My Little Shopping Buddy in Training

Can I just start off by saying, this is the cutest little girl ever!?!?

I went to Walmart the other day to get a few things and I decided to browse through the toy section to get some ideas for birthday presents (since I still have two more to do in less than 3 weeks). In one of the isles was this cute little shopping cart sitting all alone, so Jaedyn decided she would give it some attention. She immediately started her own "shopping". It was so cute watching her look at the toys she thought would be fun and then add them to her cart. It's too bad she didn't have any money to buy them for herself.





Lucky for me I was able to distract her from the cart so we could leave without any drama. It's so much fun having a girl. I know she's going to be a fun shopping buddy when she's older.

My Kids Are So Thoughtful...

Despite the occasional tantrums, I have the best kids in the whole world. They are the sweetest, funniest, and most thoughtful and caring kids around.

On Monday Jaron woke up really sick, the rest of us except Jaedyn have already had this garbage. He was puking, had the chills, a headache, and he had a serious stomach ache (if you know what I mean). I felt really bad for him because he hasn't been sick since he was about a year old, so needless to say, he was MISERABLE!! I quarantined him to my bedroom so Jaedyn wouldn't be around him and that was killing all of them. Jantzen and Jaedyn missed Jaron so much. They would stand at my bedroom door calling Jaron and they had the saddest looks on their faces because they knew they couldn't play with him and vice versa. I think Jaedyn had the hardest time with it, she would call out, "Honey!" (her new name for him). She wanted to play with Jaron so much and she didn't really understand what was going on. Occasionally Jaron would crawl out of my room to see what Jantz and Jaedyn were up to. He said he was just making sure they were having a fun day...he's so sweet even when he's sick.

To try and make Jaron feel better, Jantzen and Jaedyn made him some cards.

This was Jantzen's card to Jaron. On the outside was a drawing of where Jaron was laying in my room. My bed is the big square along with my lamp and nightstand. On the other side of the bed is Josh's dresser and pillow on the floor. Jaron's laying at the foot of my bed on the floor under his blanket. You can only see his hands and not his face because he's reading Jantzen's card (that's what Jantz told me). On the inside Jantzen wrote that he hopes Jaron feels better soon. I love how he's sounding out how to spell words...


This was Jaedyn's card to Jaron. She colored him a pretty picture and on the inside I know if she could write, this picture would say, "I hope you feel better Honey".


Jaedyn also drew Jaron a picture in a frame that Jantzen made out of crayons and staples...


Jaron is such a lucky kid to have siblings that love him so much and who are so concerned about him. I guess his example of being the same way is rubbing off on them. Jaron felt much better the next day and Jantzen really thinks it's because of the cards they made for him, that's so sweet. I love my kids!

Pioneer Day Weekend...2011

We started our Pioneer Day weekend with the annual BBQ dinner on Friday night. I've never really liked the food, but the money we pay for it goes to help maintain the church park, so we always go to support it. The kids are really picky, so they didn't really eat much either. Jaron ate a little bit of meat and Jantzen ate some salad (I think I caught him off guard...he dropped some salad out of his mouth) and Jaedyn ate a bite of a roll.


After dinner the kids played around for a while. There were a few activities for the kids to do, like playing with home made pinwheels. Jaedyn and Jantzen thought they were really cool...



Jaedyn actually wasn't feeling that great while we were there, so she just wanted to snuggle with me and Josh...we don't mind the snuggling at all. I did feel really bad for her though.



Jantzen had to come and get in on the snuggling, but after a minute of it Jaedyn didn't want him to be a part of it. It turned into a pushing/giggling match with the two of them.



One of the other activities the boys were able to do was hammering a nail into logs. Jaron was such a good big brother and he helped Jantzen figure it out. Jantzen spent a good 45 minutes trying to get his nail in straight.


(Chandler and Jantzen trying to hammer their nails in)


After being there for a few hours we went home and went to bed.

On Saturday we headed back over to the park for the Pioneer Days carnival. The boys get so excited for this every year. The first thing they did when we got there was box each other. It's so funny watching them do this because the gloves are so big and poor Jantzen has a hard time holding them up long enough to get a hit in. Jaron kept knocking him down...I think Jantzen only got a couple hits, but he was laughing the whole time, so that was a good sign.



Next up was this big blow up slide. The boys had to climb up it with a rope and then slide down. Jaron was a lot faster getting to the top than Jantzen was. He tried waiting for Jantz, but he was hanging by the rope and couldn't hold on that long, so he dropped...


I loved Jantzen's facial expression as he was coming down...so priceless!


After doing the "dry" stuff for a few minutes, the boys decided to head to the water slides. I don't blame them, it was hot and humid outside. I wish I had brought my swim suit so I could've gone in the water with them.

This is my attempt at getting a picture of the boys going down at the same time...one of these years it might happen.



We tried to get Jaedyn to do some games this year. We took her to the "fishing pond", but she didn't really want anything to do with it...except for the toys and candy, she really liked those.


She had to show me her blue fish she got...


Then, Jantzen had to try it out...he loved the Tootsie Rolls.


Then the boys were off for more water slide fun. This slide was called "Jaws" and it was pretty big with a bump half way down that would make the kids fly up in the air a little bit. My boys loved it and did it several times. I really tried to get a picture of them going down because they were being so cute, but the sun was in the way. They were hugging each other and laughing while sliding down. I love it when they get along this good.


I think their faces here show how much fun they were having...


There was one more water slide the boys went on, it was like a big blow up slip 'n slide. Of course they loved this one too!


We made the boys take a break to have something for dinner. All of us, except Josh, chose to have nachos...he had tacos. Then we all, except Jaron, had some Navajo fry bread with honey. Jaedyn was really enjoying having her own nachos this year, but they were really messy!


After the boys ate, they laid down to let their food settle before they did some more playing. While they were laying down they looked at the clouds to find animal shapes. I'm not sure what animals they were seeing, but they were seeing a bunch of them.


Jaedyn found her own entertainment by the chairs. Josh linked together the ties from the chairs and she decided to play limbo, but the crawling version. It was so cute watching her go back and forth underneath the ties...


...when she'd get up from going under, she'd clap her hands and yell, "I did it!".


Of course, we couldn't have a Pioneer day without some snow cones...


Jaron was brave this year and did the dunk tank. I didn't think he'd want to be dunked, so I was surprised when he got up there to actually go through with it. Unfortunately for him, his friend Justin hit the target on the first throw and Jaron went down. Jaron loved it though and if the line wasn't so long, I think he would have done it again.


I think Jantzen was worn out from all the playing he did, he just wanted to lay down and relax (don't you love the swim suit/t-shirt combo?).


He didn't get to relax for very long before Jaedyn came over and started wrestling with him. She loves to wrestle with Jantzen and he was good about letting her "beat" him up. They both laughed the whole time...


Around 9:30pm it was time for fireworks. The Pioneer Day fireworks are some of the best we've ever seen and this year didn't disappoint. Jaedyn was fascinated by them again. I love it that she's not scared of them like some kids her age are.


Jaron relaxed on the blanket watching the fireworks...


...while the rest of us sat in the chairs...


Like I said, the fireworks were really good, and loud, again this year. I was actually able to get some good pictures of them this year since I have a nicer camera (thanks again Josh)...


At one point they did get a little too loud for Jantzen...


I couldn't leave without a picture of me and my boys, Jantzen wasn't too thrilled about it as you can see.


We all had another fun, but hot, Pioneer Days celebration. I really love it that our stake celebrates our pioneer heritage here, it makes me not miss home so much. I look forward to many more fun celebrations with the people I love the most...my family!

A Party with Some Monkeys...

On Saturday we had a birthday party for Jantzen with some of his friends. He had been looking forward to this party all year and he was so excited that the time had finally arrived.

Here's the invitations I made this year for his birthday party...


We had Jantzen's party at the church gym again, it's so much easier that way. I decorated the gym, with the help of Nena and Kevin (thanks so much!), in greens, yellows, browns, and, of course, monkeys. I really liked how everything turned out.

This was the door to welcome all of Jantzen's friends...


This was the candy buffet table...


I decided to do a candy buffet this year instead of a pinata because last year at Jantzen's party we did a pinata and only three kids got to hit it before it broke. The rest of the kids were a little upset that they didn't get a chance to hit the pinata, so I thought this would be a happier way to get some sugar.

I found this huge monkey (about 2-3 feet tall) a while ago and thought it would be perfect for Jantzen's candy buffet table, not to mention he LOVES stuffed animals, so it made a good birthday present too. I stuck a thank you sign on it and it sat nicely at the table with all the candy...


These were the cupcakes for the party. I made the yellow and green frosted ones and I found this super cute monkey cupcake cake at Smith's and had it made, Jantzen loved it! (Never mind the monkeys eye, it was being weird and wouldn't move back in place)


This was all the candy for the "candy buffet". I found candy that was only in the party colors. There were "monkeys on a stick" (I made them out of chocolate candy melts), root beer Tootsie Rolls, marshmallow bananas, green apple Tootsie Rolls, big Lemonheads, Countrytime Lemonade hard candies, A & W Root beer Otter Pops, Whoppers, Apple-heads, and some "Monkey Juice" (Countrytime Lemonade) to wash everything down.


Here's a close up of the "monkeys on a stick". I was going to make them with the leaves and bananas in different colors, but I ran out of time and decided to just do them all in chocolate...they were really good!



This was the table where Jantzen's presents went along with the "Monkey Juice" and the gift monkeys (thank you gifts for his friends)...


This is a close up of the stuffed monkeys. We gave each one of his friends one and they all loved them. I even added bows to the ones that went to the girls...


On each one of the tables I had a palm tree and a monkey sitting in the middle for the centerpiece...



This was the "Pin the Tail on the Monkey" game I made. I couldn't find one already made that wasn't super expensive, so I decided to attempt making one myself. I already had all the supplies I needed minus the poster board, so it was very cheap to make and it didn't take me very long. I loved how it turned out and so did Jantzen. He kept telling me how awesome it looked.


When all the party guests arrived, I gave them each their own box of crayons and had them color their candy buffet bags.


I found this cute monkey foam visor at Target and Jantzen just had to have it as his "Birthday" hat. It was so cute how excited he was to wear it.



After the kids were done coloring their bags, we decided to start the party games. The first game we played was "Pin the Tail on the Monkey". Jantzen was the first to go and he did pretty good...he almost got it!


Jaron was the last one to go and Josh was a bit of a stinker with him. He spun him around (more than he did with the other kids) and then he sent him in the wrong direction. Poor Jaron just kept walking, wondering where the monkey was until Josh finally turned him around. Unfortunately for Jaron, all that confusion made him not get close to pinning the tail on the monkey in the right place.


This was the end result of the game. Jacob was the only one who got the tail in the right place, but he admitted that he peeked.


Next up were some monkey relay races. I had the kids divide into two teams and they had to roll a die to see what relay option they had to run. First up was "Toss the Banana". Two people from each team had to toss a banana back and forth while walking or running to a cone and back...


The next one was "Banana on a Spoon". The kids had to balance a banana on a wooden spoon while running to the cone and back. The poor bananas were dropped a lot...


Then there was "Carrying a Banana". The kids had to hold a banana under their chin while they ran. Bailey was pretty good at this. We also did "Monkey Walk" where the kids had to walk like a monkey as fast as they can to the cone and back. Chandler and Grant got this one and they were really good at it.


The race Jantzen liked the most was the "Monkeys in a Barrel". Each team member had to run to the cones and back holding monkeys that were hooked together without dropping them. Each time they came back, the next person had to add another monkey and do the same thing. They all did pretty good, not many monkeys were dropped.


The last of the relay races was called "Noisy Monkey". I had all the kids do this one together. They all had to run to the cones and back acting like monkeys while making monkey noises. I think they all had a lot of fun with this one!



The last game we played was called "Dodge the Coconut". I got some beach balls that we pretended were coconuts and we played it like dodgeball, except the kids had to toss the ball in the air and not let it hit them instead of throwing it at each other. If you got hit by the ball you were out. The kids all went wild with this game and Grant was the last one standing.


After games I let Jantzen open his presents from his friends. He got some fun stuff from his friends this year and he loved it all!

He got a Target gift card from Avery, a Optimus Prime from Grant, a remote control Mater from Chandler...


...a "Bulk" (Hero Factory) and personalized monkey notebook (so stinking cute!) from Camden, a "Von Nebula" (Hero Factory) from Jacob, and a personalized Superman plate from Elijah...


...an animal drawing book and "Evo 2.0" (Hero Factory) from Bailey, a "Zyclone" gun from Jansen, and "Xplode" (Hero Factory) from Conner...


After Jantzen had opened all his presents, it was time for cupcakes. We all sang "Happy Birthday" to him and then the kids all enjoyed about 2 cupcakes each. I'll have to admit, they were pretty good cupcakes!






I just loved this picture of Jaedyn and Bailey eating their cupcakes, they were really enjoying them! (Jeadyn had to sit by Bailey at the party because she absolutely loves her)


When the kids were all done eating their cupcakes we started letting them fill their bags with candy from the candy buffet and gave them their monkeys. They then ran around the gym playing with balloons until their parents came to get them.

Jaedyn was loving the balloons! She ran all around with all the big kids, occasionally stopping to check out all the sugar she couldn't quite reach. No worries for her, she's been eating a lot of Whoppers since then.


I loved how all the kids were so excited to get a stuffed monkey, it was a good thing to give away. Jaedyn was really loving hers. I think it might have been because it was wearing a hair bow just like her. I caught her trying to feed it some Apple-heads that her daddy gave her, she's such a sweet girl. Then the boys' influence came out when she insisted on showing me the candy she'd been eating...inside her mouth! She's silly just like her brothers!


After Jantzen's party was all over and we had everything cleaned up, we met up with some friends at Red Robin and had dinner. Jantzen was so excited to go there because he wanted to be sung to for his birthday. He kept asking me if I told our waiter that it was his birthday until I finally did. The waiters came and sang to him and then he got his birthday sundae.

This picture made me laugh. It looks like the spoon was going up Jantzen's nose and Josh is trying to eat the sundae before Jantzen gets to it...


Jantzen informed me after dinner that he had a really fun day and he loved all the birthday stuff we did for him, I had a lot of fun planning everything for him. I'm so happy that it all turned out so well and happy that Jantzen has so many fun friends that he can celebrate his birthday with.