Jackson turns 7!!

Time flies and all that.  Jackson just turned 7 years old on October 6th.  Pretty much every time I look at him these days I think how old he looks and how he can't be that big.  He is a serious little guy much of the time, but can also be very playful and funny.  His toothless grin is the best.  His shaved head makes him look even more like his daddy and that is not where the similarity ends.  They are two peas in a pod in so many ways.

As we head into his 7th year, this is his list:

• He and Max are super into Pokemon.  They do the cards and watch the show and Mike and I cannot follow or keep up entirely with the whole thing.
• He likes to wear a headlamp at night and read before bed
• He is less picky about food than when he was littler, but is still fairly particular
• He is playing the piano, but with a new teacher than the one he began with.  We miss Lydia, but Ms Laurel is about as sweet as they come.  He continues to be quite good and is currently learning how to play "Happy Birthday to You"
• He reads well and is all over the place with what he likes.  He still goes back to old favs from younger childhood, but then he likes more challenging books.  We are waiting for "The Hobbit" to arrive as a birthday gift from Aunt Harmony.  He will be excited for that.  He loved the first three books in "The Chronicles of Narnia," but I think "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" lost him a bit.  We will go back to it one of these days.
• He would make chocolate chip cookies every day if I let him, but he likes Zebra cookies just as much
• He is super persistent and asks questions at the most inopportune time.  For example, just as we are sitting down to eat he is asking about playing a board game, or I am pregnant and Thomas is awake and he is asking if I will play flag football with him.  
• He is missing 4 teeth.
• He is very good at building Legos and he likes instructions.  He will take apart and build the same things over and over, but he goes in spurts, playing with them for days and then not again for a while.
• Excepting lollipops, he only seems to like chocolate candy, and only if it is plain chocolate.  Mostly, he likes to eat plain old white and dark chocolate chips.
• He wishes I knew how to sew
• He has a memory like a vault
• Loves Awana; currently in the Sparks group

Earned his Bobcat badge for Cub Scouts

His new favorite game:  Monopoly, and not the kid version (however, it is the Disney Mickey Mouse version)

Bday present from Mom and Dad:  a black ninja costume and cool swords

Birthday zoo day with friends

pizza and cupcakes back at our house, pictured with his friend Ethan

The aforementioned ninja costume and 7 candles in his cupcake

Birthday family beach day

I am sure it will be a problem getting all three of them to look at the same time, for a long time to come

Aunt Jessica sent him a science kit with cool safety glasses.  We have begun experimenting!