Cub Scout Christmas Party!

Last night Jantzen had a Christmas party with his Cub Scout den.  Jaedyn was lucky enough to get to go party with him, she was really excited.

Here's Jantzen with some of his fellow "Wolf" den boys getting ready to party it up...

   To start the party off, they played "Pin the Carrot Nose on the Snowman".  Both Jantzen and Jaedyn did pretty good!           After all the kids had a chance to play the game, they started making some crafts.  It was fun for the kids to use their creativity and it was also a requirement towards their Wolf badge to make a gift for someone, so it was nice that they got to pass off some things while having fun.  Jantzen and Jaedyn love making things.      Jantzen ended up making a bracelet, a book mark, and a picture frame...           Jaedyn enjoyed the pipe cleaners and beads...     She also made a picture frame.  I love that she added Josh and Jaron's name on it, even though she left out the "A" in Jaron's name.  I didn't even help her spell their names.      This was my favorite craft of the night...       Jaedyn made herself some pipe cleaner earrings...she cracks me up!!
After the kids were done with their crafting, they got to enjoy some yummy cookies, then they took off to play!
As part of a requirement for Jantzen to pass off for tonight, he had to bring some Christmas decorations for the party.  These are the items he picked out...     I know all the kids had a blast tonight partying and passing off requirements.  Jantzen has some really awesome scout leaders and I'm very thankful for the time they put in to make Cub Scouts fun for him.

Shark Reef Field Trip

Today I had the opportunity to go on another field trip with Jantzen and his class.  This time we went to the Shark Reef.  Jantzen was pretty excited even though he's been here a couple times already.  I was just happy that he was getting some field trips this year.

When we first got there, we went into a classroom where the kids learned all about different kinds of ocean/water creatures.  It was very informative and interesting.  After the lesson was all done, the kids got to explore different things inside the classroom.

Jantzen thought this shark tooth was pretty cool because it was so big.

   Here he is pretending to be a shark...      These alligator and crocodile heads were a little scary, I thought they were going to bite him...and so did he!       A Puffer fish is probably not the best animal to pet...      After the kids played with the animals in the classroom, we headed out to see the rest of the animals/creatures.   We saw a Komoto Dragon, which we were told can be very mean, and we saw several different kinds of fish, alligators, and piranha's.  The kids were very fascinated!  Unfortunately we didn't get to see the piranha's getting fed...that would've been cool!      We got to see the "big" tank where the larger sharks and sea turtles are.  We even got to see a scuba diver inside it.      I think this shark was scoping out these boys for his lunch...       Jantzen got to touch rays, but he was very hesitant to do this.  It took a lot of convincing from me to get him to stick his hand in the water.  As soon as the ray would come around, Jantzen would quickly take his hand out of the water.      Jantzen thought the Jelly Fish were pretty cool...       ...but he didn't seem too impressed with this octopus, or maybe he was just tired of getting his picture taken.  I thought it was cool because it looks like an alien that's coming over to suck out his brains...       Jantzen and his friends were pretty sad when the field trip was over, but they weren't too sad because they had pizza waiting for them when they got back.
We got back on the bus to go back to the school and Jantzen decided he wanted to sit by me.  I think he just wanted to play my iPod, but I'll pretend it was because he loves me.     It was a really fun day hanging out with Jantzen and his class on their field trip.  I'm so happy that he has a teacher this year that has been getting fun trips for them so they can enjoy some "away from school" time.  I'm especially grateful that I get to be a stay at home mom so I can go and do fun things like this with my kids.  It's so fun being a part of their lives.

Beware of this Princess on Wheels!

Jaedyn has been waiting since Saturday night when she got her bike to ride it.  Today after school I finally let her.  I went over all the basics with her and then I set her free!  She did stop several times because she was still trying to figure out the whole pedaling thing.  Every time she'd stop she give me a silly look...

             ...they all gave me a good laugh!
Jaedyn had a good time riding around in the street and then she started getting frustrated because the "pedals weren't working" properly, according to her.  This was her frustrated face...       She quickly got over her frustrations when Jantzen told her she could chase him.  She really enjoyed doing that, just look at the evil look she has on her face...     Overall, I think Jaedyn had a fun time riding her princess bike for the first time.  I know I'll be spending a lot more time outside with her because she loves her bike so much!   P.S. Can you tell what her favorite colors are?????

Daddy & Jaedyn Date Night!

Tonight was the big night that Jaedyn's been waiting for, for a long time...her date with her daddy!

They started their date off with this movie...

    ...Jaedyn was so excited to see it!  I was a little bummed that it wasn't my turn to have a date with her because I really wanted to see that movie too.  Josh told me that Jaedyn insisted on going to the movie first because she was afraid they would miss it if they went after dinner.
Here's the two little cuties at the movie...
   After the movie, Jaedyn chose to have dinner at Red Robin.  This is her sticking out her tongue at her daddy while they waited for their food...      When they were done with dinner, Josh took Jaedyn to Walmart to pick out a bike.  This isn't something we'd normally purchase for our kids on a date, but Jaedyn's been doing so well not having any accidents at night and we promised her we'd buy her a bike if she did just that.  Josh thought it would be a good time to get it for her.
She found one she really liked and, of course, it's in her favorite colors...pink and purple!!  I think it's the girliest one they had there, complete with a basket, bell, and princesses.           I think she really likes it!     Jaedyn told me when she got home that she had a really fun time on her date with her daddy.  She loved the movie, dinner, and especially her bike!

Ward Christmas Party 2013!

Tonight we took the kids to our annual ward Christmas party.  Before we went though, the kids had to make some gingerbread houses for the contest they were having.  I decided I would let the kids decorate them all on their own, with very minimal help from me.

To make it a little easier on me, I bought a mini village kit from Target.  It turned out that it wasn't so easy after all.  I had to break apart all the pieces to put together and I broke a few of them.  I guess I don't know my own strength..haha!  Anyway, it was kind of a pain getting them all put together with the frosting and getting them to stay together.  I did finally get them all put together and the kids got ready to decorate...

           I think it's safe to say that they had a good time.  They loved the way they turned out.      Here's a close up.  I bought the kids some sugar gingerbread people/animals and they had a good time adding them to their houses.   Mine and Josh's house is on the left and Jaedyn's house is on the right, she has a pet cat...      Jaron's house is on the left (that's Courtney with him...courtesy of Jaedyn) and he has a pet dog.  Jaedyn wanted the dog, but he got to it first.  Jantzen's house is on the right.  I'm not sure how he ended up with the baby, but he did...      I think my kids did an awesome job decorating their houses.   We headed to the church for the party and before we got to go in and eat dinner, we did a little fun photo shoot...       ...Jaedyn was loving all the stuff she picked out to wear, Jaron was a little bit of a party pooper, and Jantzen was laughing the whole time...silly kids!   Dinner was kind of nice because we didn't have to wait in line.  Everything was served to our table.  After dinner there were a bunch of "Minute to Win It" games for the kids to play.  The first one my kids did was the cookie one.  I got a good laugh watching them try to get the cookies in their mouths...           Then, Jantzen and Jaedyn played a tossing game.  They had to see how many ping pong balls they could throw through these Christmas wreaths.  They both did pretty good.           Next up was cup stacking.  Jaedyn played against Rebecca and she won.  She was so happy that she won!      Jantzen played against Benjamin and he won too.      I tried to get a picture of Jantzen with his winning stack, but he started cleaning it up too fast...       Jaron took off with Ethan, so I didn't get many pictures of the games they were playing.  Jaron and Ethan did join Jaedyn and Jantzen for the Vaseline and cotton ball game.  They put some Vaseline on their foreheads and tried to get the cotton ball to stick to it.  This game gave me the biggest laugh of the night, as you can imagine why...it was hilarious!  

None of the kids got it to stick, but they came really close.   The last game only Jantzen played.  I think the rest of the kids were tired.  It was a game where he had to get all the jingle bells out of a tissue box behind him.  He was shaking his booty a ton trying to get all the bells out!     There were a few other guessing games going on, but my kids didn't play any of them.  They wish they had when they saw the treats that were given out for the prizes.   It was a fun night for the kids.  I really enjoyed watching them play all these games and seeing the smiles on their faces.

Santa Night 2013!

Tonight was "Santa Night" at Jantzen's school.  The kids were really excited for this night, I was excited for it to be over.  Luckily for me this year, I wasn't in charge of it all by myself.

The first thing my kids did when we got there was color.  I thought it was kind of funny that my boys wanted to do that, but they had fun.  Jantzen spent most of the night coloring with his friends, JoseAlfredo and Connor.  They are quite the goofy group of boys...

   Jaron and Jaedyn were coloring buddies...       Look how cute Jaedyn's coloring is...       We had a parent volunteer to play Santa this year, but he had to cancel at the last minute, so we had to hire a Santa and Mrs. Clause.  We were a little frustrated with them because they arrived a half hour late.  They did a good job with the kids though, so it was all good!       Jaedyn waited in line to see Santa with her friend Jamie who lives next door to us.  It was cute listening to their conversations while they waited.      Jaedyn did really good with Santa this year, she wasn't scared of him at all.  Jantzen always does good with Santa.           Jantzen had fun hanging out with Santa and his best friend JoseAlfredo...silly boys!       Our blow up Santa and Frosty started deflating on their own, so Jantzen and Jose came to their rescue.  Can you see the excitement on their faces?!?!       Jaedyn's favorite part of the night was the cookies and hot chocolate.  I can't say I blame her, they were pretty good!       Jaedyn also had fun entertaining Nicholas.  She played "peek-a-boo" with him to keep him happy.  She absolutely LOVES him!        When Santa night was all over I had Josh take the kids home so I could stay and help clean up.  Jaedyn wasn't too happy about that, she wanted to stay with me, but it was her bedtime so I wouldn't let her.  This was her reaction when I told her she was going home with daddy...       Yeah, I was kind of glad she was going home and being put to bed...Thank you Josh!!!
Before Santa left, we got a group picture of most of the PTO kids with Santa and Mrs. Clause...       ...then we got one with all of us PTO ladies with Santa...     As exhausting as it is putting together these activities at the school, it's fun seeing the smiles on the kids' faces when they're having a good time.   Here's to another successful "Santa Night"!