Despicable Day -- Just for Jackson

I started preparing for this Despicable Day several days ago.  I had this in my freezer:

And this on my table:

Yesterday we decided to surprise Jackson a day early and take him to the Living Planet Aquarium.  (Sorry, no pictures since we were both either carrying a baby or wrangling an almost eight-year old.)  Our favorites, hands-down, were the penguins.  We got to watch them eat, swim, dive, and walk around.  If you know my son, you know he LOVES penguins.  In fact, he's mentioned a couple of times lately that he plans to go on an exploration trip to Antarctica "without Mommy, Daddy, or Cole."

Last night Matt and I stayed up a couple extra hours getting the kitchen and living room all ready.  You see, turning EIGHT is a big deal in our house and for our boy.  We wanted him to have a GREAT day.

I had so much fun preparing his birthday. He'd only told me a few days earlier that he wanted a "Despicable Me" cake.  I know that it was inspired by the movie he's been watching every day lately.  I began scouring the internet for ideas.  I had a fantastic cake decor idea in my head, and I found this fantastic tutorial here to make one of Gru's "cousins."  He doesn't look exactly the same, but isn't he cute?!

I ended up painting him with yellow acrylic paint instead of covering him in crepe paper like the tutorial did, but that's because I went to THREE stores, and none of them had crepe paper.

Like I said, I had a fantastic cake idea in mind, but I ended up only doing half of my idea because by the end of the day yesterday, at 11:00  p.m., I decided that the cake toppers I bought were enough, and I knew Jackson would be happy anyway.  Here's how it turned out:

  Jackson picked the colors himself:  Orange for Vector's jumpsuit and blue for the color of the shrink ray.  The cake itself is German chocolate.

When he woke up and came into the kitchen, he looked around and was happy.  Of course, after a few minutes he began to cry and asked, "But Mom, where are my presents?"  I just chuckled and told him that I hadn't wrapped them yet, and that we'd open them later in the day.

 The streamers dangling from the chandelier represent the shrink ray, and we printed off a picture of the moon, and you can see that it's been shrunk.

I made pancakes, just like in the movie, for breakfast, but Jackson chose to have a "V" for Vector and a "G" for Gru.  He also wanted blue pancakes for the shrink ray.

Since we don't have a lot of family very close by, and I'm just not up to doing a "friends" party yet for various reasons, we decided to just celebrate with the four of us. He blew out the candles and opened his presents.

His favorites were new Walkie Talkies from Matt, a globe from Mom, and a fun Interactive United States Map, uh, THING from Grandma and Grandpa.

 I knew Jackson wouldn't have a problem being the only one to break the pinata.  In fact, he had a grand time beating that cousin.  It worked fantastically!  Sorry, again, no pictures.  I was manning the video camera, and I'm too lazy to post it on the blog.

 Happy Birthday, Bud!  So glad you stuck around!

Seven or otherwise known as Picture Overload Post

The morning of Jackson's seventh birthday (Saturday), he told me, "Mom I stronger at seven than six."  Oh, how I wish birthdays worked that way.  If they did, I'd wish to be a few pounds lighter over night.

Anyway, Jackson's been counting down to his seventh birthday since his sixth birthday.  He was anxious to open presents all day and told me that he couldn't wait until after dinner, and he kept begging to go bowling.  You see, two months ago Jackson told me "Mom, Chuck E Cheese was in 2010, but in 2011 when I turn seven, I want to go bowling."  So, we went bowling.  My brother and his family were there as well as some good friends who were visiting.

Jackson was cranky the entire time because he was hungry and tired, but he did bowl a strike - no bumpers needed for that one!  Here's a bowling video, but definitely not a strike on this one.  The best part is within the first few seconds -- notice where he throws his ball.

After bowling, it was pizza and cake and present time.

Each year I let him choose his cake theme.  I tried to give him some ideas this year, but when I reminded him that last year he had a Curious George cake, he promptly chose his theme.  Now I have the answer to the question you've all been wondering:   

What does the Man in the Yellow Hat look like with a tan?

 
I was happy with how it turned out, and Jackson was happy with his presents.

  (Above: killing himself with a light saber -- thank you, Dave for teaching him that.)

 (The men putting together the race track)

 (Yes, his Grandma knows him well.  A 1950s caboodle was the perfect gift for a boy who loves containers.)

Mmmm. . .

Did my man deliver (the cheesecake, that is)? Oh, yes he did! And it was DEEELICIOUS! I even had two pieces.



Now who is coming over to finish it so I won't eat anymore? Please? Not sure my body can handle anymore calories without me running 10 miles today.

Wrapping up January

When you have a dream that your brother-in-law and sister-in-law (Rob and Kristin) update your blog for you because they're tired of waiting for you to do it, you know it's time to update it yourself. (or call them and tell them that it's time they take over!)

So, for all of you who attended Primary, here's my version of a summertime song that I sing as if I am Jackson. (And just pretend that it fits the rhythm of the song.)

"Oh, what do you on a Saturday when all the kids aren't at school?
"Do you build rows and rows of play dominoes


"and play with your best bud, Dad?
When that's what we do . . . it makes us glad."




"Oh, what did you do on your birthday when you turned 6 and not 5?" (I promise that is a 6 - not a 5 - with a yellow dot on it!)


"Did you go out to eat at Chuck E Cheese,
"open gifts and get a big surprise?
That's what you did? So did I . . ."





"Oh, what do you on a Sunday, when you have all the time in the world?
You can make your own fixin's with a new Play Doh kitchen hoping to pass the time.
That's what we've done, and it's fine."

Jackson's SIX!

Jackson six years ago

2 lbs. 1 oz., 13 inches long, born at 25 weeks and 5 days



I'm so glad Heavenly Father let him stay.

Happy Birthday, Kiddo!

Mom's Highlights for Jackson's Big Day

Yes, today my little boy turned 5 years old. Five years ago I didn't know if we'd make it to today, and here we are! Today was such a fun day. Jackson woke up and began singing, "Happy Birthday to MEEEE!" I began working on his cupcakes before school, and all he could think about today was getting one of those cupcakes. All day he asked for one, and when Uncle Ken and Aunt Aimee showed up for dinner, Jackson immediately began setting the table so we could eat dinner and then move on to the Mike cupcakes.

Since we took so many pictures (too many!), here are my favorite highlights of the day.

Every year I watch the slide show Matt and I put together for Jackson's first birthday. It has a whole year in pictures of Jackson set to music. I cry every year I watch it. This year, I watched it before Jackson went to school. In this picture he is looking at the picture in the frame that just went by on the TV screen (the one on the screen is the one right after, but looks very similar to the one in the frame).

Since Jackson requested Mike Wazowski cupcakes, I decided to decorate (just a little) in the Monsters, Inc. theme. I had him pose for a picture, and it wasn't until afterwards that I noticed that he is posing just like Randall in the poster above his head.Matt's cool shot of the cupcakes:

Jackson was too excited to blow out the candles. He was laughing so much that he had a hard time getting enough breath to blow them out. By the third try, I decided to help him out.This year he carefully opened all of his gifts and then inspected them. He was so interested in each gift -- that was so great!
It's always great to see your child enjoying the gifts you gave them.


Finally getting that cupcake:

Finally, my FAVORITE one of all! I had some noisemakers for him, and he loved playing with them, but they were just a little too loud.