my little man is three and a half! (on july 5th) My how this year is flying. It just seems like we celebrated his third birthday, and how he is at the half way mark, and approaching four years old in six months. Eeek!

What a joy Jonah James is to Todd and I and our whole family. It has been a delight watching him grow since his birthday- especially in the last few weeks! He is making significant progress in potty training (this weekend went GREAT!), loves his swimming lessons (he is being SO brave), and just showed a recent interest in talking and reading about "Baby Jesus".

(SIDE NOTE: I bought him a new children's bible (recommended by Angie at Bring the Rain blog.) and i read him a story every night. The way it is written is truly remarkable. Each story is linked back to Jesus, in a way that is very understandable to small children. (sometimes it connects things in ways i have never caught before) It takes a children's bible to put it in perspective, huh? If you are in the market for a childrens story bible for your little one, or for a gift, i would recommed checking this one out. You will love it. )

I just love how Jonah wants to look at the pictures during the day and brings it with him we we go downstairs to play. It melts my heart how much he loves it. I pray that the words we read to him (and Jordan) touches his heart.

Jonah bear, your daddy and i are so proud of you! You are such a sweet little boy who loves his family dearly. I love watching you learn about Jesus and introducing Him to you. You are a blessing!

Here is a layout i did for Jonah over the weekend. This picture was taken by Carpenter Photography last fall during our family session at my parent's house. I love the look of JOY on Jonah's face. Pretty much his face looks like this ALL the time when he is with his Papa and Yaya. Love it : )


Finally, I want to leave you with the excerpt that i first introduced me to the Children's Bible I read to Jonah every night. I found it so touching.

They nailed Jesus to the cross.

"Father, forgive them, " Jesus gasped. "They don't understand what they are doing."

"You say you have come to rescue us!" people shouted. "But you can't even rescue yourself!"

But they were wrong. Jesus could have rescued himself. A legion of angels would have flown to his side-if he'd called.

"If you were really the Son of God, you could just climb down off that cross!" they said.

And of course they were right. Jesus could have just climbed down. Actually, he could have just said a word and made it all stop. Like when he healed the little girl. And stilled the storm. And fed 5000 people.

But Jesus stayed.

You see, they didn't understand. It wasn't the nails that kept Jesus there.

It was love.

rainy day projects

ahhhh, rainy days... i have a love-hate relationship with rainy days. especially in the summer, and on a weekend. many times i am so sad to wake up and find that it's raining, and then other times the rain is a welcome break to catch up on things indoors... like today!

We have a few projects going on over at the Hufford House... like.... teaching this one to use the potty!

After many months of talking about the potty, trying to use the potty, etc. we have finally made some headway in potty training our first-born. i mean, he IS three and a half. (and a boy who doesn't really care if he runs around in a wet diaper all day). The little sticker chart went over well and he even add many more stickers on the chart by the end of the day! Yay! I know it will take a little bit of time to transition into the fully potty trained status. but we are on the road, which feels good (this was starting to stress me out a bit, can you tell?).


Sorry Jonah...I just had to add this picture. too funny.



We also have made some changes to Jordan's room! I made a collage of some of the amazing pictures we have had taken by Carpenter Photography this past year. I got the collage idea from Ali Edwards blog. The collage she made for her newborn daughter (and a tour of her nursery) can be seen here. I just love getting ideas from other blogs!


I got these 12 frames from Ikea. It's the white Ribba frames that hold a 5x7 photo. (it is the same frames Ali used). Unfortunately, you can not buy these frames online, you have to purchase them in the store. (makes for a fun roadtrip!) It's not easy to hang all of these straight, I have some help, but i think it turned out GREAT! I added fabric (from Joann Fabrics) to 3 of the frames and then used a chipboard square with Jordan's initials. I realize the monogram is not exactly correct, but i wanted to put the "J" in the middle instead of the "H"!


I think Jordan really likes the frames over her bed. She looks up at them when i lay her down and points up and says "Baby!" and "Dad-ee!". So sweet! I have a few more additions for her walls but i wanted to share this since it's FINALLY done! YAY!

Here is a sneak peak of another layout i am working on- another reason i love rainy days!!! : ) I will post it once it's finished!!


Have a happy weekend!

craftiness

many evenings, after dinner, family time, and the kiddos bedtime, you can find me downstairs in my craft area, aka "my happy place". it's nice to carve out a few hours here and there to be crafty. this is a great outlet for me. I am able to do something that stays DONE and record those special family memories we never want to forget.

Now, i NEVER thought i would be a scrapbooker. In all honesty, i thought it was the dorkiest hobby. I just didn't understand women who got all excited about a circle punch or a cute sticker. But scrapbooking has come a loooong way, my friends. I started scrapping when jonah was born, and even since then it has changed so much.

I no longer scrapbook in chronological order- it was stressing me out too much to always feel behind. i just work with pictures, paper, and thoughts that are on my mind at the moment. I can figure out where it goes in an album later. So it's an organize-chaos approach to scrapbooking... that's kind of how my mind is all the time anywa, so it works for me!!! : )

I just love the two layouts below! I lifted the overall design from Stephanie Howell's blog. That's a great way to get ideas- copy them from blogs and magazines! ha! Seriously though, whenever i am stuck i love using a general design and making it my own. The first page talks about how much jordan and i both changed and grew in her first year of life. The second page talks about how well jonah was adjusting to having a new sister and being a new big brother. fun!




I saw this design in a magazine recently and couldn't wait to try it... i journaled about being a mommy to both a boy and girl.


This one was just for fun. I took this picture of jordan shortly after she switched from formula to D Milk. Can you tell I was excited to get rid of that expensive, nasty smelling formula!? ha! It's even fun to scrapbook these little moments in life- i know in a year i won't remember what a huge milestone it was to get rid of the formula last spring.


So... that's what i have been up to lately. More pics coming soon of our 4th of July trip to Bear Lake!