April

April is such a special month because Jamison and Chandler have their birthdays on the same day!

We started the morning by opening presents!

Jamison at age 3 really understands how his birthday is a special day for him (and Chandler!) but it was confusing not having his party on his birthday.  Hard concept to get.  Jamison is still very much the baby in our house in that he generally gets his way.  He can be very persuasive with his constant whining/talking and cuteness too!  If Jamie is awake, he is TALKING.....NON stop most of the time. Or singing.  Or just making noises.  We all love him so, but we also like a tiny bit of peace and quiet. Jamison is still taking a 1-1.5 hour nap each day that I wake him up from.  He would nap longer, but then bedtime would be an even bigger battle.  He loves his older brothers, but especially Maverick who he plays with the most when the others are in school.  Jamison LOVES Paw Patrol and that's about the only show he wants to watch.  He enjoys riding his bike and playing with musical instruments and playing dress up.  Our little clown...he loves making the family laugh.

I can't believe my baby is NINE.  That's half of the time till he is 18.  Chandler is growing up so fast and becoming a man.  He is very athletic and loves all sports.  He is the typical oldest child and is a rule-follower and enforcer.  He is very caring and thoughtful and I love how he really looks out for and sticks up for other kids that may need that.  Chandler loves being outside, but he also enjoys reading.  Below is a picture of the boys at church.  The flowers on the altar were celebrating the 3 spring birthdays.

Later that day, we had Chandler's birthday party at a local arcade, etc...

Chandler and his friends played at the arcade, mini-golf, laser tag, and rode go-karts.  The only problem was that only Chandler and one girl were tall enough to drive go-karts.  Oops!  I ended up taking several rides around the track so everybody could have a turn.  Even Mimi pitched in to help with driving. 

We held Jamison's party later in the week at Pullen Park.  The weather was looking iffy and was unseasonably cold for this time of year.  This meant that we had the entire park to ourselves.  The kids didn't mind and all the moms were joking with me that I must have paid a lot of money to reserve all of Pullen for just us!  ha!

We had a private carousel, train, and boat ride for all the kids.  They all had a blast!

Later in the month I took the boys to the NC State Farm Animal days.  Always a hit, especially with the tractors and the free ice-cream.  My advice is to get there early!

Derek and I don't get many dates, so when I saw Jimmy Buffet was in town I bought some tickets and said we were going.  It was a nice concert, but I think the majority of the fans are a few decades older than we are :)

Maverick is getting ready for his hip-hop dance performance in June.  He got his costume (pictured below) and we went to get his pictures made on a Saturday along with the rest of his class.  The big boys came along and posed with Maverick for a quick photo op.