Pumpkins!

 We love this time of year, and we especially like going to the pumpkin patch!  My little punkins are getting so big, I'm sure I'm going to have to start dragging Jacob there.  Annie is somewhat getting better at making a regular/normal smile for the camera...this has been a very LONG time coming!

 Sweet little Gwyn:

 I did make the mistake of telling Jacob that if he could carry it, then he could get it...of course he was going for the biggest possible one that he could lift!

 They could pass as twins!

 We had a very busy weekend, first hitting up Gwyn and Annie's preschool Fall Festival, where I turned around and this is what I saw...what happened to my sweet little Jacob!

 Sweet Gwyn had a beautiful flower on her face:

 Annie had a unicorn:

 I had taken the girls to the dentist, this picture was so funny, she laid there perfectly still for about 20 minutes while they cleaned her teeth....loved how her little legs looked in this picture, ha:

I had both Annie's and Jacob's conferences with their teachers this week.  We are doing Gwyn's in January since she's on track to start Kindergarten in the Fall, we did receive her progress report, and as usual, she's doing great!  Annie's teacher told me a funny story about how Annie basically had a meltdown one day and they turned her card from green to yellow.  When they did that, she basically lost it...completely.  She was so upset about having her card turned.  They said they would turn her card when she calmed down, she told them she was ready, and she has not once cried since.  It was like they had a breakthrough.  I told them that Gwyn reports daily on who in her class gets their card turned, and Annie always told me that her card didn't get turned.  I didn't even know she had cards in her class, I thought she was just saying that because that is what Gwyn would say about herself.  We figured out that is why the cards meant so much to her because she was being told by Gwyn who got in trouble in her class every day, ha!  Jacob's conference went great, he's doing really well.  He loves math and drawing, his writing and reading is on track and improving, he has really grown so much just since August.   She told a couple of funny stories about Jacob being so serious and animated when he talks, I love it!  She said she had a picture of a raccoon on the board, and he and his friend had this very serious conversation about how you never take a raccoon into a bank because of their fur around their eyes looks like a mask and they might think it is there to rob the bank??? WHAT???  They had half-days at school on Thursday and Friday, so on Thursday a big group of us met at the park for hours of fun...I think there was about 25 kids there, it was nuts, but the kids had a blast:)

I had to include this to document that the girls were drug to numerous soccer/basketball/baseball games, this one in the 45 degree morning after our much needed cold front hit Houston:

 Gwyn has really been wanting her haircut, she's got two little friends with short hair and she said she wanted it done, so we did it.  She dresses herself, non-matching striped green shirt, purple pants, blue socks and sparkly gold shoes!

 She is so stinking cute in this little haircut, I LOVE IT!

 Of course the pumpkin master brought his A game this year again...carving two pumpkins, here is the warm up:

 Here are the kiddos with Brian's masterpiece for this year, which he carved at a pumpkin carving party with some friends.

 Love my sweet Jacob and his little notes. He walked up and put this in my pocket.  It says, "I love you.  I love playing with you.  I want to kiss (cise) you and can I play with you.  You are awesome Mommy."  Love that sweet boy!

 I had to throw this picture in there to document what I'm up against in my house...I mean really, kudos for putting another roll of toilet paper on, but REALLY, I have to say to take the old one off...I should have left this on and seen what happened when the second roll ran out!

Funny things the kids said this week:
After reading a book to Jacob about if you catch a live giant squid it is worth millions of dollars...Jacob:  Mommy, we have to tell Henry to catch one and then we'd have a million dollars.
Me:  You mean, Henry would have a million dollars.
Jacob:  Well, yeah.
Gwyn telling Brian:  Go faster Daddy, we're beating up to them (about another car).
Jacob (who is big into non-fiction books these days):  Frogs, they eat worms you know.
Me:  They do?
Jacob:  Yes, they do.  I researched.
Gwyn:  I like all the colors in the world but black and brown and white.  Well, I do like white, so all but black and brown.
Me:  Well our hair and eyes are brown.
Gwyn:  Actually, I do like brown a little.

Annie is 3...where has the time gone?!?!

I can't believe our little Annie Jaye is 3!  How fun it was to see her so excited about her birthday.  It was also fun to have her birthday party on the same day as her birthday.  The girl got to blow out three different sets of candles.  Here she is starting off the celebration with candles on her pumpkin muffin for breakfast...she didn't look too impressed with that pumpkin muffin (probably because Jacob said, "we usually get donuts!")...

She decided to blow them out anyway:

Rick and Sue were in town for the birthday celebration, she fell asleep on the drive out to her gymnastics party while holding on to her new little puppy she got from our neighbors, she's so stinking cute when she is sleeping!

My friend Kate and I decided to do a joint birthday party for Claire and Annie who are both in the Ladybug class at school together...what an awesome idea...we split the cost and invited the whole ladybug class...the girls had a blast and loved it!

I didn't get many pictures of Annie  because she was constantly on the move with a big smile on her face as you can see from this picture:

She loved being with her Daddy!

Waiting in line to jump into the pit:

Her birthday party:

Annie and sweet Claire

Birthday girls with their cookie cake:

Blowing out some candles:

Here are a couple of videos from the party:







Brian of course did not disappoint and made Annie her requested Peppa Pig cake...she is bouncing in "muddy puddles" which she usually does on her show:

A picture of the real Peppa...Brian did an awesome job!!

So excited about her cake!

A rare family picture, and of course Jacob is doing a goofy face and Gwyn isn't looking at the camera,  but hey, we're all in it!!

Here is one more video of us singing to her, I just love her smile and her laugh...we are so lucky to get to have this sweet little girl!

On Friday it was the Fall Festival at Jacob's school.  It is a huge fundraiser for them, and I decided to step it up.  Things like being valedictorian and Udall scholar don't do much to impress the kids, especially when I'm married to the cake-decorating-high-dive-flipper-furniture-builder-trampoline-trickster-pumpkin-carving-chewbacca-wookie-talking phenom known as Brian.  So, here is my Perry the platypus (from Phineas and Ferb - our favorite cartoon) pumpkin that I decorated for a contest at Jacob's school...it did win Silliest (which I was quite proud of until I realized that pretty much EVERY pumpkin that entered won something!).  It did do one thing...impress my kids and that was what I was going for!

The back, showing the tail:

Here is the actual picture of Perry:

I also, yes, I made the owl cupcakes for the cake walk for the festival as well, and yes, they were a hit and one of the first items to be picked...yes, I brought it this year, but as Emily reminded me, I've also set the bar high in future years to do the same...I didn't think about that until after, ha!

A couple of more pictures from the Fall Festival...Jacob got to have his first carmel apple, which he has been wanting for a very long time, and always asks when there aren't any around:

Sweet little Gwyn, gotta love her selection of chocolate yogurt with sour gummy worms, yuck!

This one barely came up for air while having her yogurt with sprinkles!

The festival also had raffle items, Jacob tried hard to win a giant blow up cat for our yard and a live hamster...thank the Lord we didn't end up with either of those, although the ipad would have been nice!  We did unfortunately win 3 live goldfish...all of which didn't even make it to the next morning...we made sure they were fully acclimated to the water in a big bowl and forgot to make sure they got enough oxygen...so another "pet" bites the dust in our house!  We finished a busy week with the Fall Festival, soccer (Jacob's scored two hat tricks in a row the last two games!), ballet, Annie's birthday, and dentist appointments...whew....oh, and it is Monday, so we're ready for another crazy week!!  We are loving life!

Funny things the kids said this week:
Gwyn:  What time is it?
Me:  10 am, why?
Gwyn:  Just wondering if Chick Fil A is still selling hash browns.
Me to Annie:  What are you doing?
Annie:  I'm doing Facetime.
Annie:  I like chocolate milk, it is yummy in my tummy.

Daddy/Daughter Date Night & Tiger Cub Scouts

These kiddos are so much fun...I find myself laughing out loud at something they say or do every single day.  What a blessing they are!  Brian took the girls on a Daddy/Daughter date night to Brio while I took Jacob to a birthday party...they were excited to go!

We've had another fun-filled, busy, non-stop week.  Ballet, dentist appointment where we learned that Jacob had a pretty bad chipped tooth (how I didn't notice that, I don't know!), soccer practice, soccer game (Jacob scored 3 goals!), birthday parties, and we finished out the week by watching OSU beat Kansas with Brad, Erika and Maddy...they are pregnant with a little boy due in February, so we are super excited for them!  Jacob thought it was so funny to act like he was cheering for Kansas, he was way outnumbered!    He is such a little jokster!  He told me it was opposite day the other day...I told him I said that when I was in elementary, he looked at me like I was crazy, like he invented it:)

Gwyn and Annie got their pictures taken at school...if I would have known they were going to do a sibling picture, I may have coordinated their outfits instead of dressing them in clashing patterns, but oh well...of course our little Annie refused to smile:

We also got word from some people that have a daughter in the same Sunday school class as Annie about how much their daughter loves Annie, and she's even named her stuffed animals Annie...I thought, really, our little stubborn Annie??  Apparently, she's a hit!

Jacob went on his first little Tiger Cub Scout field trip to the police station where they got to take a tour, check out the patrol car, and see the jail.  He came home and told me about how you only get a corn dog and a cup of juice every 4 hours...he didn't seem to think that was too bad, ha!

Jacob thought it was really funny to scare me to death when I walked back into the house from grilling chicken.  He screamed at me and I just about wet my pants and screamed.  I told him about paybacks, and how now, he's in for it.  I let a couple of days pass, then I scared him to death in the shower.  He's now on the prowl for his paybacks....he's so funny!

A few pics of artwork this week:

Funny things the kids said:

My friend Julie to Annie:  What do you want for your birthday?
Annie:  Cake.  (She also told my mom she wanted a present...that's about all she's given us)
I overhear Jacob telling Gwyn:  You know he's from Japanese don't you? (talking about a little boy in his class)
Gwyn:  No.
Jacob:  Yes, you don't know he's from Japanese??  (seriously, little sisters believe everything their brother says to them...even if it is wrong!)
Jacob:  Mommy, will you please punch me in the face?
Me:  No, why??
Jacob:  I really want to lose this tooth. (Maddy told him she got $5 / tooth, thank for that Mulsows!!)
Gwyn to Jacob:  When you grow up you're going to  be an old grandpa!
Jacob to Gwyn:  Well, when you grow up you're going to be an old grandma!  (Gwyn dies laughing!!)