Trash and DI

That was a buzz word at my house growing up. It meant that we had to go through all of our stuff and get rid of half of it. Not really, but that's what it seemed like. So we did that the other day with the desk downstairs that Melissa kind of thinks is hers. So here is the before...
We are still working on it though, so the after will come later. So far the trash pile is four bags strong! Wish us luck!

Girlie Playgroup!

Jenna's Playgroup and how Jayden Survived!

Can you imagine what 9 little girls can do to Jayden? After the ninth time (they all had to try at least once) of girls trying to pick Jayden up, he ran away saying, "I don't want it!"

They all took turns during snack time handing Jayden their trash and telling him, "Throw it away Trash Man!" (He actually liked that...)

They really liked playing Twister and thought it was funny when Jayden tried to crawl under them to reach a circle.

Really though, it was A LOT OF FUN! I know it is hard to imagine, but we had nine little girls and only 1 fight. And that was because one of the girls thought that someone had taken her toy, but then realized that we had two of them. And the one she was playing with was purple and the other girl had a pink one. They all get along really well. One little girl even handed me the bucket of animals that she was playing with. She had finished playing them and so she PICKED THEM UP because she was done. UH, can I send my kids over to her mom for some serious training? Usually we just clean up when it is about time to go. Jayden also had a great time, but we were both pretty tired when it was all over. Not because it was hard, but just because all the energy expended just keeping up with them all.

So, now do the math, 9 girls means hosting playgroup only once every nine weeks!

6/6 Tag

Joanna tagged me. I was supposed to post the 6th picture from my 6th folder and tell about it. Obviously this is one of the attempts at a Christmas card photo in 2003. Melissa would be 5, Spencer was just barely 2 and I was pregnant with Jenna. Spencer would be Jayden's current age. And Spencer has WAY MORE hair than Jayden. Especially since I just buzzed Jayden's hair, here is a video of him I took the other day...

He is singing his ABC's, but when I tried it, I didn't get any sound. So, I am going to post and then we'll see. If not, he can only sing his ABC's until P and then if I sing Q, R, S he will finish and do the "Now I ABC's Next time, Sing, Me, Me!"

Yeah, I listened and there's no sound, must be that piece of crap camera we have.

Melissa says the darndest things...

Melissa has always come up with the craziest things. She has been doing it her entire life. I only wish I blogged back then because then I would have record of all the stuff she ever did. However, the other day it probably was the pinnacle of her wisdom... She said, "Um, Mom? I hate to say this, but sometimes I think I am smarter than you..." Don't they all?

HSM3

My next door neighbor and I took our girls to go see this on Saturday. You could not believe how excited Melissa and Erin were! Jenna was excited only because she was ACTUALLY going to a movie in a THEATER. However, she was in for a REAL TREAT!

Melissa liked the movie better than number 2, but the first is still her favorite. Jenna on the other hand LOVED IT! She was up dancing in the aisles at every song! Literally! I wish I had my camera because she can really get down!

Spencer's Birthday

So, this weekend we celebrated Spencer's 7th birthday. As per tradition in our family, every odd birthday is a friend party. I figure that the even birthdays are usually significant with church, so we would keep those ones family affairs. Spencer took quite a while deciding what kind of party he wanted. First he thought that he wanted an Indiana Jones party, but I think the video game has kind of gotten him sick of that idea. I even had that one all planned out. So, then he thought maybe he would do a Kameo party. It is also a video game, but I put the nix on that one, so we went back to the good old Star Wars theme. Last week was a pretty busy week, so I thought that I would just run to Sam's Club on Thursday night and pick up a 1/4 sheet cake, they are pretty cheap, and then I would just decorate the top to be Star Wars-ish. Steve didn't get home from work until around 8:30, so I hurried out the door to make to Sam's by 9. But then as I was driving over there, there were some things I had to pick up at Walmart as well and so I figured I would just pick up a cake there with the rest of the stuff. The cakes at Walmart though are EXPENSIVE. But I figured that out too late. So instead I made my own. Which, as you can tell from the photo, it sucks, my photo that is. I did such a bad job taking pictures for his party. I really thought that I took a ton, but then when I went to download them I realized that I didn't. So, if you can't tell from the angle, that is Darth Vader on top. It didn't turn out all that bad. And Spencer was happy with it, and that's all that matters. Right?

So, what did we do? We did a Star Wars Training Academy. When the kids came, we started off with a game of "The force". I put stickers on each of their foreheads that had a different Star Wars character and they had to go around asking each other questions to figure out who they were. We played that a couple of times.

Next, we learned how to shoot some blaster guns. I had a sheet hung on one wall that had some targets taped to it, and the boys took turns shooting at the targets, and that kind of turned into the boys having a gun fight with each other. Next, I sent them on a Jedi quest in the backyard to find a crystal that was hiddent in the grass and they used the crystals to make a power core for their lightsabers that they made. I bought some pipe insulation foam so that it wouldn't hurt when they hit each other to make the light sabers out of. They made a power core out of aluminum foil and then used Duct Tape to make a handle. Then, they went out back and had a Jedi lightsaber war. That wasn't planned, but I totally underestimated how aggressive they all were. They LOVED beating on each other and that gave me time to set up dinner. We did Lightsaber dogs, with chips, and Jabba juice. (It was some green punch that my next door neighbor told me she makes for Halloween) After we ate (and this is the part that makes me sad I didn't get ANY pictures of) we went downstairs. Melissa and her friends had set up an obstacle course in the basement for the boys to go through. And I couldn't get any pictures of it after because the boys totally destroyed it afterwards. (Melissa was NOT happy about that because she and her friends took a couople of hours setting it up)

The obstacle course was set up like the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland. They had different targets set up on the wall that the boys used their blaster guns to shoot at as they went through different "tunnels" that were "ventilation shafts". They had made a giant path on the floor out of red streamers that was a lava maze that they had different step stones that they had to jump from one to the other. Then, one of the girls was standing there throwing some foam balls at them that they had to use their light sabers to deflect the balls. Then, they had some more "ventilation shafts" to go through. Then they got to a bunch of streamers that they had taped down the hall, and the boys had to crawl under, and step over to get down the hall. Then at the end of the hall, before they got in the last room, they set up some boxes that was a pretend wall that they had to blast through and then one of the girls was there dressed as Darth Vader and the boys fought her.

Once that was done, it left barely enough time for presents and cake. And in the end, we had A LOT of fun, and a BIG mess. Here's the kids enjoying playing with Spencer's new toys. I should have gotten a picture of the mess that was made. We had 12 boys come. I was just surprised how CRAZY they were. Spencer is such a mellow boy and I guess you could say it ended up with me thinking that Jayden isn't all that bad. There was one boy that could not walk past any other kid without wrestling them to the ground. Spencer told me last night that next time he wouldn't invite that kid because he couldn't stand being tackled all the time. He was also the same kid that started ripping down the obstacle course Melissa and her friends had made. You can see in the picture below that he even ripped down the targets from the sheet. I am thinking though that next time we will limit the number of friends that Spencer invites. Or just hope that they mellow out in the next 2 years because I have a hard time leaving anyone out.

What we've been up to...

It's science project time! And... WE LOVE IT! This year Melissa is doing her project on stains...

Here she is getting her fabric all ready to start the experiment...

She decided to try and make three different kinds of stain removers out of "normal" house hold items. (Notice the smile on her face... We were able to remain happy the entire project... Let's just hope that continues when she is typing up her report and doing the display board.)

Now she is preparing the stains. She did Grape Juice, Chocolate and Mud...
Now, she is treating the stains. The stain removers were made from Baking Soda and Hydrogen Peroxide, Dish Detergent and Vinegar, and Dish soap, ammonia and water.

You'll just have to come to the science fair to see what did the job! For those of you that can't, I'll tell you when she finishes her project board!

You'll just have to take my word for it!

I don't have a picture of it (No excuse, I just didn't have time). Michelle and I were on the phone Wednesday and Jayden was playing with the pencil sharpener and I asked her if anything bad could come of playing with it. I said, "The worst thing that could happen is maybe he could stick his finger in it, but then it would just maybe cut his finger a little bit and he'd have learned his lesson then right?"

But wait, this is Jayden we are talking about...

I totally didn't think of the opening up the "shavings" compartment. And then dumping it on the ground and then running his hands around in it!

So we don't jump into Christmas too fast...

Jenna learned this little song at preschool this week:

In case you can't tell, the lyrics are as follows:

I'm glad I'm not a Turkey, a Turkey, a Turkey

I'm glad I'm not a Turkey on Thanksgiving Day!

They stuff you and Bake you and then they will Taste you!

I'm glad I'm not a Turkey on Thanksgiving Day!

Halloween Night

That night we went Trick or Treating with Blaine and Lisa around their neighborhood, and then got to trick or treat to Grandma and Grandpa. Jayden got to finally get out of his costume, HE WAS HOT!

Jenna, Spencer and Melissa enjoyed checking out their "loot."And for those who are wondering... No, that's not a Christmas Tree in the background, it is a FALL tree, so don't be confused...

Halloween!

Our group of Scaries ...

Melissa was a Diva She was originally going to be a witch like she was last year, but asked if I would get her a witch wig. The wig that I got her though ended up being a bright pink instead of the red that I thought it would be. She said that it was fine, she had another idea and this is what she came up with.Spencer (as you saw before) was a Skull Ninja. Here he is without the mask.Jenna was a Bunny Rabbit. Here's Jayden as an Elephant. He didn't really like the hood, but would wear it for short intervals.

On Halloween day, we drove up to Morgan where my mom and sister Lisa live. This is Lisa's kids Brandon (also a ninja, and totally unplanned to be the same as Spencer, in fact, last year they were both ninja turtles - which was unplanned as well) Brittany is Snow White, BJ is Batman, and Bryson is a monkey.

Morgan had it's first ever Trick or Treat Street. They had blocked off the road and had it all set up with Trick or Treating and games. They had a whole schedule of events too, including Pumpkin Carving Contest, Costume Contest, Late night Movie, a BBQ and a Dance.

Melissa with one of the streets "attractions"Here are the kids waiting in line to play some games. We all started out with our jackets on, but after walking a bit, took them off. I was sure glad for the warm weather for Halloween for once!Jayden missed his nap, and was just happy to sit in his stroller and let people drop candy in his bucket.
There was a fishing game.Mini golf

And of course, lots of fun costumes to see! This is Lisa's husband Blaine with BJ's Batman mask.

There was also other "carnival" type games, but our favorite (which we didn't get pictures of) was this candy catapult. It was a catapult loaded with candy and when the kids tossed a bean bag on the target, it would shoot candy at them! I think Jenna was the only of my kids to hit it, and I think one of Lisa's kids hit the target as well!

The trick or treat street started at 3:30 and we were home by about 5 for dinner, it was a lot of FUN!