Luigi

Kayden has come to love the Mario Brothers from the Wii. He insists on being called Luigi and has changed his favorite color from yellow to green. He even says that he likes green for BYU (huh?). The bonus that comes with this is he has given everyone in the family a corresponding name:

Suki (the dog)- Toad
Josh- a doggie (no correspondence here--Josh pretends to be Kayden's...I mean Luigi's pet)
Jaxon- Yoshi
McKay- Mario
Dad- Bowser
Me- Princess (Short for Princess Peach)

That is right. He calls me princess and it is priceless. Here are a few instances that I have loved the most:

Calls from the bathroom that go something like, "Princess, I need you!" or "Princess I am all done!"
Or when I am disciplining him and he doesn't agree, "No Princess!"
Or when Jeremy (aka Bowser) is giving me a kiss, "Princess I will save you!"
Then at dinner time: "Hey Princess, what's for dinner?"

A couple of times it has caught me off guard and I can't help but break character and burst out laughing.

Here is my tough boy, Luigi, a week or so ago when he got a black eye. He had a run in with the staircase and didn't fare well. He likes to act tough....

...but he is still my sweet little boy that melts my heart every time he calls me Princess.

McKay's New Smile

It all happened so fast! We went to go see our orthodontist Dr. Nord for a consultation yesterday and got braces today! Here is McKay's new smile:

He put blue and white bands on his teeth to show his BYU spirit for March Madness.

McKay wasn't exactly thrilled that I was taking his picture and threatened certain death if I posted any pictures on our blog. So if I don't post again, you know I am six feet under.

More on Jaxon Sleeping

I have posted Jaxon's odd sleeping before. But I had a another surprise and good laugh the other night when I went to go check on him. This is what I found:

Now, I am not sure why he has his shirt wrapped around his head in an Arabic manner, or even how he got his shirt to be in that position just right. Later he told me that his head was really hot and his shirt was really cold, so he put his shirt on his head to cool down. I know, it makes perfect sense--right?

Karate Kid Wannabe

This kid wants to do everything his brothers do. He took his brother's karate belt and attempted some Kung Fu....

Trust me, this kid is feisty enough that you wouldn't want to mess with his "pretend" karate moves.

Josh Is A Kindergarten Hero

Josh was the hero in his kindergarten class at school last week. He got to bring home the class pet (Curious George) to spend the weekend with us. Josh then had to write and draw pictures of what he did will George. One of the things we did with George was we took him to the BYU vs. UNLV basketball game with us and watched BYU stomp all over UNLV. It was a great game.

Here is Josh (wearing his BYU wig) with George getting ready to watch the basketball game. We even dressed George up in a BYU shirt so he wouldn't feel left out.

While we were watching the game, Cosmo came up to our section to say hello. He was nice enough to pose for a picture with Josh and George. Josh thought that was pretty cool. (We thought that was pretty cool as well.)

After the game we stopped at the bronze cougar outside the football stadium to take a picture of George with all the boys. We had a great time with George over the weekend.

We made a poster all about Josh to take to school so the kids in his class could get to know him a little better. Josh loved being the hero at school. He got to be the first in line, do the calendar each morning and had many other privileges.

On Friday we got to go to the school to talk about Josh. Here I am (along with Josh, Jeremy and Kayden) telling his class that Oreos are Josh's favorite treat. Josh brought enough Oreos to share with his class. We also told his class about all of other favorite things and things that Josh likes to do. Then his class gathered in a circle and sang the hero song to Josh. It took everything I had to blink back the proud parent tears. It was a fun week for Josh.

While we were there at the school, Jeremy (Dr. White) got to teach the kids about taking care of their teeth. (Did you know that February is dental awareness month?) He had one of the students be his assistant and Josh was the patient. Here she is using suction on Josh. The kids learned how to brush their teeth and all about going to the dentist.

Then Jeremy put a whole bunch of cotton rolls in Josh's mouth and made Josh giggle. The class thought it was pretty funny. Over all it went great and all the kids enjoyed getting a new toothbrush. Josh was excited for us to come in and share some of his class time with him. We enjoyed being there as well. We love our Joshua!

Jaxon's Story Telling

I have learned that Jaxon is a different kid at school than he is at home. In third grade this year they did a story telling unit. Jaxon wrote and told his own story about three brothers all named Jaxon (all spelled differently of course). The three Jaxons all had the same dream and then somehow got trapped in the clouds and had to find a way home. I had heard his story at home, because I made him practice. Then I heard his story at school and it had changed--a lot.

Here Jaxon is telling his story. His class was eating his story up. He was doing different voices (there was none of that at home), he was doing actions (again, none of that at home), and he was really funny! (His story was a little dry when he told it at home.) I was surprised and shocked. All of the kids in his class were laughing and then looking at me to make sure I was laughing too. He did a great job and I enjoyed his story very much.

Here Jaxon is with his teacher Miss Udy. She tells me that Jaxon is always making her laugh and that at times Jaxon gets laughing so much that he starts to cry. She also says that he is a lot of fun at to have in her class. Jaxon is one great kid! (Try and get him to tell you his story sometime. I just hope you get the version that he told at school.)

My Next Karate Kid

Josh just started Karate and he couldn't be happier about it. He is anxious to show everyone his new moves. Just try and punch him in the nose and see what happens!