God Bless the USA!

We had a nice little Memorial Day at our house, complete with a lot of Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA blared over the computer speakers.  That song gets me every time.  I cannot imagine the sacrifices our military and their families go through every single day.  Despite the political hoopla, I am very proud to be an American and hope to instill this love in my boys.
It was overcast in Chapel Hill but no real rain so we hit up the park, had lunch with dad at Jersey Mike's, watched a Tarheel Lacrosse victory and hit up a birthday cookout.  The Tarheels brought home the Men & Women's championship trophies.  I know little to nothing about lacrosse but it was pretty exciting to watch yesterday...

Theo was napping during the game so I kept having to tell Jackson and Nash to quiet down.  I told them when we win (hopeful) they could do whatever they wanted but don't scream really loud.  Jackson said he was going to dump water all over himself - ahm, nope you can't do that either.  Needless to say things escalated pretty quickly over here...

road trip

My favorite people ever and all of our chilling were able to get together for an impromptu Friday night pool party, cook-out in Wilmington!  We picked up Jackson early from school and went and harassed dad at Jersey Mike's to leave and hit I-40!  We still managed to get in some traffic and not one single person napped (they are so loud) but we made it right on time.  The Lackey family just moved to Wilmington and have the coolest house WITH a guest house in the back that is my new summer home.  ;)  The boys had a blast and I was in my happy place.  

5 college roomies and 11 kids.  Some things change, some remain the same.  Just missing a few other 'Teenies,' yep we had a name - Thank goodness we didn't have iPhones...

This is a framer.

Stop looking at me swan! (name that movie)  We, ok they - it was cold, got in some good pool time!

Our 'summer home' is small so Theo and I were up before sunrise trying to keep quiet. We contemplated life and ate donuts and then ate more donuts.  

Rise and shine for some boat action.  The weekend called for rain but we didn't see one drop on Saturday morning.  We docked up for a few and explored the marsh.  

Go Jersey Mike's.  Go America.  Go Jackson and Van.  We got some good BFF action going on here.  Their moms are going to make sure of it.  

This rarely happens.  Nothing beats a boat nap.

Before heading home from our 24 hour road trip we decided to attempt an out to eat dinner.  Then we decided that would be not fun so we dropped our kids off at 'Giggles.'  I felt bad for about 7 seconds but then we enjoyed an awesome quiet dinner at Blue Water.  When we picked them up they said it was fun except, 'You can't go in that room unless you are 5, and they have sucky rules here.  Next time I am saying I am 5...' -Nash, shocker.  We will be back, maybe not until he is 5.

Welcome Home!

'Best not be late!  Or your going down, dad!'

Birthday Boy!

Happy 6th birthday (yesterday!) to the best thing that ever happen to me!   In a quick 6 years you have taught me more than I have learned in my entire life.  You are the most caring big brother, teacher, friend and son.  This whole parenting thing has been a lot easier with you by my side.  I forgive you for crying and not sleeping the first year of your life, maybe it was me?!!?  You are such a joy to all those you encounter and I love your love for life.  Happy 6th Birthday Jackson! We love you!

Good Morning Birthday Donuts!  And Nash is still 4, FYI.

Birthday boy opening up some presents from us.

His big gift, a huge white board with all different color markers and a box to put them in! Ha, it is no iPad, but, oh well.

Jackson's 6 year old Favorites

TV Show - Blaze & Paw Patrol

Song - Now watch me whip and now watch me nay nay...

Foods - Spaghetti, pizza, chips, cupcakes, cake

Candy - CHOCOLATE!

Toys - Baseball and Football set

Book - Race for Treasure - I got it from my graduation from Ms. Warren

Activity - Flag football, pool, basketball, computer, reading

Birthday Bowling!

For Jackson's birthday he decided he wanted to go bowling.  He has been maybe 2 times and wasn't very good so I was a little surprised by his choice but pretty pumped to just pick up a cake and head to the bowling alley.  I tell you what, the b-day boy was on fire!  They put kids right into groups when you arrive.  Everyone plays and you even have your very own DJ.  He told Jackson to let him know any request.  After some prompting from his friends I heard him say, 'Can you please play Turn Down For What.'  So yeah, we were jamming.  After an hour of bowling we headed back for cake and to sing Happy Birthday to my boy.  We all had a blast.

Birthday boy and his number 1 fan, most of the time...

Collecting beads from the 'dj' booth.

Happy Birthday!

I love everything about this picture.  Pure joy!

Kindergarten Graduation!

My sweet first born has had all kinds of celebrations the past few days.  Today was his Kindergarten 'graduation.'  They all filed in, sang some songs and each student received their certificate and told us their favorites.  Jackson' favorite food is spaghetti, color is light blue and he wants to be a basketball player when he grows up.  I really could not have dreamed of a better year for him.  I am so impressed with everything that he has learned in such a short amount of time.  His reading - chapter books now, what what, his love for math and trying to stump his mom, and his admiration for his teachers and classmates are all so impressive for an ALMOST 6 year old.  He makes me so proud!

So big!  He wanted to dress up for his graduation.  Looks too much like a 12 year old in that collared shirt.  

'You know Tat is wearing tall shoes in this picture!'

He had lots of family come and watch his graduation.  He has been talking about it for-ev-er!  'Don't forget mom, Monday at 1:30, maybe you want to say 1:15 so you can get a good seat.  We just sing a song at first, so if you do miss that part it is ok.'  He is the sweetest.

Boys will be boys!

This weekend it was Charlie's turn for a bachelor party in New Orleans.  No one volunteered to take the youngest boys of the wedding party along for the ride so we had our own celebrations here.  All three were pretty well behaved and we stayed away for the ER!  They informed me dad promised a visit to Chuck-ee-cheese if they were good.  I reminded them of this often.

The Cardinals pulled off a monster Friday night victory!  

TGIF?!  They are all clean and in bed... 

Collecting worms to go fishing, turtle catching.

Only Theo remembered his shoes to the grocery store, so we all piled in.  Not much room for groceries equals a quick trip.

Peanut & Chip Party!!

Pre-School

This week was Nash and Theo's last of pre-school.  They are going to miss their sweet teachers and fun friends and yes, I will miss those 6 hours a week of silent bliss.  They have both really enjoyed going to school this year.  It makes such a difference when they will walk right in their classroom, we have had some doozy mornings in the past.  Summer time is a coming!

Theo is 2!

My sweet, sweet Theo is 2 years old.  Everyone was right about this - time is flying.  I try to remember this as you pour your milk in Greta's dog food and then spread it around the floor.  While I clean it up you stop up the toilet with who knows what.  I put you in the play room and hear you yell out 'I goin jump! Carefulll FEO, don't hit headddd,' because you have heard me say it so many times before.  You adore your brothers and always ask 'WHERE NASTTH? WHERE JACKSY?' You give the biggest smiles and hugs when they or anyone walks in the room. Every night you give daddy and big brothers a love 'night night' and if I forget part of the routine we have to go back and do it all over again.  Your favorite spot in the world is me holding you, while you twirl my hair and give me snotty paci kisses.  We are best friends and I do know that will not last forever, so I am going to take all that I can get.  

We had family and neighbors over to the park for  cake and ice-cream for Theo's birthday last night.  He LOVES to sing Happy Birthday and loves to eat cupcakes and ice cream, so it was perfect.  

Me and my boy!

The birthday boy and his bros.  Dad is out of town so we all got to rise and shine for muffins with mom at Jackson's school.  Theo ate jelly and spilled orange juice all over the place.  It's his birthday, he do what he want!  

Theo's 2 year old Favorites

TV Show - Paw Patrol! 'I wan do paw trol.' And then he watches it for 1-2 minutes, but I better not change the channel!

Song - Happy Birthday to You! Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, We will We will ROCK YOU!  (click links for extra goodness)

Foods - Oatmeal, donuts, bars, eggs, watermelon, grapes, cu-cake, milk! (another big time breakfast guy)

Candy - 'I wan gum!' and 'spiiicceee' mints and fruit snacks!

Toy - baseball, football, so-ca-ball, trucks, anything his bros are playing with and loves reading books

Book - Construction truck books and animal books

Activity - Shoot and dribble basketball, hit baseball, throw pinecones in the pond and 'I wan hold you mommy.' 

Big BOY stats!

I guess when you have a 6, 4 and 2 year old - they are no longer babies or even toddlers, just straight dudes.  That kinda stinks, in more ways than one!  Today we got Jackson out of school early for everyone's yearly wellness visit.  At least that is what I was hoping, we ran out of time for Theo so he gets to go back.  The big guys checked out LOUD AND CLEAR.  I told them no shots, but I was wrong, whoops.  Nash had 3.  And he took them like a bad ass, seriously not a tear.  I was proud and promised suckers, they countered with donuts, I said ok but first they had to get haircuts, they said ok then suckers for the doctor...kind of like a bribe on a bribe on top of a bribe?  Whatever, like I said, they checked out just fine.

Stats

 Nash William Farris - 4 years 3 months

Height - 3ft. 6 in. - 80%

Weight - 43 lbs. - 90%

Jackson Arthur Farris - Almost 6!

Height - 4ft. - 90%

Weight - 53 lbs. - 90%

(no more head circumference, which I always found amusing, instead it is replaced by 'smoking status.')

Fresh big boy cuts were on point!

Showering

Shower the people you love with love...  and cupcakes and popcorn and kitchen supplies!  Sunday afternoon all the sisters hosted a Bridal Shower for our youngest, Natalie!  The boys went to spend the night with grandparents so I had time to clean and prep and run errands without my trusty helpers.  In true southern fashion, we had snazzy drinks, fancy subs (obvi), sausage balls, pimento cheese, fruit and veggies and desserts.  Everything your grandmother could ever dream of.  ;) We had a little 'How well do you know the Bride' questionnaire and coasters that you could write the Newlyweds advice on.   I should have taken more pictures, too busy working on the punch.

Sista-sista!  Missed you Sarah!

Date Night!

Shhhh, don't tell his brothers, but my big guy and I went to a Durham Bulls game the other night all by ourselves!  Our friends gave us tickets for the 'party zone' - free tickets, free hotdogs, free popcorn, free Sprite, AND free games at Woolly World.  It was a blast and oh so easy with just this kid.  We were all going to go to the game but the night before Nash took a fall on his scooter and went to the ER to get a cat scan for a concussion. Thankfully that came back ok and he is just supposed to 'take it easy' for a week, ha. The reason he was acting so tired and wonky was because he had strep.  Dude cannot catch a break.  He and Theo got to hang with dad at home.  Dad rules and knew mom would be all about a baseball game date night.  Jackson waited until the next day to get sick with his first ear infection?!  We may invest in an amoxicillin keg over here.  It's May, we ain't got time for this!

Strawberries!

Last week we headed to Waller Farms with a bunch of little people to pick us some strawberries!  Theo went to town, eating them straight off the bush.  My 'worker' Nash is quite the picker, I had to make him stop because I didn't know what we were going to do with all of these.  Alas, I found this recipe for Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cake, we got rid of those suckers in no time.

    

Mother's Day

A mother's love.  So thankful for these 3 animals for teaching me what life is about.  And so thankful for my beautiful mom, who makes it look so easy and looks so good doing it.  A birthday on Mother's Day, kind of like having one right after Christmas...

Happy Birthday Tat-Tat!

"She wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there, leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together." -JD Salinger

All kind of looking?!

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.  She never existed before.  The woman existed, but the mother, never.  A mother is something absolutely new." -Rajneesh

Eagles!

Jackson has had the best Kindergarten year!  We love everything about his class, teacher, and school. I am a huge proponent of public schools, but as a mother know we all do what is best for our little one.  It is a big debate in our neighborhood every year about 'where will you send your kid to school?'  I put my money (jk - it's FREE!) where my mouth is and jumped right in.  Now I am on a mission to get the rest of our 'hood to join us.  We love being an Eagle!

Science Night!  We do NOT miss a special night, Jackson likes to go to every single thing...

Dad joined us for the much anticipated 5th graders vs. teachers basketball game.  The teachers won... booo.

Headed to the Creekside Carnival!  Seriously, they were so excited.  We listened to pump up music on the way there.  I should have do a little more pre-gaming myself.

I think everyone had fun at the Carnival.  I chased this guy around everywhere.  He is a maniac.  He will rule the school soon enough.  

Yesterday I got to go on a field trip to Marbles!  This was my 'group.'  It was the easiest trip to Marbles I have ever had.  They had so much fun and LISTENED to me and did not RUN away or BREAK anything.  It was awesome.  I felt a little bit guilty.

Loved hanging with my big Kindergartener all morning.  I am so proud of this guy!

Hump Day!

Wednesday got us all like, what....  

No worries, Jackson got back up and did that thing again! Then he joined the others for ICEEEEEEESSS at Brooklyn's neighborhood Spring Fest!

Engaging!

Saturday night we celebrated Aunt Nat and Zack!  Zack's aunt and uncle threw an awesome BBQ in their backyard, everything was gorgeous.  It was kid friendly and the boys all had a blast.  'Did you know Nat's name is going to be Natalie Lee? Like Nat Lee? And Dolly is going to be Dolly Lee?  That's kinda weird right?'  My sweet Jackson, an inquiring mind and always speaks the truth.

Ohhh, a table full of CUP-CAKE, don't mind me...

Handsome Ring Bearers taking a break from football to watch a little corn hole.

Farris - Winslow - Soon to be Lee Family Picture.  Missing the Fowlers!

May Days!

We have a lot of birthdays to celebrate in the month of May!  First up is Grand-daddy!  We headed to Wilson yesterday afternoon for a nice relaxing cookout with family...  And then Nash got tackled by his ever loving older brother and hit his forehead smack on a chair corner.  He needed stitches or glue or fancy band-aids or something.  But, it was Sunday evening and zero urgent cares were open and I just couldn't bring myself to go sit in the Wilson ER for the night.  After exchanging bloody pictures and calls with my most favorite doctor EVER we decided Charlie could either super glue it shut (he is a really good sub maker, physician not so much) or we clean it, ointment it up and Nash has a pimpin' scar for the rest of his life.  I think scars are pretty cool, especially when you are a male model, so we went with the latter.  Two hour later we all ate a lot of chocolate cake and called it a night!

Happy Birthday Grand-daddy!

Super Brave, hard-headed animal.  And I finally got to put a clip in my child's hair.  ;)

Edited to note - Day 2 we opted for urgent care.  Nash was awake for 1 entire hour and managed to knock it twice.  The doctors glued it right on up and told Charlie he could do it at home for a lot cheaper. Great....

Glued-up big head and an ice cold Mountain Dew, his treat of choice.