The Carroll Chronicles: July 2020

Jackson's Birthday!

Jackson is now 11! How is that possible? It hurts my heart to see my kids grow up so fast. I keep them small in my heart way back in the Fremont house when life was diaper filled and exhausting but so precious and fleeting. Jackson was my most content baby. He was happy to cuddle me and rest on my chest for hours. Markham always brought him into bed with us in the morning and he would go back to sleep next to me. It was a sweet time.
He is still my sweet boy. He is a kind brother and cares for others deeply. He is thoughtful and sensitive. He is a perfectionist and is hard on himself. Hopefully he will trust me when I say he is doing great and things will be ok.
His best friend Wyatt was locked down on a covid 19 quarantine and since it’s not really appropriate to have a big party and invite a bunch of kids, he just had us to party with. He wanted to celebrate by playing xbox all day with his cousins online. So that's what he did.
He stopped gaming to eat and that's about it. Haha. He's such a serious gamer these days. Markham went out early to get freshly baked beignets for breakfast. They were piled high with powdered sugar and were delicious. As we ate them, we reminisced about our last trip to Disneyland when we ate them first thing in the morning before a day of fun. So glad we went in February before things got crazy. The world is so different now. We would love to go back, but not sure when that will happen.

He wanted In 'N Out Burger and red velvet cake. They were delicious choices.

Red velvet cake is a family tradition and very sweet memory from my childhood when my mom made the same scratch recipe for me.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1CnnXT_UeitRGtbsgFPwUT9zdSEcEJF2T

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1o_0e2QUYMOcQPDYrjwSunoc0p0UB41oE

Kaitlyn helped me put together a "purple box" of all things purple since its his favorite color. A lava lamp, skittles, grape gum, sour worms, etc. He also got a Fortnite t-shirt, and cash for new books and whatever he wanted. He was pretty pumped. He already picked out a book on Amazon, The Land of Magic." He loves reading and just finished up, "The Land of Stories" written by the same author.

Markham is hoping to take him on a guided fishing boat excursion soon. With covid 19, things are kinda all up in the air. School is supposed to start in a couple weeks on August 13th. I'll be a little surprised if that doesn't change.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1rHWZ2_yAPKrwzYzYFZ8Bj5gSvW36DaTA

The next day we celebrated at the pool. I think he had a lot of fun with his sisters. They had all sorts of competitions and games with their tubes. We love going to the pool just down the road from home. Buying a house in this neighborhood was a smart one. We love to swim.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1tQu0Knfzbe-tp0T2Qbv2fpN5iViAa_BI

Happy Birthday Jacks! I love you so much! I'm so lucky to be your mom.

Logan

We drove up to Utah for a vacay. It was much needed with all the pandemic stuff happening. We had a scare and almost had to cancel our trip. Addie got sick and was running a fever. Markham and I had coughs and I started to freak out about having Covid. We got tested at the CVS drive through. What a strange experience that was. Suffice it to say. I had to self administer a very long swab up my nasal cavity until I felt like it was touching my brain, and then I had to push it farther. It was so awful! Thankfully, after waiting almost a week for results, they were negative!

We spent a couple days in Utah and the rest in Idaho at Grandma and Grandpa's. We spent a day in Logan with Dylan and the kiddos. We had a lot of fun. Logan is just a magical little place. It holds so many happy memories.