Jackson's school had their Bike-a-thon in early November. Seeing that notice of the bike-a-thon instantly brought back memories of the first "bike-a-thon" when Jackson was 3. Thankfully, there was no need for a late night practice session beforehand! However, there was one small embarrassing moment when another parent asked me if I knew that we still had the tags and instruction manual for the bike attached... Oops!
Papa and Pamma came up to watch Jackson raise money for his school.
They had a good plan this year with a path all set out. The kids were supposed to go all the way down the parking lot before turning around and coming back. Jackson is obviously a rule follower...note how he is the ONLY ONE riding where he is supposed to....
I am sad to say that he did succumb to peer pressure (or maybe it was just the slope of the parking lot) and started to cut corners with the rest of them. :) As Jackson would come around the top corner, Papa would be there to push him on in the final stretch. He sure loved going so fast! The Kindergarten and Pre-K classes rode for a solid hour! Jackson had a total of 5 breaks, each lasting no more than 15 seconds. His legs were tired at the end, but you couldn't tell from the smile on his face.
Later that afternoon, Papa and Pamma rode with us to Fayetteville to go celebrate Ryan and Christa's wedding. Jackson has been asking for a (clip-on) tie ever since he saw one in Target, so we relented and bought him one to wear to the wedding. He was so excited to wear it that night!
On Saturday morning, we toured the University of Arkansas' campus. First stop: the University of Arkansas football stadium. It was huge! And it was really nice that we could stop outside and still see in. It was fun to watch the Arkansas/LSU game on TV knowing that we had been there.
Jackson was itching to run after being cooped up in the car the previous day. He made my heart stop several times running down this hill way too fast. I was sure he was going to end up in a crumbled heap at the concrete wall!
Jackson also decided that he wanted to become a photographer and started taking pictures with my camera. Papa was ready for his close-up:
While we were on campus, Casey wanted to a Razorbacks hat, so we stopped at the campus store. Jackson found a Razorbacks "helmut hat" that he really wanted. When we realized that it was $25, we had him pick out something else. He found a great small football to play with. However, when he realized that getting the football meant he couldn't get the the helmut hat, he got really sad. His lower lip and chin started quivering holding back the tears when I told him to go put the helmut hat back. He did put it back but was putting all of his effort into not crying. When Pamma saw that, her heart broke and ended up getting both the hat and the football. We love you, Pamma!
After a great lunch at Hugo's, we went to a park where Jackson got to try out his new football. Casey was teaching him some plays until Jackson's motor went a little too fast and he went tumbling. After a few minutes, he decided he wanted to play again. Jenna was playing great defense, but Jackson got the ball off just in time:
After beating Jenna, he decided he needed a new opponent:
Later that afternoon, we went back to Christa's house for their wedding reception and pig roast. When we arrived, the living room was filled with guys watching SEC football. Once that game ended, we changed it to the OSU football game. It was amazing how fast that room cleared out! It was so great to be able to celebrate Ryan and Christa and their new life together. They are perfect for each other! It was so great to be able to see "Unc" (Uncle John) and Aunt "Buddy". They are such wonderful people. We are so lucky to have them in our family!
The past week has been a blur of activity. Dad went to pick up Grandma Etta and bring her back to Oklahoma for the Thanksgiving holiday. After driving 14 hours on Friday back to Stillwater, they drove another 1.5 hours on Saturday morning to see our house and watch Jackson play in his last football game. She is such a trooper! Especially when you consider she'll be 90 in two weeks!
We found a great spot to sit and watch Jackson. Jackson loved having such a big cheering section!
It's hard to believe that another soccer season has already ended. Jackson has improved so much over where he started 2 years ago! We were fortunate to have such a great team this year with 1/2 the team being teammates from previous seasons. We loved having Coach Andy as our coach again this year along with the other parents from seasons past. It was great to see how many of the parents were out there playing with their kids during practice this year. Hopefully basketball will be just as good!
After the game, Mom, Dad and Grandma had to hurry back to Stillwater for the OSU game. The next morning, everyone got back into the car and drove to Edmond to celebrate Reese's birthday. Happy 4th Birthday, Reese! Jenna had done such a great job with a dress-up party for Reese and her friends earlier in the week, and they saved a goodie bag for Jackson - complete with a pirate's hat, eye patch and beard. He looked so cute in it. Reese was the ultimate hostess and kept asking everyone if they needed more lemonade or food to eat.
Reese got a big girl bike for her birthday, so throughout the day, Reese and Jackson would go outside to ride bikes. They had a great time together!
In house news, we are making great progress. In two weeks, we went from this:
to this:
to this:
Each time we visit our new house, we are both struck with how much we love our new neighborhood. One of Jackson's old classmates lives right next door, and he always asks if he can go play anytime we are there. It warms our heart to hear them shriek with laughter as they play together. The last time we went, we stayed for over 2 hours as we were measuring all of the rooms and double checking it with our plans. When it was time to leave, both Jackson and Claire were sad that it was over. Claire even asked if we could come back tomorrow, and when we said we wouldn't be there, she asked "well, how about Monday?" We can't wait to be there permanently! All of the stress with our past homes seems worth it now that we are almost here.
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