Obsessed?

Has anyone seen "Better Off Dead" where the mom and dad are talking about how Lane is in love with Beth and his mom says, "Obsessed?" and then Lane opens his closet and every hanger has Beth's face on it? Well, I seem to have become a bit obsessed about this Twilight series. Seriously! I don't know how else to describe it. I read it super fast, not doing anything else in the meantime. I let children go wild "just until the end of this chapter." I dreamed about werewolves. And I cannot stop thinking about the books. This is not my usual reaction to things that I read, but I just can't seem to move on. The funny thing is (and it's a bit relieving, actually) is that I am not the only one. There are blogs, websites, people at church, family...everyone! Do other books cause this kind of commotion? There are many books that I LOVE, but I don't feel so emotionally connected to them as I do this teenage fiction. I feel just a bit silly! I want her to be done writing them and I want to have seen all the movies so I can move on with my life. It's really a love-hate relationship. With a book.

Our newest Nephew

Congrats to Geo's brother Pat and his wife Amber on the birth of their son, Griffin!!! What a cutie! I think he looks remarkably like our kids. Those Jones genes are strong. Amber, you win the awesome Mommy in labor award! Hope you guys are all getting settled and enjoying the crying, pooping, and barfing that comes with an infant:) But, of course, you can't forget the sweetness, cuddling and simply loving that comes to!!

Yippee for new babies!

Reasons for Not Blogging

Reason number 1I am THRILLED that David Cook won! He was our favorite!!! By far the BEST!

Reason number 2

Reason number 3

These books are so fun to read, but again with the "I can't do anything but read" syndrome. This really just can't be a good thing, can it? I guess I should stop reading New York Times Best Sellers...because these books were so good, there was no putting them down!

Boys and Girls

Levi: I am going to take this sword on my (pretend) trip in case anyone tries to attack me!

Natalie: I am going to take my backpack full of stuffed animals and give one to anyone that bothers me.

One of the many differences between boys and girls:)

Organized Chaos

Today, my kids and I walked around our subdivision shopping at garage sales. 2 people commented about how well-behaved my kids were :) This is the thought that I dwelt on when later every child was screaming their head off at the exact same time and there was nothing I could do to make anyone happy. That thought was my happy place. I am truly having a blast with 4 kids! I am blessed. :)

The joy of dandelions!

I just wanted everyone who is concerned about the environment know that we are doing our part! We are letting our dandelions grow with reckless abandon in our yard and not spraying any destructive chemicals to get rid of them. I am sure our neighbors (whose lawn is absolutely gorgeous) do not appreciate it, but the kids love it. And I have to say that I love the little bouquets they bring in to me almost every day.

It keeps my kids busy. A few days ago, Levi decided he would "harvest" the tall dandelions and has spent a good deal of time doing it. Our trash can is filling up. When our neighbor with the perfect lawn was out, Levi asked her if our lawn looked lots better than it used to. She stammered something like, "Well, it's getting there." :) I just smiled at her as she swept up the three blades of grass that had gotten on her sidewalk.

But the real reason that we keep our dandelions growing is because of a Grandpa George (who George is named after, of course) story. He had many illnesses as a kid because his dad was a doctor, I believe, and brought home all kinds of germs. One winter was particularly rough and no one was sure that he would live through it. He knew that he would survive when he saw the first signs of spring out of his window. And the first sign he saw was dandelions!

"No picky picky"

This is what Geo always says to the kids when they pick their noses and anyone that is around us very often knows we have a big nose picking problem. So I had to laugh when I heard Levi say to Natalie, after I was reiterating for the millionth time how disgusting nose picking is, "Natalie, just tell me if you are going to pick your nose and I will remind you not to."

I love it when my kids work together:)

How true is this?

I got this as a forward from my preggo sister-in-law Amber and I thought it was pretty true...pregnant or not! It made me smile:)


The Coping diet

This is specially formulated diet designed to help women cope with the stress that builds during the day.

Breakfast
1 grapefruit
1 slice whole wheat toast
1 cup skim milk

Lunch
1 small portion lean, steamed chicken
1 cup spinach
1 cup herbal tea
1 Hershey's kiss

Afternoon Snack
The rest of the Hershey kisses in the bag
1 tub of Hagen-Daaz ice cream with chocolate chips

Dinner
4 glasses of wine (red or white)
2 loaves garlic bread
1 family size supreme pizza
3 Snickers Bars (fun size)

Late Night Snack
1 whole Sarah Lee cheesecake (eaten directly from the freezer)

Remember: Stressed spelled backward is desserts.

Mystery Game

George here. So mom found an interesting looking game at a garage sale yesterday, and since it had no instructions included, she paid a grand sum of $1 for it. The name of the game is also not written on the box, so her searching on the internet was not too fruitful. From the board, the variously colored pegs, and the die included, it seemed an interesting challenge to try to guess the rules of the game. I've come up with an idea, but I wonder if anybody else would come to the same conclusion. So, if anybody wants to give it a try, click on the picture above to get a bigger view, and you can post your hypothetical rules to the game in a comment. I've touched up the picture a bit so you can see the little red lines more clearly, because those must be important to the game. That is, assuming the rules aren't "One child stands at the far end of the living room, swinging the round wooden thing like a baseball bat, while another child tosses the tiny colored pegs at him."

Seth smiles at 5 weeks old!

Well, he was smiling....

Don't you love garage sales?

"Baby" Sam

When I left for the hospital to have Seth, I left a "baby" Sam at home. When I came home, I found "A cute little monster" in his place. In just two weeks after we got home, he learned to open all doors, open and deposit things into the toilet, climb up onto kitchen chairs, and dance on the kitchen table. He also figured out that he didn't want to be inside anymore, so if anyone goes near a door, he starts screaming and saying "Bye-bye?" He has been exercising freedom that he didn't know he had! Here are some pictures of the cutie. He keeps me busy and we love him!