April 2007 a long awaited update

Here is our little yellow belt. Last week Ethan completed his test to become a yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do. We are just so proud of him. He only has a few weeks of Kindergarten left and he is already looking ahead to his Seventh birthday (Jan 2008) . He is just growing up so fast.
Say Cheese!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't resist putting this Chinese dress on to show my mom how incredible cute Gwynn is. My mom came out to visit last week. It is getting so hard to take Gwynn's picture. She won't sit still long enough to snap a picture and she already wants to look at the screen on the back.
This is our Soccer star. His is playing on a team of 4 year olds and they call themselves "The Incredibles". Alex seems to really like playing but his favorite part is the snack afterwards. Big surprise huh?

Here is our motley Crew on Valentines day. Completely sugared out and ready for bed. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get three kids to even look at the camera at the same time. Now with the invention of digital cameras everyone MUST look at how the picture turned out before we try to take another one. Even Gwynn gets in on the action, grunting and pointing until I show her the back of the camera. Absolutely forget about getting another smile out of them until they have all see it. Well, I guess you can tell who is in charge around here.

We have had another Co Co sighting, actually we have seen her a lot lately. Terrible two's here we come!!!

This picture is what happens when we put Gwynn in time out. The boys have to check out what she is doing. She starts pouting and either jumps around or lays down and soon we have this going on. I am not sure if anyone is being punished at this point, with the exception of me.

Forever Family Day!!!

Forever Family Day!!!!!!!!!

Today is the first anniversary of our Gottcha day. One year ago Gwynn was placed in my arms with a tiny sticker on her sholder that had her name on it so she wouldn't get confused with the other girs. She just looked at us and back at her nannie, but never cried. It was one of the most amazing days of my life. I just can't believe that it has already been a year. Somedays is seems like we have had her for her whole life and some days it seems like we were in China yesterday. Wow, what a ride!!

We love you Gwynnie!!!

This is all it takes to completely shut down the entire city of Houston and get a day off of school.

Can you see them? Tiny little icicles and a super thin coat of ice on our deck. Last Wednesday we actually had what the rest of the country calls a snow day. It was great, but to wet to get outside. We went to McDonald's for lunch expecting the place to be loaded to the gills with all the kids out of school. We couldn't believe it when we found the parking lot empty and the play land quiet. Come on Texans, you can do better than that!!!

Meet CoCo, this is Gwynn's alter ego. She has finally hit her terrible Two's, with a vengeance!!!! She is stomping around here demanding things and trying to boss her brothers and me around. It is hard not to laugh at her when she is doing it because she is just so darn cute!!! Can you see that look on her face, that girl knows how to cut her eyes at you!!! By the way, Brad did her hair in the crazy ponytails and she loved it!! That night when it was time to get ready for bed she cried, I mean really cried when I took them out. Oh, one more thing, she said two new words yesterday....Bow and Shoes. God I love her!!!!

Doesn't he look cute? Well only when he is standing still! For Christmas Gwynn got both a shopping cart and a stroller, unfortunately she never gets to play with either of them. Alex always has them loaded up with his Dino's and runs up and down our extremely long hallway with them. I was surprised when he stood still long enough to snap a shot of his baby doll. The other great thing about his new favorite pass time is the noise hard plastic wheel es make on hard stone tile. My Motrin is running out, help!!!

Last but not least.....Happy Birthday Ethan.........

Ethan turned 6 this weekend and we partied all weekend. It started on Thursday with cupcakes at school. Friday we took him out to his favorite hibachi restaurant. Saturday we had 6 of his friends at the movie theater and Sunday was our family dinner. Boy that was a crazy weekend. Ethan go roller blades and was scooting up and down the hallway as well. He also got a really cool ride on toy called the flying turtle. He just can't stop telling people that he is now six and is totally looking forward to being seven. He wonders how tall he will be in a year and how many teeth he will have lost. It is just too darn cute. He has the sweetest smile.

Merry Christmas!!!

Wow, what a stash of toys. Don't be alarmed, Ethan was taking all the kids toys and piling them up. Still was a great Christmas for all.
And I was worried about getting a tom-boy. NO WAY!!! she has the necklace, ring, bracelet and Cell phone. Gosh I just love her!!!
All Alex wanted for Christmas was a T-rex. Even after pushing the envalope on what is naught and nice, Santa did bring him the T-Rex he asked for. He hasn't let go of it since.

Brad got an X-Box 360 and we haven't seen him since, hee hee. And I got a navagation system for my car. All in all, it was the best Christmas yet. We really had a sence that our family was complete. Really Complete!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We hope you all have a blessed New Year!!!

Our Love,

The Jamails

Me and Alex on a Field trip to the local Christmas Bush, Oh I mean Tree farm. Boy was it cold that day!!!
A coulple of days later when it was 80 degrees, we got Gwynn out on the hand me down bike. How cute is she!!!
Don't they look like such good helpers decorating the tree. We are lucky they haven't knocked it down.
And last is one of the pictures that didn't make the cut for the Christmas card. If you were wondering, we didn't move. We are actually sitting on the front steps of my In Laws new house.

Here are just a few pictures from the last month. We are looking forward to a most amazing Christmas and an even more blessed New Year.

The Jamail Family

More proof that I have the most amazing husband!!!

The Egyptian exhibit at the Met

A view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the South Sea Port
The Great Lawn in Central Park.

For the fifth anniversary of my 29th birthday my husband took me to New York. No kids, no diapers, no baby monitors and a whole lot of fun!!!

We flew out on Thursday night and spent four wonderful days exploring New York city. It was Brad's first trip and I enjoyed showing him a few places I had become familiar with while living in Queens. We saw two Broadway musicals, Chicago and Mamma Mia, and literal ate our way from battery park to the upper east side. We went to ground Zero and visited the back rooms of China town, hee hee. Our hotel was right next door to Madam Trouseau's wax museum, but we couldn't seem to fit it into our busy schedule. We did seem to fit a trip to Tiffany's in, immagine that, but little other shopping. I can't wait to see where he takes me next year!!

Happy Halloween

I hope your holiday was as fun as ours. We had a block party, a costume birthday party and then the actual Halloween night of fun. Our costumes payed for themselves this year. Alex dressed like the Hulk and would show his muscles when asked and Ethan dress up as Peter the night from Narnia. Of course our Gwynnie went as Tinker bell in a costume I slaved over for the last few months. It wasn't totally finished by the 31st, oh well, still looked cute.

This year Alex decided to be scared of just about everything Halloween. He would put his little hand up to his mouth and start chanting "too scary, too scary". We had to walk him with his eyes closed past anything the lesast bit questionable. I think he almost had a heart attack at wallmart when a halloween decoration started talking to him. Hopefully he gets over this by next year, I really missed decorating the house with all of our fun and scary decorations.

Ethan is doing great in school. He is reading like a champ and taking Tai Kwon Do lessons two days a week. He loves riding the bus and is in a wonderful science program two afternoons a week. The bad news is, at 5 1/2 he is having his adnoids removed for the third, yes I said third, time and tubes put in his ears. The doctor said we are his first patients to have adnoids grow back twice and that Ethan should have grown out of this by now. So I told him that all my children are extraordinary, hee hee.

Gwynn has officially hit the terrible two's. Everyone askes me if she is adjusting well, don't have to worry about that girl, she is over the adjustment. She is doing great, and letting me know exactly what she likes and doesn't like. She has started talking some, and is doing great with her sign language. You really can tell the difference between boys and girls. No offence boys. She is just as cute as they come and is a great helper around the house. We are really enjoying her!!!

I hope you all have a great thanksgiving.

My first Hair cut!!!

This is the before picture

After

She sure knows how to mug for the camera!!

She wasn't too sure of what was going on.

If it is at all possible for Gwynn to get any cuter, than she has. After her first hair cut she is adorable. We just evened up the back and cut bangs. Of course the hair dresser cut the bags just as I was uttering, no bangs please. Isn't it always what happens. But she looks too cute with her new doo. I am so happy to finally have a little girl!!!

First Day of School

Riding the bus for the first time
I couldn't help myself, you know that I am a scrapbooker at heart. Couldn't pass this photo-op up.hee hee

Here is Ethan sitting at his desk on the first day of school.

It is official, I have a big kid now. Ethan started Kindergarten on September 17th. He is so excited every day to get up and go. We even got him an alarm clock to start his day. Good thing we did because he usually wakes mom up to help him get ready. He has to catch the bus at 7:15, yuck!!!

After the first day of school when asked what the best part of his day was, he said "riding the bus". So I changed tactics and asked, "ok, at school, what was your favorite thing?" He replies "Recess". What a stinker, huh? After much prompting, I got a little information out of him. The third best thing about school was when Ethan read out loud to the class. Boy, talk about swelling with pride, I think my bra size jumped up a few. We are just so excited and proud of our big guy!!

Poor Alex is having some issues with his big brother going off to school with out him. Alex keeps asking where his bus is. I tell him when he turns 5 he will get to ride the bus too. That is when he looks at me strait in the face and says "Me five too". Now, there is no arguing with that one. I really think he believes it. We have tried to go with the pretend bus, or that mommy drives his bus, but none of that works. Right now we are just letting him stay up later so he is still sleeping when I have to walk Ethan down to the bus stop. We will see how long this drama goes on.

All in all, school has been great. It is quite a challenge juggling the three kids with totally different schedules. I am hoping that one of these days I will get the hang of it. Right now I am considering painting my truck yellow and getting a class C license, I sure feel like a bus driver!!!

The Long awaited update to the Jamail Family Blog.

I have been having some serious technical difficulties trying to upload pictures to this blog. I had all but given up. Just for fun, I tried again tonight, and hey, it worked. Yippee!!

Below you will find pictures of our 4 week vacation to California. Two weeks of that was spent camping at Eagle Lake. The kids had a blast, as usual., swimming in the lake, taking boat rides, catching frogs and getting VERY VERY dirty!!! All if you can complain about how hot this summer was, but I have you beat, it was 117 degrees one of the days we were in Redding California. Talk about out of the frying pan and in to the fire!!! If you were wondering, we potty trained Alex while on vacation. Wherever he went, the potty went, much to my grandmothers delight, hee hee. We also took a drive through Lassen Volcanic park and played in the snow. The boys thought it was the coolest thing that they got to play on a Valcano.

I hope you enjoy the photo's and I will try harder to keep this thing updated.

Sledding down a volcano!!!
Gwennie and her friend Naia Partlow. Does it get any cuter than thoes two?
There must have been hundred of frogs out on the shores of Eagle lake. The boys would just bend down and grab them by the dozens.

Here is the cutest pig tails EVER!!!

We had a camp fire every night, Ethan would help light it. Gwynnie only stayed awake long enough to see a couple of the camp fires. Hey if you don't get to eat the some-mores, what it the point, right?

The Cutest Kids!!

Ok, so I may be a little biased, just a little, but didn't our photo shoot come out great. A few weeks ago I sent Brad on a Birthday Extravaganza and I took the kids up to Dallas to visit Shelly. She hooked me up with a gift certificate and her family photographer and these were some of the best pictures we have ever taken. Brad and Shelly's husband Matt went on a total guy spree. The played golf 3 times, poker, and went on a guided fishing trip in Rockport. It will be hard to beat that birthday, so I probably wont even try, hee hee.

Shelly and I spent the weekend running around after our 5 kids. It was exhausting!! We ate most of our meals at chick-fil-a, anything to keep the kids happy and occupied. Grace had a blast with the boys and they were tuckered out every night from all the play. Let me tell you, it will be a while before we do that again!!!

Preschool just got out on Friday, and the thermomiter is topping out around 92 degrees. It sure feels like summer around here. We have about 6 weeks to fill before we head out to California for our anual camping trip at Eagle Lake. I just can't wait to get there!!! The idea of taking three kids alone on a plane is a little frightening. Brad will join us for the last week and a half we are there and fly back with us. We used frequent flyer miles to book his ticket, and that stinker is in first class. I have informed him that we will be switching seats on the way home!!! Or ELSE!!

I hope you all have a great summer!!!

Happy birthday Gwynn

Our baby girl turned one on Easter Sunday!!! It was a crazy weekend and all of us but Ethan were sick. The poor birthday girl even threw up her birthday cake, and don't worry, we got that on film. It was pitiful!!! Hopefully birthday #2 will be better.

We all seem to be settling in to the new family. We were really concerned that Alex and Ethan would have some adjusting to do, but that just hasn't been the case. This couldn't have been more perfect for our family. Brad and I have decided this is it, we are DONE!!!! The Jamails are a family of five, can you believe that?

finale... More Pictures

I know that it has been a while since my last post. It hasn't been from a lack of trying. But this three kid thing is throwing me for a loop. I know, I know, you all are saying that I did this to myself, and I should have seen it coming. And I totally did, but it is different when you are living it. I wouldn't change it for the world. We are having a great time.

Gwynn is really coming around. She has a ready smile and a sweet laugh. Although she is all seriousness when you get out the camera. (You can tell from the top picture that she is in attack mode whenever the camera is in range) She is has really loosened up. My friend Virginia came over this week to take some pictures of Gwynn for her announcements and I had to laugh at what a workout Virginia got just trying to keep Gwynn in the camera lens. Ethan can really make her laugh and she is tolerating Alex at this point. We have made some breakthroughs. The other day I came out of the bathroom to find Gwynn on her back and Alex sitting on her belly bouncing up and down. I just about had a heart attach until I heard the deep belly laugh coming out of Gwynn. I did make Alex get off her, but at least they are finding common ground.

Gwynn is a great napper and has found her love of food. It just amazes Brad and I that the girl who couldn't tolerate a cheerio 6 weeks ago now will eat just about anything. Peas, pasta, pretzels, Olives and just about any table food we are eating. And the sheer amount of food she can stuff in her little belly is astounding. Now I know how her booty got so big, hee hee.

I am really enjoying picking out her clothes every morning. And as crazy as it may sound, when she messes up her outfit I get giddy just thinking I get to change her into something else. Of course we have bows to coordinate with everything and that always changes with the outfit. I bought a ton of squeaky shoes while in China. I really thought I had covered all the basis until I realized I need a size 18 in black (Chinese size) so if any of my friends currently in China are listening, could you pick me up a pair?

We took the whole family fishing tonight and had a blast. Gwynn loved just sitting in her stroller watching the action. Ethan has learned how to bait his own hook, cast, and even take the fish off the hook when he catches one. Alex has a little less patience, but loves to run around and torture the ducks. We have definitely become more into whole family activities since we brought Gwynn home. We are even considering getting a tent trailer, with an AC unit. I do have some standards. If I can't camp somewhere that is cold at night, at least I can make it cold.

That is about it for now. I have a few kids to put to bed and laundry to do, dishes, the list just goes on and on!!!