Gunnar's 9th Birthday

September 25th was Gunnar's 9th birthday, I can't believe he's 9!! Yesterday at church when holding my friends 1 week old I told Gunnar he was just that size 9 years ago about 5 1/2 pounds! It's hard to believe that now! We had a great weekend celebrating, Saturday night we went to my parents camper to celebrate my Dad's and Gunnars birthday. Gunnar received a magic kit which he has absolutely loved and has been showing everyone magic tricks since!

Then Sunday Kevin and I took him and 2 friends to Evansville to Walther's. They have indoor/outdoor putt putt, laser tag, arcade, & small jungle gym to climb around. The boys had a blast! I love hearing Gunnar and his friends interact! They say the funniest stuff sometimes! I'm very thankful he has such good friends!

Then home for pie with Kevin's parents. It was a busy busy weekend but loved spending time with all the family and so glad Gunnar enjoyed his special day!

Mid Life Crisis?!

I sure hope Not! I would hate to think I'm mid life right now! But the title seemed so fitting for what I'm going through right now. Another title that would be fitting is "Empty Nest Syndrome!" Although I'm a nurse in profession I have been a stay at home Mom for four years now. I have done things since staying home, like babysitting both my nephews for their first year, working at the girls preschool, and cheer coaching, but nothing full time all day everyday. Now for the first time since I've been home I'm all alone all day since all three kids are in school. Don't get me wrong I have plenty to do all day to keep me busy and do enjoy many of the perks of having time to myself but it's also a little unnerving to spend sooo much time by yourself! Not sure if I can explain this well in writing but I feel unsettled for some reason. Like I need something to do. I am on the subbing list at my kids school and have done that twice in a classroom and once for the nurse but that's only 3 times in 6 weeks. To explain better 2 days ago in the matter of three hours I went from thinking I'd go back to school, have 2 more babies(because you cant just have one that's so far away from the youngest), to babysitting my friends newborn, to looking for a job outside the home. All those do not work out well because I do not like school, we are not wanting more children, if I babysit I get tied down and cant volunteer at the kids school or spend their school breaks with just them, and if I work outside the home that includes all Holiday breaks and summer that the kids would be home. So I feel a little lost in where my "place" is right now. I would love to go back to my old nursing job, but I'm not ready to give up the school breaks with the kids and being able to pick them up after school and doing the activities we do like drum lessons, soccer, & gymnastics. So you see just a little unsure of things right now. But on very positive note I'm in a amazing bible study by Beth Moore called Living Beyond Yourself. I truly feel this was meant to be at this season of my life and is exactly what I need. I feel the Lord is drawing me close and going to be telling me exactly where and what I'm supposed to be doing if I'd just sit down and listen and lean on Him instead of trying things my own way! With Him I have no worries I'll be led in the correct direction, my worry is I won't settle down long enough to listen because I'm Type A and need things to move quickly and unfortunately I'm a little impatient:( Probably the 2 things the Lord is working on me right now by putting me alone all day!! Ha! For my christian friends prayers are welcomed for this new season in our lives and for my stay at home moms I'm available for coffee/lunch dates lol!!!

Addendum: Directly after posting this I went and sat down and started my bible study and then not even a minute later the school called for me to work tomorrow. Hmmmm coincidence or is someone speaking to me?!!!!!

Survived Crazy Week!

Wow what a week! Lots going on, I hit the milestone of putting all our kids in school, my SIL had major surgery, conducted Jr high cheer tryouts, first football game of the year, Varsity cheerleaders competed at State Fair, Gunnar had bball tryouts, and first jv football game, Gunnar had first tackle football practice! Lots of stressful things in that line up! My stomach has been in knots! Lots has went good in that crazy week. Shannons surgery was successful, her biopsy came back today, benign schwannoma. They did get it all so no follow up treatment needed!!PTL! Cheerleaders did great at football games and came in one point of placing top ten at State Fair. Gunnar loved his tackle football practice, but unfortunately didn't make travel bball team:( SO far kids are liking school, the girls like it much more than Gunnar though. I think he's to the age where it's more work instead of play at school and he isn't loving that!! Projects around the new house are up & going. Painting the family room, Kevin totally cleaned out our garage while I was at State Fair(good man!), we haven't parked 2 cars in there since we moved in! The kids and I pulled weeds like crazy tonight(if you look out your window Courtney you can see us again!) The weeds got out of control real fast, I was able to fill 2 big trash bags full tonight! After typing that it seems a little embarrassing! One thing bad on the list this week is Molly's injury:( I get a call from Kevin Saturday afternoon saying "Uh whatcha doin?" I said were about to take stage in few minutes whats up? "Well.....I think shes ok but Molly fell out of the tree and hit forehead first!" My heart sinks to my stomach, instant guilt for not being home when it happened, I can hear her crying in the background:( Then nurse mode takes over with the 100 questions of all her symptoms etc. She put ice on it and was fine but I couldn't get home fast enough to see for myself. She instantly had a purple/yellow forehead, then Monday came a left black eye and now Tues came a right black eye! Poor thing is looking worse every day! Although she has been perfectly fine with no trace of problems I still needed to hear my doctors nurse tell me it was fine! It doesn't matter that I'm a nurse it seems to exit the window when it comes to my own kids! Here's pic of Molly on day 3 of hitting her forehead(photo taken today day 3)

Back to School & Back to Blogging!

Wow I can't believe it's been a year since I've blogged! A lot has happened! One major thing is yesterday all 3 of Jones kids entered school. Gunnar 3rd grade, Lily 2nd grade, & Molly Kindergarten. No more kiddos at home. It is such a weird feeling to hear no noises in the house. Molly was sooo excited to start school, she was counting down the hours. All three have great teachers this year so I'm looking forward to a great year. Since all 3 kids are in school I've been wondering what I should do about work. I'm really not ready to jump full time into nursing yet since I have the cheerleading in the evenings and the kids are in so many activities too/ So I've decided to do some subbing at the grade schools. That way I can keep the kids hours and schedule and still be working some. After volunteering in the school and working at the preschool I realized I enjoyed it so I'm going to give it a go see how it turns out! Speaking of cheerleading it starts full swing this week with our first football game this Friday night and with the Varsity squad competing at State Fair Saturday. Since the stage collapsed at the State Fair last Saturday they have moved our competition to the convention center downtown. The girls have worked all summer on this routine so I'm excited to see how they'll do!
Another major thing going on today is my sister-in-law is having surgery...again. Last November she had a mass removed from her right side that was diagnosed benign tissue. After not feeling better she seeked more opinions form different specialists, come to find out the surgeon did not take "the mass" out like he said he had. After a PET scan a couple months ago it did show uptake in the mass so they are thinking it is a low grade sarcoma. Today a team of specialists are going in to remove the mass so please stop and say a prayer for her and the doctors. She also has a blog that talks about this at www.fromthegrove.blogspot.com Her July 23rd post is her explaining the surgery and mass much better than I just did and asking to lift her up in prayer because this is a very difficult surgery since the mass is in a funny spot. Praying for and Love you Shannon!
Another major thing is WE MOVED!! We moved in April to a huge wonderful house!! It was Kevin's grandmas house that is next door to his parents. It's so much bigger than are other house. The kids all have their own room and more bathrooms it's great! The kids have been having trouble getting used to the size especially at night we hear a lot of "I'm scared". Still 3 months later it's this way so I'm hoping soon everyone is adjusted. I love the house the neighborhood, the neighbors, the location, just everything about it except how much updating the inside needs! All the walls but 1 room are white so it's like a blank canvas! All the doors and trim is that dark wood though and I'm not ready to tackle the project of changing all that to remodeling takes place waaayyyyy down the road, so I've been trying to match paint to the wood which has been difficult. I finally painted the living room last week and love love love it! I'm not near finished but already love the color and feels more like my home! Since this place was Kevin's grandmas it has been hard to make it feel like ours. A lot of the furniture is new to us also so with new house, new furniture it doesn't feel like home. I'm hoping now with the kids in school I can get walls painted & pictures hung and start making this feel like home!

2nd Annual Andrea Boes Memorial 5k, 10k, & Kids Fun Run

2nd Annual Andrea Boes Memorial 5k/10k
Saturday, March 19, 2011
0.5 mile Kids’ Fun Run begins 8:30 am EST (emphasis on “FUN”, not competitive)
5k/10k Walk/Run begins 9:00 am EST (t-shirt for all participants)

Register at: www.andreaboesmemorial5k10k.com

Registration Fee through October 31, 2010
.5 mile Kids’ Fun Run $5 (t-shirt not included) or $12 (t-shirt included)
5k/10k Walk/Run $20

Registration Fee through February 28, 2011
.5 mile Kids’ Fun Run $7 (t-shirt not included) or $14 (t-shirt included)
5k/10k Walk/Run $25

Registration Fee through March 10, 2011
.5 mile Kids’ Fun Run $10 (t-shirt not included) or $17 (t-shirt included)
5k/10k Walk/Run $30

Registration Fee March 11 – March 19, 2011
.5 mile Kids’ Fun Run $12 (t-shirt not included) or $19 (t-shirt included)
5k/10k Walk/Run $35

May 20th, 21st, 23rd

May 20th
After 27 hours of laboring and then a c-section my wonderful SIL gave birth to my precious nephew Samuel!! He was born with a full head of soft black hair that I just love to pieces!! He is just so sweet I can't get enough of him! I hate that I only get to see him once a week so far since they live in Jasper, but hopefully we can work our schedule out to see them more. So much changes in one week with a newborn!! Here's some pics of mr. samuel!!




May 21st
Cheerleading Tryouts!! What seemed to be a great Friday night for tryouts turned disaster quickly! 4pm sharp we're ready to start tryouts and the principal come in and says everyone in the locker room because of a tornado warning. Sooo we spent the next HOUR in the locker room waiting out the storm. I was a little worried this wasn't a good start to my coaching days, but thankfully I had awesome judges that waited patiently till the storm blew over and we began tryouts immediately after the girls were allowed to exit the locker room. However I think the storm shook a few of them up for the tryouts but they still all did very well and I'm looking forward to a good season!

May 23rd
My best friend;s bridal shower took place on the back patio of my in laws house. Kristin's aunt, godmother, my MIL, and a family friend hosted the shower and they did an great job! It was extremely hot & muggy that day but it still turned out nice. I think it finally sank in that the wedding is fast approaching!!Only 6weeks away now!!


"The Bridal Party"

Exciting News!!

So this past week something exciting has happened..... I'm the new WHS Cheerleading Coach!! I'm so super excited! I had so much fun being a cheerleader all through jr. high & high school. I know it's a huge commitment since it's through football & basketball season, but I hope it goes well. My girls are excited also! I think they'll have a lot of fun with this also! The position starts immediately as tryouts need to be conducted by the end of school! Nothing like diving right in! Yay Go Hatchets!!

Happy 6th Birthday

Today is Miss Lily's 6th Birthday!! Just a a quick post to wish her the happiest of day & days to come! Getting ready to head out the door to the indoor waterpark at French Lick! I'll share pictures later! Happy Happy Birthday Lily!!!

Lily Marie 4-3-04

opening her favorite present "fashion glasses"!!!

My sweet dear friend....

Today marks 365 days since I've heard your voice, your laughter, or saw that big beautiful smile. I feel a piece of my heart is missing with you gone. I have the comfort of knowing your very well taken care of & that all along God's plan was to use you to change many lives, including mine. Having you as a friend and going through your battle with you has forever enriched my life. When times get hard I think to myself "this is nothing like you went through", or when the kids are driving me crazy I think how you wouldn't give 1 hour to hold little man. You gave me a passion to want to help others. I've continued my promise to help find a cure and will never stop till one is found or I join you up there! I have the pleasure to see little man several times a week either at preschool or at my house. When I get into school & get hugs from him its a piece of you. Jeff is doing an amazing job, I know your proud of him. Everytime I see a daisy I think of you. Everytime I see a lot of the color pink I think of you. Everytime I hear "So What" I think of you. Everyone at the relay meetings bring your name up every month still remembering what a inspiration you were. You forever changed Relay for Life. And because of you so many more people are involved. This weekend we will celebrate you with a Memorial race. I know we always said "We want to be runners but hate to run!" Well as you know I took up running after you left last year. Somedays it was the only way to release my sadness, anger, & clear my mind. So we thought what better way to honor you than to put on a 5k/10k!! Thanks for all the registrants, I know your helping us out big time because we don't have a clue what we're doing!!
I will continue to keep all my promises I made and I dream about the day I see that smile again, and we can laugh and talk like we used to, but until then I hold you in my heart & see you in Ethans eyes. Enjoy it up there my friend you truly deserve it. With so much love..............

Memorial Race

There's still time to get registered for the Andrea Boes Memorial Race set for March 20th at 9:30am Eastside Park, Washington, IN. We have lots of didn't people in the race: walkers, runners, preggos, mommies with strollers, kids, older adults! So don't think you'll be the "only one" in whatever your current situation is! It's going to be a good time for a great cause! The course goes around the Eastside of Washington & starts & finishes at the Eastside Park. You can register at www.andreaboesmemorial5k10k.com & theres same day registration if you decide to come last minute. Below in my last post is more details also. Hope to see you there! Thanks for your support!

Andrea Boes Memorial 5k & 10k

As most of you know I lost one of my best friends last year,Andrea Boes. She lost her 3.5year battle with brain cancer on March 17th, 2009. As her wish she wanted us all to continue on with Relay for Life. It's an event that raises money for the American Cancer Society. Andrea started a team in 2006 "Team Andrea". As one of our fundraisers & in loving memory of her, Team Andrea is putting on a Memorial 5k & 10k.
If you would like to walk or run in one of the races please register at:
www.andreaboesmemorial5k10k.com
March 20th, 9:30am Eastside Park Washington
$20 pre registration thru Feb 28 (t-shirt guaranteed)
$23 registration march 1-10
$25 same day registration
Your support in honoring her & raising money for a cure would be greatly appreciated!

2010

Well Monday was back to the school/work routine. I enjoyed my time off with the kids and Kevin even had some extra days off over the holidays which was nice. It was a busy break with all the parties, but lots of fun.
On a very exciting note we have opened & began service at our new church!! It's so nice & new! It's the new church that was just built on the corner of Troy Rd & the bypass(right next to the Legends). Dec 20th was our 1st service in there. It's been a long time coming since the old church was destroyed April 2006 by the tornado/straight line winds. Since then church has been held in this bldg on main street. So it's really nice to have space & a new place to worship! Feel free to come & check it out sometime. Service is 10am on Sundays!
Kevin's cousin & her husband & 3 kids came down for a couple days over New Years. They have 3 kids the same age as ours, so it's always a blast when we get together.
This Saturday all 3 kids start basketball. It will be Lily & Molly's 1st year, so it should be interesting!
Well with the new year comes lots of plans, ideas, wishes, & prayers. One thing Kevin & I have talked about for over a year was getting into camping. We would like to have a pop up camper so if anyone knows of someone selling one please let me know. Well I'm off to enjoy the "snowday" with the kids.
Best Wishes for 2010!!

Jones' goin Green!

Well since I didn't get Christmas Cards out again this year I'm using the excuse were going green! A friend gave me that excuse, she said to say I was saving paper & stamps!!lol. I did make it farther than last year as I did get the kids picture taken this year, but I just never got around to get them printed. Here's a couple pics I took!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
From: Kevin, Jenelle, Gunnar, Lily, & Molly

Toothfairy update!

(Update to my previous post)
Well I'm happy to report the Toothfairy was let go with a warning only!! I spoke to Gunnar after school yesterday & there were no accounts of the truth being let out. He was convinced his new fan was to loud and it scared the Toothfairy away, and he wanted his old one back in his room. So I happily agreed to that concept & we switched his fan back. And wouldn't you know it the Toothfairy DID come last night!! She left a apology note explaining she came but was scared off from some "noises" (aka fan) in his room. She also explained she was leaving him extra money since he behaved so good when he found out she didn't come the first morning. So he earned a hefty $5 for 1 tooth!! Which won't happen again since this Toothfairy will not forget again!!!!

"Gunnar-missing 1 tooth on top & 1 on bottom!"

Toothfairy MIA

Unfortunately the Toothfairy forgot our house last night:( It has just devastated me today. As I'm showering this morning and I get my hair soaped up it hits me TOOTHFAIRY! Oh no I think, I've totally forgotten. So I hurry through my shower throwing a prayer up to please let him sleep through the commotion of Molly up already & me in the shower (which he usually does). So dripping wet I grab some money and tiptoe in his room & reach under his pillow. And.....up he pops with his tooth clenched in his little hand. My heart breaks. He says "She never came" Oh my heart really breaks. I said did Molly get up in the night again? (Which she has EVERY night for months but NOT last night---go figure) He says "I don't know. I was awake a lot last night waiting." I said Well she wont come if your not asleep. He says "My fan was to loud & kept me awake" And that was that. The Toothfairy had failed him:( So the morning goes on routinely not another word said. I take the kids to school & Lily falls down the stairs & skins her knees up so I walk her in to bandage them up. And as I'm walking out Gunnars teacher asks me "Why didn't the toothfairy come?" I could bust in tears by now.I tell her I feel "this big" & she says everyone has heard about it already. Great-I've ruined my childs dreams & now maybe others. So now as the day goes on I anxiously wait to see if someone seeks the opportunity to tell Gunnar about the Toothfairy since she didn't come. I will be devastated if 2 weeks before Christmas things are revealed to him. I've read tons of stories online about the toothfairy not coming so I know by no means am I alone in this & some stories of why she didn't show are quite clever. I haven't decided what I'll say until I can feel him out about what was said at school. I'll keep you posted on whether the Toothfairy is fired or not! I'm hoping she just gets a verbal warning this time!

Happy 4th Birthday Molly

Happy 4th Birthday Molly!! Molly celebrated her birthday Sunday with a Hannah Montana Birthday party! She had quite a crowd that showed up for her Sunday lunch party. She got lots of presents which she loved! Today we are heading to Eville for Gunnars final bball games so were going to go early and eat out for her birthday dinner. Her Aunt Shannon is in town & is going with us so that in itself is a great bday present!

"Molly 11-17-05"

"Molly's 1st Birthday"

"Molly's 2nd Birthday"

"Molly's 3rd Birthday"

"Molly's 4th Birthday"

"Molly's 4th bday-Getting The Hannah Montana movie!!"

"Molly Montana!!"

Noah's Xmas Card update

Here is the latest from Noah's carepage.

Wow!! Thanks! Please STOP!!!!Posted Nov 13, 2009 1:03pmWow! The outpouring of love and concern for Noah is just amazing! Scott and I never in a million years thought that so many people would want to send Christmas cards to Noah. However, please note: We did already celebrate Christmas LAST Sunday -- November 8th. PLEASE STOP SENDING CARDS AND GIFTS!!!!Noah is very ill. He is not getting out of bed and it's time for Scott, our families, and I to concentrate on our son. His time is very short and he needs us.Scott and I would like to say thank you so much for the support and continued show of love. However, we are asking that everyone please stop sending cards and gifts.Also, everyone please post the stop order on Facebook and any other websites or organizations that you belong to. We need the peace right now.Thank you for your understanding in this request.

If you'd like to keep updated on Noah here is his carepage link:
https://www.carepages.com/carepages/NoahScottBiorkman/updates/2427545?client_code=chmkids&ipc=mcr

Oct/Nov Events

The 2 older kids finished up soccer a couple weeks ago-finally. With all the rain outs it took forever to get caught up.

"Lily's Team"

"Lily & Ethan during the game"

"Gunnar in action!"

"Gunnar's Team"

Gunnar has been doing a travel basketball team for a couple months now. The games are in Evansville on Tuesday nights. Their team is pretty good, right now their undefeated with 2 games left next Tuesday! He has improved tons over this period & has had a lot of fun. Thanks to Logan & Libby Graber!!

"Gunnar's Travel Bball Team"

Halloween:
Here are a few pics from Halloween.

"Kids carving pumpkins"


"Lily the angel, Gunnar the pirate, & Molly the witch!"

"And Kevin the punk rocker!!"

"Gunnar super excited about Halloween candy!"




"Molly & Dominic at preschool"

"Me & Molly at her preschool party"

"Molly at preschool"

Saturday was my birthday so Friday night my friends had a get together for me. Here are my friends, the guys were to busy playing cards to pose!


Sunday my parents had a birthday lunch for me & Molly (her bday is the 17th) Here's a couple pics from then.

My cutest nephew ever!!

Baby & Engagement

Did the title catch your eye? Well don't freak out, NOT my baby and obviously NOT my engagement!! LOL

My older brother Philip & his wife Jen are expecting their first child in May 2010!! I'm so excited! This will be either my 1st niece or 2nd nephew. They aren't finding out the sex so it will be a long wait to meet him or her in May!! My kids are just as excited to have another cousin also!!

"The Expecting Parents!"

2nd on the list our friends Nikki & Ben got engaged. It was a total surprise to everyone including Nikki because Ben didn't tell anyone but her parents. He surprised her on Oct 10th with a trip to Brown County & proposed there. Her ring is absolutely beautiful!! They plan to marry October 2010! I've been meaning to get pictures of them & the ring but kept forgetting so our canoe trip picture will have to do for now!

"The Engaged Couple"

We did it!

We completed the Evansville Mini Marathon!! YAY! The weekend started with all of us & our families going to Evansville Saturday afternoon for some kid clothes shopping then taking the kids to Gattitown. Then the husbands took the kids home while the ladies met at Biaggi's for our pasta dinner before the race! It was me, Brooke, Lauren & Kristin. And as soon as we get to dinner Brooke dropped the bomb she wouldn't be running because she just found out she was pregnant. Although she had trained she had a little cramping through the week and didn't want to chance it. And Amber decided she was going to walk with her Mom in the race. So then there was 3! The 3 that trained nightly together for 14 weeks, me, Lauren & Danyelle. I can't say I was excited about this race at all. I had a done a mini before & thought it was pure torcher. I didn't train for it at all just did it & man was it rough. It took me 2hr47min! This time even though I trained I wasn't pumped to run this, it was so cold & I was really tired! But I didn't have any reason not to so I did it. Brooke & Kristin were my fan club. They popped in & out of the track on mile 3 & 6 which made it fun to be anticipating seeing people I knew. To my surprise the miles were just drifting by. My goal was just to run 4 straight miles & see what happened after that, but then I saw mile 8, 9, 10, 11 and I thought well I'm not stopping now. And I didn't, I ran the whole 13.1 miles nonstop!! Never in my dreams would I had imagined I would or could do that. My time was 2hr10min. 37 minutes better than my last mini. I have to say I was quite pleased! Here are some pics from the race.


All the runners/walkers from our group
rt 2 left:Ambers cousins boyfriend, Pam (Ambers Mom) Danyelle Niehaus, Amber Combs, Me, Lauren, Brooke Havill


Me around mile 3(still smiling with arms up!)


me around mile 6 (smiling but no arms up!)


Me & Lauren After 13.1 miles!!


My Fan Club!!


Showing off our shirts. 1 sleeve said Team Dirk for in memory of Ambers Dad, Pams husband, and the other sleeve said Team Andrea, in memory of our friend. Then on the front team Dirks motto "Don't ask for an easier life, ask to be a stronger person" And on the back is Andrea's quote to us when we ran our first mini in 2006 she said "See ya at the finish line!"