Jelly Belly Trip

Last week, my girlfriend and I decided to create an afternoon adventure for our kids.  We all piled into my van, 6 children five and under and 2 crazy mommas, for the 45 minute drive to the Jelly Belly Factory.  It ended up being more of a tour of their warehouse rather than the factory, but hey who doesn't love free candy at the end of a tour!

All six kids in my van ready to roll!

On the Jelly Belly Train with our cool hats!

Cooper

Jackson

The GIANT Jelly Belly Bean

Enjoying our Jelly Belly snack!

We love Jelly Belly!  (Looks like the sugar has already kicked in!)

Twin Love

Grant and Cooper have spent most every minute of their life TOGETHER.  For the first time last night, they slept not only in separate rooms, but different states.  Grant is off at Grandma Camp for a couple of days all by himself, such a big boy!  Jackson, Cooper, Grant and I met Grandma at the half way mark between our houses yesterday and Grant went off with Grandma while J, C, and I came back home.  As we were following Grandma's car towards the highway Cooper said, "I miss Grant!".  When we got on the highway, Cooper wanted to know what direction Grant was going and said he wanted to go that way too.  When he woke up from his nap in the car, one of the first things he said, with a quivering lip, was, "I miss Grant!"  That bond they have is so amazing!  We all miss Grant and can't wait to see him in a couple of days.

Five Years

Five years ago I looked like this...

March 19, 2007.

That was the day I fully expected I would be holding my first precious little baby boy. Little did I know he had other plans. We had to wait one more week to finally meet Jackson, but it was worth the wait!  I think back to five years ago and how excited and nervous, but mostly excited, Jeff and I were to finally be parents.  There are times I wish I could go back to that time, and relive the excitement and anticipation.  It was such a fun time of planning and preparation.  Now we've had five fabulous years with Jackson, and he has been a bright shining light in our lives, giving us lots of love, hugs, smiles and laughter.  We love you Jackson Kyle!

Leap Day

Since we were blessed with one extra day this year, we took full advantage of those 24 hours and had a fun filled, jumping filled day on February 29th.

The boys and I began the day at MOPS.  I look forward to Wednesdays because I know my boys will have a blast playing with their friends, and I will get to have two whole hours of "me" time.  I love the other moms that I get to spend time with on Wednesdays and its awesome to be able to support each other during these early kids years.

After lunch, we were off to gymnastics with some other friends where the boys ran around for an hour.  They were like little bouncy balls, running/bouncing from one thing to the next.  They were sweaty, thirsty and tired when the hour was up and ready for some rest.  However, we had more fun activities planned, so they all got about 15 minutes of sleep before we were off to our next event.

The final part of our day was spent with more friends (11 kids, 4 moms) jumping in puddles, eating cookies, and playing.  Unfortunately, the temperature dropped about 15-20 degrees and the wind picked up between gymnastics and puddle jumping so the boys were freezing!  Both Grant and Jackson tried jumping but as soon as they fell and were all muddy they wanted to be done.  While the other kids jumped, my three were huddled around me trying to get warm.  I guess I need to toughen them up a bit more!

Grant testing the waters.

A very cold, muddy boy!

Jackson's Winter Concert

Jackson's preschool had their winter concert about two weeks ago. They sang three songs and it lasted all of about 10 minutes long. We were very proud of him. :)

Waiting for big brother to come out on stage.

The whole group (Jackson's in the blue button down shirt next to the boy in green)

Belting it out!

Mommy and her "star"