Jay turns 6! June 4 months! Eli tries to go to Africa!

Riding on the kubota!

Jay's 6 year old party at school...Icing all over him!

Jay and his para-pro, Mrs. Bailey. She is so sweet!

Jay and Mrs. McFarland...she has been such a great teacher!

Birthday party at home. A soldier party.

He is getting so big so fast!

He asked for only boys (none Eli's age) and only dads...no girls allowed!  They had a great time playing in the fort for the afternoon.

Showing off his clean teeth after the dentist...Eli is too busy eating his sucker.

Santa...in March

Swinging lessons from Dad

These boys loved it...they wanted to dance every night for a week....Wes and I realized we had gotten too old for that!

Of course, flipping was their favorite part

June and I enjoyed watching from the rocker!

"I am making you some tea"

Dizzy dragons at Wild Adventures!

driving the train, Jay giving us a wave

Eli's favorite!

They love the frog too!

Jay and Wes on the go-cart track

Jay lost his 1st tooth!!  He is so proud. He was hoping he would loose it at his grandparents since Mimi told him the tooth fairy brings more money if you loose it there...haha. It actually came out on morning at school. He came home with his tooth in a ziplock bag and a note that said, "I lost my 1st tooth at school!"

Selfie for Daddy while he was in Africa!

We were so happy about Gracie turning 2!

Eli is into this whole selfie thing, June not so much

In the princess bounce house at Gracie's party

This is how they dressed themselves for Easter....crazy boys

Here are their "real" Easter outfits. Mama Ross gets all the credit for these!  She found the pants and made cute bow ties to match!

Jay looks good in the other, Eli in this one...getting a good picture of all of them is impossible!

I thought Jay looked so funny after coming in from playing outside the other day...he plays hard!  haha

Trying out his tricycle...he has to have me push him the whole time...defeats the purpose!

I love this...it shows how grown up our Jaybird has gotten!

trying to pose for the camera and not fall off his bike..haha

Eli and Papa are having a very serious conversation at the ball field

Look at that face...what a smarty pants

Jay in action

this is his "good job man!" pose

We were trying to get him to pick up his leg when hitting the ball...he doesn't quite have it down yet.

Fun in the rain!

This boy has some moves!

We sang, "it's raining, it's pouring" the rest of the day

Sweetheart is watching from the sidelines

One of Jay's "report cards"

Look at our princess hanging out while Jay is at t-ball practice

Here is the team that went to Uganda. They had a great time and did some hard work! We are glad to have them all back safe and sound! Notice Eli sneaking in...he wanted to go too!

Life is so hard

I just love these glasses on her!!

Talking with papa...out at the ball field again

Jay waiting to run to second!

Sweet Junebug talking to us. There is a picture of Jay almost exactly like this...I will have to find it and compare!

June and Carlton cheering on their big brothers, Jay and Tripp

Eli loved the practices because he could get out on the field with the big boys. He is on first in this one.

Silly Jay dancing on the field!

This boy is ready to bat!

Go Jay!

I had to get a picture of June finding her feet like I did with the boys...this will be easy to tell apart though because of the pink!

She loves to stretch!

She is so cute!

We went to a mother son date night a few weeks ago. Eli is tearing it up on the dance floor.

He has some break dance moves apparently!

Jay was too cool to dance. But once the floor filled up with people I got to dance with both my boys!

silly child

Eli demanded that he bring his baseball glove on our "date"...

sword fight!

checking out the old police car

more pictures with mom...these boys are so fun!

This is all the kids waiting on their parents to get back from Uganda!

They were so glad to see Daddy! 

June was just mad that her nap was interrupted

I love this!

Jay playing tug of war at field day...he is in the orange shirt at the front...I think we need to work on his technique.

Look at how chunky this girl is!

Helping me at the farmers market last Saturday. She loved all the attention!

My sweeties....the only way I could get Eli to smile was to say, "poopy!" over and over

June so happy to be standing!

Taking pictures of my cutie pie instead of singing in church!

Look at how curled up she is playing with her feet

Eli was playing with June in her room while I was in the kitchen. This is what I came back too...haha

Getting ready to chew on her Junebug lovey

We all took turns tracing each other the other day

Jay brought these awards home from school today. He got the smile award because he smiles so much, the Mr. Fix It award because he always fixes class materials when they break....his father's son!  haha!

Endless Encouragement for always supporting his classmates. Future Scientist for being so inquisitive about science. I was so proud of all of his awards!

Family picture before Wes headed off to Uganda!

Giving me a little grin for her 4 month picture

Now she is showing off her pretty smile!

Jay, 6 years old:

- 47 in tall, 49 lbs
- loves camo, hunting, guns, military. Most days after school he comes home and changes into his "solider outfit" to go outside and play in the fort. Eli is close behind. They crawl around in the bushes, make "secret hiding spaces with our trees and bushes", and run all over the yard fighting the bad guys
- favorite sport is baseball. He is starting to be a great catcher and has a strong throwing arm. He loves the social aspect of the sport as well and is a great team player.
- He loves riding his scooter and his bike. This is another go-to every afternoon as well
- He still loves to cuddle with me. He randomly asks for us to cuddle a few times a week. I love it!
- He and Wes are really into a deer hunting game on the tablet. They love choosing the right gun and seeing who is better at aiming. They also love watching fishing and hunting shows on tv together.
-He has turned into such a sweet and loving boy. I was a little worried when he was going through that 3 and 4 year "rebellious" stage!  But now his true personality is coming out and I love seeing how kind he is to his friends and especially how loving and gentle he is with baby June. It is so precious to see how much he loves her.
-Still a true "social butterfly". If he is around people, he is happy!  He is a little shy around adults unless he knows them but, with kids, he goes right up and starts a conversation and just a few minutes after that, he is creating a game for them to play together.
- He lost his first tooth the end of March!  It was at school, which I fussed about for a few days because I really wanted to see him loose his first!  He thought it was so funny that I went on and on about that. The tooth fairy brought him $5 but we did explain that she brings more for the first tooth so the rest won't be as much. Unless he's at Mimi's or Mama Ross' of course....apparently their tooth fairy has more money!
-He has enjoyed his first year of kindergarten although I can tell he gets tired of being in the classroom all day, every day. He has always been so active and adventurous so I knew the transition would be a little tough. He really tries hard though and his teacher talks all the time about how good and respectful he is to her and his classmates. He is very good at following the rules of the class and genuinely wants to make his teachers happy. Again, something that the "mom" in me is so proud of!
- Science is his strongest subject already, no surprise! He is also strong in math and vocabulary. Reading is what he struggles with the most. He is improving every week and his teacher keeps telling me that he is where he should be and will do great in 1st grade. I can tell though, that we will have to work on this all summer and, until it completely "clicks", we will have to struggle through with him each year. Jay and I most have no patience so when it comes to practicing something that comes slowly we both have to fight to not get frustrated too quickly with each other. This has been a learning experience for us both!
- He is growing up so fast now. I love to watch him when he doesn't know I am watching him...just to see how smart and kind he is. How he loves to figure things out and solve problems. I think he will be a natural leader and encourager. I cannot wait to see what all God has in store for this precious boy!

June, 4 months:

- Smiles so easily and loves when people talk to her...she is actually a little demanding about her always having attention!
- Rolls from back to tummy but then gets frustrated when she can't roll back over!
- Starting to have a real laugh. She did it the most last night when I was playing with her...it is precious. I will get it on video soon.
- She has great head control and can turn it from side to side easily. She loves being able to watch things now and it is really nice to have her so easily entertained by just watching what's going on in the room.
- Loves her rainforest mobile, her feet, little toys that she can chew on, and watching Jay and Eli act loud and crazy!
- She still loves her swing and naps in it most days...I am very concerned about what I will do when she outgrows it!  The few times that the batteries died and I didn't get them replaced until a day a two were difficult!
- She likes the bouncy seat and just laying on the floor and wiggling around
- She has moved on from "cooing" to screeching....she thinks it is so funny to see how loud she can get. She did it for so long last night I was worried her throat would be sore after...it is so fun to watch though!
- She still doesn't like the bottle very much. She took two this week and then refused two...we can't figure her out!  She wants what she wants, I guess.
- Eats every 3, sometimes 4 hours in the day. Still wakes at night most of the time, usually only once though and she does go right back to sleep after eating. I am ready for her to last all night though!

Eli, just so I don't leave him out....

- He really wanted to go with his daddy to Africa!  He begged everyday for weeks. Wes told him he would have to get a bunch of shots before he went and that changed his mind. But I think he was hoping to just sneak on the bus when they left. He also really wanted a bb gun from Africa. We tried to explain that they probably don't have those there but he asked every day that Wes was gone if he had found a bb gun for him yet. He missed his daddy so much. Of course, we all did, but Eli was the most sad about it for sure. Wes brought the boys home some drums that they thought were really cool. Eli is still asking for a bb gun though....poor boy has a few years before that will happen!