50 FREE CARDS!

Hey friends! I know it's been awhile but...I was blog hopping the other day and saw this opportunity to score 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly...and we all know that fun personalized photo cards aren't the cheapest!

I was thinking back to last year and of the dozens and dozens of Christmas cards we got, I think I could count on one hand the number of cards that were NOT photo cards. I mean, who does that? You just CAN'T send out Christmas cards without some sort of picture in or on the card. And Shutterfly has some super cute ones to choose from. You can see them for yourself here http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

I really like the ones that have photos not only on the front of the card but INSIDE the card too. But ya'll already know I'm obsessed with pictures of my kids so I'm sure you're not surprised. They also offer fun gifts like calenders http://www.shutterfly.com/calenders, coffee mugs, mouse pads, playing cards, ornaments (super cute gift idea if you ask me) and the list goes on and on.

Another cool thing I saw on their site was photo birthday invites http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birthday-cards-stationery . Wish I had checked out their site a few months ago!

Anyhow, I drug my family out to the park this past weekend to take some potential Christmas card pics. It was a beautiful morning and despite the fact that Brian had full-blown bronchitis and the other 3 of us were starting to cough as well, we got some good pics. Here's a sneak peak.

If you're a blogger and you want to take advantage of this opportunity to get 50 free cards yourself, go to http://bit.ly/sfly2010 .

gymnast/big girl

I have no idea why I can't move the pics into place...but I wrote this last week and don't have the patience to fix it so just pretend the pics are in the right place, ok? silly boy dressed himself

crazy hair!

Jacob and Ephrem at gym

big girl

getting his medal at gym

There's no point in me trying to catch up on blogging so I'll just hit the highlights. Sometime in May, between the ages of 20-21 months Jenna decided to grow up. She started speaking in sentences, using the potty, sassing her mama, eating cereal in a bowl with milk and a spoon, not wanting to nap, etc.

She is such little jewel! Her hair is getting curlier and blonder. Some of the girls at work were looking at our pictures from vacation and one of them said "who's that little girl and where's Hannah's daughter!" She has changed SO MUCH since she was born it's hard to believe it's the same person!

Jacob finished up his first year of preschool. We are really looking forward to having Ms. Lettie as his teacher next year. I have known her for years and have heard so many great things about her class.

Jacob had gymnastics show off day at the end of May. It was fun and we got to take pictures. Jacob loves going to gymnastics. His teacher Coach Karen is really great. She's the coach for the team girls and she's very down to business but really awesome with the kids too. I feel like he is really learning some gymnastic skills and I'm not just paying for 45min of play (it's the former gymnast in me, I can't help it!).

My Uncle Mike lost his 4 1/2 year battle with cancer (melanoma) on June 4. It was a very hard time for my family. My "baby" cousin Jonathan graduated from high school 5 days prior to his father's death. I have never in my life, including in my years as a nurse, seen ANYONE fight harder than my Uncle Mike fought. He is missed.

Three days after returning from my uncle's funeral in Houston, we left for vacation in the Carolinas. I'll do a separate post on that eventually. I've been working lots of extra shifts since half our nursing staff is off during the summer...the extra cash is nice but I'd rather be home with my babes!

Brian started nights last weekend. I was very leery about this but so far it's been fine. He gets up around the same time he used to get home from work so it's really no different. I've got our room all darkened and have a big, loud box fan for noise. He's back to working with his buddies and I think he's alot happier, which makes me happy too ; )

We're off to play in the rain. Vacation post to come....

Mother's Day etc

Mother's Day dinner with my parents, mother-in-law, and my Grandma

Just the boys

Grandma and her 2 great-grandchildren

Jacob's preschool had "Muffins with Mom" for Mother's Day. He made me this sweet necklace which he would not let me wear : )

They sang the moms a song to the tune of the Oscar Meyer bologna song.

Jacob with Mrs. Linda and Mrs. Barbara

Me and my first born

just a random cute picture

We found a toad in our backyard the other day. Jacob wasn't scared of it a bit. That's MY boy!

/another random cute pic. I think Jenna the common theme here!

We went to a co-worker's daughter's bday party at a farm. The kids had a blast!

Jacob and the bday girl!

Fishing with dad. Jacob was only interested in fishing when there was actually a FISH involved!

Where to Begin?

Life has been so busy lately. Between church (*our NEW church which we are SO BLESSED to have found*), preschool, gymnastics, work, and these two angels, we've been....well...busy!Evening story time with Daddy



Brian does this to Jenna's hair every night. It cracks me up!





We recently went on an adventure with our neighbor friends. Me and Erica were both husband- less one Saturday and decided to go on a spur of the moment trip downtown (Dallas, that is).

So we rode the DART rail to City Place

Then hopped on the *free* McKinney Ave trolley. Here's Jacob with his buddies Clayton and Oliver.Jenna loved the trolley. Here's Elliott or Ellie as Jenna calls him. He's so cute! I think at 10 months he outweighs Jenna!

We got off the trolley and walked to the Chase Bank building. Our plan was to go up to the Sky Lobby and look out over downtown. Well, it's only open M-F so we were out of luck! But they had this great amphitheatre. The boys loved running and playing and jumping...until the mean security guard kicked us out. Whatever.
Then we were off to Pacuigo's for some gelato. YUM! We had a great time - I'm glad Erica is so adventurous. I'd be chicken to do such an outing by myself if it weren't for her.

As for my lack of time to blog...this picture says it all. This is what I found as I was eating my lunch today (after the kids ate theirs, of course). I thought I could actually get my lunch in uninterrupted while the kids played outside. Wrong!

Easter

HOA Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Morning

After church

Evening with the family
The kids had a blast being super silly for their grandparents....
Jacob got a guitar from the Easter bunny.

Jenna is screaming and laughing in this picture.

Easter was a lovely day. I love everything about Easter and and more thankful every year that I serve a Risen Savior.

Animals!

Jacob had a petty zoo come to his school last month. I didn't get to go because I had to work so I sent Brian and Jenna to take pictures for me.

Jacob spent most of the time with the turtle. He loved it. I think he's so use to chasing the turtles at our neighborhood pond...they always jump in the water and escape. He actually "caught" this one!

Above is Jacob and one of his teachers Ms. Barbara.

Jacob and the giant rabbit.

Jenna played for a minute...until a baby goat jumped up on her. That was the end of that!

Then right before Easter we took a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo. When we first arrived, we took the train to the back of the zoo...a great trick to get away from the crowds!

Jenna made sure Aunt Beckey was holding her hand at all times on the train ride.The Alcorns

Jenna dancing with the kangaroo
Jacob on the gator
Jacob's favorite as always...the parakeet house

My little monkeys on the baby elephant