The big 5

For Jackson's 5 year-old birthday, his first choice by a mile was miniature golfing, his all-time favorite activity.

A little note for you women wearing black shirts:

In glow-in-the-dark golf, you can completely see your underwear through a thin black shirt. I was amazed at the number of moms wearing dark shirts - and thus, thoroughly embarrassed. So note to self: Bring a jacket, wear a white shirt, or wear black underwear for your next glow-in-the-dark golfing extravaganza.

As far as the cake goes, Jackson tried to branch out a little. You know, we talked about Cars, Spiderman, Dora, a Gorilla cake (???), but after spending an hour carefully, painstakingly scouring the Kroger Cake pictures, it came down to Curious George. No contest. Didn't matter that he had the exact same cake 2 years ago. At least he's loyal to his Hero.

A few words about the birthday boy himself:

Jackson is my little buddy. I love just hanging out with him, taking him on errands, going on a walk with him - he is really good company and usually is very patient and pleasant. He is a GREAT shopper. He is my "Why" boy and he loves for things to make sense. He is very responsible and gets very anxious about whether or not he locked the doors and if the robbers are going to come and steal his toys . He is my best helper - he begs to vacuum, mop, and clean the windows. He loves to take out the big trash and help his dad in the yard.

He likes order and clear directions. He does NOT love creativity - ie, draw me a picture, Jackson. (Of what, how do I do it, I don't know how, I don't want to!!!) He is a diplomat. He negotiates with others (mostly his sister) to get what he wants (ie, Madeline, you want the RED one and I want the BLUE one, Right? You love red, you should have the Red one and I really need the Blue one because it is my FAVORITE color, Red will make you happy, etc., etc., etc). Most of the time he is able to use diplomacy to boss everyone around without them realizing it. If that doesn't work, then he resorts to terrorism, but mostly with his sister. He is a hoarder and a packrat - I open his closet door and a pile of "treasures" lands on me. He still has candy from Halloween that he will show up with occasionally and eat in front of his sister, who ate all of her candy Halloween night.

He does love TV - mostly Curious George, Backyardigans, Dora - but a REAL treat is to watch the Discovery Channel with his Dad (you know, how to make tootsie rolls, watching cars get blown up, crazy men surviving in the wild eating raw meat, Myth Busters, Modern Marvels, Dirty Jobs, etc) and negotiates to watch as much as humanly possible. We're on to him, so we force him to read/write every now and then.

He still sleeps with his precious doggies. He HATES thunderstorms. He LOVES playing games on the IPhone. He LOVES to learn and asks questions and asks questions and asks questions. He LOVES Ice cream!!! He HATES wearing his hair spiky. He LOVES to go to movies and eat popcorn (He's a great date!). He HATES red ants. He LOVES to plant flowers. He LOVES Geocaching. He LOVES reading stories with Mom. He LOVES going up and down elevators and escalators. He LOVES going the park with his friends. He LOVES visiting his Grandmas and Grandpas. He LOVES to play with his sister.

Jackson is a precious blessing in our lives. Happy Birthday, sweet boy! You are growing up so fast!