Birthday confusion and pigtails

We have had a pretty good week. They celebrated all the summer birthdays during chapel at school on Wednesday, so Jacob got to go up with all the kids and have them sing to him. He thought he was pretty cool in his birthday hat and birthday button, which he has wanted to wear every day since then. He got a little confused about all the birthday talk, and he told a couple of people since then that he was 3. He also talks nonstop about his Wall-E cake, which is what he wants for his third birthday...he has pretty much mentioned something about a Wall-E cake every single day for the past 6 months, so Brian has alot to live up to!

I put pigtails in Gwyn's hair for the first time today. She was SOOOO cute!

My car is having lots of problems, from the transmission, to alignment/balance issues, to a couple of funny different noises that sound awfully similar to what Brian's old probe did just before it caught on fire! So, this next week we are hoping to get it all taken care of so that I can have a reliable car. Besides that, Jacob and I were watching Little Einsteins on Thursday and our TV screen went all green/purple and funny, it started showing two people instead of one person??? I just called Brian laughing, to tell him the good news, that we have to also get a new TV....when it rains, it pours!!

I'm thankful to be a Mom this week

Well, we had a good week and a good weekend. Mother's Day was nice, Brian steamed some king crab legs for me on Sunday evening. Oh, and when I say king crab legs, I mean KING crab legs...each leg was about 3 ft long. They were awesome, and made me wonder what Deadliest Catch boat they came off of...probably the Wizard.

I am very thankful for my two precious kids this week, and the third on that is on its way...October will be here before we know it! Jacob made me a couple of things in school for mother's day, he was pretty proud of them:

Here are just a few pictures from this week. We've still been playing outside alot, but the weather seemed to have went form the 70s to 90s (not sure where the 80s went), and it gets hot and muggy pretty fast when we are outside. So, we've been taking advantage of our little pool outside, and we are hoping to start making regular trips to the neighborhood pool in the next week or so.

My book group is reading The Shack this month, I know lots of people have read it and recommended it, and it will be good to hear what some of the other moms have to say about it. I plan to start it this week.

Gwyn had her 15 month appointment this morning. She screamed bloody murder when they put her up on the scale to weigh her...just like any girl! She was 95% in height and 75% in weight, she is growing fine. She is starting to repeat pretty much anything you tell her to, her regular words are mama, dada, bubba, Jay, ball, nana, papa, G, hot, and cheese.

April showers bring May flowers

I can't believe it is already May. We got SO much rain here in Houston this last week, we are ready for the May flowers to come and the rain to go away! Brian's main route to work is still under water, so he's having to go alternative routes which really extends his commute. We didn't flood, but several people we know in surrounding neighborhoods flooded, we just go so much rain in a short period of time.

This should be a fun month, I'm looking forward to Mother's Day next weekend (yes, I put that in here just so Brian would remember!), my brother's birthday is the following weekend, we'll have a three day weekend with Memorial Day, and the weather here in Houston is still really nice, so we're planning lots of outdoor activities. The kids have just really started playing together all the time, Gwyn is still a little young to hang with Jacob, but she tries! I took this after we had come home from Costco, I was putting some other things away and then found the kids making a tower out of Kleenex, toiletpaper, and papertowels.

This has been a pretty fun week, Jacob's preschool class went on a class fieldtrip to the zoo, and I got to go with him. Jacob had so much fun, and LOVED his mommy being with him. His favorite animal is the giraffe, but he could have spent all day in from of the meercats. We had a little free time, which he chose to get a red icee and ride the carosel three times.

Gwyn, in the meantime, was getting some one on one time with her Uncle Jason, who volunteered to watch her while we were gone to the zoo. Jason had never changed a diaper before, and apparently God answered his prayers because he only had to change one wet one while we were gone!

Stacy had bought both kids slippers at Christmas, Jacob got some green crocodile ones, and Gwyn got these little snowmen ones. Well, both kids this week have decided that anytime they are in the house, it is slipper time, so they have worn them constantly. The fun wore off for Jacob after about three days, but Gwyn is still demanding to have her slippers on ALL THE TIME! This was today after we got home from church.

On Saturday, I attended a MOMS Club State Luncheon here in Houston. There were over 200 stay at home moms from Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. It was great to get away for the day, here some stories from other moms, hang out with my moms club friends, have a couple of meals without having to entertain kids, etc. Brian took care of the kids all day Saturday and took them to church on Sunday. Jason came over to give him some help for a few hours yesterday, and apparently they managed just fine. Gwyn didn't miss me at all, but Jacob was ready for me to come home, but not as much as Brian was!!

So much to say...

Well, we'll start off with the big news...we are pregnant and going to have baby Katt #3 at the end of October! We are super excited, and can't wait for this new baby to arrive, and if I'm lucky, I'll be able to talk Brian into letting me find out if the baby is a boy or a girl in June. I played for that during our March Madness bracquet challenge, and technically lost, but I was submissive and let Brian have his two surprises with Jacob and Gwyn, so I'm confident he will find it in his heart to let me have this one wish! (I know, I laid it on pretty thick, but if you want, you are welcome to contact Brian and let him know that you think we should find out too!) We are a little nervous to have 3 kids, the oldest who will basically have just turned 3, but we know that this baby is going to be such a blessing to our lives and who will complete our family...YES, we are finished at 3!!

My mom went on her annual "sister's trip" to Florida with her 3 sisters, and my Dad surprised me by coming down last Monday. He was here a whole week, and got used to our little routine. He played outside with the kids in the backyard in the pool while I cooked dinner in the evenings, and then played outside in the cul-de-sac after dinner and before baths. I think this was the longest he had ever been here at one time, and I think he had a good time and we didn't wear him out too much. The kids got very attached to him. Gwyn kept walking over to him for him to pick her up and wanted to sit on his lap. My mom also surprised me for a short visit on her way back from Florida. She had a layover in Houston, so she just had Jason pick her up at the airport and bring her over to the house, and she drove back with my Dad this morning. Brian called me outside and told me to turn around and there she was! We had a crawfish boil at the house, which was great, we had fun with them and it was sad to see them go this morning:(

On to other news, Brian did complete Day 2 of the MS 150, or should I say MS75. It was the first time in 25 years that they cancelled a day of the ride, but the location that 13,000 + riders and volunteers were to stay the night between Houston and Austin was under about 10" of water. He did really well on the hills, and said the headwind was tough, but had so much fun riding in a big ride like that. Here is a picture of him with his McDermott teammates. We are proud of him!

Gwyn is just becoming a little girly girl. Her hair is growing so fast and is starting to curl up with the humidity, which we have plenty of here in Houston. She is so cute and precious. She wants shoes on all the time, and will sometimes bring you a different pair to put on even if she has some on. She also loves her little sunglasses, and even wore them in the bathtub the other night. She would not take them off, so she was washed and shampooed with them on and I had to distract her to take them off before I laid her down to bed. This picture of her in her "cruise" dress is one that Rick and Sue got her over Spring Break. She looks just precious in it and wore it to church last weekend.

Jacob is all boy. I have to constantly clip his fingernails because somehow he ends up with dirt caked up underneath them every single day! He also likes rocks, collects them, brings them home from school, finds them at church, and for some reason puts them in his pockets to bring home. He would have quite a collection if I let him keep them, but Gwyn seems to think they look like candy, so I've always got to throw them away. I'll be walking through the house and step on a rock in the middle of the floor that he has taken out of his pocket. He also a month or so ago picked up a dead snake and was running around with it in the front yard. I thought it was a piece of mulch until I saw the shape of it, and then he put it in our neighbor Carter's tricycle, which we later had Brian remove. This is a picture of him riding his favorite game at Chuck E. Cheese, yes, we are regulars there. He must have rode this horse about 40 times and was constantly saying he was a cowboy.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

We have had ALOT of rain the past two days. So much so, that we've pretty much been in the house all day for the past two days, which meant many a time outs, a very messy house, and lots of grey hairs I'm sure that are on their way.

We did let the kids play outside in the puddles after it stopped for awhile, Gwyn loves to splash and would end up soaked after about 5 minutes. Jacob's pants were soaked, which is why he has none in this video.

Brian was scheduled to ride his bicycle from Houston to Austin for the MS150, Day 1 (today) was cancelled, and he is set to get up tomorrow at 4 am to drive from our house to LaGrange, TX where he will then ride Day 2 of the ride from LaGrange to Austin. I think he'll get in about 80 miles, and I know he was excited to do it, so I'll post more on that after he rides tomorrow.

Easter with the Grandparents

Rick and Sue came down for Easter last weekend. It was SO nice having them here, Brian was off work on Friday too, so we had some great family time. After church, we went out to lunch and then came back for an egg hunt at the house. Gwyn was pretty good at find eggs and putting them in either her or Jacob's basket. Jacob was busy opening up the eggs to find out what was inside, and then noticed how full Gwyn's basket was, so he went and helped himself to some of her eggs. Next year, I'm afraid Gwyn isn't going to put up with that anymore, and she was pretty quick to learn that inside the eggs was candy, which she loved!

The kids are really sweet with their grandparents. Jacob seems to need "G" to do everything for him, and wouldn't even let me hand him some crackers at Pappadeaux for lunch. He needed "G" to get them for him. Gwyn loves the extra attention, and even took to following Rick around!

A BIG THANK YOU to "G" and Papa for all the fun outdoor toys for the kids. Not only do they now have a new pool with a built in slide (Gwyn LOVES slides), but they have a new turtle sandbox, in Jacob's favorite color: green, a new soccer goal, and lots of new sand toys. The kids are now set for a fun summer, and since we spend hours outside everyday, it is nice for them to have some new toys to play with. Thank you!! Here are some pictures of the kids in the pool and sandbox:

We were VERY sad to see them go on Sunday. We are planning a trip to Tulsa in June, so it looks like we're on our own for the next couple of months! They even watched the kids for us on Saturday night, so Brian and I got a date night...which was really nice. We are averaging one of those every couple of months!!

Of course with people in town, Monday was rough for me. I think the kids get used to the extra attention and it takes them a couple of days to realize that things are back to normal with just mom and dad. So, Monday Jacob did not take a nap, and was up from about 1:30 am to 3:30 am, which is why I'm posting this at 3:50 am...I can't go back to sleep!

Pictures...no time to write!

We have been busy, Spring weather has arrived here in Houston and we are enjoying it. Here are some pictures, no time to write anything, maybe later.

Jacob and Brian's lego project - to use every single lego we have on one big house:

Jacob and Gwyn exploring:

Jacob and Gwyn Easter egg hunging:

Jacob and Gwyn playing:
Jacob loves his snow boots: