Grant turns 7!

We started Grant's birthday celebrations a week early with a few of his friends at Fat Cats.  We showed up and the hostess girl did everything else for us.  It was great fun for the kids and really great for this soon-to-be-expecting momma!

 We started with bowling and pizza.

 Camille squeezes her eyes shut in most pictures lately.  We keep telling her to open her eyes, but she must thinks it's all part of smiling big.  I'll take it, she's so cute!

She thought bowling was awesome, but then she started losing it and luckily Keith's mom was home so Keith took her over there and laid her down for a nap for the rest of the party.  That was a lifesaver for sure!

 Brett had a super fun time too!

 As did the birthday boy.  It was fun to watch him with that little group of boys.  They all had a great time and were so funny.

 Cake time!

 Keith's parents came over that night to wish this boy a happy birthday.

 He was so excited to get this storm trooper sweatshirt from them!

Jumping ahead a week to this past Friday.  Grant woke up to birthday decor and a yummy breakfast before school.  We took a moment to take some funny pictures of the kids.  Then it was off to school. We all came to school to eat lunch with Grant that day.  It was so fun to watch how the whole lunch thing goes down at the school.  We were very entertained by it all and had a nice time with Grant.

 After school Grant was surprised to find a new bike waiting for him under a sheet on the driveway.  Brett moved up to Grant's "old" bike and the two of them rode around super fast.

 We grilled up some mini hamburgers for dinner and enjoyed eating outside in the absolutely perfect weather.

 Then we had Drumstick ice-cream cones for dessert.

On Grant's actual birthday, Keith flew to Germany for work (more on that later)!  So the kids and I made some homemade pizza for dinner and watched The Little Rascals and ate orange creamsicles.  

This boys birthday was definitely a well celebrated one!  Happy Birthday #7 Grant!

January happenings

January was COLD!  Well, cold by AZ standards.  :)

We had a few days of lots of rain.  We were happy when the sunshine finally came back out!

These two cousins had fun chumming around one day.

The boys had an exciting game of Jenga.

We pulled everything out of the toy room and played musical furniture.  Now the boys are in the previous toy room.  Camille is still in her room, but with a big girl set up.  And the baby furniture all got moved to the boys old room in anticipation of their new baby brother.

Being silly under the table.

Grant was convinced that if he planted popcorn kernels in the garden and watered them with hot water that popcorn would come up.  We talked about why that wouldn't work, but he was determined so I gave him some popcorn kernels and hot water and sent him out to try it.
And guess what?!........It really didn't work.  :)
But now he knows for himself.  And knowing is half the battle!

Breakfast.

I tried hard to make a warm breakfast on the cold January mornings.  This day was Cream of Wheat.

Of course we celebrated Camille's birthday.

Cutie pie!

The weather started to warm up again and we spent more time outside.

Keith mixed up the gardens to get them ready for our spring planting.

Oh, this girl!

Our kids love watching the laundry go around in our new washer and dryer.  They especially love watching when their blankets and favorite stuffed animals show up in the window!

We pulled the costumes down for a few days and the kids had fun changing several times each day.

The monkey and fireman were favorites.

Picking some citrus.

My tummy finally got to the point where it's obvious that I'm excepting.

My parents  took us out to dinner and then to check out the fish at Bass Pro Shop while Keith was out of town one week.  It's funny to see the kids bundled up in coats.  I've since washed those coats and put them back in their closets.  Hopefully they'll stay there till December when it gets cold around here again.

So that new washer and dryer came while Keith was gone for that week in January.  My dad came over to take out the old washer and dryer for me.  We discovered that the valves were leaking pretty bad.  I wasn't sure what to do.  Luckily my brother knows how to fix or build anything and he happened to be available right then to come over and fix the problem.  It was a HUGE blessing!

He had to cut a whole in the wall, add some length to the pipes, and then get the new valves on.

The whole time I kept hoping we'd be done before the new washer and dryer got delivered.  I admit I didn't think it would work out, but I kept praying it would and then I decided that if I wanted it to work out I just needed to have faith and trust God that it would.  So I tried to relax (which is quite a feat for this pregnant girl!) and it ended up working out great.  The delivery guys were running late and we were able to get it all finished up.

My brother even patched the wall, texturized it, and painted it.  It looked like a brand new wall when he was done!  It was amazing!  I envy those skills.  It seems to come so natural to him.  Plus he has all the tools to get the job done quick and right.

Another squeeze-eyes-closed picture.

Grant's first grade had a cute music concert.  They sang bedtime songs and got to wear their pajamas.

On one of the warmer days we went with my mom to eat lunch at the park.

And that was January!

December catch up

In all of the hoopla and exhaustion of the past few months I really got behind on this blog!

But this really is our family journal and we love looking back at it so here we go with a week of catching up.  Better do it now before this baby comes!

I got part of our December posted in December, but here's the rest.  

Brett learned how to ride his bike without training wheels.  Keith had taken the training wheels off a week or two before this and Brett wasn't really getting it, but then one day he was outside with Keith and said, "Hey Dad, look at me!"  And there he was cruising around all by himself!  Good job Brett!

One of Camille's funny faces.  She's not short on personality!

Neither is he for that matter!

We took the boys to the East Valley Millennial Choir and Orchestra Christmas concert.

They sat still through most of the first half of the show and were super wiggly the rest of the time.  We were glad to be on the end of the very back row!

When the choir would sing really loud and powerful the boys would sit on the edge of their seats and their faces would light up.  I hope that's the feeling they remember from the concert and not the end when Brett announced to everyone around us that he was so glad it was over and he wanted to leave! Ha!

We took them to dinner at Texas Roadhouse after that.  It really was a fun date with our boys.  

Keith's sister's stake hosted a nativity tour at a local stake center.  The whole building was beautifully decorated for Christmas and there were rooms full of all sorts of nativities.  It was amazing!  There was also a live music performance each night.  I'll have to remember to check to see if they do this next Christmas.  Keith's mom had over 20 of her nativities displayed here.

A calm moment watching the train go around the tree.

A couple of Keith's sisters were in town and his parents took us all to Krazy Air.  Everyone had so much fun!  I think it would be fun to go back on a date night with Keith after this baby comes.

Making paintbrush Christmas cookies with my mom.

They turned out so cute and were super delicious!

We also made gingerbread houses one night at Keith's parent's house.

Here's the cute cast of our Jackson family Christmas Eve Nativity.

 We have to get a close up of Brett with that beard!  Ha!  Isn't he adorable?

 Getting ready to open their Christmas Eve slippers from Keith and me.

 Santa's milk and cookies, and a carrot for the reindeer, were left with care by the fire.

 Our elf, Tebow, looked on one last time before he went back to the North Pole.

Santa came!

Keith surprised me with a new bike!

Brett put his tractor to use by hauling our breakfast into the dining room.

 Camille must have been really hungry on Christmas morning because her first servings were cleared off her plate before we all sat down!

 This year we had scrambled eggs, chicken apple sausage, strawberries, cinnamon muffins, and fresh squeezed orange juice.  There must always be fresh squeezed orange juice!

 Walkie talkies were a hit with the boys!

 On Christmas night we had a yummy dinner at my parents house, along with my brother's family.  Camille looked so cute in her little black coat and her owl backpack that we'd given her for Christmas.

 I spied little Brett looking at one of our Jesus ornaments and quickly grabbed my camera.

 To finish off the month, and the year, we huddled in blankets in the back of our van on the driveway and watched Keith and our next door neighbor light fireworks.  

Happy New Year!