Update on Dad

I literally do not have words left. 

I open my mouth and nothing comes out. 

Because I'm completely numb, I'm simply copy and pasting the words from my Aunt Lisa:

This was one of, if not the best time the three of us, Brent, David and myself, have ever had fishing together. 

Not because we caught a lot of fish, but because this man was in rare form.

 We laughed ALL day. 

It was definitely a Red Letter Day!! 

It was on this same day while driving home we were doing what old folks do, we started talking about our ailments. Brent said, " I'll tell you my latest thing, I've got noises going on in my ears that others can't hear!! It's a swishing noise!" 

Of course we kinda laughed it off. 

The next day, on my barn porch, I began to pray for him. 

I knew his symptoms could be serious. I made double sure our Lord knew exactly how I felt about Brent and I asked Him to fix him. 

Days passed, then weeks passed. 

He started having bad headaches, waking up with headaches. Then he started walking different. 

The whole time I'm begging him to go to the doctor and I am praying fervently. In case you don't know this, Brent Walley can be stubborn. 

His plate is always full. 

He has at least five or more things going on, on any given day. He doesn't like to disappoint and has a very hard time saying "no". 

By now his family is well aware that something is wrong. Now we are all trying to get him to go to the ER. 

Finally after stumbling into work Monday morning, he called Eleanor to come get him and take him to the ER. 

She did. 

After tests, CAT scans and MRIs, we got the news we did not want to hear. Brent has two brain tumors and a spot on his lung. 

He will be undergoing surgery tomorrow to remove one of the tumors that is causing major swelling, which is causing his symptoms. 

We will know more after surgery. 

We are a praying family. We are a believing family. 

This has been placed in our Lord's hands, and while beyond sad, we have peace. You know, that Peace that passes ALL understanding.

 I think by now all of south Mississippi and parts of Alabama are lifting Brent up. 

There are no words to tell you how thankful we are for that. You know I will keep you posted. Brent is a Christian man and either way, come what may, he wins.

Baby Boy Shower

A week ago, I delightfully hosted the sweetest baby shower for the most presh mom-to-be and her little baby bump. 

Jessi has the MOST perfect round little bitty belly! 

That sweet mom is only belly preggers. 

When I was carrying around my chunky monkey......I was pretty much pregnant EVERYWHERE! 

My feet were SO swollen and I swear you could poke my face and it would take 10 minutes for my skin to come back to normal. 

Party Planning Details: 

Drink Station: Coffee, lemon water, orange juice, champagne 

Champagne Flutes were purchased from Hobby Lobby

I wanted to serve fruit, and I wanted to make it stretch for a crowd.....so a fruit salad made the most sense. 

Blueberry Muffins.....of course named after the little 'stud muffin'! 

Donut holes and candied maple bacon. 

Candied bacon is a game changer. 
I had every intention of writing up a blog post about how to make candied bacon......but that's not gonna happen. 

Here's the skinny on the bacon: line it up on a cookie cooling rack, place on cookie sheet to collect the bacon fat, drizzle maple syrup on the bacon and finally sprinkle with brown sugar. 

Throw it in the oven at 350 degrees. I'm not 100% on how long you need to bake the bacon. Honestly, it depends on how thick the bacon is. I'm thinking check on it around the 25 minute mark. 

It's sweet AND savory and pure perfection!

Because you can't have a brunch without cheese grits. 

Especially if you live in Mississippi. 

Baby Quiche are a perfect option for an egg incorporation for brunch! You can totally cheat and buy these. 

Donut holes. 

Because it's breakfast time. 

And who doesn't like donut hole?

Yogurt Parfaits are simple and cute! 

I used a candy cup from Hobby Lobby and filled with vanilla yogurt, topped with granola and a few blueberries! 

Baby Charlie- you are one loved little boy. You have the coolest parents ever and it was SUCH a pleasure to host this baby shower for you! 

Friday Night Findings.

So last year.......yep, you read that right....LAST year, I started this blog post....and Friday night, I finished typing and adding pics I found on my phone. 

Total. Life. Winning. 

I snapped these pics of Jax when we were living with my parents last summer. 

We needed to drive to the mailbox at the end of their driveway. So, I buckled him in the front seat for their .5 dirt road driveway. 

His reaction of being a big boy is so sweet! 

Mess with his watermelon and he'll cut 'ya! 

He's my little old man. Bless his old soul. 

When it's your bedtime but your friends are in time out.

Another photo from last year after we had moved in our new home. With a new house, and a new school and a pool, this kid was SO TIRED! 

I've sorta made it a "half-way through the year" resolution to pick up blogging again.
It was always something that I loved doing......but y'all....being a stay-at-home mom is hard when you never stay at home and there's always something to do or clean. This is HARD.

But it's so much fun.

And of course rewarding.

Even we don't have the best of days, I'm hanging out with my bud. And even when we have so much going on, I'm still with my buddy.......and that makes it worth it all.

When I was a full-time working mama, our life was WAY more organized. 

Like, WAY more. 

But, in order for it all to work, we had to be. 

I organized our budget, meals, vacays, work trips, and activities. 

And then, I retired from my job and we are just winging it at life. 

Everyday. 

I like to justify it as in adventure.

Everyday I ask questions like:
"Hmmm......what can we do today to fill up 8 hours and have you feel full of life, Jax?"
"It's 6pm, what shall we eat for dinner?"
"Hmm....how many days have the clothes been in the washer?"


Just your typical mom questions.

Anyone else just winging it until January when we have a fighting chance to start over?!?

Refreshed and Renewed.

I really wish the title reflected my current state of mind.
But instead, it merely describes my blog.

I literally woke up one morning and everything was gone.
So, I made a latte and remade the darn thing.

Before I retired, my job was to update websites and blogs........but y'all....I've been out of the game for 2 years.

Thankgoodness for google and Youtube! Geezzzz....

Meanwhile, here's what's going on in the Jones household:

1. Even though I just blogged about Jax's birthday yesterday, his actual birthday was June 9th. I've been meaning to hit the publish button since JUNE 9th!

2. Since I typed up his birthday blog post a month ago,  Jax has decided that it is indeed SOOO MUCH FUN to jump in a swimming pool. He LOVES jumping off the boat and in the pool. And we reap the benefits of him wearing out by doing so! Last Saturday, the kid slept from 5:30pm-6:30 am on Sunday! It was AMAZING!!

3. It's been almost a year since we moved in our house.

We have lived a year in Madison.

A whole year.

 I feel settled (finally) and I'm so thankful we call this home. Don't get me wrong, I certainly miss Laurel for sure! But, seeing Jax play with his friends here and do SOOO many fun activities makes me so happy.

4. I thought life was going to slow down after we had Jax. I honestly thought we would do a lot more couch sitting and activity planning. But y'all......its quite the opposite around here. We literally don't stop. I think I have conditioned my body to stay awake and function from 6am-midnight. Those are my hours.

5. It's so weird to blog. I feel like I should be unloading the dishwasher or sewing or cleaning.

Happy Birthday Jaxon!

Dear Little Love Bug-

Today you are 3. 

It's amazing to see how much you have grown over the past 3 years. Your personality is truly hilarious and you can negotiate like none-other. 

Things I don't want to forget about this age:

- When you say the blessing, here's your rendition:
     "God our Faader, God our Faader
       We spank you, we spank you
        For our missin' blessings, for our missin' blessings
       Aahhhhmen, Aahhhhmen"

- You are certainly a conditioned child. 

   When we go to the bank, you ask the teller for a sucker. 
    Every. Single. Time. 

    If I just go to the ATM, you sometimes lose your mind because you realize you are not getting a sucker. Then, I have to circle around the bank and go through the drive through ask for a sucker for you. Then, you ask for a blue one and they NEVER EVER have blue ones. Ever. 

When you wake up in the morning, you generally tell me: "Mom. It's wake up time because the sun is up and moon is down" 

- You are predictable......which is certainly fine by me! 

   You will NOT jump in the pool or really just jump at all. Ever. You have never jumped. 

Every morning, you wake up asking for your daddy. And every morning I tell you that he's at work. And then we try to Facetime him and if he doesn't answer, we have to call someone else so you can tell them: "if I tee tee in the potty, I get chocolate milk"

   Before I take a shower, I always tell you "Jaxon, don't do anything crazy while I'm in the shower."      EVERY SINGLE TIME......you will come to the bathroom and tell me that you "have a really big crazy." 

- You are becoming aware of your surroundings and who you see. 

You are not afraid to point and yell that someone is a "stranger danger."

As I drive down the road, you will tell me that you see 100 green trees. 

If there's the slightest dark cloud in the sky, you predict that "a rain storm is coming!" 

- THANK THE LARD......you are potty trained. 

Positive reinforcement really isn't your thing. The spanking stick really came to be your motivation. It was amazing how quickly you turned the corner. 

- You are VERY inquisitive. And sometimes I don't know the answers. So I make up stuff......because that's what a lot of parenthood is about. 

You like explanations and timelines. 

- Your favorite tv shows and movies are: The Wild Kratts, of course Paw Patrol, The Secret Life of Pets (which you call 'Cats and Dogs') and very low budget kid construction shows. 

- You meet friends where ever you go and you are hit or miss when it comes to traveling. You don't mind the car ride or the build up of where we are going to, but after 5-7 minutes, you ask if we can go back home. 

- You are becoming more and more vocal about having a baby brother or sister. A few weeks ago, in the busiest and worse traffic ever in Jackson, you told me that your baby sister died. 

I almost ran off the road. I tried to breathe in and out, just in and out.......and one more time.....breathe in and out. 

- I think I blogged every month of your first year of life stating "this age is the best age".....but I truly feel like this age is so much fun. Granted, it's HARD! You ask SO.MANY.QUESTIONS. and you need to be entertained at all times. ALL.OF.THE.TIME. 

Often times, in the middle of a toddler meltdown, H and I will often reminisce of a sweet little kitten baby that would just lay in his pack-n-play and look up at us and give a gummy grin. 

- Your new favorite past time is to drive your dune buggy around the neighborhood while your dad and I follow in the golf cart. Good parents would probably walk beside their kid driving a power wheels in a busy neighborhood.....but kid, you just exhaust us to much for all of that. 

Happy Birthday to the coolest kid we know! 

- 

Late Night Mom Confessions

- Sometimes the playground is closed during the day.

- Late at night while all of my men sleep, I've been know to go to the refrigerator and crack open an ice cold juice box.....or 2.

- I'm saving up all of my monogramming money to hire a potty training nanny to come and stay a week with us and train my child. Back when I was preggers with the munchkin, I read '12 Hours Sleep by 12 Weeks'.......do you know what I took away from that book?!?!!? I'll go ahead and tell you it wasn't the obvious of sleep training a baby!! It was that fact that you can hire people to come and live with you for a week or so and sleep train your baby.

Mind. Blown.

Umm...how much does that cost. And does it cost less to come and potty train vs. sleep train?!?

I would seriously pay someone to come and live with us for a week and help this mama out! $100 cash, some free monogramming and Campbell's cinnamon rolls everyday.

-Sometimes, Chick-Fil-A leaves out the "Frenchie Fries" until Jax eats his chicken nuggets. Then, all of a sudden.....I find them in the other bag.

- I have been known to go straight to the deli in Kroger and buy some mac-n-cheese and let Jax eat while I quickly shop.

Do whatcha gotta do.

I may have even bought the stinker a bunt cake from 'Nothing Bunt Cakes' just so I could make it through a Dr. appointment with him.

- Anyone else feel like their kid survives off of pop-tarts during the weekday mornings?

- Sometimes a cloud in the sky means that it is about to rain, so that means it's time to go inside and take a bath.

- Even though 'Toy Story' is recorded on our DVR......sometimes, it's just not on "t-bee" right then.

- We encourage Jax to cook with us. The more he stirs and taste tests, the more he eats. He's becoming bossy and will tell me "that's enough mommy" as I grate cheese over spaghetti.......and he thinks every recipe should have butter in it. Like mother, like son.

 

The majority of my day is spent trying to out smart a 2 year old.

There are a lot of days I come out ahead......and then.....some days......he beats me.

I tell H that Jax is making up words, and come to find out, the kid was just trying to tell me about a dodecahedron. I'll save you some time in googling that......I've already researched it. It's a shape with 12-faces. And, my kid knows that.

How.in.the.world.

Somebody bring me an ice cold juice box. Mama needs a drink.

Thoughts for Thursday

Hey there frands!

Oh- you are certainly reading this correct! I've blogged twice in 1 week.

The reason for SO MANY BLOG POSTS is due to a bad head cold and fever. Otherwise, I would be unloading the dishwasher or cooking up a 3 course meal. Maybe on the meal. But probably not.

Hopefully this post will get you all caught up on our crazy fun life.


Some mornings, I wake up and have a house full of friends to feed:

Thank goodness Jax helps me out with their breakfast snack! Bless his funny bones, he calls Ernie "Burt and Ernie" because he can't tell them apart and we don't have the Burt doll. Did I confuse them?!? Do we have the Burt doll but not the Ernie?? HECK! They always confused me. 

If you are reading this and care to identify the "Bert and Ernie" doll that we have.......please let this mama know!! 



Big Bud LOVES LOVES noodles and PF Changs. One Friday night, H asked him where he wanted to go for dinner. His response "PP Chang.....noodles daddy."

Guess where we went?!?

Meanwhile, the kid was so excited he fell asleep and slept like this while H and I ordered all the food.
Of course he woke up hungry and mad that he had to wait for warm noodles to be served to him.

I cried on the first day of school which was a total SHOCK to me. Stuff like that NEVER gets to me. 

Ever.

 But for some reason, my emotions were all over the place. So when 2pm rolled around, I pulled into carpool line on 2 wheels to pick this kid up. Then we raced home to make cupcakes.......and because I live on the edge, I let him lick the mixer beaters.

This is our ride to the pool. 

Don't be a hater. 

Big mama needs her float, and baby buddy needs his Nemo. 


We are TOTALLY those people riding in the hood. We are the people that neighbors snap photos of with their phones and send to their friends with emojis afterwards.



Jax did GREAT going to bed his first month in our new house. Then, one night, rookie dad H said: "Oh, look at us, we are such great parents who have it together and their kid goes to bed with no resistants or whining or crying. We are the best." 

It was something like that........

Anyway, since then, big bud doesn't want to go to bed on time. And sometimes he likes to hide in his room:

Luckily, I have a Master's Degree and I find him every.single.time.

Don't judge the short curtains. They were from his old room......and I needed black out curtains on Day 1, Night 1 in our new house.

I interrupt this blog post to go order curtains NOW!




Marriage is funny funny and strange thing. It's wonderful and fun, and crazy and hard.
A 9th year wedding anniversary is easy. And cheap. You don't buy or receive a lot because you are saving it all up for your 10 year.

Without mentioning it to each other, we bought new slippers for ourselves. Clarification, I bought slippers for me and said "this is my anniversary present" and H bought some for him and was making fun of himself and said "it's my anniversary present."

So this is who we are now.

Nothing screams sexy mama like some mule house shoes.

Meanwhile, I sent the photo to my young cousin........she texted back: #relationshipgoals

That's a bad angle for my ankles. This photo gives me flash backs to my kankles during pregnancy.

But to give credit where it is OVER due.....H did buy me a year's worth of massages......and a few facials. 

I may have cried over that too!! I had sorta joked with him that just having 1 massage is a tease. It's like just eating 1 M &M. But- having a years worth of massages makes one look forward to January. I only mentioned it 1 time......and thank goodness my man put that note in his phone! That may be another reason why our marriage works for us. H puts everything in his phone. I on the other hand, use a paper planner and just use my phone for talking and texting. 


To redeem our maw maw and paw paw ways from our slippers, we  dressed up and went out to dinner that didn't include noodles or sleeping buddies. We had big plans to go eat ice cream or dessert somewhere else after dinner, but we felt the guilt of parenthood and missed our buddy after H being gone for a week on a business trip that I picked him up early and we all crawled in bed and read 349,038 books.

That should get you caught up on our life through the end of August. 

Happy Grey's Day everyone!!