Grandpa Jones

My dad has always been "lucky" enough to take off a few hours of work to come to Grandparents Day at preschool.  This year he had double-duty.  Bradley's class went first and then Kaleb's right after.

At Bradley's class they started off by going around the room introducing their special visitors.  When it was Bradley's turn to tell the class who he brought he announced loud and proud, "My Grampa!"

Then they sang and danced the beanbag song, cut out and made Easter Bunny helicopters, and took home a snack to share.

Only they didn't go home to share.  Instead, we swapped kids and Grandpa went back for Round 2.

During Kaleb's class they pretty much did the same thing.  They started by introducing their special visitors.

When it was Kaleb's turn, they asked him who he brought.

He looked up at Grandpa thoughtfully, then looked back at his class and told them, "Indiana Jones."

The class just laughed and laughed.

But Kaleb just looked back at them and said, "What? What's so funny?"

Then when everyone waited for him to give a real introduction, he just said, "What? Why is everyone looking at me?!"

He never did reveal to his class that he had in truth, brought his grandpa.

Some of his classmates made comments like, "So that's the REAL Indiana Jones?" or "Oooh.. so THAT'S what he looks like!"

Well, I guess there ARE some obvious similarities...

After Grandparents Day, Grandpa likes to treat the boys to some place fun. When Jaden was in preschool they went to the doughnut factory.  For Kaleb and Bradley, it was McDonald's.

Thanks Grandpa Jones!

The Racing Rock

In 2nd grade, Jaden completed his first Science Project.  There were a bunch of experiments he had seen and wanted to try out, mostly involving electricity, but when it came down to choosing a project we realized that we needed to go basic so he could understand exactly how an experiment worked, and have it make sense to him.  Not just an awesome trick to show his friends.

So we asked him to think about things he was already familiar with, and see if there was anything he could make a guess about what would happen under certain conditions, and if he could think of a way to test it to see if his guess was right.

He thought about certain objects sinking or floating.  Then he broke it down to just sinking.  He chose to test the speed of different size rocks sinking to the bottom.  He hypothesized that the bigger rocks were sink faster because they were heavier. 

He decided he should collect 10 rocks of different sizes, race them all and record the winners so he could see if the bigger rocks always won. He pretty much did the whole thing on his own, which is always hard for me, because I am such a "helicopter" mom... I tend to hover.  But Charles was great.  He was his patient assistant.  He helped Jaden type what he wanted on his board, and gave a few helpful suggestions here and there.  But for the most part, it was all Jaden.

He called his experiment The Racing Rock.

Jaden just loves to get his picture taken.  Can't you tell?

Especially at school.

I like this girl.  She forced his hands down so I could get a picture of his face, haha!

Jaden chose not to present his project in front of the class.  This is him saying, "Pass!" When his name was called.  So glad I was there to capture the moment.  :)

Brynnlee's Book of Colors

Kare made a book of colors about Kaylee, and suggested I do the same for Brynn.  So I spent hours one day finding clothes, and props for each color, taking pictures, changing outfits, taking pictures, changing outfits...

Then we made a photo book on Shutterfly to help her learn her learn her colors.  It turned out really cute.  So cute that we decided to make one for Zoe for her birthday.  Here's just one picture of each color page...

 But she was making such goofy faces in brown, I had to include more than one photo.

Great idea Kare.  Thanks! :)

Saturdays in March

 Saturdays are pretty busy around here.  It's not a day to clean, shop, work or get ready for Sunday.  (I get to do all of that during the week.)  Saturday is a day to PLAY.  We start each Saturday with chocolate chip pancakes...

...or sometimes we get a little crazy and have chocolate chip waffles.  Hey! The kids need to have their energy for the fun-filled day. 

Charles thinks Bradley looks like he's wearing head gear

Sometimes there's shooting hoops.  I think the warm sun... and the snow on the ground... may have confused this kid.

Or maybe he just gets his sense of fashion from his dad.

This month we spend our Saturday mornings at the pool for swim lessons. Brynnlee has changed her mind about water.  Now she can't get enough of it.

She also started taking her first (assisted) steps in the water.

After a while of this, she wanted to take the plunge.  Good thing we thought to bring a swim suit for her.

Is it wrong that I love her little butt-cheeks hanging out?

I love how babies high-step it when they are first learning to walk.

After swimming, if it's warm, we go for a bike ride.  Or we play at the school.  Or both.

We practice our tricks...

Watch out!  This one's dangerous.

...we meet new friends...

...we eat dirty snow...

...we roll down the hill...

...even if it means rolling through snow.

We try out some new shades...

...while practicing our steps.

We can't help but look cool.

Too cool to even notice what we just caught.

On the snowier Saturdays, we go sledding, make a snowman and snow angels.  Or we just roll up some huge snow balls to climb...

...or to slip on and consequently learn to do the splits.

 But one of our favorites is to have Daddy throw big snow balls at us...

...while we sled down the slide.  Sometime he just uses a snow shovel and heaves it.

After dinner (usually pizza or chicken & fries... sometimes both) it is bath time.  This particular picture has a story.  Kaleb and Bradley love to run around naked.  But this time, they actually asked me to take their picture... and send it to their Aunt Melanie.  What?!  Random!  And weird.

So I took the picture, and pretended to send it.  But then I had guilt issues for lying to them, so here you go, Melanie!  This one's for you!  As for the strategic placing of the shot... you're welcome.  :)

Jaden usually takes a shower on his own, but now that Brynnlee loves water she always tries to get into Kaleb and Bradley's bath.  Jaden didn't want to be left out, so I snapped a picture of this rare occasion.  Kinda reminds me of a picture I've seen somewhere...

Saturdays are also usually a movie night.  We rent a Redbox or browse Netflix, then pop some popcorn and eat tons of junk food till we are sick or passed out.  Preferably passed out.  Then it's easy to toss everyone in bed. 

We live for Saturdays.

Best day of the week.

Service with a Smile

My neighborhood is awesome.  Not just because it is filled with kids the same age as mine... but because my boys have so many opportunities to serve others.  Just in the tiny corner of our block, we have 6 single-women surrounding our house.  (4 divorced, 1 widowed and 1 who's husband is deployed... yes, that means single to me.)  That's 6 neighbors that could use help shoveling the snow in the winter or mowing the lawn in the summer.

But to be honest, you sometimes have to JUMP at these opportunities.  That's how cool our ward and neighbors are.  Everyone is ready and willing to help each other out.  Everyone is shoveling someone else's driveway.  I even remember one morning coming out and seeing my OWN done.  And not just my own, but everyone else's on the street.  Why?!  I have a husband and Jaden who are perfectly capable.  Because that's just the way the people around here are.  And I love it.

This particular house belongs to our friend Ruth, who is recently widowed.  Charles put up her Christmas lights, and then he had Jaden take them down.

I'm really glad that these opportunities to teach the boys about service are so readily available.  I want them to grow up and be the kind of men that just go out and shovel their neighbor's driveway, with not even a  thought of expecting anything in return.

And I hope none of the neighbors offer to pay them...  Which is kind of a weird thought, because, whenever someone's else's kid does some kind of work for me, I WANT to repay them.  I feel bad if I don't.  But I really hope no one will offer to pay my boys.  Right now they genuinely love to help others.  I'd like to keep it that way... as long as possible.

I'm lucky to be married to someone who is such a great example of service.