Jaxson Turns Five

Jaxson turned five years old last month. Five?! Are you kidding me? This was a hard one for me, I think because he was turning five and starting kindergarten all within a month. I know it is a cliche, but where does the time go?

To celebrate, he wanted a Super Mario party. I thought that would be totally fine, and that every store would have Mario party stuff. Wrong! And by the time I figured out that there where NO Mario party supplies except online, I was too late to have it shipped to me. But the party must go on, right? So we improvised by cutting the cardboard Mario guys out of the fruit snack box and sticking them on his cake, making a Mario world banner with pictures from google and photoshop, and having some Mario vinyl printed (of course!). It turned out cute and Jaxson was one happy kid.

Let me just say, this was our first real friend birthday party and I totally, completely, 100% underestimated the chaos that includes! Luckily my mom and sister-in-law didn't mind being roped in to help at the last minute or else Mark and I would have been struggling! Thanks guys!

I now finally understand why some of my friends were only allowed to have birthday parties every other year - smart parents.

For some reason I can't get my pictures to move where I want them (love you, blogger!), so they are in a weird order.

Mario party favor boxes, complete with the little vinyl Mario.

Opening presents

Playing mushroom, mushroom, goomba. Or in other words, duck, duck goose Mario style.

The present table...the best part when you are five!!

We had a Mario Brothers obstacle course and the playground was Bowser's castle. We had the whole thing wrapped in butcher paper, and Mark was hiding inside. When they finished the obstacle course and were ready to rescue Princess Peach, Mark (Bowser) came busting out of the paper and down the slide. He was attacked by 10 kids with water balloons (highlight of the party for me!!!). I didn't get a picture, but don't worry, I got it on video.

Eating pizza at the Jaxson/Jackson table. These two are cute little buddies and they seem to love sharing a name!

After the party, Jax got to have a sleep over with his cousin/best friend the Code-Man. And then, I somehow didn't get a picture, but he also got a BB gun that night from His uncles and Aunt. What, 5 is too young for your first gun? That is apparently how we do it in our family (or so I was informed!).

The much anticipated cake. Yep, Mario guys cut out from the fruit snack box (classy!) and a fake wii paddle from the dollar store. And like one million sprinkles (per Jaxson's request).

Most of the kids by my beloved Mario banner...it was hard to get them all to stand there once they were sugared up!

Fun party and we couldn't be more happy that it is over, haha. We love you Jaxson!!

BROTHERS

These two are best buddies lately! Here are some cute pictures of brothers being brothers...

At least being a mom is entertaining...

Some days, even when I am doing something I am dreading, I realize that at least there are always those hilarious mom-moments sprinkled (or tinkled) throughout the day.

Today's was potty training the Wy-man this afternoon, by putting him on the toilet every 15 minutes. First, he insisted on trying on every single one of his new pair of underwear, and then had to crane his neck around to get a good view of the super hero on his backside.

And then, one of the first few times I put him on the toilet and encouraged him to go potty...

Me: (super excited voice)

"Come on Wyatt! Do you have any potty? Potty in the toilet!"


Wyatt: (looking down at his peep, concentrating)

"It not working...It broken!"


Totally made up for the pee all over my floor! That kid, I swear.

**Don't worry, he figured out how to 'work it' later on in the day. Looking forward to tomorrow...

Sick of being sick

Is it January or July? Someone please help me out and let me know, because we have been sick and it isn't feeling like summer at our house! Wyatt had a sore throat for a while, and then as soon as he got feeling better, Jaxson got an ear infection, and then they both got pink eye, and now I have Strep throat and an ear infection...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! This is all in the last week or so, and we are not feeling very festive this 4th of July. Poor Jax has to take Zyrtec, Amoxicilan (sp?) and eye drops morning and night.

On the up side, Mark got to say GOODBYE to the Lancer yesterday - thank you Tucker from Idaho (or should I say "Sucker", haha). You serverd us well for 163k miles, but it was time to let you go. We shopped around today and after some wheelin' and dealin' ended up with a new civic. Hooray for cars with air conditioners that work! I'm sure Mark will be enjoying his ride to work on Tuesday WITHOUT the windows rolled down on I-80.

Preschool Graduation and a budding chef...

Jaxson graduated from preschool over labor day weekend. The program was short and sweet - the kids had us cracking up with their dance moves. He was SO sad when he realized he really doesn't get to go back to preschool anymore. I could just see the wheels turning in his head and the realization dawn on his face that he really was done going there. The kid loves school! We were going to wait another year to start him in Kindergarten since he has an end of the summer birthday, but he's so ready we just can't stand to hold him back. He will be the kid waving "Bye mom!" without a backward glance on the first day. And I will be the one crying! Except that probably I'll be chasing Wyatt down the street or something and won't have time to cry :). Silver lining of having a kid with a LOT of energy, right?

Jaxson with his buddies, Jackson Park and Sean Sealy.

Bustin' a move...

The best preschool teacher ever - we love you Miss Lindsay!!!

(look at that face - he is for sure a keeper)

Moving right along, what do you think this is a picture of? If you are thinking it looks like a magnet that has been cooked in the microwave (a METAL magnet, btw), you are RIGHT. Something you never want to hear first thing in the morning from your four-year-old? (yelling, while running down the hall to our room) "Wyatt's cooking a magnet in the microwave!!!" And so he was. Awesome.

And if you are thinking he didn't know EXACTLY what he was doing, you are WRONG. I heard him later on that day pretend talking on my cell phone and he said (and I quote):

"The magnet.

I cook it.

It hot."

What do you think goes on inside that little head?

Gettin' down on the farm

We had cousins sleeping over last weekend, so we decided to go over to my parents house in Erda for some redneck fun! McKay (in yellow) loves my mom, and MaKenna (on the horse) loves my sister in law Anne, so between the two of them they were pretty excited! I think Connor (on the back of the 4 wheeler with Jax) liked squirting his brother with mossy water from the pond the best. Cory and Holly were there with their boys, too, and Jaxson said "Hey! All my cousins in the whole world are here right now!" These boys sure do LOVE their cousins.

The boys going for a ride - and yes, Jake gets on their voluntarily. If he doesn't get to ride, he chases the thing down the road until they stop and let him on.

Cowgirl in the making...MaKenna couldn't get enough of this horse! She impressed us all by wanting to ride again and again, and didn't even freak out when the horse took off for a minute (which is more than I can say for myself).


You might be a redneck if...

you would rather go for a ride on the lawn mower with Grandpa than a ride on the 4 wheeler!

You also might be a redneck if you ride horses "shirts and skins".

Jax wanted his shirt off like Cody, but the uncles decided that was a little too Brokeback Mountain and made him leave it on.

Can you believe these two aren't brothers?! They look way more like eachother (and ACT way more like eachother) than their real siblings.

Tuckered out from a day on the farm - this picture says it all! Wyatt plays hard and sleeps even harder (thank GOODNESS.)

Are you sick of the random february pics yet?

I am! Wow, I have no good excuse for not updating this blog for the last few months. Mostly, I am just trying to let go of things that don't absolutely have to happen (like blogging and cleaning bathrooms, haha) so I can spend more time on the important stuff (like checking blood sugar and going to the park!). Anyway, here is what we have been up to the last couple of months:

Going to THE ZOO with cousins in March - kinda cold, but perfect weather to see the animals play (at least the animals that are still alive - what the heck is going

on with Hogle Zoo?!)

For my birthday, Mark and I headed off to NEW YORK, where it rained like crazy most of the time we were there! We didn't care though, it was still an awesome trip. More pictures to come!!

In April, THE BUNNY stopped by our house and left some surpises on the top bunk...

I was feeling pretty crappy for a little while there and couldn't get things under control very well with my diabetes. Kinda depressing when you think that is what life is just going to be like from now on, no matter what you do. But then I got one of these awesome babies last month and it has made a HUGE difference in my life. I highly recommend it if your

pancreas ever decides to stop working.

Insulin Pump = no more injections + better control + way less highs and lows
HOORAY!!!!

Definitely not the most stylish accessory in my wardrobe, but by far the one I can't live without... literally (hahaha, sorry for the diabetes humor).

We went to Temple Square for activity days last month to take some pictures for their Dads at our Daddy/Daughter activity - aren't they cute?! I love these girls! It is my one chance to hang around pink and bows instead of ninja turtles and monster trucks.

We also moved the boys into the same room (super fun for them, not so fun for us as it turns out - at least at bedtime anyway), spent a day at Primary Children's with Wyatt (he is fine - it turned out to be a little bit of pneumonia and a really bad ear infection), spent lots of time outside and celebrated a BUNCH of family birthdays (Me, Raquel, my Dad, Cody, Cami, MaKenna, McKay, Alyssa, Chad, and Connor). It has been a fun and busy couple of months!