Happy 8th Birthday Emery!

A very special girl turned 8 at our house on May 11th.  In honor of the day I made a big #8 gluten free chocolate cake!

On the years that our kids don't have parties, we let them invite a friend over for cake & ice cream with our family.  This year Emery wanted all the Moore's with us to celebrate.  After a nice dinner we moved on to cake & ice cream.  A special thanks to the Moore's for always cooperating with the gluten free menu!

My favorite smile! 

I'm including the picture because it's of the outfit that we bought Emery.  It's adorable but she doesn't like it...so back to the store it went!  It's already starting at 8 years old :(

A couple of months ago a friend gave us this desk.  It was white and needed some TLC.  I painted it and had it all ready for Em's room on her birthday.  The pic of the desk was a gift from the Moore family.

I can't believe how adorable it looks in her room.  Such a great addition!

One last gift from Mom & Dad...

A new camera!  It takes video and pictures so she was stoked!  Happy Birthday Emery :)

A few things I want to remember about Emery at this age.  Emery loves her hip hop dance class, drinks water all the time, is funny about the way things rub her feet, prays for her friends, is a great big sister, is stubborn, likes to wake up on her own but most importantly she's growing into a beautiful young lady with such a great heart.

Kings Island

Kings Island opened up a few weeks back!  While Scott was gone on his annual fishing trip, I took the kids over on a Sunday evening.  We got there about 4pm and it quickly cleared out...thank goodness! 

This is one of Eli & Emery's favorite rides.  It simulates flying.

There is a little bit of a ride difference among the kids this year.  Eliot & Elese are excited about riding rides but Eli & Emery have moved on from the little rides.  They were good sports since I was by myself but I quickly learned that it will be more fun for all of us when we have 2 adults.  Elese is still wanting to be in the stroller so I'm pushing the double again this year!

This ladybug ride is hilarious!  It whips the kids so hard that I'm surprised they don't get a concussion!  All the while they are squealing with delight!

All my babies in 1 car!  I was shocked when Em & Eli wanted to ride this too.  As the kids went around I noticed the #6 on the back of their car...how fitting.

Kelly Visits!

A few weeks ago my "besty" Kelly made a visit with Lucas & Landon.  They arrived just before the bus brought the kids home from school.  We were immediately outside and enjoying the afternoon!

Lucas enjoyed checking out the Jeep!

 
Two little ones under the age of 2...up to no good!  We have to watch Eliot like a hawk with the ride on toys now.  He jumps in and pushes on the gas having no idea how to drive!  He's caused many a heart attack and I'm sure the neighbors are one step away from calling CPS on me. Maybe they're laughing hysterically at me running around after him!

Elese and Landon are buddies.  I included this picture for Landon's Dad, Brandon.  Check out the pink Barbie Jeep driver!

Elese got stuck so Landon gave her a little push...what a gentleman!

This was right before Eliot pushed himself out of the garage and right down the driveway full speed ahead!  We were laughing because he was wearing Peyton's helmet and it barely fit!

I'm sure Lucas was thinking, "Don't run me over!"

Sweet friends!

I realized that I didn't get any pictures of Kel & me.  She came up to help me get my garage sale organized and to go through my teaching stuff.  After 8 years of not teaching, I decided to part ways with anything teaching related.  It was tough but I love the room I now have in my storage area!  Kelly went home with a van full of teaching stuff for her new preschool teaching job!

Milford Art Show

A piece of Emery's artwork was an entry in the Milford Art Show.  The second graders painted watercolor scarecrows.  The art show was held at the high school and featured work from every grade level.  The creativity was pretty impressive...nothing like I remember us doing in art class!

Em was a little reluctant to stand in front of her picture but ended up cooperating.  On a side note, she's in a stage of the funky smile.  For some reason she is keeping her mouth open when she smiles on purpose.  Who knows?

I think she did a nice job on her scarecrow!  Check out the details...side bangs, fringe on skirt, tongue hanging out.

Katelyn's scarecrow made the art show too!  I love all the colors :)

Backyard Fun!

The weather has been so nice lately!  The kids have enjoyed playing in the backyard on new adventures.  Just last week the kids were getting bored when all of a sudden a turtle was discovered by the fence!  Excitement was all around and quickly led to creating a turtle habitat.

Their first idea was to put the turtle in a box.  Eli added rocks, mud & grass to complete the home.

A hole in the ground was the second idea for a home.  They quickly learned that this didn't work because the turtle kept escaping!

I'm actually quite thankful the turtle made a visit to our house during that beautiful day.  He kept the kids busy for a couple of hours, which is always a good thing!  We also did a little research on the computer to find out more information on turtles.

Another adventure going on at our house is the homemade zip line!  The kids have been working on this for about a month or so.  The day they thought they finally had it all ready they called for me and this is what I walked up to.  Eli was swinging his leg up on the deck railing to give it a try!  Not a good idea!

The kids were so determined to make this zip line work.  The kept trying out ideas and then making adjustments with test runs that involved a stick.  The waist attachment was a dog leash that clipped onto the rope.

They quickly learned that attaching the line to the picnic table wouldn't work very well...seriously!   

Tyler decided to anchor the rope to a tall tree...which worked out great.  Elijah was trying out a Tarzan move!  In the end I would drag the kids down the line so they could get a feel for a real zip line. 

When the picnic table didn't work out, he moved to the roof of the playhouse.  You'll be glad to know that there have not been any injuries during all of this.  The kids were creative and truly had a great time.  For now, the excitement has died down and they've moved on to other adventures!

Eliot's Accident :(

We have another story to add to the Jackson book of accidents.  About 2 weeks ago Eliot managed to partially amputate his left index finger.  Yes, partially amputate!  It was a freak accident that happened when he was at my feet...literally!  Eli, Mr. Tim (local mower man) & I were standing there and not one of us saw it happen.  A normal Thursday morning turned into a trip to Cincinnati Children's where Eliot was put under and his finger was put back together again.

I didn't have a camera with me that day but here he is the next day or so.  They left the tip open but I had to cover it because he wasn't about to be slowed down!  I was nervous he would get it infected.

I'll spare you the details but his finger nail was completely off and had to be sewn back on.  It was so bad that when we got to the hospital I couldn't watch while they examined him.  Eliot was such a trooper and took it all in stride.

He was VERY quickly back to his normal routine of playing outside and getting in on the action with the kids.  He just didn't use that hand.  At first we laughed because he wouldn't even use it to eat!  Soon, it was just normal for him and he forgot about the injury.

The following photos are compliments of Eli...my photographer on the scene!  On day 7 we had to visit orthopedics at the hospital.  They soaked off the bandage to see how it was healing.  For some reason Eliot was not happy unless his finger was covered with this towel.  I guess it felt safe since it had been covered for the last week.

This is what would happen if you uncovered it!  To me it still looked pretty gross.

Eli took pictures of EVERYTHING in the room!  Poor thing was bored...we were there 2 hours!  Thankfully Eliot didn't have any fractures.

I told you he was bored.  I'll keep the 10 other random pictures he took for the archives :)

At this point Eliot was exhausted!  We waited for an hour to be seen that day and once they soaked off his bandage he just wanted to leave.  He very quickly fell asleep on the ride home.

I was completely shocked when the doctor looked at me and said, "His finger is completely healed.  He won't lose the tip and he can take a bath and do normal activites.  At this age it only takes 1 week for the skin to heal and he's good to go!"  Really?  Are you sure?  I was hesitant for the first couple of days but he was right, totally healed!  Praise be to God :)

Easter

While we were in Dauphin Island, Chessa had our 3rd Easter egg hunt of the year.  She was so sweet to make each of the kids a bag with their name on it for the hunt.  Eliot was happy for any eggs and stopped to eat candy right away.

Chessa assigned each kid a different color of egg so that each kid got the same amount of eggs.  Eli LOVES purple so it was perfect that he got purple eggs for the hunt.

Katelyn & Emery checking out their stash of candy.  Katelyn has a mouth full of Peeps :)

So we headed out of Dauphin Island on the Friday before Easter.  The plan was to drive 1/2 way and then stop for the night.  I called my Mom on the way and she told me that they were hosting Easter dinner on Saturday at 1pm...and the dinner was gluten free!  Scott and I talked it through and we decided to head to the cabin and be there for the dinner.  We left Alabama Friday at 11:30am and made it to the cabin at 12:30am.  The kids were awesome on the car ride and it really wasn't that bad!

Mom was so excited to see us.  She got the kids busy decorating her tree with Easter eggs!

Elese hung all of her eggs on this 1 branch!

It wasn't long before all the kids headed out to Grandaddy's garage for a little Gatorade!  Try as we might, we just can't get him to switch over to Powerade.

Scott decided to vacuum out all of the sand from our beach vacation.  We also had a mishap on the way home where a pillow exploded a MILLION beads all over our van...not fun!

Emery & Eli enjoying the beautiful day!

On a side note...Grandaddy takes the lids of the Gatorade and drills a hole in them.  This makes a way for the kids to drink them with a straw.  Anything for the grandbabies!

Grandma is always prepared.  She had the eggs all ready for the kids to dye.

They drew on their eggs with a crayon before we dyed them.

Eliot's first time to dye Easter eggs!

We had a dozen eggs so each kid got to dye 3.

We talked about Jesus dying on the cross while we put the eggs in the carton.  We have Resurrection eggs at home that go in a carton just like this.

Eliot was my little snuggle boy after nap.  At the cabin he sleeps in a pack and play in Grandma's closet...just like all the kids have before him!

Uncle Jason was there and started giving the kids 4 wheeler rides.

Then Grandaddy fired up the jeep and took all the kids for a ride.  Don't worry, the gun is a fake...just a replica to go along with the WWII jeep.

1st ride on a 4 wheeler for Eliot!

Every year Uncle Jason hosts an Easter egg hunt.  This is the real deal complete with large golden eggs that have money.  The kids look forward to this every year!

Jason helped Brother Bear find all of his eggs.

Cassidy helped Emery find her eggs.  We were blessed with such a beautiful day at the cabin.  We are so glad the we stopped to celebrate Easter with our family.

The golden egg! 

On Saturday afternoon we also visited with Great Grandma, Mamaw & Papaw Jackson at the Overlook Restaurant.  For some reason I didn't take any pictures!  We stayed another night at the cabin and then headed to church with Brad, Michelle, Keith, Kylee & Kate on Easter morning.  We were blessed by the service & the kids got to egg hunt again after church.  We had a wonderful time visiting our family and celebrating Easter together.