Happy Thanksgiving!

I realize now why it is so nice to update the blog every single week…when you go longer than two weeks it is really difficult to sit down and write everything that has gone on.  It is overwhelming, and I know that I’m missing things, but I’ll do the best I can.  Here is a recap:

Jacob finished his soccer season with the mighty Swordfish with a win and an end of the year party complete with a trophy, pizza and cupcakes.  Jacob loves his first trophy and wanted to sleep with it:

 Pizza parties with cupcakes are a hit with Gwyn:

 Annie digging in, she must take after Jacob because she manages to get every ounce of icing off without eating any cake too:

Brian and Jacob are doing an Indian Guides thing with his school.  They went to dinner and to the high school football game one Friday night.  Picture this:  19 Kindergarten boys and 19 Kindergarten dads.  They sat all the kids at one table at dinner and all the adults at another table.  I just laughed when I heard this because I knew that would never happen with moms, we would sit every other chair around the table!  Jacob had so much fun, and I think Brian did too.  Jacob came back telling me how they score football and that the red team won. 

We had our Lifegroup at church meeting, it seems like a great group.  There are 5 families all about the same stage in life, we just get together once/month and it seems to be a great little support system.  I did handwriting at Jacob’s school this past week…it is really amazing how much his handwriting is improved (maybe I should actually pay attention and learn something myself!).  Jacob loves it when I come up to his class, and Brian has been able to go in a little later every other time so that I don’t have to bring Gwyn and Annie with me every time.

Jacob had another Laser Quest party to go to for a friend on his soccer team, I think this is our 4^th Laser Quest party in the last month or so.  Brian volunteers to take him, apparently it is a pretty intense competition with the Dad’s since they play too.  I had to remind Brian that the party is really for the kidsJ

The kids enjoyed coloring this little house.  Gwyn was proud of her door, Jacob proud of his bugs, and you can tell what side Annie did with her “scribble scrabbles” as Jacob and Gwyn call it.

Poor little Gwyn was sick, it must have been a little 24 hour stomach bug.  Thankfully no one else caught it, but it laid her out for a day.  She had to miss school, and we had to stay home all day.  This was probably her worst case of throwing up ever.  Enough said.

Jacob is big into jerseys, he would wear this Notre Dame jersey that Jason gave him awhile ago every day if he could.  He still says he loves LSU.  I overheard Brian trying to explain to him that we have no affiliation to LSU.  We like OSU. 

 This little girl loves her too big for her Hello Kitty rain boots...she was so excited to wear them when it actually rained.

 Love her:

 Annie is getting the dress-up bug, you'll find her in and out of a tutu multiple times / day.

Both Jacob and Gwyn had Thanksgiving programs at their schools.  Gwyn’s was geared more as a Grandparents celebration, so my Mom and Dad went up to Gwyn’s school for her little Thanksgiving program and brunch.  Her little face lit up when she saw them. 

Brian, Annie and I went to Jacob’s program.  It was precious.  He had a great time and so did Annie.  I just can’t believe he is growing up so fast.

 Annie had a blast getting to sit with Jacob's class.

Here is a video of the Kindergarten classes singing.



 I just couldn't leave the insulation project 2011 out of this blog.  Brian, my dad and I put 21 bags of insulation into our attic.  Thanks Dad!!  Hopefully our electric bill will see an impact next summer since we hit over $550 this past summer!  IT'S SO FLUFFY!!

We had Nana and Papa here for 6 days and had an early Thanksgiving with them and Jason followed up by Rick, Sue, Stacy, Justin and Brian’s Grandpa in for Thanksgiving.  The kids are loving all this extra attention, so “Operation Grandparent Detox” will be in effect soon.  We call it this because the kids tend to get a little spoiled with everyone, and we have to whip them back into shape, ha!  I cooked my first ever Thanksgiving meal while my parents were here, and I must say that it was pretty good!  We put on our first annual Thanksgiving Day Obstacle Course with our neighbors and the kids LOVED it.  It wore them out, it wore us out.  Next year there will be a trophy involved!

 Gwyn getting ready to spin around with the bat on her forehead...we decided they had to go around once/year for how old they were.  Brian decided to change the rules once it was his turn, and set a limit of 10 times:

 Yes, we had prizes (leftover from Annie's party):

Here are a couple of videos from the obstacle course:







 Gwyn with her buddy Justin:

With an abundance of 4 additional iphones and 2 ipads, the kids were in technology heaven!

Here is a picture of Jacob of a frog he found by the water meter...he named him Macky:

 I love finding these random pictures of things that Jacob has taken a picture of.  Gwyn eating her mac n cheese:

Gwyn is my little singer, I could listen to her sing all day long (which she practically does).

I just can’t get enough of Jacob’s little books.  I. Love. This. Kid.  The top book he made for his Papa, the bottom book is a book about how to eat M&Ms.

 My favorite book of his ever is the top one, I love my Gwyn and Annie.  The bottom book is a Star Wars book:

Here are some pictures of the Thanksgiving themed artwork lately:

Funny things the kids said recently:

Gwyn:  Annie, smell my feet. (and she does it…poor thing)

Jacob:  Why can’t I wear dirty clothes to school?  It isn’t fair.

Gwyn:  A boy called me stupid at school, but I didn’t say it back to him because I knew it was mean.

Gwyn:  Annie thinks it is hangy birds, but it is angry birds.

Gwyn after she fell wearing her new tennis shoes (very dramatic):  I can’t wear those new shoes anymore, they are too fast!

Jacob after Sue bought him an underarmor athletic shirt at Academy:  I’m going to wear that shirt every time I wear clean underwear.

Gwyn after Sue told her she was going to take her get her a dress:  That will make me very happy.

Gwyn (after she made a no boys allowed sign for her door after Jacob made a no girls allowed sign for his door):  No boys can come in except for Daddy in case my light breaks.

Jacob (as soon as he got off the bus one day):  I need to bring $12 to school.  My friends and I are buying a truck.

Halfway through November already??

Oh what a week!  We are going non-stop around here.  I went away last weekend for the Women’s Retreat with my church…Brian said they decided to rename the weekend “wife appreciation” weekend rather than retreat weekend, ha!  The kids had a blast…I’m pretty sure they ate out for every single mealJ  Jason and Brian took the kids to the movies, it was Annie’s first movie and she did great (she does love Dora and will sit through numerous episodes, so I should have known she would have loved the movies).  They also went to Jacob’s soccer game, the bagel shop (twice), and out for pizza.  I sent them this picture of some horses, and the kids thought it was great.  I didn’t ride any horses, just relaxed, listened to some speakers, and enjoyed some quiet time and time with some friends.

Whoever invented the time change, obviously didn’t have small kids.  Our kids are notoriously getting up early, right at 6, in fact we have a rule that 5 anything they have to go back to bed (yes, that includes 5:59), but if it is 6, then either Brian or myself will get up with them.  The genius that planned the women’s retreat must have realized that time was changing that weekend, so while I got an extra hour in the country…the kids got up at 4:50 am rather than 5:50 am on Sunday morning!

I had Annie’s 2 year old appointment on Monday, she was 35 “ (75^th percentile) and 22 lbs (15^th percentile).  In comparison, Jacob weighed 30 lbs when he was 2, and Gwyn weighed 27 lbs.  She is definitely my little runt, but I think she is just more active…contstantly trying to keep up with Jacob and Gwyn.  She talks in complete sentences, we have conversations back and forth, it is amazing how much she has grown up these past few months! She did have pink eye and gave it to Jacob…I’m hoping the rest of us are in the clear, especially since the tiny vial of eye drops were $78!!  Last time we had pink eye in the house all three kids got it, I got it, and Jason got it too!  Brian is somehow immune to things like that, ha!  Here are the girls in a cute hat that Neely sent for Annie for her birthday:

Jacob also had a book character parade at school.  They got to dress up as their favorite character and bring the book that character is in.  He picked General Grevious from Star Wars.  Gwyn, Annie and I went up to the school to watch.  It was the cutest thing.  All the kindergarten classes came out and walked around in their costumes, carrying their books, and all the other classes and the parents were cheering as they walked around, the kids LOVED it.  Here he is about to get on the bus, he's pumped:

 My pictures didn't come out great, but you can see the big smile on his face when he sees us:

 He was super cute!

 It was a little chilly that morning, here is Gwyn waiting on the parade:

I took the girls to a friends birthday party this week, which Annie was convinced was her birthday.  She kept saying, it's my birthday.  I went to Nutcracker Market (the largest Christmas/craft/boutique fair ever in the Reliant Center, it was awesome!), and a friend called with 3 extra tickets to Disney on Ice, so I took Jacob and Gwyn with my friend who also took her Kindergartner and her 3 year old who also goes to Gwyn’s preschool.  The kids had a great time, and since they didn’t go to bed that night til 10 pm, I think it got them back on track to sleeping until 6 something, which was a relief!! 

 Both their mouths were open, they were in awe.  They really want to see The Lion King and The Little Mermaid now, we love Disney!

We got Jacob's pictures from school back this week, and I loved them, he's so cute:

Just a picture with one of his infamous homemade books.  We have an entire stack of these books he is making, I love them!

 The girls were so happy I painted their fingers and toes.  I'm still shocked Annie will sit so still to get hers done, but I guess she wants to be like her older sister:

 My grown up little boy before school one day...this is how he dresses everyday...athletic pants/shorts and t-shirts:

 I loved this project that he did in school.  Showing a pumpkin seed, how it grows into a vine and grows a yellow flower, then a green pumpkin that turns to orange.  They also did a corresponding lesson in the computer lab, I can't believe how much he is doing/learning:

 Gwyn did a lesson on that book I know an Old Lady who swallowed a fly.  She sings the entire song, and now I'm understanding where she is getting the whole "old lady" thing that she says to random old lady's in the grocery store.  When I told her that was rude, she asked why because it was an old lady.  I really couldn't argue with that!

 Everyday after school we are outside playing something, soccer, baseball, tennis, football.  I am envisioning my life for the next 13 years...constantly at a ball field!

 Oh the before picture when they were painting so sweetly and nicely:

 And the after...you should have seen the mess she left on the table and the floors, at least the paint was washable, I have learned something, ha!

Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob:  Mommy, how do ants poop?

Gwyn (not wanting to eat her dinner):  My neck hurts from eating.

Jacob:  I love you all the way to John and Claudia’s and back…walking, not riding in plane, that is a long ways.

Gwyn:  My tummy isn’t thirsty for milk, it needs juice.

Jacob:  I did second grade work today, my teacher says that when I get to first grade my teachers socks are going to knock off.

Jacob:  I just realized something.

Me:  What’s that.

Jacob:  I thought adults could only color in the lines, but they don’t.  Look at what you did. (thanks!)

Gwyn:  Annie's name is Annie Mack