SC in the Summer

We have been home from the Carolinas for a while now and I just have not had much time for the old bloggity blog.  The boys keep us pretty busy and this is such and easy thing to let slide.  I’ll do better, pinky promise.

We flew through Atlanta and were so excited to eat at Chic-Fil-A for lunch!  It’s the little things, right?!

Aunt Chele picked us up and as we headed to her house jackson started to work on his Giant Jawbreaker.  This was what it looked like after half an hour.  I don’t think his tongue felt too good after that!

We spied the Peach!  It’s something we love, but yes we also know it is tacky and also slightly weird.  Did you know it holds a million gallons of water.  It was also the subject of a story line in one of our favorite shows, House of Cards.

We made a quick stop at the outlets and then headed to Chele’s house.  The boys are positively in love with her new puppy, Maggie. 

In the picture above you can see her dog, Sassy, wondering where her top dog status had gone.  She and Miller had a long standing love affair, but it looks like his affections are a little loose.

The next day we got up and headed to Fripp Island.  After that we were in Greenville for a few days.  We visited my friend Cathy the first day. We took the kids to Sky Zone and it was a blast!

My photo skills are unmatched!

The next day we visited with my mom and Kelly.  That sweet AnnaKate loves the boys and they love her right back.

We had a great lunch and went swimming.

OH! We also squeezed in a little Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.  If you do not know Krispy Kreme, you have to taste it!

The next day the boys and I headed up to the Mountains to visit Allen’s parents.  The boys love being there because they are treated like kings.  I loved the cool weather.  I was taking a nap on the porch and went inside because I was chilly!

Miller lost his tooth while he was there.  He was super excited about that.  He kept telling everyone his brother kicked it out.  That was true, except he kept forgetting to say that he walked behind the swing.

Jackson was thrilled to be able to fit into his dad’s hiking boots from when he was a child.  he even hiked in them!

The next morning I left and the boys stayed with their grandparents for a few days.  I don’t have any pictures of that time, but from what I hear they had a really fun time!

I think that’s it for now, but I’ll finish telling you about our trip as soon as I can.

*8* is great!

Just as it is hard to believe that the baby is 6, it is unbelievable that Jackson is turning 8 today.  This past year has been such a neat year for him.  He has really matured in ways I never expected. 

In addition to being a great little paddle boarder, he has gotten really good at skateboarding.  he doesn’t have the greatest balance, but he works hard {and leaves more than his share of skin on the pavement} until he improves.  He just got a new custom board that he is hoping to learn lots of tricks on!

He got it as an early bday present while we were in SC, and he loves it a lot!  Hopefully he can learn some tricks without too much damage!

Jackson has such a fun sense of humor that has come out in the last year.  In the past he has been very literal and all of a sudden he is making jokes and they are funny!  We love seeing that in our boy.

Last night we were eating ice cream and Allen and the boys were finished just as I was about half way done.  I was marveling at them not having ice cream headaches when he looked at his dad and said, “She’s not one with the cream.”  That kind of funny.

He has also become very responsible.  He is great at making his bed, taking out the trash, letting out the dog and is even starting to fold his own laundry in addition to putting it away.  These are things that we have worked with him on all along, but he is becoming so responsible in his own right too.

He is such a big big brother.  He bosses his brother around like a pro, but most of the time he is just trying to get Miller to stay in line.  He is also such a big brother in that he has really grown to love pestering his brother.

He adores dogs.  Our dog Hank isn’t as peppy as Chele’s puppy Maggie, but he still talks to him and tries to get him to play.  He named her “Snugglebunches”!

We are so happy that even though Jackson gave up any public displays of affection a long time ago, he is still very affectionate.  He loves to snuggle, hug and just generally be close to us.  It makes him not being able to hold my hand in public a little less painful!  He has gotten so big that I often have to remind him that he hurts me when he attacks/hugs me

Jackson is still in love with all kinds of creatures.  He is forever bringing home crabs, lizards, fish, octopuses {octopi?) and lots of other creatures.  I think he will always be looking for critters to observe and play with.

He also loves reading.  It makes me so proud that he will sit down and read a book.  Not really sit and read a book for a while, but he sits and reads the whole book.  Front to back.  I can’t wait to get to a town with a library.  I love buying him books, but I can go broke doing that very quickly!

Jackson also has these opinions that are all his own.  As much as I would like to dress him cute, he insists on wearing nylon sports clothes every day.  I tried hiding them and then he just wore his school gym shorts.  He really likes them.  I’ve come to realize that he doesn’t get to choose his own clothes on a daily basis because of the uniform, so I have to let it go and let him do his own thing.  I have relented but also told him I won’t complain now about it if he doesn’t complain when I tell him he needs to wear something nice.  We’ll see how that goes!

Jackson has grown so much in the last year.  he drinks about half a gallon of milk a day and you can tell.  He has always been tall, but now he is just BIG.  Sometimes I look at him and think “He’s not going to be able to fit in a twin sized bed when we get back to the U.S.!”

Jackson has so many wonderful characteristics and it is hard to put them all down here, but I know that the coming year we will get to know this amazing boy even better and we can not wait to see what he is going to show us!

Happy Birthday Bug!

Bless Your Heart!

Monday before last I picked Miller up from school and he slowly walked up to me and said, “I have a cold and an ear infection.”  He had been a little stuffy when I took him in that morning, but I guess it got worse.  When I got him home and opened his lunch box I saw that he had not eaten his pizza and left his Capri Sun untouched, I knew he was sick.  Uh-OH!  I went ahead and took him into the doctor and he was diagnosed as having an Outer Ear infection and a cold.  Yep, he diagnosed himself.  What can I say, he is a genius!  He had ear drops for 5 days and we thought we were back in business. 

This Monday when I went to pick him up from school and he was asleep in the office.  His teacher had let him go up to cool off because he had gotten hot at recess and had a headache.  Turns out that he had a fever.  Womp, womp womp!

The next day was supposed to be the end of school beach day for his class and he still had a fever so he had to miss it.  He was absolutely devastated.  I took him back to the doctor and this time he had a sinus infection.  Poor baby!

Meanwhile Jackson was able to go on his class’s field trip to Blue Lagoon!  He even got to ride to the ferry dock with his teacher. 

It took another couple of days for Miller to get better.  The stuff that came out of his sinuses was crazy.  He had to be so uncomfortable to have all that up there in his head.  He is still on antibiotics, so hopefully this will kick it to the curb!

The next morning Jackson woke us all up at 5:00 am because he was itchy.  It was dark and I just put some lotion on him and told him to go back to sleep {it was dark in my defense}.  When he got us all up around 5:45 we saw why he was so itchy…SEA LICE!  Sea Lice are jellyfish eggs that get into the skin.  No Bueno!  Cortisone cream and Benadryl are the only things that help.  Despite these he was still so uncomfortable!  Poor baby!

I counted from the top of his leg to the knee he has 112 bumps on that one spot alone.  I think he has between 500-600 over his body  Can you imagine having 500-600 mosquito bites?  500-600 bee stings?  I feel so bad for him.  He started feeling better yesterday, but still has a fair bit of discomfort.

This morning I was reading with him and noticed yellow crusties around his eyes.  Off we went to the doctor, again!  We now have eye drops and some prescription cream for the sea lice.

We have some visitors here now and the boys need every bit of energy for all the fun they have planned.  Hopefully the whole family will be fit and fine for the Fourth of July!

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

The boys school always does a Summer production for the entire school and I always adore it.  This year it was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  I haven’t seen the play in  quite a few years and I loved this production.

Here are Elvis and the beggar.  Miller’s hair was a masterpiece, but alas humidity did it’s thing and it was not very Elvis-like by the time he took the stage.

Per tradition, the littlest cast members perform first.  They are so darn cute!  There are always a couple crying and all of them are anxiously searching for their people in the crowd.

Then several other classes performed.

Then it was time for Kindergarten to perform “7 Fat Cows”.  They were so cute!

Unfortunately a rude parent stood up in front of me and I couldn’t see any more of Miller’s Performance.  Boo for rude people.  Yeah for cute Kindergarteners dressed as Elvis!

 

Shortly after that Jackson’s class performed “Grovel, Grovel”  They did a fantastic job.

Jackson is quite a shy child, but in these performances, he does so well.   I love seeing him perform.

The rest of the cast finished off the play.

Then it was time for the finale.  The entire school {including teachers} performed “Any Dream Will Do”

And with that they finished the school play.  Good job boys!