Love these sweet faces!

Love these precious kiddos!  I had to take this when we got home from church because I loved Gwyn's outfit which she selected herself, polka dot tights and gold shoes, and a sleeveless dress in January...gotta love this Houston weather!!  We had a great week...Brian took Jacob along with 15 other Kindergarten Dads and their sons to a Houston Aeros hockey game.  Jacob loved it, and had so much fun with Brian and his friends.  Jacob also has two bottom front teeth that are FINALLY loose.  He has been wanting to lose a tooth for a very long time.  Since he's young for his grade, I knew he would be a little behind, and when he found out his teeth were loose we started with a plan.  He is eating an apple every day for two weeks to see if that helps to loosen them up.  He is on a mission!  Jacob is still liking basketball, although this week the best part about it was that we were in charge of snack after the game and I brought basketball cookies!  Gwyn and Annie play so good together.  It is so much fun to hear them talk about things, they play babies all the time, and now Gwyn (who LOVES to sing and make up songs) is teaching Annie songs too!

Brian had put on his calendar that Phineas and Ferb were going to be at Chick Fil A, and you get free ice cream if you wear your pajamas.  We were so there!

 Gwyn was a big talker about hugging Perry or high-fiving Ferb, but when we got there, she had to be coaxed into standing next to Daddy for the picture...she's still all talk!

 Jacob loved it!

 Oh yes, we'll take our free ice cream with all the toppings we can manage to put on!

 Gwyn may have been scared about Phineas and Ferb, but she'll take her free ice cream any day!  A sweet friend brought us some cookies after I watched her little boy one day...the kids thought she was awesome!

 I took Gwyn and Annie up to eat lunch with Jacob this week.  We brought up Chick Fil A, but since it was Thursday (pizza day), he still chose to eat the cafeteria pizza...which they bring in Papa John's.  I thought it was funny that this picture shows his plate with the broccoli and fruit cocktail...all he eats is the pizza!  Here he is with Gwyn:

 And here he is doing what big brothers do to their little sisters:

 Annie was just very content sucking down her very own juice box, she is a huge fan of going to eat with Jacob!

 I took Jacob to a birthday party of one of his classmates at this trampoline place.  It was crazy...Brian would go berserk there, and yes, Jacob already said he wants to have his party there, which I must say is a much more affordable idea than flying everyone to Disney world as he had previously suggested.

 Brian is building some cabinets for our bathroom.  Jacob loves to help, he's especially good at using the shop vac to vacuum up all the sawdust.  He does like using the nail gun too:

The kids were outside helping...they need their breaks too, and lemonade is their drink of choice!

 I had to capture these pictures of Annie...she was really upset that Brian had taken her pretzels.  I looked at Brian thinking how could he possibly take this sweet girls pretzels?  Well, the whole story is that he said no more snacks until dinner.  He then had to take some gold fish she found away, then he took her pretzels away, then he turned back around and she had gotten into Jacob's party favor and eaten about 5 Hershey kisses!

 "Daddy took my pretzels!"

Please!

 Emily sent Gwyn this little fairy garden for her birthday.  We all had a great time this week putting it together, and those shrinky dinks worked so well!  Brian took Jacob to the baseball clinic, so the girls and I finished putting everything together on it while they were gone.  She was quite proud:

 What is a better place to take your Sunday afternoon nap than laying on Daddy??  She dressed herself again for church, she's into colorful tights!

 Jacob's teacher sent out these pictures of the science experiments I did...so much fun:

 Jacob was proud of his Mommy:

One last picture of Annie:

Funny things the kids said this week:
Annie (crying):  Jacob called me a nerd.
Gwyn:  Jesus put mud on someones eyes who couldn't see and when he washed it away he was happy!
Me:  Why was he happy?
Gwyn:  I don't know
Me:  Do you think it was because He healed him and the blind man could finally see?
Gwyn:  Yes, that's it!
Annie (while playing with Gwyn):  Ready, setty, go!
Me to Gwyn:  When you are 5, do you want to play basketball like Jacob?
Gwyn:  Yes, and will you bring the basketball cookies??
Annie:  I don't like water, I only like juice!
Annie:  Jacob said potty talk.
Me:  What did he say?
Annie:  Booger.

Snow in Houston!

 Okay, it didn't snow in Houston, but we did get to play in the snow!  Our club filled an outside tennis court with enough snow to create six lanes for the kids to sled down.  Jacob and Gwyn were so excited about this.  Jacob went by himself, and then Brian went with Gwyn and Annie:



Needless to say, that was Gwyn and Annie's last run, but Jacob and Brian went for some more!!  Jacob and Gwyn each took a snowball home, Jacob's is still in our freezer, but poor little Gwyn's melted before we even got home:(

Monday was MLK day, and Jacob was out of school, but Gwyn was in school.  It is rare to have Jacob home during the day, so we took a friend of his and had a fun day out...playing going to Chick Fil A.  Annie loved tagging along.

I could watch her run all day long, it is so cute!!



Here is one of Gwyn's talents, which she is super proud of...we are trying to discourage her, but I think we laughed too much the first few times she did it and now she wants to do it all the time.  I'm hoping that was just an old wives tale about her face getting stuck like that!!


Today was Donuts with Dads at Jacob's school.  Brian and Jacob walked up to school together to go eat donuts and juice, Jacob thought it was just great.  Afterwards, Brian had signed up to be the Mystery Reader in Jacob's class.  We had to send his teacher a few clues, and Jacob just knew it was Brian.  The clues were 1) He can talk like Chewbacca 2) He likes to play volleyball and swim 3) His favorite thing to eat for dinner is raw fish and Swedish fish for dessert 4) He has built all the furniture in his kids' rooms.  Jacob was super excited when Brian came into his class to read, he got to sit up beside Brian who chose to read "Shark vs Train: who would win" and "Duck Soup" a couple of favorites at our house.  Jacob loves his Dad!

Gwyn loves her little dog she got from Nana and Papa for Christmas.  She named her snowflake since she is white (and she is a girl).  Snowflake sometimes is bad and Gwyn has to smack her on the nose or sit her in time out.

Love how Annie likes to watch TV in the mornings when we're getting everyone ready for school.  She's got the best seat in the house, although I'm not sure for how much longer...the wheels are already bending in pretty good!

Annie continues to be the a little firecracker.  Her latest is that she will lay down for her nap, get up, and then go into Jacob’s room to poop.  Poor Jacob has no idea what goes on while he’s at school.  I’ve had to go change her and put her back down 4 days in a row.  She also closes all the doors upstairs every time she wakes up from her nap.  That is usually how I know she is up, I start hearing all the doors close.  She closes the one to her and Gwyn’s room, Jacob’s door, the guest room/playroom door, and the bathroom door.  I guess she just thinks that is her job and that is what she is supposed to do when she wakes up.  She also still just can’t stand for there to be pillows on couches.  I’ve watched her before just walk by a couch, throw the pillows on the floor, and then just keep on walking. 

We had a rough week with both Gwyn and Annie getting sick.  We probably had to give Gwyn about 10 breathing treatments over the course of just a few days.  I had to take the girls in to the Dr for Annie who had pink eye and a sinus infection, she is allergic to several antibiotics, but we got an expensive one that will hopefully kick this thing!  Sweet sisters at the Dr's office who were very concerned that they both got their stickers and suckers:

It is a treat when we go out to dinner and Jacob gets to get either Sprite or Root Beer, Gwyn always sticks with Lemonade.  You would think he'd have an aneurysm as fast as he drinks it!

Here was one of Jacob's homework assignments to write 5 sentences using "op" words.  One day he also had to gather soil in the backyard and write about what he saw.  He wrote "It is black and brown dirt.  I saw a bug in it."  So cute!

Funny things the kids said this week:
Me to Jacob as he got off the bus carrying a blue colored pencil:  Where did you get that?
Jacob:  I traded Big Ben for it on the bus.
Me:  What did you give him?
Jacob:  One of my empty hand sanitizers.
Me:  Nice trade!  (Brian met "big Ben" from the bus up at his school on Friday and he is skinnier than a rail, ha!)

Gwyn:  I know how to ice skate, and I know how to stop…you just fall over.

Me:  Where did you learn that?

Gwyn:  Peppa Pig.

Jacob:  I wish candy was a grow food, then we could have it all the time.

Gwyn:  Why does that girl at the big gym have a nail in her tongue?

Me:  I don’t know, that would really hurt and that isn’t very smart to do.  Where did you see her?

Gwyn:  At Jacob’s birthday party. (In July…she held on to that information since then and this is the first I’ve heard of it!)

Pigtails, Basketball & Diet Coke

Meet Annie.  Or I should say Annie Bananie, since she will argue with you that she is Annie Bananie, not Annie or Annie Jaye.  She was supposed to be my go with the flow, easiest "I've-done-this-before" third baby, but she is not.  She is a troublemaker with a capital T.  She knows what she wants, she will let you know what that is and what you are doing wrong, and whatever you do...DON'T tell her no.  She doesn't like that one bit, ha!  She doesn't like giving hugs, and to get a kiss from her I usually have to act like I'm crying (yes, sadly, I do that in order to get a kiss!).  She does like to have fun, and we do have A LOT of fun with her.  She makes us laugh out loud all the time, she can be such a little goofball.  She has such fine hair that is finally starting to grow a little more and she has been walking around with a little mullet for quite some time.  You should see her after we give her a bath and brush it out, it is so cute!  It's short in the front and really long in the back.  Just this week, she has FINALLY started letting me put little pigtails in her hair and she is seriously, the cutest little 2 year old ever!!  We love our Annie:

Here is a video of her telling me her name:



Most of the kids on Jacob's soccer team decided to play basketball together through a little church league.  They are so fun to watch.  The first game, a kid on the other team scored a goal for our team.  His team has had two basketball games so far, and I promise you his team has improved 100% in the second game compared to the first game.  The goal is 6', they start with a bible lesson and prayer in the center of the court, play 2 six minute quarters, then every kid gets to shoot a free throw, play 2 more six minute quarters, and end with every kid shooting a free throw.  I love this league!!

 The kids before the game:

 Jacob shooting his free throw, he's made one in each of the two games (yes, he's that AWESOME!).  If you look closely you'll notice his tongue sticking out while he's concentrating on his shot.

 Little Gwyn loves supporting her brother:)

 Annie always gets the best seat in the house:

 Jacob’s Kindergarten class has a parent come in once/month and do either a cooking/science lesson, usually tied in with a book.  I had signed up at the beginning of the year for this month, and I found out that everyone in the previous months had done cooking.  Well, I had to do science and I decided to bring it…go big or go home.  Here was my wagon of supplies I brought in:

I also had a few bags I was carrying as well.  I brought in some dry ice, and we talked about solid/liquid/gas, and how dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide and goes through sublimation directly from a solid to a gas.  I tried to use very simple terms, but I started off saying observation several times, and his teacher asked if any of the kids knew what that meant...no...but she explained it meant to look.  I did catch myself saying sublimation, decomposition, and isobaric chamber, but the kids were just interested in all the cool stuff they were seeing and weren't listening to me anyway!  We made bubbles with CO2 in them, rainbow milk with soap and milk, fake snow (which they got to take home), and little soap geysers with hydrogen peroxide and yeast.  I tried to talk about how science makes discoveries that make our lives ever.  I took in a diaper to show how that "fake snow" is the best invention ever!!  Seriously, the kids thought I was AWESOME!  Jacob’s teacher loved it, and I’ll post next week all the pictures she took and is putting them on the Kindergarten blog at school.  At the end all the kids ran up and were hugging me, and one little girl said “I love you,” to which Jacob proudly stepped in and said, “Hey, that’s my mommy!”  It was a great day, I had a smile on my face for the rest of the day.  I know this time is short lived, and he’ll soon be embarrassed of me when he’s trying to act cool in front of his friends, but I also know that he loves me and that I'm lucky to be his Mom.

So, after school we decided to make use of those mentos that Santa left in Jacob's stocking.  I made the kids line up and take their picture before we did it:

 Love Annie's little pigtails while she's after Gwyn...notice Gwyn picked out both of their clothes that day, they match:

Here are a couple of videos of the diet coke and mentos experiment:

Jacob did have his first real bike wreck last weekend, it scared me and Brian to death.  He had his helmet on, but we did think he might have a concussion, but seemed to snap out of it pretty quick when we gave him a fudgescicle...which he says is the best medicine ever!  Jason also came over last weekend and took Jacob and Gwyn to lunch and then to his man cave, which the kids called his "hide out."  They got to sing, dance, play the drums and eat CANDY!  The kids had a great time, and Brian and I watched a movie together during Annie's nap...a very rare treat for us!!

Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob:  That’s ridictable.

Me:  Do you mean ridiculous or predictable.

Jacob:  Mommy, I mean ridictable.  (oh, okay)

Happy New Year!

We are off to a great start in 2012.  We are back in our routine, with Jacob and Gwyn both returning to school this week.  Jacob got his first report card home this week, Brian and I are very proud of him, he's doing so well.  He is just an awesome kid!

A friend of his from school gave him this little note, I thought it was just too sweet:

We had a great time after Christmas, Brian was off a few days or worked from home and we were able to have some great family time.  We spent New Year's Eve at our neighbor's house, we had some great food and the kids played and our New Years was at 8 pm!  Brian set up the tent in Gwyn and Annie's room and he camped out with the kids....Mommy had the whole downstairs to herself, but I only lasted until about 10:30pm...I can't even remember the last time Brian or I saw midnight!

Here are the kids in some coordinating pajamas...our biggest news was that Annie transitioned into a big girl bed and is now sleeping in Gwyn's room in the other full-size bed.  She loves it and is doing pretty well, we had several bad nights in a row with her coming downstairs at 3 am, but Gwyn is now sneaking out of her room so she doesn't wake Annie up.  We took down the crib, which had been in constant use since July 13, 2006 (the day we brought Jacob home from the hospital)...it was a little bittersweet.  The kids play so well together, it is fun to hear their little conversations.  We were also able to take them to the movies with some friends to see both The Chipmunks and The Muppets.

 Loved this picture of Gwyn from a few weeks ago, she's got the whole "hands on her hips pose" down pretty good!  She LOVES The Lion King, and to hear her and Annie sing "A kun a matta" or however you spell it, is HILARIOUS!  They had me rolling, I'll have to get that on video.

We made some "snow" from the kit that Santa brought for Gwyn, since all she asked for was a snowflake for Christmas.

Santa also brought these fun straw glasses, Jacob and Gwyn loved them, but it took a little encouraging (and some non-diluted orange juice) for Annie to warm up to them:

Love these sweet sisters!

Erika sent me this picture when we were in Oklahoma with all our kids...I think Gwyn is the only happy one since she gets to hold a real baby!

Brian took the kids to see Phineas and Ferb (Brian's favorite cartoon) at the Toyota Center.  They met some friends there and had a great time, and I met up with them for dinner (table of 14 with 8 of those being kids!).  The kids did great, had a wonderful time, and even though during the trivia portion of the show Brian got a little depressed that there were a lot of kids there who knew more about Phineas and Ferb than he did, we all had a great time.  We even got several comments at the restaurant on how well behaved all the kids were.  This is the only picture, which is a video of the kids at Phineas and Ferb...Annie had a great time too and was even dancing to the music.  Brian and the kids also had several tattoos on of Phineas and Ferb that Stacy and Justin got the kids for Christmas. 

He is growing up too fast!

The weather has been amazing, in the 70s, so it is perfect weather for playing outside for hours every day.  I took this one of the kids swinging:


I had to capture this video of the kids in the car, who think it is great to just out of the blue start cheering for Daddy.  I loved Brian's smile, you can tell he likes it!!

Funny things the kids said this week:
Annie:  Come on Ginny, let's play bunnies. (Annie LOVES her Calico Critters)
Gwyn:  God still loves you if you forget your Bible.
Gwyn:  Jesus doesn't steal. (no, He doesn't)
Jacob:  Can we pray for another baby to play with Annie?  (No, no we can't)
Gwyn:  What if you have 16 babies come out of your belly? (enough of the baby talk!!)
Gwyn:  What if my nails grew all the way to Jesus, then you and Daddy would both have to cut them, but only in the grass. (I wish I could record all her thoughts, she thinks about some crazy stuff)

At dinner each night, we started family question time.  I pick out 5 or so questions from this little box, and we got around the table answering them.  It is pretty entertaining, especially when Gwyn's answers usually have absolutely nothing to do with the question.  Annie usually says what Gwyn says, and Jacob's answers are pretty fun.  We discuss where we want to go on vacation, what our favorite thing to eat is, what is our favorite mode of transportation, what song we want the family to sing, what is the first thing we think about when we wake up each morning, what is our family motto, etc.  We are Team Katterhenry!!