Summer, Pre Surgery

We started out the summer with Carter's first year of T-ball.  He was one of the youngest, barely making the cut off.  He'd never really played before so this was a lot of new experiences for him.

He was so proud of his team shirt and hat.  He loved to tell anyone who would listen that he played on the "Smithfield Blue Jays!"

Carter is left handed but come to find out he does everything EXCEPT bat left handed.  His swing was horrible and awkward and then remembering that Neil is also left handed, but bats right handed, we switched him.  He did much better after we figured out his swing.  

Trying so hard to remember to step while throwing.  Stepping with the wrong foot, but that will come!

Carter loved T-Ball and loves being on a team in general.  His little team only had 1 practice before the games started and so the games were a bit chaotic as no one knew what to do.  I'm hoping this year was the year to get his feet wet, and next year we can start on the intense training and learning!

T-Ball is a hard sport to watch, let's be honest.  But Jackson did great and found a friend whom he played with each and every game.  This 8 year old boy, Dame-It, as Jax called him (Damon), entertained Jackson through the entire hour games, 2 times a week.  

 T-Ball was also hard to sit through thanks to the extreme heat.  Sunglasses for everyone!

Jackson isn't really suppose to get his Central Line or dressing wet but we have decided to figure out a way around that.  Thanks to other parents who are more experienced than I am in dealing with these things, they taught me how to safely waterproof the sight.  Last year we dabbled in water activities and this year we are going full force.

 Jackson loved the new water park.  Until he got sprayed right in the eye!

Both boys love being in the water and love playing at the parks afterwards.

 We've been real swimming a couple times this summer and while Jax loves being in the water, it does make him a bit nervous to be fully submerged.  We're going to have to make up for lost time and try and teach him to be comfortable in the water, when until recently, he never even got to bathe.  He's never laid down in water or gone under water so we need to work on things like that.

 We all went to the Monster Truck show that came to town in June.  Both boys were in heaven.  The noise made Jax a little nervous but with his ear-muffs he sat and watched for the entire show.  He still loves to talk about the monster trucks and will tell you that "Monster truck tipped over" and "Motorcycles Jump really high."

 I sometimes wonder if Carter loves the monster trucks or the treats more.  It's a toss up.

We have gone camping twice so far and hope to squeeze at least 2 more trips in.  But each time I have forgotten to take my camera and I leave my phone off most of the time.

                                          
Our first trip was to City Of Rocks.  We all got a little sunburned this trip.  It was super hot during the day but freezing cold at night.  Jackson apparently doesn't have enough body fat to keep himself warm at night so he spent both nights cuddled up to me to stay warm.

The boys loved climbing on the rocks and we spent many hours doing this.  Neil even did some real rock climbing!

 Camping close to home, Smithfield canyon.  Both boys slept incredible this trip.  Straight through the night with no peeps out of either of them.

 Carter loves helping Neil with the trailer and getting it hooked up.  Takes his job very seriously.

The backyard pool is a great alternative when we can't make it to the big pools.

 Watermelon has been consumed in great quantities this summer by everyone.  This is a family treat we can all enjoy.

And we've all spent a little bit of time on our bikes.  Jackson is trying to figure out which bike/trike will best suit him.  

He can't quite figure out how to pedal any of them but hopefully by next summer he will have it figured out.

We tried to squeeze as many outings/fun things into June because of Jax's surgery in July.  Hoping to finish out the summer strong after surgery.

Ninja Turtle Birthday

Carter became obsessed with Ninja Turtles a few months ago so it was only natural that we celebrate his 5th Birthday with a Ninja Turtle theme.  I kept everything very low key and easy because of my lack of craftiness.

 We started out with Ninja Turtle Balloons for decorations.  Raphael is Carter's favorite turtle because "he is the coolest."  Enough said!

I spent a long time on this double layer, completely green cake.  It was a day of firsts as Carter could have regular birthday cake for the first time.  I'm pretty sure I was more excited about it then him, meaning I could make it from a box and not have to make it from scratch.  I also made my first cake balls, displayed as the 4 ninja turtles.  This cake was exactly what Carter wanted.  He was thrilled with my far from decent decorating skills.   We made the cake and decorations the night before and thanks to the heat, one side of the frosting melted off during the night and the balloons shrunk a little, make their eye wear slip off.  Nothing a little tape couldn't fix, and I was out of green frosting so I just turned the cake around and no one even knew.

I learned my mistake from Carter's 4th birthday party with friends and vowed to make this party less hectic and more fun.  I once again kept it simple, short(1 hour) and most importantly, kept it outside!  

 When we moved, we moved into the best neighborhood to be a little boy in.  There are so many boys Carter's age and he loves playing with all of them.  We started out the party with Ninja Turtle tattoos.  Then straight on to presents! He got so many fun presents from his friends, they were all very thoughtful and Carter loved all of them.

 Next we went to Cupcakes.  There were 4 different colored cupcakes (for the 4 turtles) with a cool Ninja Turtle ring on top.  I'm sure all the mother's loved me....tattoos, cheap rings!

Cupcakes are always a hit and with all the food coloring I had to use, many boys walked home with tinted lips!

After presents and cake we played water activities outside.  It was a bit cooler and windier than I hoped, so we made sure no one got very wet.  We played with water balloons and giant squirt guns and we had 8 little boys in heaven!


After the friends Party we  had his family party.  Carter chose to do cake first and even picked out his own #5 candle weeks earlier.

How did 5 years come and go so quickly?

After cake and ice cream we went straight to presents.  Carter was a great receiver and had great facial expressions and gasps as he opened each present.  97% of everything he opened were Ninja Turtle Items and the other 3% were things he loved as well.  

 Magformers from Grandma.  Fun for kids and adults!

Carter received 3 of the 4 ninja turtles for his Birthday from Grandma as well as their dune buggy car from us.

 One of Carter's favorite presents was Raphael's swords or tools?  Whatever you call them.  He wears them in his belt loops around the house, fights bad guys with them, and drives me crazy with them.  He gets a little bit wild with them and sometimes the swords have to be put in timeout for a day or 2.  It's hard being a ferocious Ninja Turtle trapped in a 5 year old's body!

His electric Green Ninja Turtle shirt from Linsey and Lee.  He wants to wear this shirt every day and I have to limit it.  He also received ninja turtle underwear and looks for the Red Raph pair every morning.  I have had to remind him of our rules......you can't wear the same shirt 2 days in a row, and you certainly can't wear the same pair of underwear 2 days in a row.  

 Ninja turtle pajamas from Catherine and George.  Also a battle to pry them from him to wash!

                                    
Carter refused to model his new underwear but Jackson was more than willing to strutt his stuff in them.  Look at his GQ pose at such a young age!

He was so excited to have all his Ninja Turtle stuff.  He got 10$ from his great grandma and we went to Walmart the next Monday in search of the 4th Ninja Turtle to complete his set......wouldn't you know they were completely out of Donatello at both Walmarts?  We tried to convince him to save the money and we could order Donny from Amazon but being a typical 5 year old, he couldn't hold on to the money any longer.  He bought Shredder and his sucker for parents bought him Donny the next week after being brave at the allergist.

Carter now owns almost every Ninja Turtle accessory that has ever been marketed.  

Happy Birthday to my favorite 5 year old!  We had a great weekend celebrating his birthday and he's already planning #6!