Carson is off training wheels!

Carson and I haves worked on riding without training wheels before.  He could do the actual riding but the starting and stopping made him too nervous. He insisted the training wheels be put back on.  

Today out of nowhere he decided that he wanted to ride without training wheels.   We are still working on his starting and stopping but he rode around the block and made the sharper turns to go up and down the street as well. 

 He had one fall,  as he likes to try to stop with his feet instead of his brakes but he got a bandaid and got right back to it! He is very excited and wants to practice more "next day" (his version of tomorrow).

Gifting

So if you've talked to me anytime in the last year you've probably heard about buy nothing.  If not,  here's the idea.   A group is created based on the area you live in. The entire group is about gifting.   You go on Facebook and post things you don't want,  request things other people are giving and ask for things you need.   Everything is completely free,  they're gifts.   I am very active as an administrator for the site and in gifting.   It is way easier than donating since all I have to do is put it on my porch and someone I choose will come pick it up. 

Anyway.  I gift,  a lot.  From little things to big things.  There is almost always something out there waiting for its new home.   Well today I was working on some boundary maps on the computer while Carson was watching his morning cartoons.   Suddenly he came in with tape and an envelope and said "I want to give it".  I helped him tape it shut not thinking anything of it.   

A couple hours later it was time to get ready for preschool.  I went out front to grab his shoes and saw this. 

He had written his name on it and set it out on the porch next to the other gifts.   I just about cried.   This touched my heart so much.  There wasn't anything valuable inside.  Just some cards that came with their pokemon sets which give you codes for the online game.   It doesn't matter to me what it was. The fact that he wanted to give something to someone was all it took. He is only four years old.  It simply took my breath away. 

Dillon's Baptism!!!

Today Dillon was Baptized and Confirmed.  He is so happy and thrilled to have been given the opportunity.  He was surrounded by so many people that love him!  He was definitely the man of the hour and pranced around so thrilled to see everyone.  He is such a little man.  Since we ended up doing it in his cousins' ward we were able to control the entire program so everything was done by a family member.  Everyone there was family either by blood or "adopted" into the family.  Uncle Pat gave a great talk about Disneyland, oh, baptism which he compared to Disneyland which was brilliant.  The gist was that the bishop gave Dillon the ticket, Daddy got him through the gate and his goal was the castle, without getting distracted by all the other things along the way.  The path is straight and narrow.  Grandma G talked about the Holy Ghost and how being given the gift of the Holy Ghost means you'll never lose your signal.  (Her theme was cell phones).  It was all very modernized and it was wonderful!  Both people talked about these important things in ways that helped Dillon understand even better.  Uncle Scott was such a huge help in all of this.  Without him we would've been waiting until early February which would've made it very difficult for Grandma and Papa G to be there. 

 He wore that shirt for the rest of the day when we got home.

 He was SO thrilled to get his own scriptures.  Apparently I didn't get a picture but he also got the case and a little hymn book of his own.

After he was baptized, he and Daddy were supposed to be quickly changing.  Instead Dillon was super giggly and bouncy talking about how he wanted to go back in the Font.  (Uncle Scott made sure it was nice and toasty).

We are so fortunate to have such a huge network of people that love our children.  There is absolutely no doubt that they are cherished.  Congratulations my sweet boy!

Dillon's 8th Birthday!

Friday was Dillon's 8th birthday!  He has been counting down the days, not just because it's his birthday but because the VERY next day he was getting baptized!  He got up and going in the morning and they all want him to open presents.  He got to open a couple but the rest would just have to wait since Daddy had to get to work.  

He got to leave school early to go have lunch with Mommy, Kayda and Carson. Then we headed home to get together things for movie and dinner.

 Dillon, Daddy and Carson went together to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  He has been really into Star Wars lately and he was SO excited to go see it!

 Afterwards he decided he wanted to go to Azteca so we had dinner with both sets of Grandparents. He got lots of books which is great!  He is SO excited about reading them all.  He got his scout book!!! He is super pumped to start going to scouts!

This boy is amazing.  He has taught us so much about being positive, having a good attitude, loving everyone around you and always being open minded and accepting.  He is exceptional.  I am looking forward to seeing the man he becomes.  Slowly.  Very slowly.  The first eight years have gone too quickly.  

Carson Rides the BIG Bus

This isn't a great picture but I needed to document.  Thursday was Carson's first ride home on the big bus.  We talked with the bus driver to be sure that Dillon could sit with him.  The bus is incredibly loud considering it is completely full of Kindergarten, first and second graders.  He is the only preschooler on the bus coming home. He was SO excited as soon as Dillon sat down with him he was all smiles and laughs.  He was super excited to see me when it was time to get off the bus and wanted to tell me all about riding the big bus.  Dillon was so great with him!  He is more than willing to sit with Carson every time Carson rides home.  Kayda and Dillon are BOTH wonderful big siblings. 

Winter Break Shenanigans 2

We have been having quite the winter break.  We worked hard to make sure we all had a great time. 

 This is just a random picture.  Daddy went to check on the kiddos and found Kayda helping Carson play.  She would reach around and help Carson with the controls.  She is such a sweet big sister; especially how often Carson tells her he doesn't like her.

 Monday we went sledding.  We went back up to the road we went to earlier in break with sleds in tow.  We had a magnificent time!  There was already a trail going up so we turned that into our sled run and made a path next to it so that Daddy and I wouldn't make pits on the sledding trail.  The kids did great.  There were no complaints about walking up the hill or being cold.  It turned out to be sunny so we actually ended up taking off our coats and wandering around in t-shirts.

 Kayda decided to walk off the trail and the snow was too deep, she fell and had issues getting up.  Carson also fell and couldn't get up, Daddy had to pull him out of the snow.

 Our sledding hill.  We could've created a mound along that corner at the top and started up even higher but the kids were happy with the hill we used.

 Hank was hilarious.  He'd walk up the hill and then follow us down!

 Kayda decided to try going down on her stomach.  As soon as she got going the sled flipped around so she went down backwards instead!

 Beautiful Day!

 This time Kayda went down Hank was standing with me about midway.  When she got close he jumped out in front of her and started running.  When he realized she was getting REALLY close he started running with his back legs tucked up under his body.  She ended up bumping him and he got off to the side safely.

 We had lots of snow so we decided to build snow forts for a snowball fight.  It was girls versus boys.  Daddy's snow fort went much quicker.  The kids had a great time deciding on rules and then of course chucking snow at each other.

 Time to break them down!

 Dillon and I got ourselves buried in the snow!

 As we were getting in the car to leave it was just getting close to sun down. It was absolutely beautiful!

 Wednesday we went to one of the jump zones with our "summer friends" Jen, Rene, Ryan and Ethan.  Kayda and Dillon both rocked out this rock wall in no time at all.

 Carson opted for the trampoline bungee.  He wouldn't do anything but jump straight up and down but he loved it!  I wish this picture wasn't so blurry.  He was just moving too fast for the phone's camera.

 Thursday we met my friends from college and their two kids (Jesse, Kala, Rian and Madison) at the children's museum.  It was a special event for New Year's Eve.  My three ended up sticking together and playing a lot more than they did with the friends.  They had a great time exploring everything and Kayda especially loved all the extra activities and experiments.

 Watching liquid Nitrogen!  They froze a roze and deflated a balloon.

 The photo booth

 Fire fighter dress up

 Our own little cop

 This year was the second time we let kids stay up for New Years.  Carson was excited about the fireworks going off, so he and daddy went driving looking for them, with a lot of success  because our town loves fireworks.   Carson made it until 11:30.

Kayda, Dillon and Tido made it to see the fireworks. This was Tido's first year.