More Firsts for Jack

We have had a busy few days. My parents are up because they fly out of Memphis to go to Kenya on Monday. Jack had his first swim in the pool. Brodie has decided that he likes Jack. AND we are headed to New Orleans for a family vacation. We are going to Jackson this afternoon, and Trent will ride the train with his Nana and Pop to New Orleans on Monday. Matt, Jack, and I will meet them down there. As you can imagine we have been VERY BUSY!


Matt was goofing around with the boys a few nights ago, and I got this precious pic of the three of them. :)


Here is Jack decked out in all of his swim gear!


Brodie really likes to play with Jack. Jack takes his toy, and Brodie goes to get it. Brodie is VERY gentle with Jack, and Jack seems to really love the dog. They are so sweet together!


Here is Jack in a girlie floatie. He doesn't seem to mind that it's pink!


Jack loves his PaPaw. Isn't this the sweetest?

Well, we are packing up to head to New Orleans. We'll be back at the end of the week. Hopefully, I will have lots of great pictures and stories to tell!

I love summer!!!!!

Jack's Sad Face

We are entering a new phase in our house. I have got to child proof fast. Jack is crawling fast. He can get just about anywhere he wants. This has also introduced him to the word no. Jack does not like the word no. I have told Matt about the face he makes, but we just can't seem to get it on camera. We don't want to upset him, but his face is so darn cute! In these pics, you can see him go from our smiling Jack to the beginnings of our sad/mad Jack. It cracks me up every time I see it!


Smiling Jack

In this picture, Jack was told, "NO," because he put my flip flop in his mouth.

Random Stuff

Well, Jack has gotten his 5th tooth now. It's on top. It explains why he has been chewing on everything. A few nights ago I caught him eating sidewalk chalk that Trent left on the floor.

Here you can tell he likes the taste of blue chalk.

We went to Fred and Keeley's house last night for a cookout. It was delicious, and everyone had a great time. However, Jack does not like Bruiser. We never saw Bruiser do anything to upset him, but anytime he walked by, Jack would start screaming. Beany (another Boston Terrier) did not cause this reaction. We found that very strange, but funny.

Here is the reaction to Bruiser


Jack and Keeley

Trent has wanted to swim for over a month now. Today we told him he could swim if he helped us clean up the house. He was in charge of picking up his toys and putting them away. While we were busy, he also started doing things that I normally do. He tried his best to fluff and straighten the couch pillows. He did a really good job!

I guess that I am training him well. ;)



Since Trent helped us clean, today was his first day in the pool for 2009. Matt said that it was pretty cold, but Trent loved it anyway. If only we could get him to take a nap without a fight.

Fire Museum Birthday

On Saturday, we took Trent to Jacob's 5th birthday at the Fire Museum. Jacob really likes the Fire Museum because this is his 3rd birthday party there! AND Trent remembers everything about it. He was so excited about going.

We met downtown and rode the trolley to the museum. It was Jack's first trolley ride.

He didn't know exactly what to think about the trolley ride.

Once at the museum, we did the food, cake and presents. Then the kids took off to play in the museum. Trent had a ball.

This year they have added uniforms for the kids to wear. Trent loved it!


He loved driving the fire trucks too!


I don't know the story behind this picture, but it was cute!


Jack even got to play on the fire truck.


Here is the only picture we got of them both on the truck.


Trent remembered this horse. He still doesn't like it very much, but he didn't run away screaming. This picture reminds me of Forest Gump when you see his son with his head turned just like Forest. They all look so much alike to me. ;)

My Big Boys

My boys are growing like weeds! I am happy that they are healthy and happy, but a little piece of me is sad because they are growing up too fast.

Our latest nickname for Jack is "Snaggle Tooth." Can you guess why?

That first top tooth cut through and has grown so much. The second one just cut through on Saturday (May 16). He is growing up too fast!! :(


At the grocery store, we have to get the car cart everytime now because both of my boys can sit and drive. Jack loves his older brother so much. Can't you tell?

By the way, Jack says all of the following:
"Na Na"
"Da Da"
"Ba Ba"
"Ga Ga"

And I have only heard "Ma Ma" ONCE! Little stinker!!

Trent's Trampoline

It has rained like crazy lately, so Matt and I have had to wait to put Trent's trampoline together. After a long week at BBQ Fest, Matt came home on Sunday and mowed the yard (and it really needed it), and we assembled the trampoline. Jack thought that it was fun to supervise us.


I had to get the camera to show how Jack was holding the instruction manual while we worked.


He even looked like he was pointing out what we did wrong.


Here he is continuing to supervise his daddy.


Trent loved the final product! This was the only semi-clear picture that I got because he was jumping like crazy!

Matt's First Memphis in May BBQ Fest

Well, the Gatewood home has been a very busy place lately. Matt's first BBQ Fest was May 14 - 17. His team had quite a few "exciting" moments, but none of them really had to do with the BBQ. I will save those stories for Matt to tell. Maybe I can talk him into posting an entry on here sometime. :)

We had lots of fun at the festival. Matt's team won the following:
33 out of 106 in ribs
23 out of 71 in beans
37 out of 84 in poultry
30 out of 89 in seafood

I think that is great for their 2nd year (Matt's first on the team).

Here are some pictures from BBQ Fest. Enjoy!

Tents on Wednesday (Family & Friends Night)


Smoke Masters Tent


Pork Fiction - a team named after one of Matt's favorite movies


Another funny team name....


Reservior Hogs - another team named after one of Matt's fave movies



These are some cool pigs that we took pictures of for Matt's parents. They need that flying pig for their store - When Pigs Fly


Trent and I in front of the Mississippi River


Jack was happy at BBQ Fest - Well, he's almost always happy....


Trent and Matt - They're such posers!


Trent with a flower from the tables


Matt getting a good smooch from Trent

After the kiddos left, the party started...

Matt is "Pole-Dancing" (All of our HindsCC friends should understand that reference)


Matt Geater on the bar singing, "I'm on a boat!"


Kile, Will, and Geater


Joey, Nick, and Matt

Jack is FULL of surprises!

Jack has had a few firsts the last couple of weeks.

He is crawling everywhere. When I put him down he is off to the races. I lost him yesterday, and he was in his room playing. I put him down in the living room with a bunch of toys, but he had other ideas. This also means that he has found Brodie's food and water bowls. Jack is generally a happy baby, but he HATES it when you tell him, "NO." He starts screaming and gets red faced. See below...


He was so mad at me here!

Jack has also had his first big boy bath with his brother. I sent Trent into the bathroom to get undressed and into the tub while I got clothes and a diaper for Jack. When I went into the bathroom, here is what I found.


They were both beating on the door. Jack adores his big brother and vice versa. They are so cute!


Here they both had to give me a smile!

Jack had a ball once he got into the big boy tub. He splashed and scooted around the big tub on his booty. He figured out that if he lifted his legs up slightly, he could scoot backwards.


I don't know which boy is copying the other anymore...


Bathtime fun!


Jack LOVES to splash. He makes a royal mess of our bathroom every night.

Finally, Matt was setting up my new computer, so he put the laptop on the floor in the living room. We were busy doing things in the kitchen when we heard Trent's Diego game start up. Jack somehow clicked the perfect buttons to start the game on the laptop. He looks like a natural computer geek, huh?

Trent Makes Me Happy!

I have had a rough couple of weeks. The end of school is always hard. We have tons of deadlines and no time to get anything done. May 4 - 8 was Teacher Appreciation Week. That is a National thing too. That meant that I needed to get stuff for Trent and Jack's teachers. They were supposed to take something different each day of the week, but that is really too much for me to handle. I forgot Tuesday was flower day and had to pick them up on the way to get the boys in the afternoon. Since I was not doing a good job, I decided to pick up the boys and go to Target on Wednesday to get their teachers' gifts. When I got to the daycare this is what was waiting on the door for me.

I swear that this brought tears of joy to my eyes!

AND I was taking him to Target on that day! What are the chances? I had a really bad day at work that day, but I can't even explain how much this simple little thing lifted my spirits and made my day! I love my Trent!