Jackson is 3!!!

Jackson turns 3 today! We can hardly believe it! We had a party for him on Monday at Grandma Cersey's house. We had planned to have his party at the park, but the weather looked ominous so we changed the location last minute and of course the rain ended up holding off, but we had fun indoors anyway. We played games, broke open a pull-string Pinata, opened presents, and ate cake. I baked the cake and then decorated it with the help of Grandma Cersey. I think it turned out rather well if I do say so myself.

I had no idea what kind of activities to plan for a 3 year old's birthday party, but luckily Pretty LuLu knew how to entertain the kids. She played duck-duck-goose, Jackson Says, and an usual version of musical chairs that involved pillows and no losers. Justin and Grandma Cersey quickly came up with a "pin the nose on Thomas the train" game which was fun for the kids too.

Today we had a birthday playgroup at Chick-fil-a. Jessica, Megan and Lex came as well as Rachel, Jones and Lacey Shumway, Nicole and Maggie, Grandma Pearson, and Blossom and Arianna Weems. I am terrible at taking pictures, but here are a few shots from today.

Confessions of a Bad Mom

Carey, this post's for you!

I am ready to admit that I am a terrible mom. My children have been deprived of my attention because I have been totally consumed with softball, planning summer vacations, and text messaging. Jackson is addicted to T.V. because mommy is too busy to play with him, and though Drake's first birthday is coming up he is nowhere near ready to walk because he sits in his highchair and eats all day. On second thought, maybe I shouldn't be sharing this with the world. I mean I haven't even updated my blog in over a month and my last 2 posts were about softball! My poor babies deserve better. So, I have created a new blog that is just for softball so that this blog can get back to being about my family. You can get updates on the ThunderCats here.

Drake is crawling now and getting into everything. He has also learned some sign language. He can say "more", "all finished", and he is starting to learn "milk" and "sleepy". He can pull to a standing position, but as I mentioned before he is nowhere near close to walking. He falls frequently and has the bumps and bruises to prove it.

Jackson will be turning 3 next week. He is still in diapers which is another testament to my poor mothering. I just have trouble mustering up the patience and commitment to get this kid potty trained. I know, I know I am a sad case, but just you wait and see how bad it sucks when its time to potty train your kid!

Shoot! Justin just got home and I've got to go do stuff before he starts complaining.

Still Hot and Still Losers

Well, last night was a sad night for the ThunderCats. We played the Switchbacks and as I mentioned before, they are a pretty good team. Their pitcher is a giant that looks like he carries baseballs around in his cheeks. Bottom line is we lost 2-17. Yes, we lost by 15 points. The game was called halfway through because of some mercy rule. We knew that there was no chance for us, but we were upset that they wouldn't even let us continue playing. After all, we all paid to play. So instead of winning, our new goal is to simply keep the score close enough so that we can actually finish out our hour of playtime. That might be difficult for us next week because we are playing the Misfits and they have the reputation of being the best team in the league. Our game next week is at 9:30pm. Come out and support us so that we know we are still loved even though we lose. We will try to put on a good show that hopefully will last a whole hour.

The Hot Losers

On Thursday the 9th Team ThunderCats played our first game. We played against a team called Oyster Barn, and if your immediate thoughts run to gelatinous slugs that have little to no skills at all let alone softball skills then you would be accurately picturing this team. So imagine our surprise when we lost to them 4-7. We were all very nervous, so our skills were slightly impaired, but that really is a lame excuse for losing to this team. Balls were dropped, missed, and fumbled. Throws were wild, inaccurate, and short. Our batting was pitiful to say the least. However, in the last inning we started to get better. The score had been 1-7 until our last time up to bat. Still, we weren't good enough. Well, at least this week we will be rightfully slaughtered. We are playing the Switchbacks and they actually do have some serious skills. Come out to witness our demise for yourself Thursday at 7:30 at Bethesda Park, field #10. At least we look good, right?

Easter Fun

Justin, the kids, and I actually took part in a fair share of Easter activities this year. Usually Justin and I are a little bit scrooge-ish, but this year we actually got into the spirit a little. We dyed Easter eggs with Jackson. We actually kind of enjoyed it.

On Saturday, the 4th we went to the Waisath's for the year's first Easter egg hunt. Jackson actually found eggs on his own this year. Drake was content with one. While at the Waisath's Jackson and Justin participated in an egg toss, and an egg cracking contest, and we had an awesome lunch. Then we rushed home for conference. Thanks Liz and Boyd for a great morning!

On Easter morning we gave the boys their Easter baskets. Jackson lined up all of his basket's contents in a straight line as he got them out. Like father, like son. However, Jackson then proceeded to throw Easter grass all over Drake. This is where his behavior began to mirror me more. Then we got the boys ready for church in their cute little Easter outfits.

After church we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Cersey's house for dinner and more Easter festivities. All of the cousins, Aunts, and Uncles were there. Grandma Cersey's sisters were in town and Grandma and Grandpa Pearson also showed up as well. It was a full house. We ate, dyed Easter eggs, and had another Easter egg hunt. Grandma and Grandpa Pearson fell asleep amongst all of the hubbub.

Rained Out!

Well friends, the ThunderCats' first game has been canceled due to the never-ending rain. I know that all of you were anxiously awaiting this day so that you could come out to support us, but you will just have to hold out until next week. Sorry to ruin your evening, but don't you worry. You will get to see the fury of the ThunderCats in action soon.

What's Shakin'?

So much has happened these last few weeks! Where to begin? Well, Drake started crawling on March 11. I have a video of it, but it is too big to put on the blog, so unless Justin wants to work on that you won't be seeing it. For Drake's sake, I am really glad that he is mobile. He is much happier now that he can get around by himself, but for my sake it sucks! You would think that our house would already be baby proofed since we have the 2 year old, but that would be a false assumption. As a matter of fact, I think it is worse because we have the 2 year old because he leaves little toys and things lying around that are the perfect size for choking babies. And of course Drake is only interested in the things that he shouldn't be playing with like Justin's weights.

Speaking of weights, Justin and I started a work out program called P90X. Maybe you have heard of it. It is a crazy, intense, 90 day program that takes at least one hour a day, 6 days a week. We took "before" pictures, but I will only post them at the end of the program if the "after" pictures are super hot because of our drastic improvements. If I post them now we run the risk of embarrassing ourselves for no reason at all.

And, as if the P90X workout wasn't enough, Justin and I also joined a co-ed softball team. I know you are thinking, "Wow! You guys are so awesome! How can I be more like you?". Well, the answer is you can't so don't even try. No, actually I wouldn't be surprised if one or both of us drop dead from sheer exhaustion in the next few weeks. Anyway, our teammates are Nicole Wood (the team manager), Chris Fox (the team coach), Carey Fox, Brindi and Ryan Horsley, Jana and Ta Thanasack, Jesse Kipper, and his brother Douglas Kipper, and Rachel Keanum. Our first game is at 9:30pm on Thursday, April 2nd at Bethesda Park on field #10 for those of you who want to come and see us work our magic (magic = lose horribly). Go ThunderCats!

Let's see, what else has happened? Oh, Drake's 9 month stats. Drake is now nine months old and he had his check-up last week. At his appointment he was 30 inches long (92%), 21 lbs. 3.3 oz. (60%), and his head was 18.2 inches (75%). I don't really know what to make of those percentile rankings. When Jackson was 9 months old he was 29.9 inches long (88%), 21 lbs. 8 oz. (59%), and his head was 18.1 inches (64%). Their measurements seem awfully similar, but some of their rankings vary rather significantly, don't you think? Whatever, I am probably just an idiot.

Finally, my mom (Grandma Pearson) had surgery this week but she is recovering very quickly. The boys and I have been over there helping her out the past few days. She should be back to her normal self sometime next week.