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.

Loving Life at the Beach!

Well, we arrived to Destin, FLA in one piece... all 8 of us! We ran into some traffic, some rain, and more than one unexpected potty break (whew), but eventually arrived mid-day excited to see sand and crystal green ocean waves hitting the white sandy beaches. So beautiful. The kids were surprised at how pretty it was at first sight, and ripped into their suitcases as soon as we moved our luggage into our house to get their suits on. Here are some pics of the week so far... we went to the Crab Trap, ate some great seafood, took lots of pics, played on the beach, lost Judge on the beach - the lifeguards found him, and all has been crazy and wonderful.
More to post later. Love everyone.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Justin and I are looking forward to our weekend with the boys. We are celebrating Judge's 6th and have a weekend packed full of fun - eating birthday cake, seeing Star Trek, a Cook-out, playing outside, riding bikes, and just relaxing!

We are slowly but surely working on our new house, taking one room at a time. Excited to host Thanksgiving in the fall for the family and am having fun picking out new furniture!

Lincoln is wrapping up his Kindergarten year and got accepted into the Advanced Program for 1st - 3rd grade. Soccer ends soon too, so a summer of swimming and YMCA camp is around the corner.

Our next big adventure as a family will be driving to Florida on 6/15 for a week with all of the kiddos! We will post pics when we get back.

Love to all.

Eat. Drink. Be Merry.

Spring is Here!

C&J in the Arch.

So, it's been a while! Hi! Justin and I have settled down in our new home together and have plenty of room for our kids now. It is the perfect house in the perfect subdivision and we absolutely adore it. We are excited to spend many, many happy years making this our home. It happened quick, with the sell of my house and the purchase of this house all within 30 days. We managed well and are taking it one box at a time. Although, it's spring, and I'm ready to just start working on the landscaping since there is none in our yard. Cheers!

We are looking forward to what spring and summer will bring. Lincoln is doing well in Kindergarten. He's passing his AR (advanced reading) quizzes with flying colors and blazing through books like a champ. He finished his basketball season with Upward and is gearing up for Spring Soccer through the NE YMCA. He's taking a piano lesson on Saturdays too, but not sure he's as excited about this as he is soccer. Always fun. Kelly is growing like a weed and ready to be like his big bro. He loves his Daddy J and walks around repeating a lot of things that Big J says! It is the cutest. Of course, Justin calls the little guy "Whoopin boy" and "pigeon" because, well, he's getting his whoopins for being sassy and then always asks for "1 mo minute" before bedtime!!. ; ) Not sure why, but Kelly's got a Jersey accent. Wata (Water), Paypa (Paper)...too sweet to my ears when he's chatting & singing.

Our new home.


I found an easter egg and I'm going to open it right now!


The Fam.

Life is CRaZy!

Justin & I at Light the Night for Preston - he's doing well recovering from his Bone Marrow Transplant.


Linc & Kelly on Halloween!


October has been a busy month with both Justin and I getting settled as a cute married couple, moving him out of his apartment, and then battling overtime at work due to some extra things on our plates from the Hurricane having hit one of our major supply points. Justin - you are doing so awesome picking up the slack for the plant. You deserve the best for all of the hard work you've been doing! (yes, I am biased and love my dear husband). The boys are swell. Linc is reading books and in the Accelerated Reader program and Kelly, well, he's a sassy little booger and having to learn some things the hard way these days. He's definitely confident in his decisions, and I love that about him. Justin and I are now members of Facebook, so look for us out there. Not much else. Just dying to go running in the cold once winter comes. Houston & Darra - stay strong, we love you.

So Happy!

Just a quick blog today to let all my loved ones know we are back from our wonderful honeymoon in Hawaii. Justin kept our trip a secret up until the day of our wedding, but hinted I would need to pack little beach clothes and swim gear, so I was ready! He is spoiling me and loving me hard, and I love him hard back for all he is and does! The wedding was beautiful, our 6 kids were as cute as ever and little angels during and after the ceremony, and the small celebration was perfect. It was amazing to finally meet many of Justin's family members and I cherish each first moment with them all. Justin, thank you for making it perfect, I love you.
We are a bit busy now with Hurricane Ike creeping up to Louisville and knocking power out in many homes, with now only over 100,000 homes to go....mine included. Work provided a generator to at least give some relief with food in the kitchen and to do some laundry or whatever, but I am anxious to be back in the full swing of things and COOK my NEW HUSBAND dinner in my kitchen!! Through all things we become closer and stronger. I love ya'll and hope to see you soon. HB & DJ - you are strong and your strength provides energy and hope to everyone around you, making it all flow so perfectly. As always, thinking of you...