5 Years Ago Today......

....a baby arrived by FedEx. It's hard to believe, but five years ago on this day R and I received the first picture of our baby G.

Today was so different from that day. I remember being just as nervous as the proverbial cat. We knew the package was coming because the agency had given us the tracking number, but we didn't know what time of day it would be delivered.

I had taken off of work to make sure I was here at home when the package arrived and R and I had agreed that we would wait to open it together. At that time, our house still had that neat and unlived in appearance:-) I remember that I hadn't slept much the night before and was up early and dressed. I was listening to a Nora Jones CD and just picking at things around the house when the doorbell rang.

In my haste to greet my hero the FedEx Man, I neglected to turn off the house alarm. Caught up in the moment, I am sobbing and telling this complete stranger about the contents of the package he is holding, as the house alarm has now gone from warning mode to panic mode. He was the kindest man-he said he had never delivered anyone's baby before and asked if it would be okay to pray with me. So there I am at the front door of our house, praying with the FedEx Man, the alarm is still going off, and now the phone is ringing.

Thankfully we had caller ID and I was able to call the alarm company back and have them call off the police they had dispatched. Comical now as I think back on it.....

Here's a few pics that capture the moment-


Our hero the FedEx Man


The proud new parents

Savannah part 2

We made it back home just in time for the snow! I'm not sure of the exact total but it has to be at least 8". I've noticed that the general consensus seems to be more relaxed this time around, of course what else could it be after having 2' of snow during the last storm?

We had a great time on our trip to Hilton Head, SC/Savannah, GA. I got to do a little outlet shopping, R got to catch a little bit of extra sleep and the girls fell completely off of their routine. Not too hard to do when we got on the road at 2:00am coming and going. R and I figured it would be a much easier drive if the girls were able to sleep part of the way. It was easier on them but I've decided I'm just too old to pull an all-nighter like that. The effects lingered for days.......

Here are some of the pics from our time in Savannah-


The four of us at Forsyth Park


R and the girls on River St.


G at the Pirates House


Gotta love this girl and her hats:-)


G and K on the beach at Hilton Head

We're on the road again.......

I can't believe the end of January is almost here. It's been a busy month. Just getting the Christmas tree down and all the new toys put away was an almost overwhelming task. This will be a long post since I've been such a slacker about updating this month, so bear with me.

G got back to school early in the month. She didn't want to, but she made it :-) The first week back FCS had Spirit Week and each day the kids got to wear something different, other than their uniforms. They had pajama day, school colors day, mismatch day....... I think that also helped make the transition back a little easier. She has also started reading groups in her class and is very excited about that.

We got back to Daisies which is always fun. G is selling Girl Scout cookies which the Daisies don't normally do the first year but hers is a mixed troop of Daisies and Brownies so she gets to participate. The night that we came home after the meeting she wanted to call everyone and try to sell them cookies-it was very cute! Many thanks to all our friends and family who have participated. G set a goal of 150 boxes-that's how many you have to sell to get the stuffed Panda-and she has already sold over 100 boxes. We've got about 2 weeks left to sell and hopefully she will meet her goal. If not, my family may see a lot of Girl Scout cookies at the family functions:-)

Earlier this month, my wonderful Aunt J sent Christmas for the girls, complete with homemade cookies. It was like celebrating the holiday all over again! The girls loved the presents and we loved having the cookies. G loved the Lee Middleton doll (I love the doll-this is the doll that I would have picked for myself)the books, and the makeup kit. K got a doll,a beautiful handmade quilt, some books and these really great animal cards. See pics below. Thanks Aunt J and Cousin R! I'll be sending you lots of pics by mail!

Baby K is crawling, pulling up on things, starting to cruise and in general has become a small wrecking crew on her own. She is so curious! She gets into things that G never considered touching-she's curious about the electric outlets, the steps, and she's a vacuum cleaner when it comes to any little piece of something that is on the floor. The laundry basket pic was 30 seconds alone as I was putting things away-you can imagine what would happen if she had 10 minutes to herself.

We're in Hilton Head this week trying to relax with the girls. It's too cold to get in the water but we've managed to spend a little time on the beach collecting shells. Yesterday we did a day trip into Savannah, GA. Beautiful! The kind of place that you would actually like to spend a couple of days exploring. The architecture in the historic district is so grand and beautiful, much more so than in our own historic downtown area. There are lots of historic homes available to tour but with the kids we had to limit the amount of "adult activities". We chose to visit the Juliette Gordon Low home-the founder of the Girl Scouts. It was a good tour and G really enjoyed it-it was exciting to see her make the connection between what she was seeing and how it played into her Daisy troop.

I'll post a couple of pics I took on the beach but will have to post the rest later. My gang has gotten up and is ready to start their day.



The girls before the paper shredding started.......


G and her new baby


Baby K and the really fun animal cards


My laundry helper


Baby K on the beach in Hilton Head


G collecting shells in Hilton Head

Goodbye to the Old, Hello to the New

Happy New Year! It really doesn't seem like a year has come and gone.

Despite all the grim economic and world news of the past year, 2009 was a great year for our family. We welcomed Baby K, our families are healthy, including R and I who are "not 18 anymore", and our personal economic situation-while not great-is a lot better than a lot of other folks.

This is the perfect opportunity to say thanks to our families for their love and support this past year (and always), thank you to the two wonderful women who gave birth to the two girls I now call my own, thanks to my husband for allowing me to follow my dream (could be a nightmare depending on the day :-) of being a stay-at-home mom, thanks to my two wonderful girls for the blessings that you are, and above all else, thank you Lord for all these wonderful people that you've put in my life.

A New Year's post wouldn't be complete without a few resolutions so here are mine for 2010:
-a little more patience for the chaotic mornings in our household (regardless of the night before prep, the last 5 minutes before going out the door are always chaos)
-a little more wisdom to determine how to eliminate the chaotic mornings in our household (could also use some of that in other situations as well)
-better time management skills (remembering that there are really only a limited number of hours in the day)
-to raise my children to be kind, responsible, and productive individuals
-and above all else, to remember to slow down and enjoy the little moments because life is about the journey, not the destination

The Paper has Settled.....

Wow-what a busy holiday season! Over the course of last week, we celebrated Christmas four times. Each complete with a meal and presents.

The first was at my folks house-Grammy and D-daddy to the girls. You'll see pics below of Baby K and G with cousin RJ.

Two days later, we went to R's folks house-Mimi and Papa to the girls. G was so excited about her Julie Albright doll. Baby K received the Bitty Baby doll but as you can see from her pic, it was all about the paper, cards and bows.

Two days after that, we spent Christmas Eve at R's extended family. Each year, everyone gathers at Aunt B's house for food and of course, more presents. This is also the stop where we do the family pics. Each attending family takes a group shot in front of the fireplace. Same spot, same family groups each year-you can look back at each year and see how much the kids have grown (or how much the grown-ups have aged). Baby K was taking a nap this year!

Then we had Christmas Day at our house. According to D-daddy, Santa must have dumped his sleigh in the family room. It certainly appeared to be a lot for two little girls. You'll see the pics of the girls in the red pj's-those are the Christmas morning pics. G received a lot of American Girl accessories for Julie Albright-you have to wonder how Santa knew about that? I got a big pink buggy, oh wait a minute, that was for Baby K. Who looked absolutely adorable riding around in it. I'm not sure how long it will actually fit her and be practical, but it sure is cute.

After all the excitement at our house, we spent the late afternoon at Aunt M's house. You guessed it, more food and more presents. It was an especially nice visit because we got to spend time with our family members, Aunt B and L, who are missionaries with ADRA in Africa and who are home in the states for a couple of weeks while L recovers from an infection.

The final pic is us-we're not all smiling but sometimes with a little one you have to take what you can get:-)

A big thank you to all our families for making this such a great holiday for the girls and for us-We love you all!


The cutest littlest present!


G and cousin RJ


G and Julie Albright


Baby K opening presents :-)


Thompson and Jones families at Aunt B's on Christmas Eve


G on Christmas morning


Toot! Toot! Chugga Chugga Big Pink Car......


The Jones family

Two Days Before Christmas

It's hard to believe that it's only two days until Christmas! All the planning that starts months ahead and then the last couple of weeks seem to rush by. This past weekend we got 24" of snow and it's really slowed everyone's pace down a bit, it's been kind of nice, actually. Our geographic area tends to panic when there is a couple of inches of snow so you can imagine that everything and everybody was completely paralyzed for the first couple of days.

December has been a busy month for the Jones family. First, I have finally become totally immersed in suburbia-we traded in the Mercedes for a MiniVan. For those of you who said it was going to happen against all of "my never in a million years", go ahead and chuckle. I have to say that I'm really glad to have made my last climb over the center console in the Mercedes to get to Baby K-as G has reminds me rather frequently, "you're not 18 anymore." All joking aside, the van actually rides smoother than the Mercedes and there is definitely more room in the front seats. R can actually ride comfortably in the passenger seat even with Baby K's carseat behind him.

Next, Baby K had her 8 month pics taken at a local picture studio. See pics below of her and G. I had hoped to get a pic of both girls together but no such luck on this trip (never fear, we'll be going back in April to do Baby K's 1 year pics:-). I did get a great pic of the girls and myself that I plan to frame and surprise R with for Christmas.

G has been busy with school and extra holiday activities this month. She went to her first Daisy meeting-she was so excited to be a part of the troop and to have some of her friends there from her preschool class. The troop leader is fantastic-not only does she seem super organized but she is so good with all the girls. I also took her to some holiday craft classes. At one, she made a graham cracker house, complete with a marshmallow snowman, that has become the centerpiece for our kitchen table.

This past Friday was G's last day of school and her class had a birthday party for Jesus. It was a great way to celebrate the true meaning of the holiday. Below are pics of Aunt M and Baby K and also of cousin J and the girls. The picture of the cousins is my "once in a million years" shot-all three kids are not only looking at the camera but are also smiling. Note the dress that Baby K is wearing-it was a hand-me-down from some of our dear friends. I have pics of their girls wearing those same dresses. Seems like only yesterday that their youngest was small enough to wear that dress, now she's 3 and going to preschool and their older daughter is in kindergarten. Where does the time go?

Enjoy the pics! I'll try to be a little more timely with the Christmas morning pics-


G


Baby K


Christmas card pics at Grammy's house


Aunt M and Baby K


The Cousins

Where did Thanksgiving go????

Where did Thanksgiving go? I guess in my excitement to get to Christmas, I missed making a post about Thanksgiving-getting old is hell:-)

G had a Thanksgiving Feast at school and she was a pilgrim. The teachers had put together the cutest pilgrim accessories. Take a look at the pic below-the hat and the collar are fabric and are assembled using fabric glue. A very crafty and quick idea that I'll tuck away for next year.

Our family had a great Thanksgiving. First stop was at my parent's house and then about 3 hours later we went R's families home to eat again. As is the tradition, by the time we make it home, we are overstuffed and miserable from eating too much.

G spent Thanksgiving night at Grammy and Ddaddy's house and R and I took Baby K on her first Black Friday adventure. She was such a trooper! We were not part of that group that was out and standing in line at 4:00am but we did make it to our first stop by 6:30am. This year there wasn't anything that we were on a mission to find, which was nice. We just kind of went to a couple of places at our leisure and if we found something great and if not, no big deal.

R had off a couple of days over the Thanksgiving holiday and we used that time to start getting out the Christmas decorations. We put the tree up and did a little decorating around the house. Not as much as last year because we just don't have the space with all the changes we made in the room layouts when we setup the nursery.

I think R and G are going to put up the outside lights and decorations this weekend so I'll try to get some pics. Of course Baby K and I will watch the activities from the warm inside:-)


G, Baby K and cousin J at the kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast


The cutest little turkeys


A whole flock of turkeys