So much to catch up on...

Before I can even get to our fabulous adventures from this weekend and from Valentine's Day I figured I had better get started on the three weeks prior! February is my busiest month at work since I am in charge of state testing for ELL students. Working from home doesn't work quite as well when there is so much to be done. To help me out my sister-in-law, Jen, volunteered to bring down the boys, stay the night and take care of Jack and Emily for me so that I could get another days work in. Emily was super excited for Jake to come down and decided that I NEEDED to make them super hero capes for the big night....

View from the back...

I didn't quite finish Jake's hem but he did try it out. Maybe I will get a few picks of him today when we go up for Sunday dinner.

The kids spent most of their time that evening playing on the "camping bed."

That next weekend we decided at the last minute to join my family for a visit to Port Orchard to see my grandma and grandpa. My grandpa was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December and it is an extremely aggressive form. For 89 he is incredibly active and sharp but chemo was not an option. At this point they are giving him hormone therapy and he is reacting very well to it. There is nothing they can do to cure the cancer but the therapy buys him some time and we are all grateful for that.

Jack LOVES playing cars with his great grandpa...

Grandpa and Grandpa had bought some new comfy chairs and were excited to see Bryan and Zach. While the boys were busy putting together the chairs Jack had fun with the boxes....

Then the kids opened up some Christmas gifts...

Emily got art supplies and a stencil book while Jack got his new favorite car...a bus and a book...

While I rested inside (yes...I am still technically on best rest) Jenny and Bryan took the kids to the beach. The best part about my grandparent's house is that the ocean is literally right across the road. I stood on the deck and captured a little bit of the action...

Once Auntie Jenny and Emily got down to the beach (she took quite the fall getting there) they played and played for hours...

Then that evening my grandparents treated us to an a.m.a.z.i.n.g. dinner....

I got a little caught up in the moment when we were served our food and snatched out my camera....tacky I know...but I thought for a moment that we were eating in a TOP CHEF restaurant.

Then we headed back to Auntie Jenny's and Uncle Zach's house for the night in order to break up some driving for the day. We weren't home 10 minutes when Bryan and Zach rushed back out the door. You never know what they are up to when they get together. When they got back this is what we got...

Now I was expecting Schimdt or something nasty to come out of those bags but to all of our surprise this was the damage...

The kids had a great time hanging out as usual and Jack found a new hiding spot...

Later the next week the sun came out and I decided that I needed to get the kids outside some more. Jenny had stayed with us for a few days and had done so many fun things with the kids that I was feeling like a guilty mommmy. We started out front but the kids took off faster than I could walk so...

we headed to the back yard where I could contain them. Although the sun rarely shine back there the kids didn't seem to notice. They just played away...

Baby Jones #3 update:

Since I seem to be getting bad at returning calls and emails with updates of the pregancy I thought I would do it all right here. Last Tuesday I had some more severe symptoms (I am not going to go into them) and my sister convinced me to call my doctor. Although it was 7 in the morning she was on call and got back to me right away. She put me on complete bed rest for the day (no work, no moving, nothing...) and then I went into see her around 3:00 that afternoon. Bryan came with me to the appointment this time and that was a huge relief on my part. It was nice to have someone else asking all the questions I was just too nervous to ask myself.

I had another (my fifth) ultrasound done but this time it was to check my cervix. Everything checked out alright and we got a lot of questions answered. The membranes are still full of blood but some has disapated. The baby looks amazing and appears to have enough room. The plan for me is to continue bed rest but I am allowed to continue working as I had done before. My doctor's goal is to get us to 24 weeks and then plan B begins. Having a time line and knowing what steps we will be taking at each point is helpful for someone like me.

We have another ultra sound at 22 weeks so maybe there will be another update at that time. For now we are just thankful for the last 20 weeks and pray that there will be many more to come.