Smiles

Miss E has so many adorable faces. She loves to smile these days and here are some pictures I took earlier tonight. Enjoy!

Friday Ramblings

Hi everyone! I thought I would post some pics on here tonight. We are having a good week!

• Tuesday was a fun day at the water park with MOPS friends and pizza night!
• Wednesday we had preschool and some excitement on base as President Obama came to tour the solar panels that are located right by our house. I didn't realize how cool they were since I drive by them every day, but apparently the pres. is a big fan.
• Thursday the kids and I had fun morning. They wanted pancakes for breakfast so every few months I let them wear their jammies and we drive to the McDonalds drive-in and get pancakes and yogurt cups. It's funny how little things like that are so fun for them. Thursday night, I went to the airport (with just Miss E since my cool sister hung out at the house while the older ones slept) and picked up Grandma Jones! We are so excited to have her here for the week!
• Today, both the girls woke up sick with bad colds, so we didn't go to preschool. Instead we had a nice day at home. It was kind of cloudy and even rained a little bit (this is exciting for us because we don't see the rain all that often). We got to skype with Mr. J for a whole hour today which was awesome. Mr. T kept trying to kiss the screen. He misses his daddy so much. Whenever he sees the Subaru, the car Mr. J drives, he points at it and says "Daddy?" Also, since Miss O is sick, she has not been her normal happy self the last couple days, but she some how got a burst of energy when it was her turn to talk to Mr. J and talked and laughed for a while. After the skype call, I got to go to the commissary all by myself! It was so nice, I didn't quite know what to do with all the room in my cart that is usually occupied by kiddos! After getting home from the store, Grandma Jones helped me brown 6lbs of meat for the freezer (yeah!) and Aunt Nanny and the girls made Cookies and Cream Frozen Popsicles. Then after a yummy dinner of burritos, the kids and I took Grandma J on a 2 hour walk around the neighborhood.

Here are some pics of the kids eating their pops,

V is for Volcano

Today we used some leftover playdough, baking soda and vinegar to make a volcano! Miss M and Mr. T had a lot of fun watching it "explode."

Ear Piercing Day!!

On Saturday, we took a trip to the mall and Miss M and Miss O got their ears pierced! Miss M asked daddy for earrings for her birthday, so we decided she was ready to go have the piercing done.

Miss M in the chair ready to go!

We go Miss O's done too. Here she is in the chair!

Miss M shed a few tears after the first one was done, but still was happy to let the lady to the other one, and got a red lollipop when it was all done!
Getting the dots drawn on her ear

Elephant tears that only lasted a couple minutes. Once the lollipop was in her mouth she was fine and so happy to show her ears off to everyone.
Today I took some pics of the girls with their earrings...

No earrings on this dude, just a cheek bandaid that he rips off all the time....

Mr. T trying to ride in the back of his dump truck

Celebrating with Cupcakes

On Saturday, we celebrated Miss M's completion of the reading lesson book with cupcakes from The Cupcakery!

Miss E at 8 weeks

Here are a few pics of our sweet girl. She is smiling so much now!

Here are some smiling eyes

Hamster Shenanigans part 2

I am sure you all will be happy to know that the hamster has been found!! On Thursday night, after we got home from Deanna and Tom's, I saw a little scurrying in the shoe closet.... and there he was!! I was so glad he made himself known. Well, since he was found, I had been wondering where he was camping out, because I hadn't seen any sign of him around the house. On Friday, as I was getting my vacuum out of the closet, I found his little nest. I thought old Mr. B was quite resourceful, he used lint from the dryer, bandaid wrappers, a paper towel and some pieces of uncooked oatmeal. Here are some pics.

The escape master in the part of the cage he escaped from (which I made sure was secure when I put him back in)

The cleaning closet where he built his nest (that houses the world's best vacuum ever! My pink Oreck!)

Good Bye Uncle Tom!

Yesterday, my sister's husband, Tom, left for a 4 month deployment. The plan is for him to be at the same place as Mr. J, but we shall see if that really happens. It would be so neat if things work out that way. Here are some pictures from Thursday when we went over to their house for dinner. The kids love hanging out with Tom and he will be missed. We have gotten to spend a lot of extra time with Aunt Nanny since he has been gone. We are so glad we have each other!

Tooty-Ta

The kids love to sing this preschool action song called Tooty-Ta. The verses go something like this...Chorus: (Hands over head and clap) A tooty ta, A tooty ta. A tooty ta ta. A tooty ta, A tooty ta. A tooty ta ta. Thumbs up, elbows out, knees apart, bottom up, tongue out, eyes shut, turn around! Here are a few pics of the girls acting it out in the living room.

Mr. J's adventures

I was happy to get some pictures today from Mr. J. He sounds like he is doing well!

Mr. J flew on this today to go to a meeting. It sounded like he was glad to get out of the office. He said he got to eat a good dinner at the place we went to. We miss you!

His traveling buddies...

Mrs. J's favorite preschool things

Oops! I accidently posted this prematurely. I was trying to save it as a draft but it posted. So, I will keep working on it and update it when I am done

Favorite Preschool Things

Music: Debbie and Friends,

Dvd: Anything by Karyn Henley you can watch a youtube sample here and here. The kids have I Feel Like a Giggle and Down by the Station. What I really love her is how she uses things preschoolers understand and applies biblical principles to them. Like during the song about washing sins away, the kids in the video are washing their toys. And she talks about how we need to obey God just like how drivers need to obey stop lights and then sings a song about how the green says go and the red says stop. Right now, all 3 of the older kids love watching them. The kids got this dvd from Grandma Jones a few Christmas' a go and it has been watched soo many times! I even like the songs,

Bib

Highlights of our week

Hello blog readers! Tonight, I sat down to write Mr. J an email about what we have been up to, but decided to just post it on my blog instead. He seems to check it quite often. I have also added some pictures, cause who doesn't like pictures? So for some of you, this might be kind of boring, but here is what we have done this week....

Highlights of this week:

• Saturday: Delicious breakfast at Mimi's cafe with Aunt Nanny and Uncle Tom. Cleaning and then the hamster got out of his cage. Base Chapel Volunteer Dinner at the Enlisted Club on Base. A pretty fancy dinner to take 4 kids to. They had glass plates and cups and linen napkins. The kids did really well and I had so much help from my friends that were there that I actually had a fun time too! They helped the kids get their dinner (it was buffet style) and took turns holding Miss E. Also, Krystal asked the waitresses for a high chair and they had quite a nice one, with toys on top. We listened to one of the generals on base here speak and also were entertained by the gospel children's chior (which all 3 kids loved!)

• Sunday - puke day at the Jones house. Miss O woke up in the middle of the night saying she felt like she was going to puke (but thankfully, did not) and then Mr. T woke up crying around 430 am laying in puke. He threw up like 4 more times that morning, and then was done. Throughout it, he did not act like he was in any pain, still just as happy as could be. So we spent the day at home, the kids thought it was really fun that I let them watch a DVD in their room on the laptop (the above pictures were taken during this time). Unfortunately we missed church and the AWANA awards ceremony. Miss M finished her cubbie book this year and also won a very special medallion for being such a happy cubbie. She is so excited to be a Sparkie next year. Also, Sunday I was planning to go the commissary but couldn't so Deanna and Tom took my list and my debit card to the store with them when they went and bought all my groceries for me! It is SUCH a blessing to have them close by.

The funnest toy at our house this week - the barbecue water squirt bottle... hours of fun. The reason Mr. T is squatting like that is because he was copying me as I was taking his picture.
Miss Blue Eyes reading
Is he not the most handsomest little boy ever?!?Miss M's one-man band... harmonica in the mouth and she is using her back scratcher she bought at the AWANA store as a guitar....

• Monday- Preschool in the morning then home for lunch. I had called the doctors office about Mr. T's cheek sore, and they told me to come in for the walk-in clinic at 1pm. So I took all 4 kids to the doctors at nap time. The doc said there was no sign of infection and to just keep applying neosporin bid (twice a day) and try to keep a bandaid on it. But it is quite hard to convince an almost two year old to do that! We also stopped by and visited my work friends and got fig newtons at that shoppette for a snack. It actually went quite well. We came home and the middle ones took a nap while Miss M did her reading lesson. That evening we went for a walk.


• Tuesday - I got my hair cut and highlighted by my friend Krystal's friend. Krystal and Karen watched all 4 kiddos while I had it done (first time Miss E was with someone other than family). I really like my hair, it's a fun change. The last time I had my hair cut was last November! We came home and had lunch with daddy via the web cam. I love skype. Then, Mr. T went down for a nap and the girls and I made Tower of Babels (see pics below) thanks to this great idea from Christian. Then Deanna and Tom spent the evening with the three big kids while Elizabeth and I went to the MOPS mommies night out- this month we went to All Fired Up, a pottery painting place in Henderson. This was my first time painting pottery and I LOVED IT! It was so much fun!! I went with the idea to make a fruit bowl since I currently am using my colanders to hold all our fruit. I can't wait to get it back (on Tuesday) and I will post pictures of my creation. I would love to go back again and make a cookie jar. Also, I think it would be fun to take Miss M sometime, and the other kids as they get older.
  
  Their favorite part of building their towers was eating them at the end!
  

  
  

  


• Wednesday - Today the girls had preschool and Miss E and I had doctors appts, so Mr. T spent the morning in the 2 year old class at the place where the girls go to preschool. Miss E's appt went well! She was flashing smiles at the doctors and techs. Today she weighed 10 lb 10 oz (she was 9 lb 7 0z at birth) which puts her in the 50th percentile instead of the 95th (where she was at birth), so we will go back next week for a weight check. The doc said this just might be where she stays. She is still in the 95th percentile for height at 23.5 inches (she was 21.5 at birth). This afternoon we all came home and took naps so we would have energy to go to Costco! I needed to stock up on diapers, wipes and milk. Then the kids and I had a snack of smoothie and churros (healthy -no, delicious - yes!). After we got home, the kids played inside until it cooled down a bit, then around 7 ish we went on a long walk around our side of base. We stopped at a fun playground with a tire swing for about a half an hour and sat on our blanket and had a "night picnic" of oranges, pb&j sandwiches, graham crackers and milk. Then we walked back home and got here around 9. You might be wondering how I am able to walk this long with 4 kids? Well, on the way to our destination, Miss O and Miss M walk holding the double stroller, and Mr. T sits in front and Miss E lays in the back asleep. Then on the way home (or until Miss O can't keep up anymore) I put Miss E in the Baby Bjorn and have Miss O sit in her seat. We also take lots of ice water. I have really come to enjoy these evening walks for a number of reasons 1) it gets us out of the house after staying in for most of the day because of the heat 2) I get a pretty good workout, walking and pushing 60lbs and wearing 1olbs of kids 3) I usually see friends along the way and stop and chat 4) The kids are exhausted when we get home and fall right asleep! Anyways, after we got home from our walk this evening, as I was putting the kids to bed, I noticed the hamster cage was empty! Ahh! I know he was in his cage yesterday afternoon, but am not sure how long he has been loose. Maybe I can talk Tom and Deanna into coming over and helping me find him tomorrow.... or maybe I can leave the doors open for a long time and he will run out... just kidding! He figured out how to get out of the small circle opening on the left side of the cage. I think it's not the cages fault, but mine, I probably didn't shut it tightly enough after cleaning it on Saturday.

The plan for the rest of the week - tomorrow we are going to be home most of the day! Yeah! We are going to play, clean, do laundry, and take a trip to the post office and then dinner at Aunt Nanny and Uncle Tom's. Tom is leaving for his deployment on Saturday so this will be our good bye party for him. We have a 4 day weekend and I think I Saturday we are going to hit the Old Navy $1 flip flop sale and go to Just Cupcakes to celebrate Miss M's completion of her reading lesson book! She also has been asking to have her ears pierced, so we might do that as an early birthday present. She told Mr. J she wanted him to get her earrings for her birthday.

Now that it is quite late, I am going to go to bed. Maybe I will get a chance to post another blog tomorrow. I have a couple of ideas swimming around in my head... good night!