Six Years Old

Jackson turned six a couple of weeks ago. Six! He is such a happy, energetic boy. He may be small, but he makes up for it in spirit.
We had his family party the weekend of his birthday. The boy LOVES Legos, so I made him a Lego cake. It didn't turn out quite like I had hoped. In reality, it was a pretty lame cake. But he was happy to get some new Lego mini-figures.

He also got 2 Lego games, two Lego shirts, another game, money for his savings account and a gift card to 5 Guys Burgers and Fries that we used for his birthday dinner out.

We had his friends party the following weekend. We had lots of fun with lots of very energetic kids. (It was SO loud!) He has his friends had a blast though. We played Lego bingo, colored Lego coloring pages, played a Lego relay game, and of course had cupcakes, ice cream and opened presents. He got Legos and Beyblade. He was so excited. All in all, he had a great birthday!

Tooth Wars

In the past month Daniel has pulled out two of his loose teeth. He got tired of waiting until mom & Dad thought they were loose enough to pull and just yanked them himself. I knew about the first one being loose, I didn't know about the second. The first one he told us was loose and working on wiggling itone night and pulled it right out as we were all sitting in the family room watching television. Within 20 minutes he had pulled it! He was so excited he was jumping around, hooting and hollering. It was comical. Two days later, he came racing into our bedroom in the morning "Mama, Mama! I pulled out another tooth!"  Add the fact that the tooth fairy leaves him two quarters for each tooth, loosing teeth has been a big deal at our house.

This photo was of his first lost tooth, back in October:

Tonight when the boys were eating dinner Jack claimed he had a loose tooth. We've heard this claim before, with no loose teeth to show, so we were skeptical. Sure enough, he had a loose tooth! He is only five. Daniel was almost six and a half before he lost his first tooth! Later on that night we were having FHE and we was wiggling that tooth. All of a sudden he hopped out of his chair, claiming it had popped out. Sure enough, it was gone and we searched until we found it. I had to laugh - loose teeth aren't going to last an hour, much less a day in this house!

When we sent the boys to bed that night, they were all excited about the tooth fairy coming for Jack. I guess Daniel didn't want to be outdone by his little brother, so twenty minutes into bed time he pulled another one of his teeth out. We weren't aware that one was loose either! He had better stop or he'll be toothless! He already looks like a hillbilly with (now) 6 missing teeth!

Jack's birthday, part 2

Yesterday we had Jack's family party at our house. We had cake and ice cream, visited & opened presents. He got lots of Star Wars toys, which he LOVES. He also got some new clothes, which are always needed and appreciated with 4 boys!

Today was his actual birthday. He took cupcakes to school and came home with a new book. We had a couple more gifts for him to open & I rented Megamind for the boys to watch. Plus, Gary had the day off so that is always a good thing. Happy Birthday Sparky!

Jackson Loves Preschool

Every couple of weeks in Jack's preschool class the spotlight a child. Two weeks ago it was Jack's turn. We decorated a poster all about him and he got to present it to the class.

He sure loves school, and is so well behaved there. It's makes me happy when he comes home and tells me what he learned. They really do have a great preschool program at our local school. They are losing Title 1 funding this year though, and that will put the cost out of our budget to send Evan next year and it makes me sad. Evan will be okay & I will try to compensate at home. I hope they can find a way to get funding back in the future. I have a feeling their classes will be much smaller this coming year.
This past week they had "Wacky Wednesday." The kids got to dress up as wacky as they wanted. Jackson wouldn't let me do a thing to him last year, but he was more willing this year. He had green dinosaur spikes in his hair, wore his shirt, jacket & backpack backwards and wore two different shoes. Love that Jak-Jak!

Jackson's 5th Birthday

Today Jackson had his friends over for a birthday party. He loves Star Wars, so we had a Star wars party! He would tell people it was a Darth Vader party - Darth Vader is his favorite. It is so funny because, to my knowledge, he has never seen a movie except a snippet here or there. The boys don't even watch the cartoon series The Clone Wars. They do love their Star Wars action figures though.
We played p"Pin the lightsaber on Darth Vader" and a version of musical chairs that involved pics of Star Wars characters instead of chairs. I didn't get any pics of the second game. I blame it on pregnancy brain.

I made Jack a Darth Vader cake and lightsaber cupcakes for his friends. They were a big hit. I don't know why I bother making the cupcakes though - all that gets eaten is the frosting! Maybe next time I'll just give them cups of frosting.

Jack opened his gifts after cupcakes & ice cream. He received lots of neat toys - Legos, Star Wars toys and a Bakugan set. I didn't think he even knew what a Bakugan was, but he sure got excited when he opened them and hasn't put them down since.

We took the boys to eat at Iceberg tonight for Jack's birthday.

It was a great day for us all.

Jack got his school picture back the other day. Here it is. I think it is way cute - even with the bruise on his forehead!

First Days of School

Daniel started school on August 23. He was so excited. I love that he loves school, and I really like his new school. We still aren't 100% sure if it is the best place for him but we will follow the year through and see how he does.

Daniel's school had a back to school night the week after school started and I took this picture of him in his seat in class. I am very impressed with his teacher and with the curriculum thus far. I think the school will be great for all of our boys, when they all get there.

Jackson started on September 8. He really loves school too. According to his teaches he is very well behaved at school and so quiet that they have to ask him to speak up when he answers questions. It's funny how kids can be one way at home and totally different at school.

T-Ball

I signed Jack and Dan up for T-ball a few weeks ago. They are so excited. Gary is the coach for their team and their first practice was last Saturday.

They got their uniforms that day and have been wearing them ever since. They even wanted to wear them to bed, then to church! LOL
This past Tuesday was their first game. It was hilarious! The boys would hit the ball, then after standing there for a few seconds (and being yelled at to run) they would take off, either to the base, or to chase the ball they just hit. One kid on their team was really good about getting the ball after the other team hit, and racing to first base. He would have gotten them out every time, had they been doing "outs." This same kid would also lap the other players on base when it was his turn. So funny!

Bed Partners

I found Jack sleeping with a friend today:

The cat was quite pleased. Jack was surprised when he woke up and found here there. He usually freaks out if the cat is in his bed.

Happy Birthday Sparky!

Jackson turned four at the beginning of the month. FOUR! I can't believe it! I still remember the first time I saw him - a pouting, 5 pound 12 ounce tiny guy. He is such a joy to have in our lives, even if he has a naughty streak bigger than he is! We love you Sparky!

We had an "Up!" themed birthday party for him on Saturday the 6th. It was his first "friend" party. We had lots of balloons, a "Pin the badge on Russell" game, and an "Up!" cake and cupcakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Aunt Suzy for helping me out! We had ten kids here and that would have been a little much for just one adult to handle!

That night we took the boys out to dinner at In-N-Out for Jack's birthday. The food was relatively cheap, but we weren't super impressed. I think we'll stick with 5 Guys.

On Sunday we had a family get together. Gary let me cut Jack's cake (he wanted the family to see it so I didn't cut it at jack's friend party).

 A few weeks later Nana and GG came up for dinner and brought Jack some birthday surprises too.

 

 

 

Jack got lots of fun toys and had a blast celebrating his birthday - thanks everyone!