Labor Day Weekend!

Jackson had the best Labor Day Weekend! It began with a birthday party for one of his friends.

These are moms and their babies from our playgroup!

It was the perfect day for an outside party and J loved the cake and even got to see some dogs. :)

J thinks his shoes are so cool and loves to go outside. He was stomping around and telling me he was being "silly" in this picture!

The summer can't come to an end without a few more trips to the sno-cone stand. J has just learned to give kisses and was giving me a kiss while Dad bought our sno-cones.

J loves being outside when it's windy and will even point to the fans inside and ask for it to be windy. He has just learned to say "windy", therefore the wind at the sno-cone stand was quite entertaining and made for  sweet pictures...

"Look Mom, it's windy!"

Where did the wind go? 

 :)

Windy days are fun!

 How big is J? SO BIG!

 Then, we got to visit Great-Grandmom and Granddad. They are so special to us, have fun toys and let J swim in their neighborhood pool!

                                   J is a water baby and Daddy is so much fun in the pool!

Lastly, Daddy got to stay home with us on Monday and J got a labor day cookie and LOVED it!

Scott's Birthday Week...

I love birthdays! Everyone likes to feel special, and birthdays provide the perfect reminder to make extra effort to show people you love how special they are to you. Therefore, Scott and I have decided that we are going to celebrate "Birthday Weeks" in our family. Not every night will be a birthday party, but each day will contain some element of celebrating the birthday boy or girl. This year, I got to celebrate my birthday boy in many fun ways! It's a good thing too, because he is INCREDIBLE and deserves every bit of celebration...and more!

 Sunday: We spent the weekend with my family and celebrated Scott with a lasagna dinner and delicious cake! 

Monday: J and I made Scott his favorite dessert, chocolate cream pie. J picked out the football candles and was enamored with the fire. He cried when Scott blew out the candles. :)

Tuesday: After we put J to bed, we had a nice dinner and date night by candlelight! (Isn't he handsome!?!)

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Wednesday: We had Rangers tickets! The weather was gorgeous and we had a great time at the game. 

Plus, the Rangers won and Scott ate 4 hotdogs, due to $1 hotdog night.

 Thursday: We did a dual-celebration of Scott and his brother, Brian, as their birthday's fall 3 days apart. I love this picture, because it almost captures the fact that there were actually 31 candles on this cake!

J is very thankful that he gets alot of cake this week. I think he thinks it is his birthday!

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 Friday: We enjoyed a delicious steak dinner. Scott really does love steak more than anyone I know.

Saturday was my favorite day! I didn't get a picture, because I was too busy having fun. We got to spend the entire day together doing things we love to do. What a blessing!

I hope my Michael FEELS as loved as he IS!

Camp Trailmarks

About a month ago, I posted about our trip to "Paradise". We were blessed to spend a week in St. Lucia and had one of the most special, restful and much needed retreat times in our marriage. While we were away, J attended Camp Trailmarks, summer camp at Mimi & Pops. They have been talking about doing an annual summer camp for their grandkids since we got married, and this summer, it became a reality!

I have decided that I want to attend Camp Trailmarks, and after reading this, you will too!

Pops always has such fun toys for J! He enjoyed playing with them in his splash pool.

This was J's first time to play with Duplos...he loved them!

 Pure excitment...makes my heart happy!

 Pops ALWAYS takes J to see the wooden cow across the street. J is a little obsessed with this cows, and all cows for that matter. This time, he got an entire walk in his wagon.

Chick-fil-A...his favorite

I also have to brag on Mimi. She asked me for a shopping list and bought ALL of J's food for the week. What a blessing to not have to pack up a week's worth of food. Thank you, thank you!

They even had balloons a.k.a "boons"

 Distraction is the key to getting J to eat his vegetables. This dancing chicken was the best distraction device at Camp Trailmarks. :) Also, look at that pot-belly!!!

Bible study lesson of the week: God created the animals! He loved the flannel-graph!

Yes, those are sheep in the sky!

As you can see, J had a blast! I believe Mimi and Pops did as well. Thanks again for such a special week!

Big Friday for J...

Yesterday, J and I had a very fun and full day. We were out of the house most of the day and all over the metroplex. We tried a Gymboree class (which J LOVED!), had lunch with a friend, got to see my friend's brand new baby and met Scott for dinner. It was a great day!

Today, I decided we needed a more low-key day around the house. For the most part, we did stay around the house, but we ended up having some very exciting events.

1. J learned how to fake sneeze! If you ask him to sneeze he says, "A-CHU!". It is absolutely adorable and one of my very favorite "tricks" he can do.

2. J fed himself very effectively with a fork. We have tried this many times, but it is usually a "play session" with the fork and bowl that ends up in a big mess. Today, he got more food in his mouth than on his tray! I call this a major success.

3. The weather was gorgeous today, so we went for a walk. J decided pushing his wagon was far more enjoyable than riding in the wagon. During this process, he fell which resulted in his first skinned knee. It really was not that bad, but he did cry for a minute...which made me cry. Yes, we were standing on the sidewalk, crying simultaneously over a skinned knee, and our neighbors probably think we are crazy. I just hated seeing the betrayed look on his face when he realized his knee was hurting. After a whole year of protecting him in any and every way possible, I have become quite overprotective. Now that he is walking, I realize there will be lots of "ouchies" and "boo-boos" that I can't prevent.

 His first battle scar!

4. Lastly, we went to J's favorite park when Daddy got home. J loves chasing squirrels and ducks! J and Scott chased at least 60 ducks into the lake. I really should have gotten some pictures of my baby squealing with delight as each duck flailed into the water. It just makes my heart so happy!

I bet he sleeps good tonight after such a big day!