Happy Birthday Jonah

Today is a special day in the Dafoe household...it is Jonah's 4th Birthday!  It is hard to believe that 4 years ago Richard and I were waiting anxiously to meet this little man.

(Here is one of my favorite pics of him on his "birthday."

  It has been so wonderful to watch this little man grow, learn, discover, and become who God created him to be!  He was an extremely colicky baby and very high maintenance. He slept very little and was extremely unpredictable.  He has always been a social little man and has always enjoyed being around others and outgoing.  He has hit many of the "milestones" early setting the bar pretty high for any other siblings to follow.  He has always been a snuggler and I do have many, many, many fond memories of the naps we did share together.  There is nothing more precious than a sleeping baby on your chest while you sleep!  

Although he looks just like his daddy, Jonah does have many of my personality traits and qualities.  This is fun to see!  I absolutely love this age where he is so intrigued by the world around him and so determined to figure out the why?s how come?s and other important questions that most people don't know the answers to.  He is a great big brother and although he and Elijah fight, he definitely watches out for him and I love that. 

I feel all nostalgic as I sit and allow the wonderful memories of motherhood and our oldest son flood my thoughts.  All the firsts, special time together, the mommy and me dates, snuggling in the mornings, trips to starbucks and the park, playing together, and learning together. The tears, smiles, hugs and kisses make it extra special. 

Today I do have to sleep a little (I worked last night) but I will get up early so we can celebrate this special day tonight with spaghetti, cake, and ice cream.  I will post pics of course!  

Happy Birthday Jonah! We love you so much!

Here is the Birthday Boy each year on his special day!

Superhero Mail

We had a wonderful day today relaxing and watching the boys play with their gifts. We went to the "Tale of Despereaux" this afternoon and were pleasantly surprised to see a package in the mail from Florida! From a wonderful family, The Prachars, who we met at the church we attended when living in Iowa City. They are now in Florida serving the Lord through Agape Ministries. Check out their site for more details. The package included a batman costume and superman costume! The boys were exstatic (as was I since I know these costumes will be loved to death). THANK YOU PRACHARS!!!!! If you have followed my blog for even just a little while you would already know what a special gift this is. My boys love imaginative play and Elijah has been LIVING, I mean day, night, day, night, etc in costumes since before Halloween. (*I do try to wash them as often as possible, and encourage him to wear clothes daily, but sometimes it just isn't a battle I choose to fight with him*).

Thank you again, and we will have to send you some more pictures when I get around to sending out a New Year card instead of a Christmas card. Hope you are nice and warm down there!

Holy Car Starter Batman!

It is Christmas day, we are celebrating the birth of Christ and trying to keep the chaos under control.  The boys actually slept in until 8am and crawled in with us for a little Christmas morning snuggling.  Then we all headed out to the living room to open a few presents and peek in our stockings.  It was so fun to watch the boys squeal with delight and their little faces a lit up as they unwrapped their presents.  Jonah struggled a little bit with being patient and sharing, while Elijah actually did better with this concept.  

Richard made some delicious egg bake and we had OJ and ginger ale and pineapple.  Then my sister Laura and dad came over for a while.  We are just relaxing and enjoying the boys playing with their gifts and listening to their imaginations soar.  

I was pleasantly surprised to discover a small bag at the bottom of my stocking that previously had cherry chocolates in, but was hiding the remote to a car starter in my car! I did think it was a joke at first, but after Richard instructed me to push the button and see for myself I was just as excited as the boys when I saw my van start in the driveway!  Hurray! Now, if you are thinking to yourself "what a silly gift" you must not understand the arctic temperatures we experience up here in good old North Dakota.  It was -21 degrees F yesterday morning.  The beautiful minus sign in front of the number does not designate a party either! This normally wouldn't be such a problem if I did not have to dress to small boys from head to toe each time we even think of leaving our house, even if only for a few minutes.  

Richard opened his present early so he could test it out (wireless speakers for his laptop) and has been enjoying them I believe.  Jonah got the imaginext batcave he had been hoping for and Elijah was excited to open a spiderman car complete with spiderman himself.

The past week has been quite chaotic due to my sister's wedding last saturday, Jonah's Christmas program, family in town for Christmas, and the holidays.  I am hoping to catch up on a little blogging next week.  However, I will be distracted by my son turning 4! I can't believe it!  How time flies!  

Merry Christmas to all and we pray you are able to celebrate this precious day that our Savior was born on so many years ago.  The perfect, best, present ever!  Even better than my car starter!  

Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy!  

The boys in their new robe, pjs, and slippers and opening a gift from each other

Checking out Jonah's new gift and playing with their gifts

A Cold Stone Thank You

We have been crazy busy with all the wedding planning, but Richard and I were so pleasantly surprised when the boys inhaled their supper the other night, we decided to head to Cold Stone for a nice cold treat.  It was an extra special time laughing, singing, and just being together while we enjoyed the delicious ice cream.  Thank you again to the Hutton/Amundson/Doan's for the wonderful gift!  You are too sweet ;0)  Since I know some of you happen to cruise on by this site once and awhile I captured our "double date" to share with you...

The boys picked cotton candy ice cream with peanut butter cups (yuck) and since I usually get to pick the ice cream I let Richard have a turn and he made an excellent choice with the Coffee Lovers.  It also happened to be Wednesday when we went and you get a free waffle bowl or cone with your Love it Creation on Wed. God is sooooo good! 

And, Yes Elijah is STILL wearing his Robin costume religiously.  Probably the best $ I have ever spent!!!!

Not Me! Monday

Doot do, la la la, this is my Monday song, that it is finally here! ***This was not actually posted until Tuesday and written on Sunday, but you get the idea***  I have to lift my hat to MckMama, yet again, for this wonderful denial of truth that I look forward to each week!

• I did NOT have tons of fun with Richard and the boys decorating our tree this week.  It was NOT the first time we had little "helpers" to make the process go so smoothly ;0) Actually, it was really just Jonah because Elijah did NOT drink everyone's egg nog while we were doing it!
• I did NOT have a blast throwing a personal shower for my sister nikki on Friday night. I also did NOT embarrass her just a little!
• I did NOT have a great time on Saturday night bowling and heading down town for nikki's bachelorette party! I was the DD and I did NOT still have a blast watching everyone and being the bodyguard for my sister. 
• I can NOT believe she is getting married on saturday! AHHHH!
• We did NOT take jonah and elijah ice skating on Saturday in the freezing cold and I did NOT just ran back in forth from the van to the rink taking pictures and video while trying to keep from freezing to death. 
• My heart did NOT melt ten times watching Richard teaching our boys to skate and helping them. Nope. I didn't cry either!
• I did NOT get just a little sad on Sunday when Jonah's christmas program was postponed because he was sooooo excited to go and had done an excellent job working on his songs and memory verse!
• Speaking of Sunday....I did NOT LOVE having a snow day and spend the entire day relaxing at my parents house while we were shut in! 
• I did NOT spend almost all my free time helping my sister with wedding planning, hence the reason I have NOT neglected my blog this past week ;0)
• I did NOT hold my breath while trying on my bridesmaid dress and breathe a big sigh of relief when it did fit just like I remembered. 
• It did NOT take two people to strip Elijah down and try on multiple outfits for the wedding and dress rehearsal until we found the right match.  My mom did NOT help me and we did NOT bribe him with cartoons and candy.
• I did NOT spend Friday cleaning my house from top to bottom (scrubbing floors, cupboards, vacuuming, dusting, etc) for my sister's shower.
• I will NOT be MIA for the next week due to my sister's upcoming wedding!

So, despite being a day late...this is NOT still therapeutic for me! 

Dear Jonah and Elijah

Dear Elijah

    Today I was busy multi tasking and you came flying around the corner, looked right at me, and scared me.  Not because you aren't the cutest thing ever, but because you don't look like my baby anymore.  You are getting so big!  You often have some of the same facial expressions and body language that your brother had at your age. (this is a little scary as there is this is obviously genetic since you had no idea he did these things).  You are still a momma's boy and I am thankful for that.  You want to snuggle every morning (and every night this week at 4am) but it's ok because this won't last forever.  You hadn't snuggling as a baby and did not want to be held. You preferred to drift off to sleep in your own crib. This was very different from your colicky older brother's baby desires. He could have been held and snuggled with all day and all night.  Slowly you have become a snuggler and I love it!  Although this morning you held my face and told me you did not want to get out of bed and we should snuggle a little longer.  I am afraid I have ruined you!  I love your curiosity, and your sweet side.  I also LOVE hearing you (and your brother) pray before we eat.  Slowly the "gank foo's (thank you's)' are progressing from spider man to maccaroni and cheese, your brother, and mom and dad. I also will hear your little voice saying "Holy Smokes, there is spiderman on my milk glass" for quite some time. This is a bittersweet time for me as I struggle to keep you as my baby, but let you become the little man God has desired you to be. I love you Elijah!

Dear Jonah,

  You are also changing before my eyes!  I am enjoying your transformation from the whining, hair pulling three year old to your soon to be more mature 4-year-old self.  I also enjoy "here's the deal mom...." as you try to barter your way through our days.  You are becoming so interested in how things work, and the questions don't stop until you are satisfied.  I love this!  I also love that you are learning to be a big brother, looking out for Elijah, showing him the ropes, and loving him up.  You are so excited in this role and that makes my heart leap for joy.  Speaking of hearts leaping, you made me cry the other night when you recited your memory verse for the Christmas program "A savior has been born unto you" Luke 2:11 and your eyes have never been brighter as you realized what you had done!  You called everyone to tell them and kept repeating it over and over and over again for Elijah and I.  Then you whispered to me that Jesus helped you learn that.  

I am not sure where you learn some things, like tonight when you took your hat off to pray and told us that is just what you are 'posed to do.  You are getting so big and I am also mourning the loss of my little guy.  I pray you continue to challenge me to become a better mother as I challenge you to become the young man God desires.  I love you Jonah. 

Not Me! Monday

Well blog readers...(drum roll please)...it is MONDAY!  You all know that means it is my favorite new day of the week as I get to begin the week with this wonderful denial of truth started by MckMama.  Head over to her website and check out many more people who are diving into this incredibly addicting blog carnival. 

• I did NOT just have my computer freeze up and erase my entire Not Me post after I had linked it to MckMama's and have to retype the entire thing!
• I did NOT finally join a gym in town after months of denying the need and I did NOT almost pass out multiple times as I went to aerobic classes with my new personal trainer (my sister Nikki)
• I did NOT use my shirt to wipe my child's nose when we were at WalMart this week, only to be caught by an innocent bystander and get extremely embarrassed
• I did NOT stalk MckMama's website while writing this post. Nope!
• I did NOT work Friday night (7pm to 7am) at the hospital (I am a nurse in the NICU) and go home and sleep for 2 1/2 hours, drive an hour with my sisters and mother for my sister Nikki's final wedding dress fitting, and return back to town shortly before my shift started on Saturday night and go back to work again from 7pm to 7am. Nope! Because that would be silly and I might get sick. 
• I was NOT my sister's wedding slave all week. (Enjoying every minute of course) Helping her make a slideshow for the wedding and do all the last minute super fun and NOt at all stressful stuff!
• I did NOT wish and pray that my children could stay little forever at least a thousand times this week when they were fighting over who loved me more!
• I did NOT spend 3 hours trying to figure out where to hang a couple of pictures in our living room with my husband and we took turns akwardly leaning over furniture and holding them up for each other only to hang them up in the very first spot we discussed!
• I did NOT have 2 Frappacinnos on Saturday to help me survive my sleep deprived day after I told myself I was going to give them up because they are definitely NOT helping me become healthier!
• I did NOT cry when my two year old threw up his breakfast all over himself because he had pooped and gagged himself from the smell.  This did NOT occur while we were trying to get going for the day and all over the bathroom rugs that had NOt just been washed and laid down only 15 minutes before.
• I did NOT almost throw up myself when my two year old hugged me with puke all over and we both climbed into the tub to clean up
• I did NOT become so excited that I could hardly sleep when my husband said we could go get a Christmas tree this past weekend
• I did NOT become just a little disappointed when the tree farm to cut down your own was closed so we had to just buy one from the lot.
• I did NOT just get the #1 spot for the week on MckMama's page!  I am NOT a dork for being excited about that either.
• I did NOT wish I had written down all the other things I did NOT do this week. 

Hope you all have a spectacular week and have a good laugh on my behalf!

Beautiful Snow and a Tree

I left work this morning and was in awe of God's beauty and gift of snow as I drove home.  It was dark still, quiet, and there was beautiful fluffy white flakes falling everywhere.  The snow was still pure white and there were hardly any tracks.  It was mesmerizing as I drove and almost looked fake it was so beautiful. We have had hardly any snow yet this year and I have been laughing as I hear from friends down in Iowa who have been shoveling for a few weeks now. How ironic, we move up North and don't get snow until December! 

I dropped my stuff off and quickly grabbed the camera to catch our home with the Christmas lights and beautiful snow!  

This evening we went to get a Christmas tree.  We were hoping to go to a tree farm and cut our own down (which is a fun tradition in our home), but they closed at 4pm and we were expecting them open until 5pm so we settled for a real one inside the nursery at All Seasons.  It is beautiful and smells wonderful.  Hopefully we can decorate it tomorrow night before I head to work!  For now it is warming up and adjusting to life inside.  We name our tree every year and I am thinking of a good one for this year.  Our first tree was "Evie" the Evergreen and this one is a Scotch...hmm....maybe Sophie?  Elijah wanted it to be a girl tree. Not sure why, but oh well. 

Rebel for A Cause

I know I frequently reference my blogging friend MckMama on this blog, but wanted to throw in another plug for her site. She is teaming up with a friend and doing a raffle for a Canon camera and lots of other photo goodies.  The tickets are $10 and ALL the proceeds are going to three wonderful organizations: String of Pearls, The Elison Project, and No Hands but Ours. 

These organizations are very meaningful to MckMama and her friend Amie as they deal with helping couples facing a fatal diagnosis for their baby as well as for couples wanting to adopt a special needs child. 

The giveaway is the 14th of December!  Check out her site for more details. Plus there are other wonderful ways you can win!!!! 

Good luck to all and Happy raffling!

Not Me! Monday

Well fellow blog readers...it is time for the wonderful denial of truth thanks to MckMama!  I have had some of you tell me you read this and some comment, but send me an email with your not me's if you are not up for playing!  Please bear with me...this was a big week!

• I did Not get to sleep in today until 9am! Thank you Jonah and Elijah. They ended up in our bed last night at some point and I did not have the energy to put them back so I left them hoping that would happen. Thank you Jesus.
• I also did NOT get to sleep in until almost 10am on saturday. Thanks to my wonderful mother who took the boys friday night for a sleepover.  (if you have any children you appreciate this one above all else because we all know that the laws of children = no sleeping at all let alone in on a sat am)
• I did NOT bear my heart and soul in the previous post, which took A LOT of encouraging on God's part and my own, but was blessed by many wonderful comments and emails from family and friends. Thank you!
• I did NOT take the boys (on Thanksgiving day) in search of a MacDonalds or Wendys or any fast food for that matter to feed them dinner.  Richard and Colby ( a great friend from Iowa who came to help us celebrate the holiday) made a gourmet meal which was not quite ready when they wanted supper. Since everything was closed we ended up renting Wall-e from the video store, spending who knows how much on gummi bears there (cause those are NOT expensive) and eating fruit loops for supper. 
• I was NOT the closest one to 2 million hits on MckMama's website and she certainly did NOT mention me and post one of the pictures I took and sent to her to document this!
• I did NOT go shopping on Black Friday and I did NOT find a ton of great deals and get super excited for Christmas gifts to be exchanged.
• I did NOT get to spend Friday evening with my family for our quasi Thanksgiving since my sister Nikki got home from Idaho late thurs night, and have a wonderful time. I did NOT overeat at all!
• I did NOT get to go to a Sioux hockey game after our quasi dinner where the Sioux did NOT win 7-3 against Cornell! Yahoo!
• I did NOT persuade my husband I needed dip-n-dots at the game either! I never looked at him with a pouty lip and puppu dog eyes and he never gave in of course!
• I did NOT take Elijah to Walmart in his Robin costume turning heads down almost every isle as he declared "Me Robin, the boy wonder" every 10 seconds while shooting imaginary monsters who happened to also be shopping at Walmart!
• I did NOT take the gum that fell out of his mouth and onto the floor give it back to him and then after it fell out a second time take it away and give him a new piece. It obviously gets dirtier after two times and is gross to put back.
• I did NOT go to Target when the opened at noon on Sunday and hunt for a particular present for Jonah for his birthday like a maniac. Which was on sale in the circular for $28 (and is selling for $100 on ebay) and upon not finding it hunt down a sales clerk and ask him to check in out it for me. I also did not utter these exact words while waiting "Lord, I know this is silly, but is it ok if I pray that they will have this toy?" and when he returned with one I did not have to try really hard to contain my extreme joy and excitement. 
• I did NOT almost hate the world while trying on just about every dress in the Fargo mall to find one for my sister's rehearsal dinner. I also did not spend the entire day there looking. Thanks mom for coming with me! You are the best! 
• I did NOT ignore my children as they ran around the kitchen screaming at the top of their lungs and chasing after each other with their cereal spoons while writing this post. Nope.
• My WONDERFUL hubby did NOT just call to see how our morning was and say he loved us because we were sleeping when he left. That did NOT just melt my heart and make my day!

Wow! I might have to add more later as they come to me, but for the most part I think I covered the week pretty well. Hope you all have a wonderful week and jot down your Not Me!'s to laugh about at the beginning of next week.