More fun at Hoodsport

Good thing Grandma brought a bunch of toys from her house to play with. Allie was in heaven with the doll stuff, of course. I think Grandpa was worn out. It must have been the rain.

We also had some nice games of charades. Don't ask me which one this was. I guessed kickboxing, but I was wrong.

We even got grandpa to participate, but he would only do it in his chair.

We also did some crabbing and seashell finding. All in all, it was so much fun. Jackson did come on the trip (even though he is not in many pictures). He is the little blue ball in Grandpa's arms in this picture.

Hoodsport Flooding

It rained so much there, that is was flooding. The river was blown out and was flooding over the roads. We had to take a trip to walmart to get more rain gear for Grandma, Grandpa and the kids. We loved driving around and looking at the fish swimming across the road. Look close and you wll see the fish swimming across.

Hoodsport, Wa Fishing

We took a family trip up to Hoodsport, Washington where there is great salmon fishing (Chum, Kings, and Silvers depending on the time of year). It was rainy, but the kids had a blast. Grandma and Grandpa Bowman joined us and we loved having them there to create and share memories. Grandpa, what a great catch (this is a fish skeleton).

Aaron also mananged to catch a seagull. It was hilarious. He was casting his fly rod and caught the wing of the bird in mid air. They had a heck of a time trying to get the hook out. The bird kept pecking them. I tried to tell Aaron to just catch the fish, but he wouldn't listen (ha)!

I even got to fish a little and I actually caught some.

Halloween and Fall Fun

Halloween was so much fun this year. Jace as Darth Vader

Allie as Belle

Jackson as a pumkin.

We went trick or treating with our friends, the Koehler's, and our babysitter Briana. We sat in the back of their truck with blankets and mattress'. Then we ended the night with a party at our place. The kids did doughnut eating contest, fishing pond, and ate candy. The boys watched sports and did a pie eating contest (Zach won- Good job). The girls sat and talked. We had a great time.

This was our Halloween carnival for the ward. Aaron and I dressed up as "bad to the bone Biker couple" (my hubby's idea of course).

Parenting Idea

Our class today was on Teaching Children Responsibility and Work. It was awesome. I can't begin to give you everything from the class, but I only hope to just give a little bit that can maybe help. I am basically going to just quote her. "We need to start giving our children responsibility and teaching them hard work at a young age. The best time to teach them to work is before the age of 11 years old. The best way to do this is by getting involved and helping them do the work. It will take a lot longer to do the task with them verses just doing it yourself, but we must not let this dictate wether or not we have our children work. The problem with children now days is that we feel like they are worked too hard. When they get home from school we think they need a break because they have been working all day at school when in reality (compared to back in the day) school is more play then work. Don't do all the work while your kids are napping or at school. Save the work and do it with them when they get home. So next time the dishes need unloaded or loaded wait for the chance to teach your children that responsibility. Next time the laundry needs folded wait and do it together with the children. Give them the chance to work hard. We need to do large family projects every few months. (ex. clean garage together, paint a room, do the garden, etc.) Train them to do exactly what you want them to do and show them how to do it. Throughout the week have them do their daily chores, but on Saturday have that be the day they work really hard."

Jackson

Jackson is such a joy to have in our family. He loves to give kisses and hugs. He has a great rhythm, anytime music comes on he starts rockin and movin' his shoulders back and forth. It is so adorable, you can't help but crack up. He is our blonde hair,blue eyed baby that we thought we would NEVER have. Don't ask where he came from please.
Loves Daddy like crazy (which I don't mind). It is nice to say, "Here sweetie, he wants you."He is always ready to give you a big huge grin.
Born to fish!

Halloween Fun

Grandma Holloway came up so we decided to have some Halloween fun. We made Bat-O-Lanterns. The kids loved it. They got to spray paint, cut, glue, tape, and everything you usually don't want them to get into. They turned out really cute.

Parenting Idea

So Aaron and I are taking a parenting class. I decided to post a small note on what I gained from the class. Hope it can help out someone. This week we talked about Competition vs Cooperation. It was awesome. She said we need to be careful breeding competion in our home. Kids will inevitably face competion out in the world and we can not stop that, but we can control the competion in our home. Instead of saying, "The first one ready for bed gets ice cream first!" say "when everyone is ready for bed, we can have ice cream." Make our home a WIN-WIN situation. Have games where everyone wins: (i.e. family score rather than individual scores). Like if you go bowling say, "if we get a family score of 300 we can go for ice cream." Yes kids will learn there are losers and winners out there in the world, but we need to make them feel that at home they will always be a winner. I will be posting some thoughts about past lessons later.

Fun Times

We went to the Discovery Center and that have some really fun stuff. These are glasses that distort your face. It was hilarious.
Fun with Bubbles.
Then we went to Tablerock which overlooks all of Boise. They had cool caves to hike around too.

Allie and Preschool

Catch up time. This is Allie's first day of preschool. She of course could not part with her doggy, Spot. For those of you that don't know. This dog has gone everywhere with Allie since she got it for Christmas just after she turned one. You can definately tell that it is worn. But she won't give it up for anything.
We get to ride bikes to preschool too. YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought she was tall, but I guess compared to her friend Kylee she isn't.

Jace's 6th Birthday and Soccer

Transformers of course. Good thing my friend helped me make the cake. She is awesome. Thanks Raquel.

He chose to have breakfast at IHOP. We went right when we woke up, that is why we all look so cute.
Jace is doing fall soccer. He has improved a lot since spring and he is still way taller then most the kids he is playing against.

Updates

So life has kept me really busy and I am in need of a major update. Here is just a brief one. You gotta give me credit because it is canning season- Jace started Kindergarten and he loves it. We get to ride bikes everyday to school and we love it. It is so much fun. They wanted to move him up to first grade and there were a lot of pros and cons, but the bottom line is we didn't feel good about it so he is sticking with Kindergarten. Thank Goodness!! There is no way I could have him away from me all day yet. I need to be weaned. Next we have been canning beans, peaches, pears, and apples. All I have to say on that one is Crazy, Messy, Fun, Kids eating all the apple peels, Jackson crying, and thank goodness it's done. Allie started preschool and I couldn't find the pictures so I will post them hopefully before next year (ha ha). She loves it and she is so stinkin cute. Aaron and I started a parenting class and I love it. We go once a week on Tuesday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30. It has been so helpful. Highly recommend it. Jace Started soccer again. Doing great on that one. Jace had an infected tooth that has already had a filling then pulpotomy then a cap done on it. And now in the end he had to get the dang thing pulled. So probably just in that one tooth we just gave to the tooth fairy, it was worth about $500. I wish I was the tooth fairy that collected on that one. I guess when it all comes down too it, I guess I haven't made blogging a big enough priority. I will try harder. Then next posts will have more info on Allie and Jackson.

Look at us NOW!

We both have changed so much it is crazy to see the pictures next to each other. This picture was taken the summer of 2001. The things puppy love make you do! This photo was taken in the summer of 2008. Good thing we still look happy- HA HA! Just a little bit better pose.

7 great years

So I have been slacking on the blog deal, but I have been playing a lot instead. What a great trade off. Well, it has been 7 great years of marriage for Aaron and I and it has flown by. I just wanted to post a few old photos of Aaron and I when we were dating and got married. It is so much fun to look at old photos. We both look so much younger just 7 years ago. It is crazy! He is such a HUNK!

Leaving for his mission in 1998. It was so hot at the reception hall. Can you tell?

A picture when we were courting about 5 months before we got married. I sure am grateful for such an awesome guy.

Are Children Really Listening?

There are times when I don't know if our children are ever really listening to anything that is being said. It is frustrating at times, but then they say or do something that lets you know they truly are soaking some things in. The other day my kids were playing in the living room. They were making a fort and using a sleeping bag inside the fort. I kept hearing them say to each other, "we need more food storage, we don't have enough." They then proceeded to gather food and their stuff animals inside their sleeping bag. Then they would say again, "we still need some more food storage." They kept telling me they were storing food for the winter time. It was really precious and it let me see that they were at least catching onto the concept of having "Food Storage." So if all else, at least they won't starve. HA! HA!

Disneyland

Loved Disneyland. I haven't been here since I was 13 years old so it was great to be back. This was the new Buzzlightyear astroblaster. It was a blast. I think the boys had the high score.
Cruella was so funny. She talked with the kids for a while and they really liked her. GOOD PUPS
Allie finally got to give Minnie her pictures that she had been drawing for Minnie for the past 3 months. She saved them in her drawer to bring all the way to California for Minnie.
It was so cute. Jace and his cousin Aubree got picked to do the Jedi Training. They did awesome and fought good againest Darth Vador.