Twelve

Today Bubs turns 12, this is a huge day in his life.  I hope he knows how much he means to me and how much joy he has brought into our world.

In 12 years he has:

Moved 10 times

Been enrolled in 5 public schools

Been taken out of public school and brought home for schooling

Been part of several soccer  and wrestling teams

Taken gymnastics classes

Learned to play the guitar

Taught himself  to draw beautifully

Made us laugh until our sides ache

Made us cry because we love him dearly

Fallen down and pulled himself back up again

Developed a love for photography

Enjoyed dressing up for Halloween

Dreaded dressing up for Halloween

Made it to 1st class rank in scouts

Driven a tractor

Rode on a mechanical bull

had his first crush

Learned how to cook

There are so many, many more things I could list as he is one busy little man.

We are looking forward to this year and all the experiences  that will come his way.  As he grows so do we.

Happy to dress up for Halloween

Not so thrilled to dress up for Halloween

Photo moment captured by Bubs

Brotherly Love

Pictures from Commissioning day on the USS George H.W. Bush

I was freezing not sure how Rodi wasn't

 

We had to tell jokes to get them to smile...why don't boys smile for the camera?

My mom and I freezing before the event even began.

 

J & J take a minute to pose in front of the camera

The day before the commissioning Pres. Bush (41) paid an unexpected visit to the ship. Rodi was there to greet him.

Christmas Dinner at Denny’s

Yep that’s right no cooking for me this year.  Was dinner fabulous?  It was, only if you are talking about the fact that my entire family was together, including my mom.  The food was…..a means to fulfill a need.  It was 9pm on Christmas night and not a one of us had eaten since noon.  We left our house shortly after lunch yesterday and headed to Washington D.C. to attend the Festival of Lights at the LDS Temple visitor’s center. 

What a wondrous night it was.  When we arrived at 4:28pm, as Rodi had predicted to JJ earlier while driving on the beltway, it was still light outside and we were able to walk the grounds  and take some pictures.  My mom had never seen the DC temple before and she was amazed at how beautiful it was.  We have seen it many times and yet every time we see it we too are amazed at how beautiful it is.

While we were walking the grounds Bubs kept looking at his watch.  I couldn’t quite figure out why.  Shortly I figured it out.  JJ and Bubs were trying to do a countdown to the lighting of the grounds.  They had been told that they would be turning on the lights at 5pm.  Their countdown was just a bit off but it really was neat to be outside and see the lights all turn on.

Once we were done walking the grounds we headed back into the visitor’s center.  There was a beautiful photography show called “Reflections of Christ“.  What an amazing grouping of photos.  My favorite was a series of 3 pictures of Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus. 

We followed the photo’s with a viewing of  the movie The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd  I was glad I remembered to grab some tissue before the movie started.  I always cry near the end of this movie, no matter how many times I have seen it.  I must be my mother’s daughter though because she was in tears as well.

After the movie it was time to stand in line for the  musical performance in the auditorium.  The line was long but well worth the wait.  The music was spectacular.  There were 8 Sister Missionaries performing and they sounded like angels.

As we headed to the van for our return trip home we passed by the live Nativity scene where Joseph and Mary were with baby Jesus, and Moe said    “…I miss you Jesus”.   And yes, I cried.

It was a full afternoon and evening filled with the wondrous spirit of  the Gospel.  I couldn’t think of a better way to spend Christmas.  The kids had their fun opening their gifts in the morning and then eating their traditional cinnamon roll breakfast.  But the magic of the day really happened when we were at the Temple and their focus of the day was Christ, the true gift of Christmas.

After a day like that a holiday dinner at Denny’s and it’s not so holiday feel, didn’t phase me at all.  I had just spent the most beautiful day with my family and we were blessed to find a place to sit and enjoy a dinner from some place other than an open 7/11. 

And I’d do it all over again.

Hi, remember me?

Okay I know I have been bad about keeping everyone up to date on what is going on in the land of Rodi.  I had to take a bit of a holiday break I guess.  I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours.  I really love being home (in our house) for Christmas.  I know, some love being at their parents house or with other family, but for me there is no better place than our house on Christmas morning.  I am fine with being places before or after, but on that morning I want to be here in my pj’s surrounded by my kids, watching them as they gaze in amazement at what is inside those mysterious packages.

This year I was in my pj’s but sadly this year I had an eye and sinus infection which made my mood less joyful.  Rodi took a picture of me (because he is kind that way *grin*).  It is so sad, me only able to stick my tongue out half way at him, I had no reserve energy left to really razz him.  My glasses are VERY crooked due to close inspections on a weekly basis by Moe.  Then there is the puffy very itchy and sore eye, lovely really, just lovely.

This has been a very crafty, handy sort of month for us.  As I was reading my friend Lammy’s blog I discovered this great blog that led me to this great blog, which led me to yet another fabulous blog where I discovered how to  make this crayon roll for Moe and new pajama bottoms for all the kids.  I only have a picture of the boys pj bottoms as the girls were in the wash when I was taking pictures today.  The pj’s were a HUGE hit Christmas morning.  Bubba even gave them top ranking in the gifts he received.  He has also proved that by wearing them every night since Christmas.  I finally snagged them to throw in the wash today.

 

   

Today was no less crafty or handy.  The boys were outside working magic with used lumber, while us gals were inside stitching up a storm on the ol’ sewing machine.

The boys project…. make a hay feeder for the cows so they (the cows) would stop making such a mess of things in the field.  You know they do the silliest things with those round bales of hay.  They dig their horns right into the center of the bale and start tossing hay everywhere.  Then they do their business (to put it kindly) on the scattered hay.  For some reason they don’t want to eat it after that *not that I blame them*.  Hopefully this will keep the wasted hay to a minimum.  The boys worked hard all day and just as dark began to fall upon us the feeder was ready to be put in the pasture with the cows.  YAY BOYS!  A job well done!  It was too dark for a finished project picture but I will get one on this week.  Oh and for a $$$ moment it only cost us around $2 to build as we used recycled wood from what the previous owner left behind the barn and in the loft.  Hip Hip Hooray!!!!

                                       Here was the only sad moment for me, they were taking apart my “bench”  Well okay so it was just some boards lying across two logs to make a make shift bench.  But it was my spot to put the marshmallows when we made s’mores.  *boo-hoo*

 

My dad would have been so happy to see his grandsons today out there working with their dad.  Both boys showed a bit of their grandpa today.  Bubba was sporting the torn up jean look and Moe had the tape measure fastened to his hip the entire day.  Both of those were looks Grandpa Jones sported daily.  Okay his jean weren’t quite as bad as Bub’s were today but that is only because Bubba made his worse while out working with Rodi today.

The girls projects….. make pj’s for Moe (he didn’t get his under the tree, my eye hurt too bad that night to finish and he was already getting the crayon roll so I knew he wouldn’t mind waiting a day or two), JJ wanted to make a pillow to match her pj’s, and we have a drafty door so we stitched up a “draft thingy” to put under the door.  I didn’t take a picture of that.  Sorry but it just isn’t that exciting.  I take that back, Nina was thrilled to be able to stuff that one.  JJ  did a great job on  her pillow.  Now I have a fear I am going to have to move on to more complex projects for her.  My control issues are really being tested these days *grin*.

 

We were all very thankful for the 70 degree weather we had (sorry I know I shouldn’t have gone there for some of you) today.  It allowed us to get many things done outside and allowed for Moe and Nina to play on the swing while others of us were doing things not as hands on for the younger ones.  I will tell those of you in snowy places….. my kids would trade you.  They really miss those snow filled Decembers and January’s in Germany.  I miss the look of it but not the feel of it * grin*

Oh and for those who are wondering …. Jolly the baby Zebu is doing wonderful.  She is getting more and more playful and is even a bit more friendly to us 2 legged creatures.

For Rodi…..

Someday soon you will be home where you belong. 

Someday soon we won’t have to talk via e-mail or phone.

Someday soon we won’t have to exchange pictures to show what we have been doing and where we have been.

 Someday soon we will be able to look at the clock and not have to count forward or backwards to know if the other should be sleeping or awake.

I am counting the days until that someday.

Missing and Loving you!

Picture day

I sort of hate to ask my loyal readers *grin* to venture away from all the fun here on my blog…. BUT I took some good pictures of the kids today.  I am on dial up here in the sticks, we call home, so downloading can take FOREVER!  It was easiest for me to put the pictures on my smugmug site than to post them here.

If you have a moment stop by and check out the latest photos of the kids.  Right now there are 2 of Nina, and 1 each of the rest.  I took more but that was all time would allow me to post today.

Nature Walk

For Science class today we headed outside.  Both Bubba and JJ have been studying plant life the past few weeks.  We went walking along the lane and discussed why green leaves turn red, orange, yellow, purple etc…. and then we collected leaves to bring home and identify.  I had my camera on hand to capture some of the fall beauty.  Here is a bit of what we found on our nature walk:

The colors today were vivid and beautiful!

Ever head of “look before you leap”?  We all agreed that the deer have to be extra careful in the woods near our house.

 

Moe expresses the look we all had when we saw this next lovely creature on our stroll through nature. 

(Actually this is the face I got when I asked him to smile for the picture, goofy kid!)

 

Did you notice the red!  We did.  You are now looking at this not so itsy bitsy spider’s last moment, before being squashed by one ladies size 10 tennis shoe.   Sorry Nature lovers  this little guy was just too close to my house.

(Yes I know I have rather large feet for being a mere 5’4″)

 

Wanna see who else was lurking on our lane?  I didn’t.

I know he is tiny.  But tiny or not I don’t do snakes!  The kids of course wanted to see if it was dead or alive.  Brave mom that I am I grabbed the biggest stick that I could to poke at the worm sized snake.  He was alive.  Lucky me.  So there we stood in the middle of the lane with a decision to make.  I was not convinced that my size 10’s would do the job this time.  Okay they might have but I really don’t do snakes!  My heart was pumping hard, but I was trying to play it off in front of the kids.  I took the stick and picked up the snake….. I know, I couldn’t believe how brave I was either *grin*. 

The snake wasn’t moving.  I think it was too cold.  So I decided to get a really good picture.  One problem…. I couldn’t hold the stick and the camera.  AHHHH JJ could take the picture.  Wrong.  I had the “big” lens on the camera today (sigma 70-300mm) and I had put it on macro so we could get up real close and see the little guy’s eyes and maybe a bit of his tongue if he cooperated.  Well she couldn’t get in a good spot and I didn’t want to hold the darn snake any longer than….well at all.  So I did what any brave mom would do, I passed the stick to Bubba.  LOL

He held the stick and I took a few pictures.  Then we tossed the snake and the stick into the trees on the opposite side of our lane.  I am hoping he is thankful for the fact that he is still slithering and will stay on the other side of the lane!  I am thinking if he returns and we come across him again…. he may not be so lucky.

I am thinking our nature walk should not have been quite that interesting.  Maybe we will just stick to the books next time.

Not bad for a city girl….

We did it!  We found the farmer who said he would sell us a round bale.  We watched as Mr. B the farmhand loaded the bale into the bed of the truck.  We worried about the weight of the bale.  We drove cautiously home.  Then we decided to take pictures of our treasured bale of hay.  For those of you who don’t know we are in a serious drought.  I think this week we are down 14inches from our yearly norm.  Hay is hard to come by and what you can find is costly.  So today we feel as if we were transporting treasured jewels to our lovable Zebu.

Can you tell JJ has been practicing her cheers *grin*

Moe saw the others on top of the bale and there was no way he was going to get out of the truck bed until he had his turn on top too.  Must get his stubborn qualities from Rodi *giggle* 

 

I wish I could have been quick enough with the camera to get a picture of them playing in the hay.  They made that big mess of hay around the bale by digging their heads int eh bale and throwing the hay all around.  It was a pretty funny sight.  It was sort of like a “Hay Day” party. LOL

OKAY I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE for the next not so pretty photo.  I just have to share with you how WIDE Ms. Molly is getting these days.  She is due ANY DAY now.  Okay remember I apologized in advance *cheesy smile*

 

 

 

 

Again SO SORRY

 

 

 

 

Really I am

 

 

 

 

See I told you it wasn’t pretty. 

Take time to smell the flowers

Nina wanted a picture of her smelling the flowers she had picked out front.

 Do you think she could get them any closer to her nose?

She is so funny sometimes.

Here is a picture of all 4 kiddo’s.  Sort of our version of a fall class photo.  Oh except the teacher was taking the picture so she was not able to “climb” into the picture with her students.

Bubba behind the camera

Rodi e-mailed today asking for some pictures of the family.  I haven’t been as good as I should about sending pictures to him via e-mail.  I had no problem getting the pictures he wanted of the kids but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to go about the picture he requested of me.  I was digging through the closet looking for the tripod when I had one of those “Oh yeah” moments.  Why not let Bubba take the picture?

Well who knew that this would turn into a full photo shoot?  He had ideas and poses and, well basically took charge of things.  The girls had picked flowers to put in their hair and let me borrow one for my “big shoot” with master photographer Bubba R.  You will notice the only thing missing from this “big shoot” was the make-up and hair people.  Oh well wouldn’t want Rodi to think things had changed too much since he left.  No sense making my self up for the cows. 

Bubba’s big idea was a “he loves me, he loves me not” photo.  Here are the photos that came from that idea.  I think he did pretty very well.  He even managed to catch one of the petals in mid-air as I tossed it.