Happy Easter!

What a busy week it has been for us!  In addition to our normal activities, we also had Jacob’s preschool Easter party, Gwyn’s preschool Easter party, a Spring Fling with my friend’s and their kids, a 3 day visit from Nick, Erika and Blythe, Gwyn’s conference with her teacher, a Doctors appointment for Annie (ear infection, poor baby), Sunday Easter celebration and egg hunt at the house, and JACOB LEARNED TO RIDE HIS BIKE WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS!!!  Whew, I’m exhausted just thinking about the whirlwind week I have had, ha!  (Oh, and yes, that was the BEST picture of all 3 kids before church that I could get...Annie just did not want to cooperate!)  Here are my two little posers...give Annie another year and I'm sure THEN I will finally get decent pictures of the three of them together:

Nick, Erika and Blythe came down for a visit since Nick had some work to do in Houston.  It was great to visit with them each night after the kids went to bed, and little Blythe is the sweetest!  We missed Rafael, but hopefully he'll make it down with them in August.  The kids thought it was great we had two babies this week, and of course, I didn't even get a single picture taken:(

We have been trying to teach the kids the real meaning behind the celebration of Easter, so it isn’t lost in all these egg hunts and candy filled parties, and we’ve been quizzing the kids about it each day.  I had asked Gwyn what Easter meant, and she said, “Jesus is alive!”

Here are some pictures from Jacob’s preschool party.  His class is pretty fun, and he opted at the last minute to bring his Star Wars eggs that Rick/Sue and Stacy/Justin had sent.  When it came time for the egg hunt, he thought he was searching just for his Star Wars eggs, so he wasn’t picking any of the other ones up.  He couldn’t find a single one, they had already been picked up by his classmates, so I convinced him to start picking up a few and then we would see if we could trade for some of the Star Wars eggs at the end.  He finally did, but only after stopping to open each one, check out what was inside, and if he didn’t like what was in it, he put it back together and went after another egg!  His little friend Austin had collected about 6 of the Star Wars eggs, so he traded three with Jacob.  My little funny bunny:

 All smiles, after the swap with Austin for some Star Wars eggs:

 His cute little class, 6 of them have been together since they were 2, and all will be going to different Kindergartens next year:

 Melted green icing is not a great combination with either the white t-shirt I wore or the black skirt:

Here are some pictures of Gwyn’s preschool party.  Her little class is too cute, they had McDonald’s, cupcakes, and then an egg hunt.  Gwyn found a pretty purple one and was perfectly fine with being done.  I told her to go get some more, and she said, “but I already found the prettiest purple one.”  Don’t worry, she has an older brother that taught her the ins and outs of egg hunting, and she caught on pretty quickly at our egg hunt at the house.  Ready to go hunting:

 Being very careful not to get any cupcake or icing on her:

 Adding to her stash:

 Her bestie Laura:

 After smashing a confetti egg on Mommy's head:

I have a little group of friends who get together when school is out, and we’ve been doing a Spring Fling on Good Friday for a few years now.  I think there were 8 moms, 2 dads, and about 17 kids…my how our group has grown since we met just 4 years ago and most of us only had 1 kid, ha!  The kids had a great time having lunch, playing on the playground, playing chase, decorating eggs, playing musical chairs, having an egg race, and the biggest hit were the pinatas!  Here are some pictures of the kids:

 Jacob eating his decorated egg cookie:

 Gwyn carefully spreading her icing and sprinkles on her egg cookie...Gwyn, you got a little something on your face!

 Gwyn during the egg race, Jacob made sure to let her know that she was cheating:

 Jacob was very careful to not drop his, walking VERY slow and concentrating VERY hard:

 The boys after their pinata:

 The girls after their pinata:

Brian was off work on Friday, so he took the training wheels off Jacob's bike, took Jacob to the bike store to buy a new helmet, and then took him up to the elementary school parking lot since school was out and it was empty.  They were men on a mission, Jacob did awesome, and Brian got a good workout.  He had a hard time at first turning (he was concentrating so much on pedaling that he forgot he would forget to turn), so there were a few close calls with a pole, a parked car, and the trash dumpster, but he took to it super fast, and was riding by himself in less than 15 minutes.  He kept wanting to go again and again, and can even stop himself now.  We told him it works the same as with your training wheels on turning, stopping and braking, and then he was off covering the entire parking lot.  He was so excited and pretty much wanted to call every person he knew!  We've been up to the parking lot the past 3 days, and now he is riding up there and back.  He is even getting the hang of starting off by himself.  He looks so little doing it, I can't believe he's growing up so fast!!    Here he is all proud:

 He is the cutest little bike rider ever!  He looks so little riding that bike!

Here are a couple of videos:

And here are the girls ready to ride up to the school in the trailer behind Daddy's bike, they LOVE this:

We did an egg hunt here at the house after church and having lunch with Jason.  Jason had taken the upstairs to play while Brian hid the eggs, and they were in full dress-up gear for the egg hunt.  Jacob is dressed as Obi Won Kanobi and Gwyn is Princess Padma (she says she has two babies in her belly - Luke and Leia).  Annie opened the first egg she saw, got a piece of chocolate out, and then she was done.  The kids kept putting eggs they thought she would like in her basket, so she did end up with 4-5 eggs.  Jacob raked in quite a stash, and Gwyn picked up as many pretty purple and pink ones as she could find.  I've given up on getting a picture with all three of them looking at me, this one was the best of the 10 that I took:  

 Annie and her piece of chocolate that she managed to get all over herself in a matter of seconds:

 Gwyn (dressed up in her flower girl dress from Stacy's wedding) racing to the next egg:

 Jacob hunting eggs in his dress-up costume:

 Annie, who is so over this whole thing:

 Annie turned 18 months this past week.  I had already scheduled her 18 month appointment for Tuesday, but I didn’t remember on the actual day until I got an email from Chuck E Cheese wishing Annie a Happy ½ Birthday with a coupon…sad, I know.  Here is my precious little Annie at 18 months old:

 Look at all those teeth!

Here is Jacob at 18 months, getting his hair cut for the first time by Daddy:

Here is little Gwyn at 18 months:

Jacob is getting to be so funny.  He makes the cutest little face when he smiles and raises his eyebrows when he has done something tricky.  He put a fake snake in my laundry while I was folding clothes and thought that was the funniest thing ever.  He also this past week got back to basically where he left off from swimming lessons last summer, and swimming across the pool.  He loves it, and I'm so happy that he has taken to it so fast.  Hopefully, Gwyn will learn to swim this summer, and Annie LOVES the water.  Here is a video of him hitting baseballs, we are practicing either hitting, catching or throwing every other day...he'll be ready next Spring:

I also had a conference with Gwyn's teacher this week.  She is doing great, she is very empathetic to other kids, if one falls, she goes right over to help them up and make sure they are okay.  She loves music, is doing great with fine and gross motor skills, likes to draw, use scissors, pretend play, and plays well with the other kids.

This was really too cute of Gwyn and Annie this past week.  Gwyn was helping her put her shoes on, what a good big sister.  Annie loves her big sister and her big brother!

Here is a video of Annie snoring in the car.  She was just too loud and cute:


Here is one more picture of Annie, she loves being thrown up in the air:

This week’s artwork, I can’t even tell you how many days this week I've swept up Easter grass, that stuff is awful!  

 I loved this picture Jacob drew of himself with an egg body with the chicken pops:

Funny things the kids said this week:

Gwyn:  When I was 2, I liked pink and yellow, but now that I’m 3, I like red and purple.

Me to Jacob and Gwyn as we are about to eat pizza:  Let me hear a song about cheese pizza (Gwyn loves to make up songs).

Jacob:  I’ve got one.   (sings)   I love to eat, I love to eat cheese pizza with Mommy.

Me (gushing):  Oh, I loved that one.  (If there is one thing they know that I love, a song about how much they love doing something with Mommy).

Gwyn:  I’ve got a really special one.  (sings)   God loves to eat cheese pizza.  God loves to eat cheese pizza.  Did you like it Mommy?  It had God in it.

Me:  Oh Gwyn that was so good! (you could see her little mind working on how to one-up Jacob, because they both know what Mommy loves to hear most is songs about God:)

Me to Gwyn after she took something from Gwyn:  Give it back to Annie.  (she does it pouting) Do you have a happy heart?
Gwyn:  Noooo (at least she is honest!)

Confessions of a Star Wars Addict

This is Jacob’s new Star Wars backpack.  I had gotten it for him for Kindergarten in the Fall, but went ahead and let him have it after it came in the mail a couple of days ago.  He has pretty much not taken it off.  He even wore it while mowing the lawn with Brian on Saturday.  I also got him a Star Wars towel, since he'll need to take a towel to class every day for independent reading time.  The towel is inside his backpack, and he keeps taking it out, laying it out and putting it on stuff, then putting it back inside his backpack.  He's a full-fledged Star Wars Addict.  We have now seen the first 4 movies, and plan to watch the 5th next Saturday.  He has this tattered Star Wars book, which he has memorized and "reads" to whoever will listen, which I've had to tape several times, he has a few figurines, he's got the Star Wars sheets (thanks Uncle Jason!), and he's got his build-a-bear with now a Darth Vader outfit and a Obi Won Kanobi outfit.  You should hear him and Gwyn talk about Star Wars stuff, she is usually saying something that isn't quite right, and Jacob is right there to tell her EXACTLY what happened.  He was into Spider man at 3, Batman at 4, and now Star Wars at 4 1/2...let's hope it lasts til the Fall, ha!  

Thought it would be fun to write down some of the things the kids are “into” every so often, so here goes:

Jacob:  Star Wars, light sabers, baseball, bugs, lizards, books, swimming, riding his scooter, riding his bike, reading class, collecting sticks, digging with sticks, riding in Daddy’s car with the windows down going to Tadpoles.

Gwyn:  Making up songs and singing, picking flowers, yogurt drinks, Rapunzel/fairies/princesses (including princess Padme and Leia from Star Wars), riding her bike/tricycle, stickers, telling on Jacob and Annie.

Annie:  Mommy, fruit snacks, her pacifier, playing in the kitchen, destroying the house, getting all the toys out after we have picked them up, juice, sitting right in the middle of whatever is going on, her Tag baby doll.

Well, this past week was the Easter play at Jacob and Gwyn's preschool.  I was a flower :)  Jacob and Gwyn loved seeing their Mommy in the play, and Gwyn said, "Mommy, you were the star of the show!"  (I didn't even have a speaking part, ha!)

Jacob and Gwyn are regulars at Tadpoles with Brian.  They love going, spending some time with their Daddy.  There are usually about 8-9 dads there and about 15 kids or so.  They were in charge of craft this week, and Gwyn picked out those plastic beads that you put on a little tray and then iron so that they melt together.  I did those when I was a kid, so I was so excited when she picked those out.  Here is Jacob's dog, Gwyn made a flower, but she gave hers to Isabel:

Brad, Erika and Maddy came over this weekend.  We love getting together with them, we just don't do it often enough since we live on opposite sides of the city.  The kids LOVE playing with Maddy, so they had a great time.  Maddy brought Gwyn a bag of clothes and shoes, and this was about the 4th outfit change that Gwyn had in the 4 hours that they were here!  She also gave Gwyn a few pairs of flip flops that Gwyn was SO excited about.  We loved hanging out with them, the kids played, swam, we grilled out, and have a date set in May to go to the beach, whooo hooo!  This was the only picture we got of the kids together before they were heading out, Annie had long since gone to bed, poor baby!

Brian was out of town in Louisiana for a few days earlier in the week...I really would not make it as a single parent, ha!  We survived, but we were so excited when Daddy came home (especially Mommy!). The weather was great, so we've, of course, spent a ton of time outside.  Jacob has turned into a little trickster, and wanted to play a trick on the mailman (yes, we have fake snakes around the house, it is not fun, they freak me out!):

Annie likes to carry her little baby doll everywhere, this has also been her sign for me when she is ready for her nap, she will grab her doll and point towards her bed, and if her baby isn't around, I usually pick up on the fact she is ready for her nap after she has been crying inconsolably for about 20 minutes:

I took the girls to Clay's restaurant after the Easter play, while Jacob was still in school.  I don't recommend it for anyone wanting to enjoy their lunch, since it does smell like manure, but if you have kids, it is a great place to take them to play in their huge sandbox surrounded by a ton of animals that you can feed.  I went with a few other moms and their kids, it was nice to sit on the deck and eat while the kids played.  Gwyn had fun on this horse, but then decided to cry like her heart was broken in two because she didn't get to ride the zebra...the poor child is so mistreated!

Here is Annie loving the goats...from a safe distance!

Our little family of 5:  Me (the busy bee), Annie (the lil' ladybug), Gwyn (the butterfly - she picked this one because it is so BEAUTIFUL), Brian (the cardinal - for obvious obsessive-compulsive-Cardinal-baseball-issues), and Jacob (the grasshopper - since he's so active). I got these from the front landscaping, and the kids love them.  They put them all over the place, but when they put them all together I had to get their picture!  

 Jacob has reading class on Wednesdays for 50 minutes.  There is a Walgreens next door, so Gwyn, Annie, and I go browsing/shopping every week at Walgreens to kill this time.  I'm getting a little bit better, the first week I think I spent about $75, the second week $65, the third week $30 and last week I think I only spent $12.  If you've received a card or gift from me recently, it is probably from Walgreens.  Gwyn knows exactly which aisles she wants to go down first, and if you go through my purse you'll find pretty much everything Walgreens brand that you would ever need from tissues, hand sanitizer, first aid kit, etc.  Here is Annie during one of our weekly trips, I couldn't resist those bunny ears!

 We picked up new goggles for the kids, Jacob has taken to wearing them like this at random times throughout the day.  You never know when you are going to need them, so it is best to always keep them on your head!

 Sweet little Gwyn taking a much needed nap while watching Hello Kitty.

We had breakfast for dinner one night, and we used the "fun dinner" plates from John and Claudia.  We also used these when Maddy was here, these are a big hit with the kids!  I made Jacob try the french toast, and I told him that if you like candy, you'll like french toast because it has sugar AND syrup on it.  He tried a bite, and then said, "I do like candy, but I do NOT like this."  Thanks for trying it buddy!!  

 Artwork from this week, anyone like spiders as much as Jacob?  He asked me one day if a moose could fit into a web.  I said, "a spider web? A moose would be too big."  He said, "It would have to be a really big spider."  Let's hope we never see that!

 Jacob, who is also obsessed with snakes right now, said that if he lived in the zoo he would play with snakes, yuck!

 His class made a yellow pages book, his said for playing baseball, call Jacob, but he spelled it backwards, first time he had ever done that and it looks more like Borat??

Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob:  Can I have a pet rattlesnake? (NO!)

Me:  See you later alligator.

Jacob:  After while alligator.

Gwyn:  See you later crocodile.  After while shark.  (we’ll get it eventually!)

Jacob:  I want to be a baseball player when I grow up.  (We’ve come along ways since previous answers to this question have been Batman, Jedi Knight, Daddy, etc.)

Gwyn to Brian after she woke up:  I dreamed about Jacob, I love him.

Jacob to Brian at 6 am:  Let's watch some baseball Daddy. (oh, how Brian loves this boy!)

Gwyn’s various excuses when getting up after we’ve put her to bed:  I thought it was morning time (after being in bed 5 minutes).  I am hungry.  I am thirsty.  My blanket came off of Sparkles.