My intent this weekend was to take some more recent pictures around the area to share with you. However, Jonah ended up spending the entire weekend sick with strep throat, so I didn't venture far from home at all. Poor kid. It's a 3 day weekend, too. Between Epic Blizzards, both boys having strep throat, and Jonah hurting his knee, it's been an eventful first few weeks back in Keokuk!

Since I wasn't able to go out and about and take new pics, I decided to share some older pictures of Jonah with you. The one above is one of my all time favorites. He fell asleep in his carseat, with the straw from his juice box still in his mouth, and his hands behind his head. How he can look so relaxed and comfy in that car seat is beyone me, but he had a great nap!




The above picture is pretty obvious. He was playing the water/mud. Why in the world I let him in the house like that is not so obvious! I don't remember at all why I did that. I it was nice and sunny and warm out and usually I would have striped him down and brought him in naked and straight to the tub. Oh well, it was long ago and we, and the floors, survived! : ) Besides, makes for a great picture.




Notice the bits of chocolate smeared around his mouth? How could anyone resist that smiling face and NOT give him some chocolate??!!!! Both boys loved to dress up, mainly in old Halloween costumes, when they were little. Jonah is probably the only child I know who actually wore out his Halloween costumes. He would wear them everywhere! The older kids used to get embarassed when I would let him wear them out in public at all times of the year. The girls would try to cover him up with coats and such in stores. I thought it was awesome! When there weren't costumes readily available, he would find things like the above sunglasses and pretend that way. I can honestly say that my kids have fabulous imaginations! (The boys even had a crawl space, with a light, off of their bedroom once. They called it the "Bat Cave" and spent hours and hours playing superhero in there!)


Jonah is sleeping in this morning. He's had a rough weekend, illness wise. Jordan has been gone since Friday, so not only has he not felt well, he's been lonely and bored, too! Hopefully he'll feel good enough when he does get up that we can join Mom, Candice, and Eric for a trip to The Ivy Bake Shop in Fort Madison for lunch. They we will be off to get Jordan and bring him home. No school today, due to President's Day. I'll try to remember to take my camera along today and hopefully get some new shots!

It's rainy here today, but it's NOT snowing!!! No ice, either. It's awesome. The snow from the Epic Blizzard is all but gone. The rivers are rising. Flood warnings are out. The ice is breaking up on the Mississippi. I've had a few days where I was able to open some windows. I haven't worn a winter coat in days and days. I have yet to see a Robin this year, but I'm pretty sure that even without that sighting, Spring can't be far away.

And Spring along the Mississippi in Keokuk is a whole different world than Spring in the flatlands. There isn't the burst of color in the flatlands. The ground, for as far as you can see, is plowed fields. They are brown, until the crops start to grown and turn green. Here, I can stand on a bluff and see the brown/green/blue/white/black of the river, bordered by the hills of trees in varying shades of green, flowers and flocks of birds. When the sun rises and the sun sets, those brilliant colors reflect on that river and shine across the hills. When the moon is shining and the waters are calm, the diamond sparkle of the combination of the water and the moon beams is almost magical. There are crops here, too. Plenty of brown dirt. But, there is variety here. Something different and new to see around every bend in the road and at the rise of every hill. I'm looking forward to exploring all over again.