Jackson Turns Four!

Thursday was Jackson's 4th birthday.  He was very excited about his birthday but turned shy on the day of around other people.  We let him open a few presents that morning before school.

 

 

 

He and Rachel both love this Sully mask.

 

 

 

Rachel, Michael and myself all went to his school in the afternoon and brought cupcakes to celebrate with his class.  Jackson was so shy with us there.  Rachel enjoyed dancing with the kids - even if Jackson wouldn't!

 

 

 

 

After school, we let him open a couple other gifts as well as his new bike!  He was pretty excited about that!

 

 

Everyone loves Olaf!  So cute!

 

 

 

 

He got to pick where we went for dinner that night and luckily it wasn't McDonalds this time!  He chose Mexican - so he could wear the hat!  He waited on that part the whole time we were there. 

 

 

 

Saturday afternoon was his birthday party.  This is the first year we've invited any of his friends to come.  He was so excited!  We had an outside water party at our house.  We set up sprinklers, had water guns, added a water feature to their roller coaster, and put the slide in the baby pool we have.  We also tried to do water balloons - and the kids loved them - except for they kept popping before we could use them.  So that part was a bit of a disappointment, but overall, it went really well.  We had great weather and all the kids seemed to enjoy themselves!

 

Waiting on his party to start!

 

 

 

I made his cake again this year.  It was the first time I've attempted rolled fondant.  It wasn't perfect, but I think it turned out pretty good. 

 

 

Two balloons got away... Jackson wasn't pleased with this.

 

 

 

 

Our resident life guard. 

 

 

 

 

 

Rachel and the girls.  The one on the left has always loved Rachel...

 

 

 

 

Popsicle time!

 

 

 

Rachel helped us fill up the water balloons for the kids.

 

 

Blowing out the candles on his cake. 

 

 

Cousins!

 

 

That evening, he got to open a few more presents... He's all about Spider Man and other superheroes these days...

 

 

And of course he still loves the Minions.  I just love the big ones!!

 

 

And here he is the next morning in his new costume. He couldn't wait to get everything opened so he could start playing with it all. 

 

 

That's it... He had a great birthday.  We were exhausted - but it was worth it.  Can't believe how fast time is going, they are both getting so big!

 

School starts next week.  Our summer is about over...

First Braves Game

Jackson has started showing an interest in the Braves recently.  We've thought about taking them to a game for a while now but didn't know if they were old enough to sit through the entire game.  We finally decided they probably could and went for it.  They have some cheaper seats for families on Sunday afternoons, so we picked a date and decided to go yesterday.  Michael's parents came with us. 

 

The weather however, didn't want to cooperate with us.  It started out as just very cloudy but soon the clouds started dripping on us.  It started raining towards the beginning of the game and we moved up to the top under the overhang.  This lasted a little while and then it stopped.  So, we moved back down to our normal seats.  Then it started again and didn't let up this time.  Up we went again.  Even though we were under the cover, the wind would blow the rain at us and we were still getting wet.  They delayed the game for about an hour and a half.  The kids were bored (they were a little bored even before the rain delay) but we had to wait on the rain to let up a little bit before we made the long hike out to our cars.  We finally made it out and were all pretty soaked.  Especially Michael and Dawson, who didn't have any kind of umbrella to use. 

 

They had fun at the beginning though and I managed to get some cute pictures before the rain started.  Jackson wasn't feeling the camera again - imagine that.

 

 

 

Jackson loved seeing Homer.  He wanted to watch him the whole game!

 

 

He also loved watching people pitch and hit the ball in these little cages before the game.

 

 

 

They both liked the cow!

 

 

 

 

Rachel with Grandmama and Granddaddy.

 

 

 

 

And of course the rain delay...

 

 

It'll probably be awhile before we try that again...hopefully on a sunnier day!

Kids Week Away

A couple of weeks ago, the kids went over and stayed with Grandmama and Granddaddy for the week - the whole week!  They stayed for several days last year and really enjoyed it so we did it again this summer.  It was the week of July 4th.  I still had to work that week but it really gave Michael a break at home to do what he wanted to do.

 

The kids had a great time!  They went to a camp at their church for the week...Rachel's was all day and Jackson's was until 1:00.  They got to swim and play and even go on a field trip through the church (Rachel's class). 

 

Here they are getting ready to go one day, lunchboxes ready!

 

 

 

They took one afternoon and went to the farm that they visited last year and loved.  They picked berries, carrots, drove the tractor, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Dick!

Yum, those berries are good!

He was proud of himself!

 

On the 4th of July, they went out to the festivities in Snellville, had a cookout and then went to see the fireworks.  This was the first time Jackson had ever been to see fireworks.  We were going to see them last year but they got rained out.  They both really enjoyed it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In their little bit of downtime throughout the week, they went to the pool a lot and played...also getting some ice cream one night. 

 

 

 

Everyone was exhausted after that week but they really did have a good time!