5 years later...

It's been a long time - here's the boys now :-) 1st and 2nd grade, playing sport, and loving life!!!

Been TOOOOOO Long - 'nuf said!

Since I have taken over as president of our state association, I've been soooo pressed for time. But I need to be better about posting so everyone can see how much the boys have grown. I'm going back to our Christmas photo shoot, which we held on our new backyard addition. We are going to love this once the weather finally starts cooperating here in Alabama (where is has snowed more this winter than in the past 10 combined!). Lucas is no longer a baby. I let his hair keep growing until after this photo shoot, because I knew as soon as we cut it, he'd really be a big boy. He's talking more and more each day and making long sentences now! He follows his big brother anywhere, and like Jackson, he has no fear...uh-oh! He was 20 months in these pictures.

Jackson loves the outdoors and can't wait for the weather to be like it was last weekend - high 60s and sunny! We spent the entire weekend outside :-) He loves his playschool and can't wait until 3k next year - when he will be at the big boy school!

Looking at the playground - where they really wanted to be

Best way to entertain - the tom cat app on my phone

The way they play with each other now, and really since day one, I have a feeling they will be the best of friends. Don't get me wrong, I know the will fight (like they do over Buzz and Woody now) but they are so sweet to each other for the most part.

Say "Cheese!"

Not a baby anymore!

It amazes me that Lucas will be 2 next month. Time goes by so fast! They are at such a fun age right now, I love all the time that we get to spend with them!!!! I can't wait to see what they will do next :-)

Finally

Finally, a few minutes to get some pics up. Life at our house is so crazy these days. The boys are great - Jackson turned 3 a few weeks ago. Lucas just turned 19 months last Thursday. I'm going to get some pictures up of the past few months this week. Tonight's post has a few pics from Jackson's 3rd birthday. We actually had 2 parties for him this year. We had one down in Auburn with some family on Saturday, the another one here with family and friends on Sunday. The theme was Thomas the Train, a favorite of J's. Here was his cake:

Here's the birthday boy. He had so much fun and was so excited! It was a blast having some friends over to celebrate.

Everyone enjoyed the cake :) Somehow J was the messiest one, but I suppose that's to be expected when you're the birthday boy!

Everyone wanted to help open presents and play with the new toys!

Even cousin Mark got in on the action! He reminds me a lot of J at that age because he's already into everything!

I can't believe that my sweet firstborn is already 3! The time flies by so quickly. He and L are a pair - already so close. L follows J around and they have so much fun playing together. Now that the weather is so nice, we're outside playing all the time. Later this week I'll have a post with our new backyard photos. It's awesome and exactly what I wanted....which it should be because it took us 4 months to figure out exactly what we wanted!!! I'm so glad the boys like to be outside as much as we do, and I look forward to many nights out on the patio by the fire pit :)

Beach Pics Part 2

Here are the rest of the beach pictures, which got delayed by our week long trip to Seattle for the AANA Annual Meeting. More on that later! The chair in the picture below has been in Wes' family for a long time! L is featuring a cute onesie that Nonnie got him while she was in Alaska :)

Catch me if you can!!! Outside on the balcony at the condo

J catching a ride on Pops' shoulders

L had a blast swimming :-D

Of course, all that swimming makes one very tired

Nothing beats digging in the sand

Slightly windblown ;)

He wasn't sure what to think when I grabbed him for this photo, lol

Sleepy boy on the beach

J is in his element at the beach! He loves it more than anywhere else!!!

Always a ham

One of my favorites. Since he was 6 months old, the boy has loved the ocean

Eating a snack

Photo session 2. Went slightly better than number 1.

I think he actually said, "Hey, why'd you stop walking, Mommy?"

My favorite!

Come on, brother!!!

Still for about 1 second, then off again

Our sweet boys!!!

Clapping makes him smile the most

We had so much fun, and we can't wait to get back to the beach, but with football season just around the corner, I'm not sure when that will be :( The summer has flown by, and the boys' information for playschool came the other day. But, we are glad that they will be back in school - they need that time out of the house (and Wes needs that time without the boys, lol). Wes has one more securities exam to take, and he'll be good to go :) Hopefully by the end of the year everything will be in order and he will be working!!! He has worked so hard, and it will be great to see his hard work pay off. Post of Seattle soon!

Beach Pictures Part 1

Here are about half the pictures from our beach trip a few weeks ago. We wish we were still there, and today when I was looking at these deciding which ones to post, Jackson asked when we were going back. I wish I could have said right now! We had such a good time and can't wait to get back to the condo!!! Jackson has always loved the beach. He was like a little turtle, crawling at 6 months old right out into the ocean. Nothing has changed, and I hated that he couldn't play in the water a lot. This was him the first day down there. He actually wore the hat for a while, and he played with his trucks and shovels in the sand.

It's a little hard to tell, but you can see the line of the booms, and the boat helping to clean up the area. The water was gorgeous when we were down there. No tarballs and tons of people in the water!

Wes watching the boys

This was really the first time Luke has played in the sand in his bathing suit. When we were there early this year, we took him out in his pants, and he loved walking in the sand. He wasn't so sure about it this time. He did figure out how to shovel sand on himself though, and once he had sand all over his face, he really didn't know what to think of it. But he figured out not to dump it on his head eventually!

Step 1 - shovel sand

Step 2 - close eyes and lift shovel

Steps 3 and 4 - dump sand on your head

Step 5 - laugh and try to figure out how to get the sand off your face

Just hanging out

Luke looking pensive

I was not able to get any pics of them both smiling on this day. It was hard enough to get one with both of them looking at me. L kept watching J instead

Sweet smiles :)

I just want to play with the shovel in the sand!!!

Plotting his escape to play

More to follow soon. Wes has his next certification exam on Monday, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers. J and L are doing great - grow, grow, grow. We are (impatiently) waiting for L's molar to finish cutting. They have taken FOREVER! J's took about a month, but this is twice as long. And we can tell they are bothering the little guy, and there's just not much that is making him feel better now. This too, shall pass, I know, but I hope for his sake (ok, for all of us!) that it speeds up!