James' 8th Birthday

For James' 8th birthday (his actual birthday is June 2nd), he said he wanted to go to an Angels game. We started out the evening with pizza, salad and creme brule (James asked for it instead of cake). After dinner and gifts Dan took James and his friends Dawson and Brandon to the game. They had great seats in the second row (thanks to our friend Randy for giving us his season tickets)! The guys all had a great time at the game. Dan said that surprisingly all the boys were really well behaved at the game. I had prepared a little gift bag of candy and sunflower seeds for all the guys too. They were loaded up on sugar by the end of the game!!!

Grandma and Grandpa got James a new wallet with gift cards for I Tunes, Cold Stone, Angel bucks to use at the game and a whole lot of cash! James loved his gift!!!

James, Brandon and Dawson. We got James a new jersey with his name and number embroidered on it for his birthday. He started out wearing his old one that was getting too small, but ended up with a new one. Now he's got both colors too!

Grandma got James a message at the game on the scoreboard. It's on the bottom half. It says Happy Birthday James Sumpter, Love your family. All the boys thought that was really cool!!!

Angels up to bat

A picture of James and some girl? I'll have to ask Dan what this was all about!!! :)

1 year pictures!

Today I took Jack for his 1 year pictures. I know I'm a little late considering he'll be 13 months in a few days... but he's been sick and I've been putting it off. Anyway, Jack is a real ham for the camera. He sat so well. I really like all the pictures although the ones towards the end with the black background I like better. With Abby she cried the whole time that when I finally got one decent picture I just stopped. With Jack he did so well and they all turned out great. It's hard to pick a favorite pose.

What we've been up to

I had a bunch of pictures from the past two weeks of different things we've been up to and decided to just lump them all together in one post.

Below are some pictures from some butterflies we hatched (is that even the right word). My Mom bought this kit that included a butterfly house. We sent away for the caterpillars. Once they arrived we got to watch them turn into butterflies. How fun!!!

These are the cocoons hanging before the caterpillars turned into butterflies. Of course I forgot to take pictures of the caterpillars before we started this, but they were there!

Here is our first butterfly.

After about a week we let them go. I told the kids it wouldn't be very nice to make the butterflies live in a cage their whole lives. Now they are out exploring the world! Now when Abby sees a butterfly she thinks it's one of ours coming to visit!!!

One after it was released hung out on our grass for a while.

Abby with some pretty face painting we did at Shelby's school carnival.

Travin, Abby and Layne at Disneyland.

Abby on the carousel at D-Land.

Mommy and Abby at D-Land

Jack on his bouncing/spinning Zebra he got for his birthday. He really likes it but likes Abby to help him. I think once he gets better at jumping he'll like it even more. It's funny because he used to love his jumper, but now seems to have forgotten how to jump. It's still fun though.

Jack and Abby, how cute!

Abby spinning Jack around on it while he stands. This can't be that safe, but they like it anyway.

Just some cute pictures of Jack and Abby.

Jack's 1st Birthday Party

For Jack's first birthday I did a party with my friend Jillonnie, her daughter June is only nine days younger than Jack. It was so much fun to have one big party and to celebrate together. These are only a few pictures. I'm waiting to see what Jillonnie has, so maybe later I'll post more. Our theme was bubbles. The invitations and cakes/cupcakes Jillonnie made were so cute. We rented a jumper and snow cone machine to keep the kids entertained. My Mom helped out a ton by making her famous potato salad, deviled eggs and barbecue chicken. The whole party was a blast and we were so lucky to be able to celebrate with our friends and family.

Mommy and Jack

Jack checking out the jumper.

Daddy and Jack

Jack's cake

Jack and June's cakes, so cute!!!

Trying to get Jack and June to get messy with their cake didn't quite work. I think it was too much pressure with all the people staring at them.

Jack finally touched is cake and isn't quite sure if this is ok or not.

Still checking out the cake, thinking about it.

Playing with the candle was the most fun!

Jack just wanted to see how pretty June would look with blue icing on her face/hair. It looked great June!

The end result, not as messy as I had thought it would be.

Jack getting ready to open presents. By the way...his shirt says "I still live with my parents", totally cute. We got a lot of compliments on it.

Jillonnie and I opening the kids gifts.

Jack liked playing with the box his soccer ball came in!

Jack's 1st Birthday at the Zoo

On Jack's actual birthday (April 28th) we went to the LA Zoo. This was Jack's first visit to this Zoo and he loved it!. Every time we went to an exhibit he would just point at all the animals. You could tell he was really taking it all in. We celebrated with some ice cream before leaving. It was a really fun day!

This is how I get both kids around. They are traveling in style!

Jack pointing at some gorillas

Dave & LiAnne's wedding

Last weekend Dan's brother Dave and his fiance LiAnne got married. Both Dan and Abby were in the wedding party. It was a really fun weekend with lots of family and friends!

Cousin Azariah and Jack dancing.

Aunt Kate and Uncle Trey held Jack for the longest time while he was sleeping so Mommy could have a break. Thanks!!! When he woke up he sat with them for quite a while and just watched everyone dancing.

Abby and James dancing.

More dancing.

How cute!!!

Abby and Daddy after the ceremony.

Chuck and Diana after the ceremony.

Dave and LiAnne during the ceremony.

Abby dropping her flowers.

James and Jack watching the ceremony.