Closing the Chapter of 2012

Hello family and friends!  I know....it's been a couple of months, but better late than never, right?  =)


We have been busy.  Very busy.  The older three are smack in the middle of basketball season and Sadie is...well...Sadie!  =)

Let's start with Hanah Marie.  After much "back and forth" she decided to play basketball.  She's on the JV team and occasionally they get to play a few freshman quarters.  She's enjoying the experience and likes staying busy.

Her life got a little brighter in November when we bought her a new car.

It's not new, but new to us.  So far she's kept us on keeping it clean and washed.  I'm sure that will fade away all in good time.  =)

Halie has had a birthday since I wrote last.  She is now the big 1-2.  Pre-teen.  Attitude and innocence.

Ms.  Halie is also playng basketball.  She's really into it.

Her goal is to play college ball at OU.  Then during softball season she says that she's going to play softball at OU.  And during volleyball season she's focused on playing volleyball at OU.  There's a pattern in here somewhere.  Or maybe an obsession.  I don't know...

Cody has officially entered the working world at age 10.  All child labor laws dismissed of course.  He has taken on the responsibility and title of "Chicken Wrangler/Care Taker".  He's the only kid with the time.  And the only one that we trust to actually feed/water and collect eggs.  Craig decided that we would let Cody keep any money that is made from selling eggs.  He's pulling in a pretty good profit and spending it like crazy at all of the basketball concession stands.  =)  Speaking of basketball, he's playing too.

The boy is all over the court.  Entertaining to watch really. 

There isn't a game that Craig and I don't leave shaking our head.  =)

And then there's Sadie.  She has also had a birthday since my last post.  She's big now because she is 4. 

Her latest obsession is dresses.  Pink dresses to be exact.  Every time we leave the house she HAS to be in a dress.  And she's back to telling me that she's done with school (pre-school).  There's no reason to go back according to her.  She can see her friends at the Fall Fest parade and that's all.  =)

 

Well, that's it in a nut shell.  We've got a lot on the horizon, but I won't spill the beans just yet.  If I did then I wouldn't have anything to blog about in March.  =)

 

Stay well and God Bless!!

 

Jennifer

Halloween...Jones Style

 

 

 

Halloween was yesterday.  It's over.  For most people at least.  Not at my house though.  The Halloween decorations will probably stay up until it's time to get out the Christmas tree.  Heaven knows that the amount of candy my children received will definitely last until the new year.  (If Sadie stops stashing it in her room for after bedtime that is.)

 

 As is tradition in our family, we hit the pumpkin patch.  This year we went to Bergmann Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch.  They had inflatables, a corn maze, concession stand and of course a pumpkin patch.  The kids had a blast on the inflatables.  Then we loaded up on the hay trailer to go to the corn maze.  After a stop at the concession stand of course.

See this picture below of Sadie.  This was during "happy time" at the corn maze.  Things were great until it was time to choose whether to go left or right.  Cody, Sadie and I followed along in the back of the "Jones Group".  I say "Jones Group" because no one else wanted to be with us.  They all saw Craig, Hanah and Halie with a map running to see who could be the leader at the entrance of the maze.  There were only two options at every turn.  Left or right.  For some reason there seemed to be three different answers.  After half way through and reaching "non happy time", we turned around and came back out of the entrance.  It was time to get pumpkins and head home. 

 



This year I gave Sadie the idea to paint her pumpkin.  She was excited and spent about an hour working on it.  I was amazed.  There will be many more painting projects in her future.

 



 

Cody ended up carving his pumpkin.  He didn't understand why he had to take all of the insides out first.  It just didn't make sense to him.  I think Craig ended up finishing it.  It also took Cody two days to finishing carving his pumpkin.  He's easily distracted sometimes I guess.

 

 

And then there is Ms. Perfect.  She spent hours carving her pumpkin.  If anyone bumped the table she was out for blood.  Who knew she loved pumpkin cutting so much.

 

 

This picture of Craig speaks oh so many words.  He can't leave the kids pumpkins alone.  Every year he has to get involved some how.  He even tried to paint lines on Sadie's pumpkin.  Always a kid at Halloween.

 

 

Hanah the artist designed her own pumpkin pattern this year.  It was cute.  Simple but very good.  Especially since it was all free style.  She's taking art this year and really enjoying it.  I can't wait to take pictures and post some of her work on here.

 

 

Halloween Jones Style.  Pumpkin order is Hanah, Cody, Halie and Sadie.  We hope that everyone had a safe and happy Halloween.

 

 

Ok! Ok! I'm Stil Here!

I was told last night that I've been a bad blogger.  I haven't updated my family blog in forever.  I know.  I've been a little busy with Mealplangirls.com.  My apologies.  So, here's an update over everything that I can think of right now.

#1 - The Chickens
They are great.  Sorry I didn't include a picture here.  I ran 5 miles today and just was too lazy to walk out and take a picture.  We have expanded our chicken cooperation.  There is now a second branch in Bentley, Kansas.  The branch is doing very well.  The chickens up there are a little spoiled by grapes and vanilla ice cream, but all other procedures are being adhered too.  We are hoping to have future plans of expanding further into Valley Center, Kansas.  Those plans have not been proposed yet.  Well...I guess maybe they have in this post.  =)

#2 - The Kids
Oh the kids.  They are still alive and kicking.

This picture was taken on the first day of school.  They were all excited to get back.  I was excited to send them.

I went round and round about pictures with Hanah this year.  We finally agreed that we would go up to the school the day before it started to get pictures.  She is a freshmen this year.  My heart is breaking.  She drives to school.  She thinks that she is too old to hang around her dad and I anymore.  Well, she did until she realized that we control whether or not she has the option to drive to school or ride the school bus.  I guess the bus isn't as popular in high school?!?!  Go figure.  =)  Hanah is a cheerleader, playing volleyball, plans on playing basketball, is looking forward to running track and can't wait to go to weight lifting competitions this year.  This girl will be keeping up extremely busy. 

Big bad Halie is in 6th grade this year.  Last year at St. Joseph.  She's all about school this year.  She's also a giant any more.  The girl has grown a good 3 inches since my last post in April.  This year she is playing volleyball, baketball and track.  At her sports physical she got the best news of her life.  She is officially 1/4" taller than me.  If I was thinking I would have paid the nurse off in the hallway to not give Halie her correct height.  I'm remind daily 5 or 6 times that she is taller than me.  She told me that it was one of her goals in life to achieve.  This picture doesn't give her much justice.  She is slouching.  In reality she is as tall if not taller than her teacher.  The kid fits in a pair of shoes for about 2 months and then tells me they are too little.  Holy moly. 

Cody bug is in 5th grade.  He's playing soccer and basketball this year.  If it was up to him school wouldn't start until 10.  He likes his sleep.  I try waking him up at 6:30.  He usually rolls out of bed around 7:15.  The bus comes at 7:35.  Just enough time to get dressed, brush his teeth and grab something to eat on his way out the door.  The high light of Cody's day is usually what they are having for lunch.  I guess this year they decided to cut back on portions.  He was not impressed...

And then there was Sadie.  She officially started preschool this year.  Hard to believe.  She is healthy and doing well.  A ball of fire so to speak.  She told me the other day that she was done with preschool.  She learned about apples and school buses.  There was no reason to go back.  I'm dropping her off in the morning at 7:30.  =)

I promise that I will try to update this blog more than I have.  Hope everyone is doing well.

Spring Break Ski Trip

Christmas Break was one to remember. Every single one of us came down with the flu. I don't think that we have ever been that sick, and cross my fingers, we never will again. After throwing away the last Lysol wipe and empty bottle of anti-nausea medicine I told Craig that we were getting the heck out of here for Spring Break. He agreed. The decision was made to take the older 3 kids snow skiing and send Sadie to my parents for a week of fun.

Destination : Wolf Creek in Colorado. They have a decent and well priced ski school. It's also known for being a family mountain. Since Craig was the only one that had ever been skiing we were looking at paying for ski school times 4. I knew that the kids would pick it right up. But I'm 33. I know what pain feels like, especially the next morning. I was game thought. The first two days I hated it. But by the third day, I was hooked.

Cody loved it the first day. He had a hard time paying attention in ski school, only because he was ready to get out there and ride the lift to the top of the mountain. Fear wasn't in his volcabulary this trip either. Moguls...what moguls?!?!

Then there was Hanah. A litte cautious, but wanting to push the envelope a little bit further with each lift ride. She is the one that convinced me to try the bigger mountains. Otherwise I would have been skiing with the 4&5 year olds the whole time. ;)

Halie. Ms. professional, ski instructor, know it all Halie. She thinks that she was born to ski. Absolutly loves it!! But, she did learn a good lesson on this trip. Wear sunscreen. The higher elevation you are, the easier you burn. She learned the hard way.

And here I as. This was the beginning of day three. Ready to tackle the moutain. The big mountain. After my hot chocolate... =)

Mr. ski enthusiatic himself. He did very well for a 15 year gap in between ski trips.

All in all it was a great trip. We can't wait to go back and take Sadie with us this time!

Coming Soon

I have a new post that I am working on. It's a video. A video confession of some sorts. I can't wait to post it. It is on Hanah's ipod, so I have to wait until she gest home. It may have a few "cover your ears" parts, but so worth it. It's about a rooster. A rooster named Dick. Too funny....I promise...

My Apologies

It's has been WAY too long since I have updated. And I know that I promised before that I would be a bit more faithful...but now I really mean it. I know that everyone out there is really worried about how the chickens are doing. I'm planning a big update on them next week. There is a lot to tell and 2 less birds than when we started. *sigh*

Anyway...here is a quick update on a few MAJOR events over the last month.

I took my girls to watch the best performer in the world in concert at the Intrust Bank Arena. Of course I'm talking about Reba. She is my idol. Halie thought that I was crazy because I sang every single word to every single song sang that night. What can I say? I like my music...especially when it comes to Reba! ;) Here the 3 of us are at the beginning of the concert. My mom went with us too. We had a blast. Even missed an earthquake in all of our fun.

Last weekend we celebrated Ms. Sadie's birthday. I will make her offical birthday post on Friday, but I had to post this picture. She helped ice her cake and decorate it. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday all she said was a pink cake. So a pink cake is what she got! She is turning into quite the baker with her momma these day! =)

On November 14th I spoke about a B-I-G annoucement coming. Most of you know what it is. But if not...feel free to check it out!

http://www.mealplangirls.com/

AND THEN....I had the most important thing happen. I became an aunt from Josh & Karen!!! This is my precious little girl Kate Marie Carmichael. Isn't she just perfect?!?! Love her SO much! If I could spend 24 hours a day doing nothing but holding her and staring at her I would. Can't wait to go up there for Christmas and spoil her as much as I can. Luckily we are able to facetime, so I still get to she her every couple of days. But in the background it never fails. Grandma Judy (my mom) is holding her with a big smile on her face. No fair I tell ya. No fair....

Until next week my followers. Have a great weekend! =)

B-I-G Announcement!!

There will be a BIG announcement coming from the Jones household on Monday morning! So excited to share the news with everyone. Stay tuned for clues and the big new on Monday!!!