Gotta LOVE this face!

If there is one things our kids love to do, it is go to the park.  I must get asked that 10 times / day, "can we go to the park?"  Well, Brian caves in, so yes, we often ride or walk up to the park in July and August in Houston (the hottest months of the year!).  We may not last long, especially now that Annie has discovered how much she likes to eat mulch, the trips to the park are a little high maintenance on us (or I should say me, being on constant mulch patrol).  Here are a few pictures from the park the other day:

Annie having fun!

Climber 1:

Climber 2:

I think they look alike here!

The cutest thing:

He just never stops!

Ready to go:

Sisters:

Slide race (Jacob won):

Little Miss Annie is babbling up a storm, clapping her hands, still eating everything (we joke that her first birthday cake should be three layers of her favorite things to eat: mulch, paper and magazines, and shoes), making funny faces, eating just about everything and wanting less baby food and more finger foods, she loves her bottles (and rolls her eyes back at the first taste everytime, like it is the best thing she has ever had!) and she still smiles about 90% of the time when she is awake.  One of my favorite times, is going to get her in the morning, she is always standing at the edge of the crib closest to the door waiting on someone to come, so sweet!

She is 10 months now, and here is her official picture along with Jacob and Gwyn @ 10 months:

Jacob @ 10 months:

Gwyn @ 10 months:

Here are a few pictures from the week, that really capture the kids personalities.  Jacob doing what he does daily, drawing.  He loves to draw pictures for people, of all kinds of things.  He asks you what you think something is, and whatever you tell him, it will be wrong, and then he'll tell you what it is.  Right after this picture was taken, he decided to draw on himself (he said he ran out of paper), and used black, cheap-non-washable-marker to draw all over his face and arms!

Gwyn laughing, she loves to make Annie and Jacob laugh, and tells me "Mommy, you're funny!"  We met her teacher last week and she is super excited about going to school. 

Annie, this is her funny face she makes all the time now.  If you make this face to her, then that gets it started and it just doesn't stop!  She has her second bottom tooth now, both had been giving her some trouble for awhile, but the first one broke through last week, and the second one broke through yesterday.

Gwyn LOVES to match Annie, and thankfully their Nana and Papa and their G and Grandpa have provided some matching outfits since Annie pretty much just gets Gwyn's hand me downs.  Whatever Annie is wearing, Gwyn wants to wear the same.  She got upset the other morning when Annie had this striped shirt on and she couldn't find anything to match it!

Finally, here are some pictures of our new house, we've still got some things to do, and I didn't include any of the backyard and pool since we'll hopefully be doing some updates there in the next year or so: 

Front of house:

Dining:

Kitchen/Dining:

Living:

Living:

Playroom / Office:

Playroom / Office:

Master:

Master:

Jacob:

Jacob:

Gwyn:

Gwyn:

Gwyn:

Gwyn:

Annie:

Annie:

Annie:

Annie:

Kids Bath:

Funny things the kids said/did this week:

Gwyn (to Brian at dinner):  Girls not supposed to get in the trash!

Gwyn to Jacob wearing her new sunglasses:  How do I look?

Jacob:  Sistinguished (Distinguished - seriously, where did he learn that??)

Brian calls Jacob "Mr. Savor"  He savors every last fruit snack, candy, etc, long after Gwyn has devoured hers.  The other night we went up to bed, and he brushes his teeth first and then I go over them with him to make sure he got them good...he was being really careful and when I started brushing them and he opened up his mouth, he had a red Swedish Fish (a gummy fish) stuck to his tongue and he was being careful not to get any toothpaste on it!

The kids are learning fast and poor little Annie gets blamed for everything!  I hear Annie pinched me, Annie hit me, Annie spilled this or that, Annie hurt my feelings...poor thing!

Houston is HOT, HOT, HOT!

Yes, Annie does have food on her forehead and her chin, but all 3 kids are looking at the camera, can you believe it?!?! It has been extremely hot here, so we have been laying low and playing inside, doing playdates outside (for short periods of time), and playing in the pool / sprinkler.  We had a "back to school" playdate at our house last Friday...I think 12 kids went through my 89+ filled water balloons in about 4 minutes.  It took me over an hour to fill them all (the pack of 100 that we lost 11 of with Gwyn, Jacob and Annie "helping"), and the fun only lasted 4 minutes...it was a REALLY fun 4 minutes for them all, so I guess it was worth it!  Thankfully another mom also brought water guns for them all, so the fun continued some more until our homeade ice cream was finished, do we know how to do playdates or what?!?!  This picture below was taken at my friend Lindsee's house this past week.  Jacob is feeding Annie, and Gwyn is feeding Lauren's baby (who is oddly looking at the camera!).

We've been keeping up with swim lessons, Jacob is just getting to be really good and fearless, although I'm not sure if that is good, he just jumps in and takes off.  We've been hanging with Jason at least once / week and went to breakfast with him last Saturday, we used to do this almost every Saturday, and it had been awhile, so hopefully we are resuming this routine because we love Uncle J.  All three kids had and thankfully got over runny noses that we picked up from churck the previous Sunday.  Gwyn had to have probably about 10 breathing treatments over the past few days because any cold she gets just goes straight to her lungs, but everyone is okay again! 

We started last week making the kids try one bite of everything we are eating for dinner, both will pretty much eat whatever meat I fix, they love fruit, but vegetables are the enemy right now.  Gwyn will at least try just about anything but Jacob will not.  So, we instituted a "one bite minimum" to which Jacob this past week had to eat 3 peas, 1 bite of asparagus, 1 green bean, and 1 bite of red potato.  Sadly, with the exception of french fries and corn, that pretty much sums up his vegetable intake for the past couple of years.  At one point, he spit the peas out and they landed on his shirt and he had to use a napkin to get them off because touching them would just be unthinkable! 

We have all the curtains that Sue made hung up and they look great, hopefully I'll post pictures next week since to take those pictures I'd like the house cleaned, which is an event in itself.  I also braved the mall, and not just any mall, but the Galleria with all 3 kids this week.  I met a group of moms at the new Lego store, and let the kids play at a new play structure they had there, followed by chick-fil-a (with Jason who met us there), and then Annie got new shoes!  Gwyn walked a little later and had a bigger foot, so her size 5 shoes were a little too big for Annie, so Annie is now sporting a brand new pair of walking shoes in a size 4.  I told Brian it will probably be her only new pair of shoes she gets til high school because she'll be wearing all of Gwyn's hand me downs!

Annie is growing super fast and is walking all over the place, and getting stuck in places, she thinks she can go where ever she wants, but she needs rescued as she did the other day under the table:

Having trouble:

And she's happy again!

If you've seen Toy Story 3, does this pose in the picture below not look like "big baby?"  All she needs is her clothes off with just her diaper on and to be marked on with some marker! 

Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob (as he handed me some napkins to wipe up Gwyn who puked on herself in the car):  Here is some, and here are some more for safe keeping (for safe keeping?? where does he get that stuff?)
Jacob (when asked what the tooth fairy would bring him when he lost his tooth since all his friends are losing teeth):  Either a coin or a diamond
Me to Gwyn at bedtime:  Who do you want to pray for?
Gwyn:  Jesus (every single night)
Me to Gwyn in the morning:  Did you dream about anything?
Gwyn:  Jesus (every single morning)
Me to Jacob while I was filling up those water balloons:  Jacob, come count out these remaining balloons into stacks of 5, so I know how many I have left.
Jacob (as he puts a hand on my shoulder):  You can do it by yourself, Mommy, I know that you can. (I think I say these exact words to him about something every single day)
Jacob (later as I'm still filling ballons, and as he pats me on the shoulder):  You're doing a great job, Mommy! (Again, I think I say these exact same words to him every single day...at least he's listening!)

The life and times of the Katt kids

I can't believe we are well into August already.  Annie is going to be 10 months soon, and Jacob will be in Pre-K and Gwyn will be going a couple of days a week starting September 1st.  Time flies when you are having fun, and we sure do have alot around here!  For starters, I took all 3 kids to the Dr for Annie's 9 month appointment and Jacob's 4 yr appointment.  Annie is 18 lbs 6 oz and 28 3/4 in long (75% in height and 50% for weight).  By comparison, Jacob was 20 lbs 14 oz / 30" in and Gwyn was 20 lbs 5 oz / 29" (we call Annie our little runt).  Annie got 1 shot and then her finger pricked and squeezed to check for anemia.  Jacob got a hearing test and a vision test (which he passed just fine), and 4 shots!  He actually did really well, but Gwyn, however, did not.  She was crying, saying "My baby doesn't like that!"  "My Jacob doesn't want shots!"  She was so upset that the nurse brought back a sucker just for her to calm her down, and that even though Jacob was crying after his shots, the nurse had him give Gwyn a kiss to show her that he was okay.  It was a miserable 2 hour long experience in which I'm already planning to be deathly sick on Gwyn's 4 yr old appointment, so that Brian can get that experience! 

We've been keeping up with swimming at least 5 times / week.  Our pool gets alot of use, I'm surprised at how much Gwyn can have just playing on the steps since she isn't swimming, and Jacob is all over the place.  Jacob loves to swim with Brian, he holds onto his back and they dive in the deep end to go get toys from the bottom.  Gwyn loves to play and swim with people, and Annie likes to just hang out in her little floatie and she loves to stand on the top step and splash.  

Annie has started talking, non-stop babbling of da-da-da-da-do-do-do.  She is SO funny, I find myself laughing out loud everyday.  She is into EVERYTHING, from the dishwasher, to the magazine rack, to the DVD stack, to the bookcases, to the cabinets...she basically has a spot she goes right after no matter what room you are in.  She is now walking more than she is crawling and can make it across the room with no problem.  It is a little weird to see this little 9 month old baby with her little chunky legs walking.  She also loves to dance.  She loves this little bear that sings Jingle Bell Rock that my parents gave to Gwyn at Christmas (and yes, we play with it every single day, Jacob at one point went and put it in the oven of the play kitchen because even he was sick of Gwyn playing it non-stop).  Anyway, when Annie hears it she starts bouncing up and down, while standing, and then walks over and tries to eat its nose!

We had a birthday party to go to at Chuck E Cheese last Friday, Jacob and Gwyn have so much fun playing the games, but Gwyn had a total freak out along with Annie when Chuck E Cheese came by, so the party was super fun for me, ha!  Gwyn has now said that when she is 5 she is going to give Chuck E Cheese a high five and a hug (to which she later recanted that statement when I told Brian to ask her about it).  We also had a play date with our old neighbors Carter and Cole, they are so much fun and we are still sad to no longer be able to walk across the street and play with them multiple times / week.  Gwyn just looked too cute here, so I had to throw this picture in somewhere!

Other things of note, it has become a weekly ritual on Monday mornings that we go grocery shopping around 8 am, and there is always a firetruck parked out front.  The kids get so excited to find the firemen inside the grocery store and we usually check out what they have in their basket.  One time we found them in the meat section getting a TON of hamburger, and another time in the milk section getting jugs and jugs of milk.  They are nice to us, and it keeps the kids somewhat entertained as we race through the store to find them.  One time we looked all through the store and didn't see them and then the firetruck was gone when we left, and Jacob said we weren't fast enough!  This week though we had another fiasco because the infamous race car cart (which allows both Jacob and Gwyn to sit in it AND me to have a place to actually put the food) were all taken. So, Annie rode in the cart and Jacob and Gwyn walked and took turns putting stuff in the cart for me...two words...NEVER AGAIN!  If the race car carts are all gone next time, we are just going to have to turn it around and come back later.

I thought it was SO funny that the kids were saying that Brian was 43 instead of 33, until Jacob asked me how old I was and I said 31, to which they both replied "41!"  Not so funny anymore, and I am now on a mission to teach them to properly say t-h-i-r-t-y o-n-e instead of 41.  I guess you reap what you sow!   The kids are still so into books.  I have recently had to institute a "20 book limit" during the day, because they keep bringing me book after book after book, and my mouth seriously gets tired!  They didn't think this was fair, so I'm now once we reach our 20 book limit, let them pick out 2 more books each for Brian to read to them when he gets home!  Oh, and the other night for dinner, I fixed turkey burgers and I put one on each of Jacob's and Gwyn's plates, and Jacob said, "This looks like a cookie!"  Later, Brian told Gwyn to eat her meat and she said, "My meat cookie?"  Yummy, turkey burger cookies! 

Oh, and I have to document this somehow, but I was gone for a couple of hours on Saturday morning, and I came home to learn that the kids had locked Brian out of the house!  I secretly smiled when I learned this (because it lets me know how much I'm missed!).  Apparently, Gwyn turned the lock with the key inside it when Brian went out front to move the sprinkler.  She was laughing at the door when he got back, and then got really upset because she couldn't turn it back.  She got Jacob, who said he couldn't do it, to which Brian replied, "You better do it!"  A few frantic minutes later, and it was unlocked and Gwyn was immediately put into time out, where she kept saying, "I not going to do it again!"  Hopefully, she has learned her lesson!

Brian made dinner on Sunday night, and I had to take a picture of it...he out does me all the time, and Jacob said, "Daddy you make the best dinners ever!"  I took the opportunity here, to recommend a vote that Daddy cook dinner every Sunday night, to which all 3 (me, Jacob & Gwyn) voted yes...Brian was not as excited!

Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob (on the way to the Drs office):  They give me a shot, I'm gonna eat them up for dinner!

I overheard this conversation between Brian and Gwyn:

Gwyn:  What's that?

Brian:  Compound mitre saw

Gwyn:  What's that?

Brian:  Table saw

Gwyn:  What's that?

I went in there and they were both looking through the Sears tool catalogue...he's raising her right!  ha!

I told Gwyn to leave Annie alone when she is walking because she isn't that stable and Gwyn likes to grab her arm, which knocks her down.

Gwyn (to me in response, and very upset):  But I'm her sister (with hands on hips!).

Jacob (when I was putting him to bed and asked him what his favorite part of his day was):  Being with you (melt my heart!)

Gwyn (before, after, and during when she is in trouble):  I love you daddy, I love you mommy (she is going to be something else!)

Gwyn (crying hysterically in the pool):  Annie hurt my feelings!  (Annie was nowhere near her, so we have no idea what happened)

Jacob (as he slurps something): Delicious! (he must say this at least 10 times / day, and now Gwyn has started)

We have a swimmer AND a walker!

Drum roll please......Jacob can swim AND Annie can walk!  We've been busy around here, so no pictures today, but I am including 3 videos.  One of Jacob swimming, one of Annie taking 4 steps (she's up to 10 now), and one of Annie yelling/grunting (she does this all day long). 

Jacob is super excited about being able to swim, we have to remind him to come up to take a breath, he just wants to be underwater and always wearing his "gobbles."  He's like a little fish, and since our swim instructor is on vacation for the next week, we've been in the pool with him almost everyday so that he doesn't forget and just gets better.  He gets braver and braver, and we still have to watch him because now we'll just turn around and he's halfway across the pool.  His big "prize" that we were holding over his head since we moved in was that he got to go pick out a water gun when he learned to swim.  Well, as I laid him down to bed last Friday night, he did NOT forget about it and he told me he was going to pick out a HUGE watergun, the biggest one they had, not a small one.  So, Brian took him to get one at Target on Saturday.

Annie is not even 9 1/2 months old and she's already walking (seriously!).  I had counted on her to be my late walker since both Jacob and Gwyn walked about 10 months, but no, she wants to be right there with them, doing everything they do.  I was complaining to my friends about her trying to walk already, and they gave me the advice to just push her down (it was a joke), but I really thought about doing it to discourage it all I can because that is just what I need, all 3 of them running in different directions!  Ha!  She is determined, her little legs are strong and she has surprisingly good balance.  I just can't believe it, she is growing up so fast!

Well, this past Saturday was my annual day in the Woodlands with my other mom friends (this is my third year to go and there were 10 of us that went).  We left Saturday morning, and left all the husbands in charge of the kids for the whole day and night, and we started off with pedicures, some shopping, eating at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch, a movie, hanging out and talking about our kids (and laundry, and cooking, and diaper changing, etc.), and then dinner at Brio, followed by staying the night and having breakfast at Le Madeline before heading home on Sunday morning.  I arrived home to a pile of dirty dishes and bottles and dirty clothes strung all over the house...I was missed!  The kids had fun with Daddy, and Brian did really well with all of them.  (Although, Jacob did tell me that they didn't brush their teeth that morning!) 

Funny things the kids have said this week:

Gwyn:  Look Mommy, it mistappeared (disappeared)!
Jacob:  No, Annie, only big kids can play this, you have to either be 2 or 4!
Gwyn (as we are driving by the Williams tower):  My daddy built that building with his hammer (oh really!).
Gwyn (about every little thing):  Watch what I can do!
Me to Jacob:  Jacob, be quiet, I really want to hear what they are saying (I was watching this clip on the Today show)
Jacob:  But Mommy, I asked you to be quiet when you and Jason were talking and I couldn't hear my show, so I was just doing to you what you did to me. (He's too smart for his own good!)

Annie Walking:



Jacob swimming:



Annie yelling: