June - the first half!

Okay, so this month has just been a whirlwind of activity for us and I haven't been able to really sit down and update this! So I carved out a little time tonight to get started. I figure I'll update you as much as I can tonight and then come back and finish it off in the latter part of the week. So, where to begin... The first part of the month was filled with end of the year school activity.

Jordan's MESA group had their last meeting of the year... a party really, where they celebrated their successes for the year. They had cake and goodies and did an experiment with Diet Coke and Mentos. Jade got to participate, which she thought was cool.

Jade's class walked down to the beach for the morning and explored the water and shoreline "in the spring." (They did it in the fall as well.) She loves the beach and was quite interested in the fish that came up in the net.

Jasper is super Rollie Pollie and flexible. He cracks us up because he likes to suck on his toes and he rolls back and forth from side to side while he gnaws on them.

I didn't think I'd get to put him in this outfit before he outgrew it because it wasn't good for warm weather but we had a short cold spell and I was able to put him in it!

He's gotten so big! He had his 4 month well child checkup and he was 27 and 3/4 inches and 18 lbs. Our little chunky monkey! Oh and he totally poses for pictures... as you can see! Actually, he's discovered his ears and hair and he likes to play with them... isn't that cute!

Jade is also going through a huge growth spurt and I realized that she was going to outgrow some "favorite items" purchased in Japan for her to wear. So I snapped a few pictures. Here are two of her favorite sweaters.

We had a beach Luau for our community. It was really a nice event. Everyone brought their favorite Luau side and the community provided grilled Kabobs. Everything was delicious and we all ate our fill.

The kids played on the beach and participated in some of the luau games. There was also live music provided by some of the neighbors - it was pretty good! (Guitars, steel drums, singing, etc.) Even Jeramis got into the festivities :) Jasper had fun. We took the stroller but he got tired of being locked in so I put him in the hip hammock and he was all grins.

Jordan's class also went down to the beach for their Spring visit and they did some writing and some fossil hunting. I love that it is so close to the house. I just walked down and joined in and then headed home when the class went back to school. I had to snap a photo of Jordan with his long hair.

He wants to keep growing it out but I plan to cut it before Cub Scout Day Camp so that it's easier to deal with. He says he likes his hair long because he likes it to look a little messy... that way it looks like he's been on an adventure. (This according to Jordan.)

Jade graduated from Kindergarten June 11th. She was so cute and spunky about it and from now on we have to refer to her as a 1st grader. (Haha!)

As 'celebration' the Kids and I went to Six Flags the following week and they even tried out some new rides and have discovered they like them. I alternate Jaz in the hip hammock and his stroller. He likes the hip hammock a lot and sometimes I use my sling.

I also put them in swim lessons just to give them a good review before we spend a lot of time in the water at Six Flags and friends pools.

They really liked the lessons and the instructor was great with them. Then on the 20th we had Jordan's 10th Birthday Party (He turned 10 on the 22nd) It was a Star Wars, The Clone Wars, themed party. After I put his invitation together he was so excited!

I covered our address and contact info but you can get the general idea of the invitation. He wanted a Clone Helmet for his cake so I did my best trying to recreate that as well.

He liked it and that's all that matters, right? :) His party was fun. He had 10 friends come and they were really great. We had a movie party so they watched the Clone Wars and had cake, ice cream, popcorn, candy and snacks. At the end we did presents and then sent his friends on their way. After the party we cleaned up and got ready for my parents to arrive. :)

I'll update the rest of the month later this week with pictures from my parents' visit here. Come back soon!

Finishing Up May

Wow, May usually seems like such a LONG month but this year it seemed to pass quickly.

In the last post I mentioned that Jade had a Zoo field trip where they went to the National Zoo. It was a nice day for it so I drove out and met the classes there. (Note to weary travelers... the zoo is a big hill... up... Coming down is super easy :) I took Jas in the stroller and it wasn't that big of a deal but I parked at the lower entrance .. i.e. the bottom of the hill and the school bus dropped the kids off at the front entrance which was at the top. When I caught up with them they'd just seen the Panda's and were heading downhill.

Jade really liked the Orangutans that kind of wander free through the zoo. They have these big wires above the walkways and the Orangutans just climb around on them. She also liked seeing the horses and some of the other animals but I think the highlight was that the dad that was her groups adult leader bought her and the other kids a little water fan. LOL She's so proud of that thing.

Both kids had field day at school. They really liked it. It was a pretty warm day here but I went ahead and joined them. Jade's class had it in the morning from 9:30 to 11:30.

Jordan's class had it from 1:00 to 3:00. I went home in between and had lunch and fed Jas. I think both grades found tug-of-war to be their favorite activity. Jade's group was hilarious. (I love Kindergartners!) Jade also got to Hula hoop for one activity and I was shocked to see how good she is... she could even do 3. I took some video of her.

Jordan really did great. He put his best effort in. He had a fun time doing the different activities but I think hula hooping was his least favorite. He liked having me there to cheer him on though and so I'm really glad I went back for his.

We decided that this summer our "big splurge" was going to be season passes to Six Flags again. Since it is so close to us (about 30 minutes driving) we can go out there and enjoy the huge water park and the rides during the summer. We skipped a pass for Jeramis since last year he was only about to go a few times. We got 5 get-a-friend in FREE passes that we figure we can use for him.

The day after we bought them the kids and I went to the park so I could get my parking ID done. Jade is now tall enough to ride almost every ride in the park (She is just at 48 inches.) Her favorite is the "big" swings. Jordan really likes those too but I think his overall favorite in the park is the Octopus ride.

They both like the tea cups and the one we call "slingshot" but I think is actually named Cyclone. Jas is super easy. He hangs out in the stroller with his toys and I'll get him out from time to time and carry him. He likes all the colors and sounds and he gets really excited when he hears music. He doesn't like the train whistle though... that made him cry.

We got Jas an excersaucer as well this Month and he loves to stand up in it and play in it. It helps me out when I need to make dinner because he wants to be able to see me but he can't do that so well from his play mat on the floor. So this is a great place to park him.

He also has discovered some of his new toys and he eats everything. His favorite for about a week was this brown teddy bear. He'd cuddle it, gnaw on its fur and throw it around. He's on a kick with a stuffed dragonfly now but he still likes his bear. He also has an attachment to a rattle we bought in Japan for Jade and somehow it has managed to make it through the years without a scar on it. He has now placed his claim and it is in the bag of toys we tote to and from places.

Jas turned 4 months on the 28th. It's been a good 4 months so far. He's trying hard to roll over from his back to his stomach now.

He can get almost all the way over but his shoulder gets in the way. He likes tummy time and will sometimes roll back onto his back when he's tired. He wiggles and kicks a lot and likes to move. He's very expressive and has just started the baby squeals.

He likes to giggle and laugh too. He doesn't like to sleep and so he will cry and scream when he realizes he's tired. We have to walk him around until he calms down and then he'll finish nursing or he'll just fall asleep in our arms. It's funny because the cry he uses sounds so much like he's saying, "I don't want to sleep... don't make me.." The funniest part is that he's usually nursing when this happens and so he'll push away like he's done eating but as soon as I hook myself back together he tried to eat through my shirt. So I'll let him eat some more and within a few seconds he's pulling off again and crying. It's kind of annoying at times when I need to get him fed but I actually think it is funny (ya that's kind of mean of me, right?)

He's also discovered his toes. I think this is one of those milestones that are cute. He likes to hold them and put them into his mouth. I just took a video of him eating them and I'll post it on the next update.

I've been making some more stuff for the kids and took a few more pictures.

Melissa showed me how to do the "bling" on T-Shirts and so I made Jade a skull on this shirt for Jade. I'm not sure if you can make it out though... I'll have to take a better, up close, picture later.

I used an iron-on to make this onesie for Jas.

Here is a picture of another pair of jeans I repaired for Jade... there's kind of a funny / sad story behind the picture though..

I'm sure you can see the big bandage on Jade's chin... well, a few days before this shot Jade and Jordan had asked me if they could go outside and ride their scooters. Usually I don't let them go out alone because I'm really pretty much an overprotective mother. But this one day I was right in the middle of making dinner and I thought, "You know what, they're getting older... maybe if they're together it'll be fine." So I opened the windows so I could hear them and told them to go ahead. The area they ride at is behind our house. It doesn't have much traffic because the only people that use it are those of us with garages behind the house. So I knew it would be pretty safe from vehicles. In the past I'd shown the kids the boundaries for how far they could go up and down the road and up the hill that comes down from the main street. Jade has tried to ride that hill before and I told her that it was too steep and dangerous because she could loose control of the scooter and crash, especially since there are often loose rocks on the road. Since they are suppose to wear protective gear on their arms, knees and head I wasn't too worried about injuries. WELL... let's just say that things didn't go well. Jade decided that she was fine going down the big hill and that I probably didn't know what I was talking about... So she went down it and had a major spill. I heard her start crying and pulled the food off the stove and went running down the stairs. As I was coming out the back she was coming to the house with blood gushing out of her chin and arms... She put about a 2 inch road burn on her chin, complete with gravel. There were a few deep areas that I thought might need stitches but after I got them cleaned out they weren't as bad. I had to pick the gravel out with tweezers and by the end of all that her chin was swelling up with a big bruise. So, later, I asked her how she fell and she told me she'd decided to go down the hill and something happened and she went over the bars of the scooter... to top it all off BOTH of them were NOT wearing the protective gear. This was a great teaching opportunity. HAH. I told them about the dangers and told Jade that if she had just followed the rules she wouldn't be injured and that because she chose to disobey she was now suffering an unhappy consequence. Now if only she could really LEARN from this lesson... but I have a feeling she will always be my boundary tester. Thankfully after about 9 days of wearing bandages and getting it cleaned out she is down to a little pink-ish patch on her chin. Hopefully it won't last.

Jade and I went kite flying on a pretty windy day. She had a lot of fun running back and forth to catch the currents just right.

We all went again to Six Flags the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and then again that Monday.

Jeramis and I spelled each other with the rides. We ended up going to the water park on Monday and Jas had his first "dip" in a pool. He liked it and I'm looking forward to the summer when we spend more time there.

The kids are still really enjoying having time with Jas. They like that he now "talks" to them and looks for them when they come in the room. All three of them are just darling and I feel so lucky to have them.

Jordan likes to help Jasper practice sitting up. They talk and Jordan will tell Jasper about his toys and games that he wants to play with him when he's bigger. Jade is big on holding Jasper on the couch and singing to him. She's a wonderful little helper.

Jordan and Jade are still in school. (They get out the 2nd week of June because they had to make up some snow days and power outage days at school. haha. They are always so happy to have those 'surprise days' off but now they gripe a little because they have to go longer to school.) So, that's our update for now. You can see we had a lot of fun toward the end of the month. June is going to be a crazy month but I hope to come back weekly or at least every other week and update everything so that there aren't huge posts going on. A look ahead for you all - June has Jade & Jordan's class trips to the beach, Jade's kindergarten graduation, End of School for both kids, my parents are coming out Father's Day weekend and we'll be blessing Jasper at church, Jordan's birthday and birthday party are coming up and then Jordan has Cub Scout Camp at the end of the month into the beginning of July. Crazy!

( I have some more videos to add later but the website is super slow so I'll have to come back and do it in the near future.)

Come back soon and if you have a family blog please email me the link or post it in the comments!