Put a Smile on Your Face

Things that put a smile on Gwyn's face: Dora, popscicles, yogurt drinks, Hello Kitty, pink sparkly donuts from Strawberry bucks, princess anything, sliding down slides, going to the grocery store, singing songs

Things that put a smile on Jacob's face: Rocks, bugs, lizards, Annie, worms, cutting with his scissors, Gwyn, legos, batman/spiderman/any suuperhero, chocolate milk, driving super fast in the car with the window down

Things that put a smile on Annie's face: Jacob & Gwyn, shoes, playing in mulch, eating paper, anything that she can put into her mouth, swinging on the swingset, being held, splashing in the bath, walking around following people

These kids put a smile on my face everyday.  Today we were driving home from Jacob's school and Jacob said, "There are shapes everywhere Gwyn.  Look at that one, it is a rectangle, that one is a square!"  They are both learning so much, and it just makes me smile to listen to them talk to each other.  Gwyn stayed home with me and Annie today, she's had a rough couple of days which started from a runny nose from allergies that turned into wheezing...2 days and about 8 breathing treatments later, she is feeling much better. 

We joke that Gwyn has two volumes:  loud and really loud.  She talks, sings, laughs at such a high volume, that I constantly tell her to act like a mouse (which lasts on average about 7 seconds).  This was taken the other day at the checkout at the grocery store.  Annie was smiling (and of course stopped when I got my camera out to take a picture), and when I took this, Gwyn yelled, and I do mean YELLED, "CHEESE!"

We had a very good week last week.  It started off with me getting to go on a field trip with Jacob's preschool to a pizza place.  They were learning the five senses, and Jason was able to watch Annie for me so that I could go.  Jacob loves it when me or Brian are able to go to things at his school, and the pizza place brought back memories for me of going to Mazzios with my elementary school.  Jacob had fun, and surprise, surprise, only put cheese on his pizza (no sauce or pepperoni for him).  The funnest part for Jacob was that we carpooled on the way over there with another mom who had a drop down DVD player in her car and he and his friend got to watch Wubbsy.  Jacob thought that was the coolest thing ever, and I told him to talk to his Daddy about that (always got to put a plug in for my new car I'm needing!). 

Rick was able to stay the night one night last week when he had to come to town for work.  He arrived around 4 and was gone the next morning, but while he watched the kids I was able to fold and put away 3 loads of laundry and make a decent dinner (I have to take advantage of every opportunity I can or else we would never have clean clothes in our drawers!).  The kids love to see him, and when I told them that he was coming, the first thing Jacob said was, "He's coming to play with us!"

My mom came down for the weekend on Thursday and flew back early this morning.  It was so nice having her here, and Brian and I were both able to get some projects done.  Brian installed his landscape lighting project that he has been designing for sometime.  He thinks he's part electrician now, running power here and there.  He researched everything, and installed it all in two days.  It looks really good.  He put four lights on the house, and eight lights shining up into our large trees in the front yard.  My picture does not do it justice.  I was a little afraid it would be the Griswalds year-round around here, but it is amazing.  Brian is one very handy man!  This also gave Jacob the opportunity to dig around in the dirt with Brian and find numerous bugs.  He had a grub worm, he kept it in a light box over night, he would take it out and play with it, build little things for it, let it crawl on his arm...until...he accidentally stepped on it.  It was massive devastation, he was very upset, but then...he found another one!  He also freaked out when he spotted a lizard by himself.  He was so excited.  He also found a worm, rollie pollies, and a slug.  He somehow got the slug to crawl into into an empty water bottle and then brought it inside the house because he really wanted to show me.  This resulted in rule #6:  No slugs in the house.  We don't have many rules (be nice to each other, treat our brothers and sisters how we want to be treated, do what your mommy and daddy say, no whining, no toys at the dinner table), but I had to add one for this. 

I was able to get some much needed scrapbooking done.  This getting to do it twice a year takes alot of upkeep and organization just to have everything prepared when I finally get a chance to do it!  Annie's book up to date, add a yearly page into Jacob's book, add some family pages, and update all the kids' baby books.  My mom and I were also able to see a movie with Jason, get pedicures, and we had Jason and his girlfriend over for dinner one night too.  We loved having Nana here.  The kids made brownies with her, had a tea party, did crafts, played outside, played upstairs, etc.  I think we did wear her out though!

Here are a couple of pictures of things Jacob brought home from school this week, this M was working on AB patterns using pink/green marshmallows.  He now really wants to have marshmallows as a snack, and he's so excited to bring his cut out pictures of his Mommy and a monkey for his letter book.   He's torn between bringing a motorcycle and a monkey to show and tell (if anyone has ideas for X, they would be greatly appreciated!  Each week we cut out 3-4 pictures of things that start with the letter of the week, and then he brings one item for show and tell that starts with the letter of the week).  Jacob is very into this whole letter learning, and is constantly asking questions and thinking in advance for next week's letter!

 His "treasure" collection from 3 days of school (this isn't all of it, some lost in the dryer/pockets/car):

More projects...can you believe I actually made it home with that blob of runny noodle mess!  You should have seen me carrying into the house these things, Annie, a purse, a diaper bag, a lunch box and the mail...it is almost a challenge for me now to get everything in one trip!

Funny things the kids said this week:
Brian to Jacob after he proved to be extremely super-fast during a game of duck-duck-goose at church:  How did you get so fast?
Jacob:  God just made me that way.
Gwyn:  Jacob, you are a good brother.
Me (talking to myself):  I wonder where the Halloween stuff is (I was going to decorate the house).
Gwyn:  I know where the Halloween stuff is.  It's at Target!
Jacob:  My friends Peyton and Alex are going to come over to our house to see Annie.  Peyton can put her shoes in Gwyn's cubby, and Alex can put his shoes in my cubby.  (I can just image him bragging about his baby sister to them on the playground!)
Gwyn (to my mom):  We are going to follow you where ever you go!
Me to Gwyn:  Stop whining. (she is generally an emotional wreck, and says people, especially Annie, hurts her feelings all the time)
Gwyn:  I'm not whining, I'm just crying.

The little things

I just got to thinking this week about all the little things that make me happy.  Those two little teeth right in this picture.  This is really the first picture I have been able to get of Annie with her two little front teeth.  Since my little camera broke, I have only been using my monster big SLR, that I'm only really good at taking pictures with outside where I can use the automatic setting (I'm explaining why the flash is so bright on her little face!).  She is just so precious, I'm loving those little teeth, her little rubber band wrist rolls on her arms, her little freckle on her thigh ("she's got a dot!" Jacob said and was so excited because he has one on his belly and Gwyn has one on her calf, and Brian and I have them all over, so that makes us all special.)   It just makes me want to hug them a little tighter, squeeze them a little longer, and never forget these little simple things that make mine and Brian's lives so much richer.

Gwyn closes her little eyes every time she gives someone a hug.  It is so sweet, like she is absorbing up some love through those hugs with her eyes closed.  She also sings all the time, all day long.  The other night, I had put Jacob to bed and I was about to walk downstairs, and I heard "move on back, move on back."  I walk over to her door to listen and I hear "wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish," she was singing the wheels on the bus go round and round to herself after Brian had put her to bed.  I still haven't cut her hair, I can just do so much with pig tails, pony tails, braids, etc.  I keep saying, she'll get a hair cut soon, but I can't bring myself to do it.  Please someone shake me, if her hair gets down to her ankles, okay?  She has also started a ton of excuses before going to bed, a few examples are the following:

I have to go potty (even though she conveniently is only "potty training" right before she has to go to bed)

She didn't say good night to us

She needs her lamby (or Dora, or Hello Kitty, or baby doll)

Her toe hurts

Her eye hurts

She had to put this toy away (even though her bedroom floor could be covered in toys, it is that one that has to be put away)

She has to give a toy back to Jacob

Jacob is my little helper.  He loves to help take care of Annie and he loves to play with Gwyn.  He asks to wake them up from naps, he likes to help me cook, and he loves being Brian's little apprentice.  He is getting so good at swimming, and can now tread water for a very long time.  I'm just surprised at how fast he is learning new things, and he is big into his letters now.  He loves school, and of course keeps coming home with treasures.  I'm saving them up from a week and I'll take a picture of what I have.  I've lost several in my dryer or bag or pockets, since sometimes he has me hold on to stuff for him.  The other day at Target, he found a feather and didn't have a pocket, but Gwyn did have pockets on her shorts, so he was cramming it into her pocket "for safe keeping" as he says. 

Brian started back to Tadpoles at church with Jacob this week.  The kids (3-6) go with just the Dads and do a craft, game, story, and most importantly, a snack.  Gwyn can't go until February.  He also took Gwyn to Starbucks (Strawberry bucks as she calls it), for some one on one time.  She was so excited to get her juice box and pink donut with sprinkles.  She came home and said she wants a giant donut next time!  Jacob had another swim lesson this week, and we're hoping to squeeze one more in before our instructor (who is a 2nd year med student), has to start clinicals next week.  She has been great, and we hope to continue next summer and get Gwyn swimming too.  Jason was also able to come over one night for dinner, hanging out, and swimming.  It was Jason who shot the video at the bottom with his new iphone 4, I may have to get me one just for the ability to video the kids at anytime.  Other that that, we've just been up to our normal routine.  The kids are both enjoying school, I've found this week that Annie will pretty much throw a miserable fit if she is downstairs with me while Jacob and Gwyn are playing upstairs.  I can't leave her up there with them by herself, but apparently, she doesn't like to unload dishes or fold clothes or clean (she'd rather be playing wither big brother and sister, and I can't blame her for that!).

Here is a couple of pictures of the kids artwork from school.  I got this idea from a friend of mine, since it is impossible for me to keep everything, I just plan on taking pictures of most of the things they bring home and then keep a few per year.  A few of his pictures from the first week (the car is an ambulance), and he did so good with the patterns of 0 and 1:

He put the correct number of dots in each section of the tree, and if you lifted the pocket he made up on the third one, he drew a picture of himself in it:

I thought the smallest to largest one was cool, and he told me he put material on his little person (that is him he said) on the leg because his leg was broken and in a cast:

Gwyn's (Jacob was very upset she had 3 boys and 2 girls in her family-the green one):

A couple of pictures from outside, Gwyn with her bug collection out front...this used to be Jacob's, but he has moved on to bigger and better things outside, so now Gwyn is the "bug keeper" of the house, but she gets pretty upset when Annie comes over and tries to eat them.

Jacob and his squirrel house (also a butterfly house because he spotted a butterfly coming out of it):

A very cool find, a dead bug:

All three kids:

You can't really tell, but I did the 80s side ponytail on Gwyn and she looked so cute!

Sweet little Annie is 11 months old today!!!

Gwyn at 11 months old:

Jacob at 11 months old (he already had his two top teeth too):

Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob (after seeing a girl with braces):  Why does that girl have necklaces on her teeth?

Gwyn (when I told her to go pick out a different pair of shorts, she came downstairs with two clashing crazy patterns):  We can just pretend that they match. (I thought that was good enough that I let her wear what she wanted, since I tell her to pretend when she wants me to do things that I don't want to do)

Jacob (when I told him not to make a mess with his snack):  But kids make messes.

Jacob (when I told him to hold Gwyn's hand in the parking lot):  My pleasure!

Here is the Halloween Monster Mash of our family that was a result of  "I can't sleep and it is 4 am, so I'll find something on the computer to take up the time until a kid yells for me"

http://www.monstermashup.com/dev/webroot/afe3c8

And lastly, here is a very short clip of the kids dancing, Jacob and Gwyn are already trying to show Annie how to dance, but apparently, she has moves of her own!

The Joy of Having a Little Boy (and other stories)

I am truly in love with this little boy.  This is him playing with two locusts shells (the fragile little skeletons they shed), and we seem to have an abundant supply around here.  He is an expert "finder" and plays with them everyday.  He pretends like they are little airplanes, robot bugs, etc. and when he is done with them he always squishes them up into little pieces.  I asked him why he did this and he said "so the frogs could eat them"  Duh, Mommy, everybody knows that!  Since he has started school, he has started collecting his "treasures" again.  Everyday when I go pick him up, I see a variety of treasures in his little cubby.  Mostly rocks, pine cones, feathers, acorn and one time a twisty tie.  He is very proud of his loot, and I can just imagine him exploring on the playground and stuffing these in his pockets for safe keeping, he MUST wear pockets every day.  He has a little friend in there named Peyton, and her cubby always has several things too.  Jacob is such a sweet little boy, he loves to cuddle, loves to play with Gwyn, and to make Annie laugh.  He is "into" building things, I go out of the room for one minute, and he'll have every cushion and blanket off the couches and set up into a tent, or toys lined up to create houses.  The big, bad wolf (Annie) is always coming to knock stuff down, but he just puts things back up again.  I've got to get a picture of his "squirrel house" he's building in the front yard with little branches and leaves.  I'll have to put some corn out there (since this is what they dig out of trash can) to see if I can actually lure one into the house for him.  You should see his little face light up, he is so animated and he loves it when we cheer for him.  The other day the craft box, which he easily got out by himself was just too heavy for him to put back up, so Gwyn and I started chanting "Jacob, Jacob, Jacob!"  You should have seen his little smile, and sure enough, those muscles started working and he was able to put it away!  The other day, I picked him up from school and he was so excited to show me the "gun" he made (he taped two pieces of paper together).  I was trying to shush him, and tell him at the same time we don't make pretend guns, to which he was loudly replying, yes, I did, and here it is, isn't it cool.  I later had a serious conversation about we don't play with guns, we don't act like we shoot people, we don't make guns out of paper (where does he get this stuff, I think it is just embedded in his boy genes??).  He thought for a minute, and said, okay, next time I'll make one and it will look like a gun, but it won't be one.  I thought, okay, he's not getting it, I'll let Daddy handle this one!  Here is a picture of one of the houses he and Gwyn built the other day:

Both kids love school.  Jacob's class covers a different letter each week, they have to bring something for show and tell that starts with that letter, and cut out pictures of things that start with that letter.  Last week, it was B, so he brought batman, took pictures of a baby (Annie), batman, and a beach ball.  He also got to bring Bobby to school for a picnic.  So, we are always talking about letters, what letters words start with, etc.  Jacob asked me what letter was next week, and I told him A.  I started listing things that started with A.  He asked, what about shark, no, shark starts with an S, and I made the sound.  He asked what about crocodile, no, crocodile starts with a C, and I made the sound.  Gwyn asks, what starts with 4?  Ha, Brian was there and he said, 400, 44???  They are getting fun and are very interested in learning.  This year, he goes to pre-K four days a week.  It is 4 hours two days, and 5 hours two days.  He loves school, and was so excited on Friday when he got to stay home with me.  I told him we could do something special and he decided that he wanted a princess and superhero picnic...so, we did it (although at the last minute, he decided to dress up as a doctor instead of a superhero):

This is the kids "digging in," notice Annie has her face inside a bowl:

Jacob also brought out his doctor tools, looks like Annie is in need of another checkup:

Annie was part superhero/part princess:

Gwyn in her Tinkerbell outfit that she is going to be for Halloween (although now she says Snow White, but I'm reminding her daily how much she wants to be Tinkerbell since we already have that costume!):

The kids playing with sticks:

While the cat is away...Annie will steal some juice!

Sweet little Gwyn:

Jacob said, "Mommy, everything was DEEEE-Licious"

During the picnic, we sat the blanket right next to this LIVE locust, and I showed it to Jacob who attempted to pick it up and it started making that loud humming noise and took off.  It was so funny, Jacob got so excited and was after it, but it was just too fast for him.

Gwyn is such a girly girl, but at the same time, wants to do whatever Jacob is doing.  She loves her baby and Dora dolls, she gets Jacob to be Diego and she is Dora and they play non-stop.  They also play "babysit" where one of them plays the baby and sits in their little rocking chair, and the other plays the Mommy or the Daddy.  Gwyn is so sweet and it is so funny how she might say she wants to do something, and then if Jacob says he wants to do something else, then all of the sudden she changes and wants to do whatever he wants.  She also LOVES to sing.  She always asks me to sing songs, and sometimes I catch her just singing to Annie, and she loves to sing in the car.  Her favorites are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, "Baby Jesus" (Jesus Loves Me), and Jingle Bells. 

Little Annie is a night owl at least 2-3 times per week.  We will put her to bed around 8 along with Jacob and Gwyn, but sometimes she decides that she just isn't ready.  So, she yells and gets to come downstairs and hang out with me and Brian.  She is usually just walking around, she has a couple of her "go to" cabinets where she gets out all of Jacob and Gwyn's straws for their yogurt drinks and then she also loves my plastic cups cabinet and strings those all over the house.  The other day she was upset, and Jacob wanted to make her feel better so he went and got her a straw "because she likes them so much" he said.  We call her Destroyer 2 (Jacob is Destroyer 1, he is a master at this and can totally destroy the upstairs or downstairs in about 5 minutes).  This is Brian taking her back up to bed for the second time the other night.

Our back porch is finished!  This is one thing that we have wanted to do since we moved in because before we had absolutely no shade during the majority of the day in the backyard.  Now we have a porch with two ceiling fans and we've already been enjoying it so much!

Here are some more pictures of the backyard, Brian had to put the play set in two different pieces since the footprint was so large.  Jacob is checking the skimmer out, there is usually at least one frog in there.

The other side of the pool where the swings are now:

Another view of the back porch:

Saturday we had our friends Brad, Erika and Maddy over for dinner.  The kids had a great time swimming, playing, running around, and dressing up.  Annie pretty much tried to follow them wherever they went, and Gwyn was just mesmerized by big-girl Maddy.  The one traumatic event of the evening, is when we were outside.  The guys and the kids were swimming in the pool, and Erika and I were sitting under the porch with Annie walking around.  We looked down, and Annie had something in her mouth, and Erika got it out and it moved.  She dropped it and it was a lizard tail!  I totally freaked out, which lead to Annie totally freaking out!  I thought Annie had eaten a lizard and it was just the tail left, but Brad saw the lizard run off, and I guess left his tail behind when Annie grabbed it.  No, I'm not winning "Mother of the Year" again this year!  Poor little Annie, I used to joke with the kids that I was making lizard tails for lunch, but I just can't do it anymore!

I've been meaning to upload a couple of videos for awhile, and I finally had time to do it!  This is a longer post because I started at 4 am because I had to get up to start my pulled pork in the crock pot since I'm taking a meal to a family in our church after I pick the kids up at 1, so I had to start it early.  So, I find I am able to do longer posts when I don't have 3 kids asking at my feet asking for a snack, but who needs sleep anyway, it really is overrated!

Funny things the kids said this week:

Gwyn (to Brian when we were pulling into the church parking lot):  Park right there Daddy.  Brian looked at me and said, "Are you serious, she is 2 years old and already telling me where to park!  Already like her mother!"

Jacob to Brian:  You can go ahead and just get rid of that time out mat.  I'm not going to need it anymore (Oh really...I think we'll just hang on to it just in case!)

Gwyn:  Annie is a good sister.

Jacob:  Three more days of school and then I get to stay home with you? 

Gwyn:  What is my teacher's names?

Me:  Mrs. Raman and Mrs. Zarse

Gwyn:  Mrs. Raman and Mrs. Zarse, watch my mouth, Mrs. Raman and Mrs. Zarse (when she is trying to make sure she gets something right, she says, watch my mouth, because we always did this with Jacob during speech therapy)

Jacob:  Mommy, Gwyn is hitting my arm and I'm not hitting her back.

Me:  That is very good Jacob, now Gwyn, we don't hit.  So tell Jacob that you are sorry and tell him one thing you like about him.

Gwyn:  Sorry Jacob.  I like it when Jacob goes to school.

Gwyn (when they wore matching pink dresses to church):  Annie and me are on the same team!

Drumroll please....this is my 100th Post!

This is my 100th post!  I've been doing this right at two years, so I'm proud of being somewhat consistent of updating about once / week.  I know that both my parents and Brian's parents look forward to seeing the updates with everyday pictures of the kids, and this has kind of turned into our own little scrapbook of them growing up.  I bought a book of my blogs from Sept 08 til Dec 09, and I love to get it out and read back through things the kids said or did, how easily we forget even things from a few months ago.  I plan to order a book each year, and I know the kids will enjoy looking back through them someday...I know I will.  Hopefully, maybe Brian will start doing a blog every once in awhile, it would be nice to hear some things he has to say!

Well, the big news of the past week is that Jacob started pre-K and Gwyn started a 2 1/2 yr old preschool that goes two days / week.  Jacob goes Monday - Thursday, so when we went last Thursday, she didn't understand why she didn't get to go, so I told her that since she is 2, she goes 2 days per week and since Jacob is 4, he goes 4 days per week.  That seemed to suffice for now, at least til February when she turns 3!  Here are a couple of pictures before we left for school, Gwyn was so happy to wear her new dress from G:

I told Jacob that Mommy gets to pick out his clothes the first day of school, after that, he can pick out what he wants (and I did let him pick out his spider man socks to wear with his nice clothes).  He was excited to wear his belt, which he often wears with athletic type shorts that have no belt loops:

Annie had fun by herself with Mommy, grocery shopping is surprising pleasant with only one child, who is still intrigued with playing with my keys or holding a bag of pretzels that make noise. 

Another major thing that started on Friday is that Gwyn is now potty training.  She will tell you she is potty trained, but she isn't.  It started on Friday when Jacob built a "tall tower" of pillows to get into Gwyn's top drawer and get her Dora panties out (she had gotten them for her 2nd birthday, but they have never been worn).  I was putting Annie to sleep, and I came into her room to find a diaper on the floor, Gwyn's pants on the floor, and her panties on backwards.  She pretty much refused to take them off, except to turn them around (Jacob told her how they went because on his, the big character picture is on the back).  So, when Brian got home (around 1 pm), we decided to see if she wanted to try even though before this day she had not shown any sign whatsoever of being interested in potty training.  Well, Brian made her a sticker chart, and finally about 3 pm on Saturday she went in the potty (so for 24 hours, we went through about 10 pairs of panties and shorts - I had gone to get her more princess and hello kitty panties, which may have been a mistake because she had no problem taking the wet ones off since then she got a brand new pair with a new princess on them).  So, Saturday, she had about 5 stickers on her chart, she learned quickly with Jacob's coaching that if she just went in and tinkled two drops, they would each get treats.  She is doing much better now about telling us, but we are keeping her in diapers at nap time and bedtime (having washed her sheets 4 times in the last 3 days).  Hopefully she will start waking up dry and be fully potty trained within the next month or so!  She is very proud of her potty chart and loves her big girl panties.  She says, "I'm not a baby!"

 

I'm sure she'll kill me for this picture someday, but she's just so cute and she's so proud of herself!

Annie is VERY interested in all this potty business, and gets locked out of the bathroom, which she doesn't like.  So, if you ever come over to our house and have to go to the restroom, you can count on Annie walking over and yelling at you until you come out again.  She just wants to be in the middle of everything!

It was nice to have this extra day with Brian home on Labor Day, so we met some friends at a park downtown today, and the kids had fun playing in the splash pad, eating lunch (every time we pack a lunch for a picnic, the kids want to eat it as soon as we get there, so we end up eating lunch at 10:15 am), and running around. 

Annie had a great time.  She is now just about refusing all baby food and shakes her head back and forth "no" really fast.  She likes to eat nutella sandwiches, I found out today, when she swiped half of Jacob's.  I would have never dreamed of giving Jacob a nutella (made with hazelnuts) sandwich before he was 1, but Annie is 10 1/2 months and no one in our family has any nut allergy, so I'm sure she is fine. 

Jacob also gave her a sip of his juice box, and now you should see her run, yelling after a juice box whenever Jacob or Gwyn has one.  Poor little thing, wants one so bad, Jacob gave her his empty box and she walked around like this for at least 30 minutes and seemed quite content.

Jacob is very excited about school and is adding a new letter everyday.  He loves his little Tag reader, and is surprisingly good at it!

Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob (when I asked him if he wanted to go to Jason's with me):  I could do that.

Jacob (when I asked him why he didn't eat his apple snack at school):  Nobody took the casts off for me (peels).

Gwyn:  Can I give Annie a piece of milk?

Jacob (as he's pedaling a mile a minute on his bike to the park):  You can't catch me!