Three days of celebration!

Its so hard to believe that Jackson is THREE! It seems like just yesterday when we were bringing home a tiny 4 1/2 lb. baby, so happy & yet so overwhelmed. Fast forward 3 quick years and we have a very active, sweet, imaginative boy who loves to climb, pretend and love on his baby brother.




Jackson woke up on Friday morning to find his door decorated, as I always do for his birthday. He was super excited that the big day was finally here. After all, we've been celebrating it for several weeks now!

We started out the weekend-long celebrations by opening up gifts from Oma & Opa as soon as Ben got home from work on Friday afternoon. He is really into Star Wars, so he loved the Star Wars jammies, light saber and R2D2 figurine.



Uncle Mikey & Aunt Jenn came in town for the weekend and Jackson was so excited to see his Uncle Mikey. Weston was undecided :)






We spent Friday evening at the Greenville Drive game. Ben had planned it so that Jackson's name would appear on the marque, wishing him a happy birthday. Of course Jenn & I were chatting and missed it. But apparently someone sitting beside him saw it and pointed it out to him.













Saturday morning, we had his party at Dillard Farms Ice Cream Parlor, which is an old-school fruit-stand/ice cream shop that we frequent every summer. It was perfect for our gathering and nothing is better than having 12 pre-schoolers to a party that is not at your house!
(I'll do a separate post with the bday party pictures)

After the party, we, along with Mike, Jenn, Dad & Linda, came back to our house and had some homemade crock-pot BBQ waiting on us. We spent the afternoon trying to beat the heat in the backyard, with 2 sprinklers, a kiddie pool and of course, the waterslide. We starting calling our backyard the "Hammett Grove Country Club". The picture speaks for itself :) I'm not sure which is funnier -- Dad's shirtless swagger or Linda and the plastic wine glass.



We got a flash thunderstorm so we moved inside to cool off. Weston loved to be held as long as he was being fed.










We all headed to Bimini's Oyster Bar for dinner around 6. Jackson insisted on wearing his yellow Lance Armstong cycling jersey that Poppy brought back from the Tour de France for him, along with padded bike shorts. Topped off with his cape. He rocked the outfit all evening.


















Sunday morning, Mike & Jenn left to head back to Raleigh. We spent the morning at church and indulged in Bojangles for lunch and lots of time playing in the yard that evening.

We had a great weekend celebrating Jackson and are so thankful for the friends and family who were able to be there with us!


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9 & 10 Months

Poor Weston...his milestones just slip by and are just aren't documented nearly as well as Jackson's. I guess that's part of the deal if you aren't the first child.

At 9 months, Weston cut his top two front teeth. He continued to eat anything we'd offer him and started shrieking...alot! We are quickly teaching him what "NO" means and he is slowing getting the concept. His first word (other than "da-da") is clap. He'll say, "Clap, clap, clap" and clap his hands.




At 10 months on the dot, Weston started crawling. And pulling up. And cruising. All on the same day. He's been on the verge for a couple weeks, but finally got all of his limbs working in tandem last weekend and just took out. Now its definitely time to baby proof.



He now cutting his 3rd & 4th top teeth and has bitten me quite hard a time or two. He still nurses as much as I'll let him and I do realize that its time to start getting him on some sort of schedule so that weaning will be easier.


We've been to the pool several times and I've been dunking Westie under the water. He looks startled but doesn't object. He loves bathtime as well, and gets super excited when he sees me running the bath water.






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A few days away...

A week or so ago, I took the boys to Conover for a few days mid-week to spend some time with Bebe & PopPaw. We covered alot of activities in our 3 days there.
On our way in to town, I stopped by the old Newton Courthouse and let Jackson crawl on the cannons, just like Mike & I had growing up.



Our next stop was VBS at Trinity Baptist. We grew up going to VBS here so Bebe was thrilled to have Jackson attend this year. The first night, they learned about catapults, which he loved.




On Wednesday, we took the boys to the park at Rock Barn, followed by the swimming pool.










After Wednesday afternoon naps, we headed back to VBS. It was fun for me to go back and see all the folks that I had essentially grown up going to church with. Everyone was so welcoming and doting on my children.
As we were eating dinner at the church, Weston was hanging out in his stroller and my icy lemonade was securely sitting in the cupholder near the handles. Well, little Jackson decided to help himself to a sip and managed to dump the entire cold drink on Weston's head...and it just so happened that someone that it on video close-up. Priceless. Needless to say, even after a dry pair of clothes & lots of hugs, Weston was ready to peace out early.



I can easily say the highlight of the week was the roller skates that Bebe got Jackson. He has been anticipating strapping those puppies on ever since she sent him pictures of them a few weeks ago. He could hardly stand it and once we put them on his little feet, he was ready to go. He wanted to do it all by himself, and within minutes, he was setting up the baseball tee and hitting the baseball---still wearing the skates.











On Thursday morning, we went out to MawMaw's house to spend some time with her. She was a little slower than usual getting around but still was her playful self, chasing Jackson around with her walker. Speaking of her walker, Westie enjoyed gumming it....ewww, I know, but at least he wasn't chewing on the dog toys.





Thursday afternoon, PopPaw took Jackson to the Science Center and Mom and I did a little shopping. Afterwards, we ended up back outside playing on the playset and skating.







Bebe & PopPaw decided to throw Jackson a little early birthday party that evening since they were unable to make it down for his party on the 23rd. So Thursday evening after dinner, we had Jackson's first birthday celebration of the year:



And Bruce made Mom this MONSTER dish of ice cream and I couldn't resist teasing her about it: (sorry Mom!)




He also got to open a couple presents, which he loved.


We had a wonderful week in Conover and as always, we ran out of time before we got to do all the activities we had planned to do. Next time!


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I should have known better

I typically am not one to fret over my kids clothing, shoes or haircuts, but I think I have finally learned to be a bit more choosy over who I let cut my boys' precious hair. Don't get me wrong, I like my boys to be nicely dressed and actually prefer them in polos and khakis, but I pick my battles and I've learned to tolerate the Lightening McQueen tees and the red & yellow foam flip-flops (thanks Sal!)

Jackson was in desperate need of a haircut, especially since he has a birthday coming up, which means lots of pictures to be taken. Being a wee bit overwhelmed with all the to-dos leading up to his party on Saturday, I decided to just drop in the "salon" at Wal-mart while I was in there picking up some last minute party supplies.

I mean, I know better.

I try to avoid Wal-mart to begin with...why would I even consider enlisting them in grooming services? But I was already there, and how much could they mess up a little boy's hair?

Before:




After:




Boy do I miss that pretty blond hair. But its just hair, and it'll grow back...right?

{Note to self: when a special occasion is upcoming, be EXTRA choosy as to who cuts his hair.}

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Father's Day

We celebrated Father's Day on Sunday, which was Ben's first father's day as a daddy of two. Following his Mother's Day lead, I let him sleep in and brought him breakfast (2 red velvet cupcakes & fruit & coffee) in bed. We went to late church and spent the afternoon at the Children's Museum. Ben had never been with us and he absolutely had a blast. We were worried that it would be packed since it was Father's Day, but we literally were one of the three families there. AMAZING!


































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A.T. Walker

Spring is mating season at the zoo and the giant turtles decided to procreate while we were there last Thursday. Of course my super-observant almost 3 year old noticed them piggy-backing and was full of questions.




So my first response to his "Mommy, what are they doing?" question was "They are playing A.T. Walker like you and Daddy do". For the non-Star Wars fans (like myself), AT Walker is some sort of robot that the jedi's ride on {I think}. As a child, Ben's Dad would get on all 4s and Ben & Jon would climb on his back and they would play A.T. Walker Now Jackson & Ben still play it. So now, Jackson has referenced "playing AT Walker like the big turtles" at least 3 times.
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