just jack

so many exciting things take place in october. its right up there with november and december for our favorite months of the year. probably the most exciting thing in october besides halloween is our jack man's birthday!

we had a surprise party waiting for him after school two days prior to his big day. he was pretty happy! i really love that our kids don't expect to have huge parties. they never ask to have a bunch of friends, just our little family. and that makes my heart happy. not that i don't like to plan big parties because we all know i do, but it's nice to have those intimate times with the kids without the distractions of other little ones.

ellie and charlie both picked out cards and a game for jack and it was so fun to watch how excited they were while he opened them. one of those heart melting moments. i mean, come one, look at charlie's face!

 jack is extremely difficult to shop for. his birthday list included the captain underpants books because he likes to reread them over and over, a new pocket knife since he tossed his other over a cliff, and to play soccer in the spring. so we had to be a little creative with his gift this year.

the unicycle is proving to be a difficult skill to master!

on jack's birthday we kept the kids home from school because jack wanted the family to do 9 acts of service. so we went out to breakfast and then let the good times roll!

first up was donuts to one of the fire stations in town. 

it. was. awesome.

they took us on a tour and let us climb all over everything! seriously cool!

jack and i made chocolate chippers to take to a couple families in the ward and also some of the nurses at the hospital.

we sent missionary care packages to cousins in honduras, ogden, and ireland. jack also put together a smore's package for a family with a few little kids, visited a man in the hospital with chris, and took some hershey's "hugs & kisses" to our dear friend doris maybray.

the two oldest boys (aka chris and jack) went out for jack's favorite: sushi!

that night we had our friends the sexton's over to roast marshmallows and play jack's new game PieFace. their  boys are wild and crazy just like our gang and we always have a good time.

the next morning we packed up and headed to bentonville for a little getaway, which i'll post about next. I'm pretty sure jack had a great time celebrating his 9th birthday and felt a smidgen of the love that so many have for him. he is one of a kind and we love him so.

it's time to brag about our football player cause he's pretty freakin' awesome. i guess thats one of the perks of being this kid's mother.

jack's last football game was on halloween afternoon. the steelers came in 3rd place overall. 

(our quarterback is the one with his head down in the picture... his name is george herrell and we're pretty sure this kid will be famous some day. here's the proof that jack played with him ;)

i never thought i would enjoy having my son play football. but jack has really grown so much during those few weeks. he had to work really hard, physically and mentally, and it was so rewarding to see all that effort pay off during those few catches, blocks, and touchdowns he made throughout the season. the smiles on his face after those games were priceless. he's pretty much our favorite running back of all time. 

his coaches were fantastic. so grateful for the time and encouragement from coach johnny. he's really helped push jack. jack was chosen as offensive player of the week after game 4. this is what his coach wrote about jack on the team website:

"Our offensive player of the week is Jack Brower. Jack had a good game versus Zero Mtn on Monday night. Jack carried the ball 2 times for 44 yards and scored one touchdown. He also caught one pass for 17 yards in the game. jack is a great kid and is one of several very good third graders we have on our team. Can't wait to see how good he will be next season. Cause he sure is doing a great job for us this season. Way to go Jack, we are very proud of you!"

here are a few of our favorite highlights from the season. jack is the one in the dark blue helmet.