Jonathan Five and Beyond

At Christmas that year, Jon was in two Christmas programs...one for his day care and one for his preschool.  Even though he was only in day care one morning a week, he knew exactly what he doing and probably did a better job than any of the other kids there.  Of course, it may have helped that his day care teacher was his auntie.

He played Joseph for the day care program:

 and a shepherd for the preschool program:

After the performance the mother of the little boy next to him (in the red shirt) came up to me and said "I just wanted you to know that my mother spent the whole time watching your son!  She thought he was so cute...she didn't even watch her own grandson."  

That was my Jon!


We spent Easter in Florida that year with my mom and dad.  Our flight from Milwaukee to Atlanta was quite interesting.  We flew through strong storms/tornadoes as we were landing.  I was trying desperately to keep Jon distracted by reading to him but I don't think it worked.  He didn't say a word while we were in the air but once we landed he shouted out "I'm never flying again!" Um...he did though as a couple hours later we boarded another flight to Orlando.

At the end of the year, Jon "graduated from preschool.

He had some great teachers that year as well.

The lady in the denim dress ended up being his kindergarten teacher the next year. I wish that I could have been but I was pregnant with Zack and it wouldn't have worked out.


That summer Jon played soccer again.  He even scored a handful of goals that year.

He also played t-ball again and at the end of the year was awarded the Most Improved Player of the year.  Not just for his team but for ALL t-ball teams in Oshkosh that year...quite an honor.

First day of Kindergarten:

In the fall, Jon played flag football.  Seriously, the boy loved his sports!

Even though I worried about his size, he held his own!


Turning Six:

Here is Jon at his Kindergarten Christmas program.  And no, he is not among the older kids...these were his Kindergarten classmates.  He was just really that short!!!

In January he became a big brother.  He was a great big brother.

Life at this point was a whirlwind.  After visiting Florida at Easter again, we decided to explore moving to Florida.  Chris went through interviews at the end of April and beginning of May and we were moving at the end of May.  It was literally that quick!
Jon's Kindergarten graduation.

Our new house on Casper Drive in Palm Coast, Florida.

The boy's new bedroom:

First day of 1st grade at Old Kings Elementary School:

Soccer in Florida runs from September through December and Jon wanted to play.  He scored quite a few goals that year too.

My sister took these two pictures of Jon and i have always loved them.  He could be a model.

In August of 2000 the boys began tae kwon do at Karate for Kids.

They loved it but it was a huge time commitment so all other sports fell by the way.  They were both really good at it and ended up earning their black belts in November, 2002.  They were half way to their second degree black belts when we moved back to Wisconsin and had to stop because there wasn't a Karate for Kids anywhere around here.


And to finish with Jon...a picture of him smiling at the Magic Kingdom:

That didn't happen often.  Even though we had annual passes the entire time we lived there...he did not like it there.  In fact, some times we would just leave him with my parents so that we could enjoy ourselves without his moping!