birthday, beach and more birthday

Since my last post we have been busy with Jacksons 5th birthday and spending Easter at the beach!
Last Friday night we had some friends over for a cookout/Jacksons birthday.  Of course, the nice sunny 80 degree weather left us and on Friday it was rainy and 60.  Jason still managed to cook chicken/steak/shrimp kabobs on the grill, which were delicious and the kids had a great time playing inside. 

How many peeps can you eat
in one minute??

Happy Birthday Jackson!

We had an Easter Egg hunt for all the kids and we had to have our annual peep eating contest.  Congrats to Adam who ate 9 peeps in ONE minute.  The average was 6 but I will give Walker credit for eating 3-he is only 4 years old!!  Most people ended up staying late (around 11pm) but the kids were playing great together and we had fed them candy, peeps and birthday cake so they had lots of sugar to run off.  Its was nice having a relaxed evening hanging out with friends.
Saturday morning we got up (moving a little slower than normal...) and packed for the beach.  We had a great time with my mom, Gambi, Michael(my Brother), and Jack and Liz(friends from Atlanta).  Jason woke us up for sunrise service on the beach which was something different.  We were suprised at the number of people at the service, we guessed at least 250 people.  When we got back to the beach house we looked for Easter Baskets and the bunny left them for all three kids, with extra candy for mom and dad!  Jack and Liz did an egg hunt for the kids too.

Birthday boy with Grandma and Papa

I never knew eggs could "talk"

Everyone left early Monday morning except for us.  We ran errands and had fun playing on the beach.  We were going to leave on tuesday but i'm a sucker for nice beach weather and since it was sunny we decided to stay till thursday.  Last year Lauren was scared to go in the ocean but something has happened because she became fearless!  She said, "Mommy, I love the waves now,"  and she would just run out in the water.  I'm glad both kids really like the beach but will definitely bring life jackets next time!

Amanda, under my grandmas old beach umbrella

Brad, Christa and their girls came late Tuesday night and the kids all had fun playing with their cousins.  The girls wanted to wear dresses out to dinner at the Seafood Barn.  The first time we went there Lauren and Jackson wanted to know where the cows and horses were, since its called a barn!  Now they like it for the hushpuppies and butter, and the interesting decor inside.



 
Yesterday, I brought cupcakes to Jacksons class for one last birthday celebration.  He gets so excited and a little shy at the same time, it was cute!  I can't believe that our little boy is 5.



Jackson with his teacher, Ms Wendy