Keeping Up With The Jones Family

Back to School

2011-08-23T08:53:00.000-04:00

I know that I am ridiculously behind.

This happened last week.

I don't know how, but it did...

Splashpad Pics

2011-06-25T20:52:00.001-04:00

While Brandon had Cub Scout Day Camp, Jess joined her cousin at the new splashpad that opened at our local park. First off, Brandon enjoyed his week at camp! He was up early each morning so that I could take him to school to catch the bus to camp. The first day was a little rough. It rained and rained pretty much the whole day. He lost his lunch and extra water bottle. As in, they went to one shelter house and it was not the right one for their den. Apparently, his lunch could not be tracked down. But the other parents were kind enough to share their lunches to feed my boy. The rest of the week went much better! He even spent his own money to get a camp shirt.

Anyway, one of these "camp days" we went to the splashpad and asked Grandma and Ray to join us. I think they liked it. There sure were lots of smiles happening.

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Double digits now

2011-06-19T19:24:00.002-04:00

I cannot believe that we have celebrated Jessica turning 10. That she could possibly be that old is ridiculous!! Where did it all go? So many things that seem as though they just happened; finding out we were having a baby girl; the search for the perfect dress to bring her home in; her crazy arrival; first day of school; last day of 4th grade.And now she is 10! This list could go on and on (and on...)!!

My bright and beautiful girl.

Only she could make me crazy proud of her and just plain crazy at the same time.

Happy birthday sweet girl!

We love you!!

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My brother

2011-06-13T20:16:00.137-04:00

Last week, we traveled out of town. While that sounds great, it really wasn't. It started with a late night phone call on the Thursday before (6/2). The sort that when the phone rings at that time you just know it can't be a good thing. And it really wasn't. My brother was on the other end. The way he said my name, you just knew it would be bad. The deep breathes that followed so that he could deliver the news; the reason he called. Our oldest brother had passed away. I had answered the phone in the loft/playroom, so as I was walking back to my bed. I practically yelled into the phone, "WHAT!?!?" Or maybe I really did. I'm not exactly sure. At that point Steve is upright asking what's wrong. It is like slow motion at that point having my brother repeat those ugly words as I curl up on my bed. This time asking in a whisper what had happened.

At that point, details were sketchy. He had been in Florida on a mission trip with his church. His youngest son on the trip also. He was only 50. He had always been an athlete. A standout football player in his younger days. At forty-eight, he joined a semi-pro team for that season. He lifted weights and ran every morning. He coached his kids in T-ball and football. He went to college in his forties and went on to become a teacher for troubled youth. He was a Christian man. A son, brother, husband, friend. A man who lived his every day and spoke every word to represent Jesus. That one day he would be Home.

His service was beautiful. His oldest son spoke such beautiful words. Even a bit of humor. But one of the many things that seemed to stick out is that he thought he would be fifty when having to stand up there to talk about his dad. I was so proud of him. I always think want to think of him as the little boy of years gone by. But he is all grown up. A Marine. A husband. My youngest brother also spoke. Frankly, I was surprised that he would be speaking. Telling a tale or spinning some yarn is more his style. He is a storyteller for sure. He said such a lovely words. I just nodded in agreement with him. And also a laugh or two. But it wouldn't have been his words, his way, if you didn't.

Anyway. A screen printing shop in their town printed shirts in honor of my brother. The proceeds would go to the memorial fund set up in his name. On Friday, when my brother was buried, we wore our shirts.

It was pretty cool.

This is the back of the shirt.
The way he lived his life.

W. Dwayne Riley

November 1960- June 2011

Last Day of School

2011-06-11T21:54:00.001-04:00

Monday the 6th was the last day of school. Part of me says that it cannot be the end of school already!! The other part is so glad that summer is here! I am just ready to get to sleep in even a little. I need the beauty rest! :) It is also the end of all classes and activities. We really take the summer off.

In the afternoon, I went to school. They had the awards convo. Jess was recognized for attendance. She missed one day. Brandon was recognized for his having all A's. She was one letter grade from Honor Roll. At the end of the program, they announced each 4th grader's name so they could come down front and center. Their own little commencement ceremony. Then played a slide show of pictures from throughout the year. It was a pretty cool send off.

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Some Scouts in the House

2011-06-10T21:42:00.001-04:00

I had been wanting to get some pictures of the kids in their scouting attire for a while now. Jess doesn't uniform; just her vest. We just improvised a bit by having the tan shorts and white shirt. Stick to the basics. I was pleased with the shots we got. Funny how he wasn't really into doing a "photoshoot," but in the end, he did so well. I really like the ones with the dog. He loves her! And I with I had Jess take her hair out of the pony. It is hard to see how long and pretty it is.

(Also, I do need better lighting so that I don't have to use the flash. I don't like the shadow.)

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Fun in the Sun

2011-06-09T15:15:00.000-04:00

After recital rehearsal, the kids were able to come home and cut loose. Daddy brought out the slip-n-slide thing-y. Kids had lots of fun cooling off, then progressed to water balloon fights. Daddy caught all the action!

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Recital Time!

2011-06-07T14:38:00.000-04:00

The first weekend in June is recital time.

Saturday is rehearsal day and Sunday is the big production.

This weekend was no exception. The only difference to us, from previous years, is that we did not have the morning rehearsal. At first I thought, "Yippee!" But now having had an afternoon and morning rehearsals, I think I prefer the morning. And by default the earlier show. Our studio breaks up the recital into two shows so that it is not excessively long. Thank goodness!!

Here is my only complaint... professional pictures are on rehearsal day. It is a full dress rehearsal. I'm fine with that. It makes sense to me. BUT, I spent 45 minutes to curl the girl's hair. By the time I put make up on her and we went downstairs to get shoes on and leave, the curls were already drooping. The short drive to the HS, waiting our turn for pictures, and her hair was practically straight.

I would have put rollers in her hair the night before, but it was late when we got home from the ball game. Having her shower and do hair that late was not really an option. But we had a "take 2" for Sunday, the actual recital. It was a bit difficult to get some really good pictures of her during her performance. She seemed to be back just far enough to not have good lighting... for us. Or we had "good" light and she was on the other side of the stage. ...sigh...

Anyway, she did great! I'm always proud of her for getting up on stage to perform.

Stepping out of her element.

Brava! Brava!

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Baseball and Fireworks

2011-06-06T21:37:00.009-04:00

On the same Friday as Jessica's school party, we had tickets for the Indian's game. We had gotten the tickets through Brandon's cub scouts. Being that it was a Friday night, there would also be fireworks after the game. As a Scout special, we could have signed up to camp out on the field after the game. We didn't this time, but heard from another of our fellow den mates that it was lots of fun. A very, very late night (and early morning), but fun stuff.

Oh, and we won! Go Indians!

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Farewell Fourth Grade

2011-06-04T21:00:00.000-04:00

The last few days of school were pretty busy! They had field day, a farewell party for the fourth graders and an awards convo. I had volunteered to help set up for the Farewell Party. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was a pretty big deal to my fourth grader. I was showed up about an hour ahead of time. Pretty much me set up a few different stations for the kids. They had a craft area where the kids could make foam picture frames. There was a picture station. It had a beachy background with a wave (wake?) board and beach balls as props. Loads and loads of cookies, fruit and ice cream for refreshments. They also had a DJ. How fun does this sound??! The kids had lots of fun playing, eating and mingling.

The PTO even gave them all shirts that had class of 2019.

That's the part that got me.... 2019!!

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updates

2011-06-01T17:15:00.000-04:00

I am working on getting caught up. Really. Even this post is backdated...geesh!

his Mini-Birthday was moved to 5/24

our trip to see Grandma Anne is 5/23

and his party is 5/29

So after this, I should be able to get caught up in order. I hope.

Party Boy

2011-05-29T16:21:00.001-04:00

We had Brandon's birthday the following week due to Daddy being scheduled out of town. Surprise for us, he made it home! But oh well! We took advantage of the time to see Grandma Anne. So it was all good. For the birthday boy, we really didn't have a true theme. He had picked out a cake that had motorcycles racing. I figured that it would be really easy to go to the party place and find something with motorcycles. Not really. Instead we went with general race idea and checkered flag. The most of the usual family crew were here along with a family down the street. Their son is the same age as Brandon and rides the same bus. And have spent lots of time together playing. Our birthday boy received lots of cool stuff like pajama's (he's gotten so tall!), books, RC helicopter, nerf water gun, lego guys, and a gift certificate for mini golf. We bought him a new bike. He so badly needed one! Again, he has gotten so tall!

Opening gifts, when reading our card, I had signed it "Mommy and Daddy," but he read it as "Mom and Dad." Someone had asked what the card said; as in the words/verse inside not necessarily who it was from. Brandon said, "It says from Mommy and Daddy, but I didn't want to say that. That would be embarrassing!" This boy just cracks me up!

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From Tiger to Wolf Cub

2011-05-28T06:41:00.000-04:00

So the soggy baseball game was an unofficial promotion (to me, anyway). Last week, Brandon's pack had their Promotion ceremony. Each boy was recognized for the belt loops and pins that they had earned. Next a ceremony for the boys that are going from a Cub Scout to a Boy Scout. Then the other boys, den by den, were promoted up. It was pretty darn cute to see the older boys tie on the younger boys new scarf. Next year, Brandon will be a "big kid" helping to promote a Tiger up to a Wolf.

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Baseball and Cub Scouts

2011-05-27T07:08:00.004-04:00

We had a baseball weekend, the 14th and 15th. Well, sort of. A friend had given us tickets for Saturday nights game. There had been chance of wet weather on and off all day. We figured that we would go ahead and head to the ball field and take our chances. So, of course, it started as we got to the gate. It drizzled on and off. Enough to keep most of the crowd at home. We did put our umbrella up, but it wasn't too bad. Just a few pictures due to the wet weather.

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We had purchased tickets for Sunday's game as a Circuit of Fun with Boy Scouts. This can pretty much be considered the game that wasn't. It wasn't just drizzily and wet. It was raining and cold. The Boyscouts were going to be "crossing over." A sort of graduation type event. We saw our den leader with his son, so we sent Brandon to wait with him. Collin's dad did the same. It was nice that the boys could be there together. The boys were going to be able to go on the field, high five some players and meet the mascot. The boys were led onto the field and immediately into the dug out. Even the players didn't want to be in the rain. So we didn't even get to see them high five anyone. Out of the dug out and cross over a bridge at homeplate and exit the field on the other side. Rowdy was on the stairs as they exited. It was pretty much over by the time we figured out where they going. Maybe we should have been at the end of the line to find out the gameplan. But I guess now we know for next time!

Daddy had to leave to go out of town. He had come to the game just for Brandon's crossover and had to leave. It was going to be a long drive for him. The kiddos insisted on sitting in our seats. It was still raining, but wait in the rain we did. When it started to really come down and change direction, right at us, we all decided to go for cover! That lasted about 5 minutes. We were all ready to just go home. And that's just what we did. A change into warm, dry clothes and popped in a movie. Complete with popcorn.

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Cowgirl Jess

2011-05-26T06:29:00.000-04:00

Jess got it in her head the other day that she was going to be a cowgirl. For the day at least. Here are a couple... ok, three fun pictures that her daddy took.

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Recorder Concert

2011-05-25T06:58:00.000-04:00

The fourth grade recently had a recorder concert. They have been practicing really hard to learn all their songs. Jess and her friend Meg had also practiced many mornings before school while waiting for the bus. On the same evening, the school held an Art Fair. Each grade learned about another country and displayed their artwork outside the classrooms. Oh, and the library was open for the book fair.

I have a picture of each of their artwork and postcard. The rest are from the actual program. Jess was almost directly in front of her music teacher. Almost impossible to get her picture, but Daddy got a few. And the priceless shot of Brandon's enthusiasm.

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2011-05-24T17:32:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to play catch-up and get pictures posted. But I also wanted to try and keep entries in order.

http://dawnmjones.blogspot.com/2011/04/easter-morning.html

http://dawnmjones.blogspot.com/2011/04/finally-getting-pictures-from-easter.html

http://dawnmjones.blogspot.com/2011/05/at-park.html

Mini Birthday Celebration

2011-05-24T15:48:00.000-04:00

(Because this is just how far behind I am, I will backdate from 6/24 to keep things orderly.)
This was Brandon's actual birthday.
This was a mini celebration that consisted of me and his big sister. Daddy was out of town. He had the option of cupcakes or ice cream for our little shindig. We HAD to mark the occasion with a treat and singing "Happy Birthday." In top right picture in the collage, my cell phone is open and on speaker. Daddy was also able to participate. :) The best part, though, was that Daddy DID make it home for Brandon's birthday!!
(We thought it would be Saturday, maybe even Sunday.)

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Grandma's house

2011-05-23T16:17:00.000-04:00

Last month, since we postponed Brandon's birthday party, we decided to go see my mom. It had been quite a while since we visited. The pool had not opened yet, but we had new rackets and balls to go to the tennis courts instead. The kids also spent lots of time (and energy) at the playground. It was a short visit. Just an overnight stay, but enjoyed by all of us!

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Sweet Brandon

2011-05-20T08:37:00.002-04:00

Today my sweet boy has turned seven years old.

He is just too much for words.

He is a friend to everyone.

The big kids next door

Little kids.

He LOVES his cousins.

He adores babies.

He waves to any baby he sees and would probably stop to talk and play if you let him.

He is polite and uses his manners.

He often will stop to hold the door for others.

He is headstrong.

He is handsome.

He is smart.

His teachers adore him.

He has a great imagination.

He is loving.

He loves his sister.
And he knows just the right buttons to push to aggravate her.

He gives me a kiss and hug everyday before getting on the bus.

Without me having to ask.

And before bed too.

He just makes my heart happy.

Happy Birthday Brandon!

Mama Duck

2011-05-19T15:41:00.002-04:00

On the Saturday before Easter, we found a nest with one lonely little egg in it. We never saw hide nor feather of the mama; although we had a few ducks in the yard on occasion. This is not really all that unusual as we have a retention pond and greenspace across the street from us. Too big to be a bird and too small for a goose (thank goodness!!), we were guessing duck egg. I had hoped that it would be eggS. Nearly a week had passed before another egg was added. Finally, we had two! Keep in mind that we still had no actual siting. That Friday afternoon, the kids were showing off our little nest to their friends. Before I knew it, the little neighbor girl had picked up one of the eggs. I felt really bad. I wasn't sure what the mama would do since her nest was disturbed. Each day since, one more egg was added. When were up to seven, it looked as though one of them had been broken. I'm guessing that this was the one that had been handled, but really I have no way to know for sure. And still one last egg was added. Finally, the nest was full. It was still a couple of days later before we finally started seeing the mama duck sitting in her nest. At first she would scurry away right away, but I think that she has gotten used to us coming and going. The kids check in on her every morning on their way down to the bus stop. Now we are anxiously awaiting the hatching of fuzzy little ducklings!

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at the park

2011-05-04T10:07:00.001-04:00

I had taken the kiddos to the park the other day (Saturday). Daddy had to work, so it was just the three of us. It was such a nice day out! I thought this would be a great opportunity to get some fun pictures of the kids; it was still pretty early in the afternoon and not very busy. We went to a park that we only visit occasionally. A change of scenery is nice sometimes, don't ya think? While the kids had a lot of fun running, climbing, sliding and such, I have little photographic proof of it. I kept getting some sort of CF error.

So this is what I was able to get...

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once we were back at home, I reformatted the disk and life was good again.

At Grandma and Grandpa's for Easter

2011-04-28T09:45:00.002-04:00

Finally getting pictures from Easter Sunday spent with at Grandma and Grandpa's house with the rest of them family. Grandma had fixed us a big meal; and it was delicious. The little kids had an egg hunt downstairs. Which I missed getting any pictures of since daddy and I were hiding eggs upstairs for our big kids. And we only took a few pictures of Jess and Brandon during their hunt.

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Duchess

2011-04-26T14:47:00.001-04:00

She may be a senior citizen in dog years, but she is certainly a pup at heart! This rope is her favorite toy (as you can see, it is well chewed and pulled apart). While Duchess often drops it in your lap for some good ol' fashion tug-o-war, she also likes to just chew the knots and give it a good toss in the air.

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Easter morning

2011-04-25T09:07:00.001-04:00

Easter morning the kids were ready to go downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny had left for them. We've had our baskets out on the dining room table with empty eggs in hopes that Mr. Bunny would leave some treats and filled eggs to find. As the kids are getting older/bigger, I'm sure it must be more difficult each year for Mr. Bunny to hide the eggs around our living room. Maybe I will leave him a note next year to expand his egg-hiding terrain. The eggs that we colored together were taken to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the egg hunt that they had there.

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Easter Egg?

2011-04-23T16:08:00.000-04:00

We have had a lot of rain lately. So when we noticed that the mulch looked a little washed away we thought that the rain ruuning off the roof of the porch had something to do with it. The sort of thing that the next time it is raining heavily, we will need to do a "look-see." This morning I as trying to be extra attentive to the Clematis growing, making sure that it grows UP the lattice and not just a tangled lump of pretty flowers, I didn't even realize that I had a surprise! Looks like somebody other than the Easter Bunny will have eggs for us. How fun is that?!?

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I will definately have to keep tabs on our guests...

At the Park

2011-04-22T05:30:00.000-04:00

A couple of Sundays ago, Jess had an outing with her Girl Scouts. It was only a few hours, but we took advantage of the beautiful day and went to the park. This was one of the first really nice, sunny, Spring days that we had. The result was that everyone had the same idea!

Brandon decided to play a version of hide and seek... He wanted to go "hide" in/on the playground equipment and we would "seek" him out with the camera. It was fun trying to find him, and not too easy either! He was pretty much in constant motion. Almost all of the pictures are all from our game, so I did not add very many captions.

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Last one!

2011-04-21T04:27:00.003-04:00

This is it for our Spring Break pictures!!

While I did have others that are random driving down the highway snapshots, I just put the ones from our little side trip. We added a "via point" on our route and went to see Punxsutawney Phil. This little town was the cutest! And the people were so friendly! It is too bad that it was so late in the evening when we arrived. Throughout the town, there are six foot tall statues of "Phil." We only saw about 1/2 of them, if that.

Sorry a few pictures are blurry. That whole moving vehicle, traffic, and lack of daylight didn't work to well on a few of them.

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More (Still??) Boston Pics

2011-04-20T16:02:00.001-04:00

So I've been a bit behind in getting pictures up from the rest of our trip. I was a tiny bit sidetracked. But hopefully this will finish it up!

One evening, we walked a few (several? many?) blocks to go to Cheers. This bar/pub was the inspiration for the TV show.

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On our last afternoon, the guys had finished up early. We decided to go see the Old North Church and Paul Revere's house.

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I thought that I had more pictures of Paul Revere's house. But then I remembered that we couldn't take pictures while inside. Had I thought this through, I would have added these few pics to the other slide show.

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A visit to Trinity Chuch and Boston Public Library

2011-04-08T16:46:00.001-04:00

Each morning when the drapes and shades were opened, I had a beautiful view of Trinity Church.
On this day, the ladies group was going to a play in the afternoon (Educating Rita, It was pretty cute.). So I had some time by myself between breakfast and meeting Steve for lunch. Then going to the play. It was a pretty day with blue skies and sunshine, although a bit chilly. But I admired this church each day and took this opportunity to go visit. Unfortunately, I had just missed one of the tours, so I was unable to go into the sanctuary. But I did enjoy looking around. So back outside I went for lots more pictures. Each and every side was beautiful to look at.

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Across the street is the Boston Public Library. I wasn't sure what to expect when I went in here. It was the big ornate lighting fixtures that drew me in. It was beautiful! I didn't even pull a single book off of any of the shelves and I still loved it. I'm sure that I would have lingered a bit more, but the camera battery was finally done. I guess it wasn't a bad thing though. I had time to go back to the room to put the camera away before my lunch date.

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A road trip to Maine

2011-04-07T09:13:00.003-04:00

On Tuesday morning we headed to Stonewall Kitchen in York, Maine. A bus was charted for our big group of ladies. The trip was mostly uneventful. A small mishap. But overall a good. We had our lunch prepared for us. The chef prepared an example of each dish as it was being served to us. We were also given the recipes for them as well. I had taken a picture of the shrimp appetizer and the chicken and pasta main course. We were also served a ceasar salad with homemade ceasar dressing and french bread croutons and a dessert with lemon curd and strawberries. I forgot to take a picture of it. But I found it to be very tasty! There is also a retail shop connected to the cooking school. I browsed, but didn't buy anything. Lots of neat looking gadgets. :)
Afterwards, we boarded our bus and took a short trip to Ogunquit. It seemed to be "off season" for this little town. We did not have a lot of time to spend here. Most of which we (Deb and I) spent going on the Marginal Way walking path. Although we did have a few minutes to browse one shop for a souvenier.

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Oh, and to think that I almost forgot to include dinner that evening!! Steve and I try to find a Hard Rock Cafe when we travel. Geez, I type that out and it seems to make it sound like we are always on the road. Not true. Anyway, we had arrived back from our day trip in time for the guys to finish up....whatever it is that they would do... and be ready for dinner. Making the trip to HRC required us to ride the MBTA (the subway system aka the T). If only I could really put into words the adventure that this simple outing for dinner truly was! I could not possibly due justice, so we will just have to leave it as "hilarious!!!" And any indication to this- the MBTA officer that we saw on the return to our stop waved and gave us a thumbs up. I'm sure that we made her day!

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and I know that the Rock this Way sign looks odd sideways. I wanted a simple collage for the few pics and is was all landscape or all portrait. Majority wins.

Boston

2011-04-06T17:01:00.000-04:00

Last week was Spring Break. We all did some traveling! The kids went to Grandma and Grandpa's house. The dog went to our friend's house. We went to Boston. There were a couple really nice things about this trip. First, it worked out nicely that it coincided with the kids school schedule. Secondly, Steve was traveling for a conference for work and I was able to go too. Although, we were not traveling with the kiddos, we were not traveling alone. Alan and Deb (Steve's coworker and his wife) went also. It was an uneventful drive. We broke it up into 2 days worth and the important decisions were along the lines of "where do we want to eat?"
We stayed in the same hotel as the last time "we" attended this conference. Six short years ago. This little conference is quite the "to-do" and welcomes spouses/companions as well. Even going that extra mile as to coordinate a breakfast on the first day so that everyone can meet and greet. Or see one another again, in some cases. Some of the wives in attendance have been to this conference almost as many years as I have had birthdays. Almost. But I digress. Outings are arranged, hospitality suites opened and new friends made.
After breakfast, Deb and I went on a Trolley tour. We decided to get off the trolley at the Faneuil Hall stop. It has all sorts of shops and food vendors in Quincy Market. We decided it was time to get back on the trolley to finish the tour. And then something funny happened. I was this young boy that I thought looked familiar. Which is really crazy since he lives in the same state as me. Then I saw the tall blonde guy behind them. It could not possible be that I see 2 people that look like father and son back home. So I am trying to see around the other people sitting on the trolley and debating whether or not to get off the trolley. Just to see if I know these people. (And just for the record, the trolley wasn't leaving this stop for a few minutes, waiting to pick up more passengers.) So I stand up to get a better look and decided I will just have to debark (unboard, get off of) the trolley. I see the whole family there. And I KNOW these people! What a crazy lark! That we would be on the same trolley in Boston, Mass, completely unaware of the other's travel plans. And if that wasn't crazy enough, it didn't even occur to me to get a picture of us together, even though I (obviously) had the camera with me and we have hundreds of pictures from this trip.
That night for dinner, Steve and I went to Cheesecake Factory. Alan and Deb said that since we were without children, we should be able to have some time to ourselves. While that is very nice of them, and we certainly didn't mind having dinner companions, I hope it wasn't code for "I've seen that girl all day and I'm tired from the extra walking we had due to that wrong turn she took. I need a break!"

BTW, the rasberry lemon cheesecake, YUM!!

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Just like riding a bike

2011-03-20T09:59:00.001-04:00

oh wait. They were riding their bikes! Jess had an field trip with her Girl Scouts on Saturday. And time for dinner when she finally made it home. But it had been such a nice afternoon that daddy told them that they could ride their bikes for a little bit before it got too dark. And they were both up and at 'em without issue. This may have been the first day that they got to ride their bikes, but I'm sure that there will be lots more!

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Boys that bake cakes

2011-03-19T21:52:00.000-04:00

Brandon is enjoying being a Cub Scout! He had his pack meeting earlier this week. They actually had a theme for this month's meeting- Father and Son Bake-off. There were several categories to choose from, ie. Best Scouting Theme, St. Patrick's Day, Camping, Grossest, and Scout's Choice. The winning cake design would be taken to the Leader Meeting a couple of days after the pack meeting. Unfortunately, our cake came home. And fortunately, our cake came home and it is yummy!

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A Birthday Boy Named Ray

2011-03-13T20:50:00.000-04:00

This weekend we celebrated Ray's birthday. Already he is three years old!

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February...

2011-03-03T20:48:00.001-05:00

It seems that February is typically the month that we have the fewest pictures. Guess there isn't too much going on. I did receive some lovely flowers for Valentine's Day. The kids did hand out and receive Valentines to/from their respective class. According to the few pictures that are in my February file, it would appear that we had a nice day, once the snow and ice melted. Brandon was able to get his skateboard out. The one he recieved for Christmas...
We attended Brandon's first Blue and Gold banquet for Boy Scout. Awards, skits, and Dinner (I thought it would be more like lunch, so we were hungry!) Jessica had a field trip with her Girl Scout troop at the same time as the banquet. Thank goodness that Grandma and Grandpa were able to help by being her taxi. The timing of, well, everything, just seemed to be a comedy of errors that day.
I had a birthday. It was a very nice day!
Along with the virus that each of them had earlier in the month (completely different symptoms), on Monday, we discovered that Brandon has strep and an ear infection. The good thing to this is that he loves his pink medicine!
And so here it is, February in a very short slideshow...

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Checking in

2011-02-23T13:01:00.000-05:00

Just a quick check in. We are still here! Glad to see that the snow and ice finally melted away with a few days of much warmer weather. Each of the kids went viral. They were nice enough to take turns coming down with some virus. Different symptoms. Of course. Each had a trip to their doctor's office. And checked out fine...other than the virus. That was followed by cough and runny noses. But again, thanks to the warmer weather, I think I can finally say that they are well again! Good ol' fresh air, it does the body good!

Jess is in the midst of selling cookies. She isn't doing too bad considering the nasty weather and being sick. Mostly, we have to thank our family, friends and daddy's work for supporting our Girl Scout. Thanks!!

Brandon has a banquet to go to this weekend for Boy Scouts. Awards, pictures, food...should be fun stuff.

It's a bit icy out there...

2011-02-03T19:23:00.001-05:00

It has been icy and nasty out since Monday. The kids were off school for three days and will have a delay Friday. We have not ventured out hardly at all. The one trip out that all of us ventured out, I didn't even make it to the truck without falling. Jess stayed upright, but I'm not sure how! Even the poor dog is having problems getting off the deck because it is so slick.

On the first go of cleaning the ice off the driveway, the kids went sledding down it. They even left the sleds and slid down on their bellies. They looked like little penguins. Check out Brandon's form! The second to last picture sorta reminds me of the beach. It's a stretch, I know. Foreground is the sand, the breaking waves and then where the sea and the sky meet. Maybe it's just wishful thinking...

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Monster Jam

2011-02-03T17:44:00.003-05:00

Loads of pictures of monster trucks...

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Monster Jam Meet and Greet

2011-02-02T21:01:00.000-05:00

A few pictures taken pre-Monster Jam. While the kids didn't want to wait in the long lines to get autographs or their pictures with the drivers, they did like getting up close to the trucks. We didn't sit with Gabe and Alex this year. Gabe had his tickets thru his Scout pack. With Brandon now being a Scout, but in a different Pack, our tickets were in a different section. But of course we had to meet up! And it was Gabe's birthday to boot. Happy Birthday Gabe!
Uncle Alvin, Aunt Shannon and Ray and Uncle Mike and Aunt Rachel met us there. Jess was particularly happy this year because Gravedigger won the freestyle event. Unlike last year...remember this?

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This is it for now. I'll get more of Monster Jam up tomorrow.

Pinecar Derby

2011-02-02T20:24:00.001-05:00

Brandon has had his first Pinecar Derby race. Almost a week ago. I think that he enjoyed the process of creating his car. He came up with the basic design, chose the stickers and paint color, and even the number when we took it to weigh in. The boys raced four races; the winner was chosen by the best average of those races. For the car that raced in Lane 1, that boy was allowed to push the start button. Pretty exciting stuff for a little boy! We did not win the race. But Brandon had fun and cheered for his fellow Tiger Cubs. Plus, there is always next year!

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I forgot to add this in the slideshow. This makes a little boy happy-

He finally received his Marshmallow Shooter!

The New Year

2011-01-16T07:34:00.000-05:00

And just so we can be up to date...

New Years day we went to Grandma Anne's house.

Here is one glimpse:

Grandma Anne playing scrabble with Jess and Brandon. Well, sort of....

Christmas cheer

2011-01-15T11:34:00.000-05:00

In the interest of bring last year to a close, I put pictures from Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's house and Christmas morning together. It makes for a bit longer slide show, but at least it will be finished up!

On Christmas Eve we have always opened one gift. Once we had kids, they are the ones that get to open a gift. For the last few years, for their one gift, Jess and Brandon exchange gifts with each other. The evening was spent with family. Food and conversation. And more presents! The night went by quickly and we had to head home. Santa can't come to our house if kids are still awake.

Christmas day was spent at home. We are lucky in the fact that our kids are not early risers. So everyone was able to sleep in a bit before going downstairs to see what Santa had brought. The living room was a crazy mess of paper and boxes, but had smiling faces all around.

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Early Christmas

2011-01-11T10:06:00.001-05:00

We had an early Christmas with the immediate family. Daddy's younger brother (Uncle Mike) wasn't going to be able to spend Christmas eve with us, so we had a little get together. We had our gift exchange between us "kids" and the little kids recieved their gifts as well.

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I think this was also the beginning of all of us getting sick!

Christmas Dinner with Grandma Jones

2011-01-10T21:56:00.000-05:00

We usually start our early by celebrating with the extended Jones family. We are lucky that Daddy's family all lives close by. There are so many now and it can be quite the adventure!

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Random pictures

2011-01-04T17:26:00.001-05:00

Here are a few random pictures from December. This fills in the blanks in between the other slide shows. There are still pictures to post from Pre-Christmas, Christmas dinner, Christmas Eve, and Christmas. Let's just throw in there that 2 weekends in a row that I, unfortunately, attended funeral services for two family members. Brandon had a couple of days that he was sick and then for half of Christmas break the kids and I were all sick. Thank goodness that Daddy was on vacation! It is a rare occasion that Daddy gets to take vacation at any holiday, much less two weeks worth! Someone had to take care of us. The second week, we were all on the mend and ready to get out of the house. We tried cramming in lots of fun stuff, none of which, did we take a camera. We went to the Indiana State Museum to see the Titanic exhibit, The Children's Museum, and roller skating.

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Cub Scouts

2011-01-04T16:23:00.001-05:00

In December, Brandon had four Cub Scout activies. They went caroling at a Senior Community and had a pizza party afterwards. His den had a field trip to the local police station. Daddy took him to this one. We participated in the Circuit of Fun" and we went to an Indiana Ice game. Brandon recieved a special Circuit of Fun badge and was able to go out onto the ice after the game. His pack also helped with sorting and boxing for for the Project Angel food drive. When we left the warehouse, I asked Brandon if he had fun. "No, not really." I was kinda surprised by this. He usually likes being part of a group and being a helper. So I changed my line of question, "so does it make your heart feel good to help other people? Because you helped put boxes of food together, you helped to give a family dinner that they might not have for Christmas." "Yes, that makes my heart feel good." That's what I like to hear.

Caroling:

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and the Ice game:

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Family Photo Shoot

2011-01-04T15:13:00.000-05:00

Early in December I had asked my brothers- and sisters-in-law if they would help out with putting together a Christmas gift. They were all kind enough to bear with me and participated in my little home photo shoot. We had picked an evening to get together and hoped that mom and dad wouldn't catch us! (As this was to be a gift for mom.) It was a fun and entertaining evening, to say the least! There were loads of pictures taken, all in hopes of at least 5 keepers for a picture frame I had bought. I think we ended up with some good....no, great ones. Thanks Alvin, Shannon and Ray and Mike, Rachel and Dylan for being such good sports and going along with my crazy ideas! Let me know when you want to go for round 2 :)

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This one is for Dad

2011-01-04T14:15:00.000-05:00

I have lots of pictures to get caught up on. Something like the month of December. (And probably November if I really went back to look. But I won't.) Now that we are something close to normal- kids are back in school, daddy is back to work, no more sickies- and I now have all this free time ;) , I will work on getting caught up here.

To get started, here is the Christmas tree in Mom and Dad's back yard. Look how "Charlie Brown" cute it is!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-07T21:18:00.000-05:00

We spent out Thanksgiving at Aunt Linda and Rory's house. It is family tradition. And while there is no shortage of good food to eat, I think I liked my take home container of cranberry salad!

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Cub Scout

2010-12-07T09:38:00.000-05:00

Brandon has really enjoyed becoming a Cub Scout. He knows his Boy Scout Promise and The Law of the Pack. He has fun getting together with the other boys for meetings. One of the first tasks of becoming a Cub Scout (as I have learned), is to earn the Bobcat badge. And Brandon has done that! He was awarded his badge on November 18th. Daddy took Brandon to his pack meeting and captured a few pictures.

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Dylan's first birthday

2010-12-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

I intend on getting a bit more caught up. Dylan turned one mid-November. (Still trying to figure how that was possible!) Here are a few pics from his par-tay. He is just so darn cute!

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As good as it gets

2010-12-02T21:43:00.000-05:00

This is as good as it is gets. I should post pictures. I have more than a few to choose from. But for now, it's just the holiday decor. :)

Veterans Day Program

2010-11-11T17:22:00.000-05:00

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Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T21:11:00.002-04:00

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Catch and Release

2010-10-31T20:45:00.000-04:00

Earlier in the week, as I was heading out to do some errands, I found a turtle. In the middle of my driveway! Here is his little story...

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At the park

2010-10-21T18:26:00.000-04:00

We spent last Saturday at the park. We were there for a Boy Scout gathering. The boys were there to earn beltloops and the families were there to enjoy getting to know one another. I'm pretty certain that everyone enjoyed the beautiful fall day.

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Our Little Friend Grace

2010-10-20T20:13:00.000-04:00

I had a visit from our little bitty friend on Tuesday. Grace spent part of the afternoon with me. Brandon was a bit disappointed that she had not arrived when he had to leave for school. A bit more disappointed that she had already left when he came home. Thankfully, we were saved from a meltdown by the fact that it was snack time. (His daily ritual of dropping his backpack while kicking off his shoes and head strait to the pantry to pick out a snack.) Grace and I had a good day. Except for the fact that she totally did not like it when I left the room in search of the ringing telephone. She has grown lots! Hard to believe that she is just around the corner from turning the bit 1!!

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Slacking...

2010-10-12T21:25:00.000-04:00

...Again.I know.

For the quick summary, little Mr. Dylan stopped by one Friday morning for a few hours. We just don't see him (or his parents) often enough. He reminds me so, so much of Brandon! I will have to put some side-by-side pictures. Umm, sometime. Grandma had surgery on her foot a few weeks ago, so Ray has been spending Thursdays and Fridays with me. He has been a very good boy! So cute watching him wave goodbye to the big kids in the morning when they get on the bus. And Jess and Brandon love having him here when they come home. It is such a treat for them.

Brandon is now selling popcorn for the Cub Scouts. He has done really well and has almost reached his goal. He really (really) wants the Marshmallow crossbow. Jessica is getting into the swing of things with Girl Scouts. She has several outtings coming up in the next several weeks. And dance class too.

We had parent/teacher conferences. Love hearing things like "wonderful," "delightful," and "a joy to have in class." They both are doing great in school and ENJOY school. We are so proud of them!

We celebrated an anniversary. Our 12th!! And Daddy had a birthday. I made a Nutty Buddy Cheesecake. It was pretty yummy stuff! (I have not loaded pictures off the camera for a while, but I will show a picture soon...)
But here are some pictures from the middle-end of September.

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Maybe I need to update my "To Do" list....

School is in session...

2010-09-13T22:27:00.001-04:00

... and that about sums it up. The kids have been in school for almost a whole month now. We are getting into the fall routine. Trying to get homework done in a timely fashion (ha ha ha!) and getting the calendar filled up. There has already been a school project; it was turned in today. And already have a field trip scheduled. Both kiddos are really liking school too. And that helps a lot!! Brandon's teacher even made a point to send note saying how much he enjoys having Brandon in class.

I have taken some of the extra time that I now have for myself. After the kids get on the bus, I having been walking each morning. The first 2 weeks, it was almost 1.75 miles. Last week I added the "short loop" around the neighborhood, which is about 1/2 mile. So that is approximately 2.25 miles! It has been quite enjoyable. Especially last week since the mornings had been rather brisk. And it looks like I might have an occasional walking partner. My neighbor around the corner caught me the other morning and asked if I would like some company. She substitute teaches at the elementary school, so it would be hit or miss. But hey, a walking buddy is great anytime.

So, really, that's it. Just every day, regular stuff.

And since it has been a while for pictures, here you go.... all 18 of 'em.

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Is there a Scout in the house?

2010-09-01T21:37:00.000-04:00

As of yesterday, now we have two scouts!

And he is so excited!!!

Can't you tell!?

Boy Scout popcorn, Pine Car Derby, Den meetings and Pack meetings and all kinds of fun stuff coming up.

Pretty soon Jess will start meeting again with her Girl Scout troop. She has been asking for weeks what day her troop meetings will be. After all, she is a Junior Girl Scout now!

First day 2010

2010-08-18T10:49:00.001-04:00

It's that time of year again! School has started. For some unknown reason, this year I was ready for them to be out the door and boarding the bus. On a positive note, both of the kids were looking forward to school starting. Yesterday, we went to the school to find their classrooms and meet their teacher.

Hoping for a great first day!!

notice the #1, for 1st day or 1st grade?

and as an added extra bonus

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Dylan

2010-08-02T18:03:00.000-04:00

Seems like it has been a while since we had seen this little guy. We stopped by for a short visit a couple of weeks ago. He has gotten so big. Hard to believe that he is 8 months old now.

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Earrings

2010-07-30T14:48:00.001-04:00

Jess has gotten her ears pierced. Such a little change, but it is a BIG change to a little girl. We had got to the mall to spend gift cards that each of the kiddos had received for their birthdays. Rather out of the blue, she annouces that she wants her ears pierced. Both of us questioned her about being sure. While she has been on the fence about sticking to her decision on other occasions, she was sure this time. So we did an about face and went to find one of those little boutiques... ya know, before she changed her mind again. She has been so tickled about having earrings. It has been quite the easy feat to keep her hair pulled back. (which makes a momma happy) Because now she can show off her earrings.

Purple, of course.

Finally, the last post of vacation pictures!

2010-07-28T14:34:00.000-04:00

Did you ever think it would end? This is it. The last one. And not too many either. You're welcome.

The same day that we went to Arlington National Cemetary, we went on a night trolley tour. It was nice to get a new perspective on the monuments. To finish out our trip, we also went to the Natural History Museum and the Archives. The Declaration of Independance, the Bill of Rights, the Magna Carta. No pictures allowed as it is harmfull to the documents. At the Natural History Museum we also saw the Hope Diamond. It is just a tiny little thing of 45.5 carats. Lots of pictures taken of some very beautiful jewelry. We also hit up the Hard Rock Cafe; which was right down from Ford's Theatre.

Overall, I think that we all enjoyed ourselves. Other than the fact that it was near-record heat the whole time we were in DC. There would definately be more to see on another trip. Easily, any of the other Smithsonian museums. On the Friday morning that we headed home, Jess was feeling a bit on the icky side. We're guessing it was the late night pizza. She perked up later and we arrived home without incident.

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Post #6 The Capitol Building, Air and Space Museum and Arlington National Cemetary

2010-07-23T14:57:00.003-04:00

We are coming to an end. (I promise!) I've put 3 slideshows on one post in order to try and finish this up. I think I will only have one more left to do. We had gotten pretty proficient at riding the Metro. Not only was it easy to get around, it was also cheap entertainment for the kids. We had wanted to make sure that we visited the Capitol. Not just view it from afar. We were able to take a tour through the building without making arangements ahead of time. We are spontaneous like that... :) It is a beautiful building. I should probably leave out the fact that at the end of our tour, instead of visiting the gift shop, everyone was corraled into one area. Apparently, there was an "unattended backpack." We waited around for a while hoping this "situation" would be cleared up so we could take the kids to get a bite to eat in the cafe and look at souveniers. Didn't happen. So let's just skip the fact that we had tired, cranky, hungry kids that we took out into the oppressive heat to go to the next stop... Don't worry. It was the Air and Space Museum. And they have a food court. Air conditioning + food = happy children. They really seemed to enjoy the Museum. Lot of hands on exhibits to keep their attention. Lots more that we didn't get to see, but we were trying to finish up the day a bit earlier than what we had been. The kids had been begging for some time in the pool at the hotel. So that's what we did.

It was for the next day that we signed up for a night trolley tour. That afternoon we went to Arlington National Cemetary. We took the shuttle bus (as opposed to walking). We thought that would be much easier to get the higher profiled areas. We had taken so many pictures here. There is quite a view of DC from the Kennedy plot and also Arlington House, which is further up hill. Home of Robert E. Lee. Before the Civil War and he became a General for the South. I learned a lot from our short visit at the Lee House. A must see, is the Tomb of the Unknown. The shuttle we were on arrived just minutes before the changing of the Guard. During the summer months, there is change every half hour. Normally, it is on the hour. We also saw a wreath laying ceremony. I don't really have words for it; you just have to see it for yourself.

The first 3 pictures in this one are of the Library of Congress, which is across the street.

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I'll pick up from our night tour next. Then finish up with the Natural History Museum. And a few miscellaneous pictures. Really, we've just about got this vacation wrapped up!

Post #5 We finally get to DC

2010-07-20T20:05:00.000-04:00

We finally made it! We found our hotel, but it was too early to get checked in. We thought that we would get started on seeing as much as we could and so off we went. We walked and walked and walked. Tons of people everywhere. I don't know if it is always so crowded or the holiday weekend added to it. We had initally planned to walk to and from the fireworks on Sunday. But our hotel is only a few blocks from a metro station. We decided instead to ride the metro in to catch the parade, saving the kids some walking. Hoping it would be enough for later when we would be walking backl. (and not having to get in the huge crowds trying to get onto the metro to go back) They loved, loved, loved the fireworks. Brandon now wants to live in DC so that he can see the fireworks every year.

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Post #4 Port Discovery and the Aquarium

2010-07-19T22:44:00.000-04:00

This was a fun day for the kids. We hit the Children's Museum and the Aquarium on the same day. Outside in front of Port Discovery, the Lego people were there. Legos has a new line of games out (or coming out) and they brought the life sized versions for the kids to play.
It was during this time that I had gotten phone call that one of my brothers had been admitted to the hospital. Talk about sending a girl into a panic! All boo hoo-ey and weepy, hours and hours away from home.... (not to mention that earlier in the week I had gotten a call that my Uncle Bob had passed away) To cut to the good news, he was sent home later in the afternoon with appointments scheduled for a follow-up. The whole day I kept checking my phone and checking in with one of my other brothers and my sister in law. I tried not to think too hard about it because just remembering that first phone call made me all weepy again.
We finally made it inside the Children's Museum. They have a 3 story climbing structure. I think we could have just found a place to park ourselves and let the kids play on this all day long. They did enjoy all of the exhibits, just so you know. :) I may be biased, but I am pretty certain that our Children's Museum is much much better!! And a funny little side note, the Bob the Builder exhibit was brought to them in part by.... The Indianapolis Children's Museum.... thankyouverymuch
And the last picture of the slideshow (aquarium) just cracks me up. Jess and I side by side reading our books. Steve said that we even turned pages at the same time a few times.

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This was our last day in Baltimore. We checked out of our hotel the next morning and headed to DC.

Post #3 The Inner Harbor, Baltimore

2010-07-15T18:12:00.000-04:00

Thursday we went to the Inner Harbor. This is a very cool area. Lots of shops and restaurants, but just being on the water... ahhh.... We walked all over the place. We bought some Historic Fleet passes so that we could tour the historic ships in the harbor. Three ships and one submarine. We took a paddle boat out, had ice cream, checked out some of the shops and went to the National Aquarium.

I'll put the Aquarium pictures in a separate slide show. Trying to make this manageable...

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At the pool

2010-07-15T17:00:00.000-04:00

Here are a few from one evening at the pool. Not quite sure how, but the kids had talked Alan into going swimming. Don't know what it was about being out of the office, but the kids took to Alan like their long lost best friend. He was a great sport about it.
I don't know why I didn't take the camera to the pool on the other days that the kids and I were there. So this is pretty much all the pool pics you get.... :)

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One of many, I'm sure

2010-07-15T13:36:00.000-04:00

I have tons of pictures from our trip out of town. It is almost embarrassing how many there are. And I don't think I could 100% say that I have seen every picture. That being said, I'm thinking that this should be the first of many picture posts trying to get caught up on our adventures.

We started in Baltimore, MD. Daddy had to work and the kids and I tagged along. The first couple of days they were happy to just go to the hotel pool. Who am I kidding? They would have spent every day at the pool!! We didn't go all that way to swim at the hotel! So we found the zoo. The Cartoon Network people were there promoting the Move It Movement. I think we spent nearly an hour at this area trying all the activities (and collecting pins) before we finally made it so see some animals.

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Little Friend Grace

2010-06-29T12:28:00.001-04:00

We had a visit from our little friend Grace last week. It's been a whole month since we've seen the smiley girl. A week or so before Brandon asked, "are we ever going to see Grace again?? He really likes this girl. We gave her lunch. That is if you count a jar of baby food as lunch... She played with a toy that belong to Jess when she was a baby. And really seemed to like it. Then the kids wanted to play with Grace outside. We compromised by putting Grace in the little stroller and they took turns pushing her up and down the sidewalk. Seriously, I don't know which child was happier!

She is just a doll!

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More flowers

2010-06-28T12:13:00.000-04:00

In going thru picture files, I thought that I would put some more of our flowers together. In doing so, I realized that I have pictures that didn't get backed up prior to my computer going on strike. Nothing major. (that I remember, at this point in time) Just our roses in bloom. And I also realize that I haven't really taken pictures of the back yard.

hmmm, must do that!

Saturday was Rib Fest. Always love it. Friends. Good food. Sweaty worn out kids.

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Dave and Missy, some wedding photos

2010-06-27T11:03:00.001-04:00

Last weekend was not only Jessica's birthday, but also my brother's wedding. My brother had asked that I do the pictures for them. How could I say no? Who doesn't love a wedding? And any reason to take tons of pictures is a plus in my book! Let's face it, I would have had the camera in hand anyway. This way, it was ok that I could tell my brother what to do; and well, he just did it. :)

I have to say that one of the highlights, for me, was getting to see my nieces and nephew. It has been so so long. They have just grown right up when I wasn't looking. Unfortunately, my brother's other son, Rob couldn't make it. He is a military man stationed out of state and couldn't make home. I am so proud of my brother's kids. I think that I could have spent my Saturday just hugging them... well, that is, if I wasn't taking pictures.

And an adorable sidenote, at one point in after ceremony pictures, Brandon sneeks up beside me. He tugs at me so he can ask "mommy can I have a picture with my cousin?" It was a collective "awwww" when I asked Andy if he would come back to the front because Brandon wanted his picture with him. Obviously, Andy obliged and Brandon was just so happy.

Hopefully, the newlyweds are happy with their photos. They seemed to like the few that I shared as a sneek peek. I am working on a little something for them as well. And I am excited to share it with them....soon.

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Birthday Girl

2010-06-26T10:24:00.001-04:00

We had a low key get-together for Jessica's birthday on Sunday. She had picked the menu and helped shop for everything too. She chose Hannah Montana theme; this was a bit unfortunate as she was the only girl. But I'm pretty sure she was alright with it. We will get with her little girl friends soon. And the boys that were here are some of her best buds. She decided that since she was the only girl, that the boys had to put on her Hannah Montana wig and have their picture taken if they wanted a piece of cake. We didn't really make them do that, but Brandon was all over it. He was not going to miss any opportunity for chocolate cake!

Thanks everyone for her gifts. She has enjoyed getting them all out to try out and play with over the last few days.

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A few pictures for June

2010-06-24T14:26:00.001-04:00

Brandon wanted to have the training wheels off of his bike. Well, we thought that we would let him try out Jessica's old bike first. If he seemed to have the hang of it, then Daddy would fix his bike up. He had this down in no time at all! Daddy said he barely had to hold the seat to help him balance. Stopping was a tiny problem. He wanted to just launch himself off the bike when it would lean instead of getting his foot down. In a matter of minutes, he had ridden completely down the street. This called for an ice cream celebration! The next day, he had figured out how to balance himself and to get going without us holding him up. He even manage to learn the breaks.
We also went downtown to the Strawberry Fest. It is oh so yummy! It was so so hot! After sitting in the shadow of the Soldiers and Sailors monument, we went inside to cool off and look around. The kids really enjoy their little museum. We also had lunch at Circle Center; then stopped to see Daddy at work on our way home.
Brandon took a bit of a tumble riding the "fast scooter" down the drive way. I thought they were pretty much the same, but I appear to be wrong. He didn't have any elbow or knee pads. Or even his helmet. So this was a learning opportunity.

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I will get some pictures from Jessica's birthday and my brother's wedding last weekend.

And, when picking pictures, I realized that Brandon is dressed in a black undershirt in all of them. Really, this was not all in the same day and the boy does have clean clothes. He seems to think that undershirts are the fashion statement of his summer wardrobe.

Happy Birthday Jess!

2010-06-18T11:17:00.000-04:00

Can you believe that this girl turns 9 today??

I surely cannot!

Someone please tell me, where did the time go? How did my little girl grow up so fast?

Jess, you get more beautiful everyday.

And you are loved very, very much!

Mini Photo Shoot

2010-06-08T21:59:00.001-04:00

After the kids' dress rehearsal on Saturday, I was able to talk them into a little "mini shoot." I have not yet had their birthday pictures done, (gasp!) and thought maybe I could just wing it on my own. Jess was very receptive to the idea, and Brandon only mildly. Although, one of the pictures outside cracks me up. He wanted a picture of "me talking on the phone." Sure, why not? Beats getting grumpy guss pictures!

This is what I ended up with...

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Recital

2010-06-08T21:18:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was the kids recital. Saturday morning was dress rehearsal with professional pictures. Sunday afternoon was show time! They both did SO GOOD! Brandon, who seemed only mildly interested in staying in step with everyone else during class, was right on beat. And for the most part, looked out at the audience the whole time. Jess looked so pretty (and grown up)! I love seeing her up on stage, my ballerina. Although, I think part of the fun for me, is just getting her ready. :)

At the end of the show, they dropped balloons onto the stage. Of course, all the kids loved this! Grandma and Grandpa were there to see the show and we all met up with Uncle Alvin, Aunt Shannon and Ray for pizza and cupcakes afterwards.

So proud of you both! Love you!!

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playing catch up, picture style!

2010-06-08T18:22:00.000-04:00

Hurray! I have pictures to share!! Although I'm still not using my own computer, but I'm glad that I can share!

* Warning!*

May have picture overload!! :)

This slideshow was made using more than 100 pictures, but it captures 2 weeks worth of stuff. Mostly being a weekend of activities surrounding Brandon's birthday. On his actual birthday, we went to McDonalds and had cupcakes with our friend Anthony. The kids had field day that included box car races. Then the end of school convo. Then Brandon's birthday party. We went to the Indian's game that night. The next day was a trip to the zoo. Carb Day at the track. We went to a cookout at my brother's house. And we had a cookout at our house on Sunday. Jess was bitten by a bug. By the following Tuesday, she was swollen on the forehead and between her eyes. Poor girl, the bridge of her nose just dissappeared. (she was better by Saturday 6/5 (thank goodness!!!) for the dress rehearsal of their recital... that's when they do their pictures.)

So even though this has tons of pictures, I'm not done yet. Recital pictures and more!

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Memorial Weekend

2010-06-03T21:33:00.002-04:00

And before you go any further.... there still are NO pictures. sigh....

First off the kiddos finished school on last Thursday. We have survived the whole first week of summer break! Hopefully, they don't hold Memorial Weekend as the standard for which we need to keep up with.

Daddy was able to take Friday off. (from my point of view, I thought starting out just being able to sleep in a major plus in my book!) It was Carb Day at the track, so we headed that way. It has been ages since we've been to the track. Jess was coming up on one year old the last time. She doesn't remember it. So, it's been a few. And we actually went to the 500 the year she was born. As in about 2 1/2-3 weeks before. (funny side story... we used to live in the neighborhood near the 3rd turn of the track. That year, we received 2 free tickets. And even though I was very much prego (measuring way ahead of schedule, that I didn't really realize. It was my first. What did I know?), I was not going to pass up these tickets! I probably was not going to get another chance to go. Of course we would be seated in turn one. It is almost impossible to get any further away. But walked it, I did. And more than a few track employees that wanted to point me to the first aid station, you know, "just in case." Luckily, it was a very cool and drizzily day. To me it was perfect. I had my own little furnace. Everyone else thought it was downright cold. And to top it off, I won the race pool at work.) But back to 2010, this was Brandon's first trip. Overall, it was an enjoyable day. We were able to get up close to the Indy Lite cars. The one Brandon picked ended up winning. Jess picked the girl that had pole position. And when she was involved in a crash (not her fault) that ended the race for her, Jess sobbed. And sobbed. (it reminded me of this day)
"But I really really wanted to her to win!!!!" I think she was being a tiny bit dramatic. We didn't know the driver. Don't follow racing much. Much less the Indy Lites. We just sat down in the bleachers and we all picked a number. Except for Jess. She picked "the girl."

Friday night, my brother called. "Hey sis, I forgot to call you days ago. Want to come over tomorrow? We're having a cookout." So that's what we did. We spent the entire day, Saturday, at my brother's house with his family and another brother and his fiancee and our mom. The kids were pretty much water logged. They stayed in the pool the whole time; coming out only to eat lunch. All these days later, they are still saying how much fun they had!

Sunday evening we had our own cookout. This time with Daddy's side. We did a mini fireworks show when it finally got dark enough. Poor Jess was bitten my something. On her forehead. What started out as a red spot, by Monday it looked like a big goose egg. I gave her an allergy pill; hoping it would help. Tuesday morning when she woke up, she was all swollen right between her eyes. She looked like she should have felt terrible, but she said she felt fine. I did go to the pharmacy to buy Benedryl. By afternoon, it did not appear to have helped any. A call to the doctor, with one appointment left, we zoomed to their office. Since it was around her eyes, and she seemed kinda blah, I figured it wouldn't hurt to have her looked at. Andddd.... she's fine. A small allergic reaction to the bite. It will go away. The allergy pill, the Benedryl and the cold compress... all good.
Oh, and I forgot to add in the middle of that last paragraph that 3 nights of the kids staying up late and having lots of fun in the sun means that all of us slept in way way late on Monday. Crazy kind of late. When we finally went downstairs, Daddy let the dog out. As the dog went running out the door, the trap door snapped shut on the cage we bought to catch our wicked bunny. We had a really quick breakfast and super short showers; then we took Mr. Bunny to our local park. Hopefully, he will enjoy the vegetation much better there. And it is far enough away that he doesn't come back!

That, I think, about sums us up....

just dropping by

2010-05-25T14:25:00.000-04:00

I am just dropping in.

We had a great weekend, celebrating Brandon's birthday. Yep, the whole weekend. Saturday afternoon was his party. Saturday evening was a trip to watch our Indians play. The tickets were a great gift. Then we finished it off by a trip to the zoo on Sunday.

Unfortunately, I do not have pictures to share. It could be worse! ....I have pictures. They are just still on the camera and will have to remain there for...a while... MY computer has decided that it is unhappy and has chosen not to function. So the very very slow computer that the kiddos use will have to be sufficient to get my internet fix. I feel so limited.

But, I wanted to thank everyone for being a part of Brandon's day (and for the gifts).

The Birthday Boy

2010-05-20T08:35:00.001-04:00

I just want to take a quick minute to tell the sweetest boy I know

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Today you are 6 years old and just days away from finishing up kindergarten.

How exactly did you grow up so fast?!

Love you!

Recap of last week

2010-05-13T16:17:00.001-04:00

I will blame this lack of posting on an allergy stupor.

It has only been in the last few years that I have had allergy problems. This year seems to be particularly loathesome. Trying to find the balance between watery eyes, stuffed up head, and the near constant feeling of having to sneeze with the serious lack of function after taking any allergy medicine. I have so not done much of anything lately!

First off, Ray came by for a couple of days. My big kids are always excited by this. Wednesday afternoon, Brandon, Ray and I made a very short trip to see Aunt Linda and Rory. I had had an album made on line with about 100 pictures for them. I really, really wanted them to have it. And they both have Wednesdays off. I think they liked it! Also on Wednesday, the kiddos had a "mini recital" at the Harrison. It was only 5 of the classes. But they are so darn cute.

My godson turned 5 on Thursday. Really, how has it that Alex has turned 5?!? (and that we are a mere week away from Brandon being 6!! HOLY COW!) Saturday evening was spent celebrating the birthday boy. And why we wait until we are ready to leave to get a picture of all 4 kids, I don't know. Guess they are too busy running around and being silly.

Sunday was a great Mother's Day! It started with cinnamon rolls for breakfast. And the kids helped daddy make a cake. (it was dessert after dinner, not breakfast dessert) Then we went to the bookstore to get a book that I had been looking forward to buying. It is called "I Will Carry You" by Angie Smith. She also has a blog (Bring the Rain). I have been following her story for more than two years. We had just left the bookstore when grandma called. She invited us out for lunch. It was an impromtu get-together. We (Aunt Shannon, Uncle Alvin and Ray, Uncle Mike, Aunt Rachel and Dylan, and Grandma and Grandpa) met practically across the street. What was the luck in that? After lunch, we all went our separate ways. We went to the plant store. It would appear that half the county had the same idea. More crowded than any of the other times that we have been there, combined. To finish off the day, daddy grilled out steak and cake for dessert!

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Junior Girl Scout

2010-05-02T19:38:00.000-04:00

Jessica is no longer a Brownie Girl Scout. She is now a Junior. We attended a Bridging Ceremony today, with about a dozen other troops.

Our little Girl Scout is growing up.

(i don't know who the other girl is. she was just in the way of my picture.)

Bunny Update

2010-05-01T18:40:00.000-04:00

The cute little bunny in the previous post's pictures, well, I don't think he is so cute anymore. The little patch of flowers that is in those pictures have been eating down to the ground. And it would appear that he has moved on to other plants. His cuteness is disappearing as quickly as my plants!

He will have to vacate soon!

Peter Cotton Tail

2010-04-26T12:18:00.000-04:00

So, I go into the laundry room, glancing out the window as I throw a load of clothes in the wash. I take note of how pretty the raindrops look on all the day lilly leaves and that it has buds now. And the spiderwart has a couple of purple blooms...wait a second...this isn't supposed to be in my flower bed-

Poor little thing, he better watch his little cotton tail. I'd hate for my big bad wolf ;) to get him!

Wedding

2010-04-25T23:08:00.000-04:00

We celebrated a wedding this weekend. Congratulations to Aunt Linda and Rory!

I had the honor of being asked to be the photographer. I would have taken lots of pictures anyway, but now I had permission to take TONS of pictures! I hope that I was able to capture the sense of love, family and togetherness for them as keepsake.

This is just a tiny, tiny sample of the pictures taken.

(also with the help of my hubby on occasion)

A few of the pictures in the slide show were taken in portrait, so they don't look quite right in landscape of this slideshow. I think there are four. But I didn't want to look for another option. This one had the perfect color; and who doesn't want to hear Canon for a wedding?

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(not quite sure why the slideshow has the buffet at the start? it is actually somewhere in the middle of the pictures. ???)

And lastly, because I couldn't quite get the whole bridal party picture to fit, one more picture....

Dylan

2010-04-23T21:45:00.002-04:00

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Ballerina

2010-04-19T12:48:00.002-04:00

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Pictures, pictures, pictures

2010-04-19T11:28:00.000-04:00

I feel that, again, I have fallen behind. Part of it being that I have had my nose buried in a book. Ones that I have borrowed again from my sister-in-law. Done with one and two. Absolutely refusing to get book three out yet. I need to get my laundry done. Poor Brandon has run out of clean socks! (and in all fairness to that statement, before you think I have completely let everything go; when matching clean socks, I pitch any sock that has a hole or close to it. And apparently, my replacing is not keeping up with my pitching.) Can we hurry up already with the "no shoes/sandles" weather?

To bring us up to date, a couple of weekends ago, we went to Ray's house. He had gotten a swingset for his birthday and the weather finally cooperated for it to be built.

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I've taken lots of pictures of our flowers. They have really taken off. And that is a good thing!

The last few are of my neighbors yards. I was in my own yard when I took them. My view from my front porch. :)

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I have a few more that I wanted to post. They are of Jess. I will do a little post just for her.

And... I also need to switch my laundry and Brandon will be getting off the bus any minute now...

Easter recap in pictures

2010-04-07T20:04:00.000-04:00

I think this sums up the Easter weekend. The kids helped make cupcakes and decorate eggs on Saturday. On Sunday, the bunny left eggs around the house and later we went to Grandma and Granpa's house. We had tons and tons of pictures on our camera! Part of which was trying to get a group family shot. Thanks to Rachel's mom, Claudia, for standing behind the camera to get all the kids attention. Then we did the individual families. I'm sure the neighbors thought we were all crazy! Daddy and his brothers hid 3 dozen eggs for the kids to find. We were thinking that next year, we will have to color code the eggs. This way each kiddo can look for their specific color. And Dylan will be in on it next year.

It was a great day spent with family.

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Easter Bunny

2010-04-03T21:46:00.002-04:00

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Spring Break 2010

2010-04-03T16:55:00.000-04:00

Something I failed to mention the other day, by taking cookies to daddy meant we would be going out of town to do so. It was a rather limited sort of visit with daddy. He still had to go to work while we were there. So we only had two evenings together. But it was much better than just the phone or Skyppe.

The kiddos and I had taken in a movie and walked around the town square (for lack of a better name). We checked out a few stores and had lunch. Then we went to the Visitor's Center. We were in search of postcards. Not quite sure why they were difficult to find...?? The building had been a train depot. Built in the late 1800's, I believe. A former restaurant, on the verge of being torn down. If only you could have seen the beautiful woodwork and stained glass in person! Can't imaging destoying it! There is a train out front and the kids really enjoyed climbing in to check everything out.

After daddy had gotten off of work, we went to Ritter Park. It is really pretty. I imagine that once more flowers, plants and trees are in bloom, it will be stunning. We thought that we could use this as a backdrop to get some great pictures of the kids. They were much more interested in being.... kids. And playing at the park. But I think we managed to get some good ones.

We packed up and left Huntington so that we could head home. But we had planned for our trip to take us through Dayton so that we could visit Grandma Anne. This, too, was a short visit; just overnight.

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I had taken 4-5 pictures. In every one of them, someone had their eyes closed.

Spring break is coming to a close, but we also visited the Easter Bunny. We still have eggs to color and will go to Grandma and Grandpa's on Sunday to celebrate Easter.

The other day...

2010-03-29T10:04:00.000-04:00

grandma and grandpa asked if they could keep Jess and Brandon overnight. I had taken my camera in hopes that the little cousins would be there. I like to try to get group pictures of them whenever I can.

Ray had woken up from his nap not too long ago.

Dylan wasn't having too much to do with having his picture taken.

The caterpillar held his attention more than my camera.

And our group shot.

I had the little kids looking right at me, and had to keep calling MY big kids to look.

Notice that it is the little ones now looking at the TV; I'm sure to see what all that fuss was about!

And lastly, our little friend Grace.

She is 5 months old now.

Sleep over

2010-03-28T21:54:00.000-04:00

This past Christmas, as part of our gift to Uncle Alvin and Aunt Shannon, we gave them a "coupon." It is good for an overnight stay with us. Saturday night, they "redeemed" their coupon. Ray came over after dinner. Much silliness was to be had!

He was a very good boy for me. When it was time for bed, we got his jammies on and brushed his teeth. I let him go into Jess and Brandon's rooms to tell them goodnight. So cute when they hug and give kisses. Ray went to bed without a peep and slept soundly the whole night through.

I have been told several times this afternoon, "I liked having Ray stay at our house!" It is really warm fuzzies to have my kids love their cousin so much AND enjoy spending time together!

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Cookies

2010-03-28T19:50:00.002-04:00

I have made cookies today! Yay! EXCEPT.... they are not for us. I had a request for "some of those strawberry cookies your wife makes" from daddy's coworker (can also go here for another flavor). They are easy enough to make, but I did need to get the cake mix. And since I had a bag of dark chocolate/mint chips in the cupboard, I decided to make two batches. The strawberry chocolate chip (as requested) and devil's food with the mint chips. Hmmm.

I took a few pictures... silly, I'm sure. But they look pretty yummy.

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The kids say that they look like little scoops of ice cream as I put them on the cookie sheet. I have to agree, they kinda do. :) I also realize that I did not get a picture of the finished chocolate mint. But since the plan is to visit daddy's work with cookies in hand, I best not take them out of the bag again!

Outside my door

2010-03-24T16:59:00.000-04:00

A little bitty post since it has been so long....

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My Shamrocks...

2010-03-17T20:08:00.000-04:00

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Ray's Birthday

2010-03-15T21:25:00.000-04:00

some of the birthday fun...

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