Vacation to Florida and Jacob turns 6!

 We spent the week on the beach in Panama City, Florida with Rick, Sue, Stacy, Justin and Brian’s Grandpa.  The kids had a blast, especially Jacob who turned 6 while we were there.  The kids brought home a bucket of shells, Jacob would have spent all day in the water if possible, Gwyn loved hanging out at the surf, and Annie loved the sand and loved being in her little ring out in the ocean.  The water was so clear and you could see fish swimming around out feet.  The weather was perfect, everyone got a tan...so much so that Jacob asked if we were turning into a black family:)  Here are the pictures of the trip, we buried Jacob...Gwyn wanted no part in this:

 She seriously giggled and screamed the entire time:

 This one would stay busy for hours under the umbrella shade digging in the sand:

 Brian and Rick with Jacob and Gwyn:

 Love this sweet face:

 G and Annie getting some sun:

 Sitting in a BIG chair before dinner:

 Grandpa enjoyed an afternoon nap in the shade:

 We attempted the "white-shirt-at-the-beach-at-sunset" picture...these were the best I could get of all three kiddos:

 Our first family pic in awhile!

 This one of Rick and Sue and the kids turned out great:

 Annie was done at this point, but I had to get a picture of Grandpa in there, he looked so nice!

 Love those sweet little Gwynnie Bear toes:

 Jacob started off his birthday with 6 donuts from Starbucks...there were only 6 left and the guy in front of Brian wanted to add one to his order, but decided not to at the last minute...it was a good thing, Brian didn't want to have to offer that buy $10 for that one donut so that Jacob could have 6 for his birthday breakfast!

 He LOVES being 6!

 He had Rick write this in the sand:

 A birthday surprise of a go-cart ride...Jacob had a huge smile the entire ride, all 20 minutes of it, and when he got off he said, "Now that's what I call a birthday!"

 A meal and balloons at dinner:

 Sue made him a birthday cake and wrote Happy Birthday Jacob in Swedish fish:

 A few more pictures from the trip, Annie loved the sand:

 A double rainbow!!! Gwyn was in heaven!

 Birthday boy with his Cardinals hat from Great Grandpa...he would have wore it to bed if possible:

 We drove over in two days, we stopped in Mobile, Alabama at the U.S.S. Alabama, which Jacob thought was the coolest thing he’s ever seen in his whole life (he also said that morning the free breakfast at the Hampton Inn was the best breakfast he had ever had in his whole life!).  As much as Jacob loved it, Gwyn and I were ready to go...it was too hot!

 We stopped on our drive over at the Abita Brewing Company, Brian and I had gone there when we lived in New Orleans…Jacob enjoyed his freshly brewed root beer.  We did learn that letting Jacob drink two 20 ounce root beers before getting back in the car to drive another couple of hours  before we stopped for the night was NOT the best idea…I think we stopped 3 times for him to pee!

 A first for us...all 3 kids on one side of the table...I haven't sat beside Brian in YEARS!  We ate at Buck's Pizza in Mobile, Alabama and were wishing we were sharing pizza with John and Claudia!

 The kids flew back from Panama City with Rick and Sue, and Brian and I drove back together by ourselves…we stopped in New Orleans for a night and ate at Commander’s Palace, the best meal either of us has ever had!  It was a nice 24 hour getaway, and apparently the kids did great, especially considering their plane was 4 hours late!

We got back from Florida on Friday, and turned around on Saturday to have Jacob’s birthday party at the house.  We had 2,000 water balloons delivered to the house, an Angry Bird pinata, an original cake designed by Brian, and a visit from the ice cream truck at the end of the party…it was a hit!  The water balloons were supposed to last about 45 minutes, I think they only lasted about 20, and Brian is estimating that he got hit with at least 1,000 of them.  We had some games planned, but with fifteen 6-7 year old boys, it ended up just a water fight of who could hit Brian the most!  Jason was an awesome sport and kept the kids out of the street and let the younger siblings try to hit him with water balloons.  Rick kept the water balloon supply coming.   

 Water balloons galore!

 Pinata time:

 Of course Brian didn't disappoint, even when Jacob decided he wanted Perry the platypus from Phineas and Ferb on his cake...

 Jacob taking a swing:

 Ice Cream Truck!!

 Gwyn got a Dora ice cream...she tried her best to stay clear of all the water balloons and boys:

 In the week before the trip to Florida, Annie got her first haircut!  She gave her signature scowl the entire time…the one that says, “don’t mess with me.”  She did enjoy that lollipop after the haircut!  This is her before her haircut:

 During her haircut...the stylist asked if she was tired and needed a nap...my reply, "No, that is her signature look...that is her friendly face!"

 After the haircut, all three had haircuts, they were all smiles and enjoying her lollipop:

I found the kids playing “puppy” with Annie, if she needs counseling later in life, this might explain why, poor Annie!

We celebrated the 4^th at a neighborhood pool that had a high dive, and Brian got to show his high school swim team diving skills…he’s still got it, and surprisingly Jacob went off the high dive about 20 times!

Here is the 4th of July High Dives video:

After relaxing at the house for a couple of house after the pool and watching “Best Burgers in America” on the food network, we googled “best burger in Houston” and ended up at the Hubcap Grill…a little hole in the wall place in the Heights…it was pretty good and the kids enjoyed their own Saint Arnold Root Beer made in Houston.  We also found out that Annie LOVES cheeseburgers!

We are taking advantage of the summer and crossing things off our "to do" list...we've hit the $1 movies, multiple pools, and we parked down by the zoo, rode the train in to downtown and met Jason for lunch.  The kids thought the train was awesome.

 A couple of pictures, the kids were playing Buccees pirates outside...best buds:

 Annie has become an expert at getting as many animals as possible strapped into the stroller:

One last video of Gwyn hula hooping...she has come a very LONG ways in a few months:

Oh, and I finally discovered why my flowers were dying even though I water ALL the time... the little rascal:

Funny things the kids said this week:

Annie:  Gwynnie gave me the hiccups.
Me to Annie:  Do you like to tattle?
Annie:  Yes.

July is here already??

We are living it up this summer!  The weather has been great, the kids were in VBS last week, and we got a visit from Rick and Sue for one night.  Sue brought the kids down a craft...we are BIG on crafts around here!

Sue made the girls each two new cute dresses, Gwyn LOVES dresses, and Annie LOVES whatever Gwyn loves:

 Rick and Sue and the kiddos:

 Jacob's birthday party is coming up in July, and he is having an Angry Birds party.  I found some free printable coloring sheets online that we printed off, we all colored, and then we cut them out and glued them onto paper bags for the pinata:

 I think they came out pretty cute:

 Can you believe this huge pinata was only $15??

 I  got my wisdom teeth out on Friday, and Jacob enjoyed making smoothies with me for two days...I'm still in pain, but it is getting better...I'm glad they are out!

 My little dress-up girl:

 Pals:

 Best buds:

 Matching green shirts:

 Gwyn then wanted a picture with Brian, and they decided to do cross-eyes!

We met some friends at Discovery Green park downtown...the kiddos love the splash pad and playground:

 I love these sweet little sisters:

 Love this smiling face:

 Jacob went to a Young Author Camp with his Kindergarten teacher's house...he thought he was super cool, and produced this awesome Cardinal baseball book:

Funny things the kids said this week:
Gwyn:  Buster is a little dog, but he is bigger than an ant.
Me to Jacob:  Annie is little than you, she doesn't know (about something she did).
Jacob:  Mommy, she is 2 and she does know better.

Visit with Em and her girls!

We are really enjoying our summer around here.  Emily came to visit with her girls for a few days.  Brian was in Louisiana for work, so we stayed busy playing outside, swimming at least twice a day, riding bikes to the park, eating Em's homemade desserts and just having a TON of fun!  The kids got along great...Gwyn was in heaven playing with Grace who is a year older:

 They brought Jacob down a birthday present...a game called Headbanz, it was quite entertaining!  You try to guess the thing/food/toy/animal that is on your headband by asking questions...this proved hard with Annie who regularly either gave you the totally wrong answers or just blurted out what your card was:

 Precious little Sadie who is 6 days younger than Annie swims all over the place, rides bikes, and is potty trained!  I tried to put some pressure on Annie, but she just said, "I wear diapers!"

 Jacob lounging in the pool "fake sleeping."  He did really well with all the girls in the house, I told him at one point that "I know there are 4 girls here and just you," to which he quickly corrected me that there were 6 girls here (counting me and Em).  He was outnumbered and had some guy time when Daddy came home Thursday night and Jason came to eat dinner and see Em.

 Oh the many faces of Annie...I've got to get a good picture of her scowl...almost as distinct as Eddie Suttons!

My littlest can pedal!! Check out those little curly pig tails...her first haircut will be coming up soon and those curls will forever be gone:(



This little boy is serious about baseball and OSU.  He made a list of things he wants for his birthday, and one thing he listed was an OSU flag that we can put outside our house...he saw another one on his bike ride with Brian.

 Oh so many poor rollie pollies...the girls loved catching them and unfortunately many ended up in the pool water:(

 My friend Julie gave Gwyn a pink leapster and a ton of new games...Gwyn was hooked with all the "girl" games since she is used to playing with Jacob's that has only "boy" games.  She was super excited!

 Poor little Annie, who gets only hand me downs and cast offs from Gwyn, was so excited that Gwyn gave her the "struction" manual for one of the games (Not the game, but the instruction manual that came with it!).  She just "pretended" to read it all weekend, carried it around like it was something special.

 At church today, all the 1st graders and their parents went up on stage and the parents presented Bibles to the kids.  Brian picked this Bible out for Jacob, we had his name printed on it, and he was super excited.  He carried it around all day, and is determined to read it front to back.  He talked both Brian and I numerous times throughout the day to read him about 7 chapters of Genesis.  After he was done swimming, he went and got his Bible again while Gwyn was swinging on the swings.  He said, Gwyn, aren't you going to come read the Bible...it is more important than swinging!  LOVE THIS KID!

Gwyn in her goggles has got to  be one of the cutest sites I've ever seen.  She completed quite the feat tonight as she swam the entire length of the pool.  She said she couldn't do it before she tried and then she did it!!

 Another picture of Jacob having fun, before he requested a "fake sleeping" pose.

 We have had several swim playdates at our house over the past week and a half.  One day we had 3 moms and 10 kids (we decided that was the limit!), another day we had 3 moms and 8 kids, and then with Em here we had 2 moms and 5 kids in the pool.

After Emily left, Brian and I took the kids to see Brave.  It has got to be the absolute worst movie for kids...it was way too scary, they pretty much couldn't have made a scarier looking bear as the villian in the movie.  Jacob loved it, Gwyn hid her face in Brian and said she didn't like the mean parts, and Annie pretty much just sat in her seat and repeated word for word the entire movie (she does this when we read books too).  She repeated in a perfect Scottish accent, "Stitch it up, mend the bond" to which we've been repeating like crazy people all weekend around here!

Funny things the kids said this week:
Annie:  Sissy gave me the hiccups.
Annie:  Sissy said I'm not being nice.
Me:  Are you being nice?
Annie:  No.
Gwyn:  Daddy, I love you more than a dog.

Happy Father's Day to the best Dad EVER!

 We are blessed with a great Daddy in our house!  Brian woke up to coffee and breakfast in bed, along with handmade drawings, candy, and a few other surprises.  We have had a great family weekend, swimming and bike rides and hanging out together.  It was the first weekend in awhile that there wasn't something going on, so it was nice just to hang out together.  I loved this that Gwyn made at camp this week:

 Brian also let Gwyn "do" his hair.  She was so excited and was giggling the whole time.  I didn't put a picture of the end result, but let's just say that it was VERY nice...and Brian took a shower before we went for pizza!

 We let the kids run around at City Center after dinner, they had fun and we wore them out a bit before bedtime!

 Here is a video:



Here is a video of the bike ride we took...Gwyn is doing well, but gets worn out.  We rode by Jacob's Kindergarten teacher's house, and he begged to ring the doorbell, but he gets to go to her house this week in the afternoon for a "Young Author's camp" and he's VERY excited about that!




Annie loves to ride in the trailer on bike rides:

 Sweaty headed Jacob was always leading the pack:

 I love this face, and Brian did her hair that day...you should have seen it from the back.  It was enough to make me say that for that reason alone, I hope nothing ever happens to me!

 Jacob loves to sport the faux hawk...he's one cool kid!

 Seriously, how is it possible to get this much raspberry sherbet on your face while eating it??

Our summer is off to a great start, we've had numerous play dates, gone swimming with friends, we're still doing swim lessons a couple of days a week and Annie is making great strides.  The kids were in a camp all week at Gwyn's preschool, they each had friends in their classes, so they loved going.  It was Annie's first time to ever be in anything like that and she did great.  I did have to take Annie to an allergist this week, hopefully she is just having a reaction to a virus, we're in a wait and see over the next couple of weeks.  I also have to get my wisdom teeth out at the end of the month, I'm not looking forward to that, but the afterwards part of having milkshakes for dinner doesn't sound so bad!  Annie is still my little runt, but seems to be catching up.  At 2 1/2 she was 35" and 27 lbs, in comparison Jacob was 37" and 33 lbs and Gwyn was 39" and 33 lbs.  Here is a video of her singing:



I just can't get enough of Gwyn's people that she draws.  I love how everyone has a distinct belly button:

Jacob decided to come up with the hardest math problem ever for Brian...he solved it and impressed Jacob big time!

Funny things the kids said this week:
Gwyn:  I know how to spell Brian.
Me:  You do, how?
Gwyn:  D-A-D-D-Y
Me:  You're right!  Good job Gwynnie Bear!
Gwyn:  Annie almost bited me!
Me:  How do you know she almost bit you?
Gwyn:  I felt some lick on me.
Annie's prayer at bedtime:  Thank you for God, Amen.
Jacob to Gwyn:  I'm sorry, it was an accident.
Gwyn:  You have a lot of accidents (Brian says this a lot).
Annie yelling at Gwyn and Jacob from inside the house during their swim lessons:  Don't take your goggles off, you have to pay! (I have had to tell her that numerous times that I don't want to pay for swim lessons for her swim teacher to have to put her goggles on for half of the time because she keeps taking them off...I don't think she gets it, but she is yelling at Jacob and Gwyn about it!)
Meredith one of Gwyn's friends who I picked up and took for ice cream after camp:  I like ice cream, but I like fro yo best.
Gwyn:  I don't like fro yo, but I like frozen yogurt with the toppings.