Happy Birthday to Me!

My golden birthday is today and what a great day and weekend I've had. For those of you that don't know, a golden birthday is when you turn the age of the date of your birthday. So for me turning 28 on the 28th of June is my golden birthday. Other than that, I'm not sure if it's supposed to signify something special but it sounds good, doesn't it? Today is also Carolina Day, how fitting that we moved to South Carolina and my birthday is on Carolina Day! For those that don't know, on June 28, 1776, a small band of Palmetto State patriots defeated the mighty British navy in the Battle of Sullivan's Island. Patriots stationed at an unfinished palmetto log and sand fort near what is today Fort Moultrie defeated a British naval force of nine warships as it attempted to invade Charleston. The victory put off a British occupation for four years.

Yesterday morning started out with Jackson sleeping in until 7:45AM!!! I think he knew his mommy wanted to sleep in...although I'm not sure why he didn't do that on my actual birthday today. Nick, Jackson and I got ready and took our first trip to the Botanical Gardens which are gorgeous and then the short tram ride to the Riverbanks Zoo next door. Good thing we have an annual pass to the zoo since Jackson's favorite part of the visit was the tram ride! He just wanted to go back and forth and ride on what he called the truck. We enjoyed a laid back afternoon and evening but it was so nice to all be together.

Nick was on call today for my actual birthday which was disappointing. I knew I didn't want to be alone all day, so I decided to host a playdate this morning for my mums and kids group. Jackson and I both had so much fun with everyone, thanks for coming over to play with us and celebrate. As soon as Jackson woke up from his afternoon nap, we left for the Palmetto Falls waterpark to meet Gina and Karen and their kiddos. This was our first time at any waterpark so I was excited (mommy code for nervous) to see how Jackson would react to the pool, splash park, water slides, etc. Well, I quickly realized it was silly for me to be nervous, he LOVED it and actually I did too. The kiddie pool was amazing, 1' deep all the way around with the cutest little slide in the middle of it that Jackson enjoyed over and over again. We also took a few turns lounging on inner tubes around the lazy river. We had such a great time and are so thankful for the invite from the Hepler Family and the great company with the Cho Family.

I had a wonderful and very memorable birthday. Thanks for all the birthday wishes from near, far or facebook!

Flashback Friday

Every Friday I'm going to post some flashback pics. Here are a few of Jackson last June, hard to believe that was just one year ago...

Breakthrough!!!

We are in the middle of Jackson's second full week of school. Our morning crying ritual has continued every day but according to his teachers, it doesn't last as long anymore. When I pick him up, he's usually sitting in Miss Gloria's lap cuddling with Buddy and sucking his thumb. Today I walked in expecting the same scene and...breakthrough...he was playing with the other kids and happy as a clam. The best part, Buddy was in Jackson's cubby IN THE HALLWAY!!! Miss Gloria said he had been there almost the entire morning! I know this may not seem like a big deal, but Buddy is Jackson's comfort so to know he was able to put him away and play is such a relief. I know he's adjusting and soon I'll be posting describing a drop off without tears (hopefully).

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! It's strange not spending half our day in the car driving between the Salman and Kelly households to celebrate. We're sorry we couldn't be with you this year but hope you had a wonderful day, we love you!

Nick was post call today so we didn't have any crazy father's day plans. Luckily Nick came home early around 11AM so we were able to enjoy him for longer than his usual post call days. We ate lunch, Jackson took a nap and then we all took part in Nick's favorite thing to do...WATCHING SPORTS! We flipped between golf, baseball and soccer. Jackson had a blast since he normally isn't allowed to watch TV and of course, Nick enjoyed his relaxing day cuddling with his little buddy...

Random Rant

Every Tuesday is kids eat free day at Moe's and Jackson and I go pretty often with friends of ours, the Shahs. Moe's has hired a balloon man to walk around the restaurant and make fun balloon animals for all the kiddos. He is only there from 6-8 and if you've ever been to Moe's on a kids eat free night, you know how overcrowded with LITTLE kiddos it gets. Well last night was no exception, it was packed.

The balloon man arrived at 6PM and the first table he chose to go to was a table of teenagers! Seriously? We were sitting at the next booth so naturally Jackson and Salil were very excited that the balloon man was coming to our table very soon...or so we thought. He spent half an hour at the table of teenagers talking, laughing, and making them 4 different balloons. Again I ask, SERIOUSLY?!?!? You have a restaurant full of toddlers and young children and not only do you go there first but you also stay there for ages!!! He also had multiple parents ask him to come to their table that night since they usually missed him and he told all of them he may not have time. No kidding, how would you have time if you're talking to teeny boppers all night?!?!? His unprofessionalism and obliviousness to all the younger kids waiting was extremely annoying. Couple that with the "Oh my God!" screams and "Can you do an octopus balloon?" and the deafening shrieks from the teenage girls, and you get my random rant!

Poof, they're gone...

We had such a wonderful weekend thanks to Tamara and Emerson visiting. We miss them already and have started the countdown to the next visit, 4 weeks and 3 days!

Yesterday was Jackson's birthday party at My Gym. He had a blast with all his buds and Emerson loved it, especially the tambourine. Here are a few of my favorite pics...

Jackson was the birthday "king" riding around in the wagon and this was our group picture or the best we could do with 18 toddlers!

They're Here!!!

Tamara and Emerson arrived today around 11AM, just in time to eat lunch, play and take good afternoon naps. Well only Emerson took a good nap, I'm pretty sure Jackson was too excited about our visitors to stay asleep! After naptime, we met a friend of mine, Karen Bell, who is starting up a photography business at Pooh Park for a cousin photo session. We let the little lovies run around while she snapped away. Thanks Karen!

We came home and made a yummy dinner and let Jackson and Emerson play. Emerson liked all of Jackson's toys but Jackson didn't like that she was playing with all of them, we're still working on sharing ;) They will be here until Monday so hopefully he'll stop saying mine to everything Emerson touches...including the air conditioning vent!