Christmas Activities

Thanksgiving was great! We had a long weekend to spend with family, and even snuck away for a date night for ourselves. Henry jumped from house to house and did wonderfully! I feel like I am moving right along to Christmas, but that is how its been. Thanksgiving has come and gone and now Christmas is in full force. I usually get into the Christmas spirit right away, but this year it has taken me awhile. After the Bluffton parade this weekend, decorating the house, and a day of crafts with Henry I feel more in the mood. This year I am definitely taking time to enjoy the "true" meaning of Christmas. I can't wait to share with Henry the best present of all- the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. Here are some pictures of the Jones family getting into the spirit of the holidays.


Finding a spot at the Bluffton Christmas Parade.


Henry and Daddy watching the parade.


The cutest one at the parade.


His first candy cane (with wrapper on)



Mommy and Henry.


Having fun after the parade. Some pirate put this necklace on him-he loved it!


Can't leave without seeing Santa.


Decorating...


Henry's first stocking. Thank you Aunt Leslie!


Arts and Crafts! Jeff always laughs when I tell him we're doing arts and crafts. I thought they turned out pretty cute! It's amazing what you can do when you put him in a high chair with a spoon and a handful of goldfish!

Citadel Homecoming

We had a great time at the Citadel Homecoming game last weekend. We were able to see family we hadn't seen in a while, tailgate, and catch up with old friends. Henry loved being outside and watching his older cousins. I only wished we had gotten there earlier to go to the parade and take pictures on the campus. I'm sure there will be a next time... Thanks to Katie for taking pictures for me!


You can bring all the toys in the world, and they will always love what is just laying around. No he did not eat the bag of chips, he just liked the sound the bag made.


Dylan and Tyler watching movies. We never got a picture of Molly...she must have been on the go.


Catching up with Jennifer.


Rick and Katie with Henry.


The littliest Bulldog!

Catch Up

Sorry it's been so long. We have been very busy getting into a routine, traveling, and attending get-togethers. I wanted to share some of my favorite pics from Halloween and our recent trip to Greenville. We went to visit my friend Heather,and stopped in Sumter on the way. While we were in Greenville, Henry had his first zoo trip! I'll try to do better posting, but I hope this catches you up!


Henry the Monkey!


My three favorite boys!


Sitting up at a big boy table!


The background at the zoo. I love fall!
Heather, Henry, and Me at the zoo. I think Henry was more into the leaves rustling on the ground.

Half way through the zoo, we were already worn out!

Our First 5k

Henry and I ran our first 5K race this weekend. It was during the Bluffton Seafood Festival and the route ran through downtown Bluffton (where we used to live when we first moved here). We have been running a couple of months now (when I say we, I mean me pushing Henry in the stroller). And when I say running I mean a little faster than a fast walk. I know this is not such a big deal to the many Jones' who run amazing lengths marathon after marathon, but It was the first time I have ever competed running in a race, and I was pretty proud of myself. I will say that we did have a very supportive daddy that got up early with us to help us get ready. The pictures he took on the other hand are not the most professional, but I did find out later that he happened to be standing in an ant pile while waiting, so I guess you can't get too upset. We all had a great time, and it was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning.








This is our neighbor, Jenn. She has a little girl, Darcy that is 3 days younger than Henry. Jenn won first place in our age group!

Pumpkin Patch

Our friend Amanda and her son Harper invited Henry and I to a moms group outing that was visiting a local pumpkin patch. It was so cute! There was so much for kids to do there. They had a bounce house, farm animals, tractor races, hay mazes, and hayrides. Both of our kids are younger so we couldn't do everything, but it was such a nice day, and we enjoyed being outside...not to mention the cute pics we got. We did take advantage of showing them the animals and taking the hayride to the pumpkin patch. Next year will be a whole other story! (By the way I almost wrote whole nother story, until I realized nother was not a word...maybe just to southerners!)


So much fun to take pictures of!

Lovin' Fall

We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head outdoors!


Henry is very aware of textures, and loved playing with the grass more than anything!



Trying to figure out the swing.

We are enjoying the Fall weather, and are glad to get outside! It's amazing how a change in climate can put you in such a great mood!

Thankful

Sorry for being so MIA, but time is an issue these days. It's so funny how when times are bad (you know what I mean, with everything going on) you appreciate the things you should a lot more. Staying at home, and trying to save money, can get a little wearing, but just when you think you can't stroll around the block another time, Henry becomes more and more entertaining. He is a funny kid. There will be times throughout the day when I say something to him, like he completely understands me of course, and he just looks and me and laughs! I love that! I love how he hangs on your every word one minute, and then is too busy the next (trying to get into something he shouldn't) and choses to ignore you the next! How do they understand this so young? But, he is a true blessing, and I would not trade the time I spend with him for the world! Sorry just wanted to go off for a minute, on the appreciation of what is truly important.

By the way, our anniversary trip was great! We enjoyed the time together, and didn't talk about Henry...too much!

For some reason it's not letting me post pics, so I'll send some later!

Update

I know it has been a while, and we've done a lot in the past couple of weeks so I thought I would share some pictures to keep you in the know. Oh, and one more exciting thing....Jeff and I are celebrating our 4th Anniversary today! We are headed to Charleston this weekend (yes, without Henry) to stay at an Inn downtown, eat at a nice restaurant, and most importantly SLEEP IN! I'm sure we'll have a lot more to share when we return!

We have now mastered every vegetable. Carrots and Sweet Potatoes are his favorite! Mrs. Jones says that orange food will give him nice, tan skin. This might be his only hope, if he continues to favor his dad!

We made a birthday sign for Daddy who turned 29 on the 28th of September!

More visitors were in store for us as we traveled to Sumter this past weekend. Here is Henry with Gigi.

Aunt Leslie, who is getting very good at spoiling him!

And last, but not least, a trip to visit Memonie! She looks great, and was so happy to see Henry!

Island Playground

Today Henry and I along with my friend Kate and her daughter Amelia went to Island Playground. IP is an indoor play area with everything from blow up slides and dress up areas to a toddler room with blocks, cars, and train sets. I know it sounds silly for me to take Henry at his age to a play area you have to pay money for, but he LOVED it. Now that he is crawling and pulling himself up, that is exactly what he did on EVERYTHING! Some of his favorites as you will see in the photos were... big, colorful foam blocks, a table (just his height) with bright, harder blocks he of course liked to bang on the table(he may have gotten a little too excited with these and hit himself a few times, but he didn't seem to mind, and no one was hurt!), a big blowup thing with bright blow up animals on it, and a tunnel (he was a little skeptical to go through this at first, but after seeing me on the other side, he took a chance). This place was great, and it proved to be even better when Henry took a 2 hour nap! SUCCESS!

Henry loving this foam turtle.

Checking out the blow-up crab.

Henry and Amelia hard at work on the blocks.

One of my favorites...Making his way through the tunnel.

Mommy and Henry tired after a long morning of fun!

Pulling Up!

Henry keeps us busy non-stop. Not only is he an expert crawler now, he has mastered pulling himself up on just about everything. His balance on the other hand is not quite up to par. He may pull himself up gracefully, but letting go with one hand and getting preoccupied with something else can cause a not so graceful landing. He loves hanging out in his pack-n-play (this gives me a little relief from chasing him all over the house too) and his gently used leap frog desk(Thanks Mike, Laura, Nolan, and Carter!) Here are some of his latest achievements!

So excited about his new toy!

A side view of him standing.

Hanging out in his Pack-N-Play

I had to put this on here! We realized after our picture taking that Henry had a very full diaper (as you can probably tell in the above picture). Jeff was the lucky one to change this one, and it was pretty bad. Sorry Daddy!

10 Reasons for a Great Weekend!

10. Saving money on groceries at Wal-Mart (I've never been much of a bargain shopper, but I am getting really good at this!)
9. No traveling.
8. Watching old movies (after Jeff fell asleep I could change it from football!)
7. Henry taking long naps (or longer than usual)
6. Watching the Carolina game at a friend's house (even though they lost)
5. Watching Henry grow up as he crawls like a madman, and pulls himself up on everything. ( I will post pictures of this later)
4. Finding toys in the garage from Laura that Henry can use now. We are very thankful for older cousins with great hand me downs!
3. Coming up with clever ideas for Jeff's upcoming birthday.
2. Getting a good laugh from Rick's email of their rental car. (It reminded me of the one from the movie, "Just Married")
1. Eating lunch out on Saturday while Henry snoozed!

Oh, and one more, a great sermon on Sunday morning!

Family Time

We went to Sumter for the weekend, and made our rounds! It's amazing how fast your days go when you are visiting and catching up with family. All in one weekend we collectively visited grandparents and great grandparents, went to the mall (me, not Jeff), went hunting twice (Jeff, not me!), went to a wedding, watched the Clemson game, and had a date night, and we still didn't see Jeff's parents (they were out of town) or Memonee. They will be FIRST on our list next trip! We had a great time, but it is nice to be back in the comforts of our own home.

Henry about to eat cereal (which he is doing well with, by the way) in his big boy high chair at Mimi and DeeDee's.

Henry laughing at Granmama.

Henry listening to Ervin's stories.

Entertaining Grandma Alma and Grandpa Johnny. GiGi was here too, but there was so much going on, I didn't get a picture with her. We love you GiGi!

And then there was 2...before our date night in Columbia with Katie and Rick. My mom watched Henry while we went out. I don't know who had a better time, her or us! Thanks, Mom!