The Month of May

In the month of May we....

 

went to the blueberry festival, got caught in our first downpour of the year, had mothers day brunch at cape may with the characters and then strolled around Epcot, story time on the couch, went to soccer games and took Lion once, dressed up like superheros, played in the back yard, went to the temple with the young women, lunch date at stake n shake with Cyclops (aka Jackson), Ate watermelon, Nana and Pepi came for a sleepover, tried to gain some weight, went house hunting and took trips through several model homes, built a house out of pillows.  Add in some work dinners and on call duties for Jason, some doctor appointments for me and Jack getting ready to finish his pre-k year and we've got May covered.

Shiny

Yesterday we took Mom and Dad around to some of the areas we have been looking at houses. While fun for adults it was not so for the little boy. We bribed him with new superhero action figures for good behavior.  He earned two, a new Iron man and a Wolverine. 

Today when we arrived at school Jack was hesitant to get out of the car. I could see he was trying to hide something in his pocket but he was met with some resistance. On closer inspection I saw he was trying to pocket Iron man. I told him to leave it in the car because he knew the rules, no toys at school. Jack started to cry and pleaded with me to let him take it in. I wouldn't back down on one last effort he held the action figure up to me and pleaded  "But Mom he is so shiny."

The crying continued all the way to his classroom. He clung to my leg and would not let go. I gave him a hug told him that Iron man would be waiting in the car for him and led him into his classroom. Jack started to walk into his class with the coaxing of his teacher, stopped turned around, looked at me and whispered "so shiny." 

I chuckled all the way to the car to the awaiting shiny Iron man. 

Oh how I love this little boy.

6 more days

I cannot wait for Summer break.
Where we don't have a schedule to follow and I don't have to do the morning battle of getting Jack to school. Time spent doing what ever we want and most importantly our trip to Utah where we get to play and spend time with family. Jack is so excited to be with his cousins again.
Saturday we went shopping to get the growing boy some new clothes. Since he has grown out of almost everything we stock piled up on t-shirts, new shorts and jammies.
We also found some awesome new shades.

 Jack came away with some pretty cool shirts. There was one that had a dinosaur chasing some race cars. Jack was so excited about it he had to take it out of the bag as soon as we walked out of the store and was walking through the mall just staring at his shirt. It was hilarious.

This shopping trip brought back memories of when my mom would take us shopping for new clothes in preparation for our trip to Illinois to spend time with Grandma and Granddad. I remember being filled with such excitement getting ready for all our summer adventures.  I think I am just as excited now as I look forward to our Summer. We just have to hold on 6 more days!

Army Men

Jack found some Army men in the dollar section at Target.
He couldn't wait and get home to play with them. He talked my ear off all the way home about what he was going to do and how it was all going to play out.

He kept building factories and spoke some nonsense about harvesters and getting more spices. Jack answered he was playing out all that he learned from daddy's game when I asked him what he was talking about. A couple weeks ago poor Jason came down with a bad case of strep throat and was out of commission for a couple of days. His throat was so swollen it looked like he had a goiter.  One day Jason played his game as a distraction from the discomfort. Jack was in heaven as he sat next to him watching him play.

True to character Jack soaked it all in, kept it for a couple of weeks and is now letting it all come out as he plays.

Ode to the patio.

One thing we love to do as a family is have some good quality time out on the patio.
This love has been a favorite past time since Jason and I have been married.
In our very first apartment on Center street we would eat most meals outside and play games late into the night on the porch. We have been lucky enough to have a patio with all our apartments, but a patio with a house and a yard has been so wonderful. It is getting warm here as we are getting closer to Summer and our time is limited so we have been soaking up all we can these last couple of weeks.

Here is our ode to our patio love through pictures.

Yep we have a whole bunch of

Bus,Train and Monorail

One Saturday afternoon the boys and I met Mom and Dad at Epcot.
There is something so special about the flower and garden festival that you cannot keep away. It something else to be surrounded by such wonderful flowers and smells.We have fun spotting our favorite characters. You find new ones each time it is incredible.

We found Stitch, we had never seen him before and we almost missed him. He really blended in.
After dinner in Mexico we decided that we wanted to take the monorail over to Magic Kingdom to hit some rides there. When we got out of Epcot the monorail was closed so we had to take a bus over to Magic Kingdom.

At first Jack was upset, he loves to ride the monorail. He was sad until he saw the bus. Then he got the most excited he had that whole day. Our unexpected delay made Jack's day. He soaked every moment of that bus ride.

When we finally got to Magic Kingdom he didn't want to get off.
We coaxed him off with a promise of a pineapple whip and a ride on the train.

 

A train ride as promised.

Then when it was time to go home we took the monorail back to Epcot to return to our car. All he could talk about on the way home was how he got to ride a bus a train and the monorail all in one night.

Jack and Space

Supermoon is this weekend and the moon is super bright tonight.
We had the perfect view of the moon through our window.

Jack climbed up to get a better view and whispered,

"Looking at the moon reminds me of going to space."

I know this child had been to space many times through his imagination.
Every morning he counts down while I am backing the car down the driveway.
That's a lot of space trips.

Relay for Life

On Friday we attended Relay for Life for our wards day of service.
It was a special event. On Friday night I got to walk hand in hand with my boys sporting my survivors shirt as we did a survivors lap around the track.
We had never done anything like that. Jack loved it because everyone was clapping on the sides and he thought we were in a parade. He asked why everyone was clapping and Jason and I tried to respond but we were both really choked up. We spurted something out how these people had gotten really sick like mommy but were better or fighting to get better. It was a really touching moment. After the lap we got treated to a lovely catered dinner served in the survivors tent.
What a warm feeling of community and camaraderie under that tent.

Jack colored some shirts and we put up pictures of Pepi and Grandma Judy on our wards  

Why we Relay Line.  

 We walked around all the booths and Jack had fun playing little carnival games. There was even face painting and of the all the things to paint on his face Jack asked for a snake. It kinda creeped me out.

With your purple survivor shirt on you are treated like a celebrity. You didn't have to pay for drinks or cupcakes or if  you were to play any of the games. I liked it.

The Relay took place on April 27th on my 8 year diagnosis anniversary. Making the day even more special.
These anniversaries are important to me to remember, remember how far I've come.