Life's Been Sooooo Good To Us

I really just want to share today that I don't have ONE thing to complain about these days. Life has just been soooo good to us lately. I hear my friends tell me about serious car accidents, breast cancer and radiation treatments and cancer surgeries, or hear about struggles with super long work hours or issues at home. All in all, all of this is a bump in the road we call life, and we definitely never expect those. I pray for these people I care about and love, that they may soon overcome their challenges and setbacks. We each have crazy, day to day struggles and mountains to climb during periods of our life when things just are not going in the direction in which we thought they would be...which is half of the time I've learned. Agree? I can't count how many times I've popped out of bed in the morning with a full list of things to accomplish, hour by hour of each day, and then by the end of the day I usually only cross off maybe two really important things, or things I THOUGHT were important.

Things I USED to THINK were super important:

Folding Laundry

Doing Dishes

Cooking a Yummy and Extremely Exquisite Betty Crocker/Paula Dean/HOMEMADE Dinner for my Family

Cleaning the House

Going to the Store

Oh, Keeping the House Squeaky Clean with three boys in the house ( no,four)...including all three tolilets. (Well, I actually do have OCD about the toilets, and frequently have fits over the toilet seats in this house since I'm the only lady half the time).

Now, it's not that these aren't important. They are, but my day should not revolve around whether or not they get done or not.

Things I've LEARNED ARE IMPORTANT:

Read a book to your child when they ask you to, even if you are trying to fold laundry, STOP folding laundry and read the book.

Play outside with the kids in the cold, when they ask you to, go outside and PLAY.

Make a mess in the kitchen when making chocolate chip cookies, and let them make a big mess, learn and have fun!

Take time to ask them about their day, and give them a chance to answer, and HUG!

THEN

Tag team on the dishes

Tag team on the laundry.. so we spend time with each other after putting the kids first when they need to be put first!



Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Love,

XOXO

Where should I start...?

It's true. I have not taken the precious time to sit down and update my blog, now refaced as our family blog, in almost two whole years! Silly, because I have so many wonderful things to share with everyone - how much the kids have grown, what they are crazy about and into these days, and places we've been! Lots of memories to share. So, here goes! I decided to post a picture of our pre-K grad, Kelly, and start with him first. Kelly started Kindergarten at Lowe Elementary with his big brother Lincoln this past fall. It was an adjustment for him, and he's starting to get used to the all day classroom setting. He loves super heros, and loves to dress up in his size 3 Batman costume still, even though they fit him like knickers now. Both Linc & Kelly are playing Upward Basketball , and recently had their Winter Piano recitals. Too cute. Linc is in LOVE with NFL football, knows NFL stats like a mini-Rainman, and is ready to tackle the biggest and best even though he only weighs about 54 lbs and is in the 3rd grade! He keeps asking when he can play tackle football, but when I found out the weight limit in his age group is 115 lbs, well, I made up a story about when he would play his first real season. Selfish, I know?! But, he plays LSA soccer in Spring and Fall and has fun with that for now. Definitely not the same risk in that sport of getting flattened by a 115.

We had a sweet baby boy in May of 2010, William Pierce Jewkes. He is the funniest little kid. Now, he's already 19 months old and is completely obsessed with Elmo, and all of his six older brothers and sisters. He can climb stairs, run, ride his little CAT truck, say Mama, Dada, Hot Cocoa (don't ask), Cool, uh huh, baby, and of course Elmo. And, he loves the Cars movie, mashed potatoes, bananas, fruit snacks, and sausage biscuits.

Courtney, 14, has started high school and is enjoying competing on the Freshman girls basketball team, is attending her early, early morning seminary session, studying, making new friends, hanging out with old friends, and babysitting. Oh, to be a freshman in high school again. Yes, she does have a curfew. Amber, 11, started middle school this past fall in the sixth grade, is on the Student Council, takes jazz and hip-hop dance classes every week, LOVES to read books and is practicing for her role in Aladdin school musical in the spring. Talented and beautiful girls, both of them. Love them to death.

Jackson is in Russia for his mission and is proud of the decision he made and is making a difference there. We were able to talk with him on Christmas day via Skype and it was such a happy moment. We've not heard from him since he went to Russia in July. Here's a picture of us skyping with Elder Jewkes and his name tag, in Russian. Speaks for itself.


Judge is by far our growing weed and is eight going on twelve. He loves basketball, football, baseball, and soccer and is quite the athlete, not because of his height, but because of his love for sports. He reads, reads, reads, and loves playing FIFA soccer and NCAA basketball with Linc and Kelly. The boys also love to get in trouble on their bikes in the neighborhood. They have a ramp and luckily they wear their helmets when they ride over the ramp. Whew, I can't even stand to watch them!!!

Justin and I are staying busy as well with our new jobs we were both offered in 2011 with Chevron. I'm in Marketing now and travel across the country to promote our Corporate Brand and our Product Brands and help with new leads. Love it. Justin works back in Sales now as a Business Development Manager and is helping flip Distributors in the Midwest from that yucky Shell and Exxon Mobil brand back to Chevron. We make sure to spend time with family when we are home, since we miss them when we are gone. And, we've found time to take trips in the past few yers to Chicago, Yellowstone, Las Vegas, Florida, and Tennesse (without kids). Thanks to my Mom and our nanny, Ashley, who help stay with and cart the kids around while we are both gone on travel! We feel blessed with everything on our plates. Hopefully this catches everyone up a bit. Will start posting some lighter day to day updates.



Love, love.