bye bye birdie

  My sweet little Kennedy is a girly girl through and through. Exactly like her sister, she loves to play dress up, wear high heels, put lipstick on, you get the point.  For the last 2 agonizing weeks, every morning she has had a complete melt down, crocodile tears and all.  Ask Cole about this, he'll tell ya! She wants to pick out her outfit, which usually is a dress.  Okay before you jump to conclusions and think that I should just let her, let me eliaberate.  She wants either a sundress (that she will not wear a shirt under or a jacket over or tights/leggings) or shorts and a t-shirt.  The child has never worn a pair of socks with a pair of any kind of shoes since she was about 1.  She wants "flips" or her "heels".   I do not know what I am going to do when the snow comes.  It is getting cold here. I am not going to have my child walking around in a sundress when it is 50 degrees outside. I am not ready for the looks or the judgement calls people throw my way.  I have even let her pick a shirt and I pick the pants, or she picks the pants and I pick the shirt. It doesn't matter, sheer hysterics. That is just the morning.  Throughout the day she will go into her room and take 2 or 3 shirts out, maybe put one on. Change her pants and leave a couple on the floor. Pull the bins our her closet and they dump out as she is pulling them out.  Than there is the dress-up bin in the playroom.  Dresses, leotards, tutus, high heels, etc. Again she can change her own clothes. I can't take it anymore. Some days fine, but everyday , no.

 My solution - bye bye clothes. I took all of her clothes out of her drawers and out of the bins in her closet. I even took all the dresses out of her closet. I know I am mean, like I haven't heard that before.  Oh boy, was she mad. "No my clothes bye bye", delivered in the highest shrek imaginalbe. I just did this today so I am not sure how this will go!

On a lighter and exciting note.Something else of Kennedy's went bye bye- her diapers!  Yeah baby! My baby is P-O-T-T-Y-T-R-A-I-N-E-D.  That's right, uh-huh, for real! She is doing so good. She will go to the bathroom and when she is done she will say "I candy" and I say "o.k." and than she says " I rock"!!  It is so funny!  It is so nice not to have to change a diaper anymore, but with all things there comes a reality.  This one is that my BABY is not a baby anymore, a sad reality for me.  Although, there is the possibility of a new purse, being that I no longer need a "diaper bag" and have freed up that diaper fund! 

We have long had problems with our pantry.  The day she learned to open a door she was in the pantry climbing the shelves and pulling down whatever she could get her little paws on. It got really bad, she would empty boxes of ceral and step all over them or pour sugar all over the floor, etc.  I finally got smart and put a lock on the door.  That helped  A LOT, but everyday the door gets left  unlocked at sometime or the other.  It's like radar - she knows.  She goes into the pantry takes all the snacks out of the snack bin and puts them into the Spider Man lunch box. There are 3 other lunch boxes in there, but she always takes the Spider Man one. And always someone goes in there and comes out hollering "mom, wheres all the snacks?" .  I go in there and sure enough, the snack bin is empty.  Sometimes she has just set the lunch box on the shelf and other times she has taken it somewhere.



Oh the days of a 2 year old!  All of the other ones have been much worse at the 3. I am thinking that I may need some serious therapy after she gets done with me!

One Liners

Maybe he could be a comedian when he grows up.......

He comes out of the laundry room naked, headed up the stairs for a bath. We usually keep our underwear on until we get to the bath.  We are trying to teach privacy in our house!
Me:  Cole, good thing you have such a cute butt
Cole: I know, you wanna touch it.


He is crying because I won't let him wear his Halloween costume (which is brand new and I am a mean mom). Walks up to me and says:

Cole:  Fine, you won't let me wear it. You just ruined my whole day.
And storms out of the room

I always try to write down the funny things my kids say.  Sometimes I am really good about it and sometimes I'd rather forget the comments.  Cole is famous for his comebacks, one liners and over all commentary on situations.  Here are a few of his latest

Me: Cole put your buckles on.
Waiting..............
Me: Cole, put your buckles on.
Waiting.........
Me:  Cole, are your buckles on yet?
Cole:  Mom, your yelling burned my skin off and now I am bleeding and it is getting in my eyeballs.

Granted, yes I did raise my voice, but you have to know that the "buckles" in the car have become a major problem with him.  I am ready to start carrying zip ties and just zip tie him each time he gets in, because he will not keep them on. I have tried everything - beatings, threats, treats, deals, everything.


Me:  Cole,  come on, it is time to go.
Cole:  Where are we going?
Me:  We are going visiting teaching.
Falls to the ground and in his signature whining voice tells me:
Visiting teaching is so hard. I can't take it anymore, it is so boring. Why do you always visiting teach.  Can't you just give them something and leave.


Me:  Cole come on it is time to get ready for preschool.
Cole:  No, I am not going today.
Me:  Come on Cole, we need to hurry.
Cole: NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  I am not going.
Me:  Why do you not want to go to school?
Cole:  If you make me go I am going to tell on you.
Me:  Who are you going to tell?
He is yelling by now, Cole:  I don't know but you are going to get in trouble.

I love this little boy, but he is way to clever and quick with his words!

Big Man

I fight it daily with all of my children and I don't know when I will ever come to grips with it, but I am in a constant battle of them growing too fast.  I look at them often and wonder how we got to where we are so quickly.  I was just holding each of them in my arms and now most of them are too big to fit in my arms or don't want my arms around them! 

Kyle mowed our whole lawn by himself, with a push mower.  We have a lot of grass, almost 1/2 acre.  Which doesn't sound like a lot but for a 9 year old!  I was so impressed and he was pretty proud of himself.  Although I am sad to see him big enough to do this, there is a little part of me that is happy to pass this chore on to someone else!!!  Good job, my big man!

"The Wedding"

OK people, get ready to fall off your rocker, chair, stool, whatever it is that you are sitting on. This is the wedding of the century, maybe the wedding of all weddings.  Well, it took the cake for me!  By far the biggest and best I have ever seen or been to!  The movie does it little justice but will give you a small glimpse into the fabulous weekend that Jake and I got to take part in. We had a great time and felt lucky to be able to take part in such a wonderful moment for Melissa and Matt!

Jake has 8 siblings, 2 sisters and 6 brothers.  It is his 1st sister Rebecca whose daughter, Melissa, that got married.  She married a pro golfer who is on the PGA tour right now and his name is Matt Jones!  Yeah all the boys think their cool now because they have some relation to a pro golfer!  How funny that her married name is now Jones!  Just a little note on my dress and to give my friend props...my dress was sleeveless. You would have thought I could find something with sleeves, but trust me there isn't a lot to choose from. Anyhow my amazing and talented friend put sleeves on it for me and it is perfect.  Thank you Heather - you rock!

The Invite:

The wedding was just one of the 3 fabulous days. I do a short recap!  We arrived in Yountsville, California which is just a little north of Napa Valley, California. Napa is know for its wineries, but it some of the most beautiful scenery in the whole state.  Rebecca arranged for us to stay at the Bardessono Resort! Wow!  This place was off the hook!  We arrived in our room to a TV and phone that said "Welcome Jacob and Tessa Jones", fresh water (that I was later informed was triple filtered and came from their property!), and full tour and a tutorial of the room!  Friday night was a cocktail party at the hotel, Saturday was the wedding and Sunday was a brunch. I could keep going forever, but I'll spare you! 

Long story short- AMAZING!

Thank you Rebecca, Ron, Melissa and Matt for making an amazing memory for us as well!

The Colester!

Cole is a different child than the rest of the clan.  He came from a totally different mold. Which is odd in the Jones family because it is a very strong gene pool and most of the cousins look like they all could belong to one set of parents.  I could take 3 of my nieces and nephews all from different parents and no one would know that they aren't mine.  And the weird thing, it doesn't really matter what the "non Jones" spouse looks like, that Jones gene is dominant.  But than there is Cole. He is the only one that looks like he is actually my kid!  He is his own little self and while all of my kids are different, Cole stands out the most in this crowd. He has so many little quirks that are both maddening, funny, and sweet all at the same time.  He is the one child (although Kennedy might surpass him pretty soon) that constantly keeps me on my toes, constantly tries my nerves, constantly wants to be with me, and constantly challenges my every word.  The last couple days he has been especially trying for me and so I decided to try and funnel his energy into something that is an obsession in our family. Music is played in our house a lot. In the car, while we are doing chores, while we play in the backyard.  Cole has taken to a few songs that get played over and over and over. One is "Rock You Like a Hurricane" by the Scorpions (which is usually in the car)and the other is "Beat It" by Michael Jackson.When not blared from the radio, it is from the iPod. Here is a video of him getting his grove on!


 

I am not sure who is funnier, Cole or Kennedy just standing next to him. It is in black and white because Kate was playing with Jake's phone and did something weird to the settings!  He will listen to my iPod for hours and just walk around the house and sing!  It has become one of my "decompressors"  for both of us! 

After a full session of dancing, Cole is worn out and decided to take a nap, behind the couch! This one of kind kid is seriously one the most hilarious kids I know.  Thanks for keeping life interesting and me on my toes! Love ya Coley Boley Guacamoley!

Peaches, Preschool and a Party in the Park!

Peaches !Oh look at these babies! Those are some nice peaches, I like those peaches!  And how yummy there were!  We weighed in at 98 pounds of peaches!  Sounds like a lot, but not when 2-3 peaches are a pound and when I want them to last during the winter!  They were so good we went and got some more!  We will be eating peaches until next year- I hope!  We made some kick butt apple sauce with all of our free apples too!  I know, Crocker is my middle name!!

Preschool!  Cole was so very happy to be starting school with his best bud Owen!  And I am equally as happy that he is starting school with Teacher Summers. Ginger Summers has been a fabulous influence on our family. She is so loving and so kind and really wants to be a preschool teacher!  Kate did amazing in her class and I am hoping that she can work her magic on Cole!

Party in the Park!  Oh yeah!  The Spirit of Boise is back and we are very excited about it!  It is a huge hot air balloon festival at one of Boise's beautiful downtown parks.  You wake up super early (for us!) and head down to the park and watch the balloons inflate and take off in the morning  sky!  You can get really close and even get in a basket of one of the balloons if you want!  We have been going since we moved to Boise - except for the few years it was gone! This year we drug my sister and her family to the morning and to the night glow! The night glow is super cool! The balloons are already inflated and they burn their flame to make them "glow".  We brought popcorn and soda, chilled on a blanket and watched all the people!