Keeping Up with the Joneses

A glimpse into the busy and very blessed life of the Jones Family!







Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Caught being cute...

Hunter doing his "funny face" on command. After a rain storm the other day, I decided it would be fun to let him splash around in the puddle that forms on our sidewalk. Hunter had a blast and insisted that I let him play with the la-lo (water). We pulled the hose over and added some more water to our puddle. By the time we were finished, he was soaked.
At the lake this weekend, I walked in and he was watching a cartoon on TV. Hunter is never too interested in TV, so seeing him smiling up at the TV was too cute not to take a picture of.

Home Sweet Home

The new master bath looking towards the walk in shower.
We are having the glass installed next week.
Master bedroom- I need to get my bed skirt made and some drapes made for the windows. I haven't hung anything on the walls because I'm scared to commit!
Looking from the dining room into the new family room. This used to be our backyard! We are loving the open kitchen and family room and spend most of our time here.
Looking from the family room into the kitchen.

Monday, July 16, 2007

It's Great Being a Kid!

It's been a great summer! We FINALLY got to move into the new addition and are so excited to have the space. It's been great! We had a rainy 4th of July which was a bummer since I had had so much fun decorating the wagon for the parade. We took it for a spin around the block that night instead and looked very patriotic.
Smiling big on the 4th of July!
The Jones Family Parade
Driving the boat with Babs
Sacked out during a car ride to meet MiMi in Austin

18 months

18 month check up.... a mere 6 days before he turns 19 months!

Hunter weighed in at 26 lbs 15 oz- still up in the 90th percentile and was 33 inches tall which is the 60th percentile. With a clean bill of health, we left the doctor's office feeling very grateful to have such a healthy boy. We may have to go back and repeat the finger prick for anemia because Hunter tested in the low end of normal. The pediatrician called and doesn't think it is a problem but wants to double check to make sure. With as great as Hunter eats and as healthy and energetic he is, I am sure it will turn out fine.


Hunter is now putting 2 words together like, "Mama car," or "Dada shoes." Other words in his vocabulary include, la lo for water, bath, light, up, uck for truck, car, bus, hot, outside, shoes, nose, teeth, fan, dog, tat for cat, uh oh, no, ball, dark, hand, that.... He also has been heard saying, "Let me see that" or even "Give me that."

He is Mr. Mechanical and can turn on just about anything and loves to mess with buttons. Seeing as we have lived the past 5 months in such disarray during construction his little life has been turned upside down. We have lived with boxes and sheetrock dust all over. Nothing seems to be in it's correct place. The king size mattress and 2 box springs arrived the beginning of July and have taken up residence in the dining room. Needless to say, he has learned to live in the middle of messiness. Perhaps this would explain his dire need and obsession to have shoes on at all times, to talk about them, point them out to complete strangers... We have laughed that this must be his way of being in control of something. He mentions shoes upon waking up in the morning, brings us our shoes, and basically insists that everyone have their shoes on at all times. It's pretty entertaining!

Overall, our little guy is growing and becoming more and more like a little boy each day. He never ceases to amaze us with how much he can do.

Monday, July 9, 2007

The movie, The Money Pit, is an all time favorite of mine. Now, it's even more so. After a 5 month addition project onto our home, I can relate to the hilarity of it all. One scene that resonates so much with our situation would be the one where the main contractor looks at Tom Hanks and declares. "Your name came up in the lottery today... we WORK today!" There were days that Chris and I would look at each other across the dinner table and be in disbelief that so little was accomplished... yet again. As two people who truly look for the best in everyone, we were often caught off guard by how undependable people can be.

Chris and I took on this project back in January. We spent the fall getting plans drawn up and finally settled on a mere 934 square feet that would include a family room, laundry room, master bedroom, master bath, 2 closets, a front porch and back patio. Simple sounding, right? Well... the new year found us interviewing multitudes of craftsmen. We talked, negotiated, acted like we knew what we were doing, and finalized a crew we felt we could handle. After all, Chris and I were the "contracters" so to speak!

February brought on the first crew to bring down an oak tree in the backyard and construct the foundation. March brought the most rain San Antonio has ever seen in history for the month of March. Wait, did I say the MOST ever?? The foundation was completed at the end of March after many cold, rainy days of delay. Not to mention that a 60 foot long trench was dug so that we could replace our sewer line. The joys of older homes!

The framing was fast and furious and left us stunned. It was up in a matter of three or so days. With that, we got greedy and demanded the front porch be built. You see, we had planned on saving that for the end of the project to make sure that everything we were planning could be accomplished first. The front porch was to be the icing on the cake. Well, life's a little more fun when the dessert comes first. The porch, which really make a HUGE difference to the front of the house, was finished in a couple of days. We were thrilled.

To sum up since April, it's been a hurry up and wait game. We've had a lot to learn along the way. Anyway, there's a light at the end of this money pit. This Wednesday should be a day for final finishing touches. I remember telling my plumber I couldn't wait to see him again and it was mainly because he comes last... and he's coming Thursday morning. Hallelujah!!!

After that, pull out the broom, vacuum, rags, mop, Pledge, Windex, Clorox, Soft Scrub, Mr. Clean, Febreze, 409, and power washer.... we've got a lot of cleaning to do! Pics to follow~