Christmas Play

Sara was an angel in the Christmas play this year. She did a great job singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "Jump for Joy", and "Joy to the World". It was very cute!

Fun in the Snow

Yesterday, we had our first real snow. Sara and Jonas we" for snow. It was very cute :) Sara pulled Jonas on the sled, made snow angels, attempted to make a snowman and didn't want to come in.

Gingerbread House

Sara made two gingerbread houses this year. She loves making them, eating the candy and eating it later :) She made one with her preschool and one with Nine.

Dress Up

Sara loves to dress up. The other day, we realized we don't have many boy dress up items. So, Jonas ended up in a tutu. Jon wasn't so sure about this :) He also had a turn as a biker, though.

Quote of the Day

Sara regarding Jonas, "Oh my gosh, he is so adorable."

Sara's Generosity

Sara's preschool group is buying a goat to give to a family in another country. We've been talking about it, reading books, etc this past week. Sometimes, she wants to help, other times she doesn't. Tonight, we got out her piggy bank to get some money for the goat. She has earned the other money by doing some chores (putting her clothes away and dusting). Today, she took out the original amount we had discussed and said, "Mom, I want to give them even more." Then, she kept taking more and more money out of her piggy bank, until she had given more than she had left. It really touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes to see her being so generous with what she has.

Questions/Thoughts

In the car yesterday, Sara was looking out the window and had some questions for me. "Mom, if I ate a cloud, what would it taste like?" "What about the sun?" "So, how hot is the sun?" Pretty cute. I have to say, though, college didn't prepare me for those :) The night before, we were reading her devotions. The devotion was talking about how the Word of God lasts forever. She said, "That's not true. My Bible is completely falling apart."

Allergic Reaction

Thanksgiving day was wonderful. We went to Jon's parents, saw all the cousins, and almost all of the aunts and uncles. We had a lot of fun. The food was great! The only downside was that Jonas broke out in bumps everywhere. He had been on amoxicillin for what was thought to be bronchitis. We called the Dr. hot line and they said that it was a side effect of the medication and just a rash, so not to worry about it and keep giving him his medication. We gave him a dose before bed time and he woke up screaming and crying in the middle of the night. By Friday morning his face was completely swollen, he had red welts all over his body and he seemed pretty miserable. Jon took him to the Dr. and we were told it was an allergic reaction to the medication, possibly the dye they use. So, not fun. The poor guy :) We stopped the medication and started giving him Allegra. After 3 days he was much better. We are so thankful that it was solved and that he is better! He was great through the whole thing. He hardly fussed - amazing.

Being 4

Sara is constantly figuring new things out. She really enjoys learning and has surprised me by how quickly she is figuring out how to write letters. For preschool, we have a new letter each week. Often when we start talking about the letter she will say, "I know how to write that one." And sure enough, she does, as far as I know she hadn't practiced it before. She is also doing great at counting. Tonight, she counted all the way to 39 without any prompting and got up to 102 with me giving her the beginning sound of the first new 10 number. She currently loves wolves. We have a lot of books from the library about wolves. She also loves games, talking on the phone, using the computer. I feel like she is growing up sooo fast. She also loves being with friends. She wants to have a play date every day. She is a lot of fun. She is usually great with Jonas too. She invites him to play with her, tries to comfort him when he is sad, and is very thoughtful.

18 months

Joans is now officially 18 months. It has been a year and a half. Fun things he is doing now: He loves playing with Sara. He follows her everywhere and tries to join in on what she is doing. He likes riding his indoor bike, building towers, looking at books, he will keep pulling books out to be read to him for at least half an hour, he loves duck, duck goose. He walks around the dining room table saying, "duck, duck" at each chair. He is saying a lot of new words, such as, "bubble", "turkey", "JD", "Lilly", "baby". It is really fun watching him figure things out too. The other day he went and got a step stool, so he could climb on the couch.

Trick or Treating

This year, we went trick or treating for a little bit around TT's neighborhood. Sara had it down this year. She walked right up to people's porches and said, "trick or treat" and "thank you" like a pro. She went as Cheer Bear and Jonas was a dinosaur. After trick or treating our church had a huge event, Fantastic Fall Free for All, which was really fun. They had tons of games, good food, and a bouncy house. Sara got her face painted as a puppy dog and mostly bounced the night away. We also went on a hay ride. It was a great time.

Leaves

Jonas has now joined in the leaf fun around here. We have sooooo many leaves fall in our yard. We spent a morning as a family raking leaves and jumping in the piles. The kids had a blast! It is really one of the highlights of the fall. We were also blessed with warm weather, which makes raking so much better!

Fire Station

We went to the Milan Fire Station with Sara's pre-school group. Sara and Jonas both had fun as Fireman Mark showed them all of his gear, and then later lead them on a tour of all the fire trucks.

My Own Shopping

Sunday morning I was helping Sara pick out what to wear for church. I suggested a dress. She said, "No thank you mommy. I prefer to do my own shopping." She then picked out her own outfit and got dressed on her own. She did a good job too :)

Play mates

Sara and Jonas have started playing together more and more. This morning, Sara kept coming up with things for them to do. She would say, "Come on Jonas." He would follow her wherever she went and gladly participate. He loves it when she includes him. He wants to be everywhere she is and do everything she is doing. They ended with a picnic of Cheerios in her bedroom.

Botanical Garden

The Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor just opened a Children's Garden. It is amazing! Our kids loved it! They have all sorts of things for the kids to do and explore. They have a teepee, a natural ampetheatre, a log home, lots of plants, natural musical instruments, all sorts of great things. The kids didn't want to leave. We had a lot of fun. We'll be going back!

Tot Soccer

Three weeks ago, Sara started tot soccer through Milan. The first day was rough. She didn't want us to put her down. Then, she started warming up to the idea. They already have the kids dribbling, doing toe touches, and playing games. The coaches do great games with the kids, like red light, green light, hit the mosquito by kicking the ball, and lots of other fun stuff. Now, she is really enjoying it. She has even made a goal. It's a fun thing to be a part of.

Handwriting w/out Tears

We got this program that is supposed to help Sara with writing. I'm attempting to do some home school pre-schooling. As soon as the program arrived, we opened the boxes. She was excited to start building letters out of the wood pieces. So far, so good. She is definitely learning her letters and writing, and for the most part seems to be enjoying it. Thank God there are creative people in this world!!

Swing Set

Some friends blessed us with a great swing set. The kids have loved having it right here. Sara loves, loves, loves to swing. Jonas doesn't really like swinging, but loves the slide. We are so excited for the many fun times to come.

More NYC Pics

Elmo in Times Square, Toys R Us Ferris Wheel, and M & M World

NJ/NYC

In August, we went with the Smiths, my mom and Haylie to NJ. We stayed with Dirsa's family - they are great! We had a wonderful time enjoying their home and pool. We took the kids to the amusement park one day. Sara and Anna Grace loved it!! Sarah and Haylie were great with the girls - they rode the rides with the 2 little ones. Looks like we have some fearless ones on our hands :) We went into NYC for a day too. It was fun to see Times Square. We had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, went to M&M World, rode the ferris wheel at Toys R Us. It was a great trip. On the way back, we stopped in Pennsylvania to pick Jon's brother Mike up from the hospital. He had been in a bus accident on his way to white water rafting. He had some pretty bad injuries, but is recovering well. We were glad we could help out by bringing him back to MI.

4 Years Old

Sara turned four on August 18. It was a very exciting day for her! She had been talking about turning four for days (well, really months) and it had finally arrived. She was blessed with lots of love and nice gifts. We are so blessed to have such great family and friends. We did a small family gathering at our house. She had a Hello Kitty cake (not pictured because someone dropped the camera on the street in NYC and it works sporadically now). It was very fun and she feels loved :) She is already talking about when she will turn 5. She is still very into the princesses. She really wanted princess dolls for her birthday, the ones that are the size of barbie. She has been asking me about them since January. Whenever we go to a store, she will point them out and ask me "to keep them in mind for her birthday." She has had a lot of fun playing with the princess dolls and dressing up. I can hardly believe she is already four. She has grown up so much in a lot of ways. I am thankful that she still loves "snuggle time", reading, cuddling, and just hanging out. I'm so thankful for our Sara.

Missing Shoe

So, all week I've been looking for one of Jonas' sandals. I had gotten them out to put on him and one just disappeared. I looked everywhere. Tonight, I was emptying the recycling into the recycle bin, and what should I find? That's right one small brown sandal. I just had to laugh. Never thought of looking there. I'm glad I decided to take the not lazy route and empty the bag instead of putting the whole thing in. There is a toddler in the house - be ware :)

The things they say...

This morning as soon as Jonas woke up, he started saying, "ssssss" and pointing at Sara's door. This is the first time he has tried to say her name. Pretty cute. At quiet time, Sara put a new CD in to listen to. I asked her to turn it down a bit, and she did. She came out and said, "I turned it down just a tad pole." Too cute :)

Jonas Walks

It happened today! Jonas walked four different times. He took four or five steps each time. The first time I don't think Jonas even knew what he did. Sara and I started clapping and cheering for him. He tried to duplicate it and ended up doing a bear crawl. Then, he figured it out later at the Smith's house where he walked two times. The only down side is that Jon is out of town and coming home tomorrow. He did see Jonas' first attempts at one step adventures.

Jonas, 14 months

Jonas is now 14 months!! Crazy! I've completely forgotten to take bear pictures the last two months, but here is the most recent one. Current things Jonas is doing - He's cruising everywhere. He has taken one step a few times but not really walked. He loves balls. He just throws the ball and crawls after it all over the house. He also really enjoys the animal train and stacking large legos on top of each other. He loves bath time. He has been trying to jump in on his own recently and cries whenever he has to be done. His favorite room of the house is Sara's room, which is sometimes good and sometimes not so good. Sara has been really good about sharing (most of the time) and engages him in play quite a bit. The other day, she brought her My Little Ponies to the living room and had him "playing" with her. It was really cute. Jonas is sitting through books a bit more now, but mostly wants to be down and moving. He understands lots! He used the sign for help for the first time today.

Cousins

Sara and Jonas and all of their cousins (Max, Will, Reese, and Kelsey - not pictured here) were together for the first time in history over 4th of July weekend. They had a lot of fun playing together. Sara and her cousin Reese are the same age and they played together a lot. They have seen their CT cousins 3 times and will see them once more before they go home. It is so fun having cousins the same age (for everybody). We are so blessed to have family that we get along with and love :)

Toledo Zoo

We took the kids to the Toledo Zoo two weeks ago. They had a lot of fun. Sara was excited to see the wolves. One of her favorite movies right now is Balto. She likes to howl and learn about dogs and wolves. Jonas was amazed by the fact that animals were real and moving. The hippos were the hit for both of them. They swam right in front of us a couple of times. We'll be going back.

First Time in the Kiddie Pool

On July 5, 2009, Jonas went in the kiddie pool in our back yard for the first time. He thought it was way too cold. Jon went in with the kids and slowly eased Jonas into it. By the end of the experience, Jonas was having a great time :)

4th of July

We celebrated the 4th with the Lentzs, Smiths and my mom. Jon bought a fire pit and fireworks for the occasion. It was a lot of fun! The girls loved making smores and seeing the fireworks. We loved being with family. Now, Sara likes to do smores as much as possible, which for her basically means eating lots of marshmallows :)

Lemonade Stand

Sara had her very first Lemonade stand while we were having our garage sale. Her friend, Anna Grace, did it with her. They were so cute selling lemonade. Sara would go up to people and ask them if they wanted any lemonade (she's great at sales :). I think they made more money than I did :) By the end, Sara had mastered lifting a gallon pitcher and pouring it into a cup. They may have drunk as much as they sold :)

Visit to G.R.

The kids and I went to see my college roomies that still live in GR. We had a great time hanging out. We were going to go to the beach, but it was too cold, so we went to this great park instead. We were able to go to Alicia's pool one day. Sara loved it and Jonas refused to go in - it was too cold. Sara LOVES Alicia and Mike's dog Wilco. It was like there was a kid there to play with. Jonas went up the stairs by himself for the first time while at their house. Julie and Amanda came and hung out with us and Mike was an all star and stayed with the kids one night so the four of us could go spend some time together. I feel so blessed to have these three in my life. I'm so glad we've stayed connected through the years, and that our kids get to know them too.