The Afterparty

Dan had choir practice after Jonah's school program so Jonah and I went out to celebrate the awesome job he did singing. I gave him his choice of opening a gift from the tree at home or going for ice cream. He never hesitated and chose the ice cream. He loves Baskin Robbins.



In the midst of our little ice cream date, I looked down to see how incredibly clean Jonah's nails were. Ugh! Who is this kid's mom and why doesn't she clean his nails??
While we were sitting there, we were talking about lots of different friends. Cliff and Beppa came up so he wanted to talk to them. He called them and had the most precious little conversation with both of them.

Jonah's preschool Christmas Program

This post is only about 3 weeks late. It seems this holiday season in a new state has been busier than any other I have ever experienced. So, I'm trying to play catch up before the new year rolls in.

My sweet boy was in his first ever school program on December 9. It was one of those "precious moments" that will forever be etched in my memory. There were numerous times Dan looked at me and just shook his head because of the tears in my eyes. I am so proud to be mommy to this little guy and loved every moment of seeing him on stage that night.

The evening began in the gym with a dinner for all the families. The original plan was to move to the sanctuary for the program but there was a fire in the sanctuary the day before so everything had to be done in the same room. It was quite chaotic but so fun. Most kids showed up to the dinner already dressed for the program but I knew better than to have Jonah in his white dress shirt during dinner.

As soon as dinner was over, we headed to Jonah's classroom so I could dress him for the program. He and Lily immediately linked hands and wanted to have their picture taken together. His tie and her dress were almost an exact match so it made for some cute pictures. I'm thinking the two of them need to perfect "the lean" before high school prom days.



I left Jonah with Miss Mandy and headed back to my seat. I felt so bad for Ms. Nancy and the leadership because of the sudden change of venue. Those kids practiced for weeks in the sanctuary then had to be moved go the gym at the last minute. Nothing went as planned for them but they kept smiles on their faces and led our little ones like this was the plan the whole time.
Jonah was one of the first kids on stage. He immediately started looking for us. It took him a couple of minutes to find us. Had every parent there not been waving at their child, it might would have been easier.
We were especially proud when he started picking his nose as soon as he found his spot on stage. All we could do was laugh!

During the middle of one of the songs, he got his teacher's attention and had a conversation with her. I still wonder what that was about. It wasn't long after that when he untucked his shirt and just relaxed.


At one point of the production, he started crying. Dan was looking through the lens of the video camera and had it zoomed in so he saw exactly what he said when the tears started. He said "My mommy and daddy didn't clap!" I was using a camera and Dan had the video camera so we didn't clap. You can bet we clapped from then on out.



Is this a cute little performer or what? I love the grin. I love the sweet face. I love the boy!
Jonah and his friend McKenzie. They are buddies from church and are in the classrooms across from each other at school.

"Take my picture...I'm so cute!"

I heart him!

Holding the Grinch, Wearing the Grinch, Watching the Grinch

Cupcakes for Mommy's Birthday

Christmas in Florida

Jonah's first Christmas in Florida was capped off with a few pictures in an Orange grove. Is that appropriate or what??

Christmas with the Wood Family

We received a very sweet invitation to have Christmas lunch with Frank & Margie Wood. It was so sweet of them to invite us to be part of their family on Christmas Day. We have come to love all of them and were blessed to be part of their Christmas celebration. I guess Jonah was a little hungry when we arrived because he stood at the counter and said "could someone give me a bite of something?" As you can imagine, several adults scampered around to find that boy a bite of turkey!


I told him he needed to wait until lunch to eat but the grandparents in the room would have NONE of that. He got eat whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. Oh to be 3 again!!
The Sunday night after our choir presentation, there was a Sunday School class party at the Wood home. We told Jonah we were going to a Christmas party there. He told one of the class members "it sure is nice of them to invite me to Jesus' birthday party." He just assumed a party at Christmas would be for Jesus. Well, Margie heard about that and just had to have a cake for Jesus on Christmas Day.








Jonah has become quite smitten with Mr. Jeff. Ever since he fished with him right after we moved here, he talks about Jeff and always mentions fish to him. Jeff sat on the couch with him for a while that afternoon and read books and played Iphone games with him. Jeff has a little buddy for sure.
While Jonah hung with Jeff, Cathy whipped up some fudge for all of us then let Jonah lick the spoon. Think he liked it?

As if our day had not been full of fun, Mrs. Margie topped off the day by pulling a Grinch ornament from the tree and giving it to Jonah. Think she made some serious brownie points? OH YEAH!

More Christmas pictures

Jonah spent a good part of the morning on SKYPE with my mom and Jimmy and Cathy. We tried to SKYPE with Dan's parents but they weren't at their computer. He was very happy to show off the loot he got that morning.


Max found a comfy spot on the Santa bag and was content to hang out there for the morning.


It was so nice to sit with Jonah and talk to him about Jesus and why he was born. He is finally at the age to understand why he gets 3 gifts and what those mean. He listened so intently to the Christmas story from Luke 2 and then his two preschool Bibles. This was my favorite part of the day.





Jonah got to open the gifts from Granny B on Christmas morning. They arrived in the mail on Christmas Eve right as we were leaving for the Christmas eve service so I stuck them under the tree. He loved his game and sweater Granny! Thanks!





Christmas gifts last all day long at our house. As a matter of fact, he still has three gifts under the tree that haven't even been opened. We open a gift and play with it until he is bored with it. For that purpose, we try to purchase games and books that require all of us to play. It makes the gifts last all day and gives us lots of family time.

Max isn't fond of Jonah's toy