5

Five years ago to the day, almost to the hour, this is what I was doing. 

Holding our precious baby boy who had been born that morning.

I was convinced that he was perfection and he immediately stole my heart.  Forever.

Fast forward 5 years and that sweet little baby will be starting Kindergarten soon.  Whoa! 

We love you, J man!  Hope you had a great first day being 5!!

Valentine's 2012

As you all know, Little Romeo was all about his Valentine this year.  When we pulled up to her house, he hopped out and ran to the front door.

He was carrying her roses and they had a little card that he wrote on them - "To Peyton, Love Jackson."

Soon after he rung the doorbell, Miss Peyton opened the door.  When she saw the pretty roses she said, "Thank you, Jackson!" and gave him a sweet hug.  It was one of the cutest things I've seen in a long time!  Hands down.

After that sweet delivery, we were off to Meme's to bring her some chocolates and a homemade card.

We stayed until these monsters got restless and then headed back home to play with all of their loot.  Look at this! They got cards in the mail, cards delivered by hand, cards from each other, big balloons, stuffed animals, little snow globes...it was a little crazy!  But I really do love Valentine's Day.  I hope that they all felt special and realized how many people love them.

We ended our night by having heart-shaped pancakes for dinner, complete with omelets and bacon. 
Yum!  I was so excited that the pancakes turned out well and we all had a nice dinner with dad at home.  Complete with mimosas for the adults.  A very nice (and needed!) touch, indeed. 

Little Romeo

All the boy needed was a little heart-shaped baseball Valentine to nudge him to buy his girlfriend some flowers (see previous post).  I thought maybe he'd just give her one rose and then give Maddie and Lila the other ones.  He had a different idea--he insists that he must give Peyton all three!  Stay tuned for her reaction.  We are waiting for her to get back home so that we can make the special delivery! 



Valentines

We love Valentines around here.  It's so fun to make valentines for our family.  The kids love it because it means getting to use markers, glue and their favorite, stickers!

This year we started early.  We began making our cards last week.  The big kids worked so hard.  I was really proud of their dedication!  Lila even did a little bit as well, drawing with the markers and using as many stickers as we would give her. 



By yesterday morning, the kids had made 8 beautiful valentines. 
Jackson even did most of the writing himself!



After indulging me in a few pictures, it was time to head off to school for their party day. 
Maddie's class had fun making these heart headbands and other crafts...

and Jackson's enjoyed doing the same.  I brought iced cookies and cupcakes for both of their parties and they were all a big hit.  It's hard to go wrong with any type of dessert, though:)  Jackson said that he won the game that they played, so he got an extra present to take home.  He was very proud.

However, not as proud as when he got this special valentine from Peyton!  They were in the same class last year, but are in different ones this year.  They do get to see each other at lunch, chapel, sing, and most importantly, recess, where for many months she was one of his main targets of "girl catch."  I'm pretty sure it's just chasing a girl until he tags her.  Her mom told me that she loves for him to catch her.  She also told me that she talks about Jackson constantly!  I'm pretty sure that both of them are a little bit smitten.  Just look at this big grin--she gave him a heart-shaped baseball Valentine! 

As for me, I'm pretty smitten with these three cuties.  Happy Valentine's Day!!

Ropin' and Ridin'

We had another rare Saturday yesterday, with absolutely no plans.  It was awesome.  So we decided to go to the ranch and spend some good time outdoors. 

Inspired by the rodeo trick riders, this Cowboy tried his hand at some trick-horse-swing-riding.  Maddie got in on the fun, too.  Her main trick was holding on with only one hand--daring, I know!  By the end of the day, both were riding this swing at the same time, with Jackson pretty much upside down. 
They were quite the pair, with smiles as big as Texas.

After they were finished with the swing, it was time to see if the horses were hungry.

Turns out they love cookies.  And really, who doesn't?  All the kids fed the horses at least once.  I think they were a little weirded out by the size of the horsey teeth! 

After making friends with all the horses, we headed down to the barn. 
Every good Cowboy needs his hat and canteen.

It came in handy when this little guy got thirsty.

Boom has been on a mission to find a saddle and bridle small enough to fit Mr. Dub.  So it was with great pleasure when Mr. Dub was finally all saddled up and ready to ride!  Jackson was first up.

We're not sure if Mr. Dub has ever had a human on his back in his 15 years of life, so they walked around the small pen first, just to make sure he wasn't going to wig out. 

While Lila took her turn, these two played on the haybales.  They get so happy when they are around hay! 

Lila kept telling my dad, "Ready!  Me ride Mr. Dub!"

And she did!  She did great.  Made a circle and that was good enough. 

Madison was next and did good until something spooked Mr. Dub. 

He kind of went haywire for a second.  All of a sudden he jerked, spun around and tried to run away.  Thank goodness Boom was right there!  And thank goodness that Maddie didn't fall off!

After the mini-horse calmed down, Cowboy Jack wanted to take him for a ride in the big pen.  After walking almost the entire way around it with Boom leading him, he got to try it himself.  They did great! 

While the boys were getting the other horses ready for their ride, the girls and I went over to visit the new baby calf.  He's only 3 weeks old.  His mama is only 21 months old herself, so my dad was concerned that she might be too young to nurture him well, but we were very glad to see that they were doing just fine:)

The boys all went for a ride and the girls and I found them down in the second pasture with the llamas.  Isn't God's creation so beautiful? 

Jared and J wanted me to get them on Doc while he was galloping.  Right as I went to snap the pic, though, Jackson's hat blew off.  While Jared was trying to catch it, I guess he maybe pulled on Doc's reigns, which didn't exactly thrill the horse.  Jared finally had to let the hat fall and get the horse back under control!  Oh well, better luck next time!





Happy Hour...

kiddie style!  The kids and I hit up Sonic for happy hour today.  A little bit different than your standard happy hour, but just as much fun! 

The two big kids had what Jackson refers to as "summer drinks," which are also known as slushes at Sonic.  J went for the blue coconut and M went for the cherry.  I didn't want Lila to be left out, but I wasn't too sure about getting her a flavored drink, so I went with some Sprite.  She loved it.

After enjoying their 50 cent drinks, they got an even bigger treat.  Our neighbor turned on his sprinklers for 15 minutes and it was just as good as if the circus had come to town.  No joke!  The kids rode their bikes through the sprinklers, then just ran through them on foot.  About 53 times.  And got soaking wet.  They laughed so hard and just had the best afternoon.  Thanks, neighbor, for needing to soak in your lawn fertilizer at 4:30 this afternoon.  It was the perfect way to spend our afternoon.

Silly Sidewalks

What a difference a year makes!  This time last year I'm pretty sure there was snow on the ground.  If not, it was really, really cold.  Today could not have been any nicer outside.  After the kids got home from school we decided to hang outdoors.

After they were done riding bikes, I brought out the sidewalk chalk.  And they loved it!

Madison even wrote her name on the driveway--a newfound skill of hers:)

A little while later, Lila ventured off towards the front door.  Unbeknownst to me, she was not simply sitting down on the sidewalk.  No, she was in fact playing in the soil. Packing it in her shoes and all over her legs.  And she was so happy with herself it was just impossible to get mad. 

We all enjoyed the afternoon, and I was even able to get in a little shapes lesson with Maddie as well.  It's always nice when they are having so much fun learning that they don't even realize it.