We've got the BEST DADDY EVER!

The kids agree, we've got the best Daddy ever!  Even though Jacob says that he just has way too many D's in his name, he's still super cool to us!  We had a great weekend with the kids celebrating Father's Day with Brian...we brought him breakfast in bed of coffee, kolaches, and a sticky bun, followed by presents of swim trunks, shorts, and candy (and let's not forget the Cardinals baseball tickets the week before).  Annie threw him a box of Good N Plenty's and said "Open it!"  The kids were anxious for Brian to share his Swedish fish with them:)  We went to church and came home to a roasted chicken meal, which was delicious!  It was the first time I bought a whole chicken, Brian was super excited that I was actually cooking meat with bones in it, and it came out great!

Brian later took the kids to Strawberry bucks for a treat...they now have cake balls on a stick and those were a hit with the kids.  The night before we went bowling with the kids.  They had so much fun, they liked the shoes, and Gwyn loved to "hit them all down!"  Here is how Gwyn gets a strike:

 My little bowlers, Annie wanted so badly to pick up one of those balls!

It has been extremely hot here, we've hit 100 several times within the last week and we are in a drought, no rain in like a couple of months!  The kids are doing awesome with their swim lessons, we've been swimming at least 6 times / week, had several friends over to play, and we recently made some homemade popsicles:

Jacob and Annie are little bug buddies.  Somehow a baby lizard got into the house, it was on the wood floor and Annie said, "bug."  I looked over and there was this tiny green lizard.  I immediately put a bowl over it because I would not be able to sleep thinking a lizard was going to crawl on me.  I told Jacob about it, and he started freaking out.  He ran upstairs to tell Gwyn and their friends Luke and Isabel, that "listen, it is VERY important, we have a baby lizard downstairs...come see!!"  We let it go outside, after Jacob asked multiple times to keep it as a pet.  I told him it was still a baby and would miss its Mommy.  Brian mowed the yard over the weekend and Jacob found 3 baby frogs.  Annie loved to check them out!

Target had some glitter glue and tape in the dollar spot, so I surprised the kids with these one day.  I wrote Jacob and Gwyn's name on their roll of tape, and Jacob stayed at the kitchen table and used that entire roll of tape in about an hour.  He made all kinds of 3-D structures with straws, and he's really into making these books.  Here is the one he made for Brian for Father's Day (you can tell whether each person is Brian by whether or not Jacob draws hair on the top of his head...he likes to point that out):

 This one is of Jacob and Brian swimming:

 This one is of Jacob and Brian having a picnic:

 This one is of them playing baseball:

 Here is a map he made from our house to G's house.  You start at the house at the bottom and go to the right to that pond, where you get on the boat and go across.  You then follow the path and go through some trees til you get the treasure at the X.  You then go through some more trees, past the bridge with the crocodile, and then follow the path around to G's house.  He has some very elaborate stories that go along with his pictures!

The kids spend hours at the kitchen table doing all kinds of crafts (our poor table is taking a beating!), we really do this every single day, and most days, multiple times / day.  Annie is never one to miss out, and if she is ever missing, first check the craft drawer:

Jason came over for dinner and to swim last weekend...these kids don't give him any space while they are here.  It is a joke that they don't understand personal space, they are always right up in your face wanting attention:

Jacob got his haircut on Friday by Sports Clips...free from the Astros game a couple of weeks ago.  Here he is before, he likes sitting up in that chair, and I like for him to have a haircut that he doesn't look like a-boy-whose-mom-cuts-his-hair:

 Jacob takes pictures of really cool stuff...one croc with Lighting McQueen, Wolverine, and Luke Skywalker:

 The other croc with C3PO, R2D2, Batman, Buzzlightyear, and Darth Vader:

 Jacob's frog he made, he really wanted a picture of it:

Gwyn LOVES her new swim goggles:

Annie is just talking up a storm.  She talks constantly...I'm foreseeing two little Gwyn's in my future who talk and sing non-stop like Gwyn does now!  She loves pointing out things in books, and her new favorite thing is bringing over book after book after book and saying "read it!"  She says lots of peoples names, Jason is a sucker when she says his.  She loves her scicles (popscicles)!!  Here is a video I got of her the other day...she is constantly finding this stack of letter flash cards, which I have to count to make sure I've got them all over and over!

Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob:  Why did God make us have ears?
Me:  So that we could hear.
Gwyn:  And he made our nose so that we could have boogers!
Jacob:  Our family eats germs.

Annie to everyone that walked by at Einstein bagels:  Hewo (hello)!!