The Jones Journal

so typical

while watching a little kelly clarkson on mtv,

kayla does some interpretive dancing while thomas talks on his cell phone.

sick

poor little guy hasn't been feeling well the past few days. he started breathing treatments today, so hopefully he'll be back to normal within a few days.

fun

running past my neighbor's sprinklers.

for nana

a drawing for you:

( nana is crossing a bridge, over the blue/green/orange water, to get to the other side of the rainbow. the orange in the middle of the rainbow is the sky. )

happy belated birthday!

love,

kayla

zeus

the sweetest, happiest, cutest dog.

we put him to rest today.
we'll miss you, zeus.

:(

day 27

both kids like to take care of their babies.

comfy spot

this is perfect. he loves it and so does his sister. thanks tommy, melissa, and peyton.

isn't she lovely?

we had time to play a little dress-up before work today. doesn't this kinda remind you of julia roberts in pretty woman, at the horse race with the big brimmed hat?

also, a couple of you asked about thomas' birthday cake. i was going for a train, but the kids thought it looked like a truck.

nap time

first of all, let me say, that this is a rarity, since -one- my eldest generally refuses to take quiet time, let alone nap and -two- they are sleeping at the same time.

and secondly, i'm babysitting a friend's 2 children ( ages 9 months and 3 years ) tonight, so i really could use the quiet time, and i expect to most likely fall asleep within minutes of them leaving.

thank you. and good night.

:)

Do they give loans to the "tooth fairy"?

Because at the rate Peyton is going..."she" is going to need one! He lost his 2nd tooth Tuesday night! Thought you might like to see :)

Love,
Melissa

( picture of my adorable nephew
written by my lovely sister-in-law. )

my baby is 2 !

thanks everyone for the phone calls and gifts.

for papa

on your birthday:

" you make me happy, papa. "

love,

kayla

will he be...

the next bobby fischer?

a broadway actor?

an American idol?

a handyman?

WHOA!?!?! get those hands away from there!

you really know how to ruin your mother's dreams :)

hmmm...

he doesn't like tomato/tomato sauce, but he loves ketchup.
he doesn't like white milk, but he loves chocolate milk.
he doesn't like white potatoes, but he loves sweet potatoes.
he doesn't like sticky hands, but he'll keep a sticky face.
he doesn't like wet clothes, but he'll wear a wet diaper.
he doesn't like washing his face, but he loves baths.
he doesn't like when his pants don't fit just right, but he'll wear only 1 sock.

he's only going to be 2, but he's kinda weird :)

and, speaking of birthdays, papa is having a birthday tomorrow, the 22nd. he's going to be the big 3 - 0 (wink, wink). i wanted to share this picture, which is one of my all-time favorites. back in 2006, nana and papa came to visit us and we took a short, little trip up to sedona, arizona. this was at the trout farm, ie. a pond with 600+ trout swimming in it, mainly for children to easily catch fish. well, turns out, kayla was a bit scared of the squirming fish. so guess who probably had more fun? i love that i caught them both in a moment, sharing a laugh, obviously tickled...

happy birthday, papa.

i can't live without

my sister. yes, there is a little ( cough, cough ) sibling rivalry, but overall, he knows his sister is here to stay and i don't think he would have it any other way. he is always thinking of her - at snack time, he'll make sure he has 2 - one for him, one for sister; at meal time, he'll call her to eat; at naptime, he likes to nap in her bed; at bedtime, he likes for her to lay with him until he falls asleep. he loves her. and i think the most adorable thing is that he doesn't call her kayla, he calls her "sister."

and he does have a sweet sister. on our way home from church today, she said she wanted to give something to her daddy. we were already going to go for donuts, so she said she would get one for daddy and then put candles all over it to surprise him.

we think he's number one. i think he loved it :)

book order

the other day, kayla asked me, "can i email and get a book in the mail?" i didn't understand what she was saying, but then we got home and she pointed out the book that daddy had just received. see, her daddy often orders books on amazon. since there are different sellers, one order of 5 books may come 1 at a time, so it would seem that he gets books almost every day.

so, kayla and i got on the computer and checked out walmart.com. she picked out 13 books she wanted ( yes, 13! ). we didn't really order them, though. everyday since then, whenever we check the mail, she'll ask if her books came in. so, thanks to the giftcard tommy and melissa sent us, i went out to walmart and got her a couple of the books she wanted, packaged them, and set them outside our door.

when she got home, she was excited to see that her books had arrived.

thanks tommy, melissa, and peyton for the giftcard!

by the way, i wasn't able to get any good pictures of thomas today. i think he's on to me :) i'll have to try harder tomorrow.

thomas

i was over at my girlfriend's house the other day and she showed me the scrapbook she has made for her son. it was really lovely. what i liked the most is that she listed all the favorites at each month of his life. i was really good at doing that with kayla. not so much with thomas though. ( a disadvantage of being the second child?? ) so, in the last few days i have left before his birthday, i am going to try to capture some of his favorites, some of his quirks, and what he is up to before the big day.

he loves to read. right now, Thomas the Train and Cars are his favorite subjects. he likes the abbreviated version and the pictures. loves the pictures. actually, the other day, while we were getting ready, thomas was alone in kayla's room flipping through one of her books. love that.

still loves to play with his cars. he likes to line them up and he's really particular. if one car flips over or isn't touching the one ahead of it, he'll fix it. along the same lines, he likes his blanket all nice and straight. tom thinks he gets this ocd behavior from me :)

he loves

his daddy. even when daddy doesn't make it home for dinner, he still wants to slide his chair right next to "daddy's seat."

in case you were wondering

here's a picture from yesterday that will give you some idea of how the two compare in terms of height.

4:58 AM

the time when someone likes to get up. he likes to talk to you even though you're sleeping. he also wants you to get him something to drink and a snack. and a book, he wants to read too. at 4:58...AM...in the morning.

on mornings, like today, i like to say a prayer that goes something like this:

DEAR LORD,
SO FAR TODAY, GOD,
I'VE DONE ALL RIGHT.
I HAVEN'T GOSSIPED,
HAVEN'T LOST MY TEMPER,
HAVEN'T BEEN GREEDY, GRUMPY, OR NASTY,
SELFISH OR OVER-INDULGENT.
I'M REALLY GLAD ABOUT THAT.

BUT,
IN A FEW MINUTES, GOD,
I AM GOING TO GET OUT OF BED
AND FROM THEN ON
I'M PROBABLY GOING TO NEED
A LOT MORE HELP.

THANK YOU,
IN JESUS' NAME.
AMEN

oh, and here's the someone i'm referring to. don't let his good looks fool you ;)

everyday

they love to find things on our daily walks or trips to the park.

day 13 and 14

on sunday, we picked oranges from our tree.
we ended up having 3 baskets of oranges.
then we pretended we were farmers and
had to deliver them to the stores in our truck.

today, we are still playing with the oranges,
but now they are pretending to be hanzel and gretel
and leaving a path to find their way home.
guess who is the mean stepmother? ( see post from friday. )

look who's visiting

:)

he has been working so much.
we just haven't seen much of him since he's gone back to work.

so she says

when i go to work on fridays, i usually give her a list of 3 things i want her to do.
usually, it's put all the cups in the sink, pick up the toys, practice your letters.
nothing too big or difficult.
so she tells me,

"mommy, when i get big and have to go to work,
i'm not going to make my kids do any chores."

yeah, uh, okay....whatever.

his preference

he would rather ride this bike and use his legs to scoot him around
than ride his tricycle and use the pedals.

he does move pretty well and can go quite far.

should i just leave the boy alone?

betcha didn't think

we get a change in seasons here.

we got to play at the park with uncle joe today.
so much fun.

site info

just wanted to follow-up on some questions i've gotten.

we don't allow comments on here because we get a lot of junk/automated/not appropriate comments when we open them up. please feel free to email me with comments, questions, requests, or just to chat. please feel free to email tom with complaints, criticisms, or critiques ;)

i'm going to try this smaller size for the pictures. hopefully, it'll load a little faster for you. let me know if this is better.

thanks everyone for looking.

bath time

had to share another photo for today. i love having them take a bath together. (sigh)...they are getting so big.

guess who?

we love uncle joe!

yes, he's wearing the same shirt again.
yes, that's twice this week already.
yes, it's only tuesday.

:)

hi

just me. and my new baby. i love her. also, love my new camera strap. thanks mom and dad.

his favorite

new shirt.

1 of 7

shoes grandpa gave her when he came back from vietnam last year. aren't they cute?

he likes jewelry

don't worry papa; he doesn't do dresses :)

not easy

i took at least 10 shots of them together, and this was the best one. anyone got any tips for getting a 2 year old to pose?

new favorite

her favorite christmas present ( thanks for letting santa know, aunt kristen. )

a clean slate

i love beginnings. i love looking forward. i love having high expectations. i love having a fresh start.

but, i'm thinking, him, not so much.

2008

i got this awesome camera for christmas and i want to learn how to take better pictures, so i am going to start Project 365.

http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/

i will take pictures every day and post them for you to see. most of them will be of the kids, but i hope that as i get better, i will be able to see more creatively and find other interesting things to shoot. i hope you will enjoy the pictures, as much as i enjoy taking them.

thanks for looking.

and happy new year.