Jack's 3rd Birthday Party

We celebrated Jack's 3rd birthday party at the Gentle Zoo in Forney.  I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived that there was a room with A/C set up for our party!  I was expecting to be outdoors with little shade, but there was a large shaded area with picnic tables near the petting zoo.  It was perfect!

  

Jack and everyone else had so much fun feeding the animals.  I think we went through about 10 buckets of food!  

There was a tractor train that took everyone for a tour of the zoo.  They have corn guns, a bounce house, playground and the petting zoo.  They also offer pony rides, but their pony was a little under the weather the day we were there.

We had a good time with friends and family!  And I will definitely be visiting the Gentle Zoo again soon!  Maybe when it cools down a little.

The party continued at our house with gifts.  My card was full, so I don't have any pictures of Jack opening gifts, but lets just say there are A LOT of new toys at our house!

The kids were so funny riding on Jack's new Mini Mustang!  They looked like they were riding in a parade.  HA!

Waiting for Daddy to bring out his BIG gift from us...

  

It'll be a while before he can ride on his own, but he's having fun riding that "big 'ol motorcycle" with his Daddy!

Overall, it was a great Birthday Party Day!

A Week at the Lake - In Pictures

Papa and Jack riding the tractor.

4th of July - Looking like a tourist!

On Tuesday they went to "town" and Jack got a mustang.  He can make a sound just like a real race car!

Almost cleaned his plate at the Mexican restaurant.

Worn out after all that shopping!

Papa and his little buddy - I'm sure they walked up and down that dock a million times last week.

Fishing

I love those rosy cheeks and sunscreen makes some pretty good gel!

  

Grandad and Jack

Memaw and Grandad and Jack

Going for a boat ride...

Sweet baby!

When at the lake, you must drink milk out of your red Solo cup!  Jack even found a "blue, red Solo" cup!  Haha! 

Just hangin' out.

And while Jack was chillin' with at the lake with Grammy and Papa, Mama and Daddy were having a good 'ol time at home!  Thanks Mama and Jeff for keeping Jack for us, we really appreciated the little break, but are happy to have him home!

Our Little Fishy

After a week at the lake with Grammy and Papa, our sweet Jack has turned into little fishy Nemo!  That boy LOVES the water and is actually "swimming" pretty good.

Not only is he swimming good, he is also a SILLY BOY!  

He made up his own little anthem!

God Bless the USA

We had a great weekend at the lake with my family! I think there were 20 of us all together. Too bad we didn't get a picture with everyone.

Every year my parents neighborhood has a parade and judges all the "floats". This year ours won Most Colorful! Yay!

Jack was so excited to ride in the parade with Aunt Sarah!  He was a good little co-pilot!

Molly and Linzi get all the credit for decorating the float this year (with a little help from the boys)!  They even had on red, white and blue hula skirts!  HA!  They threw beads, candy and other red, white and blue goodies.

Randy and "his girlfriend" hanging out at the boathouse.  I'm so thankful Memaw and Grandad got to come to the lake and enjoy our 4th of July Celebration!

Getting ready to watch fireworks with Memaw and Grandad.  I think this was Jack's first time to see "real" fireworks and I'm pretty sure he loved it!  He kept saying "boom, boom!" and talking about how the fireworks were "so, so LOUD!"  He prefaces everything with either "real, real" or "so, so" to emphasize whatever he's talking about.  He's a trip!

Ran and me enjoying the sunset and getting ready to watch the fireworks.

Recent iPhone Pictures

Jack is has gotten so big!  He can finally reach the pedals and pedal pretty good on his tricycle.  Just gotta work on that steering now. 

I thought these were such sweet pictures.  Jack sat there the whole time Ran was mowing the back yard.

He always loves to watch Daddy mow and will run from window to window to see what all he is doing.  Jack has become quite the little mower with his lawn mowers too!

Eating at Chick-fil-A one day and Jack found the perfect "hat".

In my effort to start healthy habits with Jack, I thought I'd buy plain 'ole oats instant of the sugar filled instant packs and to my surprise, he actually liked them.  He was even eating them dry.  I did add a little cinnamon/sugar mixture and dried apples, but I know it has to be better than the packaged ones I've been giving him for so long.

Pretending to be sleeping in the kitchen (he brought the rug in there), but he was really waiting for Daddy to finish working.

No stroller at the mall will wear a little boy OUT!  He needed to rest at Stride Rite after getting some new tennis shoes.  How does a child's foot not grow for months, then 2 months after you buy a lot of new shoes, it grows a whole size?  Jack's now wearing a 10.5 in shoes.  I'm not sure how tall he is, but he weighs about 36 pounds.  I'll do a full Jack update when he turns 3 in a few short weeks!  I can't believe it!

Planting Our Roots

Ran and I have talked about planting a tree for a while, so the day after Memorial Day, we finally did it!  

We stopped at Home Depot on our way home from the lake and bought a Live Oak tree and I love it (and our pretty new grass)!

We were trying to get Jack to pose in front of our new tree so we can watch both the tree and Jack grow through the years, but he was in a silly mood that day and acting all crazy!

And, just for the record (and so I don't forget), as much as I would love to live in this house forever and watch this tree and Jack grow big and tall, I DO NOT want to live in this town forever...

While our neighborhood is nice and I love living and working in the same town, I have my sights set on a nice, very small neighboring town about 5 miles away...

So, if that little dream of mine does someday come true, we can plant another Live Oak tree in our backyard and watch it grow big and tall!

But until then, I'll be happy and content watching this little boy and this tree grow up right before my eyes in this happy home!

Easter at the Lake

I have no idea who this other little boy is, but he was cute!

My parent's neighbors host an Easter egg hunt for the kids every year.  This was our first time to go and I think Jack had a good time, even though we missed the egg hunt.  I guess they are very punctual, because we were only a few minutes late.  HA!

Wipe out!

motor boatin' after the neighborhood get together.

Jack and Aunt Linzi

I hate that this picture is blurry, because it is my favorite one!  I love the look on both of their faces.  Jack loves his Aunt Linzi!

Hunting Easter eggs after church.