Preschool Field Trip

Last Thursday we took our first official preschool field trip. I just started doing preschool with Britton again and his best friend in our neighborhood, Michael, comes to it too. On Tuesdays, we do preschool then on Thursdays we go on field trips. Each week is a different letter of the alphabet, so we went to the airport for our first field trip. Jason showed the boys all the planes and let them sit inside one of them and wear the head set. He explained what all the gadgets are for and showed them all the different parts on the outside. We watched planes take off and land and a helicopter took off right next to us. Michael has never been on a plane, so he was just in awe. Britton hasn't been flying in a really long time so he loved it too. I wished that we had arranged for Jason to take them flying. It would've been great. We decided to go over to another area of the airport and look at some of the bigger jets. Jason asked one of the receptionists if there were any pilots around who would want to show us their planes. When he came back, he was excited! He said, "We're in for a real treat--we're going to go on a G3!" The rest of us didn't even realize what that was. It's a charter jet that can fly anywhere in the world. It's all decked out with leather couches and chairs. It's the size of a regular commercial jet, but without all the seats. It probably had seats for about 20 and they were all super plush. Each one had a TV as well. The pilot showed us all the cockpit and answered all Jason's questions about everything. They talked for a long time after the boys were done looking around. I'd say for our first field trip, it was more than a success. Everyone had such a good time.

Soccer Mom

I am now officially a soccer mom! Britton had his first soccer game last Saturday. Jason is his coach and one of his best friends is on the team. So far it's been so much fun, but a bit different than I expected. I think every mom has visions of her kid being the star of the game. Britton has always been very athletic and coordinated and shown a lot of interest in sports, so of course, I figured he'd out-shine everyone on field and be a pro from day one. It didn't quite turn out like that. I should have guessed when, at the first practice, he started crying and refused to go back after Jason told him he couldn't touch the ball with his hands, but I still had high hopes for his first game. Don't get me wrong, he was really good and there were even moments of brilliance, but they were intermixed with moments of crying, laying down on the field, making faces at his teammates, picking grass, holding hands with his friends, trying to climb the goal net, and plain refusing to play anymore. It's good to know, though, that it's an age thing and all the other boys do those sorts of things, too. We're learning that the only things the coach has to do is keep his team going in the right direction and carry the crying ones off the field.
Last night, at their second game, I overheard a dad on the other team yelling, "Put down the grass, son, and go after the ball". It just made me chuckle.

Exploring

Monday morning Britton decided to make a map. As soon as he was done, he wanted to follow it, of course. So we jumped in the car and he led the way. He told me which way to go at every turn until we finally arrived at Rock Canyon Park and he said very excitedly, "this is what I drew on the map!" (That was pretty lucky since there wasn't anywhere else to go without running into the mountain) So, we set out on foot and continued exploring. I had to carry Britton's goggles the whole time, just in case we discovered a lake (even thought I knew there were no lakes there). The river was all dried up so we played in the rocks in the river bed and collected acorns under some trees and looked for squirrels. Britton and Haley had such a wonderful time. They are great explorers.

Orem Owlz

Lately we've been able to go to quite a few of the Orem Owlz games. Jason's brother James has season tickets for his family and they usually always have a couple extra. My kids love the games. The mascot is Hootz--a big owl with a baseball for a head. They used to be scared of him, but now he's their favorite thing about the games. They always have to run up and give him five or shake his hand. Haley cheers and claps whenever anyone else is and dances with all the music. She loves singing, "take me out to the ball game", too. Although, I enjoy watching football and basketball so much more, the baseball games are such a fun thing for our whole family. Maybe it's because I don't really care too much about whether they win or lose, so I don't mind so much if I don't see every second of the game. So, I'm perfectly happy to chase my kids around or go get treats or just sit and talk.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Last Saturday night, we had a movie night. We rented a movie for us to watch (Glory Road--very good) and some for the kids. Haley picked out Piglet's Big Movie and Britton picked out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II which is still probably too old for him to really like, but he thought it was cool. It was a blast from the past to when I saw the first TMNT movie in the theater. I think I was in 8th or 9th grade and I went to see it with Angie Pistorius. We thought we were so cool. I don't really think it was that cool of a thing at the time, but we didn't care. We always called each other Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, or Leonardo. We thought we were so funny. Watching parts of the movie with Britton, it was hard for me to imagine what the fascination was way back then.

Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Bears

I love chocolate coverd cinnamon bears! I think I would probably love chocolate covered pretty much anything, but they are particularly good.

Shrek Super Party

My favorite XBox game is Shrek Super Party. It is so great because you do these different "epic battles" so there is a lot of variety. But it's easy enough for a four year old to play and a two year old to believe that she's playing. And it's 4 player so our whole family can play together. It's set up kind of like a board game where each person is a different player and has a turn and depending on where they land, determines what you do. There are lots of epic battles, but there are also "daring duels" where you challenge another player, "magic mirror", "magic portals", and places where you lose points or gain points. Britton's favorite spot is marked by a pair of stinky shoes and when you land there you're sent to the "evil bog". He thinks it's hilarious.

Jason's New Calling

Jason just got called to be the new Ward Clerk. He is nervous and excited. It will be a lot more time consuming than his calling right now. But, he will learn a lot of skills like note taking and all the computer stuff that will help him with a lot of things. Our bishopric is really great so he'll be working with some great people. But, I'll have to get used to not seeing him much on Sundays. That'll take some getting used to since we're used to just hanging out all day on Sundays.

Bedroom Makeover

While Amber was here, we decided to paint my bedroom. Then, as we were painting, we decided to take out a dresser and the TV to make the room look better. So, I had to get rid of a ton of clothes (mostly Jason's) in order to make it all fit. But, when we got all finished and got everything put back together, it looked 100 times better. Much more spacious and clean.
I can't say that Jason was as thrilled about the whole transfomation as I was, but he does think it looks a lot better. Maybe I should've asked him before I just moved out his TV, but I think he'll appreciate it in the long run.
Next project is my living room. I can't wait to start. Too bad Amber can't come out for that one too.

Hooray!!!

Last Thursday Jason passed his written instrument exam! We are all so excited. (especially him) The written part is always the harder part for him. He should take his check ride in the plane in the next couple of weeks and then he'll have his instrument rating! I'm so excited!

He also finished all the rest of his classes and I think he did quite well (especially since he put it off until the very end). Grades aren't posted yet, but we have a pretty good idea of what he'll get.

Now, he has a little break and classes start up again on the Aug 23.

Procrastination=Major Stress

Jason has one more week to finish up his classes for this term. And, as usual, he's saved the bulk of the work for the very end. So, this past week he has been studying and taking tests, doing assignments, writing papers, etc. non-stop. There are lots of benefits to online classes, but this is not one of them. I think it stresses me out more than him. I try to plan to be gone with the kids the majority of each day so that he won't be distracted. And then when I'm home, I try to read his Psychology text so that I can teach him the stuff and research everything for his papers. It doesn't seem fair because I really enjoy this kind of stuff and he really hates it. I even find myself reviewing his aviation things (which I know nothing about) in my head as I go jogging each morning. I don't even know what the terminology means, but I remember all the stuff from quizzing him on it, so my brain automatically reviews it when I 'm not thinking about anything. Also, it stresses me out because I really have no control over it. So, if he takes a break or does other things, I just get really mad that he's not spending every waking second on it. It's hard for me to just sit back and watch him and let him do it his way. And he doesn't seem to fully appreciate all my helpful suggestions and reminders of the importance of all of this. I try to explain that I'm trying to help motivate not put added pressure on him, but he's not really buying that.
I'm not looking forward to this next week since it all has to be done by Friday. Luckily, he only has a few small assignments and 2 tests left. Unfortunately, one of the two tests is the written exam for his instrument rating, so he HAS to pass it in order to move forward in his career. So, the bulk of the week will be me staying away with the kids so he can just study like crazy.

The Beach

Haley just changed out of her dress into her swimming suit and she said, "I want to go to the beach ball". I guess being in Coeur d'Alene and swimming everyday has spoiled her. All she wants to do is swim all day.

Hiccups

The other day Haley came in and said, "Mommy, I do the hiccups!". She seemed so proud of herself. Then she hiccuped and smiled, "I did it again!" Each time she'd say, "I did it again!" It was so cute.