Will you be mine??

During our snow-in, we decided to get started a little early on valentines. Jackson had 21 kids in his class, so i figured that signing & labeling 21 valentines, plus stuffing them into envelopes would be quite a process. Plus i had other ideas in mind for Eli's class of 6 kids & the kids in both their bible classes. So, we started early this year!

Jackson was totally into it! He apparently has an admirer at school & he admires her as well. Her name is Kaitlynd & she is a brunette. The only reason this surprises me is because every girl he says is his "girlfriend" has always been blonde. I just figured he liked blondies, but apparently, his taste is varied! Anyway, with each valentine, he would say, "i am going to sign this one real neat because it is for so & so....." It was really sweet.I found a bargain at Michaels this year & was really excited. I am sure that next year this will be a no-go with Jackson because he will have his own ideas, but this year, he was thrilled. Instead of buying a valentine kit, i bought these.... A little girlie, yes- BUT Valentines day is one of those holidays that i think he can get away with it (at least this year in Kindergarten!)

They were marked .69c, & i thought, "surely not." I mean there were 12 in a pack. So, i had the woman scan them & sure enough, they were .69cents. So i bought 2 packs for $1.38 total! They are just little cards & they were the perfect size to put a candy on the inside & sign. I actually bought 4 (all the designs) & let Jackson choose 2. Then i gave the others to Emma in case she wanted to use them since they were so cheap. (And did i mention, cute?)

Jackson finished them all in one night & immediately wanted to know if we got to keep the extra candy!
And is this not the sweetest signature ever??
He was proud & very excited to hand out the valentines!
And when he was grinning so big at me, i noticed this (brace yourself, Nanny, i know the mouth isn't your thing - mine either!!) His new tooth is already coming in! And this was 2 weeks ago, so now it is already halfway in!!
Happy Belated Valentines Day everyone! Stay tuned for another post on the "other ideas" i had in mind for bible class kids, & the teachers at school....

My Birthday Boy...

Can you believe Jackson is SIX years old? I can't & already he seems more grown to me. How does that happen?
On the morning of his birthday, he came into my room ( I was still in bed) & he was fully dressed & ready to go... in a buttondown shirt! He wanted to look "really handsome" on his birthday apparently!
Since we weren't having his little family party until the weekend, we let him open up the gifts that were mailed to him that morning before school. (Which, by the way, was his first day back at school after the big snow! What a birthday gift, eh??) He dug into the big box from Nanny first... It was filled with lots of goodies from a movie, to chocolate, to a game!Next up was the bag from Peto.... and let me tell you.. he was SO excited! He got a wallet & it had dollar bills in it! He immediately wanted to carry it to school & i had to explain that he didn't need any money at school, & we didn't want anyone to take it!And then he opened his gift from Aunt Debbie. It was a mailer filled with pipe cleaners to add to his art bin & then in the card was more money! I think he has more money than me at this point! ha!So, then off to school he went with the idea that after church that night, he would open our gifts to him. Nothing like celebrating all day, huh? But apparently, he was sick & we didn't know it because by church time, he wasn't acting right, so i left him home with Randy. When we got back home, he looked like this....And he wasn't waking up to open gifts. Poor thing had a fever! And then the next day i took him to the doctor & it turns out he had a double ear infection! So after a day of antibiotibiotics... he got to open his gifts, finally!

He asked for Walkie Talkie's & clothes. Interesting coming from a 6 year old! So, Eli got him this Gymboree fleece jacket from the Goodwill for $2. Seriously. What a bargain.

We got him more clothes (off the Kohl's clearance rack)..note the pile on the floor next to him. This is how his room looks most of the time!
And we got him GIJoe Walkie Talkie's. He was SO excited over those!
He really got into his birthday this year & i could tell he felt special all week (despite the poor ears!)

Snow Day 3

Ugh... the snow took FOREVER to go away, & by the end of it, we were pretty sick of it! But the neighborhood kids weren't! They were all using OUR hill to sled down. We told a few kids that they could use our hill (the kids next door) but then all these teenagers showed up & it was like a party in our yard! So, we headed back out to let our own kids enjoy the hill some & the older teenagers finally left. Zack was very interested in all the commotion out front....
Let me at 'em.... please!!
Once we finally did head out again, Zack was ready for a good time!
Although, he didn't appreciate being sent down the hill alone....
All the sticks he was able to find made up for it though! He LOVES sticks!
Two younger boys hung around for awhile with us & let us use their sled....See how steep our hill is? I was near the bottom taking this shot up the hill...A birthday present arrived for Jackson in the mail while we were out playing (from Aunt Debbie)... he was thrilled...And then it was time to head back inside... But i think Zack would have gone home with the other young boys... he had a blast by day 3!Lola, on the other hand, was not so much a fan of the snow. She did handle it better than i had anticipated but she would go out, do her business & promptly be waiting back for us at the front door...
Sweet little Lola prints...
Much bigger Zack prints in the snow...

Snow Day 2

On Day 2 of being snowed in, we decided to tackle the roads & head over to Mema & Grandad's. It's a tradition, & their driveway is always nice to sled down... it isn't as steep as our new hill at our new house, so not as intimidating for the kids, but still lots of fun! It literally took us a solid hour to get over there! This is what our neighborhood looked like on our way out...And about 30 seconds later, we slid right into a ditch once we turned onto the next road. Luckily, Randy managed to turn the Jeep so that we slid on our side instead of head on, because that would have damaged the Jeep! Instead, we just damaged someone's yard while we rode down their ditch & then gunned it out & back onto the road! Whew! We made it though & my heart was thumping! We took it much slower after that & so slow in fact that Eli sacked out on the way!When we finally arrived, we got right to work on that hill!!
Uncle Jeremy took Jackson & Kaleb down together.....
And i even took the boys down a few times myself!

Of course, Randy is more of an adventure seeker than me... he tried fun tricks.... like sledding on his knees & using a huge umbrella to steer & slow him down....

Snow Day 1

On the Friday evening of January 29th, we let the boys wait up because we knew snow was on its way.... They were THRILLED when it finally started to come down....
The next morning, we headed out in it for a little while & the boys had a blast making snow angels & throwing snow balls at one another. Actually, they weren't really snow balls, but hunk of snow/ice that were already clumped together. They would grab some & chunk it at the other as hard as possible! Of course, this didn't end well, but it was fun to start with, right??

Standing on the porch to pacify their mother for a picture!
The first snow in our new house!

Just rolling around in the snow.... and letting the dog tackle them, of course!
It took a little warming up for Zack to fully appreciate the snow....

Throwing snow bombs at one another...
Look out behind you, Jackson!!
Aunt Marie & Uncle Jeremy braved the roads to come hang with us & sled our hill. That meant that the daddies went out with the big boys & the mommies stayed inside & cooked all day. And tended to this little guy! He was so happy (at first!) to be in the laundry basket, all propped up & cozy!Then all the festivities wore them all out. Randy had one on each arm asleep....