Nate

Wow, is this the first post on the blog just about Nate? Just wanted to let our family and friends know that Nate is a contributor to a gaming website: http://fathergeek.com/about/

Scroll to the bottom of the page for his bio and picture of the girls. We realized we don't have many pictures of just Nate with the girls and getting the right picture was quite an ordeal. (One of these photos we had to crop out where Ellie wanted to show the camera her Curious George underwear.) Here are the pictures he had to choose from:

What the Jones Girls have been up to...

We needed to get Elyana officially registered for Kindergarten this week. After filling out all the paperwork, we realized that we needed her birth certificate and it was no where to be found. Mikayla took it upon herself to share this with Ellie. "Hey Ellie, how are you going to go to Kindergarten if mom and dad lost your special certificate?" Thanks so much Mikayla! Ellie, who is very into Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, twisted this information around in her head to mean, "I can't get in to Kindergarten until I find my golden ticket." So, when Nate arrived home this week with a new print out of her certificate, Ellie was relieved. I think she finally gained another pound this month. She's finally into 4T clothes and we even had to get her a new winter coat. At least they are on clearance this time of year! I asked her, "How did you get so much bigger?" Her dry reply, "Um, you fed me."

Mikayla is really thriving this year in 2nd grade. Recently she was tested for the gifted program and we are awaiting the results. Along with Ellie, she's growing like a weed this year. She's already outgrown all of the pants we got her for this fall and some of her shirts also. She's also seemed to finally make friends-a bunch of friends. Mikayla has been invited to a birthday party at Chucky Cheese for the 3rd Friday in a row. Her thoughts on this were, "Either a lot of people really like me or people think I have a lot of money." We have all been enjoying her science kit we got her for Christmas. Recently Nate and Mikayla have been trying to grow crystals in our linen closet. (Is the experiment done yet Nate-I'm getting tired of seeing it in there...) She's constantly bringing science books home from the school library and talking about which type of scientist she wants to be someday. Currently it's paleontology or geology. We've been trying to incorporate some of our experiments in with earning more American Heritage Girl badges. We just had our mid year award ceremony and she earned her horsemanship, travel, and kitchen scientist badge. I'm heading out of town this weekend for my annual ladies weekend away so we'll see what they work on this weekend. Oh, can't forget to share what Mikayla said in the bathtub this am..."Mermaids don't have to potty train because they don't have those parts." She's still cracking us up!

The Girls Goofing Around-Sisterly Love

I think Ellie is paying Mikayla back for loving her "too much" when she was a baby.

Ellie's Special Day

Ellie celebrated her half birthday at her preschool the beginning of this month. They go all out at Bethany to make them feel special. Here is how her day went:

Here is Ellie with her best friend, Catherine. Love that look Catherine is giving her!


Ellie got to be the "Star Helper" and do the calendar and weather portion of the morning.


Ellie is wearing a I am special hat and necklace and is holding the class birthday cake. Everyone sang to her.


Before the kids were to move to the next activity, Ellie had to tap each child gently with the special day wand.


Ellie creating a play dough masterpiece.


Very creative I might say!


Ellie got to be first in line to wash hands and have a snack. At snack time she was given a birthday plate and napkin.


Here are some pictures of their free play time outside.




Lots of her friends wanted to pull her around in a sled since it was her special day.


Here she is lining up at the fence to sing their good-bye song.

Abby

Just wanted to post a few pictures of Abby. She came to visit with my dad and I could tell she's really getting old. The poor dog was ready for bed before everyone else so she curled up in his suitcase.


I don't know how much longer she'll be around so I snapped this other one of Abby and Mikayla. It seems like yesterday Mikayla was 2 and playing with her doctor kit on Abby.
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New Year, New Oven!

I've been wanting a microwave over the oven for awhile. I discovered a set on Craigslist Friday night and jumped at it. We drove to Kasson on Saturday morning and came home with a beautiful glass top oven and microwave. It was an ordeal the two of us hauling one oven down the stairs and another one up. Then we realized that we would need to install an electrical outlet inside the cabinet and that the cord on the new oven doesn't match the oven outlet. So, Nate had a lot of electrical work to do-8 hours as a matter of fact! I'm so so thrilled with them! Slowly, our appliances are all going to match!

Old oven with the coil cook top surface.


New!