The Graduate

It feels like I just dropped him off for his first day of 3K and now two years later, here we are graduating from preschool and ready to move on to Kindergarten (though mommy may not be). He has grown and learned so much in his two years at Morning Star and we couldn't have asked for a better teacher. Mrs. Raasch was always so patient and kind and with a class full of 8 rambunctious boys I'm not sure how she did it.

The Graduation itself went well. All of the kids were called one by one to receive their diploma from the school principal and to shake his hand. Most used the wrong hand to shake or used both hands. It was quite cute! Then Mrs. Raasch had a special award for each student. The best athlete award or the best communicator, etc. Jackson received the Good Friend Award. Then the kids all sang a couple of songs and it was time for cake & ice cream to celebrate. We stayed for awhile after and let the boys all run around together. I think the boys were all playing tag or something similar and all the girls were sitting on the bleachers watching the boys. The mama's all exchanged email addresses and we are hoping to get the boys all together a few times over the summer for play dates. And most will be moving on to Jackson Elementary with Jackson. It'll be interesting to see if he has any of them in his class next year.

So as for now we are going to enjoy our summer break. He actually still has a couple more weeks at his "new" school left and then he will be taking a five week Kindergarten Readiness Program this summer too. It's so hard to believe that he's going to be 6 in a couple of months and then starting Kindergarten. My baby has grown so fast and I am so proud of him!

Jackson on his first day of preschool, 2 yrs ago. Jackson on his last day of preschool.
Walking in while the graduation march played. Jackson & his teacher Mrs. Raasch. Jackson & a few of his classmates. The afternoon preschool class (minus Matt), all boys!!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

Saturday we took Jackson to his first Brewers game. It started off as a beautiful day and the stadium roof was open. We packed a light lunch and had a little picnic before going in, (we had to save room for ballpark junk food). We found a playground up on the Terrace level where we were sitting and stopped to play for awhile. Then we got some ice cream and headed for our seats. We were in the first row of the top level and right next to Bernie Brewer's Clubhouse. Jackson loved that! He loves characters. He did pretty well and sat thru the first few innings. We probably made it to the fourth (and the Brewer's were already down 0-4), so we went to tour the stadium and find the kid zones. Jackson raced a cut-out of Corey Hart and then pedal raced cut-out sausages, his Brat won. :) He threw a few balls, he needs a bit more practice if he's gonna be a pitcher and then we went back up to play at the playground again before calling it a day. When asked what his favorite part was he said "eating a hotdog". The Brewers lost but it was a fun family day. We love going to Miller Park but would like to see at least one win. Brandon and I are going back next month to see the them play the Braves. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Brewers vs. Cardinals

roof is openSitting on a giant pretzel Checking out the playground

JDB & Daddy JDB & Mom Hanging with DadBernie Brewer JDB having fun at the ballpark. Play ball!
Roof is closed Bernie again Jackson, Daddy & the Hotdog Racing C.Hart

Throwing a few balls

Great day at Miller Park!!

Spring Break

Spring Break is over and boy did we have fun! It started off beautiful, in the 70's (very unusual for SE WI), and we had a play date with Jackson's friend Brogan. The boys and I walked to the park to play for a while and then back to our house for a picnic lunch and playing in the backyard before heading out to another park.

Jackson & Brogan Playing Splashy the Whale

Then it was the Easter weekend and the three of us (Brandon, Jackson & I) went fishing and hiking at a new county park. The boys caught a little bluegill and a snapper turtle. We all had a great time and I'm looking forward to the warm days of summer so we can do more of this.

Fishing with Dad Caught a little bluegill
A snapper turtle
Popping bubbles

We tried to play at the park again on Monday but it was soo windy so instead we met Brogan at McDonald's for an indoor play date. On Tues, we went to the Humane Society. Jackson loves going here and seeing the animals, especially the kitties. Wed. we invited our friends Crystal and Geyer and Julie and Brogan to go bowling with us. It was both Brogan and Geyer's first time bowling and all three boys, and moms had a blast! Thurs, we invited Jackson's friend Matt along to watch the movie How to Train your Dragon. If you haven't seen it, it is very cute and both boys loved it!!

Jackson, Brogan & Geyer Jackson & Matt at the movies

Friday, was finally a lazy day for us. We caught up on laundry and made a trip to the grocery store. It was also our last couple's bowling night for the season or our "boring meeting" as we tell Jackson. So he had a little party at Geyers with the sitter while we went bowling. We celebrated Trey's birthday a little early (it's the 21st...Happy Birthday Trey) and actually won our couple's league!! Can't wait to start again next fall.

On Saturday we took Jackson to his first Brewer's game...

Happy Easter!!

The Easter Bunny came to our house last night and left Easter eggs all over the back yard. Jackson was so excited this morning that he was actually jumping when he looked out. The sneaky Easter Bunny hid Jackson's Easter basket too and we had to think about where we hide things and search the house. Jackson's first thought was under his bed then under ours and then we suggested closets. He found it in the 3rd closet he checked. :) His basket was filled with: a frisbee, Scooby-doo books, Bad Kitty & Poor Puppy books, Addition & Subtraction flash cards, playdoh, bubbles, the new Alvin & the Chipmunks movie (the Easter Bunny & the chipmunks are friends you know), a new Mighty Machines movie and Jack Links sausage & cheese sticks because Jackson doesn't like candy. I love Easter!! I hope next year brings more of the same. Hope ya'll have a wonderful Easter!!

Dying Easter Eggs

On the hunt for Easter Eggs
Found a few in the Sandbox His findings
Checking out the Easter Basket Couldn't get a smile out of him w/the ears on.

Career Day & A New School

Today is Career Day at Jackson's school and they needed to dress up as what they want to be when they grow up. When we asked him what he wanted to be he said he wanted to "fix trains". Imagine that! :) We found a train engineer's hat and a tool belt that we filled with his tools for him to wear.

He also recently finished IEP assessment testing thru the school district and in Jan. he finished Neuropsychology testing at Children's Hospital. The purpose of these tests were to see if he was behind for his age. The results were what we expected and he is a little behind in speech, mostly his pronunciation, and in his fine motor skills. After meeting with the school district we decided that Jackson was going to start attending a local elementary school a few days a week for Speech and OT. He started last Tues and I'm happy to say that he loves it! His teacher is very nice and made the transition very easy. He now goes to school somewhere every afternoon. It's a little different not having him here with me but I think it'll also help us both adjust to next fall when he will be in school everyday, all day. I still can't believe he's going to be starting Kindergarten in the fall...where has the time gone?!?

Ice Skating!

Jackson's class took a field trip to an ice rink today. He wasn't sure about the whole idea and kept telling me that he didn't want to skate, just watch. When we got there I convinced him to put the skates on and after a little coaxing we gave it a try. He wasn't sure at first and didn't like the "walker" very much but he tried it a couple of times. Then we took a break and he watched the other kids for awhile. After watching he wanted to give it another shot but without the "walker". I held his hands and stood behind him and off we went. He went around, and around and surprisingly we didn't fall, much. I wouldn't say he's ready for lessons or hockey but he did say he wanted to go back and next time to take daddy. He wants to see Dad "fall on his butt". :o)

Skating with the "walker"

Resting in the boxes. Skating is fun.

Ready to skate!

More snow and a few other pics

Last week we had another snow storm and picked up 12.5" of snow. Brandon came home early from work and we all went out to play in the snow. Jackson thought it was hilarious to throw snowballs and he and daddy had fun building a fort in the snow. (The snow pics are black & white bcuz I used my old camera, that I've dropped quite a few times and the snow was pink when the picture was in color, opps!)

Jackson & Brandon in their snow fort.

Hiding from a snowball.
Making a snow angel
Watching the snowplow go by.
Chasing me with a snowball.

The beginning of Feb we also had a visit from Nana and Papa Luban.

It was just a short visit but a lot of fun.

Jackson and Papa watching cartoons together.
Nana and Bubba.
For Valentine's day we made cookies and puppy cookie pops.

I thought they turned out cute and wanted to include a pic. :)