Back to the Land of the Living

We have all 4 been sick this last week and weekend. I feel like we are slowly emerging from a fog. It all started with Blake waking up Tuesday and throwing up twice. Obviously, that's not normal, so I watched him closely and took him in. He did not have any other symptoms and seemed to act fine. He got sick again later that afternoon but it didn't really phase him. Aside from that, he was fine.

So, I spent Tuesday cleaning, cleaning, cleaning and disinfecting like a crazy lady. I thought we had it nipped in the bud. Little did I know....

Wednesday by mid-day I had it. By that evening Hunter had it and last but not least, Chris came down with it early Saturday morning. Yuck!

I have never done so much laundry to just clean the virus out of the house. We spent several days with windows and doors open to air out the virus and have cleaned every inch of this house. I'm exhausted!

Happily, we are all on the mend. I think the boys had the milder version. Blake certainly did. I will post some pumpkin patch pics soon! Just glad to be coming back into the land of the living!

Something Sweet

Knowing that Halloween is always a mad dash and pictures are sometimes the last thing I am thinking about, we decided to pull out the costumes and do a "trial run." Hunter was a little irked about it because he saw his Buzz Lightyear costume from last year hanging in the closet and wanted to be that instead. I bribed him to put on the new one instead! Needless to say, lots of the pictures of Hunter are of him pouting. Blake was not so thrilled about the enormous trunk in his face and I know he had to be hot seeing as it was nearly 100 degrees that afternoon. But, they both stuck it out and I have a few good ones to show for our photo shoot. We are really excited about Halloween around here!

The baby elephant...

...does not like to stay in one place anymore.

Even though they are not looking at the camera, at least they are looking in the same direction.

So happy not to have that hot 'ol elephant costume on anymore!

My pirate!

Takin' care of business!

I've mentioned this before on the blog, but we have this thing around here with a Size 0-3 month business suit. Yes, there are 3-piece suits for infants. Just in case you needed to run out and get one for your 2 week old's interview. Seriously! Anyway, it was a gift for Hunter back in 2005. We got a kick out of it then and we are still getting a kick out of it now.

So anyway, back in August of 2006, when Hunter was about 8 months old, we pulled that puppy out. I was bored, Chris was out of town for a week and we were sending pictures over email to him so he wouldn't miss anything. So, I disassembled that suit, got it on Hunter without too much trouble and went to town taking pictures. I am not kidding when I say that I actually went and developed the pictures within the hour and drove around showing people (people I knew if course). It has been something we have laughed about since. So, without further ado, here is Hunter...


Today, I found that suit. It was crumpled up a little in the bottom of the dresser drawer, but it had to be brought out. I could not let Blake pass up an opportunity to look professional. Who doesn't want their baby to look professional? (Oh, and the size is 0-3 like I said, but that is some big 0-3 month old if my 8 month old Hunter and now nearly 11 month old Blake can wear it!)


He's giving himself a thumbs up, "Lookin' good my man!"

These just have to be a part of their rehearsal dinners someday! Is that bad that I am already planning which pictures will most certainly make the cut from their baby-hood?

So, onto other items of importance... Getting a halfway decent picture of the boys together is maddening. I think it's my camera's fault- it's just not fast enough. I am screeching and trying to get Blake to even look at the camera and Hunter is making funny faces which makes Blake look at him instead- oh gracious! So just so you know, here are several of my attempts last night before we went to celebrate Morgan's 1st bday and my brother Blake's birthday.
A little drool on the shirt and I was totally off center! Darn it!

Anyone watch "Everybody Loves Raymond?" Does Blake resemble Frank Barone in this picture? That little tuft of hair off the back of his head is what makes me think of him.

Here Blake is with the birthday girl. The party looked like an advertisement from Orient Expressed. All of the kids were in their cute little outfits and it looked like they could have stepped out of the catalogue!

Then, off to celebration #2 with Blake. Here is Blake, Blake and Kristin- does that sound confusing? We are trying to avoid the "Big" and "Little" titles!

And on a totally random note, here is my new wreath for Halloween. I like the fun stuff of Halloween, not the scary and creepy. This wreath is so fun and playful and such a fun thing to have. Thanks mom!

It's October...

...and I've already started listening to Christmas music! Is that bad? I just can't help myself. I love it and it makes me so happy.

I love fall too, though. I can't wait to take the boys to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out pumpkins, start a fire in the fireplace, carve pumpkins, trick or treat, begin Christmas shopping or at least start looking around... It's such a wonderful time of the year.

Hunter officially started soccer about a week ago. We had his first practice and Chris is coaching. I should say he is wrangling because that is what he is doing- wrangling 11 3-year olds with minds of their own. It's actually pretty comical because our team is dispersed in 6 different directions while the team practicing next to us is running drills and running laps. Oh well, we'll just have fun!


Hunter loves it though and is red in the face after practicing. Our first game was supposed to be last weekend but it got rained out. So, with a bye this weekend, we won't play until next weekend. At least we can say we are undefeated!

The long awaited YTAC Golf Tournament is tomorrow, so life should get back to normal after that. Looking forward to not thinking about it for awhile!

We visited the school the other day so Hunter could be a part of the firemen's visit. He loved running the smoke alarm drill and crawling through the smoke tent. He couldn't get enough of that.


Blake is almost 11 months- I refuse to believe that! He is still my wittle-bitty baby no matter what!



Cari and I took the crew to breakfast on Saturday and they had a blast. Blake and Luke love watching each other and are hungry little boys.
Hunter and Kate having fun coloring and (trying to share!).

Luke and Blake... it was non-stop eating on that side of the table!


...and finally we have a costume for Hunter for Halloween....

Argghhh matey!

On the move...

It's official! Someone is on the move. Blake crawled today for the first time! I think it's been the most anticipated crawl on the face of the earth. He's been up on all fours rocking for awhile now and finally, took a couple of crawls forward today! Yahoo!!

2nd Annual Jones Family Beach Va-cay!

We are back from our 2nd Annual trip to Port A. We had a great time! The boys both love the water and the sand and basically everything that goes into a beach trip. My dream is to one day have a place at the coast. Someday!

I really didn't take too many pictures like I usually do. It's hard to get your camera out with all of the water and sand, but here's what I did get...

Here's my 10 month old baby boy and I the first day out at the beach. He's not really looking at the camera, but seriously, it's so rare for me to be in a picture, I had to include it.

This is me taking our picture. Not the best angle to get Blake's face!

Chris and Hunter- isn't it a neat picture with the sunlight?

Baby boy needs a bath!

Bubba roo loves himself some bathtime when Big Brother isn't hogging the front. I feel I need to tell Kristin sorry for all the baths that I hogged the front. Those poor 2nd children.

Hunter having a "ball" in the pool at Port Royal. He loved that he could stand and was like a little fish. Thank you swimming lessons!

Blake in the boat- truly this was a lifesaver. It kept him out of the sand, saved me from having to hold him the whole time and he loved pulling up on the sides.

The boys in the boat- as you can see, they loved every minute of it.

Hunter getting his feet buried. See, I really did not get great pictures of him. He does not like the camera much these days.

This is a beach tradition. I took a picture with Blake this trip...

...to do like I did here with Hunter back in 2006.

It Rained!

We finally got some much needed rain in San Antonio about a week ago. We didn't quite know what to do with ourselves, so I pulled the jump castle inside and set it up in the living room. Hunter thought I was very cool! Just a little rearranging of some furniture and wha-la! A jump castle in our very own living room. Even I got in and played with the boys and we had a blast!
Blake had a great time watching Big Brother run through the puddles! Oh, he wants to join him soooo bad!!

Hunter thinks puddles are awesome! The bigger the splash the better!

Standing in the rain....

The boys in the jump castle having a great time.

This was set up in the living room for 3 days. Isn't it lovely?

Random, here Blake and I are at Mama's restaurant on Labor Day.

A little of everything... and more new posts below!

Meet the Teacher was Tuesday, so here is Hunter all dressed up to meet Ms. Jennifer and Ms. Amy. We LOVE his teachers this year! He was so excited! (2009)

Here he is last year for Meet the Teacher. (2008)

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES!!!
Hunter and Blake before meet the teacher- they are matching!


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL:
2009


2008- (Notice he is wearing what he wore for Meet the Teacher- they still fit, even though he's gotten quite a bit taller)

Trip to the Children's Museum

We headed up to New Braunfels last week and had a blast at the McKenna Children's Museum. I loved the different things for the boys to do and we stayed the entire morning going from one thing to the next.
BANK- Hunter loved doing the ATM machine and swiping the card. It would spit out money and he thought that was great fun. He also played like he was the teller inside the bank with the money tray.

CAMP GROUND- At the camp ground, you could kayak, fish in the pretend river, tend to a campfire, play in tents, cross a bridge... Hunter is off in the kayak!

GROCERY STORE- Hunter successfully stacked his shopping cart higher than he is tall. He loved shopping and stuffing his basket (apparently he has seen that somewhere??) and then taking it to the check out. Then, his OCD mom would make him put them all back in the right place and start all over. (I think I missed my calling of arranging shelves. I had so much fun setting it all up!)

WESTERN TOWN- Here is my little cowboy riding along on his horse.

BABY AREA- Blake enjoyed the baby area in the center of the museum and decided driving was a great activity for the day!

SPACE AREA- Hunter loved seeing characters from Star Wars.

SPACE SHUTTLE- Here are my brilliant astronaut sons flying to the moon.

ART- A budding artist if I do say so myself.

AMBULANCE- Hunter drove the ambulance and then stole the 3 baby dolls from the play hospital nursery and loaded them on the stretcher in the back of the ambulance.