the Yard Boy

Gill wanted to help out with yard work.... by putting leaves into his truck and dumping them in a pile

He is just so handy around the house!

Maxwell Lynn Richards

I am dedicating this post to Maxwell, its his Birthday today and our thoughts go out to the Richards family. If you don't know about Maxwell, please click here and watch the video "Remembering Maxwell" http://www.sugaryfrogs.blogspot.com
Warning: get a kleenex first!
We love and miss you Maxwell!

The Jones Family

Bat Man vs. the T-rex Fireman

As most people know, Jeff is a kid at heart. So when Gilly wants to play Bat Man....

Jeff takes it about as far as he can.

This is a small glimpse at what we will remember of Bat Man vs. the scary T-rex/Fireman. Bat Man won, obviously.

Dinner at the Jones'

I actually caught Em doing this with the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray (ick) Dinner at our house is always a struggle....for my children that is. If it is not a complex carbohydrate with spray butter they don't like it. Tonight for example....we had roast.
My three favorite complaints, right after one another were these...
1. The cauliflower is too juicy, you know, wet (Abby)
2. The meat is just too meaty (Em)

3. I don't like it (Gill, but thats what he says at every meal)
Now I can take criticism, especially about my food because its a work in progress, a talent I am constantly working on but sometimes I just want to grab the loaf of white bread, put spray butter on it and call it a day. Then Jeff and I will go to Cafe Rio.

My genetic pool

So this is the family Halloween party. This is how we kick it on my side. Emma and Keily
Michele....or is that Chad?
Emma
Emma again
Michele
Meg

As you can see I did not partake of the evil mask. Call me dull. I just wan't feeling it I guess.

Larry

I have this Uncle (Larry) who is by far the greatest Uncle anyone would ever want. He helped me get my first car (a nissan stanza) and he is contantly taking ridicule from us because he looks and acts just like my Grandpa Ru. Plus he has this love of sweets, he is always sneaking them just like a little kid. I get all misty eyed when I think of him because he is like a dad to me....Anyway, I digress here. Uncle Larry owns an office supply company where we hold many family parties. This year we had a halloween party and it was really fun to see the kids all dressed up....Em as a horse (surprise!). She clearly stated that she is not the person riding the horse, she IS the horse. Don't mix it up.
Abby playing a game that was kind of hard for her. Remember...a fisherman she is not.
ahhhh Hermoine
Gill as his usual self at any party. He is just a ball of fun!

The Pumkin Patch

Every October we go to the Day Farms pumpkin patch, its a fun tradition that started when Abby was in preschool. This year as the weather was topsy turvy and October is fastly flying by I suggested to the kids that we could go to Dans and pick out a pumpkin, maybe even two. Well they would have nothing of it! So here we are at the pumpkin patch, waiting for our tractor to arrive... While on the tractor there is a "spooky" that jumps out and really scares the kids. Here is Braxton comforting Gilly. Since Gill doesn't have an older brother we've asked Brax to stand in sometimes.
And he's off!
Abby found the perfect pumkin!

johnny hotdog

This is my favorite brother John and his darling wife Monica. My kids absolutely adore these two. Sometimes if we are lucky the newlyweds like to spend a fun filled evening with us. I think they call it "birth control".

Hermoine and...er...Harriett?

We recently bought Abby her Halloween costume, Hermoine, and she loves wearing it around the house...

Em just likes wearing the Harry Potter glasses when she does her homework

modesty

Before I could get Gilly dressed this morning my friend brought her little boy over (he's 16 mos) and Gill didn't want Jack to see him naked. He has a piece of paper over the front and a bin lid covering the back. Its not the greatest picture because he was running away from me while I was scrambling to get the camera ready. Who knew that one of Jeff's kids would be so modest?

I usually try to keep the camera away from the kids, I mean its not made by Fisher Price thus making it destructable. Sometimes when I download I find pictures like this and I just couldn't resist posting this one.

my therapist

This is a picture of me and my sister/therapist Michele. She is the person I call and say "so, do you ever feel like......" and then I proceed to unload some bizarre story about me pooping my pants if front of the Hersheys house (at the age of 5) and the effects that had on me in my adult life. Here is to wishing that they had parenting books in the 70's! (okay that is really personal, the pooping part. See thanks to Michele I've come a long way)

just like pop

Some of you may know that on days when Jeff is "between" projects he carries around this note pad, pencil, and a tape measure and he just strolls the yard thinking of new landscaping ideas, or projects.

Today gill started packing his paper and pencil around and measuring.....
Just like dad!

Another Christmas woe....

One reason not to buy Christmas presents before December....

The little #$%@ found my hiding place!