Halloween

This Halloween was the easiest on the wallet yet.  Kaleb and Bradley decided to reuse their Mario and Luifi costumes from last year, Brynnlee borrowed 2 costumes from our neighbor Aislyn, and Jaden decided he was too old for a store bought costume.

Jaden came up with his own idea of how to dress as a zombie.  He picked out his own clothes, hair dye and makeup and applied everything by himself. Not bad!

Brynnlee's costume for the Halloween Party was a which.  But Kaleb and Bradley decided that she was Princess Peach from Mario Bros. That works too.

This is Luigi throwing his fire ball.

On Halloween night, Brynnlee switched to becoming a pirate.

I took the kids trick-or-treating with their friends, Jaden and Alden. Charles stayed home and handed out candy.

Kaleb Turns 7

After seeing Bradley get a bounce house at his party, Kaleb decided he wanted one too.  Only he wanted one with a slide.  I was a little nervous getting about renting one for Kaleb's party because... well, let's face it...  Kaleb and his friends are CRAZY! Bradley invited six girls and one boy at his party.  Kaleb invited 4 girls and about 15 boys to his. I was starting to think I should have had everyone bring helmets and sign release forms.

After I saw how crowded and crazy the bounce house was getting, I decided to set up the soccer nets and make a field and see if anyone would leave the bouncing for some soccer.  I was surprised to find that these kids chose soccer over bouncing about 75% of the time. It was so much fun watching them play and play.  I didn't need to do a thing. Of course Charles couldn't help getting in there and playing with/coaching some of his players. Haha!

The girls mainly stayed in the bounce house.  I think they were glad when the soccer started.

After the party, we went straight into the family party, where Kaleb got to open gifts from us and grandparents.  He told us all he wanted was a jet pack so he could fly, and power wheels.  Well, since the jetpack isn't happening, and power wheels are too expensive, we decided to give him 100 One-dollar bills. That way he could either save for power wheels or go on a shopping spree.

He was so excited to see so much money. I thought for sure he's want to go out and spend it, but he has decided to save it for power wheels.  So we looked online to find which one he wanted so he would know how much more to save and he chose a 2 seater Jeep. With the money he got from us, and Grandma and Grandpa Socci, and Kare and Curtis, we learned that he needs $103 more bucks.

When I asked him how he thought he'd come up with the extra money, he said he would save 3 from his allowance, and ask Santa for $100 for Christmas.  Haha! I told him that might be kind of steep for Santa.  Maybe he could ask for some from Santa and some more from Mom and Dad. He said, "Sure!"

 Then I told him that the soonest he could buy one would be the day after Christmas.  And that is assuming there are any left. At first he was upset by this, but then he realized there would probably snow on the ground anyway, so it wouldn't really matter. I love watching him think and solve his own problems and make his own goals. :)

The last gift he opened was from Grandma and Grandpa Ashton.  A pair of boxing gloves.  Then he came down to the basement to find...

We had been thinking about getting Kaleb a punching bag for a while because of his anger issues.  And then again, when we heard about a little fight he got into with a new kid on the block. Good thing Grandma and Grandpa got it for him, he loves it!  I love watching him concentrate on the bag and keeping his face covered while he counts out his hits. "Jab, jab, BIG PUNCH!"  I think this will be great for him.

Grandma and Grandpa also got a pair of gloves for Charles.  Good luck Charles! :)

A little about Kaleb at 7:
~Smart
~Works hard in school and is still a completely different kid there than at home.
~Hilarious
~Starting to gain control of his anger...
~Loves to play soccer
~Loves to play outside with the neighbor kids
~Likes to be chased by the girls in his class
~Likes to say prayers
~Likes to bear his testimony at Family Home Evening
~Teaches me patience everyday
~Still so thin, and still so self-conscience about it.  (I overheard him talking to Jaden one day. "I don't get it.  I eat so much candy and junk food, and I'm still so skinny. I hate it.")
~Has a mole on his butt that he is either really proud of and tells everyone about it, gives it a name, and draws pictures of it... or is very self-conscience about it and cries if anyone talks about it.
~He's a "story-teller."  Sometimes I have a really hard time knowing if he is telling me the truth.
~He stands up for his little brother when it counts.  He got into a fight with a new kid because the new kid kicked Bradley in the bum.

Lions and Tigers and...

Bears! Jaden has been in the Bear Den for 6 months and has already earned his Bear.  We told him he could take the next 6 months off of scouts.  He won't do it.  He enjoys it too much. Also his leaders really appreciate having him there. They told us they really love having Jaden in their group because he's polite, respectful, pays attention, listens well, and the other kids seem to follow his example.  Makes a momma proud. :)

Here is the skit his den performed at one of their Pack meetings. Jaden was the main character.  Of course he didn't tell me anything about this, and I had opted not to go in order to keep the crazies at home with me.  His den leaders recorded it and sent it to me.  It's really hard to hear, but I loved to see Jaden come out of his shell and do something brave like this.

Pumpkin Time