Renaissance Man

In one day this boy goes from

Piano Man


To Golf Prodigy


All in true toddler fashion with a Snotty Nose


A true renaissance man in the making!

Sharing Life

This is Kristin.
She is the best when it comes to many things, but friendship being at the top of that list.
She is an inspiration. Bringing out the best in those around her.
She is an ear. A soft place to land when it feels all else has failed.
She is a challenge. Never letting you settle.
She is a caretaker. Looking out for others (especially me) and never expecting the gesture to be returned.
She is genuine. Just listen to her laugh and you'll know what I mean.
A few weeks ago she was waiting...
Now, she is a mother and it suits her like she was never meant to be anything else.



This is Asher. Her son. What a gift they have in each other.

I am blessed. I have spent 12 years as her friend. We have shared apartments, clothes, laughs, drinks, meals, countless memories and our lives. For the past year and a half, she has shared in G's life too. Not just as a by-stander or on-looker. She has truly loved him well. And you can tell by the way her loves her.



Over the last 9 months I have been able to share in her pregnancy. Now, I get to love her and Asher through the long nights, hard choices, and sweet firsts. Just like she has done for me. I get to share in his life and even though he is only a few weeks old it has already brought tremendous joy.





Although this post is for Kristin, I would leave a terrible gap if I didn't mention her amazing husband. Austin has been a large and wonderful part of mine and my family's lives since they began dating almost 10 years ago. Truthfully, seeing him become a father and the subtle changes and softness it has created in him is equally beautiful to me. I am so proud of you both.

The past few weeks have brought at times sweet, hot, unexpected tears. The kind of tears only overwhelming joy can bring. The kind of tears that I am blessed to experience because I share life with you. And what a blessing it is!

So Much Love Now and Always to you, Kristin, Austin and Asher!

For more pictures of this sweet boy and her pregnancy progression visit It's A Jones

Be Mine

This might have been my favorite Valentine's Day yet! G and I spent the day together enjoying the spoils of 2.14 all day long.

To start...
Strawberry crepes, G's first taste of strawberry milk and two new books! We opened our Valentine's Day cards and some special treats sent from Grandma and Grandpa.





Then...
We ran our normal Monday errands but we shared Candy Hearts and played with our Valentine's Day balloon all along the way.
It was a gorgeous day so we even enjoyed a patio lunch date, just the two of us!



After Nap...
Daddy came home early and we gave him his present. A new Elmo shirt!



Then...
We headed out for dinner at the Purple Cow and to see the Pioneer Woman at her book signing!

Our spot in line ended up being way too far back to actually wait and meet her. Unless we wanted to reschedule G's bedtime for 11 pm! It was great fun just being with my boys. G certainly makes holidays much more fun, especially the cheesy ones that we never really celebrate before anyway!

Ham for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

This kid is a Ham! But especially during meal times he loves to test out his new faces. It's very Zoolanderish, although he has never seen the movie and doesn't have any notion of what a male model is. Lately, he is all about the eyebrows and squinty eyes. I think he learned it from his friend B.







I love having my little Ham at every meal!

G version 1.5

He's one and a half. Seriously? Where does it go? These last few months seem to have brought on a wealth of change. But I guess I could say that about every month, week, day since birth at this point. G, here is just a bit of what you are up to...

These days you are running, throwing, and climbing the day away. You find new ways to climb on things and will move objects to make steps. Very clever sweet G, but you scare your momma! You have an always growing collection of balls and have a solid overhand throw down pat. We gets lots of comments on what an arm you have.

Your vocabulary is growing exponentially! A few of your words: Mom, Da, Ball, Bubble, Tiger, Turtle, Go, Back Dog, Ice, Thank You, No, Cheers, Cheese, Nonna, Papa, Me, Shoes, Hi, Hello, Eyes, Mouth, Bye, Yes, All Done and so many more. It seems like at least once a day your surprise us with a new word.

You still LOVE animals!
You will sit for long periods of time just identifying them, having mommy or daddy identify them, and making all of the animal noises/motions you know. You love to: Bark, Moo, Baa, Swing your trunk, hide in your turtle shell, stretch you neck like a girafee, roar, oink, squeek like a mouse, make claws like a crab, Meow, fishy faces, hiss like a snake, fly like a bird and hoot like an owl.

A little distracted but here are a few animal favorites


Putting it together!
You love to play with your puzzles and legos. Taking them apart and putting them back together again and again. Mommy is so impressed with how quickly you picked up on how to do puzzles. Of course, you love them because the several we have are all animals.

Reading.
You still LOVE to read. You will bring me book after book, after book. We have your books in almost every room of the house. Sometimes we even have to stop in the middle of doing dishes or laundry just to read a book. I am a sucker! How could I say no to a book, even if it is in the middle of the kitchen floor? I can already tell you are going to be like your mom and want 10 bedtime stories a night. Right now, daddy and I read you one or two, sometime three but you always ask for another. Your favorites are Quick as a Cricket, Anything by Sandra Boynton, and your Zoo-ology book. You also really enjoy visit the library to check out new books and listen to Mother Goose time.



The Arts.
You love to break out the finger paints, crayons, or colored pencils and create a masterpiece. When it comes to fingerpaints the masterpiece is usually your painted up body. But it is so fun watching you explore that all the mess is definitely worth it.


The ugly. To be completely honest the past month has brought out a bit of the ugly in you. We have started with small tantrums and hitting when you don't get your way. You have experienced your first (and many since) timeouts. It broke our hearts to do it, but we couldn't resist laughing at the same time. That cute little diapered booty sticking out from the corner was irresistable. I know this is all normal for your age and thus is one of the major challenges of parenting - discipline.



G, we are so enamoured with watching you grow and you fill our house with so much laughter. On top of all of these things you are gentle and sweet, still loving to cuddle and giving drive by kisses to your momma when you play. You are funny and already know it. You love to make people laugh and have already perfected your fake cheeseball smile. You have rhythym in your heart and the slightest beat can make your little diaper booty sway. Watching you change and grow has been the greatest joy of my life. I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.

A 70 year old Spud?

First, let me say this year has been busy. I mean bizzzz-Eeee! I have gotten so far behind I don't even know where to start. This includes taking pictures of my little man. So I am just skipping over a few things like the fact that he is now 1 and a half and talking like crazy and jumping to what I do have pictures of. On to the post...



Turning 70!
What an occasion to celebrate. Especially when it is someone as special Spud or Papa to G. I don't know if I have said it here before, but I seriously hit the in-law jackpot. They are beautiful people, who thankfully taught my husband how to be an incredible man, husband and father. I am beyond thankful for them and the cherished role they play in our and our little man's life.



More about Spud...
Spud is a loved guy. Not just by his family, but by his enormous group of friends, business community and seemingly everyone he comes into contact with. If you have met him this is no surprise. He is easy to love for one simple reason... he loves. He truly loves people. Spud is the kind of man who keeps his word and will ALWAYS be there if you need him. His character bears the meaning of wearing your heart on your sleeve. If he loves you, you know it. And with loving comes giving. He gives tirelessly to causes he feels worthy and passionate about, including our little family.

In order to celebrate...
It had to be big right? A man as loved as Spud has to have a grand 70th. So Jeanie, his wife, got to work. Along with the wife of a dear friend who Spud shares a close birthday with, she planned an enormous party. She sneakily got family and friends in town from as far as Seattle and Boston and schemed a great surprise. He showed up at one of his favorite restaurants thinking they were having a small dinner to celebrate and the entire restaurant was shut down, on a Saturday night, and filled with over 150 friends and family. He saw his brothers and sisters and the tears came quick. Mine were quick to follow and a quick glance around showed I wasn't alone. Then we celebrate. Late into the night and early the next morning there was drinking, eating, roasting and toasting, dancing and a few more joyful tears.



To continue celebrating...
All of the Newton's got together on Sunday to just enjoy each other in the small time we had since most of the out-of-towners were leaving on Monday morning. It is precious to see G play with all of his gorgeous girly cousins. He LOVES them. They follow him around like a herd, then rush back to report what funny non-sense he is babbling or antic he pulled. It is also precious to see family together in such great numbers. Although, we were missing a few, having this group together was precious time that couldn't be better spent.



Happy 70th Papa! We love you!

Skipping Rocks

The very first thing that we did this year, seriously bright and early January 1st, was head to my dad's house down in the Texas Hill Country. G started off the trip in grand fashion with a mild case of road sickness, followed by a lightning fast clean up in a gas station parking lot in the 30 degree morning weather. Yikes, but we hopped back on the road and hoped for the best.

The visit was quick and low key but G had a great time playing with his Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Eric and all of the trucks they gave him for Christmas. Eric even taught him how to ride on one of the bigger Tonka trucks.



Turns out I was horrible at taking pictures, but managed to capture some of G at the lake. As we do each and every visit, we headed down to visit the lake which has been low for a decade it seems.



Last time G enjoyed the trip from his Baby Katan, but this time he got to experience the walk, rocks, sticks, water and all. G really enjoyed Eric teaching him to skip or as G does it throw rocks into the water.









The trickiest part was keeping him from trying to retrieve the rocks that he had thrown. Lake was a little too cold for that buddy, but maybe next time!