Happy Birthday Jaiden!

Today Jaiden turned FOUR! Rick went into her room in the morning with a loud, "Happy Birthday!" She said, "I don't feel bigger or older. Do I look four?" I said, "Yes you do!" She exclaimed, "Let me go see!" and she ran towards the bathroom. She stood on her tiptoes and looked in the mirror and reached for the faucet. "I can reach it -- I AM four!" (Whew!)

Janika, her friend Madison, Jase, and I cooked a big breakfast in honor of Jaiden's birthday. We ate bacon, sausage, eggs, and purple pancakes!

Jaiden loves stuffed animals and dolls and she got a whole bunch for her birthday. (As if she needs any more -- her bed is already covered in them. I am not sure where she sleeps.) I got all of the toys from a neighbors garage sale a couple of weeks ago (Shhh! Don't tell! I got the entire load for under $5.00!) We even got the cake for free. Okay, so I did pick up a cute little pink swimsuit from Target too. Jaiden wanted to go swimming on her birthday. It was so cool last week (I am definitely NOT complaining about that!) that the kids weren't able to swim. But today was hot enough and so she got her wish.

Jaiden is such an ENERGETIC cutie! She loves to sit right next to Josh when they eat and is constantly right in his face (I am continually trying to teach her about respecting others' personal space but she doesn't understand that concept.) She is always running from one thing to another, dresses up in several different costumes a day, and always asks for "just one more drink," before she goes to bed. Jaiden is so playful and fun. I have a difficult time keeping up with her! She adds so much fun to our lives. We love you Jaiden -- Happy Birthday!!

Tiger Pants

Josh just barely turned two and he is already telling me what he wants to wear...like the PJ's with lions and tigers on it that he received for his birthday last month.

When it is time for bed Josh shouts, "I want tiger pants!" If they are clean, then I pull them out and he laughs excitedly like he has just reunited with a lost friend and shouts, "Tiger pants!"

But if they are not clean it goes like this...

"I want tiger pants!"
"Sorry honey, your tiger pants are dirty -- how about your soccer pants?"
"I want tiger pants!"
"They are in the wash..."
"I WANT TIGER PANTS!"

Tantrum begins. Who is this child? If I hold Josh horizontally at arm's length during a tantrum (so that I don't get kicked) then it looks just like he is swimming. "Hey look everyone," I shout, "Josh is doing the front crawl!"

Poor Josh...maybe his tiger pants will be clean tomorrow.

My Favorite Thing About Summer...

Dad's Scooter

Rick saw this scooter at a neighbor's garage sale and just couldn't resist. The kids have had fun going on short rides with dad and we figure it will save us gas money during all of his driving back and forth to Tuacahn.

Dress Up

One of Janelle and Jaiden's favorite things to do is to play dress-up. The neighbor boy comes over about everyday and those three will play for hours.

Everyday it is something different -- the dog from Blues Clues, a princess, spider-man, a dancer, a kitty...

Here is Jaiden dressed as a Hula princess (with help from Janika's friend Madison.) Those "leg warmers" are actually Hawaiian Leis. Later on she was a doctor. I have a difficult time keeping up with the costume changes. At least the kids have plenty to choose from when Halloween comes around.

Summer Time Fun!

It is always a fun day when the pool comes up! We enjoy our pool all summer long!

Except for Josh. He loved it while we were filling it and it was only a few inches deep. But now he clings to me with his arms and legs and shouts, "I wanna get out!" So we filled up the baby pool for him.

Pre-School Graduation!!

Janelle and Jaiden graduated from pre-school today!!
Here is what their teacher Mrs. Kathy wrote about Janelle:

"You got a talent girlfriend! Maybe someday I will be reading stories and novels that you wrote. Keep dreaming and imagining and drawing pictures. You're great!!"

Janelle will miss pre-school but she is very excited to start kindergarten next year!

Jaiden looks sad to be leaving...Cheer up girl! You'll be back next year! Here is what Mrs. Kathy wrote about Jaiden:

"I am always amazed at how comfortable you are in your own skin -- you roll with just about anything. You love to play-play-play and you will play with anybody!!"

In their end-of-year book each child was asked to finish the sentence, "I am happy when..."

Jaiden said, "I steal everyone's treats and they tell me "no" cause I like treats!" (Sounds like her!) and Janelle said, "Playing in the snow and making a snowman." (Good thing she has a great imagination since we never get snow here...)

These two sisters are such great friends and are together 24/7! They are only 19 1/2 months apart (although you wouldn't guess they are so close in age with their height difference!) They are so different in looks and personality but get along so well! (But of course like most siblings, they can get into some pretty intense fights too!) These girls bring so much sparkle to our lives!

Chess Champion

Ever since Jase learned how to play Chess in Scouts, he is constantly on the look out for someone to challenge him.

Every time Janika's friend, Madison, comes over he gets her to play him a game.

He finally got me to play him (no, I've never played Chess before). I was constantly asking him, "So, which way can the pawns move? What about the Knights? And the Bishop?" He was very patient and helped me along.

I even won. He totally gave it away with a big gasp and an "Oh no!" Playing it took way too much concentration. Next time I'll see if he will settle for a nice game of "Go fish."

The Talent Show (from Jani's point of view)

At my school, we have two talent shows every year. To be in it you have to audition. I auditioned for the spring talent show and surprisingly got in! We had a practice the day before. There are so many students in our school that we had to do it twice so everyone would get a chance to see it! I sang "I Whistle a Happy Tune." There were about 30 other people that were in it including a rock band, a couple of dance groups, piano players, and other singers. It was a fun experience to be able to sing in front of my whole school!

Sneak Peek of our Baby Girl!

Yesterday I had my Ultrasound that revealed that our next baby is going to be a GIRL!

Here is a 3-D picture of our beautiful baby -- notice her elbow and her little hand right above her ear. Fall won't get here soon enough!

Now for a "J" name. Let's see...our other kids' names are as follows: Janika, Jase, Jared, Janelle, Jaiden, and Josh. So we need something that doesn't sound too close to one of those names.

Here are some of my favorites so far... Jocelyn (also Janika's choice), Janae, Jenalee (or Janalee), Jenna, Jordyn, Jo... The only names I've heard from Rick so far are Jaqueline (sounds too formal to me) and Joelle (sounds too much like Janelle).

If you have a favorite girl "J" name, then let us know!

Mother's Day Madness!

We have a fun, silly Mother's Day tradition that we started about six years ago. Every Mother's Day the whole family dresses up in costumes and we have a "tea party." Everyone has to stay in character during the entire party -- accents and all. The guest of honor at the party is...you guessed it -- MOTHER!!

The highlight of the evening is taking silly pictures and then showing them on the TV. This year when Jase saw all of the goodies we were having he exclaimed, "Next time someone asks me what my favorite holiday is, I am going to say, "Mother's Day!" Then he added as a side note, "...and all my friends will think I am crazy!"

Janelle and Wendy (pregnant with Jenna)

The Girls and the Boys!

Just a couple more Mother's Day pictures....

Janika's Spring Concert

Janika had her school choir concert tonight and they sounded superb! Janika also had a solo (a few lines from the song "Popular," from the musical "Wicked.") She did such a great job on it -- all that practicing around the house definitely paid off! Way to go Janika!!

Tuacahn, Here We Come!

Well, today was the first day of rehearsals for Janika and Rick. They are thrilled to be a part of Tuacahn's upcoming production of "Les Miserable!"

They are both members of the Ensemble and Rick will be the understudy for the "Bishop" and Janika will be the understudy for "Little Eponine."

They were blown away when they saw how amazingly talented everyone was at the rehearsal! It will be a lot of work and a tremendous time commitment, but it should be a fantastic experience for both of them. The show runs every other night from the middle of June to the middle of October. Don't miss it!

So much to do and so little time...

It can be a daunting task trying to keep two pre-schoolers and a toddler occupied and happy all day long while their older brothers and sister are in school. Today they colored pictures, played with play-dough and flubber, put on their swimsuits and ran through the sprinklers, dug up the flower bed and made mud pies with the neighbor kids, took a bath after being covered in mud, ate lunch, played Boggle Jr. and Dominoes, watched TV, played with their stuffed animals, got into their brother’s stuff and lost the key to his piggy bank and ate all his candy, played the computer, cleaned their room (with help), changed into different swimming suits (the first ones were wet and dirty), filled giant plastic storage tubs full of water and played in them (we really need to get them a kiddie pool), and then drank hot-chocolate with marshmallows (because they were cold after “swimming.”) Thank goodness they have pre-school tomorrow!