Jackson Is A Teenager!!!

We officially have 2 teenagers in our house!!! 

Just in case you're wondering, in 4 years all 4 kiddos will be teenagers for 2 years! Feel free to start praying for us now! :) 

I'm going to backdate this blog post so it will show as being posted on my blog on Jack's actual birthday. Unfortunately, life was so crazy at the end of May / beginning of June, I wasn't able to get this posted until mid-June. 

Let's see what Jack was up to this last year! 

On Jack's actual birthday last year we got Burger King for dinner and headed to the West Fenwick park. Jackson loves a good cheeseburger and he loves the Ninja Warrior type course they have at that park. Since then this park has been completely revamped. We still haven't gone and visited yet. I'm hoping they still have a type of Ninja Warrior course since the kids loved that aspect of it so much. 

At the end of the 2019 - 2020 school year we have to do a drive by drop off / pick up for school things. Since Jack was on the patrol team the teacher in charge of that made up goodie bags for the kids so they could make their own s'mores at home. It was really sweet of the teacher to do that for the kids! 

4th of July last year was so epic for so many reasons. It was our first real get together since Covid started and it was seriously a celebration of FREEDOM. My heart was bursting with joy and love and I know the kids were in heaven too! 

Love these precious boys! 

Our road trip to Wyoming last year so also so much fun! All the kids love being out in nature. The boys fished for hours at the little pond up in the Big Horn Mountains. 

Sweet recreation picture of a picture taken in Buffalo Wyoming in 2012. 

He's slightly bigger now! :) 

Playing at another park this time in Gillette, Wyoming! 

Day trip to see and hike around Devil's tower! Definitely a highlight of our trip for sure! 

Going to The Axe House was super fun for the older boys! We are actually hoping to create our own area for the boys to do this at home. 

On the morning it was time to come home from vacation...of course the kids slept in on this day! I just love that Jackson still sleeps with his No-No. 

Our Mommy & Mimosa lake day was such a blast. Jack had loads of fun going around in the kayak! 

Sitting on the porch talking to my sweet boy. Owen is most definitely my talker and Jack can be harder to get to open up. If you get him in a conversation about something he loves though...he'll talk your ear off. When he was younger he would tell me all sorts of the things about BeyBlades and it got to the point where I had to cut him off. I would tell him I had reached my BeyBlade capacity for the day and he'd have to tell me more tomorrow. 

Sitting at his newly decorated desk. Jackson asked for the Gryffindor logo for his background. At the end of the school year he decided to take it down since he'd like me to put up something different next year. 

This sweet precious boy of mine. I love that he has those sweet soft baby cheeks. They are so soft you just have to kiss on them. I will say this year his skin has started to changed a bit. They aren't nearly as soft as they once were. Crazy to think in just a few years he'll be shaving!!! 

Bike rides with buddies are the best! Our camping trip down by Long Beach was also a dream trip. I'm telling you we did not let Covid ruin our year. We had some of the best times with friends and family. We just recently went on our first official family bike ride of the year and Jackson used Michael's old mountain bike. He likes how it's much bigger, but he misses having pedal brakes. 

First day of our homeschool journey! 

Precious face! 

Best part about homeschool is getting to make our own schedule. We took a camping trip less than two weeks into school. Even though there was tons of awful smoke we made the best of it. The kids really enjoyed hiking the Lake Lenore Caves. Jackson even found a throne to sit upon! 

The older boys also discovered their love of golf. Daddy is heaven for sure. He will have future golf partners one day. For right now, we'll let them golf at Oasis since it's cheap for all day golf! 

I love that these boys have opportunities to cheer each other on. Of course it doesn't always end up like that since it's a competition and they are both super competitive especially with each other. 

When we got back from camping, Jack wanted to put the trampoline I bought together. We didn't do it right away because of the weather, but we did get it up together on a cold but beautifully sunny day. 

I needed all these kids help and some from Micheal since I didn't line everything up 100% correct. There has been drama surrounding the trampoline, but for the most part it's been an awesome way for these kids to get their wiggles out. 

Last year for Halloween, we had more festivities than normal because why not! The kids had a contest for creating the goofiest or spookiest pumpkin. Jackson definitely won for the goofiest. I love the green fart poof he put on the side. Totally Jack! 

This ninja is ready to get some candy! 

We didn't let Covid stop us from having our 2nd Annual Thanksmas either. I wasn't able to schedule a time for my friend Starr to take our family pictures so on the day of Thanksmas when the kids were dressed up nicely I took pictures of them on the front porch. We also got a family picture which we ended up using for our Christmas card. 

Jackson loves chicken legs so he was sure he was going to love and eat the whole turkey leg. As you can see in the background, Papa got a kick out of that! 

In reality he realized it didn't taste the same as a chicken leg so he only ate a couple bites! 

At Michael's family reunion in July there is always an auction. Someone had turned in these fun little Christmas villages. The kids wanted them so I bought quite a few. When it was Christmas time the kids wanted to decorate them. At first I just let them color them with markers. I think later, Ella went back and actually painted some of hers. 

Christmas craft time with the Storers' last year was creating our own snow globes. Jackson didn't want anything Christmasy though so he chose a BeyBlade! I would expect nothing less! 

Christmas morning he was enjoying all the weaponry he got! Sadly his katana has since been broken. It was only a prop and wasn't supposed to be used in actual sword fights so it's no wonder it got broken. It did last for about 6 months which is surprising really! 

At Ga-Ga & Pa's on Christmas day, Caleb and Jack worked together to build the dragon he got from us. I love how the kids can get inspired by LEGO. Recently we rewatched the LEGO Masters first season in preparation for the second season. It always gives the kids a renewed energy to create something themselves. They really are fascinating little pieces of plastic! 

Michael has been better about getting the boys more involved with helping around the house. I had bought the kids medicine cabinets for their bathroom so Michael had them help install them. 

We also decided to replace all the millwork on the first floor. Michael taught the kids how to use the pry bar and a hammer to pull the baseboards away from the wall. 

One day Jack decided to make his own Forkie. If you haven't seen Toy Story 4 you need too! 

Snow days are always the best. The whole time we were out there in the snow I kept thinking this was Owen and not Jack. Owen had just worn that snow jacket the year before! These boys are just growing like weeds! 

Loving on their Ga-Ga! 

Jack decided to dress up like an old man one day. I'm not sure what possessed him to do so, but he sure looks cute! What you can't really tell is he stuffed a sweatshirt inside his button up shirt so it looks like he's got a gut! 

During movie night, Jack decided to set up the whole gang from Toy Story. He had recently spent his money to buy himself an official Slinky Dog. I can't wait until his birthday present gets here. He asked for Zurg and that's what we got him, but it's not going to be delivered until June 22nd. Yes, you heard that right not only is my son's birthday post late, but so is his present. This whole homeschooling thing has thrown me for a loop planning wise. Next year I'm going to try to be more on top of it! 

I was on the planning committee for our churches Easter Adventure. It was so much fun! Way better than the Egg Hunts from past years. It was a one way adventure held outside. There were booths you could stop at and play games, get your hand painted, pick up cotton candy, hunt for eggs and pick prizes. There was also a Bunny Booth. Both of the older boys ended up being a bunny. Jack was the chocolate bunny and he did so great and he loved it! 

The boys were wanting to earn some more money so we started having them mow our yard to earn extra cash. Our neighbor across the street is a single mom that's going through a divorce. I had the boys ask if they could mow her lawn and I told them to tell her no cost. She said they could. They mowed the lawn with a little help from me. Our lawn mower and weed eater both need to be replaced so it can be tough...plus her yard has some more difficult places to get to with a mower. Later on she asked if she could tip the boys for their work. I wasn't about to let her not bless them. Since then they've mowed it again for her not expecting to get paid, but she tipped them again. They've also mowed the neighbor next to her lawn once as well. It's been so good for them to have that responsibility. It's not something that is set on a schedule or anything and usually I'm the one that notices it and tells them to go ask or to mow our lawn, but it is fun to see them doing big things! 

Time for the second phase of braces! 

So far he only has his top braces on. He'll get the bottom ones on in a couple months. The first time Jack had braces he only have 4 brackets on top and bottom. This time it's all his teeth. He never complained once when he had braces the first time, but this time was a different story. His mouth was definitely sore for a few days! 

At Zeke's birthday...I just love these boys and how their friendships have grown over the years. What a blessing! 

We made it through our first official homeschool year! I still can't get over how much these kids did. Jack still has one more thing to finish up...his State History Report. Thankfully our school year is 12 months so he has until July 9th. I told him I wanted it finished by June 25th. Michael read through it and gave Jack some pointers on things he needs to work on. Can't wait until we can mail that off and all the kids PACE tests for the second half the year. 

Moving onto 8th grade! Are you kidding me!!! 

Jack's birthday this year has been anything but normal! For family night on June 2nd, Ga-Ga took Jack shopping so he could pick out his birthday presents. When the other kids went to pick out their gifts they chose 2 bigger things and that was it. Jackson wanted to spread out his money a bit more. Look at this haul! He got a BeyBlade stadium, BeyBlade game, LEGO set, Surprise LEGO minifigure, 4 BeyBlades, 11 Hot Wheels cars and a Cherry Coke. He also got a free LEGO set because it was his birthday. 

We went camping over Jack's actual birthday...that's why this post wasn't up in time. Ga-Ga & Pa came and so did the Storer's for a couple days. It was so fun celebrating Jack and the beginning on summer vacation! I will be doing a separate post about that trip. 

Jack really wanted to also have a celebration with Hansi though so we planned a D&D party at our house on Sunday, June 13th. Hansi gave Jack money that was individually wrapped up in tissue paper. He's all about prolonging the present opening. I love these boys and I can't believe they are both teenagers now! 

Jackson Daniel...

You are such a sweet boy. Even if you drive us crazy with your competitive nature. I love that you don't let age stop you from playing with things you've loved for years now. Your love of Toy Story is just so cute. You've always been a very imaginative player and I love that you haven't lost that. You still love your stuffed animals and your No-No and you are not ashamed of it at all! 

You have become quite obsessed with the Warrior series this last year. You have read so many books and you love to go on the Wikifandom website to read about it more. You know all the cats names and what their jobs are. You are definitely a super fan! 

I thought that you were gonna be the one that had the hardest time with homeschooling, but in actuality you've done so well. You love that you can finished your schoolwork hours earlier than a normal school day. All this free time has been good for you! Sure you and your siblings get on each others nerves some times, but for the most part it's been awesome! 

Just for fun I thought I'd include the video I took of Jackson singing along with Phil Wickham's song The Battle Belongs. We just recently started singing this at church and it's such an amazing song. Jack loves worship music and he loves to sing. It fills my mama heart with joy to hear him so I can only imagine how much his Heavenly Father enjoys hearing him sing as well! 

Jackson you are an awesome dude! Daddy and I are so proud of you! You are growing into a man more and more each year and we are excited to see what God has in store for you. Remember to always follow His lead for you life. Even if it's not how you envisioned things. God's way is the best way! 

I love you so much! 

Happy 13th Birthday!