Walking In Memphis- "Stay"cation 2011

A couple weeks ago, we were planning a family vacation to St. Louis. At the last minute, we cancelled our plans and stayed in Memphis for a "stay"cation. (Beware, this is a long post with a TON of pictures!) I have to say, this was one of the "funnest" weekends I have had in a long time!

 Monday, we started our day in the best way possible....breakfast at our favorite doughnut shop. This little gem is a red velvet cake doughnut. Can we stand in awe of this amazing creation (and the numerous calories that it held!) I am still having dreams about this crazy good doughnut!

 Hudson ate his weight in doughnut holes! After he was all good and sugared up we headed downtown.

 Our first stop was the Peabody hotel to see the ducks. I remember as a little girl, I loved to see the ducks come out of the elevator, walk down their red carpet and plop into the fountain where they would swim the day away. I was so excited to experience this with my boys.

 After we saw the ducks, we headed to the Peabody roof to take pictures.

 The family!

 Jackson insisted on getting a little too close to the edge. He made his Mommy a nervous wreck while we were up there!

Next, we rode the trolley. As you can tell, Hudson was super excited. =)

I don't think  Jackson wiped that grin off his face the whole time we were on the trolley. He was in little boy heaven!

Another family shot, this time in front of our trolley.

We hopped off the trolley and headed to lunch at The Arcade. I have never been here but I think I have seen it in every movie ever filmed in Memphis. Super yummy food, next time we are in downtown Memphis this is definitely where I want to eat again!

Jackson had a cheeseburger (that he ate 3 bites of and then was "So full!")

And Hudson ate 1 french fry and was done with his lunch. He did grab my hand and decide to lay his precious little head on it....How sweet is he?

We hit up Beale Street and then headed back to our hotel. (When we were having insurance fix our floors in October, they put us in a hotel for a month. Jason signed us up for the Hilton rewards so we earned a free night stay at any Hilton.) We stayed at the Hampton Inn on Beale Street and I can not say enough good things about them. This was such a nice hotel.

We took advantage of their swimming pool and hot tub. I think we swam 3 or 4 times in 24 hour span. We swam so much that Jackson learned how to do this...

...That's right. My 4 year old that was TERRIFIED of the water at the beginning of the summer decided he wanted to swim by himself. As a former swimming lesson teacher, I could not be prouder of him!

 When we got out of the pool, I made the boys rest. I don't know how many times I heard Jackson say "I'm not tired, I don't want to sleep." But 5 minutes later, I looked over and saw...

 ...both boys passed out. That night we hung out, swam and ordered pizza from a local downtown pizzeria.

 Tuesday, we woke up and decided to go to the zoo for a few hours. (A few HOT hours!)

 We fed the birds....Hudson thought he was so big holding his own bird feeder.

 Jackson loved trying to "catch" a bird.

 I think this picture sums up how I felt the whole time I was trying to stay away from the birds feed the birds. I was feeling ok about the 1 little birds that was on my bird feeder but at the same time Jason clicked the picture a new bird came and dive-bombed me. That is the face of terror my friends! (and yes, this is serious...I am not playing. I thought everyone could use a good laugh. That's why I am putting this embarrassing picture up)

As we were heading out, Jackson needed to take a rest on the "Memphis Tiger" chair. We wore that little boy out! I am so glad that we stayed in town and had a little adventure. I hope it will be a weekend that our boys will remember...I know I will!

Phone Pic Post

Lost of my bloggy friends have done posts using their cell phone pics. Well, since we finally have decent phones, I thought I would catch us up using my phone pics from the past week.

The boys school called me last week and told me Huds had a fever. When we got home, this was his sad little face. We went to the weekend clinic the next day with a fever of 102.8. (yikes!) They couldn't find any infection so they believe he had a fever virus. Needless to say, this little boy got lots of snuggles!

Jason and Jackson went to Super Hero Saturday at the mall. It wasn't quite what they advertised, but Jackson didn't care. He had a blast spending the day with his Daddy all by himself!

He made this cool mask and played some games. His favorite part of the day was seeing the Chik-fil-a cow!

While the boys were at the mall, me and the sicky watched some SpongeBob and took a long much needed nap.

And why am I wearing glasses? Oh, It's because I have pink eye! It's super attractive!

Sunday night, Hudson was feeling MUCH better. The boys have gotten to be great friends lately. They love to play together and nighttime couch snuggles are their favorite!

Gotta love phone apps. Jackson loves Fatbooth. It has provided lots of laughs for the two of us! (We both

have the same simple sense of humor!)

And last but not least, someone has learned to take his clothes off! Lord help me.

Super Jackson's 4th Birthday

Oh my goodness, what a fun weekend we had! We celebrated Jackson's 4th birthday with family and friends. Anyone who has read my blog for a while knows that I LOVE to throw birthday parties (...I have been planning this since right after he turned 3!) We had his party at Crossfire Commandos and let me tell you that place is AWESOME!

We went with a superhero theme which meant the whole family had to dress the part (of course...and while I am at it, can I get a round of applause for Jason. He never questions me when I make him dress up. Yay for a good sport!). Hudson and Jason came as Captain America, I was SuperMom (thanks Old Navy for having super hero shirts) and I got Jackson's shirt from etsy.

When the kids got there, they sat down and their coaches went over their "secret missions" for the day.

Their first "secret mission" was jumping into the foam pit.

Jackson loved this.

Their second mission of the day was the trampoline.

Their final mission was the zipline. This was by far all the kids favorite thing. They went flying! (I have to say, I was a little jealous that I couldn't participate in this!)

Then all the kids jumped back in the foam pit to terrorize each other throw foam at each other.

The look on his face says it all...Total happiness!

The party moved on the the birthday room. I made the cupcake toppers of all of Jackson's favorite characters (Hulk, Ironman, Spiderman, Captain America, and SuperJackson)

My Mom made the kids these great masks.

Jackson and William chowing down on cake and ice cream.

We opened presents and drove home...

...and CRASHED!

His 4th birthday party was a success. And I feel the need to say it again....How do I have a 4 year old?

4 Years Ago...

4 years ago today (at 4:24 pm to be exact) I became a new Mom. I was discovering a love like I had never known before. I was embarking on a new journey and couldn't wait to see where it would take me!

3 years ago, I had been a Mom for a year and it had been the best year of my life! I had a precious little boy who I was so very proud of. My love grew more everyday. And I heard the sweetest voice call me my new name "Mommy".

2 years ago, I learned that being a Mom is filled with both joy and heartache. I also watched my son grow from a baby to a little boy and my heart swelled with pride.

Last year, I began learning things about little boys. Things I never thought I needed to know: Like the difference between a tractor and a harvester and that Ironman's super power is his repulsor blaster and his arc light. (Yes, Jackson taught me those important things!) I also watched him learn so many things...how to spell his name, letters and numbers, his address and my phone number, the pledge and 5 Bible verses.

And today, this little boy who captured my heart 4 years ago is growing bigger by the second. I am so thankful that God gave me the responsibility to be his Mommy.

Jackson,

You sweet, sweet boy! I can't believe that you are 4 today. How can that be? Aren't you still supposed to be my little baby?

I have loved watching you grow up into the independent, strong-willed little boy you are today. You have a personality that is bigger than life and a zeal for life that I long for. I pray that you can keep that zeal with you always.

Jax, I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for you. I know you will do big things.

                   I love you Stinkpot...

                      Mommy

An All-American Weekend

(Get ready for me to unload some photos...I took like 200 this weekend!)

I LOVE the 4th of July. I love everything that comes along with it: cookouts, family, swimming, fireworks. We did all of that except the fireworks (we were just too worn out at night to go see fireworks...oh well!).

Sunday, we headed to see Jason's family. I turned around and saw Jackson had put on his goggles. Can you say excited?

We has so much fun swimming! Jackson actually got comfortable in the water. 

Hudson loved going off the diving board.

Once Jackson saw Hudson do it, then he needed to.

We went and ate dinner and Jason's mom (Mamaw) put candles in Jackson's favorite dessert.

 Monday, we met my family at the movies and saw Cars 2. (which happens to be super cute!) We then headed to my parent's house to eat dinner. 

While we were there, my grandparents let Jackson open his birthday present early. They made him find it on a scavenger hunt. 

The last clue told Jackson to look under the quilt in the extra bedroom. Captain Obvious wasn't quite so obvious today. He decided not to look under the quilt in the middle of the room but to look under the quilt on the bed. He finally discovered that hidden in the middle of the room was a brand new bike!!! I don't think Jackson could have been happier. 

He went outside and rode his bike for like an hour!

On our way home last night, Jason and I were talking. We both agreed that this was one of the greatest weekends we had had in a long time! I was sad to see that it was over. We had so much fun-we didn't need fireworks!