Good reading ...

10 Things Never to Say to a Working Mom

1. It must be hard missing all those special moments every day.

2. I suppose it's smart that you're working. You know, in case your husband leaves you some day.

3. I'm surprised you went back to work. Your husband seems so successful.

4. It's cute when they call your nanny "Mama."

5. I just love my kids too much to leave them during the day.

6. Did you see Dateline? The one with the hidden camera in the day care?

7. I could never let someone else raise my children. But that's just me!

8. I hated my mom because she was never home after school like everyone else's mom.

9. You must feel so guilty.

10. I wish I were as laid-back as you and could just let the housework go.

- Liz Gumbinner of Mom-101.com, with help from her blog readers

It has been one of those weeks .... and it is only Tuesday

For my incredibly patient, hard working stay at home mom friends ... you will like this one.

10 things you should never say to a stay at home mom

Is it the weekend yet?

Valentine's Day - Messages

Valentine's Day was busy ... the kids had to send video messages to daddy in the morning. He had to leave for work before they woke up ... take a look at the takes :)

Tyson's hair is a product of the cartoon Johnny Test ... I added a visual for comparison ... I am sure you will agree. His favorite character right now.

Jaxson was really worried about getting his Mickey Mouse tattoo out of his goody basket ... not really interested in making the video ... but it was still cute!

We made treats for each of the kids to take to their friends and teachers. These were a hit. Candy coated berry oreo's ... yummy!

Hope cupid was great to everyone. We had plenty of love to share around here and enjoyed the day!

Just another week for the Jones'

Baseball season is back in full swing ... and we thought we were busy!

Quick look at a typical week in the Jones house:
4:10 AM - Brian's alarm clock
5:00 AM - Brian out the door for work
5:30 AM - Brooke's alarm clock
6:00 AM - Brian arrives at work
6:30 AM - Kids getting ready for school
7:00 AM - Brooke out the door with kids (M-W-Fri)
7:00 AM - Grandma Rose arrives at the house to watch the twins (Tues - Thurs)
7:20 AM - Brooke drop kids off at school
ATLANTA COMMUTE ....
8:45 AM - Brooke at work
3:30 PM - Tyson Tennis (thanks to Grandma Rose for picking him up on Thurs)
4:00 - 5:00 PM Brian study time
5:30 PM Brooke leave work to pick up kids
5:00 - 9:00 PM Brian class (Tues - Thurs)
6:30 PM - Someone feeding the kids ... could be Grandma Rose, Brian, Brooke ... : )
7:15 PM - Tyson baseball (Monday - Wed)
7:00 - 8:00 PM - Gym time when we get a free night
8:15 PM Bath and bedtime for kids
Saturdays from now until Labor day - Baseball games
Sunday Church and family time!
Oh ... and don't forget about the two giant dogs we have too ... yep, I might have thought twice about them if I knew my day would ever look the way it does now!

Throw a few birthday parties, playdates, story times, trips to the park, grocery shopping, and work dinners in every couple of days ... you get the idea ... jam packed and we love it!

On top of that Dakota has official masterd the potty ... no more diapers!!!!!!

This was right before his skills test ... they seriously have each kid go out on the field individually. They get a chance to hit three balls, stop 3 ground balls, throw to first and run the bases ... a bit much for a 5 year old but he enjoyed it!

Lil' brother taking it all in ... next year buddy!

Almost out of the stroller ... holding strong as long as they will let me!! Life is much easier when they are not free to roam!!

December 2011 - Came in like a LION and went out like a lamb

We are back!!!!

December 2011 started out a little rough for the Jones family. I started the month off for us with walking pneumonia, I thought I was fighting a cold that I could not shake. After two long weeks of complaining and my husband begging me to see the doctor (so I would stop complaining) it turned out to be more serious than I thought. It felt like I was sick for a month. Many prescriptions later I am finally back to normal.

During that period our little princess ended up back in the ER for her cyclic vomiting and she was admitted to Children's Hospital for a few nights. We are still in the process of a true diagnosis for her. I have blogged about this once before here. We have changed GI doctors for another opinion and she will have a few more tests done in the coming weeks. Some more abrasive than others. The next will be an Esophagoscopy. Praying for answers soon ... I hate seeing her feeling bad. I have said it before and will say it again. We are blessed with healthy children and she will get passed this. We see so much every time we are at the hospital with her ... my heart is heavy for those children.

Needless to say we were looking forward to some quality family time, Christmas celebrations and some fun!

We had a blessed Holiday season that rounded out the month just perfect. We were able to spend time with both sides of our family, visit old friends and new babies, eat lots of great food and relax! It could not have turned out better.

The boys in the kitchen ...

My baby and her baby before church

Getting ready for Santa

They all decided to love on a few of their presents before opening ... random but cute!

Time to open!

Anything that goes on Tyson's dirt bike is golden!

Proud Papa Rose

Grandma excited about a gift! Do you see the pure Christmas madness in this picture ... classic!

Grandpa and Grandma Jones and their babies!

Hanging out on their presents again ...

Looking forward to a fabulous 2012! Happy New Year!

 

Happy Birthday Tyson -

We have been so busy, I can't believe I am just now posting Tyson's birthday. It came and went along with Thanksgiving ...

Tyson turned 5 years old ... wow! He has grown into such an amazing little boy. He is such a loving child. I could not be more proud. He is respectful, smart, incredibly funny, cheerful, full of energy ... definitely mischievous at times. He is all boy and don't get me wrong, we have our struggles but they are mild and correctable. He learns from his mistakes and will always take chances. He is outgoing, makes friends easy, keeps old friends and never forgets. Tyson loves his family, he prays for everyone individually. He never misses a beat and loves to make sure we have a hard time keeping up. He has taught me so much in these past 5 years ... such a blessing.

We celebrated Martial Arts style ... at his request ... Acworth Martial Arts did an amazing job. Tyson and 25 of his closest friends (yes, I said 25) participated in board breaking, trampoline flipping, acrobat swinging fun!

This one might make you dizzy ...

Halloween a little late ...

The kids had so much fun this year, the weather was perfect ... and we have more candy than we know what to do with.

We had a vampire, bat girl and ninja ... fabulous bunch!

Trying to get a group photo ...

Off they go ... first house

This was a fun year. The twins understood the concept after a few houses and big brother leading the way!

Thank goodness for wonderful weather and a neighborhood that goes over the top. Plenty of hayrides and families that put a lot of time into activities for the kids. They had a blast!

Just what we needed ...

We took a fall road trip ... Tyson said he wanted to have a picnic on the side of the mountains ... so to the top of the Smokies we went. We took a little detour on the way home from the Midwest. It was the perfect time of year and an impromptu trip ... just what we needed.

I am going to say this but don't judge me ... it is really hard to take the kids out of their routine and stay anywhere other than home so we just don't. Finally we decided it was time to get out of our comfort zone. So we rented a cabin in the Smokies ... and it was perfect!

Just us .. and a log cabin ... our perfect family of 5. It was a good adventure, now we know we can do it. I am not going to lie, there was a lot of packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking, crying, screaming, crying, screaming ... but most importantly a ton of smiles and laughter. Priceless.

Happy Halloween!