Happy New Year!!

I have always loved New Year's eve.  As a kid, my cousins and I would spend the night at my Grandparent's house.  We would watch movies and drink sparkling cider.  Then we would watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV, at least the ones that made it to midnight.  We would go outside and very loudly beat pots and pans and scream.  I think I loved it so much because it was the one night that it was OK to be loud and obnoxious at midnight.  I was never too much in to resolutions and have never really made any.  Of course I have jumped on the lose weight band wagon, who hasn't?  This year I have decided to make a resolution, one I am almost guaranteed to achieve.  This year my resolution is to enjoy every moment of every day that the Lord choses to give me this year.  I always hear parents talking about how time goes so quickly and in the blink of an eye your little baby is leaving the house.  So I am going to sit back this year and take it all in. 
Happy New Year everyone!!

I Love Days Like This

Despite setting my alarm for 7:30AM and rolling out of bed at 8:15AM, I was still able to check my email, read for 15 minutes, exercise for 20 minutes and shower, all before the kids got up.  This doesn't happen very often, but I love it when it does.  I am sure the fact that Aurora is coming down with a cold might have something to do with it, or the fact that this crappy weather made it look dark outside until 9:30.  Whatever caused the kids to sleep in until 10:30 this morning, I will consider it a gift.  So I would like to take a moment to say "Thank You" to my wonderful, thoughtful, considerate, cute and did I mention wonderful? kids.  Mommy so much appreciated it.

Washer and Dryer

I just purchased my first new washer and dryer. They won't be delivered until January 8th, giving me time to check for better deals or just in case I come down with some buyers remorse.  It should be criminal the amount of money they charge for washers and dryers, especially considering that they are not made like they use to be.  Our current washer is going on a good 20 plus years and my guess is that it would probably go another couple of years.  Our old washer uses A LOT of water and energy, so I am looking forward to the savings.  I do about 1-2 loads a day, so I am hoping for a cut back of that.  I guess we will see.  You know you are a mom when you get excited about purchasing appliances and research them like you would a car.  I am crossing my fingers that we don't have any installation issues, which always seems to be the case around here.  Wish us luck!! :)

Success!

Aurora and I managed to find a delicious recipe for cinnamon cookies, for Santa.  We made them today and they are YUMMY!!!  Here is the recipe I used.  I had to stash Santa's cookies so we wouldn't eat them.  I am pretty sure that Santa will love them. :)

LOL!!!!

Laughter is the best medicine. So I bring you the 5 things that made us laugh hysterically this year, in no particular order.  Enjoy!

The Shake Weight:


Antoine Dodson (watch the videos in order):





Justin Bieber runs into a door:



Muscle Man Light Switch Cover:
click here!

Bobsled Split:

A Well Deserved Break

Russ somehow managed to get the entire week of Christmas off.  This is something that we probably won't see happening again for a long time.  It just kind of unexpectedly fell into his lap and he jumped at it.  The kids are super excited and can't wait to spend time with Daddy.  And of course I am super excited too, because it lightens my load a bit and I love spending extra time with my husband.  So the plan is to get all the shopping done tonight, so we can sit back and relax and enjoy Christmas. 

Cookies For Santa

Aurora has been telling me all week that Santa needs cookies on Christmas Eve and she is convinced that his favorite cookies are cinnamon cookies.  So now I start my quest to find the perfect cinnamon cookie recipe.  So, Santa be on the look out for the best cinnamon cookies you have ever eaten. :)

Spider-man

Things go in waves around here.  After getting off the Barney and Thomas wave, we are now riding the Spider-man wave.  The kids are in love with the Spectacular Spider-man cartoon series and lucky for me we have a ton of them on our netflix.  I now know entirely too much about Peter Parker.  I guess I always knew that being a mom of 3 boys would lead me down this road.  The cartoons and toys I avoided as a kid have now become a HUGE part of my life.  I used to always skip the boy section of any toy catalog when I was younger.  It was always an insult to me, when it was at the front of the catalog.  Not only do I look at that section now, but I know the names of all the characters and I actually shop in that section at the toy store.  Flipping through the boy section of the toy catalog is like catching a glimpse of my future. 
So I will continue to ride the Spider-man wave, absorbing all things Peter Parker.  And then when that wave comes to the shore, I will catch the next one. I am crossing my fingers for Batman, he is my favorite. ;)

Happy Anniversary!

Blue is my favorite color and my wonderful husband remembered that.  It truly is the small things in life that matter.  Love you babe!  Happy Anniversary!

Aurora Rocks!!

I can safely say that we have the most beautiful, smartest girl in the entire world.  Enjoy the video of her showing off her skills.  And yes we homeschool in our PJ's, who doesn't?

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

Meet Chip

Our new friend Chip

And his older sister.

These tea cups were in a safe place and soon after they were broken, I realized that no place is safe in this house.  These tea cups belonged to my Great-Grandma.  One of the boys got a hold of them and clanked them together.  I guess they don't call it fine china for nothing.

Welcome Back, Christmas Tree!

This is the first time in a loooong time that we put up a Christmas tree.  I can't remember exactly, but it has been at least 3 years.  When you have little ones in the house, a tree isn't top priority.  But now that they are older and will more than likely start making Christmas memories, it was a must this year.  Our tree looks a little bare because we only have a total of 8 ornaments.  We plan on adding a few every year until our tree is full.  Aurora is very worried about our ornament shortage and brings it up constantly.  I bought our first complete family ornament a few weeks ago and I have to say it is my favorite.

Here is our tree in all its glory:

We also hung our stockings by the chimney with care.

And since everything else is breakable, that is all the decorating we will be doing. Nothing is safe when the Jones kids are around. :) 

The Dam Just Broke One Day

As I am writing this, I am listening to 3 kids actually holding a conversation.  Literally about 2 months ago, I would have said it wouldn't have been possible.  The boys, being boys and twins, had two strikes against them when it came to their speech.  We were tossing around the idea of speech therapy, but we wanted to wait it out.  One day Wyatt woke up and decided he wanted to talk and that was that.  Trevor followed a few days later.  They went from one word sentences to 3-4 in about a week.  So I guess when people say they will talk when they want to, they aren't lying.  At least in our case.  Trevor still lags behind Wyatt, but he is making huge strides each day.   Wyatt has somehow developed a New York accent.  Not sure where he got that. :)  There is nothing better then hearing "I love you mama" from your little boys.  Today Wyatt told Trevor, "No, No Trevor Robert." I guess that either means I use their middle names too much, or they get in to trouble too much. :)

SURPRISE!!!

Yesterday was Russ' day to play.  We decided to celebrate his Birthday early this year, so he could have a day all about him that had absolutely nothing to do with Christmas.  He thought we were going out to eat at Red Robin, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve.  During the Civil War game, his cousin Erik showed up.  Surprise #1.  I made Erik tell Russ that he had to work and wasn't going to be able to come.  Then while the game was still on, I made them leave.  I know, I am a horrible wife. :)  We headed to the next Surprise.  BOWLING!!  We ended up at Rose Bowl, because 20th Century was packed.

The Birthday Boy

Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Danny Bonaduce and Justin Bieber bowling together. :)

Look at that form!  It is hard to believe that Chuck didn't break 100.

There are some action shots of us ladies bowling, but they aren't blog worthy. :)


In case you are wondering.  Justin Bieber dominated the first game.  And tied with Bonaduce the next game.  Chuck and Steven didn't bring their "A" game. :)


After we got our bowl on, we headed over to the Mall 205 Red Robin.  Where we had a wonderful meal and a great time.

Cheers!

First attempt to get a picture of all of us. 

Second attempt was even worse. :)

Then it was back to our house for cake and presents.

Creepy!!

Cheese!

Action shot!

I found the most delicious cake recipe online and had to make it.  It was awesome.  Best chocolate cake ever!!  I may just have to make it again for his real birthday on the 21st.


Rachie got him a Justin Bieber magazine, which is just what he wanted.  Everything you wanted to know about Justin Bieber in one place. :)
Then I sent him on a wild goose chase for his present.  I was going to make him look in 30 different places, but I could only manage to come up with 15.  I have video, but it takes too long to upload it.  So maybe another day.  So what did I get him?  An XBOX Kinect of course.  So we finished up the night making fools of ourselves. 

Thanks Rachie and Erik for the great company!!

We all had a great time, especially the birthday boy!  He deserved a good time and that is exactly what he got.  

He Works Hard For The Money!

And I just spent it all in one night.  Russ is working overtime this week and I spent his overtime pay before he even finished his week.  Even when you limit your kids to 3 presents a piece you still end up spending an arm and a leg.  As I was putting these items in my cart, all I could see was the fights they would have.  It is hard buying for twins and even harder buying for our triplets.  I am sure it will take about 3.5 seconds before someone starts screaming on Christmas morning.
There is some good news for my hard working husband.  After his long and exhausting week, there is something to look forward to.  We are celebrating his 30th Birthday this Saturday.  It will be a day filled with fun, surprises and really wonderful gifts.  Stay tuned for pictures!

Eat Your Veggies!

I was never exposed to too many vegetables when I was growing up.  Unless you count french fries and onion rings, but I am pretty sure they don't count.  In fact, I never knew of many vegetables until I started working with produce.  In the last couple of years I have grown a taste for most veggies, even beets.  I used to vomit at the sight of them.   It was really important to us that our kids have a love or at least like for veggies.  We didn't do anything fancy, just exposed them to vegetables and let them make their mind up about them.  And for the most part we have veggie eating kids.  Today Wyatt stocked me around the kitchen, "more q-comer (cucumber), mama."  And he still had a full plate of chicken nuggets left.  I was a proud mom at the moment.  Then after making a carrot, cucumber, radish and lemon smoothie for myself, I had 4 kids following me around asking for more sips and they would have finished the entire thing if I didn't pull it away from them. Let's just hope their veggie love doesn't die anytime soon.

This and That

Landon had his check up today and is doing great.  He is still in the 80 percentile for height and right around the 50th for weight.  His murmur is still audible, but it is very light.  He enjoyed getting out of the house by himself, but he wasn't too happy to find out where I was taking him.  :)

I was excited today to receive a "friends and family" discount from Fred Meyer.  It is good until Thursday, so I am going to put a big dent in our Christmas shopping and save a ton of money too!  This year we have decided that Santa Claus brings only 3 presents per kid.  Just like baby Jesus. One gift will be useful, one will be educational and the other will be something fun.  We will also be adding the gift of charity when the kiddos are old enough and make them volunteer their time somewhere.  It is very important to us that our kids learn how to give and receive selflessly.  I know that they are way too young to grasp any concept of that, but we wanted to start the 3-gift tradition now, while they are still young and won't know any better.  So our Santa brings 3 gifts to help remind the little boys and girls about Jesus.  When you are a parent you get the right to change the story a bit. :)

My Top Five

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I will be busy shoving my face with food, so I thought I would take the time to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving now. So, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
I am thankful for everything and everyone. I decided to narrow it down to the top 5 things I am thankful for.

1. The most important, Jesus Christ! Without him I would not have eternity in Heaven. I get to live my life down here to the fullest and then go kick it with Jesus when I die. How great is that?
2. My Husband. He is my best friend and I love him so so so much.
3. My kids. They keep me employed and pay me with love.
4. MM and G-Ron. They watch all 4 kids and manage to survive every time.
5. All our family and friends. I am thankful for each and every one of you and I love you all.


I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Don't eat too much! Who am I kidding???? EAT UP!!!!

Our turkey is nice and plump and ready for the oven:

A Christmas Warm-Up

I am well aware that Thanksgiving is still 2 days away, but it is never too early to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. He gave us the ultimate gift and for that I am thankful.

A Little Marriage Advice

Marriage is not about finding a person you can live with, it’s about finding the person you can’t live without.

It's a Boy! And Another Boy! And Another Boy!

I can only hope that our sons are like their wonderful daddy. Our kids have been blessed with the most wonderful father and a Brad Paisley look-alike (according to Aurora). :) That may be why I get very emotional when I hear this song. I remember when we were finding out if Aurora was going to be a boy or a girl, Russ said he didn't care either way. But when I was pregnant with the twins, he said he wanted at least one of them to be a boy. So when our doctor actually gave us a 85% chance that baby A (Wyatt) was a boy before the big ultrasound he wore the biggest grin. But the day we found out that both of them were boys, he was ecstatic. He couldn't wait to tell everyone. Landon was just icing on the man cake. To this day I can tell he is proud of all the testosterone flowing in this house. And as I watch them wrestle and break just about everything in the house, I am reminded of this classic line from Jurassic Park:




:) What a ride it will be!

Pumpkin, Pumpkins..

We love Pumpkins. Pumpkin Bread. Pumpkin muffins. Pumpkin Pie. Pumpkin Seeds. Pumpkin Pancakes. You name it I will probably be cooking it this week. We still had a few pumpkins that we didn't carve from Halloween. So we spent some time yesterday, cutting, boiling, pureeing and freezing pumpkin. My first task was roasting the seeds this morning. They turned out delicious and I have been snacking on them all day long. Hopefully there will be some left for Russ when he gets home. :) My next project is in progress right now. Pumpkin Bread. I found a healthy or I guess healthier recipe online and I just happened to have all the ingredients. So, Aurora and I whipped it up and threw it in to the oven. I guess we will see if it was a success here shortly. Next on the list: Pumpkin Pie. My first attempt at making one with real pumpkin (meaning not from the jar). Most pumpkin pies aren't made out of pumpkins anyways, it is usually a smaller winter squash of some sort. So we shall see. Russ and the kids are my guinea pigs, and if they give it a thumbs up, it will be coming to Thanksgiving dinner. I love to bake, but I hate the cleanup. Which reminds me, I have a sink full of dirty dishes. Off I go. :)

A Numbers Game

10 days until Thanksgiving

19 days until ? (A little surprise for the Birthday Boy) :)

26 days until our 6th wedding anniversary

36 days until the old man officially turns 30!

40 days until Christmas Day.

46 days until New Year's Eve.

60 days until my Birthday.

216 days until the boys turn 3.

251 days until Landon turns 2.

271 days until Aurora turns 5.

722 days until Obama gets voted out of office. ;)

6,095 days until our youngest turns 18.

7,191 days until our youngest turns 21.

Let the countdowns begin! :)

Be My Aurora!

Russ and I found this song when Aurora was a little baby. And I love, love, love it, for obvious reasons. :) A lot of people think that she was named after sleeping beauty, but she wasn't. I had no clue of sleeping beauty's name until after I picked that name. The real story is a lot less glamorous but special none the less. There used to be a soap opera called "Santa Barbara" on. I was probably only 10 and there was a character named Aurora. She had the most beautiful curly hair and wore all these pretty dresses. I loved her name so much and her character was my favorite. So that name just stuck in the back of my mind. The strange part is that our Aurora would have probably fallen in love with the Santa Barbara Aurora because of her pretty hair and dresses. I have been trying to find a clip of her on youtube, but no luck yet.
So now you know my dirty little secret. :) And I will continue to smile and keep my mouth shut when someone assumes she is named after sleeping beauty.

Are You Kidding Me?

I usually run to Amazon.com for everything. I have been buying diapers from them for awhile, but today they did something that pisses me off. I am not sure how I feel about boycotting them, but this is something that definitely needs to be addressed. They have a feature that allows you to publish a book and sell it on their site, they have no rules or regulations, anything goes. Well, they are selling a book about pedophilia that encourages it and tells you how to find children and how to get away with it. The guy writing the book claims his reason behind publishing it was to help pedophiles from resorting to murder. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? Amazon is refusing to take it down because it would be censorship. GIVE ME A BREAK AMAZON. Last time I checked pedophilia is a CRIME AND AGAINST THE LAW!!!! Taking it down has nothing to do with censorship. Grow some balls Amazon and do what is right. Because I really don't want to boycott you and your sister store Target. If I were you I would consider getting some rules up for your self published books. So very disappointing.


I stand corrected. They have rules and regulations and they are choosing not to follow their own rules. Utter Bullshit Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-1?ie=UTF8&nodeId=15015801&qid=1289425548&sr=1-1



A little update: I emailed a few of the local news stations asking them to run a story on this. I guess we will see what happens.

What Exactly Are We Saving?

Oh, Daylight Savings Time how I hate you. You are so stupid and it is taking all my strength not to use an expletive when I talk about you. If I were President the first thing I would do is obliterate the Daylight Savings. It was only implemented to torture parents and mess with your brain. It is cruel and unusual punishment and I will resent you until the day I die. Can you please tell me what are we saving? It couldn't be energy, because we are using more. It couldn't be my sanity, because you took that away. I don't think it is the enviornment, because that is still going to pot. And for heaven's sake you aren't saving daylight, you are taking it away. Who is up at 4AM anyways? Please, please tell me what are you saving? Because this mom has had enough!!! Plus you are killing people. Over nine hundred Americans, from the years 1987-1991, are estimated to have died purely because of Daylight Saving Time (DST).

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/gurley/detail?entry_id=59078#ixzz14ieKz2KY


I think your ship has sailed and it is time to pack your bags DST. I am coming after you and I won't rest (mainly because of you) until you are gone.

Boot Scootin Boogie

I ordered these Thomas boots over a month ago and they finally arrived today! The boys were so excited. Of course Aurora had to go get her boots on and I couldn't resist getting a picture. As you can see, Wyatt didn't want to be bothered. He is reading the 2010 Toy Catalog. :)

You all should be familiar with the froggy boots. :) Landon has 2 pairs to chose from.

Landon didn't want his picture taken anymore. Plus I took his ninny and told him to smile. The only logical thing to do was throw a fit. :)

Rock N Roll

He loves to play the guitar to any song that plays.  I turned on the radio and he ran and grabbed the guitar.  I love that he sticks his tongue out when he plays. He also seems to favor his left hand, just like his Sissy.

Happy Halloween!

We took the kiddos to The Troutdale Outlet Mall for some trick or treating. I don't think Wyatt and Trevor had a clue what was going on, but they were intrigued with the candy. The best part was it was at 3pm, so we had time to go home have dinner and hand out candy. Aurora was our helper and she loved handing out candy to the kids. She would compliment all the kids on their costumes and got quite a few herself. We handed out play dough with our candy. It was something different and the trick or treaters loved it, even the older ones. We turned our porch light on a little late and got about 40 kids. All in all it was a great Halloween.

Not Too Shabby

My election predictions weren't too bad.  The casino didn't pass and marijuana wasn't made legal, but the republicans (in the east) took over.  I am very disappointed in Oregon.  The rest of the country was angry and ready for some real change, but Oregon wants to go down the same road for the next 4 years. Go figure!  The Kitzhaber/Dudley and Murray/Rossi races are still too close to call.  It would be interesting to have some republican Governors in these two states, but I'm not holding my breath. 
I was hoping for a Senate majority along with the house majority to repeal this horrendous health care bill, but no such luck.  I guess it is time to look forward to the 2012 election.  But please, please, please don't start with the political ads anytime soon.  Give us a break! :)

I almost forgot the best part, Nancy Pelosi is no longer Speaker of the House!! Hallelujah!!

Political Predictions

I am going to give a few of my predictions for tonights election.  Just for fun.  The local news is calling the Dudley/ Kitzhaber race too close to call.  My prediction:  Dudley in a landslide.  Yep.  I just have this feeling.  And since I voted for neither candidate, I have the right to complain when the winner sucks at the job. :)
I think Washington State is going to be close, but I have a feeling that Dino Rossi will pull it out. 
Rand Paul will take Kentucky and we will finally have someone in the senate that hates Washington D.C and all their bull crap.
So pretty much all Republicans (especially Tea Party candidates) will win their races.  You want to know why?  Because the Democrats disturbed the hive.  They pissed off the silent majority and they aren't so silent anymore.  53% of Oregon voters have already returned their ballot.  Now we probably won't touch the 85% turnout we had in 2008, but anything over 60% is a good turnout, in my opinion.
Will the republicans change anything?  Probably not.  I have high hopes for Rand Paul, but the others will just fall in to the same old, same old category.  They will pretty much block Obama from getting anything done. 
I am hoping that the Republicans can pull together and come up with a "can't lose" candidate for the Presidential election in 2012.  And no that does not mean Sarah Palin.
Some local measure predictions:  The casino will probably pass and we will have a casino in our backyard and will pretty much slap the Indians in the face, yet again. 
The medical marijuana measure will probably pass.  And I am predicting that California will make it legal.  Which might turn out to be a good thing.  If it works for them, I see it coming to Oregon in the next few years.
I do think Ron Wyden will keep his job.  Probably since he bought like every commercial on TV and I haven't heard a darn thing from Jim Huffman.
So there you have it.  My wonderful election predictions.  I guess we will see how well I did tonight.
Anyone else want to share their's? 

Come Back Please!

After receiving numerous requests, I am throwing around the idea of getting a facebook again.  I now realize that even though I think facebook is evil and stupid, it is the way that most people communicate.  I am really torn.  It has been nice and quiet around here and I have really enjoyed being disconnected from facebook.  But with so many asking for me to come back, how can I say no? I guess I will take to prayer this week and see if the Lord wants me on there or not.  So I guess this is to be continued..........

Pumpkin Head

Pumpkin Head came to visit us last week.




He arrived:

He posed for a picture:

He let the kids wear his head:

He ate some chili:

He drank some Boyd's Coffee:

And he even used the bathroom:

It was a very eventful visit, as you can tell by the pictures. :)

Keep Portland Weird!

Questions

I love the questions kids ask.  The boys haven't gotten to the question part, but Aurora has been there for awhile and here is my favorite question from yesterday:  "Daddy do you have a girlfriend?"  Of course I had to say "Mommy would like to know the answer to that too."  Sometimes is just so hard not to bust up laughing.  She is so sincere when she asks the questions.  I can't wait to see what the boys come up with.

I Can Only Imagine

About a month or so ago I had a dream where I was in the presence of the Lord. The calmness and peace that I felt was amazing. I can only imagine the peace that actually being with the Lord would bring.

I would have said that the dream came from the Lord, but Nick Jonas from the Jonas Brothers was there also. So I am guessing not. :) Oh well, it was a great dream.

Pumpkin Patch 2010