Wordless Wednesday - Dedicated to Carson Park

You Tube Tuesday

The Jones Family LOVES You Tube...so with inspiration from Lacy Park who does Wordless Wednesdays on her family blog, why not start You Tube Tuesday on the Jones family blog. So here's to the first You Tube Tuesday....a family favorite, of course!

Our Christmas Tree

Zoe's Pinkalicious Birthday Party

Zoe Hall turned 2 on Sunday.  Jan said that since her birthday is so close to Christmas and she's "2"...that she doesn't need ANYTHING.  So Jan asked that instead of gifts, to make a donation to her sister, Keisha's breast cancer walk coming up in Boston in April....it's an $1800 minimum just to walk.  So needless to say, Zoe's party was filled with over the top pinkaliciousness.....pink cake, pink cupcakes, pink breast cancer wristbands, pink lemonade Capri Suns, pink beads for bracelet making, pink goodie bags with pink tissue paper filled with pink bubble gum, pink keychain, pink Starbursts and a pink breast cancer ribbon tattoo.  

So was talking to someone about this party today, and they said this "partying forward" (pay it forward) in the new trend in birthday parties for kids that have everything.   

So today Jan told me that Keisha said when her daughter has a birthday, that she's going to hire Kelsey and Abbey to help at the party....they really were so helpful with the little ones!

So very much like a teacher (Jan teaches 4th grade at Lake Myra) to read a story at a birthday party!!! And the title, Pinkalicious, by Victoria & Elizabeth Kann.

And Zoe looked just like her!

 

The Jones fam + plus the Hall fam - Sam who was upstairs the whole time napping.

Tir Na Nog & Krispy Kreme

Tir Na Nog is an Irish pub in downtown Raleigh. On Friday night, the Argent & Behrend girls were dancing there with other girls from their Irish dance studio.  We had a great time with the Hills and a table right up front.  The food was good but the Sea Dog Raspberry Ale was even better.

At 10 and 12 years of age....they've finally got the restaurant thing down. Seriously, they were really good! Even though we don't eat out very often, all these years of restaurant training have finally paid off!

This was an irish folk singer, the act that followed the irish dancers.  He was a hoot...and o' so irish.  For this tune, he got the girls and Abbey to come up on stage with him to act out the animal lines...we really had to twist Abbey's arm....she hates attention! ;-) The favorite song though was "Whiskey In A Bottle"....the girls sang it in the car all the way home, great, huh?  What a great new experience to add to their schema!

After dinner, we made a night run to Krispy Kreme where the HOT sign is always on!

Abbey, Sarah Hill ( my friend, Lake Myra's Guidance Counselor, Abbey's Student Council Advisor and if she had to pick, her Lake Myra Godmother) and Kelsey.

Santa's Elves

Jan, Ali, Jane, Jen, Sarah, Michele

White Elephant Party

Between kids and adults, we had over 80 people at our house on Tuesday for a White Elephant Gift Exchange....it was a great holiday party with food, friends, and passionate gift exchanging!

Jones Family Christmas Card 2010

The Picture Says it All

Dad was definitely missed this week after he spent five days away from us at a work conference in Las Vegas.  He got to see friends and colleagues from around the states, but we were glad to see him back home!

Wacky Tacky Day at North Garner Middle School

Abbey's school (and my school) Lake Myra Elementary is a PBS school...Positive Behavior Support....as part of the reward for behavior, students can earn and spend Otter Dollars.  For 600 Otter Dollars, students can buy a turn on the new Potter's Wheel.  Abbey happened to be the first student to buy this since we've only had the potter's wheel for about a month.  In addition to items available for purchase at the Otter Den Store, students can buy 1 hour as assisant principal, play basketball with the principal, help a staff member, play on the Wii (our school has one of those, too, just for the purpose of rewarding positive behavior) and sit at the teacher's desk for the day.   Since has become the student body president of Lake Myra she has taken on the task of trying out all the rewards to see if they're things that kids would really dig...the potter's wheel got a big thumbs up!! And way to go, Abbey, for earning 600 otter coupons!! What a model student!

No More Bullying

Abbey's 5th grade class wrote and created a No More Bullying presentation as part of their social studies unit on building community and discovering similarities and differences among kids.  What they found, all kids have feelings, all kids have emotions, and that kids are a lot alike on the inside and more different on the outside.  Some kids wrote letters to a bully, some kids created a rap, and some kids recited lyrics from popular songs....Abbey recited the lyrics to Taylor Swift's song, "Mean."  Abbey played the teacher in a skit the students wrote and sang in several songs performed by the entire grade level.  I'm so proud of her and all the students for raising awareness about bullying in school.

Miss America & Wii Dancer

With costumes on, Skyping Omie and Papa Dave in CA.

 

In full costume, and ready to go!

Professor and Mrs. Indiana Jones

 

Pumpkin Carving Party

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Flashback Friday

This is Abbey’s favorite teacher, Mrs. Bauman-Hill: 3rd Grade at Swift Creek Elementary.  Abbey really wanted to have her over for dinner, and her coming meant so much to Abbey.  Her children are adorable and so funny, all the kids had a great time. 

Here are Abbey’s Top 10 reasons why Mrs. Bauman-Hill is/was her favorite teacher:

1. She made everything fun.

2. Morning meetings were fun & she had interesting activities, we would laugh a lot during morning meeting and it made the day fun.

3. She was very encouraging.

4. In math, she showed us fun strategies and different ways to figure a problem.

5. She had high expectations for learning and behavior and never yelled.

6. We had a picnic with all the 3rd graders.

7. We learned to square dance on Pioneer Day and other pioneer games.

8. We did LOTS of hands-on activities.

9. She didn’t stress us out about the EOG’s.

10. She would always give us compliments.

Waffles ala Abbey

This morning Abbey decided to make waffles for us since Dad, the usual waffle maker, was off to work for an NC State Open House (for prospective students and their parents).  Thanks, Abbey, they were delicious!

Abbey: Does anyone need anything?....A drink, a napkin, a hug or a kiss?

Mom: (with arms stretched out)

Abbey: What do you want? A hug, a kiss or both?

Mom: Both!

Kelsey gives her thumbs-up in approval of Abbey's cooking.

Closing Remarks by the Cook.....

Abbey: The best part about eating waffles is they're yummy....the worst part about eating waffles is your fork slides into the syrup and makes your fork and hands all sticky!

I guess everything has its perks and drawbacks.  Thanks Abbey for a memorable breakfast! We missed you Dad, but thanks for your hard work and dedication to support our family.

The Bahamas

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Flashback Friday | December 2002

Rod's Golf Cart

Thanks to our new friends in the neighborhood, Rod and Janet, the girls have a new to play with....Rod's golf cart! When he comes to hang out on the deck, he gives the girls unlimited driving rights to it (thanks a lot, Rod....a golf cart is all they want for Christmas...not gonna happen...but they can wish!) and they can often be seen giving random neighbor ladies rides around the neighborhood!

David's Garden

So, he won't be entering any of his garden varieties in this year's State Fair, but hey, he had a great time tending his little green bundles of joy.

...the hot peppers and the bell peppers actually did the best of everything....



...and the watermelons weren't too bad either....at full size they were as big as an apple and not too bad....we all sat around and tasted a small slice of it...as if we were on Survivor sharing one piece of fruit for the whole tribe.



At Kure Beach with the Gal Pals

Digital collage personalized with Smilebox

New Jones Family Blog

So, I realize it's October and this picture was taken on the first day of school in July but this blog is my attempt to give close friends and family a glimpse in our perfect little life!

Flashback Friday

I caught a glimpse of Kelsey & Abbey in the swing and had to snap this shot…Abbey refers to this as “camera love” and tells us not to mistake it for the real thing!!! OK, Abbey, whatever!