I am Thankful for...

My wonderful family...

• I am thankful for my husband who loves me unconditionally. 
• I am thankful for our healthy, happy daughter.
• I am thankful for such loving parents who taught/teach me so much.
• I am thankful for my brother and my bro-in-law and sis-in-laws who are so much fun.
• I am thankful for in-laws who treat me like I am their own.
• I am thankful for my grandparents and the time that I spent with the ones who are not with us.

My extraordinary friends...

• I am thankful for the friends that I share my life with day-in and day-out.
• I am thankful for the friends who are "teaching" me how to be a good mom by watching their actions.
• I am thankful for the friends I call when I have a bad day or have news to share.
• I am thankful for the friends who text to check-in even though we not have seen each other in months.
• I am thankful for the friends who I am with only with 3 or 4 times a year but it is like we never left each other.

My amazing life...

• I am thankful that I am able to stay home with Ann Charlotte everyday to teach her about life.
• I am thankful that God has blessed me with a house, neighborhood and church that I adore.
• I am thankful that I have a healthy body and a healthy family.
• I am thankful that we live so close to our families and get to visit them often.
• I am thankful that we will have a Thanksgiving weekend with family that we love.

I am truly blessed.
I am truly thankful.


"Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!" Psalm 118:1

"I Love You Mommy"

Yes, Ann Charlotte said "I love you mommy" as I was putting her to bed last night.  I melted.   She is talking so much more every day!   It is so much fun to see what comes out of her mouth.

Today was a failed attempt to get a Christmas card photo.  This is what she does when I say "say cheese".  Hmmm, who knows, I may just have to use it!  It is pretty funny.

Organized Chaos

Saturday was the biggest game of the year...

UT vs. Ole Miss

...in the Jones household anyway.  We had friends over to watch the big game and the playroom was full of kids and toys all day!  It is funny how our Saturday football has changed.  I wouldn't have it any other way...  Organized Chaos!

Go VOLS!

Enjoying One Moment at a Time

This is a wonderful reminder....

Enjoy one moment at a time...

 

Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will.

To the Moon and Back

Tonight as we were reading Ann Charlotte her bedtime stories I realized how much I love children's books.

Big Nutbrown Hare had it right when he said...

"I love you to the moon and back".

Which one is the REAL Abby Cadabby?

Fun Facts About Abby Cadabby

Description: Fairy-in-training

Likes: Practicing her magic,  learning to count, drawing letters with a crayon

Dislikes: She accidentally turns things into pumpkins with her wand

Favorite Phrase: "That's so magic!"

Her Best Friend: Elmo

Fun Facts About Ann Charlotte

Description:  Toddler-in-training (although she thinks she is a fairy)

Likes: Playing outside,  learning to count, drawing footballs with a crayon

Dislikes:  She “accidently” gets in trouble when she doesn’t mind her parents

Favorite Phrase: “I think so?”

Her Best Friend: Elmo

What a fun night!

The Count

Of course she is brilliant!  

Just kidding but she is really cute!

The Ferber Method

So, you may or may not be familiar with ferberizing. The Ferber Method is when you let babies (or toddlers in our case) cry it out. Ann Charlotte has been a good sleeper since she was 8 weeks old. Always going down on her own and soothing herself to sleep. Until...

In her defense her parents have been out of town a lot over the past month. It just so happened that volunteer travel, work travel, fun football travel and vacation travel all landed in the same 4 weeks.

About a month ago (yes, that long) she started crying at bedtime and wanting to read one more book, rock a little longer and sing one more song. During our travel I saw this as an opportunity to spend a little more time with her because our days together were numbered. BIG MISTAKE-HUGE. When she was at her grandparents house she slept like an angel (or so they have told me).

So, fast forward to our return about a week and a half ago. The whimpering and begging turned in to a child screaming so loud and for so long that she made herself choke and it sounded like she was in severe pain. So after trials, parental arguments on what to do, tears from everyone (almost) I took her to the doctor yesterday because, of course, SOMETHING. MUST. BE. REALLY. WRONG!

Earache? No! Sore throat? No! Fluid in lungs? No! Just a smart 2 year-old!

NEWSFLASH MOM AND DAD-she is playing us like a deck of cards!

So, baby monitor went up again last night (just to see the action) and our precious angel cried, climbed, screamed, kicked and screamed some more for over an hour (maybe closer to two). Today at naptime it only lasted about 4-5 minutes. So, I am guessing this will take about four/five nights! I will keep you updated.

We need wine, the back porch and prayers (and maybe more wine)!

I See The Moon

Every night Ann Charlotte looks for the moon-actually I should say every night and day. She can spot the moon out at noon, at 2pm and any given night. She loves looking at the moon and stars. Maybe we have an Astronomer among us! (Maybe that is why she is refusing to sleep at night-she is being called to look at the stars :)

I see the moon, the moon sees me-God bless the moon and God bless me! Okay, so this picture has nothing to do with the moon but it is so cute! My two girls!

Flower Girl Mad Dash

Ann Charlotte was the flower girl last weekend for our good friends Amanda and Nick.

We practiced, practiced and practiced some more for the big day! At the rehearsal-Ann Charlotte was a pro. However, I failed to mention that there would be around 300 people watching her and I don't think she was expecting that!

She took her first two steps and threw some petals. Then she froze and started taking steps backwards (it was breaking my heart because I knew she was terrified). So, I walked up behind her and...

Mommy: Do you see daddy up there? (he was on the second row)

AC: Yes

Mommy: Walk toward Daddy and throw your flowers

AC: No words but a mad dash to the second row-literally a toddler sprint (actually maybe an 18 year-old pro baseball player sprint.)

The saving grace was that Daddy picked her up and gave her a big kiss which melted hearts in the audience.

We are so happy for Amanda and Nick! It was a BEAUTIFUL night (regardless of the flower girl forgetting her petals)! Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Getschman!

Ann Charlotte having fun at the rehearsal dinner

Mad Dasher

P-u-m-p-k-i-n, Pumpkin Time is Here Again

Today we were on a quest to find "the great pumpkin(s)"! Ann Charlotte picked out the daddy pumpkin, the mommy pumpkin and the baby pumpkin. The best part is that the pumpkin patch is right next to our favorite playground!

Top 10 from our Swiss “Holiday”

10. Europeans are all thin! This was great encouragement (or should I say discouragement after all of the pizza and gelato that I consumed.)

9. Beautiful, beautiful scenery! Maybe some of the prettiest in the world! But, I would rather be at 4171 Barfield Road with all of my family.

8. $$! Geneva is one of the wealthiest cities in the world. The clothing was 3 Xs that in the US.Our lunches were over $100!

7. Medium = sill mooing when it comes to beef.

6. Swiss chocolate IS that much better! I have already eaten three bars since I started writing this!

5. The Red Cross was founded in Geneva-hence the symbol is the Swiss cross with the colors inverted.

4. Calvin and the protestant reformation started in Geneva. Very cool church and history about the beginning of the protestant church. I learned a lot!

3. Bed bugs-no, we didn’t have them but I checked every night, every morning and even in the middle of the night. I have washed EVERYTHING that we packed and I allowed NOTHING to touch our bed until it had be washed and dried-VERY HOT! I did take Advil PM every night so I could sleep.

2. Fondue is Swiss and I LOVE cheese Fondue! So entertaining and so yummy!

1. Swiss wine is cheaper than water so we definitely drank a vineyard! Water was $6-8 and wine was $6. No-brainer right?

Football Time

Yes, it is football time in Tennessee (and in Mississippi) and Ann Charlotte is so excited about it! After a weekend with my parents (particularly my mom) Ann Charlotte talks about football, wants to watch football and likes to draw footballs. This week she spotted football on the television in an Elmo book, a football decal on the back of an SUV passing us and football practice as we passed Briarcrest and Christian Brothers High School. She has an MUS football that she carries around the house. I may need to read up on Title IX ;)

Three Birthday Beauties

Ann Charlotte's two good friends, Sloan and Joleen, all have birthday within a few weeks of each other. We all met at Stroller Strides and the girls just love playing together! Sloan and her mommy had us over and had a perfect party planned! We played, painted and decorated cupcakes! It was a perfect birthday party for three birthday beauties! Thank you Sloan and Bobbi!

Ann Charlotte loved watching the fish "Charlie"!

Ann Charlotte is TWO!

Sunny day, everything was a okay! Actually it was perfect!