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!

Happy Birthday!!

3 out of 4 of our birthdays fall within a month of each other.  Jackson gets to start out the celebrations.

May 17, 2014  Jackson turns 3 years old.  We started out the morning with 3 balloons for the birthday boy.

He was very thrilled with the balloons.  Side note:  This outfit was the same outfit Carter wore on his 2nd birthday.  Although Jackson is a year smaller than Carter was, I still like the nostalgia of birthday outfits and memories:)

The morning was spent at Carter's soccer game and playing.  The "Big" party wasn't until after nap time.  Unfortunately Jackson wasn't feeling top notch but he didn't let it ruin his big day.

At the start of the party Aunt Linsey showed up with an Olaf balloon that was bigger than Jackson.  He is obsessed with the movie Frozen and especially Olaf.  I thought for sure he would love this balloon.  And he did, and then he didn't:)  When he first saw it he squealed and then said "Ok, take it away now."  It made him very nervous.

It took a lot of coaxing to get him to sit near the balloon.  And every time the wind would catch the balloon he would jump a little!

Here he is watching Olaf from a safe distance.  Fascinated by it, but not wanting to get too close.  He was sure to point Olaf out to each guest as they arrived though!

Jackson's best buddy Evan came to the party and they greeted each other with a big hug.

Present opening was first.  This little boy is very loved by many people and each gift was specially picked out with him in mind and he loved all of them!

One gift from us was a monster truck shirt.  He was thrilled and it has gotten good use this summer at all our redneck events.

He got the frozen movie, soundtrack, stickers, books and so many Frozen things.

Lots of outside toys to dig with and move dirt with.  Every boy's dream:) And plenty of bubbles to last a lifetime.  Or a couple weeks with 2 boys around.

Another big hit was a card from Grandma Susan.  When you opened it there was a flower and when you blew on the flower it started playing a country song.  Jackson thought it was the best thing ever.  He would jump every single time the card would start to play but he would giggle and shriek with delight.

Here he is showing Evan how cool his new card is.  Both my boys love birthday cards that make noise and both grandmas always make sure they get plenty of them.

Time for Cake!  This was the first year I had made an actual cake for Jackson's party.  Not being able to eat much sugar sure makes things tricky.  But I figured he could at least have a couple bites.

He knew just what to do with the candle and blew it out quickly.

The best part was licking the frosting off the bottom of the candle.  He's a fast learner:)  All in all, he really only licked the very thinly spread frosting off and didn't bother much with the cupcake.  Guess I didn't have to worry too much about eating a lot.  He sure did enjoy the chocolate frosting though.

Family Picture.  Jackson had already needed a change of clothes thanks to spilling bubbles all over himself.

The next morning we lit another candle on another cupcake and let him blow it out.  Once again, he enjoyed blowing out the candle far more than eating the cupcake.

                                                

Although blurry, this picture shows what Jackson did when we told him to give Olaf a hug.  Each day Jackson got a little more fond of giant Olaf and would get closer and closer to him.

 Jackson received some new Lightning McQueen underwear for his birthday and he was excited to wear them the next day around the house.  He has no interest in the potty yet but hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can figure that out!

He kept himself dry the entire 2 hours he sported this awesome look.  Hopefully McQueen can be a great motivator!

The next birthday was Neil's.  Turning the big 3-2

We started off his big day at Kneader's for some yummy french toast.  We all love the french toast so it was a great excuse to eat 4,000 calories to celebrate a birthday.

Later that night we celebrated our favorite dad with a cake from Cold Stone.

Then the boys rode their horse dad around and showed him where his presents were hidden.

Group shot!  Neil's birthday isn't as elaborate as the boys.  Which is just fine with both of us:)

Next up came Carter's 6th Birthday in June.  He had been waiting so patiently for this big day.

He got to celebrate a day early while Aunt Linsey was in town.  She made him her famous banana cream pie.  Which was really a present to myself since I ate most of it:)  jk

Complete with candles and everything.  He even saved these candles to put on his birthday cake the next day.

 We let him open one present the night before his birthday.  They were Mario Kart sheets from Grandma to go on his new bed in his new room.

We started the day by going to the park and inviting a few of his friends.  I decided I didn't have the strength to do a friend's party every year so this was in place of that.  Playing at the park and then ice cream cones at McDonald's was well received by the boys.

Then home so I could make his cake.  When asked what kind of cake he wanted he initially said an ice cream cake from Cold Stone.  But then decided he really wanted a Ninjago Cake more.  Which means my mean decorating skills got to make an appearance.  It actually turned out almost exactly like the one I found online!  I was so proud of myself.

Next we headed to Texas Roadhouse.  Birthday boy chose this place and I'm not sure if it was to eat dozens of their yummy rolls or to ride the saddle and get free ice cream.  

 He was a little nervous at first to be the center of attention but quickly got over that and enjoyed the minute on the saddle.

 Jackson however was not impressed by their BIG LOUD "YEEHAW."  It freaked him out and he started sobbing.  Once he finally calmed down, he got down on the floor and slipped and fell on some spilled water a waitress spilled.  The manager immediately came over and basically asked if we were going to sue them.  We decided not too:)

Then home to open presents.  The only thing Carter asked for was Legos.  I decided that he needed a few other things than just Legos.

 He got a new picture for his new room.  He has been wanting a picture of the USA for a long time so was thrilled with his picture..

Jackson was more than willing to help with the present opening and Carter was a good sport and allowed him to help.
                                      

                                      
He got several Ninjago and Chima lego sets from his Grandma and he was thrilled.

                                      
Carter has been very into Science Experiements lately and so I got him a book that is filled with fun experiments to do at home.  We have been having fun trying new and crazy things together.

 After all his presents were open he wasted no time building something with his dad.  They both love putting together Legos.  I especially like cleaning the tiny pieces up each day and stepping on them.  Oh wait, no I don't.:)

Carter was able to break away from Lego building long enough to have cake and ice cream.  He was downright pleased with his Cake and kept telling me how it was "his favorite cake he's ever had!"  That was my favorite part of the day!

Happy 6th Birthday Carter.