"Love you, goodnight.."

When Jon comes for a visit he brings this well worn jean bag along, which holds his meds. When he lived in a home with three other men this little pocket had his picture in it so everyone would know whose bag it was. Since he lives alone now (with 24 hour staffing that is) the photo has been switched to Mom and Dad. Every night when Jon goes to bed, he places this bag with our photo 'just so' on the pillow. He then snuggles up close to it..as if to say "I love you, goodnight Mom and Dad". (at least that's what I'm guessing he is thinking:)

Jon's Scanner Headboard

This is Jon's headboard, staff did a great job!! Can you guess what the scanning code is?

Organizing Jon's Closet

Organized Jon's closet tonight and packed up clothes and stuff he didn't need!

Now this looks neat!  And look at all those empty shelves..wonder what they will get filled with?? The orange bag is full of stuff I cleared out of his closet. Every once in awhile Jon came to see what I was doing..hope I didn't take any of his favorite things!

Curious Jon

 Jon is very curious, he couldn't resist trying to see what could be behind the wall in the storage room. Onto the chair and then the bin..a little support, a little stretch and he managed to peer over the edge.

"Oops..Mom found me! And how did Dad get here so fast with the camera?"

Jon's New Kitchen Cupboards..

Jon has new cupboards in his kitchen! Oh how he loved watching the old cupboards being ripped out, he was right there in everyone's space making sure not to miss a thing!
More changes happening in his house..he will be so pumped!!

We couldn't figure out what Jon was doing on the roof of the truck..we watched him for a bit before calling him down. It appears he wanted to get at the light bulb..he loves to turn out bulbs whenever he is able to..he is very quick at it too. He is the first one to notice when a bulb is missing.
Other than that we had a pretty normal type of evening. Oh there was one other thing..cake throwing..he was very quick with that too. One quick handful and there was cake spread out on the floor!

Jon Loves Trucks!

Even as a little boy Jon loved riding in the truck box, I think he liked the feel of the wind whipping by on his face. And of course a truck box usually carries interesting things. When someone arrives on his yard Jon quickly makes his way over to check out the truck box. And if he finds anything to his liking he will most likely try to claim it as his own.
Here he is checking out Dad's truck and found a tarp strap. I think he is trying to negotiate with Dad.
Note: It took till photo #7 before he would look at me:) Dad is out of the picture so I think a deal was struck..Jon wins again:)

Mennonite Boy

I thought Jon's kitchen should have an apron and who better to model it than Jon himself! He was quite willing to pose for this photo. This is most likely the only time he will ever wear it:) Maybe staff will be happy to wear it while cooking Jon's meals.

Jon did allow a few more photo shoots so may as well share them too.

Our local museum is selling 'Mennonite Girls Can Cook' cookbooks and  they are now sewing and selling aprons as well.

The Fair

Jon loves going to Fairs and it's mainly for the rides. He likes the crazy rides best and I don't think he has ever indicated that any ride scared him. It's a matter of which rides the staff will be brave enough to try:)
He also likes to try his hand at some of the games for a chance to win something. And if he doesn't win he will try to sneak a prize to walk away with!
He's off to the Red River Ex this week..he will be smiling!

Siblings??

Can you tell these two covering their ears are siblings? Methinks one of them is being a little silly:)

Balloons

One might ask, what is it about balloons? Why are they so appealing to Jon? Why, after 36 years, are they still timeless to him?

And I think, I know the answer. 

Balloons are romantic. They are mysterious. They infer adventure, childlike enthusiasm, and wanderlust.

From the Beatles, to kids and clowns...

They are the great love of Jon's mind..

His love affair with balloons began long ago, way back when...

"Nobody can be uncheered by a balloon." - Winnie the Poo

The Farm

We have taken Jon to the farm a few times. The first time he was interested only in the barn fan. Next time he did look around at the animals. We will continue to take him until he is familiar with the surroundings and be able to enjoy his visits.

This farm has horses, cows, sheep, lambs and a cat. The lambs were born this month, in fact the little white one was born just a few moments before we arrived. The cutest little thing..Kaila named him Peter.

Eating Outdoors

Jon loves to eat outdoors! He doesn't mind even when it's windy or cool, in fact he is usually eating outside even before the snow has melted! He is a bit of a messy eater so we don't mind when he heads out!

Oh yes and then there is always the shirt protector..sometimes I think there is almost as much food on there as what has gone into his mouth.

Things that amuse Jon..

 Jon heads to the washer..I think the swishing sound alerted his attention.

 He loves to watch the clothes washing. He knows to shade his eyes because of the reflection.

Walks away satisfied that the washer is doing its job.

New Marble Maze

Jon received a generous gift of money this Christmas from friends of ours. They said he could spend it on whatever he would like. Jon's first choice was to update his supply of marble mazes. His old ones were fixed again and again and it truly was a labour of love as his Dad repaired those splintered marble mazes.  After numerous throws they just can't be fixed anymore, if only Jon could understand this. So Jon 'went shopping' and ordered two new marble mazes. A kind gentleman agreed to build them when John approached him with a broken marble maze in hand. In fact he built a few extra and we purchased them all. Jon has only 1 for now, the rest are hidden away until needed. You should have seen the joy on his face when he saw his new marble maze..his hands fluttered wildly, he looked at me with a wide grin and made grunting sounds of joy! The rest of the evening was spent rolling those marbles over and over again. He was so fun to watch!

Jon's Rocking Chair

Jon's rocking chair is very important to him. This is where he likes to sit and listen to his music or watch his movies. Rocking is soothing to his soul and a place of refuge for him. And because he rocks a lot those chairs really do wear out. His Dad has fixed them so many times replacing springs over and over again.

Can you see Jon's intent look, he loves to watch when the tools come out. And see the little plastic hammer with the red handle? Wonder what he was thinking he could do with that?? Oh and that plastic bin on his lap..one of his favorite things to carry around. Likes putting items into it and is happy when he can swipe a wet dishcloth. Then smiling will hurry off to his room.