Happy Valentine's Day!

We've had a busy week around here.  Two Valentine's Day parties, Jacob's last basketball game and party, my mom being here and going back to Tulsa, Rick and Sue visiting for the weekend, Brian and I having a date night, and Jacob having his first baseball practice.  Brian and Rick made some huge progress on our bathroom cabinets...can't wait for some more storage in the bathroom!

Jacob at his Valentine's Day party...his class made tooth fairy pillows, which were so cute!  He is still waiting to lose one of his front teeth.  He told me he thought the tooth fairy was going to bring him an ipad...I told him not to get his hopes up, I heard the going rate was $1/tooth.

Could you possibly put one more sprinkle on this cookie??

Gwyn had a great time at her Valentine's Day party, which I was organizing.  My mom came over and watched Annie, which was a huge help.  Gwyn had a great time!

Gwyn with her stash of Valentines:

When I was up at Jacob's school for his Valentine's Day party, his teacher told me to look in the bulletin board outside of the office at the "Authors Fair Hall of Fame."  Jacob was one of the Kindergartners that was selected (yes, I'm totally bragging!!):

I knew it was his by looking at his pictures, he's awesome!

Love the beard and the big emphasis on the periods at the end of the sentences:

Some artwork of Jacob on display in his classroom.

Jacob got another trophy, he was super proud!

Oh how technology has changed the lives of the little sisters who have to go watch their big brothers play ball:

Jacob is crazy fast and dangerous on his scooter:

Loving her birthday present, a two wheel scooter like the big kids have!

Love the difference in boys and girls...Jacob brings home from the library a book on Earwigs and Lizards, Gwyn brings home "My Pretty Pink Purse!"

I mustache you a question, will you be my valentine??

Jacob wore his home on the bus!

Annie smiling and saying cheese in order to NOT have to wear the dreaded mustache!  It got stuck on her foot and you would have thought it was biting her!  Oh what a little dramatic one she is....she's got a master of a teacher (Gwyn):

A rare sight in our house...poor little Gwyn got sick this weekend, a couple of naps and several breathing treatments later and she's smiling again!

Annie loves to make her mean face:

Singing in the rain, this kid loves to sing, and loves to play in the rain (but not get wet!!):

The kids made some get well pictures for Jason, who had another endoscopic ultrasound to try to figure this pancreatitis out:

Gwyn painted my toes...yes, I wore it for one day...she was proud.  I really can't believe I'm posting a picture of my feet...fyi Brian, my birthday is coming up and a pedicure would be nice!!

Driveway chalk math problems with G and Jacob:

Jacob's homework one day...write a letter to someone in your family....LOVE THIS KID!

Funny things the kids said this week:

Annie:  Jacob said dude (she thinks it is a bad word).

Gwyn to the waiter at Escalantes:  Hola, como tostato!

Annie (after Jacob told her I called her Jenny):  I'm not Jenny, I'm Annie!

Gwyn (tattling on Jacob):  He made a mean face at me and looked at me close...REAL close.

Jacob (after I answered one of his math problems):  You know EVERYTHING!  (say it again child, say it again!)

Jacob caught a HUGE catfish!

Jacob had two birthday parties to go to this weekend, the first one was a fishing party where he got to use his fishing pole for the first time (aside from casting it in the pool at our house), and the second was a jumping party at the trampoline place (he played dodge ball the entire time!).  He caught a huge fish!  Brian had to help him reel it in, but he was so proud and excited to hold that fish!!

 He also had another basketball game, he did great, scored a basket during the game, and his little team is really starting to work together, so much fun to watch.  He wanted a mohawk...the best we could manage:

Jacob also got to ride a different bus home and go home with a friend for a play date.  He came home with a bag of worms they had dug up in the yard.  Those poor worms ended up taking a "dirt nap" after Jacob left the bag sealed all night.  Gwyn and Annie thought those worms were pretty cool!

Sweet little Gwyn had to get her 4 year old shots this past week.  Mommy needed a medal for making it through that appointment!  Gwyn actually did great, she did well on her vision and hearing test, the Dr ended up giving us an inhaler for future breaking issues (thank goodness no more breathing treatments via the nebulizer!), but she did scream, and I do mean SCREAM bloody murder during each of her 4 shots.  Now, what made the visit so miserable was Annie.  She pretty much cried the entire time.  I had three different nurses/office people tell me she needed a nap.  She got a sucker, dropped it on the floor, got a sticker and stuck it together so it wouldn't stick on her clothes, and screamed and cried while Gwyn was getting her shots.  We were there for about an hour and 45 minutes, the longest of my life!  When we left, Annie was sniffling, her face was all red, and fresh tears on her face.  This lady who was going back, said, "poor thing."  I just looked at her and said, "the appointment wasn't even for her."  I may be sick on her 4 yr old shot day, and Brian may have to handle that one:)

 Best buddies:

We are looking forward to a busy week.  I'm organizing Gwyn's valentine's day class party on Wednesday, and volunteering at Jacob's on Tuesday.  I made these valentine's for the kids this year...I tried to talk Gwyn into some "girly" ones, but she wanted the ones just like Jacob!  The kids can take off the fake mustaches and put them on.  Jacob picked out some nerds to hand out with his, and Gwyn picked out some laffy taffy to hand out with hers.

Funny things the kids said this week:
Annie:  Where's Ginny?
Me:  She's upstairs.
Annie:  Can I go scare her? (me: sure!)
Jacob:  Your name should start with an f, not a p.  (yes, that would've made my life much easier!)
Gwyn (when Brian said it wasn't funny to stick a finger in his belly button):  It was a bit funny.
Gwyn to Annie:  You're a cheeky little girl. (Yes, the British speaking Peppa Pig is rubbing off on her!)
Annie to Brian this morning:  Where are you going?
Brian:  I have to go to work to make some money.
Annie:  I go with you, let me get my shoes.
Annie (coming in to me):  Mommy, you stay here.  I'm going with Daddy to get some money, we'll be back in a minute. (Brian had to give her a dollar to get her to stay home, she had gotten her jacket too and was ready to go!!)

Sweet Lil' Gwyn is 4!

Gwyn at 4:  likes picking out her clothes, spaghetti, strawberries, swinging, riding her bike, playing baby dolls, watching Peppa Pig on TV, eating chocolate chip muffins, loves her fairies, dressing up, star wars and does a pretty good R2D2 impression.

It has been a week of birthday extravaganza around here...we can't believe our sweet little Gwyn is 4 years old already!  It started with her birthday party at "the big gym," also known as as a gymnastics place, she just wanted the distinction of it not being at The Little Gym (which is for babies since Annie had her party there).  She had lots of fun, loved hanging with her friends, jumped her little heart out, and loved her cookie cake:

 Let's get this party started!

 Annie and her sweet little friend Claire when they saw each other:

 Just about the only picture I got of Jacob at the party...he was a flash, jumping, swinging on ropes, running around crazy...he was in his element!

A couple of videos of the kids:

Of course, Brian proved not to disappoint and be the coolest dad ever!



The best group picture I could get:

 Homemade chex mix and cookie cake:

 Blowing out her first set of candles:

 Would only smile when another mom threatened to kiss her all over unless she smiled for my camera!

Her on her birthday, loved posing with her #4 balloon we got her for her party:

 What is better than a birthday breakfast of 4 donuts??  She happily shared with Jacob and Annie:

 Love this sweet little girl!

Gwyn had requested her birthday cake to have R2D2 saving Silvermist (a fairy and one of Tinkerbell's friends).  Brian had a plan and he delivered! The master at work:

 Silvermist (complete with pixie dust) and R2D2:

Her class at school had a cookie cake for her, since hers was the only February birthday...Annie and I went up to celebrate with them.  It was pretty funny to see her in her class, all the kids were asking where they could sit and Gwyn told them where to sit down!

 Annie was a hit, she also got to play on the playground with Gwyn's class before they had cake...Gwyn would say to her friends, "look at how cute my sister is!"

The other big event since the last blog, was that it was 100 day at school.  In celebration of the 100th day of school, each of the Kindergartners had to decorate a t-shirt with 100 things on it.  Jacob wanted 100 light sabers.  He and Brian did it together.  Brian drew most of the light sabers and two death stars on the front to make a big 100.  Jacob drew all the light saber handles, wrote RCE on the back, and drew a few light sabers himself.  He was pretty proud of his t-shirt:

 He wanted to make sure I took a picture of the back.

 His cute little class.  The class's favorite t-shirt was a little girl who pinned 100 little packs of sixlets on her shirt, they all got to eat some at the end of the day:)

 Some random (I said that just for you Dad) pictures from the week...couldn't pass up taking a picture of Annie's cute little toosh:

 Gwyn and Annie play babies all day long:

 Cute little Gwyn loves to pose for the camera:

 Annie gets whatever dolls/babies Gwyn tells her she can have:

 Jacob said, "take a picture of my mean face." Boo!  I like my sweet little Jacob!  He did AWESOME in his basketball game on Saturday.  He scored a basket during the game, he made one of his free throws, and he did great about going after the ball, dribbling, and getting rebounds.

 Love this sweet little girl:

 Dress up!

 An afternoon play date at a friend's house turned into some playtime in the mud...you should have been Jacob!  Surprisingly Gwyn did not freak out about this and had a great time!

 We discovered this week that Annie has been going over and getting into bed with Gwyn and they have been sleeping together.  I'm not even sure if Gwyn knows that Annie does this.  Gwyn goes to bed so fast, and Annie takes awhile.  She gets up and we have to go up there several times before she goes to sleep.  One night, she had gotten all kinds of dolls and animals and toys into bed with her!

 Sweet little Annie had a rough morning:

Jacob loves his Nana:

 Jacob's writing and reading is improving so much, I can't believe how much he is learning!

A video I took a couple of weeks ago of the kids:


Funny things the kids said this week:
Gwyn to Jacob:  If you are good, I'll let you have 2 pieces of cake.
Annie to Nana:  I eat Gwynnie's chap stick.
Jacob when he was reminded that Nana's and Gwyn's birthday were on the same day:  Yes, two goody bags!
Me:  You will get one party favor at Gwyn's birthday, that's it.
Jacob (very upset):  What about at Nana's party?  (he seriously couldn't believe Nana wasn't handing out goody bags!)
Jacob describing his 100th day t-shirt:  This is the most awesomest shirt in the entire world!!
Gwyn to Annie:  Oh, don't cry Annie, you're too pretty to cry.
Gwyn on February 1st:  Today is my birthday.
Me:  No, your birthday is in a week.
Gwyn (very upset):  Papa told me mine was after his!
Me:  He meant his was first, not that yours was the day after. (poor thing!)
Jacob:  I've been praying that those weeds in the side yard would go away.