"I had a hard day"

The weather is so warm and Jude keeps asking to go swimming. (It's not warm enough to swim yet.) Yesterday, he was bugging me to death about it, so I finally tried to distract him with the promise of a popsicle to cheer him up. That is the other thing he begs for (in addition to more candy). He brightened his expression and then started frowning again and said "Yeah, a popsicle would be good. I've had a hard day." Then he made that "harump" noise with his mouth as if to shake his head. I thought of his day and started laughing. He ate breakfast, watched a movie, played with his toys, ate lunch, went outside to play in the yard, ran through my hose, rode his "bike", wrestled with his brother, and wrote on our driveway with sidewalk chalk. Wish I had a hard day every day! :)

My Growing Boys

So Jonah learned how to whistle on Sunday. My father said he whistled throughout our church service. :) He's growing so fast it's sad and wonderful all at the same time. I couldn't be more proud of him.

And Jude.:) Yesterday, he wanted to wear his cowboy boots. With his shorts. I let him. We went to quite a few stores and he just strutted around like he was big stuff in those boots. He is a Kling-on lately..meaning he sticks to me like velcro. He always wants to know if I am sitting on his side of the car if we are going somewhere. And if I sit down on the sofa, he's there in a flash, touching my hair and sucking his fingers.

These days won't last forever..I'm soaking them up.

Easter boys

Here are my sweeties on Easter Sunday. Their outfits made me crave those creamsicles from the Schwann's trucks that used to come around our neighborhood.

My favorite hikers

Our family took a few days to explore our home state this week and had fun visiting Branson, Johnson's Shut Ins, Big Springs, and climbing to the top of Elephant Rocks. Just nine months ago, Lesh was in a wheelchair. Now he's hiking up huge boulders. Thank you God!

Here's a photo of my favorite hikers.

Cartoon Family

Photoshop fun.. :)

Snow Play & Snow Cream

I've been working on some design jobs this afternoon. Jonah was itching to go outside...he and Jude have been like caged animals..dying to get outside and play. Like Dana over at Mamalogues, I had to do some makeshift outerwear. Jonah was good to go with his bib overalls and boots, hat and gloves. Me, not so much. I couldn't guilt darling husband into taking Jonah out, so I started hunting for snow worthy apparel. During the move, said husband thought it was a good idea to throw out my favorite Aldo dress boots, as well as one of my "Doc Martin-esque" boots. So, I headed out in my only other option..replacement long Aldo dress (think black shiny pleather) boots, with heels no less.) Thankfully, they worked just fine.

Jonah and I took our orange plastic sled to the edge of the church parking lot and I gave him a push and let him coast down the back of our yard. The first time, it was fun. But the second, third, and fourth times, he sailed as it was more packed down. On a trip up the hill, Jonah panted excitedly, "Wow Mom! You're great! This was a great plan!" Those few words will fuel me for weeks to come.

Our cheeks were turning red and my ears felt like they might fall off, so we gathered up all the clean snow we could fit into one of my silver mixing bowls and came inside. We mixed cream, milk, vanilla, sugar, and even some agave syrup into the snow and made delicious snow cream...made me miss my Grandma Urich. It was fun to tell Jonah about her.

Christmas 2009

I have much more to say about Christmas this year but it will have to wait a few days. For now, I love Christmas..it's a miracle that the God of the universe made himself lowly to come to this earth and be born in a "barn" so to speak...His love cannot be measured. I want to learn to love like that. Wes Strickland quoted one of his Gateway professors when we shared a dinner with he and Darrah. His professor said this: "You know you've learned how to love if you aren't able to choose who you love." Isn't that the very definition of Jesus?

Merry Christmas from Lesh Johnson, Jen, Jonah and Jude!