Happy 80th Birthday Grandma Cassie!

Jeff's Grandma Cassie had her big 80th birthday this week and we made sure it was special. She had never been in a limo so we arranged for a super stretch limo to surprise her. Her brother and sister and their spouses drove up from Potoeau but just told her they were coming up for lunch. The limo came to get them all then made two other stops to pick up Grandma Cassie's two closest friends and their husbands. The 9 of them rode in the limo out to Yukon for a party at Jeff's aunt and uncle's house where the rest of her family was waiting. She was very surprised and couldn't believe we planned all that without her knowing. Grandma said she and her friends had a great time so that felt good to give all of them a fun day.

It took the driver 2 tries to get in the driveway
Grandma Cassie's friends and family in the limo

The birthday girl arriving at her party

Siblings Curtis, Cassie and Lebrecia

Jeff's dad reading to the kids, so sweet

Soggy but fun 4th

July 4th is usually blistering hot and dry but this year it was soggy and wet. We weren't complaining though and had a blast anyway. I really wanted to take Jensen to see the parade in Edmond but ended up talking myself out of it since it would be a hassle and so hot. When we woke up in the morning though it was cloudy and fairly nice. So at the last minute we decided to give it a shot. We got a great spot right in the middle of downtown and got to see many cool things. We cracked up when Jensen saw the Shriners and said "hey, that man has a bucket on his head"! There was a big Star Wars float thing and he kept talking about Darth Vader.

That evening, we drove an hour away to Tuttle where one of Jeff's friends from work lives in the country. On the way down, it started pouring but we figured it would pass on time to do fireworks. Jeff spent about $250 on fireworks and could not wait to blow stuff up. He has always told me this is his favorite holiday and its like Christmas to him. We got to Chris and Jayme's house and they were really dissapointed that it was so rainy. They had a moon bounce that had to be taken down, a horseshoe pit and a kiddie pool filled with rain water. You could tell they really planned a lot of fun activities and they kept apologizing for the rain but we didn't mind as long as we got to do fireworks. There was a little boy named Hunter that was a little older than Jensen and they became fast friends. They even helped themselves to the water balloons in the rain

It started to get dark and it was still sprinkling but the guys started the fireworks anyway. The good thing was Jensen wasn't nearly as afraid of the noise this year and enjoyed it a lot more

Jensen didn't understand at first what to do with the sparklers, he kept throwing them out into the yard since he saw Daddy do that with the other fireworks

Hunter and Jensen enjoying the sparklers

We got a bunch of glow stick and Jensen and Hunter had a great time with them. They came in handy too when there was a loud pop.

They were able to keep a fire going in the backyard so we made s'mores which I loved.

Yummy s'mores

the day before, both Jeff and Jensen needed a haircut so we went to Doc's barbershop. This place cracks me up because its like the ones you see in the movies complete with old guys sitting around BSing! Its cheap too

Tiling/grouting is DONE!!

I'm so excited to say that the hall/kitchen/dining room/laundry room tile project is DONE!! It was a mess but it looks so much better than the yellowed blue flower linoleum. Jeff went out of town on business with the laundry room and part of the hall to grout. I got brave while he was gone and decided to do it myself, yes I am 5 months pregnant but that's ok! I managed to scoot the washer and dryer into the kitchen, mixed it, grouted and cleaned up without any help. I must say I am very proud it turned out great! There's no way it would be done without Jeff's parents helping and especially my do-it-all Momma who was here almost every weekend working hard until it was done. I guess she really wants us closer to her he he! Next up is the fence/backyard and some small stuff like painting the front door and touching up then HOPEFULLY we can put the house on the market **fingers crossed**

Here's an old picture of what the floor used to look like (Isn't that baby cute by the way!)

Kitchen

old hall tile eww

Jensen helping with Grout

I still haven't gotten everything put back because we still have to seal it but here's some pics

New front hall floor

Kitchen

Dining room

Muddin' Okies

One Saturday a few weeks ago Jeff got this crazy idea that he wanted to take Jensen to drive off-roading. I had no desire to do such a thing so they dropped me off at Jamie's house and went out to lake Draper. I just asked that they bring my poor sickly Beep Beep tha Jeep back in one piece! They had a great time though driving through the mud and Jensen threw rocks in the lake forever. This is what my Jeep looked like when they came back!!

Jensen had fun helping Daddy take it to the car wash

Jeff took this picture and sent it to my phone while they were gone

Since we will have 2 boys soon, I have a feeling days like this may be happening a lot. I'm ok with that though, they can do all the boy stuff they want and give me some ME time!

20 week belly pics

For comparison here's 16wks

20wks with my little monster and the one on the way!

Just for fun, here's one of me when I was pregnant with Jensen in the same shirt at almost the same time. I love that shirt.

It's A Boy!

We had our big ultrasound today and the anticipation was killing me! I couldn't sleep last night at all. Jensen and Jeff plus both our mom's were there to get a peek at baby Jonesy. They did a bunch of measurements first and we saw him open his mouth and at one point we could clearly see him moving all four limbs at once, very cute. Seems everything is healthy so far so that is a big relief. He weighs 10oz at this point so that's the size of a steak right he he. I was excited to see Jensen's reaction and he smiled big and got a kick out of hearing the heartbeat but he became antsy after a while. I think he will love having a little brother and hopefully he will wear Jensen out better than I can! We got a CD with the ultrasound pictures

Jones Vacation 2009

After our last experience traveling with Jensen when he was about 18 months we were in NO hurry to take another trip. Since he is 3 now, we decided to give it a try and drive instead of fly so we could stop along the way and do what we want. My cousin Erica lives near Indianapolis, Indiana along with some of my family and when we found out she was getting marrried we decided to drive up to visit plus make it a family vacation. Jeff's mom let us borrow her Honda Pilot (thank goodness since my Jeep is crapping out!) and we left early last Thursday morning. Our first stop was the the McDonald's that goes over the highway near Vinita, OK and Jensen did really well in the car thanks to some toys and games I checked out from Rainbow Fleet. We had a DVD player but didn't need it until we were about an hour away from Indianapolis then we realized the DVD's we brought didn't work because I copied them wrong, oops. We made it in about 13.5hrs and it wasn't bad at all. At all the hotels we stayed at, Jensen thought it was so cool to go up and down the elevator and he was in charge of using the room key card to open the door.

Former world's largest McDonald's in Vinita, OK

Friday morning we got up and took Jensen to the Indianpolis Children's Museum. That place was amazing and we could have spent days there and not see it all! We ate lunch in the food court first then they had hands-on activities with dinosoars, trains, aquariums, mummies, a carousel and a construction site where kids got operate a crane and bobcat to name a few.

Jensen driving the Indy car in Indianpolis

Jensen wanted to ride the carousel but didn't want to get on a horse so he sat on the bench

After the museum we drove an hour and a half to Marion, Indiana where I was born. We moved to OK when I was about 6 months old so I'm really an Okie but I have always wanted to show Jeff where I came from. After checking into the hotel, we met my Dad and Sharon at Hersch and Dee's house for a cookout. Hersch is my dad's best friend and they were sort of like god parent's to us and now they live back in Marion. It was really nice seeing them again and they had never met Jensen before. We also got to see some old friends of ours Beth, Talia and her baby Scott. Not long after we got there though Jensen spiked a fever and fell asleep so we had to cut the visit short. His fever got up to 102.9 and we were really worried we would have to take him to see a doctor and not get to do what we had planned. He was ok by the next day though so I don't know what that was. Me with "Aunt Dee and Uncle Hersch"

On Saturday, I got to visit with my dad and all but one of his siblings at Erica's wedding. I was really impressed at how well Jensen did during the wedding ceremony. It was a very nice wedding and reception with a sit down dinner.

Me with my Dad and sister Carrie

Erica with her mom (my aunt Patty). Jensen said her dress was shiny

Saturday was our day with my Dad's side of the family and Sunday was for my mom's side of the family. It worked out great that Carrie and my mom flew out to my aunt Rosie's house in Tennessee then drove up with my two aunts and two uncles to visit us and other family in Indy. We met them in Marion then drove to the itty bitty tiny town of Van Buren where my mom grew up. We visited 3 graveyards where my grandparents and great-great parents are buried. We also drove by the tiny little house my mom and her 4 siblings were raised in. I have great memories of going there to visit before my Grandma Betty passed away when I was 13. I always loved that the town was so small, my sister and I were able to walk by ourselves to the only 4 way stop in town to buy candy and soda at the store.

My mom and all but one sibling- Uncle Ike, Aunt Sally, Aunt Rosie and Debbie

After visiting Van Buren, we went to dinner at a buffet place with about 30 of my mom's aunts, uncles, cousins etc. Some of them were my Grandma and Grandpa's siblings and I didn't really know many of them but remembered visiting a few when I was younger. Jeff felt like a giant compared to all my mom's short, wide family he he!

We left Marion after that and drove about 5 or 6hrs to St. Louis, MO and checked into our motel. Monday morning we woke up and went to Six Flags and had a blast. We went mainly for Jensen to have a good time especially since I'm pregnant and can't ride anything. It was kind of torure too being there and seeing the great roller coasters and not being able to get on them. It was priceless though to see the grin on Jensen's face as he rode all the kiddie rides. His favorite was a Scooby Do ride called Scary Swamp where you ride through and zap ghosts with a gun. He rode it twice and wanted to ride again but we were frying out the in the heat so we left early.

I wasn't sure he would like the rides but he just beamed with excitement

We left St. Louis after Six Flags and drove about 3-4hrs to Branson, MO. We learned that it's a pretty neat town with lots of stuff to do. We woke up the next day on Tuesday and rode the Ducks-amphibious vehicles that drive you through the mountains then splash into the lake for a boat ride. They even gave us quackers to blow that sound like ducks.

These vehicles were really used by the military at one time

QUACK!!

After eating lunch, we went to a cavern called Talking Rocks. We went through a door and down hundreds of feet of damp stairs through this cave with very large stalactites and stalagmites. It was pretty and amazing that water caused this cave to look this way over time. Jensen loved being down there too and at one point they turned off every light so it was really dark then they had light show set to music. One of the smaller formations as we entered the cave. My camara battery died so that's all I got

We went to an expensive seafood dinner at Landry's then Jeff took Jensen to ride go-carts at this track that looks like a roller coaster. Jensen loved it and is still talking about driving fast with Daddy.

ZOOM ZOOM!

After Branson, the plan was to head home Wednesday morning but I guess Jeff got inspired by seeing my roots and decided he wanted to take a couple hour detour through Poteau, OK where his grandparent's were born. We called Grandma Cassie's sister, Great-Aunt Lebrica and Uncle Doug and met them for lunch then met another great aunt and uncle Curtis and Dorothy at the cemeteries where Jeff's Great-Grandparents are burried. We also went by the little school not far away in Howe, OK to see where Grandma Cassie graduated. We even got to go inside and see her senior class picture on the wall of the high school. I just loved that! Then we went by the tiny falling down barn looking house where they lived as well as two other houses they lived in growing up. Jeff, Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Curtis (Grandmas Cassie's brother), Aunt Lebrica and Uncle Doug (Cassie's Sister).

We had a fabulous trip and even though it was a lot of driving it wasn't bad at all. I love that it was a perfect mixture of family time and adventure and I'm very excited we were both able to get in touch with our roots.