Jackson is 14

After Daniel's birthday comes Jackson's!! He turned 14 this year. A whole lot is changing with this kid, I feel like right before my very eyes!! I remember when he started the 6th grade thinking that there was a huge difference between the 6th grade boys and the 8th grade boys and now I'm on the flip side!! Now I have the tall, deep voiced man-child! I'm baffled at the idea that he will be in high school in a few short months. 

Jackson is smart as a whip, gets really good grades, is a fishing maniac, loves his friends, is very good at pushing the envelope with all his teachers, is witty, is funny, and is the most antagonizing to his siblings of all brothers in the entire world, enjoys a good meal, hates affection from his mother, can stay up really late, and is the most handsome 14 year old a mother could ever adore. He may be challenging at times and we certainly don't always see eye to eye but I am so grateful for him in every way and feel lucky to be his mother. 

His birthday fell on a Saturday this year so he and Daniel ditched school and work Friday to fish down in Miami. They drove down Thursday night, enjoyed some really good Peruvian cuisine and fished all day Friday. I don't have very many pictures of that. 

Even though he fished all day the day before, he wanted to get up early on his birthday and fish Lake Okeechobee. Benny came along for that one. They pit stopped in Harmony on the way home. 

Had to get my birthday hat pictures when he got home because I was not awake at 5:00 am on a Saturday to see them off. 

That afternoon Daniel and I took him shopping. He wanted to go to the Nike store and few other places. We had a some really nice 1-on-1 time with him. There was  UFC fight that night so naturally he wanted to watch it. We had all the "guys" over. All in all, I think he had a pretty good birthday. 

But of course that wasn't all! The NEXT Saturday we had a pile of his friends over to the house to fish, swim, pickleball, play basketball and box! Pizza, soda, chips, and ice cream cake. It was really fun time! (no pictures though) Love our birthday bubs!

Happy Birthday Daniel!

This guy had a birthday. Miraculous that I even got a picture (I don't always!) And actually this is just a screen shot from his birthday song video. The kids ditched their activity that night and we all went to dinner at Longhorn to celebrate. 45 never looked so good!

February Stuff

This cute little pup celebrated the 101st day of school like a good dalmatian should. 

Puzzling away... only thing missing... Caroline!

I always want to remember afternoon, home-from-school snuggles on the couch with this kid.

Lots of late night homework sessions with this 8th grader. 

Jackson has been in physical therapy since 3 weeks post break and we have seen some amazing progress! He couldn't touch his hand to his shoulder before and now he is doing that quite easily. His range of motion is improving and he is getting stronger. We are really so happy with his recovery. 

Catching this beauty right off the end of our peninsula was fun!

Mom fail on Rodeo day when I failed to even think about putting sunscreen on the kid. (In my defense, he wasn't even outside swimming all day. They were riding bikes, playing basketball and exploring the property. And I didn't even know he was out and about without a shirt for most of it because I was busy playing pickleball.)

She can't resist taking selfies on my phone.

I spy with my little eye....

Jacob enjoying our morning view, too. 

Uncle Cupcake giving Benny chopstick lessons. 

The rizziest kid there is!

Ivy's Middle School Basketball Season

Ivy made the middle school basketball team!! It's a very short season, with only 5 games (and they only won 1 of those games) but she got a lot of playing time, scored a lots of the team's points and was really really fun to watch!!

Some of Ivy's biggest fans!

I didn't take a single picture this year, but the school nurse does! Luckily she got some great ones of Ivy.

Munns Cousins Retreat

Daniel's cousins threw together a little reunion the beginning of February. A couple of Daniel's sisters were going with their girls so I went along with Ivy. We all had a really great time! We all pitched in and stayed in a really big house in Davenport. We did a lot of visiting, playing games, watching old home videos, and eating nostalgic Florida family food (courtesy of Aunt Becky). Erin planned a scavenger hunt one night and the other night Ranier and Edra Lynn shared stories about their parents and life growing up. It was really a good time had by all. And Ivy had so much fun with her cousins. 

While the girls were gone, Daniel held down the fort with the boys. They went and ate at some food trucks one night (got their own truck towed, that was a fun adventure), and then spent the next night fishing ponds off the 417.