I let the kids get out some chocolate pudding and go to town painting Annie and some paper out front the other day. Jacob thought it was just great of course, he loved to paint Annie and to use the pudding as paint to paint some elaborate picture of what he said was a boat with a bed of monkeys in it. Gwyn, however, had no problem with painting Annie, but she did NOT want any pudding to get on her. So, my time between trying to take pictures was to wipe bits here and there off of Gwyn that accidentally got on her when Annie touched her or she put her hand in some pudding! Annie had a great time, and I learned that she LOVES to eat chocolate pudding (big surprise!).
And of course, since Annie is constantly standing up, she was laughing and having a great time, and right after I took this picture below, she plopped right down on Gwyn's picture she was drawing (which was very upsetting to Gwyn that "Annie sat in my picture!").
Being very careful not to get any on herself:
Jacob at the start of his masterpiece:
I let Jacob do this same thing to Gwyn when she was 9 months old and he thought it was the coolest thing at the time! Here is the picture of them, it seems like yesterday...
Our week has been pretty calm, we went over to see Jason one day this week, we ran some errands and made it through the grocery store (Gwyn loves the grocery store and asks to go every single day), we met some friends at an indoor children's museum play place and the kids had alot of fun, followed by a trip to McDonald's, and we had two swim lessons this week. Jacob swam all the way across the pool, and came up for two seperate breaths! He is doing great. Annie is growing like a little weed, she is into everything, has figured out how to open cabinets, and once again, is fascinated with getting all the DVDs out and spread all over the living room floor. So, my days are (for the third and final time!), filled with picking up DVDs and restacking them, picking up tupperware, guarding the dishwasher while it is down since she climbs up into it, etc. She will eat just about anything, she loves her baby food (ham, pinapple, and rice is her favorite), and she loves to eat peas (the real kind Sue!).
Here are a couple of more pictures of the kids, Gwyn loves dresses and she wears what she calls "my new dress that G got me" all the time:
Jacob is just growing up so fast, and I just love his dark eyes. I gave him a hair cut this week, and he said it looked really good.
Some funny things the kids said this week:
Jacob (to me while I was driving): Hurry, mom, there is a bear after us and it has on roller skates with rockets!
Gwyn (with her pointer finger up at me and very serious): You got to be very careful, it is dangerous.
Brian actually turned 33, but it sounded like 43 to Gwyn, so that is what she has been saying! Too funny. Oh the fun just never stops around here. Rick and Sue came down last weekend so that Brian and I could get away to Lost Pines near Austin for a two-night 10 year anniversary get-away. It was really nice, we had so much fun, and we decided that we would start taking the kids there every year for a couple of nights because it is set up perfect for families with kids activities going on every hour. We took advantage of "the largest lazy river in Texas," enjoyed sleeping in, eating at a nice restaraunt, hiking, taking naps, stopping on the way at Bever's Kitchen in Chappell Hill, TX for lunch, etc. We look forward to our two night get-away every year (this is the 2nd annual, since last January we went on a 2 night trip to Brenham with our church for a couples retreat). Thank you Rick and Sue! The kids seemed to do well without us!
Upon return, Sue and the kids had made Brian a birthday cake, so we celebrated Brian's 33rd birthday. He is an awesome dad and a great husband and I think he enjoyed his day!
Before we left for our trip, Sue and I took all the kids to Brenham, TX to the original Blue Bell ice cream factory for a quick tour and free ice cream (their 15 minute long video of the whole story was thankfully not working that day!), and then we took them to the Blue Bell aquatic center where all of them had so much fun. Annie would just sit and try to crawl deeper and deeper, and Jacob and Gwyn were laughing and having so much fun going down this "ice cream sundae slide." It was hot, and Sue and I were about to die at one point, but we made it through and all 3 slept all the way home!
Here is a picture of the kids at this new play place that opened up that has a bunch of dress up stuff, the kids were playing doctor!
Here are a couple of pictures of Annie who is crawling around non-stop, standing up all the time, she has taken one wobbly step, but her little legs are getting strong. She can just stand up by herself in the middle of a room!
Jacob LOVES his Buzz Lightyear costume, and I believe this is what he will be for Halloween (I wonder if I could get a Jessie costume for Gwyn and another character from Toy Story 3 for Annie...I'll have to look into that!). To Infinity and Beyond!!!
The kids are big into drawing, coloring, painting everyday. Jacob is getting pretty good, and Gwyn is really holding the markers (left handed!!!) correctly. They are always so proud of their work and asked me to take their picture with their pictures they drew.
This picture was just too cute with little Annie in the background...it won't be long until she is right up there with them!
So, this past weekend was supposed to be a get away for Brian to see John in Florida for a long weekend and Claudia was going to come see me and the kids and our new house. Well, we got back from our trip last Monday, Tuesday I started feeling bad, my throat hurt and I was exhausted and by Wednesday morning I knew something was seriously wrong, so I went to the Dr on Wednesday morning and sure enough, strep throat! I've never had it before and it seriously beat me down! I was pretty much laid up Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Jason came over Wednesday and took care of the kids (he learned how to scarf his lunch down because there is no time for you to sit and eat with 3 kids, and also changed his first dirty diaper of his life!), Brian took off work on Thursday, and my mom (she's from heaven you know!), came in and took care of all of us Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and left this morning. I was seriously laid out all of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I started feeling a much better Saturday and by Sunday I was feeling pretty good. I had to get a different kind of antibiotics on Thursday because I couldn't keep the first kind down and I still wasn't feeling any better after being on them for two doses. So, I ruined everyone else's weekend, and in return I got to be taken care of by my mom, which didn't end bad for me! We are rescheduling the trip for probably September!
Oh, and other than that, I also broke my little sony cybershot camera that I carry everywhere to take pics of the kids. $200 to fix it and it costs less than that for a new one. For now, I'm just using my big SLR camera that takes reallly good photos it just isn't as portable. Boo hoo!
Here is a video of the kids showing Annie standing up:
Funny things the kids said:
Jacob: I like ice cream
Brian: Me too.
Gwyn: No, me 2.
Brian: Yes, but me too.
Gwyn: No, you 43, me 2.
We've had many of celebrations for Jacob's 4th birthday, starting from our trip to Oklahoma where he got cupcakes at Emily's to a train cake at Rick and Sue's. Since we've been back, we had a party at Chuck E Cheese, where he and his little friends had fun playing games, eating pizza, and eating more cupcakes. Then, on his actual birthday, he started the day off with birthday donuts and then Brian made him a spiderman cake and Jason came over to have Pei Wei (Jacob's favorite place because he likes to eat his chicken with those sticks...chopsticks). By the end of this, Gwyn was so ready for this two week long birthday thing of Jacob's to be over, she put her hands on her hips and said, "Is it mybirthday tomorrow?" Jacob is telling everyone he is 4 now, he's so proud. He did something in the pool the other night and Brian told him he didn't know he could do that and Jacob replied, "I couldn't do it when I was 3, but now that I'm 4 I can."
Here are some pictures of Chuck E Cheese, I think Brian spent more tokens than Jacob, Gwyn and myself combined. He was caught doing the "Dance, Dance Revolution" more than once, and most of the time while holding Annie. A friend asked me, did Jacob pick Chuck E Cheese or did Brian? Ha! Jacob blowing out his candles:
Brian playing Dance, Dance Revolution with Gwyn and Annie
Jacob in the ticket blaster, this was HILARIOUS! He got in and didn't know what to do because nothing was happening out, and we had told him there would be tickets flying around so he had to catch them, he stuck his hands out and just waited for it to start.
Here he is while it is going:
Jason and Jacob playing a game:
Gwyn with her squinty smile playing a game...she has unfortunately moved on from playing without tokens, she really thinks the fun part is to just put the tokens in and then walk off.
Family picture:
Jacob having fun:
The birthday kids eating pizza:
Here are a few pictures from his actual birthday here at home. Brian's spiderman cake:
Jason bought Jacob this automatic tee, it is really cool and Jacob is pretty good at it.
He is squinting to keep one eye on the ball, because the tee makes noise and tells you to keep your eye on the ball, and Jacob is doing what it says!
Another shot:
Birthday donuts:
Gwyn was tired of all this fuss about Jacob, but didn't hesitate to take part in all the cake!
Even Annie enjoyed her fair share of icing, and she will yell at you until you give her another bite:
Gwyn outside while Jacob was playing:
I had to throw this one in here, she is still refusing to nap since we took away her pacifiers, but I've caught her on two different days asleep in the playroom at around 5:30 or so...she's so sweet!
Funny things the kids said this week:
Gwyn (as we are driving down the road and picking her nose): I've got to get these boogers out!
I know I've been AWOL for awhile on my blogging, but I have a couple of good excuses...1) We went to Oklahoma for 10 days and 2) In the past two weeks I have been the ER twice, the urologist once, and FINALLY passed that awful kidney stone yesterday!!! I know, too much information for some people, but I seriously was ecstatic and relieved to no longer be in serious pain! Hopefully, it will be my last stint with kidney stones, ironically I had this one when Annie was 8 months and I had my previous one when Gwyn was 8 months...the Dr said it could be contributed to being at a constant state of dehydration for the past year during pregnancy and nursing, but whatever the reason, I hope to never have them again.
Okay, on to more important things, like what we've been doing for the past few weeks. Thankfully, Sue flew down and drove with me and the kids up to Oklahoma, it was nice to have someone riding with me, and we were able to take Jason's Tahoe, so we had the third row seat where Jacob and Gwyn sat, they called it the "way, way back." I volunteered to drive the entire time, which left Sue in charge of all three kids (funny how I planned that, huh?!), actually, the kids did really well, especially Annie, and Sue kept everyone entertained with a constant supply of snacks, DVDs, juice boxes, coloring books, stories (she can read while riding in the car!!!), etc. We stopped in Dallas on the way up and let the kids get out and play for awhile. Emily had the yard all set up with water toys, pools, etc. and we had the goal of wearing the kids out, which they happily did themselves!
Grace and Jacob had fun together, green is both their favorite color and Sadie is 6 days younger than Annie. Gwyn had fun and enjoyed the cupcakes in celebration of Jacob's birthday. We hadn't seen them since Christmas, and are looking forward to their visit next month.
We made it to Tulsa in one piece and had a fun-filled week with both sets of grandparents, and I got to see Neely and her kids, Nick and Erika and their kids, and Amy and her kids who happened to be in town visiting form Arizona. The kids had so much fun, and their days consisted of being spoiled by grandparents, playing in the sprinkler, playing in the pool, eating candy, going to the zoo, visiting family, playing with friends, eating popscicles, etc. Here are several pics of the week.
Annie at the zoo (beginning of the trip):
Annie at the zoo (near the end of the trip):
The kids with Dad before we rode the train (Jacob's favorite part...Gwyn's was the jaguaar I think because Diego has one):
The kids with their train cake they made with Sue:
Jacob before he blew out his candles of his birthday cake (he ate all the candy off his piece of cake, leaving the train intact, and then wanted another piece...I had to draw the line there because he was already bouncing off the walls...Brian walked in and he was sucking the icing directly out of the tube while he was decorating it!)
Annie getting a popscicle from Nana (yes, even 8 month old babies get whatever they want from their grandparents!)
Jacob hitting the ball with Dad and Brian:
Gwyn sitting on her stack of chairs, this is her favorite thing to do!
Jacob playing with Annie, he is her personal playmate, you'd think she would get tired of him being right in her face all the time talking baby talk to her, but she laughs and laughs and thinks he is the greatest thing.
Gwyn looking cute.
Annie getting dedicated at church. She did really well, she was fussing beforehand, but then she stopped and even let Frank hold her and was so good!
Visit to the park with Amy's kids (notice Gwyn couldn't stop staring at Noah!)
Baby Blythe, Nick and Erika's new baby girl:
Picnic in the kitchen with Rafael:
Visit with my cousin James' kids Jerra and Issac (this is the best picture I got and only 1 of the 5 is looking at the camera!) Jacob loved Jerra and wanted her to stay the night.
With Neely's girls Ava and Catherine, those girls are just too cute!
At the park with snow cones with Ava and Catherine.
With Rick, Sue, Stacy, Justin on the 4th of July:
Family picture:
Kids with sparklers, Jacob LOVED them, he's a little pyro, but Gwyn was a little nervous.
Sue with Jacob and his sparkler, he quickly learned that if you touch your sparkler to something it lights on fire, so he kepts trying to relight all the trash on fire...note to self, put away all matches!
Kids with Rick and Sue:
Teething you think?!?! Check out her shirt...from drool! She is working those first two bottom teeth out, but they haven't surfaced yet!
Annie Jaye with Jason:
Kids with Nana and Papa:
We had a great trip, but we were ready to go home. The kids did pretty good on the drive home and it was sweet, Jacob cried before he went to bed that night because he didn't want to leave Tulsa. All the kids slept til 7:30 am the first night we were here, which was nice. I think they were worn out and glad to be home, but missed everyone back in Oklahoma. We've gotten back in the swing of things here, we've begun swimming lessons again and Jacob is doing great. The kids are in to "silly bandz" those shaped rubber band braclets so here they are with their Toy Story 3 ones:
We also made a decision to cold turkey get off the pacifier for Gwyn. She only has them for nap and bedtime, but we noticed in Oklahoma that she would suck on them all night. I slept with her one night and the next night I had to sleep with ear plugs because it was like little Maggie Simpson sucking on it all night long. I told her the pacifier fairy came and took all her pacifiers and that as her present for those pacifiers we would get a Dora DVD. It seemed to work the first night, but the second night she told me that she really needed one of Annie's pacifiers. I told her that Annie was a baby and she was a big girl and she's actually done really well...EXCEPT she will no longer nap! I think part of her incentive to nap before was that she got her pacifier and now that I took that away, she won't nap anymore. She does go to bed good, but no naps for 3 days!! It was funny because she was telling a friend that she is a big girl and doesn't need a pacifier anymore and she said, "the pacifier fairy came and is going to take my tooth." She got a little confused with the tooth fairy! Oh, and after a LONG day, she fell asleep for 20 minutes while I cooked dinner, so hopefully we'll still be able to work in a nap every once in awhile.
A couple of friends and I took the kids to The Chocolate Bar, where they got to pick out 4 different things and make their own candy bar. Jacob picked pop rocks, m&m's, chocolate chips and skittles. Gwyn however picked gummy worms, gum drops, cashews, skittles, m&m's and loaded it full. They had alot of fun and got to eat ice cream and drink Sprite while the candy bars were chilled...this was 2 days ago and we are still on a sugar high!
Annie is 8 1/2 months, crawling everywhere, getting into everything, pulling up, cruising and finally I got a video of her to put up here of her. She is such a good baby!
Funny things the kids said:
Gwyn (with hands on hips): We gonna solve a mystery!
Jacob: Swiper swiped Gwyn's baby doll and we're going to get it back!
Jacob (after peeing everywhere except IN the toilet): I'm not a Daddy yet, and when I grow up and be a Daddy, THEN I can pee inside the toilet without peeing outside of it. (this seriously made total sense to him!)
