Jackie Shmack!!

Jack is 7!  This kid is such a dream boat.  My heart just overflows with love for him.  He's just a sweet kid.  I always tell him "You're my nice boy Jack."  And when he can be naughty sometimes, I like to remind him of the fact.  I know he's genuinely good, like his Dad and I hope he ends up being just like him.  He's started on a pretty great track.  For one, he LOOOOOVES sports.  I often hear he and Chase discussing a game and will watch anything on ESPN.  Even golf!!  The most boring sport in the universe!! He also loves to play sports with Chase.  They'll hit the tennis ball back and forth on the front driveway and love to play "fumble" in the house.  This is all very foreign to me.  I grew up in the house that watched Masterpiece Theater on Superbowl Sunday.  My Dad took us on hikes.  Don't think I've ever even seen him throw a basketball, or any ball for that matter.  I'm not complaining.  I loved my childhood and we always had a smashing time.  There just weren't any sports.  It was suzuki, ballet for the girls and rock climbing for the one boy. I love that my boys are being exposed to all these things.  They've got a pretty ignorant mom when it comes to the Red Sox and Broncos, but our hiking adventures are epic and I can rollerblade wherever there's pavement!

Jack's morning started off with a warm cinnamon roll.  Definitely store bought because we're classy like that.  We do get the Immaculate Baking tubes, so that's takes us up a notch.  

Sugar fest continued as we arrived at Kiker to give doughnuts to Jack's class.  He requested sprinkles and oh did we deliver. Shipley's red and pink donuts with all the sprinkles from the rainbow.  

Later that day we had cake and presents.  He requested the Cannon chocolate angel food cake again this year.  My kids love this cake and Chase is happy because he now gets to have it 3 more times a year!

Legos and more legos.  I also got him more clothes because he's growing like a weed.  He is now wearing the same shoe size as Sadie!

The Saturday after his birthday we had an impromptu party with all his buddies at the movie theater and back to the house for cake.  He was going to have a swim party at the Community Center but there was rain in the forecast and I didn't want it to be spoiled.  So I texted all the moms and we ended up seeing Angry Birds.  Pretty dumb movie, but the boys loved it!!  I initially invited a ton of boys to his swim party and when I cancelled it, I didn't think everyone would be able to come to the movie on such short notice.  But they ALL came.  Holy Moses!!  It was a lot of boys and a lot of tickets!!  We ended up enlisting Carl Steiger to help us drive a few of them to the theater.

Target came through for me with quick Angry Bird party favors.  I felt a little sheepish when they asked me for ID when purchasing the TNT Pop-it's.  Probably shouldn't be giving them to 7 year old boys if Mom needs to show ID to take them out of store. Hopefully the parents forgave me.  They just went WAY too perfectly with the movie and all the blowing up that happens.  I took comfort in knowing these pops only produce miniature explosions.  

Just look at all those boys!!

They loved the movie!

Can't same the same for Chase and me.  We were so busy distributing popcorn and making sure we didn't lose anyone that we barely caught the gist of the show.

Monkeys!!

You can probably imagine the chaos that ensued the moment we got home.  Rounding these hooligans up to the table for cake was quite the feat!

Heavy heavy hang over and presents!! 

Then after a quick warning from me to the kids about the explosives in their grab bags, they all left and Chase checked out.  Gone done wore himself right out!

It's been a big year for Jack.  Lost his first tooth.  We were especially grateful this one came out.  It dangled for FAR too long.

And more and more teeth to follow!  I love that silly toothless grin.  It's seriously my favorite!

Jack also started piano lessons.  He wants to play the cello but I'm having a pretty hard time finding him a teacher.  So we decided to have Rebecca teach him for a year so we can at least introduce music into his repertoire.  Rebecca and I have both been very impressed with his musical abilities.  He's very good at sight reading and really understand the key signatures.  I have a feeling we'll see great musical talents from him. 

He was so brave and performed for a Guild judge and got Superior marks.  Way to go Jack!!

 

He started first grade in the fall with Ms. Prickett. She was such a great teacher for him and he made a lot of new friends.  Even ones that taught him how to say the "F" word.  Yay!! Lots of lessons learned and consequences experienced with this little rascal.  But I know deep down he's as good as gold!

He's continues to be somewhat narcoleptic.  Little guy still needs his naps even though he rarely gets one.  But when I can get him to snuggle up with me after school, it's heaven on earth.  Love this little boy so much!

He sleeps so soundly at night we can't get him to get up and go to the bathroom.  I guess it's one more year of pull-ups at night for this tall, lanky thing!

Jack also loves to help me in the kitchen.  He gets pretty jazzed about cracking the eggs and turning on the mixer.  When we make cookies I usually have all three older kids crowding around to "help" at first, and Jack usually remains until the end while the other two lose interest (or only come back for dough samples:-)

Licking the bowl is simply the best!!

He and Evan are still best buddies.  Jack lets George tag along from time to time.  I know he'd rather just play with Evan but George just loves him so much, he has to accommodate him.  George will sometimes go over to the Steiger's home and pretend that I sent him there to bring Jack home.  Jack's in high demand around here!

But when George has Jack all to himself, it's pretty special.  They really are such great little buddies and get along so well.  It's fun watching them have a brother since my brother Nick only had sisters as playmates.  I think he got jipped in life.  Brothers are the best!

I caught him reading to George the other day.  He's WAY above the average reading level at school.  He hasn't quite caught the reading bug like his sister Sadie, but that's nothing a little Harry Potter can't fix.

This is the kid that taught Jack the swear words.  

I think this picture portrays him perfectly!

The only sibling Jack clashes with is Sadie but even they sometimes get along.  He's never been overly attentive to Liza but gets a kick out of her when she does something funny.  She worships George but I can tell she really likes Jack too.  How could she not?!

He's simply the best!

He still ranks highest in our family for laundry loads and messy faces.  This kid can get DIRTY!!!  He plays hard and I love him for it.  I just hate cleaning all his clothes.  And it doesn't help that he sometimes changes outfits twice a day.  Little stinker....literally!

And like most 7 year boys, he's pretty lazy when it comes to cleaning up.  But if you hand him blue toilet bowl cleaner or Windex, he gets pretty excited and makes a game out of it!

 We go on lots of adventures around here and Jack usually takes the lead!  He loves playing in the water holes and making boats to float down the waterfalls. 

This waterhole in Circle C however gave him the willies.  He likes to know how deep everything is, even though he can swim.  He's still a bit timid but I like that he's careful too. 

Sometimes his timidity gets him into trouble.  He was brave enough to climb up on top of this fireplace, but not brave enough to get down.  After screaming my name for a while, I finally heard him and went outside to coax him down.  Little nugget didn't realize how close his feet actually were to safety.  He did NOT like that I took a picture of him stranded. 

But just because he's "careful", doesn't mean he doesn't like a good thrill from time to time.  

And something Jack is definitely NOT scared of is making new friends.  He always finds someone to play with, wherever we go.  I found him down at this 4th grader's house the other day, just shooting hoops. Anything for some basketball!

The sports clothes have gotten slightly out of control.  And yes, those socks have capes.  

When he's switched outfits for the third time in one day and finds there are no more clothes to wear to school the next morning, he sometimes settles for the free t-shirt he got at school and some jeans.  This also happens to be the day they decide to take spring pictures at school.  Looking through all these pictures, it's clear to see Mom dropped the ball.  This year is definitely the year of the bad haircut, or lack thereof. I think having two house floods gives me a pretty good excuse for the neglect.  He was never in want of nourishment or snuggles.  That's for darn sure!!

When I'm lucky, he's let me mess with his hair like this and make him look super hip.  But most of the time he squashes all my Boy Band dreams and flattens it back down across his forehead like this:

Judging from the fact I didn't master the curling iron until my 30's, we're in for a steep learning curve with all these cowlicks! 

Most days I give up in regards to how homeless Jack looks when he goes to school.  But I get Sundays!  I love seeing him all "Dapper Danned" and handsome.  

However, having Sabbath authority over clothing doesn't necessarily mean I have complete control over what he brings to church.  Pokeman cards were all the rage this year! 

Jack has had a few one liners this year that gave me a chuckle.  

One evening as we were heading out on a date and leaving Sadie in charge, Jack said:

"We want you guys to go on a date because if a robber comes, we can kick him in the penis."

I think he got this from Sadie because we told her if a man ever tries to harm her, she should scream and kick him where the sun don't shine.   

He loved the Lego movie and would rehearse his favorite line over and over again:

"who are you here to see (in his funny little robot voice)...

I'm here to see your butt." 

Clearly we've dropped the ball on wrangling up the potty words in this house too, but honestly after years and years of trying to eradicate it from the house, we've given up and have been known to buy a Whoopy cushion or two.  I hope one day they'll just grow out of it.  Although I don't see it happening anytime soon. Chase and I still chuckle when someone toots or names certain words of anatomy.  Not sure anyone ever gets over the humor or making fart noises with Flarp, or burping REALLY loud after a big swig of Root Beer.  

We had some cherry gummies in the house and Jack got a kick out of biting off the stems and making "boob coverings" with the remaining two red cherries.  

"Mom, if you cover the stem to the cherry gummy candy, they look like boob coverings.  You know, like the boob coverings for a swimsuit."

He said this so nonchalantly and without any embarrassment that I had to just go along with his fun little discovery.  When I grew up we NEVER talked about boobs, periods, sex or private parts (see, I can't even write the words without getting bashful:-).  I was so embarrassed that I was "maturing" that I avoided accentuating my chest at all costs.  I wore baggy shirts and NEVER wore a backpack on both shoulders.  "HIDE ALL EVIDENCE" was the survival technique I adopted.  I want to encourage an open dialogue around here with my kids.  Hopefully Jack won't get too excited about "boob coverings" anytime in the near future. Judging from the picture below, I think we've got a while.

He's got more important things to think about, like ninjas, nun chucks, Pokemon, Minecraft, Legos, ice cream, Nike, and whether or not he can play with Evan that day. 

Overall, I think this kid is pretty swell.  He's confident, athletic, happy, strong, smart, healthy, sweet and kind.  How on earth did I get so lucky to have such a son?! I can't help but remember the first time we met.  He didn't scream when he was born.  I thought there must be something wrong when no sound came from his tiny little body.  The nurses reassured me he was fine and then I was intensely worried when they clipped his heel for a blood sample and he didn't so much as even squeak.  He was fine and he's always been fine.  Just an easy going, lovable little guy!  The world could use more people like him. So glad he's mine!