Top 50 Things of 2012

I do like reflecting on the year and coming up with the top 50 things (good/some not so good) that has happened with our family in 2012.  We wish everyone (all 4 of you who read this blog, ha!) a HAPPY NEW YEAR and a wonderful 2013...here we go:

1. Jacob hitting two triples in a playoff game.
2. Jacob finishing Kindergarten (me crying at his graduation) and starting 1^st grade.
3. Watching Jacob’s reading improve and love for math develop over the past year.
4. Jacob’s crazy 6^th birthday party with 2,000-water –balloon-fight at the house.
5. Watching Jacob play baseball, soccer and basketball.
6. Jacob getting to go on his cub scouts camping trip with Brian…and dancing like a crazy man in front of everyone.
7. Jacob going to and having his first sleepovers with friends.
8. Jacob square dancing at Go Texan Day.
9. Jacob hitting a baseball through my bedroom window, which lead to new windows for the whole house!!
10. Watching Jacob continue to grow up into this sweet, fun little boy…he is so much fun to be around!
11. Gwyn and Brian taking home 2^nd place at the Daddy Daughter bake off at church.
12. Gwyn loving her 4^th birthday gymnastics party.
13. Gwyn going to ballet class for a semester with a couple of her friends.
14. Watching Gwyn and Brian do the Wii Disney Dance party.
15. Gwyn and Brian’s Daddy/Daughter dates.
16. Gwyn getting to be the Turtle Teacher for the day.
17. Gwyn being the little assistant teacher in charge of her 3 year old class, telling the kids how many eggs they could pick up and where to sit.
18. Gwyn being very selective at strawberry picking and only picking the biggest and reddest strawberries she could find.
19. Gwyn making up songs and singing everywhere she goes.
20. Watching Gwyn continue to grow into the sweetest little girl, such a sweet sister!
21. Annie being potty-trained!!! Yes, I’m counting it even though we are on day 2 todayJ
22. Annie swimming across the pool this summer, she is a FISH!
23. Annie jumping around like crazy with a HUGE smile on her face at her 3^rd birthday party.
24. Annie going to preschool for the first time.
25. Watching Annie not participate in the Thanksgiving program and watching her sing and do hand motions at the Christmas program.
26. Seeing how much Annie has changed this past year..she is talking non-stop!
27. Annie wearing her dress-up outfits out in public.
28. Watching Annie go for one of the much coveted two swings we have in the backyard…she will run like lighting to beat Jacob and Gwyn.
29. Annie tagging along and playing with Gwyn and her friends.
30. Annie being Jacob’s little buddy.
31. Our family vacation to Seattle, Portland and the Oregon Coast this summer.
32. Summer visit to Oklahoma to visit family and friends.
33. Sitting on Cannon Beach during sunset and roasting marshmallows and having smores.
34. Meeting Nana, Papa, and Jason in North Texas to take the kids camping.
35. Taking the kids trick or treating as a ghost (Jacob), Sleeping Beauty (Gwyn) and Rapunzel (Annie).
36. Easter egg hunting with the Benson’s.
37. Meeting all of Brian’s family in Panama City, Florida for vacation...going to the beach and the kids catching crabs at night with flashlights.
38. Emily’s visit with her precious girls to Houston.
39. Visit to Tulsa for Christmas and getting to meet the new baby cousins Elijah and Hannah for the first time.
40. Taking the kids to Stillwater for an OSU basketball game.
41. The never-disappointing cake creations of Brian’s…R2D2 saving Silvermist for Gwyn’s birthday, Perry the Platypus karate kicking an Angry Bird for Jacob’s birthday and Peppa Pig jumping in the muddy puddles for Annie’s birthday.
42. Brian’s impressive high dives at 4^th of July.
43. Brian’s carved pumpkins at Halloween.
44. Family bike rides in the neighborhood.
45. Taking the kids to San Antonio (their first hotel stay) and going to Sea World.
46. Me getting my wisdom teeth out finally!
47. My Perry the Platypus pumpkin taking home the silliest ribbon at Jacob’s Fall Festival.
48. My much enjoyed couple of trips to Dallas for Em’s birthday and meeting Neely for some shopping.
49. Cooking Thanksgiving in Jason’s new kitchen.
50. Brian completing the remodel of our downstairs bathroom!

I couldn't resist throwing these two videos in here...what fun we are having with the Wii!!

Merry Christmas!!

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks...we finished up ballet, Jacob has started basketball, we've had 3 Christmas parties, all the kids are now out of school, we went to Oklahoma to celebrate Christmas with both my parents and Jason and Rick and Sue and Justin, Stacy and their precious babies Elijah and Hannah, AND we got to see the Kalina's, the Huff's and take a quick trip to Stillwater to see a basketball game...whew!!!  This blog will be mostly pictures as we got home last night and the entire house is a wreck!  Annie at her Christmas party:

 Annie and Atticus:

 Annie and her teacher Ms. Amanda:

 Annie with her teacher Ms. Kimberly:

 Little Rudolph Gwyn at her Christmas party:

 Rick was a good sport and went to Gwyn's party since I was in charge of Annie's party.  Gwyn was telling everyone..."Mommy is in charge of Annie's party and Grandpa is in charge of mine."

  Here are Gwyn and Annie at their Christmas program...Annie actually participated!!

We went to the 2nd Baptist Really Really Big Christmas show the same night that Brian got back from Norway...we had to leave about half way through as my entire crew (except Annie) was asleep on the back row...we won't be trying the late show next year!

 Love these sisters, this is how Annie reads a book to Gwyn:

 And Gwyn got into her makeup, look out!

 Kong Kong took a nap on his toiletpaper hammock...Kong Kong is surprisingly much more creative and gets into mischief much more when Brian is in town...hmmmm??

 Jacob at his Christmas party...I did jingle bell necklaces and those were a hit!

 On the way up, we stopped at Em's house and visited her with a bit...love those Kalina girls!

 OSU...we haven't been back in years and we felt surprisingly very OLD!

 Susie LOVES OSU!

 Jacob LOVED the cheese fries at Joes!

Jacob did his crazy dance at every single time out to try to make the jumbo tron...he never did but it never stopped him...

 Susie was determined to get one of those huge foam fingers, nice!

 A visit with the Huff's...getting 6 kids to smile for the camera is never going to happen:

 My little elves on the eve of Christmas eve:

 Gwyn got my old caboodle that my mom saved, she LOVED it!

  Annie singing jingle bells: Brian didn't do too bad...an iHome alarm clock and the Art of Shaving kit:

 Jason cleaned house as well...new socks and a popcorn machine for his theater:

 Jacob got some REAL tools:

 We went over to Rick and Sue's house and got to meet Hannah and Elijah.  Annie said she liked Hannah the best because she was the boy.  Then she said she wanted to hold Elijah because she was the girl...she was a bit confused.  She asked Brian later when she was little was she a boy baby or a girl baby.

 Gwyn loved those babies:

 La la loopsy dress up Annie...La la Loopsy was a hit!

 Like grandfather like grandson:

 Loved this picture of all the cousins...Gwyn is so proud.  She said Hannah was being crazy:

 Poor kids were so excited, there was at one time a 100% chance of snow in Tulsa and we got nothing. We stopped at Chick Fil A in Dallas and the kids got to make a snow ball in the parking lot...maybe that will suffice them for another year of "why don't we live where it snows??"

  And when we got home...SANTA had visited!!

 Funny things the kids said this week:
Gwyn:  This is 80s on 8, I want to listen to 90s on 9 (yes, that's my girl...Brian doesn't claim her for this as he says no good songs came out of the 90s...hello??)
Jacob (after I explained to him about how we don't double dip in the queso):  Daddy double dips!
Annie:  Daddy has pokies right there (talking about his mustache).
Annie:  Daddy says I'm 14.  (Um, no)
Jacob (as we pass a tree in Stillwater decorated with real pairs of shoes...those college kids!):  Can I climb it and get some shoes?
Me:  No, we don't want anyones old shoes.
Jacob:  They might be new, we just have to smell them. (He must have gotten that from his Daddy)