Happy 3rd Birthday to Jenna!!!

Well, today is the day for my baby girl!!! She is now 3 years old...going on 16!! I cannot believe it! Jenna got a birthday party with her friends! It was sooo cute to see a bunch of little girls do girly things!! As Jenna's guests were arriving, they got to pick a tiara and decorate it with rhinestone, heart or flower stickers, and get a heart drawn on their cheeks, while the boys got a cool sports rub-on tattoo on their cheeks. Then the kids got to do a 'Toy Walk' game, kind of like musical chairs, but whoever ended up standing on the heart when the song stopped won a toy prize. Next was a 'Treasure Hunt' which ended with the pinata! And of course Jenna got sang to and blew out her 3 candles on her chocolate cupcake. And then she opened up her presents from her friends. Thanks to all who came to her birthday party, you made her birthday a lot of fun for her!

Tonight is a family party where Jenna will get to open her presents from her AZ Grandparents and from her parents and brothers...so more pics to be posted later! Happy Birthday sweet Jenna!

Jenna's Birthday Party!!

 

For Jenna's birthday party, all the girls picked a tiara to decorate with rhinestone stickers, hearts and flowers. And for those that wanted to, they got a heart drawn on their cheeks. The boys got a cool sports rub-on tattoo instead of hearts on their faces.

Jenna's Birthday Party!!

 

Jenna and her friends doing the 'Toy Walk' game. One of my friends was the center piece to walk around so that the kids understood how to play the game. The person who ended up standing on the heart when the song stopped was the winner. And of course, everyone got that chance.

Jenna's Birthday Party!!

 

Jenna playing with her Balloon Punchy thing...she won this for doing the 'Toy Walk' game everyone played. Of course, when you have a group of little kids, everyone gets to win something!!

Jenna's Birthday Party!!

 

Jenna and her friends doing the 'Treasure Hunt' and gathering up the fun things along the way to the pinata!

Jenna's Birthday Party!!

 
Jenna's first up for hitting the pinata...she was not wanting to be the center of attention at this point. But dad helped her with her first couple hits, then she was done and watched as her friends to their turns.

Jenna's Birthday Party!!

 

Jenna wanting to hit her pinata another time after seeing everyone else have their turns. This time she really let the pinata have it!

Jenna's Birthday Party!!

 

Everyone got the chance to hit the pinata while tied to the rope and got a chance to pound on it when it got knocked to the ground...but it did not break open! Because the pinata did not break easily for the young group (and no, Kyle did not need to reinforce the pinata with packing tape!) Kyle tore open the top of the pinata and tossed the candy up into the air for the kids. It was really cute to watch this young group take whacks at the pinata!

Jenna's Birthday Party!!

 

The after pinata 'frenzy' for the candy. Although, these younger kids seem to know that there is enough for everyone and did not need to rush and were very nice to each other.

Jenna's Birthday Party!!

 

Jenna getting ready to devour her cupcake...all chocolate, with lots of chocolate frosting!

Jenna's Birthday Party!!

 

After Jenna ate a cupcake, she was ready to open up some birthday presents.

Crazy Hair Day for School

This week is Spirit Week for the boys at school and on Monday, it was named Crazy Hair Day. Both of the boys wanted to have their hair combed into a Mohawk and colored. They both needed a hair cut/trim badly anyways. So I buzzed the back and sides of their head short so that you could see the mohawk or spiky hair better. This morning though the mohawk part were trimmed short like the rest of their hair.

Yesterday Grandma Goodman flew into town for a visit. She will be with us until Thursday morning. Last night was a fun time with her. We had a nice BBQ'd steak dinner (my favorite!) and then we had a campfire in our firepit in the backyard. Over the fire and hot coals we roasted marshmallows and made s'more's. Then David taught the lesson for Family Home Evening. It was such a wonderful lesson, he did an object lesson with salt and pepper. He said that 'when we are doing good, we are clean looking like the salt. But when we sin and do bad things, we are not pure, but dirty looking like the pepper. And Jesus made a sacrifice for us so we could say we are sorry and then we become clean again like the salt.' It was so awesome to hear him repeat a lesson that he learned from his Primary church class last year. It makes me proud to hear him express his testimony in a simple, yet direct way that touches your heart!

Today, Kyle took the day off from work, we kept the kids home from school today so we all could go and do something fun with Grandma. We went bowling this morning, went to a pizza buffet place for lunch, and then went to Golfland and had fun putting (or lack of skill with putting) and just had fun laughing and enjoying each others company. Then we had to come home, by now Jenna was getting too cranky. So while she napped we watched a movie together, got dinner ready, and then played some WII games together. You can see Grandma playing Guitar Hero III and Dance Dance Revolution in the pics below. Tomorrow it is back to school for the boys and back to work for Kyle. But all us girls are going out and shopping!!!

Crazy Hair day for school

 

Brody with his hairdo...He calls it his 'Spiky Mohawk Booger' and yes he chose the color green.

Crazy Hair day for school

 

David with his mohawk...yes it is purple! He chose this color, and we trimmed his hair for this fun day at school on Monday. But no worries, he got the mohawk shaved off this morning.

Grandma's visit

 

We got Grandma Goodman to play Guitar Hero III on the WII as well, and she got really good after a couple tries. I think she may not want to go home after this visit!!

Grandma's visit

 

After a fun day of being out with Grandma Goodman, we came home and got Grandma to play Dance Dance Revolution on the WII. And she was getting the hang of it after a couple tries. What fun she and Brody had dancing!

David's Class Fieldtrip to the Oakland Zoo

This past Tuesday was a fieldtrip to the zoo. I got the chance to be a Driver/Parent chaperone. David was really excited for me to be there with him. When we got to the zoo, the kids spent the first 20 minutes in a zoo classroom with their zoo school teacher. Then the kids got to follow their zoo teacher around to some select exhibits, and there they learned about different things that the zoo keepers do for the animals. After lunch, the kids got to go with their parent chaperone to do what they wanted in the Children's zoo section for about 45 minutes before it was time to finally head back to school and get ready to go home. I myself was completely exhausted, but had a fun time. I enjoyed hanging out with my David for the day as well, we rarely get the chance to do that.

David's Class Fieldtrip to the Oakland Zoo

 

David and his class in their Zoo School Classroom. Their Zoo School Teacher talked to the kids about differences between the animals you would find in the wild and the animals in the zoo. For instance, animails in the zoo need exercise time, and they have enrichment toys to keep them busy and entertained. Animals in the wild already get exercise from searching for their own meals in the wild. (Now we all know something new!)

David's Class Fieldtrip to the Oakland Zoo

 

The class looking at the elephants. Their 'Zoo Teacher' was telling the kids that for the elephants, there are 4 or 5 Zoo Keepers that take care of just the elephants only. For the smaller animals, one Zoo Keeper could look after 2 or 3 different exhibits.

David's Class Fieldtrip to the Oakland Zoo

 

David and two girls from his class hanging out with some alligators. They thought it was cool to be able to see under the water and see how the alligators seemed to be floating on the water.

David's Class Fieldtrip to the Oakland Zoo

 

Fruit Bats hanging out...literally! The bat with it's wing haning down reminds me of a kid with the covers thrown over their head.

David's Class Fieldtrip to the Oakland Zoo

 

At the Fruit Bat exhibit, there seems to be a big one that is not behind the netting!! (David loving to act like a Fruit Bat!)

David's Class Fieldtrip to the Oakland Zoo

 

David and a friend in the petting zoo. They got to brush a goat. There was one goat that did not want anyone to touch it, and would turn it's head towards the kids. The goat was irritated, but the kids thought it was a game and kept laughing about it until the kids were told to stop teasing it.

David's Class Fieldtrip to the Oakland Zoo

 

David 'trying on' the rabbit head to hear what a rabbit would hear like. I think he looks very cuddly!!

David's Class Fieldtrip to the Oakland Zoo

 

David with all the kids in his school class, along with his teacher in the lower part of the web. Then it was time to head back to school. What a fun day of learning about how the zoo animals are cared for.