Sunday, May 20, 2012

Get Out and Play!

We love our backyard so much!  It looks like a crazy daycare center, there are so many toys!  That just means we are having FUN and playing outside!


 

Learning to drive his red car.




And my baseball crazy Matthew.




And JM looking for "pirates" in his clubhouse.



And lately it seems like the only picture I can get with all 3 boys has Matthew running out the side of the picture.  He will NOT sit still to pose for a picture.



The boys were snacking on something, but I have no idea what!




I love our backyard and I'm so glad it's nice and flat and fenced in so we can be outside and enjoy it most days..

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Birthday Boy

We were lucky to have my grandparents and my mom drive up for John Michael's birthday.  I was glad they could come and celebrate his birthday and make some fun memories!    They stayed for a few days and cooked and cleaned a bit while they were here.  Mostly, they just cooked and I didn't complain one bit!!!


While they were here we had a traditional Sunday Dinner.  I've missed Sunday dinner so bad since we've lived out here.  Sunday afternoons still seem strange without family around.  I was so happy to have a nice Sunday dinner around our dinner table with 4 generations gathered!


 


For John Michael's actual birthday day we were stuck at home with Matthew and Noah being sick, so we couldn't really go anywhere.  I made monkey bread for my birthday boy and he woke up to balloons hanging all around his bed.



Since we had sick ones at our house, we just watched movies all day for his birthday!  Not a bad birthday!



I made John Michael a yellow cake with chocolate icing!



After Jordan came home we had dinner, ate cake, and opened presents!




The boys are blessed to have family send them gifts all the way from Alabama!




His big, main gift was a new, blue 2 seater Jeep!



They love riding in it, although it is taking some teaching to show them how to actually steer it and not constantly run it into the curb.



Overall, it was a great few days of celebrating John Michael turning 4.  I know I say it all the time, but I still can't believe that he is growing so fast and how time is literally falling through my hands like sand.  It seems like yesterday that he was my only little guy and we spent so much time together reading, rocking, doing puzzles, and running errands around town together.  Now, things have changed; more babies have joined our family and there seems to be less and less of me to go around.  At the end of the day I hope that John Micahael feels loved and happy.


Now that he's 4:


 As he turns 4 I notice so much more how he waves to people and says Hi and he prays for his friends at bedtime.


 He has a kind heart and I love him for his sweetness and gentle way.  He is so close to learning how to read.  He knows what each letter says and I'm hoping he can read by the end of the summer.


JM is having a hard time with writing skills and we're working really hard on that right now, so I'm also hoping he'll be doing some of that by the end of the summer.


He's just now learned how to pedal his tricycle.  It's taking some working but he's getting it and he's proud of himself!


JM is around 39 pounds and is in a size 10 shoe and can wear up to a 5T shirt and 3T shorts this spring.


He loves to go to gymnastics class and he really loved church choir this year.  He loves to sing and he can sing pretty well.  I'm so happy that his favorite songs are Bible songs.


I hope as he keeps growing that he keeps an open, tender heart toward the Lord.  I hope I can be the mom I need to be to help him do everything he needs to do to get ready for school and all of those things like sports and other activities.  Mainly though, we just pray that he learns to love and trust GOD with his life!  We know everything else will fall into place if we put our trust and hope in Christ!


Happy 4th Birthday John Michael.  We love you so much, sweet boy! What a joy and a blessing you have been to us these past 4 years.  You changed our lives and we will never be the same!

John Michael's 4th Birthday!

When we asked John Michael what he wanted to do for his 4th birthday, he told us he wanted a Cars 2 birthday party at gymnastics.  We said OK and got it scheduled and I think it turned out great!  We had pizza and cupcakes and drinks.  It was an easy set-up and an easy clean up for me, so I was happy!  Most importantly, JM was happy and liked everything.  He's such a great little guy!  I can't believe he's already 4!

 

 

John Michael said he liked all the balloons and decor for the party!



When the kids got there they all had to take off their shoes and then sit and listen to the "coach" tell them the rules.



After that, they had an hour of open play to just do whatever they wanted!






Everyone had a great time and I think the kids really enjoyed being able to run crazy for a whole hour!





After the kids played we all headed into the party room to have pizza and cupcakes.



Matthew wanted to sit up right beside his big brother and all the big kids!



We all sang Happy Birthday to the birthday boy, he blew out the candle, and everyone enjoyed cupcakes.  I had THE most precious Cars cookies made and sitting in a little bag for the party favor, but I don't think we got a picture of that.  They were so cute and the kids liked them, I think!



That smile on his face says it all!  He was so excited about his party and I think he was pretty happy too!  We were so happy so many of his friends could come celebrate his birthday with him.  It meant a lot to us!


Sunday, May 13, 2012

3 Blessings

 

 

 My 3 blessings who call me Mom......




Sweet Matthew



Sweet John Michael



Sweet Baby Noah



And Even Jackson is my baby too!



It's been a wonderful Mother's Day today because I got to spend it with my 3 greatest blessings in life: my BOYS!  I'm so blessed and lucky.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

It Makes Me Wanna Jump, Jump!

We finally got our new trampoline put together a few weekends ago!  It was a Christmas gift from Meme and Papa and we're just now getting it out and put together.  The boys helped Jordan put it together one Saturday morning and then were ready to......


 



JUMP!!!





They've been loving it!  Even Noah has been loving to sit in there and let the boys gently bounce him around.



We are thankful for a fun, active way to keep our boys entertained in our backyard!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Moms 'n Muffins

Last week I had the honor to go to John Michael's preschool room for a morning of Moms'n Muffins!  They had milk, water and coffee set up and cinnamon rolls waiting on us!  It was very fun and sweet to be in John Michael's room with him.


 


John Michael and me!



John Michael has really enjoyed his year of preschool and I'm so proud of him for all that he has learned and done this year.



It was a sweet morning for sure!