Finishing up July

Jackson wanted a “daddy hair cut” so he asked for a “2 1/2” just like his daddy.  Of course Jay has a fade on top which Jackson forgot to ask for so he’s super short now.  I love how proud he is to be like his daddy!

How else do you expect them to watch tv at the Ikea child care area?!? 

One afternoon we made gluten free cookies.  Bear has done so well with the change to gluten free but was excited for a treat.

He was also excited to bake with me.  Jack was at Farm School Summer Camp. So Bear and I had lots of time together. 

We waited to put them into the oven until Jack was home because Bear wanted Jackson to have hot cookies too.  Do you think they are excited?!

One day we had all of our farm school play group friends over.  It was so much fun and I just love all of these ladies and kiddos.

The kids LOVED the swing set!

And the water table was pretty popular too.

Baron decided that as one of his potty trained rewards he wanted to go to build a bear.  So, I took him on a date while Jackson was at camp.  We’d never been before and he loved it.  He’s so easy to please and was just thrilled with the whole process.  It was actually really fun for me because he was so happy. 

Here he is kissing the heart that is about to go into the puppy that he selected.

And afterwards giving “Baron Puppy” a bath.  He and Baron Puppy are now inseparable. 

The next day we went and got Bear’s 3 year pictures, only about 5 months late.  The lady who took them goes to our church and is starting a photography business.  She saw Bear and asked to take his pictures for free to use on her website.  I happily agreed-she’s going to do pictures of Jackson and Lincoln in September.

Our precious Plano babysitter, Amanda, went to Thailand on a mission trip for a month this summer.  She sent the boys these awesome shirts and also sent gifts to Jay and I.  Such a sweet and unexpected surprise!  The boys love the shirts and wear them all of the time.

The Hirst family sent Lincoln and Jackson a set of wedgits for their birthday.  My boys are now obsessed with wedgits and begging for more.  Super cool!

Wedgits are pretty much what the boys do every morning as I make breakfast.

Sometimes I’m so shocked that my baby is this big, lanky dude.  Love this little guy who changed my world almost 6 years ago.

And this little guy just lights up my world.  My silly, snuggly Bear.

On the last day of farm school Jackson wanted a picture of Mrs. Barbara, his teacher.  Bear of course wanted to be in the picture as well.

And Mrs. Andrea the school director.

Not surprisingly Jackson found a future wife at camp.  Each day he would tell me all about Ella and what they played and how he wanted to marry her.  “All I can say mom is that she’s my girl-for life!”  Ahhhh, 5 year old love.  He begged me to buy an assortment of her favorite organic treats for him to take to her on the last day of camp.  She had brought him stuff the day prior.  I, of course obliged.  She drew him this picture and put her phone number on the back and asked me to call her mom to set up a play date soon.  In true Jackson fashion he was sure they would be together forever (remember the girl he wanted to marry from gymnastics camp last year?) and has not mentioned her a single time since camp ended.  And you know what? That’s totally ok by me.  I’m not rushing any of that stuff with my precious little boy!

Recently I heard about a super cool restaurant very close to our house with a play area.  So, we went and checked it out the other day and it was so nice.  I’m pretty sure it was the second time we’ve eaten out since we moved here and it was so nice to be outside.  The kids played on the two swingsets and had a ball.

They also had a guy making balloon animals or as our boys requested, swords.

Later in the evening they had live music as well.  The one enormous bummer is that the food is not very good.  Luckily we just split two appetizers and enjoyed the atmosphere. 

I cannot express how blessed I feel looking at this picture.

One day recently we built a tent and laid inside it and read all day.  It was so nice to just relax and play all day.

A few Saturdays ago Jay took Jackson to Six Flags in San Antonio for the day with free tickets that we had gotten through a reading program.  Bear is so good about not being upset when Jackson gets to do fun stuff and he gets left behind.  But I did want to do something special with him as well.  So, we went to a place that has gluten free gingerbread pancakes.  They were awesome and Bear was very happy.  Unfortunately, as soon as we sat down Lincoln puked all over me and down my shirt.  If you’ve never had vomit in your bra. . .let me tell you, it’s pretty glamorous.  It was hard to refrain from standing and singing “I feel pretty” while I dined-and smelled barf.  But such is life and we still had a great breakfast together.

Our Sunday school class is helping a group of refugees who just arrived in Austin.  This entire trailer is filled with stuff from our garage (minus the shelves).  It was so nice to get rid of some stuff that will be used by other families and also so embarrassing that our garage is still full.  Must go through those boxes soon!

Our neighborhood recently had a party with bounce houses, food, a band etc.  Jack and I went and made an evening of it.  Love that I’ve gotten to have so many individual dates with my guys lately.
They had a kid and an adult drawing for prizes with two winners each.  I was told to enter all of the kids names even though only Jackson had come with me.  We won both of the kid prizes (water guns) and I won one of the adult prizes which was a Starbucks gift card.  I don’t know what it is about Starbucks cards but they seem like 100 times more valuable then their dollar value.  So, needless to say Jay and I have enjoyed several treat beverages lately.   But my most notable observation is that my winning steak seems to be back!

Jack was pretty happy about the snow cone truck.  Although I made him dump this one and get one without the red dye #40.

At the party they had several emergency vehicles for the kids to play in.  Jackson got into the ambulance and talked to this EMT for over an hour.  The guy turned around and asked who his mom was and then told me that he was really smart for only 8 years old.  Jack’s face lit up and he proudly told him that he was 5. 

The next day we went with a church play group to a fire station tour.  My boys have toured the fire station a dozen times and still just love it.

We had such a great time with these sweet kids and their moms.

Guess who won a stamp at church last week?!?