8 years of fun!

We celebrated Jackson's 8th birthday this past weekend. Here is the birthday boy eating a birthday breakfast!

In the afternoon, we headed over to Bass Pro Shop for his party. We did archery, laser guns, and a scavenger hunt in the store. We packed in the fun!

Here are Jackson and some of his buddies, Jack and Will.

My mom and I made a target/bullseye cake. We had to change our original plan, which was going to be a fish. The pond was frozen over at Bass Pro, so we couldn't fish. So, we made this target. Honestly, it was a lot easier than the fish was going to be, so I was glad :)

In the archery gallery, just casually leaning on an African Lion....no big deal.......

The boys learned how to shoot a crossbow and it was powerful! The guy had to help each of them just hold it, it had so much force when it shot. Check out the concentration on Jackson' face.

I told the boys they had to pose for a "nice" picture without bunny ears or weird faces. Here it is....

A second later, I told them they could be silly.....they all acted like that lion was going to attack them.

And finally, cake time!! Jackson had a great time and we had so much fun watching him with his friends and just being a boy. I am so proud of him for so many reasons. He is such a great kid and is growing into such a thoughtful, interesting, awesome, young man! I told him, that no matter how old he is, he will always be my baby. He just smiles when I say that....I think he likes it :)

Christmas 2009 (mostly in pictures because I have a TON of them)

First stop.....Mom and Dad's in Kansas!
The g-parents and kids...ready to tear into the gifts
Auntie A and Jackson being silly
The LONG awaited Wii!! According to the boys, they were the only kids in Texas who didn't have one!
So happy!
Brooke got a bitty baby, but she just wanted to crawl into the box that it came in. So funny....
The boys in all their KU gear.
Uncle Ben with Brooke loving her bitty baby. Ben looks like a natural!
Second stop....Jason's parents in Leavenworth! The boys love the bunk beds that they sleep in there. G-pa reading them a story.
G-ma reading the boys a story the night before Christmas.
One morning, we opened the door and found a wall of snow! It was so cool...we made the boys stop and take pics. before plowing thru it.
1, 2, 3....run! They could barely get thru it because it was so thick!
G-ma and G-pa yard is the best for sledding.
Great grandparents from Idaho. We were so glad to see them. It was snowing so hard that we weren't sure if they could make the drive.
Here are some of the cousins with their grandparents.
Brooke loved the snow. She didn't seem to mind the cold.
Her first sled ride. She laughed and laughed and went down the hill probably 5 times!
Grandpa gave them a litte guidance on the sled or else Brooke would have ended up in the snow.
Almost every day, they have deer that come in their backyard. There were up to 7 of them at one time. Here is Drew helping to put down the corn after a snowfall.
After Christmas, Jackson got to go to a KU Basketball clinic. All the players were there and he got all their autographs and pictures with them.
He's pretty serious about basketball. Check out those skills!
We're back at home and decompressing after an awesome Christmas. We had such a great time with family and friends and the weather couldn't have been better. It was truly magical for the kids and that is so fun to see as a parent!

Gilley!!!!

Forgive this overexposed picture. I don't know what happened on that one. ANYWAYS, have you seen the SNL character, Gilley? She is this school girl who is always doing something mischeivious and then her teacher always calls her out on in and all she does is smile.
Well, we have a little "Gilley" here at our house. We just got home from KS yesterday and all of the sudden, Brooke wants to climb up and stand on the outside of the stairs. She is so proud of herself. The thing is, she will stand up there and hold on for like 20 minutes, but then is scared to get down. We all were standing around her and she just kept smiling and making funny faces.

On another note, check out Drew's eye! Before we left for Christmas, Drew was at a birthday party and got hit in the eye with a golf club. I ended up taking him to the ER because I was worried that the orbital bone might be fractured. It ended up being just fine and he got a lot of attention from all the nurses and doctors.
It is almost totally healed now and he has definitely learned his lesson.....step away from the golf clubs!!
I have lots of Christmas pictures to post, but am overwhlemed with laundry, unpacking, sorting, etc....stay tuned!

The big ONE!!!

I just cannot believe Brooke has turned one year old!! I'm just so proud that Jason and I made it thru the year as a family of 5! Look at this girl. She was so happy to see all the family that came to celebrate.....Nana, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Chris and Aunt Jenifer, and cousin Kyle. And of course, her big brothers. Her cake was as big as her!
My mom made this same cake for me when I was one, so she did the same for Brooke. She worked a long time on it and it was so pretty. I'll have to keep the directions and make it for my grand-daughter :)
The proud parents!
She poked around at the cake for a while and then I pulled off a leg and gave it to her.

Now she has the idea! She ate the whole piece!

Nana and Papa gave her this little house that you crawl thru, ring the doorbell, play music....she is just delighted with it. She loves to open and close the door over and over again.

The boys were all over her and her new toys. Why is it that the older kids want to play with the baby toys?

The pink rocking horse was from G-ma and G-pa. It is so cute and the perfect size for her. She likes to get on it, but hasn't gotten the confidence yet to really make him go. I think she'll get the hang of it in no time!

Brooke has brought our family so much joy that I didn't even know we were missing! It's amazing how quickly time passes. She seems to be a smart and fiesty little girl...from what you can tell from a 1 year old. She is so happy and is a social butterfly. I couldn't have asked for a better little girl. We love you Brookie!

'Tis the BIRTHDAY Season!!!

From Dec. 5 to Jan. 10th, our family has 3 kids birthdays, Christmas, and New Year's.....do you know how CARZY that is? Well, we kicked off our party season with our sweet Drew turning 6! His birthday morning started off with his first basketball game at 8 a.m.!!!
Then, off to the Lego education center in Southlake to start the party! Garrett and Peyton were the first party guests...Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, and Papa were there too!
In the party roon, in front of a lego giraffe.
Drew was the King and he had to "knight" all his friends before they entered the party room.
Here he is "knighting" Jackson. I was just happy that he didn't knight his head with his sword. It would have been a great excuse :)
All the boys had to build lego weapons to slay the dragons. Here they are after they had captured them and build a trap for them.
Look at this cute king.
I had to get a picture of the cake. If you can't tell, they are 2 big legos. I made rectangular cakes and then cut cupcakes in half and put them on the top. I was pleased with how it turned out.
At the end of the party, the boys got to pick bricks from the lego wall. This took careful deliberation to pick just the right ones.
Finally, Drew gets to do his favorite thing.....build legos! He's building a big city right now. He will spend hours out there working and working. It's really the only time he is quiet!
Drew always keeps us laughing and has great thoughts and questions. He is always thinking of others and loves deeply. He wears his feelings on his sleeve and is the best cuddler. What a blessing he is to our family!