Birthday Festivities

Just thought I'd post a few pics from the big "four-one." I wanted a pie so we made a cherry pie the Sunday before the big day, which you can see in the first picture. However, the boys were looking forward to some cake and ice cream so we whipped up a quick cake too. What's a birthday without a few extra carbs? As you can see I had plenty of help in opening presents. Since Disneyland was the birthday destination we've got three shots from the Magic Kingdom. The first one of Jackson and me is in front of It's a Small World. In the last shot you can see that Disneyland gets into the swing of Christmas well before the Thanksgiving turkey is served.

Halloween Video

Better late than never I always say. Here is a video clip of trick or treating. There are a couple moments of really dark screen but for the most part there is sufficient light from people's porches to see our little trick or treaters in action.

Halloween was Happy!

What better day than Friday the 13th for looking back fondly at Halloween. Just a few stills from Halloween at the Joneses for now. I'll upload some trick or treating video once I get the files off the camera.

Hello Tooth Fairy!

Jackson lost a tooth over the weekend. It's a lower front tooth (the left mandibular lateral incisor if my dental training a la wikipedia is any good) so it's a little hard to see the gap in the picture. He was pretty excited about the tooth finally coming out, as it's been loose for weeks. He was even more excited about the bounty left by the tooth fairy. He's pretty well convinced that the tooth fairy is make believe, but that didn't dampen the appeal of cold, hard cash under the pillow in the morning. Once his younger brothers saw that Jackson was getting camera time they wanted in on the action too. Can you use photoshop to clean the living room?

Massachusetts Trip

Once again, I'm reaching back in time here. Back in August we went on a fantastic trip to western Massachusetts to visit family. These are just a few of the great shots from the trip.

The first pic was taken at a swimming hole on the Mill River. The next three shots involve a trip to the lake (more swimming ) at the Daughters of the American Revolution State Park. The final shot is of the fam in front of the obelisk at the Joseph Smith Birthplace Church Historical Site. More to come!

Fun Day at Irvine Regional Park

Just thought I'd post a few pics from a recent outing at the regional park. Duck feeding, picnicing, trac ball, swings - it was a fun day. When we drove from the pond area to the playground (it's a big park) Joseph fell asleep so that's why he's not in any swing shots. However, the one picture I've posted of him here shows him doing what he likes best - scarfing the chips. I'm afraid on that score the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Oh I've Got Five...

Dang, almost two months! I really mean to post a little more often. Well, here's something I've been wanting to put up for a while: a clip of the old Sesame Street song that inspired the title of our blog. This, along with Oscar's "I Love Trash" and Ernie's "Rubber Duckie," is an anthem of my childhood. This is old school Jim Henson genius.

Once again, we have a two year old...

I'm going out of chonological order now. Just thought I'd reach back a bit and catch up with some fun pics. This also gives me a chance to brag about Holly's ability to generate significant quantities of festive cuteness. We recently celebrated Joseph's 2nd birthday. The Elmo theme was selected by the birthday boy himself. At least we think that was what he was doing with all that pointing at the multitude of Elmo toys at Target. I don't think he actually got any of those toys (sorry kiddo, but the presents were purchased long before you pointed at the red monster), but Mommy rose to the occasion with an abundance of great, hand-crafted decor. His older brothers also rose to the occasion and played with Joseph's toys whenever their parents weren't looking. And with that, I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

First Piano Recital

Jackson had his first piano recital last night and did a great job! I've posted video of the two pieces he played. The first one was called Rockets and Sea Divers (sorry about the fuzzy video, Daddy's still learning) and the second piece was the Can-can (which unfortunately has the first few notes cut off since he started playing before I could get the camera rolling.) Noelle Buffo is his teacher and her students all played very well. Special kudos go out to the other folks from the ward who did such a great job in the recital: Dylan Hahn and Amy Petersen (Faye, we look forward to seeing you up there next time!).

On a side note (ha, ha - get it? "note"), and parental pride alert: Jackson began piano with Noelle last Fall, and as a 6 year old is her youngest student by 2-3 years. He showed amazing focus and nerves of steel (and what we thought was hesitation on his opening number was actually his patience at waiting for a cue he thought was going to come from Noelle to begin playing.)








This was such a big night for Jackson and we wanted to share it. We know there are a lot more moments from our boys' lives as of late that we'd like to post (Father's & Son's campout, Mother's Day fun, Soccer season...) but we thought we'd post this while it was still fresh. CONGRATULATIONS, JACKSON - you were awesome!!!

We're back! February Cute Shots

Well it's been too long, but we're back in the saddle. I thought a few shots of last month would be a nice way to get the family blog back in action. We had planned to go camping at Anza Borrego State Park early in the month, but heavy rains rolled in the day we were supposed to leave so we decided to camp out at home instead.

We "hiked" around the house, went cave exploring in the garage, and, of course, roasted marshmellows.

Not exactly getting back to nature, but the kids didn't seem to mind at all.