Jackson's 6th Birthday Celebration

Jackson started off his birthday by opening a couple of gifts that he could play with during the day.

He opened a new Slip-n-Slide and Lego's, which both got a lot of use:

Jackson wanted to go to the Mini-Grand Prix for his birthday, so after Eric got home, we headed out.

We rode lots of go-carts:

Megan was just a smidgen too short to ride the big go-carts by herself, so she rode with me. She kept wanting to go faster. On the other hand, Jackson rode with Eric and asked him to slow down. At one point Eric looked down, and Jackson had his hands over his eyes.

Jackson's cautious side continued when it was time to go down the big slides. I had to go down with him the first time, but after that his inner bravery kicked in, and he went down by himself.

There was no way we were getting him to put his hands up on the roller coaster:

Sadie didn't want to ride anything, so she stayed on the side-lines and cheered everyone on:

After riding the rides, and playing lots of video games to earn the all important tickets to buy junk, we headed to dinner.

Jackson chose IHOP, which ended up working out great because our Kids Ate Free!

After dinner we went home to open the rest of his presents.

We played for a while, and then had cake!

Just like my face-painting skills, try not to be jealous of my mad cake decorating skills. In case you can't tell, that is Drago from Bakugan (which is what Jackson requested).

It was a great day, and we were all worn out at the end of it.

At 6

My Jacksey is 6 today!! At 6:

• He shortens words. For example, he walked into the kitchen the other day and said, "Mom whatcha cooking in the wave?" (microwave).
• He loves Bakugan and HotWheels Battle Force 5.
• He eats oatmeal nearly everyday for breakfast.
• He is kind-hearted. The other day Sadie told him she didn't like him, and he started to cry. It hurt his little heart.

• He lets Sadie boss him around.
• He eats about 15 small meals a day.
• He has a habit of obsessively asking for things after I have said no.
• He doesn't like fast-food but is very susceptible to the lure of happy meal toys.

• He has started to write mostly with his right hand, and eats mostly with his left. When playing sports (batting, throwing a ball) he still switches back and forth.
• He is a good friend.
• He shares very well, except with Megan.

• He is uber cautious. Always looking before he leaps.
• He is a rule follower.
• I fear one day he will be a soda-a-holic.
• If he spills something on his placemat, he immediately wipes it up with a napkin.

• He always sneezes into his elbow (FYI: I never do, and don't really know where he picked this up, but I am grateful he did).
• He cannot tell a lie.
• He has a sweet tooth.

He is easy to love, smart, kind, caring, and is already such a great person at 6, I know he will be an incredible man one day.

 Happy Birthday Jackson!!!!!!

Pioneer Days - 2010

Have I ever mentioned that Pioneer Days was my favorite holiday (after Christmas) growing up? Well, after living in Las Vegas for the past 9 years, and spending many of them outside on July 24th in the scorching heat, it is no longer my favorite holiday. Nevertheless, every year we make the pilgrimage to the park to celebrate.

Caveat: The picture quality is terrible. I didn't want to carry around my big camera, so a lot of my pictures turned out blurry.

We played lots of games:

Eric, Megan and Jackson all got wet at the dunk tank!

Jackson's friend Eli dunked Jackson.

And then Jackson dunked Eli.

Eric dunked Megan.

And finally Megan dunked Eric.

Of course we ate lots of food including hot dogs, tacos, pizza, snow cones, and ice cream bars.

I was working the face-painting booth, so we all (except for Eric) got our faces painted.

Try not to be jealous of my mad butterfly face painting skills.

Megan did my flower.

We headed to the car to put some of our stuff away before the fireworks.

And when we got there we discovered we had an awesome view of the fireworks, so we hung out on the roof and watched.

It was certainly hot, but just as certainly fun. As always, I am glad we were there.

Sade's Update

Oh Sadie. Now 2 1/2, I thought I would do a re-cap of what she is saying lately, and the things she really loves.

If someone does her wrong, she most definitely will tell us about it. With her brow furrowed, and her voice full of indignation, she now relates this story to us nearly every day:

"A girl took my 2 cars I was playing with at Nursery class. That wasn't very nice. We need to beat her up!" (Oh dear. For the record we do tell her each time we do not beat people up.)

She loves to ride her princess scooter.

She calls the computer: pooter

And the remote: mote

She was laying down feeling her ribs the other day and told Eric that she had a marker inside her body.

Megan dressed her up in this ensemble and Sadie told us all her name was Yee-Haw.

She uses the term Boo-Yah liberally. As said the other day, "I just went to the bathroom. Boo-Yah!"

She's a screamer.

She's also a tattle-tale. Wonder who she gets that from?

Speaking of Megan and Jackson they always send her to ask me  for things. For example if they want a popsicle they almost always send Sadie in to ask. I think they figure it is hard to say no to so much cuteness.

When asking for help she always says, "Help me, help me, ayudenme, ayudenme." (obviously from Dora The Explorer)

We were at a wishing well and I told her to make a wish before she dropped in her money. She recited this  from Dragon Tales, "I wish, I wish, with all my heart, to fly with dragons, in a land apart." Do you think she watches too much television?

She has what I believe to be the cutest curly pony-tail on the planet.

She bosses us all around.

She insists on putting on her own shoes.

She loves to play hide and seek.

She adores all princesses.

After getting ready for church she finds Eric, Megan and Jackson and shows off her dress and hair. She then twirls and waits for them to tell her how pretty she looks. If they say she looks nice or beautiful, she says "Yes, but do I look pretty?"

She is a girly girl, who makes her opinion known, and can always hold her own. I adore her.