First full week of Summer Vacation

So apparently I need to take more pictures of all of the things that we do.  To celebrate the end of school we had a water balloon fight and played in the water with some of our friends in the backyard after the last day.   Then Friday Jonpa took off work and we went to lunch at Double Dave's yes that is a stack of dirty plates on the table.  The young jedi's got a kick out of how big it was, needless to say, they enjoyed themselves.  

 The following week has been a busy one, we have been swimming in our community pool, gotten sunburned (well that was me), had our normal summer Wednesday Water Day in the backyard, run errands, helped finish up the Scouts food, attended a birthday party, and gone to the library 2x already.  We also finished listening to Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke, it was enjoyable for everyone.  We were happy to find a new book from her since we love her Ghosthunter series so much.  We had to bring it in the house because Jontu was so excited to start the 3rd book in the Fablehaven series in the car next and they were enjoying the story so much.  (after getting back from the library on Saturday we all lazed around and enjoyed listening to the end of it).  

 Jonpa is spending this week with our Boy Scout Troop in Arkansas doing a 50 mile backpack trip.  Here is a picture of him leaving with the scouts on Saturday morning.  The picture below is a panoramic photo he took this morning as they were getting ready to head to church from the campground.  They start hiking tomorrow in the rain.  We are so excited for them, but we still miss dad.  Jonli said today that she didn't want to wait until Saturday for Dad to come home.

Jedi show offs

Jongr and Jontu shared some talents at their spring piano recital. The both played individually and also decided to play a duet. The song is "Do As I'm Doing."

Blue and Gold, Go Texan Day, and Other Adventures

Go Texan Day marks the beginning of the Rodeo in Houston and the school that the boys attend celebrates by having the kids perform dances they learn in PE and they all get to dress up like cowboys. It is always the last Friday in February.  

Here are the kids before school that day. 

 Jongr performing one of his dances, he really didn't want me to take his picture.  That's his "really mom" face you see there. 

 Jontu was a little bit more excited that I wanted to photograph him, he did a really great job learning all the steps for his first year.  

 One of the dances they teach the kids has a part where it asks "how low can you go?" and of course all of the kids end up laying on the floor.  It's pretty cute. 

 Jonli, Jonev, and Jontu at the end of his performance.  It is really crowded in the gym. 

 Here's Jongr at the Blue and Gold waiting for dinner to start. 

 Here's a picture of the cake that Jongr and Jonpa made.  It turned out really cute. 

 They won an award for most cub scout oriented. 

My brother Ben came to visit us before his work conference, we had a great time doing some geocaching with him and have made a goal to find at least one cache a week this year.  It shouldn't be hard since there are caches in almost every parking lot around Houston.  LOL! Thanks Ben for such a fun time and for all of the good food.  Unfortunately this is the only picture that I took of him.  We miss all of our family and wish that we could spend more time with them all.  

100 Days

Something fun happened the first week of February at our house.  Jonli has decided that she doesn't like to be in the stroller the whole time and that she can walk home from school.  It definitely takes us more time, as she likes to stop and pick up every rock, flower, and stick.  It is fun to see her be able to add this to the things that she can do with us.  She walked almost the entire little more than 1/2 mile to our house.  It was AMAZING!  

It was rainy lightly that day too, Jongr decided that he wanted to use the umbrella because its fun, not because we really needed it.   

 Jontu reached 100 days of Kindergarten, it is always a fun day and this is the craft that they made for the event in his class.  He also counted out 10 different groups of things that were edible to make a little snack for himself.  It contained things like goldfish and cheerios.  He brought it home and shared it with everyone.  

Jonpa also traveled the first week of February, we were thankful when he came home last Sunday.  I was especially grateful because I got sick at church, so I was able to come home and get into bed.  This week has been a busy week however I failed to take even 1 picture.  Jontu lost another tooth, Jongr started reading Harry Potter, Jonli and Jonev played with homemade play dough, and I finished sewing a bunch of changing pads.  I broke my sewing machine though, I think that it just needs some TLC.  Hopefully I can get it working again soon, since I have some more projects to finish up.   

We hope that you all remember to say a special I love you to those you love this week.  Happy Valentine's Day. 

October - Happy Birthday Jontu - Halloween

October has been filled with lots of fun things:

Here is a picture from a balloon festival that we went to, it was lots of fun seeing the balloons. I think that my favorite thing though was the model rocket launches.

Jontu turned 6, it is hard to believe how big he has gotten.

The boys school had a storybook parade, on Jontu's birthday, here is a picture afterwards when we are coming to pick them up. Jongr is wearing Jontu's hat from the parade and Jontu is wearing his birthday crown.

We celebrated Halloween at the zoo.

We also celebrated Halloween Plants vs. Zombies style at our ward Halloween carnival. What fun! Jontu decided that he didn't want to be a pea shooter, but a ninja instead. So much for the family theme. LOL!

Jonli's Birthday

It is hard to believe that it has already been 1 year since we welcomed a beautiful little baby girl into our family. We love her so much!

First thing in the morning with the birthday sign that we all made, Jonev especially was so happy to help color the letters.

Jontu loves to go and race his dad around the track while we are at soccer practice or games, here is a picture of him taking a time out on the bleachers. He loves to run and enjoys practicing for himself while we wait for Jongr.

Jonli's birthday fell on a night when we had soccer practice, so we took cupcakes for everyone. After we got home Jonpa decided that she needed to eat one too, even though we were planning to celebrate her birthday on Saturday. Even though it was late we sang happy birthday to her and let her eat a cupcake. She love it!

Here is a picture of her on Saturday, she was so excited to have another cake.

As you can see here from the cake smeared all over her face, hands, and the table that she really enjoyed her birthday cake. We are so thankful to have her in our family.

Easter Time

I love this time of year, it is busy and fun and full of outside activities!

This is JOntu after his second fun run, he got 22 laps this time. Jongr and Jontu didn't run together this time, it was warmer than the last time and most of the kids did less laps than they normally do.

This one is of Jongr and Jontu and some of the friends from school after the run.

Jonli sitting in here seat.

These got a little out of order, so first is the finished product of easter egg dying and the second one is the beginning of the process. Jonev decided to fall asleep before bedtime, so he wasn't able to help us dye the eggs this year.

Fun Run

Each month at Jongr's school they have a "Fun Run", each grade runs for about 20-30 min. (don't really know how long the time is). They each get paper to have their laps recorded on, then they start running and the PE teachers and other volunteers mark their laps on the paper for them as they go around. This is the first one that we have made it to this year and I talked Jontu into running with Jongr. They got 18 laps each around the hardtop at the school. It is the most laps that Jongr has gotten this year and it was lots of fun for the two of them together. Sadly I forgot to take a picture while we were there of the two of them.

I decided that I would document for you how our day begins each and every day, we say good bye to daddy. I don't know exactly how the tradition got started, but we have been standing in on the front porch waving to dad as long as I can remember. Here is a picture that Jonpa took of us in all of our morning glory. Even Jonli loves to wave and say "bye, bye". Jonev usually has a two handed wave going.

They keep on waving from the doorstep until they can't see the car anymore. It is super cute! Who knows how long this phase of life will last.

Jonli has learned to hold on while her brothers take turns pushing her on this ride on toy. She laughs as they go faster and faster. (I have to keep telling them to slow down a little, she doesn't hold on too tight yet.) It is so nice that they can all play together.

In other news this week, I went to the cannery again, it brings me such peace to buy more food for our year supply. We are far from having a whole year, but every little bit puts us a little closer and makes me happy. If only we had more room to store it in.

We are looking forward to enjoying our Spring Break this week; check back next week to see what we were up to.

Around our House and the zoo

This week we enjoyed many things and remembered to take some pictures for our photo journal. We enjoyed a trip to the zoo with some friends from our ward. Jontu, Jonev, Jonli and I were able to finally see the new African Forest at the Houston zoo, it was such a great day at the zoo. I did forget my camera though, so this is the best picture from our trip that day from my phone.

Here is Jontu standing with a stork of some variety and his map from the zoo. (we love maps)

A fun picture of Jonev, Jonli, and Jontu taken at home when they were playing around.

How I frequently see Jontu, the boys really enjoy playing the iPod and will work for the privelege.

Sometimes Jongr is so engrossed in his books, it is hard to get his attention. He is serious about his reading and enjoys whatever books we bring him home from the public library.

Jonev playing in the backyard wearing his Super E cape (thanks Aunt Shanna). It has a big letter E on the back of it and he loves the show Super Why on PBS, so this has become his cape just like the show.

Jongr recently made a bird feeder and bird house in cub scouts and enjoyed putting them up in the backyard. In the right of the picture is the birdhouse and in center the feeder. We hope that some little bird enjoys its new house.

Another thing that happened this week was the boys all got much needed haircuts. Jonev was too cute on Sunday morning and Jonpa couldn't resist snapping this photo of our cute little man. Happy March!

Potty Training

Jonev decided last Monday that he wanted to wear underwear, it wasn't what I planned for our week, but we are happy to be working on this milestone with him. He is doing great and we have had successful trips to the library (shown here at story time), the store, church, and even a birthday party.

Here is a picture of me wearing one of my projects for this week. I made this cute little apron for one of the YW in our ward who babysits for us regularly. I also made her birthday cake, but forgot to take a picture of it. I think that I am going to have to make this style of apron for myself soon, I loved the way it fit! I used this fabulous tutorial.

We had some extremely cold weather(for us) this week and so we played a lot inside. Here Jonev and Jontu decided to take all of the cushions off of the couch to play some train game.

Jonli took advantage of the cushions being off to be able to climb onto the couch. She was so proud of herself. It still amazes me how much she is learning and growing each and every day.

Jonpa worked the last half of his day on Thursday here at home and it was so cold in our kitchen that this is what he wore to stay warm.

Here are a few pictures of abnormal things found at our house on Saturday, the day after the ice storm came in. On Friday morning when I opened the door to check out the backyard I could hear the ice crackling in the trees as they swayed in the wind. I was thankful that we didn't have to go anywhere, school was cancelled and Jonpa was able to work from home.

Inspired by Shanna

I have been enjoying reading everyone's blog and seeing all of the pictures of family that we do not live close too. It really helps us to feel close to them. I realized one day recently after trying to update our blog, that I don't take many pictures anymore. I love how Shanna creates a photo journal each week and decided that I could do better.

Here is some of the things that we have been up to lately;

Jongr and Jontu both enjoying playing games on the iPod. It is one of their privileges that they enjoy earning.

Jontu with his missing tooth, the other one on the bottom is loose now too.

Jonli showing off her smile, you can see about 5 of her 8 teeth.

Jonev enjoying a marshmallow while Jongr plays with his new marshmallow shooter. See previous post.

Jonev, Jonli, and Jontu playing with their blankets on the couch, they were making forts with them.

Jonev enjoying being twisted by Jongr on the swings at the park on our way home after school. We try to stop and play at least one day a week.

Jonev and Jonli, she learned a new skill this week and we find her standing up to everything lately. It is so much fun!

We have had a great week!