Mother Knows Best

Last Thursday we got a little bit of snow but not enough to cancel school.  Here is Blake in the school parking lot Friday morning...

He was happy and seemed healthy as can be.  And then I picked him up at the end of the day and he still seemed perfectly fine.  But when we got home, only 2 minutes later, instead of playing with Brady like usual, he curled up on the couch and watched cartoons.  This is an immediate sign of doom.  I, like I'm sure any parent, HATE HATE HATE when my kiddos are sick.  My heart just breaks for them and so I was hoping that he was just a little tired from the week. Blake went from laying on the couch to asking Brad to build him a fort.  Oh, yay, he's not getting sick I thought, if he's well enough to play in a fort!  Except shortly after the fort was built was dinner time and this is how I found Blake. 

On top of the fort, with his eyes closed, but not asleep.  He.was.pitiful.  When Blake doesn't want to eat dinner you know something is REALLY wrong.  Blake does not slow down with a cold and even some sinus infections and so I knew it was something more.  Fever and his throat hurt and I had a mommy instinct of strep throat.  Off to the doctor we went Friday morning.  Except the doctor said no strep and was probably just a bad cold.  I knew better.  I tried to argue with the doctor but something about an M.D. not being after my name for some reason made me less credible than him.  Hmmmph.   But my mommy instincts kept nagging at me all day as Blake was still pitiful.  I was cursing the doctor in my head all day.  And then Saturday morning Blake woke me up in tears.  Blake was crying because his throat hurt so bad.  So, back to the doctor we went Saturday morning.  The doctor on call took one look at Blake's throat and was like oh yeah, that is definitely strep.  Amazingly with one dose of antibiotic he was on the road to feeling better.  I kind of want to write the doctor that saw him initially an I told you so letter.   Mommy always knows best.  
So, the lesson here is to always trust your gut, I guess argue with the doctor until you win?  Or maybe the lesson is to wait and take your kid to the doctor until they are REALLY REALLY REALLY sick.  

Life Lately...a lot of stuff I'm loving

January has been pretty boring.  But not in a bad way.   Just nothing really exciting has happened. But on the flip side nothing really bad has happened either, just livin life.  And I'm totally cool with that!! 

A few weekends ago I met some girlfriends for dinner which meant Brad had a guys only night.  They went to dinner and hung out and when I got back home the boys were fast asleep, but I discovered remnants of their evening and it made my heart melt....

Nothing like a daddy to show you how to make paper airplanes.  So precious.  And notice the little ninja turtle figure on one of the planes, lol.  

The next day Blake was invited to a classmate's birthday party, which meant Brady would be left out.  I took Blake to the party and Brad had some one on one time with Bray Bray.  They went to the park and Brad took these pics of my most joyous child.  Such incredible zest for life this guy has.  Love.

 (The guy behind Brady really creeps me out by the way.)

Been so nice having beautiful days on the weekends and lots of nice fun parks to explore.  We've been park hopping over the weekends and the boys love getting to experience different ones.  I just LOVE spending time together as a family.  My favorite.

A few weeks ago on like a Tuesday Brad texted me asking me out on a "date" for that Saturday night.  I love love love how after all these years Brad still romances me.  We didn't have a sitter, so we had a date night at home after the boys went to bed.  Romantic comedy, bubbly and dessert, snuggled up on the couch.  I made this new dessert.  Nutella whoopie pies and we about died over the goodness.  You all need these in your life stat.

On the weekends Brad and I like to attempt sort of sleeping in.  The boys are at an age where they can wake up, watch cartoons or be strongly encouraged to play quietly during the early hours.  Some mornings this works and some not so much.  But one morning I woke up to find these two curled up together playing on daddy's phone.  Oh, how I love their brotherly love.

Sometimes, ok, a lot of times, I complain about our dog Darcy.  I get tired of dog hair errwhere, walking her every day, being the one that gets up early to feed her, dealing with accidents, etc.  But I do truly love her.  Especially when I catch her curled up being a sweet girl.

Last night Blake found a head band I had put on to keep my long bangs out of my face while I worked out and put it on his head and said, "I'm going for a jog around the block."  I died laughing.  

Then Brady chimed in that he was going for a jog as well.  So, Brad put his running shoes on and took the boys on a jog around the block.  Love.


Blake is a pretty well rounded boy.  He loves and excels in sports, he plays the piano incredibly well for a five year old and he's really awesome in school and loves learning.  His teacher has just recommended him for the gifted and talented program and we are really super duper proud of this guy.  He really truly loves and enjoys learning.  And I love that about Blake.  He came home yesterday demanding that we reenact a science experiment they did at school.  The last thing I wanted to do when we had finished eating and needed to clean dishes and get lunch packed for the following day and get ready for bed, etc. etc.  But I am trying to learn to not always be a "no" mom and love that Brad is more of a "yes" dad to bring that out of me.  So, science experiment we did at 7:00 last night!

Life Lately

I feel like life has been so crazy busy lately.  I don't even really know with what though!  I guess between family visiting and school activities and the holidays and sick kids in between it just gets a little nuts.  I start getting anxiety over it, feeling overwhelmed, and then I end up cleaning my house which is my cure all.  After scrubbing counters and floors and decluttering I'm feeling much better today!  
Time is certainly flying by and I have been reflecting on 2013 and looking ahead in 2014 and ways I can improve it.  2013 was a pretty good year, although it did have its rough patches.  My health for the first half of the year was pretty cruddy with my undiagnosed pain still causing issues.  It brought a lot of days that I didn't feel well and lots of frustration that went along with that.  But I'm feeling really great most days now and that is a huge blessing.  I had knee surgery which was not fun, but am doing great now and starting to FINALLY get back in a workout routine that is knee friendly.  2013 was a great year in regard to Brady's health.  We had no major issues.  We had no specialist appointments and sleepless nights worrying.  Probably what I was most thankful for last year.  Blake started kindergarten which was very emotional for me and Brady started pre-k which was also very emotional!  Both boys though are doing so great with school and I am so very grateful I have been at home with them to be such a big part of it all.  Hoping 2014 is the Jones family's best year yet!!

Here is our 2013 recapped in a few short seconds...

We spent the week of Christmas with my inlaws that were in town and had fun eating and eating and eating oh and some playing too.  We all spent an afternoon at Top Golf and had such a great time.  The boys loved it and can't wait to take them back again soon.

Brad had several weeks off of work and it was SO INCREDIBLY NICE to have him at home and get so much quality time together!  January 2nd came and I wanted to cry when he went back to the office.  I got pretty used to having my main squeeze with me every day!

We enjoyed time together as a family and even though it was chilly enjoyed taking the boys on bike rides.  This one was on Christmas Eve. 

Every holiday is so much more fun now that the boys are at an age to get into the holiday spirit.  They were bouncing off the walls with excitement and watching them open their presents was pretty awesome.  Blake wins the prize for best facial expressions and seemed to be equally as excited over a stocking stuffer as he was for a bigger gift. 

A few days after Christmas was over Brad and I celebrated ten years of marriage.  My parents took the boys the day before our anniversary and we didn't get them back until the day after our anniversary which means we got two full days and two glorious nights sans kids.  We spent the long weekend at the Four Seasons and I have to say was the best weekend ever.  Couples massage, sleeping in, hot tub, relaxing, even working out.  It was great that nothing was rushed, we enjoyed conversations without being interrupted and just celebrating our love.  Fabulous!
We were welcomed with chocolates and a beautiful flower arrangement.

This next picture is me after our massage.  80 minutes of heaven and I've never felt so relaxed. 

We had a really nice anniversary dinner.  I know I'm a broken record, but I just love spending time with this man!

And then, after all the celebrating and holidays and extended family time and time off work, life went back to normal....

Oh, how I love these boys!!!  Life is never dull around here.  That is for sure.  And I wouldn't have it any other way!

10 Years

Hard to believe that it was over 15 years ago that I met Brad.  I never would have guessed going on a blind date, with extreme reluctance I might add, would be the best decision I could have ever made (thanks Kristen!!), and that the guy I was meeting would be my soul mate...my future hubby.  I am quite fond of our love story and the journey our love together has taken us on.  There have been ups and downs, but thankfully, way more ups than downs.  I am truly blessed to have found my best possible match in this world and that I get to spend my forever with him.  I never thought that fairy tale love, the love you see in the movies, really existed or if it did, that I would be one of the lucky few to get to experience it.  But lucky me!  Lucky me for finding Brad at such a young age because it just means I get that many more years with him.  Today we are celebrating our TEN year wedding anniversary.  I can not imagine my life without Brad.  Brad makes me want to be the best possible version of myself possible and I think I do the same for him.  My love for him grows every year and somehow the guy seems to get better looking with time.  He's like a fine wine, that one.  I am blessed that our love only seems to grow and that we are still attracted to each other, that we still truly enjoy each others company, that we are still each others best friend.  I think we have really both worked so hard these last ten years on our stubbornness.  We learned that stubbornness will get you no where.  We work hard on being open with one another and communicating our feelings.  We work on making time for each other, even if its just time together snuggled on the couch watching a show or a movie after the boys go to bed.  We work at trying to remember to always put the other one first.  We work at always being a team.  Our days work so much better when we are on the same page, a united front.  We can't stand going a day feeling upset towards the other, so we are quick to talk out our feelings.  I'm grateful that through any hardships we have gone through in life or marriage that we care enough about our love and each other to show up and make the effort and to be the best example of a married couple we can be for our two boys and for them to know this is a house of so much love.  I am grateful for the way Brad still looks at me after being with each other for almost half our lives.  He gives me a look and its like he's seeing me for the first time all over again.  The butterflies still come.  I am so so grateful.  I am grateful that Brad tends to always look on the bright side of life.  He is my center, always bringing me back to what is important in life.  He makes me feel that with our love anything is possible.  Bradley, I love you love you more than anything!  I can't wait to see what the next ten years brings our way!  There is no one I'd rather go through this crazy life with than you.  Thank you for being the best husband, the bestest friend and partner and the most amazing dad to our boys.  xoxoxoxoxoxo
10 from? brooke jones on Vimeo.

Polar Express Day in Kinder

At Blake's school they have a yearly tradition for the kindergartners of a Polar Express Day.  It is a fun and magical day for all the kiddos and a lot of work by a group of parents gets poured into it all to make it happen.  The best part is that its a surprise for all the kindergartners!  All they knew going into the day was they got to wear their pj's to school.  Normally, I drop Blake off in the carpool lane, so he was very curious why I was walking him into school!  Instead of going to their classrooms, they were immediate greeted at the front doors and ushered into the school cafeteria.  Here is Blake waiting for the fun to begin, not knowing what was going on.  He asked me to take a "silly" picture of him.

Then they gathered the students and explained to them the tradition of the Polar Express Day at the school.  One of the teachers then read them the book, Polar Express.  

This is when I had to exit stage right to take Brady to school so I missed some really fun pictures.  But I quickly made my way back to the school  After the story, each student was handed a train ticket to board the Polar Express!  They took the "train" on the "tracks" all through the school, back to the kinder pod. 

When they arrived, they were at the North Pole!  

 

And got to meet Santa and take their picture with him.  Every student took home a printed picture as well. 

*Blake later told us that the Santa at his school was a fake.  We asked how he knew that and he said, "I just did."

They colored snowmen and did crafts to give as presents to mom and dad.  

They played the dreidel game to attempt at including Chanukah.  I then had to teach the class how to play.  Blake kept asking me when I was leaving and I said I wasn't and he would get the biggest smile ever on his face.  Made me feel oh so good.  
After craft time the teacher announced Santa's elves had put something in their cubby!  They each got a bell necklace.  Blake's teacher then quickly told them to put them back where they found them, ha!

After lunch and art class, they got to watch the movie Polar Express.  During art class I went and got Brady and then brought him back to the school for the rest of the day.  He sat next to Blake on the carpet watching the movie with his brother.  My heart was so full.

Blake said of course it was the best day ever.  How could an entire day of fun at school not be?!