Prayer request

If you really need to know if miracles happen take a look at MckMama's blog (mycharmingkids.net).

Her sweet boy MckMuffin (Stellan) is in need of prayers.

Let's see another miracle happen for this tiny boy...

Take a look...

further down. Before the Christmas Elves post...I finally got the post of past Christmas pictures. Check it out! My how they have grown!!

Christmas Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas' Past and Present

What a trip down memory lane this has been! I have been slowly working on getting back up disks loaded to my computer. This is not only to get all of the pictures to one location, but also to weed out the many duplicate files. I have laughed out loud at some, called Steve in so he could see, shared with the kiddos how "tiny" they were. My sweet babies!

2008



2007


2006


2005



2004



2003


2002


2001

Christmas a Little Early...

We had our first Christmas get-together. The Saturday before Christmas is usually a time for the Jones family to come together. And by "Jones family" I mean the whole Jones family. There are about 80. By this stage having someone host is difficult, but the community building at the park works well. Just like Thanksgiving, everyone brings a dish (or two). I think there were 4 eight foot long tables of food!

I am reminded just how much my kiddos have grown when I see them running around like "the big kids." Forever my babies, but not babies anymore! (I think there might have to be another post about this in the works!)

After dinner, the kids are all sat down so that presents can be passed out. They are so cute all wiggly waiting for their gift. I think Jess and Brandon were happy with their gift.
Brandon received a Hot Wheels Dynamite Blaster. It has 6 spots to shoot the cars down the track all at the push of a button.


Jess received Hannan Montana barbie. She sings!


Ray already knows the ropes! Packaging is as much fun as the gift inside.


Jess and Dillon checking out Brandon's gift.


This year's babies. Ray 9mos and Abram 6mos


Skylar sharing her new doll with Ray.


Part of the cleanup crew.


Thank you Grandma for our gifts as well.

And Aunt Rachel, you do so much to pull it together.

Snug In Her Bed

We have made it a long standing habit to look in on the kiddos as we go to bed ourselves. This is what we found Tuesday evening...

How cute is she?

I've Been Tagged...

I've not been tagged on the blog. Thanks to Shannon, here it goes...

8 Favorite TV Shows:

1. CSI (just the original one)
2. Biggest Loser
3. Today Show
4. Mentalist
5. Football
6. Backyardigans
7. Scooby Doo
8. I'm sure you can just insert some other cartoon here.

8 Things To Look Forward To:

1. Another day that Brandon cracks me up
2. Jess to have a good day at school
3. Getting together for Christmas
4. Having all the presents wrapped
5. Not only having the laundry done, but put away too!!
6. Sunny days- even if it's cold, let the sun shine!
7. When Steve gets home
8. Taking the kids to see Santa

8 Things I did yesterday:

1. Got Jess up for school
2. Packed her lunch
3. Took a shower
4. 1 load of laundry
5. Loaded the dishwasher
6. Made iced tea (again)
7. Cooked dinner
8. Visited with Tina

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Olive Garden
2. Texas Roadhouse
3. O'Charley's
4. Chick fil-a
5. Subway
6. Smokey Bones
7. Culver's
8. any buffet- the kids love to pick out their own food

Now I am supposed to "tag" others, but I don't know who to chose! Give me a shout if you decide to participate!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Obviously, it has been cold. I just as soon stay inside with a cup of hot chocolate. Brandon on the other hand has been dying to go play in the snow from the very first flake. Even trying to tell him that he would freeze, he countered with "I can put my boots on and those things in the closet that cover me all over to stay warm."

How could I tell him no? He had a valid point. We do have coveralls in the closet for just that reason- keep him warm out in the cold, snowy weather. He had SO much fun! Such free spirit, just running around the yard and laughing. I almost felt bad that we didn't get his warm clothes out any previous day. What a bad mom! Even had a "Charlie Brown" moment when he was running and his foot slipped. He landed flat on his back! This turned into a "snow angel moment."



Jess got in on the fun as well. She was throwing scoops of snow in the air so that it could snow on her. And running with/from Brandon.


Duchess had quite the time trying to get her heap of basketball picked up as it was frozen to the deck. It was rather funny!


A round of hot chocolate was in order to warm up kiddos with pinked cheeks.

Cards and Snowmen

So, I've had this snowman making kit for a while now. It has foam pieces in it to "build" snowmen. Complete with carrot noses and coal eyes. Along with the thought to finally get this out for the kids, came the idea to put them in Christmas cards. I had what I thought was a super great idea... Not just any Christmas card, but to send them to wounded soldiers.

This was a win/win project. Once I explained what we were going to do with their snowmen, they were so excited to send them to the Army guys in the hospital.




So if you have an extra card or two (or even a lot!) why not send it here:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

Here is peek at a few of their snowmen...

Polar Express

Spur of the moment on Friday evening, we decided to go to the movies with the kids. And not just any ol' movie! We grabbed some dinner and were on our way downtown to the IMAX to see Polar Express. Never mind that the kids just watched it a few days before on TV; this was 3D!! They LOVED it! They kept trying to catch the snowflakes and touch everything that popped out. We even thought ahead!- "we will drive around Monument Circle afterwards so the kids can see the monument all lit up!"
We forgot!
But I guess it was ok (that we forgot) because it was late; it was cold; and most importantly, we didn't bring the camera either!

A Few of the Favorites

I gave to Steve our first Christmas together.


Jessica's 1st- 2001


New Parents- 2001


Pregnant with Brandon- 2003, Brandon's 1st (Carousel horse), Santa with Baby from Great Grandma 2004


10th Anniversary- 2008


Handpainted I couldn't pick just one! 1996-2000 Although, if I HAD to pick one, it would probably be the one (for 2000) with the baby on it. I was pregnant with Jess, but had not yet found out that we were having a girl.


It plays music!


A little sample of what we have on our tree. It looks lots different from our first Christmas tree! But lots of memories with each new ornament.

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas

On Saturday we started decorating. Daddy had gotten home too late on Friday and we didn't want him to miss out on any of the fun. We had to stop midway of putting up the big tree downstairs. There were a few lighting issues. This meant a trip to the store for more lights. And then lunch and then a couple more stores just for fun. And more than a few "can we go home now?" Once we finally had the lights on, the kids were excited about putting their ornaments on. Brandon put the angel on this year. We think that Jess did last year, and she was ok with Brandon doing it.

And then we have the little tree downstairs... This is the second year for this little one. (actually last year's picture)


We're just getting started...

Thanksgiving

Hoping that Thanksgiving was a good one for you.

In keeping with tradition, Thanksgiving was at Aunt Linda's house. Linda and Rory did lots of good and yummy work in the kitchen! Even a double batch of cranberry salad! Is it a bad thing to be thankful for the big dish that was sent home with me? Again, Jess was a champion eater. Even going back for seconds of a few things. (Keeping in mind that as a tiny girl, she was very picky!) And Brandon, well we pretty much had a repeat performance on his part. It sounds terrible to say, but I packed him a sandwich. All the good food and he ate a sandwich... He is becoming more and more difficult to feed. He is SO picky now!! But he did realize the goodness of cranberry salad! I might even be willing to share!

It didn't take long to find the toy stash...


Jess playing peek-a-boo with Baby Ray.


Baby Ray's first Thanksgiving.


Daddy is working today. He had to get up at an unreasonable hour. But traveling quite far for today's job. Unfortunately, we are not sure what time to expect him home. Hopefully, if it is not too late in the day, we may get a start on decorating. The kiddos have been asking when we will put the trees up. I have not yet bought ornaments for the kids this year! We pick out an ornament for them each year and also a group for the family (like the jiggle bells that look like snowmen and have our names on them) For the ones that are not dated, I will add it. The kids like pulling the ornaments out and putting their own on the tree. We also buy ornaments from vacations that we have taken. Usually more than one, but it is so hard to sum up a trip in just one ornament! I think my favorite part is decorating the tree... I love the memories that come with each ornament. Maybe I will have to take pictures of some of my favorites to share... hmmm...

Oh, and I guess that you can check back later for Turkey day pictures. I have not yet uploaded pictures.

oh yeah, the blog...

Bad blogger, I know. We have just been going along. Brandon is all better. It seems like ages ago now. But he is better. Jess had a follow up with her urologist. She was happy.
I do have a cute story while at the hospital. While waiting for the doctor to come in to talk about the xray, Brandon had to go to the bathroom. Leaving Jess, we go around the corner. The bathroom was a very popular place. Someone was in there, we were waiting, another mom with little girl also comes over. I see that the doctor has come around the corner heading towards our room. The doctor and her nurse both see me waiting down the hall and stop there. They are both now waiting for me to come to them. What do I do with this 4 year old that has to go to the potty? I tell him that he will just have to go in by himself when the lady comes out. I will be right over there. Hoping that the other mom waiting with the little girl is understanding. So while the doctor is talking to me about the x-ray, I keep looking back to make sure that Brandon does indeed go into the bathroom. What I see instead is everyone looking down towards me because it was "his turn" but was refusing to go. I call down to him that "it's okay buddy, it's your turn. Go ahead." So he in turn yells back down the hall, "I'm letting the little girl go first!"
What a nice boy!
Jess in turn got the whole day off school. I was hoping that I could get her back for the second half of the day. It just didn't work that way. By the time that we got back to our side of town and lunch, it just seemed silly to take her to school. Three day weekend for her.

Saturday was Thanksgiving with the Jones family. By this I mean the WHOLE Jones family. All the aunts and uncles, cousins, and cousin's children. Everyone brings a dish (or two). It was all so good! Jess ate like a champ! Brandon had crackers, roll, and fruit salad. On the way home he asks if he can have "a litte something to eat."

All is going well in the Jones house. The kids are wanting to get the Christmas trees up. We will probably work on that this weekend. Or maybe Friday. I don't see much shopping going on for us! Way to crazy! Although we did take the kids out, armed with pen and paper, to get some sort of wish list going. That was interesting...

November 17

Happy Birthday Grandma Anne!

Much better!

Thank goodness! This boy is on the mend! Yesterday was a good day. Although Brandon woke up earlier than I thought he would, he acted much more like his old self. Ate better for each meal. I tried to explain to the kiddos that they needed to play separately. "Brandon stay away from Jess. Jess leave Brandon alone; you don't need to get his sicky germs" I can honestly say that is probably some of the best playing together they have done! No bickering, no fighting. Maybe I should tell them that they cannot play together more often!- They play nicer together that way. Go figure!
About an hour before their regular bedtime, I wanted them to spend a few minutes cleaning up. The plan was to have them ready for bed when daddy called. (Daddy has been out of town for a few days)Then after talking to daddy crawl into bed. BUT that was not the way of it. Melt down on Brandon's part just at the cleaning part. Major melt down at getting jammies on. So I got the medicine doser and we went on up stairs. Jess was so nice trying to calm him down and read him a story while I FINALLY got him to change his clothes. He was in bed at 8:00 and asleep when I looked in on him 5 minutes later.
He slept until 8:45 this morning.
Brandon is getting more to his "old self" more each day.

It's Official-

He is sick. It is not just an "I don't feel good" or low grade fever kind of sick. He has strep. Poor kid has barely eaten anything. Seeing his hand shake while trying to eat a bit of oatmeal last night just broke my heart! And the fact that he didn't even keep down the water he wanted in the middle of the night was just the final straw to get him to the doctor.
I was able to get an appointment right away; and was late for because he was actually still in bed when I called. Dr. H swabbed his throat (which he did not like) and the test came back as a positive very quickly. It could not have been the five minutes that she it would take.
Brandon has actually been doing very well this afternoon/evening. He did actually eat something more than crackers! YAY!! And has been playing today! Not just a heap in the chair buried under a blanket. Now lets just hope that one round of antibiotics will do the trick! (he can be sorta stubborn sometimes, hope it doesn't include fighting infection also)

And on a happier note, Jess is doing just fine. We can all collectively cross our fingers to keep it that way!

Brandon is Sick

Well, that pretty much sums it up... The boy is not well. He woke up with a low grade fever Saturday morning, but seemed pretty much like himself after breakfast. We went ahead with our plans to go to my mom's house. I did not plan to spend the night, just make a day of it. Good thing too. We arrived at lunchtime. He did not eat. That is a tell-tale sign that something is wrong. His fever came back, but I did think to take ibuprofen with me. He took a nice long nap; again, something he never does and woke up in time to eat an oatmeal bar before we left to come home. And slept pretty much the whole way home and straight up to bed.
Brandon seems to be feeling a tiny bit better today. He did eat a few animal crackers for breakfast and a very small bowl of cereal for lunch. He even got down on the floor to "play." That didn't last too long, but at least he still moves around! On a good note, he does keep asking for something to drink so I know that he is not dehydrated. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

Overnight Guest

We had an overnight guest on Saturday. Baby Ray not only trick or treated with us on Friday, but came back to spend the night. Boy, oh boy- Jess and Brandon were super excited! Ray came over after dinner and had a little bit of "play" time. (I use that term loosely as he could hardly crawl anywhere because the big kids just wanted to love on him.) After a quick bath I was able to get some pretty cute pictures while Jess and Brandon helped daddy with strawberry milkshakes. The look on his face when the blender started cracked me up! But the sweetest was when Ray had fallen asleep after his night time bottle and Brandon wanted to kiss him goodnight. SO CUTE!! He wakes up such a happy boy. His momma was here much too early to pick him up Sunday morning, but I guess she missed him...
But just so ya know...he is a welcomed house guest anytime!

Trick or Treat

The kiddos had a blast going trick or treating! The hardest part was just to get them ready. They were so wired that they were pretty much going in circles. Adding to all the excitement is that Grandma and Grandpa come over to our house. They are nice enough to come over so that daddy and I both get to take the kiddos. Not to mention that they don't get too many trick or treators in their neighborhood. AND to add more for our already excited kiddos is that Baby Ray had his first Halloween and spent it with us. Once out the door, Jess was all business- "come on Brandon- this way!" Of course we always have to start at our neighbor right behind us. They are such a nice family. They have a special Halloween treat for our kiddos-one pound chocolate bar EACH! At the end of the evening Jess and Brandon "trick or treat" our own house.