That's Our Bonnie

Thanks to Aunt Traci for taking pictures this weekend! More to come later...

Newspaper Website

Our hometown newspaper publishes on Wednesdays and Saturdays. If you're interested in how the basketball team's doing, just click on over when you can. The website is www.thevindicator.com.

The story about last week's game can be read here.

Long Time No Post

Well, no real post that is, with pictures. Every day "update blog" is on my to-do list, but seeing as how it falls behind "feed everyone" and "make sure no preschoolers burn the house down," it is usually not done.

Since I don't talk to most of you who read the blog, I'll try to kind of update everyone on all of us.

First is Noelle, 'cause she's the sweetest. She is very developmentally appropriate (code for "screams when Mom leaves the room"). She is sleeping through the night (yay!) and taking 3 good naps a day. She still is in the bassinet in our room, and I'm in no hurry to move her. She doesn't bother us and we don't bother her; why mess with a good thing? Noelle is getting tired of all the baby spots where she has to lean back, so I wedged her in her high chair the other day. Obviously she loved it. She can't wait to sit up and be big. She is never bored. She has found her hands and likes to suck her thumb and bat at toys.

I don't have a picture of Kellen by himself, but I'll give a little update on him. Kellen continues to be high-energy and so enthusiastic. Right now he is into coloring in the lines, trying to sound out words, helping Mom whenever he can, bossing Bonnie around, and talking to Noelle. He likes to go play outside, but mostly he wants to play with someone. Kellen has no need for "alone time." He is always scared he's going to miss something. He loves Bible class and Bible Hour, and he would hang out on the couch reading books together all day if we could. To Kellen, I'm alternatingly the best mom in the world and the meanest mom in the world. Kellen's favorite game right now is "basketball game." He is the player, Bonnie is the cheerleader, and I'm supposed to be the coach. He sits down every so often and I'm supposed to teach him. It's pretty funny. Only in a coaching family.

And Bonnie. She is still 2, in word and deed. It is hard being the little sister, but she has a big brother who is easy to annoy and she takes full advantage of that. Bonnie doesn't take things as personally as Kellen, good or bad. She just kind of does her thing and if I like it, great. If I don't, oh well. Spankings only last a second.

I took this next picture just so I could remember the situation. I thought, after hearing all the crying and screaming, that surely, this time, someone had really broken something. No, Bonnie was just sad because Kellen could reach his arms all the way across and she couldn't. It's hard being littler.

A picture of the tantrum:

And finally, a solution (in her princess dress, no less):

As for the other 2 people who live in this house, Josh is busy with basketball season. They are 2-0 as of this writing, but I'm not going to make this a basketball blog so if you're interested in how the season's going just give us a call. You guys know that his coaching basketball is a big part of our life. We are also really able to minister to a lot of people through that.

As for me, I'm 30 today. Some of my friends from church gave me a beautiful flower arrangement so I thought I'd share it.

I'm settling in and starting to get to know people.

I do want to share this story. Tonight for supper the kids had mac and cheese and I had leftovers. I had also made an apple crisp and we had that after we ate supper. As we were finishing our dessert, Kellen said, "This is the best birthday party ever!" He is so sweet.

I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving. We will be going to College Station for a short visit with Josh's family, but it being a holiday I'm sure it would be hard to get together with anyone. But if anyone is going to be home, maybe we can get together for a few minutes. We do miss it there.

Joshua L. Jones, M.Ed.

Last night Josh successfully defended his Master's and the only thing left is to walk the stage at ACU. What a load off his shoulders to be done. I am really proud of him, and also glad he will no longer have to come in at 1AM from an away game only to start working on a paper.

The degree, for the record, is a Master's of Education in Leadership of Learning with an emphasis in Conflict Resolution. Basically, this means he is now qualified to be a school administrator, and he is also a certified mediator for the state of Texas.

Happy Birthday Lesley!

We are so blessed to have such a great sister, aunt, and sister-in-law. You're the best!

Sunday Best

I couldn't decide which of these pictures I liked best so here are all 3. Obviously I should have raised the blinds a little higher in the first 2.

By the way, doesn't Josh look great? He has lost almost 30 lb. (not having time to eat will do that to you). He makes good use of belts right now.

Trick-or-Treating and the football game

Kellen and Bonnie had a great time last night. There's not much to do in Liberty, so anything we get to go and do is a big treat. We went to a few houses to get some candy and look cute, and then on to the football game (Panthers win!). One of the advantages of being a coach's kid is that you get to go on the field during halftime with a (Daddy-vetted-and-approved) cheerleader while the halftime show was going on. Bonnie had so much fun that she cried when she had to come back to me. Sorry for the bad picture.

"Just leave me alone. I just want to sleep." I ended up having to leave Noelle's costume at home. With all the running around with 3 kids, I just needed her to be able to be comfortable.

This morning is basketball tryouts. The first game is Nov. 18.