maybe baby

Oh my goodness life has been passing all in a blur.
We are cleaning the house, packing the house, painting the house (outside), refinishing the floors, putting in new carpet, fixing the shutters, replacing the doors, opening the windows, breaking the windows (accident), fixing the windows, mowing the "grass", landscaping the yard, bathing the dog, bathing the kids, staying with grandma while the guys do the floors.
We are busy!
We're hoping someone else buys our house on October 5th!
So, no pics this week. Next week, we'll have lots (Kyla's coming!) and hopefully we'll also have a link to our mls report, if you're interested in buying our house (:
We sure hope someone is.
See ya then.

This week, we've been spending some time practicing.
First, we practiced Mina's birthday cupcakes. We're having a Halloween birthday party for Marina next month, and we want to make sure we can get it all together! Mommy let me hold onto Jessa Rose while she and Mina made mixed up icing!

The finished product!

On Friday, we played at Jack's house and chased butterflies!

And then on Saturday, I practiced my soccer.

WooHoo! I'm getting pretty good!

Mina likes to watch me run around, while she plays with rocks. Pretty soon, it will be her out

on the field!

I'm trying to show her how to chase me so she can get fast and ready!

At North Hills, they were doing a Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs thing, so we played games and won prizes. Since Mina and I don't like to sit through a whole movie, we'll have to wait until this one comes to the dollar movies around Thanksgiving. We're reading the story now, and it doesn't seem as scary as Up! (:

As you might have read in the last post, we also lost our old dog Kacee this week. We miss her very much, and poor Yogi Bear seems lonely and sad. So are we.

KC Bear Jones, 1996-2009.

Today, we had to say goodbye to our dog KC. She was pretty sick and awfully tired. Now, she'll rest.
Maddie is glad that Grandpa Q has someone to keep him company.
Here are some highlights from a full and happy life.
A pup in Asheville, 1996


A year later in Boone, NC, happy and energetic, 1997


Camping in Brevard, NC, 2001. KC loved to camp and hike in her younger years.


Playing with her friend Sammy in Durham, 2002

Raleigh, NC. Checkin' out Baby Maddie with brother Yogi Bear, 2005

It's back to school!

Here we are on our first day back!
Back to school means Mom is back to work. This means Daddy is on drop off duty!

I knew with the three of us trying to get in the door, Daddy wouldn't be able to take any pictures at school, so I took some in the backseat before we got there.

We all did great this week. Luckily, our day is over in less than four hours, which means by afternoon, Jessa and Mommy are together again!

We celebrated a good first week back at North Hills on Friday night!

And then on Saturday, it was back to soccer! I meant to sign up for soccer with my buddy Dylan, but then we found out that the girls and the boys play on different teams-- even the 4 to 6 year olds. So, no Dylan. I'm sad about that, but happy about all my new friends!

Hopefully, Mina can play soccer next year. I told Mommy next time, I want to get signed up for basketball instead.

Or maybe gymnastics!

Sunday morning, Mina and Mom went to church and I got dressed up and watched cartoons. They even brought me back some doughnuts! Someone got the short end of the stick, and it wasn't me!

I'm just sayin'!

I was still in my Sunday best when we went to feed the ducks.

Baby J worked on her sitting skills. Timber!!

Baby J had her 4 month appointment this morning while I was at preschool starting week 2. Good news is that our baby is still hovering right above the growth chart for height, and is in the 90th%-ile for head circumference and weight. Bad news is- shots in both her legs make her cry. Poor baby.

I've been there.

Happy Labor Day!

This is it- our last gasp of summer. Oh no!
On Tuesday, we go back to preschool. And Mommy- for the first time since May 8th -goes back to work for more than just an hour or two, here and there. And without a certain baby in tow.
You know what that means Baby J?

It means you go to Mother's Morning Out. It means childcare.
We can say we've done this before you, and Mommy cut her hours especially to spend extra time with you. Trinity (where we've been going for years, and where you'll join us on Tuesday) is very fun, and the teachers there will love you.
Everything will be fine. Trust me!
Anyway, we've got a little itty bit of summer left. So lets enjoy it!
Back to school means I finally talked mom into taking me to to get a real hair cut! Yay for back to school! My first non-mom cut!
Daddy calls me Clockwork Orange.

You might have read that baby Jessa is rolling all around. She's still mostly a back to front roller, except for once last week, when she rolled her little self the other way around.

She's also taking some big girl baths! We're looking for our big (ger) girl home now--one with a bigger bathtub-- but until we find what we're looking for, we're three big monkeys in an itty bitty tub!
Hey there little girl! You're new around here, aint ya?

It's alright, Baby!




Jessa Rose will be four months old on Thursday. Look at how fast she's growing!

This weekend, in honor of out last few days of summer, Michaela came and spent the night. Michaela started kindergarten (that's big girl school) a few weeks ago, so she came by to tell me all about what I can expect next year this time!

And then we loved our little baby!

Michaela practiced her picture taking!

Tres amigos. I don't know why I just can't smile like a normal kid.

Oh, what a perfect day we had. We saw Up at the dollar movie, got freaked out (mean dogs!) and left, and then came home and made pizza which we ate and then we painted and then nearly passed out from the fun!

Meanwhile, Daddy started college football season.

So we'll see him in a couple of months, if I remember correctly.

Corolla, NC

As you know by now, we have spent the last seven happy and busy days wearing ourselves completely out with our northern Virginia friends at the Outer Banks! A couple of boys named Bill and Danny thought they might ruin our fun, but they underestimated the will of seven determined children under five!

We worked it out with Danny and Bill that a little rain when we were checking in OR when we were asleep was alright-- just as long as they brought us lots of jellyfish. And so it was. It was FUN! We swam and we played and we ran and rolled and dug and splashed. We built jellyfish castles and we played charades and painted and playdoh-ed and made ice cream sandwiches.
Oh, I had so much fun, you wouldn't even believe it!

A long, long, LONG time ago, my Mommy and Daddy got married in Corolla at Corolla Chapel.

So, they thought it would be special to take us there all these hundreds of years later.
I was skeptical, but then I was very happy to see that Corolla Chapel has a kids service with cake and crafts. So we talked and Jesus and made some cool desk art.

Oh, the times are changin'!

Once Mommy got that out of her system, we were free to run amok. Here's the house where we lived:

We had good times in the house. I think Jessa liked the house the best, because all the kids played with her there. She got all sorts of love and attention from Marissa and Michael!

Being in the house was fun for us too. We usually watched cartoons and made crafts for a couple of hours while we waited for everyone to get up and take us places.

And then, it was time to play and so we played and played and played!

We played in the ocean...

Little Mina was especially brave in the ocean this time. Usually she runs screaming from the water, but she had quite a different experience this time.

and we dug for sand treasures and we piled Ian in Jellyfishes and we buried ourselves in the sand.

Jessa wasn't really feeling it, but that's ok, because Mommy tells me next year this time, we won't be able to stop her!

We also spent lots of time at the pool!

Baby Jessa liked the pool!

But not as much as me! I decided this week it was high time for me to learn how to swim! You see, I've gone a a few YMCA camp in the mornings this summer, and at Y Camp, they let you practice your swimming every day. THEN, I saw a video of my friend Kyla swimmin' away with her mom. So I thought to myself: I can do this. And I did!

Mina splashed up a tropical storm of her own, but I think she needs a few more summers before she gets the doggie paddle.

One night we walked along the ocean with Mommy and Daddy. So relaxing...

We also grilled out!

I'm pretty sure I took this picture. This is my friend Kyla, who is very silly and so much fun!

And then, it was time to go. Already!

We packed up our things and said goodbye to the beach for another year (except not really, because we're going to see Mommy's friend Alyssa in Wilmington in a few weeks.) Good bye beach house!

On the way home we checked out the Outer Banks Aquarium!

Ribbuut!

Jessa likes fish!

Lobster monsters!

And then, next thing you know, we were home again.