Annual Review for D M Jones

Name: Daphne (known as Daph or Daffodil)

Hair: Short, blondish-brown, adorable

Eyes: Sparkly light blue, like her Aunt Lindsay
 

Interests: 
Playing: A magical unicorn named Horn Attack, a ninja, a kitty, or a puppy named Morning Daisy (companion to Pip's puppy named Patches-Spot).

Conversing: She's got a lot to say on every subject, and prefers an active, engaged audience. None of this passive, "Hm, that's nice, dear."

Reading - like any typical young girl, she devours science books

Visiting: The more friends, the better. The longer, the better. The more activity, the better. When bedtime comes and she's alone in her room, she's bored.

Taylor Swift: She's up for a visit and a conversation about her favorite Taylor Swift songs.


Busyness: This fall, she's starting piano, 4H, a one-day enrichment class, AWANA, and school. The prospect delights her.
 
Notes: Is ready to be a friend to everyone, with the possible exception of her older brother. Thinks that Taylor Swift has a knack for choosing really bad boyfriends, based on all the songs she writes about broken hearts. Talks a lot. Reads a lot.

Recommendation: Way too much personality to stay at current age level. Immediate upgrade recommended.

Happy sixth birthday to Daphne! We love you!

(I'm going to try to upload this picture again later, giving Blogger a second chance)

-- DJ, SJ, AMJ, SMJ, PGJ

Pictures of Me

I recently got some new clothes, and recently lost some old weight, and today decided to put the two together into a blog post. How often are there pictures of just me on my own blog? Well, I didn't manage it this time, either, since I included a picture of Daphne at the end. That's not something I regret, though. Anyway, on to pictures of (mostly) me.

New jacket, new shirt, new van behind me. The tree we've had for a while.

It's fun to feel like you look cool.

The jacket and shirt are still new! So is the pose!

And to break up the monotony, here's Daphne in one of the new dresses from Grandpa and Nana. Must be nice to be this effortlessly cute.

Birthday Girl pictures

Addi with her McLeod tam, direct from Scotland.

Addi with her freshly-pierced ear and sparkly earring.

Addi with her mama, an essential element in her original birthday.

Mundania 35

I've been using Blog2Print to compile the last seven years of our life in book form. The program is a little tedious to work with -- especially the photos on the front cover; apparently you can't choose "blank." But for the most part, I'm very pleased with how the books turned out. I ordered the soft cover, black-and-white pages, and it looks really good. Even the photos came out nicely. The most I've spent on one book is $45, and I consider it entirely worth the money to have my blog resting safely in my hands.

***
It's been happening so gradually that I didn't notice it for a while. In fact, a few years ago, I was sure it would never, ever happen to us. But it has: my kids are getting really big. We ran out of seating in our living room.

The Old Couch, which we "stored" for the Hall Family for, oh, ten years. It was a great couch.

The "New" Couch, which we got from Salvation Army in September. It was comfortable and looked nice, in a too-small kind of way.

So Darren and I took the plunge and bought a brand-new spiffy reclining sectional couch. All kids can fit on it. They were so thrilled that it took fully seventeen minutes before they started bickering about who was touching whom.

The Brand-New Couch, delivered this morning. THIS is room for the whole family! Good thing we don't need too much living room at the same time. Okay, okay, I know you want to linger here and gaze at the couch, the new curtains, and the fresher wall color. But let's move on.

***
My mother-in-law is the patient recipient of daily phone calls from Daphne. She's a good sport, playing along with Daphne's favorite "kitty" game. This morning, however, she decided to try her hand at taking the lead in pretending:

"How about Nana Kitty and Daphne Kitty have a race to the slide?" Nana suggested. "Okay, we're running now!" (Nana made "bumpa bumpa" noises with her voice. Daphne, on the other hand, loudly whapped a book to simulate HER stride.) "We're almost there! Nearly there! Oh! And Daphne Kitty wins!"

"Yay!" said Daphne. "I won!"

"Good job! You beat Nana Kitty by about four steps."

"Yes!" Daphne agreed. "And I was only running on three legs!"

***

Daphne currently has a crush on the moon. (Or, I should say, it's a phase she's going through...) She was looking through a calendar that gave moon phases, and now chatters about crescents and gibbous and full moons. Somewhere along the line she discovered the concept of a Blue Moon, that is, two full moons in one month. Furthermore, the next Blue Moon is in August, her birthmonth. And in 2018, there will be two Blue Moons in the year! I don't think I'm communicating the depth of excitement and fascination going on here. Suffice to say that after a day's conversation with Daphne, this song is running a path through my head:



***

According to Addi: Since a new moon is the opposite of a blue moon, then two new moons in one month should be called an Orange Moon.

***
Stuart has joined cub scouts. He's taken to it as if it's been the desire of his heart ever since, I don't know, birth. His Webelos II troop has just formed patrols. He came home and said that their patrol name is The Dancing Bananas. He wasn't thrilled with the choice, but if he'd been in charge, he'd have probably named it The Protoss Zerglings of Terran. That's from Starcraft, for the 98% of the population who doesn't know that. At least most people have some idea of what a Dancing Banana would look like.

***
Stuart doesn't like it when we say he likes Starfall instead of Starcraft.

-- SJ

GWL Pictures

Here are pictures (see, see, Deidre!) to go along with the post below.


The indoor water park was a grand place. This doesn't show the wave pool or any of the slides.


Happy kids with some of their new Stuff: Great Wolf Lodge wolves, a dragon, and a dragon cape.


Happy Darren, who planned this getaway and had the satisfaction of watching his whole family enjoy it.

Happy Sara, so glad to be somewhere fun in February that she didn't even mind having Medusa hair the whole time, due to letting it air dry.


We offered Pip some good, nourishing, yummy lunch. Here, he thinks he's hiding as he eats the Special Vacation Cereal Lucky Charms instead.



Gearing up for "the beach," as Pip referred to it.


Happy big kids at "the beach."

Christmas 2011

We're sticklers for tradition, so here we're posting pictures of grinning children opening gifts. Well, to be technical about it, it's the grandparents who are the sticklers for this annual ritual. We're happy to oblige, though.

Gathered 'round the Christmas tree. This was the year that Christmas dawned on Phillip, and it was a beautiful thing.


Stuart, whose gifts now double as Fun For Daddy.


Daphne, thrilled to get a diary from Aunt Lindsay, completely oblivious to the fact that she can't write anything except her name.

Addi got a mug-decorating kit from our neighbors, the Shaws, and forgot about her other presents as she lost herself in Art. This picture also shows Addi's great change as of a week ago: she got all her long hair cut off.

Oh, Pip was all about opening presents. He got a stack of new books and (in this picture) two new cars for his Thomas Train collection.

Fun times with Playdough! Please note that while I was doing this, and Darren was helping Addi assemble one of her presents, our own gifts lay unopened under the tree. I never realized just how deeply the sacrifices of parenthood could cut.


The three older kids have formed a "snuggi club" now that they all have blankets with arms. Here they are in the pose entitled "Stockings, Before."

And Stockings, After.

Pip's godmother will be pleased to see him mastering the art of Pez.

Computers need Christmas joy, too. Right?

My favorite gift from Darren was this set of hand-made bowls. Even better, the hands that made them belong to my good friend Deidre (Pip's aforementioned godmother).


I am continually amazed at the beautiful work Deidre turns out. As you can imagine, these dishes make food taste worlds better.


This red-bearded man needed a new necklace -- the other one, like so many before it, fell under the onslaught of a toddler -- so I got him this one from an Etsy shop. It's silver with a wood inlay, and I think it's pretty snazzy.

Gifts, laughter, and joy: makes for a good celebration of the Incarnation of God. Merry Christmas, y'all.

-- SJ

Family Picture 2011

Almost all of us don't look goofy!

Top Nine Things to Know About Stuart

1. He was born after twelve hours of labor and a c-section. When they took him out to the nursery, Darren followed. He got to hold him and talk to him for the first half-hour of his life. When I woke up in recovery, Darren was there to tell me that our new son had blond hair and toes just like Addie's.

2. As soon as he learned to smile, he found the world very, very funny. He would sneeze, and then laugh.

3. His loud and sunny personality was the best thing that ever happened to silent, skittish Addie.

4. He has a massive gag reflex. He has been known to throw up just thinking about something gross.

5. He's a gaming geek already. He plays D&D, wants to play Warhammer, and reads up on Wizard 101 so he can coach us as to the best strategies.

6. He was disappointed in the fourth and fifth Harry Potter movies because they left out "the best parts": the Nifflers and Flobberworms and other random background creatures.

7. He can multiply two digits by two digits in his head.

8. He thinks much more deeply than his oblivious, happy-go-lucky demeanor suggests.

9. Today he turns nine years old! He's improved our Thanksgiving celebrations dramatically ever since his arrival.




We love you, Stuart!

-- SJ, DJ, AMJ, DMJ, PGJ

Three Rings of Four Kids

A ring of four kids (2011):



Same kids, different ring, different time (2010):



The Ring of Four Kids started here. How times change! (2009)

Collection of Pictures

In no particular order, as usual:


For those who missed every single Facebook post from every single person on the East Coast this weekend, we got an early snow. Our neighborhood was lucky: we didn't lose power. But my neighbor lost her Bradford pear. We're calling it "the banana tree" because of the way it peeled itself off its trunk. Ha ha! We can laugh because it's not in our front yard.



Here's a shot of our cozy, snow-covered house. Except that we weren't ready for cozy, snow-covered weather so it wasn't as charming as it looks.



On the other hand, unseasonable snow goes away quickly, as soon as seasonable weather returns. This was all that was left in our yard the next afternoon: the kids' "Snow Crow" -- a scarecrow made of snow.

And more importantly, the snow went away in time for Halloween. The next few pictures were taken last week, when Mom and I finished the kids' costumes in record time.

Here's Stuart, dressed -- obviously! -- as a Golden Snitch from Harry Potter. The Snitch is a small golden ball in the game of Quidditch. If the Seeker catches it during the game, his team automatically gets 150 points. It's very characteristic of Stuart to want to be the actual ball instead of the player who tries to catch it.

All three in their Halloween finery: Daphne is a Kitty, Stuart is a Golden Snitch, and Addie is an Auror, also from Harry Potter. Aurors are like the Wizarding Secret Police, who go after the really bad guys.


Back view, just to show off these amazing costumes. They are amazing, because Mom and I put them together in a weekend. Note Mom's handiwork with the reflective duct tape on Addie's Auror cloak. (Pip didn't have a costume. He ended up getting quite enough candy on Halloween anyway.)



Oh, and then there's the whole reason we had to scramble to get costumes ready at the last minute: the fact that I spent most of the month on a mattress in the dining room with 102-degree fever. This is why my mother bought a one-way ticket and came 1000 miles to my home.

-- SJ

Independence

As parents, our task is to raise our children to be self-sufficient, independent adults. And Pip says, "Getting right on it."


He decided he wanted more cinnamon toast, but no parent was available to get it. No problem! Pictured above is:

1. Buttered bread
2. A very large quantity of salt

Darren got out of the shower in time to see Phillip attempting to figure out the toaster.

So, there are a few bumps on the road to independence, but Pip will be there soon. Today, cinnamon toast -- tomorrow, the world! (Just as soon as he figures out the van.)

-- SJ

Mundania 31

* September 11, 2001 didn't profoundly change the way I live. I didn't ignore it -- who could? Even with no internet access (we had only dial-up, and all the servers were jammed) and a tiny TV with very fuzzy access, I followed the story like everybody else. I watched and cried and held my three-month-old baby, shattered at the thought that there were evil people who wouldn't take mercy even on a mother with a child. A month later I walked through airport security, lugging Addie's impossibly heavy carseat, past soldiers with automatic rifles, on my way to my sister's wedding. I cried again.

But as for realizing life's uncertainty, facing the fact that there was evil in the world, and appreciating every day of life I had... I already lived like that. I lost two fathers by the time I was twenty. I grew up Baptist, which considers everybody capable of terrorism unless redirected at an early age. I come from a very down-to-earth family that doesn't rage against the cosmos very often. (Well, we do, but only about topics like stupid baby names and Daylight Savings Time.)

There aren't soldiers in my family, and DC, PA, and NY don't have anything to do with our daily lives.

I did let go of the thought that I need to do all the right things so God will protect me, and that it's up to me to defend God from critics. If He's the God of all the Universe, He can handle His own arguments.

Ultimately, the attacks rocked my world, but not my foundations.

* We start school today. I'm a mixture of excitement and dread. Addie and Stuart are doing fourth/fifth/sixth grade (homeschooling is too flexible for The System, which is part of my mission statement), and I'm feeling the weight of responsibility. We're doing two Alpha-Omega SoS classes and Teaching Textbooks (also computer-based) for math, freeing me of preparation and teaching in three subjects.

Daphne starts kindergarten/first grade/second grade. Maybe instead of "flexible," homeschoolers should be considered "fluid."

* Men who have time to listen to podcasts (as opposed to me, a woman who has no time to listen to podcasts): check out my friend Mike's "The Married Man Podcast" on Facebook. As he and his buddies say, they're not licensed counselors, but they ARE all happily married so that counts for something.

* In the last two weeks, Phillip's vocabulary has expanded from two words (Mama, Dada) to at least seven: ball, juice, bee, yeah, no (which he says as "mo"), cheese, fish, and -- my favorite -- "Diddy" for Addie.

* What he can't say is, "Oh, Mama, here's where I put the camera when I played with it last week and lost it."

* In other news, we lost the new camera we bought two weeks ago. This replaced the one we broke on vacation in June. Which replaced the one we lost back this winter. Now my friend Deidre understands why I reacted with horror when she offered to let me borrow their camera to take on a day trip with us.

-- SJ

The Joneses Go North, Part 1

It had been six years since we were last in Nova Scotia, so a trip north was in order.

(If I had read that sentence anytime before November 1999, I'd have thought, "It's been twenty-two years since I was last in Nova Scotia, and who cares?" There's a lot more to my life since Darren became part of it.)

We actually fit two trips into one -- which, by the way, I highly recommend doing if you enjoy packing, repacking, shipping a box of clothes up ahead of you, shuffling, driving, repacking, gambling on the weather, and living out of backpacks for ten days. We gathered with all of Darren's immediate family and some of his extended family in Maine. Then we drove across the Canadian border, stayed with his parents, and visited his grandparents.

Then we came home.

The trip home took a total of twenty-one hours (split into two days), so I gave that line its own paragraph.

This time we tried something new: we took the train from D.C. to Boston:

Boarded and ready to roll.

We are now officially Train People. It costs about the same as flying, but it's half the hassle. Technically it takes longer, yes, but you can read a book, stretch your legs, take a nap, or shift in your seat without violating four other people's personal space. And there's so much to look at outside! Even the industrial areas of cities is more interesting than clouds. I now see why my mom always takes the train up to see us.

Happily speeding along the tracks.

(From Boston to Portland, we took the bus. That was far less enchanting and I didn't take any pictures.)

In Maine, we stayed at Shiloh. For Darren's side of the family, that's all you have to say. For the rest of the world, "Shiloh" needs more explanation. Shiloh is a large, rambling building built in 1897 (96? 98? Sometime around then). Its most distinctive feature is the square tower with a crown on top. (Here are some pictures of Shiloh as it was in the past. Now only the front building remains.)

It was built as a church and a missionary school, so as you climb the narrow spiral staircases, you keep happening upon bedrooms. Those bedrooms open into more bedrooms, and you look around the corner and find yet more bedrooms. I was delighted with Shiloh the first time I saw it, and our kids certainly weren't disappointed either. The cousins got to choose their own rooms, and four of them (Tucker, Jack, Stuart, and Daphne) liked the idea of dorm life:

The Cousin Dorm


While in Maine, we started out for the zoo but got rained out. So we went to the Children's Museum of Maine instead. It was an acceptable substitute:

Chloe looking at the honey bees. Phillip is in the background. We didn't have to say "No, don't touch that!" at this museum.


Tucker dressed as a firefighter! His hands are, anyway.

Stuart obligingly smiling for the camera. Note the long sleeves. It was, after all, only June. (A little Southern sarcasm there.)

Phillip in the toddler playground, a fun and stimulating enclosed area that kept him amused for about six minutes.


Also while in Maine, everyone went to Uncle Rick and Aunt Kath's place on the lake. I don't have pictures because "everyone" doesn't include Darren, me, or Pip. Travel-weary (and fighting a cold, in Darren's case), we stayed at Shiloh. We were grateful for family who allowed our older three to enjoy kayaking, boat rides, and fishing despite our exhaustion.

I don't have pictures, but I do have a haiku from the last time we visited Uncle Rick and Aunt Kath, in 2004:

Life Is Bitter: A Poem in Haiku
Inspired by Addie Jones

I stand on the shore
As they sail away from me.
My tears stream freely.

They would not take me
They said there was no more room.
But Jed got to go.

Ah, life is bitter,
For I wanted to be there,
In the boat with them.

I stand on the shore
As they sail away from me.
I see Jed waving.

(This time, not only did all the cousins get to go out a couple of times, but they all got to steer the boat.)

More to come...