Jumpsters

Colson was part of the Jumpsters team again this year at his school.  We went to see the Jumpsters show on Mar. 21.  (Again, late with the blogging.)  These kids have been practicing since January for the show.

 These pictures are a little blurry, but it's all I got!

Colson with his gym teacher, Mr. Gaede, who is an outstanding teacher!

I was so excited to be able to go and watch this year, since last year I was home with sick kids, and hugely pregnant.  Colson did a fantastic job! 

Destination Imagination

Colson has been so lucky to be a part of the Destination Imagination team at his school this year.  These kids worked so hard for months to prepare for the tournament.  The tournament was on March 17.  (As per my usual these days, I am very late in blogging about it.)  For their challenge, Colson's team decided to build a structure and golf ball delivery device. 

 Colson's team were called the "Destination Dominators".  (Colson with the golf ball delivery device (GBDD).)

 For the requirements, the kids had to come up with a skit, and in the skit they had to incorporate their structure and GBDD.

 In the skit, Colson was the moon, and he was tired of having to share the night time sky with the stars, so he came up with a device (the GBDD) to get rid of the stars.  Part of the challenge is to see how strong their structure is.  In between putting golf balls into the structure using the GBDD, (there was a taped line that if Colson had crossed while using the GBDD, they would have been disqualified.  No pressure!) two of the kids would add weights to the structure.  Their structure ended up being one of the strongest.  It ended up holding over 175 lbs.!  The kids decided on the design of the structure and built it on their own.  And came up with the skit on their own.  Actually, as parents, we had to sign a contract that we would not interfere in any way or tell the kids what should be done.  If they asked a question, we could guide them, but the idea was for the kids to come up with everything on their own.

 In my opinion, their skit was the best.  They met all of the requirements in incorporating all they were supposed to, and there was tons of humor in it!  Colson is such a ham.  They all did amazing!  After their skit, they went up to the instant challenge room.  The parents weren't allowed to watch the instant challenge.  They did great though!  Colson's team got first place in the instant challenge in their category.  Basically, for the instant challenge, the kids are presented with a problem, and as a team, they have to figure out how to solve it using the materials that are given them.  And all in just a few minutes!

 Later that night, we went to the awards ceremony.  Colson's team got 3rd place in their category out of 14 teams!  Amazing!  Which means they are going to the state tournament, and if they make it in the top 3 or 4 (I can't remember which) they will go to the Global tournament in Tennessee.  They had one little hiccup during the skit, and if they get that fixed, their chances of going to Global are really high since they placed so high in all of their other categories.

Here is Colson with the rest of his team (minus 1) after the awards ceremony.  So excited!  The next tournament is this Saturday.  Can't wait!

Prestonisms

Preston has had some funny sayings these days, so before I forget them, I thought I better jot them down.

This one was actually from when we went to Disneyland a year and a half ago.  While at Disneyland, Trent's dad said, "Disneyland... the great money sucker."  (I'm sure the comment had to do with the fact that every time my kids saw a snack/food/drink vendor, they all of a sudden became STARVING and had to have something to eat or drink despite the fact that they had just eaten something not 10 minutes before.)  Anyway, Preston piped right in with, "Where's a money sucker? I want a sucker."  And for months after the fact, he would randomly say, "Can we go to grandpa's and see if he has any of those money suckers?"  We never could convince him that grandpa wasn't talking about a lollipop.

This one was also from a while back.  We were all sitting down eating dinner and Vivi kept talking about wanting a pet bird when she got older.  She also told us several names she would like to name her pet bird.  Then Preston piped in with, "Well, when I get a pet bird, I'm going to name him Steve!"  There was a moment of silence, and then we all busted up laughing!  Well, naturally we had to call Trent's dad right away (who's name is Steve) and tell him that Preston wanted to name his pet bird after him.  He got a kick out of that.  :)

Another one happened just the other night.  Preston was saying something about how when the sun is coming up, the moon is coming up, and when the sun is going down, the moon is going down.  I told him that actually it is the other way around.  When the sun goes down, the moon comes up, and when the moon goes down, the sun comes up.  His reply was, "No mom. That is not how it works.  You know, there is an order to all things.  Duh!"

He is really into questioning lately if things are "worth it" or not.  The funny thing though is that he doesn't always use it in the proper context.

A few weeks ago we were at a family BBQ at Janet and Steve's.  Preston was busy playing outside and wasn't interested in eating.  Finally grandpa called out to him, "Preston!  Come in and eat bud.  There's a plate in here with your name on it!"  What do you know?  He came right in.  We gave him his plate of food, and he spent a few seconds examining it, only to say, "Hey! I don't see my name on my plate!  You told me there was a plate with my name on it!"  Since it was a paper plate, we went ahead and wrote his name on it.

Preston has really been into Jinxing people these days.  He'll ask you to repeat something and say it at the same time just so he can say, "Jinx! You  owe me a soda!"  I think he's already jinxed me 12 times today. :)

The other night, Trenton had requested pigs in a blanket for dinner.  As I was preparing them, Preston asked me, "What blanket are we going to use to eats the pigs on?"  I tried to explain to him that the hot dog was the pig and the roll wrapped around it was the blanket.  He wasn't going for it.  Needless to say, we ate our pigs in a blanket on a blanket in the front yard.  :)

Then there's one of my absolute favorites.  Every night as we help the kids get ready for bed, he always asks, "Will you tock me in?", instead if "tuck".  I don't know why, but every time he says it, it just makes me giggle.

Preston sure adds some laughs to our lives!  I love that kid!

Melts My Heart

Vivi wrote a book at school the other day.  A book about 4 dogs that work together to find some food since their cupboards are bare.  The dogs names are Lenny, Woo, Stucks, and Woll.  (Love the names!)  Cute little story.  But the dedication page is my favorite part.

 

Love that girl.

Stuff

 A few weeks ago, we went to a Mitt Romney rally.  I had never been to a political rally before.  It was pretty fun.  Very high energy.  We even took all the kids!

 We went with Trent's parents.

And my mom too.  Jilly loved all of the excitement.  Every time people started cheering and clapping, she would clap too.

 Buds is an official Romney fan.  He keeps saying, "Romney's gonna win! Not Obama!"  What can we say... he's well trained.  :)

Preston got his hair cut short for the first time in at least two years.  He wasn't too sure about it at first, but after getting tons of compliments, he's feeling better about his new look. 

 I just had to post a picture of Jilly wearing this hat.  I love it!

This little one turned 10 months a couple of days ago.  She's getting so big!  She has turned into quite a climber these days.  I turned my back for just a minute the other day and she had climbed up onto the piano bench all by herself and was having a grand old time playing the piano.

I love the stage she is at right now.  I love how she waves to everyone she sees, and how she claps every time someone says "yay!"  She is such a happy and smiley little gal.  She is still in that stage where everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, she can get her hands on goes right in her mouth.  I spend half my day fishing things out of her mouth.  We sure love her.  I can't believe how close she is to turning 1!  She is growing up way too fast.

On a side note, Trent and I subbed yesterday in Primary.  We taught Preston's class.  Those kids are a hoot!!!  During sharing time, I looked over to see that one little boy had his hands down the back of his pants.  After asking him to remove his hands out of his pants, I heard the little boy sitting next to him whisper, "Okay, now you have to smell it."  I couldn't help myself... I totally busted a gut.  We took the kids on a hand washing excursion to the bathroom after sharing time.  All of them... just to be safe.

Birthdays

The end of January is birthday central in our family.  First we've got Preston's, then four days later it is mine, and four days after that, it's Steve's.  It's over a week full of party time!

Preston's birthday was on a Saturday this year.  Best day to have a birthday I tell you!  I made him a pancake breakfast, with balloon shaped pancakes, of course.  I spent the rest of the morning working on his birthday cake.  Every year when I ask him what kind of cake he wants for his birthday, (meaning what flavor) he tells me, "A choo choo train!" or "A tractor cake!" or "A race car!".  I am not a cake decorator.  Not in the least.  But his heart is so set on it, what else can I do but try?  So this year he wanted the race car cake.  He could care less what flavor it is, mind you.

 We spent a fun afternoon at Jump Street that day.  It was our first time there, and the kids loved it!  Preston especially.  I think every picture I have of him is slightly blurry because I couldn't get him to hold still for even a second!  He bee bopped all around that place.  I have never seen such rosy cheeks.

 I think this was his favorite.  Taking running jumps off a trampoline into this big pit of soft foam blocks.

After Jump Street, we came home and had a spaghetti dinner per the birthday boy's request.

 Then of course cake and presents.  Funny story... When Preston woke up the morning of his birthday, we asked him how it felt to finally be five? (He's been wanting to be five for so long!)  He told us, "I'm not five yet!  I won't be five until I have my birthday cake and blow out my candles!" 

 So here he is.  Officially 5!

 It was so cute... He got all sorts of shy while we were singing "Happy Birthday" to him.  Oh, another funny story.  Right after he woke up that morning I turned on the song "Birthday" by The Beatles for him.  I think we listened to that song no less than 30 times that day.  He loved it!  Even still he calls it "his" song and wants to hear it at least once a day.

 These kids look like they're ready for some cake and ice cream!

Present time!  He flew through those presents like nobody's business!

All in all, I think he had a great day.  We sure are grateful for the day our little Buds came into our lives!

Like I said, a few days later it was my birthday.  I had a quiet day at home while all the kids were at school, and that night we went to Olive Garden for dinner.

And of course, the balloon launch.

Trent's dad turned the big 6-0 this year.  We spent a fun night at Hacienda Colorado eating yummy, yummy food.

This little girl LOVES her grandpa.

Mom and Dad.

Butter Cheeks and dad.

Mom, Colson, and Trenton.

Trenton, Sean, and Elena, who we got to meet for the first time that night.  She's a keeper!

Janet, trying to get Dustin to smile for the camera.  I have mentioned before what a turkey he is about letting us take pictures of him.

Ha Ha!

Buds and dad.

Dad hamming it up.

Finally, a smile from Dustin, along with Buds, and Mom.

Happy 60th!

Dad singing "Happy Birthday" to himself. :)

Buds helping out with the candles.

Me, Trent, and Jilly Bean.

The next night we had a birthday get-together at Mom and Dad's.

60 balloons!

The balloon launch with all 60 of the balloons.

It was a great week and lots of fun celebrating all the birthdays!

A.K.A.

This little baby has so many nicknames, it will be a wonder if she ever knows what her real name is.  Here is a rundown of the many names she goes by:

Jilly

Jillybean

Lady

Lady Lou

Lou

Little

Chubbette

Jilly Billy

Peanut

Butter Bean

and Butter Cheeks, just to name a few.  As far as I can tell, she responds to all of them. :)

Life Aspirations

As the older kids were setting the table for dinner the other night, I kept asking Preston to put away his crayons and coloring book.  (It was kind of painful to have to ask him to do BTW since he so rarely takes time to sit and color.  He usually has too much energy to do those sorts of activities for very long. :))  Anyway, by about the eighth time of me telling him to please put his things away so he could eat, he looked up at me and cried, "But mom!  If I don't learn how to color, I'll never get a job!"  What could I say to that?  He got to color as he ate that night.  After all, I do want him to be able to get a job someday. :)