Jack's 4th Birthday: Rescue Bots

For Jack's birthday this year, we decided to let him have a friend party. He had such a blast and I'm glad we did it. He's been in love with Rescue Bot Transformers (loves to watch the show and to play with the toys), since summer time. He told me at the beginning of summer that for his Birthday he wanted to have a Transformers party. I thought for sure he would have moved on to something else by the time his birthday came around, but nope! So, rescue bot transformer party it was :)

We first make transformers out of rice crispie treats, toothpicks, icing and candies. The kids thought this was pretty cool, mainly because they got to snack on the candies :)

Next we started our Rescue Bots, training camp. We split the kids up into two different teams: Team Optimus Prime and Team Bumblebee. Jack and I had put together a "burning building" out of cardboard and streamers. We hid stuffed animals throughout the "building" and each team had to crawl through and rescue the stuffed animals.

Our next mission was to knock down a mountain and rescue some babies who were trapped in a cave (read: a big stack of cardboard boxes with baby dolls hidden in one of the boxes). The kids LOVED this game. We did it multiple times. They loved knocking down the tower of boxes.

The last mission was to rescue Dad, who "fell and hurt his leg." They had to drag him to the hospital. They thought this was pretty fun, but poor Chuck wasn't very comfortable! Luckily, he's such a good sport and puts up with my crazy ideas ;)

I'm sad I didn't capture more photos of the kids or the cake, but we were just playing :) I made the cake myself, which was an adventure, but it didn't turn out half bad. My icing skills are minimal, but Jack didn't seem to mind!

I'm so grateful that this little guy has such good friends. Truly. They are all so wonderful. It's only during times like these that I wish we had a little more space (and hardwood floors for easy clean up!) so that we could have all his friends over to play.

The only slight mishap, was that the two 2-year olds (Kate and another sibling) teamed up and dumped out ALL the puzzles. And I mean all. Including an 1,000 piece puzzle and a 550 piece puzzle along with all the kid puzzles. Surprisingly, it didn't take that long to clean up...because we just decided to throw away the two "adult" puzzles. Now the puzzles have a new home in our living room, where the adults usually hang out :)

Jack had a blast and we are so grateful for such sweet friends who are so kind and generous. Thank you!

My sweet Jack,

I sure love you. Watching you grow up has been such a privilege. Sometimes I look at you and can't believe how quickly the past four years have flown by. You are such a joy to have in our home and we are so grateful that you were sent to us.
You current favorite toys are your transformers. You love to play with them and act out missions and battles. You also love your new spiderman lego set that Mimi got you for your birthday. You still love to read books, puzzle and color all of which we do almost every day.

You are currently attending preschool. You really enjoy it, but often have a hard time leaving us. You often express your desire to stay with mom and Kate and play at home. You are learning lots there. Including recognizing all the letters and sounds and being able to write all the letters and your name. You also go to Grandma's music class. You love being able to listen to the music and play the instruments. You have often told me how much you love that you get to stay with Grandma after class and hang out with her while she runs errands and then brings you home. I'm grateful that you get to spend that time with Grandma Krebs and for the bond that you guys share.

You are a great big brother to Kate. You love to play with her and sometimes ask if we can wake her up from her nap so you can play with her. You share with her most of the time and let her play games with you and build with you, even though she frequently knocks things over or makes things more complicated. You are patient and kind with her for the most part and I love that about you. You love to give Kate hugs and to wrestle. Sometimes you will play with her pigtail, which I find so cute.  I'll often hear you say, "Here Kate, I'll help you!", "Can I go play with Kate, mom?" (when she first wakes up from her nap), "Watch this, Kate!" or "Do you want to play with me?" Thank you for being such a kind brother.

Your current favorite foods are pizza and cereal. We struggle a lot with your eating habits. You will often eat very little or nothing at all for dinner. We are hoping that eventually you will learn to enjoy all foods cooked in all different ways. For now, we will continue to have pizza night once a week so at least you have one meal a week that you will eat and enjoy. Sometimes you try things easily, sometimes you refuse. We are all learning together on how to improve your eating habits without making it too much of a struggle.

You love technology time. You love to watch a show, play on the ipad or on dad's phone, or to play the wii. You only get technology for 30 minutes a day, but it's the first thing you ask for when you wake up. I hope that you learn that most things in this world are better than technology, and I hope that I can set a good example for you.

You love to play pretend. You will often act out battles or fight the bad guys (or the good guys), and will run around the house doing flips and kicks and all sorts of "ninja" moves.

You have really gotten into playing games. Your current favorite is Sequence that you got for your birthday. But, you also enjoy trouble, busy town and old maid.

You are kind, smart, helpful and generous. I love seeing your sweet heart emerge in the things that you do and say. One of my favorite phrases that you say is, "how can I help you, mom?" I love your kind heart that can recognize needs already. So, thank you for being such a loving and kind and fun boy. I learn from you everyday about forgiveness, grace and love. You bring so much fun and joy and happiness into our lives and home. Thank you, my sweet baby boy.

Lots of hugs and kisses,
Mom and Dad

Halloween 2015

Halloween was pretty awesome this year. Jack and Kate could not have been more excited to wear their costumes and have worn them almost every day since (it's January, by the way).

Letting Jack pick out his costume was quite an ordeal. We sat at the computer for long periods of time multiple days in a row before he finally settled on Iron Man. But not the normal Ironman (despite my subtle suggestions that people might recognize it better), but the red white and blue Ironman that looks suspiciously like Captain America when he isn't wearing the mask. He's a funny kid. But at least he decided :)

Kate told me she wanted to be a dinosaur out of no where, but only after I had gotten her Wonder Woman costume. But, let's be honest, the two of them as superheroes is pretty much the cutest. And she was extremely happy to be wearing any costume at all, so I'd say it was a win.

We had a fun night pumpkin carving and making waffles with friends the week of Halloween. Luckily, Jack is impressed with any type of pumpkin carving (let's just say that is not one of my talents). Our ward did a fun Halloween Trunk-or-Treat the week of Halloween as well. Kate said this exact phrase to everyone "trick-or-treat! thank you! open it?" She was an "eat it as you get it" kind of trick-or-treater. And of course, Jack was over the moon about getting "SOO MUCH!" candy.

We also headed to the local library for their annual Halloween party. The kids got to do halloween crafts (mummys with duct tape, q-tip skeletons, etc.) and trick-or-treat around the library. They were mostly just excited to be wearing their costumes in public.

Lastly, we went over to my sister's house to do the actual trick-or-treating. We made mummy hot dogs for dinner at her place and then headed out in full get up. The kids had a blast, although Kate stopped about half way through to ride and enjoy her candy. Luckily, it wasn't too cold or rainy. I love seeing all the sweet elderly couples and families who give out candy each year. They are always so kind and generous to our littles and I'm grateful all over again for all the wonderful people in this world that we never hear about in the news. But that's a rant for another day ;) Close to 8pm we went to a house that had the game playing on a TV they had set up on their front porch. Jack looked at us and said, "I think I'm ready to go home and watch the game now." You could bet that made a Dad proud :)

Halloween was absolutely fabulous and sugar-filled. Just like it's supposed to be.

Waffles and Pumpkin Carving with the Bylunds, Miles, Woodburys, Browns and Willius!

Iron Man and Wonder Woman off to save the world. He asked me to add that black cape to his costume for good measure.

This girl dumped out an entire bag of fritos and started stuffing her face at the ward Trunk-or-Treat

Library party!

My favorite band of superheroes :)

Michigan Adventures!

For Memorial day weekend, we went up to Cassopolis, Michigan to play with our Woods cousins! We celebrated Andrew's 7th birthday while we were there, which made for a fabulous party!

The Parkers gave Jackson this "Simba" and he loves it.

The classic Dad pose.

Jackson sure did love playing with Emma and Olivia!

Learning how to blow bubbles...sort of.

Volley ball!

Presents time!

So sweet :)

Just chilling out, eating some banana.

Thanks for such a wonderful trip, Michigan family! And thanks to Mom for travelling with us from Lexington! Jackson sure did love having a back seat buddy :)

Playtime with little man.

We love to play. Sometimes we get bored with toys and books all day and we have to think up some fun new things. Thanks to pinterest and some creative thinking, we can usually come up with something fun to do :)

For example, shaving cream fun :)

He wasn't totally sure about this one, but he ended up loving it. Although he was constantly nervous about slipping in the tub...so maybe we will do this outside on the concrete next time.


Or, sidewalk chalk paint.

He LOVED this. Of course, he loves to draw and paint as much as possible, so I was banking on this being a hit. I found this recipe and it was incredibly easy...as in took about 30 seconds total. This will be at least a weekly happening during the summer :)


Or, water play.

We don't have a kiddo pool (yet), but the weather has been absolutely gorgeous! So, we got all suited up (except he was really excited about his nemo swim diaper, so we skipped the trunks!) and pulled out the tubberware and hose. He was in heaven. Except when the wind started blowing and the sun went away...then it was kind of chilly. I'm excited for the pool and ocean this summer :)

I love Spring!