Like Mother Like Daughter

I have known from the time that Lola was a baby that once she was old enough, I wanted to get her a "kitchen." I cannot even begin to tell you how much I luved pretending to cook for my grandma when I was little. I had my own playhouse at her and my grandpa's house and we spent countless hours playing "house." Sometimes it'd be more like "drive-thru" where I'd take her order through the little window of the house, and I'd then proceed to whip up her burger and fries or whatever inside my playhouse at my kitchen. I also loved playing "grocery store" and would very often empty her cabinets of canned goods just to play. I luved playing store and sacking up the groceries...the cash register, (a.k.a. calculator; especially the ones with real paper so I could give my customers a receipt! Speaking of which, these were the days when Wal-Mart used to have neon green price tags on everything. Y'all remember that?!) , and all the fake food. I luved fake food! I specifically remember the little boxes of Duncan Hines cake mix. Kendall loves to laugh at these stories. In fact, most of my family likes to laugh at me bc they know how it was! Once Lola's old enough, an EZ Bake Oven will be next. Talk about exciting! I loved my EZ Bake. I guess my love for domesticity was apparent even back then.

Well, as it turns out, Lola's Aunt April and favorite cousin Seth recently bought her her own kitchen! They found it at a garage sale for $10 and let me tell you: It is in mint condition! They knew the sellers and said it was like brand new anyway, but obviously, they still disinfected it and everything before giving it to us. You'd never know it was used. And, it's safe to say that Lola LOVES her kitchen! Makes me so proud. She really enjoys cooking for us and her babies. (It's apparent that one of her little stuffed horses has a thing for strawberries and a fried egg. I had no idea!) It's so fun to just sit back and watch her beginning to use her imagination. The only thing she's not so great at is doing dishes.

Below: Taking a break to enjoy some "pudding." We're working on saving electricity, so don't mind the fact that she's leaving the icebox door open.

Below: Checking on her baked bottle of dish detergent...

Below: Thinking she's so funny with that green pepper...

Below: Lately, Lola's learned how to walk around on her tippy toes. She does it most when she's being silly. I just think it's so cute. Here she's doing it to reach the top shelf to turn on some music. (And, in case you're curious, that's an onion by her left foot. I realize it looks like a white, human heart...)

Silver Dollar City

On Saturday of our vacation we went to Silver Dollar City for the day. It was so hot and humid! The forecast had been calling for thunderstoms for all three days that we would be in Branson, but luckily it held off and all we got was sunshine and humidity. (And frizzy hair) We had so much fun. I think I've already said that about ten times already, but we did!

The picture below was taken on our way out of the park, hence Lola's bare feet. We were all beat. I was determined to get a family pic in front of this pretty area, so although my camera battery was dead, (Note to self: Always recharge the batteries the night before, no matter what. Oh, and bring the right charger.) I was able to save the last drop of juice in hopes of getting this shot. And it worked! I had to give up some possible cute pics inside the park in hopes of preserving just enough battery for 1 pic. The friendly staff at SDC took this pic for us and I'm so thrilled! I get kinda crazy about stuff like this. It would have driven me nuts to have missed a family pic in front of the sign of wherever we're at. It bugs KJ that I get so "determined" at times. I just like knowing that years down the road I'll be able to see that picture and know immediately exactly where we were at. Anyway....

Below: First ride of the day and "Low Battery" is already flashing on my camera! I don't know this, so the panic hasn't set in yet. Just enjoying our ride in the butterfly.

Below: Getting really panicky bc "Low Battery" is really flashing fast at this point. KJ knows how I get about missing shots of memories, so he's trying to get Bee to wave at me before the camera dies for good. Plus, it's always fun to see a 6'3" tall guy squeeze into the back of a giant frog. Especially if it's Kendall. Gotta get a pic of that.

Below: Two drops of battery juice left. Gotta get a pic of Lola and KJ sharing Succotash. KJ had been talking about wanting some Succotash for a couple of months now. It was his goal once we got to SDC. I didn't know what it was, so in case you don't either, it's basically corn, potatoes, chicken, okra, peppers, and onions all cooked in a giant cast-iron skillet. He woofed it down with a little help from Lola.

Stay tuned for Dixie Stampede and Riding the Ducks! LOL

We're Back!

Last night we got home from Missouri. We had such a fun weekend together! Since this was our first family vacation, I learned some lessons for next time. It's a lot of work to pack for a one-year-old! Snacks...it always comes back to the snacks. I packed an ice chest of strawberries, blueberries, grapes, bananas, water, Lola's organic milk boxes (which actually didn't even need to stay refrigerated bc it's ultra-high pasteurized. I don't understand how that works, but that's what the box says. I find it amazing every time I buy them that I can just go down the aisle and grab them off the shelf as opposed to the dairy section!), tiny juice boxes, and lots of healthy cereal snacks, crackers, and cookies. She ate it all over our 3-day span except for one baggie of cookies! We requested a refrigerator once we got to the hotel and let's just say that having all those snacks on hand was a lifesaver. If push came to shove, I wouldn't have hesitated to just buy her junky food at a gas station once we got there, but I just felt a little -- a lot -- more relaxed in letting her snack so much in the car when I knew that her organic goodies and fruit were just a little healthier than if I hadn't planned ahead. Having a DVD player in the car was a big help too. (Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us borrow your SUV!) Soooo, all that to say that it wasn't quite as easy to pack/unpack with all these extra things to plan for.

The weather turned out to be sunny and hot despite what the forecasts showed for the whole weekend, so it was perfect! I'll post some highlights once I get a chance.

(The picture above of Izzy is for no special reason whatsoever. I just always like to try to add a picture with my posts, so this old pic of Izzy was available. She hasn't been mentioned much here before so she deserves a little luv.)

Love It!

Last Sunday our church celebrated its fifth birthday. To help ring in the celebration, we had our first service in our new facility. It was such a cool, inspiring service. The Lord is really at work in this place. When it began five years ago, it started with 120 people; it hit 3,000 on this particular day. It's the first church I've ever been a part of that really does welcome everybody, no matter who you are, what you've done, what you look like, if you're old, young, married, divorced a million times, if you're broke as a joke or filthy rich or anywhere in between. Everyone is welcome! It's not about numbers or fancy buildings or popularity or any of that dumb stuff. TCABC just wants to help share Jesus with our world. It's thrown out all of the old church cliches that many people are turned away from and instead really just gets down to the Bible and helping us get a grasp on its teachings and how to make it REAL in our lives. There's no pastors yelling and stomping at you; nobody wearing robes (lol); no rituals; no "preachers"; no pressure to have to wear expensive clothes; just everyday people searching for something.

There are critics, however, who would say that it's "conforming to wordly standards" by throwing out all that old stuff. (Which that, in and of itself, sounds just like exclusive, churchy lingo and another example of what many unchurched people just don't get!) As a former skeptic myself, I understand that. However, in my opinion, there is no doubt in my mind that this "style" of church is touching lives. I just know too many people who have come to know Christ through the way its relevant lessons are taught. That's not to say that TCABC thinks it's doing everything right and all the other thousands of churches around here are wrong. Seriously. TCABC is simply offering their help for those people who couldn't find a place in other churches, or who are just curious about Christianity. Non-Christians are welcome to attend all they want and just get an understanding of who Jesus is; "sinners" don't have to get their acts together before stepping foot back in the door of a church...we all either are or know someone like this.

All that to say that Kendall and I both love our church. We've made great friends. We've learned about God's love for us. Our hearts have been opened to what it's like to really live by faith no matter how stressed life gets. We've been able to reach out into the community and volunteer in areas that often get overlooked. We've learned that there's a difference between having head knowledge of what the Bible says and actually living a life that represents what Christ is all about. We're not perfect; we're all just on this journey together.

Below is a link to a sweet slideshow of the past year and the special birthday service. The song that's playing was written just for the occasion. And, if you're wondering why there's a huge (16'x16') Connect 4 on the stage, it's bc we just started a series called "Connect." It's about feeling out of place in life and finding a way to connect the dots, connect with God, to develop a close relationship with Him.

http://www.ashleyannphotography.com/Slideshows/8.17.08TCABC/

And, obviously, if you don't have a church home or are ever visiting Tulsa (or Pryor), you have to visit us at TCABC! Duh!

Family Time

Tomorrow morning we're heading out for our very first family vacation. We're going to Branson, Missouri for the weekend. Kendall was able to get TWO WHOLE DAYS off from work (but actually just one off day since already he had to make up one of the days) so we decided Branson would be a family-friendly place to visit that wasn't too far away. If you know much about how our life works, you'll know that it's a huge deal that Kendall's getting a day off. In the three years that we've been married, I can count on one hand the number of weekends that KJ has been able to sleep in and actually be off work. We've probably had breakfast together on a Saturday morning MAYBE three or four times. Sundays are typically his only day off, so that usually allows us to get to be together a little in the mornings before church, but even that is somewhat of a busy time: getting Lola ready and fed, I'm always late....Needless to say, it's very rare that we actually have a weekend together.

And, outside of our honeymoon, we've never even had a vacation of our own! (While I was pregnant, we did manage to go to Texas overnight for KJ to attend a reunion of all his old college baseball buddies. I still had "all-day" sickness and he was playing baseball, so it wasn't exactly the best time. ) He works at least six days a week and in the summer it's very common to work seven days. He leaves the house by 5:30 every morning. Always has. His only day off is Christmas Day. Thanksgiving? Nope. He usually has to go in for at least the morning. Easter? Nope. He's technically supposed to be off on Sundays, but this past Easter was the first time he didn't get called in. When I was giving birth to Lola, he tried to use some vacation days out of the whopping 5 days a year that he got at the time, but nope. He got the day off that she was born and that was it. It actually worked in our favor that I had a scheduled delivery so he was able to be there. And, by going in early everyday, you'd think he'd get off early too. Nope. Summertime is always busiest but it's pretty much year-round that he works until evening. Sometimes he'll get a break late in the day but have to go back at night to "move fans" or "water." (Turf lingo.)

I had no idea what kind of life this would create for us as a couple. In fact, I didn't even know what "Turf Management" was until I met him. (For those of you who don't really know, it's a horticulture degree with a specialty in grass. I'm not even kidding. I hear that golfers prefer green grass without spots, disease, dry patches, WEEDS, etc., so these guys work their booties off to make sure it stays pretty and green.) He's such a hard worker, and he still finds time (and energy) to volunteer and do extra jobs on the side. It's crazy! We're very lucky to have him.

All that to say that we're so excited to go to Branson! You'd think we were going on some fancy trek through the islands or something for as excited as we are! LOL We just never get to do anything like this! The forecast is calling for rain the whole time we're there though, so say your prayers that it holds off. We'll have fun no matter what bc ultimately it's not about all the things we find to do while we're there, it's simply just the fact that we get to be together for a few days.

Silly Sandals

It cracks me up when little kids smoosh their toes to the end of their sandals and then kinda "grip" the edge with their toes. For years I would laugh about this when I'd see a kid doing it. I don't know why it strikes me as so funny, but it just does. Well, now, here's my child doing it. LOL These were pics taken of Lola after a hard evening of playing outside with family at her Aunt Krista's birthday party. It was hot outside well into the evening when these pics were taken and, as you can see, Lola found a way to cool herself off in the second pic: Just dump the whole cup of ice water on yourself and then just relish in it...





Below: I like how tiny Bee looks sitting next to Kendall.

Now That's What I'm Talkin' 'Bout...

Last night Kendall and I were home alone. Due to my work schedule, Lola was staying with my parents overnight. So, since KJ and I have been having cake cravings for a couple of weeks now but not really having time to bake, I decided to make a cake. Nothing exciting, just a box of yellow cake mix and a tub of fudge frosting that has been sitting in the pantry. (Martha would not be impressed. But my other girl, Paula -- as in Deen -- would understand and appreciate the convenience.) If you know us very well, you know that these two quickie items are staples in the Jones pantry! Kendall's not big on sweets like myself, but he has a severe weakness for yellow cake and chocolate icing with a glass of milk. I have to admit that there is simply NOTHING that smells better than a plain cake baking in the oven, and nothing as delicious as white/yellow cake batter. And it has to be the kind in the box. Boxed cake mix batter just tastes better that scratch. I don't know what it is. And, yes, I know it's not completely safe to eat due to the raw eggs, but I take my chances. I could eat it by the bowlfuls.

Anyway, this is my rather large slice of cake and glass of milk. I fixed my plate and sat down for the hour-long episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 (which I'm a huge fan of) and it made for a perfect evening despite Lola being gone. These are the little things in my life that make me happy!

Rollin' with My Homies (Casa Bonita, Pt. 2)

Above: Lola rode this little ride at Casa Bonita. She has never seen characters in real life before, so needless to say, she was quite fascinated with Kermit. This ride just kind of moved back and forth and she thought it was so funny.

Below: While using up our last couple of tokens in the game room, Kendall earned a whopping two tickets. Since they would have only earned a duck-shaped eraser which Lola didn't need, (although in this picture she was already trying to hand over her tickets to get one) they gave his tickets to a little girl who was visiting Casa Bonita with her grandparents. It's never too late to learn to give!

Bittersweet

I don't know why I do this to myself. I can stare at these pics of Lola as a newborn and it literally makes my heart ache. Not in a bad way, by any means. Just in a way that the love makes my heart feel like it could burst. I just never understood that kind of love until Lola came along. It's also helped me to understand God's love better too. No matter how full my heart feels with love for Bee, the Lord loves me just at much -- even more!

This verse comes to mind:

"How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!" Psalm 139:17-18

It seems like the newborn stage went by especially fast. Lola was less than a week old in all of these pictures. I was an exhausted first-time mom trying to figure out our new life with this baby. I have loved every minute of it. Out of the bazillion pics I have of Bee, these teeny baby pics probably mean the most to me. They just remind me that I know that I will never look back on my life and wish that I'd spent less time with her. Never.

Casa Bonita, Part 1

For about a week now, Kendall and I had been planning on taking Lola to Casa Bonita for dinner on Friday night. We had several things come up that caused us to consider rescheduling it, but we ended up sticking to our plan and going. It was such a nice little evening! We were curious to check out Casa to see if it really was restored to its original glory, as well as introduce Bee to Casa. It did not disappoint! We sat in the waterfall room (as usual) and it was clean and freshly painted and our food was quite tasty. Hopefully it'll stick around for years to come bc I just heart that place!

Below: This picture makes this mama proud. It's Bee enjoying her first ever sopapilla! She's now a fan of that heavenly little square of delicious goodness.

Below: Lolabee enjoying her first real ride ever! She chose the pony (no surprise there) and, giddy up, off she went. (With KJ as back-up, of course.) She had so much fun. I don't think she ever quit smiling! It's a good thing she's got a Bobcat (my dad) who is a rancher bc I think she's got a pony coming up in her future :) Being a rockin' cowgirl is in her genes!

Hanes Her Way

This is Lolabee wearing her daddy's clean socks. She found them in the laundry basket and Kendall put them on her. She was so proud to walk around in his no-shows. What's funny about it is in the second pic, on the back of Bee's calf, you can see the heel of the sock.

John 15:9

"I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love."

-- Jesus
(John 15:9 The Message)

**The verse above has been a theme for a series that our church has been doing called "Intimacy with God." I just really liked how The Message words this verse and I thought I'd pass it along. I like the way it says "make yourselves at home in my love.")

Just a Family Day

Last Sunday afternoon when it was 105 degrees outside -- literally -- Lola and I decided to drag Kendall to the pool. Sundays are his only day off each week (and, in the heat of summer, that's not even a guarantee) so our Sundays typically consist of going to church, having lunch, then napping. So, while he was thinking he'd enjoy his only day to stay INDOORS all day in the nice air conditioning...Surprise! We begged him to go with us to the pool. And, being the sweet daddy that he is, he obliged. Yes, it was miserably hot. However, we had lots of fun this day. We even topped it off with BBQ at Knotty Pine. :) We cherish times like this to simply be a little family bc it's not very often we have a whole day to just be together.

Below: Me and Lola. And, btw, you will rarely see me in pictures bc I am always most comfortable staying behind the camera. However, since this blog is also serving as a modern-day baby book for Lola, I will occasionally pop up in some pics just so that she'll know I really was there!
Below: Kendall had just helped Lola go down this mini slide. It only looks like she's a rabid dog getting ready to attack KJ. She's really just laughing. She's always very impressed with herself after making it down this slide. LOL

Cauliflower Ears

Once again, here's Lola and her Punjab goofing off. I don't think there's really anything more to say about this picture!

(It does, however, remind me somewhat of wrestlers' ears once they get all Dumbo-y and funky-shaped. LOL)

Say What?!?

This blog is supposed to be somewhat interactive and most of you aren't leaving comments. Shame on you! It only takes a second to register.

And I know y'all are reading it bc we talk about the posts, so start leaving comments. You know who you are! It just makes it fun for me to see what comments are left :) :) :)

Lola in the Box

Here's Lola inside one of her toy storage boxes. This is one of her latest favorite things to do. She likes to get inside and then stuff all of her toys in/on/around her. Or, in this case, cover her up with a baby blanket. Kendall placed her on top of one of my work tables in my office for this picture and then left her there. For some reason, we think it's just so funny to see her head sticking out up top.

Juicy Juice

Here's a little tip that I came up with a while back to help control the amount of sugar -- I mean juice -- that Lola drinks. I know all you other moms, like myself, probably dilute your little kid's juice with water. And, I also know there is a debate on how diluting the juice cuts the nutritional value. But, I recently learned that when reading food labels, every 4 grams of sugar equals a teaspoon of sugar. That's a lot for a toddler! So, being that we all have the choice to do what we want with our own kids, I still choose to dilute the juice. So here's something I started doing to simplify things.

(I only buy 100% juice. You have to watch this bc it seems like half of the juice on the market isn't really juice at all. They're juice "drinks," "fruit-flavored," or might only contain 10% fruit/vegetable juice! That drives me crazy! So, although pure juice it is a nutritious drink, I still try to limit Lola's intake bc there can be a nice amount of sugar in each serving.)

So, to keep it simple, what I do is pour the juice into ice cube trays and freeze them. Then, once they're frozen, all I have to do is drop a cube into a sippy cup and fill with water. Lola loves this! It keeps her water cold and also adds a little flavor -- all without too much sugar. Once the juice has frozen in the ice cube trays, I pop them out and just store them in a plastic container in the freezer. They're always ready for the next drink :)

Vintage Lola (August 2007)

Just a few pics of Lola almost exactly one year ago.

Below: I simply can't believe how quickly time is passing. Look at how dark Lolabee's hair was!


Below: I remember taking this picture of Lola and her Gramby (my mom) like it was just yesterday. We had just come back from the pediatrician's office where Lola had received her first shots. It broke my heart! And, if you look real close, you can still see a little band-aid on her thigh. (They were ignoring me bc they were engrossed in The Young & The Restless, I'm sure. My maternity leave caused me to get hooked on that darn soap again and now I can't stand missing it. Obviously they can't either.)

Bedtime

Here's a couple of pics of Lola avoiding bedtime on two different nights. As you can tell, I think it's safe to say that she was stalling. We usually just bathe her, brush her teeth, and put her to bed at 9 p.m. and she goes to sleep almost immediately. However, we've been quite busy this summer and so we have no problem with occasionally letting Lola get a little goofy and entertaining us before putting her to bed. And, if company is present (mainly family) it's almost expected to receive an evening performance of Lola's ham before heading home. The pics below are perfect examples of this.

Below: Lola and her Punjab (Kendall's dad) sporting my old hairclips. Years and years ago I decided to save lots of my old barrettes and hairclips in case I ever had a daughter, that way she could wear them someday. It's just something kinda silly that I did and, lo and behold, I had a daughter and now she can wear them. Well, mostly what I was saving were my totally '80s barrettes with images of Hello Kitty, Care Bears, Cabbage Patch, Strawberry Shortcake, etc. glued to them. I had no idea that these things would leave and come back 20 years later. Crazy. Anyway, for some reason I wound up with a whole bag of these tacky little clips that I never meant to keep. Lola found the bag and has now become hooked on playing with the bag and sticking these hairclips on everything. She loves them! They're really fun to accidentally step on while barefoot.

Below: Kendall feeding Lola some of HIS rainbow sherbet. (She luuuuuuuuvs ice cream, especially homemade.) Fortunately, the sugar rush didn't cause her to stay up late. But who feeds their kid sherbet at bedtime? Oh, wait...that's us.

We're on the news!

Be sure to check out KTUL Channel 8 news Saturday night at 10 p.m.

Here's a link to explain what in the heck is going on! http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0808/542571.html

Let me just say that it's life-changing to be a part of such a huge project. Everyone who knows me knows that I love my church, and this is just another example of why! It's not at all about the publicity that it might get. That's ludicrous. Our church just has a heart for truly helping people, ALL people, and sometimes I get lucky enough to get to participate :)

Down in Fraggle Rock

Just a fun picture of Lola with her Fraggle hairdid. I love her little pigtails. On this particular day, her pigtails actually started off lower on her head, but during her big nap, they got shoved up higher on her head. And, despite the fact that this picture was a few weeks ago, that's an Easter egg she's holding. Those darn things pop up everywhere!

Great book

I'm reading this book by Dr. Tim Kimmel, and let me just say that it's sooooo good. There are a bazillion parenting books/theories/studies/etc. out there so it's been hard to find sound Christian parenting advice in a book. Max Lucado wrote the foreword in this, so that really meant something to me as far as its legitimacy. I've asked around and pretty much everyone has their own favorite books, so I found this on my own and I highly recommend it. It's also teaching me a lot about my own Heavenly Father's way of parenting His children. The idea is not to raise merely an "obedient" child, but to demonstrate God's love through our parenting. Sounds a little deep, but it's an easy read and I'm learning so much!