Our Summer In A SeaShell :)

Our first family photo!

We were actually going to family pics in Cali but we just couldn't fit it into our busy beach-bum schedule so hopefully soon we can have an official family photo.

The three stooges! In order from left to right: Reef Banner, Henry Banner, and Griffin Banner

It has been so fun to have these little guys be so close together. We will all have our hands full next summer when they turn one. Eeek!

California with the Banner'sI just love this picture of Jake's mom. I think she looks beautiful!California with the Jensen's!!! We got mani/pedisThe girls were in absolute heaven As soon as we walked into Disneyland, Scout runs over to the candy and starts chomping on a succor. She has a sucker for a mom when it comes to the Big D and those big brown eyes!



We were waiting for the family to all meet up and the girls look up to see the Snow White witch and as she walked passed she said "move out of my way". The girls still talk about it...Scout one day was talking to her cousin Macy and she said "some day I'll be a princess" and Macy said "Scout, you already are a princess" and Scout said, "No! I'm a waitch!!!" It was hilarious!

Finn's first Mickey shirt and Disneyland trip! I already have his shirt for next year!

Waiting in line to see Minnie Mouse and her house

Just sitting down for family dinner in Minnie's kitchen. It was so cute and I had never seen it before. Highly recommend!
Waiting in line
Princess Tiana!!! We waited forever to see the princesses and the girls were so excited to see what they call Princess and the Frog. Princess Jasmine was first and when Scout saw Princess Tiana was next she bent over and put her hands to her mouth and yelled "Jasmine, Princess and the Frog is here!!!" Everyone was dying laughing!!I love this picture of Ellie with Mickey! Pure joy! M & J at Luigi's mmmmmmm!!!Me and my man. I husbandless a lot on these trips :(

QTPie!

Me and MalPal
My bro-in-law built this city outta sand.

It was a little chilli on the beachMy sis Brooke and her third girl Kylie. She's having her fourth girl in one month!

Best Baby Ever!!!

Sandy Cheeks!The "Ellie Face" still going on strong
We found out watermelon is very hard to keep unsandy on the beach. Duh!

Ellie Mermaid
The kiddos

2 months!

We made it to the two month bench mark! This little guy is so sweet and handsome.

Finn's two month stats are:

Height: 24 inches ( 85th percentile)

Weight: 10lb 8oz (25th percentile)

Head: 14 3/4 (8th percentile)

Yes that says the 8th percentile for his head. He looks proportioned to me but apparently he has a tiny little head. He's such a cutie and he's growing so fast.

All the kiddos together. He loves his extra mommy helpers. They can't get enough of him.

photography by yours truly

We had Finn's blessing on June 6th and here's his little outfit. I loved it and Jake did such a sweet job. We are so happy to have so much family around us that could be there. We had our after party :) at my mom's and had yummy bbq with my favorite sugar cookies and tres leches cake that was divine (thanks to my gourmet cook friends)

Everything is going so well. I have the most chill babies and I just keep waiting for a crazy baby to arrive. Maybe I'll never know cuz I think we might be done. Lets do it like Seinfield and end on a good note eh!? He's been sleeping pretty much from 10 until 5 but the other night he slept from 10 until 7. It was the best night ever. It had been so long since I had a baby that I was so nervous but things couldn't be going any better. I wish my hubby was home a little more but he's so busy with work which we are very grateful for. Finn eats about 3 or 3 1/2 oz every 3 or 4 hours. The doc says he's a perfect little baby. I know it'll all change when he hits one so I'm enjoying his innocent sweetness while I can.

Strike A Pose

The girls had their very first dance recital on April 15th and it was so adorable! They loved every minute of it and they had so much fun. Their faces lit up when they saw all the older girls dancing and you could tell they were in heaven. Good job girls!!!


Here was Griffin's first bath and he wasn't very happy about it. He loves to be wrapped tight in his blanket with his pacifier, not out in the open.

He's much happier in his little monkey towel!

...and sound asleep. Ahhh!!!

I love this little guy. He is such a sweet baby. I don't know how much he likes having two extra little mommies all over him every second but the girls can't get enough of him either. I think it's funny when babies are born, people go crazy about trying to figure out who they look like. I don't get it cuz I guess I think they are who they are, ya know? But for all those crazies who try so hard to figure out who they really look like, Griffin has Jake's chin but the top half of him is total Jensen so he's a good mix of both of us. He is such a bessing to have in our home and I'm just happy he's healthy and growing.

Official Family of 5!!!

Our sweet little boy has arrived! Here's the long story short...I was scheduled to be induced on April 7th and the hospital had no beds (apparently the entire rest of the world is having babies right now too) so they said "don't call us, we'll call you". I was bumbed but went to bed and at 1:50 in the morning we received a phone call telling us to hurry cuz they had a bed open. We got there and by 3:30, I was hooked up with patossin and ready to go. By 7:00 a.m. I got my epidural, 9:00 a.m. the doc broke my water and Jake went to work right after my epidural so I was just chillin' all day. My mom came to sit with me around noon and I was about a 4 so Jake stayed at work. He came back around 2:30ish and my mom was leaving at 3:00 to pick up my kids and they checked me as she was walking out and I was at a 10 all of a sudden. They called the doc and four sets of pushes and 25 minutes later, out came our little angel. I didn't feel a thing and it was the easiest quickest labor ever.

Griffin David Banner Born on April 8, 2010 7lbs. 5oz. & 20 & 1/4 inches long. Name explanation: The name has always been Griffin but his middle name was James. For some reason a night or two before having him, I asked Jake if he liked Griffin David to name him after my dad. Jake said whatever but we just decided to stick with James. When he was born though, I took a pic of him and his hand was up and showed that he has a line that goes across his entire palm and my dad has the same line across his palm. It's rare but a few people in our family have it and everyone makes a big deal when someone is born with that so we changed his name to Griffin David and my dad was so excited.

Ellie's B-day and Clown Party

Here is Ellie on her 4th Birthday! I can't believe she's already 4 years old. I feel like I just had her and now I'm on my third. We had a very fun day and she woke up to these delicious pancakes with strawberries and powdered sugar (which she asks for every day since then).

Then during the day, we went to a place called jump street which is just full of long trampolines and we went with some cousins and grammie. It was so much fun and us pregnant girls just got sit and watch. We'll be going there a lot this summer!

Finally at night, we went to Superstition Springs mall to ride the carousel, however, I had no cash so that was a bust but luckily the Easter Bunny was there and the girls got to see him and tell him what they wanted for Easter. Ellie still talks about that but Scout was terrified. So funny!!! Then, my sister-in-law told me that on your birthday, you can get a free dozen doughnuts at Krispy Kreme so we just had to go there on the way home. Jake had to work on her birthday so it was just us girls that night. He has been working so hard lately and we missed him that night but we still had so much fun! ( That pic of Ellie is her showing me how old she is. Such a cutie!!!)
I combined the girl's birthday parties so I could get that out of the way before my little guy comes. It was so much fun!!! We had a bouncer, popcorn machine, cotton candy machine, lemonade and junk food galore! Jake did face painting and there was a photo booth, bean bag toss, fishing for goodies, and clown cupcakes.

Baby Brain and Bad Luck!!!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!!!

So it all started when I thought I would host a craft night. Hosting an event no matter how big or small, it is stressful. For some reason, your "to do" (and then some) list you've had for years MUST get done all before people start showing up. I had been working on another two crafts until 2 the night before and the entire day of the craft night. Needless to say I was already so tired and pregnant etc. but I just HAD to get these finished for everyone to see. I still needed to make dinner so I started some rice but realized I needed to go to the store real quick. My five minute run to the store turned into me chasing my girls around Wal Mart (or I was waddling as fast as I could without crying because of the pain I was in) and it took 3 times as long as expected. My rice now looked like a lump of coal and smoke filled my house and my girls lungs as I franticly opened windows and doors to air out the kitchen. It was about to catch on fire. There it is. I burnt rice. People say "is that even possible?" What was I thinking? Can I blame it on the baby brain? So my husband pulls up and asks if I burnt something and I said "what are you talking about?"(with a smurk on my face) He was like "tell me seriously cuz I smell something and I think it's my truck and it might blow up right now!" He was dead serious and I had to hurry and tell him I burnt the rice. I was dying laughing!!! Poor guy has the crappiest truck in the world. I wish I could buy him a new one. Anyway, he was pissed at me and our house stunk like crap and I started bawling and was expecting people in one hour. I didn't even make my craft that night I just sat and watched everyone else. It was a rough day.

On a lighter note, here is one of the crafts I made...

I just made that love sign in honor of love month but I think I might just leave it up. It was super easy and cheap (thanks to my mom for giving me some of her fabric). I was happy with how it turned out and the options are endless.

So that was the Tuesday before Valentine's Day so ON Valentine's Day, Jake had a meating at our in the morning before church. It was my responibility to keep the girls from distracting him while in his meating so I thought I'll put them in the shower cuz they love to play in there forever, and I'll get them dressed in my room and we'll just play etc. Well, the shower lasted maybe 5 minutes and they got bored. They wanted out even before people started arriving. I did my best but all of a sudden they bolted out my room. I had no make-up on and wasn't even close to being dressed. I took a second to throw on some clothes and a little make-up to look descent and went to find what my girls were up to. This is what I found...

Ellie CUT HER HAIR!!!!! I let out the biggest scream and Jake came running in from his meating. (He thought by my scream that someone died) I let my emotions get to me and I yelled at him for not shutting the salon door which was obviously my fault cuz he was in a meating. I started bawling and he left the room to finish his meating. Everyone was leaving at that point so when it was all clear, he came back in and I will stop right there. Let me just say it wasn't a pretty sight. Ellie's hair and Jake being upset with me for embarassing him. Mind you, the girls still had wet hair from the shower so all I saw was long, wet, curly, beautiful locks of hair all over the floor in my salon. I hadn't even calmed down enough to inspect the real damage she had done. It was bad but not THAT bad. Again, can I blame it on my emotional baby brain? Along with getting huge while pregnant, a few hundred melt downs and unexplainable emotional events WILL occur. I'm warning you, Keep Your Distance. My poor husband is stuck with me. After we all calmed down, we said our sorries and we're all cool now. These pics don't do it justice and I'm still trying to figure out how to style it and hide as much as possible.

As if those two events weren't bad enough, just as I'm getting to the point where I can go in public with this HAIR and just laugh it off when I look at it, another horrible day strikes again. As I'm coming closer and closer to my due date, it's getting harder and harder to do normal every day things. Going to the store is like someone asking me to run a marathon. I feel like walking around for 20 minutes is near impossible so I try to make my store trips as organized as possible so I don't have to go from front to back and from one side to the other a million times looking for everything to cross off my list. For some reason, that never works for me. I always end up passing the very thing I need ten times and not know it and then spend another 10 minutes looking for something right in front of my face. Can you say BABY BRAIN? (What will I have to blame things on when I finally do have this baby?) Anyway, I went to the store while my girls were in dance but I only had like 45 minutes to shop, check out, load up in the car, and pick them up. On my way to the store, I realized I forgot my check I needed to buy my groceries. I raced home to grab it and raced back to the store and cashed my check leaving me 30 minutes until I needed to pick up my girls. I raced (waddled) around the store blah blah blah and was checking out as fast as I could. Because I'm pregnant (and times are hard) we are on WIC and a few of the items weren't being approved. The checkout guy kept saying "this isn't approved, can you go get a different one?" So I held up the line and felt so stupid waddling off to find the right thing. I could barely walk from being so tired etc. and I made another 2 or 3 trips around the store to find the right juice or whatever. By this time, I was running so late to pick up my kids, I was on the phone with my mom to ask if she could pick them up but she was too far. I finally got the groceries to my car and started bawling out of nowhere. It took me forever to get the stuff in my car and get to my kids. I couldn't stop crying and of course my girls were the last ones there and Ellie asks "what happened to your make-up?" Those kids are used to me crying lately so when they se me cry, they just get quiet and let me have my moment. They are so sweet and we're all excited for my normal emotions to come back. Oh wait, it's not over...So we get home and I open the door to get Scout out and a gallon of milk falls out and busts open all over my drive way and on my pants. (Meanwhile I'm still bawling) The girls also got their dance costumes that day so they were bugging me to try them on etc. I just wanted to finish getting the groceries out so they went in the house and as I was getting another bag out, a jar of pickles rolled out and busted all over my driveway. So there was milk drooling all down the driveway, and now broken glass, pickles, and pickle juice all over the place. Still bawling by the way. I went to grab the hose to spray everything off and because I live on a somewhat busy street, people are driving by and honking at me while I'm cleaning up this annoying mess. If you are still reading this, aren't you exhausted just from reading this? Sheesh!!! To top it off, I thought to myself, I don't want to make lunch, I'm going to order a huge yummy salad from Applebees and put my girls down for a nap and just sit it peace and quiet and eat. I called in my order and went to pick it up and they say "we don't have any to go orders right now". Just my luck! I just waited until they could whip up a salad for me and after I scarfed that, I took a much needed nap. Does anyone out there know what I'm talking about? Or am I just a crazy pregnant lady? Ok, I'm done complaining now.

At the end of the day, I just need to say that I'm very grateful for the good things in my life which is a lot. Although Ellie cutting her hair was traumatizing, it could have been a lot worse and at least she is healthy and didn't cut herself with my shears etc. Although it is hard, I'm grateful to be pregnant with this little guy and I cannot wait for him to come. He's so active and it's so fun to picture him in our family and just wonder what he'll look like and how the girls will be with him and how Jake will be with him. I also am so grateful for Jake and his hard work and his putting up with me. I love him more than anything and I couldn't be more happy right now. Counting my blessings is what gets me through these dumb days that I've been having. Life goes on and it's never too late to change your attitude to think positive. (I'm telling myself this) Just keep on keepin' on.

-Joe Dirt