Terrific TWO!!

Jones turned two back in June, but I didn't get around to taking some two year pictures until August.  Poor, neglected third child.  As it is, he is so crazy-active and speedy, that only a few pics turned out.  

So here's a little bit of what Jonah Cody Halpin is like at 2 years old:

Every day he asks to wear his "boo(ts)".  I can't say no to his sweet fashion request.  

He runs and jumps and twists and turns and hops and races and kicks and spins all day long.  Jones is by far my most active and most physically advanced little guy.  He can handle a soccer ball with speed and agility, easily dribbling down the field and scoring.  "G----O----A----L!!!!" he rejoices every time.  Dunk the basketball?  No problem.  Hit a grand slam with his tiny baseball bat?  He does this as easily as he can volley a tennis ball.  Sports World, here we come!

You see that precious face??  He just radiates JOY all the time.  He is energetic and happy and almost sparkles...unless you tell the sweet baby "no." :)  He squeals with delight over the chance to climb in the bathtub.  He cheers for me when I serve him lunch.  "YAY, Mama!  Yay, Mama!!  YAY, MAMA!!!" Jones gets such pure enjoyment out of everyday life, and you can't help enjoying life too when you hang with him.  He makes my day.

Jonah is full of curiosity and energy and huggy-squeezy love.  He has a long attention span for a little Guy, spending a lot of our school day at the desk with us doodling little pictures with markers.  He loves to sing and be sung to, his favorites being "You Are My Sunshine," "The Lord Bless You and Keep You," and "Jesus Loves Me."  He hums himself to sleep, one chubby arm flung over his dolly, Julie.  He is beloved by our whole soccer team, but none love him better than his Brothers.  He can't wait to be big, and gets super irritated when he is obviously treated like someone younger than the Biggies.  He sings the "Poo Poo on the Potty Song" all day long (with great dance moves!) but he does not like to actually poo poo on the potty.

My Baby is growing up far too fast, but oh how I love this age!  I wish I could freeze him like this forever.  I am thankful to God every single day for blessing our family with wonderful Jones.  He is such an indescribable gift.

It Might as Well be the Plague

So we've been sick for most of forever.  Seriously folks.  It started out with Noah running a low grade fever and O breaking out in a mysterious, rapidly spreading rash.  This all started  back on July 16th. After becoming frequent fliers at Dr. Daniel's office over the next 3 weeks, he finally narrowed it down to Epstein-Barr (basically mono) or adenovirus.  Wonderful.  He also had some other pieces of thrilling news:  It would probably be at least 8 weeks until we were well again.  And we were extremely contagious during the whole virus.  So, we have been quarantined in our home since July.  Owen, Jonah and I are still running temperatures.  Noah's virus seems to have settled in his stomach, causing him lots of pain.  Thankfully, Jeremy has remained unaffected completely.

It sounds worse than it is, really.  We don't feel fabulous, but we don't feel awful either.  We can still get dressed and cook dinner and take care of ourselves.  We just feel puny and tired and can't go out anywhere.  

So how do we keep ourselves busy?  Take a peek!

 We take warm, yummy showers that are so long, floaties are required.

We practice our photography skills.  I have about 100 pictures of random corners of our house.

 We take wild rides on our pony in the buff.  Yee haw!!

 We go ahead and start school 3 weeks early...because what else is there to do?  We will appreciate being ahead once the weather cools off.  And if we can't be healthy, at least we can be smart!

We smile super big, even when we're on the way to the doctor for the fifth time.  And when we have full knowledge that a blood draw is in our imminent future.

 We practice our keen Jedi skills...all day long.

We get to make our own wardrobe selections every day, because Mommy doesn't care what we wear when we don't ever leave the house. 

We solve crazy hard puzzles and take pictures to ensure there is documentation that said puzzle is actually solvable.

We take long, very uncomfortable looking naps with our favorite giraffe. 

We take long walks in the rain. 

Sometimes, Grampsie (my Dad) braves the germs to spend a little outside time with his grandsons.  We figure the heat incinerates the germs.

We bake way too many goodies oozing with yumminess, because sugar is how Mommy makes it through the day sometimes.

So, if you've noticed that we have been AWOL, that is where we have been.  Riding out this bug in the comfort of our home, keeping the germs away from you.  Hopefully not everyone has forgotten us yet!

I Hope it's a Phase!

I had to document Noah's current fashion trend:

The Monochromatic Look

Every morning, he digs out black or navy shorts and a dark-colored shirt.  He then struggles to turn the shirt inside out.  No design may be showing.  Navy Crocs complete the monochromatic ensemble.  His reasoning behind his color scheme of choice?  "I like being a JEDI...and a NINJA!!"  Evidently, jedis and ninjas only wear solid, dark colors?  Thankfully, we have been too sick to go out very often, so only his brothers, Dad and I get to appreciate this fashion trend.

Crazy Noah.

Love him.