Jackson's 7th Birthday

 

For Jackson's 7th Birthday Party, he wanted to play flag football with his friends.  Since his birthday is in January, we needed to find an indoor place for this.  So we decided to have his party in the gym at church.  He and his buddies had a blast playing basketball and flag football.  Then they devoured pizza and cookie cake.  The fun night ended with some games of dodge ball.  All the boys were so sweaty and tired by the end of the night!

 Andy and my brother, Andrew, were the quarterbacks for the different teams.  I think they had as much fun as the little boys.  Jackson wore his Tom Brady jersey and Drew wore his Drew Brees jersey (both Christmas gifts). 

 All the boys chowed down on pizza and double layer cookie cake!

Blue Bombers

 Jackson played basketball this winter at the YMCA.  He was on the Blue Bombers team and really enjoyed it!  His favorite position was point guard and his highest point total in a game was 8.

 He earned the game ball in the first game which was also his 7th birthday!!

 Sitting on the bench with his teammates

 Taking the ball down the court

 Shooting the ball

 Action shot

End of the game high fives

Sweet Siblings

 The boys love baby Taylor!  They may fight with each other and sometimes fight over her attention, but they are so sweet and kind to her.  This may change when she becomes mobile and can completely destroy their legos and other toys.  For now, I will enjoy this sweet time with my three precious kiddos.  

It is difficult to coordinate the three siblings because of age differences but I did find this football stuff that looked so cute!

 Drew (4 years old), Taylor (2 months), and Jackson (7 years old)

Visit with Santa

The kids went to visit Santa at the Bass Pro Shop. We went last year for the first time and really enjoyed it. They have games for the kids to play, crafts, and coloring areas. The boys also love the big fish tank and stuffed bear (their words). Sweet little Taylor slept through our entire adventure and liked sitting in Santa's lap! Santa told Jackson he needed to cut his list by 2/3. Jackson had made a list of all kinds of stuff and a bunch of legos that he wanted. We are looking forward to a visit from Santa on Christmas Eve...hopefully, Buster the Elf has been reporting all of our good behavior;) There is not anything like Christmas through the eyes of a child!!!

Drew and Jackson are letting Santa know what they would like for Christmas! Legos for Jackson and Imaginext stuff for Drew and we think Taylor would love a baby doll since we do not have any of those at our house!

The boys were excited about the addition of a carousel!

The store is all decorated for Christmas, and it is really pretty!

Taylor's Birth Announcement

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Thanksgiving Day

We celebrated Taylor's first Thanksgiving with a traditional lunch at my parents' house in Columbia. Both of my grandmothers, my great aunt, Andrew and Katie celebrated with us. The boys enjoyed playing football outside and watching football inside with daddy and Uncle Andrew.
In the evening, we went to Mama Linda and John's house for dinner. Several of Andy's family members were there. After dinner, all the boys went to see The Muppet's Movie. Jackson and Drew really enjoyed the movie!

It is not easy to get a picture of all 5 of us...

Native American Day

Jackson's class had a fun time celebrating Thanksgiving with a Native American Day. They had each painted a brown pillowcase to wear and rotated to different stations to learn more about Native Americans.

Jackson and Zachary

Jackson and Mommy

Liam and Jackson work on their cave drawings.

Jackson weaves his basket.

The class also painted and colored a totem pole, made butter, and ate corn cakes. Jackson was proud of his finished products!

Thanksgiving Feast

Drew's preschool had their annual Thanksgiving feast the week before Thanksgiving. It was so fun to see Drew and all his sweet friends and their parents. It is a tremendous blessing that Drew is in learning so much in a wonderful place! We are so thankful for his school and the sweet teachers!

Drew adores his friends, Andrew and Walker. We hear all about the fun they have in their classroom, on the playground and in the gym. They are sweet AND silly little boys--just the way it should be!

Taylor--One Month Old

Our sweet little baby girl is one month old! She continues to melt our hearts everyday, and her big brothers love her so much (mostly because she just sleeps and eats). Taylor has been a wonderful little baby and we hope this pattern continues. She eats about every 3 hours during the day and has a 4-5 hour stretch most nights. She likes to sleep in the swing, in someone's arms or her crib during the day. During the night, she sleeps in her bed in her room. She likes to be swaddled but have her arms and hands by her face. Baby girl has already slept through many Star Wars battles, hockey games, basketball games and wrestling matches (all performed by her brothers). When she is awake, she loves to be held and watch the mobile on her swing. She is also fascinated by the fans in our house. Drew really enjoys holding baby Taylor and is very attentive and loving to her. Jackson likes to protect her and watch out for her. Thankfully, they have both been very helpful.Taylor is wearing newborn diapers and mostly newborn clothes. Her 0-3 months clothes are still really big. She probably weighs between 8-9 pounds.
The first month has not always been easy! Jackson and Drew have each been sick at different times. Drew started it with strep throat, then acute bronchitis, and then walking pneumonia. He has taken 2 different antibiotics, a penicillin shot, steroids, and breathing treatments and missed over 2 weeks of school. Once Drew was better, Jackson had strep throat and walking pneumonia. He took antibiotics and breathing treatments and missed 3 days of school. During the past month, we were at the doctor's office for 6 different visits and also got our flu shots. I jokingly asked our doctor if we could get a frequent patient punch card!

Brand New Big Brothers

Jackson and Drew were so excited to meet their new baby sister. They came to the hospital on Saturday before and after their soccer games to hold her. The boys had stayed with Grammy and Papa on Friday night.Daddy introduces baby Taylor to the brothers! Drew said, "hi Taylor! I'm Drew." They were both so sweet to her.

Our new family of five!
Drew had to hold Taylor again and get a good look at her.