Summer Fun

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  I just love summer! The girls and Brent had so much fun on the slip 'n slide today. Even a couple of our neighbor's kids came out to join us. It's amazing how the simple things in life are so entertaining!

• Now it's time for a lemonade break!
  
  

Jackson's Baby Dedication and Father's Day

Is he cute or what?



Getting ready to leave for Jackson's Dedication


Granddaddy and all the grandchildren

Father's Day cookout

Campbell and cousin Josh getting ready to eat an ice cream sundae.

• Yesterday was a special day. Not only was it Jackson's dedication at church, but I was able to spend Father's Day with my dad. I was so excited to hear that my sister and her three kids were making the trip up as well.

• The dedication was so sweet and we even watched a slide show of Jackson. Once I get my hands on it, I'll post it on our blog. He did great and the crowd didn't even seem to bother him.

• I am so proud of my little boy!

• After church, we headed on over to The Salem House for lunch to celebrate Jackson's dedication. It was really good, but not as good as The Homeplace. Although, we will definitely be going back there because there isn't much of a wait.

• Later on that evening we had our first cookout on our new patio to celebrate Father's Day. We had all the dads in our family represented last night. Brent, Grandpa, Granddaddy and Papa. It was so nice to have all of them together on this special day. The weather was beautiful and everyone had a great time. What more could you ask for!

• Happy Father's Day to the best Dad's in the world!

Redsox Game

Redsox vs. Indians

Jackson's first baseball game. Daddy's Little Slugger!

Riley is having a great time dancing to the music in between innings.

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  We had the opportunity to go to a Salem Redsox baseball game tonight. This a minor league baseball team in our area and we absolutely love going to the games. Nana and Papa were able to go with us as well. The kids loved it and it was so exciting to watch Jackson's reaction to his first baseball game. He was more interested in the popcorn than anything else, but what's not to love about popcorn, right?
• The ball field was extremely crowded and parking was limited. I have never seen so many people there before and it was great! It was simply a great night for America's favorite pastime!
• Brent and I left at the top of the 6th inning to put Jackson to bed. The girls stayed with Nana and Papa until the game was over. All the kids did great and we hope to make another game sometime this summer.

First of Many....

Jackson and the girls are enjoying ice cream from the Ice Cream Boat. Yes, the ice cream boat does come right up to your dock.

Taking a boat ride

Campbell and Riley taking a Seadoo ride with Grandma.

Jackson's first boat ride. He loved it!

Jackson's first Seadoo ride with Grandma.

• This was our first weekend at the lake since school has been out. I'm sure we will be there many more times this summer. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a fun weekend!
  
  
  
  

Field Day and Award Assembly Pictures

Campbell's friends, Haley and Riley getting ready for the next event.

Campbell participating in the "Sponge Bob Square Pants" event. She had to run with a wet sponge on top of her head and then fill the bottle up with water. The first team that filled the bottle up first won the event. At least it was a good day to get wet!

There were at least 9 events total. All the kids had such a great time running and playing and getting wet with water bottles and water hoses. At the end all the kids received a snow cone before going back into class.

Mrs. Watson's class lined up with their certificates. They did it! Look out 1st grade....here they come!

What a Week

This is the last week of school and it seems it has been the busiest week all year. Monday-Field Day, Tuesday-Field Trip to see Junie B Jones, Wednesday-Award Assembly and Thursday is the last day of school. Since she only goes half day day I am taking the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and then afterwards to an ice cream social for all the kids in our neighborhood. Talk about insane!

After being at School for the past couple of days, I have a new appreciation for teachers!

I am looking forward to summer and my relaxed agenda. My calendar is already filling up, but at least my kids will be able to sleep in every day!

I'll be posting pictures soon.

Jackson's first haircut

Before.....

And after.....

• We finally did it. On the spur of the moment (which 50% of our decisions end this way) we decided to take Jackson to get his first hair cut. He sat in the chair all by himself and he was such a big boy. He only got upset once when the stylist pulled out the clippers. It only lasted a few seconds and then he was rewarded with a blueberry sucker.
  
• I guess now the hair saga begins. It's off to the hair stylist every 4-6 weeks from now on with my buddy boy. Riley is 3 1/2 and she has only had two hair cuts in her life. Campbell has only had four. This will definitely be a new experience for me.

• (you can view more pictures to the right under the link, "our pictures")

A wonderful time

• What can I say, Disney World was a magical place. We are already looking forward to going back someday. Next time we'll take Jackson with us so he can live the dream just as we did.

• We rode all the kiddie rides in the Magic Kingdom as much as possible. Some of our favorites we rode at least twice. Riley's favorite ride was the roller coaster. Campbell liked them all. Brent and I just enjoyed watching the pure joy all over our girls faces. Considering school isn't out yet, the crowd was manageable and the weather was beautiful.

• The girls loved getting their picture made with all the Princesses. Riley was a little shy, but ironically Campbell stepped right up and had the biggest smile on her face every time. She was also very eager to give out hugs. Even the breakfast with Cinderella and the other Princesses was a huge hit. It was so sweet how each Princess would come to the table and really spend time talking with my girls and address them as "Princess Campbell and Princess Riley".

• The girls did great the whole time we were there. Even though Riley didn't have a nap for three days in a roll, she hung in there like a champ. Thank goodness we took the stroller with us or she would have never made it. By Thursday, she was done and only wanted to get out of it long enough to get on the rides.

• It was the best three days of our lives. Come Friday we spent all day at the house just catching up on our sleep and taking it easy.

• Be sure and check out our Disney pictures on the side including our day trip to Clearwater Beach on Monday.

• I am so thankful my kids are great travelers. Family vacations are the best!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Counting down the days until we leave for Florida. I can't wait. I don't know who is more excited, me or the girls. We are planning on taking our laptop, so we'll keep you posted on pictures as much as possible.

We are not exactly sure how Jackson will do on the flight there, but we are hoping for the best. We'll just have to bring lots of snacks. Thankfully, Grandma will be flying down with us and we'll have another person to hand him off to just in case he starts getting a little bored. If worse comes to worse, maybe I'll give him a pair of shoes and let him roam the isle of the plane. (just kidding.....) I'm not worried about the girls. They will be content just looking out the window.

Once we arrive at the airport, we'll rent a car and head to the house. Thankfully, Grandpa drove down on Wednesday with all of our luggage, so we don't have to worry about that minor detail.

We hope to make this trip as stress free as possible. Our goal is to watch at least one show, eat breakfast with a few characters and catch a parade. Maybe get a few autographs and take lots of pictures. I'm sure we'll ride a lot of kiddie rides in the meantime as well. All the other stuff we'll play by ear.

Poor little Jackson will not make it to Disney World this trip, but he will have lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa and the puppies. We'll take him when he gets a little older.

Thanks everyone for all of your advice and suggestions for our trip! We can't wait to share it with you.

Q & U Wedding

• The Kindergarten Classes at Bonsack Elementary performs the Q & U wedding each year at the last PTA meeting of the semester. It was Campbell's turn this year and she represented the letter "R" for Rainbow Ribbons. She absolutely loves rainbows so this was the perfect choice for her. She has been looking forward to this event for some time. She was especially grateful that she could share it with her best friend, Ida.

• The kids were able to choose which letter they wanted to be and the parents created a costume to reflect that letter. I have to admit, some of the costumes were so adorable and very creative!

• When we arrived, we were handed an actual wedding program and took our seats. At first all the "letter people" came down the isle and then the wedding party made their grand entrance for the wedding of the year.....the marriage celebration of Q & U!

• All the kids did such a good job singing , "Going to the Chapel" and "Stop in the Name of KWA". I have to admit, it was so funny to hear the little kids laughing when the minister told the groom to, "kiss the bride".

• Don't worry....they didn't actually kiss each other. The entire ceremony was G rated. : ) The bride and groom were holding a stuffed Q & U doll that went through the motions. Unfortunately, I wasn't at a good angle to get a picture of them.

• After the performance was over, everyone left the exact opposite they came in for the wedding. I'm hoping Brent will post the video up sometime this week before we leave for FL. In the meantime, check out the pictures when you get the chance.

• I just love Kindergarten and so does Campbell. This has been a wonderful experience for all of us.

Favorite Past Time

Jackson loves shoes! Oddly enough, he even loves them on his hands. It keeps him entertained for awhile and it makes him happy. He will crawl around the whole main level this way as long as we will let him.

Who needs toys when you have shoes, right?

Wild Flowers

We have a bank that slopes down at the edge of our back yard. We have been puzzled exactly what to do with it. It can be an eye sore at times. Brent does his best to keep it trimmed with the weed eater as much as he can.

I can't remember exactly when, but at one point Brent planted some wild flowers hoping that they would spread and eventually take over the whole bank. This year the daisies have taken off with a vengeance and they look beautiful! I picked some last night after the kids went to bed and put them in a vase for us to enjoy.

I'll be sure and post a picture of the flowers on the bank once we complete our patio. The crates (or whatever they are called) that once held the pavers are taking over our back yard at the moment. Once we dispose of them it will make for a prettier picture.

Strawberry Festival

We had the best time as always at the Strawberry Festival on Friday. Campbell wasn't completely thrilled that we went without her this year, but it didn't take her long to get over the disappointment after she saw the chocolate covered strawberries I brought home for her. She had permission to eat them when she got home from school. And what a treat that was!

Once we arrived at the festival, we set up for our picnic lunch before we dug into the yummy strawberries. We were joking that this is the only time we ever have a picnic together as a family. We will have to change that because we really do enjoy the change of scenery from time to time. Not only did grandpa and grandma join us, but we had some new friends join us this year. They recently moved down from Michigan and her husband works at NS as well. It was fun watching them experience the festival for the first time. I'm sure they will make it a family event going forward.

The strawberry festival is famous for their strawberry shortcakes. We are not that crazy about them because we prefer pound cake with our shortcakes instead of the old fashioned biscuits. Therefore, we usually stick with the strawberries and ice cream and the chocolate covered strawberries. This year I actually tried a strawberry smoothie. It was really good!

Unfortunately, I brought my camera, but didn't take any pictures this time. Oh well, maybe next year.

Hit another milestone

I knew this day was coming. Part of me was looking forward to it, but another part wasn't ready to give it up so easily.

As you can probably guess, Jackson dropped his first nap. He is only 12 months old, but he is ready. After a few weeks of trying to shorten his first nap, I realized it was useless. Even if he only took a 30 minute morning nap, he wasn't interested in an afternoon nap at all. Considering Riley and Jackson both nap at the same time, I wasn't going to let anything interfere with "my alone time".

Campbell was 15 months old and Riley was 13 months old when they dropped their first nap. I guess the more kids you have the less sleep they need.

At least we can go out and have fun in the mornings now that all of my kids are down to one nap. (with the exception of Campbell.....of course)

Now, if I can get Riley fully potty trained, we'll be in business!

80's Day

Today the SCA at Campbell's school is sponsoring 80's Days. Everyone at her school is encouraged to dress up in 80's clothing. We didn't participate because I didn't have a clue how to dress her up and I didn't think her daddy would appreciate me giving her "big" hair. In all honesty, I wasn't that thrilled about combing the mess out at the end of the day either.

While I was getting Campbell ready for school, she reminded me that today was 80's dress up day. We both agreed that it wasn't a priority and simply dismissed it. As I was braiding her hair I was thinking that 70's day would actually be more fitting for this event. Regardless, it wasn't happening.

Then Campbell curiously looked at me and asked, "What is 80's?"

As I was hysterically laughing I promised I would show her some of my old high school photos one day. (That's a scary thought....)

Man, I feel old......

Kite Festival

The girls are flying their kites.

Along for the ride.....

Penguin and Scuba Diver kites.

Thanks to Nana, we all got our faces painted.


It was a perfect day for the Kite Festival. Extremely windy. I have never seen so many kites up in the air before Saturday. We love Kite Day. Besides the Strawberry Festival, it's one of our favorite Roanoke highlights that we attend every year.

We all got our face painted, participated in the flag ceremony, had a picnic and flew our kites. This was Jackson's first year and he loved it. He didn't have a clue what was going on, he simply loved being outside...and eating.

We are already looking forward to next year!

Campbell's 6th Birthday

Campbell posing for the camera before her guest arrived.



Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Party.



Sweet picture. You can view the "crazy" picture under 'Our Pictures' link.



Ida's turn to play "where's my stuffed animal" game. She had to pick out her stuffed animal in a pile while blind folded.



Here's some pictures of Campbell's "faux" Slumber Birthday Party from Tuesday. She invited 6 of her friends and had them wear their PJ's, bring a sleeping bag, pillow and their favorite stuffed animal. The best part was when the party was over at the end of the night, all the kids went home to sleep in their own beds. Faux is definitely the way to go!


The girls had so much fun! We started out by decorating there very own pillow case. The girls actually signed their name on Campbell's which turned out really cute. Then they ate pizza and painted their nails and toe nails. Next we all chowed down on some cake and ice cream. After Campbell opened her gifts, we played several games. Just to name a few: Pajama freeze dance, where's my stuffed animal game and the limbo. I also was able to get a shot of them "pretending" to be asleep in their sleeping bags. That lasted a total of 2 minutes. Then they were up and dancing again. I wished I had that much energy.

I can honestly say that I was absolutely exhausted after the party was over. I think next year I will stick to the traditional 2 hour party. Either way, as long as Campbell has her friends with her, she will be happy with just about anything.

Happy Birthday, Campbell. Mommy and Daddy love you very much!

Happy Easter

Here's the kids in their Easter outfits. No, Jackson isn't walking yet. Although, he is able to stand up if the girls are holding his hands.


Easter baskets for the kids. They rec'd bubbles, chocolate, toothbrushes and toothpaste from the Easter Bunny. Jackson had plastic eggs filled with goldfish and Cheerios in his basket instead of the chocolate. Maybe next year he'll get the good stuff.


Daddy is helping the girls dye Easter Eggs. Don't they look cute in their aprons?


Ta-da!

We have had a fun weekend. Not only is it the beginning of Spring Break, but we've had beautiful weather for playing outside. We've also did our annual Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt, birthday parties, (yes, two in one day) and dyed some eggs. All of this was just on Saturday. Today we did the Resurrection Eggs, Easter Baskets, Church and ate lunch at TGI Friday's. Kids eat free on Sunday's! After nap time we are all heading over to Nana and Papa's house for an Easter Dinner, egg hunt and I've been told Aunt Candice has a fun project for the girls to do. The girls are also planning on spending the night with Nana and Papa tonight too. I love Easter! Honestly, I just love having family so close during special times like these.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!

Birthday Blues

Jackson woke up this morning with a rash all over his body. Of all days...it had to be on his birthday. My first thought was an allergy because he didn't have any other symptoms. I racked my brain trying to figure out what he had to eat the day before, but nothing out of the ordinary crossed my mind.

After his nap he felt a little warm. Sure enough, he had a tempature of 101.9. I'm assuming the rash is a result of a virus. Thankfully, his well visit is tomorrow and we can confirm our diagnosis.

Poor little guy. No one should be sick on their birthday. Thankfully, he's in good spirits, eating and sleeping good.

Happy Birthday Little Man! Hope you feel better soon.

Birthday Boy

Monogrammed towel from Aunt Marlene





Jackson's very own cupcake. He has been waiting a whole year for this!


My little prince.


I think he likes it!

We had Jackson's first birthday party on Saturday, although, he doesn't officially turn one until Wednesday. My parents came into town for this big event and so did Brent's parents as well. We all had a great time watching Jackson experiencing cake for the first time. Needless to say, he loved it!

He wasn't extremely excited about opening his gifts. I think his sisters enjoyed it more than he did. However, he really liked the tissue paper from the gift bags. You can check out the rest of the pictures under the link "our pictures".

Happy Birthday Buddy Boy!