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.