A Little Gloating

Mostly to remember, but also because I'm so proud.

As they say in Gilmore Girls (which I'm rewatching in preparation for the new special): "be sure to gloat a little; it's good for the skin.

Baptism Weekend

Ethan turned 8 and was baptized!  Mike's mom came out on Tuesday afternoon.  On Wednesday we volunteered in Benton's classroom.  Wednesday night Kris came in.  On Thursday and Friday we got to go to the gym together.  On Thursday night, Jil and Kris saw Mike's work and went to our favorite taco place.  Friday my mom came in and we went to our local dairy, got egg nog, and made ginger cookies.

Saturday morning we had soccer games for both boys and went to Scooptacular.  At the end of his game, Ethan scored his first goal of the season.  He was jumping up and down with his arms up in the air.  He came over and gave everyone a high five, but when he got to me, he plopped on top of me and hugged me.  It was very sweet.

 Here, Papa and Ethan are looking at the coins Papa brought him.

 Joe and Lauren got Ethan a maze ball and he never wanted to put it down.  (These pictures will NOT flip).

 Jil gave Ethan a real CTR ring.  Kris made Ethan a cozy quilt, which he LOVES.  We wanted to bring it everywhere with him.

 Mike and I got Ethan a Kindle instead of paper scriptures.  Ethan was reading scriptures on it the next day at church when they called him up to recognize him for his baptism.  He was sitting out of my reach, so I didn't get to tell him to put it down. It looked like he was playing an electronic game or something as he was walking up and back.

The baptism!

After the baptism we went to our ward Halloween party, then got pizza.  Benton crashed on Nana.

Nana and Papa left Sunday, Kris first thing Monday, and Jil on Tuesday (we got to visit Ethan's school on Monday).

It was so nice to have family with us for one of our big milestones, especially since they all had to fly in!

LegoLand

Ethan's birthday was the last weekday of Fall break.  We got up at 4am and started the drive to California.  Asher brought his favorite cat (mine from high school).  Asher stayed awake until the last half an hour of the drive, of course.  The hotel wouldn't let us check in early enough for a nap, so this was it.

 We had a hotel room with a separated bedroom and kitchen, which was awesome.  Asher was so overly tired after our first day that I had to hold him down to get him to calm down enough to go to sleep.

But he still got up before sunrise.  We went outside and wandered around and then went to the breakfast area.  There were some things out 20 minutes early, so we snacked and waited for everyone to wake up.

 On the second day, we got to spend the afternoon at the waterpark.  It was really cute watching Ethan and Benton.  They would slide together, chase each other, wrestle in the water, etc.  Even when they went down different slides, they would wait for each other before getting out again.  They may drive each other crazy, but they are lucky to have each other.  Asher was napping during this time.

 We shifted our trip to stay late on Saturday when we found out they were having a Brick or Treat night.  We paid a little extra, but got to stay until 9:30pm.  They had shows and trick or treating and other activities.

 Groot, Rocket Raccoon, Captain America (all Marvel characters).

 This is Asher's new "smile for the camera" face.

 Sunday morning some of us hung out around the hotel while others slept.  Asher was the first up, of course, and then was so tired that he crashed while we were packing up to leave.  We stayed at the hotel until he woke up and then drove home.

  Asher lost his stuffed cat and when the lost and found didn't have it, they offered us another stuffed cat to help cheer him up.  I decided to wait and go back.  Mike went back later and they still didn't have our cat, so he accepted the new cat.  I didn't know Mike went, so I checked again too.  They offered me a fish.  I realized later our mistake and emailed them, but they said it was fine.  Asher loves these animals.

October Day to Day

Ethan requested a picture with the Star Wars cut out at Target.

 We added a pirate song to music time.

 Benton was chosen as Student of the Month!  There was a celebratory breakfast at the school.  He also had a special lunch because his class was chosen as the class of the month (by the specials teachers).  Benton is doing really well in kindergarten.  I just had his parent teacher conference and they said he is a born student.  He tests WELL above average on one of the tests they showed me, can already do everything on an end of the year assessment, and is on his 5th Spanish unit.  I'm really glad he is learning Spanish so he has a challenge.  He is very enthusiastic about the Spanish.  They also said he is very well behaved, follows directions, works well with others, and makes friends easily.

 Ethan also had his conference recently.  His teacher is very sweet and quite the gusher.  She loves Ethan and the way he devours books and makes advanced connections between ideas.  She said he is definitely the top of the class in math and is constantly taking AR tests on books he has read.  He has even been announced over the school speaker for getting so many AR points.  Ethan is having a great year with a great teacher.

After Benton's breakfast, Ethan came out with me and Mike.  Ethan had the day off of school and Stacey was going to be watching Asher.  Mike and Ethan went to McDonald's for breakfast while I had a doctor's appointment and then we went to Target and Costco.  Not anything out of the ordinary, but he liked being the only kid with us.

 The boys had a week off for Fall break.  On Saturday, the whole family went to the zoo.

 There is a baby squirrel monkey, as if they weren't already cute enough.

 They asked for these pictures.

 This mom orangutan was trying to sleep and the baby was climbing all over her; I can relate.

 This Orangutan was hiding in a corner.  I wish I could relate...

 Ethan's first "babysitting" job for us.

 Ethan is officially a cub scout now.  They had a fun night with emergency personnel.

 Benton has been falling asleep while we go get Ethan from school. Kindergarten is exhausting!

 Ethan saved up for a $200 Lego set (Airjitzu Temple).  We gave him the office so Asher could be locked out when needed.  Ethan is sneaking any time he can to work on it.