We had a GREAT Christmas!!!

The only thing that could have made it better was if the rest of my family was in town, but hey, I got to talk to both of my brothers and wish them a merry Christmas. Also, contrary to what my wife said they both got their Christmas presents on time! Yeah for me the master procrastinator!

Anyway, we captured some very special moments on video this Christmas and here they are:

The first one is of my mom when she openned a picture of all 8 of her grandchildren together in one spot! It was classic because when we first gave her the package she thought it was the Christmas picture of just my family, the look on her face was priceless and we even got a few tears... always a good indicator when you are giving a present to your mom. Thanks to the Curleys for helping make this one possible.



The second one is of my precious little niece Caridee. She has only laughed a few times and not for very long, but her crazy cousins (that's MY BOYS!) got some really good giggles. Too cute!




I hope everyone's Christmas was as fun and memorable as ours! Merry Christmas and happy new year!

SEVEN!!

Hard to believe that this day 7 years ago Brandi and I were eating breakfast at Bill Johnson's Big Apple while she was having contractions. They had been going all night and she wanted to get some good food in her before we went to the hospital. We were getting ready to drop Hunter off at Kim and J's house for their first adventure in caring for a two year old.

Jacob was a cute baby, in fact his picture hangs with several others on the wall of the labor and delivery area of Banner Baywood. It was a quick delivery, in fact we have Aunt Amber on tape saying, "That's it! I could do that!" B and I both gave her the look of death for that one. The deliveries were never bad for B, it was the nine months leading up to it that was HORRIBLE.

Jacob was an easy going baby and not much has changed since then. He's still a good looking kid and seems to be a favorite with girls in his class. Although we haven't had quite as much of an issue in 1st grade as we had in kindergarten. I think the girls have gotten a little more reserved (thankfully). Hard to believe it's been seven years. Wow, I think I'm getting old.

Jacob is an awesome kid and is such a help with everything. He doesn't complain much and is quick to help out. He has a great attitude and a laugh that is absolutely infectious. He will make himself laugh and before you know it he is laughing uncontrollably... and so are half the people around you. Basically he is a great kid and a joy to be around.

Happy birthday big man! It is a pleasure to be your daddy. :)

Uh oh. Only one more year...

Wow, Hunter turned 9 yesterday. NINE. As my wife said, he's almost in the double digits. And of course HE reminded me, that there is only ONE more year! He didn't have to say what was going to happen in one more year, I knew very well what he meant. You see when my son was three years old I made a rash promise to him, thinking to myself that the child is just three, he won't possibly care about reptiles in SEVEN YEARS. I promised him that he could have a snake when he was "like 10!" Well, that's next year. And he's been counting down for the last SIX years. Oh boy.

In any case, nothing turned out like we had planned yesterday. First of all we figure out Sunday night that the rash that Hunter developed over the weekend is actually the final stages of fifth disease. Okay, that's not good, especially since we had three sets of grandparents expected to arrive at our house for a HUGE spaghetti dinner in honor of Hunter's b-day. Well, we decided to contact all of the grandparents and just give them the information. Unfortunately that meant that any grandparent that expected to be around our niece Karidee in the next week or two, really should not be hanging around us. Two sets of grandparents dropped out. Hey, you know, it will be fine, Granny and Papa were still coming over to celebrate. Then on the way home I got a call from my sweet wife who had just been hosed down with projectile vomit from little GB. I called Papa and informed them that our house is evidently the Bermuda Triangle of illness lately and advised them against setting foot inside. So, we picked up Prince Caspian from the DVD Play and headed home. The gift that Brandi and I ordered for Hunter still had not arrived. Bummer.

The whole thing was just NOT turning out like we had hoped for our little man. But, the beautiful thing is that Hunter had a GREAT attitude through it all. He was not only still happy about the whole evening, but he was grateful and expressed gratitude for picking up the (plan B) movie and the great spaghetti dinner (with the noodles that over cooked). I am really proud of the way he handled it all.

Grandparents still showed up to the house to drop off presents and Hunter met them at the door to say thanks and open the present so that they could see him.

It's amazing. This same little kid that use to have such a problem controlling his anger and would have poor B in tears with frustration as she would apologize to other parents after our two year old 'beat their kid down' in the McDonald's play area has grown into this sweet and wonderful nine year old. He has his moments like anybody, but I have to say, he rocks!

This year has been a big one for us. God works out his plans in amazing ways. With all of the back issues that B has struggled with for the last year, I really don't know what we would have done without our five foot, super strong, Hunter to pick the baby up and carry him all over the place. How amazing that Hunter is in the upper 90th percentile for all of this measurements, and GB is in the lower 25 percentile for all of his. God knew we needed him.

I have to say that the biggest and best moment of the year was when B and I got to hop into an inflatable pool with our big kid and baptize him. What a moment. What a year. What a great kid! Thank you God for our Hunter! Happy birthday big guy!

GB Turned One

GB turned one yesterday. Our last little boy is growing up so fast. He still lives up to his reputation as a Good Baby. He is fun and adventurous and moving at the speed of light. He likes to get into cupboards and find whatever he shouldn't have.

He is a little more of a cuddler and seems to like stuff animals. So for his birthday Brandi found a huge, super soft stuffed dog at Sam's Club and we gave it to him yesterday. I would say that he definitely liked it.

He is such a blessing. It's been a very crazy and sometimes tough year, but Gabe has definitely been a shining light of fun and happiness during all of it. Happy birthday little man.

Good afternoon yesterday

The weather was perfect. The sun was a little bright, but the fields were in great shape and we were able to find some shade. A bag of sunflower seeds, our camping chairs, some crackers for GB and waters all around. We were ready for some baseball!

Little league anyway.

Hunter and Jacob are on the same team this year (praise God!) which is so nice. Coach Dirk is great! He is very encouraging and positive, and the kids are really learning a lot. Awesome stuff.

The first game was last Saturday. Both of the boys struggled a bit. I think it was just first game jitters. We went down to the park Sunday afternoon and practiced hitting. They were both in the groove last night, Hunter was three for three and Jacob was two for two.

Granny and Papa were able to come out and watch the fun. It is so great to have them both out here now!

Anyway, a good time was had by all. The other team was pretty good. Definitely some good hitters there, but after the pitcher hit one kid and struck out half a dozen others (yes, it is coach pitch :) I think we took home the victory.

I haven't quite worked out the kinks of taking pictures or video with my new phone, but here is Hunter. The very next pitch went into right field.

Funny kid

GB is a very entertaining little guy.

And his infamous headbutt trick.

The best first :)

I am way behind on my family blogging, so I thought I would start with the latest thing that has happened, which also happens to be the best. :)

Last night, my sweet wife and I had the INCREDIBLE privilege of baptizing our son Hunter. He has been asking to be baptized for months now. We've talked with him a lot about it. We went through scriptures. We went to the baptism class.

I really had some concerns because he is so young. But it's really not complicated, even though we always try to make it that way.

It was a great thing. GREAT thing! Praise God!

Today I got to be the storyteller for the K -4th grade classes at the 10:30 and 12 services. We talked about honoring Jesus OUT LOUD.

This is my son, Hunter, honoring Jesus OUT LOUD!

There is something very special about being a parent and having this special moment. I remember my own father baptizing me nearly 20 years ago. Awesome God stuff.

Hunter said when he came out of the water he felt so lite! I picked him up. He was!

God bless you my son. May God guide you throughout your life. I am so proud that you are my son. I love you so much! Thanks for letting mommy and I share this with you.

:)

Are you ready for this?

I woke up last night as Brandi was sitting up. She was in a lot of pain and was holding the side of her head. "It felt like a bug crawled in my ear!" she said and got up, obviously in pain. I got up and checked on her, she said she could hear a popping or gurgling sound and was in a tremendous amount of pain. You know we live in the internet age, because the first thing I did was go to webmd and see what I could find out. Not too much. It sounded like maybe she had a serious ear infection that had caused her ear drum to rupture. She had a little blood in her ear and shooting pains. I finally called our doctor and talked to the "on call doctor" who said that if she couldn't get comfortable and wait until morning that we needed to go to the ER or Urgent Care.

Things seemed to get better but she was having pain off and on all night. Finally this morning we got an appointment with the PA and Brandi went in. On the way there she put in her praise CD and practiced for kids' large group tomorrow where she is supposed to lead worship. The pain came back tremendously and she was very grateful that she was headed to the doctor's office.

When she got there the PA took a look and was quite surprised to find... an earwig. No, not hair in her ear. A bug. We use to call them pincher bugs because they have a pincer on their tail. Brandi always called them earwigs. The PA was able to remove it and get this, it was still alive. Brandi was TOTALLY wigging out (pun intended). They gave her some antibiotic drops and checked the other ear. Everything is fine now. The PA said she had NEVER seen that before.

Yes we get our house sprayed for bugs regularly from a reputable company (although I think I will be switching now).

Brandi stopped by the store and picked up and extra large pack of ear plugs. I guess she isn't taking any chances.

Think about this video as you go to bed tonight, I know I will, I've been thinking of this ever since she came home and told me. Skip ahead to 8:20 if you don't want to wait.. Pleasant dreams. :)

So sad, it's over

I came home tonight to a quiet house. The kids are all pooped. They were sitting like lumps in front of the T.V. watching cartoons when I got home. They definitely are missing the cousins. I think over the next couple of days they are going to be very sad. B and I will be sad as well because both of the girls were an especially BIG help with the baby. Not to mention the fact that it was really great to see all of the cousins playing together so nicely. They definitely formed some bonds this year.

Check out a couple more pics and a video. Josh is describing a sword fighting game that I let the kids play at AJ's. Good stuff. Memorable moments. A bunch of great kids.

Round two continues

I know the pictures have been getting rave reviews (mainly because of the ADORABLE children in them), but I'm afraid these ones leave a lot to be desired. They were taken from my phone because I forgot the camera. Bummer.

Anyway, round two is a lot like round one. A movie, pools, and of course Amazing Jake's last night. Faith opted out because she had plans with friend of hers. B stayed home with the baby. So it was just me and the four boys! We got their about 4 and left when they closed at 9:30.

Needless to say I'm a little sore this morning.

We are going to another pool this evening for a sunset swim from 6-8.

The kids have been having a really good time playing together. I get the feeling my kids are going to be really bummed when the cousins leave.

more pics

Round Two has begun

Well, we just completed the big switch. We met up with the other kids and their Nana and Papa at Texas Roadhouse. A veritable cornucopia of soda, ribs, chicken fried steak, gravy, hamburgers, steaks, chicken fingers, fresh baked honey rolls, and of course peanuts filled everybody up.

So we snapped a few pictures while we were there. It was very busy having all of the kids in one spot, but they all got along very well, as you can see.

more pics

Of

Of course not everyone has been thrilled with all of the activity. When Speedy gets irritated his "beard" can get a little darker. I don't think I have EVER seen it this dark(no this is not photoshopped). Oh well, he'll get over it.

Crazy week... good times

Well it has been an absolutely crazy week. Seth and Kylee got here Tuesday. Fortunately, I stayed home from work that day. Unfortunately, I stayed home because I was sick.

Wednesday was bring your kid to work day, so I took some Advil Cold and Sinus and packed up Hunter, Jacob and Seth and we went to On. The kids got all kinds of neat little toys and got to see more of 'the plant' than most employees. They saw a brief tour of the zener/rectifier wafer fab. A hands on walk through of the packaging lab, where they got to hit the buttons to run the di bonder and the wire bonder, even getting to take home their own silver plated copper lead frame with 15 mil aluminum bond wire (I know, control your excitement!) As boring as that all sounds, the machines themselves are pretty fun to watch and the kids had a ball. By lunch time they were saying that they were the On employees and that it was bring your dad to work day.

Thursday was a real work day for me and rather tedious at that considering I was still feeling very much under the weather. During the day the kids have been visiting a variety of public pools, the library, and just generally hanging out with B.

We let the kids pick one BIG thing to do. So last night we all went to Amazing Jakes for dinner and fun. It was a ball! We played and played and ate :).

We got home and went to bed about 10. Three of the kids were up at 6:30 this morning. I guess it wasn't as exhausting for them as it was for us.

Here are some pictures.

Our budding artist

Some times when your kids bring stuff home you go, "hey that's pretty cool" and you don't really think about it again.

Well, Brandi and I were both REALLY impressed with this one from Hunter. Obviously it is the Statue of Liberty and one side is supposed to represent what it looks like when the sun goes down and the other side when the sun comes up. Nice.

The last days of school

The boys have ONE more day of school tomorrow. So we had Hunter's last cottage fair on birds, which was VERY cool and we personally learned a ton of information, even though I have to admit, having grown up in a house full of parrots, birds are not my favorite topic. Hunter did a science/research project on eagles, condors and hawks. Awesome stuff.

Jacob had his kindergarten graduation, which was very cute. They sang several of the songs that they had learned this year, including the song about "My Dog!" A little out of focus, but very cute.

We just got the boys some nice short summer hair cuts, so they were all looking good! I tell you what, I may be a little biased but these are some good looking kids! A little goofy, but then again, I am there dad, so they come by that honestly. :)

Jacob also had some pictures taken with some of his peeps... and his teacher.

The last little girl actually flagged us down in the parking lot as we were trying to get into the car. What can I say? He's a Jones!

G.B. can stand for lots of things :)

Usually G.B. stands for Good Baby or Good Boy, but the last few days it has stood for Grumpy Baby! Poor GB got sick and then on top of that started cutting teeth. Ouch! Poor little man. Unfortunately this is an accurate representation of our little man the last few days.

The Last Hurrah!

Well, we finished off our visit with Charlie and Stacey with some good food and good times! Aunt Stacey had the great idea to get out of the house after the weekend of rain, so we packed up the kids and took them down to the pool for a couple of hours.

Then last night, it was fondu! Our first attempt into this arena and it was a raging success. Cheese with apples, bread, and cauliflower. Then some tasty steaming broth for the mushrooms, shrimp, steak, and chicken. Throw in a few dipping sauces and a couple varieties of wine and OH YEAH!

After dinner we put the kids to bed, broke out the cards and played a hand before we broke out the chocolate fondu, strawberries, bananas, pound cake, and marshmallows. Oh my. And let me just say that my wife came up with the best chocolate fondu I have EVER tasted. So good.

Oh, of course there was also the game... but I think you can probably figure out who won that. :)

Final for the weekend:

Guys (aka the WINNERS) : 4
Ladies : 1

Ouch.

Last night

Well, it was decided that we would continue the game from the night before and after a game filled with suspicion of cheating by the ladies. They were able to squeak by with a razor thin victory.

So, then we started fresh and the tables quickly turned. There were some brilliant and memorable maneuvers by the guys (otherwise known as the Winners). Which leaves the score so far at:

Winners (gentlemen) : 3 (after generously removing the .5 victory from the night before)
Whiners (the lovely by whiny ladies) : 1 (which is really being quite generous considering the game was broken up over more than one day)

Well...

We had to cut the game short after two hands, since we went out with some friends to Dave and Buster's, but...

Guys : 2.5
Ladies : nada

Running Total

Well, last night it was Phase 10 and Keith eked out a win.

Tonight, our friends Ann and Tracy came over. Six people, guys verses girls, the game was Canasta and the girls got taken to SCHOOL!!!! Completely shut out of the last hand they never even got on the board, they actually had negative points from the cards in their hands. It was beautiful, but not unexpected.

Guys : 2
Girls : Hey they're trying (0)

Unlce Charlie and Aunt Stacey Come to Visit!

Uncle Charlie and Aunt Stacey flew in from Kentucky and were greeted by typical AZ weather, rain, hail, and a cool 70 degree May day. Huh? Our first good rain since February showed up about the same time as they did and has been hanging around for a couple of days now.

So, yesterday we checked one of the restaurants on Uncle Charlie's list off and went to Kittie... I mean Filiberto's for lunch. Actually according to the stickers on the window they serve only Angus Cat... I mean beef now. Uncle Charlie says, "if they can make cat taste like that, I'll eat it!"

Then we went and checked out the new Narnia movie. Sa-weet! But very intense.

Then we headed home, ate some spaghetti, put the kids to bed and played some Phase 10!

Here are some pics of the fun.

I guess you can see what happens when you feed Uncle Charlie Mexican food. It continued all night.

While I couldn't actually get video of the act, this was pretty close.

Star Wars Lego Battle

Good Young Padawan is in a battle with a ti fighter and pulls close to warn the pilot that he is about to be destroyed. In a desperate move, the ti fighter tries to brake free from Good Young Padawan, but is no match for the incredible skills of the young jedi warrior.

Moments later the fighter was destroyed and disintegrated into a cloud of cosmic dust.

Unfortunately, back on planet earth, immediately after this picture was taken the intricately crafted ship of Good Young Padawan was destroyed in a tragic accident when Daddy accidentally bumped the hand of valiant Hunter.

The Gooch Hits FOUR!!!

Wow, amazing to think that little Kyle is 4 years old today. I tell you, Brandi and I knew that we were in trouble when we watched his ultrasound and he was doing back flips and finally came to rest with his feet above his head. I remember thinking, "Good grief, is he okay like that?"

He's been a little rocket ever since. Kyle learned how to run at 9 months! He learned how to walk at 10 months ;)

Brandi and I were watching him take his steps going, "hey, it's okay, just slow down and take it easy... no need to rush!" What can I say, it's been an adventure. I came home yesterday and Kyle had climbed into Gabe's crib and bent the frame that holds up the mattress. Of course it wouldn't be that big of a deal other than the fact that Gabe was IN the bed at the time and this is the SECOND frame that he's bent. Oh my. Praise God both of the were fine and I was able to restore the frame and get it back in the crib.

The Gooch is a handful!

But he is also the most smiley kid you will ever see. If you are looking for fun, Kyle is your kid. He has a smile and a laugh that is absolutely contagious. He gets his fair share of bumps, bruises and oh yes, whoopins, but... he recovers fast and can go from crying to laughing without taking a breath. Kyle is a great kid! He is fun to hang out with and he is turning into a great big brother to Gabe and IS a great little brother to Hunter and Jacob.

We've survived four years laughing, smiling, spackling, painting, bandaging...

I pray that God will bless us with grand children that will be as much of an adventure as their daddy is! Not JUST for the payback :) but because he's a lot of fun!

Happy birthday little man!

BTW... he got out of bed at 5:55 this morning... this could be a long birthday. ;)

Bunch o picures #2

So the deal on all of the pictures is that we hadn't had all the boys' pictures taken in a long time so we went to a studio and bought a package that included the CD. Kind of nice that way. There were 126 pictures, these were some of my favorites. Enjoy.

Bunch o pictures