The Jones Girls

After I hired the nanny on Monday 1/5/09, I went to the YMCA and enrolled Amanda for the Mommy and Me Water Babies swimming class.   I also got a family membership because we will enjoy a lot of savings on some of the classes that Savannah and the triplets will be doing.   Savannah will be taking swimming lesions starting in February and she will also be taking a tap and ballet class as well as a gymnastic tumblers class.   The triplets will also be doing a beginner gymventures class which is like gymboree. 

I took Amanda to her first lesson on Tuesday 01/06/2009.   We were surprised to find out we were the only ones that signed up for the class so we have a private class – woo hoo!!   Amanda did so good.  She got on the paddle board and hug on while I glided her through the water.  We sang and bobbed together.  We tried getting her to blow bubbles into the water but it really scared her.   She also wouldn’t allow me to dunk her.   I let her sit on the side of the pool and i helped her jump into the water.  She really loved that.  The lifeguard took tons of pictures and video of us.   At the end of class she got to play with some fun water toys such as little boats and fishies that sprayed water.   The instructor said I could rotate the triplets so that Miranda can go next week and Maryssa the following week.   How cool is that!!  I am going to the the  Mommy and Me Water Baby Swim class for the triplets for next 3 months to help teach them the fundamentals of water safety and introduction to swimming.  I take them every Tues. and Thurs. from 9:30-10am.  

After the class, I took Amanda up to the babysitting area.  YMCA offers FREE babysitting to members.  This is a big reason why I joined!!   So from 10am-10:45am I did a water aerobics class.  Then I got dressed, picked up Amanda from babysitting, and we drove home. 

February is when Savannah will begin all of her fun classes.  I want to enjoy January just doing Mommy and Me Water Babies with the triplets and my water aerobics.  February will be super busy adding all of Savannah’s classes to the schudule!!

After being on my own without any help or a babysitter from August 1st to the beginning of January that is FIVE months – we now have a babysitter.   Her name is Lauren Grant and she attends Biola University.   I put a job posting on the Biola Website and I have had a few interviews.   She has good experience and is nice.  She will be working Tues. and Thurs. mornings from 9:15-11:15am.

I have been so busy during the Holidays I wasn’t able to post what we have been up to in December.  So here is what we did for the Holidays:

On Tues. 12/17/08 I bundled up the girls in their warmest, footed PJ’s and packed them up in the car.  We were going for an evening adventure to see Christmas lights!!  I drove them to this incredible neighborhood in Brea where for blocks and blocks residents have spectacular lights decorating the front of their homes.  It truly looked magical.  The girls “oohed and awwed”.   I had Christmas music going in the car and we sang and pointed out their favorite Christmas Hero “Rudolph” every time they saw him.  It was so fun.   They fell asleep in the car on the drive home and we tucked them in tightly to bed.

On Thursday, 12/18/08, it was Savannah’s Christmas Party at Preschool.   I took her sisters to her classroom and Savannah was so happy to have all of us with her at their Classroom Christmas party.    We gave out McDonald’s Gift Certificated to all of the kids and  the teachers got my famous homemade banana nut bread with McDonald’s Gift Certificates.  Savannah got some really cute and nice Christmas presents from her teacher and her classmates.

That same day on Thursday we attended another Christmas party with the La Habra Mom’s club.  That afternoon I baked brownies, wrapped a present for each of the girls for Santa to give them for the La Habra Mom’s Club Christmas party.   We were going to originally have the party at the park, but the weather was very cold so we had it at Crossroads Church which is where we have our monthly meetings.   Santa showed up and each child got to sit on his lap and tell Santa what he or she wanted for Christmas and then a photo was taken of them with Santa.   We had some nice group photos taken with all of the kids and Santa.    There were balloons all over the place for the kids to play with.  It was a lot of fun to be with my friends and see all of our kiddos play together.

Friday, 12/19/08 I went to a really fun Mom’s Night Out with my La Habra Mom’s Club.   We each brought yummy goodies to eat and drink.  We did a white elephant exchange.   A lot of the women seemed to like the present I brought which was a nice Christmas centerpiece and a pound of Sees Chocolate Candy.  The Sees was donated by Cliff as his customer is Sees Candy and they gave it to him for Christmas.     The present I picked was a really cute over the shoulder bag that works great for an incognito diaper bag – very chic!!    After we did presents, we watched a really great movie called Love Always.  What a great movie that was.   The party wrapped up at 1:00am in the morning – woo hoo!!

Saturday, 12/20/2008 Cliff and I took the girls to the Brea Mall to get pictures with Santa.   They sat on his lap and Savvy gave her wish list to him.   Then they each received a hug and a lollipop.  There was a treat for the kids also.   They had a person there making balloon figures and he made each girl gigantic candy canes made out of the balloons.   Then we went to have lunch at the Food Court in the Mall.   We had a great time.

On Monday 12/22/2008 I hosted a Christmas Crafts Playdate at our house for my La Habra Mom’s Club.   We made Jingle Bell necklaces and picture ornaments for the Christmas Tree.   Then we had snacks and lunch.   It lasted from about 10:30-3:00pm.   The kids all had fun, and so did the moms!!

On Wednesday, Christmas Eve, 12/24/2008 we were supposed to go to Cliff’s Christmas party at Numatic Engineering.  Cliff was really sick and we decided to stay home.  It was a cold and rainy day, perfect for all of us to stay in and snuggle up together.    I spent the evening in the middle of the night while the girls were sleeping, wrapping all of the presents, stuffing the Christmas stockings and putting out Santa’s cookies and Rudolph’s carrot.   It took me almost 4 hours!!

On Thursday, Christmas Day, the girls woke and ran into our room.   They were excited to see what Santa had brought them.  So I changed all of their diapers, Cliff and I took a shower and then we all went out to see what Santa had brought them.    It was so fun to see their eyes gleaming and they were all screaming with delight.    They got REAL guitars, Savannah got her skates, they each got 3 outfits, they each got 2 sets of Tinkerbell and Ariel towels that had blinking lights, Savannah got her Mickey Mouse Bath Towel that she was wishing for and telling Santa that she really wanted, the triplets got a Little Mermaid Ariel Kitchen, they got puzzles, Legos and a Little People Playhouse.     It wasn’t a hugely extravagant Christmas, but it was just perfect and just right. for the girls   We paid cash for everything so it is nice not to have a credit card bill for the presents this year. 

Christmas dinner was very nice.  My brothers, Ron and Rob came as well as Ron’s roommate, Bob.  I made Rob’s favorite – my homemade spinach and artichoke dip with sourdough bread and shrimp cocktail.    I made a Prime Rib, baked potatoes, corn, croissants and chocolate cake for dessert.    They seemed to really enjoy the meal.    It was a very nice evening with my brothers.

On Friday, 12/26/2008, my dad and my step mom came over to spend the weekend with us.  We went to JCPenney’s and had family portraits done.  Then we went to dinner at Bobby McGee’s in Brea.    We had a blast at dinner.  They gave us a private room, had the table set up for the girls with crayons and coloring books and made this impressive balloon masterpiece that the girls played with through the whole dinner.   Dinner was very good.    We had a very nice time.  

On Saturday 12/27/2008 I took my dad and step mom shopping.  We spent the afternoon together and went to a few stores and my dad purchased some shoes at Sears.    Rob came over and we enjoyed a nice chicken dinner together and had quality family time.  Rob spent the night as well as dad and Fran.  

On Sunday 12/28/2008 We all had a nice breakfast together and dad and Fran left at about 10:30am to drive home to Mountain View, CA which is near San Jose and about a half hour away from San Francisco.  I had a nice bbq steak lunch for Rob and us.  Rob was here till about 3pm and then he went home.

On New Year’s Eve we took the girls to Downtown Fullerton.   I had it all planned out.  I put the triplets and Savvy down for a late nap at 4:30 and they slept till about 6pm.  Then I woke them up, got them dressed and bundled up.  I packed some of their favorite munchies to eat while we were out.  We planned to meet our friends, Victoria, Joe and their girls Sophia and Julianna met us there.   Downtown Fullerton is a really neat place to visit on New Year’s Eve for families.  They have lots of fun family things to do such as Ice Skating, live entertainment kiddie rides and good food.   The girls went on a fun ride.  I surprised them with fun blinking starts that they could wear around their neck.  Then Cliff got a bite to eat and I ran into a good friend of ours, Jody and her daughter Amanda.   We then went to listen to some live music.    At about 10:30 it was getting very cold and late for all of us so we packed it up and got home at about 11pm.    The girls crashed out on the ride home and we tucked them into their beds.  Cliff and I rang in the New Year together.  It was a really nice and fun New Year’s Eve.

Last year we received our Quad stroller through a wonderful organization called United Cerebral Palsy (UCP).   They put our little Amanda on their Christmas Tree to be “adopted” by a family for Christmas.  A family “adopted” Amanda and gave us the quad stroller for Christmas.   I was so touched both spirtually and emotionally.

So this year I wanted, actually, Cliff and I NEEDED to give back.    I contacted the Director of UCP of Orange County and told her we wanted to adopt a child and her family for Christmas.   There was a 13 month old little girl and her mom and dad who was on the UCP’s Christmas Tree to be Adopted.  So that was our special little girl that was our true meaning for Christmas this year. 

I took Mom and we galavanted off to spend the afternoon shopping on Sunday afternoon.  She and I really had a wonderful time together.  I felt like Mrs. Clause checking off all of the items on the “wish list” for this precious little girl and her parents.   To be honest, I really had no idea how we could afford it.  I truly felt God’s love in my heart and I just knew it was the right thing to do.   I figured if it took me a year to pay off the credit card bill, then that is what I would do for this special family.  Cliff felt the same way I did.

Well a really neat miracle happened.  This is where The Lord and his Divine Intervention comes in.   When Mom and I got home from shopping, Cliff told me that he was receiving a Christmas bonus and it was enough to cover the Christmas presents that I purchased for the family.   I had the biggest, happiest smile along with grateful tears running down my cheeks.   I just knew this was God’s work.   Praise The Lord!!  

The next morning I wrapped all of the presents.  I wrote on each present “God Loves You”.  These presents really weren’t from me, they were from The Lord.   Praise Jesus!!   I contacted UCP and told them the presents were all ready.   Coincidently, our adopted family’s caseworker with UCP was visiting the famly that day.  She stopped by my house and picked up all of the presents and took them to the family’s house.   So this was another little Blessing.   I would have had to drive baout 3 hours total driving time to drop the presents off so this was truly a Godsend for me.

I truly see the signs that God gives me in subtle ways and sometimes in big ways.  

Merry Christmas!!

Sorry  I haven’t posted in a while.   On December 12th we met up with our very dear friend and spent the day with him at Disneyland.  Disneyland was decorated beautifully for the Holidays.   The girls had a blast.   They triplets went on the Nemo ride for their first time.   Cliff and I also took the triplets on their first ride on the Astro Rocket ride in Tomorrowland.    We took the girls to Toon Town and they got to spend some time with Mickey Mouse at his house.    Micky picked Maryssa up and she fell right asleep in his arms.  It was precious.  I swore I heard Mickey say “aww” in his costume (too funny).  The girls also met Minnie Mouse in Toon Town.   We got lots of pictures of them meeting Mickey and Minnie. 

We all had lunch in Toon Town.   We took everyone to dinner at The Plaza Inn.  We lucked out and a realy nice waiter got us prime seating for dinner.  It was really great. 

The highlight for the girls was watching Fantasmic.  Cliff has been showing them the show for a couple of weeks before we went to Disneyland.  So they were all pumped up and excited to watch Fantasmic.   They loved it.  Then there were beautiful fireworks afterwards. 

The weather was perfect.  We had a perfect day at Disneyland!!