It's Dance Time Again!

Last Saturday I took Jaedyn to her dance studio's fall registration party. They had a car wash, music, food, and face painting. Jaedyn chose to have a butterfly painted on her cheek and her friend Sarah got a heart... 

   They both had a lot of fun running around together.  Since Jaedyn has preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays now, we signed her up for the Friday morning ballet/tap class.  Luckily for us Ms. Kim teaches it...we LOVE Ms. Kim!
This was Jaedyn's first day of her new dance class.  We took her to pick out some tap shoes and a new leotard and she was so excited to wear them!  The first half hour of her class is all ballet and the other half is tap.  The girls all had a hard time getting through the ballet part only because they wanted to wear their tap shoes so bad.
These are the poses Jaedyn chose for some pictures.
Here's one of her ballet poses...     ...and some of her showing off her tap shoes...           She's so cute!  I love watching her dance because she's so good at it!  Her ballet techniques look like she's been doing it for years and it's only been since February.  I can't wait to see her perform in the Christmas recital.

My Guitar Lovin' Boy

To say that Jaron "likes" to play his guitar is an understatement...he "LOVES" playing his guitar! He's only been in his intermediate guitar class at school for a couple weeks, but he's doing awesome! He has to work hard this year so he can make it into advanced guitar next year. 

Jaron's also a little obsessed with owning a lot of guitar pics.  He buys them at school all the time, but this particular guitar pic of his is my favorite...

  Yeah, he took his school ID card from last year and made it into a guitar pic.  I thought that was pretty creative.     Now he can strum his guitar with his face!
Jaedyn got a little Minnie Mouse guitar for Christmas last year and Jaron will periodically give her lessons.  I caught the two of them playing their guitars while Jaedyn was singing along...it was so cute!     Josh and I keep telling Jaron that he needs to pursue a career in music because he's so talented.  He can play guitar, of course, sing, and he's also teaching himself to play songs on the piano after he learns them on his guitar...I love it!  It's nice listening to him play, especially when he learns and plays songs that Jaedyn likes.

Jaedyn's First Day of Preschool...2013!

On Tuesday Jaedyn started her last year of preschool. This year she's going to "Tater-Tot Preschool" and her teacher's name is Ms. Tate. Jaedyn has been so excited to start school again and she's especially excited for this year because her teachers name is the same as one of her cousins. I'm excited for her because she's in an environment that is more like how "big kid" school, as she calls it, will be for her next year. 

  Jaedyn insisted that I make her a sign for her first day just like I did for her brothers.  She told me what to put on it, here's the result (she held onto that sign all day)...

  Jaedyn decided to take her Tinkerbell backpack with her this year...       Josh and I took Jaedyn shopping for some new school clothes last weekend and she had a blast picking them out.  Here she is modeling the outfit she picked out for her first day...isn't she so pretty?!?!...       Jaedyn absolutely loved her first day at preschool.  When I picked her up she quickly asked me, "Can I go back?".     After she got her folder for school, we realized that her Tinkerbell backpack wasn't going to work this year because it's too small, so I took her shopping for a new one.  Can you guess what kind she picked out?
(This is Jaedyn's second day of preschool)       A "Hello Kitty" one!  She had every intention on getting a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" one, but when we couldn't find a good one, she saw this one and instantly decided that it was meant for her.  It was so cute how excited she was to get it, that's all she talked about the rest of the day.      I got more pictures of Jaedyn on her second day of preschool with her new backpack and one of the other cute outfits she picked out, then we headed to school.  She liked this outfit because I have a black shirt with white polka dots too.  I was wearing mine, but I forgot to get a "twinner" picture of us together.     I love how much she loves going to school.  I hope that excitement stays when she has to start going every day.  

First Day in G.A.T.E.

Like Jaron, Jantzen tested very well and made it into the G.A.T.E. program at school. He scored a 98% out of 99% on the first test, which meant he didn't have to take the second test to see if he could be a part of the program.  There were only a few kids that tested this high on the first test and it makes me so proud to know that Jantzen was one of those kids.

G.A.T.E. stands for "Gifted And Talented Education". This means he's one of the "smart" kids at school and this is an additional class he goes to three days a week where he learns a variety of different things, including building and programming robots, studying rocks and minerals, and creating and running his own company, just to name a few.

 
  Jantzen was so excited to make it into the G.A.T.E. program because Jaron was in it too and he wants to be just like his big brother.     Today was his first day and he said he really enjoyed it.  He loves learning new things, especially things he's already interested in.  It's going to be a fun year for him!

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!!!!