Nighttime Laughter

I love when I go to check on my kids at night and get a good laugh. I found this the other night:

Super Riding Hood

Braces No More

 Check out McKay's new smile:

McKay said that getting his braces off was just like Christmas morning: Was excited to get them off, and was excited about the outcome.  I think he is as handsome as ever.

Kayden's Alter Ego

Kayden made this guy at school.  Here is a closer look:

I think it is his inner self coming out.  There are many days when he goes from angry (like above) to this:

He likes to keep me on my toes.

Eight is Great

Josh celebrated his eighth birthday today and he enjoyed every second of it.  He came racing in my room this morning asking if he could open the big red present before everyone left for school and before Dad left for work.  We knew the evening was going to be busy, so he opened both his presents first thing this morning.

I am eight!

Heavy, heavy... (And boy was it heavy!)

Josh has been talking about wanting a Ripstik since he rode his friend's a few months ago.  He hasn't forgotten and every time anyone asked him what he wanted for his birthday he would tell them, "A Ripstik."  He never wavered.

Josh also got a set of Harry Potter Legos.  He wants to complete his Lego Harry Potter collection.  (Can you tell it was a little excited this morning?  Look at that face!)

Josh got ready for school super quick (minus combing his hair) so he could go outside and ride his Ripstik.  I was surprised to see how good he already was at riding it.

Look at him go!

Jaxon took a turn, but hasn't had as much experience on a Ripstik as Josh had.  He was a little wobbly.

After the craziness this evening brought with basketball, we sang Happy Birthday and had some cake.  It was a great and fun day!

Grandma and Grandpa Haacke gave Josh scriptures for his birthday.  (We celebrated November birthdays early because Grandma and Grandpa headed out of town for most of November to visit family.)  Josh loves his scriptures.  He even started reading them shortly after he received them.  He now looks forward to family scripture study each night just so he can use his new scriptures.


Eight Things We Love About Josh:

1. Josh is so animated.  We have so many pictures of him making some of the most animated faces.  His personality makes us happy.
2. Josh LOVES basketball.  He will watch Jimmer You Tube instructional videos and then go outside to the basketball court and practice what he learned.
3. Josh loves playing with his friends.  It isn't long that he is home from school before a friend is knocking on the door.
4. He is very thoughtful and kind.  He is always leaving me notes or pictures to brighten my day.
5. Josh loves to surprise me by emptying the dishwasher and then loading it with the dirty dishes in the sink.  He waits for me to discover his service and when I do, he can't hide his smile.
6. He loves school and does very well.  His teacher sings his praises every time I see her.
7. He gives great hugs.  One hug from him and your troubles melt away.
8. His prayers are so sincere.  If you are in need of some extra blessings, ask Josh to put you on his prayer list.  Every time he prays for me, I feel very humbled.

We love you Josh!  How blessed we are to have you for a boy.  You are so sweet and such a joy.  Thank you for always being so obedient and kind to others.  I am lucky to be your mom.  Happy Birthday!

Five!

My baby had his birthday today.  (He insists that he isn't my baby.  But I say otherwise.)  He turned five.  Five seems old.  I can't believe how much he has grown up.  Here are some birthday highlights:

 First thing this morning we let him open one present.  Bedhead and all.  He was so excited.

He got a Captain American action figure that is riding a motorcycle.  He thought that was pretty cool.  He liked opening his present and playing with it all day.

All day long Kayden tried to negotiate opening the rest of his presents before his dad and brothers got home.  (It must have been pure torture for the kid not being able to open his presents all day.)  Finally I told him that one of his presents (the one he wanted to open) was underwear.  Suddenly the negotiations stopped.  He asked about his other present and if he could open that one.  I told him it was Rainbow Brite.  He paused for a minute and then burst into tears.  He cried, "But I don't want underwear and Rainbow Brite for my birthday!"  So I told him he would just have to wait until his dad and brothers got home then.

 After much waiting, everyone was home.  He immediately ran to the fireplace where his presents were for the ceremoniously bump on the head so he could finally open his presents.

 It took him a bit to think of a wish to give us.  He came up with: 1- I wish you to all go on a mission. 2- I wish you all to go on another mission.  (I convinced him to change mission to vacation.)  3- I wish everything wasn't real.  (Whatever that means.)

 He received a couple of Lego Ninjago sets.  He loves the sets--especially the Lego Ninja dudes.

 Here he is happy that his presents weren't underwear and Rainbow Brite.  He was excited to start putting Legos together.

After going out to dinner as a family, we came home and had some ice cream cake and sang Happy Birthday to him.  It was a fun day.

Five Things That We Love About Kayden:

1. He loves to draw pictures and give them to us.  He often tapes them to our wall for a surprise.
2. He has a contagious giggle.  I love that sound.
3. He loves to dress up and use his imagination.  His friends love to dress up with him.
4. He often surprises us with his precocious knowledge.  What comes out of his mouth makes me smile.
5. He loves playing with his friends.  He often rides his scooter (wearing one sock--go figure) to the neighbors to collect his friends and bring them back to play with him.  He loves his friends!

Happy Birthday Kayden!  We love you and have learned so much from you.  Thank you for being my little boy.

Snowman!

I think we have already had more snow this year than we did all of last year. There was no snowman making last year until late January and even then there wasn't very much snow.  We got enough snow this last weekend to build the first snowman of the season.  Josh and Kayden were very anxious and excited.

They decided to call their snowman Buddy the Snowman.  I find that to be an appropriate name--especially his last name.

They added some arms to their snowman.  It looked like the snowman was signalling a touchdown so Josh and Kayden joined in.

Happy snowman making season!  Now where is the hot chocolate??

Josh's Pinewood Derby

Now Josh isn't officially a scout. His 8th birthday isn't for another week or so. But our ward decided his birthday was close enough and invited him to participate in this year's Pinewood Derby.

Josh and his dad adding the finishing touches to his car.  They worked on it to make it look cool and race fast.

Josh giving us a thumb's up as he sat next to the race track to see how his car did.  His car got to race 6 times.  Most of the time his car took second but one time his car took first.  Overall his car took 6th out of 24 cars.  He was so excited!  He was fun to watch.

At the end of the race showing off his award ("Best Cartoon" because the name of his car was Drago) and his cool looking car.  Frankly, I think he looks so cute in his scout uniform.

Here are a couple of videos of the big night.  The first one is of Josh's car racing.  His car took first place in that heat.  I believe his car is in lane three (from the right).  The second video is of when he got to push the starting button to make the cars go.

It was a fun successful night.  Here is to the beginning of many more years to come for Josh in scouts!

Halloween Festivities

I love fall. It is the greatest time of the year.  The temperatures are perfect--not too cold, not too hot.  This year was no exception.  We had great weather for the Halloween season.  We celebrated pumpkins, corn mazes and Halloween all month long.  We started the month by going to a pumpkin patch with Kayden's school:

Kayden and some of his class mates.  Kayden is second from the right and on his right is his buddy Tanner and on his left is his buddy Josh (I love that he is holding their hands).  He loves having his friends at school.

Kayden having fun exploring all there was to see and do at Pumpkin Land.

Kayden sticking his head out of the nose of a giant jack-o-lantern.

They had silly mirrors there.  Kayden and his friend Josh taking a look at how silly they look.

Funny kids.

We waited until fall break to have some fun at Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point.  We waited until the last day of the break and we didn't have to fight any crowds.  We went with a few friends and we had a great time.

Jaxon and his friend JD having fun on the bumpy slide.

McKay and Kayden getting ready to go down the slide.

Josh racing on down.

Riding in the carts pulled by a tractor.  Kayden attempted to ride this by himself (stinker), but thankfully his friend Josh and Josh's mom took a ride with him so he wouldn't be alone.

Josh riding with his friend Kaden, and Kaden's mom and brothers.

Josh riding on the hayride with friends Addy, Kaden and Trace (to Josh's left).

 

Kayden and McKay on the hayride.  It is fun to have McKay be a little older and helpful.  He and Jaxon and Jaxon's friend went into the corn maze with out me.  The corn maze is never my favorite so it was nice to send them in there by themselves.

The boys on a huge rocking chair--either that or my boys shrunk!

Kayden got buried in the corn pit.  He loved it.

Finally Halloween (yesterday) arrived.  McKay wasn't sure what he wanted to dress up as for Halloween.  We had only found out that he could dress up at school a day or two before.  Halloween morning he plopped himself on my bed and asked for suggestions.  He decided on this:

 

A Florida voter.  He looked great!

Kayden went to school dress up like Thor.

Jaxon was a BYU basketball player and Josh was Ironman.  (Josh couldn't wear his mask to school.)

I went to the Halloween Parade at the school and then to Josh's class Halloween party where we played Pumpkin Bowling.  We had a great time.

Josh at the Halloween Parade.  I think he makes one cute Ironman.

Jaxon at the Halloween Parade.  He was giving a high-five to the kids watching.  That is why he is looking down instead of at the camera.

Weather for trick-or-treating was perfect.  The temperatures were in the mid 70s.  It was nice not to have to stomp through the snow or freeze to death.  It was quite pleasant.  Grandma Haacke came with us trick-or-treating and Grandpa Haacke manned the door at home.

McKay and Jaxon went trick-or-treating with McKay's friend Parker (left).  They had fun together and came home with quite the loot.

Kayden and Josh all set to go.  They made it through most of the neighborhood before tiring out.  (Can I just say: Jeremy cracks me up!)

Happy Halloween!