Jonah's 1st Haircut!

Today, Jonah got his first haircut!!! He was so good and I am incredibly proud of him. There was no crying, wining, squirming, nothing. Uncle David was a huge help and Jonah willingly sat on his lap, letting Heidi (my wonderful hairdresser) give him a very gentle and cute first cut. Grandma joined us to watch and even Jimmy surprised us to see Jonah!!! He acted so confident after and posed for the camera! Super cute! :)

 Before and After!

When we got home Jonah explored our mini garden for caterpillars so I took the opportunity to snap a few shots of his new do...so handsome :)

Jonah Turns 3!!!!

My sweet little Jonah turned 3 this weekend (the 11th)! It's amazing how fast three years have gone by. Watching Jonah grow each day is everything I live for now. He is such a nurturing, gentle little boy who is so full of love. He is also silly and funny and completely rambunctious at times, so full of energy...and so we play and explore a lot...and I love seeing life all over again through the eyes of my beautiful boy.

This year I set up a workshop theme for Jonah since he is absolutely crazy about tools and "projects". He loves watching "Handy Manny" and "Bob the Builder" and goes around the house pretending or trying to "fix" things! It was lots of work but so much fun and everyone seemed to have a great time! Especially my birthday boy!!! :) I love you sweet Jonah, Happy 3rd Birthday!!!! OXOXOX

The workshop was filled with building, painting, foam art, coloring and decorating! The kids were very involved and did really creative work!

 Then it was time to eat and time for cake. Jonah blew out all the candles on his own, we only pretended to help :)

Later on we opened presents...so much cool stuff this 3 year old got, guitars, tools, books, legos, and the highlight...the workbench from Grandpa!!!

Love Birds...

Now that Jonah and Rachel are almost three, they have lots to say to us and to each other. It is always so much fun when we all get together. Watch the two of them interact, share, work things out, and more often than not completely love each other.  It's incredibly cute!. This summer we went to the Sarasota Children's Garden where they got to explore, listen to a story, climb, run and more. It is a fabulous enchanted garden and they left with lots of smiles....

We also explored at GWIZ...checked out the amphibian and reptile display, raced on the sprint track, explored the human body, magnets, electricity, and even physics....cool science stuff!

Then we were off to the Sunken Garden to explore nature; plants, flowers and fish ponds with huge lily pads! And right next door was the neatest Children's Museum I have ever been to. We are definitely coming back! Jonah and Rachel were firefighters, pizza bakers, musicians, climbers, cashiers and shoppers at "Publix", and explorers of a pretend beach made of rubber sand...there was so much to do we didn't even get to all of it...definitely an opportunity to visit again :) 

Tool Time...

Jonah and Daddy love tools...In fact I am planning a tool time workshop for Jonah's 3rd birthday! (Coming Soon!) Here are a few pictures of them working together on a tool box in the garage and another time at a Home Depot workshop building a cork board...My handy guys are working hard! :)

Summer Fun...

Here are a few pictures of some more summer fun we have had over the last couple of months....a day at the beach, Leah's Birthday where she also gave Jonah an adorable early birthday present, and a day with her and our friends Tiffany, Quintin, and Tristin at Mote Aquarium....spending as much time as possible with family and friends!

 

A Day at the Zoo!

We took a day trip to Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo this summer. It was our first time there with Jonah and tons of fun. Jonah was intrigued by all the amazing animals and couldn't believe how big the elephants, rhinos, and giraffes were. He brushed the goats' fur, feed the parakeets, walked around looking at all the different animals, took a couple of train rides, and splashed in the water. What a great family day!!!

Leah's Medical School Graduation!

 In May, we took a long weekend trip up to Gainsville to celebrate Leah's amazing accomplishments. She graduated from Medical School just shy of her 25th birthday!!!! She is now back in Gainsville starting her residency. We are so incredibly proud of her and had a fun time celebrating....

Kids Workshop at Home Depot

Okay so life has been, well, just busy but I have a bunch of pictures and events to blog about so here goes....starting with some Kids Workshops at homedepot...
Every first Saturday of the month Home Depot holds a kids workshop for parents to bring their children to use real tools to build something out of wood. Each month they have a different piece to build and usually to paint as well. Jonah and I have been going for the last 9 months. I am really impressed with the workshop and Jonah absolutely loves banging nails in, using a screwdriver for little screws and most especially painted our finished piece. We have made a snowman napkin holder, a valentine keepsake box, a picture frame, a "piggy" back house, a helicopter and cars and more.
We also usually meet or run into some of our favorite friends there! Yep, Rachel and Jaden are frequenters too!

This was a Saturday in March where they built a Home Depot Racecar....

A bird feeder in April....

And a flower bed for Mother's Day in May....

Meeting Baby Cian...

Living in sunny Florida does have it's benefits, especially when our Northern friends come to visit! In the beginning of the summer our wonderful friends Kristin and Jonathan came to stay for a few days. This time with baby Cian who was just five months old. Jonah could not get enough of him and wanted to play and hold and touch him all the time. He was super about sharing his baby toys with him too. And despite some rainy weather, we had lots of fun in St. Armand's, at the beach, Mote Aquarium, and just playing around!

Butterflies!

At school, one of the big science units in that I teach in the spring is all about life cycles. This includes the butterfly life cycle and it's complete metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly. I have little pet tanks that are filled with milkweed and passion vine for the monarch and gulf fritillary butterflies and we watch as they eat and grow, eat and grow until finally turning into a chrysalis and then a beautiful butterfly. Well, not only do my fourth grade students really get into this but so does Jonah. He can tell you all about the butterfly's life cycle including the big words like chrysalis. He loves holding the caterpillars when I clean out the tanks and letting the butterflies go "fly free" when they are ready. This year we ending up with over forty butterflies, thanks to one that laid a bunch of eggs on our passion vine...One day we set free over ten butterflies....

My little scientist....

First In Season Baseball Game...

	Back in May we all went to Tropicana Stadium to watch the Rays and Yankees play. Jonah had so much fun yelling "hit the ball!" at the players, eating peanuts, cotton candy, and so much more....What a fun day with the family!

Lots of fun in 2012

The last 2 and 1/2 months have just flown by. It's been a busy beginning of the year. There have been birthdays, playdates, a visit to the fire station, a trip to Myakka State Park, spring break and all it's fun, and news from Gainsville! We have lots to celebrate and be thankful for. First, both Uncle Adam and I (Mommy) hit some milestone birthdays if you can call them that. We celebrated with lots of cake, candles and a smiling 2 and 1/2 year old who loves to blow out candles for everyone! Then came spring break filled with playdates, the children's garden, strawberry picking, visits to Mote Aquarium, the beach, a trip to Dakin Farm, and back in the pool for the first time since last summer with Jonah swimming like a fish, not in the belly of one! ;) Also, during the week our family got some great news about Aunt Leah's residency which will be at UF for a year and then in Brooklyn, New York. Congratulations Leah!!!! It's amazing how life goes in circles sometimes and things have a way of working themselves out. It will be a wonderful adventure and learning experience for you Leah! And now we will have an even bigger reason to visit New York! There is to much to blog about that I had to collage lots of pictures, so have fun scrolling through all of them! :)

A random fun night with Rachel visiting. These two are so silly together!
Jonah loves fire trucks! We took him to visit the new Palmer Ranch Fire Station. The Firemen so graciously showed us the big fire truck and all the equipment they use!
Family trip to Myakka for a visit with the gators, a picnic lunch, and a walk with a view way up high!

Uncle Adam's 30th Birthday! Jonah loved helping blow out the candles!
Only a week later for Mommy's Birthday. My little helper eating the chocolate off the cake before we could cut into it! :)


Spring Break! Strawberry picking with Mommy. We had so much fun. Jonah ate as many strawberries as we picked and so did his shirt!
Fun play date with Abby, Liz, and some friends at The Children's Garden. Jonah loves the big dumptrucks to run around with!

At Mote Aquarium with Rachel, Marni, and Jay. Jonah loved the turtle that kept swimming up to him. He bravely got close to the shark tank and held a Starfish all by himself! I was impressed.
A picnic lunch with lots of food to share hit the spot after a busy morning with the marine life.
A morning at the beach with Daddy, finally home from work and with us for a couple of days. We did lots of playing in the sand and then swam in the pool later in the day. The gulf water was still a little to cold for us!...I have pictures from the beach!

The next day we took a trip to Dakin Farm in Myakka. Where we saw the cows being milked, feed duck, goats, a sheep and baby cows, took a hayride, watched a pig race, saw chickens and a turkey, made butter, and even tasted their yummy chocolate milk. Jonah had such a good time, he's been talking about it for days after!
While we were playing at that Dairy Farm....Leah was receiving her big news about her residency! This is the photo that was in the Gainesville Sun Newspaper about Match Day! Way to go, Leah!!!