Three weeks and a day

This is bullshit, Boyd has been around for three weeks now and I have more Peking Taste coverage on the blog than I do cute baby photos.

Sorry, son. When you get older, if you get the pleasure of enjoying Peking Taste buffet, you'll understand.

"Sonny," as we call him, is doing great. This photo was taken two weeks ago, so it's not the most current pic ever, especially when you're talking about 22-day-olds. But, he still has all his hair, steely blue eyes and an occasional smile. He's sleeping well, too.

I guess there's just not much to report on a three-week-old when it comes down to it.

And, in hindsight, I didn't start blogging about Evey until she was, what? Two months old?

Peking video gets some local coverage

Well then... while I didn't see that happening exactly, I was somewhat prepared for more than just the blog readers to see my video.

In case you missed it, on Tuesday morning the LJWorld.com posted the below bit about my video, along with a link to the video itself:

As I mentioned, the store is going into the former Pizza Street location, which of course, is a buffet business that is no longer with us. (Rest in peace mashed potato pizza.) Well, there appears to be one Lawrence resident who takes his buffet eating at Peking Taste very seriously. A colleague of mine found this video on YouTube and I’ve decided to pass it along because it was spurred by information first reported in Town Talk. The video was uploaded by Seth A. Jones, according to the You Tube information, and he says he is speaking on behalf of Concerned Citizens for Peking Taste Buffet. He goes on for about five minutes over his concerns that when Peking Taste reopens in the Louisiana Purchase shopping center that it will no longer have a buffet. Among some of the highlights from his impassioned plea are:

1. He said his wife compared Peking Taste no longer offering a buffet to Southwest Airlines no longer offering flights. “My wife is an accountant. If she starts making analogies, something is wrong here.”
2. “When I come to Peking Taste, I want all I can eat,” Seth says. “I want broccoli and beef, all I can handle, hold the broccoli.”
3. Seth says he doesn’t eat crab rangoon because he thinks it's gross, but his friends like it. “Don’t limit my friends on Crab Rangoons. They’re good people.”

Anyway, the entire video is here. 

Pretty cool to get your name in the paper sometimes, and this was a fun one. Almost unanimous positive reactions, which is a surprise. Almost 300 views on YouTube as of this writing.


I did get a call from my pal Copy Jesus about it... he told me he posted the link in the comments section somewhere on LJWorld.com, and that's how they got a hold of it initially. "I hope you don't mind," he told me.

Heck no I don't mind! I want CNN to come cover this story!

Concerned Citizens for Peking Taste Buffet UNITE!!!

Peking Taste Manifesto

It's been almost two weeks since I've posted, so............

'I've got the kids'

We were finally discharged from the hospital. The nurse led us to believe it'd be happening around noon, so I had the room and car packed. It didn't really happen until 3 p.m., though. So there was a lot of sitting around and waiting.

When we finally did leave Lawrence Memorial Hospital, we only had a few things to take with us. A vase full of flowers from Adrianne's grandma. A diaper bag. A cell phone charger.

And, for the first time, two kids.

With one hand I lifted the car seat carrier. With the other, I held Evey's hand.

"Ready?" I asked Adro as she was escorted out in a wheelchair (a formality). "Ready," she replied.

Then I said something I had never said before.

"OK... I've got the kids."

Introducing...

Boyd Atticus Jones.

We're very excited, even if he isn't.

baby boy jones

Video shot last Thursday, 9/29/11

Jones Family Update

No baby yet.

Adrianne is doing well. Had a doctor's appointment on Friday, doc said everything sounded good. The boy is doing well, he's just not ready to celebrate his birthday yet.

I took the above photo of Adro on Thursday. As I said today, she's never been this pregnant before... with Evey, by this time, we had a two-week-old. So this is a different experience for us, this anxious waiting. Last time it was an unexpected, quick finish. With the boy, he's making us wonder when he'll show his face.

No baby, yet I have BIG NEWS.

Evey had her first multi-goal game on Saturday. She scored two goals!!! So exciting!

I hate to admit that missed both goals. My cousin Melissa was flying in from Louisiana, so I left Evey's hour-long soccer practice/game about 20 minutes early to pick up Melissa. I was on the road for about 10 minutes when my phone rang. Caller ID showed it was Judy, my M-I-L. I instantly thought, "Oh, shit, BABY!!!" I answered the phone and all I heard was shouting. I was like, "Holy crap, are they delivering right there on the soccer field?!?" Then Judy came on and shouted, "Evey scored a goal!"

Neuty and the girls

Here's a great shot of Eric and Bella and Evey, taken a few weeks ago.

A big shout-out to Neuty, for coming by the house and helping me install a new screen door on the back door.

Something I have to tell you about Neuty: he treats Evey so well. He jokes with her, plays with her, gives her hugs... let's face it, my friends are all mid-30s dudes. Playing with a 4-year-old might not be high on any of their list of priorities. But Neuty always takes the time to be good to Evey, to play around with her, to make her feel special. And that is one of my favorite things about Neuty.

Cheers to you, Neuty.

And before your head gets too big, just remember... I'm 1-0 against your fantasy football team this year, jerky.

Adro and Evey, Sunday afternoon

No baby yet... Adrianne is feeling OK. She's starting to wonder if this will go all the way to Oct. 7th.

No soccer for Evey this weekend as she had a bit of a fever Friday night. 

We'll keep you posted if there is any baby news!

Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G

GOALLLLL!!!!

BIG news… Evey scored her first goal! Indeed, she scored it last Saturday on that rainy, drizzly morning.

It came late in the game… in fact, it may have been a golden goal, as both sides stopped playing immediately after the goal.

A low cross came from her left halfback. Evey timed her run perfectly, staying onside. The ball skipped once, Evey put her right foot out, made good contact despite the slippery conditions, and the ball spun into the lower right corner of the net! GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!

OK, it didn't happen like that at all. It actually happened like:

Coach Kevin assembled the Yellow Giraffes. It was about time to pack it up as the rainy weather had all the parents fidgety.

Coack K declared, "Guys, let's get Evey a goal!" The kids fumbled around with the ball until Coach K finally propped it up right in front of an empty net. "Evey, kick it in the goal!" coach shouted. Evey kicked it, but it missed the goal. He got the ball back and teed it up again. The other kids all were confused, but continued bumping into each other and falling down as they are wont to do. Evey wound up and kicked this one into the back of the net! The kids all went wild with a goal celebration! Evey celebrated, but she didn't really understand... that she had just SCORED HER FIRST GOAL!!!

I had a smile ear to ear. It literally was the highlight of my weekend. I couldn't have been more proud.

I should mention, Evey was the only girl on the field for either team. It didn't slow her down. She had a nice game, getting more kicks in this week.

And another update... yesterday Evey was declared HAPPY FEET PLAYER OF THE WEEK again, making for back-to-back weeks, and three of these awards total. I even got an email from the coach about her skills. Here it is:  

Meg and I love working with Evey both at Leagues and at Lawrence Montessori, her enthusiasm is great and she always listens to us. I'm actually training with Meg to do weekly classes and came along to Lawrence Montessori last week; Evey did awesome there so I know she can do very well at Leagues as long as we encourage her! It seems like she has been practicing at home too, so whatever you guys are doing there, definitely keep it up -- I'm confident that she will keep improving with each week!

WOW! We're so proud of her... GREAT WORK EVEY, my SOCCER STAR!!!

BABY UPDATE: Adrianne is doing well, but nothing to report yet. She has an appointment tomorrow so maybe we'll learn something then. The due date is still Oct. 7th. If he goes the whole way, that's cool, we just hope for a healthy baby. The only complaint Adro has is some trouble sleeping, and occasional belly pains. But she's getting lots of back rubs.

OF NOTE: Today would have been my Dad's 65th birthday. We got the family together on Tuesday to do a toast to my Dad.

It's interesting how much has changed in a year. Last year, my Dad's birthday was reason to get a melancholy drunk on. This year, I was hopeful we'd be celebrating the birth of my son on my Dad's birthday.

My Dad certainly is not forgotten, but there were some serious strides made in 2011 to accept that Dad is gone and we're going to have to move on without him. Still miss him like crazy, but I think my brain finally understands the reality of it all. Here's to Boyd, who I know was watching Evey first goal on the sideline with me!

Player of the week -- again!

Evey was named the Happy Feet player of the week again! We are so proud of her.

She's been playing Saturday mornings and doing really well. She hustles and plays the whole game. In fact, her last game, she was one of only two players on her team still in the action! The rest had all dropped off like flies.

No goals yet... she seems too polite to kick it sometimes... but she's getting better each week.

Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G

Evey and Daddy's "Dark Knight"

This is a Seth-and-Evey collaboration, the first(?) of what I hope are many to come. Evey wanted me to draw something she could color. My favorite thing in the world to draw is Batman, so I fired one out for her.

She did all the colors, added the wings, and included the flower. She even added a "mom and dad" to it. Awesome!

The other day she asked me to draw my dad ("Pappa" to Evey) so she could color him. Well, I took it seriously and drew my best interpretation of my dad with a blue crayon I could accomplish. She took one look at it and said, "This doesn't look like Pappa!" and turned the page.

Oh well. At least she was thinking about him. I think I kinda nailed it, but 4-year-olds can be tough art critics.

I haven't posted/scanned/photographed enough of Evey's art in the past couple months. She's gotten really good at coloring, but more impressive to me, painting. She paints flowers, rainbows, girls in dresses, etc. I really need to sit down with her and show her some things, I think she'd pick them right up. She's a little artist. And she does get frustrated when things don't turn out the way she wants them... something I can relate to when it comes to art!

Big Sister School

Evey attended a class at LMH a few weeks ago where she learned the ins and outs of being a big sister. We got to see a real little baby, as well as a fake little baby (pictured), we watched a video, saw the hospital room where momma will have baby brother, etc.

Evey did great! She is now certified to be a big sister. She was a good listener through the entire class. The other little girl in the class was a chatterbox. I'm pretty sure they made her return to try big sister school again, because she couldnt've learned shit with her mouth flapping non-stop like that.

Yep.

Happy birthday, Momma

Happy birthday, babe. Pretty soon we're going to have a family of four. Thank you for that. All of my good karma of the last seven, eight years... I feel it is largely attributed to you. Can we please keep this going until you put me in the ground? That's my plan. I hope you're down with it.

-Seth