Fort Jones

My kids have always liked to set up "forts". Kyle and Kate used to take all the chairs out from under the kitchen table, take their blankets and pillows and make a fort under the table! Kennedy and Cole invented this fort (with a little help from mom!) They were so proud of it, but moms not allowed so I needed to get out!  I love when my kids use their imaginations in their play! Their play, much to my dismay, often includes TV, computer and video games. As much as I try to limit these things, they seem to creep in slowly more and more.  For now I am just happy they are getting along!

Party, Party, Party

As the Beastie Boys sang "You gotta fight.........for your right..............to paaaaaaaaaarty!" And oh party we did ! Phew!  What a week! 2 soccer parties, 3 school parties, 3 halloween parties and how could we forget the pumpkin patch!  I love love love October.  The weather cools down and although I despise wearing a coat over Halloween costumes, it is my favorite time of year. Halloween is my favorite holiday!  We celebrated it to the hilt this year!  Cole's preschool went to the pumpkin patch and Kennedy and I got to tag along. We had a lot of fun on the hay ride out to the pumpkin fields and finding our way through the hay maze. And how we could we pass up the corn box

From Collages

The fam took to the pumpkin patch on a chilly October night as well!  We had a lot of fun finding our pumpkins - even in the dark, riding on the train - 3 or 4 times, the pig races - Kate's pig won!, playing hide and go seek in the "hay palace" and once again, the corn box!!

From Collages

Ky and Kate had their school parties on Friday.  It was fun to see all the creative costume the kids had and see what the teachers came up with! That night was our ward trunk or treat - which I was in charge of!  A little stressful, but it turned out great! I had a ton of help and it all went off without a hitch!

From Collages

Saturday a chilly 42 degrees, we headed to Boo at the Zoo!  It was pretty cold but the kids had fun seeing all the animals and trick or  treating them.  That afternoon we had our "Kids Halloween Party" .  We transformed the garage into party central. We had lots of treats, a few games, and off to the backyard for some more fun. It was a good time with lots of good friends.

From Collages

Sunday our cousins came over for pumpkin waffles-so yummy!  We finished the night off with carmel apples!

From Collages

 A few pounds heavier and less of few hours of sleep, we all survived this party filled week! 

This week - grandpa and grandma are coming - wwwwaaaahhhoooooooooooooooooooo!

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!