Jack Turned 3

Jack turned 3 a few weeks ago, so we did a little celebrating.
Unfortunately, he was sick on his birthday, so we didn't do much.

I attempted to make a dirt track cake out of cupcakes
and it didn't turn out great, but he liked it. :-)

Mmm...

I think that cake is one of Eliza's favorite foods these days.

Opening a few presents.

Playing with brand new cars.


Since Jack was sick on his birthday, we had a birthday playdate a week later.
He had fun playing with a few friends and sharing cupcakes.

Happy birthday, Jack!

My Jack-Jack

Jack turned 3 at the beginning of May(!), so I thought I would devote a post just to my Jack-Jack. (I'm not the only one who calls him "My Jack-Jack. He refers to himself that way sometimes. When he's hiding in a box or under a blanket he'll say, "Where's my Jack-Jack? Mommy, find Jack-Jack!" Pretty adorable.)

And speaking of Jack-Jack, ever since we started calling this little guy "Jack," (a couple of days after he was born) I'm constantly thinking of other "Jack" references. It's not uncommon to hear a little giggle after a normal, everyday comment such as "Here's your apple, Jack." Or "Would you like a cracker, Jack?" So I've been wanting to pay homage to some famous Jacks in history and pop culture. Can you name them all?


A good friend offered to take birthday pictures for me, which was so sweet! She took a bunch of pictures of him in our house and in our backyard. Below are a few of my favorites.


Jack has matured so much over the last few months. Yes, he is still a handful - very active and very loud - but he has become more obedient and more calm (even if only incrementally) and we are thankful for those developments!

His language has improved dramatically over the last few months also and he is expressing himself very well now. His favorite thing to listen to these days is the Scripture Scouts Book of Mormon CDs and he frequently asks me questions about the stories on the CDs and why certain things happen. He really wants to understand more about the world around him.

Jack has an active imagination and he has started referring to himself as one character from a show or story and the other person he is talking to as a companion character from the same show or story. "I not Jack-Jack. I Sah-koh-ee (Skarloey). Mommy, you Thomas." or "You Tasha. I am Pabwo (Pablo)." Citing Thomas the Tank Engine and Backyardigans, respectively. He likes to role play this way, and it's so exciting to see him in this new phase.

He loves to be held and frequently tells me "Mommy, let me holdjoo!" especially when he's still sleepy from a nap. But he hates it when I try to stroke his hair or scratch his back.

Jack understands the rules around the house, and although he's doing a better job of following them as I mentioned above, he's also gotten to be good at telling his friends what the rules are when they come over to play. It cracks me up. "Cween up! It's time to cween up!"

I didn't realize how protective Jack was of Eliza until the other day when we were at Church and a friend was holding Eliza. Jack kept saying very loudly "Mommy! She has yo' baby!" He really loves the everybody though. When Ben is home, Jack doesn't really want to hang out with me, and I think this is one of the reasons he frequently wakes up early in the morning. He wants some Dad time before Daddy leaves for work! And Jack is always happy when Cat comes home and loves to be with her. He wants to do the things that she does, including playing with her friends, dressing up, and doing homework. Sometimes when Cat is doing her homework, he'll sit down in his chair at the table and I'll bring him paper and a pencil so that he can do his homework, just like Cat. (Sometimes I wonder how Cat will end up using this powerful influence she has on Jack. Will she be a good example.... or will she take him to the dark side with her?) ;-)

Jack really loves reading books with us now and a few of his recent favorites are Fix-It Duck, Pigs Love Potatoes, A Mud Pie for Mother, The Little Engine that Could, Dimity Duck, and Good Night on the Farm.

Jack is very opinionated about music and I've been able to use the privilege of choosing the music we listen to in the car as incentive for him to get in and sit in his car seat even when he doesn't really want to. His taste ranges from "I've Just Seen a Face," "Love Story," and "Life is a Highway" to Raffi, The Wiggles, Backyardigans, and other children's music. And while he loves to play backseat DJ, he doesn't usually sing along, and frequently demands that anyone who is singing along stop at once. ("Mommy! Stop singing!") He dances occasionally, but listening seems to be his preferred method of enjoying music.

Jack now frequently uses the phrase "I don't wike it!" He often says this whenever we try to put clothes on him, when he hears a loud noise such as the blender, when we try to put a Band-Aid on him or give him medicine, or when he's scared about something, such as the car wash/post office we frequently go to. (He's finally over that fear now, thank goodness. Just in the last several weeks.)

I'm just so thankful for this wonderful little boy. He keeps me on my toes, but he also keeps me laughing and forces me to slow down at least once a day and have fun building train tracks. I'm so thankful for that! I love you, Jack! Have a wonderful 4th year!

Don't Stop Believing

My sister, Susannah, taught Cat Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" a while back.

Now you get to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labors, Suz!

In the meantime.

After our big beach trip, and before our next trip, we did a lot of stuff around the house. Nothing too huge, but here are a few of the pictures I took during those 2 weeks...

some artsy craftsy things

We painted Mother's Day presents for Grammy & Mema, sorted sea shells from St. George Island, and found a new way to clean up after a mega-painting-session: put some dish soap and a bit of water on the tablecloth. Yes, it's also a bit messy, but it got the tablecloth really clean and the kids had a good time in the process.

a girl became a princess
I had this on the morning of the wedding (yes, I usually try to get up early with Ben) and all the kids happened to wake up in time to watch a lot of the ceremony also. Cat was absolutely glued to it and even got dressed in front of the TV so she could get ready for school without missing anything. We had to leave during the carriage ride, but that was enough for us to watch!

And in case you're wondering, yes, that's our only TV.
Yes, it's old-er. And, yes, it's small. But it works!
Thanks again, Melissa!

feeding squirrels

Well, Cat fed them when she decided that spreading birdseed solely in the yard was too conventional for her. And thankfully she also conveniently kicked out the bottom panel of our screen porch door so that the squirrels could have easy access to the feast on the porch.

messy Eliza

In case you were wondering.

The answer is no. I am not pregnant. (Even though you wouldn't believe me if you got a good look at my mid-section... I sometimes secretly wish that I would discover I am pregnant so that I wouldn't have to be self-conscious about my gut anymore. But I digress.)

Anyway, after seeing this picture in our last post, I had a couple of people ask if we were expecting...

I was in a hurry after making all of those collages, but perhaps I should have taken a moment and cropped it so that it looked a little less suspicious.

Is that better?

Beach Weekend in Collages & Videos

Warning: this is a long post, which contains several collages.
Please click on any collage you would like to see in greater detail.

We spent Easter weekend with *all* of Ben's family at a beach house on beautiful St. George Island, FL. This was a wonderful place to hang out, and it really felt like we were "Over the Rainbow" for a few days. Jack settled right in when we found our room (on the third floor, near the elevator) and told me that he would like to sleep in this chair.

There was plenty of fun to be had on the beach...

Papa fished as much as he could, and most of us got in on the fishing action as well. (Yep, even yours truly. I managed to set a record for the most tangled line on Ben's pole. No pictures to prove it.)

We got to know some native islanders a little better. (One of the highlights of the weekend was when we saw a pod of dolphins jumping out of the water for several minutes. If I'd realized it was going to last that long, I would have tried to take a picture! We see dolphins most of the time when we got to the beach, but for some reason it's still so exciting to me. Love those guys.) The night-time crab viewing was so fun for all of us. Those little (and big) guys were everywhere!

It was so fun to get to hang out with Mema & Papa,
as well as aunts, uncles, and cousins for a few days.

We were also lucky enough to spend a day with Tim & Cassie, some good friends from Tallahassee. They drove over on Friday and the kids loved being together! Tim and Ben have been close since they were very young, and it is so fun that our kids are all around the same ages. Here are a few pictures from this year and past visits to the beach with T&C's family:

Ben taught Cat all about boogie boarding.

Then she practiced with Lana. They had fun boogie-ing together.

Jack didn't get in the ocean at all during the weekend, and he only spent a few minutes in the pool. Funny, considering how fearless he was at the beach when he was 13 months old:

One fun thing that happened was that there was a wedding reception at the neighborhood pool on Friday night. So the girls danced as they swam, during DJ Porkchop's sound check. Just before I started recording this video, he'd been playing upbeat dance music.



They also danced on the balcony during the reception itself.

We had a little Easter Egg hunt on Saturday evening, followed by a great Easter FHE. We loved getting to celebrate this special holiday with extended family.

We attended a tiny little branch (when we showed up, we more than doubled the attendance from the previous week) for Sacrament Meeting on Easter Sunday. It was a great reminder that the gospel is the same everywhere, and that a unit does not need to be strong in number in order to be strong in spirit. I was also reminded of how loud my children are in Church. They somehow seem quieter when we're in a big chapel full of people.

And here is one last collage, full of pictures that didn't make it into other collages.

Thank you for the fun weekend, Mema and Papa!
And thank you for sharing your pictures, Keturah!

Also, congratulations to anyone still reading this loooooong post.
Way to endure to the end!

Walkin' and other stuff

Here are a few signs that Eliza is growin' up:

1. Accessorizing

She was cracking me up one Saturday morning by putting on
as many necklaces as she could find from Cat's dress-up box.

Now... to try to get this necklace off.

Yes, sometimes removing them is the hardest part.

Sparkly clutch to match.


Will this purse fit over my head? Not quite.

How do I look?



2. Front-Facing
Eliza didn't "turn" 20 pounds until she was 13 1/2 months old. It was so nice to be able to turn her around! And I think we are both enjoying car rides more now.



3. Curls
Aren't they great?!?! The best is times like this, when she just woke up from
a nap where she was a little warm, so she got a little sweaty, and the curls are
even curlier and crazier. Love it.



4. Practicing Walking
We were all in the living room one night a couple of weeks ago when Cat said, "Look! Eliza is walking!" So we got out our little phone camera and captured it just in time.


Because, believe it or not, this is the most steps she's ever taken. Apparently, this girl just doesn't like to walk. Now we know that she's capable, though!


Other things that have been going on with E recently:

• She SCREAMS when you take something away from her (or do anything else she thinks is unfair, unkind, or unjust). This makes it much easier to police Jack when the two of them are anywhere near each other, but it makes times-when-children-should-be-seen-and-not-heard much more challenging. There is no doubt in anyone's mind the emotion that Eliza is experiencing during church when she finds my phone in my purse and I take it away from her. In fact, I think everyone in all of the other churches in the entire county probably knows that Eliza is mad when that happens. Yes, she screams that loud.
  

• She loves giving kisses now. If she's nearby when someone gets a kiss, she will lean in for one of her own.

• She has learned to climb ladders. I'm not sure if she figured this out on her own or if her older siblings taught her, but either way, she can now climb from the floor into Cat's lofted bed, and from the ground into the playhouse on our swing set.

• She is trying to use utensils. This is one that I am definitely not ready for, but I guess if she wants to learn, then I should let her. She does manage to get some food in her mouth when she uses a spoon, so that's good!

• She has been playing more with her brother and sister, and laughing with them, instead of just at them.
  

Hard to believe my baby is 14 months old now.
Time flies, I tell you.