Jackson turned 9!!

Well, our Jackers has hit the big milestone of being a 9 year old! It's the last year before he hits "double digits". We celebrated on Monday with burgers and brats on the grill. Jackson picked a DQ cake for his special cake. He brought confetti cupcakes with yellow frosting and yellow and "blaze" orange sprinkles for his school treat.

Jackson seemed to like his "Indiana Jones" Legos...but really loved his "UnderArmor" shirt. For some (unknown) reason he thinks these shirts are the BEST. I have a few 5th graders who love to wear it. So he wore it today and said he felt "a little sweaty".

Today we cleaned up the house a little - getting ready for Grandpa Primmer's visit. My dad will be here to do a science presentation for each grade level at my school. He will be without the dogs - since my mom is taking care of them this week. We are bummed that we won't be seeing Rusty and Shadow. We are hoping for a puppy from them soon. Today I asked Jenna where Grandpa should sleep when he gets here (he usually stays in her room and Jenna has to bunk with Jack)....Jenna decided that Grandpa should "Sleep on the floor"....after we all laughted out loud at this...she clarified her answer...."he can have an air mattress!!!". She didn't seem too bothered when we said he'll be in her room. Jackson had a different answer to the same question. He tried to explain that "he's tired of having Jenna in his room and Grandpa should be in Jenna's room." To which we explained...if Grandpa was in Jenna's room that would mean Jenna would be in his room (he has the bunk)...he slowly smiled at his mistake.

Yesterday we learned that a college friend's son, (3 year old) Jack, passed away while waiting for a second heart transplant. It's hard to imagine how difficult this time is for the Corbo family (Todd, Robin, and son (twin brother to Jack), Cooper. I emailed another college friend - Keith (who is in Iraq) about the situation. He and Todd were close friends. Jeff and I, my brother(Don), Todd, and Keith were all on the UWRF Student Senate. It seems as if it was such a long time ago.....but some fun memories!

The good news is that Keith should be home in 6 weeks. He'll be located in Colorado when he returns....hopefully we'll get out that way and be able to meet his family.

There is a lot going on at school this week too. I'm feeling a bit CRAZY. Middle School visits, district testing, Science Day. We are in the home stretch - less than 7 weeks....but I feel as if I have so much to do still.

Slow and Steady wins the race!!!!