Kids are getting big

Well this week, Ari lost one but two top teeth! She lost one at home and one at school. She really was excited to lose one ay school cuz they give the kids a little treasure box to take it home in. Now today, Aiden wakes me up (the one morning I can sleep in) to tell me his top tooth is about to fall out. Well, it hasn't dallen out yet, but probably will today. He has been wiggling it like crazy. He can't let Ari beat him by two teeth for long. He has only lost three on bottom and one on top so far. And Ari has lost two on top and four on bottom. So, even when he loses his other top tooth, he is still behind Ari by one bottom tooth. And Noah, well Noah will be lucky to lose a tooth in the next few years. When we went to the dentist he said he had a lose tooth. The dentist told us he didn't have the heart to tell him that his roots are still pretty set and that it will most likely be a few years. Like his older brother, Noah probably won't lose a tooth until at least third grade! Once Aiden loses his tooth, I will post pics of both kids. But on to other things.....
Ari is gone today too. She went to Disneyland with her other family. Her 2nd mom and dad asked for their visitation rights to take her. (It's a big joke for those who don't know. Ari lives at Jessalyn's house any chance she can, so Derek and Heather are now her second mom and dad. At school this year, they told people that they were sisters and I'm supposed to be Jessa's second mom or something silly. So now Heather and Derek ask for visitations when jessa wants Ari over). Last night the two girls sang in the Ward Talent Show. They were really good. Ari loves to sing and thinks she will go on American Idol when she turns sixteen. She's almost half way there! On Mother's Day, Ari will turn eight! She is totally excited. She is going to be baptized that night at 5 pm. She just picked out her program stuff and we have her dress. All I need to get is some little things, and we'll be ready. She is having a party right after at our house for everyone who comes. We will have dinner and birthday cake. She also is having a party on this Friday for her friends. Pizza and a movie. Pretty simple I hope.
Aiden also performed in the Talent Show. He played his clarinet with a friend, Mikayla Tully. They were really good. They are in All-Star Band together at school. This is quite an accomplishment for Aiden. Usually, you hav eto play for a year or two before joining All-Star band, but after only 3 months, his teacher asked for him to try out and he made it. he is truly musically talented. he can play almost anything and can learn songs by reading music, so simply listneing to the song and then repeating it. He is excited because on May 8th, he gets to perform at Knott's Berry Farm. We are all going down there! We will take pics nad maybe a video to post if I can!
Noah is also doing well. He is the smartest little booger ever. That little boy is too smart for his own good. He has been telling his first grade class how to solve their math with Multiplication! It's easy, he says. (Multiplication is a third grade standard, but AIden showed him it once, and now he can do any problem in his little head). He is the same with reading. Put a book in front of him, and he will read it and tell you what he read. He comprehends easily and he reads extremely high levels. He also is super sporty. He just started soccer again. We put him in Spring socccer for something else to do Last week, he scored five goals. We;ll see if he tops it today. He loves to play sports and he's good at everything he tries.
Jinelle is excited that I signed her up for kindergarten next year. Every time we pass the school, se announces that that's her school. She is going to go back to the kids old school for a year, so she can have the same teacher the otehr three had for kindergarten. I figure, three kids left way above kinder level, with just one left, might as well not screw her up by having a different teacher! It's not like I have a life anyways. I can handle kids at two schools for a year. THen the following year, she'll transfer to Cypress. She is almost done with her letter recognition. She gets a little mixed up sometimes, but other times, she does it just fine. I think she is testing my patience more than I'm testing her knowledge!

Easter

We had a great Easter this year. We of course, had matching outfits for the kids. I happened to have a sweater the same color, so it worked out well.
Aiden got a finger snowboard and some books, as well as candy. Isn't he getting so grown up?!?!
Ari got a Jonas Brothers Tshirt and books, and CANDY. She is going to marry Kevin Jonas....
Noah got books, a finger snowboard, and CANDY!!! He looked so cute!
Jinelle got three tag book and CANDY! She loved her new dress and wants me to stop blogging and load her new books on her tag pen.

Easter was a lot of fun. We got up early, showered and went to church. Then right after church we went to my mom's so I could start the dinner.....but when we got over there, we noticed the keys were not in the car like I thought. Luckily, Jason got a window open and put Noah through a window and he opened the door. (Ari was freaking out thinking that the neighbors would think that we were robbers breaking in, but they know us, so it was kinda funny!) We started the YUMMY dinner, and left to change at home. We had Alex come take pics and then changed. We then picked up our missionaries.......Elder Van Wagoner and Elder Poulsen. (Elder VW is my future cousin-in-law! Not really, but we like to be hopeful!) They came back to my mom's with us and hung out until dinner was ready. Then we all had dinner. There was us, my parents, Grandma, Grandpa, Kasey and her fam, our Elders and my mom'e Elders (They called Elder VW and were jealous cuz they didn't have a dinner appt. so we told them they could come too.) We stayed for a while and then headed home, dropping of fthe elders on the way, and went to Oma's for a quick visit. Then we came home and went to bed. Overall, we had a great time!

Jason's Surprise Party

On Saturday, I gave Jason a Surprise party. I was so jazzed because he really didn't figure it out! I told him that we were going to my mom's to celebrate my Grandpa's birthday. This is the only way I could think of doing it without him figuring it out. (For those who don't know, Jason figures everything out. He figures out every present, every secret, EVERYTHING!) We did it two weeks early, so that threw him off. We had a great time with family and friends. But the best part of all was that he was actually surprised! It was great! Thanks to those who came and shared this special day with him. It's not every day that you get to turn 30! (My mom even found "Over the Hill" golf balls to decorate the cake with! Nice touch! One is already on display with Jason's collection of Golf Balls!)

Spring Break Week

Pre spring break, Ari and Aiden were in a school play. It was California Missions and More, a musical based on California History. Ari had a main part, she was Johnson, the director's assistant. She had a solo and was basically on the stage the entire play, minus one scene. She even got her own mic that was a headset one. Aiden was supposed to only play Joseph de'Galvez, the spanish visitor-general of mexico. He did this part, which he had a solo for, but then a boy dropped out a week before the play and Aiden took over his part of James Marshall which he also had a solo for. AND the boy playing Father Serra would not sing by himself and so Aiden sang with him as well, just off stage with a mic.
They both did great. They are looking forward to next year and being in Drama again. I, personally, think they were the best! I even have video to prove how well they did! maybe one day Jason will put it on the computer for me and I can youtube it or something.
NOW ON TO SPRING BREAK!
Well, we had a busy spring break week. Jason was also off, so we had tons of family time. On Saturday, we went to the park adn played. On Monday, We went to the Hesperia Zoo for a PRIVATE TOUR! (It so pays to be friends with the owners! We even got to go into the restricted wild animal section!) On Tuesday, Ari and Noah went snowboarding for the first time. They did great. Noah was crazy as usual and would point his board straight down and just take off down the mountain, while Jason was still trying to strap his own board on. Ari also did great, just a little more cautious. Aiden and Jinelle stayed home with me and we hung out at home and finished Aiden's Mission Scrapbook (which he got an 'A' on!).
Wednesday, the kids all had eye appts (Boys still have "eyes like eagles" and Ari's Left eye is still a little near sighted, just not enough to correct yet! Jinelle still has a few more letters to learn, or not mix up, before we take her in).
On Thursday, we went hiking and off-roading in my Suburban. Yes, I was scared, but it was fine. (We really need a car that is 4x4 before we go again!).
We even got pulled over by a NICE CHP officer. But no worries. No ticket! :) It was just due to Noah sitting too far forward in his seat and he was concerned for his safety.
On Friday, I took the kids to Build-A-Bear in the morning. Aiden made a black dog, Ari made a HSM Bear, Noah made a scruffy dog, and Jinelle made a Unicorn for herself and a Heart monkey for Emily's birthday (She already had a heart monkey and wanted Emily to have a matching one.). Then that night, we went to the drive-in to see Monsters Vs Aliens and Hotel For Dogs. We also, of course, stopped in at the Barstow Del Taco for Tacos! (If anyone is traveling on the 15 freeway through Barstow, you should stop at any of their Del Tacos. They ACTUALLY PUT MEAT AND CHEESE IN THE TACOS!!!) Then on Saturday, we went to Emily's Birthday party. Every day we seemed to have something to do. Kids had a blast, but we are all glad we are back to our everyday routines!
Once the kids returned to school, Jason took Jinelle up to the snow to learn to snowboard. She loved it. She was pretty good. We even got a few little videos of her snowboarding. Maybe next year we can take them again!

Haley is coming

I just found out that my cousin Haley is coming to stay with me for a week and a half. She lives in Oregon and is coming down to SUNNY California to soak up some sun and have some fun. She is seventeen and the kids love to play with her. We are excited to go pick her up and have her with us for a while.
On a side note, we are missing Jason. He is on a Man-get-a-way with a few friends. They are snowboarding in Mammoth for a few days. He's coming home in time for the kids play though, which is just around the corner.

Pay it Forward

Lucky you!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1 - I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (Though I may ask so questions during the process.
2 - What I create will be just for you.
3 - It'll be done this year (might take a little while).
4 - You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article (probably not because I really don't do those things but hey I might try :)
5 - I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Good luck!

Great Time

We had a great time in Vegas. The hotel was the best. I could have melted into the bed and to our surprise, we had a Jacuzzi tub. I guess that all rooms in the Trump have Jacuzzi Tubs. It was a nice surprise. We went and saw the Blue Man Group, and oh course, they didn't disappoint. Jason even bought us the painting that the Blue Men painted during the show. We went straight to the GiftShop and were able to buy the one and only one painted in our show. Then we took it out to the meet and greet and had them all "sign" it. The first one kissed it and put his face print on the back of the painting, and the other two thumb printed it. We also had the entire band sign it and date it for us on the back. We wanted one back in the day when we saw the first show, 9 years ago, but we didn't get it. So this time, we planned ahead. We also got stickers for our cars...so as soon as I get around to washing my car, I will be sporting a blue man group sticker on my window.
Oh, just in case you were wondering, no honeymoon baby this time....but we will keep trying!!!