5i50 New Orleans Triathlon

James had a triathlon race this morning in New Orleans.

It was an inaugural race called the 5i50.

The race consisted of a 1.2 mile swim,

24 mile bike

and 6.2 mile run.

The swim part of the race was cancelled early this morning due to the conditions of Lake Pontchartrain.

The water was really choppy.

Oh, and if you've been following the news, the Bonnet Carre spillway opened up and is currently flowing from the mighty Mississippi River into Lake Pontchartrain.

Let's just say there was alot of debris and logs floating in the lake this morning.

James and his friend, Tad, were super happy they didn't have to do the swim part.

I don't blame them!

This is our friend, Micah, who placed first in the Clydesdales Division [over 200 pounds].

...and here comes my husband across the finish line.

I was watching this poor boy trying to give James his medal.

Excuse me Mister?

um, here's your medal.

Don't you want it?
James had no clue...

He was searching for his boys :)
And he found them!

His little cheerleaders :)

Wait until we get a girl in the mix!
I noticed this woman to the right taking their picture...

I wonder if she works for a newspaper or something?

Guess who got a sweaty hug and kiss next!?

James and his training partner, Tad.

They have done many races together over the years.

They also make sure each other get to the gym at 4:45 AM FIVE days a week!

Ah, here we are.

Family picture.

7 months pregnant :)

Way to go, James. We love you!

Finish time: 2:24

Gilmore Garden 2011

Let me just start by saying that we LOVE where we live :)

It's been an interesting [to say the least] last 4 years with housing situations...

and we feel truly at home now.

We will have been in this house for one year in June!

...and we don't plan on going anywhere for a LONG time :)

One of the first things we said we wanted to do when we bought this house was to plant a garden.

We've got corn.

We've got squash.

We've got tomatoes.

We've got eggplant and bell peppers too!

and everything seems to to be growing happily!

James even built a garden for Jackson.

It's right next to the "big" garden.

He prays for his garden to grow every night.

It's so cute.

I told James he better start praying for his garden to grow or we're only going to be eating out of Jackson's garden... :)

Hopefully, we'll be eating the harvest in a month or so...

and here's my little bitty herb garden!

I've got basil, parsley and rosemary.

I've managed to kill off my mint and cilantro....

But I'm going to try again.

It's amazing how much rosemary I use!

I love to marinate chicken breasts in Italian Dressing and rosemary for a day then grill it.

Sooooo delicious!

Jackson's Kindergarten Graduation!

I can't believe this firstborn of mine is graduating KINDERGARTEN.

sniffle....sniffle....

He LOVED Kindergarten.

He loves school.

I am so thankful for that.

They had a cute program in the gym this morning and sang songs and performed for us.

Here Jackson is the "L" in COOL, as in school is cool....

dancin' machine!

He gets it from his mama!

[certainly not from his daddy] ;)

Can you believe we snagged front row seats???

We arrived 30 minutes early and lo and behold there were three seats right smack dab in the middle of Ms. Wolfe's class.

I was thrilled.

The past three years of preschool programs we've been in the back row.

no joke.
As you can see, he's thoroughly enjoying himself :)
There were 23 kids in Jackson's class this year.

Ms. Wolfe is such a a great teacher.

So structured, calm and can be silly with the kids.

She was a perfect match for Jackson.

....an answered prayer for me.

Belting out some tune.

All of their voices were so sweet.

It was fun watching him perform.

Jackson getting his diploma.

I can't believe how fast this year went.

It seems like yesterday I was dropping him off on his first day of big school!
So proud of himself!
Jackson and his teacher, Ms. Wolfe

I think I shall frame this.

I still have my kindergarten diploma somewhere too :)

Was going to scan this in, but got lazy and just took a pic.

Just wanted to document his day.

No doubt, I cried.

double whammy being pregnant and hormonal.....

Jackson brought this home from school today.

I thought it was funny in the box that says, "I liked learning about....and Jackson wrote "munne" [money]

ha!

cracked me up :)

First thing he asked me after the program was over was, "Mom, will you check me out?"

and I did....

I love you Jackson! You big FIRST grader now!

Jackson's 6th Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Jackson!

Jackson had a very busy week with lots of visitors!

His Nonna came to see him the week of his actual birthday.

Jackson wanted to go to the Hibachi for his birthday dinner.

[Can someone explain to me how to make pics I take on my phone appear bigger when I upload them to iphoto??]

...and I think he thoroughly enjoyed himself.

He dressed himself...

and ate everything on his plate and his Nonna's plate.

He loves Hibachi!

[I do too!]

Look at that belly!

That pic was out of order, but we're going to just go with it...hey, at least I'm blogging!

We came home from dinner and got quick baths and ate some yummy birthday cake.

My mom looks scared?

Who needs a fork?!

I asked Jackson if he wanted to bring a special snack for his classroom the day of his birthday and he said he wanted cupcakes and oreos.

I researched some recipes and found Oreo Cupcakes.

Sorry I don't have a pic I took, but here's one from the website.

My mom and I made them after the boys went to bed Tuesday night.

They were so yum.

--------------------------

We saw my mom off on Thursday and Friday afternoon another shipment of visitors arrived for the weekend.

I think Jackson is loved :)

We decided with all these fun visitors in town we should have a CRAWFISH BOIL!

Grandma Reeger enjoyed hers!

Another tiny pic that I can't seem to make larger...

These crawfish were huge!

We ended up boiling about 115 pounds!

James did a great job!

We put all kinds of yummy vegetables in our boil.

Sausage, corn, artichokes, mushrooms [my personal fav] and potatoes...

we did have some leftovers.

But surprisingly, most of it got eaten!

Thank you to everyone who came and pitched in.

It was the perfect night for a boil.

Let's do it again soon :)

------------------------------------

The Weekend!

Friday afternoon James' mom, Jo Ann and Zach came to visit for the weekend and so did my Dad.

I was browsing the internet to find something fun for us to all do Saturday morning and thought taking everyone to a gator ranch would be just the thing.

Insta-Gator Ranch was only 4 or 5 miles down the road from us too!

We loaded up and scheduled the 11 am tour.

Our tour guide letting all the kids touch the alligator.

They're actually very soft.

Charlie needing to keep his distance in the safe arms of Granddaddy.

One of the pools of alligators just waiting to get bigger so they could release them back into the wild. We got to watch them eat a live mouse.

Exciting stuff I tell ya..

This guy wanted me to take his picture with his alligator. He was an employee and I seriously think he came straight off the set of The Water Boy or Swamp People.....haha

He was soaked with alligator water by the time he was done. He had so much fun. Everytime a baby would swim by, he'd drop the one he had in his hand and snatch the next one up.

This one was a little apprehensive...

Notice the biting of the lip, like, um, yeah, I'm ready to go home and watch nick jr. and eat some goldfish mom....

He was man handling this babies!

It was so funny to watch him.

Future Insta-Gator employee perhaps!

Jackson, Dad, Zach, Me and Charlie.

At the end of the tour and ready for some lunch!

This was a fun experience for the kids.

Very informational.

I think I now know everything there is to know now about the Louisiana alligator

And I think I've already forgotten....

--------------------------------

This year Jackson wanted his birthday party at the bowling alley.

Ok!

That's easy enough :)

What an easy birthday party this was this year!

We showed up with a cake from the grocery store and we've got an instant party on our hands!

I'm gonna have to do this more often.

The kids had fun......so did the grown ups. They were bowling in the next lane over :)

waiting for the balls to return...

Grandma Reeger and Me

Blowing out his birthday cake.

He said he wanted a Bowling Cake this year.

I opted out of making his cake this year....and I'm glad I did.

What a long week!

Grandma Reeger was in town visiting Richard and Dana's new baby so she got to join in on the festivities! I hate that it's a blurry pic!

A group picture but we're missing some kids! It's hard to get everyone together at once...

Jackson had so much fun at his bowling party.

We had such a busy week celebrating his birthday.

Happy Birthday to my sweet Jackson who is getting so big everyday. Not only with the funny things he says but his demeanor is changing.

The temper tantrums are starting to subside [whew!] and he's becoming a more socially interactive person. He's always be so shy around other people.

Jackson loves working outside with his Daddy.

Jackson loves to ride his scooter and boss his little brother around....

He loves to play baseball.

He loves school!

His teacher, Ms. Wolfe, told me on Tuesday that her and all the other Kindergarten teachers have a nickname for Jackson. Apparently, he's known as "The Ladies Man" on the playground. Ha! She said, "Jackson's always got at least 8 girls chasing him around the playground and he just loves it."

His favorite foods are pizza, asparagus, corn, meatballs and chicken nuggets. His favorite snacks are graham crackers with peanut butter and the occasional Menchie's fro yo :)

Love you big boy :)