Goodbye 3rd Grade!

Yesterday was Jaron's last day of 3rd grade, he has been waiting for this day for a long time, even though he was a little sad it's over.

On Tuesday he had his awards assembly and he did awesome this year. Here he is waiting to get his awards, he was so excited.



Jaron got five awards this year...I knew he was getting four, but the last one was a surprise to both of us.

His awards were for passing the state CRT test...


Excellence in AR reading and in math...


One for perfect attendance, he never missed a day of school, and the last one which was the surprise was the Citizenship award. There are only two kids in each class that receive this award every year and Jaron was one of them. His teacher said she let the kids vote this year on who they thought deserved it the most and why they thought that. Some of the responses for Jaron were..."He never tells anyone 'no' when they ask him to play", and "He always lets others go first in the hallway, he's so nice and helpful to everyone". That's my Jaron! He's such a kindhearted kid.



On the last day of school, yesterday, I took in cupcakes (Toy Story for the boys and Tinkerbell for the girls) for Jaron's birthday since it's in the summer. He likes to celebrate it the last week of school. His class all sang "Happy Birthday" to him and he got a little embarrassed, even though I know he loves to be in the spotlight.



The kids all enjoyed some pizza and other goodies for their last day lunch. After they ate we watched a slide show of things they have done all year. It was pretty cool. Then Jaron wanted some pictures of his friends.

The main picture he wanted was one of him and his two "girls". They are Kristin (left) and Kiyleene (right). I just love how he has his arms around them...so cute!


Here is Jaron with his teacher, Ms. Graham. He really enjoyed having her as his teacher this year. She did a lot of fun things with the class.


And of course, what's the last day of school without a picture with the siblings. Jantzen is super excited to go to school with Jaron next year, he can't wait.



This is Jaron's class picture for the 2009-2010 school year. He has made many new friends this year that he will miss over the summer.


Jaron has done so awesome this year! He made it into the GATE program and absolutely loved it, he will be participating in it again next year and is so excited. He learned a lot of new and exciting things, and ended the year with a bang...he got straight A's! I'm so proud of him and all that he's done. Way to go Jaron!

Our 4th of July Weekend

We had a really fun 4th of July weekend this year. We were supposed to go camping with some friends, but decided to stay home and have a relaxing weekend with the kids. On Saturday we slept in, it was nice, and then we had a yummy breakfast of french toast and bacon, at Jantzen's request. After breakfast, we all got in the pool, minus Jaedyn...she was napping again. After we were done in the pool and ready for the day we headed to the store to buy stuff for a BBQ dinner and bought our fireworks.

On our way out the store Josh had put his sun glasses on Jaedyn, she looked so cute in them and she didn't try to take them off, the boys never would keep them on. I didn't have my camera with me to get a picture, I know, that's so not like me. When we got home we tried to put the glasses on her again, but this time she didn't want them on, but she still looked cute for a second.


Here's Jaedyn in one of her four 4th of July outfits, so cute! She wanted to stay and play on the trampoline with me and Jantzen, so we did...Jaron had fallen asleep on the floor as soon as we got home so he didn't get to play with us.


Jaedyn's hair got all crazy from playing on the trampoline, I just had to get a picture of it...it was so funny! It looked like she had stuck her finger in a light socket, of course I would never let her do that.


On Sunday, we got up and ready for church. We all dressed patriotic for the 4th of July and I thought the kids looked pretty cute together. The boys had fun making Jaedyn smile for some pictures.



After church, we came home and enjoyed a yummy BBQ dinner of steak, chicken, corn on the cob, and homemade ice cream with oreos for dessert. After dinner we went out to do our fireworks. We were so excited this year to see how Jaedyn would react to them.

Here are the kids waiting patiently for Josh to start lighting the fireworks off. Can't you see the excitement on Jantzen's face?



At first, Jaedyn got a little freaked out by the fireworks, but soon after she didn't mind them. She was mesmerized by them. At times they were a little too loud for her, but she never cried.


When our package of fireworks was all done the boys started playing with the sparklers. They both had fun with them, except Jantzen decided he wanted to feel the end of one after it had burned all the way out...he, of course, burned his finger. He thought sucking on it would make it feel better, but that didn't work very good so he got a Gatorade out of the fridge and stuck his finger on that. It made it feel better for a little while.



Jaedyn liked the sparklers. It'll be fun next year when she can actually play with them, but for now Josh did it for her. The look on her face while watching it was just priceless.


After the kids were all done with their sparklers we stayed outside and watched all of our neighbors set off their fireworks, they all did the illegal kind. I wasn't very happy that they were doing that, I didn't want one to hit my house and start a fire, but they were fun to watch and the kids really enjoyed seeing them.

The next day we all just hung out and enjoyed another day off from work and school. Jantzen and I played with Jaedyn in her room and she was loving it! She posed a little for me, yelled at me a couple times for taking a toy from her, and even puckered up for a kiss. She's too cute!



It was a good 4th of July weekend this year.

More Birthday Fun

Last Friday was Josh's birthday. Since I was with my friends on my birthday, we celebrated both of us on his birthday, we do that every year.

We went to dinner with the kids and Nena's family to Red Robin, that's our family's favorite place to eat. After we ate, some of the waitresses sang "Happy Birthday" to Josh and gave him his birthday sundae. Jaedyn got a little freaked out when they started singing, but was fine. She got to enjoy the sundae with Josh, and she loved it!


The kids all got a balloon before we left. Jaedyn got two because the first one came off her wrist and flew up to the ceiling at the restaurant. I think Jaedyn loved hers the most. She played with it non stop all the way home...giggling the whole time.


When we got home everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to us, we blew out the candles, and then we enjoyed the yummy cheesecake Josh bought. Let's hope our wishes come true.



The kids said they don't like cheesecake, they won't try it...weird I know, it's so good! I bought them some Toy Story cupcakes and they all enjoyed them a lot, even Jaedyn (I did take the pound of frosting off of it first). She went to town on it and wasn't even scared of it like the boys were on their 1st birthdays. It'll be fun to see how she is on her birthday.



After we ate, Josh opened some presents. He didn't get anything super fancy because we just bought him a new trailer, but he did get a new wallet, a gift card, and a new griddle (he needed a new one of these really bad). The boys also made him some birthday cards.


We both had fun birthdays this year and we look forward to celebrating again together next year and for many years after that.

Eclipse Birthday Party!

Yesterday was a really fun birthday, BTW I'm 29 again for the fourth year in a row. Josh bought me a yummy looking cheesecake, that we will be sharing tonight for his birthday and my kids were really good all day, no complaining...it was nice! My awesome friends Lara and Savannah threw an "Eclipse" party that just happened to land on my birthday and Josh was so kind to let me spend my birthday with Edward and the girls.

When I got to Savannah's house, this is the first thing I saw...EDWARD! He was waiting to wish me a happy birthday. Apparently Josh had already seen him and didn't say anything to me. Lara and Savannah also bought me the new Stephenie Meyer book, "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner", she's one of the newborn vampires in "Eclipse". I can't wait to read it.


We, of course, had to play around a little with some fun pictures, but Savannah and I were the only ones who would pose with Edward.




For dinner, Savannah made some Alfredo, it was so good! We also had salad, garlic bread, fruit, cupcakes, and the yummy chocolate covered Edward and Jacob strawberries that I made...Jaedyn and Josh helped me taste test them to make sure they were good.



Here's a close up shot of Edward professing his love for me!


Before we left for the movie, we had to get a group shot of us girls with our special guest. Notice which girls are hanging on Edward, we are so crazy, I know, but we have fun.


Here we all are goofing around with the camera while waiting so patiently for the movie to start. We were all giddy like a bunch of teenage girls, but that's okay. We always have so much fun together.





I loved the movie. I didn't get home until after 11pm because I was chatting with the girls, but when I did, this is what I came home to...my boys had made birthday cards for me. They were so cute, I love them!

This one is from Jaron...


And here's Jantzen's. This is the front...


Here's the inside, notice Boba Fett...


This is the back...


Thank you Lara and Savannah for throwing a fun party for me, you guys are awesome! Now I get to party tonight with my best friend in the whole world for his birthday!

Crazy Sleepers

My kids sleep in the weirdest positions. None of them look that comfortable, but apparently they are or they wouldn't be sleeping so soundly. They don't even wake up or flinch when I take their picture, I would wake up. They also talk and make funny noises sometimes while they're sleeping. Just last night I woke up and saw Jantzen wandering around in my room, half asleep. It's a good thing he doesn't try to go down the stairs.

Jaron sleeps a lot with his legs hanging over his bed and on a few occasions almost half his body has been hanging over. We've had to move him back so he didn't fall all the way off his bed.


Jantzen had been sent to his room for a time out in this picture and instead of sitting on his bed, he took a nap. That's okay, he needed one.


Jantzen does this a lot...turns completely around and sleeps the opposite direction. He'll be like this one minute, and the next he'll be back sleeping the right way all bundled up under his covers.


Then there's Jaedyn. She still loves to have her face pressed up against the sides of her bed or she puts her blankets over her face, and she almost always has her legs up in the air when she sleeps. I don't know what's up with that, it doesn't look that comfortable to me, but it obviously is to her...silly girl!





I don't know how they sleep so good at night in their different positions, but I'm glad they do. I guess they probably could take after me or Josh, but I don't know how we sleep.