Summer Time

Summer started out with the last day of school.  Carter completed his last day of Kindergarten and was happy for summer to start.

 We started out getting ready for baseball season.  The son I had signed up for a league wasn't super excited.  Jackson however, wanted in on all the action.  He had to use Neil's left handed mitt until we bought him his very own for his birthday.

                                                
Nothing better than an afternoon of playing catch with your brother.

                                              
Carter on his first big game.  I realized this is my only real picture of him playing because somehow I became the assistant coach and didn't take any pictures during games:(  He loved playing catcher and infield and didn't love the outfield much.  His hitting radically improved throughout the season when his attitude improved.  Shocking eh?!  He doesn't share my love of baseball and I'm trying to not make a big deal out of it but I am researching pills/vaccines that make you love baseball.  Anyone know of any?

                                              
Jackson on the other hand, needs no vaccine.  He loves playing and would bring his own mitt and ball to play on the sidelines.

 Carter lost his second tooth.  In a somewhat traumatic manner for a 6 year old  He was eating a piece of corn on the cob, and ended up swallowing it.  There were tears and worries.  We assured him that this kind of thing happened all the time and that the tooth fairy would figure things out.

He insisted on leaving the tooth fairy a note.  "I don't know ware my tooth is."  With his simple note, the tooth fairy understood and left him his shiny dollar.

                                                
The rest of hold no grudges against yummy corn and eat it on a regular basis:)

                                                
Carter also participated in a soccer camp once a week and once again, didn't love it.  He does enjoy soccer more than baseball but we are still searching for his "True Love."

Summer found yet another surgery for Jackson.  Luckily it was a short and simple surgery for once.
As Jackson gets older, his surgery times start later and later.  And it gets harder and harder on him to fast that long.  Fasting is hard enough, yet coupled with a short gut and never being full, it is torture to wait.
                                                
He was so cranky and was not his usual cheery, talkative self.  Even having complete control over the Ipad didn't make him forget his hunger.

Every time he gets the feminine hospital pajamas:)  We met with the anesthesiologist finally and he agreed to give Jackson a little bit of Versed.  Or Happy Juice as we call it.  It is very light sedation that causes relaxation, sleepiness, and even memory loss during the time you have it in your system.  As you can tell from the pic below, Jax was super relaxed.  He's not asleep, just doesn't have the strength to hold his own head up for very long!

We love Versed Jackson.  I couldn't stop laughing.  He quickly forgot that he was hungry and became the happy boy I know and love.  He was slurring his words though and had to be held at all times.  It is the only good part of him having surgery.  We took some pretty hilarious videos of him.

After taking the versed, he was taken back to the room about 20 minutes later.  Because this was just a scope of his esophagus and upper intestine, I was allowed to carry him back to the OR and place him on the table.  I got to stay with him until he was asleep.  They just gassed him and he was out in seconds!

Surgery only lasted 20 minutes and thanks to a very competent anesthesiologist and a magic cocktail he actually woke up happy!  Such a nice change to his usual crying, screaming and trying to claw his way out of bed for 2 hours until he finally falls back asleep and then don't even think about waking him, which leads to a very long stay:)

We actually got good news from this surgery and it was such a nice feeling.  Jax was discharged very shortly later and got to take a leisurely ride to the car in a wagon.

Summer also brought group hugs before Dad leaves for work.

Lots and lots of time at the parks.  

And several trips to different water parks.

Carter is finally brave enough to ride the slide by himself!

Jax wishes he could ride down the slide by himself.  I told him next year.  He loved riding down with Uncle George this day.

This summer brought lots of cold sores for Jax as well.

This kids lip goes from normal, no sign of any problems, to this fat lip in minutes.  It doesn't help that he picks at it either.  Luckily, it goes down pretty quickly but always has a tiny sore on it that we can't completely clear up.

Visit to the Airplane Museum in Layton.

Both boys loved posing by each and every plane and cheesing for the camera.

Then inside to see many other things.

On the way home we stopped at the Ogden Aquatic Center.  It is such a fun pool.  Perfect for little kids.  The boys could have stayed all day if we had let them.

When we couldn't make it to the pool, the boys were more than happy to use our slide and makeshift pool as a replacement!  Who knew this could bring hours of entertainment.

 Jackson did not get the memo about sleeping in during the summer.  When he would wake up super early I would put him in bed with me(if Neil had left early) and half the time he would fall back to sleep.  Carter has learned to sleep in a bit and often times would sleep until 8.  Which is late for him:)

Carter's best moment of the summer was when he finally had enough money saved to buy this huge Lego Airplane.  He has been saving for this plane since Christmas and was awesome saving every bit of his allowance and birthday money.  Lucky for him, 2 weeks after his birthday the price of the place dropped by $20 and he could get it much earlier than hoped for.

He is obsessed with Legos and is constantly showing me new sets that he just can't live without.  I am on a mission to find the best way to keep Legos organized and off the floors.  So far I have not found the perfect solution.

With Carter being able to read now he loves to be in charge of reading bedtime and naptime stories.

And lots of sharing with the Ipad this summer.

One of the highlights of the summer was the Monster Truck show and the Demolition Derby.  Both boys were beyond excited for these events.  So we joined the hundreds of other rednecks in town and had a good time:)

                                             
Jackson was not prepared for how loud the Monster Truck show was.  When the first truck started his engine, Jackson started shaking like he was having a seizure:)  We had planned for this and brought some ear muffs.  It still took him a while to calm down after having the ear muffs on, but he couldn't take his eyes off the big trucks.
                                               
His level of comfort improved gradually throughout the night.  The rest of us wore little ear plugs and were fine.
                                                
He actually sat upright after about 40 minutes and by half way through he was clapping and cheering.
                                                

The next event was the demolition derby and we since they aren't as loud we didn't bring the ear muffs.  Big mistake.  He immediately started crying and begging for them.

He was only happy when we would put our hands over his ears and press VERY tightly.  If we loosened our grip at all, he would grab our hands and press them back on.

He was happy as could be most of the night like this.  Lesson learned:)  Both boys insisted on wearing certain shirts to these events.  Jax wore his monster truck shirt and Carter had an old one he wore and then a different car one to the derby.  Jackson still talks about the Monster Trucks and "Cars Crash" as if they were yesterday.  He loves to start telling any random person about them.  Each week in nursery he reminds his teachers of the big trucks and all the crashing.  

More summer highlights coming!