Heading to Granny's

This is what Will decided his attire should be to go to Granny Gaynell's house or "ganny hase" as he calls it. He packed his back pack, found some knee socks and his sandles and he was READY!

Swim Lessons

Jake has been going to swim lessons all last week and this week at the Vandy pool. He is having a blast! He wants to swim underwater the whole time and play on the steps. Other than that and for just turning 4 the youngest in his class--I'm thinking that he is doing a great job! He's having fun and that is what matters....loves the water! If you could swim underwater everywhere he would win!! We have enjoyed it and will definitely do it again next year and so will the other 2.

walking to go practice jumping in and diving

This is his favorite teacher Hannah

going underwater to get the rings--love the goggles

practicing laying on his back in the water

Fun with Fingerpaints

What happens when you give my 2 yr old and 4 yr old finger paints---that started out as 5 different pretty colors??? You get a purplish/grayish/brownish can't recognize my boys mess!! BUT they had fun and that's what matters. Notice the cool plastic picnic tablecloth down to cover the table for some easy clean up.... Especially after the boys went straight to the tub....oh and the the water was yummy!

Practicing their meanest stick out your tongue with paint on faces look they could muster

this one is strictly copying his brother--he was ready to "git it opfh ma, git it opfh"

Dragon Park

The kiddos had fun playing with their friends Amy and Becca tonight. We met them over at the park {along with their parents Lyndi and Steve} to have a Mickey D's supper and playtime after Jake's swim practice.

Jake and Amy play great together!

Will had a good time crawling all over

Becca enjoyed watching and walking around in her new kicks



For those that aren't familiar with Dragon Park--aka Fannie May Park near Vandy
It is a huge dragon mosaic sculpture--it features many different pictures, people, animals--it is the coolest thing ever and the kids LOVE to climb on him.

Get Ready to Kung Fu!

Jake's 4th Birthday Bash was Saturday! It was a Kung Fu Panda party {could you have ever guessed?} Complete with:
Chinese lanterns .

Panda cupcakes
and other Kung Fu Panda paraphernalia.

I do believe it was another successful party---thanks everyone who came...hope you had a great {I know hot} time and thanks for all the Super Cool gifts! He has played with/read/tried on ALL of it! The Slip n Slide was a big success. Here you see Jake feet up at the end. Jessi, Amy and Will were trying it out too! BUT....

by the end of the party Hudson Wheeler was for sure the King of the Slip n Slide!
{with a little help from his Daddy}

Ummm let's see who's having more fun here? The "big kids" or the little ones???? Run Samantha Run!! She's gonna catch you. Note Cayleigh and Emma Grace just taking it all in from the comfort and safety of the pool.

And what 4 year old's birthday party would be complete with out Bodyguards, or Men In Black or just Kyndall and Travis in sunglasses getting ready for watergun mania.
If only you could see Travis's shoes....they were stylin'!

While Hudson was slipping and sliding the rest of the Wheeler bunch were hanging out.
Emsley was chilling with mama and Carson and Lawson were living it up in the
little pool with daddy and all of their cups.

Here we find Aunt Abbey having a serious talk {at the kid table} with Jake about what it means to be 4 years old! Note Amy and Will listening intently.....as is Jake. Wonder what was said???

Let's open Presents!!

1. cool big boy basketball goal that he can dunk on...think we need to raise it up...haha
2. another dinosaur to add to his Imaginext collection
3. kissing his Where the Wild Things Are book--this is his FAV-O-RITE book right now he knows it by heart and can recite it without the book and does regularly throughout the day--his old one was torn up
4. A telescope...wow!! neat!! I think mommy and daddy might be more excited about this one until he figures out what it does and then we won't ever see it again...hee hee
5. Bag o' Balls....now WHO do we have to thank for this one??? Oh right...Uncle Phillip...BUT we cannot be mad----he is the one that provided all the Watergun Fun among other some of the other cool stuff ....THANK YOU Uncle P. {that's his rap name in case you didn't know}

This is pseudo mommy. Janice--I don't care how long it is in between times we see her she comes in a picks right up and my kids just take to her--always have. Thanks Janice just like last party--I was able to enjoy some while you took care of my bebe!! {you know that's why you get the invite...right? HAHA just kidding} =)




BEFORE:

AFTER:

I am SO proud of myself!

We had Jake's birthday party on Saturday {more on that next} and it was a Kung Fu Panda party. Sooooo when I saw these cupcakes in a past issue of LHJ, I thought.....hmmm...could I do that? It sure is a cute idea! Well those of you that know me well KNOW I am not much on creativity.... I mean-- artsy-craftsy NO, sewing NO, cooking---you know besides meat and 3 NO, decorating NO, writing......maybe Yes I'd like to think so sometimes at least I enjoy it......BUT my point is cooking/baking yeah not so much me and especially if it takes detail. This old girl doesn't have that much patience....I use ALL of it up on my kids EVERY day....I have to refill at night so anything extra just doesn't work out for me. Anyway, my mom was gracious enough to BAKE the cupcakes for me {if you need to know why go back a few sentences} and then I......yes ME decorated every single one of those pandas. WOOO HOOO me!! They went over really well I thought. Who knows what I'll try next time......ahh who am I kidding....I'm thinking that was a one shot deal! HA! {I'm still proud though...they might not be perfect....but....STILL PROUD}

Little bit of cake...

We had a mini celebration for Jacob tonight for his birthday. He wanted a cake with "the bad guy" {from Kung Fu Panda aka Tai Lung} on it. Since at his big party we are having cupcakes, Net Net and Ni Ni decided to do a cake for him today {homemade yummy!} and we put "the bad guy" on it for him. Yeah so I wasn't around for the writing on the cake....I want that known now...although I am VERY positive I would have done a much worse job. HAHAHA {anyone who knows my handwriting is laughing and saying AMEN right now--I hear ya}

Everyone at the table

Blowing out his candles
Alaina Claire had a blast with his tissue paper

Wonder Pets, Wonder Pets, we're on our way!

Ah yes a Bop Bag...remember those! I'm hoping we can take some frustration out here instead of on each other.........I can hope right?

The "really cool whale" that he wanted every time we went to Target

He had a great day and had a blast playing with all of his stuff. He was a little confused as to why his big party wasn't today but we told him he just would get to have fun all over again on Saturday......so he is STILL excited!

Oh yeah and I told him 4 year olds don't suck their thumbs and if they do their thumb will fall off.....we'll see how well that goes over.... hee hee

Where does the time go?

Four years ago today we were welcoming our first bundle of joy into this world... At 9:37am Jacob Nolan Spence joined our family. WOW how time has flown! Jacob you are our biggest boy and such a joy to be around. You make us laugh on a daily basis with your jokes {how does a bird fly? [hahaha]} yep that's the joke. {hee hee} Your imagination is ENDLESS. I know I had an imagination when I was a kid but it is nothing compared to yours. You can stay busy for hours with just your animals and little people to keep you company. Videos....videos....videos....I have never met a kid that asks to watch videos anymore than you either. {ugh} One day you will thank us for saying no at least SOME of the time when you are able to live on your own and make your own money maybe because you broke away from the videos long enough to learn more things. =) It is so hard to believe that you are already four. It seems like yesterday we were at the hospital to have you but then again it seems like you have been with us forever.

We love you Jacob Nolan and are SO proud of you!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

See how he has grown:

In the hospital

Our New Family

6 months old

12 months old

18 months old

2 1/2 years old


3 years old


4 years old!!Check out that get up! He had been outside playing Robin Hood {too cute!}