Jonah Time: The Playdate

Having the older three in school means having daily time to focus on the Jonut.  I've been loving it (for the most part) and have been trying to keep the errand running, grocery shopping, chore doing to a minimum on most days.  Trying, but not always succeeding.

So we have about two and a half hours to eat, play, do stuff, or go somewhere and then he has about a two hour nap (HALLELUJAH) before it's time to go pick up the kids from school.

One day at church, a friend and I were chatting and agreed to get our boys together to play sometime.  The plans were set and when the day finally arrived, it occurred to me that this was going to be Jonah's very first playdate.  Ever.

Playdates for me have kind of evolved as my oldest kids have grown from gatherings more for the moms to get together while babies napped to getting our kids together for homeschool co-op learning to drop-off playdates so the other mom can go get stuff done.

So it's been quite a few years since I've been part of a toddler playdate and only realized how utterly playdate-deprived our fourth child has been once I saw how much fun this boy had with a buddy around his age.  Not his size though.  His friend is six months younger, but a good many inches taller than him.  Sigh.  Like our last name.

They banged on drums, they toted Nerf guns around, they cooked pretend food, they played with toy cars, they ate, they jumped, they made silly faces, they even had a little cry-fest at the same time.

It was such a momentous occasion in the life of Jonah that I had to get a few pictures.

Witness...

I thought it was very polite of each boy to look at his friend's mom's camera and smile.  Good thing too, because...

It sorta went downhill from there.

The sillies were surely setting in at this point.

And there was no reeling them back now.

Cuz no one can resist a good game of peekaboo, you know.

Then they decided we needed some music to liven up the place.  Good thing pictures are quiet. ;)

Lookit how intensely in-your-face happy my boy is while his buddy is all "Dude, relax. It's just a playdate, man."

Killing me.

Seriously, the boy had so much fun with his buddy that he learned the word "buddy" that day and insisted that M's name was actually "Buddy" whenever I tried to correct him.  He woke up from nap later that day asking for "Buddy" again.

Thank you, J and M for introducing my poor deprived son to the world of playdates.  He LOVED it.  And uh, sorry if our intense happiness was a bit... intense.  Please don't be afraid of us because now Jonah knows playdates are a real thing and is hoping to do it again sometime.  We promise to be cool next time.  :D

Fall Festival

Immediately after the dentist, it was time to get back home and get everyone redressed into costumes and ready for the fall festival at church.  This was the highlight of the whole day for the kids and they'd been looking forward to it ever since October 1.  How do I know this?  Because Mikey would ask me since the day it turned from September into October how many more days until fall festival.  He would ask me every single day.  And every single day, I would have him subtract 31 from whatever day it was to find out.  And yet, he would still ask again the next day.

S l o w l y losing my marbles.

I had exactly four minutes to get some pictures of them in their costumes before it was time to head over to church.

Someday, when I find my marbles, I will allot more time for All The Things.

My little Merida in her two sizes too big Merida shoes.  Turns out "one size fits all" actually does not.

Merida is not Merida  (or "Medida" as Lauren used to call her when she was 'little'. As in when she was four.) without her trusty bow and arrows!

The black ninja with the blue school shoes.  Those ninja stars?  His mom stayed up the night before to watch Youtube videos in order to learn how to fold those for him.

Action shot.

My princess Jasmine.

I'm glad she still loves her princesses.  It will be a sad day when she decides it's time to leave them behind.

Her mom's two-minute version of Jasmine hair.

And then it was definitely time to go so the kids piled into the car, I threw Jonah along with a last minute costume for him into his seat and we were off!

This is as good as it got this year, folks.

A friend lent us an Elmo costume and we had a monkey costume but he decided both were too hot (he was right) and so we went with this little number.  This was Mikey's costume way back when he was two.  Seven years ago.

Here's a quick trip back in time...

Back when Phil wore green scrubs to the hospital as a third year med student and back when that bear in his hand accompanied Mikey everywhere.  He (Mikey, not Phil) still sleeps with that bear every night.

Oh my, I just made myself a little sad now!


Quick! What movie is this from? --------> I never look back darling, it distracts from the NOW.

Okay so back to the now...

I wouldn't mess with this Doctor in Training.

'Cuz he's got a mean kidney punch.

Hooray!  Daddy was finally able to join us!  And Daddy wouldn't be Daddy unless he had a costume on too.  He pulled out a fifteen year old bball jersey that morning and took it with him so that he'd have it to change into when he got off work.  In case you couldn't tell, he came as Chris Mullin this year.

Listening to story time and the gospel message.

So not doing a good job listening.

Man, whose kid is that?  Better regulate, Chris Mullin!  (Note that I was sitting away in the far back so as to not be associated with this little slice o' crazy).

He was all about playing the games this year.

Some might say he got a rather unfair advantage at some of the games.  Some would be right.

David faced the giant and put a stone in his sling.  His aim was true...

And he hit the giant right in the forehead, er, chin in this reenactment.

Then she excitedly showed me this.

Then he asked if he could go try and win a fish, too.

And this is the best I could do to look excited over our two new pets.

That was before he won this.  I know you're scared, little fishy.  I am, too.

And lastly, this.

That was about when I sank into a chair and getting up again wasn't happening any time soon.  So I asked big brother to take little brother around to play some more games.  He was happy to oblige.  Thankful for him.

And then we gathered ourselves and our four new fish pets and headed home after a very fun but long day.  Got the kids into bed when finally...

It was time for Mommy's long-awaited treat(s).

School Festivities

The morning of Halloween, I woke when it was still very dark outside, took a deep breath, and asked God for the strength to get through this day.

It all began with Lauren's class starting earlier in the day than their normal start time.  And none of the kids could be convinced to buy school lunch that day (am I the only mom trying to coax her kids to buy lunch once in a dang while??).  Add in homework folders and costumes and someone's library book for library day and a carved pumpkin all having to accompany us to school half an hour earlier than our usual mad dash out the door in the mornings.

And that was just the first ninety minutes of the day.

We had to go back to school at the exact time Jonah usually goes down for his nap.  Witness his face.  That face, accompanied by a loudly persistent whine, was his immediate response any time I had to set him down for the whole two and a half hour school "volunteering" I was attempting to do.  But!  We made it to see Lauren walking with her class for their costume parade!  I couldn't miss this.

Then back to her classroom for cupcakes and juice.  Where Jonah loudly whined about not getting one to eat too.

Big sis saved the day though when she gave her Oreo cookie to him and then set him up with some of her lunch.

Made a cracker sandwich for him.  This boy has it good, I tell ya.

And the highlight of his no-nap day was when we got to join bigger sister's class for part of their recess time.

Then we (Lauren whose class had a minimum day, Jonah and I) went to visit Allie's class to see a bit of their classroom party.

Before we had to dash over to Mikey's class to help him get in to his costume and grab a quick picture with his teacher...

Before dashing back over to get a quick picture with her teacher before she left for the day (because I forgot to do it earlier)...

And then returning to Allie's class in time to see their mummy wrapping contest.  And also realizing that in all this running back and forth, I managed to miss both the older kids' costume parades.  Nice.

At least we got to see this part.  The kids loved this activity.

This one kid brought in a unicorn head as his costume and wore it the whole time they were mummyfying him.  Hilarious.

And then this guy began to see the fun there is to be had in a roll of toilet paper.

Oh no.  I am now very, very afraid of his new discovery.

Jumping right in with the big kids.

This group had a couple extra "helpers".

Another highlight of his day.  So thankful for my older kiddos who both understood that Mommy had to go back and forth between their classrooms in order to see everyone and who were just glad I could be there even for parts of it.

And then it was time to collect everyone mid-party so that we could end up...

Here.  At the dentist.  On Halloween.

Mother of the Year, right here.  :p