Sunday, August 28, 2011

Jack’s 4th birthday!

Wednesday Jackson woke up in his usual fantastic (and busy) mood.  The first thing he did was put on his spiderman jammies (it’s been so hot lately he just sleeps in his pull-up) .

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He’s been so excited about turning 4.

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All of Jackson’s excitement made Bear very excited!

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Wednesday morning Adrienne came over to pick up Bear for a bounce house play date with all of the “littles” from the play group and to drop off Ellie.  I was taking the two '”bigs” to a play date at the bowling alley.  Ellie brought Jackson’s birthday present which was a major hit, a spider man costume. 

“See Ellie, I’m 4 today!”

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LOVE these two kiddos!!!  If I had my pictures from last year (hard drive crash victims) I would post the sweet picture of these two sitting on the glider together.  I’ll link it soon!  In this picture Jackson had pulled down his chest buckle.  He said he needed padding for his huge chest muscles.

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Having fun at the bowling alley.

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Spidey was a happy man.  In the car he made me promise not to tell anyone that he wasn’t the real spider man.  DSC_0018

Ellie was a very serious bowler.

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Dylan and Jack each used the brace one time.  After that they bowled brace free.  The girls all used it each time and won by a significant number.

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Love the play group bigs!

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Jack was of course the only bowler who managed to get his ball to jump the bumper and get stuck in the gutter.  Below the alley employee was going to retrieve his ball.  That’s my Jackie!

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Sweet Ellie happily eating her lunch.

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Spidey sneaking around the alley looking for danger.

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Bear had a great time with the littles!

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Gaga (who is so sweet to ALWAYS watch our boys) came over to baby sit for Bear so that we could take Jack to a special birthday dinner.

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Bear was thrilled to see his Gaga.

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And so was Jack.

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Jackson wanted us to get another sitter for Bear so that Gaga could come with us.

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Super happy little man at Texas de Brazil, his very favorite restaurant in the whole world. 

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At one point the waiter came by with sausage and offered some to Jackson.  Jackson took one look and said, “I’m not interested in sausage, I’m 4 and I’m only interested steak please!”  He ate his weight in steak and Jay couldn’t have been more proud.

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Jackson has the ability to drive me completely up the wall but he  is also the most precious little man I have ever encountered.  His excessive energy  is only matched by his loving nature and tender heart.  I know that God has gifted him with so many wonderful characteristics (intelligence, drive, creativity, determination, intuition, problem solving, affection, and a fantastic sense of humor just to name a few) for a reason and I am just so thankful that God chose me to be this special little man’s mother.  4 years ago I hung up my suit and started on the greatest adventure of my life.  Being a mother has been the most amazing, challenging, rewarding, heart wrenching, emotional, exhilarating, frustrating and absolutely incredible experience of my life.  I love Jackson so very much and can’t believe it’s already been 4 years.  On one hand it seems to have flown by and on the other I can’t even remember what life was like without him.  I know that both of my boys are going to grow up to be amazing men of God and watching them grow and develop will be the greatest joy of Jay’s and my life.

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Happy 4th birthday Jackson Christian Adams.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Reading. . .

Jackson spends a lot of time “reading” lately.  The other day we talked about how he would learn to read soon and he of course replied, “mom, I know how to read.  I read all of the time in my head.  I just can’t read out loud.”    He received a Bible from his Nanny’s best friend when he was born and he carries it around constantly and reads, in his mind, to himself.  A few days ago Ellie was over and I saw Jackson reading to her.   She was excited as she said the Bible was her favorite book.  I asked if I could sit in on story time and Ellie said yes.  This is the look Jackson gave her as he said, “Ellie this is our time.  Mom, can you please give us a minute with God?!” 

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Monday, August 22, 2011

Jackson’s 4th Birthday part 1

We have been cleaning out our house lately (don’t get too excited, we have a long way to go) and over the weekend I found an awesome gift card to Amazing Jake’s.  We had never been there before but I had a gift card from when it first opened.  It’s this place with rock climbing, laser tag, a huge buffet, mini golf, carousel, video games, arcade games, etc.  Anyway, since I found the gift card we decided that Sunday would be Jackson’s 4th birthday celebration part 1 (part two is dinner at his favorite place on Wednesday-his actual birthday).  So, off we went to Jake’s.  We had a blast!  I can’t decide which of my guys had a better time but I definitely loved watching them have so much fun.  I see some man time for the 3 of them here in the future!

Bear loved “playing” the games.  We didn’t even have to put money in for him to have the time of his life.

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Jay and Jack were such buddies the entire day.  I saw a glimpse of the future with the two of them. . .

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I love how Jackson is looking at Jay in this picture.  They had such a great day of bonding!

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Bear enjoyed riding the carousel multiple times.

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Jay decided that Jack should have his first ice cream cone since he was almost 4.  Jackson was beyond thrilled.  Of course then he took one bite and said that he didn’t like it.  Mommy was very happy about that as my sweet boy doesn’t need sugar.  God gave him plenty of energy!

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Jay is kissing him on the forehead below.

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Bear loved being on the motorcycle with Jack.  I hope this is the only motorcycle either of them ever ride!

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We had an incredible family day at Jake’s with lots of fun and laughter.  Of course in keepin’ it real I have to say that both boys completely melted down out of exhaustion that evening after missing their naps.  But hey, with a 1 year old and 3 year old I still count the day as a total success!

Jump Mania

Last Friday we went to jump mania (a new bounce house place in town) for a play date.  The kids had a great time.  I only took two pictures. . .yes, two kids has definitely taken my picture taking down a notch!

Bear and his BFF Charlie were of course inseparable.

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And Jack had an awesome time with Dylan.

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After our play date Papa met us and we went to lunch.  It was so great spending time with Papa and both boys loved it.  Bear kept saying “Papa?” all day.  Papa also gave Jackson his first paying job.  Nana and Papa are going to be visiting the Francis family for a week and Jackson will be playing with Freckles while they are gone.  When Papa explained the job Jackson just looked at him and said, “I’m in!”  Later in the car I asked Jackson what he was going to do with his money and he said, “either put it in the family piggy bank (we are saving for a vacation) or go on a mission trip!”  What an awesome Friday!

Adrienne’s Shower

Last Wednesday our MOMS group had a diapers, wipes and newborn pictures shower to help Adrienne get ready for baby #3 (otherwise known as the Grand Finale).  It was so much fun but with all of the chaos I did a miserable job of taking pictures.  Here are the few that I did get:

As usual Jackson was in love with sweet baby Andie Jane.  He kept looking at me with those eyes and begging for a sister.  He has wanted a sister named Wendy since I got pregnant with Baron.  Hopefully he’ll settle for a goldfish instead!

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Andie Jane is super sweet and precious though!

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Frankie Joy, Andie’s big sister loved the horse.

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Landy made this adorable diaper cake with champagne in the middle.

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There were a lot of kids in the playroom.

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McKenna and Bear taking  break to eat.

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Sweet little Kiri.

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Charlie seemed pretty un-phased by the soon to be sibling. 

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Enjoying our awesome new living room with the guest of honor.

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Loved relaxing with all of my MOMS ladies!

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Jackson had all of the big kids in his room.  He told me that they were starting a business designing books.  Hmmmm.

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Colton was a big fan of the sausage balls.

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Landy holding sweet baby Andie.  Maybe there will be a grand finale in her future?!

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I so wish I had taken better pictures but am so excited to actually welcome sweet baby Hirst #3 into this world in the near future!