Updates

The front of the house and Kara's room were the worst!

We lost all the tress in front of the house and about 50 trees total!

My handsome boy and beautiful girl!

Easter eggs and Memaw's!

Sadly the weekend before Easter, our home was hit by a tornado (or two) causing $30,000 damage to the house and another $5,000 in personal property. God of course made lemonade with our lemons and now the house looks great and we were able to update a few things in the process too.

our beautiful family Easter morning!

Easter was great fun this year as it was the first that Kara was truly aware of and Blake was extra excited about the Easter bunny. Mommy learned that the bunny will have to bring toys and healthy snacks next year though because Blake thought he needed to eat candy everyday after Easter! We also went to Swaders for a huge egg hunt where helicopters dropped eggs into a field. There were thousands of people there and sadly, adults were grabbing eggs by the handful. All my kids got was pieces of broken eggs. :( Thankfully some sweet kids noticed the empty buckets and offered my kids some of theirs. There are some good people left in this world!







In spite of all the stress and extra work with clean up over spring break, the kids and I joined Tia and her family for our annual trip to Maymont park. The kids had a great time hiking, looking at animals, and just hanging out together. Afterwards we had Sweet Frog yogurt....Yum!

not sure why it loaded sideways!

For Memorial Day we went camping in Charlottesville with Mimi and Pepaw.  It was great fun and the kids really enjoyed the activities offered for them--jump house, snow cones, and a big slide!

Does he look redneck or what! LOL!

Family pool time!

Kara's first time in a bouncy house!

Lindsay, Aunt Wanda and the girls even made the trip!

In June the house was finally finished so we celebrated turning 30, 7 years of marriage, and having our house back together with a party at our place.  Fun was had by all!

Great sign Bernard and Alice got us!

the new deck! Love it!

June also brought a great trip to Mimi's for the Bridge, Natural Bridge Zoo and the Butterfly Exhibit.  I will add photos later.

July brought a trip to VA Beach with Memaw where Kara experienced the ocean for the first time she remembers and the Children's Museum in Portsmouth was a great place to beat the heat!
At the end of July we took a week long camping trip to OBX and enjoyed having Tia and her family nearby for beach time fun!  It has been a spectacular summer so far and I hope to squeeze more fun out of my last week.  First day as a librarian August 17th!

Ready for spring!

It has been so busy lately. I am taking two classes through UVA and will take two more this summer. Then once I finish up my intern hours, I will be eligible for my library/media endorsement! Kevin has been great helping with the kids while I do all this school work and am tied up in classes. We are so looking forward to our first camping trip for some much needed R&R next month. The kids are growing quickly as usual. It's so hard to believe Blake is already 3 and my baby girl Kara isn't a baby anymore but a toddler! Being a mommy has been more than I ever thought possible and God continues to provide for our family in every way. Here are some images from the past week or so and a video of Blake singing Twinkle, Twinkle.

God continues to bless us and for this we are thankful!

Life continues to unfold before my very eyes. I find myself in deep though some days looking at all my life has become in such a short time. Just 15 years ago or so I thought there was no future for me that included anything good. I saw no reason to continue to live in a world I felt was set up to punish me over and over for some unknown offense I'd committed. I felt I would never be "enough" for anyone or anything. Then, like someone waved a magic wand, I fell in love--really fell in love....with a real man. Building a relationship with Kevin woke me up and helped me to see life in a whole new light. Then when we began to plan for a family and had trouble, again I felt that I was being punished for something. Again, like magic, we were blessed with the most beautiful baby boy ever. Of course, this "magic" was God setting his plans into action. Watching Blake grow showed me there is so much more to life than I ever knew possible. I thank God every day for bringing him into our lives and I recognize that I do not deserve the many blessings God has given to me but am so very thankful for each and every one.

Just short of two years later, again we were blessed. This time with the most precious baby girl, a dream come true for the whole Jones family. Kara, like her brother shows us each and every day that life is so much bigger than us. Watching Blake interact with and protect her gives me hope for this crazy world we live in. I have to trust that God has a beautiful plan for their lives in spite of what the future looks like for our world. I know they will struggle along the way and that God will be there to guide and protect them the way that Blake watches over his little sister.

My job is also a blessing from Heaven. God has always provided when I needed a new challenge or something to uplift my spirits and refuel my fire for education. He provided a school and county change just when I needed it and later grade level changes at just the right moment. Now he has provided me an opportunity to do intensive reading tutoring with grades 2-5 as a Title I teacher. I am learning so much about myself and about education. I am also seeing "behind the curtain" to see how things really work. As a classroom teacher, it was easy to sometimes scoff at the "specialists" thinking they had so much time to lounge around and that their jobs were "cake." I now know how wrong those assumptions were and have a new respect for other positions that I may have had a false understanding of. I try to remind myself that nothing usually is as it seems and that the grass truly is NOT always greener on the other side. Every job has it's pros and cons. It isn't so much that one is easier than another as that they are just "different." They each present their own challenge. Now God has presented a new challenge and experience in my career through the library media endorsement program. I love being a student again but wish I had more time to devote to all these things I love: husband, kids, family, friends, job, and school.

As the holidays approach, so do the kids birthdays. I can't wait to see Kara at her first birthday party and Blake turn three. He's so incredibly smart already that it scares me. He teaches me so much about learning and the capabilities of such a young mind. Imagine if you could capitalize on this time in all children's lives so they maximize their learning potential.

I am looking forward to spending the holidays with my family and the much needed time off from work to just be a mommy and a wife for a bit.

God continues to bless me each day with a chance to be the best I can be. I often fail but again he gives me another sun rise to try and try again. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for my life!

Blake's summer 2010

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Summer 2010

Summer is going quickly and we've been very busy! Several visits with grandparents and cousins...camping a lot and just staying busy with anything we can. I just found out I got a new job as the Title I reading teacher at my school and am very excited about trying something new. In September I plan to go back to school to complete a Library Media Specialist Endorsement program through UVA (I feel a little like a traitor to my VT roots!) It will be a busy year for sure. Kara is growing like a weed and Blake is turning into quite the little man. They both keep us smiling and enjoying life!

Been awhile

It's been a while since I've posted. Being a mommy of two is so exhausting, busy, and AMAZING! I never thought I wanted a little girl but am so glad I do! It's like getting the full experience of being a parent to have both a boy and a girl and to watch their differences. I feel so blessed daily to have so much love in my life and such an amazing family and great friends. Some days I just have to pinch myself that this is my life--a life I never thought possible. So glad God had better plans. :)

Kara Grace

Yesterday at 11:49am, baby Kara Grace made her debut into this world at 6 lbs. 9 oz., 20 inches long and healthy as a horse! Scored a 10 on her APGAR which the doc says she NEVER gives anyone. She's breastfeeding beautifully which is a relief.

First major booboo

Blake fell off the bottom step on his babysitter's porch last week and literally caught himself with his nose! Poor thing. Luckily it is healing very quickly. He keeps looking in the mirror, pointing to his nose and saying, "boo boo"

Cousins, Trains, and Halloween, Oh My!

Blake had a wonderful time playing with his cousins at Mimi's. A very nice family gave us a train table with LOTS of trains. Blake is so excited and all he seems to talk about is trains lately. Halloween was a smash! Couldn't get him to wear his lion's mane. He kept spitting because the fur would get in his mouth but he though trick-or-treating was great!

Time is flying!

This is my belly at 28 weeks exactly! Getting big!

This is the PG version of my belly. Looks bigger in a dress than it really is!

Blake loves his pudding! Can you tell?

This looks bad....the shirt says "Captain Stinky" and he's drinking water out of a Hooters shotglass. He takes after his dad!

Kevin's college buddies bought Blake this monkey. He loves reading to him, loving on him and taking him for rides on his fire truck!

Here I am one day shy of my 29th week of pregnancy! I can't believe my little girl will likely be here in about 9 weeks! I can't wait to see her sweet face and to watch her grow. Blake has brought us so much joy and amazement and I know baby girl will only add to that dynamic. Great news: Blake is now sleeping in a big boy twin bed so baby girl will have the crib all to herself when she arrives. Looking forward to December and staying busy in the meantime.

IT'S A GIRL!

Finally my mother-in-law will have a little girl to spoil and dress up! We found out July 30th that we are, indeed, having a little girl. I am quite frankly, scared to death. I am not quite sure how to raise a girl and I know from watching myself grow up that it's a CHALLENGE! I guess mom gets her wish that I will be getting "payback." More than anything I hope she is healthy and that she doesn't inherit any of my female health issues. :( I'd hate to pass those along to my child. Now we are in the process of argueing about what to name her and I really can't get settled on any one name anyway. Looks like we may be taking a list to the hospital and waiting until we meet her to give her a title. :)

Summer '09

This summer has been packed full of fun! We've been to Nags Head, Virginia Beach, Beaufort to visit Aunt Lindsey, and enjoy playing at Memaw and Papaw's often. Here are some updated pics of Blake.

SURPRISE!

You know God never ceases to amaze me in his plans for my life. First, he blessed me with an amazing husband (well, most of the time :) ) Then he blessed us with our beautiful baby boy Blake who is 16 months old already and amazes me daily. Now, low and behold, he has chosen to bless us with another child! We just found out last week that I am pregnant! It's truly a miracle as I haven't had but one menstrual period since October. I actually visited the fertility doctor in April to discuss doing the injections again this summer and even though the pregnancy test that day was negative, I was pregnant (just too early). When I continued to feel like crud all the time, I took another test last week and was SHOCKED! We are so excited! Had our first ultrasound on Monday to determine how far along I am---7 1/2 weeks already! The due date is December 24! So close to Blake's December 26 birthday! We're hoping he or she will be a little early like Blake so we can avoid Christmas this time but we will take the blessing when God delivers! We appreciate everyone's prayers!

HAPPY EASTER!

Blake was so excited about his colorful eggs, golf club and bubble blowing mower! He looks like Little Boy Blue in this outfit. I think it's going to be too cold to wear it to church though. :(

Update

It's been awhile since I've posted. Busy time of year with school and life in general. Blake continues to grow and amazes me daily with new stunts, etc. He now loves to tackle people and jump on top of them like a wrestler. He grabs your face and holds it straight so he can smash his nose against yours! ;) Sometimes he's a bit rough and mommy's nose feels broken! He has mastered his Power Wheels 4-wheeler now and even rides backwards! I walked in the room last week and he was sitting backwards, reaching behind him to push the button and grinning from ear to ear! Sounds like we may have a future Evil Kenival on our hands. (please ignore spelling) He LOVES LOVES LOVES being outside so we spend quite some time outdoors when the weather is nice. We're having so much fun watching him grow.

Blake loves his swing. We took advantage of the warm "winter" weather. His favorite new game is to "kick" you when he swings forward. So much fun!

Homestead get away!!!

Above is the JeffersonPools...famous hot spring mineral waters said to heal what ails you. It was too cold so they were closed b/c you are outside.

The picture to the left shows the warm springs steaming in the cold air and a view of the mountain down the road

Kevin and I had the pleasure of visiting the Homestead Mountain Resort for three nights and four days with his company this past weekend. We had a wonderful, relaxing time. I spent some time in the spa and lived the "rich" life for awhile. Four course meals, massages, facials, no care in the world...nice for a few days. Coming back down to earth has been stressful. Getting back to work, etc. I missed Blake something horrible though. Never want to leave him again! Being a mom has made me more rich than any amount of money ever could. Here are some pictures. The formal one is our last night at the closing banquet of the conference. Great fun!

Hair

So now I have justification for driving all the way to Richmond (1 hour) to get my hair cut. Just anybody cannot touch my hair!!! I've discovered over the years that very few beauticians know what to do with curly hair. I finally found someone but unfortunately she's all the way in Richmond. Anyway, I had an appointment with her on Monday (so I thought), got a babysitter, drove to Richmond and found that my appointment somehow was put on Tuesday. So, I reluctantly let someone else cut my hair....I mean I had gone through all that trouble. AGGGHH!! Big mistake, won't happen again. This chick butchered my hair and cut it as if it was bone straight (it isn't) so it frizzed up and seriously made me resemble Shaggy the dog. So, I ended up back there on Wednesday begging my hairstylist to do something. Now it is shorter than I like, and still has some issues but is 80% better according to my hubby. In spite of all this, we had a great New Year's Rocking out the Guitar Hero with Gene and Tia.

More Christmas and Another bday party!

Cake is so yummy! He ate the entire piece!

Memaw gave Blake these eggs. You match up the shape and tops and they chirp too! We had a great turn out for his party her in Dewitt and at his party in N.B.

This is the Power Wheels that we bought him for Christmas. He loves it but hasn't quite figured out how to make it go using the button. He keeps rocking back and forth trying to get it to move!