this boy

THIS boy--yep, this one with all the missing teeth--is now 7. SEVEN, for crying out loud. I'm not one of those parents who is constantly saying "How did this happen?" or "Where did the time go?" or "I can't believe you are already 7 years old!". Because I totally realize that life moves forward. And sometimes it seems really fast. But I LOVE being a Mama to my kids at all of their ages. I try to focus on living for TODAY and not worry about where the time has gone or what will happen in the future. Of course I think about those things too, especially around one of my kids' birthdays when you really start reminiscing about their short little lives, but I must admit that my oldest child turning 7 years old didn't really freak me out. He's 7. Yep. He's growing up. He's becoming responsible and remembering things ON HIS OWN (like what things he needs to take to school everyday), he's occasionally showing signs of being kind to his sisters, he's stinkin' brilliant, he amazes us with his ability to comprehend what he reads (this especially impresses me, because reading comprehension was never my strong point...), he has an AWESOME sense of humor for a 7 year old, he pretty much goes to bed all on his own and RECOGNIZES all by himself when he is tired and should go to bed (crazy, I know!), and he is starting to understand things outside of his immediate vicinity (such as world issues and such). AND he still loves to be tickled and cuddle and snuggle up on the couch. He's not too cool to come running to give me a hug when he sees me at his school or give a little kiss goodbye before he gets on the bus. (I'm sure that will change in the next few years.) But, he's also ONLY 7 YEARS OLD. He often cops a nasty little attitude and totally forgets all about being kind, respectful, and obedient. Yah, like last night at his karate class when he did everything in his power to NOT obey the instructor, dance around and lay on the floor instead of doing what he was supposed to, and interrupt the other kids in his class. He was THAT kid last night. So embarrassing. We were not pleased. Its a good thing those days are not his norm.

So, how did we celebrate his birthday? We had a fairly low-key day. He had breakfast in bed, went to school, had lunch with Grandma at school, and then later that day we had cupcakes and ice cream and watched Star Wars. Fun day for a 7 year old!

A few days after his actual birthday, he had a good ol' Nerf gun birthday party with some of his friends. Have I mentioned my husband's obsession with Nerf guns lately? No? Well, here's one wall in our garage:

Cake decorating is not my forte.....although that chocolate frosting is seriously yummy. Think Nutella. But homemade. That's for another blog post...

Naturally Jack is following in his Daddy's footsteps and becoming obsessed with Nerf guns as well. He got three new BIG Nerf guns for his birthday from all of his grandparents. He and his friends spent the afternoon shooting down targets in our garage and even shooting at targets on one wall inside our house too. I'm pretty sure they had fun!

Happy Birthday, my awesome Jackson!

can't think of much to say.....

So, summer is for sure in full swing here in Indiana. In fact, we sorta just skipped lovely and nice Spring weather and went straight to 90 degree humid hot sunny weather. Gotta love Indiana.

Let's see....whats happening around here....my pregnancy is going pretty good. I'm 28 weeks right now, which means I am just entering the 3rd trimester, which is generally when you are most uncomfortable. If you do the math, you'll quickly see that my entire 3rd trimester coincides with the entire 3 months of summer.....so basically it is going to be one hot and long summer for me. I now get to go to the doctor every TWO weeks, instead of just once a month. Super fun. The baby is moving a bunch and I love feeling her wiggle around inside me. It is so fun talking to the kids about thier new baby sister on the way. Jackson is pretty excited, he just really wants us to pick out a name for her! Everytime someone asks about me having another baby, he says "I'm having another sister, but my mom and dad haven't picked out a name yet." Kinda cute. Talking to Macy about it is an entire different story. I keep telling her that the baby is inside my belly, but she insists that it is inside HER belly. None of that makes any sense to her. We read the "I'm Going to be a Big Sister" book all the time. She loooooves babies. She sees me and Matt with other babies and kids all the time, and I am certain she'll be fine with adding a new little munchkin to our family in a couple of months. More and more baby "things" are making their way into our house (new car seat and new swing/bouncy seat thing, for example) and she's asking "Where's baby?" a lot. On top of all the baby talk we are in the process of getting her "big girl" room ready. She will be moving to a new room in about a month or so and the baby will take her old room, since it is ready for a baby and Macy is done with the crib and everything. We just bought new furniture for her new room this past week and Matt has been putting it all together these past few days. Her room is slowly coming together and I think in the next week we'll have it all set up. She now has a new bed and mattress, dresser, and nightstand. We've also picked up random decorations and other things at various garage sales or crafty stores the past few months. I LOVE projects like this, so its fun to put together a new room. We're hoping for a smooth transition for her both in her new big girl bed AND in her new room!

A photo of Matt putting together her dresser (and Jack and Macy 'helping' out):

Matt's upstairs right now hanging her new blinds and then we'll be hanging up more decor soon as well. Will post photos of her new room as soon as we finish it!

We've been outside a LOT lately! Jack loves the kiddie pool. Macy is more a fan of the swing set and running around the yard. This photo shows them playing "restaurant", which is one of their favorite things to do outside. One of them asks "What would you like today?" and the other one orders their food.

Father's Day.....started the day waking up Matt with breakfast in bed and he got to open his gift....while the kids rolled around the bed. Then we went to church, out to lunch, and to a new park with a Splash Pad. The afternoon was all about relaxing and then we made ice cream sundaes after dinner. I am so thankful for such a wonderful husband, friend, and father of our children. He rocks!

Our 7 year anniversary was June 22nd. We had a nice day! We've sorta started running out of new things to do on celebration days.....so I let Matt sleep in for a couple hours and then he let me have a couple hours of 'alone' time later in the day, we went to Jack's tball game in the evening, and had Pizza Hutt for dinner! The weekend before we were able to go out to eat and plant our butts at Borders looking through books and magazines, which is one of our favorite things to do. Except that this particular evening that we were there, they had a horrible musician playing, so we didn't stay there as long as we normally would!

Jack and Macy have been playing together REALLY well lately. Jack is usually quite helpful and has been for a while when it comes to his little sis....but lately Macy has been playing nicely with him and enjoys being around her big brother. Here they are sitting together (voluntarily) in a saucer chair we found at a garage sale....which they LOVE!