more birthday pics

It's not working for some reason to line up descriptions with the pictures, so I'll just quickly say what they are.
~Auntie Liz, me and Jonah trying to blow up his new doggie ball pit that he got from Auntie.
~Jonah's yummy cake.
~Family pic, eating cake at great-grandma & grandpa's house
~sideways view of Jonah's new tool bench..he calls grandpa on the fake phone several times a day saying "grandpa, fix it!!"
~opening presents.. a remote control car from Unkie Jonny (who couldn't be there.. we're looking forward to you coming home for Christmas though!)
~blowing out the candles.. you can see the new ball pit in the background

Happy Birthday!

It is hard to believe that my little baby is two already! Seems like just yesterday that we took our little 5 pound bundle home from the hospital!
On Sunday night we had grammie and grandpa, Auntie Liz, and great-grandpa and grandpa Maat over to celebrate. We enjoyed some pizza and Dairy Queen ice cream cake, and filled our house with yet more toys.
Since it is kind of hard for great-grandpa and grandma DeKock to get out these days we took the party to them on Tuesday night. Jonah had fun eating more pizza (with olives, his favorite :) and cake, riding the elevator and seeing grandpa's train.

Jonah riding his new bike he got for his birthday

Bye Bye Pipeys!!

Also on Sunday Jonah took yet another step towards being a big boy. He has slept with his pacifier basically since he was born, but over the last few months we've been telling him that they are for babies. For about the last month or so, he would hand me his pipey in the morning
and say "baby's pipey! Abe's pipey!" So we decided that when we saw cousin Abe on Sunday Jonah would give him his pipeys. (not really, don't worry :) We put all of the pipey's in a special bag, and Jonah handed them right over without a problem! When we got home and got ready for bed he had a bit of a panic attack, realizing that his pipeys were actually gone. I expected to have a rough night (well, week actually), but he cried for about a half hour that first night, about 3 minutes before his nap the next day, and then it was done! Not a problem going to bed, and not waking up at night screaming for his pipey! He still asks for "blankie? pipey?" before bed, but then quickly remembers. "Abe's pipey all gone"

Happy Birthday to Jonah!! (almost)

On Sunday night we got together with the Driy's for birthdays. November is a busy month of birthdays with Jonah, Cousin Eli, and Aunt Brandi & Uncle Todd! We celebrated with pizza, TWO birthday cakes (one for each of the boys) and lots of presents! Jonah loved the cake (mostly the frosting) and chasing his cousin around. We are now having lots of fun with Play-doh, Mr. & Mrs. and baby Potatohead, and learning letters with his new magnets. He knows most of his letters already. Today at lunch he couldn't get the last bit of jello out from the bottom of the bowl, so I scooped it up and said "say Ahhhhh!" he replied with " 'A' says ahhhh!" What a smartiepants :)

Big Boy!

Jonah went on the big boy potty today!! He had absolutly no interest before... and then today his friend Ty was over, and Jonah caught him going on the potty, and ever since he was all over it! We got him a new potty seat, and he did not want to get off! He was determined... he sat there saying "Stinkies in there!" as he pointed to the potty. And then we had success!! #1 and #2, and #1 again later tonight! YAYYY!!! Mommy and daddy are so proud :)
He's probably going to hate me someday for posting pictures of him on the toilet!! :)

down on the farm.. again

This time I'm talking about a real farm! Today we went with the DeYoung's for some fun at Post Family Farm. We thought we'd go after the boys woke up from their naps this afternoon...but when we pulled in at 4:18 we were bummed to see the sign at the enterance that said 'Open Saturday 10-4' That didn't stop us! There were still a few people there, so we thought we'd quick take the boys to see the animals when we were there and enjoy some of their yummy donuts. The boys ran around and played on the toys and had lots of fun. They went to check out the pumpkin train and tractor that was sitting in the field, and one of the ladies working there came up with a couple of her girls and took them for a ride! Extra bonus-since we got there late there was no one there taking money anymore so we got in for free!! :)

Trick or Treat!

We had a fun halloween with our little monkey this year. We went trick-or-treating through the neighborhood and got lots of candy... and some mini bananas for the monkey from Jess :) And of course we had to go see the fishies when we went to Grandpa and Grandmas! Then we went to Great Grandpa and Grandma's for more candy and to see the musical horsies. And then on to 'Light of the World' at Faith Church where we played some games, got more candy, and saw grammy and grampa and Ethan the zebra. Busy night! We had lots of fun, but Jonah couldn't quite understand why we couldn't open everything as soon as we got it!!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

On Monday we got to celebrate Ethan's 2nd birthday. First we went to the DeYoung's for some pizza and delicious birthday cake and lots of presents. Then we moved the party on to Crazy Bounce. I thought Jonah might be a little overwhelmed and not really like it... not the case at all! He had a blast!! It probably helped that we pretty much had the place to ourself, but he loved to jump and play in the balls and go through the obstacle course. He liked going up to the top of the slides.. but got kind of nervous going down. Always had a big smile when he got to the bottom though! :) Thanks for inviting us Ethan (well, Rachel) we hope you had a happy birthday!!

Only one more month until MY baby turns 2!!

Down on the farm

This week Grandpa Driy got a barn filled with animals out of the attic for Jonah. It was made for Chris by his grandpa when he was little. Jonah has been having lots of fun with all the tractors, horses, cows and piggies!Here's a random picture my little artist. He loves to color, and has finally stopped trying to eat the crayons all the time! :)

Mommy's Little Monkey

Today we attempted to get Jonah's pictures taken in his monkey costume. Despite the bad experiences our last couple of times getting pictures taken, I really hoped this time would go better since he LOVES to be in his monkey costume. No such luck. He was as happy as could be waiting in the waiting room, but as soon as they called our name and we went into the studio he turned into a different person. Crying, clinging to mommy for dear life, and stealing the ugly little ducks that they use to try and make him laugh. Any suggestions?

Oh well, hopefully we'll get some cute shots of my cute little monkey on halloween!

Crane's Apple Orchard

Today we spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Crane's Apple Orchard. Jonah was so excited to go, the whole way there he kept saying "Apples? Apples?" Jonah loved trying to pick the apples off the tree, but he quickly figured out they were kind of hard to get off, so he wanted to take the apples off the ground instead. He liked the "geen apples" so he'd take us on a detour everytime he saw a green one on the ground, he thought he should get them all!

As we were heading back towards the car after picking our apples, Jonah was so hot and tired out from all his running around he just stopped in the middle of the path and laid down!
After picking apples we had to stop by the pie pantry for some donuts and apple cider-YUM!! Jonah has been asking for "more nonuts?" ever since :)

hip hop

this morning Jonah woke up with the hiccups. everytime he would hiccup he would say "hip hop!" isn't he just the cutest?? :)

Pumpkin Parade

On Saturday we enjoyed the festivities of Zeeland's 25th Annual Pumpkinfest. Jonah loved the parade! I kind of expected that we would be chasing him all over the place, but he sat good as can be on the curb waving to all the kids on the floats and dancing to the beat of the drums. He loved all the tractors, and called out each one by color. "Blue tractor!! Green tractor!!" Jonah wore his monkey costume to the parade, which kept him nice and warm on the cool fall day, and it also earned him lots of candy from people handing it out in the parade! We will be eating Tootsie Rolls for a month!

Girls Weekend!!

Last weekend we had our annual girls shopping weekend. For the last probably 10 or 11 years (WOW we're old! ) we've gone to Merrillville, Indiana. This year we decided to change things up a bit and stayed at my parents condo in Cadillac, and spent Saturday shopping in Traverse City. We enjoyed lots of laughs, some time in the hot tub, chick flicks, a fun game ofApples to Apples, pedicures, and lots of food!! Can't wait for next year girls!!

Meanwhile, back at home, Chris and Jonah enjoyed "Man Weekend" by running through the doggy sprinkler, playing with the neighbors, and watching some VeggieTales!

Where did my baby go?

Jonah has been in need of new shoes. It has been getting pretty chilly for his sandals from summer, but I can't even get his shoes from last spring on his feet. All of his sandals were size 5's, but starting to get small, so when I'd see a cute pair of shoes for him I'd get a 6. They all had to be returned. Finally this morning I took him along to try on some shoes, and we ended up getting size EIGHT!!!! How did we go right from 5s to 8s??? My baby is getting too big too fast!!

While I'm talking about feet... this morning as I was getting Jonah dressed we were checking out his new socks from grammie. Todays socks had whales on them, so I asked him what was on his socks. His answer? "SHOES!!"

Return to the Museum!

Yesterday we were supposed to go to the zoo with Laura, Ty, and Josiah... of course it decided to pour outside! So we went back to the children's museum instead. The boys had a great time, and we even saw our friends Rachel and Ethan there! Jonah says his favorite thing was the "yellow truck" (the yellow vw beetle that he got to sit and "drive"-he's his mommy's boy!! mommy luvs bugs!!) and Ty said his favorite was the sand. Josiah, he's Mr. Independant, and was keeping his mommy busy chasing after him all morning. Jonah also loved pounding away on the piano... I think we've got a little musician! There is so much for them to do there, I'm sure we'll be making many more trips to GR when we have cabin fever this winter!

driving the "yellow truck"

digging in the rocks

Little drummer boy Ty

Ty, Jonah & Josiah playing in the sand

Future Beethoven

"Happy Grammie!"

Ok, so I'm kind of behind on this again... :)

Last weekend we went up to Cadillac for Labor Day and to celebrate grammie's birthday. It was nice because for the first time we had the whole family there! We went to Lakeside Charlie's for grammie's birthday dinner, and had a fun couple of days playing on the beach, jumping in the pool, going to the music park and seeing fishies (and more fishies!) at the nature center.Grammie- your pictures turned out way better than mine!! You'll have to get them to me so I can add them! :)

Fun with cousins!

Tonight my cousins Eli and Abe got to come over while Grandpa and Grandma, and Uncle Todd and Aunt Brandi went to a wedding. Eli and I had lots of fun playing with trucks, swinging on "blue" (my swing), blowing bubbles and splashing eachother in the tub. I love baby Abe, but sometimes we had to say "shhhh" because he was sleeping. I was jealous because he had a cool pipe with a bee on it, and I'm not allowed to have mine, except for at bedtime... I tried to steal Abe's a few times when I thought mommy wasn't looking. :) Thanks for coming Eli and Abe, come back again soon!!

"Eli, are you gonna swing so high you touch the clouds?"

"No, cause when my mom and dad get home they'll say 'Where's Eli?' And you'll say 'Eli got stuck in the sky' They'd be mad."

3 year olds say the funniest things!!