Happy 5th Birthday Jantz!

Today Jantzen turned 5 years old, it's going by way too fast! He's been so excited for his birthday all year. This year he decided he wanted a Spiderman themed birthday and that's what he got.

All he did all day was play, and play, and play some more with Jaron...I think he really enjoyed it. We invited some friends over to help us celebrate Jantzen's day since we don't have any family close by anymore. For dinner Jantzen wanted pizza and strawberries...he loved it.

After dinner we let him open his presents. The first present I had him open was this "Toy Story" saucer chair. He thought it was really cool and is excited to use it in the toy room.


Jantzen also got some new "Cars" and a "Toy Story" painting book that he's very impatiently waiting to paint in.


Then came the presents we were all excited for him to get...his riding gear, goggles, and helmet for his dirt bike, and of course they are green. We had told Jantzen last week that we wouldn't be able to get him a bike this year, but that we would try to get it for him for Christmas, he was okay with that. When he opened his gear we told him we got it for him now so he can practice on Jaron's bike until he got his own, he loved all of it. I know that sounds mean, but we wanted his bike to be a surprise for him.



We sent Jantzen and the kids upstairs and then Josh brought his dirt bike in the house. We called him to come down and when he saw it he said, "What the..!" It was fun to see the smile on his face when he saw it, he's so happy!


Jaedyn will be getting her (pink) dirt bike in 4 years, but Josh has to start getting her excited for it now.


Jantzen got all geared up, minus his boots...we still have to get those for him. We were hoping to give him Jaron's old boots, but he's growing so fast that his feet are too big for them. Then he had to try out his bike with everything on...he looked so cute!


Jantzen let Jaron and the girls check out his bike, and even pretended to take Avery for a ride. I think he's really going to enjoy riding his bike with his dad and Jaron...remember, he wants to be a supercross rider when he's older.



After playing on the bike for a while we decided it was time for cake. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Jantzen and then he blew out his candles, it took him about three blows to get them all out.



Here is Jantzen's Spiderman cake...it was yummy! On top is a wall crawler Spiderman, and yes, he is being stuck to everything!!


It was a fun day for Jantzen and he loves everything he got. He's still so excited because the partying isn't over yet. He will be having a party with all his friends on Saturday and he can't wait.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANTZEN!! We all love you so much and we're so lucky to have you as a part of our family, you keep us all laughing!

Smores Anyone???

A couple weekends ago we bought a small portable BBQ grill for when we go camping. However, the boys decided they needed to use it to make smores before we actually went camping, you know, to make sure it works okay. Josh set it up on the patio and lit the charcoal, after a few minutes they were ready for roasting.

The boys all got their marshmallows ready and then they were off to make them a nice golden brown. It was a fun male bonding moment.



After the marshmallows were roasted it was time to enjoy! Jaron has never tried a smore before, but he roasted some marshmallows so we made him try it. Guess what...he liked it! Jantzen has always liked them, as you can tell. He does, however, dislike the part when the melted marshmallow gets sticky all over his fingers...he is kind of a messy eater sometimes, but he's cute.



Jantzen's solution...lick it off, that always works.


Even though I'm not in any pictures, I did get to enjoy a smore too, courtesy of Josh. He's such a good smore maker. I'm sure we'll be using this little BBQ grill more this summer and I'm afraid it won't be while we're camping. I guess that's okay though, as long as Josh doesn't roast any more marshmallows on the stove and set off the smoke detector...good times!!

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.