Origins of Stuff

Have you ever wondered where stuff comes from? "What stuff?", you may ask. After many years of careful observation and study, I'm convinced the "what" is irrelevant. My studies have determined "stuff" refers to any group of objects that you inexplicably have too much of. In the case of today's commentary, I refer to clothes. Specifically children's clothing.

Over the past several days, Cindy has been going through the clothing that our children have outgrown. You should see the kitchen and dining room. The stove is still clear, but every other conceivable surface is covered. The counters are full. The dining room table has disappeared. The floors have morphed into a strange maze of boxes. I went to make a glass of tea, and emerged three hours later, having become lost in the plethora of garments. This is just the 6-18 month sizes. God help us when she tackles the larger pieces.

Many years ago, my Dad offered this theory... In the dark of night, or simple hours of quietness, when no one is home, the "stuff" comes to life. It then moves from room to room, fertilizing the other stuff. After this frenzy of propagation is completed, it takes only hours for the new "stuff" to emerge. I am beginning to believe his theory may have valid foundations.

This new found life form must also be intelligent, as items I am specifically searching for find unique ways to remain hidden, only to be found after a replacement has been purchased. Many times I have placed something in a certain location so it can easily be located when needed, only to have it move unaided to another place. Maybe there are some time space continuum accesses available to these life forms. I even set up a night vision camera to catch these after hour activities, but their intelligence and awareness enabled them to move about undetected by my high tech surveillance.

Whatever the cause of such strange activities, we will continue to combat this tribble like phenomenon in what ever ways we can. Please remember us kindly should we ever loose this battle, and fail to emerge from our house one afternoon.

Birthday Boy

Today Mark turned 8. I can't believe that my first baby is now 8 years old. Well lets see eight years ago my labor started on Sunday night (Jan.7th) at 6PM right when church started. They were already 5 minutes apart but I didn't tell George until we were headed to dinner. We ate Mexican food that night and I ordered a big burrito supreme. After dinner we went to my parents house until 9PM. George kept asking me every few minutes if I was still having contractions. Well after we got home that night he finally made me call the doctor. When I talked to the doctor he didn't believe I was in labor because I wasn't in a lot of pain but he told me to go to the hospital for observation. Once at Brookwood, George asked me if I wanted him to drop me off at labor and delivery and I told him no that I would walk from the parking deck. The nurse hooked me up to the monitors and said "Wow you are in labor. I can't believe you just walked all the way from the parking deck." The nurses tried to stay out of my room as much as possible because we had the air conditioning on. We didn't see the doctor until 7 the next morning when he broke my water.

We welcomed our first baby at 1:25PM weighing 8 pounds 12 ounces.

Twins

Today my babies turned 2. I can't believe that it has been two years since I had my little bundles of joy. All morning I have been thinking about what happened the day they were born. I had been on bed rest since the week before Christmas and let me tell you that is not fun. I started having contractions 2 days before but they would get to every 5 minutes then stop, so every time I called George at work he would ask me "Is it time?" Well when he got home from work that afternoon he asked me if I was still having contractions and I told him that I was. He informed me that if I was still having them in 30 minutes he was calling the doctor. He ended up calling the doctor at 5:30 PM and by 6 PM we were headed to the hospital to be checked. When we got there I was already dilated to 5. My doctor came in to talk to me about having a c-section and I told him I didn't want one so we decided to see where the babies were positioned. Elizabeth was head down but John was turned sideways up in my ribs. I called Joscelyn around 8:30PM crying because I had to have a c-section. She told me that everything would be OK and that there was nothing to a c-section. Needless to say I cried the whole time I was in the operating room.

At 9:12PM we welcomed Elizabeth weighing 6 pounds 4 ounces and John at 9:14PM weighing 6 pounds 9 ounces.

Christmas with Grandma

Friday we packed up all the kids and headed to Grandma's. The kids complained more this trip then I think they ever have. The funny thing is they can ride for 12 hours going to Texas and not complain that much. We made it to Grandma's house around 6:30 that night and the kids got to open their gifts. Elizabeth was so excited that Uncle Daniel gave her an Elmo. She kept walking around saying, " I got Elmo". It was so cute.

Saturday we decided to visit the rest of the family. They all live with in walking distance of Grandma's. Several had gone out of town or were heading out the next day so we decided to take the kids to the park in Foley. Every year at the park they set up a Christmas village with a HUGE Christmas tree and little houses to look in.

The kids had a great time going from house to house looking in the windows. After a fun afternoon we went back to Grandma's where the twins had fun running around her house.

Christmas

Christmas Eve I took Mark & Caitlin over to my friend Jennifer's house. The kids had a great time playing and making crafts with Morgan. We ended up making 4 crafts that day. When we got home the kids made sure that Daddy had the Santa tracker up on his computer. They even went to bed early so that Santa could come.









Christmas day I was awakened by George telling me that the big kids were bouncing at the top of the stairs wanting to go down and open presents. We only let them play with Santa's gifts while waiting on my parents to arrive. As usual my Dad fixed his yummy cream sauce. After breakfast the kids enjoyed opening their presents under the tree. This year we cut back on how many gifts they received but the kids didn't mind.


We stayed home all day and enjoyed a nice lunch of finger foods. We decided to keep it simple since we were headed out of town on Friday.

Holiday Happenings

Since I haven't updated since Tuesday I thought I would catch you up on what has been happening with the Jones Clan.

Wednesday was Caitlin's class Christmas party at school. I missed most of it because I had to take the twins to the doctor.(Both have ear infections) They had pizza and cupcakes for lunch, then exchanged gifts which were books they brought. Mrs. Laney and Mrs. Holt gave each child a teddy bear. After the party she was able to leave with me. That night we decided to take a group picture of the kids for our Christmas cards. Let me tell that was a chore all on its own. John was not a happy camper but you wouldn't be able to tell by how the picture turned out.

Thursday night was the Christmas program at Caitlin's school. Mrs. Audrey had all the girls dressed as angels and the boys as shepherds. My big girl had two solos. One was "Silent Night" and the other was "Chatter with the Angels". It may be just me but I think my baby did an excellent job on both.

Friday was Caitlin's last day of school before Christmas so they had a pajama party. Caitlin looked so cute in her ballerina pajamas with matching house shoes and headband.

Saturday Elsie, one of my best friends, agreed to keep the kids while George and I finished our Christmas shopping. It was crazy in Wal-Mart but when we got to the registers we were able to check right out. After shopping we went back to Elsie's so George could work on her computer and I could catch up some with her.

Sunday we had a beautiful Candle light service.

Dance

Tonight was Caitlin's last day of dance until January. The girls practiced for a few minutes with Mrs. Shalita and Ms. Holly before the parents were called in to watch the girls dance. I was very amazed at how well they did after only a few months of lessons. My little ballerina made me so proud to watch her. I can't wait to see the recital in May. Thanks Mrs. Shalita and Ms. Holly for all your hard work.