writing

 jack's writing has improved so much in 3 months

he can write his name from memory now instead of me writing it first :)

i am proud!!

tortoise jack and more

 jack has become a little artist lately. we draw during charlie's morning nap and he draws all kinds of creatures.

 charlie knocking over the pillow walls

 charlie LOVES pete!!

 i let jack watch a video of john whitten playing drums with some pans. he immediately got out his pans and started playing and made me sing :)

 jack loves his legos and has made some great creations lately. this is one of them :)

 jack wants to be a tortoise lately (and a lot of other animals but the tortoise is the animal of choice about 97% of the time)

so we made him a shell. i thought it turned out really cute, but he insist on covering it up with a blanket most of the time...who knows!

 my sweet boy!

 racing at the botanical gardens

 we went to grandma's church for a shrimp boil. as you can tell by jack's red cheeks, he had a great time!!

 when food is involved, charlie always has a great time :)

we went to the zoo with our friends and had a fun time!

my 30th birthday

(andrea left me a nice little surprise on our front steps....thanks andrea)

 i turned 30 on the 17th. 30 was a hard one for me to turn for some reason. i guess because everybody makes a big deal about it. i know when i turn 40 it will be really hard for me because i can remember thinking my parents were sooo old at 40. anyway, i feel ok about being 30 now. when i think about all the things that i have done in my 30 years i think about how lucky i am!!

 (jack said, "look, utters")

i have 2 parents that have always loved and supported me no matter what! i have a great big brother who tried to walk me to my classroom in 3rd grade because he was proud to be my big brother, but ended up bringing me to the wrong classroom. i have met so many wonderful friends through out my life who have helped me learn so much about life and friendship. 

(johnny took off half a day and we headed to the mcwane center)

i met and married the love of my life and my best friend! i have 2 wonderful sons who i love soooo much! 

(we had friends over on my birthday for pizza and johnny got me a strawberry cake from edgar's)

most importantly i have an amazing God who loves me! without Him i would have not had any of the above. 

(saturday we went to pf changs and bowling)

 i am so lucky to be 30 and i hope i have many many more birthdays to come!!

i had the best birthday ever!! thanks to everybody for making me feel so special!

charlie's first home haircut

 (before)

i cut charlie's hair a few weeks ago by myself! i think i did a pretty good job. i wish i would have taken a picture of the back

(after)

lego day

 we went to the mcwane center after mama and me last week and ended up having a lot of fun! we ate lunch there after we played and the charlie ate a whole personal pan pizza!

 thursday we went to the art museum to let jack play with legos for lego day. it wasn't the best experience. we were supposed to go swimming with clara but the weather didn't look so great so i decided to try this instead. right when we got to the parking garage it started pouring! the nice ladies that work there asked me if i wanted to hang out in the office until the rain slowed down. so after 30 minutes sitting in the office with jack making the 2 ladies crack up (best part of the day) we walked to the museum. jack was really nervous the whole time he was there. he didn't really want to sit on the mat. he kept bringing legos over to the bench i was sitting on.

 finally i got him to build something and charlie played with one of the volunteers. this is jack's creation.

 jack finally got to feed the giraffes!

 he was so proud :)

 we went to the butterfly house. for those of you who know how much i hate when butterflies land on me will think this is funny. right when we walked in the house a butterfly landed on my finger and started licking away. i couldn't freak out because 1) i wanted to be brave for jack 2) there were lots of people in there and i thought they would laugh if i freaked out. i tried to get it off by putting my hand up to a flower, but it didn't budge. finally a little girl came up wanting it to come to her...relief! 

(the picture above is the butterfly)

jack put his hand out to try to catch a butterfly...although if one landed on him i am pretty sure he would scream like a girl!!

family reunion

 we had my mom's family reunion a couple of weekends ago. it was fun! the kids had fun together. wish we could get together more often

 while we were getting things ready that morning, jack got to swim alone in the pool for the first time! (of course we were right there the whole time...just in case)

 pete enjoyed the sunshine

i love this picture! johnny is so handsome!

flight museum and spaghetti night

 the boys had a lot of fun playing...charlie loved playing with his big brother and sliding down the slide

 and playing peek a boo :)

 this is just a random picture, but i never get tired of seeing legos on the floor...i love that jack loves them 

i think more went on his face and lap than in his mouth!!