birthday boy--Part 2

Okay, so I said I was coming back with Part 2 of Charlie's birthday, and it took me a smidge to get back to it. Since tomorrow is May (holy moley), I think I should finish his 4th birthday up!

He is all about superheroes! Always wanting to dress in his superhero costumes, wanting us to fight the bad guys with him or play with his superhero toys. Charlie frequently corrects us when we call him by his name, Charlie. He says, "You mean, Spiderman!"--or whatever the superhero is of the day--which often changes throughout the day. Hard to keep up with our 4 year old!! Anyway, he was hoping for a superhero party, and that's what he got!

We LOVE our cake lady! She never disappoints and her cakes are delish!!

We invited some of Charlie's friends to join him in fighting the bad guys for his party. They decorated t-shirt capes, listened as Superman Daddy read superhero books, played pass the kryptonite and x-ray vision! Charlie was so very excited to have his friends with him and for the day to be all about superheroes! Charlie, you are definitely our favorite superhero ever!

The party was a success--even though we were forced indoors by rain and cold, and we are super thankful for our friends and Aunt Mary who helped make Charlie feel special!

Even though his party was a week later than his birthday, we still celebrated with family on his actual birthday. He chose to have lunch at Five Guys (just like his Mommy did for her birthday---one of our faves). The weather was beautiful on his birthday, so we played outside a lot too! Superheroes, of course!

Happy 4th Birthday, Chuckles!! We love you to pieces!!

revisiting my word of the year

At some point yesterday, when one of my littles was having a rough moment, I thought of many things that Chad and I want to plan out and do to be intentional parents. I thought of the word intention, which was my word of the year last year. I felt like last year we made big efforts to be intentional parents! Hopefully we can do that every year, but it got me thinking about my word of this year. My word is focus. You can go back and read about it here. I did, today, because funny enough, my morning devotional was about being focused on the Lord. Let me just share this excerpt from Jesus Calling. . .

"Make me your focal point as you move through this day. Just as a spinning ballerina must keep returning her eyes to a given point to maintain her balance, so you must keep returning your focus to Me. Circumstances are in flux, and the world seems to be whirling around you. The only way to keep your balance is to fix your eyes on Me, the One who never changes."

Ahhh yes! Praise the Lord for His consistency and constant presence in our lives! I find it so interesting that I chose focus for my word this year. We knew and still know only a glimpse of our year ahead, but we know more about our year (our baby-to-be having Down syndrome, a new house to fix up and move in to) than we did when I first wrote my word of the year post. The Lord, though, knew all along. He knew I would be spinning like a ballerina and would need to remind me to make Him my focal point! How thankful I am that everyday, especially on those whirlwind days, I can retreat, and breathe Him in and regain my focus. I hope you can too!



our 4 year old blessing (birthday part 1)

A little over a week ago, our little Charlie turned 4! I think 4 is old. Not little baby anymore. I can already tell too---almost instantaneously, he just seems bigger-boyish. A friend of mine said that once her little one turned 4, almost immediately he began obeying, being so sweet, etc. I must admit, I sure hope that happens with Chuckles! He truly has such a big heart and is compassionate and has the sweetest most heartfelt prayers! He also has quite a temper! :) It's that temper that gets him into trouble--we pray together for self-control and forgiveness a lot. You know, I think he gets it too. He knows his Bible and how Jesus died and saved us from our sins, and he knows he sins and that Jesus wipes his heart clean!
Charlie, you make us smile everyday! It has been such a blessing from the Lord to watch you grow! We love your independent attitude, your caring heart, your sweet way you talk and pronounce your words, the best giggle ever, your joyful and enthusiastic spirit, the way you adore your big brother, how you love to be read to and play outside, your mannerisms, that infamous smile of yours---Charlie, we love it all! We are so very thankful for you! We love you with all of our hearts!!!! Happy 4th Birthday!!! Love, Mommy and Daddy

From here. . .

to 4!! Happy Birthday!

(our traditional morning birthday morning greeting pic)

More to come on our Superhero's birthday!

thirst quenching Thursday

It's going to be getting hotter soon. Boo. But hot weather makes me excited for fun and refreshing drinks! Yay! It may be pregnancy for me now, but lots of my cravings involve drinks already. Freshly squeezed lemonade from Chick-Fil-A and Coca Cola slushies from wherever I can find them have been some of my big cravings lately. My sister is a big fan of an ice cold beer in the summer (preferably with a Pronto Pup, oh yeah), but while I will enjoy a beer, here and there, a.) I'm preggo and that won't work this summer, and b.) I prefer Coke hands down! It's not a craving, it's a NEED, and not for the caffeine, but for the pure delicious taste!!!

But I wasn't posting to write about Coke. I've found this new amazing drink--with bubbles and no alcohol and healthier than my fave soda. And, I had to share! It's called Izze!! Now, I may have been hiding under a rock, but I had never heard of Izze until Valentine's Day, when my hubby brought me an Izze to have a "fun" drink on a special occasion. Turns out, he was right! It was fun! And DELISH! And, the very next night, I was late picking up my sweet children from choir, on a rainy night, when I had to run into a store to find my new gotta have--need right now--refreshing drink that makes me so happy!!! That first week of having Izze, I thought I could only find it at Whole Foods or Fresh Market, but turns out Izze is in your local, friendly grocery store (in our organic section) and Target and even my fave cupcake joint! It's made of pure fruit juice concentrate and sparkling water! It's such a treat and completely thirst quenching---which is perfect for summer weather, or winter or spring and I'm sure fall, though I didn't know about Izze back then! So far, I've had the Grapefruit, Blackberry, Pomegranate and Sparkling Lime. I really love them all, though the Grapefruit is my fave and Lime is giving Grapefruit a run for its money!

Cheers!!

a little creativity. . .

So, I finally attempted my first project from Pinterest! I've seen lots that I'd love to try at some point, but this one caught my eye a few weeks ago and I was determined to try it out for our Easter lunch centerpieces! My mom always buys floral arrangements for special holidays, but I knew my parents were just going to be getting back into town before Easter, so I thought I'd give it a whirl! It was really pretty easy, minus the bow tying, and I think I loved them all the more, because I made them! Found some vases, some burlap, which I cut down to size, some ribbon, flowers and limes and voila! My parents have a big dining room table, so I made 2 smaller vases and 1 big vase for the center! In the first picture, I hadn't added the sliced limes yet, but I did slice limes and added them to the vases. Loved the extra touch it gave! Also, the pin I found on Pinterest used daffodils, but since I couldn't find any, I thought these worked just as well!



If I ever get to making more Pinterest projects, I'll share again! Anything you are making from Pinterest?

glorious Easter weekend!

I hope you were able to find joy and relish the excitement of all that was Easter this past weekend! He is risen and we are so incredibly thankful! After a round of Easter egg hunting at church on Saturday morning, we followed up the day with an Easter Eve concert at the Levitt Shell featuring Drew and Ellie Holcomb! What a super fun and gorgeous night it was!! We packed a picnic, shared a blanket with our friends, the Tenents, and enjoyed the music, weather and letting our kids run around having a blast! If you haven't heard Drew and Ellie before, you need to check them out here! Such a great night with friends and family--definitely a tradition started!!

A quick family pic

Big Parker and Chad chatting away. . .

Miles enjoying the concert--thank goodness for goldfish snacks!!

Drew and Ellie Holcomb on stage. . . and yes, that's Luke and Charlie, with their buddy Parker, just chillin' up on stage with the band!!

And on Sunday morning, before church (well after Chad and Luke went to sunrise service, but before our church service as a family) we enjoyed all of the Easter egg side of Easter, hunting eggs. . .

Charlie finds an egg in a tree!

Amazed by the Easter egg slugs!

Happier playing with his new funky ball toy than finding Easter eggs!

Our 3 angels ready to head to church and worship! We've been practicing singing Christ the Lord is Risen Today, so the boys were excited it was our first hymn!!

And a delicious lunch with my parents, sister and brother in law, and great aunt and cousin followed. So loved the family time! Hope you had a Happy Easter too!

He Is Risen!

There in the ground his body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain:

Then bursting forth in glorious Day

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as he stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me

For I am His, and He is mine-

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

Happy Easter to you all! He is Risen!!

thoughts this Thursday

some of my inner thoughts lately. . .

--Is there such thing as seller's remorse? I've heard of buyer's remorse--experienced it before, but not often. Right now though, I'm afraid I might have a smidge of seller's remorse (though technically our house isn't sold--just under contract--just want to be clear and not jinx us). I do SO love our house and yard, and well, it's our first house as a married couple and where we have brought all our babies (so far) home! Ahhhh, so emotional these days!! Pregnancy does that to ya. Who am I kidding---anything does that to me!!

--Fear is not from the Lord! He tells us in His glorious Word, not to be afraid, not to be anxious, to be still, to seek Him, to trust Him. He gives us no fear---that is from someone else. Do you know that? I do, but being completely honest here, I don't always live like I know it. In the dark of night, when I'm awake and no one else is, when there are creaks in the house and Chad is out of town, when he's out of town and I worry about other things, when one of our boys is sick, when we have to find a place to live, when money doesn't grow on trees, when schools aren't all equal, when we get a diagnosis that our precious baby will have Down syndrome, when I have no clue what that means or how it will change our family--and fearing all of the above--that is not living how the Lord wants me to live. I know that. I know that I am human too--we all are, and I am not beating myself up about it, but trying to remember all I need to remember. . .He loves us. More than anyone ever can or will. He showed us that thousands of years ago when he died on the cross and rose again!!! He made me to love Him and glorify Him through all that I do. And that is what I am praying daily--that I can do that for Him--after all He has done for me!

--and on a lighter note, the Jackson house is never boring. I'm here pondering why in the world things get put into holes in bodies that don't belong there. For example, my 6.5 year old, just today, decided to put a piece of a plastic bag into his ear. Sure enough, he couldn't get it out. Go figure. Neither could I and per suggestion via our pediatrician, the water I poured into his ear didn't remove it either. So, $25 later, after using a "grabber" our pediatrician was able to remove the plastic. She then told him that $25 was more than he had in his piggy bank (she was right) and that he might need to do some chores around the house to pay us back. After she gave him a gentle lecture on what holes are not appropriate to put items in!!! Not a bad idea. Now off to ponder how he can help us out!