and now...

So i finally got some time to write this. How, you ask? well i'm in Virginia for a training for work and suddenly instead of having my evenings full of half chewed hot dogs, a toddler screaming "somewhere over the rainbow!!!!!", and the seething mass of laundry that is slowly taking over the house and out pacing the growing pile of dishes I get a big empty hotel room with a big empty bed and complementary internet access.

I owe you guys quite a post I realize. I ought to have pictures to include here but i left them all at home... sorry.

So first things first:

1) you're probably all wondering how sri lanka was.
It was phenomenal! or as Richard puts it "Tha best 'oliday eva'" (he's australian) (Hi Steven!). Rache and Richard planned the trip perfectly. The booked the best hotels, mapped out the perfect routes, and above all made relaxation, visiting with each other, and low maintenance the priorities of the trip. Although we did a fair bit of sight seeing, I never felt pressured to leave the hotel room, brave the horrid humidity, and sweat my way around the Buddha infested countryside (although we did do it once or twice).

Here is a brief synopsis:
We left BWI at around 6:45am and flew on a VERY tiny puddle jumper up to JFK. We flew on Emirates Air (which i highly recommend by the way. We have decided that all our international flights will from now on be with them) from JFK to Dubai. This was, by far, the longest flight (14 hrs). Esther did very well for the most part but missed a nap toward the end of the flight and had a bit of a melt down on the decent. We arrived in Dubai haggard and completely unprepared for the chaos that is the Dubai Airport. It is basically a duty free shopping mall. So in order to spare all of our nerves and my increasing nausea we splurged on a very expensive but extremely worth-it hotel. For 6 hours Esther slept, Ben and I showered, stretched, relaxed, watched Esther sleep and finally slept ourselves. Fully renewed we hoped on our final flight from Dubai to Colombo.
Rache and Richard picked us up at the airport in Colombo at around 11pm. We made the short trip north to Negumbo and stayed two nights in a hotel on the beach. Palm trees right outside of our patio. The sandy beach and raving Indian Ocean greeted us the next morning. We regrouped, waited for our lost luggage, and did a bit of shopping for entertainment.
We then drove to Kandalama. We stayed in a beautiful hotel/resort. The Kandalama Heritage Hotel was designed by a guy named Bawa with the unique intention of making you feel as much a part of the landscape as the jungle itself. One wall of the hotel room was completely glass. Vines entangled themselves into a curtain before the glorious landscape of jungle, mountains, and Kandalama lake (a man-made tank). Monkeys cavorted everywhere. The hung around on the patio being lewd and sometimes cute. A team of them stole Esther juice from the pool patio while our backs were turned. From Kandalama we explored Sigiriya, a rock butte covered in ancient ruins, and Polonnaruwa, once a great city. We spent three more nights in this paradise stuffing ourselves stupid at all three of their splendid daily buffets, lounging around in one of their three pools, and soaking in the in-room Jacuzzi.

From here Richard drove us up to the Knuckles mountain range where we stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast style bungalow nestled among the tea plantations.
I would like to pause here to draw attention to Richard’s magnificent skills as a motorist. The traffic in Sri Lanka makes the Chaos of the Dubai Airport (or for those of you who haven’t experienced the Dubai Airport, the chaos of Christmas shopping at FAO Schwartz) look like just another walk in the park. He yawned in the face of the constantly swerving tuk-tuks, the giant marauding buses, the rampaging elephants, and the potholes that could only be made by science fiction-sized meteor showers. Richard, we owe you our lives.
In the mountains we enjoyed a nice reprieve from the craziness of sight seeing. We swam in the beautiful pool, walked amongst the fields of tea bushes, allowed ourselves to be catered to by the in-house cook and lazed around enjoying the cooler weather. We made one day trip into Kandy where we shopped, ate, and interacted with the culture (which really just made me feel whiter than I’ve ever felt before, and this from a girl who grew up thinking her name was “gringa” until she was three).
By way of the Elephant Orphanage we left the Knuckles mountain range and came full circle to Colombo. The Elephant Orphanage was wonderful. We met the elephants down by the river and watched them frolic. Esther and I attempted to commune with a mama and baby and then the rest of the time we all spent turns attempting to keep Esther from diving head first into the heard of elephants and trying to ride them around town.

Back in Colombo we enjoyed the hospitality of a friend of Rache and Richard’s. We also did a bit more shopping and a lot more eating. After two nights there we found ourselves back on the various flights bound for the U.S. The flights home were relatively uneventful. We had a menacing 11 hour lay over in Dubai which we attempted to wait out in a lounge but found hard to do and were a bit insane by the end (especially Esther).

All this said, this doesn’t even begin to describe the experience itself. The people there are so kind and friendly (minus the touts whom I found to be extremely annoying, persistent and in one particular case murderously irritating). The landscape is so unique as to be exquisite. I still cannot fully believe that just a week and a half ago we were there. Surrounded by Buddhas, saris, temples, crowded streets, insane traffic, jungles, elephants.

And here we are back again… hardly believing our own memories and trying hard to re-assimilate to our own culture unsure of just how much we really want to be home.


Second things Second:
We're pregnant again. We are due January 4th-ish. We're excited and nervous and have begun the Oh-SO-necessary addition onto the back of the house. I'm looking forward to and day dreaming about how this will make our lives easier. I am kinda hoping for another girl but everyone is telling that it's going to be a boy. So far i've been extremely nauseas. But it's slowly subsiding. I have gained a little over 5 lbs so far which is fair bit more than i had gained with Esther this far along... I'm also beginning to look pregnant to myself, though not really to others. I have a buddha belly which i suppose is appropriate considering where we just were. Esther doesn't understand the baby in momma's belly concept yet. But we're introducing it to her slowly.

And Thirdly:
The Esther update. She is amazing. She weathered international traveling like she was born to it. She was pleasant and curious and sociable almost the whole time. We took her everywhere with us and aside from her nap times being screwy she loved it all and took it in more than i think any of us adults did.
She speaks in full sentences and to my surprise is thinking critically. She sings constantly and her three favorite things are digging holes in the yard with soup spoons, looking at bugs (and then coming running and yelling when it lands on her), and watching the Wizard of Oz (which she is totally obsessed with and can practically quote from start to finish). She will turn two just a few months before #2 is born and it will be interesting to see how she grows and changes from now until then...


So i hope that you find your way through all this text. I know that walls of solid text are boring for some and it's a little time consuming and tiring to read so much on a computer screen but hopefully you at least browsed and go the jist. All in all: we're well, we're busy, we're expecting, and we're loving and missing all of you!

I know, I know. I promise.

COMING SOON:
HOW SRI LANKA WENT
and
WE'RE PREGNANT! ...again...

Sorry its been so long.

Sorry for the long delay. With the advent of my new job, i had to give my wireless access thingie back to my old job. And I just now got around to buying a new one. So here I am, back on the web, wasting precious time i could be spending with my mullet-haired babe-zilla.

Lots has been happening. First and foremost, the job is going well so far. I'm settling in pretty well. I like my teammates, they're all young and three of them are just as book/word obsessed as i am. And the graphic designers are fun too. The work isn't scintillating or anything but I think that's a rarity in any profession.

Secondly, Ben's sister got married. The wedding was really beautiful. It was the perfect, picturesque small wedding. Jes was beautiful in her mermaid dress. Very 1940s. And Eric, you were beautiful too (I just want to say again how incredibly awesome your tie was. If you die before me can you will your tie to me?). We got to see lots of family that we usually only see around Christmas time. Hi Ryan, Stacia and Olivia!!! The happy couple is honeymooning as we speak in an isolated cabin in the woods. What better place to make loud-hot-monkey-love than that??

Let's see, what else. Ben is now a stay at home daddy. By far the cutest one i've ever seen. He and Esther play outside almost all day. Yesterday I came home to the two of them digging holes outback for the footers for the new addition. Esther armed with a soup spoon. And I guess that brings us to the next thing. We're building an addition, albeit a small one, but we are going to finally have our own room... yippie! I'm so excited. We hope to have it done by early fall. This winter promises to be an interesting one and more on that later.

New Job...

Tomorrow is my last day at the Crisis Center. I'm so sad. (Hi CRS FOLKS!!!) I have loved working here. And as some of you may know i have accepted a job doing something that is sort of morally questionable (my morals, not everyones...HI FRED!).

However, it is with the hope that I will gain enough experience and expertise so that i may re-enter the non-profit industry and make it count. I start on Monday and am knee-knocking nervous. I think if it weren't for my over-all fear of Alzheimer's I would buy stock in super wetness protection deodorant, as it is i'm going to have to stick a roll of paper towels under each arm.

That said, this job is a fantastic opportunity for me and my family (and my motorcycle, HI IVY!) and will help the Jones-Matthews trio finally settle into a place financial security. However, this also means less time with Esther, less time in the garden, less time in the woods, less time everywhere....

What can i say, i'm a whore.... please don't hate me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AURORA

My Hot Hubby

Oma's Pictures from the Weekend.

These last two are from Jes's Bridal Shower (Hi Jes!). I have to say that Bridal Showers are strange things to me. I, having never had a wedding myself, feel that even as sweet as everyone is to a bride and as generous as they are to the soon-to-be-newlyweds, it's not worth it. It's far too much money, headache, backache, organizing, and socializing for me. That said, Jes and Eric I'm excited to come to your wedding! Let me know if there's anything i can do to help.
(perhaps everyone should just elope in the far off reaches of Alaska...)

Meet the newest member of our family...

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating

Tardy as always...

And on par with my consistent tardiness, Easter Pictures:

We spent Easter weekend at the Eastern Shore with Oma, Ben's Mama. Esther got to hang out with Oma's menagerie of fish and finches and Ben and I got a nice baby-break/date in to boot.
On our date we bought new sun glasses for the whole family...
This is our Easter morning dog pile on the sofa.
Check out the sticks in her hands...
This is her hot pink Easter dress... i don't know if i'm becoming more girlie in my old age or what but pink doesn't seem to bother me much these days... huh...
This bunny was a gift from Ben's Aunt Beth and quickly became inseparable from E.

Under the fish table is a mirror which Esther liked to look into while singing
Esther would only hunt for the Easter eggs after she watched me open one up and put rocks and sticks in it. Every time we go outside be it for 30 seconds or a few hours, Esther picks up an odd assortment of rocks and sticks which she MUST carry around in her hands and will only put down when it's time to go back inside...

Wicked Wednesday Dinner!

More on Art Night

So Art Night is a gathering of folks one night a month where we share art that we've all done around a certain theme (which is picked out of a hat at each Art Night).

So go to the Art Night link and check out the Art Night blog.

You can see a crappy essay that i wrote. Whooo hooo!

You can also, hopefully, get in on it too. Look forward to seeing some of you at the next Art Night.

A return of the Jedi... i mean Jones

It occurs to me that i used to write more and post pictures less. Not that one is better than the other. I, myself, being of a more visually attracted person enjoy pictures, they tend to send a truer message about my life...
But ultimately, i do miss writing and to be completely honest about my narcissism, it's nice to have a record of what i was feeling this time last year.

March, to steal from a friend of mine, brings the wind and the wind makes me (like aurora) crazy. Not to mention the weather being unable to make up it's mind. "Oh i'm March Weather, i can't decide if i'm all happy and sunny and beautiful and warm, or a cold hearted bitch!" yeesh.

So i'm working hard on trying not to be too crazy and on trying to put together a life for myself. When we had Esther we kind of dropped everything and holed up with her, communing as a family and all getting to know each other and love each other, and catch up on sleep. I think the "catching up on sleep" thing is a perpetual side effect of being a parent of any age children. And now that Esther is older (17 months next week to be exact) it's time we had some more hobbies other than bickering, cooking lavish meals and aimlessly wandering the woods around the house.

Friday March 7th was "Art Night" (i'll post more about this when i get the link). I wrote the first essay i've written since Esther was born and read it to a group of people whom i do not know particularly well. Needless to say, it was horrifying but mostly consequence-less (aside from the headache i had the next day from drinking far too much wine, which i had hoped would stop the stage fright). All ramifications aside, i'm looking forward to our next "Art Night"...

And now in attempt to keep this short so as not to bore all 2 of my readers, I will leave you with one final question: what the crap? Easter is far too early this year...

New Cousin!!

I have a new First Cousin Once Removed!

Welcome to the world Ruby Maude Toole-Jardeleza.

Well done! Nick and Julie.

or if i were Stephen "goodonya", (not Ruby's Uncle Stephen, but Stephen, you know who you are Stephen)

Tattoo Pictures as Promised

Tattoos care of Aunt Heidi (not pictured). Tita Casey - pictured.

Power to the people...

Our power came back on late Monday afternoon. We're all showered, shaved, laundered, and media soaked. We're also a little better prepared for the next time it happens (because our power goes out for at least 4 hours, at least once a month).

Meanwhile, a list of fun things to do when the power goes out:
-tattoo the baby (pictures to follow)
-play cards for coins you can't see
-play hide the baby in the dirty laundry
-cook all the food in your fridge so it won't go bad
-eat all said cooked food
-feel like a fat-ass after eating all food

At first it was fun.

A big, crazy storm blew through on Saturday afternoon and knocked trees down all over. Including a few that happened to be standing sentinel above the power lines up the road. Needless to say, they abandoned their posts, turned on their charges and took them out, blocking the road and creating havoc all over the place.

We've been without power/water for 42 hours now. Last i saw, no one was even attempting to rectify the situation. We've been hauling water from the spring, using the outhouse, running the freezers off the generator (that's where we keep all our meat for the year from hunting -- since it's the only meat we eat), playing Uno by oil lamp light, and begging our relatives to let us shower at their house. It was all fine and good for the first 36 hours but i'm getting a bit tired of it, and i didn't do the laundry when i had a chance Saturday morning and it is now breeding and beginning to take over the bathroom and a corner of our bedroom. Does anyone have an old ringer washer they wanna loan us?

Sheenanigans

When Esther is old enough, do you think she will protest to having her entire baby album online for all to see?

This is her kissie face. She hasn't quite learned to pucker so she sticks her lower lip out.

mmm mmm. Baby-licious
This is my husband looking like a convict, and me looking resigned to the fact that my husband is a convict.
I think that this is turned sideways and she's actually standing on her head on Ben's chest, but i like it better this way cause it looks like shes punching and head butting him at the same time.
Please divert your eyes away from the low neckline (not that there's much to see there) and instead marvel at my amazingly huge and crooked teeth.
This is her thinking face.

being attacked by her mother

and being squashed by her mother
no wonder she has nightmares...
A very real family photo...
Eating grapes..

Spitting out the grapes...
And her beloved "Mimi" which Kirstin (HI WEST!!) made for her. She was calling it "Lamby" but Ben and I thought she was saying Mimi and we started calling it Mimi and so it is now Mimi.

Our Little Podling

This morning i gave Esther morningstar veggie sausage links for the first time. She takes a tentative bite, then goes "yum, yum... mmmm mmm. Deeelicious!" and proceeds to shove the whole sausage into her mouth.

A little later, i go to hit play on the remote for the CD player and she comes running over and goes "mama, ready, set, gooooo!" just as the music starts to play.






In other news: It's a bit premature, but i'm ready for spring.

And I keep vainly hoping that my dream job is going to walk in, grab me by the lapels and say "Let's go kid." And we'd be off to live in some wonderful land where i don't feel like hiding under the bed every morning before going to work.