UFOs RULE, 10-7

In our latest poll here at Especially Evey, our readers spoke out -- 10 of them believe in UFOs as the real deal, while the other 7 say UFOs are about as real as Sam Brownback's chances of living in the White House!

Thanks to everyone who voted. Just curious, did anyone have problems voting? Adrianne's computer wouldn't allow her a vote. Curious to see if anyone had similar problems.

I've never seen a UFO, but I certainly believe in them. It's a big universe, there's gotta be intelligent life out there besides us, right? And didn't they lend a hand building the pyramids?

Happy big 3-oh, Jeffy!

Jeff Heiman turned 30 recently.

We celebrated by taking Jeff to the Legends, where we ate lunch at Dave & Busters, watched the U-20 USA Soccer game, played video games (pictured, Rockhold and Jeff blow up Aliens), then went to see Transformers (pretty good!) and finally returned to his place where there was a surprise birthday party set up by his lovely wife Kendall. The party was catered by Granddaddy's BBQ and included lots of Boulevard Wheat and a Texas Hold 'Em tournament.

Of course, I won the Hold 'Em tournament (what is this, Lervik's blog?), and took home a nice bottle of wine and a macho cook book authored by some bad-ass dude, as my prizes. Eric Neuteboom took second place.

OK, can you indulge me for one story from the game? I was all in against Neuty, and it looked grim, with my king-high. He had me beat with just the flop showing. "It's OK, Neuty," I told him. "I'm going to get that king." Sure enough, on the river, up pops the king. And it was meant to be from that moment on. I busted out Jeff, then Randy, then Neuty for the win (seven players to begin). And I also won 'most inebriated' that night. But that's OK, because who's a big winner? That's right, daddy is.

So happy 30th, Jeff. And thanks, Kendall, for setting up a great party for him and his boys.

Happy birthday, Mom!

We celebrated my Mom's birthday Sunday in Emporia. Got to see my sister and her family, and of course my Mom and Dad. Got my Mum the Magic Bullet for her birthday. Not the one that killed Kennedy, this Magic Bullet is a mixer/blender of some sort. And apparently, it's a big deal.

I didn't get my Mom a birthday card, even though she loves birthday cards. Just forgot to grab one... and besides, I've decided they're not environmentally friendly. We've taken a no-card policy here in the Jones household. Instead, Adrianne made these cool gift tags with a design on them, and we write, 'happy birthday Mom!' (or 'Happy Flag Day!') on it.

But here's what I would have wrote had I gotten my Mom a card:

Dear Mom,

In 2006, I gained a wife and a daughter. Both beautiful, both the love of my life. But there will always be the one who taught me how to love, the original woman in my life -- you, my Mother. Thank you for your love and your wisdom, and thank you for loving your new granddaughter and your new daughter-in-law as much as you love your own son.

Love,

Son

P.S. Please don't try to kill anyone with the Magic Bullet, the Kennedys have suffered enough.

We're moving!

On Saturday, 8 a.m.

Who wants to help???

(actually, I already know most of who is volunteering... but I figure you can respond to this post with a, "I am!" and get tons of credit from all our readers! Or something.)

Pictured, the first truckload I've already moved. And also, the beautiful baby you'll be helping out, by assisting her parents on this move. She's eating a Spider-Man toy that Eric gave to her.

DO NOT ARREST THIS MAN!

Being deadly handsome is NOT A CRIME.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY MARINA!

That's right, my niece, Marina Janelle Johnson, turned 1-year-old!

Way to be baby Marina! We love ya!

Born with a silver spoon in her mouth? Sorry, no.

Here's Evey, at the Neuteboom's (Eric and Trish) 'couples shower.'

They received a silver spoon from Eric's mom, I believe. Apparently this is a tradition of some sort (Eric/Trish, care to comment?). Anyway, the spoon gets passed around, and when it gets to Evey -- yup, something good and shiny to stick in her mouth. And I bet the silver felt good on those teeth coming in, eh?

Got several cute photos of this. Hard to choose just one. This is the one I'll go with, for now.

EE readers love COKE!

The votes are in!

Especially Evey readers chose Coca-Cola over Pepsi! Yeeeeah! You rock, Coke! Go fly a kite, Pepsi! You stink!

Thanks to everyone who voted. The final tally was 13-4, Coke. And more important, we had 17 people visit the blog last week. Whew. Glad I'm not getting paid by the hit! (Wait... I'm not getting paid at all! $*#@!)

A new poll is up now. This one vastly more important than the last. PLEASE VOTE! Me and Evey want to know what you think!!!

Our brick at Allen Fieldhouse

An old photo here, but I wanted to get a shot of the family brick at Allen Fieldhouse up on the blog...

The brick is right next the Phog Allen, directly below his right elbow. Only five bricks upwards is Dean Smith's brick.

How'd we get such a good brick? I don't know if you know this or not, but... we're a pretty big deal.

TGIF

Not only is it Friday, but it's also PAYDAY.

Hot damn.

Have a great weekend!

Your lips are moving, but I can't hear what you're saying

Just got done with a 3-hour proofing assignment... and yes, I'm numb. I need a minute to decompress.

Happy 1-month birthday to Sadie Kaminski. I can't believe a month has already gone by... seems like just a weekend ago we were up at the hospital visiting her. Turns out it was four weekends.

And say hello to Isabella and Ben. Bella is overdue for an appearance here, but now I have a good photo of her so up it goes. Bella is the daughter of our friends Jocilyn and David, Ben is the son of Joc's sister Jessica. Ben's claim to fame is he is the youngest Laugh Olympian ever. Ben also won an autographed Chi Chi Rodriguez hat that day, if I remember correctly. Bella, meanwhile, is a personal friend of Dora the Explorer, and whenever she takes a photograph, the sun is usually setting behind her head, giving her a constant super-heroish glow.

Baby cocoon!

Whenever Adrianne wraps up Evey like this, she'll say, "Baby cocoon!" And it amuses Evelyn, she'll giggle. Very cute.

Check out those eyes... they've really changed, haven't they? A greenish hue. Click on the photo to enlarge. I have lots of other photos I just downloaded, taken from the last few days, that really captures her eye color. I'll be sharing those in the next few days.

If you haven't voted in the poll yet, please do! It's a simple, silly little poll, but I'm leaving it up for a week to try to get a gauge on how many people stop by in a week. Our last poll was up for 24 hours (a little less, actually) and had 7 voters. (The result? Six out of 7 said the Tooth Fairy brought them a $1 when they were kids.)

"Baby cocoon!" It's kind of a fun phrase. Say it out loud, when you get a chance.

I'd like to welcome both Abasolo and Melissa Gomez to the blog page, both new posters! If you know me, you know Solo and Melissa. Solo, my best friend since 2nd grade, Melissa, my cousin since I was born.

More later. I'm looking at a busy week at work. But I should be around to update the blog. That tooth is going to break through any day now, and you'll be the first to know.

Reading about the environment? No. Communicating with sign language? Yes.

Adrianne attended a few "Baby Sign Language" classes back in June. The idea being, babies communicate with their hands much faster than they communicate with words. Think of it this way -- how soon will a baby wave "bye-bye" to you? And how soon will the same baby say, "Bye-bye?"

So the first word we've been focusing on is "milk." Take your hand, and clench it in the air repeatedly, like you were milking an imaginary udder. Now you know the universal sign for milk. (Learning something at the blog... I need to be stopped.)

On Saturday, I'm working on the computer (all I do, it seems, these days). Adrianne hollers, "She did milk! She did milk!" I jump up, and yeah, she is sort of clenching her fist... is that really "milk"? I believe more than anyone else that my child is a genius -- these are the rules of parenting, after all -- so yeah, that was probably the "milk" sign.

But I wasn't totally sold.

And then, on Sunday... Evey is laying on her back, I'm playing with her in front of the TV. And I look down at her. She looks up at me. She slowly moves her hand in front of her face. Then she stares at it with a serious look on her face. Then, she slowly... clenches... her hand... and... opens... it... back... up! And she looks away from her hand, and right at her daddy!

I about fainted. "Adrianne, she did 'milk!' She did 'milk!'" We get her a bottle ASAP. We were so pumped -- what a rush!

But now, our excitement has gotten the best of us. Evey knows how excited we get when we see the sign for "milk." So now she's doing it quite often, I think just to entertain her parents.

What a sweetie.

The tooth will set free

MAJOR EVELYN NEWS FROM JULY 4th, 2007: Parents of Evelyn Melosa Jones have discovered what they're calling "her first tooth." The discovery occurred at home on Wednesday afternoon, on the same day the nation celebrates it's independence.

"Evey was playing with my fingers when she stuck one in her mouth," father Seth Jones said. "She chomped down on my finger and I suddenly noticed a sharp bump on her lower front gums that I'd never felt before."

Evelyn's mother, Adrianne, was called in to substantiate the find.

"I couldn't get a look at it because Evey kept sticking out her tongue, but I did feel what Seth felt -- it seems to be a tooth," she said.

The tooth arrived a mere three days before Evelyn turns 7 months old. So far, no mood change had been noticed in the darling baby.

"We're pleased to see her development continue," proud dad Seth said. "Today it was a tooth trying to break through that brought us excitement. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?"

• Calendar coincidence: Evelyn turns seven months old on Saturday. For those scoring at home, that's seven months on 7/7/07. The parents will probably take this lucky coincidence as a sign that they need to go to the casino... at 7 a.m.

Have a safe and happy 4th

Just a quick note to say hello. Have a fun and safe 4th of July. Try not to loose any fingers.

I'm off to Wichita for one day. Our family suffered a loss last Thursday when Orti Ramirez, my mom's cousin, succumbed to cancer at age 50. I'll be driving down this morning to represent the Jones family, Lawrence chapter. Orti will be missed.

Pictured, Evey chilling out on the 9th green at Alvamar Orchards.