Happy Birthday Jacob!!

Can you believe my baby boy is 6???? I can't believe 6 years have gone by already since we were blessed with Jacob! I don't know if it's just me, but 6 seems soooo much older than 5! I remember every little detail about April 26, 2003...my how that day changed our lives!

Here's my birthday boy!

When Jacob was born, my best friend brought this blue teddy bear to the hospital as a gift for Jacob. Mike and I noticed that the bear was the exact same size as Jacob was at 2 days old. Before leaving the hospital, I took a picture of Jacob lying beside the blue bear so we could remember just how small he was. Little did I know at the time that I had started a Simpson tradition with the blue bear! During Jacob's first year, I took a picture of him beside the blue bear each month to document his growth. It was amazing to see how much he grew and changed in just a month's time! After Jacob's 1st birthday, I have taken his picture with the blue bear every April 26th...Jacob's birthday! It's so fun to look back at all of our "blue bear" pictures & see how much he's changed! I'm so glad I took that picture on April 28th, 2003 in the hospital! I look forward to getting out the Birthday Bear each year for our annual picture. I've carried over the tradtion w/Kade & Mckynlee too!

We celebrated Jacob's big day with a party at Haikey Creek Park in BA. We had a perfect day for a party at the park! I was a little nervous all afternoon...a chance for rain had been in the forecast all week and clouds started rolling in a few hours before the party. However, with perfect timing, the sky cleared and we had beautiful weather! We had about 18 friends come to Jacob's party...mostly 5 & 6 year old boys! He had friends from school, the neighborhood, his baseball team, church, basketball team and friends he's known since birth attend! (See why I was so concerned about the weather? If it had rained all of these boys would have been in my house!!!) Jacob and his friends had a great time! The park was the perfect place for a party. After opening a few gifts and gobbling down a baseball cupcake, they spent the next couple of hours running and playing on the playground. Jacob told me it was "The Best Party Ever!" He's even planning his 7th b-day party for the park! Sounds great to me!

Jacob's buddies (minus a couple who didn't want their picture taken or who we couldn't snag from the playground long enough for a photo opp!...little brother & sister are missing too!)



On Sunday, Jacob's actual birthday, we took our usual line-up of birthday pics and then went to church. After lunch, Jacob opened some gifts from mom, dad & family and had some cake. I think it's safe to say Jacob had a fantastic birthday weekend! He even won his baseball game Saturday in which he assisted in the last out of the game to ensure the win!! What better way for him to start off his birthday celebration!

The Birthday Boy w/Bro & Sis

Birthday Pic w/Mom & Dad

Ready for some cake??

Jacob's choir class performed at the service Sunday...on his birthday! They sang "Shake, Shake, Shake Hallelujah!" (Very cute!!)

Jacob enjoying his birthday lunch at Ted's...our favorite Mexican restaurant!

HAPPY EASTER!!

Despite all of the rain today, we've had a wonderful Easter! I'll keep my words short and share lots of pics! Just a little update...Kade and Mckynlee had an Egg Hunt at their school last week. Mckynlee's strategy was to toss her basket aside so she could run faster to get to the eggs before anyone else. I guess the extra weight of the basket was slowing her down! I followed behind w/her basket as she gathered the eggs. Being the "Candy Expert" that he is, Kade was most excited at the discovery of candy in every egg, especially if he found M & Ms or Skittles (his favorites)! I guess Jacob crossed over to the "I'm too cool for an egg hunt" side of the world this year. We weren't able to attend our church egg hunt last week. Both boys had baseball games. Jacob's school doesn't have egg hunts so I was feeling a little bad for him. His brother and sister were both getting to participate in hunting eggs, but Jacob wasn't going to get the opportunity this year. When I asked him if he was disappointed that he didn't have an egg hunt at his school, he simply answered, "No Mom. Egg hunts are for the little kids in preschool, not for big Kindergarteners." Ok...enough said.

We had a fun morning finding eggs from the Easter Bunny and checking out what he left behind for the kids. Then, it was off to church! We actually made it on time today!

I'll end with the closing words Mckynlee has told everyone who she had come in contact with today:

"Happy Easter Egg!"

My wonderful hubby and me...


Jacob checking out his eggs from the Easter Bunny...wait, wasn't he too cool for an Egg Hunt??

Kade was excited to find a "baseball" Easter egg! (I'm sure it had candy in it too!)

Mckynlee giving her pink bunny a hug!

Keeping with family tradition, we colored eggs yesterday! We had to make a last minute run to the store because Mike and the kids decided to have scrambled eggs for breakfast Saturday morning...yes, they ate all of the eggs that I had planned on coloring with the kids. Thank goodness Wal-Mart is across the street! Problem solved...

Can you tell she's proud of her eggs?? This is the first year she had the patience and attention span to sit and dye eggs with us!

My Little Easter Bunnies...aren't they cute? (I don't know how much longer I can make Jacob wear the yellow bunny ears so enjoy this picture now...it may not happen next year!)

Mckynlee and her friend "Peanut" at their school egg hunt.

Mckynlee and Kade at their school in Wagoner

("Kids Day Out" @ the First United Methodist Church).

Opening Day 09!!

At last, the much awaited baseball season has arrived! As most of you know, this is the favorite time of year among all of us in the Simpson household! Mike and I both grew up playing baseball/softball. It's not officially Spring for us until we are spending most of our time either at a practice or baseball game. Yesterday, was opening day for all of Broken Arrow Youth Baseball. Both boys are playing this year so this is a new experience for us all. We are starting to get just a "taste" of what it is like to have more than one child involved in the same activity. From now until June we'll be performing the balancing act of running here and there between games and practices. The true test for us will be how we will be able to be in 2 places at once!

My "baseball boys"!!

This is Jacob's 3rd year playing, but 2nd year playing "Tiger Ball". In Tiger Ball a.k.a. "Coach Pitch", the kids hit off of their coach pitching. Jacob's team (The Pirates) won their first game! Jacob played first base again and was able to assist in getting a lot of outs. He even turned a double play! He had several hits too. It was so exciting to watch him play!


This is Kade's 1st year playing "real" baseball. You know, the kind where you wear a real uniform and play on a real baseball field, not just playing in the backyard. He was so excited!! He's watched Jacob play for the past 2 years and now it's finally his turn!! Kade's team is The Little Rascal's. I forgot how entertaining it can be to watch 12 little 3 & 4 year olds run after the ball and then dogpile each other in hopes of being the one to come up w/the ball in hand! Towards the end of the game they started staying in their positions a little better. I'm not quite sure if that was because they were getting the idea of what they were supposed to be doing or because they were all tired and didn't really care if they got the ball anymore. I have to say I was very proud of Kade. I was a little nervous about how he might behave during the game when he realized that he had to take turns catching and hitting the ball. We made it through the game w/no meltdowns! He actually played really well! I was proud that my child wasn't joining in w/ his teammates on the pitcher's mound playing in the pile of dirt. He was actually concentrating on the game and was in the "ready position" for each batter. He hit the ball extrememly well too!

Jacob & Kade's biggest fan!!

Our "Game Night" boys: Jacob, Isaac, Cooper & Kade

This year Jacob and Kade are on the same team w/their best friends. Isaac & Cooper (who are also brothers) have grown up w/Jacob and Kade. Mike & I are friends w/their parents. They've known each other since they were all born. Jacob and Isaac are 5 months apart and Cooper & Kade are 5 months apart in age too. They've all grown up playing baseball with each other in our backyards and now get to play on the same teams together!