A Special Gift

Kate loves to sing this song she learned at school

"I have a special gift God gave to me it's my family"

Funny...

I have the same gift! :)

*if you can't see the video, you need to go to the blogsite; http://www.2ntow.blogspot.com/, to view it.

Kate Walks and Jack Tumbles

Two funny video clips. The quality is poor... I took them with my camera instead of my camcorder, but I hope you enjoy them. Kate, just a few weeks shy of her first birthday masters walking....

Jack, not to be outdone, has mastered a skill of his own;

Happy Halloween!

One Little Lady Bug

One Super Hero

and their two little friends...

a fun time was had by all!

Happy Kids!

Jack & Kate posing for one of their favorite babysitters... Aunt Mia!

*This is one of the best kind of texts you can get from a babysitter when you are out for the night!

So much to catch up on!

I'm surprised to see that I've not updated this blog since school started... So much fun has happened between then and now... :) I'll get right on it!

While you wait for that (you may want to just sit down), take a peak at what Jack has been doing in school; http://millersfrogs.blogspot.com/

His teacher writes the blog to help keep parents informed about what their kids are doing. I really like it, and her suggestions to incorporate what they are learning in school at home are awesome. :)

Hop over and check it out!

First day of School

Jack goes to Kindergarten!

On the way to school Jack asked, "Mom,

Why is everyone so proud of me?"

(Because, that's what everyone says -

"Jack... I'm so proud of you going to Kindergarten... what a big boy.")

He said, I didn't even do anything yet.

I get his point. Kindergarten is a given.

It's how he handles Kindergarten that will make us proud.

He did succumb slightly to the pressure this morning. I'm not going to lie.

There were a few tears.

All his.

But he emerged this afternoon with his confidence reinstalled.

Ready to go back for another day.

Although he was adamant about one thing -

Tuesday, I better give him lunch money.

And then there is the princess.

She has no problem with confidence.

She marched into Jack's kindergarten class this morning.

Oblivious to her brother tears.

She hollered across the room to me.

Hey

Mom

Where

Is

My

Backpack?

She needed a gentle reminder that it was her brother, not her going to kindergarten.

When I later dropped her at her familiar preschool,

She posed for her own photo shoot out front.

She requested a solo portrait in front of the beautiful flowers.

Seriously, these are her poses. No prompting from me.

Where does she get this from?

*outfit and hair styled by Kate

Kate is 4!

Kate spent her birthday at one of her favorite places...

she calls it, "the bubbly pool"

It's the lazy river that she loves.

In the picture above, she is showing off her gifts from Jack.

He was simply beside himself waiting to give her these beautiful things he picked out.

Sunday morning while we waited for breakfast, Jack & Kate played in the garden alongside the patio where we sat.

Again and again they brought flowers, and cool rocks to the table marveling about this or that treasure.

Kate yells, Mommy... look at this "very interesting" thing that I found

and I turn,

finally (for once) ready with the camera to capture her prize

and I snap her photo.

This is what she was holding....

Oh yes.

She's holding Bacon.

That she found in discarded in the garden.

A hasty trip to the restroom and a thorough hand washing ensued.

Guess who came to our house last night?

Jack has been anxiously awaiting a "loose tooth"

While we were in Wisconsin, he discovered one

and then, the questions began ...

When will it fall out?

Is it ready now?

now?

Now?

Now?

NOW???

until finally.... it came out.

The Graduate

Kindergarten bound!

On the same day his cousins (below) graduated from High School,

Jack completed his last day of Pre School.

He and Kate have had many discussions about how lonely she will be without him on the playground at Pre K.

College Bound - Tyler, Kaitlyn & Bree

This didn't happen at Karate

This injury was shopping induced, a few weeks ago while looking for a suitable birthday present for Daddy.

Who new shopping could be so dangerous.

Hide and Seek in the clothing racks-

isn't that what they are there for?

Happy Memorial Day!

From the top of Ponce DeLeon Lighthouse



Some of the group before heading up; Scott, John, Roger, Jack, Lilly, Scott & Kate

There are 204 steps

Up

And

Down

Seriously, a woman asked on the way up if the stairs were the only way down...

(I told her there was a giant slide at the top)

Down would probably be easier with out 34 pounds of princess on your hip

The view from the top

Same family, same lighthouse, 2 years earlier - 2009

Earlier that weekend

Besties at the beach...

Jack & John
Kate & Lilly

Summer is here!

Jack & Kate cooling off outside the local produce market.

I promised them if they were good, they could have ice cream.

I'd guess, by the rate the ice cream was melting, they probably ended up wearing more of it than they ate.

It was a hot hot day and the only shade I could find for them was pressed up against the building.

Jack knee boards

... another photo from our Easter festivities.

Despite Jack's daily lessons,

Kate elected not to try knee boarding.

She was happy to just ride along.

Happy Easter!

... and, if you click below, you can see how Jack spent the afternoon.

(you may need to be on the website; 2ntow.blogspot.com to see it)

Jack's Valentine

Last year, I was Jack's valentine, which means, I was the coolest prettiest girl in his life.

This year, his heart belongs to another

older

girl.

This is Jack's new friend Taylor.

We camped with her family over Thanksgiving and New Years

and Jack thinks she is just the greatest.

See that twinkle in his eye?

Two Girls, Ready To Go Out...

The two girls I'm referring to are Kate & Mylee.

We now have 3 'girls' living in our house.

This is Kate decked out on a Saturday.

Our plans for that date consisted merely of a boat ride.

Kate was disappointed; she had to leave her wings at home

(life jackets are not made for fairies.... no wing holes)

And, the stroller stayed home too.

That was sort off giving of a bag lady vibe anyway.

Mylee did get to come though.

All of the girls & the boys enjoyed themselves thoroughly!

Bloopers

If you received our Christmas card, you might recognize the photo above.

Don't let the two giant hands throw you off - I had to crop those out.

What might be even more entertaining though....

The pictures that came 'before'

To be clear, the photo above is the last photo I took that day.

After that one, my battery died.

I think Chaos and Mayhem came calling at that point too.

Here are the outtakes....

look how pretty Kate's smiling... too bad her brother wasn't on board

This is... it's funny to not look at Mom when she wants us to
hmm.. not sure what's going on here

ok mom, we'll try to smile. Jack thinking, if Kate does it, I'll do it.

And it goes on and on....

Too bad this one is blurry...

Jack?
no Kate?

Next year I either need a professional, or I need to learn how to photoshop.