm 34:8 taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.)

lara came up with lots of other clever prayers that had to do with the mixing and the baking. i tell ya, the Holy Spirit was in that kitchen! =)

and the more we prayed i think our hearts began to change... or mine did at least, which is exactly the purpose of prayer!!! so cool how this ties right in to the book we're both reading right now (celebration of discipline by richard foster).

in his chapter about prayer, foster says that prayer is the central avenue God uses to change us. in real prayer we begin to think God's thoughts after him, to desire what he desires, to love what he loves, to will what he wills. a big part of prayer is listening... something i still have a lot to learn about.

here's my favorite quote from the chapter: "if we genuinely love people, we desire for them far more than it is within our power to give, and that will cause us to pray." foster says that the inner sense of compassion is one of the clearest indications from the Lord that this is a prayer project for you. it's also a good sign that we're praying in His will.

so as we prayed for the cookies and in turn for the prisoners and other men who would get to eat them, my heart became more and more compassionate and i felt honored that God allowed me to serve them in this small way.

i plan on continuing to pray for mike and the other volunteers as they head into the prison on thursday to work with, listen to and minister to this group of men. if you'd like, please join me in praying that the prisoner's hearts would be open and that the volunteers would have the right words to say to them.

this was an awesome service project! the boys entertained each other (for the most part) while lara and i baked. and they even helped with stirring the batter a little! jonah liked using the beaters... and he didn't even make too big of a mess! it was really great as moms to be able to serve the prison ministry in this way without even leaving the house!

lunch time shenanigans...

study: most children strongly opposed to children’s healthcare

jonah said he's sign the petition


Study: Most Children Strongly Opposed To Children's Healthcare

jonah's 1st baseball game :: the round rock express

we went to jonah's 1st baseball game on july 2nd to see the round rock express at the dell diamond. for you illinois folks, it's just like the kane county cougars.

it was pretty sweet because they were having a special deal where they "paid for your gas", so if you brought in this coupon from their website you got $4 off per ticket. which made lawn seats only $2! who could pass that up! so we only paid $4 to get in (jonah was free)...

but then we paid $20 for two hotdogs, a large lemonade and a chicken finger kids meal. does this seem like highway robbery or is it just me?

at least jonah enjoyed his curly fries. and he shared nicely with mommy and dada.

after grabbing some dinner we headed in to find our friends. here's a picture of where we sat. we were in the grassy area behind the blue sign.

and here's the view from our seats

here are the friends we met up with. i originally met kimberly and her boys through my wednesday morning bible study at church. we had a lunch play date earlier in the day, and that's when she told me about the great deal on the tickets. luckily dave was in town, so we decided we'd be spontaneous and take jonah to his first game. hmmm... i wonder what was so interesting on the ground?

here's mason with a mouthful of crackers...

and here's jonah with a mouthful of crackers. hmmm... i'm seeing a theme here.

must have been some good crackers.

oh, here's what mason looks like without a mouthful. cute, huh?

ah... here we are. jonah just needed a good tickle.

jonah was his usual self and didn't really want to sit still much. when we first got there he was really into sitting on the blanket, but once he got a little more accustomed to his surroundings he got the explorer bug. i managed to capture this rare moment where he was sitting down for a water break with one of our free handout water bottles. we must have been one of the first 2,500 through the door. thanks allstate.

on our way out we stopped by the big inflatable slide. here's tucker showing jonah how it's done.

we all waited anxiously, not knowing if jonah would actually make it to the top. luckily the line wasn't too long when he started.
and then we wondered if he'd ever come down.

phew! daddy talked him into it. weeeeeee!

what! we have to go?! nooooooooooo!!! sooooo sad...

despite the sad face at the end there (it was past our bedtime) we really did have a great time at jonah's 1st ballgame! go rr express! choo-choo!

jonah's #1 in the #2 business

jonah did his first poopy on the potty today. hooray! now the question is: am i totally weird for taking a picture of this event? anyone who's not a parent will surely think i'm insane. but i have to tell you, i got the idea from kate from jon and kate plus 8 (the only reality television i watch).

the gosselins have eight kids: the two older girls are twins and the younger six are sextuplets, three girls, three boys. the show totally cracks me up and astounds me and makes me feel like my life as a mother is so stinkin' easy. but kate handles it all with such grace. and i love the fact that they have Bible verses sprinkled throughout the house on little notes. i have to imagine God is the only way they could keep their sanity.

so yeah, i watched an episode where the kids were potty training and when one of the boys did his first #2 on the potty kate took a picture of him and his poopy. then kate explained that although it might seem weird, this is a monumental occasion! i mean can you imagine having six kids in diapers!? jon was explaining that after they got all of the kids potty trained their weekly garbage went from two garbage cans to one. he was like "that's a lot of crap!" YEAH!

so anyway! the matter at hand is the fact that mr. jonah boy went poopy on the potty like a big boy today! and yes i took pictures. he was just so cute. we just got home from seeing shrek the third at the movie theater (love free movies this summer!) with daddy who has the day off work for a nice long 4th of july holiday weekend. jonah was standing next to me and started grabbing his diaper and grunting and saying "poo poo". so i asked him "do you want to go poopy on the potty?"

when he didn't object we marched into the bathroom and i checked to make sure it wasn't too late. then i asked him if he wanted to sit down on his potty because sometimes he gets a little freaked out by it, but he said "yeah". so i plunked his neck-ed little tooshie down on the potty and went to grab a book for him so he'd stay sitting down. and before you knew it he wanted to stand up and check and...

what do we have here? jonah's first poopy in the potty! yay!

i got the idea for the blurring out the gross poopy from jon and kate's show too. i didn't think you needed to see that. oh, and don't worry, we did convince jonah that it wasn't a cookie before it was too late. ::GAG!::

he's still my widdle baby...

i went in to wake jonah up from his nap this afternoon and i found this huge little boy in his crib. when did he get so big?

but then i saw that sweet little angelic sleeping face and i remembered...

he's still my widdle baby.

jonah's 3D ultrasound when he was about 30 weeks.

jonah and his best friend "jacksey"

hey dude, do you wanna come over and play?

yeah! i'll be right over, best friend.

we went and played over at jonah's best friend jackson's house on monday. the boys are only 6 weeks apart (jackson's older) and they have so much fun together! jonah calls jackson "jacksey".

i love this pic!

jacksey has a little 3 month old sister lily. lara was just lifting lily up for a second and jonah totally swooped in and took her spot in the gym. silly jonah! he has this exact same gym at home. i think he thought it was his. we're still learning about sharing and taking turns. =)

lily! you're getting to be such a big girl!

crazy boys! jonah saw jackson climbing up on the bench and leaning on the end table so he had to monkey-see-monkey-do it too.

hooligans!


great smile, buddy!

kids, look at lisa and smile!

what do you do...

when three crazy little kids...

won't all look and smile at the same time?

answer: pretend!

this is a composite i put together from three different pictures from this session. it's magic!

rumor of glory :: august show

my bestest friend jenn's brand new husband tony and jj (my new friend tonia's husband) make up this band called rumor of glory. do i need to draw a diagram? i just realized that was kind of a complex introduction.

anyway, rumor of glory has a show coming up in august. august 1st to be exact. it's at 7pm at gateway. (7104 mcneil dr, austin)

i'm psyched to see them play! i've heard their music and read their story, but there's just something about live music. so rad. i can't wait! if you're in austin you should come check 'em out!
the true story of a son's return to the Father. rumor of glory is a modern day prodigal son story. come witness how being real in the search can change your life.

hear rumor of glory on myspace.