Do we look like girls with our shirts like this?

Girls, remember the good old days when you were little and tucked your shirt in like this? What? You don't? Hmmm...maybe it was just me!

April Fools!

It's a party. These party goers look pretty happy with their pizza. After pizza, they get to have yummy ?pizza? Huh? Yep, it's April Fool's Day. And the cake, well, it's a pizza. I mean, the pizza, is a cake!

Check out Tylo's new wheels!

ha! It is always such fun at our house on April Fools - especially since six years ago, our crazy little Tyler was born on that very day! How appropriate for this little one to be born on the day for playing pranks!

Every year their silly mom plays pranks on them. Usually they involve food of some sort. This year they had bugs in their lunch. Last year, I switched out the chips from their chip bags, put in honeycomb cereal and sealed them back up. One year for supper we had mashed potatoes with gravy (aka ice cream and caramel sauce) and chicken nuggets (chocolates brushed with melted butter and dipped in graham wafer crumbs). Carter cried because he didn't want gravy on his potatoes. Kayden leaned over and said, "it's ice cream!" Instantly, the tears dried up! I LOVE it!

Anyway, yes, it has taken me a long time to get this on here, but better late than never! We sure love having Tyler in our family! There is NEVER a dull moment with him around! From the "nicing his leg" first thing in the morning, to the snuggles before bed, he is a crazy, joyful, energetic, dirt loving boy!!

My New Life

Some of you have seen this on my FB, but for those of you who haven't, watch it! What an inspiring story... I follow her blog (nie nie dialogues - there is a link at the end of my blog)

oops!

I am experiencing technical difficulties with the karate video. Hopefully I can get it to work soon!

Karate Tournament

Jaren participated in his first karate tournament at the beginning of May. He was so pumped to be involved in this tourney! First, he started out with his kata. For all you non-karate people, it is basically a series of choreographed movements that the club members perform. Then, they are judged on how well they perform each kata. Jaren did pretty well. He seemed a bit nervous (as one can only imagine), but he didn't even make any mistakes. He ended up placing fifth in his belt/age class.

Next came point sparring. This is where the fun begins! The kids (and adults too) don protective head, hand and foot gear and fight for points. Jaren did very well at the point sparring. He was having a great time - not me - I was on pins and needles! Not because he was fighting, but because I wanted him to do well. Once you lose, you're out and I just wanted for him to rock it! And, HE DID! He got first place in point sparring. He had to duke it out with one of his school buddies and then the last battle - for first, was against a very fiesty girl! In this picture above, Jaren is getting his trophy for weapons sparring. He got third place in weapons sparring. Funny thing is, his school mate that he beat in point sparring, got 1st in weapons (go John)!

Jaren with his hardware from a job well done! HOORAY for you buddy!

Here is video of one of his point sparring matches.

Recylced Vehicle

For one of Jaren's class projects, they had to make a vehicle out of old or recyclable materials that they had around their homes. Linds came up with the idea of a candle car - Da Bomb, to be precise! They made this little vehicle by melting old crayons in a tin can, and pouring the wax into an old light bulb. When the wax hardened, they broke the bulb off and added nails for axels and bottle caps for wheels. Oops, I forgot that they put a string inside for the "wick" and Mom wrote the words "da bomb" on it. Pretty cool!

Tyler gets an Award!

Our crazy little dude getting the Seven Habits Hero Award!
At the boys' school, they follow the Seven Habits for Highly Effective People and each month, children from each class are awarded a certificate for following these habits. This time, it was Tyler's turn!

Tyler is trying really hard to make kindergarten a successful year. He is such a smart little dude and has been reading for awhile now. He loves going to school every day and always goes with a smiley face!

At school, he has had a few stumbles, but he is trying to remember the things that he has learned and how to be a good friend! We love you so much Tyler!