Last Day of School 2012

Kiss kindergarten and second grade good bye!  These tigers are moving on!

And then somehow our quick picture in the front yard with the tiger turned into a game of jump over the tiger.  Boys!

And I guess after being with your teacher all year, you start to look like your teacher?

May, the New December

May was a blur!  It was a race to the end and I took it day by day!  With countless baseball games, school activities, birthday parties, performances, picnics, meetings, trophy parties, field days, Artapalooza and class parties...I am about wiped out!  As always thankful to be in the race, but looking forward to June!

Happy Baker, Ball Player and Cheerleader Day!

Being a mom of three boys is a joy and a privilege.  It's really hard work too!  Today on this mother's day I am reminded of my valuable role.  David wrote the first letter and Ryan the second.  

I am honored!

Adam's cousins

Adam is quite fond of his older cousin Blake.  Just four months older, he thinks Blakey is the bomb!  We talk about him all day and pray for him at night.  Mind you, Adam has other cousins but Blake is someone special!

Adam says, "Blakey is my best friend AND my cousin!"

Lately, Adam has added another cousin to the family.  His best bud Chapel has now been adopted as his cousin.  So this is to inform the Jones cousins we have an honorary member!

Chapel and Adam

David and Ryan

David and Ryan, brothers eighteen months apart for the longest time have seemed like twins.  Currently weighing five pounds different and within inches, it's understandable their like two peas in a pod.

A few months ago, I took to preschool a friend of mines little boy, she was in need of help that day.  Her little boy who was about five years-old sat next to Adam in the backseat.  As we rode to school I couldn't help but laugh at their conversation.  At one point in their conversation, Adam asked the boy if he knew David?  The little boy responded, "like David and Goliath?"  To which Adam promptly said, "no, like David and Ryan!"

I pray my boys remain best friends and compadres!

Ben Jones

Wondering who Ben Jones is?  Ask Adam and he will tell you...he lives in the basement of Mimi and Bapa's house.  How horrid does that sound?  It all started when David and Ryan were very young and Uncle Russell made up the story of Ben Jones.

According to Uncle Russell, Ben was a long lost Jones boy of Mimi and Bapa who got stuck in the basement and never returned.  Really it's a wretched thought, but whatever it's what he said.  So the idea of Ben turned legend and has been a running joke, but Adam has clung to it as truth.  He is slightly tormented at the idea of a man living in the basement of his grandparents and of course Uncle Russell has embellished the story of Ben to Adam's sheer terror.

For weeks, I have been trying to convince Adam that Ben is not real.  And let me just say Adam does not believe me for one second.  We even staged an extermination of Ben.  Uncle David went down the basement to get rid of Ben, but Adam didn't buy it.  Meanwhile, Adam boldly speaks about Ben to his teachers, babysitters and friends and I go behind him explaining Ben's ever so strange and slightly funny existence.

Adam Mix Ups

Adam cracks me up!  The things two year old little boys get mixed up...

So one night recently at dinner I served mushrooms as a side.  Ryan, was having trouble eating them and he all but protested.  I told him how when Daddy and I were first married, I fixed mushrooms all the time and Daddy didn't like them either.  But I kept tricking Daddy and putting them in things until soon enough he realized he liked mushrooms.  To which Adam quickly replied, "you tricked Daddy to marry you?"

Then this is the year he really gets Santa Claus.  However, he thinks he lives in heaven with Jesus and God.

Today on the playground, a little girl came crying to her mother.  I immediately looked and Adam was nowhere in sight, so I was pleased to think he was not the culprit.  A few moments later, Adam came running up to me and said, "I did not push her, I moved her."

Adam, you keep me on my toes!

Hunting in Diapers

It's November which means hunting season is in full swing.  Poor Brandon finds less and less time to hunt as our daily activities seem to get in the way, but this past Sunday he broke away with all three boys.  Yes, Adam is still in diapers, but he is old enough to head for a hog hunt with Daddy and his big brothers. 

A Little Time in Arizona

Last week Brandon and I got a quick little escape to Arizona.  Brandon was a guest speaker at a tax conference and I got to tag along.  We flew into Phoenix and then rented a car and drove to Sedona.  It was all so lovely and we enjoyed our time spent together. 

Woody and Two Creepy Guys

by Ryan

Halloween proved to be a blast last week.  I was so excited about Adam's costume and less than excited about the big boys costumes.  Every year David and Ryan want to be creepy crazy scary things!  I am opposed but get overruled. 

Adam went as Woody this year.  Here he is having trouble and refuses to wear his other shoe.  After wearing Crocs most of his entire life, he is not real fond of the stiff cowboy boots.  However, he caught on quick if you snooze you lose.  After two Twizzlers and a Totsie Pop, he never said another word about his feet. 

Eight is Great

  

Camp Longhorn acceptance letter

 

Math super star competition

David turned eight this week, and my heart is still adjusting to this number.  It's been a big week for you!  To begin, you received your acceptance letter to Camp Longhorn.  It was like getting a college acceptance letter!  Then, you won for the fifth time, math super star and your teacher retired you from adding/subtracting to multiplication.

And then, your eighth birthday!  This was the year of the football!  Texas A&M or TCU you have ten years to keep your eye on this kid, he is remarkable in every way and if you are blessed enough to get him, you've got yourself a winner. 

Conversations with Adam

The details of how all this started are a little fuzzy since I did not realize at the time it would be significant.  Adam has been on a big Santa kick lately.  He is very excited about Santa's arrival but he made it clear he does not want Santa to touch him when he visits our house.  He tells me that Santa is going to bring him graham crackers and he is very excited about this present.  Because he has been talking so much about Santa, I figured I ought to throw a little Jesus into the equation.  So last week while conversing with Adam I purposefully started talking about Jesus.  I was getting ready for Women in the Word (my weekly Bible study at our church) and Adam was playing and talking and making a mess.

Now before I tell anymore of the story here is a little background information that is funny and leads to this point.  A couple of weeks prior we attended family worship at our church.  It's once a quarter and it' a time where the whole family gathers with other families to sing, pray and worship together.  And to make it even better there is pizza and cookies at the end!  Anyway during this worship time, a skit was performed and in this skit there was a robot character.  The robot costume was shiny and reflective and very robot like.  After the skit was over and the robot exited the stage, Adam said, "God was scary."  I laughed as I realized he must have thought this robot dude was God.  Took some convincing and I am not sure I did it, but I tried to explain that was not God and God is not scary. 

Now back to the point, so I was telling Adam about asking Jesus into your heart and how Jesus was in my heart.  I explained how you have to knock and ask Jesus.  I know it sounds very mature, but I figured it would all go over his head anyway and I was only planting the seed.  Well, he said he wanted to ask Jesus but he was scary.  I reminded him Jesus was not a robot.  He seemed reassured and then he said it would hurt to have Jesus in his heart.  I laughed and assured him it would not hurt.  He said he wanted to knock and ask Jesus.  All this time, I was thinking this is sweet, but he won't remember and he is too young to understand.  Bur we asked Jesus together.  He said he wanted to do it again and I told him he only had to ask once and Jesus would never let him go.

So a few days later he came back from Waco where he visited his grandparents.  Mimi told me he talked a lot about Jesus and how you only have to ask Jesus into your heart one time.  Impressed, I explained to her my talk with Adam.  Beginning to realize this was God's work, not mine, I marveled and delighted in Adam's growing faith.  And then as I prayed with Adam tonight before bed, he thanked God for having Jesus in his heart.  And then, so did I.

Not Summer Anymore

There is a chill in the air and finally today, it felt like fall and not summer.  I truly love this time of year!  Made my tortilla soup this past weekend - that's my official fall kick off. 

Great Wolf Lodge

David's birthday is around the corner and it's getting trickier every year to plan and execute a great party for him.  This year I might have topped myself, and I did nothing but show up.  David invited two friends and Ryan and we headed to Great Wolf Lodge (thanks for the gift certificate Granddad and Marymom) for Sunday and Monday (thanks for the holiday Columbus).

The main attraction is the indoor water park.  Genius!  It was quite the place, perfect for kids and somewhat of a beating for adults.  We stayed in a kids suite complete with cabin style bunk beds and on demand kids movies.

Of course, there are a lot of ways to drop cash fast, like the arcade, airbrush tattoos and ice cream.  The highlight was when David hit the monster jackpot on a game and received over 1,200 tickets.  With that, he cashed in and bought three angry bird balls and a smurf.

I am thankful for the love of David's sweet friends and his brother.  Although he cannot fully appreciate that gift now, I pray he will one day look back and cherish times with his best buds!

A Good Guy

Adam is my constant narrator.  He talks all the time and tells me all that is going on.  His most favorite time to narrate is in the car.  "Look, a garbage truck, see the garbage truck?  There is Jody's house, there is his house.  Oh, a train, a train, see it?  See the train?  There is the river, see the river?"  And on and on he goes.  And if I am not listening fully, he knows it, and repeats.

The other day, in the midst of all his talking he added, "I am a good man."  I told him he was not a man yet, but he would someday be a good man like Daddy.  He then said, "I am a good guy."  Yes, sweet buddy you are a good guy.

And changing the subject, here is Adam sleeping on the floor at night.  He takes naps at school on his nap mat and he has gotten rather use to the floor and now prefers it for bedtime.