Jones Family UPDATE - that's right! - by Blake (pics coming shortly)

Sorry our blog has taken a little longer to update.  Too much playing, and then a lot of transition!  ALSO SORRY SO LONG - BUT IT IS VERY INTERESTING = READ ON.  Here it is.  We moved out of Cleveland this past summer to Omaha, NE.  A bitter sweet move of course!  It is never fun to leave friends and ward family, but Blake finished school, HURRAY! and we are finally going to start making money!  We are in the Air Force and our first assignment is OFFUTT AFB in Omaha, NE.  Our first encounters here in Omaha have been exceptional.  The people here are super friendly, our ward is very caring and the military supplies another family all in itself.  We have settled in an extremely family friendly neighborhood and love letting our kids play, play, and play! Below you will find an update on our family and if we have more time we'll get into the amazing vacation and events we have done in the last 9 months! Yep we posted about a new baby and HE is right around the corner now! WOW!

Blake - He graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine in Cleveland this May and was accepted into a 1 year AEGD residency at Offutt AFB.  This is a great program that teaches many advanced procedures to allow him to be a well rounded dentist. After graduation we had 2 months to play until he reported to the Air Force to begin his duty as an officer first and a dentist second (they say - really all he does is dentistry but is also an officer).  This is technically more education but very focused on procedures and pure dentistry.


Jenny - She is a darling pregnant mom!  She is an exceptional mother and is a go getter.  Through all this pregnancy! She has prepared our home to sale, it sold!!!!!!!!! and has kept our family going and going!  We have successfully had fun driving across the country to Idaho, played there, traveled to California and played in San Diego and LA, and then moved from Idaho to Omaha! She is a true optimist and never complained once about life on the move.  Her only complaint is we live in a rental home - and she can't remodel each and every room for fun!  (the best part of renting if you ask me!) She is loving being a mom and wouldn't change it for the world. She is actually asking me when we are going to have our next baby! My reply - what are we going to name our boy in your tummy!!!!!

Remi (April 2010 turned 5)- Are you kidding me!  She is 5! She is going to school! Full Day Kindergarten and loving it! This is a little scary but I do have a kid in school!  She is an amazing girl.  She was terrified of moving and leaving her best friend Raef! "I don't want new friends, I don't want to move" but as soon as we got to Idaho, she made friends with her cousins, and now we are in Omaha and all she talks about is all her new friends.  Just yesterday she went across the street to a kids house named Cooper from school and played tball with his family! We met his parents at Kindergarten open house, but wow she is not shy and loves making new friends.  She started school this year and absolutely loves it.  We haven't had a fit yet, and she loves going and learning!  She is very independent, outgoing, strong willed.  Her new best friend Avery rides a bike without training wheels and as soon as she saw that she asked me to take her training wheels off and to teach her.  So we went to a parking lot nearby, removed them, and away she went - after one day she was riding up and down hills and doing everything she did with training wheels! She also took some swimming lessons this summer and can dive down to 12 feet and grab objects - an amazing swimmer! WOW - we are impressed.  She has a chore chart in the morning to keep in on track for getting ready and she does it all almost on her own (shower, brush teeth, prayer, breakfast, make bed, dressed, hair and backpack)! WE ARE VERY PROUD OF HER!

Broden (Oct 2010 turns 4) - What a stud muffin.  He is the sweetest boy ever, yet very boy.  This summer he saw some cousins swimming in the water, some with life jackets and some without - and this transitioned him from sitting on the steps at the pool to taking swimming lessons and diving under the water and swimming without a life jacket.  Amazing what kids can do when they want to.  He too rides bikes now with training wheels really well, loves to fish and hunt with dad, and do what dad does.  But he is also the new big helper at home for mom.  Daily he asks what he can do now to help out.  He cleans, makes food, cheers on Remi at school and her events, puts dishes away, takes care of Alissa (as a playmate - not like a mom(Remi)). and is plain old growing up on us.  He absolutely loves being home schooled (unlike Remi) and looks forward to doing it every day! Mom is a great teacher! 

Alissa (Sept 2010 turned 2) - You never think kids are going to grow up, but wow she is bloomed and blossomed.  She is the happiest girl ever - and routinely we are asked if she ever cries.  Yes she does, but she sure loves playing and trying to keep up with big bro and sis.  She emulates them and will try to keep up with them to all ends.  She loves babies and cuddles with them and takes care of them.  She loves CANDY - and she can smell it anywhere and can get it anywhere! She only acts up when she can't keep up or have candy when she wants it!  She is just learning to communicate - we haven't done so well with teaching this one - We think that there are just too many helper to give her what she wants that she hasn't learned to ask for it!  It is coming fast though, now.  She is also very interested in potty training! Every time we changed her diaper she says she needs to go potty, she sits down, rips a huge toot and thinks she is done! I am yet to see a splash of any sort though!


Baby Boy - well #4 gets kind of forgotten about a little. First it is a boy! With Remi we had a name for here at the ultrasound appointment when we found out it was a girl.  Broden and a Alissa shortly thereafter or even before as our favorite names. But poor number 4 - doesn't have a name.  He is DUE ON NOV. 25th!!!!!!  We just talked this last week about names and are clueless thus far! Mitch? Carter? Caden? Conner? Well anyhow, he is a stud as well!  Developing good and not causing any problems for me yet (Blake) so I am very pleased with his behavior and am very proud of him too!

We love all of you and hope life is challenging enough to realize you need the help of the Savior, Jesus Christ to get by each and everyday.  We feel for you and We pray for you, and it is our prayer that you will know HE loves you and is caring for you and HE can lighten your load and ease your burden.  Take care and if you are driving on I-80 for whatever reason - stop by at the THE JONES, OMAHA, BED AND BREAKFAST!

Time for #4

(not my ultrasound just one from the internet)

So this is an announcement for those of you who don't know. We are going to have baby number 4!!! I am 9 and a half weeks along and according to the doctor everything is going great. The official due date is Thanksgiving day.

Yes we will have 4 kids 5 and under and we are excited. This was planned. We will be settled in Omaha when this baby is born and we enjoy how close together our other three are. They have so much fun playing together and entertaining each other. Remi and Broden have been really good. When I am tired I will lay down and take a nap while Alissa sleeps. Remi and Broden just play or watch a movie and are perfectly happy.

Things are getting a little crazy as we prepare for the move and I try to motivate myself to function. I just feel so lazy and have to force myself to eat. Nothing sounds good. If anyone has suggestions of what sounded good to them while they were pregnant I would love to hear them. Maybe something will sound good to me. Thank goodness for an amazing husband who is willing to help cook, clean, pack, organize, and everything else we are doing right now.

Morning Walk

Alissa still has pink eye, so I thought since it is a sunny day we could go for a walk at a Metro-park by our house. So I loaded the kids, the stroller and back pack and we drove there. I put Alissa in the back pack and Broden in the stroller and Remi walked. The sun was really bright so Remi told Broden,"Here pull this sunbrella down to block the sun." I guess is what the visors are on the stroller, a unbrella for the sun. That makes sense.

On our walk we saw a male and female cardinal, a tree cut down by a beaver, a plant that is going to be possibly a lilly, some woodpeckers, bluebirds, miniature pine cones and lots of other birds. It was nice to be out of the house and just enjoying doing something with the kids. Then they played outside for another 3 hours when we got home. I LOVE nice weather.

Diego

The other day Remi and Broden were watching Diego. This was the conversation we had when I walked into the room
Remi,"Mom, I don't want to be inside."
Me,"Ok, You can go outside."
Remi,"I don't want to be outside either."
Me,"Ok where do you want to be?"
Remi"In there with Diego." (Pointing to the TV)
Me,"You can't be in there with Diego."
Remi,"I want to be in there with Diego so I can help rescue animals"

Then I left them to watch their movie while I showered. When I got out of the shower this is what I heard

Remi,"We have to throw it harder, it didn't break yet."
Broden,"Throw this one."

I came down the stairs and asked what they were doing.
Remi,"We are throwing our toys at the TV so we can get inside with Diego and rescue animals"

I explained that you can't get into the TV and if you could that isn't where Diego lives.
Funny kids.

Crazy Monday

So yesterday was a crazy day. Alissa got up at like 5:00am so I brought her into our bed and she fell back to sleep on Blake's chest. When we all finally got up we took one look at her and knew she had pink eye. Both eyes were glued shut with nasty green goop. Luckily we had some leftover eye drops from the last round of pink eye. I was going to go to "boot camp" at the gym, but couldn't take the kids to the gym with Alissa's eyes like that. So I hurried and went running, coming in the door just as Blake was leaving. He said,"Keep your phone by you I need to talk to you while I drive."
He called me a few minutes later and we were discussing our upcoming temple trip and babysitters. Then I could hear his car beeping like he was getting out of it. He said," Hold on something just happened to the car, I'll call you back."
Then a few minutes later our realtor called and told me we had an offer on our house. She was going over the details with me while Broden was also trying to talk to me. And when Broden is trying to talk to you he has to have 100% undivided attention, You have to look at him the whole time and nod your head and repeat everything he says, or he throws a fit. So I didn't hear everything the realtor said, but I was super excited about the offer.
I got off the phone with the realtor and our home phone rang. I picked it up and it was Blake. He said all the doors in the car were locking and unlocking, the lights were flashing so he pulled over. He got out to see what was up and the door locked behind him. So he is halfway to school, locked out of his car with it running and his phone inside. He used the car wash's phone and called me. So I tried to find our spare key and couldn't find it anywhere! He ended up calling the police to come unlock it for him. Then he came home and we washed off the battery pack and it has been fine since then.
After he left for school things were simi normal for most of the day. We got an email with the offer in it so I could read the details, as much as I could understand. I talked to the bank and got a Roth IRA set up and discussed life insurance stuff. Then we got another email saying Blake needed to get in some paperwork to the Air Force as soon as possible, or he would be in trouble pretty much. So as soon as he got home from school he started working on paperwork while I was doing dinner.
Dinner was crazy by itself! I was going to make fish and Blake wanted crepes. So I started making crepes. Blake got me a recipe box for Christmas so I could organize all my recipes that were just thrown into a cupboard. So I mixed the crepes and got out 2 of our frying pans. I poured the batter in and then tried to flip them and the just were mush. So I got out our pancake griddle, thinking the frying pans just were too old and scratched. Same thing happened on the pancake griddle. In the middle of this the realtor is calling to see if we got the other papers she sent us about how much we will get out of the sale. We hadn't gotten it, I thought. But then found it in junk mail. So I called her back and told her that.
Then I tried getting ahold of my sister to get the crepe recipe again, apparently I must have written it down wrong. I got ahold of her, but she wasn't home, so she gave me her husband's number because he has it memorized. He gives me the recipe- 1/2 a cup flour is WAY different than 2 cups flour! So I dump the old batter an mushy crepes and start over. FINALLY it works. So after an hour and a half of making dinner while talking to people we sit down to eat. The realtor calls to see what we think of the offer. We haven't had a chance to look at it yet. We eat dinner, have a quick FHE and it is 7:30 by this time. So I take Remi and Broden upstairs to lay by them and my phone rings again, realtor wondeing what we think so she can come sign papers with us and get moving on the offer. We still haven't looked at it so I say I'll call her in 10 minutes.
Meanwhile Blake is on the phone getting help with the Air Force paperwork. I lay by the kids for a few minutes(they are SO highper) Then I left them saying they need to go to sleep. I went downstairs and could hear them jumping around and laughing. Blake and I look at the offer and decide we have to accept even though it in't ideal. We aren't getting up as much as we hoped and the move out date is April 27th, graduation isn't until May 16th.
So anyway, the realtor comes, we sign paperwork and discuss moving options a little bit. She is going to check and see if we can change the move out date. After she leaves we bring Remi and Broden down stairs and let them watch a movie while we talk about what all we need to do. Finally at 10:00 they are tired, so we put them to bed then eventually made it to bed too. And after all of that, neither Blake or I could sleep. Eventually we fell asleep though and today so far seems pretty normal:)

Funny Alissa

So Alissa REALLY likes to put on Broden's underwear. The other day she wanted her diaper off then she put on Broden's underwear. Another time she walked into the bathroom fully clothed, walked into the bathroom, lifted up her shirt and leaned over the toilet like she was going to the bathroom(like a boy). It was so funny. I just caught her doing it again. Maybe I need her to watch Remi going to the bathroom so she realizes how girls do it.

Project

The crib set I made for my sister Kristi's baby. I was way excited to see how it turned out. It is a bumper pad, mobile, banket, skirt, changing pad, and diaper holder. I don't know how to use a pattern, so this is my own.

It took me about 3 weeks I think. I don't remember exactly. It was a lot of fun though. I was excited to see the finished project over Christmas. I finished it in pieces and sent them with different people going out that way, so I didn't see it all together until Christmas.