Evey loves fish

Went on a cruise around South Padre yesterday... Saw a bunch of dolphins. They also brought in a whole bunch of fish. Evey didn't hesitate holding each one!

88!

Celebrating Virginia's 88th!

Ok, I barely got a photo of her, but... Happy birthday Virginia!

Potter's Lake

Took Boyd to campus on Saturday... Cheeseburgers then a walk. Good times!

Schoooool's out... For... Summer!

And my little 1st grader is now a 2nd grader!

Evey enjoyed 1st grade, for the most part. She continued to do really well at school. And she made a new friend, Khali, pictured here with Ms. Reilly and Evey, on the last day of 1st grade (yesterday.)

Evey's teacher next year will be Mr. Powers. Ironically, my 4th grade teacher was Mrs. Powers. Also ironic, Evey's PE teacher is Mr. Katzenmeier. Some 24 years ago, my PE teacher was a Mr. Katzenmeier. Weird.

Evey's first camp out

A few weekends ago Evey and I had our first camp out together. It was the first time I had been camping since, hmm... 2004?

Evey loved it. She can't wait to do it again.

We kept to the backyard as our test run. Next step is go to the lake. Full disclosure, I brought Evey in at 1 a.m., it was getting cold and I didn't want both of us waking up with sore throats on a Sunday morning.

The most we laughed was when we did shadow puppets... Evey's interpretation of a swan made me cackle. She cracked up too.

Boydee the Bimbo

Not really... More like Boydee the future Club America player! (SPONSORED BY BIMBO BREAD.)

Thanks to Adrianne for dressing Boyd in such a great outfit for Cinco de Mayo. He loved his outfit today too! And he also dribbled that soccer ball around the backyard tonight. Good times!

Rest in peace, Bea

Bea was a friend to my Grandma Iris.

Bea was like a mother to my father.

Bea was like a grandmother to me.

And I could tell Bea loved my kids like they were her own grandkids. (Just check out the expressions on the faces of Bea, Boyd, Junior and Adrianne in this photo.)

How many people are a friend to any family for four generations? A friend, a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother?

On Saturday, my 37th birthday, I received two birthday cards. One was the token card from my financial planner. The other was a long, eloquent, hand-written card from Bea. I don't think she once missed sending me a birthday card.

What a beautiful, kind, loving woman.

On behalf of four generations of Joneses: thank you, Bea, for your love over the years. You will be dearly missed.

Boydee recites the ABCs

Age 2.5!


Adrianne saw this happen the other day.

Boyd gets out of the bath.

Looks in the mirror.

Exclaims, "I'm cute!"

At Planet Comicon 2014

Had all four kids there... the first comic convention for everyone except Evey.

I gave Evey, Jett and Marina $20 each, with the one stipulation that they all had to spend it at the show. The three of them had a blast.. and Jett especially score some cool stuff!

Here are the four kids in the lobby, while we were waiting for Aunt Jessica to get inside after parking the car.

Easter brunch

I'm suffering thru what I hope is a 24-hour stomach flu. I think it was the guy with the floppy ears who gave it to me...

Five Boydee observations

1. Boydee gets tired, especially following long walks. This picture is evidence.

2. When Boydee gets real tired he turns into a tremendous as*hole, as he has a couple times the past few nights... especially on Tuesday. Terrible Twos on Tuesday. Not as cool as Taco Tuesday. Or tasty.

3. We put new glow-in-the-dark stars on Boyd's ceiling recently. He's really excited about this. And they glow really bright, too, since B.J. has good light in his room (unlike his sissy, who has a room that is lit like a vampire lives there, along with a chandelier that hangs about five feet from the floor.) So the second night he had them, we asked them if he was excited about his stars, and he was. "Yaaayyy, stars!" he said to us. Then Adrianne tucked him in, and closed his door partially shut. He laid there for about 10 minutes sing-songing, "Yaaaayyy! Stars! Yaaayyyy! Stars!"

4. A different night Boyd was tucked into bed, and Adrianne was paying bills in her office, with the door mostly shut. Then she heard, "Mom?" She looked to the door and there was his beedy eye looking in at her. "You're cute!" he said.

5. I was bragging at dinner tonight how I've cooked five meals in a row at the house, no eating out for dinner lately. The menu the last few days: chicken with rice and vegetables... taco tuesday... spaghetti... chicken stir-fry... and... what did I cook on Monday? Hmm... We're all pondering this... and Boydee goes, "beans and corn!" And he was right — Cajun red beans and rice, with corn and sausage. "You're right, son!" I was impressed.

Elvira's kids

Here's a pic of Boydee's daycare provider, Elvira, with a couple of the kids she's watching these days.

Elvira (pronounced el-VEE-ta) watched Evey for us too. She's Adrianne's 3rd or 4th cousin, or something. She's awesome!

Boydee and Dexter, Spidey twins

Boydee and Dexter (Brent and Rosalina's boy) were rocking the same Spidey T-shirts at Lupe's 60th bday party over the weekend.

Awkward!

Kidding, it was very cool. Good taste in superheroes, boys!

Dan Jenkins and I

At the 2014 GWAA dinner at Augusta (Ga.) CC.

And I need a haircut and a shave!