Hyland Family Home Page

Monday, August 31, 2009

Jill takes a step!

The video is a little crazy, but about 30 seconds in, you can see Jill take her first step! Very exciting!

Next week she will be 10 months old.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Today was the first day back to school for the boys. Now I know some moms celebrate, but I am going to miss my kiddos. So is Jill. She is a huge fan of her brothers and I don't know how I am going to keep her entertained all day without them!

We first took Jake to his 3rd grade class. I cannot believe he is that old already! Then we took Josh to Kindergarten. I wanted to do it that way so I wasn't blubbering in the 3rd grade room. Good idea.

Justin, Jake and Josh on their way in.

Jake smiles for 1 picture. That is all he promised.

This is what I got when I tried for number 2. He wanted his family outta there!

Josh hung up his backpack and posed for a picture by his name.

Auntie Courtney was ready, too! How exciting to have family at our school this year!

Friday, August 21, 2009

VOTE VOTE VOTE!

Hey Guys!

As Uncle Sam would say, WE NEED YOU!

My little sister Michelle was just presented with a WONDERFUL honor- she is listed in a competition of the best high school volleyball players in Texas. It's called "UIL Volleyball Team of the Century" and she is nominated! What an honor!

But it doesn't stop there- we need to vote for her!

Go this website http://www.uil100.org/vote-volleyball.php and vote for Michelle Moriarty.

There is only one vote allowed per computer, but you can vote until October 31, so keep passing it along so we can get as many votes as possible!

Tell your friends! It's fun to look through the names (well, fun if you were a high school volleyball fan ever!). They also have a high school football century team, and that's super fun to look through also!

Thanks for your help and Go Michelle! :)

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Camp Week!

So, this past week was a big one for the Hyland Family. Jake had his second round of camp down at the Museum of Natural Science. This time it was Jedi Academy. He had a total blast. Here are some pictures from his graduation ceremony on Friday. He graduated from a Padawan to a Jedi.

And some pretty important people attended his graduation.

Here are a few guests, Darth Vader, a storm trooper and Chewbacca.

Here are some more, a Sith Lord, another storm trooper and a Jedi Master.

Jake graduating and receiving his congrats.

All the new Jedi pledging their loyalty to the Force.

My little Jedi!

Josh, on the other hand did not have camp and was feeling left out. He actually told me that Monday was the most boringest day he had ever had. So, I was feeling kinda bad. But then my mom invited him to come to Camp GranDeb for the day on Wednesday. That was a real treat. 3 hours of board games!!! Woo-Hoo!! as Josh would say.

The assortment of games played.

Josh's big Scrabble word. He was so proud!

Woodburning fun!

Then, since Josh wanted more, GranDeb encouraged my sister Courtney to host her own camp, Camp CoCo for the day on Friday. Another treat, she took Josh to the Children's Museum. It has been completely re-done and Josh had the time of his life. Another Woo-Hoo!! Here are some pics of that.

Josh the Chef. He really loves cooking with me at home and Courtney said this was his favorite part!

The Many Josh.

Driving the ambulance.

And I don't want Jill to feel left out since she just stayed at Camp Mommy all week, so here is a super adorable pic Courtney took on her cell phone on our way to Birthday lunch for me at Chuys!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Oh no, here we go!

I knew this day would come, but I still was not ready. A few days ago my beloved daughter Jill began doing some strange things. I would turn my back for a minute and when I turned back around she was shifted over about 8 feet. It kept happening, but I chalked it up to wiggling. And then it finally happened, with determination and intent she crawled across the room!

Now, it appears that with the onset of intentional crawling have come myriad other new skills, specifically the Lego eating skill, the cord chewing skill and the dumping out everything in sight skill. I did not witness their practice or perfection, it seems they just appeared at the same time she became mobile.

But seriously, it is super cute and she is so happy now that she can get stuff for herself. Here are a few pics of her new skills.

Jill crawling. You may be able to see her left leg in the background with knee up.

Jill raiding the Lego bin. That is actually not fair, observation of the process shows her to be quite discerning about what she pulls out. Guess what is going up on that shelf in a few minutes?

Saturday, July 18, 2009

California Pictures

So, in my last post I mentioned that the kids and I were going to California to visit for a while. Well, we did and we survived! We did have an earthquake while we were there, actually centered a few miles from our town, but alas, we were none the wiser until we watched the news.

Grandeb flew with us and stayed with us at the hotel (well, she actually spent most nights at Michelle's and took turns taking the boys for a night out!) which was a huge help.

The boys had a blast on the beach and boogie-boarding. Then we had fun cheering for Auntie Michelle in her Manhattan Beach Open qualifier and later in her matches. Go Black!

The plane on the way to L.A. Actually most of the time Jill and I sat across the aisle, but it was nice to have a small break!

Our hotel.

The amazing view from our hotel. There is a 10 foot wide strip of pavement, "the Strand," between the hotel and the sand. While beautiful, the sand is ankle deep and really hard to walk through. Especially when you are making multiple trips with multiple kids all day long!