Peanut

The kids all had money burning  holes in their pockets....

SO---Tyler put all his money together to buy a new Ipod Touch!  He had saved all his birthday money and other money!  I am pretty impressed he saved for this long. 
Target--Ipod---check

Paige bought Tyler's old Ipod!  Done--easy!!

Jaden-- Not so easy!
History---the night before we had watched a family movie that had a Parrot in the movie.  The animal lover that Jaden is...he wanted to buy a Parrot!  I didn't think that would be so bad.  They stay in the cage.  And, it would be cool if it could talk!  HA HA!!!!  Steve said ABSOLUTELY NO WAY EVER!!!!!!   So--I, being the awesome mom I am, told Jaden we could go look at birds and whatever else at the pet store!  In the back of my mind I was thinking we would get a gerbil or hamster or something in a cage!  L O N G story short.... the hamsters grossed us out, the gerbils too, and we did not want the rat the pet store guy was trying to get us to buy!  NO WAY!!!! 

After HOURS at the pet store, we BOUGHT A DOG!!!!!  (Another dog.  We already have one dog, Maggie!)  I am not a dog lover.  I am not animal lover!  For me to have TWO DOGS is NUTS!!!!  The things we do for our kids!!!!!  I told Jaden he better not ever say I am a mean mom, EVER again!!!

This is Peanut --  3 months old -- 3 pounds!

Non- dog lover that I am...He is stinkin cute!!!

He is suppose to grow to be approx. 6-8 pounds!

It is Jaden's dog---but everyone else loves Peanut too and want their turns to hold him!

 

But, Jaden rarely puts the dog DOWN....for others to hold it!

He carries the dog around, everywhere!  Even while he eats his breakfast!  AND YES.... 

he let Peanut eat from his spoon!  YUCK!!

Build-a-bear clothes work perfect for Peanut!

 

When we first got Peanut, he couldn't climb up or down the stairs.  
Jaden is teaching Peanut to go up!

Thank goodness we got a door on the mud room so Peanut can be locked in there---
while he's being potty trained!  

It was too cold outside for him outside (since he's so little) so we had to have 
him potty on newspapers for the first few weeks!  

And all that potty training, being held, and running around....wears them both out!!!

MUSIC Program 2nd grade

KING of the JUNGLE was the theme for the 2nd GRADE music program!!

LIONS, and TIGERS, and BEARS!!!!

Another EASY "attire requirement"--plain shirt or safari looking!  THANK YOU!

Jaden was a TIGER!!

 

I wish I knew what was so funny!!  But, for Jaden to be laughing, it must have been FUNNY!!!

CUTE!!!

Job WELL DONE Jaden!!!

Jaden's Basektball!

Jaden had decided he was NOT going to play basketball this year!  We were disappointed because he is good!!  There were team changes and he had chosen not to play! 

THEN...we got a call asking him to play and he CHANGED HIS MIND!!!!

 

Jaden, like Tyler, is an AMAZING defensive player!  I tell them they get that from ME!!!  I was always on the ground, fighting for the ball.  I always had strawberries on my knees during basketball season---from the hard floors!  Jaden is intense!  Love that boy!

Jaden also got real uniforms this year!  He also has the tall socks---although 1/2 the games (the beginning of the season) he didn't wear the black tall socks...because he didn't like them!  And, he doesn't care if he's the only one not wearing black/tall socks! 

Jaden does what he wants!  He also had 2 pairs of basketball shoes. 

 Returned 1st pair to get the 2nd pair.  ONE PICKY KID!!!

But--once we got past all that....he was ready to go!

 

 

Jaden is one FAST KID!  We are actually going to look into track for him! 

He is sooo fast, that we have to remind him to "be in control" of the ball because he runs SO FAST, he sometimes can't keep control of the basketball!

 

Jaden's team lost surprisingly at the end of the season and ended up taking 3rd in the league!  They really should have taken 1st.  (Now I sound like Steve.  I hate when he says someone "should have".  But, this is a case when they really "should have".)  They only lost 1 game through-out the regular season!  But, that's what happens!!!

 

Jaden did a great job!  He plays his heart out when he is in! 

We really hope Jaden continues to play basketball...but with him...it's season to season! 

So, time will tell! 

 



Basketball!!

We have been SOOOO busy with basketball the past few months, I haven't had time to blog about it!!  Where does time go!?  So---here are some pictures of Tyler's great season!

                              New this year:  1--the arm sleeve---keeps your shooting arm warm!  HA!

                                                     2- arm bands -- I think it just "looks cool"

                                                     3- tall socks!  (Likes the Nike Elites at $13+each!)  oh my!

                                                     4- real uniforms (not from the YMCA shirts)

  I think it's funny how one year it's no-show socks and the next year it's tall socks!  Good thing for Birthdays and Christmas -- he asked for SOCKS!  How funny is that!!



 

 

Tyler became an AMAZING defensive player this year!  He was one tough guy!   

So fun to watch him.

 

NICE SHOT!  (We're going to say it went IN--since I can't remember!)  HA!

 

Steve coached Tyler again this year!  Not necessarily "excitedly"!  Be he does a GREAT JOB with the boys!  He claims this year might be his best year "coaching" as in

 actually getting the boys to improve the most in a year's time frame! 

 And, of course, Tyler loves him coaching!

 

Tyler, Ethan, Collin, Ryan

2nd place in their league at Farha!  Great job boys!!

They actually switched "leagues" about 1/2 way through the year and moved up to a harder league and still got 2nd place!

 

**the last 3 pictures are from my phone--so not the greatest quality!**

 

Great Season BULLS!  Can't wait to see what next year brings!!!



SNOW!!!!

I am SOOOO behind on my posts! 

Someday soon I will go back and do Christmas and everything I have missed! 

 

But, the kids have been out of school for 4 days because of SNOW!!!  Yes, 4 days!!  So, I have taken a TON of pictures of all the FUN we have been having! 

 (I didn't take pictures of the non-fun/yelling/getting in trouble times!!)

 

We really did have fun!  Sledding, making a snowman, a snow fort, sledding, playing outside, yummy soups, some chores, movies in the basement, going to the movie,

crafts, and who knows what else!!

 

DAY 1---we took the kids and Hallie and Leah to "the mountain" to sled!! 

Off of Kellogg--right by the Palace, there is a great hill!  2 years ago, we saw a ton of people there sledding as we were driving by and said we wanted to go there!  Well, it took 2 years for us to get enough snow to go!!!

 

To get from the parking lot to the HILL, you have to cross this little stream!  So, we had to get 4 kids across the water.  Steve decided it was just easier to carry Paige across.

 

 

Steve stayed at the TOP of the hill to help the kids with the sleds!

I stayed at the bottom of the hill to make sure they didn't slide into the stream.

Actually, I just took pictures!

 

 

Can you tell Tyler GOT SOME AIR in the left picture??  There was a man-made bump that Tyler kept going over!  He really got some air under his sled!  SO FUN!!!

 

Then, he would have to rest on the ground!

He's not hurt Grandma...just resting!!

The kids claimed it was HARD WORK walking up the hill so many times!

 

PURE JOY!!! 

 

WHAT FUN!!!

 

And of course it's more fun when you take FRIENDS with you!!!

 

So much fun!  And, that was just a few hours of the 4 days off school!

 



This years FIRST GRADE music program's theme was WINTER!!!

I always get frustrated because we usually get a note ONE WEEK before the program....not only announcing the date (we need more than one week's notice at our house!!) BUT ALSO, telling us  the clothing attire "requirements" for the program!  This time it was fairly easy...hats/gloves/mittens/anything to do with COLD WEATHER!  We can do that!!

And-- I now ask the school office for all the music program dates at the beginning of the year...because I HAVE I KNOW more than a week before!  I usually have jewelry shows scheduled and can't change those with a weeks notice!  So, I have learned....and now we are more prepared!!  (But you will notice I do not have Tyler's music program pics for this reason...I did not have the date early enough and I had to miss it!  Not cool.  Not cool at all.)

And you can't have a WINTER PROGRAM without snowflakes the kids made!!!

(We think some of the kids forgot to dress for the "winter" program!  Maybe they didn't get the note at all!  HA HA!!)

So, another exciting, 22 minute school music program!

Paige loved it!!!  That's all that matters!!!

Football memories

Every Saturday for more than 2 months we have traveled to watch the boys play football!  Often I had to take Tyler alone because Steve was coaching Jaden and couldn't leave or had to come late to Tyler's game!  I told Tyler is was like a DATE!  Just me and him.  And sometimes we took Paige on our football date out of town!  Tyler learned that his mom is not good with directions!  We got lost more than we did NOT get lost!  And, he will tell you he was late to 2 games...because we got lost!  It kind of became a joke when it was getting close to arrival time and we had no clue where we were! 

 

I'm all about making MEMORIES with my kids!  I didn't say they were always GOOD memories!  These weren't really "bad" memories!  We laugh about it!  I told Tyler I saved him from warming up in the cold weather....when I got him there late!!

 

One memory---the entire 45 minute drive to his game (before we got lost) Tyler and I talked about HIM Driving and what type of car he would have, etc.  He asked if I thought he would get a Mustang....UM, NO!!!  So, I tried to explain you don't really "pick" your first car.  You get something old, something cheap that we can afford, etc.  So, then he started trying to spot cars on the highway that he thought maybe he could get!  It was SOOO cute!  And if you know Tyler....he asks LOTS of questions!  He does not like silence!  We talked about HOW to drive, taking the driving test, you name it, we talked about it....

for 45 min!!!  Love that sweet kid!

 

Some RANDOM end of the year pics!

 

A pep talk before the game!

 

 

And, he's down...

 

Before Tyler turned in his helmet for the year---we had to take a picture of the stickers the team earned!  This was the first year the boys earned stickers for things like:

no scoring in the red zone

keeping them to 1 TD or less

 

Tyler's team ended the year 5-3-1

 

 

And the one sticker on the front of the helmet was Tyler's INDIVIDUAL STICKER!

  Each game an individual sticker was given to the player who put forth the best effort and played the best!  This is an honor to get this sticker!

 

Awards at the end of the season! 

Coach Bantz was awesome and we are sad he is moving and will not coach again next year!