Grandparents

Caleb recently was given an assignment to write an essay on his grandparents. Here is a copy of his essay, complete and unedited. He did all the work on his own. It really touched me. So, interesting to see the world as your child does.

My Grandparents By: Caleb Jones

I have four wonderful grandparents. I have my Nana and Pawpaw. They live in Alabama and are on my dad’s side. My pawpaw got very sick and passed away, but when he was alive I had a lot of fun playing with him. Now my nana lives alone in her house. I also have my grandma and grandpa. They live here in Tennessee on my mom’s side. Both of them are still alive and healthy. I love all of my grandparents no matter what.

First I’m going to talk about my pawpaw. Ever since I was born he has at least had a cane, but he is a fighter. Whenever they would come to our house or I came to theirs I would have fun horsing around and wrestling with him. He could run around or anything, but he was a lot of fun and stayed strong. Eventually his cane turned into a scooter. He started to get so sick that he had to lie in bed and could never really get up. That is how I lost my grandfather.

Next I’m going to tell you about my Nana. She never exactly horsed around with me, but she is fun. She can come outside with us and play with us. I enjoy spending time with her. She is fun and play with. Usually if my parents are busy she can keep us company. I like playing games with her a lot. Her favorite are card games and those are fun to play with her. One game I’m most familiar with is Uno. A lot of times we settle down and play it. It’s very fun.

Now I’m going to switch over to my mom’s side. I will talk about my grandpa. I enjoy going to his house and shooting guns at targets and bottles. Sometimes he needs help cutting down trees or trimming branches and believe it or not I enjoy doing that kind of work. Sometimes a bunch of people come over and we’ll have a bon fire or a cookout. Sometimes he does things that you expect grandparents couldn’t do. As a matter of fact I think he acts younger then he really is which is pretty cool.

Last but not least is my grandma. She is very useful and always around to help. She is good with kids. As a matter of fact she had nine children of her own! So you probably already guessed by now that she babysits us when needed. She is the perfect babysitter and all we need. We don’t know who would babysit us because my grandpa lives in Sevierville and my other grandparents live in Alabama. I’m glad she can babysit us because she is very nice. She is very handy. I don’t know what we would do without her.

I love my grandparents a lot. I love them all in a different way. My grandparents are unique and are different then most grandparents to my opinion. I hope I have them for a very long time. What I also like is that they aren’t cool for the same reason. I would never ask for better grandparents then I have (mostly because there probably is no one better).

Overheard...

I'm not sure if I remember how to do this, but here it goes!!!

These are some recent quotes from the wee ones:

Caleb had a deep thought after mass tonight. He said,"I figured something out tonight. Mass goes by a lot faster if you actually try to pay attention."

Isabella was holding a little sister on her hip like a pro and she looks at me and says,"Do you think your hips are going to wear out soon?" When I asked why, she said,"Because think of all the babies you've carried like this! I'm already getting tired!!"

Ava was shouting a question to her daddy when she stopped mid-sentence. She tried to restart a couple of times but kept stopping in the same part. She came running to me, and shouted, "I've lost my voice!" What?? "I've lost my voice!" Still not understanding, because clearly she had not, she was getting frustrated with me. "I've lost my numbers! I can't remember my number!" Now, I understood; She was asking Casey if he was leaving work at a certain time and couldn't remember what time she was asking about.

The sweetest thing Luci does now is spontaneously come up and put her arms around us, and declare, "I love you, too!" She always includes the 'too' even when she is the first to say it. She is also Little Miss Independent and will not accept help on most things, she will gladly tell you, "No! I do my own!"

I would include some pictures with this post, but my camera was stolen and I am very picture deficient. :(

Recent Adventures

In our continuing quest to conquer the GSM, we went tried out Clingman's Dome and a glimpse of Newfound Gap this Fourth of July. Here (of course!) is a slide show of these festivities!

OVERHEARD

Caleb is at a great age. He is not afraid to share his thoughts, yet he has enough life experience to come up with some gems. Here is a taste of what he has said tonight:

When I objected to the content of a TV, Caleb informed me: Mom! That is just the way the author chose to express the characters!

Another random comment by Caleb: I have been thinking about this for a while now; in school, people think rhyming is lame, but it can be really useful and fun like in songs and poems.

Caleb was telling Casey about a play date over at a friend's house. He said he had more fun when another boy was there as well. It just wasn't as much fun when it was just the two boys. Casey asked him why he thought this was. Caleb paused, considered this question, and then responded: I don't know. The more, the merrier, I guess.

My Affair with the Call Phone

Since embarking on my career as a PNP, everyday is filled with firsts. This past week has been my first week to have the call phone. This is the phone patients can call after hours when they have an emergency or suspected emergency. It sits tucked safely away in my pocket as I type this. It is my constant companion.

I have started to sleep better through the night. Although, I still wake in a panic that I have missed a call. I suspect the first time it rings and wakes me (and probably the rest of the house) from sleep I will then know that it does wake me and may lose some of my fear. One of the nurses at work kindly offered to call the phone in the middle of night to help me out. I didn't take her up on this! Those times it has rang, my heart stops for a moment. I don't want that to happen more than necssary as I am not sure of the health reprucutions.

I try to find a relatively quiet place to focus on the caller without too much distruptions from my end. As a mom of four, this is not an easy task, especially since my husband works evenings and I am left alone with kids and my new baby, the phone! Yesterday, as I reassured an upset mom with a crying child, I watched as my 2 year old painted her hair with lotion. Do I stop her and take the lotion away and risk her screaming? No, I let her do it at the cost of peace. I tried to give her my best "stop-that-this-instant" mom look, but she just gave me a sweet, contented smile in return. On the plus side, her hair is very shiny this morning.

So, if you ever need to call an after-hours phone, please know that we take it very seriously and want to give you optimal care, but also keep in mind, those at the other end are also leading their lives. Please, forgive me if you hear the noise we create. Also, remember it is for true emergencies, not Tylenol dosage or a "fever" of 99.4.

If you ever have the pleasure of hooking up with a call phone, this is what I have learned in my brief tenure:

1. Never call back a hang-up. You will want to!
2. Give short instructions to parents. More than about 3, and they become overwhelmed and aren't listening anymore.
3. Use the experience to improve your practice.

I hope I haven't bored you too much with this! This posting was essentially for my own benefit and to help me reflect on this experience. I promise I'll go back to the kids with my next post!

The Girl Who Cried Fish

[story and photo by Caleb Jones]

Ava Jones caught her first fish. She cried "I got one!" several times, and realed in her rod. She really thought she kept catching a fish, but she didn't realize it was just her bait. When she finally did catch an actual fish, her dad said "I hear you Ava," (but didn't believe her). He didn't look because she already said that several times, but I told him to turn around. He was surprised to see Ava's first fish. She kept yelling "I got a big one!" and was very surprised herself.

P.S. That is not a sticker on her shirt; that's the fish.

Rainbow Falls: An Unintentional Adventure

On Saturday, May 16, Casey, myself, our children, my brother Mark, his wife Amy, and their 2 young boys headed to the Great Smoky Mountains for an relatively easy day hike to Grotto Falls (~1.4miles one way). When we arrived, a tree was blocking the entrance to the trail head, and we were told by a park ranger that it may take a few hours. We debated our options, decided to stay for a bit, explore Ogle Place, and have lunch. We periodically checked in with the ranger, but we had no luck with the trail.
On the advice of the ranger, we decided to try Rainbow Falls. As he said, we could go as far as the kids could take it, see some neat sites along the river, and then turn back. So, we set out. The sign said 2.6 miles to Rainbow Falls. This was after about 0.5 miles from where we were parked. The little ones had no desire to walk until near the end when Ava suddenly took off. They proved themselves to be quite the little hikers. About 5 hours later (I kid you not!)and thanks to shear determination, Casey, myself, Ava, and Isabella reached the falls. Remember from an earlier post that we met the rest of our party on the way down and Isabella turned around and climbed the last stretch, again.
The top was spectacular. I wish I could've stretched out with a book while being sprayed by the waterfall and just enjoyed God's amazing handiwork, but we had to get back down. We did see some interesting wildlife, including three very people-friendly squirrels at the falls, a salamander, centipedes, white-tailed deer, and most of all a momma bear with her 3 cubs. we watched as the cubs played and momma turned up rocks and drank water from underneath. We were close enough to see her claws. We also saw one scaredy-cat...ME!! Stupid tourists behind us kept insisting loudly, "Ah, it's ok. They are used to people!" I made all of us get in the car- fast. However, as Caleb pointed out, if she had come after us, she would've gotten the people behind us first, so I shouldn't be scared!

Saturday in the Park...

Well, it is not quite the 4th of July, but warm weather is here. I am so lucky to have good friends and family with little ones. They always make a trip to the park so fun. The only down part is it is hard to chat with your girlfriends while chasing little ones and taking frequent potty breaks. Here are some of those moments recently captured.

Jack-in-the-Box

On Saturday, May 9, 2009, Isabella along with her fellow dancers at Studio Arts for Dancers performed their Spring concert at the Tennessee Theatre. Like last year, we were in awe of the level of skill and beauty of all the dancers. We were, of course, completely touched by Isabella's grace.

Check it out! I finally got the slide show down! You're in trouble now!

XXXVI

Happy Birthday, Casey!!

36 years and goin' strong!

I love you!

Number 4

Do you not recognize him??? This is James Madison, the fourth President of the United States. He is the Father of the Constitution. He married Dolley (yes, I spelled it right) Payne. He is the oldest of eleven children, although some sources say seven. These are just some of the things I learned from Caleb's social studies project which was due 1.5 days before the end of school incidently. In addition to his prop (see photo), he had to give a presentation, and complete a book. He created his book in PowerPoint. It was all very impressive. I can't imagine what he will be doing by high school...

About us...Too many words to fit in the about me section...

We are not that complicated, but it suddenly becomes very difficult to summarize who we are. A little disclaimer to start: This is Sarah writing. It probably will always be Sarah. Therefore, "I" refers to Sarah. I have a hard time talking in 1st person about anyone other than myself!

Casey and I met my freshman year of college at UTK. He was a junior at Carson Newman. He, along with about 10 other people, got snowed-in in Knoxville in my teeny apartment. We became easy friends, laughing at one another (and his friend Todd and a bunch of inappropriate "me and your mom" jokes!). We remained friends for over a year and a half. We then dated for about 2 years before becoming engaged on my first graduation from college. Casey had moved back to Birmingham after his graduation, and we saw each other every couple of weeks. This was in a time before cell phones and, gasp, e-mail. I went on to graduate school, and Casey was working on his Master's as well. We got married a week after I graduated again, and moved to Jacksonville, Al, where Casey had one more semester to go.

I just realized how wordy I am being and that this is meant to be a summary of ourselves, so yada, yada, yada...

We will have been married 11 years this August. We took the verse "be fruitful and multiply" to heart. Our oldest child, Caleb, turns 10 years in July. (Quick! Do the math!) Isabella is 7 years, followed by Ava at 3 years, and Luciana at 2 years. Our spacing isn't perfect but our children are! I cannot imagine life without being a mother and am sure that is my purpose on Earth. I also just gradauted as a pediatric nurse practitioner and have been very blessed to secure a position at (in my humble opinion) the best pediatric office in Knoxville. Casey meanwhile works for Denso Manufacturing in Maryville. He will have been there a decade in August. This is certainly not his dream job, nor for that matter, remotely related to his degrees, but it does provide our family with security. He is great at what he does, no matter what that is!