A Monkey Joe's Party!

Thank you to all of our family who came and celebrated with Jalen. He had a blast and we love you all! Now until next years birthday week!

A Day of Celebration

(Above and Below: The presents from my work! Amazing!!)

Jalen woke up ready for his birthday. He loved seeing all the decorations. He woke up saying "I just knew it'd look like this!" I just started laughing. He wanted to jump right into his presents because he really wanted to get his Captain Rex costume. I made him wait until tonight to get that. He, also, got a bunch of surprises when I got home from work because I work with the best people ever! They surprised me/Jalen with a ton of stuff for his birthday... Star Wars gun, dart gun, remote 4x4, clothes, shoes! We ate pizza for dinner, Jalen's request, and then had cake! After we did his pinata! He had a great day and I'm still so blessed to have my little man!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JALEN!

Six years ago, I never imagined this would be how my life would be. Waking up in the morning, hearing "Mommy!!" and feet pitter pattering to find me, getting a little boy dressed, fed breakfast, and teeth brushed, rushing him out to the car to drop off at school. That is just a glimpse of the life I never imagined having 6 years ago, but today, I wouldn't trade it for the world. Jalen, you are the light of my life. You are the reason I have a smile on my face and wake up every single day. I do not know where I'd be without you. You are my saving grace, my piece of hope, my love! You taught me more about myself than anyone ever could. You showed me what love is. You taught me patience. There is nothing in this world I wouldn't do for you. You will do such great things! It is hard to imagine what you've done in this past year. You've learned ALL your letters, can write your name, went to Disney World for the first time, got your glasses, swam without your vest, went off the diving board... Jalen, you continue to amaze me and you will always be my baby no matter what age you're turning. There is one thing I can promise you, I will always be there to cheer you along in anything and everything you decide to do. Happy Birthday, Jalen! I love you!!!

Twas the Night Before....

...a little boy turned 6! 

These dogs...

Drive me nuts most of the time but I do love them! They're apart of our family!

Camping

I am not an outdoors type of person. I do not like bugs. I do not like my hair getting all frizzy because of humidity. I just like to be inside. My camping would be going to Red Roof Inn... That would be considered roughing it to me. Call me a brat, I don't care. Jalen decided he wanted to go camping. Nick asked if we could just do it in the backyard and I told him politely that he and Jalen could do it and they'd have a memorable time. My idea was to put sleeping bags downstairs and camp away. We did that last night and had fun watching Kung Fu Panda 2 and eating popcorn. Nick bought Jalen a Cars sleeping bag, so he used that and I used the Pound Puppies sleeping bag we had when we were kids. Needless to say, the floor downstairs is really hard! Now, I'm sure you're wondering what started all of this... Well, the other night Ki, Li, and the kids came over and Ki built them a tent in Jalen's room. He wanted to sleep under it. I allowed him to and then he wanted us to join. Above are the pictures of him sleeping in the tent the first night. I didn't get pictures last night!

Kindergarten

Jalen has OFFICIALLY survived a week of Kindergarten. He went last Wednesday for what they call a "transition" day. It was a normal, full day though. Then, on Monday he went to his regular class and took off from there. He comes home every day exhausted. I am very proud of him though. He never once got too scared and was willing to try the early care program. He has a lot of fun. His favorite thing so far was going to PE and playing a tag game with different balls. I love hearing him describe his day and just hearing all the details. I do sit at work and wonder what he is doing and how he is. I will never stop worrying about him...