Pump-It-Up!

Jackson had his 5 year old birthday party at Pump It Up!  If you have never been, you should.  This place is every kids dream.  Tons of indoor inflatables, cool loud music, balls galore and you end with pizza & cake.  They also have great workers that do everything for you, every mothers dream.  And Wednesdays are half off birthday parties!  I am not getting paid for this post, fyi, but maybe they should…

Birthday boy and his biggest fan/enemy.

Theo had a blast!

The best 'action' shot I could get.

The best 'group' shot I could get.  Notably missing, his brothers and cousins, oh well.

Handsome birthday boy!

He's 5!

Going on 15.

Big bros stats

Last week we celebrated Theo's actual birthday by going to the doctor for a 1 year check up and lots of shots.  I promised him his birthdays will only get better from here.  Jackson and Nash also joined for their yearly check-up.  Nothing like taking your sweet boy to get shots and bringing along his ever so quiet and well-behaved big brothers.  And really everyone did great, they acted like 1, 3, and 5 year old boys, what else did I expect?  I reminded Charlie at least 16 times that the appointment was at 4:00 and he better be there, I mean he would hate to miss it.  :) He made it just in time and got stickers too.

Jackson Arthur Farris 5 year check up stats -
Height - 3ft. 9in. - 85%
Weight - 47lb. 5oz. - 87%

Nash William Farris 3 year check up (better late than never) -
Height - 3ft. 4in. - 89%
Weight- 38lb. 4oz. - 91%

They also got their blood pressure checked and argued about whose was higher.  I didn't make the effort to explain why this is not a good thing.  Maybe next time.

Five!

Happy 5th Birthday to the sweetest, ever so practical, lover of life, goof troop Jackson!  You are my sunshine!

Jackson's 5 year old Favorites

TV Show - Blaze and the Monster Machines, Paw Patrol, Octonauts

Song - Kidz Bop 28!  The new CD that he got for his birthday & Uptown Funk

Foods - Waffles, cinnamon toast, Jersey Mike's turkey wrap with pickles and honey mustard,  pb&j, yogurt, dinosaur chicken, pizza, blueberries, watermelon...

Candy -chocolate, skittles, swedish fish

Toys - Legos, transformer!, baseball stadium game

Book - Shel Silverstein, Dinos love Baseball, Dragons Love Tacos

Activity - baseball, scooter, pool, cards, football

May is a big celebration month for us.  It's like Christmas around here!...

Birthday boys breakfast choice, cinnamon rolls, popped right out of the Pillsbury can.  They can't be beat.

Birthday boys celebration spot, Kanki!  I have trained him well.

Tat & Will came to eat, I mean celebrate.  And Jackson caught the chicken bite in his mouth on the first try.  Yes, we have trained him well.  So proud of that boy.  ;)

The Graduate

Fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Jackson learned about the Fruit of the Spirit this year in pre-school.  He memorized the verse and talks about it often.  At 'graduation' every child received an award with the fruit that exemplifies them.  Jackson received faithfulness.  How perfect for my precious boy.  He is so faithful to his friends and family and in everything he does.  Jackson is always watching out for others, making sure things are done correctly, making sure we (his mom) is acting in a loving manner.  Jackson, you are such a blessing to me.  Every day I try and be more like you.  You bring all the fruits of the Spirit to so many people's life.  Keep up the Godly work.

Pre-school graduates!

Some of the dudes.

Celebration time, complete with lunch from Jersey Mike's!

The sweetest 4 year old (2 days to go…) goof troop around!

The Grad and Grand-mama!

He's One!

Even the third time around, I forget.  I forget how quickly it goes by.  I forget how quickly they grow and learn.  I forget just how much you can love something.  Thanks sweet Theodore Joseph Farris for all of the love and laughter you bring to our family.  You are my sunshine.

May 19, 2014

9lbs. 4oz.;  21 3/4in

A big head full of jet black hair and swollen shut eyes.

May 19, 2015

24lbs. -87%

30in. - 70%

19in. head - 97%

Dirty blonde hair and sparkly blue eyes.

Theo's First Birthday Party!

Sunday we celebrated Theo's 1st birthday with a family cookout at our house.  We cooked out hotdogs, threw some water balloons, went fishing, had slushies, opened presents and demolished some cake! Ahhh the life of the third kid, maybe not as glamorous as the first, but my boy had the best time.  That is all that counts.  I cannot believe he will actually be one years old tomorrow.

So… no one cares if I just eat this cake?

You better hurry Theo… got some creepers...

Oh yeah, face first.

That's good ya'll!

I mean, it is real good!

I'm all jacked up on cake, let's play ball!

The slushy truck came by, perfect timing.  I mean I totally planned it...

Loving my Cozy Coupe! Thanks for the push Brooklyn.

It's the freaking weekend baby...

Gonna have us some fun!

Ninja Warriors go camping.  They didn't actually spend the night out there.  Charlie had to go in to work super early so he made them come home really late and sleep in their own bed.  They will appreciate this one day.

Morning feeding of the turtles is serious business.  Nash dressed the part.  

Kindergarten transition day at Jackson's new school.  We stopped by for a few.  It looks like he is going to be just fine...

My baseball obsessed boys.  The Tarheels have not fared to well for them lately.

Saturday night picnic in our front yard.  We were going to go hear some music and eat on the lawn.  But after a big day and 37 different melt downs trying to get in the car we decided to call it a night in.  

  Theo had 2 pretty stellar naps on Saturday.  An early bedtime wasn't going to cut it for him.  So we smothered our face in food, rolled in dirt, poured drink all over ourselves and went for a stroll.  He was excited about his ONE year old birthday lunch on Sunday!

Preschool Picnic

Today was the boys end of the year picnic for preschool.  I (I mean we) are going to miss this place over the summer!  It has been an awesome year for both Jackson and Nash.  I am not even going to get started on the fact that J-man is going to Kindergarten next year.  Not up for a self-pitty, what happened to my baby boy fest just yet.

His first face paint, guess he decided to go all out.  I didn't even see him do it or know they were doing it until he shyly walked up to me.  I busted a gut. 

This stud has had a nasty little cold and didn't go to school yesterday.  But he was all about the school picnic and feeling good this afternoon.  And when asked if he wanted to do his face like Jacksy's 'a hmm no way.'

This guy did a lot of walking around and ate a lot of bubbles and dirt.  They were playing Kidz Bop.  He was getting his groove on.

Pitcher help

Would anyone like to come and pitch some baseball for the entire day tomorrow?  Side note, you must keep the baby from getting hit and out of the pond, meaning you need to hold him while pitching.  You also have to cheer for the appropriate batter using their team and player name of choice.  You need to keep the score, sort of, knowing that Jackson is winning but always pretending that Nash is winning.  You will also get dog dookie on your shoes.  One plus, they only hit 'foul balls' and home runs.  It is really not a bad gig, and could be way worse, I just don't want to do it again tomorrow.  Any interest?

Mother's Day!

There is really nothing greater than a mother's love for her children.  These boys have every bit of my heart! (and my mind and my arms and my food and my clothes and and and…)  Our Mother's Day weekend was pretty much like any other - chaotic beautiful loving awesomeness.  We celebrated my mother's birthday at Squids on Friday night.  She made being a mom look easy, ha! Thankfully, she is close by and loves her grand kids and doesn't mind helping a girl out.  Saturday we had tee-ball and two separate birthday parties at Pump It Pump.  Charlie took one shift and I took the other. Then we had a Mother's Day date night at Primal.  On actual Mother's Day my boys let me sleep till 9am, what! what!, while they went and picked up breakfast.  I came down stairs to 3 roses that according to Jackson stand for 3 boys; Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit; 3 leaf clovers; and I love you.  I also got a sweet necklace that says 'I love you, to the moon and back.'  According to Jackson this was because they didn't have one that said 'I love you as much as God' or according to Nash 'As much as Santa Clause.'  Theo had a little cough and fever and gave me some extra snuggles all day.  They are the best and I am so lucky to be their mama!

Friday park date lunch.

Happy Birthday Tat!  Notice poor Nash's hand… a little too late to blow out the candles.  We did NOT live this down.

Sweet bros!  Nash had to be taken outside, he was a tad bit ill, see previous picture.

Sweet sick snuggling.  

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful moms out there.  Keep doing what you are doing!

Flash back Friday

Here we are last year about this time...

I would have never dreamed of posting this last year and I did not think it was funny.  I love everything about this picture now.

One year later...

Confession, I was looking at my phone, looked up, saw this.  Thank-you Jesus.  There will be no more chilling at the park.

serious business

Theo is trying hard to talk.  I think he can actually hear himself think when his brothers are at preschool.  He 'talked' for a good 10 minutes yesterday morning until I ran and got my iPhone to see if I could get any footage.  He is not too sure about what to do with his tongue.

The good stuff.

We had another pretty stellar weekend over here.  I will leave out the meltdowns, gut punches, karate chops, whining, potty 'accidents' and mommy getting frustrated parts.  In between all of that we had our share of sweet brothers and proud parents.  Here are a few iPhone pictures for your entertainment (ok, mine, this is the best baby book - photo album - picture frame - ever.)

Weekend grocery prep.  This is an event.  Filled with free cookies and opened boxes of cheese-its.  When we all go together I always end up with an extra bottle of wine and some klondike bars.

Friday afternoon we checked out the new Kidzu Children's Museum.  All three of my guys had a good time.  It is not that big and has a pretty open concept, so I was able to sort of keep watch on the older two while pulling toys out of Theo's mouth.  

Friday night we went to the Creekside Carnival.  This is where Jackson will go to Kindergarten next year.  The carnival was a blast and got me pretty excited about his new big school.  They had a silly string pit, genius.

They also had a 'see how strong you are' game.  Nash aka Hulk Smash (pay no attention to his Superman shirt) patiently waited in line and then put the older kids to shame.  He had a little help from Will, but really it was not needed.  

Saturday morning while dad worked and Theo napped Jackson taught Nash how to play War.  I was in the room to break up the occasional fight but it went pretty well.  I feel like we may be making some serious play time progress over here.  Please. Please. Please.

Saturday evening neighborhood cookout and Kentucky Derby watching.  You say cookout (or mint juleps), we will be there.

We had our usual Sunday of church, lunch at Jason's Deli, books at Barnes and Noble and then FINALLY we got to celebrate Grand-daddy's birthday!!  We hung out with our cousins and  filled our bellies with Lebanese food and cookie cake.  Happy Birthday Grand-daddy!