Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Jack is 6!

Today Jack is 6... He slept in until 8 and then cuddled with baby Maggie. And then I sent him off to kindergarten with cupcakes and a new book for his classroom. (A monster book because Halloween books are his favorite). I can't believe that today, he is celebrating his birthday with his classmates and his teacher - and not me. I know I'll see him after school, but it just seems so weird that he's not here and it's his birthday. This kindergarten thing is really hard for me to adjust to. Everywhere we go, I look for him. Every time we get in the car, I feel like someone is missing.

But this post is supposed to be about Jack and not me.
Here he is on his birthday morning:

Jack loves kindergarten. He loved the first day, wanted to go back to Joy School on the second day and told me that school is more fun than home on the third day. And he's loved it since. The letters have sounds (which he already knew) but they also have names and actions to go with them! He's drawn pictures of himself, Clifford, colored in the lines and even drew the horizon. He writes the date and already learned the months of the year. The playground is cool and he gets to choose what to eat (or not eat) out of his lunch box. It's so much more autonomy for him and he is really enjoying it.

This summer was a huge summer for Jack. He graduated from Joy School and got a new sister within two weeks. Now his little friends are all moving in different directions and after two really fun vacations, he has started kindergarten.

Jack is a joyful kid. He was nervous about kindergarten, but didn't hesitate to jump in full force. He's made a bunch of new friends and tells us all about the games they play each day. I love his happy heart, the leadership role he's taken on with his sisters and the fact that he doesn't mind cuddling with me.   He loves to read books, loves Star Wars and loves his friends and family.

He is an expert big brother, loves to pick up Maggie, calm her when she's crying and make her laugh. And he's especially good at giving Grace a hard time ~ sometimes ~ but for the most part, they play together really well.

For his birthday, we got icecream after school,

he opened a few presents and then went to soccer.

Grama and Grampa met us there and then we went out to dinner.


I think he had a pretty good day. On Saturday, we celebrated with our family and had a very small party for him, but he enjoyed it quite a bit.



Happy Birthday to my wonderful six year old boy! Yikes!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Escondido

We got to spend a few days in Escondido with my parents, at their time share. It was tons of fun! This is how Maggie spent a lot of her first day...

Jack, however, had a much more interesting time. He LOVED the water slides and went on over and over and over again.

Gracie took in the sights,
Enjoyed treats from Grama and Grampa...
Showed off her new swimming moves and loved the splash pad...
Jack had some treats too...
While mommy, Maggie and papa relaxed...
And thankfully, grama handled the messes...
Back at the condo, there was some resting...
more extra special grama time...
And, of course, more treats....

One extra special treat was grama's pancakes out by the golf course...

 Craig and Carla came too...

Maggie got a bath...
The kids shared a bed...

Jack took some pictures, pretty good, huh?
There was foosball, checkers and pool. And, of course more swimming.

Grace decided to shed her water wings, proving that she really did learn something in four weeks of lessons.

Jack and Maggie hammed it up...

We had an awesome, amazing and relaxing vacation. I really don't think we're capable of vacationing on our own yet and after vacationing with my parents, I don't know if we'd want to. It is so wonderful to have their help. Jack and Grace, of course, love to be with them too. Thank you Grama and Papa!