Happy Birthday Jax

Happy birthday to my Jax-man. Yesterday was Jax's birthday. Every year I make a big deal about how old he is getting and this year was no exception. I can't believe that Jax is 6!!! Even he thought it was crazy. The first thing he said to me when I woke him up for school was " I'm six, I am almost in college". Then, he told everyone he saw the rest of the day how old he was. Not only did he turn six, he had his first sleep-over. He got to invite one friend to sleep-over. He was pretty excited. They stayed up until 11:00 laughing. It was very fun to see them act so grown up. Last night we had his birthday party with just the family and had cake. He was very spoiled and loved every minute of it.

Jax is such a good boy. I am blessed to have him in our family. I know that he was supposed to be the first born. He takes all of my parenting mistakes with stride and understands I am not perfect. He has such a good little heart. Even though he is growing and wanting to be so old, he will always be my little Jax-man. I love you Jax. I had to put this picture in because I love his cute smile and I really love that it is me that he is smiling at.

Blowing out his candles. I ran out of candles so he had a number 1 and number 5 because that adds up to 6. I know, I am awful.

The mess after. It looked like Christmas.

He is so into Baukugan right now, so he got 3 Baukugan balls.

Don't ask me, I just go along with it.

He begged for Heelys. The shoes with wheels on the bottom. I have a feeling that the wheels will be left out most of the time. Still a little scary.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Leak

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Stewart

The Stewart Experiment

I am sure that you all have already done this and we are a little slow, but I think this "experiment" could change our lives. We have decided that T.V. may not really be as important as we once thought. The other day a really sad thing happened that made me change my ways.

I was watching the Food Network Channel (because it is my all time favorite) and Jax came in and showed me something that he had been working on for a long time. Well, he came in during the most important part of the show when they were saying who won the contest, and I just said "Good Job" and didn't even look at what he did and told him to go get Aynslee out of the cupboard. What I did see was him walking away with the saddest look on his face. He didn't think I cared. Of course I care. I looked at it after I found out who won, but that was a little to late. I hurt my sons feelings over a stupid cooking show. I felt awful and cried to myself as I went to bed that night. When I woke up I had a new plan. No more T.V. Well, kind of.

We have ''quiet time" at our house, I feel that everyone, parents included, need a little time to themselves. I will let the kids watch a movie or read a book or play toys by themselves. If they choose to watch T.V. during this time I will let them, but that will be it. Zach and I can watch after the kids go to bed if we choose.

Yesterday was our first day, and I have to say I am VERY happy about it. I thought it was going to be SO hard. Zach didn't get home from work until 9:30 and I figured it would be the longest day of our lives. We actually played together!! Can you believe it??? We made forts, sang songs, danced around, and actually talked to each other. I really hope that this goes on forever and we don't slack like we do with everything else. I hope that I will NEVER see a look on my children's face like that one again, especially if I put it there!!! I am going to work hard at this. I am changing my ways!! I will let you all know how it is going and will you help to keep me motivated? Wish us luck!!

So sad...

Ok, nothing really bad is going on like the title says, it is just that I have nothing to post about. I hate posting something without a picture, but we had to take the batteries out of the camera to put into our wii controllers. I know, who needs pictures of their kids growing up right? It's not like we could have taken them out of a clock or a remote from the back t.v. We really are sad. Here is a picture from a while ago just for fun.

I always loved this picture. This was just one year ago. It is amazing how fast they change.

This weekend

What did you do this weekend? Did you play Mario Kart on your Wii for 20 hours or more? We did. Zach was talking to a friend last week and he talked Zach into getting Mario Kart. Zach bought it and that has been all we have done for about 4 days. We need in intervention. Have you seen the show on A&E called "intervention"? If you have, look for us because I swear we will be on it if we don't stop. The game is addicting. I guess the good thing is that we can all play and we all hang out together. Can that be called family bonding time? Last night we hooked it up to the internet and got a friend room and played my two sisters and their husbands for family night. What more could you ask for living thousands of miles away. What a great way to keep the whole family together. Anyway, I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a fun game for the whole family. Just beware, once you start, you can't stop. I am off to play a little Mario Kart. I give you my score later.....

A beautiful morning in the SIP

It is always a treat to wake up in the morning to.....no not snow.....FROST!!!! Anything that even looks like snow is great for me. It is not very often that I get to take pictures of white grass in Mississippi. When I dropped Jax off at school this morning the teachers that help them get out of the cars told me that if it gets any colder here then they will not be out to help them and we will be on our own. BRRR...Guess what the temp was.......27. Sorry to all of you in Rapid city that have to trudge to school in all that snow!!! Just a little weird adjustment for us. They boys were SO EXCITED this morning for school because they finally got to wear TWO SHIRTS to school. It is great how such small things can be so great. Anyway, I just wanted to share with everyone that it is 27 here today and we got frost!!!! Today will be a good day White grass

The frost is leaving to soon

Shade waiting to leave for school

Aynslee looking quite "undone" this morning. Patiently waiting for Shade to leave so she can really start to party.

New Years Hike

We have decided that every year for New Years we are going to go on a hike. I guess as long as we are in Mississippi and the weather is in the 50's. Anyway, some of our great friends invited us to go along with their family, and we are so glad they did. We had so much fun and it was great to get out and finally get hiking again. We of course did not bring our camera, but luckily our friends did so here are some pictures they let us have. Thanks Ty you did a great job!! This is the waterfall that we hiked to.

Some ice in the south. Not a picture you see very often.

The boys

Zach hiked with Ayns on his back. He did a great job with her and trying to help all of us that were sliding all over.

Looking like quite the hiker

Aynslee could ride in this all day. She loves to go hiking.

Great Christmas, tons of pictures

We had such a great Christmas again. We are truly a blessed and loved family. We missed being with everyone, but we did enjoy being together on a special day. Here is the play by play: Merry Christmas from the Stewart Family

Our Christmas Eve pie. Chocolate Peppermint pie. Yummy.

Zach built Aynslee this awsome toy chest / chair for her room. He did such a great job. I only asked him to make it square, and he did all this decoration. You can tell he really loves his baby girl.

I made the seat cushion and pillows so she could play on it.

This is the "Santa room" this is what they got from Santa. I think they did pretty well.

This is what they got from us and grandparents. We are spoiled.

Ayns thinks she got this big wheels. Shade and Ayns fought over it the whole day.

Jax practicing on his new bike.

My new coat that I love. Thanks Santa!!

Shade trying out his new big wheels. His legs are still a little short. We will have to rig up something to make it work.

Aynslee modeling her "princess outfit".

Eating Caramel French Toast after opening the presents. This stuff was AMAZING. This is our new Christmas tradition.

The aftermath

Sleeping in their new sleeping bags. They were pretty worn out from the whole day.

Thanks Mema and Papa for these awsome boots. The kids look so cute in them.!!!!

Thanks again to everyone who spoiled us. We got so many great things and we love you all. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and know that we thought of you during the day.