Crazy City.

So, the first date of the New Year happened for me on January 2, 2010. Not bad, only 2 days in.

My little nephew Jacob marched over to me and said "Auntie Ali, I would like to go to lunch, just you and me." To which I replied, "Jacob, are you asking me on a date?!?" Bemused, he said "Um, no. I just want you to take me out to lunch all by myself without anyone else!" "Sounds like a date to me," I said, as I winked at him. A few days later, he jumped on my bed, a lot earlier than I would have liked, given I was on vacation. And, in his little hands was this beauty:



Isn’t this super darling!?! My favorite part is the part where our date requires us to go to the mall! This is a guy I could get into... (well, if he wasn't 6 years old and my nephew, that is).

We packed up the car to go on our date. Julie was getting Jacob all buckled into his booster seat. She says to him "have fun on your date" as she winks at me. He rolled his eyes. And, I said "he asked and planned and we're partnered off, looks like this is really a date." Julie then said "Jacob, if this is really a date, you would have to pay, you know. You do have some money in your piggy bank. Do you want me to go get it?" Jacob got all disgruntle, "no way, I am not a grown-up and I do not have to pay. Auntie Ali can you PLEASE buy me lunch and take me to crazy city?!?"

Well, the kid is irresistible, as you can see. So, we spent the day eating chicken strips with curly fries, and then went to Crazy City, where I almost puked on the carnival rides that I had to pay for with my own hard earned money.





It was all worth it. Because, I am not going to lie, this MAY have been one of my best dates ever!

Inaugural Photos

Hi, everyone! My kids are chomping at the bit to have their photos published for all the world to see. Olivia in particular is ready to string me up by my toenails if I don't get on this, so I'm quickly throwing a few recent photos on here to appease her, Chloe, and Ethan. It's true: the inmates are running the asylum.

This first batch shows off Chloe's and Olivia's haircuts, which they got during Christmas vacation. They wanted to show up at school in January with their sleek new bobs to surprise all their friends. Following in their cousin Haley's footsteps, they have been growing their hair for a couple of years to donate to Locks of Love. It took a while, but it was finally long enough to get ten inches chopped off.

So here's a before shot:

And some after shots (doesn't Chloe look like Anna Wintour, with the bangs? she just needs a huge pair of sunglasses):

 

Plus one of all three kids:

In other news, we had our first-ever white Christmas since moving to Texas. It snowed, like REALLY snowed, on December 24. It went on for hours and hours, and not just the piddly little flurries we get every once in a while. It was an actual snowstorm. Unfortunately, I didn't have the foresight to take a picture of this historic event (according to Papa, the font of all trivia, the last white Christmas in Texas was in 1926) until the following afternoon, after much of the snow had melted. So this picture doesn't do it justice, but hey, at least Olivia was still able to eke out a small snowman:

Finally, a few random photos. Here's Olivia with the go-cart she won in the Texas State Reading Bee back in November:

 

And here a couple of shots from our annual Christmas-cookie-decorating marathon with Meme. My kids now hold her to it every Christmas, especially Chloe, who is deeply committed to anything that even remotely resembles a family tradition.

 

That's all for now. I should sleep well tonight now that I have Olivia off my back. Please post your own photos, updates, and/or comments as soon as you can. We're not picky; we'll take anything. We love you!

The Jones Family