Happy 5th Birthday FIVE!!!

Jayce is a 5th to those of you who are wondering!!! From the time Jay's family knew I was having a boy, he was nicknamed "five."
Ok, wouldn't be a birthday without me getting all sappy right? I can hardly believe this precious baby boy is 5 years old! Where has the time gone? On the one hand I feel like it was the first day I held him in the hospital and he so gently squeezed my finger as if to say, "I am depending on you and love you already." On the other hand, I cannot remember what life was like before my Jayce! What joy and excitement Jayce has brought into our lives!

Jayce at 5 in a nutshell:
-LOVES his baby brother! He is very affectionate towards him, hugging him and asking him or hugs many times a day! He is very protective of him. At t-ball the other night a teammate was making fun of Gabe's name and he said "Hey, that's my little brother crazy hat!" This is his favorite name to call by the way, which isn't too terribly bad!

-Loves to be around his "buddies." Jayce would have a friend to play 24/7 if possible. He absolutely loves play dates and any social event involving other children! As soon as one is leaving he is asking who can come next?

-Loves Sweets! I might find him at least once a day trying to sneak by me with a cookie from the pantry or climbing on the washing machine in the dryer to reach the hidden candy or hiding in the pantry with chocolate chips! Before you say he is deprived, he is not, I allow him at least one sweet treat a day! He just wants SO MUCH MORE! He might have gotten that sweet tooth from his mommy!

-Loves animals! If given a dollar to pick something out in the dollar tree (another favorite thing of his) he will go to a bag of animals of some type 99 out of 100 times! This could be a problem since Jay and I are not pet people :)

-Has such a tender sweet heart! Jayce is currently singing a song to Gabe that says "I love my little brother..." He told me this morning, "Mommy tank (no h) you so much for giving me a dvd player for my birthday! He is very good at telling us "tank you" even if it is followed by "what are we gonna do fun next?" (His absolute favorite phrase)!

-ALL BOY, no ifs ands or buts! From roaring to growling to chasing girls to making messes to banging pots and pans together from jumping off anything he is not supposed to and making ridiculous messes but he is SO MUCH MORE and SO MUCH FUN! Underneath all those messes lies the sweetest, most precious spirit in the world who LOVES LOVES LOVES his family and his Jesus, most importantly!

-Jayce is truly a delight to me and many who know him!
Happy 5th Birthday!!!

Pictures from his backyard campout to follow... not going to promise when :) I've been busy trying to spend time with them and have had to let some of this stuff go... but I will catch up eventually!!!

We're Pottying!!!!

So, this week, God's timing has been very evident. For months I have been saying that I know if I just focused on potty training Gabe we could knock it out. Gabe is 2 1/2. He had already been showing interest a while and been at random times, but I simply did not have the energy! I kept saying I had plenty of time... Jayce was 2 when we started and 3 1/2 when we finished... what happened you might ask? Gabe came along and I never had the time or energy to do the consistent training, just kind of waited on him. And quite frankly this time, I could not find a week I was willing to stay home bound and inside with no gym, play dates, or outings for potty boot camp! SO, funny how things work. This week, after beginning my running routine again after a long break, I pulled my hamstring. Thus, needing to stay home from the gym for at least a week probably, and thinking HOW WILL I SURVIVE???? So, that very night, Gabe goes potty 4 times in a row... I was amazed! I decided it was now going to be potty training week officially! What better time, I can't go anywhere without limping around anyhow!

Who knows what will come once we are back to our normal routine, but in the past two days, we have stayed dry really well, only a few accidents! By this afternoon, Gabe was telling me rather than me telling him we needed to go every 15 minutes...

The best part of all is that he loves for Jayce to take him. Jayce takes him to the bathroom, and the conversation goes as such " Now Gabe, stand on your stool, turn around, scoot back, hold your handles, point down, now let's flush, now let's wash hands!" Now, we need an m and m mom! And you can bet they both get one! How great is that! Love my 2 boys!

I pray Gabe keeps up the good work!

Things to Remember

I am realizing just how much my boys are growing these days not just by how they look but what they say.

Here are a few examples for Jayce: (and how he is becoming his father)!

Each time I am going to the store, I'll tell him to help me remember the 3-4 things we need to get. Well, BOY DOES HE! And, BOY is he just like his daddy! The minute I start to look at something else, "Mom, that is not on the list!"

Alright and then ya know how there is always some project we moms are working on around the house, always something we think we could do to make it a little better... So, I've been saving the last year or so for mainly house things and I'm always on the "prowl" for good deals and looking on line at sales for a new type of furniture or light fixture or rug, etc.... It hit me that maybe I am a little too much when my 4 year old said to me, "Mom, why do you think we need new leather couches when we already have leather couches? What is wrong with ours? Later, he said, "Mom why do you always want new stuff?" Well, I tried to answer that in the best way for him to understand and boy was it hard! I said, you know how you always want new toys, even though you have old ones???? But, we cannot always get new toys just because we want them. OUCH!

Then, I was all excited about these new plants I'd gotten for a few spots I needed them in the house and Jayce walked in right after I set them up and declared, "MOM, this room is a DISASTER, no more plants!"

the card

OK, so here is what taking a Christmas card is really like... and it doesn't even include my other memory card full of trying...when at the clubhouse and Gabe was chasing the cat around the whole time... sweet Jayce sure was ready! He tried so hard!

and one more Christmas

AND THEN, we had Christmas one more time with mimi, papa and Grandma Shirley! We were so excited that they were able to come for a visit the Sunday after Christmas! Grandma Shirley had never been to our house so we were really glad she made it! The boys loved opening MORE gifts and most of all hanging out with their mimi, papa and Grandma Shirley!

Christmas Day

And FINALLY... Christmas day! I told Jay last night as I got these pictures together, that it's no wonder I was so tired by Christmas! I think I had 11 different events to post pictures from that all happened in a 2 week span! Love Christmas... but also glad to slow down a bit!

All the kids slept together and came down Christmas morning... all but Gabe that is... Jay decided at 1:30 when Gabe was still trying to get out of his pack n play to take him on home.. They arrived that morning to see what Santa had brought and I think we all got a better night's sleep that way than if he would have stayed... traveling days are over until he's transitioned to the big boy bed successfully :)

Happy Birthday Jesus Party

Here is our good friend Tara's annual Happy Birthday Jesus party! She read us the Christmas story and we all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus! The kids always get a little confused about why Jesus is not at the party, it's so cute!