Stonehouse Update

Summer fun:

• Visits from Aunt Amanda and friends Brian, Dave and Sara, and Kimberly...whew!
• Beating the heat at the water park at Sea World.
• Helping with Quest, our church's Vacation Bible School, for 2 weeks, where Mommy ran after rowdy 4-year-olds all morning and put band-aids on boo-boos at the nurse's station. Jackie was bombarded with love by said 4 year olds and learned to sing and dance with the big kids.
• Watching 4th of July fireworks with friends from our front yard.
• We're heading to (hopefully) cool, rainy, cloudy, gray, not remotely sunny or humid Portland for the month of August.

Matching outfits with Aunt Amanda!

Bubble time at Gymboree

Start 'em young!

At the River Walk

Dave, Sara, and Jackie

Good friends!

Very into turning pages right now...and Curious George!

All this book learning is very tiring

The new restaurant by our house...two thumbs down :(

Recent goings-on:

• Our church has begun meeting with the church we are merging with.  We're enjoying being part of a bigger group with more resources and are trying to plug in where we can.  Josh has been leading the mid-week Bible study of Mark at church and occasionally filling in on guitar.  I've helped with VBS and planned a women's mixer event.  So we're busy but enjoying ourselves!
• Josh finished planning a change-of-command ceremony for his captain, and can now get back to the million other responsibilities he has at his job.  He received high praise for his work on the ceremony.
• Jackie has FINALLY decided to walk! At approximately 18 1/2 months (see video below, taken the week she started to walk).

Mommy's little helper

King me!

Really cute phrases and language errors that make us love being parents (or: How to Speak Jackanese):

• "Dee-doo!" ("thank you!")
• After taking a bite from her first bowl of ice cream: "Nummy!"
• "Cook!" ("Get to work on my snack...pronto!")
• "Nuh!" ("knucks" - fist bump) and "High!" ("high five")
• "I spinning!" (see video below)
• "Mo Mo!" (This originally meant "motorcycle", but is now applied to bikes, scooters, walkers, and wheelchairs without discretion)
• "Shop...ee" ("shopping" - this is where mommy goes alone sometimes)
• "Daddy.....eat!" (Basically means she wants daddy to come home and she knows it will happen when we eat dinner, so let's hurry it up already!)

Story time!

Night night!

19 months!

Happy Fourth!

Quick picture on the go....no time to stop on a day of barbeques, friends and fireworks...oh my!!

Birth Day!

As you can see, my man turned 31 today, and although we had a special lunch (grilled ribs and corn, watermelon, and cheesecake, yum!!) and gift (actually, I re-gifted the same present I gave him last year that he never used - a gift certificate for a massage....I'm about to use that thing myself!) we were pretty busy with church in the morning and a church potluck in the evening, where we spent about 2 hours laughing through a high-stakes game of "Minute to Win It" with our new church family.  If you aren't aware, our church, Hope Community Church, is joining with Rainbow Hills Baptist Church to become one big happy family :) we hope. :)  We hope that we'll be able to reach our mutual neighborhood better together and we're really looking forward to our future.

More to the point however, I just want to say that I have the most loving, funny, handsome, and God-fearing husband in the world!  I can't wait to see what God will use him to do in his next 31 years.  Please enjoy the following pics courtesy of Josh's dad.....I think somebody has a little look-alike in Jackie!

Speaking of Jackie, it was her 18 month birthday today.  Listen, if anyone ever tells you that toddlers are no fun, don't believe them.  I have been enjoying her more all the time, tantrums and all.  Jackie seemed to be going through a bit of an identity crisis lately...we would point at pictures of Daddy: "Who is that?" "Daddy!"  Point at a picture of Mommy...."And who's that?" "Gaddy!"  Hmmmm.....  "Where's Mommy?" Big smile, and she points at herself!  We've since come to the conclusion that "Gaddy" is "Jackie", but who knows anymore....Anyhow, now she makes a point to call me "Moomoe" and will stick her finger up her nose if asked to point to Jackie. It's all so complicated!

Jack Jack and Bear Bear 

She loooves to be like us!

On the walking front, Josh and I will usually spend about 20 minutes a night sitting across from each other in the living room, forcing Jackie to walk between us.  She usually lunges and staggers and giggles her way from one parent to the other, where she receives muchos smoochies for making it.  She doesn't seem too interested in taking steps outside this time, however.  Sigh....  Huge plus though: she will now walk holding on to one of my hands instead of two!

Painted her toenails....I couldn't resist

Toes!

Classic Jackie pose :)

She is certainly intent on communicating with us, however...Unless we repeat the word she is saying, it will be shouted constantly: "Star! Star, star, star, star, star!!"  "Ok Jackie, star."  "Yeah...  Wheel, wheel, wheelwheelwheelwheel!!!!!"  I love the talking, though, seriously.  It's so great to be able to teach her all the things I've been saving up!

What are you doing in the back seat, Mommy?

Big girl!

17 months

Two months ago, I had a baby who would occasionally say "ba" ("ball"), and today my toddler asked me, "s'dat?" ("what's that?").  She has really come a long way with communication.  Last month, she learned the signs for  "please", "more", "all done" and "thank you".  And we made one up for "star". :)  If you aren't aware, using sign language with young children has been a sort of trend lately, and one I'm really liking - they really can communicate ideas with signs long before they can say the actual words.  And if all else fails, some well-timed whining or excited wiggling usually get her point across.  She is undergoing a little language explosion, though, and can now say more words than I can keep track of.  We're learning our animals....sometimes she says the correct name, but usually it's "Moooo!!!!" or "Cockadoodledoooooo!" or something like that.  And our modes of transportation: "Aaaaiiiieeee!" (airplane) "Mo!" (motorcycle) and "Cah!" (car).  She will do the motions for her favorite songs: "The Eensy Weensy Spider", "Old MacDonald", "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Patty Cake".  She's really starting to pick up on more social norms too: she has learned to put her finger to her lips and whisper "shhhh", blow kisses, and knock on doors to be let in.

Copying Daddy...who is becoming her new hero!

Someone misses the baby stage!

Little cheeser!

Getting really good at coloring

What is that disgusting thing on Daddy's upper lip?

I think she really believes she's dressing herself when she does this

Expressing some emotion

Signing "more"

We have long suspected that Jackie has the ability to walk but is holding out on us...so we tricked her into walking from a friend into my outstretched arms, at which point she took 3 steps.  Ever cautious, though, she insists on holding on to our hands while walking.  It's a real exercise in patience some days when I feel like she has the ability to be walking but is too afraid to do so....this is where accepting your child's personality comes into play.  Her "wounded spider crawl", as we like to call it, is now quite speedy, but I can tell she's growing tired of dragging her poor right leg behind her and would like to be running with the other kids.  Then our lives really will change!

This is how we spend many of our days

This has been a favorite spot (at a friend's house)

A girl and her horse

We have been extremely busy with activities with friends lately, and it's made me realize how thankful I am for the variety and number of friends God has blessed us with after being in San Antonio a little over a year.  There's nothing we like better than a playdate...and this is where one gleans all kinds of useful knowledge that mommy and daddy have been hiding - how to jump on a bed, how to push someone around who's smaller than you, and how great chocolate tastes.  Friends are the best!

Two little couch potatoes

Playdate!

My first piano student has been a sweet friend to Jackie

Checking out videos of puppies and laughing babies with Daddy

Full Bloom

Texas bluebonnets are our state flower, and apparently it's illegal to go tromping through them, so please don't turn me in to the authorities!  We couldn't resist getting a few this year.  Happy April!

Trust me when I say this was not a comfortable location to be kneeling down!

Life is so sad!!

That's better!

Happy Easter 2013!

There are almost no pictures of Jackie right now that aren't blurry from her moving, have her sucking her thumb, or are basically close-ups of her while she tries to grab my camera....still, I think she's kinda cute!  We hope you all had a wonderful Easter!  Our church met at the park and had a potluck afterward.  And then all three of us got to take a nap - a true Easter blessing/miracle.