We were able to take a quick weekend at the end of August and drive to California to visit with Grandma Nikki.  Grandma was living in a wonderful place called Atria, that took really good care of her.  (She has since moved into a smaller home after her health declined.)  We had a good time chatting with her and eating Sunday dinner out on her patio with the other residents.   She was in really good spirits when we visited, and the kids enjoyed getting to hang out with their Great Grandma.

Lindann graciously allowed our crew to crash her new Condo (even before she was completely moved in and the weekend before she started her new job!)  Alaina pretty much attached herself to Lindann and enjoyed talking her ear off.  I also loved catching up.  One night Lindann, Alaina and I were driving back to Lindann's apartment.  Lindann would ask me something and before I could open my mouth to answer, Alaina would interject as if the question was originally directed towards her.  When I was able to respond, Alaina would jump back into the conversation with follow up questions or random comments.  It was pretty funny, but what made the whole thing hilarious, happened after we arrived home.  Alaina pulled me aside and said, "Wow, Mom.  You and Lindann REALLY talk ALOT!  I could hardly get a word in sideways, edgeways or upside down!"  That girl!

We were so grateful that we were able to spend some time with Grandma Nikki.  We know that her time here with us isn't as long as we would hope for, and so we cherish the moments that we do get.  

When I first married into the Jones family, Grandma was a force to be reckoned with.  I have to admit that I was a little intimidated.  She fed us all breakfast on her good china.  Breakfast.  On china!!   Although she set a mean table,  she was also full of wonderful stories and hearty laughter.  

The summer that Robert and I stayed with Lindann and Alan (a summer full of themed parties and Will and Grace marathons) I made a video for Grandma and Grandpa using all their old pictures.  While I was there collecting them, Grandma would give me the story on each one of them.  Nothing could have pleased me more.  I enjoyed hearing about her love story with Grandpa, her modeling jobs and her catering business.  I loved hearing her talk about how it was as a young mother with a handful of kids.  Grandma had a way of showing off her strong, independent spirit and I feel blessed to have been able to have experience it with all the sass and attitude that she put into each story.  Now, roughly 16 years later, Grandma is a softer woman (at least around us.) The fire that was so prevalent so many years ago has lost its intensity and I miss it.  It would have been good to have my kids know her before.  For now, however, we will take the moments we have and enjoy Grandma Nikki anyway we can get her.  

I know it is late October, already.  But I still think it is important to post the kid's first day of school pictures.

Ethan started middle school this year.  I can't stand the fact that he's out of elementary school.  Middle school, for me, was a bit of a nightmare.  The kids are at their very worst, with all their hormones raging and their self-esteem plummeting.  I was so nervous letting him go into that lion's cage.  I didn't want my sweet Ethan boy to change into so crazy middle-schooler!

Sadly, no matter how I felt, the day finally came to meet the teachers.  I took Ethan there myself, and we spent the drive to school, laughing and talking about how exciting it would be to get to the new school.  Things were just like they have always been.  I was feeling optimistic.  I mean, I've heard some people say that their kids stayed as sweet as they were in Elementary school.  True...I can't currently recall exactly who those people were...but I'm positive that I've heard that.  Somewhere...

So.  We parked the car in front of the school.  I could see that Ethan was getting a little antsy.  I reached for the handle to get out and Ethan looked over to me and demanded, "Okay.  Now, don't embarrass me!"  What?!  I was still in a little shocked as I rounded the car, and I thought I'd plead my case a little.  I mean...I'm cool and stuff.   Putting my hand on his shoulder I said, "Don't worry, Ethan.  I'm not going to...."  He interrupted me with an impatient, "You are already doing it."  And with that, he marched off to the school with me trailing an appropriate foot behind him.  And there it was.  All he had to do was step on that accursed campus to start his transformation.  I wanted to cry.  (I may have after I got home, just a little.)  On the other hand.  He was trying so hard to be all grown up.  He didn't want help finding the classes.  He didn't want me to talk to the teachers.  He wanted his independence to find his own way through it all.  I may have been a little sad, but I was also very proud.  It's a scary world out there in middle school land, and he squared off his shoulders and pushed himself into it.  Brave kid.

Here he is.  My Middle School Grader.  He does look grown up, doesn't he.

To make matters just a little worse, Ethan rides his bike to school.  Over three roads.  One of those roads is a pretty busy one with no stoplight.  I'm a baby, I know.  But I worry about him until he walks back into my house at 2.

Sending the twins to school was significantly easier.  Same school as last year.  I know the teachers and the school well enough to know that they are in good hands.  Plus, all they had to do was jump over the fence and there they were.

I have to remind myself that they are twins these days.  Austin has steadily grown taller than Alaina every year.  For two years he has only been an inch shorter than Ethan.  (He wants to pass him up so badly, but Ethan had kept his status as the tallest kid by the skin of his teeth.)

She's short.  And she's a cutie.

Jason really wanted to be a big boy and go to school with the others.  Fortunately for me, he was satisfied with walking around with his backpack on.  I want this little love around me as long as possible.  You just never realize how short this little period of time is before school.  Now all my big kids do all day is school and homework and we all go to someone's activities.  They are too stressed out for little kids.  

Here are a bunch of random pictures of the little boys.  Most of them are off my phone.  I'll be the first to admit that I record way too many moments with my phone.  It's just too easy.

To help digest the millions of pictures I took, I added in some little things the boys say or do lately.

Emmett.  This week (beginning of Aug.)  Emmett has gone from grabbing Cheerios in his pudgy little hand and NOT understanding how to open his hand to put that same Cheerio in his mouth, to becoming a Cheerio eating pro.  Has gone from rolling everywhere to get something to starting the military crawl.  Whenever he wants to be picked up, he does the superman pose.  So sweet.

Jason spent a good afternoon training both Alaina and Bella, our dog, to fetch.  He would first throw a grape across the room and yell, "Go Bella.  Go!"  Then he'd throw another grape and yell at Alaina, "go doggy.  go get it.  stop doggie.  drop!"  Instead of teaching Jason a lesson about being  bossy, Alaina pretended she was a puppy and got the dog.  We are training this kid to believe he is the ruler of the universe!  Already he is becoming a tyrant.  He bosses Austin around the house and claims toys, games and members of the family as his own.  The other day he came running into my room bawling.  He cried, "Autin take Emmett.  No!  Jason's Emmett.  No Autin's Emmett!"  We are in for it.

My little boys love mirrors.  We have Emmett's crib in the closet so he passes the mirror every single time he goes to bed.  Even though he sees himself several times a day, each time he sees the mirror his face lights up like he just saw the most wonderful thing in the world.  He grins at himself and looks at me to make sure that I can see the same wondrous thing...him.  Back and forth we smiles at his reflection and back at each other.   I told Robert that we have long lost this baby magic awe.  We decided that for a whole day, every time we saw ourselves, we'd smile like maniacs.  Like we were the best thing since sliced bread.  It didn't change our lives, but it did give us a little chuckle.  :)

Not too long ago, Jason was running through my room.  Halfway through his 50 yard dash, he caught his reflection out of the corner of his eye, in my bathroom mirror.  He skidded to a stop, back tracked and ran straight over to the mirror to get a closer look at his beautiful self.  "Oh," he said, a little surprised. "Hi!"  With another last look at himself he shouted out, "Okay.  Bye!"  And off he ran again.  He's right to stop and stare.  He is pretty darn gorgeous.

jason - Whenever I saw "Thank You" he says, "Ahhh welcome!"  And sometimes, when I'm lucky after I give him something he sweetly say, in his little, sing-song voice, "Thank you SO much!"



jason.  When Jason likes his food he says, "nummy, nummy good!"  When he goes to bed he demands his "Hug-and-kiss!"  And when he goes to bed he wants his 'milky' and 'beary.'  Then he'll say, "I luv you moon.  I luv you star.  I luv you world.  I luv you sun" instead of "I love you to the moon..."  He also loves to hold his hands close together and ask, "I love you this much?"  When I say 'no,' he widen his hands and ask again and again until his arms are behind his back.

Jason - It took me a while to figure out this one.  For a while he wanted his 'fish diaper.'  That was his swim diaper.  Around the same time he started talking about the 'fish tub' which ended up being the fish tank.

More Emmett moments.  I can never get too many of those!

And a couple with Ethan.  My favorite red-head.

Ethan is a big, tough kid these days, but he will break down, every now and then, and do the sweetest things.  One day he made me a bookmark full of red marker hearts.  Another day he made me a wonderful card that opened up to a smaller card, then to a smaller card, then to a smaller card.  It was so cleaver.  Each card had the same message, "I love you!" with a heart.  Man, I love that boy!   Here he is after he made himself some Wolverine hands out of legos.  Clever little monkey.

Boo!

Whenever I say, "Mama loves Jason."  Jason replies, "Jason loves MAMA!!."  It's so simple and silly and it always melts my heart.

During the month of Aug, I got ambitious and I was able to make some plum jam, applesauce and freeze a bunch of peaches.  Nummy, nummy, good!

My apples were so pink again this year that they made the prettiest applesauce.  After a while, they lose their color a bit, but I love how they look right after I bottle them.

Alright.  Random post over. Time for bed.

This was the day we decided to cut Jason's hair.  I can't remember what inspired such a thought...

Look how long and pretty his hair was.  *sniff*

I know.  It wasn't too short.  But at least he was a little more boyish.  :)

Robert had so much fun playing barber, that he worked on Ethan's hair as well.  I rather liked the result.

Bubble Day.  During one of our last summer days, we had fun playing with bubbles.  I knew the little boys would like it, but I didn't realize how entertained the older kids would be.  They are still little kids at heart.

I have tried to get a sweet naked picture of all my babies, as close to 6 months as I can manage.  With all the reunions and travel, however, I didn't get to Emmett's pictures until well into his 7th month.  I'm thinking that actually worked out better because Emmett (just like Alaina was) is a low-muscle toned baby.  I guess he really just needed those extra three weeks in the belly that we took away from him.  

As a result, our sweet tempered, soft, squishy baby has been a little slow on hitting his miles stones.  From the very beginning, he has melted into you, like a little pat of butter.  Holding up his head was just a little too much for him.  Using those sweet chubby legs was beyond him.  By this 7 months picture, he was hardly holding himself up with his arms.  In fact, he'd only hold his pose for a few seconds before he would, good-naturedly, collapse into a little pile of giggly softness.  Over and over he rolled off of our little pillow.  I employed the big kids with the job of rolling him backup into position.  Emmett thought it was a wonderful game, and was beaming with all the special attention.  It is just so easy to love this little lamb. 

Sweetness.

Squishy perfection.

Here are my helpers.  They are pretty photogenic, themselves. 

I think this may have been our winner.