Jacob's 1st day of 1st Grade, Gwyn's 1st Ballet Class, and Annie's a potty training dropout!

What a busy week we have had, and I know this is the calm before the storm!  Once activities start gearing up for the Fall, I know how fast the calendar gets filled.  We are having a very fun ride, and I am really looking forward to this year.  With Jacob in first grade, and Gwyn and Annie in preschool on the same days (3 days/week), it will give me some much anticipated "free time."  Although, I know how lucky I am to get to do so much with my kiddos, I foresee those days filling up fast with volunteering at Gwyn and Annie's school in the library, being Jacob's room mom, organizing at least one class party for each of Gwyn and Annie's classes, and keeping our home happy!

Jacob met his teacher last Friday, and then had his "Special Day" with just me and him, followed by meeting Brian for lunch at his favorite place...chicken with sticks (Pei Wei)!  I had done a special day with him last year before Kindergarten, where we met the teacher, went school shopping and then met Brian for lunch and he remembered it for this year and asked to do it again.  It is actually a great thing to have a boy because ALL back to school shopping can be done in one place...Academy, I need some stock in that company!

 We followed shopping up with what every stressed out soon to be 1st grader needs...a new hair cut with a hot towel massage...he was in heaven!  It was pretty funny, he thought he was super big stuff!

 We met Brian for lunch, and yes, Jacob does have a very large Dr. Pepper.  We followed that up with a quick stop at Baskin Robbins before heading home to get Gwyn and Annie.

 Yes, this backpack is enormous...hopefully he doesn't fill it up or he is going to have some serious back problems:)

 Jacob at his desk on the first day of school.  Gwyn, Annie and I walked him in and I think he was a little too cool.  He wanted to get to work.

And here is a video of Jacob getting off the school bus, which was 45 minutes late the first day (I called the school), but all was well and we got him back at the end of the day:


 In other news, I attempted to potty train Annie over the weekend.  In a few simple words: it did not go well.  At all.  Her face in these next two pictures pretty much sums it up...as cute as her little toosh is in those itty-bitty panties, it wasn't worth the number of accidents she had and cleaning up all the pee she left all over the house.  We shall try again in a couple of months.  We've switched to pull-ups.  My goal is still 3, so we've got a couple of months, so wish us luck!

Sweet little precious Gwyn.  Brian came home at lunch one day and took her on a lunch date.  She got to pick, and she picked Carrabbas.  Brian said she talked the entire time, mainly about when she grew up she wanted to live in a house across the street from us:)

 Gwyn had her first ballet class with her two little buddies Avery and Isabel.  Gwyn has been talking about wanting to do ballet for at least 6 months, but as soon as it was time for me to step out, poor thing started crying and saying she didn't want me to go and didn't want to do it.  I told her that I used to be like that when I was little, and as long as I got the courage to try something, I usually liked it.  So, I left her in there and watched from the window as she bit her nails for about 10 minutes before she FINALLY started to participate and of course, she LOVED it!

 Love that sweet face!

 I had to get a close up to show that yes, my sweet little ballerina is wearing skull and crossbones earrings that my mom bought her from Target...thanks for that Nana...she won't take them off.

I love this sweet little girl!

Jacob got his new 20" BMX bike.  He was super excited and has done surprisingly well on it since it seems so much bigger than his 16".  He has been pretty excited about it and Brian has taken him on several rides.

Here is a video of him getting on it one of the first times:



Gwyn and Annie also had orientation this week at their preschool, Gwyn will be a Turtle and Annie will be a Ladybug.  Gwyn is super excited about school, they will officially start next Wednesday after Labor Day, and I'm almost giddy at having some time without kids to get some things done...I'm already starting an Excel spreadsheet of "things to do" like maybe clean my house, clean out my cabinets, doctors appointments for myself that I've been putting off...wow, that sounds all like super fun!

I had to document this little swim video of Annie, we will still be swimming in our pool through September, but hopefully she retains some of this for next year...it would be SO nice for me if she was swimming at the beginning of the year, next year.  I loved how Gwyn and Jacob were cheering her on, and at one point Jacob says, "come to Papa!"



Brian and I went with a group of parents from Jacob's baseball team to the Woodlands last weekend to see Journey, Pat Benatar and Loverboy.   I have not been to a concert in years, probably 10!   It was pretty fun.

Funny things the kids said this week:
Gwyn:  Why do when people get old their hair turns white?
Gwyn:  Why do boys not wear shirts when they swim?
Gwyn:  Can you turn it upper?  (She says upper or downer when she wants the volume turned up or down)
Jacob (after coming home on a brand new bus this year):  I  guess you just get a new bus every year.
Annie:  I'm Mama's baby. (Annie still calls me Mama, so sweet!)
Gwyn:  I'm Daddy's girl.
Gwyn:  Can I have those aminal crackers?  (I love that she says animal like aminal!)

Summer is Over Already!?!?

We rounded out the summer with a quick trip up to Oklahoma to visit all the grandparents.  We had a great time, my mom flew down and drove up with me.  We stopped at Em's in Dallas on the way up...I tried to peer pressure Annie into wanting to get potty trained since Sadie already was, but she just declared, "I wear diapers!"  Hopefully by my next post, she'll be potty trained...we are going cold turkey today, wish us luck!

 A hammock can provide lost of entertainment:

 Purchased by request...banana popsicles!

 Kool Aid face:

Love this precious face!

 This is what little boys do...they find crickets and try to get them to go into their belly button...if you notice on the video, he found this same cricket the next day (it only had one leg), and was further traumatizing it:

 A couple of videos:

A visit with Susie...Gwyn loved to watch her dance to "Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues," which she performed at a camp last week where she claimed that she, "Rocked the house!"

The kids with Nana and Papa:

The kids had a great visit with Rick and Sue...Gwyn and Annie finally warmed up to Buster right before we left.  We went to see Stacy in the hospital a couple of times...we are praying for those babies:

This little one is growing up so fast!

Bubble bath!!!

A video from Rick and Sue's, feeding the fish:


Loved Annie's pictures of Brian and Gwyn...I just can't get enough of their first drawings:

Seattle, Portland & the Oregon Coast

 What an amazing time we had on vacation to Seattle, Portland, and Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast.  The weather was wonderful...it was tough coming back to the Houston heat!  This blog will mainly be pictures since I'm a bit exhausted and there is still laundry to be done!  The kids were excited to be flying to Seattle and were awesome on the airplane...I can't imagine what life would have been like without all those electronic devices that kept everyones attention!  You'll have to wade through these pictures with me..some are out of order, but I think I did quite well considering I uploaded 100 pictures just to this one blog post!!  Here they are with their wings:

 We first hit Pike Place Market in Seattle...a great time, the kids were not interested in any shopping, but did enjoy fresh strawberries and ice cream!

 We saw just a few flying fish:

 Gwyn wanted no part of being close to those smelly fish, but Jacob and Annie were game:

 A bit of a break playing with Daddy before hitting the aquarium:

 Gwynnie loves her Uncle Jason:

 On the pier looking into the Puget Sound before we hit the aquarium:

 Touching the starfish:

 They were beautiful:

 We hit the Duck Tour in Seattle, a bus/boat that gives a tour both on land and in the water...and of course all the kids had to have a "quacker."  Gwyn was the best quacker of the bunch, quacking at everyone on the street as we drove by (and yes, those quackers have mysteriously disappeared into the trash once we got home, thankfully!):

 A view from the duck while in Lake Union:

 After the tour, all smiles at the Space Needle:

 What trip to Seattle could be complete without standing in a 15 minute line at the original Starbucks??

 Annie fell asleep while on the Duck boat:

 This is the Sleepless in Seattle house...loved that movie, I'm going to have to watch it again:

 Why is this cool?  This is Mexican Coke...it was delish!

 She seriously didn't come up for air until this thing was drained:

 This one pretty much drank 2 drinks and was done...see Jacob eyeing it, he finished it off for her, what a good brother!

 A sail boat trip tour in the Puget Sound:

 A view of Mt Rainier in the distance:

 Love that sweet face:

 For once, she is actually smiling a normal smile:

 From Seattle, we drove 3 hours South to Portland...we took a 30 minute drive East to Multnomah Falls, it was awesome:

 Portland had crazy good coffee...

 We hit the largest independently owned bookstore, Powell's, it was huge and quite fun:

 Everyone talked about VooDoo Doughnuts, so of course we hit that as well:

 The kids said this was a GOOD stop on our trip!

 Jacob can officially be called a Root Beer connoisseur:

 We hit the Japanese Garden...it was pretty amazing...Jacob proved to be excellent in reading the tour map, Annie flashing one of her signature crazy smiles for the camera:

 And her she is with another....if I ever get one good picture of all 3 kids I'll be amazed...she seems to have her heart set in having a CRAZY face in all pictures!

 Portland is also home to the International Rose Test Garden...to my little dreamer Gwyn, this was heaven...skipping through fields of roses, chasing rainbows...remember this is my little girl who's only wish is to see a rainbow and who asked for a snowflake for Christmas:

 Be careful where you smell, there were bees everywhere!

 We hit the Tillamook Cheese factory for a tour, samples of cheese, and most importantly, ICE CREAM!

 Haystack Rock (made famous by the Goonies!), on the Oregon Coast at Cannon Beach, this place was unbelievable!!

 Really Annie, how about a normal smile??

 WOW, Annie, that takes work to make faces like that for the camera!

 We know Brian's got skillz when it comes to decorating cakes, but what about sandcastles...of course he didn't disappoint!

 The kids with their turtle...don't be distracted by the look on Annie's face, she's actually yelling cheese at me:

 Downtown Jason Brown, too cool with Haystack rock!

 Sunset on the coast, WOW!

 Campfire on the beach, complete with smores!

 Gwyn wanted to stand next to the Wayfarer...still not sure what exactly he was:

 Gwyn and the daisies:

 Tide went out on Haystack every 6 hours revealing tons of tide pools, and allowing you to walk up to all the rocks and see all kinds of sea life...Jacob LOVED it:

 I must love this girl to give her my jacket...it was a bit chilly and windy one day, but I'll take that over 110 F heat here any day!

 A nap on Daddy on the beach!

 We left Cannon Beach to make our way up to Astoria...I couldn't resist snapping this picture when we had to make a pit stop by the side of the road...too much root beer!

 On top of Astoria column...164 stairs up a spiral staircase wasn't quite worth it since it was cold and windy and we were up there for about 3 minutes:)

 The last night we were there, we stopped at the Great Wold Lodge....Jacob LOVED it, the indoor water park was a hit, he was 1" too short to be able to ride down the biggest slide, but went with Brian, Jason and me down several other slides.  It was fun, but I think we'll wait to go back again to the one in Dallas in a few years...Gwyn and Annie weren't that into it:

 Little Wolf Gwyn:

 Crazy family picture:

 I snapped these pictures after church because the kids were looking so cute dressed up:

 Again with the face, Annie!

 Can't believe he'll be starting 1st grade in a couple of weeks!

 This one gives me attitude non-stop, really Annie!

Funny things the kids said this week:

Gwyn about her everything bagel:  If I plant the seeds on this bagel, will it grow into a bagel tree?
Gwyn referring to her leopard print dress:  This is my camoflauge dress (you know she has a brother!)
Gwyn referring to the smell coming from some cows as we were driving:  They need to wear diapers.
Gwyn:  Daddy
Brian:  Hold on, don't interrupt.  (He keeps talking...a few minutes later he asks her, "what do you need?")
Gwyn:  You have a spider on your face.
Brian:  Okay, next time I have a spider on my face, you can interrupt.