AWANA Grand Prix

As you may have been able to tell, I am trying to catch up on my blogging so I am posting pictures from March (I only have one more left after this!). Below are pictures of the AWANA Grand Prix. This was Miss M's second year and it was the Saturday after Miss E was born. Mr. J made a couple of great cars this year, one for Miss M and one for him. The kids helped pick out the design and the colors. Miss M's was modeled after the monopoly car and painted lavender. The cars raced great. Miss M's got 2nd place for speed and most creative in the cubbies category. Mr. M's got 1st place for speed for the leaders.

Miss M and Commander K

Mr. J's red car

Miss M proudly getting her car

Miss E's first real outing.

Silly girl

Mr. T and Uncle Tom

Miss M's car

The pit crew....This is one of the things I was glad Mr. T got to be in town for, since they had put a lot of work into the cars.

Great Grandparents part 1

Here are some pictures of our visit with Mr. J's grandpa and his wife. This was in March before baby E was born. We had a great time seeing them!

Great Grandpa J teaching the kids how to climb the mountain in our back yard
Great Grandma J playing dollhouse with the kids

Gonzaga basketball

After spending 6 years in Spokane, Mr. J became a huge Gonzaga basketball fan. For those of you who aren't from Washington, Gonzaga is a small Catholic university in Spokane that has a stellar basketball team. So you can imagine Mr. J's excitement when he found out last year that they would be holding the West Coast Conference Championship right here in Vegas. So, we splurged and got tickets to the conference that was the first weekend in March. Friday and Saturday night we got to watch some other teams play and on Sunday and Monday we got to watch the Zags. They were so much fun! There were so many people there to cheer on Gonzaga, it was great. We felt like we were back in Spokane! Of course, GU won both games. They went on to the big dance and eventually lost to the Tarheels (who ended up winning the whole thing).

The kids had lots of fun. The highlight for them was the concession stands. There was a ticket mix up that occured prior to the tournament and people at the Orleans (where the games were at) were so glad Mr. J brought in the extra tickets they accidently sent him, that they gave us a bunch of free coupons to use at the concession stands. The kids got popcorn one night, and cotton candy on another. Also, the girls really liked the cheerleaders as well. This led to some good conversations on modesty... since that was something some of the teams cheerleaders lacked. The tournament occured during spring break week, so there were lots of students at the game. The girls sitting in front of us had made lots of creative signs, so Miss M. used her magnadoodle to practice writing Go Zags and holding it up.


All ready for the game...

Pink Cupcakes

In early March, the kids and I spent the morning making pink cupcakes, just like in the library book they got that week called Pinkilicious. The kids had lots of fun and they were very delicious!

It's Official

I have been waiting a while to write this post. For the last year and a half Mr. J has almost deployed and then got his orders canceled a couple of times. Most recently we thought he was going and then it got canceled and we thought he was going in July. Well, about a week and a half ago he got a tasking to leave today and.. it didn't get canceled. He was picked up at 7 am and is now really gone.

Mr. J's orders say he will be gone for 101 days, which means he will be back the end of July. Last night, he went to the commissary and bought a ton of candy. He brought it all home and helped each of the kids fill a container of a 110 pieces of candy. He told them they could have a piece every day and when it was all gone, he would be home. He even made one for me with my favorite Dove chocolates!

The last couple weeks have been full of great family time, eating out way too many times (since Mr. J will get to have chow hall food for a couple of months), purchasing a laptop and mp3 player, packing, a few tears and lots of Miss E cuddle time. Since she is so little, she will probably change the most over the next 4 months. We were so thankful the Mr. J got to be here for her birth and this first month of adjusting to 4 kids. His original leave date was the date she was due... so every day after that that he was here felt like a gift!

For those of you who know Mr. J, you know he is an excellent father, husband and friend. I told him that it made it harder for me to say good bye because of this reason....

UPDATE: So I started writing this post yesterday (Sunday) morning shortly after he left. Then the kids and I played dress up and took a walk to the playground. Then that afternoon, Deanna and Tom came over and made us a delicious dinner and hung out. It was so nice cause I had two adults to converse with and it made things feel more normal. That night I got to talk to Mr. J for a long time since he was in Baltimore for the night, waiting to leave. This morning, we practiced using Skype (computer camera phone) from his hotel lobby and it worked great. The kids loved getting to see him and talk to him. Especially Mr. T since he doesn't really talk on a normal phone. Our day went by well, the girls went to preschool. Today was tea party dress up day so, of course, they loved that. While they were there, Mr. T, Miss E and I worked out by going for a long walk around base and then we met Deanna at the base Starbucks cause she was on her lunch break (she works at the preschool/daycare center on base). This afternoon, the kids took great naps and we spent the early evening playing at the playground. Now we are having movie night. They have their jammies on and are eating popcorn in the living room and watching Swiss Family Robinson. Mr. J should be on a plane now traveling to his final destination. Please pray for his safety and for rest for him, he has trouble sleeping on planes. Also, pray for the kids and I, that these pesty colds would go away (especially in Miss E). Please email or leave me a comment if you would like Mr. J's address. As soon as he gets it, I will send it to you. I do have an email address that he will check regularly if you want that too.

Happy Easter from the Jones Family!

We hope everyone had a great Easter celebrating the Resurrection of Christ. It was a great day for our family. We had awesome fellowship this morning over breakfast with our church family as well as Deanna and Tom. Then we went to worship service where we got to sing some great hymns and hear a really good message. Although I have heard the resurrection account many times before, it is always so amazing to me how Jesus, who lived a perfect life, would die on the cross for a sinner like me... and so awesome how 3 days later God rose Him from death. What a fabulous reason to celebrate!

This afternoon we went to Freedom Park on base and celebrated Easter with our friends from the Nellis Chapel. Again, we got to sing some awesome worship songs and eat more yummy food. The kids did an easter egg hunt and flew kites. Tom and Mr. J played wall ball under a stealth bomber display. It was really fun. Here are some Easter pics

Wall ball

We had a great time with Deanna and Tom today! I love that we got to spend the whole day with them!

Our little bunny girl

Tom calls my sling the "hippy mommy sack" but I love it! Thanks to my awesome friend who sent it all the way from Germany. How did I have 3 kids without one?

The kids got so much candy this week, that means Mr. J and I eat a lot of it!

Some boy at the park gave the girls this mickie mouse kite, they enjoyed flying it and so did Uncle Tom

And this is our sweet Miss E at 2 1/2 weeks old. So beautiful! She is doing very well. Last night she gave me 6 straight hours of sleep!

Meeting Grandpa and Grandma Jones

We were so blessed to have Mr. J's parent's here the week of Miss E's arrival. The kids had so much fun with them! Gma J used to be a preschool teacher and always thinks of very fun things to do with the kids. On one of her previous visits, she let the kids fingerpaint with chocolate pudding. While they were here this time, they played playdough, went on walks and hikes, baked cinnamon rolls and homemade bread. It was great! It was also so neat to have them there to meet Miss E when she was so fresh and new. Since they live in Montana, it usually takes a while before they get to meet their newest grandbabies. After we brought Miss E home and she got to meet all her siblings, Gpa J read to her Psalm 139 and prayed for her. What a fabulous start to her new little life! Enjoy the pictures

This is one of Miss E's first times being really alert... she was really studying her Gma J

I always like to have my cupboards stocked with baking stuff because Mr. J can usually talk his mom into making him some delicious cinnamon rolls! Yum!

Mr. T enjoyed wrestling with Gpa

The kids love being read to and Gpa J was happy to do so

Gpa J reading and praying for Miss E!

Our growing family...

At 11:30 on March 25th, we were able to bring Baby E home to meet the siblings! This was such a precious time for all of us. They all adore their sister and loved having a chance to snuggle her. Enjoy the pics!