disney (Instagrammed)

I have tons and tons more photos, but haven't had a chance to sort through them all (and heart G's face on them) yet, so for now, here are the Instagram photos I posted throughout our trip. Sorry for my lack of blogging. It's just that by the time we get the boys in bed and our chores done at night, it's usually after 10:00 and I just don't have the energy to do it. I want to get better about though, if for no other reason than to have a way to "scrapbook" our family adventures.  And I miss you all! Feel free to follow me on Twitter or Instagram in the interim. I'm "momtobabyjonut" on both. :)

Matt's parents, Aunt Melanie, sister and her family, and we went for Matt's sister's 40th birthday. Best. Birthday. Party. Ever. :) We did day one at Magic Kingdom, day two at Hollywood Studios, day three split between Animal Kingdom and Epcot, and day four back at Magic Kingdom. I am certain that Magic Kingdom was Jonah's favorite (because of the train alone, that we road at least four times), but Matt and I both loved Hollywood Studios the most.

jonah dancing at Disney

We just got back from a week at Disney World. I haven't had time yet to load and edit photos, but here are a couple of videos of Jonah breaking it down while we were there.

Chubby Checker was giving a concert at Epcot while we were there. As you can tell, Jonah enjoyed it.



And this one is from our last night at Magic Kingdom. We randomly came across a dance party. Jonah was so inundated in his moves, he didn't even notice when Goofy came up behind him and started dancing! You'll also get to see Cousin Will's signature move in this one. :) (Excuse the crazy camera work... I literally had to take Jonah's head and turn him around before he noticed Goofy.)



We had an amazing (and EXHAUSTING) vacation. More to come soon! (You know, as soon as I catch up on sleep and finish unpacking.)

girls' trip 2012

Last Thursday, my friend Lindsey and I flew to Texas to have a Jesus/Quiet/Girls' Weekend with our friend Jen. You know, the One Who Moved To Texas.

Lindsey and I made enemies of two crochety ladies on the plane who were mad at us for TALKING ON A MIDDAY FLIGHT (long story), Jonah really struggled the first two days with me being gone, Matt and Jonah got sick, Jonah threw up all his meals for two days, and every time we talked, he was crying. BUT after that, things got much better.

(Also, in the above photo, Jonah was upset with me because I didn't get the nose of the plane in the shot. I am a horrible mother.)

We stayed in an amazing lake house in Granbury, Texas and had a great time. It was the perfect combination of sleeping in, hanging around the house, devotionals, personal quiet time, and getting to go out and do things.

(I don't love this photo of me. The sun was completely in my eyes, but anyway, you get the idea. There was water.)

On Thursday, we went by Jen's house and got to hang out with her sweet boys for a bit.

They are cute. :) Then we went to get something to eat, had pedicures and headed out to the lake.

On Friday, after some quiet time, we headed into downtown Granbury. There are a lot of cute shops, and we ate at a restaurant called Babe's. Oh. My. Word. There are six or seven meats on the menu, and then the sides are shared among the table, things like creamed corn, mashed potatoes, green beans etc, and refillable. We ate a ton, and it was glorious. After dinner, we went to the Granbury Theatre and saw a play called "I Do! I Do!" There were maybe 30 people in there and we were the youngest by far, but it was super fun and a really sweet play.

On Saturday, we got to go to the Delgado's house and spend some time with Anton and the other Delgado cuties.

I have some amazingly adorable pictures of Anton on my real camera (these are all phone photos), so I'll have more of his cuteness later. It was such a sweet time. I love that kid like he's my own. What a story. God is so good.

After that, Vanessa got to come with us (HOORAY!), and we headed over to the Fort Worth Stock Yards. We missed the cattle drive and the rodeo was sold out, but we got to do some shopping for our Littles and had another good meal. It was quite the culture shock, but so so fun.

I have felt so refreshed since I've been back. It was so good to have some sweet time with Jesus and my girls. And so much unexpected time with Vanessa was just super-great icing on the cake. I DON'T EVEN THINK I GOT ONE PHOTO OF US.

I'm so thankful to Matt and his parents for holding down the fort here so I could go. I know it wasn't easy, especially with Matt and Jonah being sick, but I think Matt would say it was worth it. I do feel like a new woman... hopefully a better wife and mommy. I love my family so much, but time away for refreshment every once in a while does the body, mind, and soul a lot of good. And it was so great to really get to miss my kids and to REALLY miss Matt... not in a "When is your father going to be home???" sort of way, but in a "Hey, I really miss my best friend" sort of way. He's a keeper. :)

on a jetplane (on our way to NY)

Alright, I'm obviously going to have to break these vacation pictures up, because I have a ton and not enough time to write a post long enough to include them all. 

Jonah was amazing the entire time, but I could not believe how wonderfully he did at the airport and on the plane. He was so excited, and loved watching the planes and tanker trucks out the window. 

I was really cold in the airport. I obviously have no clue how to dress for an airport, airplane or a week in 55 degree high New York. Anyway, I was cold so Matt's mom pointed out $5 long sleeve shirts for sale at the little news shop.

Matt was mad because I bought a shirt that had the phrase "Tar Heel" on it. I told him he was giving UNC too much credit if he let them "own" that phrase. We are the Tar Heel state, whether he likes the sound of it or not. And it was cold. And it cost five bucks.

I was so worried that Jonah would be so anxious getting on the plane and/or while it was taking off that he would throw up. So I told the lady at the desk that we needed to get on first and she let us. He did cry and I was worried, but we made it to the back of the plane and got settled before anyone else got on. HE WAS AMAZING. He cried some, but it was intermittent, and he did great during take-off. I asked him if he wanted to pray for God's help, so as we were taxiing down the runway and lifting off, he was repeating my prayer that God would be with us. It was such a sweet moment.  He LOVED the flight and being up in the sky.

We played with toys and he was content the entire time.

We were sitting on the very back row of the plane, so we were last off, and Jonah got to look in the cockpit. The pilot offered to let him steer, but Jonah wouldn't go up there.

It was a REALLY great experience, and if it weren't for Matt's sister having to buy $200 worth of stuff ahead of time for us, us having to ship a huge box of stuff from here ahead of time, getting our bandages shipped directly to NY, and still checking a huge suitcase for Jonah, a smaller suitcase for Jonah, a cooler with his g-tube feeds, and his massage table for dressing change, I would fly any time we traveled. It was definitely a production, but so easy once we got to Kim's house.

To be continued...

family photos

Our Family Photos from the beach. Thank you so much, Katherine. I am completely in love with these pictures. To be treasured forever and ever. Amen. Did I mention I love them?