Hickaboom!!!

Six years old today! That's just crazy! I mean, come on, I remember being six years old. Hard to believe that my SECOND son is six. Not only that, but he starts baseball tonight! What an exciting day!

Six years ago today, we had been up most of the night with contractions, then went to Bill Johnson's for breakfast (the chicken fried steak is KILLER). Anyway, we dropped Hunter at Kim and Jason's house then went to the hospital. Later that day, after some contractions, an epidural and 10 minutes of pushing, Aunt Amber says, "What? That's it? I could do that!" Oh yes, we have it on tape. Anyway, little Hickaboom was born and things just haven't been the same since. Jacob is such a loving, ocassionally mischevious, but usually peaceful and always friendly kid. It didn't take long to discover that he had the infamous kavorka and we've been pushing little girls away ever since. :)

He's awesome. We are truly blessed to have him in our house and part of our family. It's an interesting dynamic between all the brothers and it just wouldn't be the same without our little Jacob.

God has blessed us with four wondeful and lively boys!

Praise God it wasn't four girls!!! :)

Hunter Lee Jones

Hard to believe. Our little Bubba is eight years old today. Man, how time flies. We've watched him grow so much in that time. Not just physically, but in so many other TREMENDOUS ways.

I couldn't be more proud of him. He's a great kid.

It seems like every time we turn around Brandi and I are left staring at each other in shock to hear the amazing observations and then conclusions that Hunter draws and articulates. I keep having to tell myself how old he really is. When a kid is as big as a 12 year old and then suddenly pontificates like some second year psychology major you have to remind yourself that he's only in second grade.

Thank you, Lord. Thanks for eight wonderful years with our Bubba. Eight exciting years as parents. Good stuff.

Cooking Tip

You may not have EVER expected to see that title on a blog maintained by me. But I have to tell you about this stuff. It is the best seasoning ever and we use it on a ton of stuff. Get it. Use it. Love it. Remember who it was who spilled the beans about it. :)


It's the original one we like.

Post bath hair

Gabe came out with a full head of hair and after every bath he gets a wispy little fro (for lack of a better term). It just cracks us up. Sorry for the quality of the pick, I took this one with my phone.

Halloween

Our friends Jamie and Corey came over for dinner with their son Colton. A good time was had by all. Good food (turkey, mash potatos, stuffing, corn on the cob and Brandi's home made rolls) and tons of candy.

Before the trick or treating began a mighty battle waged between two knights, Spiderman and the grim reaper. :)

Hunter drew and carved the three eyed monster all on his own. We attempted to do the outline and carve kit for the other two. Jacob had the alien and Kyle the dragon.

The sleeping baby

Gabe is a pretty good baby. But it doesn't matter how good the baby is or even how old the baby is (I still watch Hunter sleep sometimes), they all look like little angels when they are sleeping.


p.s. if you can't tell from the picture, he has finally put on a little weight. Almost 9 pounds at his doctor visit today.

Kyle's Hair

He cut it.

So then I cut it.

Not too shabby.

Something new

Okay, so evidently I don't have enough to do (which certainly doesn't seem to be the case) or I just have so many thoughts roaming through my head that I have created my own blog. I know, you are thinking, well what am I reading now? This of course is the family blog, mainly for pictures and stuff about the kids, pets, house, yada yada yada.... The problem is that most of the stuff in my head revolves around God, church, politics, pens, coffee, shaving... you get the idea. Stuff that just doesn't seem to keep with the theme of the family blog.

So if you are REALLY bored, you can check out my other blog. Mainly a what's inside my head blog. Although it does have a really nice picture that we took during our trip to Oregon. Good times....

Anyway... It's here : www.keithjonesblog.com

Transitions

We are definitely a family in transition for all kinds of reasons. One more transition that you should know about is that our blog now has a new (not to mention MUCH easier) URL that you can go to to get what you are reading now.

www.jonesfamilyblog.com

The old blog spot address still works, so you can use easier, I just got tired of explaining it to people.

:)

Thanks!

From the mouth of a three year old

Kyle has been really good with the baby, definitely a little more needy lately, but not too abnormal for Kyle. He has been really excited about the baby though.

He especially thinks it's cool when the baby is nursing, but its the way he says it that makes us laugh.

These are the two that have cracked us up the most:

Is that baby done milking yet?

Is the baby going to get all milked up?

Classic.

The sweetest thing

Okay, so this has to be the sweetest thing in the world. My mother-in-law decided that the older kids need to get out for some grandma time, so she picked them up and took them to Peter Piper for some pizza and games. Brandi and I and Gabe went to lunch and then came back. Brandi went to the store and picked up a couple of things and then came back and took a nap. She took Gabe in with her and when I openned the door to check on them this is what I saw. Does it get any more precious than this?

That... long morning look to him... no coffee yet...

Big brothers

The boys are really digging little brother.

Couple more pics...

Gabriel Wayne Jones (Gabe or Peanut one of the two...)

Okay, here are some quick picks. The basic story is that it was a long labor, short delivery. Mama and baby are doing GREAT! We are home now. I would have blogged sooner but the hospital is way out of date and doesn't have a wireless connection, what's up with that!?

I have to say that the fourth one was just as amazing as the first one. Being a dad is great stuff.

The best in people

Okay, if you haven't seen this video before, get a kleenex.

This came from my good friend at Medtronic.

Ada boy Steve! He was the same one who sent me the flaming saltwater and the handpuppets. Good thing Steve doesn't have a blog, I would just be linking to his. :)

Contracting...

Okay, Hunter and Jacob don't go to school until 11am. So before they leave for school in the morning both of them have a whiteboard with a list of chores that need to be done. If you don't finish all of your chores for the morning, you have to finish them in the afternoon AND first offense you get fined 75 cents. If you have back to back offenses it's 1.50 and you have additional chores in the afternoon to complete. We're slave drivers I know. All of this stems from the kids just sitting around in the morning and Brandi having to get all over them just to get the basics done.

Anyway, so yesterday they get in the car and start out for school and Jacob says that he did four of Hunters chores because Hunter said that he would pay him $2. Hunter then says that he's not going to pay because Jacob didn't find his socks (one of the four negotiated tasks). Evidently not squealing on Hunter wasn't part of the deal.

So when I got home the contractor had to pay his sub-con $1.25 for his partial completion of the chores and the contractor got docked his entire week's allowance for pawning off his chores on his brother. He'll also get extra weekend chores to make up for the ones he failed to complete himself.

Good grief. I don't remember ever doing anything like that when I was a kid. So am I wrong here? Should I reward the delegation as long as it's a fair deal and the sub-con gets paid. Our take was this is an example of laziness that we are trying to purge.

Of course Daddy just started contracting out the yard work... maybe I'll back off on the extra chores this weekend...

Any help here?

Book Reports from Hunter

Hi my name is Hunter. These are my books.I read these books in two days .Oh maybe not two days. Well I guess that is not a problem at all. The one on the right is an ancient Greece story and there is Pegasus the flying horse. Annie was caught but the ancient book saved them. Annie was caught because there were no girls allowed in the Olympic Games, but she borrowed a costume from the outdoor theater and dressed up as a knight. She sat down and said, "Go, go, go!" They found out she was a girl because of her pony tail.

Annie and Jack were almost hit by a bunch of furniture but they made it to the magic tree house just in time. When the Titanic sank many people died. Annie and Jack heard from the book that many people died on the third floor, so they came down from the deck and saved the people who were on the third floor.

They are great books, but you should definitely read them to find out everything that happened.

The end. Bye!

Way beyond a sheet and a flashlight...

Okay, I know every kid does stuff like this at some point.

Nice to say that somebody was able to make a career out of it. Of course I don't think mine were ever that complicated... I like the bunnies.

That's my boy!

Okay, pretty much anyone who knows me, knows what a... well freak I am when it comes to pens and my handwriting. Well, it would seem that it runs in the family. The other day Hunter wrote a story, which is nothing new, he actually writes and especially tells, a lot of them. He tells stories almost as much as he draws pictures, which have filled up books and folders. I thought this one was especially good and detailed, although it does indicate that I am 18 years older than Brandi... hmmm....



Anyway, I loved it. Check it out.

Hey now! You're a rock star!

This was pretty cute. In Jacob's Kindergarten class they have the "student of the day". Well, Jacob had his day earlier this week and as part of their day everyone in the class draws a picture of the student and the teacher or one of the helpers writes on the picture what they like about the student. I must say this turned out to be very entertaining. Evidently Jacob has about 3 or 4 girls that think he is very "handsome and cute", but my favorite one was
"I like Jacob because he is a rock star and we play freeze tag!"

Classic.

The funny thing was when ANOTHER kid said something similar! Evidently Jacob IS a rock star.

Kids are hilarious.

More cool stuff from the minds of brilliant Americans!

I've seen stuff like this for a couple of years now. I have lots of questions, like what is the actual efficiency of something like this i.e. how much energy does it take to generate the radio waves? In any case, it's pretty cool stuff!

This is the craziest thing EVER!!!

Okay, so we have watched MORE than our fair share of nature shows, but this one takes the cake. Captured by some tourists, it is AMAZING. I know it's long, but you have to watch.

Forgive me if I almost started cheering when "the family" starts coming back. It's like watching the mob move in on someone.

Crazy stuff!!

No Bueno

Well, I was out and about on Tuesday, looking for a good place to get a salad for lunch and evidently wasn't paying enough attention. A couple cars up there was a big collision and someone actually ended up crossing all of the lanes on my side and going over the curb and hitting a young man that was working on paving a sidewalk. All of the good drivers in front of me were able to stop, but I ended up hitting the person in front of me :(

Praise God they were not only good drivers but good parents, they had their little girl buckled in the toddler car seat, right in the middle of the back seat. Praise God no one was hurt through my carelessness, but their car got a little goober and the CR-V got munched pretty good.

If you get a chance pray for the man who was struck by the first car, the whole situation was not good. Thankfully the first responders arrived very quickly and were able to get him out of the sun and off to the hospital.

Here's my little Honda. Not too bad off, mainly plastic. It goes into the shop tomorrow.

The Party!

Well the kids' birthday party was great. For whatever reason the camera didn't come out of the bag at the pool. Sorry. We did however get some pictures of the cupcakes. Brandi is the designer although she did contracted some of the work out to me... but don't worry they still came out GREAT! They all got eaten, but not by me. I held true, even with frosting on my fingers, I resisted. Ouch.

Hunter's were Spiderman cupcakes. I did the red, Brandi made the web and Hunter placed the spiders!

Jacob's were sea creatures, of course some creatures live only in the water and some go ashore sometimes, so we have some half and half cupcakes and some all sea cupcakes. I thought they were pretty cool looking.

All in all I would say that a pretty good time was had by all.

Oregon - The Stephanie Inn

Well, Oregon was green and BEAUTIFUL. It was just so overwhelming that you just can't capture the splendor of it in a picture! We tried. 93 times we tried. Here are a couple of some good ones.

The seaside was incredible. A huge beach that went for miles. The big attraction is Haystack Rock that has all kinds of living stuff on it, from birds to sea stars. I know it looks small in the pictures, but is actually 235 feet tall. Can you say... 'Goonies'?

The Inn itself was very nice. Very elegant. Very pampering and just a wonder to look at. All kinds of flowers and just awesome stuff.

The last day it rained, which would make you think that the day was ruined and too foggy to see anything, but it actually made some of the stuff even MORE amazing.

We saw a bunch of other really awesome stuff, but I just can't post them all here. The BEST part of the trip... BY FAR... was getting to hang out with my best friend... my wonderful wife :)

South Beaching it...

Well, I'm on to the South Beach Diet. It's kind of like Atkins without the fat and a few more good carbs.

A little rough though after coming off of the vacation diet... you know, blue berry scones, fresh cherries, strawberries, mango, pineapple, kiwi and every other fruit you can think of. Steak, baked potatoes (the worst carb on the SBD), shrimp, pasta, sourdough bread, rosemary bread and every other type of baked item you can think of. Tillamook Ice Cream (I didn't even know it existed before this week, but it is a wonderful thing).

I skipped the customary Friday morning bagel with cream cheese and went with an egg, bacon and spinach panini (minus the panini). Then lunch was In-n-Out burger! Protein style! Ice tea. Not bad. I think I can handle this. Just ate my 15 almonds and I'm sipping some coffee (black). I think I can do this. Brandi is making tacos for dinner (no sour cream and romaine instead of tortillas). Good stuff. I think I can hang with this. Phase one is good.

Harsh reality

I think you know what I'm talking about. The alarm goes off on the first day after vacation. It takes a good minute or two to realize what is happening, then another minute or so to convince yourself that it is real. Ouch.

Oregon was fantastic! I will try and upload some of the pictures tonight. Quite a shocker walking out of the airport into 105 degree weather at 8:30 at night. That's just wrong!

I sat next to a sleepy little boy on the plane ride over. His name was Gabriel. Hmmm. Gabriel Wayne is definitely a contender.

Kidos

Okay, so this is the second time I have given the kids a hair cut. The first time went really well, so I assumed that it would go equally well this time... of course, I wanted to do it a little bit different. They didn't turn out quite as well as I hoped, but hey, they look better than they did with their 'hippie' hair.

We also recently purchased some REAL beds for the kids! They were very excited. Up until this point Hunter's bed had been a box spring and matress on the ground. We also played musical rooms. Kyle went in with Jacob and Hunter moved into what used to be the office. We decided that this would also be a good time to get them all some bedding. Finally the camo wall in Jacob and Kyle's room actually matches with the beds. It looks great! I love it! ...and the kids do too :)

Names for baby #4

Okay so we are thinking about kid names and we are stumped. There are a few that we are bouncing around right now.

Stephen Wayne
Austin Davidson
Christian Wayne

Any preferences?

It's GO TIME when I get back!

I am on a weight loss kick. Part of my new year's resolutions, which this year I have really been doing grea... okay, well better than average.

I'm in a weight loss contest as well. I'm down about 25 pounds right now and I'd really like to drop at least 30 more in the next 7 weeks (after the vacation of course).

Anybody got any good weight loss tips? I'll be reading the South Beach Diet on the plane ride over to Oregon. I've already read the Zone and the You Diet, along with half a dozen other ranging from a method of losing weight by breathing and a special exercise plan created by the guy who was in charge of training the Israeli Defense Force. What can I say, I'm kind of a junky when it comes to this kind of stuff. Always looking for the BEST thing!

What's your method?

Back on board...

Stay tuned. We are starting to pack for our Oregon trip! Yeah! Well, my wife said that we need to pack, but come on, it's three days in Oregon. Ten minutes tops! I don't know any guy who would take longer than 15 minutes to pack for a three day trip, and that's if you have to throw a couple of shirts in the drier with some Febreeze for 10 minutes. Not that I ever do that :)

What's your fastest packing time?

Still trying

Okay, one of my new year's resolutions is to lose weight, which I haven't been doing very good at. I'm down, but only a few pounds and way off my goal. So I was searching around this morning and I found this REALLY cool webpage that gives you not only the caloric content of food, but a breakdown of percentages of carbs, protein and fat. It also gives you a visual representation of the nutritional content and gives it a score for how satiating it is by calorie. Pretty cool info and a really neat site for dieters. The site is NutritionData.com. Check it out and tell me what you think.

Ahhh, very nice...

Man did it pour last night. I went to the store to get Brandi some decaf green tea. It wasn't raining too hard at the time so I just took an umbrella and walked. When I came out it was pouring, so needless to say, even with the umbrella I got a little wet, but I was excited because I knew exactly what it would be like this morning. When I woke up I wasn't dissapointed. I came into work this morning with the windows down and smelling the amazing smell of the desert after a storm. There is no other smell like it in the whole world and it is one of my favorite things about living in AZ. If you've never smelled it you are missing out on something spectacular (and rare). If you have smelled it you know exactly what I'm talking about. What a perfect way to start the day! God is good.

Brandi has had two better days in a row. Much fewer trips to the bathroom. She's still been feeling awful, but... if she isn't actually vomiting, then we have hope that she will improve and have more energy.

I tell you this week has been something else. We have had our Christian family reach out to us in a wonderful and amazing way. The concern and service have been both humbling and very touching. I haven't cooked a meal all week (maybe that could be contributing to Brandi's improvement), sweet women from Gateway have been cooking us meals, watching kids and cleaning the house. I've really been blown away. I don't know if any of them actually read this, but if they do, thank you very much. I don't know how people make it through difficult times without Christian family, it truly is a blessing.

The big velociraptor! (by Hunter Jones)

This is Hunter Jones, back in my secret place. The velociraptors led me to this cliff. I did not know that there is an ankylosaurous under neath the cliff. And I did not know that there was tons of water already from rain when it just started. As you can see, there is a big rock that is holding most of the water away, while a lot of it is from the rain. After the ankylosaurous has whipped a velociraptor it tries to climb a rock and knock the big rock out of place so that the water will raise and the velociraptors will drown. Gotta run, there's a big wave of water behind me.... gurgle, gurgle, gurgle... whew, glad I'm safe in my home now. Sorry I have to go clean up my toy room.

Dinos in the Light (by Hunter Jones)

Hi, my name is Hunter, I am in a secret place where you can find dinosaurs. I found a T-rex that is eating another dinosaur. This dinosaur is a good prey because it has no weapon. It is a smart dinosaur because it knows if it kicks its eggs out of the nest they will stay safe from egg raptors. The blue flower in this land (lower right hand corner) is a poisonous dart flower because it can shoot poison. As you can see I found a waterfall in this island and a volcano. And I found terradactyls in the sky. This secret place is very unusual because I have velociraptors chasing after me right now! Gotta go! Ahhh!!

Who is the idiot who...!?

I don't have a picture for this one, because it's just not something you take a picture of, but I would just like to know who the idiot is who named it "morning sickness". I mean, come on! Are there really people that only have this in the morning? Because my wife is not one of those people.

If you aren't already praying for her, please take a moment to pray for my wife. She is having a really hard time with this pregnancy. So far it's not as bad as the first (I mean, after all she's still alive) but it's a lot worse than the second and looks to be as bad or worse than the third. Not just because of the vomiting, but she has had headaches almost everyday. Several of them have been severe, including at least three migraines.

This is just further reason why God was so wise to have the women have the children. Women tend to downplay there pain and suffering over time. "It really wasn't that bad," my wife has said on many occassions. While men on the other hand tend to... shall we say exagerate, maybe... even embelish our pain just a little bit. If you have heard the story of my in-grown-toe nail proceedu... I mean, surgery, you will know exactly what I am talking about. I mean, come on it was touch and go there for a while!

Anyway, keep her in your prayers if you would. I mean, if I throw up, it will be at least 24 hours before I get out of that bed, let alone 4-5 times a day for two months now. Yuck. Historically speaking she has 2 or 3 more months to go.

On that same note, keep my kids in your prayers. They have been eating a lot of MY cooking... poor little guys.

What do you think?

Well, there is the trouble maker! Hunter got to go in with mama for the ultrasound. Due date is Oct 6th and everything looks great. BTW these are just three pictures of ONE baby, not twins (Kristen). Of course, everyone wants to know what it is...

The answer of course is that it's a baby! It's too early to tell what the sex is, B will have another ultrasound in about 10 weeks to find out if we have another little hooligan to tear the house to pieces, or if we will finally have a little girl. Only time will tell...

Morning sickness has taken a rough turn. It's looking at least as bad as it was with Kyle, not quite up to the first pregnancy, but definitely not the easiest. The migraines have been an unwelcome addition however. Brandi has at least her third migraine of the pregnancy today.

Ugh. Gotta go finish the laundry and check on the kids. They are supposed to be 'cleaning' up their toy room. Right.

...you guessed it. Here's Kyle!

The conversation went something like this:

Daddy: "Kyle, what do you want to write about your picture?"
Kyle: "I want it on bog."
Daddy: "No, what do you want to write ABOUT the picture?"
Kyle: "My two names by my self, I don't need help. I be right back. I clean up payroom."
Daddy: "Kyle, what do you want me to write on the blog about your picture?"
Kyle: "My picture right here! I want write bout Cammie and Tywer. Hey guys! grrrrrr!"
Daddy: "Kyle, come back! What do you want to write."
Kyle: "My fammy! Cammie and Tywer! Jacob n Cammie... Tywer. I have be right back."

The rest is unintelligible noise. In any case, I can say I put in on the blog with his brothers.

Kids...

Jacob's turn...

This girl she's... uh very evil, she fights everybody. This guy is named Jacob, he's trying to block the bomb. He tried to stab the girl, but he couldn't. He saved the princess. He tried to kill the bad guy but he couldn't, she was very powerful. She um, uh. He was the biggest fan, he was great at drawing. He played the violin till he was thirteen and he did the sword fighting till he was eleven. He fighted when he was eighty. He was young when he first started. He started out feeding dinosaurs and laying baby eggs. He had no confidence in her. She had no detail on her drawing, she just scribble scrabble scribble scrabble. She started to fight when she was one. She had green hair and she had no, no, no, uh a thousand men, Jacob fight all of them and killed all of them. He was a very good fighter. He was in kindergarten when he, he helped people in kindergarten. He had very good confidence and he liked to draw. The end.

The funny thing is that when I read it back he corrected me on some of the content. This is exactly how he wanted it to sound.