Ready for Church!

God has truly blessed us - so much!!!!

this is what shape a train is....

Ethan and Lily Kate!

Ethan loves his sweet gal pal Lily Kate!

Swimming Lessons!

Jackson started swim lessons on Monday!  My friends told me about it at Fayetteville Athletic Club and that it worked out very well for them, so I decided to put J in it.  Jackson is really loving the water this summer - but he still is extremely hesitant about putting his head under water.  He totally freaks out - even in the bath - when water gets in his face.  So my fingers are crossed for these lessons to build some confidence in him.  Fortunately, the lessons are only a few weeks long since it's 3 days a week in Fayetteville.... I've driven more this week than I do in a month!  :)  This pic is J waiting on his first lesson!

Jackson's instructor's name is Blair.

 Ethan decided it was time to push the stroller.  :)

This is Blair telling J it was time to put him under the water.  She showed him what it was like and told him to close his mouth and hold his breath and then she put him under w/ her... and then they praised him a ton - so he was quite proud of himself... He told me about 3 times that he went under the water.... I just kept bragging and bragging on him... so hopefully a little more of this will do the trick!

And they got him to do it by promising him he could go down the slide if he did it... HA!  Totally worked!!

Soccer Star!!!

On Saturday, Jackson had soccer again and this time he was ready!  He was really listening to the coach and trying to do exactly as he was supposed to. My baby boy is so grown up!  This time, Haley actually played the game!!  Haley's mom Darla captured some pics for me! 

Jackson REALLY loves Coach Brad!

So during the game, there was this little girl from the other team who kept running down the field and scoring... she was incredible!  Well, at the very end of the game, one of the kids on J's team kicked the ball down the field to their end and then the ball fumbled up and J saw his opportunity!  He ran over and kicked the goal!!!!!  GO JACKSON!  I'm so proud of my little soccer star!  He was so excited - he couldn't wait to run over and tell us all about it!  YAY!

Boingo Bounce!

Last week, we all joined up at Boingo Bounce in Fayetteville and Jackson thought he had literally arrived in 3 year old heaven.  :-)  We went during toddler time, so there weren't any kids bigger than him really so that was nice!  He never stopped smiling the whole 2 hours we were there... He ran and ran and ran and when we got home, he took a 3 hour nap!  This boy had a LOT of fun!

 Holiday and Eden gave Jackson some tips!

 Ethan really didn't stop moving either.... he kept running away from me and people kept almost stepping on him so I spent most of the time chasing after him.  He really just wanted to push the stroller around - or ANY stroller in sight!  :)  He is extremely "mobile" now!!!

This was our attempt at a group shot - Ben refused to come into the group - 

I think he was afraid it was time to leave!  :)

 

Attempt #2 - I give up.  I chalk this up to "impossible."  And really really cute!

 

 Ethan can't wait to for Lily to start walking too!!

Daydreaming to follow big brother....

 Jackson and Ben - right before his massive breakdown when we had to leave.

What fun!  I think we'll be visiting this place a lot!!

like brother, like brother.

It's just a shark, mon.....

Ryan reminded me that I hadn't posted this picture on the blog yet.... so along with this picture comes the heroic tale of a girl and a shark.  So when we were in Jamaica - we decided to go snorkeling.  I LOVE snorkeling and Ryan loves anything in the ocean, so off we went.  Our captain was Big Papa - and he was.  He gave us 30 minutes in the water so we were cramming as much into that 30 min as possible.  About 15 min in, the photographer snapped this pic of us.  Pretty cool.... well, right after this pic, Ryan had the bright idea that we swim over to this cave.  Being the ever-so-trusting wife that I am, I followed.  We were in the cave and Ryan popped his head up real quick in front of me and I lifted my head up too and he said "there is a shark right there - let's swim over it."  Then he began to go!  WHAT THE WHAT!!!!!!!?  Um, NO!!!!!!!!!!!  I looked down and sure enough, resting about 5 feet below us was a nurse shark sleeping.  Again, Um NO!!!!!!!!!!!  So after he got across, he turned to see me and I shook my head.  Um, NO!!!!  So he kept beckoning for me to come on and I could tell I couldn't go backward by myself, so I said a little prayer and swam over that darn shark!!  I still cannot believe I came that close to a shark.  So you scuba divers out there are going "oh - it was just a NURSE shark... no big deal."  It was still a SHARK with massive flesh eating teeth!!!!  Anyway, I'm quite proud of how stupid brave I was.  :-)  Quite an experience.  I must say that had I been with ANYONE else in the entire world, there is NO way in the world I would have ever done that.  I know Ryan wouldn't put me in harm's way - so secretly deep down, although still scared - I knew it was going to be ok.  :)

Swimming with Channing and Bella

Yesterday one of my oldest friends ever - Megan - came over with her two gorgeous girls Channing and Bella to swim!  We had so much fun playing with them.... They are 9 and 6 years old - so quite a bit older than J but played so well with him anyway! Jackson asked them to come back soon.  :)

missing mrs. dawn!

mrs. dawn has been jackson's teacher at mother's-day-out since sept of 2010!  yesterday was his last day in her class and it made me very very sad.  she is an AMAZING teacher and friend.  she truly loves our kids!  thank you mrs. dawn for being just who you are - an incredible, loving woman of God.  your light shines so bright - it's contagious!

Summer Break!

This is Jackson and Ethan's last week of Mother's Day Out for 2 months.... OH MY.  I remember last year when we had a 2 mo break - I had a newborn baby and a very confused and hyper 2 year old... this year, I have 2 rambunctous boys who love to wrestle and play - a LOT.  They don't do too well at the grocery story together so this should be a very interesting 2 months.... wish us luck!  I think we'll be spending almost all of our time in the pool or playing upstairs in the playroom.  Regardless, we'll have fun and enjoy this precious time while my boys are small.  It seems like it goes by so fast!

My big "school" boys!

 

Just a little heavy....

Anna Kate's Birthday!

On Saturday, after the soccer game, we headed to Anna Kate's birthday party!  For those of you that don't know, since sweet little Anna was born, I have basically told the whole world that Jackson is going to marry her.  Anna's daddy Jeremy and I have been good friends since college and when she came along just a few months after Jackson, I called it destiny.  Well, Anna is even more precious now that ever before and I am not ashamed to say that I am totally in love with her.  Jackson had so much fun at her birthday party!  Anna's mommy Crystal made every child these super cool and cute visors with their names on them and a cool beach ball!  What fun for a pool party!  Anna looked ADORABLE in her little white bathing suit... Jackson was so happy that there was a pool, cake, Anna and Haley. 4 of his favorite things/people all in one spot.  What a great great day!  I didn't put E in the water because we had already had so much sun from soccer - Ry and I took turns keeping him in the shade.  :)

Jackson and his ladies.

Ethan got to try cake for the first time!

Jackson and Haley!

The big birthday girl and her daddy.  :)

 

Hugs for Anna!

My cute cute boy.  I'm so crazy about this kid.  And his sassy smile. :)