First Day of PreK



We're now into our fall routines...and it's 102 degrees outside.

Crazy.

Actually, this week hasn't been too bad with an ever so slight breeze outside. It's been fairly chilly in the low 90's.

Jonah started PreK yesterday! Last year he went to Mother's Morning Out twice a week and this was the face of an excited three-year-old on his first day of breaking free from Mama's apron strings....

So precious.

(Note the high-protein/low-carb breakfast. I'm pretty sure he ate more than just sausage. Maybe.)

This is the face I got yesterday from an experienced four-year-old who knows practically everything one needs to know about life in general....

I'm serious. That is the face he gave me. I used my best high-pitched "Aren't you excited!!!!????!!!" and he gave me that.

(I'm glad to see that in addition to sausage this year, we have cinnamon toast and cheese grits. Good to see we're back on the carbs again.)

Later on, he got a little more into it...

"Inja" Style

[Click here if you need more explanation.]

Oh yeah, baby! We're excited now!

Finally, a serious one to appease Mommy.

Good friends of our's told us to pick a spot in your house and use that same spot to take the "First Day of School" pic every year so you can see how they've grown. This is said after raising two boys. Their youngest had his "Last First Day of School" pic this year. I'm pretty sure the facial expression was probably the same as Jonah's breakfast picture.

Gosh, he's so big! And yes, that's the same bookbag. It was practically unused so we're using it again. And note that we're going to Lunch Bunch this year! I'm telling you, the boy's pretty much grown.

He was nervous getting in the car. How could I tell?



Every toy had to come with us. Last year, everyday at the same red light we would pray for Jonah's day. This year, we reached the same red light and I asked him if he would like me to pray for his day. He nodded.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7 

I snuck a picture. Don't you just love that he's big and tough and Mommy is absolutely insane to take a picture at breakfast but it's completely normal to stroke Lovie's ears when you're nervous and want to pray? I love it. Big...but not too big....yet.

After we prayed, he was all smiles.

He said, "Mommy, I'm SO excited about my big day!"

     "I am too, Buddy."

     "Why are you excited? It's not your big day, it's my big day."

Gotcha. Still all about you.

He went right on in and had a blast! And he left every single toy in the car...after kissing and hugging Lovie good-bye, of course. Did Mommy get a kiss and a hug? No. {sigh} Oh, well. I'll make him when he goes off to college if I have to tackle him in the dorm and sit on top of him in front of the whole hall. Just you wait.

This morning, everything was back to normal...

...including a Pop Tart for breakfast in the car and pulling up about 5 minutes late. It's gonna be a great year. :)

Jonah the Jumpin' Bean

Jonah turned 4 on March 27 and we celebrated at "Pump It Up" in Athens. I went the easy route and didn't have it at our house this year. The kids had a blast! (And from the pictures, I think the dads did too.) I had forgotten my camera...and it's still missing!...but my brother-in-law and sister-in-law brought theirs. Thanks Uncle Josh & Aunt Allison!

 Jonah with the battering ram. I mean, is there a better way to say "Thank you for coming to my party" than to whap each guest with love? I didn't think so.

Papa, Bear's dad, and Landon wrestling it out.

Zach, Bear's best friend, and his two daughters, Lowen and Liesl.

This picture cracks me up.

Does anyone see a trend? I think we're getting Papa a season pass for his next birthday. :) He just loves his grandbabies!

This is Mr. "Rhino", our neighbor. He's Carter & Riley Kate's dad. His real name is Ryan but when you have a dad with the name Bear, everyone ends up getting animal names.

Sister did not miss a beat!

Here are my mother-in-laws. Grammy, Bear's stepmom (but we don't like that word) is on the left and Grandma (Bear's mom) is on the right. Grandma's holding Jillian, Jonah's newest cousin at the time and I've got Molly Kate.

See what I mean about the dads loving it?

Cake Time! Jonah requested a superhero cake. When I asked for clarification as to which superhero he wanted, he said, "All of them!" But of course.

It's family tradition to steal a fingerful of icing. That one's passed down from Papa himself.

I told you Sister didn't miss a beat!



Landon and Liesl...don't you love her pearls?

 It was a great day! The best part? The way all the kids (and dads) napped afterwards. :)

What Does 3 Look Like?

Take a good looooong look......

....'cause this is the last time Jonah will ever be three in his whole life. Tomorrow, this cat turns four!

Four More Nights!!!!!

Just look at how short our prayer chain is!!! Woooooo-hoooooooooo! Four more nights 'til Daddy's home and it can't come soon enough!

I got to talk to Bear tonight for about 45 minutes which is crazy long. The past two times I talked to him last week was about 4 minutes a piece so it felt like forever...but in a good kinda forever way. :) We've been tearing off a chain every night & praying for the "Imbeeyan" people. Jonah's prayer stays pretty much consistent:

"Dear God, Please keep my Daddy safe in Imbeeyah. Amen."

Several nights ago, his prayer grew.

"Dear God, Please keep my Daddy safe in Imbeeyah and help them to know the Bible is Your True Word. Amen." (emphasis on True. Word. He was very dramatic emphatic.)

Sunday night, we went to the circus with Tantie, Cobb, and the Squishes. (The Squishes are my sisters unborn twins until we know the genders, which we'll probably keep the name but change any female twin(s) to Squishie(s) to make it more feminine. Yes, we're that weird.) Esther Grace has begun an obsessive love affair with elephants. I'm sure I'll blog more on that later. At least I don't have to worry about getting one as a pet. Annnnnnyways....

As we were walking through the parking lot towards the Gwinnett Arena, the sun was setting and I snapped  a picture with my phone. It doesn't do it any justice.

The light was streaming up into the heavens and it was just beautiful. Breathtaking. It was about 6:30 p.m. and I realized that it was about 5:00 a.m. the next morning in India. I told Jonah, "Do you know that the sun is setting here but in India where Daddy is, it's just coming up? God is sending our sun to light Daddy's morning!" It was such a neat thought. That night, Jonah's prayer grew even more....

"Dear God, Please keep my Daddy safe in Imbeeyah and help him to put light into the Imbeeyan peepul's hearts. Amen."

Tonight, we prayed Proverbs 19:21 from our prayer chain.

"Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails."

In previous nights, we've prayed about God's guidance and leading those from darkness to light. Jonah's prayer?

"Dear God, Please keep my Daddy safe in Imbeeyah....and could You just help him and guide him? Amen."

My heart could not be fuller! I think it might burst on Saturday when I've got my entire family home! :)

Wordless Wednesday

My Little Angel

Jonah starred in his first big production this week. His preschool put on their annual Christmas play for the parents and while I have always considered him to be an angel, he officially got his halo on Wednesday.

Isn't he the cutest thing?

Here he's singing "Come On, Ring Those Bells" and he was just a ringin'....so much so that one of his jingle bells flew off and went into the crowd!

Here he's singing, "Happy Birthday, Jesus".

I filmed the whole thing and am including it here just because it's my blog and I can if I want to! :) He was very serious about his singing so he looks like some Nazi Angel. He was also very serious about "holding a bubble"- for my non-teacher readers, that's how you keep little ones quiet in the halls. They have to "catch a bubble" in their mouth. I also caught him being very serious about picking his nose but I tried to avoid it the best I could. The funniest thing was that when the chorus of angels was singing a funky "Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas Star", Jonah decided that there weren't enough verses. Everyone ends the song and he belts out as loud as he can, "SHIIIIINING..." but then quit when he realized he was the only one going to the 3rd verse. Doesn't he know that Baptists only sing the 1st & 4th stanzas? We only take advantage of all the verses if we're trying to exhaust an invitation. He's still in training. What was even funnier was the girl next to him turned and looked at him like, "How many times did we rehearse this?!" It was all I could do not to wet my pants as I struggled to hold it together.

Feel free to watch it when you have an extra 15 minutes or so (It's actually 14 minutes & 11 seconds long). Just ignore the narration done by Ouida. ;) And pause my player at the bottom of the screen.

Cookies & Cocoa

Tonight was Cookies & Cocoa with "You Know Who" at Jonah's preschool. I'm proud to say we survived relatively unscathed. We started out in the craft room making ornaments. Jonah made a gingerbread man...

...and a snowflake "for Esther Grace".

I was really proud of Bear. He got into it.

Then, we went into the snack room where Jonah got to make "Snowman Soup". I really want this recipe because it's like froo-froo hot chocolate (if hot chocolate could get any more froo-frooier).

Yes. That is powdered sugar. I'm sending the bag with him

tomorrow night when he spends the night with Pop & GB.

Up next? Make our family Christmas plate. However, "You Know Who" was in the room that you had to walk through to get to the family Christmas plate station. I held my breath and we pressed on. Thankfully, the cookie table was opposite the "You Know Who" station and we found ourselves completely engrossed in deciding which delicacy we would be trying after making our plate.

We made our plate (Sorry! No pictures...our fingers were all dipped in paint making fingerprint Christmas lights on our plate tree. Trust me. It's very cute!) and headed back to the cookies. I knew what would soon follow.

"Hey, Daddy! I want to get a picture with Santa."
"No, Buddy. Let's eat our cookies."
"But I really do," in a quiet little voice.
"No. Oooo! Look! Red, sparkly cookies!"
"See? Santa is real."
Yikes. That got me a look. I quickly intervened.
"Hey, Jonah. (I'm whispering because I don't want every pre-school parent sending me hate mail in Jonah's lunch bunch envelope.) Remember when we talked about St. Nicholas and how he helped people? (Nod.) Remember when we talked about how good people dress up like him now and help make people happy? (Nod.) That's why that man is dressed up like that. He's pretending to be St. Nicholas and he helps give to the poor and needy."

Jonah now probably thinks everyone that goes to school with him is on food stamps. What can I say? It's better than telling him how that man probably makes six figures in just two months out of the year. Add to the scene Bear stepping in to say that man probably enjoys taking advantage of little children's parents during a time of year where everyone's materialism exponentially increases instead of their selfless sacrifice of love and service in the Name of the person you are to be celebrating. Trust me. It wouldn't have been pretty. (On a side note: the "You Know Who" was really very good. I encourage everyone to visit the Lake Oconee Ritz Carlton and see him for yourself. Of course, I don't think that would be top on my list of priorities if I ever made it to the Lake Oconee Ritz Carlton...they have a spa.)

Bless him. Bear really was trying to be festive. I was very proud of him. And I was proud of Jonah for not pitching a fit. He was very grown-up about the whole thing.

We all enjoyed our cookies...um, some a little more than others.

Before you go posting comments about her

white dress, let me just say- that's what a

Clorox bleach pen is for.

Then we took family pictures together as a consolation. Well, we tried to take family pictures together.

I'm pretty sure she's stealing Jonah's cookie in this one.

Could someone please tell me why my children look be-you-tiful with their Daddy in every picture ever taken

but with me, we get this:

I don't know if that's panic in my eyes because we're

sitting 20' away from "You Know Who" or if it's

excitement that it's going so well. Either way, I look

like a deer in headlights.

A little better but Esther Grace is more interested in

her candy cane. (It matched her dress. She had to have it.)

And WHAT am I looking at?!

Jonah, the amazing jumping bean

Esther Grace is mad because her candy cane's gone.

Why can't I just have a normal picture with my kids???!!!

Anyways, after that Bear headed back to work and we drove around a little bit looking at Christmas lights. I was waiting on the candy cane to wear off before unstrapping her out of her car seat. We have a decorated tree at home that thanked me as soon as I walked through the door with her in a snoring heap.

All in all, it went well. Bear was glad we went as soon as he saw Jonah beam as he introduced us to every friend & teacher he saw. He even showed us where the bathrooms were "in case we needed them in anumerjincee". And don't you worry about Beanie being disappointed about no pictures. Bear promised him that on Sunday, we will be getting our picture made with Baby Jesus at Journey to Bethlehem and he's pumped! He has already cast a mini-series in his head about how he and Daddy "are going to 'scape from King Herod's evil soldjers and rescue that Baby so's no one can kill Him".

That's my boy.