Jackson's happy party!

It was with much anticipation that Sabrina and her family arrived at our house today just before 4:00 this afternoon. You have to realize that this little family has not been in Michigan for 18 months ... that's a really long time to be away from "home" ~ don't you think? And how nice that their visit coincided with Jackson's fifth birthday!

I have a bunch of pictures to show you and not even a single second to do any pretty editing of them ... so they are what they are, without any photo enhancements whatsoever. Isn't this darling of Jackson and Karis?

I added 13 new posters to our basement playroom ... I'll try to show you them as we're playing down there ... you can see just a few in the above photo ... some of these pictures I did "take" from family blogs because I just didn't have adequate poster-worthy pictures of some of our grandbabies!

Jackson and Karis flew all over the house, looking in each and every room, examining every little trinket and toy to their heart's delight ... we have a lot of toys here at the Jones Junction.

Our friends, Tom and Judy, came over to help us celebrate Jackson's birthday. After our inside dinner, we moved on outside to the back deck for presents and dessert.

The above picture illustrates perfectly why we have SO FEW PICTURES OF OLIVIA! But I did catch her a little later in the evening ...

Karis sat patiently while Jackson opened up all of his presents ... until he got to the puzzle that "Aunt" Judy brought for him ... and then Karis said, "Thanks for the puzzle! That's mine!" But she was so sweet as she said it, without a single hint of resentment that Jackson had been opening all of his presents with none for her ... I think she just thought it was high time one actually was for her and was very matter-of-fact about it!

Here's birthday boy blowing out his #5!

See! I did catch Olivia without her hands over her face! She was very busily taking pictures with her mom's camera.

Jackson received some really nice City LEGOS ~ delivery trucks with cargo space and fork lifts, a cement truck, and a whole city set that is really cool.

It was great to SEE him open his gifts this year! What joy for us ... and him too! We sat around the table eating and visiting and had a very enjoyable evening.

Grandpa Jones took those pictures of Sabrina and Karis ... beautiful!

Everyone played ball for awhile out back. Jackson can really slug a baseball! He doesn't even need someone to pitch to him ... he just throws the ball up and hits it. He is very athletic and enjoys a lot of physical activity.

Grandpa Jones got in on the fun too, kicking the soccer balls around with Karis. But with the sun going down, the mosquitoes got a bit too much for us out there, so we came back inside and just played and visited and wound down the night watching the Red Wings lose the Cup ...

Livie and I started working on a 1000 piece puzzle of Lighthouses of the Great Lakes ... we separated all of the frame pieces tonight. It was something we could do together that was a little bit more grown up than always being with the little kids.

Well, I'm way beyond tired and am rendered completely witless. We had a great first day of 10. I'll try to post pictures each day that we are together because a picture can say more than 1000 words!

Five for Jackson!

This is our grandson, Jackson, and it is his fifth birthday today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACKSON! We took this picture of him at Zilker Park, downtown Austin, back in late March when we were making our sweep of the vast state of Texas, visiting all of the grandchildren. Jackson has loved this fire truck at Zilker Park since he was a baby. Sabrina has photos of him for every year of his life, sitting in the driver's seat, turning the steering wheel.

He was so pleased with the soda fountain hat he received at the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory ...

And he absolutely loves babies ... especially his tiny cousin, Lottie Caroline. He is very tender and gentle with her! I loved watching his face as he looked at and interacted with her.

Jackson and Karis ... Karis and Jackson ... it's difficult to even say one name without the other! They are chums and play together really well ... when they aren't fighting that is ~ but they really do actually enjoy each other. It's kind of difficult to get a picture of just one of them, all alone.

We did manage to catch one of just Jackson sitting in the Blue Bonnets ...

And here he is cracking up at Sea World ...

I can't remember the last time we were actually able to celebrate a birthday with one of our grandchildren ... maybe two years ago when Matthew turned two, just before they moved to El Paso ~ but we are only missing Jackson's by one day this year, because he is coming to our house tomorrow and we are going to have a birthday party! How fun is that?! We are actually going to SEE him open his gifts this year! I'm smiling all over just thinking about it!

downtown festival of the arts ...

Mr. Jones and I had separate plans all day today, so this evening, we decided to go together to walk around to see the sights at Festival ...

We parked by Fish Ladder Park and took a nice stroll down to where the action was ...

I remember some years at Festival when it was SO HOT and HUMID (my almost favorite weather!) but it was breezy and rather cool down there tonight. Last year, huge storms rolled in and even blew away some of the tents that were supposed to protect vendor's art!

I like to walk around and see EVERYTHING in every tent ... but Mr. Jones is not really into that sort of thing ... so we compromised and ... ate! I had a steak fajita that was being served by St. Andrews School. Mr. Jones had an Italian sausage sandwich, compliments of the Sons of Italy! And then we decided to split some Souvlaki (a marinated pork sandwich) down at Holy Trinity's food booth, along with baklava ... very delicious! We walked around, eating as we went, running into folk we recognized from church here and there ... and then we needed dessert! So we split a chocolate waffle sundae ... it was really difficult to resist the chocolate chip cookie sandwich with peanut butter filling, but we managed to do just that ... after all, there is a limit!

There was a bunch of musical stuff going on tonight and we listened as we walked around enjoying this beautiful Grand Rapids evening! I was thinking how if you dear Texas folk were here in town, we could all have gone downtown and watched the kiddos get their faces painted and do beautiful art work and make cool stuff at the glue-in and paint-in areas ... (sigh and sad face).

Don't these pictures make you wish you were in Grand Rapids??? Only six more days, Sabrina!

simply idyllic ...

I've been pretty occupied this week with getting the house and yard ready for when Sabrina, Andrew and the grandchildren arrive in just one week ... but I have taken some breaks from cleaning, lists and menu-making to walk around our neighborhood, as well as run errands. I always have my camera along ...
On our walk last night, Mr. Jones and I saw these four young kitties ... their mom was close by making sure they were behaving themselves ...

These delightful daisies were sunning themselves along a stretch of road on the southeast side of town ...

I drove past this pond somewhere along Forest Hills, but by the time I found a place to pull off the road, the swan and their cygnets were too far away to really get a good picture ... I had never seen baby swans before!

Inbetween birthday shopping for Jackson, and baby shopping for Adam and Emily's wee baby boy, I took a walk over at Calvin ... mmm ~ such peace ... such tranquility ...

Geese can get pretty riled up if you get too close to their goslings ... so I stayed my distance!

I may not be "rich" as far as money is concerned ... but I am exceedingly wealthy! I wouldn't trade the way-deep-down happiness that comes from knowing God and enjoying His awesome creation each and every day with all of the "riches" in this world!

" ... godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it!" I Timothy 6:6-7

Letting go ... again!

Just a few days ago we celebrated Dylan's 25th birthday. And today, we helped move him from our house to the place where he will be living for the next little while. He would have moved out sooner, but actually, he really hasn't LIVED here at home with us for a long time ... just quick visits here during school breaks and summers off from school.
This is the house where Dylan will be living. His friend, Paul, owns it. Two other fellows rent rooms here and now Dylan does too! I think it has real character, as do tons of houses over in Eastown ... all of them so interesting. This whole street is lined with nice houses, well-kept yards, gorgeous flowers ...

After we unloaded our van and Dylan's car, we caught a quick lunch at Wolfgang's on Wealthy Street. I had never even heard of this place before! It's kind of an all-day breakfast cafe', but it has a nice luncheon menu as well.
This beautiful plaque is hanging just inside the entrance to Wolfgang's!
While we were waiting for our food, I ducked out of our booth to take some quick pictures ... do you see anyone you know in the picture above ... look real closely, Sabrina, and you might see a very dear friend! I didn't notice her at all while I was taking this picture and then I ducked outside to take some pictures of the window box flowers and felt an arm slip through mine and got a nice hug from ...
SUZ!!! How delightful to bump into her today! Suzanne was one of Sabrina's roommates at Calvin ... and I think they roomed together for three years. I made her give me her word that she would come over to see us while Sabrina is in town. She was joining a friend for lunch at the very same time we wandered on over to have lunch ... what a very nice coincidence. She is smiling at Mr. Jones in this picture ... a beautiful smile, Suz.
So this is Dylan's new neighborhood. I'm very happy about him being here. Eastown is chuck full of interesting people, shops, fun places to eat, and Dylan has many friends who live nearby.

So the Jones Junction is empty once again ... (sigh)!

Caught!

"May your roots go down deep
into the soil of God's marvelous love."
EPHESIANS 3:18

People with cameras are downright obnoxious ... or at least they CAN be at times. It's been a stunningly beautiful spring around Grand Rapids and I take my camera everywhere I go! And, I'll admit, I will sometimes see a pretty sight and just have to stop my car, get out, and snap a picture ... or two!
The other day, I was driving down Knapp Street, not far from Knapp Corners, when I spotted these amazing flowers along this pretty white fence. I saw a place to pull over close by, got out and began taking a few pictures. The traffic on Knapp was pretty loud, but I had a vague feeling that someone was trying to get my attention ... so I perked my ears up a bit and tried to listen.

First of all, let me explain that this little white fence area is very close to a public sidewalk. The house that sits on this property is quite far back off the road ... so it's not like I was standing on someone's front porch snapping indiscriminate pictures! I finally realized the owner of this house was at her front window shouting at me. She wanted to know what on earth I thought I was doing!!! I smiled and told her that I thought her flowers were gorgeous and I was just snapping a few quick pictures of them. She hollered that those flowers were her daughter's, that she came over every day to take care of them, and I should leave them alone! I tried to explain to her (still smiling) that I wasn't touching them and wouldn't hurt them for the world ... that I was going to use these beautiful pictures to make greeting cards. And this is what she said: "I wish you wouldn't do that!"

Honestly, I was nowhere near this woman's house, nor was I being intrusive or rude. I had to walk toward the house to hear what she was saying to me ~ so I told this very bothered woman that I would go away. Perhaps it's a good thing this happened. I had been getting very bold in the last few days with my picture taking. I guess I'm lucky no one has set their dog on me!

These breathtaking flowers WERE very near someone's porch ... actually, these are flower-covered bushes that were underneath a front window and porch and I did get very close to snap a few pictures ... I couldn't resist!

I had driven past this house for three days in a row (!!) without taking one single picture! I just had this terrible feeling that if I didn't photograph these while I had the chance, the blooms would be gone and I would miss my opportunity. I have never seen prettier bushes in my life!

The owner of this house did not appear to be home ... otherwise, I think I might have knocked on the door to see if they could tell me the name of this beautiful bush ... because I would most assuredly save enough money to purchase one in the future! In the meantime, I've decided to TRY to be a bit more careful where I take pictures ... some people are easily annoyed I think! Oh ... and isn't that Scripture from Ephesians wonderful? " ... the soil of God's marvelous love." I just love to think about that.