Tuesday 10

1. Following Blaine's birthday our house has been full of magic. Blaine received a trunk full of magician goodies and it couldn't have been a more prefect gift for him.

2. For Blaine's birthday breakfast he chose to go eat donuts.

Brandon was spending the night with Ryan's parents which I suppose was good for him because he was less than thrilled with Blaine's birthday breakfast location selection. Very seriously he resolved, "well I'll have to eat a lot in order to get full because donuts aren't that filling." And the first thing he told me when he came home what that Nana had made him waffles, which filled him up!

3. Sunday at church Blaine spelled the phrase I can talk to God all on his own, without seeing the words spelled out!

4.  I took this picture while we waited behind a tractor. These boys argue at home, sometimes constantly it seems, but in the car they are super buds and super cute. They giggle, tell each other jokes, whisper, sing, and just totally enjoy each other.

I had to be sneaky so they wouldn't see me.

5. We had a Sunday School swim party Sunday evening and this little girl is fearless.

It was a very good thing she was wearing her puddle jumper into the party because as we were over putting our stuff down, she was jumping into the pool. She is so brave, even moreso than her brothers.

I have no idea what she is doing with her hands.

6. Brandon, my awesome 10 year old is training for a kids triathlon!! He is super excited and super pumped and Ryan and I get to train with him. I am doing the running training with him and Ryan is doing the biking and swimming. We are super proud and excited for him, and so is his Mimi and Pappy!

7. In preparing for our trip to Texas, I went through the little boys' clothes to see what was needed before school started so I can hit up some outlet malls. Blaine hit a growth spurt and can no longer wear basically any of his clothes. Britton is totally reaping the benefits of this development and his closet is bursting at the seams. He couldn't be happier. It's hilarious the simple things that can make them joyful. Britton did however tell me he needed new running shoes because he needed to run faster.

8. My Quad made the paper!

One of my favorite pics of them going, where else but the ballpark.

That's it. I have an awful sore throat and I am praying it's history before our upcoming Last Blast trip. Have a great week!

A Knightly 6 year old

Our Blaine Jackson turned 6 Thursday, June 19! He was very excited at the beginning of the week, telling me Sunday that he would soon be more than 1 hand. He would be one hand plus 1! Since he knows his days of the week, he told us every day how many days until his birthday. Wednesday night as we tucked him in he said "see you tomorrow, a special day." A special day indeed. Blaine is such a fun kid. He's high spirited, hilarious, happy and very creative. He maintained a future profession of a pirate for a very long time but something happened around the start of Spring and he decided a career as a knight would be more fun, with Gracelyn as his princess (which she gladly accepted.) He has been asking for a knight costume since. Blaine likes school but not necessarily for the academics, he enjoys the kids. He certainly isn't an introvert.
In keeping with his current profession goal, he wanted a knight themed birthday. The medieval times are so not my area so google and my husband were huge helps. It was so hot but a lot of fun. The kids played with swords shields and wore knight masks, swam and ate. What could be better?

doritos (dragon scales) and chicken legs

little sisters and BFFs

Blaine flying

Britton's turn

happy kids

Blaine, Britton, Cayson and Nick

Brandon became the giant

magician goods from Aunt Ashley

the long awaited knight costume. Thanks Mimi and Pappy!!

our family crest displayed all over the castle

puppet fun! Thanks Nana and Grandad!

Happy Birthday Blaine!! I know you will have a blast as a 6 year old! We can't wait to enjoy it with you.

swim lesson finale

Britton wrapped up swimming lessons today. He improved greatly this year and had a blast, especially the second week when a boy he met at the ballpark joined the class. That kid was an excellent swimmer so he encouraged Britton. The teacher said Britton did wonderful and he could swim the length of the pool if he could get over his fear of swimming across the deep end.

making sure I'm watching

working on his cannonball

Tuesday 10

1. It's been a crazy couple of weeks with the enlarging-the-patio project. The kids first initiated the idea because they ask to eat outside nearly every night. We only had a conversation set and with a 100lb Black Lab that would be impossible for the kids to keep their food to themselves. Ryan, with the help of his dad for a few days, worked his tail off. I am so proud of him and thankful for his hard work especially with a deadline for a certain boy's knight in shining armor party.

not the best pic but tonight was our first (of many) suppers on the patio. We still have a little bit of work to do but it's really come such a long way.

2. Our energetic, happy, laughable, artistic, funny, fun, spunky, inquisitive, creative Blaine is turning the big 6 Thursday!

fashion star

3, Our favorite thing to do as a family is playing backyard baseball. It is absolutely hysterical to see everyone's personalities come out.

4. I took the kids to a science show at the library. It was really more for Brandon, the little kids were not too into it, but it was high-time we did something that perked his interest.

he was picked as a volunteer!

5. Britton is loving swim lessons. This second week has been such a blast for him when a baseball park friend, Cody, joined his class.

6. I absolutely love to play tennis and now I have a partner!!

7. Babies, babies, babies are what's going on around here. Not the human kind.no no. Gracelyn has been all about her babies and Britton is more than willing to join in the fun. It's super sweet.

my hippie chick with her baby Lola

8. Our church had a children's sermon this past Sunday. Brandon has gone down front for a very long time and Blaine has been several times but this was Britton's first. Ryan and I weren't sure if he would walk in front of the congregation but he did, wearing his cowboy boots with his shorts!

B1 in red striped polo, B3 on other side of him and B2 in yellow striped.

9. Our annual Last Blast is going to Texas this year! Ryan and Brandon are going to a Rangers game and we are taking the kids to Hurricane Harbor, as well as shopping and hopefully visiting family! The kids are so excited that Ryan will be able to join the fun this year.

10. With a month, exactly, til school starts, the boys are all ready. Brandon picked out another Jansport pack, red this year, Blaine selected the grey camo and Britton the baseball packs from Pottery Barn Kids. I got Blaine's lunch box today and he says he is now "all ready to go, tomorrow!" Not yet bud. He will go all year this year, leaving me only 2 at home. *insert big sad face here.*

Happy week!!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I have 2 vastly different things I am loving today.

The first would be pictures BUT not just any pictures, pictures by RM Photography!

Rebecca has so much patience with us all and captures my children perfectly. I have more pictures to order, these were just the ones I was sure about, I have quite a long list of more I am deciding on. :)

The second thing I love...

yes, it's a potty chair. I don't love the chair as much as I love the convenience. With the boys, it was never an issue for them to go potty wherever we were. But with Gracelyn, I'm sort of, okay, a HUGE germaphobe and I despise public restrooms and after frequenting them once Gracelyn was potty training, I vowed to get something for the car. Ryan and I went to IKEA and after a battle, because he didn't see the need, I won and this is the best $5 purchase EVER. I already had the big can of Lysol in the car and Germ-X wipes so it's easy-peasy to disinfect. It's perfect and takes up hardly any room in our 'Burb!

A bonus love is a backyard baseball game with fresh watermelon tonight with the fam. Should be fun and result in good snoozes tonight!
Happy Hump Day!

Tuesday something.

1. We hadn't really talked about plans for the July 4 holiday until we were on our way to Brandon's 1:00 baseball game that day. We decided, en route to baseball, to go to OKC after the game to gather supplies for our enlarging-the-patio-project.  Late afternoon, we hit the road for Garden Ridge, Lowes and Cici's pizza before heading back home, driving only 60MPH or less when the trailer began fishtailing because of the 205 pavers, totaling over 3,000lbs, in order to make the 9:30, yes, I said 9:30PM movie. We don't normally take our kids to late movies, this was a first, but it was such a blessing in disguise because we were the only ones there! That's not the blessing, not entirely anyway. Gracelyn had to go potty twice and Blaine got sick.
The thing with Blaine is, well Blaine is a puker. He gets sick at random times, you never know when or where and it's not associated with anything necessarily. The boys started out sitting in front of us and when Blaine got up and came back to me I knew something must be up.(no pun intended.yet.) I had my baseball bag (Thirty One all in one organizer, the best thing ever!) with me and happened to have a ziploc bag from one of the many snacks I take to the ballfields. We knew once he got sick he'd be good to go and he didn't have time to make it to the bathroom. Oh the joys of parenthood.
That's the explanation for the picture...

not good picture but yet it tells a story. Blaine, well you know. Britton has mismatched socks and I was leaning against the front of a jeep covered in bugs in order to get everyone in the picture. This was such a memorable night. The kids raved and raved about the movie. Ryan and I was ecstatic that they weren't phased by all the commotion and we thoroughly enjoyed their recaps of the scenes we missed.

2. We had a playdate with our best friends. G awoke completely excited to see Taryn and the boys couldn't wait to see Cayson.

Cayson and Britton crawling under the water.

Taryn and G were the water starters! Blaine was an observer.

 This picture makes me laugh. so.hard. Britton wasn't smiling, shocker, 

so Cayson was encouraging him to by making faces. It was so awesome.

3. Gracelyn is all about giving gifts. We delivered her friend Kaybree's birthday gift along with cake bites to Kaybree's dad as a thank you for making Blaine's birthday invitation.

4. Simple things excite my kids...

like a tractor sprinkler. Excuse Britton, he was upset about wearing sandals. But he had been excited about the sprinkler until then. The joys of a small town.

5. Also, donut dates...

And I have 3 more on my calendar with each of my boys.

6. Britton started swim lessons yesterday. He was really looking forward to it, until the little boy walking in before him turned and ran back to his mother's car flailing his arms and screaming "NO!!!!".

I didn't get a picture of the first day because Britton was completely wrapped around my leg after that. I got one today and today he was actually smiling!

And today he jumped off the diving board 4 times and, according to his teacher, was joking and laughing and was the first to volunteer for the exercises.

A head-splitting headache and a little girl who is fighting sleep are consuming my thoughts right now so that's all.

Happy week!

Peewee baseball season comes to an end

Brandon's first season of Peewees was a good one. He ended with the best on base percentage and a great hit and RBI in the last game. Ryan and I are so extremely proud of him and how hard he worked over the past 6 months.

 The last game was on July 4. The boys thought it was fitting that our mascot is the Eagles.

the money shot. RBI double.

last huddle of the season. Great job Eagles!

2012 Weatherford Black

Brandon cannot wait til next season!