Jaxton's Birthday

My little 4 year old turned 5 on the LONG awaited day, May 14th!

Justin had blown up a bunch of balloons and we put them in his room and decorated the downstairs with them and with streamers.

Somethings I want to remember about that morning:

I heard him get out of bed and dash to his door and run downstairs, I could tell he was looking at everything. Then he came into my room and said, "Mom, the house looks amazing." :) Slay me. And then he went through and named everything we had decorated specifically and said that we must have "worked very hard". And then he asked "Who blew up ALL these balloons???!" I told him his dad did, and he looked very impressed and said "That must have been really hard work!!"

I was soooo melted.

Jax is always very good at noticing things. He usually notices if I'm wearing something new, or different make-up or different hair. He always talks about what he wants to "buy" me, it usually is a "beautiful" dress, lots of flowers. It's very endearing. Some of my favorite quotes from him are: "I love your smile Mom" and "Mom, your eyes are beautiful."  True story, and he's said them more than once. My sweet boy.

He had preschool on his Birthday and took cotton candy as his Birthday treat (thanks Gabe and Jerica for letting us barrow your machine!) He thought that was pretty cool.

So we did things differently this year and Jax had his first "friend" Birthday Party. We invited 7 kids and they all showed up! The kids were really cute but I don't know that we will do another "friend" Birthday for a while...:) And though Jax loved his friend birthday, I think he missed his family party with his cousins and people that love him. Anyway, it's hard to entertain all those different little kids with different personalities for that long! I bow to teachers of any sort...!!

 

  Jax was very specific about his cake, I made it just as he specified--on my 2nd try--and it was DELICIOUS. Vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and whipping cream with raspberries on it. He gave it his stamp of approval and loved the way it look and it made him excited, but apparently, he never wanted to actually EAT it, silly me... He just wanted his "green" ice cream.:) So he never tasted it. :)

  

And those presents! That part went way faster than I thought it would. We were about 30 minutes in the negative at this point and I was really hoping they would just love to play squirt gun war the rest of the time, cause that's all I had left...

 

 And they did! They played squirt gun war for 30 minutes until their parents came! Phew!

 

 

 We got Jax a basket ball and a basketball hoop.  After his friends went home we said he could play the Wii. He LOVED that.

 Happy Birthday to our favorite sweet, energetic 5 year old!! 

Some of May

Jax had a sever reaction to something and got a rash all over for about 5 days. He was also having some asthma breathing problems. He gets both of these sometimes, but this was more sever then usual. I also wanted to see if we could help him breathe out his nose somehow--because he can't. So we took him to the allergist and they did some expensive tests and he isn't allergic to almost anything, which really surprised me. Except he is, VERY allergic to mold. Which I guess is everywhere, and you can't get rid of it. So that kind of explains a few things. We have him on some allergy medicine that seems to be helping...I think.:) And we found out his the insides of his nose are completely inflamed and that is what restricts his nose breathing. So we just have to use Nasacort and spray it up there every day. Which seems to be helping as well. We never really did find the reason for the rash. Or the solution for his asthma. But it gets worse again I will just take him back in.

 

 Chanel is amazing and beautiful inside and out, she was also the prom queen...!! :) 

And she broke 6 minute mile with a 5:57. She is the bomb. And she ran the Half Marathon and rocked it. 3rd women overall. 1hr and 47 minutes, like a boss.

 My kids LOVE Natasha's house. One of the many things they love about it is the fountain in this picture, they are both missing their pants, and they are so cute and fascinated and bottomless! They could play here all day! :) 

 

 And my BIG Brother finally completed his doctorate!!  He is the coolest. So is his wife. :) Dr. Judkins is also the new pharmacist in Elko. I am so proud of him. Seriously so proud. We will miss him and his darling, darling little family when they have to leave next month. Boohoo and sob...!! I try not to think about it.  And Arianne and Carter are leaving too!! Will members of my family stop being so accomplished and moving away from me...???

 

We love you Zach!!

 My parents took us all out to dinner after Zach's ceremony, (thanks Mom and Dad!) and the most crazy thing happened. I ordered Rod a "kids pizza, (which was way bigger and more delicious than any other "kids pizza" I have ever seen/tasted) and to my huge surprise, he ate THE ENTIRE PIZZA. Except maybe 1 piece that some of us shared. It's the most I have ever seen him eat. He loves pizza, but I just couldn't imagine his little body being able to hold that much. It was mind blowing for me, to say the least.

 

 Justin now takes both the boys to the "Home Depot" craft Saturdays. It's lovely.

And I want it recorded that Rodrik often refers to Justin as "My Jusin". As in, "I want my Jusin" or "I love my Jusin." It's a heart warmer. :)

 

 Jaxton finished spring soccer, he does a good job and LOVES having something to do and people to do it with. Poor kid is waaaay too social to be the first child. He just want to play and be with people. All day, everyday.

  The coach got the kids HUGE donuts. It was a riot to see all the kids' eye's bulge when the coaches brought them out. They couldn't believe it. 

 They were all sooo happy. It was fun to watch.

 And my sugar man was just in heaven. Jax is ALWAYS very good to share with Rod though. I love that about him. And Rod just licked the frosting from his portion. :)

 And sometimes when me and my sisters get together the kids look so cute you just have to take a picture, or two, or three.:) 

 

 Jax would be a really cute little girl, if he weren't such a cute little boy!! :)

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE when my boys play nicely and are laughing together. I'm sure all mom's are like that, but there really is nothing better. So I had to take these pictures of this beautiful view from my window, if only you could hear the laughing and giggling--then it would be perfect. I love them.

 

 And this one time Rod was nude and played with this bucket of water for like 30 minutes. It was hilarious. 

Hehe, it's the good life! :)

The rest of April

April and March, and then through the first part of May are all "Track Months". This is when I coach track everyday at the High School and go to all the insanely long Track Meets, I drag my kids with me to the majority of them. Justin HATES the Track Months, he gets stuck with the kids more often then not, all day on Saturdays and then in the evenings after work if there is a Track Meet he comes and gets the kids from me, and that usually means he has to figure out dinner as well. Anyway, it takes it toll on our little clan. But honestly, a lot of positives come from it as well. It can be very rewarding for me because it's the only thing I know anything about and I get to help kids do it, and see progress, etc. The small amount of $ is also a positive, Also, my boys love to run and race and I think a lot of that comes from my coaching track and them seeing the kids running, it makes my kids studs.:)  They also like to play with the athletes and like to explore the track. Also, I can't coddle them during coaching time--my attention is elsewhere, and it's at least 2 hours a day of "outdoor time" for them, no matter the weather. So I feel like those elements make them stronger and tougher. :) Anyway, it wipes Rod out all the time. Here is just one picture of just one time he fell asleep. We have found him asleep at various parts of the track. A lot of times he will just get into the stroller and fall asleep. He hates the wind so he gets low or gets in the stroller for shelter.:) So self sufficient...;) 

Anyway, as I write this, there are only 3 days left of Track...PHEW!! Praises.

  

 For Easter my Parents put on this little Easter Egg hunt for the kids, Chanel and Isaac hid them and the kids went and found them. The kids LOVED the egg hunt. We watched a resurrection movie first to try and get the kids to understand what Easter really is, it kind of worked... 

  Except Rod. He was being a terd. But in his defense he was beyond tired and went inside and fell asleep on Justin just an hour later. PS. Rod is tired a lot because the darn kid doesn't sleep well at night. Rod has a hard time falling sleep. But he needs to, SO badly.

 

Despite Rod's initial whining and crying, it was really fun. And we had a DELICIOUS dinner. It's this ham, it's SOOO good. BUT it's a royal pain in the butt to make, but is SOOO good. So I made it last year, my mom made it this year, now someone else can make it next year, cause we are both like "been there done that" but sadly, we still NEED it..!;) There were other delish things too. I love food. 

 

 Hehe, look at this picture with my dad!! It's a keeper! :)

 

 

 What a great pict with all the grand kids and my parents.

Easter is always a little low key at our house. Jax got in the car after preschool the Friday before and said "Mom! The Easter bunny is going to come bring me a basket of goodies in two sleeps!" And I'm pregnant and hormonal and have NO WAY in my head of trying to figure out why or how there would be any need of an "Easter Bunny" on Easter. The mind just reels--I hate the thought of an Easter "Bunny". 

So I said "Jax, there is NO Easter bunny. Remember how we talked about Christ being resurrected? That is why we have Easter, you get a nice basket in celebration, but there is no Easter "Bunny".

He asked "Then who does the basket?"

I said, "Me and Dad."

He said very skeptically, "You and Dad go to EVERYONE'S house and give them Easter baskets??"

I said, "No, every child's mommy or daddy does their own baskets for their own house."

Jax said "hmmm.." And I thought he understood.

THEN on Easter Morning, when he saw his basket he excitedly exclaimed "MOM! See I TOLD you!! The Easter Bunny DID come, SEE! The Easter Bunny brought me this basket!! I told you!"

And I said "No Jax, me and Dad gave you that basket."

Jax said "Nuh-uh."

And so I dropped it. So much for trying to burst his bunny bubble. I'll try again next year...:)

They shared this one basket, and it worked out great! They each had a couple individual things in the basket and then a couple to share.

Jax ate every single piece of candy I gave him in his basket. in like 10 minutes. I got better candy this year, without artificial dyes and corn syrup, and the chocolate was pretty pure, so I didn't feel as horrible, but I was sure glad I used restraint in how many sweets I put in the basket. I wanted to just make it look amazing, with candy exploding everywhere, but I'm glad I didn't. Because he has absolutely NO restraint... 

    

 Rod was happy too, even though he doesn't pose well for pictures.

 They both just love sweets so much. They were happy happy happy.

I love my boys!!