Bad Mother!!!

Well, I almost lost Grahm this week. We were at Miller Park playing on the playground equipment with two other families from the branch. Grahm was playing on the equipment and then it was getting close to time to go and he wandered down next to the Little League field (the fence). It was down a little hill, when he was standing you could see him. He kept bending down and I was not sure I liked the idea of him collecting cigarette butts and beer bottles, so I went to get him. He did not want to cooperate, so I told him it was time to go. I then headed back up the hill to where everyone else was (the only direction he could go was up the hill, he could follow the fence a bit, but he would still have to come back up the hill). We finished collecting all of the snacks and the 4 other boys and I went to physically collect him and he was gone!!! I was shocked! I started looking around and someone in the parking lot asked if we were looking for a little boy, he informed us that his wife took him up to the ticket office. It was very busy in the parking lot that day, they had a free prostate screening - so lots of cars coming and going. I was told that was where they had found him - scary! I went running up to the ticket office. When I got there he was being held and was not even slightly upset, he told everyone I had left! We were very lucky, the couple that found him where actually from the branch. Since then Jason keeps telling me I am not allowed to take the kids to the park.

Jayce brag!

I am sitting here not feeling like doing anything, so I thought I would write. The boys are very wild lately, we wish the weather would stay nice so they could burn up some of the energy.
We have had some great experiences lately with Jayce. His primary gave every child a Book of Mormon and a schedule to have it read by the end of the year. It is always good to have temporal influences like that to get the job done. We had been struggling prior to this to have scripture reading very faithfully. As parents you do not want your child to be the one to not complete the task. I think it is great to play on parental guilt. So we have changed and we are right on schedule; however , the last week has been a challenge. It has been a challenge not to have scripture reading, but to get through very many verses. Jayce interrupts 3 or more times per verse to ask what a word means. (We are reading the parts in 2Nephi were Jacob has been reading Isiah, whew!) We love to see his little mind working to understand the difficult concepts. I think he would understand it better if his parents had a better grasp of their gospel dictionary. It has been fun to try and explain things like justice, using everyday examples that he would encounter and then trying to explain that principle in terms of the eternities. Parenting is always a challenge. The other amazing thing about scripture reading is how in the last week his reading skills have taken off. We have been letting him read, to help keep him involved so scripture reading did not turn into Mom or Dad trying to read over the din of the boys playing. He read almost every word in his scripture last night without much help at all, 2Nephi 9:40. He always amazes us.

The CHEVY

Here are a few pics of the 1962 Chevy Impala that is now Jason's car.

Jayce's Rescue Hero Birthday Party

I am a little slow getting things posted lately. We have been busy. The Saturday after Jayce's Birthday he had a party. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate, so we had to move it to the church gym. Making a gym look like a party takes a lot more effort than the backyard.

When the guests arrived they received fire hats (thanks to the local fire department, I could not find any at the stores) and a name tag. They each were given a Rescue Hero name - Jayce Justice, Ian Eclipse, Isaac Inferno, Malaysia Medic, Marleigh Monsoon, Jack Hammer and Grahm Canyon.

After the guests arrived we had them watch a 12 minute episode of Rescue Hero's. Then we made volcanoes. Jason made one large one that they watched erupt and then we helped them with their own.

Then they had an Avalanche Rescue. We used Jayce's little tent and filled it with packing peanuts and Rescue Heroes and little animals and cars. It was all covered with a white sheet to look snow covered. They had to go in and find a certain number of toys. They each got to keep the Rescue Hero.

After that they had to complete a fire rescue obstacle course. They had to crawl under a table with black balloons (smoke, get down stay down), then run through cones, stop drop and roll, spin with the baseball bat, through beanbags at the fire on the house and run up the stairs and rescue the stuffed animal.

Next we had a meteor shower (balloons) and they had to keep them from hitting the earth. They liked this, especially when we let them pop the balloons.

Then we opened presents and he was completely spoiled. Jack Hammer gave him a beach towel and a Batman sprinkler, Ian Eclipse gave him some bath toys and bath dyes, Isaac Inferno gave him the Lightning McQueen race track and socks, Malaysia Medic gave him a Dodge remote control truck, and Marleigh Monsoon gave him a Spiderman that has a backpack that shoots water (this is cool because it is compatible with all of his Rescue Hero stuff). Matt Richards (Jason's buddy from school) gave him some baseballs and a basketball hoop and ball that have lights.

Finally it was time for Cake and Ice Cream, they had cookie dough ice cream (Avalanche). Since I have not had good luck with kids eating the cake. I made a Rice Krispie Treat cake with a chocolate marshmallow filling (so it looked like a layer cake when cut). I used red and yellow M&M's to make the Rescue Hero emblem. - no one ate it!! They also had red juice.

Each of them took home a Rescue Hero, atomic fireballs, Rescue Hero fruit snacks, a parachute guy toy, and a fire or construction vehicle. - and their hats.

I think he had fun.

Happy Birthday Jayce

Jayce had an extra special Birthday, sharing it with Easter. He was spoiled rotten by all loved ones. We made him wait to open any presents until after church and we were preparing dinner. The list of loot - a baseball mitt, a baseball tee and bat, a batman toy that shoots foam tubes, a bug lamp, a bug jar, a dino egg, basketball shorts, basketball top, warm up pants, candy, Easter shoes, and a bike. We gave him his bike last and had it down stairs in the basement. We sent him down on an errand and he walked past the bike and did not even notice at first. It was really funny, he was very excited - but it was a little cold to enjoy. All in all, I think he had a great birthday!

More Easter

A few more pictures of the boys!