Jacklyn's 100 Days of School Party

Jacklyn's teacher called me a few days ago and asked me if I would be interested in helping Jacklyn's class with their 100 days of school party. I told her I would, so today Addison and I got to go down to Jacklyn's classroom and help with the activities. They had different stations of 100 things to do. At one station, they made a "100" crown with 100 different things glued or stamped on it, at another station they had a coloring activity, and at my station the kids got to come and make necklaces with 100 beads on them. It was a work helping the kids get 100 beads on their necklaces before time was up to switch to the next station, but it was a lot of fun too. They also had a big blow up house that the kids could go inside and jump around in. I think that's what Addison did most of the time. They said I could bring him and just let him play in the air house the whole time, so I did. He really enjoyed seeing what all of the older kids did at school, sing songs, sit on their designated spot on the floor, and the older kids enjoyed taking care of him too. After we did our activities we had snacks, and then we got to dance under the disco ball on the ceiling which was really a homemade ball with Christmas lights on it, it was really cool. Then it was time to go home. Jacklyn enjoyed me being at her class today and it was fun to be there. Jayden also got to have a 100 days of school party at his school too today, but I didn't go to that. Jayden had to bring 100 things to school, and he choose to bring 100 sunflower seeds. Then the kids got to go around and see all of the other 100 things kids brought and they had a party after wards too. It was a fun and busy day for all of the kids.

We also had Micah's birthday this week, on Tuesday. Micah signed up for the free birthday meal at Tucanos, so we decided to go out and eat there for his birthday. I have to say it was a little weird to eat there and be a vegetarian because what they do is bring different types of meat around if you have the green sign up. I just ended up eating the rotisserie pineapple which is really good, plus they had a really good salad bar, so it ended up not being that bad after all. When the kids got home from school we went and bought a birthday cake for Micah and surprised him with a small party when he got home. We didn't buy him any gifts because he always wants some crazy electronic item that I know I'll screw up and buy the wrong one, so he'll have to take a raincheck on the birthday presents. I also wanted to take him to Hollisters sometime for his birthday presents because I know he likes to buy clothes there. All right, I need to go now. Happy Birthday Micah!

Christmas 2009

Here is our Christmas slide show. It has a lot of different Christmas activities on it like the kids seeing Santa, Jacklyn's field trip, the Christmas party at Martin's house, and Christmas Day. I hope you enjoy the slide show and that everyone had fun over the holidays.

Jacklyn's Field Trip

On Friday, Jacklyn's kindergarten class went on a field trip to the mall and all of the parents and younger siblings were invited, so Addison and I decided to go. We met at the mall at 12:45 and we all broke up into groups to go on a scavenger hunt through the mall. We went to McDonald's and got some mini ice cream cones, then we went to the cinema to find which Disney movie was playing, and then we had to go and look for a Cat in the Hat tie at one of the mall stores. It was a lot of fun. I took some pictures of the kids which I hope to get posted on here. We all met back as a group at 1:30 and had cookies and drinks. Then we got in line to see Santa. All of the kids were really excited. Jacklyn said she wanted Addison to come with her to see Santa. She also told me that the thing she wanted most for Christmas was a purple pony, I thought it was really cute. When we got done seeing Santa it was time to go. All of the kids had a lot of fun. While we were on the field trip I got to met Jacklyn's best friend, CJ. CJ's dad told me that CJ is always talking about Jacklyn. It was fun to see Jacklyn's friends. Then we went home and had a great weekend. I'm bummed that tomorrow is another Monday. Luckily, in a few weeks it will be Christmas. Jayden tells us every day how many days are left until Christmas. Bye.

Slideshow of Thanksgiving 2009

Here is the slideshow of Thanksgiving weekend that I promised to post, so enjoy!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We've had a lot going on the last week, so I decided to make a slide show of all the fun stuff that's been going on. First of all, Jayden's birthday was yesterday. He turned 8 years old. We got him a cake at Wal-Mart and we came home and sang Happy Birthday to him and he got to open the rest of his presents. He really liked the marbles that Nana and Papa Mike gave him, and after we set up the Christmas tree we played marbles and watched The Polar Express. We need to get him a marble bag, so in the meantime, while we are looking, he has his marbles in a plastic bag under his bed because Jacklyn and Addison keep stealing them. Jayden wanted me to tell everyone thanks for all of the birthday presents. He really liked everything that everyone gave him.

As for Thanksgiving weekend, as most of you know, we went up to Idaho and spent the weekend with Matt and Amber. It was a lot of fun. Amber and Matt made a really great Thanksgiving dinner, and all of us especially liked the fruit pizza made to look like a turkey. Very creative. Thanksgiving evening was spent bumming through the ads and just hanging out with everybody, then we woke up early to get in on all the Black Friday action. To make a long story short, we did lots of shopping, went to IHOPS, had a run with FAT MAN (Hahahaha), and came home for a nap. Later on, we went to watch New Moon in the theaters because Natalie was dying to see it, and we all made a deal that we would watch it together. So there I was watching Twilight, and Natalie would lean over to me and say, "Isn't Edward so hot?" Then I would have Amber lean into me and say, "Isn't Jacob so hot? Don't you just want to touch his chest?" Then Dad would let out a loud sigh every twenty minutes or so because he was watching a chick flick instead of an action movie. Fun times. Before the movie started, Dad kept saying we needed to switch our tickets and go see 2012, something with some action. I wouldn't have minded doing it, but I had told Natalie that we were all going to watch New Moon together, so that's what it ended up being. Then Saturday afternoon we came home. Thanks Matt and Amber for feeding us and letting us stay at your place.

We did have one more thing happen this week, and it was a very sad thing. Our cat, Tanner, died while we were up in Idaho. She wasn't doing too well a week before we left and Micah and I were wondering if she was going to make it through Thanksgiving weekend. We brought her in the house a week ago, because she had been missing for a few days and when she came home she looked really weak. Micah put her food dish and blanket inside the house by the door, but she wouldn't eat or drink anything. Micah did manage to get her to drink some water with a dropper but that was it. Three or four years ago she drank some stain remover fluid that fell behind the washing machine and leaked onto the floor, and her health was never the same after that. She was a really good cat. She would follow us around when we would go trick-or-treating or over the Nunn's house because Jacklyn likes to play there; and in the summer, when we would sleep out on the trampoline she would jump up onto the tramp with us and give us massages. We had a small funeral and had the kids say good-bye. I was sad. Tanner, you will be missed.

Change of plans, I will post the slide show on the next post because it's really late and I need to download all the pictures from the camera onto the computer, and it's just too much work for 11:30 at night. So I will post the slide show in the next day or two. Now I'm wondering why my time at the bottom of my blog is always off.

Halloween Pictures

The time has just flown by. I was going to take pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes like I did last year, but we got so busy that we never got around to it, and now here it is the middle of November and I'm finally getting around to getting the few pictures that we had taken posted. Jacklyn was a witch for Halloween, which was really cute. Everyone in her class dressed up, including her bus driver and helper, and they took the above photo when they had their Halloween party. Jayden finally decided that he wanted to be a transformer for Halloween. His costume looked pretty cool. And Addison was, of course, the cutest baby alligator that you've ever seen. Halloween was on Saturday this year, as you all know, so we had all of parties on Friday. At 4:00 we had Micah's work party, which is really fun. They had a haunted alley and would go trick-or-treating to each cubicle, and then they had donuts and punch after wards. I dressed up this year with the kids, which they thought was pretty cool. I dressed up as Hermonie from Harry Potter. I wish I had taken my coat off for Micah's work picture, but we had just walked through the door and I wasn't expecting to be in it. I'll try to get some better pictures next year. Then at 6:00 we had the ward Trunk-or-Treat party. That was a lot of fun. Our relief Society president dressed up as Professor McGonagell, so we had to get a Harry Potter picture together. Micah had to work late, so he missed coming with us to the Trunk-or-Treat party with. He missed it last year because he had to work late, argh. Then on Saturday we all dressed up and did the real trick-or-treating around the neighbor. I was glad that the weather wasn't too bad. I remember when Jayden was a baby, and it snowed on Halloween. That was yucky. All right, with that said, it's time to start thinking about Thanksgiving and turkeys, and I hope everyone enjoys the few pictures that we had taken, and I will do better about taking pictures next year. Bye.

Pinewood Derby

So on Thursday we had the Pinewood Derby racing. We went down to the Church at 6:30 and they had a movie going about racing and how to build a car and stuff. Then they took all the kids into the gym where they had the racing set up. I had never seen the Pinewood Derby stuff before so this all new to me. They had four metal tracks where you would set you car and at the beginning of the race the track lifted up so your car would go. They had pins at the front and then someone would push a level and all the cars would go off at once. At the end of the race they had a board with digital numbers on it and when your car went across it posted your time. The guy had a computer that would keep track of all the times and the person with the best times after eight races was the winner. The kids were really excited to see this, especially Addison. He loved to watch the cars race. Jayden and Jacklyn both had cars but couldn't race theirs until the end because they aren't in Scouts. By the time it came for them to race, Jayden took off with friends and Addison was super excited to race Jayden's car. He waited in line with everybody and then when it was his turn he would step up on the chair and put his little car up and run to the end of the race to see how his car did. I couldn't believe how excited that little kid was for Pinewood Derby. It was really cute. After racing we chatted with everyone, had cookies, and went home. It was a really fun night, and all the kids enjoyed racing their cars.