Johnny is ONE!

The year went by in a flash, and now my baby is ONE year old!!!  How?  He's beyond adorable, and his personality is beginning to show.  He's decided now that he is one that he has feelings and opinions and silliness and naughtiness.  When he turned one back in May he had 5 teeth.  Now that he is nearly 14 months he has 7 teeth.  He is still not walking, which is no surprise because my children are super slow walkers.  But, I swear he is right on the cusp.  He stands solidly and will take a tentative step or two.  And he can get great speed while pushing his push car around the house.  I know it won't be long.  He's going to break free any day now.

We celebrated Johnny's birthday over Mother's Day weekend.  That Sunday at church we had him dedicated---committing to raising our precious son in a Christian home where he will learn about Jesus and hopefully one day trust Him as his Savior.  He was super wiggly during be beginning of the service and through the all the singing leading up to dedication time.  The boy cannot sit still.  I marvel at babies who will sit still in their parent's laps; mine just don't do that.  They got stuff to do!  Anyway, he did great during the dedication as we were standing in front of the congregation.  He pulled on the pastor's microphone which is always comical.

After church we welcomed everyone over to our house for lunch.  Burgers and Dogs.  Yum!  The two Hanks sat at a table by themselves since their only topic of conversation was poo-poo.  They're going to eventually grow out of that, I just know it.

Those two.

Zach was kind enough to take some family photos of us.

This is the best one.

Such beautiful Moran and Rener women!  Wind blowing through the hair and all.

At cake time Johnny got serenaded and seemed to enjoy it.

He was unsure about the cake at first.  Until Aunt Joy showed him how delicious chocolate frosting is.  And then he shoveled it in.

Another cute Matt & Ava photo for the wedding rehearsal.  :)

Fun was had by all.  They got really creative in the sand box.  I love how well they all play together and how imaginative they all are.  Sweetness.
It was Mother's Day, and I was definitely missing my mom.  It pains me that she is not here to see all these amazing children.  But, I can close my eyes and see her smiling and laughing.  I'm so thankful she was my mom.  God made me her daughter to help prepare me to be the mother of these three sons.  What a blessing it is to be their mother.  One calls me "Mom", one calls me "Mama" and "Mommy", and the littlest calls me "MaMaMaMa!!!"  I never would have imagined I'd be the mother of 3 boys, but now that I am, I know it's right where God wanted me to be.  And I love it.  :)  We had a great day celebrating Mothers and our darling one year old Johnathan.

I call shenanigans

Dinner time has to be Will's least favorite time of day.  It is an exercise in frustration every night unless I fix him what we call a "Will plate" consisting of boring foods that are acceptable to his discerning palate.  When I cook dinner, which is most nights, I make him try one bite of everything that I have made.  He usually will come running up to the table and examine his plate, and if he finds it unacceptable he will go run and get in his bed.  He has spent lots of time at the dinner table --an hour and a half might be his longest to date-- stubbornly refusing to choke down one bite of chicken.  And I make good food.  It's so disappointing.  I try to tell him that he's missing out, but he's not buying it.  Anyway, most of these nights end up in tears for him or with some form of punishment.  Last night he brought it to a whole new level.
The two offending foods I had placed on his plate to try last night were some grilled chicken and steamed broccoli.  Both he has had before.  I asked him to eat one bite of chicken and eat one piece of broccoli and then he could get down.  Matthew, Johnny and I had long been done --Matt had even already polished off his dessert-- and Will still sat at the table stubborn as can be.  Will was left at the dinner table while I bathed John, and Matt had retreated to the living room to read.  I was getting J out of the tub when Will came running in to triumphantly tell me that he had eaten his broccoli and chicken.  I went and examined his plate.  It was indeed gone!  Great job, Will, you may now get down.  He asked if he could have dessert.  Of course not.  But I did give him 5 Skittles.
Minutes later I was wiping down the table and noticed a couple small pieces of chicken stashed in the napkin holder.  "Will, why is there chicken in the napkin holder?"  He says, "I don't know."  "Hmm, well you must have put it there."  He says, "No."  Then he says this, "Don't look in the cabinet!!!  There's nothing in there!!!"  Mmmhmm.  I walked over to the cabinet in the kitchen with Will close on my heels.  I opened it and found a wadded up napkin hiding his chicken in it sitting inside a stack of plastic bowls.  He still denied it.  Oh Will.  We talked about how he had lied to me and not told me the truth.  I had to spank him, and that is the utmost betrayal and insult to Will.  After a long talk I told him he needed to apologize and asked him if he was sorry.  He stood there and shook his head at me.  "Will, you're not sorry for what you did?  You lied to me."  More head shaking.  And then Will was sent to bed.  When Matt went to bed 45 min. later Will was still thrashing around in his bed angry as could be.
I really thought he'd still be angry with me this morning.  He didn't mention it.  Just another Will battle. One day he will eat.  I just know it.  And in the process I hope he learns to tell the truth!

Just an ordinary morning

People all the time ask me what it's like having 3 boys.  Along with words like fun, crazy and rowdy I always say that it is LOUD.  This is one of the many reasons why.

Here and there

A lot of time has passed, I apologize.  I've got some catching up to do!  This post is a collection of randomness from the past couple months.  We took the kids to Matt's El Rancho for a yummy Mexican dinner a while back.  This was a place Steven took me to early on when we were dating.  Good memories.  :)  Did it have some influence on our naming of our first born son?  Maybe.

Johnny really wanted my tasty beverage.  He also charmed everyone that was seated around us and flirted with anyone who would even glance his way all throughout our meal.

At the end of your meal there they give you a nice little cup of sherbet.  The boys found it delightful.

On a warm day in late April we headed up the street to get our first sno cone of the season.  Delish!  Johnny got his first taste, and he loved it of course.

And, on just a regular afternoon playing in the boys' room Matthew constructed quite the cool tower from Lincoln Logs.  He said, "Hurry Mom and take my picture quick before Johnny attacks it!!!"  And attack he did.  He couldn't wait to get his little baby paws on that thing.

This porch full of Jones men cracks me up.  That's Ken and his brother Charley and Timmy on a recent trip to Goldthwaite.

One beautiful evening in April we went to a Round Rock Express game with some friends from church.  Matt was our only child in tow.  The other two stayed home with their grandparents.  It was really nice having Matt all to ourselves.  We had a great night at the ballpark.

I love this picture of Pam, Johnny and I at one of Matt's football games early on in the season.  We are one enthusiastic bunch!  And kudos to Pam for being there at 9 a.m. on a chilly morning to watch her nephew run around on the field!

Matt wrapped up his football season on Mother's Day weekend with a tournament of sorts.  They won their first game and then advanced to the next game which they lost.  No biggie, they had fun playing and got another cool trophy.

Just look at Tim holding that down marker like a pro!

And this is what was happening on the sidelines.  Wrestling and the suffocating of poor J by his brother Will.  That was a long morning.  :)

Steven and I had a night out by ourselves!  Thanks to Tim & Pam...you guys rock.  Such a treat!  We had dinner and then watched the Killers in concert.  Aside from two rows of rowdy, drunken frat boys in front of us the show was great and we had a super time.  I think I grinned at Steven the whole time.

Giants!

Matthew began his third season of flag football in March, and this time around he is a Giant!  We asked him if he wanted to try something new like soccer or tee-ball, and he said he really loved playing football and wanted to do it again.  He joined a team where 4 of the players had played two previous seasons together and already a groove going.

At the first practice the coach discovered that Matt had a pretty good arm, so he has been positioned at Quarterback mostly.  He gets to run the ball a few times a game as well.  He's had a lot of fun and learned a great deal this season.

And we've had fun watching him!  Superfans Uncle Tim and Aunt Pam I don't think missed a game all season.  They are incredible.  Not to mention Tim took Matthew to a majority of his practices so I didn't have to drag the whole tribe out past bedtime.  Tim, you are a lifesaver, and your help is so very appreciated.

I am still popular with the younger two, sometimes too much so.  They were pretty good cheerleaders as far as little brothers go.

The very first game he played back in March the weather was really chilly.  Thankfully, Johnny was warm and cozy at the condo with his grandparents, but poor Will had to suffer through and be there to cheer on his brother.  He wasn't so enthusiastic that game.  At least we had Chick-fil-A breakfast to munch on.

Unfortunately, the Giants didn't win too many games this season, but I think they greatly improved over the course of 6 weeks.  I know Matt would be happy to play alongside those guys again.

Matt had a huge fan club at one game: grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, cousins!!!  It's always fun to have everyone there.  He was beaming.

This video shows Matt's moment of glory.  It was filmed by the coach's wife, and you'll hear her "What?!?" at the end as Matt runs into the endzone.  Good stuff.

Superman was here...

...but he can't get down from the counter.

11 months

Young master Johnathan is approaching his first birthday, and I am in complete denial.  My baby is getting big!  He continues to be a pure joy, and is happy 99% of the time.  He has mastered the art of crawling, and he propels himself any and everywhere he wants to go.  He will crawl the fastest and is the most satisfied with himself either getting to me or into his brothers' room.  In Matt & Will's room, he usually heads straight for the drum set.  He'll pick up a drum stick and start beating away.  He's not even phased by the ear-piercing volume and ferocity with which Will beats those drums.  He will stand right next to him and tap away with his drum stick.  

He is still a really good eater and will eat most of what I put in front of him.  I made some lasagna not long ago, and he went to town on it.  He gobbled up the leftovers for days after that too.  He loves fruit, cheese, pasta, my greek yogurt, and meatballs.  What is truly annoying about his eating habits though is he will rake his arm across his tray in one quick, swiping motion sending food flying off his tray and onto the floor.  So naughty.  He does this when he is either done or he is dissatisfied with what is in front of him.  Or he will flap both arms up and down slapping his tray, which has the same food flying on the floor effect.  The best though is his excited kicking legs that thrash about while he waits for me to prep his food.  He now has 4 teeth: 2 on top, 2 on bottom.

He has learned how to pull up on pretty much any and everything.  He likes to stand on his tippy toes, which is very much like myself.  He's getting more solid on his feet, but is nowhere near walking.  I'm good with that.  He does like to push around the little kid chairs we have.  And, he is really good at pushing things around on his knees, like the old push car, Matt & Will's cars and trucks, and even the vacuum cleaner.

He is, however, fully into the naughty business.  Steven says that his name now is JohnnyNO.  He has figured out what things are no no's, and he visits them every single day.  He's still pushing the Playstation power button on and off, he pulls on the floor lamp, he gets into kitchen things, he's discovered he can pull down the board games, he'll dump out the Uno cards, he'll unzip the Bananagrams pouch and eat the tiles, and he'll pull down all the library books and magazines and fold up the pages.  And so, the cabinet locks have made their third appearance.  This guy reminds me more of Matthew who loved to pull everything out and open every cabinet.  To say he is busy would almost be an understatement.  This kid has things to do.

He teamed up with Will recently, and together they pulled out all the bath toys from under the sink.  The beginnings of a very naughty team I'm afraid.

Will loves his baby brother and can sometimes be a little suffocating.  Poor Johnny will be crawling somewhere, and along comes Will either pulling on one of his little scooting feet or plain steamrolling him.  J gets so frustrated.

Everywhere we go this boy is the life of the party.  He smiles adoringly at anyone who will glance his way, and will full on belly laugh if you engage with him in the tiniest way.  You would think he's starving for attention, but that's not the case.  I drop him off at the gym and at church and people ask me if he is always this happy?  Well, yes.  Most of the time.  He's a very content kid and is very entertained with all that is going on here.  Matt & Will are a lot to take in.

He loves to clap just like Will did at the same age.  Even at weird times...like in the morning when I nurse him we will switch sides, and in the transition he will sit up and clap.  It's hilarious.  His favorite, though, is peek-boo.  He can't get enough of it, and it is the most fun game he's ever played by the look of sheer joy on his face.  When I buckle him in the carseat he will pull down the shade (you have to say, "Where's Johnny??")and he will start to giggle and then pull it up and just laugh.  And then when I have him all wrapped up in his hooded towel after he gets out of the bath he will pull the towel over his face and giggle.  He's always up for some peek-a-boo.  He busts it out at mealtimes too in the high chair.  He'll put both hands on top of his head, and if you copy what he's doing he thinks it's hysterical.  So, at least three times a day, I'm cleaning food out of his hair now.

Dressing him or changing his diaper is a time intensive wrestling match.  He rolls over immediately and tries to escape.  While giggling.  I can distract him for a few seconds with a toy or whatever else is within my reach like a lotion bottle or diaper cream tube.  And then he rolls over.  Since he was born he's watched Will race cars on the couch, and now Johnny is joining in the fun as well.  He will grab a car and put it on the couch, pull up, and roll it back and forth making raspberry sounds for his realistic car sound effects.  He does interrupt Will's races now, and he is none to happy about that.  J has ended up tumbling to the floor more than once due to Will shoving him.  Poor #3.
This boy is a delight.  I am soaking up all his sweet babyness while I can.  He's becoming more and more like a toddler everyday.