It's a Popcorn/Movie Night!!

Last night Jaron had his birthday party with some of his friends. This year, since he's a little older, he decided on a "popcorn/movie night" themed party that was also a sleepover. Here's the invitation I made for his party...

  This was the welcome sign I made for the front door...      This was the concession stand for the party...     Here's a close-up of the concession menu...     I made three different kinds of popcorn for the party; caramel, regular buttered (for Jaron), and white chocolate. And, you can't have a movie night without Red Vines!...     This was the assortment of candy that Jaron picked out for his party. His favorite were the "Buncha Crunch", "M&M's", and "Twix"...     At Jaron's request, I also made some brownies with M&M's since it was kind of a combination of a popcorn/movie and M&M party...     I made some popcorn cupcakes for the kids to enjoy, and they were yummy!     Here's a close-up of one of the cupcakes. I made the cupcake liners to look like popcorn containers and I cut each mini marshmallow to look like popcorn, Jaron thought they looked awesome!     This is what the goodie bag table looked like. I really had fun making the balloon bouquets...     This is a close-up of the "Thank You" sign. Jaron helped me design it...     Here's one of the goodie bags...     Inside them were a popcorn container, an M&M plate and matching cup, a silly straw, some popcorn, a drink, and candy...     I really have fun making labels for different treats at my kids' parties. Here's a label I made for the microwave popcorn...     And, of course, I can't forget to make the hanging "Happy Birthday" sign for the kitchen ceiling. My kids love these!...     When all of Jaron's friends arrived, they started off their night of fun playing "Mario Kart" on the Wii...     After playing video games for a little while, Jaron decided to open his presents. He got some fun stuff, and he was super excited to get some cold hard cash!! Don't you love Jaedyn's diva-like stance with her tongue hanging out?!?! That girl cracks me up!     After Jaron opened all his presents, the kids picked out their treats they wanted for the movie. BTW, I did warn all the parents before the party that their kids were going to consume a lot of sugar...     Then we started the movie. Jaron picked "The Lorax" to watch for his party and the kids all seemed to enjoy it, especially Jaedyn...     When the movie was all over, Jaron put together some of his presents...     ...then I came up with some more fun things for the kids to do. They did some arm wrestling, which was very entertaining. The girls seemed to crush the boys!     When the kids had had enough arm wrestling, they moved on to sword fighting with Jaron and Jantzen's Nerf swords. Some of the kids got a little too rough with the swords, so I was playing referee a lot, but they all still had a blast...     I got a good laugh at this picture...Jaron is such a goof ball! He was getting ready to fight Jace in this picture, so I guess this is how he warms up?!?! (Yes, he's in the air in this picture)     And then the fight between Jaron and his best friend Jace began. They do this a lot, so they really went at it with each other...     After the kids all beat each other up for a little while, I suggested they play charades. I came up with some ideas so none of the kids would know what they had to act out and I must say, it was pretty hilarious watching the kids play this game. Jaron had to be a rock star (big picture) and a princess. He had a hard time figuring out how to act like a princess, so Sadie helped him out...it was so funny!     Here's Kennedy as a swimmer and Sadie as a tree (the kids had a really hard time guessing that one) and as a scuba diver. The one that made us all laugh the most was Jace...as a rug! He just laid there...I couldn't stop laughing!     At this point in the night it was already midnight and I was exhausted, so the kids decided to play some more video games and I went to bed. I'm not sure how long they stayed up, but I know they were having fun.    This morning I made pancakes for the kids that were able to sleepover and while I was making them the kids were having some more fun sliding down the stairs in their sleeping bags. Even Jaedyn had to get in on the fun, she rode down with Jaron and loved every minute of it!  

  Jaron had such a fun night with all of his friends. Even though he's getting older, I know he still loves having parties.    Tonight we took Jaron out for his birthday dinner, he chose to go to "Sweet Tomatoes". He enjoyed some yummy salad, but most of all he loved the brownies and mini chocolate ice cream cones...so did Jantzen...        My boys are so goofy!    Jaron's party was a success and he was a happy kid, so that makes me happy. Tomorrow we get to celebrate his actual birthday and he's so excited for some more partying. I wonder what he's getting...

Getting Her "Work-Stuff" On...

I started working out more this summer so I can get back in shape and I think it's been a good thing, not only for me, but for my kids as well. They've shown a little more interest in working out too, especially Jaedyn.

Every day as I would start doing my workouts, Jaedyn would ask me if I am doing my "work-stuff" as she called it, then she'd quickly join me...and she's pretty good! There were a few times when she'd wait and want to do the workout after me so she could use my stepper.

The workout is broken down into three different areas, a cardio circuit, an upper body workout, and a lower body workout. Jaedyn only likes to do the cardio and lower body workouts because the upper body is a little too hard for her, she's tried it a few times.

This is how cute she is when she's doing her "work-stuff"...

First up is the cardio circuit. This is Jaedyn doing her running up and down warm-ups...

Here's her "side to side" squat jumps. I love the big picture of her because I caught her jumping in the air...


These are her "planks". I think she has a perfect plank form...


Jaedyn loves the "180 degree" turn jumps...


Her absolute favorite move is the "tick-tocks". This is where, when I'm doing this exercise, she'll say to me, "Think skinny jeans mom, think skinny jeans!". She's my little motivator...


And, here she is doing some breathing after her cardio workout is all over...


Here's her "Yay me, I did it!" face...


Next up was her lower body workout. Jaedyn uses a two pound dumb bell with this exercise because she's a tough little girl. She started with some "squats" as she lifted her dumb bell over her head...


Then, she went into some "squatting side kicks". Check out that awesome form...


Jaedyn then did some "single leg squats" with her dumb bell resting on her opposite shoulder...


She worked her inner thighs a little with some more squats...


And, her favorite part of the lower body workout is working her toosh. I'm not sure why she likes this exercise move so much, but she does...


Jaedyn's such a good sport to workout with me. It's a lot of fun having her around when I workout and I think it's good to get her in the habit when she's young. She seriously is the cutest little workout buddy ever!!

It's a Horse...I Think

We've been going to the park a lot this summer and one specific park we go to has some pretty views of the mountains. The boys noticed one of the mountains in particular one day as we pulled up because it had a shadow on it that looked like a horse, or some kind of similar animal...

They thought it looked pretty cool and so did I, so I got a picture. Now, every time we go to that same park they look for it and get excited. I love my kids' imaginations!

"Arrow of Light"

Last night Jaron received his "Arrow of Light" award for cub scouts. He's worked so hard for the last three years to earn it and he was very excited for his ceremony. Before the ceremony began they had a regular pack meeting where Jaron received some other awards.

He received his fishing pin, his showman pin, his citizenship pin, and his outdoorsman pin...


Here's a closeup of his awards, he's pointing to his fishing pin...


After the rest of the cub scouts got their awards, it was time for Jaron's "Arrow of Light" ceremony. His leaders blindfolded him and directed him down the hall to a different room for the ceremony...




Once Jaron made it into the room, he took off his blindfold and sat down by the fire while he waited for the ceremony to begin. I can't really tell if he's nervous or excited here, he didn't show much emotion at first.


Josh and I actually had the honor of putting the different colors on Jaron's cheeks as the chief read what each of them represented to the cub scouts...


Jaron was then awarded his "Arrow of Light" and then got to walk across the bridge which represented him leaving cub scouts and on to becoming a boy scout. He was greeted there by his new scout leader, Bro. McKee...


Here we are with our proud former cub scout...


Here's Jaron with some of his leaders from cub scouts. He had a lot of fun being in cub scouts and he had some really good leaders along the way to help him achieve all that he did.


Here's Jaron with his new boy scout leader, Bro. McKee. He's so excited to move on and learn more in the boy scout program.


I didn't notice Jaron's nose until after I had taken this picture. As Josh was putting colors on Jaron's cheeks during his ceremony, he added a dot on his nose to make him look like a cat...Jaron wasn't too happy about it!


The kids all got to enjoy donuts after Jaron's ceremony was all over. Here's Jaron enjoying a donut with his friend Ethan, who's already in boy scouts. I think the two of them are really excited to be in boy scouts together now.




Here's my big, now boy scout, with his "Arrow of Light" award...




I had to get a picture of me with my Jarbear...


We are so proud of Jaron and all his hard work and dedication he put into cub scouts the last three years to receive his "Arrow of Light" award. It's the highest award a boy can receive in cub scouts and it's equivalent to the boy scout eagle award, so it's a very special award to get. Jaron's such a good example to his younger siblings and friends and I hope he continues on that way. Way to go Jaron, keep up the good work as you continue on in your scouting!