PHeather's PHamily

I apologize for the lack of blogging these past few weeks, but you can blame it on this show:

*I titled this post "scandalous" because Phil says that word in a Will Ferrel voice every time we turn on this show.* :) Oh my gosh... Phil and I are addicted. My aunt and cousins told us about it on the fourth of July and since then we've watched all of season 1 on Netflix and are about halfway through season 2. We watch at least two episodes a night and it's all we can do to stop and go to bed! LOL! And that's saying a lot for Phil because he usually falls asleep on the couch and goes to bed early, but he's been staying up past 11:00 with me to watch. It's so fun! We don't really watch that much TV anymore, so it's fun to have a show to watch and discuss together. Phil even came home from work the other day and said, "You know, I was thinking about our show today and I think this person did that because..." Haha! That's when I knew he was hooked. :)

Anyway, here are some pictures showing what we've been up to this month (other than watching Scandal... haha!)...

(lots of smiling and laughing)

(especially laughing at big brothers)

(wishing we were babies again... lol!)

(building with blocks)

(eating ice cream at Dairy Queen after dinner)

(not eating ice cream yet but loving sitting up and watching everyone!)

(loving on Davis)

(playing our new Kindles)

(jumping, jumping, jumping)

(and then falling asleep)

(taking naps together in Mommy's bed)

(practicing with our new Dustbuster (or supervising in Reid's case)... thanks to Kristen for the idea!)

(fresh out of the bath with new PJs!)

(donuts at Krispy Kreme... which no one really ate except Emmett and Mommy.) :)

(meeting Daddy for lunch by the water)

(and "washing our hands"... aka "climbing up on the sink and playing in the water") :)

I have more posts in the works to be published soon!

This beautiful, sweet boy just turned 6 years old...

How did that happen so fast?? Wasn't he just turning 3??

And then I got stuck looking at these old pictures and I wanted to cry. Look at how little and cute Jackson was... and how thin I was... *sigh*...

And how many sweet friends were at J's party back then...

Both his friends, and our friends. :( And how pretty those mountains look in the distance...

And we still had a dog then! A smelly, poop-eating dog, but still!

And oh, my gosh, look at little Emmett... those fat hands and feet and those chubby cheeks! I die!

*sniff-sniff* Okay, okay... enough reminiscing. Those days were wonderful and I am so thankful for them. But this birthday was really good, too. We got to be Grandy and Popeye's house...

And J spent an amazing day putting together all of his new Legos and swimming, swimming, swimming with that chunky baby in the previous picture that is now his best friend (Emmett), and with another brother to boot! (Reid)

And got to hang out with a different, but wonderful, dog...

And Mommy has some extra pounds on her, but that just makes her softer to snuggle with for the time being... right? LOL! (And yes, J does still suck his thumb, but we never see it because it's only right before he falls asleep, which was what was happening here.)

And we had Jackson's special request for dinner... spaghetti and meatballs!

And, again, most importantly... we got to spend this birthday with our family!

Oh, and J had a much more amazing cake this year... Aunt Leslie bought him an Angry Birds cake from our favorite bakery! Tasted (and looked) much, much better than that Thomas cake from 3 years ago. :)

Oh, how we treasure and love this sweet little boy... the best biggest brother and first-born boy we could have ever imagined. He has such a fun, happy personality and has really been overcoming some of his shyness and timidity these past few months. He's been more willing to try new things and do some things that he was previously afraid to do, like these sparklers (last year wouldn't touch them), jumping in and swimming across the deep end of the pool (and very recently swimming down to the bottom to pick up rings), and killing bugs for Mommy. I will always remember the time a few weeks ago when he caught and picked up a spider with a pair of plastic toy pliers. I had unfolded a lawn chair to sit in it and there was a spider on the seat. J said, "Let me get him with these pliers!" and lo and behold he did! He walked over to me with the spider in the pinchers and I almost died inside, but on the outside I said something like, "Wow!! That's awesome!! Can you please put him on the ground and step on him??" and J did. :)

He is so very patient with his little brothers, and is always so sweet and loving to them, especially to Davis. I am so thankful that God blessed us with J as the oldest brother. And I don't know what I would have done without his help since Davis arrived... even just with little things like entertaining the little ones for a few minutes or bringing me something while I'm nursing. He really is so affectionate and full of love... always willing to snuggle and give kisses and hugs. Favorite things right now? Swimming, playing Angry Birds, and building Legos. We love you, Jackson!