Happy Birthday Dallon!

On wednesday, april 14th, we celebrated Dallon's 11th birthday. We spent the evening at home. Presents, handmade cards, his favorite dinner that I make... calzones, and we watched a Harry Potter movie. I did his chores for him after school as a little present. He loved that and I got a big hug out of it. I also gave him a free pass for no piano practice for the day... huge hit! It was such a nice night as a family.

Today we had a party with his friends at Laser Quest. Laser Tag is as good as it gets for boys this age. They all love it! Dallon had 5 friends join us for some fun. They played 2 games of laser tag and then we had fun with cake and presents. Dallon is so into basketball right now. So, we went with basketball everything and he thought that was pretty cool.

Here they are looking at their score sheets after game one... all sweaty and pumped up about all the fun... talking smack about the game they are about to play. Dallon did take 2nd out of 25 players... so he did well.

34 and counting...

We celebrated Aaron's birthday at home relaxing after the reading restaurant. He had a great ice cream cake that Dawson picked out for him, and Dallon wrapped all his presents... cards, cards, and more cards. He spent his night opening them with the boys. For those of you who don't know this... he is a huge card collector! Happy Birthday to you Aaron!

Reading Restaurant

Dawson invited Aaron and I to a reading restaurant in his classroom one evening last week. When we arrived at the school Dawson entered the classroom, while we waited in the hall for a table. When a table was available, our server Dawson, came out to greet us... "Welcome to Ms. Jackson's Flower Power Cafe" he said. "Your table is ready... please follow me". He showed us to our table which was covered in a beautiful table cloth with pretty flowers. Then he handed us our menu which was colored beautifully. On the menu there were several choices for us to choose from. There were books for appetizers, main courses, and desserts too. We could choose which book we'd like to have and Dawson would then read it to us. It was so clever and so cute. We really enjoyed hearing him read to us at the reading restaurant.

He had made this fun book all about himself to show his parents too. It's amazing. I loved it. There are several pics of some of his writings inside. I felt so lucky to have it dedicated to me.

He was very proud to show us that he had made a power point presentation to show us. He was feeling pretty cool that he could work the computer all by himself.


It was such a wonderful evening. I left hand in hand with Dawson. I love that he still loves to hold my hand. My heart was so full. I am proud of him. And it's so fun to get to share in his life with him.

peace and quiet on the second story balcony

I got a call today from a friend in the ward who wanted to book a photography session. Easton was throwing a fit and crying in the background and following me around everywhere. I kept trying to dodge him, moving from room to room, trying to keep the person on the other end of the line from hearing all the commotion, trying my best to ditch him. But he knew it, and he wanted to be heard... he was not about to be shut out! So, I did what I almost always have to do for a little peace and quiet on the phone... talk outside. Ask my neighbors, I'm always on the phone in the front yard, back yard or on the balcony. And especially if it's a business call... I mean I'm trying to be a professional here... doesn't he know that??? Well, I headed out onto the balcony off of our master bedroom (it's on the second story of our house by the way). Sure enough he didn't follow me out. I found my peace and quiet. Probably 10 - 15 minutes of peace and quiet too. It was sweet. Until, I went to go back inside. I twisted the knob, and to my surprise I was locked out! I about died. It's 11 am. Everyone is gone to school and work except Easton and I. No one is home but us. I started banging on the door. I yelled his name. I couldn't hear him in my room. Like I said 10 - 15 minutes had passed. He may already be playing toys downstairs. I doubt he even remembers I'm out here. So, here I am on the second story balcony and I'm eyeing how big of a jump this is gonna be now. Could I really jump? Would I break my leg? I decided there is no way I'm jumping. I call Aaron at work to tell him he's gonna have to come home and save me. He can't, but he stays on the line with me. I start banging and yelling Easton's name again and my cute little bubba puts his little hand on the doorknob. I've never been so happy to see that little hand before. To at least know he is there. But, I'm also thinking there is no way he is going to know how to unlock this door. But after quite a bit of coaxing he figured out how to twist the lock and let me in. I was so happy to see him and we had a big hug.

Easter morning.

We started off Easter with an egg hunt in our yard. The easter bunny had come and had left lots and lots of eggs. (The kids were so excited that they woke up at 6 am and had to play board games in their room for two hours until it was light).

They finished hunting in the back yard, came into the front to find more eggs. They still hadn't discovered their baskets above their heads in the tree. Love it.
And then they did...

We finished off the hunt by eating some egg sandwiched, just like Grandma makes them. Two years ago when she came to visit for Easter she made the kids some with hard boiled eggs and they loved them. Now they refer to them as Grandma's egg sandwiches. And we eat them every easter morning. It's become a little tradition. We spent the rest of our day at home watching conference and that was nice.

coloring easter eggs

The boys and I colored easter eggs together yesterday. They had looked forward to it all week. In fact, Dawson had even drawn some sketches of what his eggs would look like. He even traced the egg ahead of time so that his sketches would be life size. I think he may have been a little disappointed that his eggs weren't near as spectacular as his drawings. It was lots of fun though. Easton was tons of work... but I didn't want him to miss out on the fun. He loved dipping the eggs into the cups of color. He colored more eggs than anyone. He didn't care how long they stayed in there, or how bright the color was... it's in and out and done! He worked so hard to pick up the egg out of the color with that little metal wire. And when he actually did it, he clapped and cheered for himself... saying "I did it! Yay!" It really was so fun to watch him enjoy himself. He spilled 3 cups of egg color - good thing he was totally adorable to make up for that. As you can see in the pictures his hands were crazy stained by the end of the fun... and are still that way today too. Dallon was so helpful. He is such a big boy. He mixed up all of the colors several times... with Easton spilling the way he did it was so good we bought extra. Dallon made some cool eggs, and loved making monster eggs this year too.

With Grandma

When Grandma came to stay a few weeks ago I was able to get a picture of her with each of my boys that I truly treasure. I think it's so neat for the boys to have these pictures with her. They adore her - and I think that shows thru in the pictures.

Aaron's sister, Melissa came to see us too. How lucky are we? Here is a fun one of Aaron, his sister, and his mom. Don't they all look so much alike?
I have a tons of pictures that I took of Melissa and her son Cody that I love love love. They will be posted soon on my photography blog. So, if you want to see more of this session, you can find it there within the next few days. www.jaimiehaleyphotography.blogspot.com

Easton @ 27 months

I've been excited to get out and take some new photos of Easton. We went out for a walk and I had so much fun capturing him running around. I love him in his little rain boots. And with that little curious george lunch tin that he loves. He uses it to carry around little toys... cars, his small curious george, books, etc. So cute. He is growing up so fast. It seems he has changed so much in the last few months. He says so many new words. He talks so fast... half of the time in his own language, but he sure has a lot to say. He repeats every thing we say. He says "bye" and "see ya later" to every one every where we go.... then he waves his hand as he walks away. It is so sweet. Another cute thing he says is "your funny" and laughs. If you say it back "no your funny" he laughs so hard... this can go back and forth for as long as you'll play along. He loves to be outside in the back yard. He loves cars... plays cars all day long. He also takes his cars in his hand or a baggie everywhere. There is always at least one car in each hand, and more times than not he will try to carry more than his little hands can hold. He loves stuffed animals - Mickey Mouse and Curious George are his favorites, but he loves them all. As far as cartoons, he loves Curious George, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Handy Manny. Of course, his favorite movie is "Cars". He is a picky eater. The pickiest of all my kids. He will eat all fruits, cereals, toast, rice, spagetti, chicken nuggets, fries, grilled cheese, yogurts, but that is about it. He is a big drinker... he'll drink all day long if I'd let him. He loves milk and juice so much. I guess that could have something to do with him not eating right? Ha Ha. He tries to blow kisses... it is so cute. He catches them and puts them on his lips... so it's just a little backward and that makes it totally adorable. He hates the bath. The only time he isn't petrified in the bath is when Dawson is in with him. But these days Dawson is very hesitant to get in with him since Easton has pooped in the tub on more than one occasion when Dawson was in there. Ha Ha! He seems very interested in the potty. He lets us know when he has gone "stinky". But I'm just trying to get up the courage to even want to consider potty training. He still sleeps in his crib and he hasn't figured out how to climb out yet. Yay! He is always always always the first to greet me at the door when I get home from a quick trip to the store, or a walk, etc. He runs up to me squealing, "Mommy, Mommy" and gives me a huge hug! Honestly, it makes my day every single time. It just melts my heart to have someone so happy to see me. Love him!