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!

Welcome Home Grandma and Grandpa!

Six months doesn't seem like a very long time, but it seamed like a long time for us to have Grandma and Grandpa gone on a mission.  The boys made this sign for them to have hanging on their house when they pulled up into the driveway.  We sure are glad they are back!

Half The Story

We heard lots noise coming from downstairs and then silence (never a good sign in a house of boys). Jeremy went to go and investigate and was told that this (football full of cotton):

 

Did this (shattered glass on entertainment center):

I think I am missing part of the story, no?  (However, I do like the fix it job with plenty of tape.)

Jaxon's Arrow of Light

Jaxon earned his Arrow of Light a couple of months ago, but our ward took off a month or so from Pack Meetings for the summer. So Jaxon had to wait. The night came and he received his award:

Jaxon pinning on the Mother's pin.  He did a good job and drew no blood.

The proud parent picture.

Since Jaxon also turned 11, he crossed the bridge from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.  As soon as he crossed, his 11 year old scout leader took him and the other 11 year old scouts to his house to roast some hotdogs.  Jaxon loved being a Webelo and had wonderful leaders.  Brother Evenson and Brother McEwen did such a great job and did a lot of fun things with the Webelo Scouts.  Jaxon will miss them but he is looking forward to Boy Scouts--especially because his dad is the scoutmaster!

Salad By McKay

McKay and Jeremy went to Priesthood session of General Conference with Grandpa White last night and then went to dinner afterwards.  McKay's salad at Brick Oven consisted of bacon, croutons, and chocolate mousse:

Ew.