First Day of School...2013!

Today Jaron and Jantzen went back to school. Long gone are the lazy days of sleeping in and playing all day...I'm a little sad about that myself. 

Josh gave all the kids their fathers blessings last night before they went to bed. I love it that my kids can have that every year.   The boys set out their first day of school outfits, then they went to bed.

This morning Jaron and Jantzen woke up bright and early to get ready for school, something I know will soon change as the year goes on.  They ate breakfast as I packed their lunches.  I put a little note in each of their lunches while they weren't looking, just so they knew that I would be thinking about them all day...

 
  After breakfast, and some teeth brushing, we headed out the door to take the boys to school.  I don't have anyone to help take Jantzen to school this year and Jaron's school starts 10 minutes earlier than last year (they start within a half hour of each other), so I hope that we can make it all work smoothly in the mornings.
I made number signs for the boys this year to indicate what grade they're in.  They didn't want the ones that said it was their first day like a lot of other people do, they just wanted a number...I was fine with that.     I took the traditional "1st Day of School" pictures of the boys, here's what I got...          Can you tell how excited they are?!?!
They gave each other a hug for good luck, one of the rare times they do this, so I'm glad I have it documented...     Both Jantzen and Jaron got new backpacks this year.  Jantzen has always gotten the character ones and they fall apart easily, so I told him this year we were done with that.  He seemed to be okay not having a character one anymore, plus I like the new one he chose better.        Jaedyn wanted to have her picture taken with her brothers on their big day.  She was really sad that she wasn't going to preschool today...next week.  She did feel a little better when I packed a lunch for her to take to Jaron's school since I'm volunteering there today.          Like every other first day of school, the drop off was chaotic, but we made it though it.  Jaron walked Jantzen to his classroom so he wouldn't get lost.  I think Jaron really just wanted to say "hi" to Jantzen's teacher because he has Mrs. Norman who Jaron had in 2nd grade.
When we got to Jaron's school, he quickly jumped out of the car so he wouldn't been seen walking in with his "mommy', that would be so embarrassing!  His cousin Sadie didn't seem too embarrassed to stand and talk to me before school started.  Maybe that's because I'm not her mom.     I now volunteer at Jaron's school every Monday and after today I'm regretting my decision on that day.  With it being the first day of school, I was really busy helping kids and parents find their homeroom and other places they needed to get to.  I also helped out in the student store during lunches, which was a little crazy too!  Jaedyn was happy to be able to play on the computer again and she told me it was fun for her to eat lunch there too.
After school, the boys told me it was a great first day.  I hope they keep that attitude all year long!
That night for dinner we had our traditional "1st Day of School Pizza" from Hungry Howies, my kids' favorite pizza place.  They really enjoyed it!     One day down, only 179 more to go!!!

My Cute Little Deacon!

Last week Jaron was ordained by Josh as a Deacon and received the priesthood. He's been so excited for that day to come and I was a little happy and sad at the same time. I love the enthusiasm he has for growing up, but I don't so much, I want him to stay young forever.  It was awesome to be there though and listen to Josh ordain him, it gave me happy goose bumps!

Today Jaron got to pass the sacrament for the first time, he was so nervous, but he did great!!  He has been studying the guide that Josh gave him.  Pretty soon he'll be a pro at it.

  Aren't my boys so handsome?!?!  I think so!
 Jaedyn had to sneak in one of the pictures, she doesn't like to be left out of anything...     Jaron's already been attending YM's and he's loving it.  It helps that he some really good friends there with him.  Time is going by way too fast and soon we'll be sending him off on his mission, he's already talking about that day.  This mom is going to need to stock up on tissues!  

Last Weekend of Summer Break!

Since this is the last Saturday before the kids go back to school, we decided to make it a fun day. Normally I just take the kids to lunch on the Friday before school starts, but I was busy with school/PTO meetings and open houses so we decided to include Josh this year and do it today. 

 We started out the day taking Jaedyn to her preschool open house.  She's going to a new preschool this year and she's really excited!  Today she got to meet Miss Tate, her new teacher, for the first time.  Jaedyn got to see her new classroom, new friends, and paint her hands on her art apron.  Before we left, Miss Tate gave Jaedyn a butterfly balloon she had bought for her because her birthday was earlier this week.  I thought that was so sweet of Miss Tate to do that and Jaedyn loved that the balloon was a butterfly.  I think it's going to be a good year for her!

  After meeting Miss Tate, Jaedyn had a princess tea party to go to for one of her friends' birthdays, but after she was done we took the kids to see this movie...      We hadn't seen it yet, even though it's been out for a while, but we all loved the first movie so we were excited to see this one.
(I love how cooperative Jaedyn was being in these pictures, she can be such a little stinker sometimes!)             The movie was sooo cute!  I liked it even more than the first one, the kids all laughed a lot (mostly at the minons).  It's definitely one we'll be adding to our movie collection.
After the movie was over the kids decided they wanted to have Cafe Rio for their "Last Weekend of Summer Break" dinner...it was delicious, as usual.     Now we can go home, relax, and prepare for school to start back up on Monday.   Happy End of Summer kids!!!

7th Grade Open House!

Tonight was the open house at Jaron's school. We got to meet all of his teachers and get a run down of all the things he is going to learn this year. Jaron is so excited to start 7th grade, I'm not so happy that he continues to grow up more every year. 

 Before we went home Jaron tried out his locker a few times, just to make sure he knew the combination.  He's a little bummed that he got a bottom locker this year.  He doesn't get to take his backpack to class this year, so he's going to get a lot of use out of his locker unlike last year.

  My big boy has moved on up to 7th grade hall this year.  I made him stand by the big "7" that's painted on the wall and he was a little embarrassed because there was a cute cheerleader standing there watching him.  Lucky for him, after I took his picture she asked if she could take his picture also for the yearbook.  He didn't mind smiling and posing for her...silly boy!!     School starts on Monday...YAY!!!!

"Happy Birthday" To Us!...

Tonight we finished celebrating mine and Josh's birthdays.

Yesterday was my birthday.  I spent the morning of my birthday running some errands by myself, which is such a nice break sometimes.  When I got home, this is what I came in the door too...

   ...my kids made a "Happy Birthday" sign for me and yelled "Happy Birthday" as I walked in the door.  It was the sweetest thing ever!  Jaron told me that since I always do fun things like this for them on their birthdays, they wanted to do something nice for me...I loved it!!!  Mission accomplished kids!   For dinner, I chose to go to Sweet Tomatoes, which the kids were all happy about.  It was yummy, as usual.  After dinner we went home to enjoy some yummy birthday cake.  Josh and I always have our cakes on the same day and we don't like the same kind so we never just have one.  I picked up our cakes earlier and got a little frustrated about them because my name was spelled wrong, even though I told them how to spell it right before they did it, and because Josh's name looked like it was written by a child.  Oh well, They still tasted good!     The kids sang "Happy Birthday" to us...         ...then we blew out our candles.  Notice how we don't have a lot of candles on our cakes????  We didn't want to start a fire with all the candles we'd have to put on them because we're so old...hahaha!!!   For my birthday I got some new perfume...my favorite kind.  Josh also told me that I can go shopping and buy myself some new clothes.  I'm for sure going to have fun with that!!      Today was Josh's birthday and he chose to go to Red Robin for dinner...a family favorite.  We made the mistake of ordering Jaedyn some lemonade, when what she really wanted was some chocolate milk.  Since she had two different drinks that she didn't want to waste, she decided to drink them both at the same time...GROSS!!!  She apparently liked it because she kept drinking it that way.       While we were waiting for our food to come, Jaedyn and Josh had fun playing around for the camera...       After dinner, the waiters sang "Happy Birthday" to Josh and then he got his ice cream sundae.  Of course, Jaedyn had to have some too!          I got one quick picture of us birthdays kids before we headed home for more cake and ice cream...       Before we ate cake and ice cream, we had Josh open his presents...           Jaedyn wanted to be the garbage can for the night...silly girl!      We gave Josh some protein powder, a container to hold it in, an Amazon gift card, some Diet Coke, and then I told him he can go pick out some more gym clothes...     After he opened his presents we sang "Happy Birthday" again, then we enjoyed some more cake and ice cream.     We've been celebrating our birthdays together for 15 years now and it's just as much fun now as it was the first time.  Nothings better than sharing your special day with your best friend.   HAPPY 36th and 38th BIRTHDAY'S TO US!!!!!

Happy Easter!

Since the kids didn't get enough candy yesterday on their egg hunt, the Easter Bunny left some more goodies for them overnight...

   The kids were so excited to wake up and see what they got.  I think it's safe to say that they were happy with everything...               The Easter Bunny even left a little something for Josh and I...     I'd have to say that the Easter Bunny has good taste in purses...I love the color!   Even though Easter is a fun time for the kids with their baskets, we always remind them why we really celebrate this time of year.  They all know that Easter is all about Jesus Christ and his resurrection and it's cute to listen to them talk about that while they're going through their baskets.  As long as they remember to think of Christ always, they'll be truly happy.   HAPPY EASTER!!

Easter Egg Coloring & Hunt Fun!

Tomorrow is Easter and we hadn't colored any eggs yet because we've been out of town for spring break, so we decided that we'd do it today. If the kids didn't like coloring eggs so much we'd skip it this year, but they do so we didn't.  Just look at how happy and excited they are...

  They were busy little bees coloring their eggs with crayons before they dipped them in the colors they wanted...     They were all very careful this year and didn't get any dye on their fingers like last year...     Josh even joined in and colored a few eggs...     Here's the final result of all their fun and hard work...      I noticed there was an egg (yellow one up front) that read, "Steve was here!".  I guess we can never escape Minecraft, even when coloring Easter eggs...That's my boys!!
My kids also love to hunt for candy filled eggs, no matter how old they get.  After we were done coloring eggs we went to the park by our house and hid some candy eggs, then we unleashed the kids on them...         It was fun watching them run around trying to find them all.  We tried to make some of them harder for the boys and it worked.  We had to point some out to them.              Wow!!  I think they made out very nicely with their candy stash...     It didn't take them long to dive right in...     Then we headed back home.  I think the kids were happy with their hunt, especially this little girl!     It never gets old watching my kids enjoy fun activities like this.  I'm glad we're able to do these kind of things.