Christmas

Christmas was spent at home this year. We skyped Brad's family Christmas Eve morning and had pancakes with Callie, then that night had dinner with my parents and some friends of theirs. I was glad the kids still got to act out the Nativity story. Christmas morning was exciting, but quick because then we headed to San Diego to visit (and meet) more cousins. I met some cousins I'd never met before and they welcomed us in and even had a present for each of my children. We came home and ran over to Callie's for some pizza dinner. Did I mention I love having Callie close by?

The kids loved everything they got and the boys can't wait to get back to the ocean to try out their wetsuits and boogie board.

My Girls

I just can't help myself. I love this video. Melina already wants to do everything her big sister does. She steals her blankie, she follows her around. If Lani has a friend over, Melina is more likely to let me put her down because she wants to do whatever Lani and Seamus are doing.

Christmas dresses-Kristen long ago made Melina's dress. I made Lani's out of the same material.

Twinkle toes

I may a little bit want to live out my dreams through my children. Maybe that's why I put Lani in ballet. But...she really learned to like it. Lani has some social anxiety so about half the time she went to the class, and the other half we sat outside while she cried for me to not leave her there. This is the same girl who I would drop off at the gym daycare to cry for 20 min so I could go work out. Maybe the social anxiety is a result of that. I don't know. Anyway, I discovered if she had a nap the day of the class, she was more likely to stay in the class (and stay awake until 10 that night). So, the day they let the parents visit I was sure to make her take a nap and whala...Lani danced for us.

I love my Lani girl! After the last class Lani begged me to sign her up again so hopefully we will enjoy more footage like this.

I am Back

So, I've decided it's time to take back the reins of the blog posting responsibility. Brad did an excellent job, but I just noticed his last post which was on our daughter's birthday was about an interesting article he had read with no mention of our daughter. Thank you honey, I'll take it from here.

Melina turned 1 on Nov 5. She had chocolate cupcakes (hence the face) two days in a row because I believe you should always get cake on your birthday even if you actually celebrate it at the beach the day before (see Callie's blog for a great Melina photo at the beach).

We took Melina for her one year checkup in December. We headed to Utah and visited my brother and went in to see my kids' pediatrician who I love. Melina weighs about 18 lbs and some change. 48%! This is pretty unheard of for one of my kids. I mean, look at those cheeks. But she really is a skinny minny. Of all my kids Melina has suffered through the most change-Daddy leaves for two months when she's barely 4 months old, then we move to completely new surroundings. Forget regular naptimes, we have no time for those. Maybe that is why she still clings to me. Or maybe I let her a little bit more because she's my baby. My mom says it takes a lot to get Melina to smile, but when she does it's so worth it. It's true.

Interesting Article

It seems I've taken over as the family blogger...not quite sure how I feel about that. But I read an interesting article on Yahoo that popped up on their homepage. It's all about habits of happy moms. Good reading for all you moms, good reading for your husbands. Just don't expect him to help you accomplish all those things without giving him an explicit list of how...anyone who's ever been married knows that mind-reading is not a gift, it's a complete hoax.

Piano Lessons

So I guess it's just ageless DNA at work, but my kids LOVE music. Aaron has really shown a desire and knack for playing the piano so I found an AC adapter for our old keyboard and pulled out the old Alfred Piano Method. Below is a video of my newest little Mozart:


Aaron continues to fly through the book. Last week, his "lesson" consisted of him playing me the songs I had assigned, followed by the next three songs, which he decided to learn because I had been out of town on work and he didn't want to wait until I got home. Next up: learning to read the staff.

General Update

For all you "How I Met Your Mother" fans who read this blog (which is probably just Tara and I), you should be saluting each other by the title of "General Update." For the rest of you, if you receive said salute, just know you're missing out on a really funny show.

So big news in the Jones household...it's almost Halloween and there's still no snow!!! I talked to my parents today and was notified that there was snow with 50 mph wind gusts in the weather forecast for Rexburg. Not sure about the rest of you, but I have a pretty good idea of what my own personal Purgatory would look like were I to opt out of the whole Plan of Salvation deal. Sorry, Rexburg.

In other news, we had parent/teacher conference two weeks ago. Turns out that both Ian and Aaron know how to read and write. The real shocker is that Ian is extremely well behaved, except for when he's talking too much. (No, I did not mix up the names of my boys.) Aaron is also well-behaved, he just likes to lolly-gag (which, I believe, is the technical and scientific term for "too much like your father"). They're both doing well and have enjoyed the first few months of school. Plenty of new friends, teachers are nice and boys even get to see each other at recess sometimes.

Everything is pretty quiet at the moment. I'm still working (and surfing), though I wish I were doing more of each (that darned learning curve). Tara has found a fun group of mommies here in Newbury Park, most of whom are in our ward. Most days are spent watching extra kids or dropping ours off. Melina's even starting to adjust to it a little. Slowly but surely we're nudging her towards that big 1-year jump-off point where we start to retain our personal space a little more. (Not much, mind you, but every little bit seems like a county mile at this point.)

Below are some pictures I took of Melina being herself, which is to say, just as crazy as the rest of my kids.