Jack's Kickin' Birthday Party

This year we had Jack's birthday party away from home for the first time! We invited about 15 little friends to join him for a super fun Tae Kwon Do party! Hwang's Martial Arts did a fabulous job entertaining the kids of varying ages and making Jack feel really special! And I loved it because I literally did nothing except make the invitations! The birthday party package even included 4 classes leading up to his big day and an adorable uniform!!! Lots of fun, we will definitely have to do a party for Bennett there in a few years also. All the kids had a great time!

So that was on Saturday the 18th, and then on his actual birthday, Monday the 20th, we had a small celebration at my parent's house with a cake and a few more presents. We love our big boy! He is growing up so much. I seriously feel like he's turned a new leaf since his birthday, turning into an actual kid and no longer a baby at all. His personality is coming out more and more every day and it's so easy to just carry on conversations almost as if I were talking to an adult! He is a tremendous source of joy, FUN and cuteness in our lives.

As his friends were arriving, they set up an obstacle course for the kids!

Bennett loved the tunnel

My Dad was awesome and took lots of video footage of the big day! And many of these pictures were taken by my mom! Thanks Nana Peg and Pops!!!

Kevin made headbands for each kid with their name in Chinese and English on them. Here are my little Karate Kids!

Hadley!!!

Instructor Ian did an awesome job making Jack feel special and leading all the kids in Tae Kwon Do!

The cutest part of the party was when Spiderman came out and Jack got to "fight" him while all his friends watched. It was so super cute and Jack really did well playing along!

Hi- YAH!!!

Blowing out his candles!

Eating pizza and cake with his friends

This is Jack's new best friend from our new church, Grayson, along with his Mommy and little brother who is just a few months older than Bennett!

After the party we came home and opened his presents with Nana and Pops.

The movie Kung-Fu Panda 2!!!!!

For his cake on his actual birthday, Monday night, he requested a strawberry cake with strawberries on it! So that's the explanation of the girlie cake for my little boy!

More presents!!

My family there to celebrate the big boy on his actual birthday... everyone minus Pops who was working. We missed all our other family who couldn't be here (Meme, Nanny and Paw Paw) but hope to see each of you soon!

Bennett really enjoyed his piece of cake too!

My mom made him a Super Jack cape!!!

Here he is wearing his Superman PJs and his new cape!

Jack Is THREE

This time 3 years ago I was (back!) in the hospital holding my precious newborn baby Jack. Time has flown and we just marvel at what a big boy he is turning into. He is so hilarious, loving, stubborn, imaginative, active, expressive and cuddly. Some of my favorite times with him are when he crawls into bed with me at 6:15am (Daddy's already out the door to work out before work) to snuggle for a few minutes before the alarm goes off. Sweet sweet boy.

Jack is a character! A few cute things he's said during the past several weeks are: 1.) While shaking his head back and forth, "I'm going to get the song out of my head." 2.) Now that he understands stop signs and lights, he calls me out for running them and he has also said, "We don't say hate!" and "Mommy, don't say stupid!". 3.) He sounds so grown up when he says things like, "Actually, I have an idea." 4.) When in a parking lot he said "Watch out, that car will squish me like a grape!" 5.) After a long, serious explanation of something, he looked at me and said, "Does that make sentence?" 6.) While he was crying hard about me not giving him a sucker, between sobs he said, "I wanted that sucker, my heart is broken!" 7.) I asked him how he slept one morning when he woke up and he looked at me so confused, leaned over and said, "Um... like this, on my belly!" 8.) "When I eat, my food goes down my throat, into my belly, to my arms, and to my heart to feed Jesus" (because He lives there!). Isn't he the cutest thing?!!

He is getting more and more independent. Jack can completely go to the bathroom by himself now, and he can also get dressed by himself (minus button-up shirts and most shoes). He's starting to learn lots of lowercase letters and is even starting to sound words out some! The crazy thing is I don't even teach him this stuff very much, he just picks it up! He is becoming an amazing brother, very loving and helpful and protective. It's precious seeing their relationship. They make each other laugh all the time. At his 3 year appointment, he was 36" (25%) and 31 lbs (50%). Here are some pictures of my big boy over the past couple months.

Our family met at the mall and Jack tried to decide if he liked a dinosaur hat he was trying on.

Always happy to see Baby Hadley (or as Jack says "Baby Holly")

We signed Jack up for a few Tae Kwon Do classes in preparation of his birthday party at Hwang's Martial Arts! He was absolutely adorable in his uniform!

We did his party there because he is obsessed with Kung Fu Panda lately and he loves to play Kung Fu with Daddy when he gets home from work!

Playing with his brother

Jack's favorite thing to do around the house is get all the pillows and blankets he can find and throw them all in a pile and then roll around in it and say he is a pig stuck in the mud. We have no idea where he gets this, but it's pretty funny! In this picture, he is buried under the pile of pillows- you can see his leg sticking out!!

Quality time with Pops!


At his class learning to sit cris-cross applesause!

With Instructor Ian who also did Jack's birthday party. He was awesome!




They would do these little obstacle courses to help with agility, it was so cute watching him!

Hi-YAH!

Jack is a very good bow-er!

Jack is showing us how old he is now!!! What a big boy!!!!! Happy birthday to our little man!