Better Late Than Never - Halloween Post

Merry Christmas and Happy Halloween! This one is late, but too cute not to post. The boys were the Mario Brothers this year, and their side kick, Jake was all dressed up as a flying turtle (from the game, for those of you who don't play). They were hilarious, and loved their costumes.

Wyatt now wants a mustache drawn on his face everyday. He only gets it at Grandma's house though because I am a mean mom!

Look at that face - he couldn't be more thrilled. Poor, poor dog who has to get dressed up every Halloween. Sorry Jake, until we don't think its funny anymore, you will probably get dressed up every single year. At least you aren't a mummy again this year, right?

Mario and Luigi getting ready to trick or treat. I think their eyebrows are the best part.

A couple of weeks before Halloween, before their costumes were finished, we hit the Pumpkin Walk at the Gristmill . They were totally excited to wear last year's costumes, and Wyatt has worn that dinosaur costume for pretty much part of every day since - super fun to potty train him in, by the way. Oh yeah, it also looks fabulous with a mario mustache at the same time - unbeatable combo.

We had to get our pumpkins from the Garden of Erda, just like every year. It has become a little tradition to head over there with Krystal and her girls - here is a picture of Jaxson and Maddy with our haul. I almost cried when I found out they were out of apples. We will have to go earlier next year!!

Cute boy.

Maddie* Wyatt* Jaxson*Clara

Free Shutterfly Christmas Cards!!!

It is that time of year again - time to hunt down addresses and find a good deal on Christmas cards. I never end up getting mine out until the last minute, so they are usually Christmas/Happy New year cards :). I got one the other day that was so, so cute and it was from Shutterfly. The quality was awesome, and they have a ton of cute choices if you go here. And then I saw on a friend's blog that they are doing a giveaway and I was so excited.

Shutterfly has a sweet deal going on if anyone needs free Christmas cards! All you have to do is post the link on a blog post and they give you 50 free cards - woohoo! That is right about the number of cards I need this year, so we will be set. Go here for the details. It took me about 5 minutes, and will save me around 60 bucks. They have some really cute holiday cards if you need one without pictures. We are going to go with one with pics, I think with some we took in Disneyland last week. We'll probably choose from some of these photo cards.

They also had some super cute wall calendars and photo books - maybe for the grandparents or Mark's office...fun ideas :).

Anyway, I hope someone else sees this and gets some free cards out of it. Someone who loves a deal as much as I do! Merry Christmas!

Nerd Day...or not.

Okay, this is not the 'Halloween Costume' post (I am behind!). This wasn't on Halloween, but the week before. It was red ribbon week at Jaxson's school, and each day had a theme (you know the kind: crazy hair day, career day, school color day). So we hadn't really been doing them that full out, and I was feeling like I wasn't a fun mom. The next day was nerd day, so I decided to be REALLY fun and dress Jaxson up like the best little nerd ever:

Total success! Except that when I got to the school that day to help in his class, I found out that it wasn't nerd day after all. Yep, you read that right. I dressed my kid up like a nerd and sent him to school and it wasn't nerd day. Apparently, they switched it to "What I want to be when I grow up" day at the last minute (I swear I didn't get that note). So as all his little kindergarten buddies were dressed up as firemen, policemen, and one ninja, he got to walk around like this all day.

His teacher said "It's okay, we'll just say he wants to be an accountant." And it was fine. He didn't seem to notice or care. Sorry to all of you accountants out there :).

Snowbird Getaway

On the balcony of our room

We needed a little bit of fun earlier this month so we decided to head up to snowbird for the night and sleepover. We had a blast swimming, drinking free hot chocolate, taking the tram to the top of the mountain, and eating a fancy breakfast. It is so funny how sleeping at a hotel is so awesome when you are a kid.

Waiting to get on the tram. They don't really get it yet, but they were excited anyway.

Heading up - I actually hated this part's guts. I love roller coasters, but anything that goes up high that is SLOW has always scared the crap out of me - ferris wheels, the top of the rocket at Lagoon, and now apparently trams. I just wanted to get off of this thing.

Checking out the scenery below with his 'telescope'.

My boys at the top. Notice the tight grip on the maniac. We packed a picnic dinner thinking we could spread out a blanket and eat it at the top. Ha! It was like 30 degrees and so foggy. We stayed at the top for a total of five minutes before we jumped back on the tram. We had to eat our dinner in our room instead.

Isn't it gorgeous there?! Swimming in the pool was awesome because you are surrounded by mountains - the boys LOVED the hot tub and Jaxson would have stayed in there all night if we had let him. I think his favorite part though was the free hot chocolate in the lobby. One of the times we were standing in line, there was a lady in front of us with a tattoo on her neck that said 'Jaxson' (even spelled right!). He saw that and thought it was the coolest thing ever - should we be worried? I'm pretty sure that Wyatt's favorite part was riding the elevator to and from our floor.

I Had to post this one because Jaxson actually took it. Pretty good for a five year old!

It was nice to get away, even just for the night. Our kids are at such fun ages to do stuff like that. We might have to make this one a tradition!

Soccer

Jaxson played soccer this year, and loved it! It is so funny to watch kids this age play a sport - it was basically just a big herd of kids crowded around the ball, throwing kicks (and sometimes elbows) wherever they could. Jaxson had a good time though, and even scored a couple of goals.
Running down the field with the rest of his team, the Monster Stompers. The kids get to pick their own team names, and there were some awesome ones. My personal favorite was the Rainbow Ninja Cougers.

Wyatt loved to come to the games because they were always at a park with a playground. Here is getting hydrated after some hard playing.

The classic 'high five line' after every game.

He was going to miss practice one night because he was at my mom's house, and we didn't think it was too big off a deal. When my mom told him he got really upset and said "But Grandma, I HAVE to go - we are a team and team's stick together!!!"

Kindergartener

I am way behind on posting, so I am going to try to catch up. First up is our little Kindergartner - how is he this big already?! I remember when they built the elementary school in our neighborhood and Jaxson was only 1 or 2, thinking it will be so long until he is in school. Holy cow was I wrong! I can't believe how fast that flew by. He was (of course) all smiles on the big day and wasn't scared or nervous at all.

But the day BEFORE school was a different story. He had to go get is immunizations and was terrified. He has seen me give myself shots a thousand times, and I always try to show him that it doesn't hurt, but that apparently didn't help. Here is right after, with his sucker for being brave (or kicking and screaming...one of the two).

Wyatt tagged along for the comedic relief. It worked :). And yes, that IS a black eye in case you were wondering. I can't remember how he did it, but super classy for the first day of school.

Wyatt making a break for it at the school - I think he wanted to stay with his brother. After we dropped Jaxson off and Mark went to work, I let Wyatt play outside on the empty school playground while I sat on the curb and cried! I totally didn't think I was going to do that. I was really excited for Jaxson because HE was so excited, but it is just a sad feeling when you have been their whole world, almost all day every day, and then they start this whole other part of their life. He LOVES it though and was so ready to go. And now I love it, too :).

Jaxson wakes up ready to go everyday, and has loved making a bunch of new little friends. His favorite thing is our rotating play group on early day - wednesdays - he calls it 'double-friend day'. We have been loving watching him learn how to read - it is sometimes frustrating, but mostly awesome to help him with this new skill. I love watching him sound out a word 20 times and then finally get it. He gets so excited and proud of himself. His teacher is Mrs. Hyre and she is great - he really likes her a lot. He loves library and computers, but recess (of course) is the best part of the day!

Look at that handsome kid - We love you Jax!!

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