Settling In

The kids are adjusting well to the new house, and we've finally got some pictures up on the walls, so it is starting to feel like home.  Brian and Jacob went to St. Louis where they visited Brian's grandpa and met his parents and Stacy and Justin there for the weekend.  They went to Maggiano's, to the zoo, to a Cardinals baseball game, the Galleria, and so on.  Jacob had alot of fun, especially I think being an only child, although he did miss his Gwynnie and after he had made a Fred Bird at the Build a Bear workshop at the St. Louis Cardinals game, he HAD to get Gwyn a Hello Kitty.  He was so excited to give it to her, and she said she loved it.

We had us a "girls weekend" complete with getting up extra early on Saturday morning to go to our old house since they were having a community garage sale.  We got there about 6:30 am, and by 8:30, I had hardly sold anything.  So, with a the motivation of the closing at 11 am on Monday and HAVING to get everything out (added to the fact that I had two hot and miserable little girls with me at the time), I pretty much said everything was free, take it if you want it, and miraculously it worked and I was out of there by a little before 10 am!  We were exhausted and came home for their naps, then went to Jason's for a bit before spending a quiet early evening here at our new home (as Gwyn calls it). 

We celebrated Jason's 33rd birthday on Tuesday night.  The kids were all excited for the cake, and then they wanted to know if tomorrow was their birthday.

Other news:  Annie is 7 months old!  She is doing great and getting so big, she's starting to crawl, sticks everything in her mouth, she loves peas and bananas, and wait for it....is sleeping through the night!!!! Yes, she might just get a little bit of a bonus in her inheritance for giving me my nights back sooner than Jacob or Gwyn did!  She is such a happy little baby, she loves being with people, loves to stare at Gwyn, laugh at Jacob, and loves to be tickled.  Here she is at 7 months:

Here is Jacob @ 7 months:

Here is Gwyn @ 7 months:

Here are just a few random pics from this week...Jacob loves to dress up, and now that he has a pool, he's turned into water-man:

Gwyn wants to be known as super-girl, does this stance and then takes off running "super fast" (She is also in a taking-her-clothes-off-at-every-opportunity phase, but she is still keeping her diaper on!).  I also realized when I was brushing her teeth the other night that she almost has both of her bottom molars all the way in. 

Here is Annie just being sweet and playing, the second one is of her staring at Gwyn...she is mesmerized by her brother and sister:

Then she started to take off crawling!

This last one is of Gwyn before we went to church on Sunday.  I had the girls dressed so cute in their Baby Lulu dresses, and she HAD to wear her "super fast" shoes.  I guess super girl always has to be prepared!  She is still giving her squinty smile.

Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob:  I brush my teeth, so they don't get black.

Gwyn: Cats eat mouses.

Gwyn:  I want to go home, to my old home.

Jacob: You can't climb like spider man unless you are Peter Parker.

Gwyn:  I love you so much Annie!

Gwyn:  My Jacob is lost (when Jacob was in St. Louis).

We've moved!

We have moved!  It has a been a very long and tiring process, but we are finally in our new house.  The kids are doing great here, they are sleeping well and enjoying the stairs and hopefully soon the pool (we've gotten alot of rain recently, so it is quite cold!).  Gwyn did say a couple of times the first day or so that she wanted to go home, but with Jacob constantly saying that this is our new home, I think she is getting it.  The kids loved all the boxes, you wouldn't believe the number of castles that have been built and torn down around both our old house and this one in the past week!

One thing that happened last week is that Jacob can write his name!  He's so proud!

We have been so busy with the move, but thankfully we had alot of help.  My dad was down for over a week helping fix the house up, and my mom came down for the weekend to help with the kids.  Then, Rick came down for a week and Sue came down for the weekend of the actual move.  It is very tough to move with 3 kids, and we were all sore and tired in the end, but we did it (as Dora would say!).  It was also so nice to have Jason bring food all the time, and my first night to cook in the house was last night.  I'm loving my gas stove. 

I took a few pictures of the house, but we have nothing on the walls, and stuff is still everywhere, so hopefully by next week I'll be able to post some pictures of the house.  It was also Jacob's last day of school yesterday, and he'll be going to 4 days of preschool next year...I can't believe he's growing up so fast! 

Another big event, was that Annie got her first popscicle.  This is a big deal at our house, everynight after dinner it is popscicles before bedtime, and Brian gave Gwyn hers while he was holding Annie and she just reached right out and grabbed it from Gwyn (and of course the tears came fast!).  Anyway, Annie loved it, and yes, Gwyn got another one, and the kids just thought it was great that Annie got to sit with them and eat one too.

Here is one more picture of Gwyn, she is in a major fake smiling phase, she thinks the bigger the smile and squintier the eyes, the better!

Summertime Fun!

We love summer time in Houston...well, I should say that we love playing in the water during the summer, not so much the HOT summertime in Houston!  The kids had fun in the backyard today, and I got a few cute pictures.  Who knew the water hose would still be so entertaining.  The kids have now discovered if they wet the slide on the playset and then slide down it, they go flying off the end.  I got some video of this today, we were dying laughing at them having so much fun.  Poor little Annie was just itching to crawl over and join the fun, but then she discovered she could try to eat grass, ha!

Today was also Jacob's birthday chapel at his school and Mother's Day Tea.  I had a good time at both.  We again had to have the conversation that it wasn't really his birthday, but they were just celebrating all the summer birthdays today since they wouldn't be in school for his birthday in July.  He asked why they counted to 4 if he wasn't 4 and still 3.  Another long conversation that ended with, "but she touched four of my fingers to count to 4."  I think he finally got it, but wanted to know where his cake was!  Here is a picture of him at his birthday chapel....yes, he is picking his nose which was the least embarrassing thing he did (he lifted his shirt up over his head and stuck his hand down his pants in front of everyone while he was up there...I guess he was bored after being up there for about 5 minutes!).

The Mother's Day Tea was nice.  They had place settings set out for all the moms with special things from the kids and the kids acted as our "waiters" to bring us some juice or tea and cake.  Jacob was so proud of the things he made.  They sang us a couple of songs, gave us a flower, and then gave us a picture they had drawn of their family.  Jacob's was too cute, he said he loved it when I played in his room with him, and my job was cleaning up after him (ha!, he is right about that!), and his favorite thing I make is strawberries (I'm excellent at washing them I guess!). 

Little Annie is just growing so fast.  She loves her some vegetables and she likes to hold her own bottle!  I had to put this picture in here for all those people who can remember that Jacob never did learn to hold his bottle, he would just lay himself out and never attempt to hold it...he was just fine with you doing everything for him...not Annie (or Gwyn!), they want control of that bottle!

And yes, that is a pack of breathe right strips next to her.  Jacob and Gwyn and I like to play a game called "let's see what Annie will try to eat" (don't worry, they do it with me supervising them) and Jacob got that box of breathe right strips.  They just think it is so funny that she tries to put everything in her mouth, Gwyn says, "that not food!" "that not taste good!"  Annie does like to eat her feet, and I caught Gwyn doing it the other day, and she said "look Mommy, I do it like Annie!"  I have so much fun playing with those kids everyday.  They are getting pretty funny together.  Jacob and Gwyn make up games, make up words, read each other books, the other day, I heard Jacob telling Gwyn about how Peter Parker got bit by a radio spider.  I asked him if he meant radioactive spider, and he said, "no Mommy, a RADIO spider."  Oh, okay.

Annie is getting ready to be on the move.  If she wants something she rolls over to it, she's up on her knees bouncing, gets into a crawling position, attempts a couple of moves with her knees and then usually face plants.  She is getting determined.  You should see the look in her eyes when she sees Jacob and Gwyn running around.  I really would like her to stay put for awhile.  With this house move, that is all I need is to worry about her getting into everything!

Oh yes, an update on the house.  We closed last Thursday, and my dad has been down helping us get somethings done on the house that will be hard to do before we move in.  By the time he leaves, the whole upstairs will pretty much be brand new!  He has also worked several inspection items, and things are coming along really well, but I keep adding things to the list!  He goes back Sunday, and Rick comes in for a week to help finish up some projects and help us move in.  We are getting excited!!