Jackson's birthday celebration(s)

Since Jackson is in preschool this year we were able to do a nice little party at his school. There's no way I would normally take on a birthday party for 14 three & four year olds, but with the help of the teachers, McKay, Sherri, and a couple of Moms I think it turned out good. The kids had fun and Jackson got TONS and TONS and TONS of presents. We did a pirate theme and it was really fun.

Here's a picture of his invitation.

All the kids (including McKay) got eye patches and earrings. I bought this pirate hat for Jackson, but his dad liked it more I guess. ;-)

The making of the cake.

After looking at pictures I think I should have done the smile without the teeth. He looks pretty goofy...oh well.

Jackson also got a package in the mail from Grandma Gifford with gifts and some of McKay's friends from school sent home some fun stuff. This boy was very spoiled with gifts this year!

We went to a pizza buffet/arcade for Jackson's birthday dinner. Here are a couple pictures of that.

Thanks to everyone who gave/sent gifts. I can't believe Jackson is 3 years old already! What's even crazier to think about is that we've celebrated all of his birthdays here in Virginia. He was only 10 months old when we moved here! CRAZY. Thanks again everyone. He had a blast.

Happy Birthday Jackson!

1st day home from the hospital

1 year old

2 years old


3 years old

Happy Birthday my little man!

A few fun things

Today Sydney and Jackson got a letter in the mail from Grandma Gifford. It was a puzzle with a message on the back. They had lots of fun putting it together to find out what it said. Thanks Mom, they loved it!

Last night Jackson found a half used roll of crate paper. I saw him pull it out of the closet and thought about taking it away...but thought what the heck. Needless to say it entertained us all for a few minutes.

Sydney got this t-shirt kit for her birthday back in January. It's been in her closet this whole time and every couple of weeks she would ask if we could make it...and I finally said yes. It came with crayons that you color the shirt and then you iron it and it makes the color stay. She was so excited to wake up this morning and wear her new shirt.

So, things are going good here. The kids are loving preschool and we have Jackson's birthday party planned for this coming Monday. He's having a pirate themed party, so be watching for pictures of that. I'm coming up on 32 weeks along and am still feeling really good. I've been having some braxton hicks contractions over the last couple of days. I don't recall having many with Sydney or Jackson...especially not this early...maybe it's just because it's my third baby?

McKay is moving right along in school. He has a lot on his plate this semester but seems to be handling it all pretty well. He's working hard now preparing for when the baby comes just a couple weeks before finals. It's going to be a hectic November for sure.

Fall is on it's way. We're enjoying cool evenings and mornings. The temperature is staying in the 70's during the day and I can't wait for the leaves to start changing in the next couple of weeks.

I think that's all the news for now. Life is good. :-)

Preschool!

This morning was Sydney and Jackson's first day of Preschool. They are going to the same school that Sydney went to last year, so they were both familiar with it and excited to start. Now I've just got to find something to do with my 9 hours of time to myself each week...I'm sure that won't be too hard. ;-)

August in Review

Sydney asked Keresa about aliens. She said they were kind of like monsters or ghosts. We just talk about them to feel kind of scary and excited, but really there's no such thing. Then Sydney said, "Ok, so there's no such thing as Indians?"

Jackson has been getting in trouble for saying 'bathroom words' when we aren't in the bathroom. We tell him he is only allowed to talk about that gross stuff when we are in the bathroom. Before we ever leave to go somewhere, Keresa tells the kids to go to the bathroom. He gave her a devious look and walked in the bathroom. Then he unleashed all the words he could think of, "PP!!!! POOP!!!! my BUM!!!!"

Keresa made chocolate chip cookies, but substituted part of the chocolate chips for chopped up Andes Mints. The kids said, "Yummy Mom! These taste like toothpaste!" I thought it would be a good trick to tell people that we ran out of baking soda, but we had plenty of baking soda toothpaste, so we added it instead. Then watch their reaction. Keresa said I probably wouldn't be able to do that.

Sydney has been having nightmares. So she has started saying things like this in her prayers at night, "Bless me to have good dreams, like birthday parties, pizza, going to the library, playing with lots of little doggies..."

Jackson suddenly has an Appalachian dialect. He has been saying things like "I will put on my pay-ants. I don't want to go to bay-ed. Will you push in my chay-air?"

Sydney's sentences get mixed up sometimes, and she gets really frustrated about it. She told us in the car, "What are going we to do toda--..." Then rolled her eyes at herself, then made a face like OMG my day is like totally ruined! Then started over, "What are WE going to DO today?" She also started saying 'like' alot. "Mom, like, I had, like, a dream. And it was, like, about a, like... Fish. And, well, it like..."

Baby 3 seems to be going fine. Keresa is starting to get sore hips, and I am starting to get a sore back. So yes, everything seems like it is moving along normally.

MK KGW SRW JGW

Ready for Lessons?

Oh (baby) Boy!

I got to schedule my c-section today for

NOVEMBER 16th!

So, just 3 more months until our crazy family of 4 turn into an even crazier family of 5!

Good Father's Day Present

A little late, but maybe I can talk Sydney into saving all her babysitting money, and Jackson to save all his lawn mowing money so they can get me this next year:

(from popular science)

$3,500 will get you this ChefStack. Comes with pre-packaged batter. Just plug it in. Makes 200 pancakes per hour. That's 3 pancakes per minute. That's a pancake every 20 seconds. Can you say, where's the syrup? And I thought our printer was cool with its speed of 40ppm (pages per minute instead of pancakes per minute).

Yum.

Oh ya...

...one more thing!

After watching the So You Think You Can Dance finale last night

I also miss my

DVR!!!

The things I .....

....MISS MOST ABOUT GRUNDY

having 2 cars

my dishwasher

my washer and dryer

my BED

my kids beds

my own room (well, a room with no kids sleeping on the floor beside the bed)

beautiful weather

lazy days

friends we've made

...LOOK FORWARD TO MOST IN THE COMING MONTHS

Jackson joining Sydney in Preschool (he's gonna LOVE it!)

Jackson's birthday

FALL

Halloween

a new baby!

Thanksgiving

Christmas

SCHOOL BEING OVER!!! (only 9 months to go!)

So...I've having a hard time believing that the Summer is over and it's time to go back to Virginia. I've had such a fun filled Summer and it's hard to say good bye to Las Vegas and all our family and friends. So, I had to remind myself that there are TONS of things that I love and miss about our home in Grundy. I made a list here so that in a couple months from now when I'm feeling tired of the day to day stuff I can remember the things I'm happy for. So, there you have it!