Jones 2010

There were so many to choose from, so I just did a bunch. We had fun doing our 2010 photo shoot. Especially Tyler. Abandoned trains? What could be better??? He found plenty of metal "treasures" to play with while we were there. Thanks Marisa. The girl that took our shots was 16. Can you believe that? www.marisarosephotography.blogspot.com I'm saving the best ones for our Christmas card! :)

Delicious!

Isn't she yummy??? She is also huge. Practically too big for the bassinet, she bumps against the sides all night long. She is a doll though, and is already smiling lots and has laughed at us 2x. What can I say, she's obviously her mama's daughter, we love to laugh! Of course, it was when I was telling her it was night night time. Stinker!

The necklace was one of my nap time projects that is keeping my dining room table full of fun fabric! :)

It was a graveyard smash...

SpoOky arachnids

yes... I sent Brooklyn to school with spiders in her hair! :)

sha bebe

When we were in the hospital all of the nurses kept saying, "sha baby..." in a loving, endearing kind of way. I had NO IDEA what this meant, but assumed it meant something kind and sweet. Over the past few weeks, many more people have said this when they saw Ava. I finally got curious enough to look it up, it is a Cajun phrase. It derived from some french phrase, but is part of the almost gone Cajun language. It is a term of endearment that means something like "pretty or dear baby." There are many unique characteristics about this place seeped so richly in culture. I will always remember though that Ava was "sha bebe" when she was a baby.

hot, hot, hot...

We ventured out and enjoying a visit to the one and only TABASCO factory! It isn't too far from our house. You can smell the potent fragrance as you drive down the gravel road. The tour was short, but the history was fascinating. We all got plenty of samples, tried some nasty tabasco ice cream...(a frozen treat should not taste like that), and enjoyed the scenery. The live oaks were beautiful, there were even rolling hills. Jeff and I sampled the tabasco chili and red beans and rice, both were cajun-licious! If any of you come visit us, we'll take you there!

owlette

Here is a sneak peek at Ava's Halloween costume. She is turning into a fatty! :) We love to squish her.

Ava baby

blessing

We were fortunate enough to be able to bless Ava while my parents were here. She is such an angel. I anticipated making her a new gown, the one the other girls wore became a doll and teddy bear dress (and my dress making skills have dramatically improved since I made this dress 10 years ago), but since this was so spur of the moment, she wore their dress too. She was a quiet little doll while we had a MAJOR photo shoot! Papa and Grandma are the best grand baby photographers ever!!!

Ava Jane

WE love this little bundle so much already!!! She was born Sept. 16 at 1:35, weighing 8 lb 5 oz and 20 inches long. She already had little chub rolls on her when she came out, in fashion with our other babies! :) We feel blessed and are enjoying every second with this sweet baby.

First Day of School

This is a bit late, but since we were in the hotel at the time, they got lost in the shuffle. Brooklyn and Tyler started a few days earlier than Lily, and she actually just got switched to another class... don't get me started on school drama. Let's just say I appreciate a lot of things about HISD and SFE that I took for granted before.

I can't believe how well the kids have adjusted to the move. Brooklyn has so many friends at school and is doing well with the changes. Tyler has also been resilient and is enjoying the millions of boys his age at church! Check out that smile on his face the first day, aren't I lucky to get to hug that guy every day??? Lily is doing well in Kindergarten! She loves school and I miss having her around! They are all thrilled to be able to ride the bus home soon.

more house

I am SO proud of myself!!! I tried this at the last house and ended up with holes in the wrong places and Jeff had to do a rescue mission on our cabinets. Since he is busy and the radio has been on the counter for 2 weeks, I decided to attempt again. It took one phone call, MANY snack breaks, lots of sweat, two pieces of paper, 10 pieces of tape, 2 drill bits-changed a million times with one hand and thankfully no bad words! Somehow it worked out. Thanks Kathleen! It was still hard as can be, if you've never tried to do this, you can't understand all of the factors that come into play trying to line that thing up right...I will dedicate this song to Jeff in light of my accomplishment---My Chic Bad....

Here are a few more shots from the house... the kids took over my camera, (didn't know this until I saw a million pictures on the camera of the toilet...)

The pictures are all showing up as symbols, so I can't tell where they begin and end, but the above shots are from our master, the family room off the kitchen, the mirror that looks like it should be in the Louvre (Master-bathroom), and the completed radio project.

Little girls...

I was hearing Ms. Hannigan's voice as I typed that, "some women are drippin' in diamonds..." Well, we've got little girls over here, and about to get another one. Here is our experiment at having the girls share a room, so far it's been hard. Bedtime to be exact. Lily has always had a hard time going to sleep, she's basically a LIVE wire, who doesn't eat or sleep. Even waking up for school at 6:30 hasn't done much to change her bedtime habits... oh well. we'll see. Sharing toys has been tricky, not too bad, but tricky. The good thing is, they love each other so much and really are best friends, so once they get used to it, it should work out.

new house

We have started to emerge from the boxes. My hope was to have the house put in order before the baby arrives. We'll see how that goes... Most of the important areas are done, but it takes a while to sort out the way other people throw your stuff together.

I love many of the details of the home. The floors are beautiful, slate and wood. I love the slate, the colors are gorgeous. The moldings, though not something I would've picked are exquisite. The chandeliers and sconces... now these are funny. Once I get my master bathroom organized I'll post a picture of the museum mirror. It's VERY fancy. TOO fancy. Like, little fake wax droplets and crystal droopy things fancy. But hey, it's a house and we're grateful to call it home for now. And the neighbors are fantastic! Anyone who brings over peanut butter brownies for me while I'm unpacking "for protein" is my kind of friend!!!

Ps... the decor is not finalized, so don't look too closely and analyze, I'm just posting for those of you who've been dying to see the house.