J's Gym Birthday Party

We could think of nothing more perfect than to have Jackson's birthday party at a gym.  This kid is such a sports fanatic that it was only fitting to combine party time with his current sport--basketball!

We rented out half of the gym at the Wylie Rec Center and it was so much fun!

This was the first year for Jackson to have an "all boy" party.  And we let him do the guest list, too.  He invited kids from his school and buddies from his baseball, soccer and basketball teams.

Lots of dads came to the party and had a blast playing basketball with the little guys.

Lila and Conner preferred to stay out of harms way and had tons of fun inside the bounce house.

After about a half hour of free play, we set up a little team relay. 
Team #1: Jackson, Caleb, Matthew, Caden, Austin, Gage and Cowen.



Team #2: Brady, Garrison, Cole, Ethan, Zeke and Corbin



Both teams did great and we didn't really keep score!

After the team relay, it was time to check out the climbing wall.  You didn't have to convince these two monkeys at all--they both were all about it!

Jackson got about 8 feet up on his first attempt...

and Maddie got about 6 ft. before they both repelled down.

Guess he just needed to get warmed up, though, because not 10 minutes later I came back into the room to find my son at the TOP of the wall!  He rang the bell and declared it the highlight of the night.  Then he did it again a few minutes later!

Pretty soon it was time to chow down on pizza with his friends.  Jared and I both loved watching him have such a good time with his buddies.  They laughed non-stop the whole night.

Then it was time to break out the cupcakes that Aunt Lyndsie made and sing to the birthday boy.

"Happy Birthday to you!"

Lila chose a vanilla sprinkle donut and Memaw helped her not get it everywhere!

Jackson gave his gigantic cupcake a big thumbs up, too.



He got lots of well wishes and was so happy that his teacher was able to come to the party, too.  Jackson is friends with Mr. Gomez's youngest son, so he invited him to the party.  How cool!



Before the party was over, the boys had a very lively game of foosball.

Goal!!  They loved this so much.

We had to do a little sweeping to get the room back to normal.  Thank goodness we didn't really have to break out this industrial sized mop!



We ran out of time to open presents at the party, so we did it once we got home.  This kid got so many great gifts.  Thank you, friends, for making his party so fun!  We loved getting to celebrate with all of you.



Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day, another reason that Jackson has declared February as his favorite month!

We didn't waste anytime celebrating and started early with Starbucks and donuts.  The kids exchanged homemade valentines and I gave them a few books. 

They worked really hard on these cards!  Jackson spent so much time drawing Lila a picture of the two of them and then he wrote, "You are the best little sister!  I love you."  And although Lila can't really write much yet, she had me write "You are the best big brudder in the whole world and I love you."
Melt. my. heart.

Jared took Jackson to school and then it was time for us girls to go to Lila's V-day party.  We had worked very hard making cakeballs the day before and Lila was excited to give Ms. Kristy some of them.  By the way, it had been so long since the last time I made cakeballs that I had forgotten what a long process it is.  Bake the cakes, mix them with icing, refrigerate for 2 hours, make cake balls, freeze for 6 hours, call Gigi and ask her to assist with decorating, melt chocolate and decorate with sprinkles.  Whew! When it was all said and done, it took 10 hours!  They sure were good, though:)

Lila thought this little photo booth area at school was too cute to pass up. 

She loved the heart glasses and feather boa.

Party time--the kids had cupcakes and super cute rice crispy treats on a stick that were shaped like a heart.  So cute!

Then an unexpected visitor arrived.  Lila was so happy to see her daddy.  She said, "I didn't know you were coming--you tricked me!  You said you were going to work!"

After some sweets, it was time to exchange valentines with her class.  She also made me a really cute card...just wish her face wasn't so Debbie Downer in our only picture!

Crazy for Valentine's Day!

A few short hours later, I was at Jackson's school for his party.

By the time he got into the room there were only a few open seats left.  One of them just happened to be next to Lucy, the little girl he has a tiny crush on.  He was so shy about it that he didn't want to sit there, but I told him he didn't really have any other options, so he took a seat.  I'm not sure if he was being coy because I was there or what, because I know that he's made her valentines a few times this week!

The kids had fun decorating their cookies, playing the hershey kiss game...

and the matching hearts game.  Jackson was a winner in both, so he came home with even more loot!

Then the party really got going when it was time to decorate their teacher.  They loved this so much.

Some of the kids even got into the spirit by sporting these silly mustaches that they had decorated their teacher with.  A few look like they could be real...if only they weren't on 5 and 6 year olds!

All of the kindergarten teachers let their classes decorate them and then the kids lined the hallway for the much anticipated parade.

They were decked out!

After the parade was over, the kids got to open their valentine boxes that were full of goodies from their classmates.  I'm probably partial, but I really loved the box that Jackson and I made!

After school was over, it was time to deliver a few valentines, so we went to Memaw's house first...

and then to Gigi's.

These three kids are so loved.  Happy Valentine's Day!

So I don't forget...

When I woke up on Saturday morning, this is how I found these two.  Snuggled up in the recliner watching sports together.  I love that they are best buds.

Lila is becoming Jackson's #1 defender, too!  Twice this weekend he got in trouble with his daddy.  While he was talking to Jackson the first time, Lila kept hollering at him, "Don't yell at my brudder.  Don't be mean to him!"  The second time, Jackson got sent to his room and was upset about it.  Lila ran over to the landing and started in on her daddy.  She said, "Dad, do I need to tell you adin?  Don't yell at my brudder!  Do I need to put you in time out adin?"  She was so exasperated, but so serious, it was hard not to laugh.  I hope they always stick up for one another. 

I also want to remember that this was Lila's first day (I'm sure many more will follow) of requesting a tutu when I changed her out of her church clothes.  I thought, why not?  She went to Lowe's with her daddy and rocked that tutu without abandon.  Love it.  Be fearless, little girl, be fearless.

Not only did she go to Lowe's with daddy today, they also went to the grocery store to buy blueberry muffin mix and Starbucks to get me some coffee.  Aren't they the best?  Two outings with her daddy in one day...he was loving every single second.

The kids wanted some ketchup with their dinner.  It squirted out a little and Lila exclaimed, "It's tooting ketchup!  Jackson said, "Yeah, we should make a video of it and post it on You Tube." Then they both laughed so hard.  Oh, the humor of little ones:)

More funnies:
During the Grammy's -  while I thought Justin Timberlake rocked, Lila's take on him was, "that guy sings funny."  So much to learn!

Mama Lila - "Hey mom, I need to have a talk with you."

And my favorite. When Jared left for work this morning she said, "bye babe," just like I always do. 
My little mini-me!

Just like summer

Honestly, I have no idea if the ground hog saw his shadow or not a few days ago.  All I know, is that I am loving this spring weather and I hope it's here to stay!  I am so not a cold weather girl.  After I picked the kids up from school today, we just had to get outside and enjoy the greatness of an 80 degree day in February.  When we arrived at the park Jackson said, "Wow, mom, it's just like summer!"

The kids ran all the way to the playground with the biggest grins on their faces.

After climbing the monkey bars like normal a couple of times, J went through them like a little weasel.  Interesting, son!

Lila was so stoked about going down the "big slide" that I could never catch her at the top.  Right as I was about to snap the picture, she would just zoom to the bottom.  I love her fearlessness.

We hung around for a few more minutes and waited for Maddie to get there...

and then it was time to feed the ducks and seagulls.  They were everywhere!

"We need more bread!"

Crackers + birds = one happy girl

Spring, please tell us that you're here to stay!

100th Day of Kindergarten!

Wow!  Time flies when you're having fun!  Today is Jackson's 100th day of Kindergarten.

How better to mark your 100th day than with your very first big school project?  The assignment was to make something with 100 things.  It could be anything you want.  It took us all of 2 seconds to come up with something involving sports, and here's our finished product: My 100 Athletes.

We spent hours pouring over 15 of his dad's Sports Illustrated's and picking out just the right pictures from every sport we could think of.  We've got football (college and pro), basketball, baseball, hockey, gymnastics, soccer, track, tennis, nascar, snowboarding, swimming and even dirt biking.  Turns out the boy's dedication to ESPN has turned him into a very knowledgable sports nut!  

 It turned out to be quite the project for me. Jackson wrote the titles on all the pages...I did the rest.  But he was there for moral support for most of it.  That's gotta count for something, right?  I'm pretty sure his dad will take over Science Fair when that arises, so I've gotta get my time in while I still feel competent!

Happy 100th Day, bud!  I hope you have a very fun day.