The Daily Grind

Nothing too special to report on this week.  This picture we took before bath time the other night.  Jacob and Gwyn have had a few sleepovers recently, 5 of the 6 nights went perfect.  The 6th and last night went horrendous, so I'm not sure when we will be doing it again.  During the night, I think Jacob woke up and stood up and stepped on Gwyn, which lead to them both screaming and coming out of Jacob's room, which of course lead to Annie crying.  15 minutes later everyone was calmed down and back to bed, and then about an hour after that it happened again!  It was a horrible night!  Jacob and Gwyn were so excited about it and I turned them sideways so that they slept together in Jacob's queen size bed.  They keep asking when the next time will be...we will see!  I am happy to report that we have been getting consist sleep from all the kids (after 4 years of sleep deprivation this is a major accomplishment!!).  Gwyn has her issues with a number of excuses that last for about 10 minutes after she goes to bed (her arm/eye/hair/leg/foot hurts, no one told her good night, she can't find lamby/hello kitty, etc), and one time, I walked by the stairs on the way to the bathroom and say her asleep at the top of the stairs, and another time asleep on the stairs.  She can be pretty sneaky, and will stand at her door and then peek out and then shut it...it is a dead giveaway when her hair gets shut in the door and you can see it from the outside! 

I've wanted to take a picture of all 3 kids in the bath for some time now, but it always ends up getting forgotten.  I know it won't be much longer before they start bathing separately, at least Jacob is already wanting to take showers (he's growing up too fast!). Here the kids are in the bath:

I had a cat scan this past week and went to see the Dr because I was convinced that I had kidney stones again.  It turns out that my cat scan was clear (praise God!), and my Dr said he thought it was muscular from holding Annie, that I probably pulled or strained something and that it doesn't ever get a chance to heal since I always carry Annie on my right side.  He gave me some medicine, so hopefully I will be feeling better soon!  Here is Annie at the Dr with me in her cape (thanks Jason!):

I took the kids to get their pictures taken this week...bad planning on my part.  The first time it rained here in 35 days was on the day we were scheduled, so we had to reschedule.  Gwyn was sick, I think we gave her about 9 breathing treatments over the course of 2 days and she is thankfully feeling much better.  But, on the reschedule date, I had given her 2 breathing treatments before we went.  She ate breakfast fine and was acting great.  I contemplated not putting them in their clothes for the pictures before we got there, but decided it was just a 20 minute drive, what could happen if they didn't have any snacks, right?  Well, Gwyn puked all over herself on the way over.  Then she felt great, but smelt awful and her shirt was soaked.  Thankfully, she was wearing a plain brown shirt, and I just turned it around backwards, so that the puke was on the back of her.  We finished the pictures in about 15 minutes...Annie lasted all of about 5 minutes, and packed up and went back home.  A miserable experience, and I am somewhat dreading the results, which may lead to some retakes!  Ha!

Both Brian and I made it to vote on Tuesday.  We both had very different experiences.  Brian was in and out in 5 minutes, no line waiting.  Me, with all 3 kids, waited in line for 10 minutes, my two lollipops for Jacob and Gwyn lasted about 1 minute...Jacob showed Gwyn how to chew it up instead of suck on it (thank you Jacob for that), and Annie (who I thought would have been the best behaved) was the worst behaved, cried and wanted out of the stroller.  I picked her up, but she basically wrestled with me and cried the entire time trying to get down to where Jacob and Gwyn were.  I made Jacob and Gwyn sit on the floor while I voted (the LONGEST 14 pages of my life), fought Annie the whole time, only to turn around and see Gwyn doing snow angels on the floor.  Everyone there felt sorry for me, and a couple told me how brave I was to bring them all to vote.  When we left, Gwyn was crying, "I didn't get to vote!" and Jacob asked, "Why can't I vote?"  I told him because he wasn't 18, to which he replied..."Are you 18?"  Ha, I love that little boy!

Gwyn got stung by a bee.  After filtering through her screaming crying gibberish, I got out of it that Jacob let it sting her, which lead me to ask what did Jacob have to do with her getting stung??? Well, apparently, Jacob told her to pick it up.  I asked him why didn't he pick it up.  He said he wasn't sure it was real and didn't think it would sting her.  I told her next time someone is mean to her and tells her to pick a bee up then she should say, no and not do it.  She put her hands on her hips, turned around to Jacob and said, "No, Jacob!  I'm not going to do it!"  Later Jacob asked me why God made bees and wasps if they sting and hurt people.  I told him that bees help pollinate the flowers and make honey, but I really couldn't think of a good reason why God made wasps, so we'll just have to ask him when we get to heaven.  They are quite the pair, here they are in time out (they aren't supposed to be together, but Jacob got in trouble and Gwyn went over to be with him):

Other things that went on this week include Brian's lawnmower dying, which lead to an exhaustive comparison and analysis for the best deal on a lawnmower, resulting in another mower that will hopefully last us another 9 years.  We took the kids up to their preschool for a family fun night.  We had burgers/hot dogs and the kids got to play.  We also did a family craft and made a place mat of things we were thankful for:  Annie (we assume):  milk, Gwyn:  Daddy, Jacob:  Maddy, Daddy: Hermit crabs, Mommy: family and take-out. They had a book fair while we were there, so the kids each got two new books.  Gwyn's picks: Dora and a Princess book.  Jacob's picks: Corduroy and one about dinosaurs.  We went up to Brian's aunt and uncle's house in the Woodlands and had dinner.  It took the kids awhile to warm up to their two dogs, one was a huge lab that Dennis hooked up to a wagon and pulled the kids around in.  We also got a sitter to watch Annie, and Brian and I took the kids to see Megamind.  It was pretty good.  Jacob loved it, and Gwyn got a little tired of it after about an hour.  It was funny, she would make comments about one part where Megamind's fish wasn't giving him his keys to his car.  Gwyn would say loudly "He won't give him the keys, he's not sharing!"  I eventually gave her my phone to let her play games, and she kept asking if Jacob wanted to play.  It was only her second movie, so her movie watching etiquette isn't yet up to snuff.  Here is a picture of the kids in the wagon:

Here are some pictures of artwork this week.  Gwyn's circle art in the center says she is thankful for Mommy.  She is so sweet, and when asked every night what she wants to pray for she says Mommy.  Every single night, no matter who lays her down, she wants to pray for me, I love that little girl!  And check out Jacob's leaf person and his pig.  He cut those ears for the pig by himself and they are perfect triangles, I mean perfect (seriously, his whole class's pigs were hanging in the halls and Jacob's pig had the BEST ears...I know, I'm bragging about my son's triangle ears on his pig, but seriously, the BEST!):

Here is a monster by Jacob, after they read a book, they drew a monster and said what they would do if a monster came to their house (oh, and yes, again, his monster was pretty good too!):

Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob (when Brian asked what his favorite part of Megamind was):  All of it.
Jacob (when I was laying him down to bed):  I didn't like that Gwyn got stung by that bee.