Birthdays and Farewells

 Dexter turned 4 this year!  He is so tall and is growing up so fast!  He loves sharks, sports, and can spout off anything you may want to know about sharks and then some.  He is very independent and loves to help in the kitchen.  He learned how to top strawberries this year using a butter knife even.  He is very smart and a sweetheart.  For his birthday, he got a shark remote control car.  He's had a lot of fun with it.

His birthday was shark themed.  I finished his shirt.  I think it turned out pretty cute.  If you can't tell, it says "duh dun, duh dun."  Think theme to Jaws.  That's what I tell my kids sharks say if they ask :)

For his birthday celebration, we turned it into a birthday/farewell party.  We invited over the Bourne's, the Nordbys, and the Sweetens.  I'm such a dork and didn't take pictures of anybody.

We had yummy hamburgers/hot dogs and sides.  We also had these awesome shark cupcakes.  I lucked out on finding the frosting.  I went to Hy-Vee to pick up some vanilla to tint blue, and found this blue frosting with fish sprinkles.  How perfect!

They were pretty yummy.  Just ask Jules...

The kids had a lot of fun playing and Grant was so sweet as to oblige them in playing baseball

Here is the last picture of our kids and the Bourne boys.  We've had a lot of fun with these friends the last 4 years! 

It was a bittersweet evening.  I did fairly well holding back the tears until we said goodbye to the Bournes.  I knew we'd see the others one more time, but this was it for them.  Man, we had a good time.

Year Old Girlies

We did a combined birthday party for Juliette and Hadley.  They are 2 days apart, so we thought it would be   fun to celebrate together.  Here are the cute girlies:

I made them matching circle skirts.  Juliette only had a white onsie to match since I last minute (the day before the fiesta) decided to make these.   I made her a necklace to match to make it look complete.  Plus, she loves necklaces!  After the party I detached the flower and turned it into a hair flower.  

I love the big ric rac on the bottom!

Here are her cupcakes.  Ashton made his yummy chocolate raspberry filled cupcakes topped with a chocolate ganache--mmmm!  I made the toppers.  Crystal made another cake too.

Crystal and Hads

Crystal decorated the pavilion.  She did a great job.

We did a sloppy joe dinner and then had cake.  It was too hot to do ice cream and Hads is allergic anyway so we skipped that part.

Grandpa Jenks and Uncle Crayson with the birthday girl

After we sang Juliette devoured her cupcake (such a fun, yummy mess caught only on video), we opened presents. 

The pavilion was next to some toys so the rest of the kiddos were there most of the time.  We enjoyed ourselves.  We had a lot of family there and almost all the Great Grands there too.  We just missed Grandma B.  

Happy birthday girlies!  We sure love you!!!

Ashton's Birthday

He turned the big 2-9. It has kinda been a big deal for him I think. I know he isn't looking forward to the next one...then he's officially old---just kidding. 

For Ashton's birthday, we went bowling (we had a Groupon again).  It was fun and Dexter did really well this time.  He did great taking turns and was really patient.  He is big enough and independent enough, to carry his own ball up to the line to be thrown.

 Even Dexter got bowling shoes!

Dexter got Juliette this ball for Christmas.  It lights up when you bounce/hit it.  I knew he threw the ball over to Jules before we left, but I didn't know it made it with us.  Dex thought she needed to be in on part of the fun, too.

 We got lunch and a guy that was bowling next to us won a stuffed snowman out of the machine and he gave it to Dexter.  So random and so sweet.  It really made Dexter's day, and that snowman has been his pal for the last little while.

Later that night, Ashton and I went to the Vin Room.  A fancy restaurant in Downtown Omaha.  He had a Groupon (surprised?) and had gotten an amazing deal.  It was nice to get dressed up and have a date.  It was the first time I've ever left Juliette and she did fine.  She is a "Momma" girl though, and fortunately it doesn't have to be her momma.  We worried, well I worried, because even if I leave her with Ashton, she just screams at him till she is either exhausted and crashes, or I come home.  Thanks again to the Sweetens for watching the kiddos.

Anyhow, back to the Vin Room.  It was a very modern restaurant and pretty dark.  I know it was too dark for Ashton. The food was good, but I don't think that it was anything show stopping that we need to go back for.

Happy Birthday Luv!  I like celebrating days just for you!

Dex is 2!

Dexter turned 2 last month.  I can't believe it.  He seems like such a big boy.  To celebrate, we met Kevin and Karen and their boys at the zoo, went to the butterfly house (by Dexter's request) saw monkeys, and the big cats.  Then the boys got to ride on the carousel.  We did it last year as well for his birthday.  I know, I'm pretty original, but he had fun and that's all that matters.  Afterward, we went back to our house for some pizza and basketball cupcakes.  I have video of us singing the birthday song and him opening his presents, but it's a little hard to get it off.  So sorry.  From us he got a train puzzle and a big dump truck with pail, shovel, and rake, and a race car thing that I'd been storing for a year.   He loves it all.

Below are pictures of his basketball cupcakes (he picked basketball over trains for his theme), and his birthday shirt that I made him.  I was only going to do the basketball and 2 on the front, but Ashton really wanted it to say Jenks and #2 on the back.  So I did.  He makes a pretty darn cute 2 year old :)

Dexter is a lot fun.  He speaks amazingly well, 3-4 word sentences.  He is a jabber box and a mimic.  He loves to play with all his trucks, cars, and trains, and he loves books.  He can count to 4 and then randomly spouts out more numbers up to 10.  He loves anything alphabet too.  He loves nursery and to play with his friends.  He loves sports and when he sees one on TV he can tell you just what it is.  He loves to play them too.  He is constantly bowling or playing tennis or baseball with all his toys.  His froggy is his pal.  He makes sure he is included in almost everything.  He is so happy, too.  He loves to help do whatever Ash or I do, especially in the kitchen.  

At his 2 year check, he weighed in at 23 pounds and I think was 32 inches tall.  

UNO!

Dexter turned uno!

On Wednesday, we celebrated his first birthday. Wow! Where has the time gone? When he woke up, we skyped with Grandpa and Grandma Loveless and opened up their presents. After a quick morning nap, he opened the rest of his presents, and then we headed off to the zoo. Grandma Jenks was able to come and celebrate the day with us. She is staying for a whole week of fun!

At the zoo, we met with the Bourne family. We went to the aquarium and Dexter got to watch his penguins. We also went through the jungle and the desert and swamp. Then he got to ride on the carousel. He enjoyed the carousel. When he would go up, he raised his eyebrows, and lifted his head up. When he went down, he would look down and lower his head. He was so funny. He loved it though. He cried when he had to get off.

Then we came back to our house for pizza and cupcakes. Of course he got his first cupcake. He loved it too.

Happy Birthday little boy. We love having you in our family!!!

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