Thursday, September 27, 2012

Ballet and Tap

Wednesday Allyson had her first ballet and tap class!! I've been wanting to sign her up, but just had a little on my plate. ;)

I have been praying that she would not be scared to go in the class. She is very timid with new places and people. The Lord heard my prayers because when it was her time, she walked on in!! I could see her on the tv monitor and it looked like she was having a good time and was following instructions. They stretched and galloped across the room many times. She was very excited coming out of the room when it was over. So proud if my big girl!!

Next, we changed her shoes and got her ready for tap. This class was smaller, only 4 girls, same teacher. This classes seemed a little further along than the ballet class. I'm not sure if Ally was overwhelmed or just tired, but she did not do many of the steps. When she came out of the room she was happy, maybe because she just got a stamp on her hand! Ha!

I'm glad there were no tears and she listened to her teacher. We are excited about next week!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

We've Got Mail!

Don't you just love getting mail? I know we do here at the house. And if I'm honest, some days that is the only time I step foot outside: to check the mail. I know, I should get out more!

Jase always asks me if there is mail for him and it seems like once a week there is something for him. More times than not it is from MawMaw in Louisiana. Their local newspaper has a great educational section, usually it pertains to nature, which is right up Jase's alley. Anyway, she will send the kids those sections and the comics occasionally. Last week we read one on frogs and I even learned something, which is usually the case! Frogs have longer back legs than toads, frogs have smooth skin while the skin on a toad is bumpy. Based on this info, I realized that we usually see toads and not frogs. Also, a frog can jump 20 times its body length, then we calculated if Jase had frog legs then he would be able to jump about 80 feet! Pretty neat stuff!


Today we read about the Louisiana gators! The article told us that Louisiana has more alligators than any other state. It also said that birds will sometimes build their nests where alligators live because the gators will eat the predators that try to eat the birds' eggs, so they are helping the birds out. Now it did say that sometimes the gators will run into the trees to try and knock down the nests to eat the eggs, but the eggs have a better chance surviving with the alligators around than without. Interesting!

Some of this is probably over Jase's head, but I read it all to him and try to explain best I can. {I am no creature expert by any means.} Jase runs upstairs and says he wants to get something, an alligator to show me. I think "ok, cool an alligator, at least he was paying half way attention." Next thing you know he comes down stairs with this Lego display he put together to show what I was talking about with the birds' nest and the alligators eating the predators. The white triangles are the eggs and the yellow head is a predator of the birds (such as a possum or raccoon). At first I asked if the yellow head was a human and he immediately told me no, it was a predator. Haha!

I love how his mind works and how he enjoys telling stories with Legos! Guess he was paying attention after all!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Zebra Shirt

I put Finn in a zebra shirt today that belonged to Jase (over 5 years ago!). Since pictures have been on the brain today, I remembered I had taken a picture of Jase in this shirt. Sorry for the poor quality on Jase's picture, but here are my two boys!!  Finn is 2 months and Jase is 2 1/2 months.  They definitely favor; Jase had more hair and darker.  Finn has blue eyes like his daddy and Jase has my brown eyes.  It's hard to tell on their noses (all baby noses look alike to me), but their mouth/lips and chin look the same.  Wow . . . can't believe that was over 5 years ago!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Hallelujah!!

Ok, so it was about 6 weeks ago when my sweet daughter dropped my laptop on the floor and my hard drive completely crashed. For about 2 weeks I was beyond sick about it. I had not backed up to my external hard drive for probably over a year. So, for the past year, all the pictures of my kiddos were gone. ;( And I was really upset about all the Disney pictures. It was such a memorable time and I didn't have pictures. Now, I did have pictures from my phone, my mom's and Shawn's, but I took pictures on my camera of just about everything, especially of Star Wars weekend. Long story short, I have been completely bummed about it.

My dad has a friend that worked in IT and he has been working with my dad over the past month, trying different things (including putting my hard drive in the freezer) to see if they could get it to work. Last week they downloaded a recovery software program and started running it. It took over 3 days for the data to transfer from my hard drive to a new external hard drive. It finished up this morning, so I went over to my parents' house to check it out.

As they were looking through all the files, there were several (like 16,000) JPEG files and we opened up a few and they were definitely pictures that I didn't want to lose. Later we started digging into the files and we found some video from Jase's birthday party this year, but could not find any pictures that were past April 30, 2012. Meaning that we could not find any Disney pictures. All of the pictures that were saved from the recovery saved in a random fashion; I did not see any of my file folders or anything. Then when I looked in one folder, I noticed that it kind of looked like my old hard drive. I ended up clicking in the User folder, then Jessica, then Pictures . . . and there they were!!!! Every single one of my pictures were there! I was so relieved and so thankful! All of my documents, favorites, folders, everything was there!! Praise God! So thankful for my dad and his friend, and the time they spent on it!!!

I had to take this picture with my phone when I pulled it up!


I told Shawn that if we recovered pictures that I would be printing several pictures; photobooks or something! So excited to have these pictures back again and all the memories they stand for!

Sibling Love

This morning, we opened one of Allyson's birthday gifts: princess dress-up.  She absolutely loved it and you should have seen her walk around in her those high heels.  And when I asked her to look at the camera, she would give me the pose below on the right.  It was too cute!!
 

While Jase and I were having school this morning, I found Allyson loving on Finn.  It was super sweet and I had to capture it.  My favorite is when she tells me "Mommy, your baby is so sweet" and "your baby loves me".  It is so funny how she calls him my baby!

While I was making the kids' lunch I noticed how quiet they were, so I had to peek in the playroom and saw them playing together.  They are usually going in opposite directions: he is playing Legos upstairs or running around the house with his sword or light saber and she is looking at books or playing kitchen.  It was nice to see them sitting down and conversing with one another.  I chuckled when I heard Ally say "Cheers Jase!"

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Saturday Fun Day!

Today Jase had his first soccer game of the season. He really did great and scored a goal or two.


This afternoon we drove out to Angleton for our nephew's 6th birthday. They rented a huge water slide and Jase thoroughly enjoyed it. Allyson was next to Mommy most of the day, but when we went outside she broke away from my side and had fun playing on the swing set. And Little Finn slept nearly the whole party. I am hoping that he sleeps ok tonight.
 

Friday, September 21, 2012

Kiddo Update

What a week! I'm not sure what all I did, but it sure felt busy. And another busy weekend and week ahead of us too. Deep breath!

This week I finally started working with Allyson during school time. We will be focusing on a letter a week and incorporating that letter as much as we can throughout the week. Of course this week was letter A and we ate animal crackers and apples and talked about astronauts and alligators. She enjoyed it! I also finally broke out the do-a-dots that I bought from Amazon when Finn was just born. They are basically bingo markers. {I used to love to play bingo!} She really liked them and Jase did as well.

Finn is getting too big! He will be 2 months on Sunday! My little man is starting to plump up and gain more control of his head. I just love his smile and the sounds he is making . . . I could just eat him up!

As for Jase he started soccer a couple of weeks ago and has his first game tomorrow. He is enjoying it and I'm glad he is getting this outdoor time and the weather has been so nice lately. He is still majorly into Legos and is always constructing something from scratch. I love to see his little mind at work. The picture below is from today. :)

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Jimmy Needham Concert

Tonight our church hosted Jimmy Needham and his band for a concert. He delivered a great message through his testimony and songs.

This was Finn's first concert, he did great! And Shawn bought some heavy duty ear muffs for Ally and they worked awesome for her, she wasn't scared at all. She normally freaks out when there are loud sounds.

Allyson's Disney Princess Party

My little princess is still talking about her princess birthday party, so that is all I need to hear to call it a success!  Allyson is completely into princesses these days, in particular the Disney princesses, so it was very easy to plan her 3rd birthday and all the details that went along with it.  We decided to have two parties this year: one with her girlfriends and another with family.  Looking back I think it went great and I'm glad we did it that way.

My sister found some Disney princess purses on Pinterest and they were super cute, so off to Hobby Lobby we went and bought stuff to make them.  This was the first thing me, my mom and sister worked on a couple of weeks before the party.  They were pretty easy to make, you just need the bags, tulle, trim and a hot glue gun.  Before all the girls left the party, each princess got to take one home.

I did not spend a ton of money on decor; I borrowed quite a bit and used what I had.  I made placemats for all the girls using 12x12 scrapbook paper and stickers for their name and had them laminated.  I think they turned out super cute and they took them home when they left.

The food . . . this is probably my favorite part, I just get into it!! I did the same thing for Jase's Lego Star Wars party and enjoyed it as well.


How AWESOME is the Cinderella cake?!?!  My best friend made it!!  Super cute, delicious and Allyson absolutely LOVED it!!

Here were all the food items at our party:

Princess Jasmine's Peanut Butter and Jellies - Shoe, Crown and Heart shaped sandwiches
Dwarfs' Golden Mine Nuggets - McDonald's Chicken Nuggets
Prince Charming's Cheese & Crackers - Ritz crackers, mild cheddar cheese and colby jack cheese
Fair Tale Fruit Tray - Cantaloupe, pineapple, grapes
Non-Poisonious Apples - Apple slices & caramel cheesecake apple dip
Aurora's Berries - Strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries
Queen's Krispies - Trix Krispie Treats
Aladdin's Animal Crackers - Animal crackers
Ariel's Goldfish Crackers - Goldfish crackers
A Kiss From Belle - Hershey Kisses
Fairy Godmother's Magic Wands - Pretzel Rods dipped in white chocolate and decorated with sprinkles
Prince Naveen's Pond Punch - Lime Sherbet with Lemon-Lime soda
Tiana's Beignets - Cream puffs with powdered sugar
Sleeping Beauty's Strawberry Lemonade - Crystal Light Lemonade with sugared strawberries
Prince Phillip's Petit Fours - Homemade petit fours shaped like crowns, shoes and hearts by my mom
Cinderella's Cookies - Sugar cookies shaped like crowns, shoes, and hearts by my mom
Chocolate Candy Jewels - Sixlet chocolate candies
Enchanted Cupcakes - Homemade cupcakes by Michelle
Royal Dipped Oreos - Double Stuffed Oreos, dipped in white chocolate with sprinkles

We also put out a few more things out for the adults: my mom's yummy chicken salad sandwiches, chips and a veggie tray.

With decor and food out of the way, now onto the party!! Since this was a princess party, we decided to have only princesses at the party.  Boy, can I tell you how mellow this party was without boys?!?  I mean, the girls did not run around, they sat and ate, played a little; it was very relaxing for the girls and parents.

What would a princess party be without a Real Princess???  So, I asked around and my friend had someone in mind that was up for dressing up and coming to the party.  The little girls loved princess!  She stayed for the first hour of the party.



After the girls interacted with Princess Jaleen, they all found their seat and decorated their own crowns.  I bought these at Hobby Lobby and they came in packs of 8.


Next, the moms made their daughter's plates and they enjoyed lunch.

Cake and presents were followed after lunch.

The girls found their way into the playroom and enjoyed the rest of the time in there.
Our family party was very laid back, it was nice.  Our little princess had a wonderful 3rd birthday!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Starting Anew

So it has been about a month without a computer, but I am happy to report that I am up and running again!! My recovery disks came in yesterday and I got them loaded, along with MS Office today!! My old hard drive is still being looked at to see if any information can be retrieved, so I am starting with a blank slate.  I can't wait to finally sit down and blog about Ally's birthday party.  Hopefully I'll get to it this weekend.  Until I am able to do so, I'll leave you with a couple of pics!


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Finn and Ally

Finn had a great day today! I was actually able to put him down for a while and he was content. I caught him and Ally playing together on the floor, so I had to get a few pictures. Ally was too cute and so giddy holding his hand.

Within the last couple of days Finn has became really observant and responds to you when you talk to him. I love to watch him smile and coo at you when you talk to him. And the older kids love it too; they will say "mom, he likes me!" :-)

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Grandparent's Day

Last week a friend told me that grandparent's day was coming up and that was the first I had heard of it this year. I haven't been to Walmart lately, so I haven't had the card isle to remind me. :/

Even with the reminder I blew it and forgot all about it. Way to go Jess!!! We appreciate our parents and grandparents so much and love them dearly. It is such a blessing to have them all so close and they are all so willing to help out when asked. Happy Grandparent's Day!

Mommy & Jase Time

This afternoon I got to get away with my little man, Jase that is.


Shawn went hunting this morning and I took the younger two to my mom's house for a bit. I took Jase to a swimming birthday party. I think his favorite part of the party is present time! He loves to be front and center and comment on all the gifts! ;)


I'm glad Jase and I got to spend some time together today.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Children's Museum

Yesterday afternoon we had the opportunity to take a coworker of Shawn's to the Children's Museum. He and his family are here from out of the country, so this was their first time. They have two children: a five year old boy and a six year old girl; they had fun. And naturally, our kids had a great time as well.







Thursday, September 6, 2012

Patterns

This morning we learned about patterns and the kids had fun using the math cubes to build their own patterns.



Then Jase turned it into his own game show. This is so right up his alley and had to practice several times before the final product. :)

YouTube Video

{My phone has reached max storage capacity and stopped the video at the end.} He and Ally both got tickled watching it!!

Oh and did you see the bag lady in the video?!? Geez! I have created a monster!




Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Ally makes new friends

Last week we went to Bullritos with some friends for dinner and Allyson had to bring in her Disney Princess DVD, as she often does. Well, there was a group of elementary boys sitting next to us and after she finished eating she took her DVD over to them and started talking to them about it!!! I could not believe it!! She is normally pretty shy, but she came out of her shell this evening.

One boy was really nice and talked to her about the DVD and I could hear him say that he liked The Little Mermaid! I'm sure she asked him which one was his favorite! It was pretty funny!





Saturday, September 1, 2012

Ally turns 3!




Happy 3rd birthday, Sweet Pea!! Mommy and Daddy love you so much and cannot believe that you are 3 year old! You are so into princesses right now, it is just adorable. You love to play in your kitchen and serve people food and have tea parties. Mommy loves to read you books and you love to give Mommy check-ups with your doctor kit! You just love your new baby brother, Finn! You are a sweet little girl with many expressions and have your Daddy wrapped around your finger.

We can't wait for your party later today and hope you enjoy being the bell of the ball!

All our love,
Mommy & Daddy