Jill Smiles - Good ones!

Here are some smiles I got the other day! Finally. I like the first one because it is so funny looking. The second is just sweet.

Adorable Jilly-bean!

I know it is my kid so I am not impartial, but I just think she is the cutest. Here she is all dressed up for church in a dress lent to us by our friend from church, Becky.

Oh, and Jake has decided we will call her Jilly Bean, hence the title of the post.

Basketball!

Jake had his 3rd ever Basketball game this morning. His team almost won.

Jake is really starting to get the hang of the game and seems to be enjoying his time on the court.

Cub Scout Jake

I wanted to post this picture of Jake the Wolf Cub because I think it is so darn cute!

Justin took the boys to the Houston Aeros hockey game tonight for Cub Scout night and Jake got all dressed up. A fun time was had by all!

Jill Smiles

I won't pretend I caught her first smile on camera, but here is a smile. She is doing bigger and happier ones these days, but it is darn hard to get, so here is a little one from her.

Day Off

Since the boys had Milk Day (Jake's reading of MLK) off from school, we decided to spend the morning at Bendwood Park on the nice new playground equipment. Here Jake rides Owen's scooter.





Josh and Owen stroll around the park with Kiki on the scooter. Not pictured are GrandDeb and Courtney and Jill. Sorry, don't know why I didn't snap a pic of them.

New Addition

After taking Jake out to the bus and getting the newspaper this morning and finding yet another 2 (!) new piles of dog poop in my yard, I decided I was done sitting by and hoping for results. I pulled out the old 1-800-Got-Junk sign (I knew it would be useful for something!) and made a sign of my own.

It says, Please do not let your dog poop in my yard again. I have young children who play here. (and are tired of stepping in it)

We'll see if I get results. Most likely that result will be 6 to 10 piles of dog poop in my yard tomorrow, but here's to hoping for the best!

Josh's Class Takes a Field Trip

Josh's Pre-K class had a field trip to Xploration Station, an extension of the Houston Museum of Natural Science at the Woodlands Mall. It was pretty cool. Definitely worth a trip out if are looking to do something fun.

A dad of a classmate, who is a professional photographer, came along and snapped some pics.





Josh and his pals listening intently and awaiting their chance to pet an insect. They "petted" hissing cockroaches, frogs, toads and snakes.




Josh playing the role of archaeologist in the Xploration Excavation area.

All dressed up

This adorable outfit was lent to us by our friend Becky. To be honest I wasn't so hot on the bonnet until I put it on her and man is it cute!






Jake never wants to be too far away from Jill. He insisted on taking a picture with her this morning.

2 Months Old!

I didn't realize it had been so long since I updated the blog. Now that the older 2 have gone back to school I finally have some free time. It also helps that Jill is sleeping 7 to 8 hours at night so Mommy isn't so pooped all the time anymore. I heart sleep!


Jill had her 2 month checkup today. She is doing great and growing like crazy. She is 24 1/2 inches long (off the charts) and 12 lbs even (80th percentile).

Now, to compare, at the same age, Jake was 26 inches and 14 lbs 14 oz, and Josh was 24 1/2 inches and 14 lbs 4 oz. Very interesting!

Here the boys spend some time with Jill just hanging out. Now that she is 2 months old she is actually staying awake (for a little bit anyway) and even smiling.





And no photo session is complete without goofy pics! Jill looks like she is just putting up with it all. And she does. But she loves her big brothers.

Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve was very different for us this year. Usually we have a huge Moriarty/Harmon Family get together with lots of food and folks and gifts. This year Tim and Deb and Courtney and Anthony were in Switzerland visiting Michelle and Kiki, Aaron and Owen were in California visiting the Fountains. We were all alone. But we still had our own Hyland Family Fun.


Just a shot of the tree and stockings awaiting a visit from Santa!

Jake reading Christmas books to his little brother and sister. I trained Josh well in the art of picture taking, but there is really no such thing as a candid picture with him now!

What a good looking group all reading together!

Christmas!

Josh was very surprised to see a Kyle Busch Indiana Jones M&M's car from his Dad. If you don't know what that means, just ask a NASCAR fan near you.

The boys got plenty of Legos to keep them (and Dad) very busy!

Justin shows off his new weather station! He can't wait to measure the next rainfall!

The boys strike their most menacing Clone Trooper pose.

Jill is Juicy!

It was so cold again here today so Jill wore her Baby Juicy Couture outfit from her Aunt Judy. She looked so sweet. And notice she is sometimes awake now!

We had lunch with Jake at his school today. She slept straight through!

Mom tries to take pics of the 3 kids, with mixed results

We actually all looked at the camera and smiled! But we couldn't see the shirts so well, so....



Mom kept trying for more, just in case, and Jill was over it!

Jill's all dressed up

Jill was dressed up so pretty for church this week. She is 6 weeks old now.

SNOW IN HOUSTON!

I am sure some of you are skeptical, but it is true, there was snow in Houston today! It actually snowed on and off from about 3 PM on. I don't think it got over 36 degrees today! We were freezing.

The best snow came about 8:15 ish tonight and our neighbors came over to tell us to check it out. And boy did we ever. The boys were in their PJs with Crocs, gloves and hats. Can you tell we don't get this weather very often!

Here are some pics of our snow fun:







Jake worked very hard to build that 6" tall snowman!




What could be more fun that the trampoline at night in the snow? This was before we got hats and gloves on!

A New Tree!

After Hurricane Ike uprooted our big tree in the front yard, we decided we needed to get another as soon as possible. We didn't want to wait for a teeny sapling to grow so we had a big one brought in. Now, it won't be holding the 2 tree swings again anytime soon, but hopefully within a few years it will be nice and big and shady.

Here are pics from that adventure. The boys even got to try their hand at the controls!

Jake and Josh get an inside look.

Jake and Owen climb down to inspect the huge hole.

Jake, Josh and Owen watch as the new tree is lowered into the ground.

You can see where the old tree used to be (that muddy spot on the left). It was about 60 ft tall and wide and held 2 tree swings so each boy could swing at the same time. I miss it, so sad. I am just thankful it fell into the street and not the house.

Are you ready for some Football?

Jill is! She and Daddy spent a relaxing evening watching football on TV. Sadly none of the games ended the way we had hoped!

Trip to see Santa!

We went to visit Santa this morning at the Heritage Texas Properties office near our house. We like to visit Santa there since it is much less chaotic (and germy) than the mall. Plus they always have a super cool old-timey fire truck to play on and take pictures on.

Sorry, no sneak peeks of Santa pics in case we use one for our Christmas card!












The significance here is that this truck happens to be from the airport we fly into in Connecticut to visit Justin's family. What are the odds?

1 Month Old

Jill is 1 month old today!

We went to see Dr. Cohen for her 1 month check up and she is growing like a weed. She is up to 9 pounds 8 ounces and 22 3/4 inches long. She is 95th percentile in height and 50th percentile in weight. Just like her big brothers!