Why I love my boys...right this minute

1) I just put Luke to sleep for nap by singing the night-night song for the entire cast of SpongeBob Squarepants (ie., "Night-Night Plankton, Night-Night Plankton...")

2) Cody wanted to go to Wendy's for lunch because he loves the "frosting"

3a) Jacks came out of the Burger King play area when he saw me carrying 3 chocolate milks and my soda and said, "Can I help?"

AND

3b) He's up in his room listening to Disc 1 of Michael Jackson's HIStory album right now. He is SO excited about music lately. I think he really digs Nickelback and Linkin Park. God help me.

:)

Happy 7th Birthday Jackson!

It's hard to believe that our biggest little man is now 7 years old! He had a great day on Friday. We started off the morning with cinnamon rolls, and he headed to summer camp wearing his new watch (he begged to open just one present before he left).

Then when Cody, Luke and I came to pick him up, we had turned the Suburban into a "BirthdayMobile." We painted the windows with little messages and filled the inside of the car with balloons. He LOVED it! He climbed in with the biggest smile on his face. Of course, he said, "This is weird!" while giggling, but when I asked him if he liked it, he said, "YES!"


Cody did a good job keeping our plan to decorate the car a secret until we picked Jacks up. Wink, wink!

That night, Jacks got to choose when we went for dinner, and he chose Chuy's. We let the waiter know when we first arrived that we had a birthday in our party, so after our meal, he came over with a sombrero for Jackson, some birthday sopapillas, and a group of other servers to sing to our guy. I thought Jacks would be very embarrassed, but he seemed to love it.


On Saturday morning, Jackson had a baseball game before his birthday party. And guess what? At that game, he got his first hit of the whole season. Yippee!!

Then, it was on to Adventure Landing for some fun in the arcade, miniature golf, GoKarts and bumper boats. We were lucky to have Aunt Beth visiting from Houston for the occasion, and she kept Cody company throughout the party so he wouldn't feel left out. I think he likes her. A lot.


Jacks chose a Wall-E cake. It was pretty yummy!


Holy cow, it was HOT out there. The kids all had a great time, but we were all slightly melted by the time we were done. Jacks invited just 4 classmates and it was a really fun, sweet group.


Jacks loves the ladies. And they love him!


Even Luke played a bit of golf with Grandma.

See those red cheeks? I told you it was hot!!


The whole gang!


Aunt Beth and Cody enjoyed the bumper boats! And Jacks and his friends went for a spin, as well.


Right at the end, Cody decided he wanted to try the Jr. GoKarts. I was a bit worried he'd get in and freak out, but he did great! Look at that concentration!

It was a great party, a great weekend, and a great birthday for Jacks. He really enjoyed the Legos he received, and we went to the Lego store yesterday so he could spend his birthday money and a gift card, too. He's also looking forward to loading up his new MP3 player. ;)

Happy Birthday Jackson! We love you!

Pool Fun

We finally have our own pool set up! We had to have our landscaper come out and level the ground for us, but it's up and full and it works. Yippee!

The boys just could not wait to get in, so we did a little swimming yesterday while the pool was still filling. At our friends' house last week, Luke wouldn't go in the water. But yesterday, he liked our pool because at the beginning, he could touch the bottom. It remains to be seen how he reacts today with the water level much higher. But he was actually enjoying floating a little bit yesterday too, in his own little ring, and then also sharing with big brother. :)

They asked to get in the pool first thing this morning. I'm really hoping they continue to be so excited about it and that we spend a lot of time out there. Pool party at our house!

Boys

I knew it was coming. I tried to mentally prepare myself for it, to steel myself in advance. But it's here. Already.

We are now officially in the throes of POTTY HUMOR. Anything to do with bodily functions is beyond hysterical.

The other day, Jacks and Cody were playing on their computer. When I checked on them, they were looking at FunBrain.com, a site with silly little games for kids. Completely appropriate and Mommy-approved. But a few minutes later, I noticed their laughter getting increasingly louder and giddier. Uh-oh. Time to investigate.

Well, they were on a site called MrPoop.com. Yes, you read that right. An entire site dedicated to poop. The site advertises ACTUAL pictures of poop and encourages you to upload your own (ew!). And that's how Jackson navigated there. My darling boy typed "pictures of poop" into Google Search. My heart swelled with pride. Ha.

So we've had the conversation about the computer being a privilege blah blah blah...but man, I haven't heard them laugh like that, EVER. What is it that makes poop so funny? Being a girl, I guess I just don't get it. Oh, AND I also have daily contact with it changing Luke's diapers so that might be another reason poop just doesn't amuse me. Maybe I should have Jacks and Cody take care of baby brother's diapers. That'll take the humor out of poop right quick. ;)

Ah, boys. :)

Swimming!

We went over to a friend's house last week, and they have an above-ground pool. I didn't know what the boys would make of it since they're mostly scared of water deeper than the bathtub. But they loved it! The pool was only about 3 feet deep so they could stand up, and they made use of the rings and noodles to make themselves feel secure. They had so much fun!


Jacks got so brave after a while that he was jumping in off a step of the ladder!


Luke wasn't really a fan of the water, but he did enjoy climbing the ladder!

The pool was such a hit that we got one for ourselves. Hopefully we'll get it set up some time this week!

(thanks to Jaye Fitton for the pics and the pool!)

Jackson's Birthday Pics...the rest!

Jackson's 7-Year Portraits Preview

We met up with one of our favorite Dallas photographers in Deep Ellum last week to take Jackson's 7-year pictures. We hadn't seen her since she photographed Luke's birth a year and a half ago, so it was nice to see her again.

She was wonderful with Jacks, encouraging him to climb on walls (Deep Ellum is a cool, older neighborhood of Dallas with lots of clubs and bars....we were there at 8:30 am so it was completely dead but we were able to look around and enjoy the hip landscape!) and pick his favorite murals to pose in front of.

It was a lot of fun and I just love these 2 shots she sent as a preview. They're so *HIM*.

Jackson's Last Day of First Grade

Jacks has grown so much this year in so many ways. He's taller and stronger. He can ride a bike without training wheels, tie his shoes, hit a baseball and tell time. He loves to read and do math, and he is fascinated by science, especially anything to do with animals or the earth. He will be seven in just a few weeks. Way to go on a great school year, Jacks! We love you!

Puppet Show at the Library