Jon's Fun Facts

Today is my little younger brother's birthday. To celebrate his special day, I thought I would share some fun facts about Jon:

Jon was the cutest baby ever! He is a big fat rollie pollie and looked like a little old man!

Jon had BIG dreams as a kid. When he was a kid, his life long aspiration was to be the trashman when he grew up because he could "find neat stuff".

Jon was/is the skinniest kid you will ever meet. But, he can push is belly out to look like he is 7 months pregnant.

When Jon was about 5, I told him mom and dad weren't his real parents. At his next birthday his real parents were coming to pick him up. He cried for days about it.

Jon's underwear math is 1pair = 7 days. We spent a week with my Aunt one summer. At the end of the week, she was washing all of our clothes and Jon only have 1 pair of dirty underwear.

Jon's favorite song is "Mommy-busters". When we were older, we stayed home alone during the summers. We would usually fight and Jon would threaten to call Mom. (Calling Mom at work = big trouble, if it wasn't an emergency) So, I made up a song. "Who ya' gonna call??? MOMMY-BUSTERS!" It worked like a charm every time and kept me us out of a lot of trouble.

Jon loves the girls and they love him. He is one of their favorite people...(but, he has taken a backseat to Aunt Nicole)

Jon's favorite place to store things....under his bed. Can't find his shoes. Check under the bed. Missing his coat. Check under his bed. He even had a lunchbox with a stale sandwich under his bed once.

Jon still uses the tiger headcover that I bought him for Christmas about 10 years ago.

Jon shaved one long strip down his leg with my razor once.

Jon is a great golfer, awesome bagg-o player and generally good at everything he does. (It's pretty annoying.)

Jon had a dog named Gabby, with an extra toe (Du-Claw, as he called it).

Jon used to highlight his hair...actually, he let ME highlight his hair with a home kit from Walmart.

Jon threw every pair of shoes I owned off the deck in the dark.

Jon can quote/act out every line of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Jon refused to cut his hair when he was in the 9th grade. His hair never got long. It just got big...like a helmet.

Jon's favorite thing in the world was Ninja Turtles. He owned every action figure, a sleeping bag, all the movies and even ninja turtle under-roos.

Happy birthday, Jon! No matter how old you get, you will always be my little brother. You are such a good uncle and the girls love you so much! I can't wait to celebrate the big 2-6 with you this weekend. I love you!

Barbie Party Weekend

This weekend was a semi-low key weeknd for us. Friday night, we went to dinner with some friends at Catfish Hole. It is one of the only places that all of the girls will actually eat dinner well (maybe it's so they can get a Tootsie Pop when we leave...)

Then, we went home and played outsdie until the mosquitos almost carried us off.

Saturday, Travis worked. The girls and I played around the house all day. I spent 3/4 of the day dressing barbies and babies. But, what else is a mom good for, right!?

Saturday night, I got all dressed up and went to Tara's Vintage Barbie Birthday party at Bordino's. This girl has a SERIOUS gift for party planning and decorating. Here are a couple of pictures from the party. I some how managed to stay out of most of the pictures. :)

After dinner, I went home and spent the rest of the night watching a movie with Travis. The girls were already in bed and I was so glad to have a few hours with the hubs and a good movie.

We spent a lazy Sunday at home. The girls favorite movie is Tangled. So, we made a pallet in the living room floor, snuggled up and watched Tangled.

Before bed last night, Catherine came walking into the kitchen and said "I ready go nigh-nigh". I looked up and saw this...

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Who's Your Daddy?

I am sure you have noticed that Catherine has a very "camera-ready" face. As soon as I put my camera up, she says "CHEEEEEESE" and smiles that big, crazy, tilt-my-head-back-so-far-you-can-see-up-my-nose smile.

I always wondered where in the WORLD she learned that. Why does my child go into "crazy smile" mode when she sees a camera (or iPhone)?

I thought it was from two years of me saying "Girls! Look at me! Now...Cheeeeeeessse!" 

(Ok...I really say "Girls! Look at me! Hannah put your hands down. Emma, no bunny ears or peace signs. Catherine put your shirt down. Hannah Brooke do NOT lift up your dress. Now...Cheeeeese!")

However, I am not to blame. This is OBVIOUSLY not a learned behavior. It's genetic.

Yes...that's Travis. Apparently, along with the melt-my-heart dimples came this weird unique smile. (Thank God for the dimples!)

Movin' On Up

Our house is three bedrooms. When we bought it, it was just us and Emma. We knew we would have another baby (and I thought we would only have ONE more baby!), so three bedrooms was plenty big for our first house!

Then, we decided we should add a third little monkey into the mix. When we did, Emma and Hannah moved in together. Catherine got her own room because she woke up at night, went to bed earlier, etc (I guess the squeaky wheel does get the oil).

At first, Emma and Hannah LOVED sharing a room. They would stay up at night giggling and talking (and end up in trouble for staying up too late). It was so sweet. It was EXACTLY how I imagined sisters would be.

Then, the new wore off and reality set in. Hannah was 3 and so destructive. Emma wanted her own space and got tired of having to help clean up the messy room that her little sister single handedly destroyed. Hannah was sick of her sister bossing her around ALL.THE.TIME. So, the fighting and arguing started. It was insane and was slowly making me insane!

Fast forward to a few weeks ago: Finally, Catherine was ready to get out of the crib. So, the great room shuffle of 2011 began. My parents brought Emma's bedroom suite up from their storage building (which has been there for two years now!). Since our house is on the market and I am probably going to want to re-do all the rooms when we finally move, we used the bedding she had when Hannah came. (Plus, I think it was only used for about a year!)

I worked SO hard before my parents got there moving clothes from closet to closet, sorting toys, and re-arranging furniture. I got Hannah and Catherine's room "live-in" ready (still a few things to hang, etc. I'll post pics when that's done.).

When my parents got here, my mom and I got Emma's room all decorated and organized. Once it was done, we called her in there to see her new room. I wish I would have taken a picture. She was SO excited and loves her little escape from her sisters.

Pre-K All the Way!

This week marked another big milestone in our house. Hannah's first day of Pre-K was on Monday.

She loves her teacher so far and loves her class.

It was bittersweet taking her picture on Monday. I felt like she should still be this little chubby baby, not 1 year from kindergarten!

(I will not get all "Cry Baby Jane" on you this time!)

In the back to school hustle and bustle, Catherine decided she needed a backpack. (Of course, being the 3rd child, she got a hand-me-down).

Happy Wednesday!

Breakfast in Bed for Bree's Birthday

Today, the girls and I went to Bree's Breakfast in Bed Birthday. Rachel threw the cutest 2nd birthday party! The girls had so much fun! They love always have so much fun playing with Claire and Bree (and Owen too!).

We hung around for a while after the party because we had a house showing! While we were at Bree's party, our realtor called and we had another showing this afternoon. Hopefully we hear some good news back on one of the showings!