Our most precious gifts

Photos taken by my artistic mother, Lynne A. Venable

Our Very Merry Christmas

The holiday frenzy begins!

I am taking a break from trying to figure out why this week has become so crazy busy and how I will accomplish everything on my list. One of many lists. This after just cleaning up a granola bar that seemed to have exploded in the living room. Wise woman say, "Never leave your toddler alone with oatmeal raisin granola bar!"

So, I feel like I've finally got the 3-kids thing down. I'm not looking forward to potty-training Spencer or starting Jason on solid foods, but that's life! I'm trying to enjoy the ride.

Not much news. Thanksgiving was great! Jonathan is taking off from December 12th through January 5th for a nice long holiday vacation and I can HARDLY WAIT!

Trunk-or-Treat, Robot and Lion Costumes

Here are photos from last night at our The Colony 2nd Ward Trunk-or-Treat and Chili Cook-off, I took 2nd place with my White Chicken Chili. David's robot costume was a huge hit, and Spencer had a lot of fun in the bounce house--he is a very brave lion! I, um, sortof didn't take any photos of Jason last night. He wasn't in his Tigger costume, but I will do so today (Halloween)!

Spencer's Wake - Part 1

So, here I would like to show a photo of Spencer's typical daily mayhem. I walked into the kitchen and found THIS! I decided to grab the camera, which was near me, and show you all what happens when I walk out of the room for 2 minutes. He is fearless and bold and EXHAUSTING!



We have had to put up all of the stools in the house so that Spencer can't reach even more things, but we have found him standing on his box of blocks, box of Legos, his toy tank, and even in Jason's bouncy-seat.

Funny quotes from The Boys

Last week, David came out of the bathroom before school and said, "Mommy, my hair looks like sad plants. It looks like plants when they don't get enough water drooping down." (I had spritzed his now curl-less hair down toward his face like George Clooney on ER.)

Tonight at bedtime David said, "Mommy, tomorrow I want to take Spencer to school with me." (They miss playing with each other on Mondays when David goes back to school.)

Spencer is in love with his Cowboys hat, and his new (David's castoffs) Cars pajamas. Yesterday, he spent all day wearing both. Spencer is speaking in short sentences now, and has recently become enamored with the terms, "Go Cowboys" and "Yee-haw!"

When Jason is fussing Spencer will come and alert me, and/or insert a pacifier into Jason's mouth--not necessarily right side up, but it does calm Jason down.

Jason has been smiling now for the last couple of weeks, and Angela has heard him laugh.

Good times.

(Note: the woman in these photos is my sister-in-law, Angela or "Amazing Aunt Angela")

My sweet baby, Jason

Photos taken by Audrey

David's First Day of Kindergarten!

The lunch was packed, the backpack on, and the humidity ever present.  (Hence the foggy lens)  

David was so excited for his first day of school.  We were worried about whether or not he would get on the bus, but he was excited for the adventure and had no problem climbing aboard.

Immediately after the bus left, Jonathan and I drove to the elementary school and waited to meet him there and take him to class.

He was so excited when he came home and told us about his wonderful day.  He was especially excited about the computers and the play kitchen in his classroom.  Eating his own special lunch was also a highlight.

Jason's Blessing

We were able to bless Jason at our home when both set of grandparents could be in attendance.  Thank you to all of our friends who were there with us!  And, for the prayers and well-wishes of our family and friends who were far away.

Jason Jonathan Stone is born!

His first week was a bit traumatic, but after 7 days in the NICU we were able to bring Jason home!

7th Anniversary

It has been seven years!  This is a photo from Saturday, July 26th, before we had our Anniversary date (I took a break from bed rest).  We went to dinner then saw, "Dark Knight," the batman movie, which we liked, even though it was dark.

24 day to deliverance!

I am so HUGE!!! I will have Jonathan take a picture later to show off. Only 24 days until the birth of our 3rd son! I have to have c-sections, so I actually get to know the birth date (August 5th). I've never been so excited to go to the hospital. Well, ask me again in a couple of weeks and I will probably be even more excited. The excitement level rises with the level of pregnancy misery. Sleeping is almost impossible! I feel like one of the guardians of the 5th element (for those of you who have seen the movie "Fifth Element"). I'm large and slow and I rock from side to side when I walk. I recently gave up on trying not to waddle.

Spencer is 2!

Spencer's first Time Out

Yesterday, at the end of dinner, Spencer started pulling something out of a kitchen cabinet that he shouldn't have...
"Spencer, put it back." I said. He looked up at me with an impish grin and twinkling (yes, twinkling) eyes.
"No," he smiled even broader. I commanded him again and received the same response.
I then turned to Jonathan who was sitting next to me at the table. "Look, look at that, his cute little defiance."
Jonathan, in a now deepened and authoritative Dad voice, "Spencer, put that back." Spencer said no again, and added some defiant hand gestures. Jonathan then stood up, walked over to Spencer, and directed him to sit down against the wall. As he carried Spencer past me, he half smiled and whispered, "Will this work?" I gave him the parenting look of 'I have no idea, but good luck trying, glad its not me, hee hee.'
Jonathan sat him down, "Spencer, stay there, you're in Time Out."
Spencer sat there for a few stunned seconds then burst into tears. I had to cover my smiling mouth, it was so cute. After about a minute, he looked over at me, with his eyes still streaming giant tears.
"Come here, Spencer." I said in my most loving voice. After he walked over, I looked him in the eyes and said, "You have to put things back." He nodded his head, put his thumb in his mouth, and was consoled.
Hopefully, he'll remember next time? I wish I had taken a picture.

Happy 30th, Jonathan Stone!

Erekson Family Reunion

We stayed at the Moose Hollow condos in Eden, Utah. Unfortunately, I only really took photos of the relay races that we had while we were there. Oh, well! Here they are.

Family Photos 2008

Having family photos taken is always such an ordeal, but its worth it in the end. Here are the latest photos:

Forth Worth Zoo

On April 30th, I took the boys to the Fort Worth Zoo. My sister, Stacey, and her children, Dallin and Emily, were with us. It is an awesome zoo, and I look forward to going back in the fall when Jonathan can come, too! Here are some pics:

So, it's been a while!

Since arriving in Texas, I have fallen a wee bit behind in blogging our lives. I won't bother trying to catch up, but here are the hightlights...

We LOVE Texas! The weather here is very changeable, but that's part of the fun. We moved into our house on November 9th. We found out we are expecting our 3rd child, which will be a man-child, and will be born on August 5th around 7:45am (I'm good!). We spent Christmas in Hawaii with the extended Stone family. I survived my first trimester of this pregnancy, David had his 5th birthday, I (Audrey) had a birthday, too. Jonathan's sister, Angela, came and lived with us from Jan-April (which was wonderful).

I have learned a bit about weeding, fertilizing lawns, and plumbing. I have seen a live armadillo crossing a road near our house, and we periodically hear large owls hooting in the night. (Our neighborhood is next to a lakeside wild area that will never be developed.) I have seen two very tiny scorpions--in the first few days that we moved into our new house--but, we had pest control come the day we moved in and regularly since, and we haven't seen any nasty bugs in our house thereafter.

Jonathan has good days and not so good days in his new job, but he still enjoys the work. In his very spare spare time he plays with our boys, and plays X-Box. If he doesn't return your emails he will get to it in a few years when there is more spare time. "Family First," right?!

Jonathan's current church calling is as the Ward Financial Clerk, and I am the Primary President. Our Sundays are not exactly days of rest, but we enjoy serving where we can, especially since we are so overwhelmingly blessed.

I (Audrey) talk a lot about what I want to do, projects, hobbies, etc, but I seem to never quite get around to doing them. In this pregnancy I have been more tired than I ever remember being. I have been reading a lot, and making new friends here in Texas. People really seem to be friendlier here.

David is 5 years old now. He has become very imaginative, and although he can now read 3-4 letter words, he loves to open books up and then make up the stories based on the pictures as he turns the pages. David plays very well with his younger brother, and misses him during Spencer's naptime. He is very helpful to me, and tries to take care of Spencer, too.

Spencer will be 2 years old in July. He is 90th percentile in height and looks to be built like a Scottish highland warrior. He is into everything and has earned the nicknames "Danger Boy" and (though he is learning new words every day and short sentences) I still like to call him "Mumbo Joe".

We don't know much about baby boy #3 who is -3 months old except that he enjoys kick-boxing in-utero. Not gettin' much sleep, I can tell you that!

We have summer plans to be in Utah from June 11th - June 22nd, so if you're going to be there during that time, send me an email and we'll try to get together. For more photos of our family, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/jrstonehenge