Birthday, Birthday and More Birthday

Rachel turned eight years old yesterday, but we've been celebrating for a week now.  Michael was out of town this weekend, for her birthday, so we had a birthday party with some friends last Saturday instead.  And we did a little celebrating on Mother's Day with family as well.   (Warning - there a lot of pictures in this post!!)

She had a painting party at the place we paint at a lot.  They painted an ice cream cone.  Jackson painted a puppy dog - and he did better than I expected for his first time.  We drew it out for him but he filled it all in.  

Silly faces...

The finished masterpieces.

They all seemed to have a good time and overall, it was an easy party.

My mom and Jim came down for that weekend as well and of course the kids were so excited about that.  Rachel begged them to watch "Annie" with her so this is how they sat for a few hours - Jackson never moved. 

At dinner.  Jackson and Rachel both had to sit with Nana so the rest of us scrunched in together on the other side...while they had plenty of room...

Being photobombed by Jackson below...

 

 

Sunday was Mother's Day and for once, Michael was in town all day on Mother's Day.  He made reservations at one my favorite places for brunch.  So that was really nice.

Rachel took a few of these...she likes taking the camera and snapping pictures.  She took a picture of Granddaddy taking pictures.

Like I said, Michael was gone from Wednesday - Sunday afternoon.  Friday evening, Jackson, Rachel and I went to Waffle House for dinner.  We hadn't been there in a very long time and they seemed to enjoy it.

 

And this weekend Grandpa came down for a short weekend visit but it was nice to have someone else here - the kids and I were starting to get tired of each other!  Ha.  I surprised Rachel yesterday and took her to get a pedicure for the first time.  She enjoyed that.

Ready to go out for her birthday dinner.  She choose Taco Mac this time.

 

Also, this is out of order, but Jackson's school had Muffins for Mom last Friday morning and someone got this picture of us.  One of my favorites.

Whew.  I know that was a lot of pictures - it's been a busy week.  Michael was gone and the Georgia Mock Trial team that he took to National's made it to the championship round - they finished second, but still, that was quite an accomplishment!  

Swim team started two weeks ago and Rachel has been going to swim team practices in the evenings - she was very excited to finally start swimming this week since she now has her cast off.  That was a big deal as well!  

The end of school is almost here.  Rachel has 2 weeks and Jackson has 3 weeks left. 

April Days

This month has included some time with family outside...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two were taken in the exact same spot four years apart.  Still a cutie!

 

 

Their first time riding MARTA - they loved it. 

 

 

It also included our first broken bone - which didn't happen to the child I thought it would happen to first.  Rachel and Michael were out riding bikes on a path in the woods.  They decided to try the next level and it included a 2.5 foot platform to ride over.  Rachel made it up and half-way across before riding off the edge.  She went straight down and I thought her face was going to be more messed up but evidently her wrist took the brunt of the force.  It was a pretty bad fall.  We went to urgent care that evening and turns out she broke her wrist.  They put a splint on it for a few days and then the orthopedist put the cast on towards the end of the week. 

 

 

She even got to pick two colors for the cast!  The good thing is that it wasn't too bad and she's able to get it off in three weeks - which is much better than we expected.  She's handling it all really well but she is already ready for it to be off.  She's ready to get back to normal.

 

 

Also, this week the 2nd grade went to the aquarium on a field trip.  Michael was able to go with them as well. 

 

 

 

 

 

Next week we register Jackson for kindergarten and soon it will be someone's birthday!

 

Happy Easter!

Last Saturday, we had a couple of Easter egg hunts.  The first was at some friends house in the neighborhood - they've done this egg hunt for about ten years now and it grows each year.  I think there were around 50 kids there this time and close to 600 eggs (I know, I helped stuff them!).  Here's some of the group before they started.

I didn't get a picture of Rachel by herself that day, but here's one of Jackson with his eggs.  It was cold that morning so everyone was bundled up.

Yesterday we dyed Easter eggs and the pack came with stickers to put on them.  They liked that part and I think made them cuter.  

This morning we got up and went to church.  We took pictures when we got back so that it wasn't too cold outside and we didn't have to hurry as much. 

Being silly...

We forgot to get some of Jackson by himself while we were out there together so he and I ran back outside after he already had his shoes off.  I think he looks so grown up here.

Hope you all had a happy Easter!  And happy spring!  Hopefully with more warm weather coming our way (I'd prefer spring temps -  not summer ones already) we'll all start staying healthy soon.  This winter has been rough in that regards for us.  We're heading into our very busy season (usually just May) but I feel like it's starting early this time.  Rachel just finished spring break and now has seven weeks of school left.  At the end of this month we register Jackson for kindergarten. We've already got Rachel signed up for swim team and that starts at the beginning of May... Her birthday will be here before we know it and then the end of school and summer.  One day at a time...

Surgery and Afterwards

As you know, Jackson had surgery on Thursday to have tubes put in his ears and his adenoids removed.  Hopefully this will help the fluid drain from his ears and improve his hearing.  The surgery went really well.  He came out of it fine and started eating and drinking right away and never looked back.  We go back in about a month for a follow-up and will have his hearing retested at that time.  

Here's Jackson waiting for surgery time.  He enjoyed the facility - they had lots of toys for little kids to play with. He was shooting the basketball all morning.

He had a sore throat for a couple of days but other than that he was fine.  We were home on Friday and decided to surprise Rachel and went and had lunch with her.  They were both pretty excited - this was Jackson's first time seeing what real school is like and where he'll be eating lunch next year, etc.  

Rachel is the Star Reader for 2nd grade this month so we snapped a picture of her poster up front before we left.  

I had Jackson have some quiet time in his room Friday afternoon - he didn't want to but this is how I found him when I came in... Asleep on the floor, on top of his animals, Minion backpack on his back, blocks all around and light on.  Cute.  

Can someone please tell me where I can find a bubble to keep Jackson in?  I need one for him.  He's gotten hurt three times this weekend alone.  Wednesday night, before the surgery, he fell in the living room and hit the corner of his forehead and shoulder on the TV cabinet... that left a big mark and bruise.  Then Friday night, he and Rachel were playing in her room and he fell and hit the corner of her bookcase... it hit his upper lip up to his nose, and then the top of his forehead - he had a cut on his lip and above it, and a deep indent and knot on his forehead...  Then Saturday he was outside playing tennis and fell, but didn't let go of the racket so his finger got smashed and scraped pretty bad... Bless his heart... He let me take a picture of his face Sunday on the way to church.

And to top it all off, today was supposed to be back to normal for us all, going back to school and work.  But Rachel woke up with a fever.  Her throat has hurt all weekend but with the fever as well, I figured she needed to be seen.  So we took Jackson to school and then her to the doctor.  She now has strep throat.  Lovely, huh?  So, say a prayer that he doesn't get it again and start his cycle with strep all over again!  Especially since we just had the other surgery! 

Little Bit of Snow

The weather has been a little crazy here the past week or snow.  From warm to cold, snow flurries, no snow, snow up here, no snow just barely south of us, etc... Rachel was out of school all last week for winter break.  I was actually glad about that because I already had her days planned of where she would go and who would stay with her.  If not, I'm sure they would have cancelled school at least a couple of the days.  They went back to school on Monday and then have been out because of weather the rest of the week so far. 

 

Tuesday morning it snowed some at our house but we had to go to Jackson's ENT appointment first thing.  Then we took him to school but Rachel had to come to work with me.  She was so excited to finally be able to come with me (that doesn't usually happen) and then was rather bored while she was here.  She did watch a movie in the back though...

 

 

 

They predicted that Wednesday we would get 2-4 or 3-5 inches of snow at our house.  All the schools cancelled, even Jackson's.  So I stayed home with them yesterday.  Thank goodness we did actually get some snow - areas just south of us didn't get any at all. 

 

It started snowing around 2:00 or so and it continued for about 3-4 hours.  The kids went out and played a few times.  They wanted to sled more than they were able to but the roads just weren't very slick.  They did try, just didn't make it very far.

 

This is when it was starting to come down.

 

 

 

 

Throwing snowballs...

 

 

 

They went across the street to play with the kids there.

 

 

Michael measuring the snow for me - it was an inch and a half at this point.  He knows I have to take pictures of everything...

 

 

I finally went outside for the last little bit.  Glad we got a picture then!

 

 

All he wants to do is eat the snow...

 

 

 

 

The neighbor took this picture of them with the snowman... so cute!

 

 

The kids were really hoping we'd get more snow overnight or at least that the roads would ice over and they could go sledding.  Didn't happen.  The roads were almost clear this morning.  They went back out to play for a little while this morning - sledding a little bit in our yard.  Of course schools were still closed (Jackson's was only delayed thankfully)... We were able to have Rachel go over to a friend's house in the neighborhood for today so we could both go to work.  This picture below looks like they're having fun. 

 

 

We'll see if she goes back to school tomorrow or not.  I hope so.  Snow days without snow aren't that much fun.  At least we got what we did though!

Math by Jackson

This isn't my normal kind of post, but just wanted to share this with the family.  Jackson brought this page home from school yesterday. 

 

First of all, his handwriting has improved so much in the past month.  He's really taking his time and concentrating when writing now.  They have started working on addition in his class over the last week or so.  I asked him about this in the car on the way home.  He said he did it all by himself, the teachers didn't have to help him, and that he was the first one finished! 

 

Then he asked me "Mommy, isn't that amazing?" 

 

"Yes, Buddy, it is!"