where did they get this from?

The other morning as we were getting ready for whatever, the kids decided to watch a little sesame street, but in their own way...
standing on stools, right in front of the screen. Nice. Who came up with this idea? You know that they didn't get it from seeing me do it.
I will say that it is funny to seem them both want to do the same things all the time. Harrison has a glass of milk so Gwen wants a glass of milk. Gwen stands on a stool to watch t.v. so Harry goes to find a stool so that he can watch t.v. while standing on a stool. Now if only this little game factored in things like brushing teeth, and being nice, or taking better naps. That would be perfect.

the best way to ruin a diet...

Pizza from our favorite place that delivers, and a nice cold glass of soda...and a bag a Reese's Peanut Butter cups (not pictured) while watching the Lakers/Nuggets during the finals. Yep that is one great way to ruin a diet. Naturally it was not a diet that I was on, thank you NBA finals.

growing on up

Well it appears that we have reached our first stepping stone of educational ceremonies. Funny how sometimes it seems like we were just at the stage of Gwen being only big enough to fit in the pool floaty, and now she is all graduating from her first round of preschool.
Getting ready for the festivities to start and hanging out with her friend Hayden.
They ran around as a dynamic duo in these matching heart shaped shades.
During lunch Gwen found herself at the table with the boys, and it is really funny because I don't think that they really paid much attention to her seeing as she is like 2 years younger than them, but Gwen had a good ol' time sitting with them.
Then the ceremonies began and all the kids walked out one by one and received a little certificate and wore these fun graduation caps. Then naturally posed for some pictures.
By the time we got to the group pictures Gwen had already set down the certificate and was just ready to get into the pool. So we did. Most of these kids will be attending school next year, or a different preschool so it was fun to celebrate with the kids and the moms for the day.
Also this is one of my favorite things that happens in the car. And that little content look on Harrison's face happens whenever a movie is on. He loves a good movie in the car, and so do I.

cakes by lake side

We were able to get together with Ryan and Leslie and all of our kids at Lake Pflugerville for a little time in the sun and rocks? Yep rocks. It was an evening full of water and treats, I know that is the way I like to spend the summer evenings.
James hopped right in the water and took the kids around the little dock. The girls all played with the sand toys and pool noodles and it was really fun to see how well London and Maddie maneuver themselves in their fish inter tubes. ( they are really fast)
Harrison tried out the water for awhile, but he preferred the rocks the most.
I really enjoy seeing all the kids play together, it is so much fun to hear the things that they say, like Maddie's floatie got away from her and the wind hit just right to send it to the shore by another family, and she said "we have a problem." But then London took off to save it and returned it to Maddie soon after. It was so cute.
Harrison ate some pizza that looked like it was bigger than his head, and he sure did enjoy that. And then just before we packed it up and called it a night James spent a little time with his son hanging out, and of course... finding and throwing rocks back in the water.
fun in the sun for sure. Oh Leslie also made these really yummy cupcakes that Gwen always wants to eat so it was a fun and tasty night at the lake. Thanks Ryan and Leslie for inviting us.

So long 78726

Alright so the time has come for us to move on, and by moving on I mean leaving the apartment complex, the smoky neighbors, hiking the groceries to the third floor, hearing one of our neighbors fight, and sadly yes, the sandbox. However this means on to bigger and better things, like A YARD!!!!!


So ladies and gentlemen may I introduce a little glimpse into the new Barlow residence...





All the papers are in process and we have our close date and time, so I guess it is now official. We move the first week of June so if you want to see more then I suppose that you will need to wait just a little bit longer. We will miss 78726 and our friends and ward, but don't cry yet we still have a few more weeks to savor the apartment life.

I forgot to mention that it is just a mere 15 minutes away from our current location but it is however in a different town and stake. We will be residents of Round Rock now, but thanks to the toll roads we are still close enough to all the things that we know and love. Also we are right by the IKEA and the outlet malls, who could ask for more than that, besides our bank account.

that's just the way it is around here

There is a little couch made just for two, perfect for those times when both kids want to watch Wall-E or just spend some quality time together.
I love it when they play nice...and quiet.

I was changing Gwen's thumb bandage on Monday afternoon and Harrison kept trying to grab the gross old gauze, so I told him to go play in the other room. He left the bathroom and I didn't hear a thing from him, when we finished with Gwen's thumb we went on a hunt to find him, and this is what we discovered.
poor baby. I suppose that it was past nap time.
Yesterday we found some frosting to use in our morning snack, and this is what happens when you give Harry anything that can possibly make a mess.
That is one crazy messy kid. Gwen was laughing so hard whenever she looked over and saw that Harrison had such a messy face, I don't know what made it so funny, but I didn't mind the silly moments at all. Just business as usual around here.

One super spendy Saturday

Yesterday morning James' cousin got married in the San Antonio temple and we were invited to attend, since that is right in our backyard...well just over an hour away, we were excited to go. Amazingly enough we were able to get out of the house with kids ready and all in time to get down there for the ceremony. However just as we were getting out of the car to walk in to the temple Gwen got her little baby thumb caught in the car door! It was icky and so sad, we then proceeded to load the family back up and head to the hospital, which luckily for us was just two minutes away. While everyone else was head over heels in wedded bliss we were in the ER tacking on some serious payments for our insurance.

After a few hours in the sanitized air conditioned hospital we met up with the family for the luncheon and finally saw and hugged the bride and groom. After lunch we were off to the African Safari...Texas style. The kids are a year older from the last time that we went and they were excited to take part in the process of interacting with the animals. And here is a little of what we saw...


this little longhorn ( who is not that little at all) would have climbed into the car if its horns would have allowed it to. He totally smelled.
Gwen took the wheel with her sad bandaged up hand.
But when we got to the zebras she was out of the drivers seat and ready to feed them everything we had.
one handed or not she fed the animals like there was no tomorrow.
There were a few of them that decided to try to get our attention at the same time, and we almost lost our hands as they tried to climb in the car to get a snack.

After the safari we were on our way home, and to the reception and we stopped to look at some new couches when Harrison pulled over a lamp at one of the stores that we were in, and it shattered! Yet another unintended purchase for the day. We were definitely on a roll. By the end of the night our additions were one injured thumb, one broken lamp, and a whole lot of gas. But that is just the kind of stuff that happens to everyone right? Maybe? Sometimes? I'll just keep telling myself that.

the new catch phrase around here

Harrison came out of his room saying something pretty dang close to Ah Nuts. I was a little surprised so I asked him if that is what he just said and he thought that it was so funny that I was copying him that he was saying it all day. So when James came home I would say it and then there would be a little echo voice from Harrison that would repeat Ah Nuts right after, but in a much more cute voice.

So besides a few key words in his regular vocab this phrase is a crack up to us. Enjoy and know that we will be watching it lots more that everyone else, Gwen and Harrison think this little video clip of dad and Harrison is the best. Ah Nuts.

water= soaked to the bone

We took a little adventure to this place where James and Ryan had done some film work and it is a river bed that is super shallow....but there are cliffs that turn into waterfalls when there is water in the river. I suppose that there is a rule somewhere that talks about when kids get near water, but basically you can see what happens. Water + kids = a soaking wet good time.
See where Harrison is heading? That is close to the cliffs/waterfall and let me tell you that for some reason my kids showed no fear and thought that it was really neat to wander in that direction. Leslie saved Gwen from her own curiosity and the edge a few times.
I am not sure what it is that I find so funny about all the girls removing their dresses so they won't get wet, but its fine to run around in just shirts and panties.
Exploring the water and mud...
Layer by layer the kids seemed to loose their clothes until it was time to go.
Harrison had a blast running and tromping through the water.
Each of the kids are so different and their individual personalities crack me up. I didn't hear one peep out of baby Liv the whole time, and all the girls had fun just walking in the water (half naked) and throwing rocks and sticks. And then there was Harrison who just couldn't get enough of the water, mud, and more water. Even after everyone got out and was toweled off and changed he was still trying to sneak back to the waters edge. Oh well what else can one expect from kids and water.

sneek peek

I don't know how many of you are Star Trek fans out there, but James' work screens lots of movies before they come out for the public to see, and he happend to get us on the list to sit in on this screening last night.

Well I did some pleading for a babysitter, and before I knew it we were sitting in the reserved seating with some of James' coworkers and right behind the press and critics seats. Brilliant! It felt like forever before the movie started but I totally think that it was worth it. In short I liked the movie. Now I may not know all the trivia or even all the details of the originals, but I knew enough to enjoy the show, and even catch some inside jokes. So if you are on the fence about seeing it, or you are not sure if it is going to work with the originals go ahead and see it, and enjoy. Oh but I guess that you will have to wait until the 8th.