Meet Jonathan

We had a little cook out tonight with 3 of my 4 brothers. Mark and his family just arrived and it was really fun to see all the kids playing and making messes together.
such a sweet shy boy.
Gwen eating some watermelon that ended up all over her shirt naturally.
All the trucks were hauled out of the house so that we could see them at work?
how close is too close? There are no such things as personal spaces with kids.
And of course somehow the hose was turned on and this little cement truck needed to be filled up, which made mud puddles, and a slip and slide all at the same time. Leaving Gwen in just a diaper. Nice.
And this is my baby brother. I really feel like I am the one that gets picked on around here. Do you see how mammoth he is. I feel like a kid standing next to him. He thinks that is really funny.
Here is a little "cheese" from Jonathan. Nice to have you back, and just so we are clear I can still beat you in an arm wrestle no matter how big you get.

the new do.

It is not a trip home unless I get a new haircut from my favorite stylist Kim. So here is a little look at the latest style that I am going to try to pull off. I really like it and I sure hope that James does too.

Haircut #1

Today Gwen had her first haircut. It was really fun to have her there as I got my hair done first, and then she was able to have a turn. She is kind of a little snob, they had her in the chair and that wasn't really working.
So then they had her stand in front of the mirror, and she liked that for a little bit, but she kept raising her arms to run a toy up the mirror.
Just as the girl was finishing up and checking the length the receptionist came back from the furniture store with a really chic booster chair for Gwen to sit on. The booster seat was like $50! Live it up while you can Gwen. I don't know if the salon life will last much longer for you. It turned out great and her hair is all pretty and even.

Have kids, will travel

I was returning some messages the other night, and I heard Harrison behind me and I turned to find something that looked like this...
A travel size boy with a great big smile. Caught ya.

learning to climb

My parents have a large walnut tree in their front yard, and my mom helped Gwen climb up there to get some walnuts.
At first she didn't know what to think of it, but soon she decided that she really liked being in the tree.
Harrison chilled in the nice, soft grass. Oh how I have missed the grass here.

Then Gwen was ready to climb higher...
So she did. When we finally got her to come down, she was talking about riding the horse in the tree all night. It appears that we have a little climber on our hands.

the arrival...and puppies

We made it here and despite me almost forgetting the car seat at the airport, I somehow managed to get all of the stuff here too. My parents recently moved and as I took Gwen around the yard we noticed that the neighbors had some little puppies. Gwen was immediately in love with them, and she wanted to make sure that they were getting some nice grass to eat.
As she came closer the fence all the little puppies ran to her, and seemed really interested in eating a blade of grass at a time.

Harrison was sitting on the sidelines and he was loving the dogs too. However he was not so brave as to put his hands right up to them, or through the fence like Gwen.
I think that we are going to be spending some time with these little friends while we are here, seeing as Gwen can't stop talking about them. Who doesn't love to see some little puppies that are wrestling around and happy to eat grass from little girls.

baby jet-setting...or squirming

Ahhh the times of ease on the airplane, when James and I each took one kid, and they slept basically the entire time of travel....where have those days gone? Oh yeah I forgot that I gave those up when I decided to take a trip solo, with both kids. Whoops! So we leave in the morning to head to see our family, and friends in Utah for a few weeks, and I am already frazzled just thinking of how to contain each child on the flights.
Basically I feel like a basket case just really worried that I am going to crack when people shoot me dirty looks because I am traveling with kids, not just one but two, so they outnumber me. A few of my friends have recently made trips in the same situation, one mom, two kids, and they seemed to come out on top, but I am still wary of the damage that Gwen, or a crying Harrison would do to me and those trapped on the same aircraft as us. Deep breaths, deep breaths. I hope that I am just worked up over what will turn out to be crazy thoughts, but with my kids, honestly one never knows what to expect. Wish us luck.

Don't swallow...

Earlier today Gwen woke up from her nap and was just playing around. Normal. I started to do some random things around the house, I then realized that I had not seen or heard a thing from Gwen for a while, never a good sign, so I went looking for her.

I found her in her room sitting on the kid couch holding a pack of gum! Don't swallow was my first warning to her, but I didn't know how much or if she had eaten any. She had a partial piece in her mouth and she was happily chewing away. I took the package away and told her that we don't swallow gum, then I tried to talk her into spitting it out, yeah right, then I tried to take it out of her mouth. She got up and ran away and I chased after her all the while warning her not to swallow it.

Naturally she just laughed at me and continued chewing, so I turned to pick up clingy Harrison and when I turned back around she had swallowed it. Nice. A few minutes later she came up to me and said "don't swallow it, you'll choke." Great Gwen, good listening skills. And thus we have had our first and last encounter with gum, hopefully for a long time.

speedy teeth

Well everyone that has kids can tell you how much fun it is to have a baby that is teething. Well I think that we have taken it to a new level with Harrison. In the last five days we have seen Harrison sprout three teeth! Both of the top front ones, and a random one on the bottom center. The bottom one makes me happy to see that he does have teeth there. As soon as he calms down and starts handing out smiles I will be posting the new teeth. I just hope that we move through the rest of the teething stages a little less dramatically.

rain rain, and some dancing too

When the clouds rolled in today Gwen was standing at the patio door with her jacket in hand.
And then the down pour started and she was right outside dancing and running around as she was getting wet.
Her bike was getting wet, but she thought that she would make sure that it was used just enough to get cleaned.
Say "Cheese". This is pretty much the closest thing that I get to a smile, at least she is looking at the camera these days. I hope that I can say the same thing when we have our family photos.

And now it is time to dance...
Dance...
DANCE! If you get the chance to see her dance in person, be prepared to laugh and maybe dance along. So bring on the rain, and the dancing.

sharing time

If you like a yummy sandwich like I do then a great place to go is Whole Foods. I love this sandwich that they have called the Barton Springs ( a natural water springs here in Austin). This is not the greatest picture of it, but it will do. It is a roasted turkey sandwich with Brie cheese, spring mix, and a really delightful fig spread "toasted" in a panini press. Making the cheese just a little melty, and oh so good. Now that my mouth is watering lets move on to what the rest of the family was doing.
Harrison was playing nice and eating a little sandwich and cookies of his own.
Gwen was showing us her sharing side and handing cookies two at a time to Harrison. He was more than happy to take them, and spit them out half chewed. James went to get us a little Jamba juice and after Gwen had a giant gulp he asked her if she wanted more and she said "no its cold daddy". Note to self Jamba is the place I am going when I feel like I don't want to share.

Just a little side note, is anyone else finding the gymnastics judging a little shady during these games? Yes I happen to be addicted to watching the olympics.

welcome home

The youngest child...some may associate that with being spoiled, or given the most attention. Or in some families maybe the most picked on by older siblings. But always remembered as the baby.
Well yesterday afternoon my baby brother returned from serving a mission in Washington for the last two years. James and I were talking about this last night after I got off the phone with him. He sounded so grown up and mature, I can't even believe that he is out of grade school let alone back from a mission. So obviously the last few years haven't hit me yet. In the last couple of years while he has been busy doing his thing our family has added two new nephews for him, and pretty much every single one of his siblings has moved somewhere far away, and my parents moved homes too. I can't quite imagine coming home to everything so different and new. We are really excited to see him in a few weeks, and catch up on the latest new things about him. So even though we are not there to give you hugs right now, know that we love you Jonathan.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Jonathan as a kid. I actually don't even have any recent pictures of him so you will just have to imagine him twenty years older than this, and I will remedy the picture situation as soon as I see him.

itsy bitsy fuzzy wuzzy

Yesterday Gwen, Harrison and I were able to a little craft for the nursery. When the kids sing itsy bitsy spider they have these really fun little spiders that they get to hold and do the actions with, however the ones that they were using were falling apart and sometimes there were not enough for everyone. So Jackie decided to take on the task of making new spiders.
Here are the almost finished product. The last step was to attach a string to the top so that the kids can make them jump and bounce around. They took a little longer to make than I thought they would, but they turned out so great it was worth it. I know that the kids are going to love them. Thanks for letting us play at your house Jackie.

Beijing 2008

I just wanted to say that I love watching the Olympics. Last night I caught a few events and as I was watching some of them I was on the edge of my seat and almost yelling at the t.v. (as if they can really hear the person next to them let alone through the t.v.)

It brought back some good memories from my athletic days doing those sports. I was nervous for the athletes before the events and excited for them at the end too. I must say it is quite rewarding to see the best athletes in the world who have put in all the hard work and time to compete, and I get to just sit back and watch the amazing events and world records being broken. Does anyone else like to watch the summer games?

mind boggling

Uhhh Harrison had decided to attempt walking this morning...and crazy enough he has successfully taken his first two steps in a row!! I am not quite sure what to make of it, but I think that I better pick up long distance running again so I can keep up with the two of them.

where does the time go

Yesterday Harrison reached the 10 month mark. Not that we are counting. So I thought that I would post a few little pics of him on a regular morning just doing what he does, like drumming a beat on the t.v.
This is the pouncing position. You better beware if you are around him and he crouches like this, it will only be a matter of seconds until...
He is right in your face, or lap.
This shot looks kind of creepy, but you can see the teeth that are causing the drama around here.
Some of the other things that he likes to do these days are speed crawling, and he is really fast, he gives Gwen something to run from. Eating, hide and seek, eating, playing with blocks, reading books and eating them too, playing outside, the tub or anything with water, rocking in the bouncy chair, standing up and balancing while not touching anything, or I guess that would mean free standing. He loves music, and chewing on anything, and playing with James. If can't believe that he is so close to the year mark already, I don't know what we have been doing the last little while.

swim playdate

On Tuesday we headed to the Elizabeth Milburn Park for some water fun and a playdate with Cinthya and Liliana. Gwen was really excited to see Liliana, and on the way home she was asking me where the cute girl went.
Harrison was a little cranky, but as soon as we hit the water he was ready to play.
Gwen didn't hold back at all. She dropped her sun dress and kicked off her shoes on the way into the water, I am still surprised to see her enjoying the water instead of just running away.
When we go swimming we make sure that we stay hydrated,
keep applying our sunscreen and...
make sure that we have mini ice cream cones at the end of the day. What's not to like about a scorching summer day when you have swimming and ice cream with sprinkles?