Happy Birthday Tom!

Happy Birthday, Tom! Since Tom was going to be away on his actual birthday, we celebrated the weekend before. Tom's parents came up, and they bought him his favorite turtle ice cream cake to celebrate.

Earlier that week, we had been looking through our recent pictures that we had printed out, and we realized that there was a big difference between the pictures on our camera and other's cameras. We started doing some shopping online to figure out what we should buy, and I liked the idea of getting one in between the point and shoot and the digital SLR (I was too scared to make the plunge!). If you're ever shopping for cameras, we found a great site that compares them (www.imaging-resource.com). They take the same picture with each camera in their lab, so you can compare how the cameras perform with color, textures, prints, etc. We saved each of those pictures on our computer to compare, and it was amazing to see the difference. It really made it easy to narrow down our choices.

Unfortunately, the two we really liked aren't usually sold in stores. Best Buy had one of them, so we went there to take a look. The guy who helped us knew a ton about the cameras and he ended up selling us the Sony NEX-3, which had just come out the week before. All of that research, and we ended up going with his recommendation! It's a digital SLR, but it's so much easier than I thought it would be! I love taking pictures with it! Happy Birthday, Tom! Glad you had a birthday so that we had an excuse to buy a new camera!

Jackson has totally figured out how the computer works. Whenever we can't find him, he's usually in the office. He has learned how to launch Big Bird by himself! The other day, I realized I must not have closed the internet after uploading some pictures to Walgreens - I found Jackson clicking through all of the pictures of himself. He somehow clicked on a screen where he could order all sorts of puzzles, mugs, etc with his picture on it. Fortunately, he doesn't know our credit card number (yet)!
I love watching Jackson play!

Playing with Woody and making him fly. Hint: you have to press the button on his holster (1st picture) to get Woody to fly (2nd picture).

The first of many soccer goals in our future.

Playing with our new camera while playing outside with the water table. I can't get over how much crisper our pictures are now!
You can just see the wheels in his head turning, figuring out how the water makes the wheel turn.
Cooking breakfast and learning to make scrambled eggs. Tom is braver than I am!
Jackson hates getting dirty, especially his hands.
Playing intently with Thomas:
When I was growing up, my mom would always take us to Western Sizzlin when my dad was out of town. My sister and I hated to see dad go away on business trips, but we sure did have fun going out to eat when he was gone! I decided that I'd try to recreate that with Jackson, and Jackson decided that Cracker Barrel was going to be our special place. We go there whenever Tom goes away on a trip. As you know, we have such a hard time getting Jackson to eat. But not at Cracker Barrel! On this trip, he ate 1 full pancake, 1/4 of my dinner, all of his eggs, and his bacon. I asked Jackson where it all went, and this is what he showed me:
Calling Dr. Jackson......
I was in the other room when things suddenly got quiet - never a good sign. I came out to find Jackson climbing up on the couch arms and then falling back into the cushions.
Jackson decided this particular morning that he was too big for his seat and wanted to sit in my seat instead. Doesn't he look like so much older in this picture? (And really, mom, can't you get me some new pajamas that at least go to my ankles rather than these capris?)
Who says you just have to sit there? Jackson decided to liven things up with some drum beats.
I wish I had video of Jackson dancing to his own music. Never gets boring with you around, Jackson!
Tom found a hooded sweatshirt in Jackson's size and decided to get it in preparation for colder weather. We had Jackson try it on, and he loved it so much he didn't want to stop wearing it! He added the boots himself. Quite the fashion plate, don't you think?
Jackson's modeling his shirt that he bought - it starts so early! Mac came over to babysit. After they ate at Baja Jack's, he told her he wanted to go shopping. Their first stop was Old Navy, where he picked out this shirt (and Mac bought it for him). She said that he had fun looking at himself and dancing in the mirrors. After Old Navy, he told her he wanted to go to Target. He also picked out the bouncy ball that he's holding in this picture sometime on their shopping trip. He loved his shirt so much that he decided he was going to wear it to bed....and for most of the day the next day! Thanks Mac!
Aargh! Pirates go on the potty, too!
Tom has been working hard this summer helping out with two drum corps: Crossmen and Cavaliers. The Cavaliers came to the Broken Arrow show in July, and Tom was going to go on the road with them after the show. We weren't planning on spending the whole evening at the drum corps show, but Jackson really wanted to see all of the drums. We found Kristen and JP and joined them up in the press box.
Pictures of the Caveliers (or as Jackson calls them - the Green Superheroes) getting ready to perform. You can see Tom in the front of the marimbas getting ready for their performance. It was a great show - very cool! Tom says they are the crowd favorite at most shows they go to. They still have a chance for first place!
I'm not sure who didn't want to leave more - Tom or Jackson! Jackson was holding on tight. It was the first time I think he really understood that Tom wasn't going to be at home for a while.
Jackson really didn't want to let go of Tom. It was sad when it was time to go.
Jackson was really glad to get to talk to his dad on the phone.
I'm a sucker when it comes to toys while we're out shopping (I've warned Tom that when he's gone, we go out on shopping trips for something fun to do...sometimes I wonder if it'd be cheaper if he didn't go! :) ) I've tried to limit the number of action figures and big, bulky toys. This last trip we found a watercolor set with pictures of Buzz and Woody - perfect! Best $7 we've spent! This has kept Jackson busy for tens of minutes at a time!
Can you tell how proud he is of his picture of Hamm?

Happy Birthday, Jackson!

It's hard to believe that Jackson is already 3! When we asked him what he wanted the theme of his party to be, he quickly replied "George!" He absolutely loves anything Curious George lately. He likes to pretend he's The Man In The Yellow Hat (as well as George) and nothing makes me laugh louder than hearing him yell "George!" just like the Man in the Yellow Hat. I really think he could be an actor someday. He's also been re-enacting the scenes from Toy Story. He's got the accents down pat! Jackson, you sure make us smile.

Instead of a birthday cake, I was adventurous and decided to make cupcakes decorated like monkeys. I'm pretty proud to say they turned out well! We used bananas to hold down the balloons. We decorated while Jackson was napping. When he came out, he was so excited to see everything for his birthday. When he saw the bananas, he started laughing and told me that I was funny.

Jackson has been so excited for his birthday. Every time someone has a birthday at school, he comes home telling me that he sang Happy Birthday to them. All this week, we've been telling him it's going to be his birthday, and he asks "they sing for me?". I love these pictures below because you can just see the joy in his face as he listens to everyone celebrating Jackson.

Jackson and Reese - Monkey 1 and Monkey 2

We didn't learn our lesson from last year and went overboard again....

The big theme this year was Toy Story. He got all of the main characters, including Bullseye, another Woody, Buzz and Jessie. He also got a Lightening McQueen "computer laptop". Jackson is going to love playing with the soccer goal, too, and he'll also be able to start practicing his croquet skills once it gets a little cooler (while also learning numbers and colors!). Jackson opened Bullseye first, and he was so excited by it that he didn't want to open any more presents!

After opening presents, we sat down to eat dinner. Jackson and Reese had their own table, and they were so happy to be sitting all by themselves! We weren't quite sure how Reese would do since she'd have the ability to get up all by herself, but she and Jackson entertained each other great during the meal. I see many holidays and family traditions at this table in the future! Jackson refuses to go anywhere without Woody and Bullseye....here he decided they needed to eat, too.

Jackson loved having all of our family come to celebrate

That night when it was almost time to go to bed, Jackson dragged in his computer and told us he needed to do some work. Jackson quickly figured out how to turn it on and switch between the games. He's even learned how to use the mouse (which is actually one of the wheels attached to the car). Jackson said he had so much work to do that he needed to work on it in bed. Here's how we left him that night:

I wonder where he learned that from? Oops!

Jackson shares his actual birthday with one of his friends at school, Joseph. We had a joint Thomas the Train birthday party at their school, complete with a Thomas the Train cupcake cake and Thomas party bags (even with an engineer's hat inside!). Once again, Jackson loved being the center of attention as everyone sang to him. I love how happy he is!

Snack time was quickly over, and we watched them all play together. They are so cute! This is how I typically find Jackson at the end of the day when I come to pick him up (playing Fireman with Cort and others in the loft).

Here the gang is cooking up some more birthday food for Jackson.

Jackson's daycare also had a Fourth of July party and parade again this year. Tom arranged for a few of the kids in his band to lead the parade with a drum cadence. All of the kids (and parents) loved it! Thanks for taking the time to do this for the daycare - it really makes the parade! After the parade, each class had a party in their room. Here you can see the colorful shirts they decorated for the parade:

Jackson found the blocks again, so Tom and Jackson became architects. Here is the first house for Buzz:

They then decided they needed a bigger fort for Jackson to fit in with Buzz.

Finally, Jackson decided it all needed to come down and start from scratch (he did this several times!) Notice he's wearing his hard hat - safety first!

The final multi-level (and multi-wing) house:

Congratulations Adam and Nacole!

Congratulations, Adam and Nacole! Adam and Nacole got married in Hawaii earlier this month, and we celebrated their marriage at a reception in Iowa a few weeks ago. It was such a nice reception, and it was so fun to see everyone again. It's been way too long.

Jackson was so good during the reception. He watched over Reese for most of the night. While we were waiting for the reception to begin, he and Reese would run back and forth down the hallways. Once, Reese tore off and it looked like she was going for the emergency exit door. Jackson ran after her and looked back at us like "Help! She's doing something she's not supposed to do!" It was pretty funny.

Jackson and Reese danced together quite a bit that night. They started by dancing together and holding hands, swinging their arms back and forth. Once they got comfortable with that, they really started showing off their dance moves. Here's a brief video of some of their moves. I especially like it when they dance around the "diaper bag duck", Luke's breakdancing, and Jackson's twirls and big finishes.

We've decided that Reese is the ultimate party girl. We could not get her off of the dance floor. She was fearless. She made herself right at home with the other dancers and really seemed to like dancing next to (or with) Nacole in her pretty dress. Jackson got tired of dancing soon after the official dancing part of the reception started, but Reese was determined not to quit!

What a great looking bunch!

After the reception, several of us headed into the casino to try our luck at slots and roulette.

Grandma was the big winner at the slots. She just kept winning and winning! She put in $7.00 at the start of the night and at one point in the evening, she had won over $30! Pretty good...especially when you're playing penny slots! Grandma was the only one who walked away a winner, though, but we had lots of fun anyway.

After slots, we learned how to play roulette. There was another guy who joined us at the table who was betting big money (several hundred dollars at a time). I think in the short time he was there with us, he won around $1200....but I have no idea how that matched with what he put on the table. Definitely too expensive for me....I'll stick with the penny slots!

More pictures from our weekend in Iowa:

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Tom, Jackson and I drove up to Kansas City the night before for a little mini-vacation. We saw Toy Story 3 at the theater (which was wonderful - highly recommend it!) and then went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant in the Plaza. Our waitress was so nice. She brought Jackson a little pizza dough ball and told him to create something with it, kind of like playdough. Jackson is kind of picky about textures and really didn't like touching it, so she brought him plastic gloves (which he loved and played with the rest of the night). After he made a little snow man (or Christmas tree....we're not sure quite what it was), she took Jackson to go bake it in the brick oven. He was so proud that he was cooking!! Here is his creation:

On the way home, we stopped at Burger King with Johnnie, Reese, Gramma and Papa. Burger King always reminds me of our family trips to Arkansas. Reese and Jackson really liked being kings and queens (so did Tom and Papa, apparently!).

One of the best junk food delicacies can be found in Iowa - dill pickle chips! Jackson found he REALLY liked them. He took the entire bag!

Jackson's really starting to get into playing dress-up. One afternoon, he was a superhero, a pirate and a doctor, all in a span of 20 minutes!