First Soccer Game

Jackson had his first soccer game on Saturday and they were so adorable. I really didn't think that they would know what to do at this age. I fgured it would be a lot of sand kicking and nose picking, but those little ones did pretty good. Now, I'm all for good sportmanship, but the other team was HUGE! I promise there was a little girl on that team that was 8! Anyways, they didn't keep score, but I'm pretty sure we got stomped. Jackson scored a goal only it was during a time-out...we just won't tell him that. He did great and only had one meltdown. When we first got to the field, all the other kids had brought a ball so they could practice beforehand. Well, Jackson's Mommy and Daddy apparently missed the memo so he went ball-less and was not happy about it, either. Once his little friend, Camryn, shared her's all was well with the world again. He wanted to play the whole time which was awesome since about 4 of the kiddos wouldn't let go of mom's leg. Here are some pictures of The Highlighters first game.

Also, Jackson got a much needed haircut on Sunday and he looks totally different. Here's the new "do". He's getting to be such a big boy and these pictures really show it!

There's not much to post about Carter right now. He is as busy as ever trying to do EVERYTHING big brother does and screaming fits have become pretty regular in our house. Anytime he doesn't get something he wants he starts screaming and stomping his feet. And when I say anytime, I mean ANYTIME. It's gotten to where Jackson will try and figure out what he wants. I'll get down to ask Carter "what do you want? show me." Jackson chimes in with "He wants his binky" or "He wants a snack" or "He wants to watch a movie". Carter also is throwing fits at naptime and bedtime. Long gone are the days of just laying him down and him drifting off to sleep. As soon as I lay him down he pops back up and starts wailing as if he's hurt. Here's the bad part. He says "Mommy" now and every now and then in between screaming/crying, I'll hear "Mommy!" and I just want to run in there. I hope this is just a phase because it's driving me (and Daddy and Jackson) crazy. I think it's payback since he was such a perfect baby. Can't have it all I guess?? Here's a pic of the little man at Jackson's soccer practice....trying to be just like his brother.

Easter Weekend

We went to church Saturday night instead of Sunday morning (which was a first for us.) We thought it would be less crowded but it turns out that everyone had the same idea. It was pretty packed. The boys went to Sunday school and Jackson did great. Carter...not so much. For the first time, we were called out of the service to go and get our child. Yep, we were THOSE people that had to leave in the middle of the sermon to go and tend to their screaming baby. We have never left Carter in Sunday school before so he had every right to be a little upset, although I didn't really think we'd have to leave the service. Anyhoo, after he saw me and had a few graham crackers and goldfish he was back to his chipper self. Here's a pic of them right before church.

Then, on Sunday, we went over to David's brother's (John) house and had lunch and the Egg Hunt. David's other brother, Michael, dressed up as the Easter Bunny to suprise the kids. Andrea and Elizabeth LOVED the bunny, but the boys were a little scared. Jackson finally warmed up to him, but there was no way Carter was going near that bunny. Here are some pics from our Easter Sunday.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter, too!

A Typical Day

One day last week, within an hour, the boys had completely destroyed 2 rooms in our house - the living room and our closet. Instead of getting aggravated, I pulled out the camera and took pics so I'll have evidence as to why I'm in the nut house one day :-)

They were eating goldfish in the living room and watching a movie while I was doing laundry. Jackson wanted to watch me do laundry (lately he loves to watch the washer fill up with water) so I left Carter by himself to eat his snack. Mistake #1. When I came back in the room (maybe 2 minutes later) he had thrown the goldfish all over the floor and proceeded to stomp all over them burying them in the carpet. Such a mess and that took forever to vaccuum up.

Then, while I was attempting to "freshen up" before going to the grocery store, I let the boys play in our closet. I mean, what can they possibly get into in there? Mistake #2. Well, they DESTROYED it. All of our dry cleaning was out of the bag and scattered and our shoes were all over the closet. Dry cleaning bags that were covering our newly dry cleaned clothes were now on the floor. It was a disaster. I actually forgot to clean it up before David came home and he wondered what on earth happened :-)

I had to laugh because this kind of stuff happens everyday...I just happened to document it that day. The funny thing is all of that took place in less than an hour. Gotta love it. Here's the pics.

....the aftermath.

Picture Overload

We have had a fun couple of days! On Saturday, we had great weather and the temp reached in the mid 90's. So, the boys and I pulled out our swimsuits and played in the backyard. Well, the boys played in the sprinkler and Mommy tried to catch a few rays, but Carter didn't quite dig the sprinkler so I spent most of the time calming him down after he would accidentally walk into the sprinkler and get wet and cold. He would just stand there and not move waiting (and screaming) for me to go and get him. Jackson had a BLAST. This is such a great age to do those types of things with him. He just takes to new experiences immediately and you can tell that he is just so "into" it. I bought a new sprinkler for them and Jackson just sat there examining it-- so amazed. It's so cute.

David built them a sandbox today and they spent 3 hours in there this afternoon. Jackson was great at putting sand in the pail and using a shovel. He wanted to cover up my feet, David's feet, Carter's feet, and his own feet. He wanted us to take his shirt off so he could just lay down on his stomach and pretend he was going to sleep. It was so funny, and now I know how to keep him entertained on a boring day.

Carter, on the other hand, was constantly throwing sand out of the box (very age appropriate, but still annoying) and getting it in his mouth and eyes. He also really had a great time, but of course, we had to watch him closer so he didn't eat a mud pie :-) All in all, they loved it and it's awesome that David is so handy around the house and that he was able to build them their own little sandbox.

Here are some pictures from the weekend. Notice how they're in swimsuits on Saturday and then coats, etc. on Sunday. Gotta love that Texas weather! Also, Carter is wearing a hat because he has an ear infection...not because of blistering cold winds :-)

Soccer Practice

Jackson had his first soccer practice on Wednesday! There are 10 kiddos on the team and it's co-ed....6 boys and 4 girls. They are the cutest little things I've ever seen. From what I understand, they don't actually keep score since they are so little. I think it's mainly just to learn the fundamentals. Their team is called "The Highlighters" which is very appropriate since their jerseys are NEON yellow. Jackson is very excited and kept walking around telling everyone that he's #11. The coaches set up some cones and the kids practiced kicking through them. So cute. Their first game isn't until March 29th, but they'll have a few more practices between now and then. I'll take my camera next time. These pics were sent to me by another little girl's mom so they aren't great of Jackson. Aren't they precious?

This is just a random video of Carter being silly :-)

Talks of Heaven

This morning when I was driving Jackson to school he saw a billboard with a lightning bolt on it. Here is how our conversation went.

Jackson: Mommy, what is that? (pointing to the billboard)
Me: A lightning bolt.
Jackson: You know, lightning is angels bowling in Heaven. There's nothing to be afraid of. (Jackson used to get scared when it would storm and the thunder was really loud. So we would always tell him that.)
Me: That's right.
Jackson: Can we go to Heaven?
Me: Someday
Jackson: Then, we can see Mamaw 'cause she lives in Heaven, right? (Mamaw is my grandmother who passed away last Oct. Jackson always went with me to visit her in the nursing home.)
Me: That's right, Jackson. Do you miss Mamaw?
Jackson: Yes, I miss Mamaw.
Me: Well, you know what? Someday we will all be in Heaven together and you can see Mamaw again.
Jackson: Someday? (You could tell he was deep in thought over this word.) Tomorrow?
Me: No, not tomorrow. I don't know when, but God does.
Jackson: God? I love Jesus.
Me: I know sweetie, me too.

Isn't it just so sweet what comes out of these little one's mouths? It's awesome that he's learning so much about God and Jesus at this young of an age. I'm amazed at the things he is learning at his Mother's Day Out and from our family. On a regular basis, he will just start singing "Our God is an Awesome God" which his Mimi (David's mom) taught him. It's so cute to see him playing with his trains or whatever he is playing with at the moment and under his breath you can hear him whispering songs. He also sings "Jesus loves Me" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children". So so sweet.

I just wanted to share this sweet story since my last post was just a big complaint! Even though I get frustrated (Carter is still driving me batty) they are such great kids. I just need to remind myself that it's all a phase and one day I will look back on this time and laugh at how stressed out I was at times....possibly when they start driving? Oh, I don't even want to go there :-)