A Year in Pictures

I've been working diligently on our giant, yearly photo book the last few days and it inspired me to make a blog post about this year, something I don't usually do, but I guess I'm feeling reflective! It's just so amazing to see how much the kids have grown this year. Leo is pretty obvious, I mean it's been his first year (mostly) of life and of course he's going to change a ton, but even as I look back on Sophia's pictures she too has grown up so much!


I perused the many pictures from each month and decided on one picture from each kid, or a group picture. I'd like to say I chose my favorite but honestly, there were just too many from which to choose! I tried to choose the pictures that truly reflected the kids' personalities. Sophia is my sweet, sensitive, loving girl who loves to play and dance and be silly. Leo is my super happy, rough and tumble boy who is full of energy and into everything!

January

doing tummy time and holding up his head.

just being the princess she knows how to be



February

I love the memory of this picture! We had such a good trip with their first experience at the beach and lots of together time. They both looked so cute in their "summer" clothes too!



March

another great memory....the St. Pat's Parade. It was freezing! We were so excited to go but that quickly evaporated when it was just too darn cold! We did lots of snuggling and neither kiddo was too happy, but at least we looked festive!


April

At Lisa's Easter party...Sophia was looking very Papal I thought! That's her signature smile, though!

I mean really...who's ever seen a kid so happy to be dunked?! He loved it and looked darn cute doing it!

May

my little ballerina dancer of determination

This is a signature Leo look...grins from ear to ear! He was just figuring out how to stand without falling down...you can tell he's hanging on for dear life!

June

learning how to play Go Fish

Tyra would be proud...he's really got the smize down in this shot!

(for those ANTM rejects, it means smiling with your eyes!;)


July

oh how I love the pool!

there are just too many words to describe this pic! From her Farrah Fawcett hair to the tan and the pose...and let's not forget the props! She cracks me up!

August

did I mention that this kid is super happy!

a pondering princess


September

pants are certainly no requirement to open birthday gifts

hello, World...I'm 1!!

October

this really captures the spirit of their relationship I think


November

Thanksgiving lovies

December

This has been a great year for us and we know life will just keep getting better! Happy New Year!

Walter Got His Hair Did

"Oh, Mommy!!! Walter looks SOOOO cute in that outfit!"---Sophia

Even More Christmas Joy

Meredith and crew gave Sophia her very own sleeping bag!*

Rachel and Sarah bond over present opening

Stacy, Mer and Aunt Bess finish up a fabulous dinner!

So my picture taking dramatically decreased at every subsequent location! I feel bad about it actually,there are barely any pictures from the time spent with my family, but it was also very whirlwind! Both kids had fallen asleep on the not so long drive from Leo's house and then we had to wake them up and throw them into yet another meal! Leo wasn't lasting long before he needed jammies and bed and Sophia was not happy about leaving. Mom made a super delicious beef tenderloin and Aunt Bess delivered with her famous apple pie. Sophia got a Barbie riding a Vespa from Stacy and Shelby and she loves it, although she calls her Barbie Beska and will not be corrected!

House hopping is tiring and stressful on these holidays, but even with all that, I do think it's worth it. We may change our mind at some point and try to split things up, but at this point neither Charlie nor I are ready to not see our families on these special days. The kids LOVE seeing everyone and opening gifts and playing with cousins, so it's really hardest on us. This year was better even because we got that little bit of time to ourselves in the morning. I guess we'll keep on keeping on until it doesn't work for us anymore!

* a few weeks ago Sophia attended Family Movie Night at Sarah and Jacob's school. Most of the kids bring sleeping bags, blankets, etc. and Sophia was feeling really left out b/c she didn't have a sleeping bag! (even though I sent her with her pillow pet!) so Mer pulled through with a pretty awesome gift! She is really excited to try it out and will probably get to tomorrow night when she sleeps over with Aunt Chris and Angela!

More Christmas Joy

finally showing Aunt Cathy some love!
waiting so nicely to open presents
(and don't ask me where she got that Royal's hat...it so does not go with her outfit! ;)


tear those wrappings open!

Grandma B opening her present

hmmm, what can I get into now?

adorned in her new jewels!

After our much appreciated down time in the morning we headed over to Leo John's, Charlie's oldest brother, for a lovely meal of pork loin, stuffing and fixins! Sadly there were no pictures this year, but for those of you keeping score I did wear the famed "Christmas Pants". I had to skip out on them last year due to excess baby weight and although this year there was still some of that pesky weight lingering around, I made do! LOL! It's seriously a wonder how Dad managed to wear those exact same pants every year and they always fit! Magnificent! I also made a coconut cake that was seriously delicious. If you're up for the challenge it was very well received by everyone and I'm happy I did it for my beloved, he enjoyed it so! ;) The kids had fun and Molly was so generous to open up her room to the crazy cousins! Leo wanted to be part of the girl crew too, but they didn't take so kindly to his destruction habits! After presents we packed up and headed to our final destination of the night!

Santa Came!!!

Our wonderful haul from Santa, Mommy and Daddy

Sophia spies her guitar immediately!

what does this dog think he's doing in my chair?!

that's more like it!

every man deserves a nice chair

a sucker, no way?!

it's hard to tell the difference between the taffeta and tissue paper in this shot!

yay...books to take out and put back!

Leo zooming around the garage

Sophia inspecting her toe with her new magnifying glass

the aftermath

Santa delivered to Walter too, although he promptly buried it and we don't know when it might return!

Christmas waffles? Yes please!

Cheese...or maybe they should have said "Syrup!"

Sophia just cracks me up. She rolled into our bed about 7:20 am and had no clue it was Christmas. About 10 minutes later she asked if I could get her some Rice Chex...uh okay. As soon as we came downstairs though, it was a different story! She ran immediately to the guitar and was ecstatic! She danced and played some tunes, then stopped and said, 'wait, how come Santa didn't bring me a dress like I asked?' It was so innocent and inquisitive and not all greedy that I just burst out laughing. We then explained that she had to open some of those sparkly presents behind her to see what other goodies Santa may have dropped off! First we opened our stockings which were filled with lots of little toys and socks and fun things and then we made some coffee and Bama came over to prepare waffles, a Jones family tradition on Christmas, and watch the kids open up gifts. It was a nice relaxing morning filled with much joy and silliness! We had enough time for Sophia to watch her new Tinkerbell movie and Leo to take a nap before we headed out for the next round of Christmas joy!

Christmas Eve

Cathy and Aunt Gayle

Sue and her boy!

Stacy, Meredith, and Charlie

Sue and Chris looking festive!

Lara and Tom doing some Christmas snuggling!

crazy kiddos breaking in the new couch!

Andrew, Leo, Shelby, Sophia, Jacob and Sarah

Aunt Bess and Nick

Cody ready for the cold winter's night!

If Santa goes tracking in any more dirt after I'm done with this floor, I tell you what....!

This was the only picture I could get of both of them in their new Christmas jammies!

Hugs for Baby Bro

Charlie got fire place matches and I got a fire extinguisher, are we predictable or what!? ;)

Sophia putting out reindeer food of oats and glitter so that when it reflects off Rudolph's nose they'll know not to skip us by!

Our new mantle!!

a close up of our stocking hung and ready!

Sophia chose 4 different cookies for Santa to enjoy

To slideshow or not to slideshow was this year's question. I usually do, but I guess I decided against it. Maybe I should limit the pics this year?! We hosted Christmas Eve at our house with both sides of the family. It was a nice evening with plenty of food and plenty of kiddos! They ran wild, excited for Santa and to just be together! We opened just a few presents, pajamas per usual and a present from Aunt Chris and Uncle Oli. Instead of lugging them to Leo's on Christmas Day they figured they might as well bring them over and Sophia is not one to let presents pass her by! Everyone left relatively early and Charlie and I even got a little snuggle by the fire before heading upstairs, because everyone knows Santa knows when you're awake!