Jacob wants to buy a bus

We have had a great week. It started off last Sunday with a visit from Neely, who flew down from Tulsa to spend the day with us. The kids love her, we pretty much just hung out around the house and talked and then went out for dinner. It was nice to have her here, and next time she'll have to bring those girls with her!

Rick came down for a night, he was able to go with us to watch Brian in the playoffs for volleyball at his church. They didn't win, but he did really well and the kids like going to watch. Sue picked out the cutest outfit for Gwyn, so I'll have to get a picture of it and upload it because she is just precious in it! They also got Jacob some jeans, frog underwear, and a supercool shirt that says "my bike rocks!" It is long sleeve, but he's already worn it twice.

We have this Valentine's Day beanie baby, and Jacob asked me what it was for, and I told him that you are supposed to give it to someone you really love. They I told him that Mommy really loved him, and would give it to him, but I wanted to know who he would give it to. He said "Josh." Then I said, well, you should really give it to a girl and then I asked him who he would give it to thinking for sure he would say me, but he said "Grace."

This is a picture of a bus near the dry cleaners that had a for sale sign in it and Jacob REALLY wants Brian to buy it. I told him Brian has to think hard about buying something big like that and that he hadn't even seen it, so he told me to take a picture of it for him, so here it is:

We had breakfast at the park this week. Jacob mainly plays and doesn't eat anything, Gwyn mainly eats both hers and Jacob's and then goes to play, Jacob was showing off his new shoes, size 10 1/2! I think he grows a 1/2 a size each month!

Jacob also asked me the other day "Where is Jesus?" I said, "He's in your heart, and He's in mine too." He then asked, "Is He in Daddy's heart?" I said, "Yes." He says, "Is He in Gwynnie's heart?" I said, "Yes." It was pretty sweet.

Frogs, Flu Shots, and Bedtime Excuses

What is another week at our house without another frog being tortured? Gwyn got into it this time and had fun too. The kids had been in the pool, clothes and all (it was about to rain). We've also made use of our rain jackets a couple of times this week with light showers in the afternoon. Who knew it could be so much fun for them to just plan in the rain?!?!

This is Jacob showing me how big his frog was:

Both kids got their flu shots this week, Gwyn's was the actual shot and Jacob's was the flu mist in the nose, which was awful. He thought they were going to clean his ears out like they did last time and was horrified when they came in and got close to his head. We had to physically restrain him to put it in his nose, it was traumatizing! Supposedly they are going to have the swine flu vaccine available in October, but we're covered for now!

Other than that, we played with friends this week, had lunch with Brian a couple of times, met Jacob's teacher, and did our usual routine of errands and staying busy in this hot heat! Rick was down for a night, the kids love to play with him when he is here and he's coming again next week too!

Here is Jacob in his new Batman shirt that his Nana and Papa got him for going back to school clothes in a couple of weeks, which is his favorite now, he goes and looks for it even if he wore it the day before:

Here is Gwyn posing because Jacob did:

This was a little unsetteling...hopefully the snake was on the way out of our house and not on the way in!

Jacob is getting quite funny, he has been really good about going to bed, but lately he has had some pretty good excuses for not wanting to go to bed. Here are a few:

Swiper is in his room (Swiper is a fox on Dora the Explorer, one of his "quiet time" tv shows)

There is a rat in there that is going to get him

It is too dark in his room

It is too bright in his room

He needs to be tucked in (after this has already happened a few times)

He needs to potty (for the 4th time)

He needs a drink of water

He needs some crackers

His pillow is too cold

His pillow isn't cold enough

He is sad

He doesn't need to go to sleep

Can't find baby red George (a mini Curious George monkey)

His covers need fixed (he's thrown them on the floor)

There is a dog outside

Nana's visit

My mom (Nana) came down to visit for a few days. This is her in the picture above having a tea party with the kids. She was able to watch Jacob for me while I had a drs appointment and took Gwyn to her 18 month check up. I also was able to get my haircut, which I've been averaging being able to get done every 6 months. I also got ALOT of scrapbooking done. I ordered 767 pictures since I hadn't ordered any since Gwyn's first birthday, so I had a ton of stuff to update. It is nice to get caught up, especially when I know I'm going to get really far behind when this next baby arrives in a couple of months.

Here is Gwyn eating her yogurt. She insists on doing everything herself, and is surprisingly really good at her control of the spoon (although it is hard to believe that with all the stains on her white shirt she is wearing in this picture). I've discovered oxy clean stain remover and it works quite well. She also wants to wear all of Jacob's winter hats.

This is what camping in Houston looks like in August:

As always, when I start my third trimester my ice cream addition kicks into high gear, so we pretty much have ice cream for dessert every night after every dinner. The kids have gotten used to this and I discovered these mini ice cream cones thinking that it would be less mess, and of course here is the result:

Funny Kids

Well, the kids are getting really funny. Jacob is a constant ego boost to Brian, always telling him how tall he is, and how big his muscles are, and he thinks Brian can fix ANYTHING, including a popped balloon!

Jacob likes me to sing songs to him, so I'm always making up songs or singing him nursery rhymes or something, but Gwyn, anytime I start to sing she yells "STOP" or "NO!" It is pretty funny, and I know I'm probably getting paid back for being mean to my mom at times. Jacob went through about a 3 day phase where he just wanted clothes that had frogs on them, luckily we had a few different options, all of which got worn at least twice from John and Claudia for his birthday. He's still big into frogs, and Brian caught another one for him last weekend when he was mowing the yard and that was at least 30 minutes of entertainment, letting it go, catching it again, etc. Poor frog!

Gwyn loves pigs and horses. She carries a couple of pigs around everywhere she goes, and she is big into books right now, probably about 20 / day. When she "reads" she yells the names of the pictures or things she sees that she can say. I don't know how to get her to use a quiet voice, she just yells all the time!

Oh, and I was told a couple of times this week just how pregnant and big my belly is getting, Jacob told me the other day with big eyes that "it is getting bigger RIGHT NOW!" It was pretty funny, he also said it was time to get that new baby out. He's been helping me more with Gwyn and around the house, and he likes to change Gwyn's diapers (the wet ones), he's actually pretty good at it.

We've been going to watch Brian play volleyball at the church on Monday nights, and the kids get a real kick out of watching Daddy play. They yell "GO DADDY!" from the sidelines, it is pretty cute.

Here are a few pictures from a friend's birthday that Gwyn and I went to a couple of weeks ago:

Pool Time

We have been relaxing and having fun around the house. It is REALLY hot here, so we're up at the pool quite often, and I got these two short little videos of the kids. I feel pretty comfortable taking them both to the pool by myself now, but I don't know what I'll do next summer when I have 3! I recently had to start driving a little further to a different grocery store just because they have these grocery carts that are a little wider and have two seats for two kids in the front, otherwise, I've ususally got one kid in the front, one riding in the back and I either pile groceries up on the bottom of the cart or they are inside the cart with one kid getting stepped on and smashed.

Our home phone has been out for a few days, Brian was trying to fix something else on our cable and it got messed up somehow, but he tells me he is going to fix it soon, so if you try to call us, then try my cell phone and our internet is working so you could email too.

On another note, Jacob is officially done with naps, but we have instituted a "quiet time" where he will sit and watch a couple of cartoons. He will generally sit by himself for about 45 minutes, which gives me time to do a quick sweep of the house, start laundry, finish up dishes, get things laid out for dinner, etc., but he still likes someone to be with him, so he comes and asks me to watch Diego together, so I guess that is good for me because it gives me another 30 minutes or so of just sitting on the couch, which I need because I'm starting to get very tired already! My third trimester has officially started, so it won't be long til our new baby girl is here! Jacob asked the other day how we were going to get that new baby out with the funniest expression on his face, and I just told him we were going to go to the doctor.

Jacob starts preschool, three days/week in September. He goes 4 hours on Mondays and Fridays and 5 hours on Wednesdays, he loved school last year, so we are hoping this year goes just as well. Plus, now that he is really talking quite well, we're hoping he just improves even more when he is around other 3 year olds and they are talking all the time.

Here is Jacob at the pool, he loves the waterfall:

Here is Gwyn at the pool, she just loves to splash and crawl around in the shallow end of the kids pool with her head above the water like a little frog: