Colors!

Just for fun, I encouraged Luke to organize his cars by color on Friday morning - kind of as an extension of his school time.  He knows his colors very well, but it's always helpful to refresh these things - especially the problem solving skills of picking out specific colors from his jumble of cars and remembering where the other cars were that matched.  He had fun! 

A Full Cup

We were outside as a family last Sunday planting our potted mandarin orange tree in our "orchard" in the backyard - replacing the sickly lime tree that was there before (there are two other lime trees, so we're not too broken up about it).  Luke was helping Nathan fill in the hole with dirt...

...and I had brought Jonathan out to join us in his car saucer.  When I looked back at the house from my vantage point by the tree, my heart just swelled up with love for the tiny little guy who looked so small in the little car on the patio.  Such a trusting little sweetie!  I'm constantly overwhelmed by the blessing of being mommy to these little miracles.  I couldn't resist taking this picture from far away, to help me remember the feeling I got when seeing him in such a big context.

But I also couldn't resist taking a closer picture of him grinning up at me.

And capturing the admiration he has for his big brother!

Fun Times

Jonathan's first time in a playground swing!  He's not very good at sitting yet, but since these have tall sides, he did okay.  I pushed him just the tiniest bit and he let out some soft, happy laughs.  When he gets a little bigger, we'll be going for the belly laughs when he gets pushed higher!

Jonathan LOVES his saucer!  It's hard to get a good picture of him in it because he's always jumping and hopping in it.  :)  But this one turned out pretty good - I managed to click during one of his few pauses in the action.

Silly Boys

Gotta love baby laughs and entertaining baby feet!

Not to be excluded from the fun!

Jonathan loved these ribbons on his Valentine's Day present from Grandma Hughes.

Couldn't Resist

Last week, Luke said he was tired, but it was almost dinner time (way past an okay time to get a nap in that won't interfere with bedtime), so I suggested he grab a couple stuffed animals and rest on the couch.  He was very favorable to that idea, but I never expected that he would actually fall asleep!  He often plays that he's resting, but will get up in very short order because he can't lay down for very long when he's so awake.  He was still kind of recovering from being sick, but hadn't taken a nap the previous day (which is normal now), so I didn't realize how tired he was.  Poor guy conked out and even slept through me banging around in the kitchen starting dinner.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of the sweet boy - he's getting so big, but he's still my little baby!

Making Valentines

This is my first year diving into the world of "classmate valentines" for my kids.  We were encouraged to bring Valentine's Day treats to Cubbies this week, and to be honest - that was the first time any such thought even occurred to me.  I think I might have thought about that if Luke was going to school, since I remember exchanging valentines with my classmates in elementary school.  So, off we went to procure some valentines!  Luke is MAJORLY into the Cars movie right now, so we figured that would be a good theme, but the only Valentine's Day specific things were either way more valentines than we needed, or were actually mean-looking (not suitable for a "love" holiday, if you ask me).  So, we created our own!  Here is Luke showing one of our finished creations.  We made them together, and had a lot of fun in the process.  Luke put on all the stickers, "helped" me write his name on the bottom, drew a unique picture on each one, and helped poke the lollipops in the holes.  He's looking forward to passing them out to all his friends and leaders tomorrow!

Happy Guy!

Jonathan likes his feet so much that it's pretty funny to watch during "sitting practice".  I especially like the action shot.  :)  Oh, and I got a fun video of him during this time, too.  Enjoy!

Sweeties

A few cute pictures of Jonathan after another attempt at rice cereal - I couldn't help myself!  He's just too cute!

Luke playing with Jonathan is always precious to see.  I pray they'll grow to be best friends.

Joining the Family

It's fun to have Jonathan up at the table with us sometimes now.  He's such a big boy already!

Soccer & Cereal

Luke and I went outside to kick a soccer ball around last Friday - such a cute boy!

I was delighted to see apple blossoms on the tree already!  Nathan pruned them a few weeks ago.  That prompted me to prune back all our rose bushes - since spring will be here pretty soon!

And Jonathan tried rice cereal for the first time!  He wasn't too thrilled with it, and still hasn't really gotten the hang of it yet, but we keep trying every night and he's swallowed a bit here and there.  :)  Check out the video footage of his first bites on my video blog!

Tummy Time Cutie

Does it get much cuter?