A girl and her dog

I am almost certain I have posted something similar to this in the last 6 months, but I don't have the energy to track it down right now.

Laney adores Lola just as much as she adores her Dad.  She wants to be right be her side all the time.  She wants to be hugging Lola, giving her treats, laying in her bed with her, sharing her food with her...you name it.

Lola often crawls under our bed to escape her very loyal big sister.  Well, this doesn't stop sister.  Yep, she now crawls under the bed to love on her Lola!

 On a rare occasion Lola gets to run errands with us and the kids just love it.  Laney calls and calls for Lola to sit on her lap and occasionally Lola obliges.  she is wearing a dress even though she appears to be naked!

 She really wanted Lola to wear her sunglasses the other day.

After nap hugs!

Oh dear Lola, thank you for being so patient with these kids.  We know they have turned your world upside down!!!

Father's Day - part 2

Well, this post doesn't hold quite the surprise as the first Father's Day post, but it's still blogworthy!

First of all, Adam and I feel are so thankful to have great Dads in our lives.  They were very forgiving when I mailed their Father's Day gifts to the wrong Grandpa and they had to re-mail it to the right one ;).  I blame pregnancy brain!

 Adam has the best memories of being on a boat and on the water with his Dad.

I have the best memories of attending KU basketball games and sharing our love for the game.

Know how these are our best memories?  Because Adam is certain we need a boat in our life and I am certain that we need season tickets to KU games in order for our children to have happy and fulfilled lives ;).

Our Father's Day was pretty laidback.  I offered to make Adam breakfast and then realized we were out of eggs and really anything else other than cereal.  Oops.

 We headed to the park before lunch.  Then we realized we live in Texas and it's June which means our kids would have gotten 2nd degree burns on 90% of the playground.  The swings were safe :).  Cooper is swinging is friend Robin ;).

 Despite the face, she was really enjoying the swings and her Dad.  This girl absolutely, 100% adores her Dad.  She asks for him the minute she wakes up in the morning, if any door opens-she is yelling, "Dad-deeeee?!"  And when you ask her who she loves, the answer is always, "Daddy."  

Think he's a bit big for that?  The other swings were practically melting from the heat.

 We went to a 'paint your own pottery' studio and Coop picked out and painted something for Dad.  After talking him out of the giant frog, I was able to steer him towards this candy/pen holder for Dad's desk.  Here's another Father's Day fail...we did this on Monday, thinking that would be plenty of time to pick up before Sunday.  Oh no, not until the next week!  No big deal since he told Adam what we did the minute we got home.

 Coop created these for Dad and his Grandpas...this is what I incorrectly mailed to the Grandpas!  

With the finished pottery project, ready to grace Dad's desk!  

Happy Father's Day Adam!  We all love you and so appreciate how hard you work for us.  You definitely make our house a fun place to be!

Last years Father's Day post is here.  Everyone has much less hair!!! ;)

Our Sunday

Minus a 24 hour pit stop back home, Adam has been gone since Sunday and arrived home today.  Amen, Alleluia.  Cooper had a random fever and headache a few days this week so we were stuck at home.  I think we played with every toy we own this week! 

Today we got outside, despite the blazin' temps!  After breakfast, the kids and I walked Lola and then spent the rest of the morning in the backyard.

 Coop practiced his golf and then we brought out the tee for some batting practice.  Adam got this to practice his swing and he was so excited to try it out with Cooper.

 We were playing Power Rangers out back and Coop had a sword.  Not to be outdone by her brother, Laney disappeared in the house and came back out in this.  The bunny ear wearing, sword yielding Power Ranger.

 We quickly turned from Power Rangers to taking care of babies.  I was in charge of getting their babies to sleep ;).

 Adam got home at lunch.   After naps he took to the kids to the pool to give me an hour to myself, thank you Adam!  I cleaned our office...somehow the floor had disappeared in the last couple months.  Guess who had something to do with that, her name starts with L and she has 2 legs not 4.

 Adam is an awesome pool parent, much better than I.  In fact he is the only one who has actually taken them to the pool this summer!  

 I picked up pizza for dinner and took it to them at the pool.  In fact I think this should be a new Sunday evening tradition! Dad takes kids to pool, Mom cleans for an hour and picks up pizza for dinner to eat poolside.  Sounds perfect, right?

We feel swimming lessons has officially paid off.  He has much more confidence in the water, which was our number 1 goal...last year he was a serious clinger.

Here's the main exhibit on his confidence.  I really couldn't believe it!  If you have seen him in the pool, you will know what I mean.

This on the other hand didn't surprise me one bit!  This girl doesn't have much fear.

Hope you all had a good Sunday!

More Backyard Summer Fun!

Have I mentioned how much I love our backyard since we expanded our patio??  ;)  Best decision ever.  

We have spent many hours out there despite the high temps.  I am so happy my kids are not to an age yet where they ask to go to the pool.  Is that bad?  Ugh, it's just that putting sunscreen on them is like putting it on wild pigs and it's all for about an hour at the pool.  And let's face it, I am petrified to be in a swimsuit.  So, I am ecstatic that they are just as content with the baby pool in the backyard with some toys and popsicles.

 One day Cooper requested the sprinkler after naps...easy enough.  However, once I got that sucker going, neither one of them was so sure about it.  They were glued to my leg for a bit.  Sister warmed up and this may just be one of my favorite pics of her!

 He wanted to run thru that sprinkler and just try it out so bad.  Especially after seeing his sister having fun.  But he just couldn't muster up the courage to do it.  

It's Summer time so our freezer always  has popsicles!

 Laney still hasn't figured out this whole popsicle thing.  She would drop it in the water, play a bit and then pick it back up. 

I told them I would add bubbles to it next week, it was like I promised them ipads. :)

Another sign it's getting hot here, lazy squirrels.  This guy kept us entertained, he laid there for quite a bit!

Smile Fridays - week 40

Ok-another few weeks passed since my last Smile Friday!  How did that happen?

Love this article/blog about minimizing all the distractions in our daily life.  In our house we are guilty of many of these and it makes me so sad.  I have been working on Adam to cut cable, I just think it's totally unnecessary (until college basketball season is in full swing :)).  He isn't on my bandwagon quite yet.  Here's the link, http://www.becomingminimalist.com.

And this is my favorite KU article of the week, http://www2.kusports.com/news/2013/jun/19/opinion-dick-vitale-loves-life-wife-and-andrew-wig/.  I adore Dick Vitale as much as most despise him.  I sure hope Andrew Wiggins has a good head on his shoulders because wow, this kid has some incredible pressure on him for basketball season.

 Cooper occasionally wakes up and asks what project we are doing today.  In the beginning he caught me off guard and I was scrambling to find something.  I have since pulled together some weekly themes...will post more on that later.  I just can't tell you how happy it makes me to get to tap into my teacher resources!  And he really enjoys doing it and is so proud to show Adam at night.

Who doesn't love a Nutrigrain bar naked after bath??  This girl is something else, she is making us laugh full time.

Ad and I celebrated 8 years of marriage this week!  He was going to be out of town on the actual day so we got a sitter last weekend.  We went to dinner and a movie, saw The Intern.  For a pregnant lady it was a pretty perfect night out and lucky for me, Adam was totally fine with it.  We thought the movie was hilarious!
 I would like to point out we did not have those wrinkles on our eyes (they have a name, don't they?) 8 years ago...how did that happen?

Last but certainly not least....I have a new niece!!!!!!  Bryson and Tara had a sweet baby girl, Landree Michelle this week!  I will post more on her later.

Baby #3 Update!

Our baby's first pictures

 8 weeks.  I was actually really impressed with the sonogram, it was so clear and easy to see!  

We will see him/her again around 20 weeks. 

We told the kids after my 12 week appointment.  Cooper has asked me a couple times if I have a baby in my belly.  I have responded no and asked why.  His response, "then why is your belly getting so big."   A response from another time, "well, i think there will be a baby in your belly in 4 weeks."  He didn't have much of a reaction when we told him. However, later that night while saying prayers, he prayed for baby Colton.  Yes, he has decided it's a boy and we will name it Colton.  A friend on his teeball team has a little brother named Colton ;).  Funny thing is, Colton was on our loonnnggg boy name list with Laney Faith!  Laney was crawling all over me tonight and Coop told her, "watch out, you are going to smash that baby in Mom's belly."  Obviously Doodles is clueless about the whole situation.

I have felt fine.  I was so super tired the first trimester with Coop, couldn't keep my eyes open past 9.  With Laney, I felt like I was living my worst hangover everyday for 3 months.  I haven't been too tired but have napped a few Saturdays which I never do.  Can't complain!  Oh yeah except for the fact that I am already in maternity clothes and look about 20 weeks preggo instead of 14.  Other moms of multiples say your body 'just knows what to do and does it early.'  It's either that or the insane and I mean insane amount of chocolate/ice cream/any sugar related items that I eat on a daily basis.  Oops.  Absolutely no will power and I make really good chocolate chip cookies ;).  And Adam makes really good milkshakes.  

Here's some answers to most popular questions we have been asked...

Yes, this baby was planned.  

Yes, we know we will have 3 kids ages 4 and under.

No, we are not finding out the sex.  Why now?  

Yes, we have a few names on our list already for each gender.

I am 14 weeks along, due date December 17.

My initial guess on sex is BOY.

   

Keep this sweet baby in your prayers that he/she continues to be happy and healthy in its home for the next 6 months.  

Get 'em while they're HOT!

These bags have been HOT sellers since they debuted in mid-April.  So hot that they have been sold out for weeks!  A couple are available to order now and the others I am taking pre-orders for.  They are soon to be sold out again!  

For everyday I carry the La Totale Large...it holds a lot...like I could probably carry my dog in it and I love it!  Before it, I carried the How Does She Do It in navy ikat and loved it but like the bigger bag better!  I carried the striped tech wallet on vacation, it was perfect for that and would be a perfect gift for a gal going off to college!  

Message me at ash4545@hotmail.com if you have questions or are interested.  You can see more details about the bags here, http://www.stelladot.com/shop/en_us/accessories. 

Special Edition Father's Day...

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

If these 2 only knew how lucky they are to have a Dad that loves them so and would do anything for them.  He makes a mean milkshake, plays SuperHeros much better than I and when my patience is about to run out, he's always there to step in.  Thank you Adam for all your do for us, we love you!

if you only knew how difficult this picture was to get and cooper is still rocking his super hero face instead of a smile!

Yep, he's going to make more room on that lap for Father's Day next year!  We are over the moon excited to be expecting Baby Jones #3!!!!  He/She will make it's debut right before Christmas!  More updates to come and another Father's Day post too :).

CopyCat

You know how it goes..."anything you can do, I can do better."  Yep, that's Laney thoughts these days.  She is often copycatting her brother in actions, not so much words but often in her own Laney language.  

Here is a prime example.  We were outside, kids playing in the water table.  

 Cooper took a red bucket out of water table and over to stone wall where he kept filling it up and dumping it out.  Nothing too crazy but sister took notice and about 3 minutes later she had her own red bucket.

 They probably did this for 20 minutes!  Man, water is the best entertainment for kids.

 She took her job very seriously.

 I swear he looks 6 years old here and that makes me sad.

Summer is Here!

Well, here's the forecast for the week...

I love a hot Texas summer!  No really, I do.  Give me these temps over a cold winter any day!

Last night we were outside eating dinner and watching the kids play.  Adam was hosing off the patio and Laney was very intrigued.  It started by washing the mud off her barefeet and continued to this...

 He started just barely spraying her to get a reaction.  She just laughed.  

 So it turned into this.  The water was really cold and it wasn't that warm out anymore, she clearly didn't care.

 My favorite

Coop and I just watched and laughed.  We do that often, this girl cracks us up!

You know who else is excited about summer?

The Kansas City Jones' Clan Visits

Yep, I have a good reason for not blogging since last week...family in town!  Uncle Aaron, Aunt Cami, Braeden, Cash and Baby Quincy came down for a long weekend.

 When you get boys together, they naturally wrestle and

 play video games.

 We had so much fun with them but definitely missed Ava-Grace!

 Laney loved Quincy!  Actually, she was borderline obsessed.  We had to make sure never to leave Quincy laying down with Laney around...she really liked to throw blankets on her.

 Girls in stripes.

 I was quickly reminded how easy it is to just hold a baby and do nothing else.  Quincy is a dream, so content all the time.  Just loved snuggling with her!

 Coop was so excited to have everyone there to watch him play tee ball...especially Braeden!  Each time up to bat he would check the stands to see where Braeden was ;).  

Saturday night Aaron and Cami had a party so we kept the kids.  We got a few stares at dinner, I am sure wondering if they were all ours :).

Thanks for making the trip down guys, we had a blast!