Sandbox Fun with Grandpa

Sunny "winter" days in El Paso make great days for sandbox playing! This time Grandpa K got in on the fun!

Grandpa and Jaden created a "tow rope" to get the tractor out of the "mud"

VERY exciting!
I have no idea how this one turned out but I know he didn't come inside with a mouth full of sand so he must have found some cat-like reflexes and turned this around before a face plant!
TWO of my THREE favorite guys in the whole world!

Meeting Grandpa K

Four days old is a good time to meet your grandpa that lives on the other side of the country, right?

Alivia LOVED all the cuddles she got from Grandpa K while he was here and can't WAIT for him to come back to visit!

Seriously Cool!

Jaden and Grandma headed to the park. Grandma had sunglasses, so OF COURSE Jaden had to have his (which he has refused to wear for several months now!)

He decided he looked pretty cool!

Don't you think so!?

Fun at the Outlet Mall

With Grandma K here we had to do a little shopping. Of course, every time you go to anything like a mall, Jaden has his favorite spots!

The rides....
And the park!!! Grandma and Jaden had a fun time riding the motorcycle!!!

Christmas Stockings

We all know that things are just THINGS and not really most important in life.

However, have you every had a THING that was just immensely special to you?

Maybe it was handmade for you. Maybe it carried with it a special memory. Maybe it was given to you by someone very special and your attachment to it was more about the person who gave it rather than the thing itself.

Ever since I can remember, my Christmas stocking, handmade for me by my Grandma (my dad's mom) has been something that I LOVED! She passed away when I was fairly young

(elementary school) but during summers when I would visit for a week I began to learn things like needlepoint from her.

This stocking, and a few other homemade Christmas decorations, from her have always been among my favorites at Christmastime. I remember telling my mom OFTEN that "When I get married and have my own house I get to take my Christmas stocking, sorry, but it's MINE!" ;-)

I was also determined to make matching ones for my family members (my mom and dad had some made by my Grandma that always hung with mine as well).

SO, back in 2009, with a little boy of my own already about to celebrate his 2ND Christmas, I decided it was time to get started. I tried to find pattern books that my Grandma had used and asked other family members to send pictures of stockings my Grandma had made them for ideas but....didn't have much luck. I also couldn't find any red burlap so I decided the boy's would have to be in brown. Since I didn't have a pattern, I traced around mine to get an approximate size.
Then came the hours of stitching, figuring out the designs, drawing out sample objects on graph paper....

It quickly became clear that I should have started Jaden's BEFORE October if I hoped to finish by Christmas! So, it became a goal for Christmas 2010, and Daddy's too.

Sadly, as we were traveling and I was carrying my stocking around to use for ideas while making Jaden's, I lost mine somewhere in SD. After searching and searching and never finding it I determined I was just going to have to remake it the way my Grandma did and was SO happy I had a picture (that I had taken so I could blog about the process of making Christmas stockings) that I could use to remake it exactly the same. THAT will have to be my project for Christmas 2011, along with a red stocking for our NEW family member, Alivia. Girls in red, boys in brown - that's the way the tradition will be in my family I guess!

Around Thanksgiving, with Stephen's stocking top not yet finished, and a new baby due to be born any day, I thought I was probably going to have to give up my goal of getting the stockings done. But, since the baby was a bit over a week late, Grandma K was around and let me work on stockings a little bit, and yesterday Grandma H came over to help sew them together......

THEY ARE READY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jaden was very interested in this sewing machine thing!

And, here they are!

As you can see in the picture above, my stocking was just random designs. Since I was making up the pattern for these new ones I wanted to try to do two additional things:

1) Include something special and personalized to the person I was making it for and

2) Include a religious symbol. Christmas stockings are often associated only with Santa and the more secular points of Christmas. However, since JESUS IS the reason for Christmas and I want that to be something that is clear and remembered by my family at all times in our celebrating, I wanted to include reminders of that in the stocking design.

Stephen's stocking has the trumpets and the music notes to reflect his love for and talent in music. IN keeping with the musical theme, I chose the word "Gloria" and the Angels that announced Jesus' birth as the religious symbol to appear. After a lot of thinking, I decided that the best thing to do, to reflect the reality of our world, our family, and our ministry, would be to have multicultural angels!
Since discovering trains, Jaden has LOVED them! So, even though he may grow out of them, there will always be a reminder of that early love on his Christmas stocking. Out of all the words I could have put on his stocking I chose "JOY" I guess because of the joy that he brought to my life. Truly, the "JOY" represents that which we have because Jesus came to be born and live among us to accomplish our salvation. Since we are a bilingual family (sort of - or working on it) I made sure to include the Spanish translation "Gozo." Little did I know when I chose that in 2009 that in 2010 "Gozo al Mundo / Joy to the World" from the Mariachi San Pablo Christmas CD (that Daddy sings on and wrote/arranged several things for) would quickly become one of Jaden's favorite Christmas songs! I also included the manger, star, and the gifts that the Magi brought to baby Jesus as a reminder of the REAL reason we have JOY at Christmas!
Again, I know it is not THINGS that bring true joy in life. But, I can't put into words HOW HAPPY it makes me to see these stockings and know that I get to hang them up in my house every Christmas from now on (well, until maybe my kids steal theirs to take to their homes). I hope that these little tokens of my love will be at least a fraction as special to my family members as mine from my Grandma has been to me.

And, I can't WAIT to get started on Alivia's and mine for next year!

Grilling

Grandma K sent Jaden a cool new grill, just for fun! He had a GREAT time grilling the hot dogs and hamburgers! In the winter this one may just have to come inside with us!I think I may have a budding chef on my hands!

Fun with Cousins

After our return from Mariachi tour 3 of Jaden's cousins came to stay at Grandma's house for the weekend. We tried to help out a little bit in the entertainment department and ended up having a ton of fun!

Adventure #1 - Bowling!

Getting our bowling shoes on

Bethany strutting her stuff

Waiting for the balls to come back up

Abigail discovering the fun of the ball ramp (to help the smaller kids actually get the ball all the way down the alley)

Jaden thought it was pretty cool too

hilarious actually!

and after each roll he would sprawl out for what must have been the best view of the ball heading down to the pins (or water bottles - as he called them)

Adventure #2 - Jungle Jaks

Jungle Jaks was a cool indoor park sort of place complete with places for kids to climb, run, jump, and play.

there was the foam factory where you could send foam balls up through tubes and shoot them through the big guns in a dodgeball type war

lots of places to climb and big slides.

They also have a toddler section,

where a train lover like Jaden just hung out and played with the Thomas Train table

an art section where kids can create cool things to take home,

Bethany painting her ceramic figure

Abi & Jaden painting with stencils

This was Jaden's first time with paints. He LOVED it so I think we're going to have to figure out how to do this in a "mess controlled" way at home!

see that concentration!

a beauty parlor where you can dress up or get makeup and hair done,

Abigail the princess

Bethany choosing her makeup and "glitter tattoo"

cute!

Abigail getting her hair done

(I hear she wouldn't let her mom take it out until it all fell out over 3 days later!)

bumper boats,

and a few Wii games to play with! (we didn't get that far!)

Of course, like any good business, only certain things come WITH your entrance fee, the rest (and of course the most desirable) require purchasing additional tickets.

We had a lot of fun - and learned a few lessons along the way.

So, after me realizing that girls really are very different to reason with, engage, and encourage than boys (and older kids require a much different strategy than a 2 yr old with an amazingly long attention span)

AND a few lessons in "managing your tickets"

AND a few meltdowns over "why you can't do more of certain activities after you chose to use your tickets elsewhere"

AND discussions about "why it might not be nice to swangle your 4 year old sister out of one of her tickets so you can buy something you could have had BEFORE you used some of your tickets on something else"

we all had a lot of fun!

Handyman in Training

A while ago Grandpa H was fixing a cabinet and Jaden was over at their house. Of course, when it comes to tools, Jaden wants to jump right in. He is already getting to be a pro with a screwdriver (although he’s more likely to call it “turner” – Handy Manny you know).

Here he is helping to fix the cabinet!

Dyeing Easter Eggs

The weekend before Easter a few of Jaden’s cousins were in town. He had LOTS of fun playing with them but a special activity was dying Easter Eggs. This was Jaden’s first time!

The eggs

The colors

Concentrating hard

Cousins Bethany and Rane having fun

Abigail too

Jaden got the hang of the spoon and was gentle with the eggs MOST of the time

Saying YELLOW (also see video below)

Silly mommy didn’t take a picture of the all the finished art but, it was a lot of fun! Who knew 4 kids could go through 4 dozen eggs in about 15 minutes!!!!!

Central TX

For Oma's funeral we made the long trek to Central TX. While it was a sad time, there was also a lot of joy. All of Stephen's brothers and sisters were able to come and it was the first time in a LONG time that we got to see a few of them. (Stephen's brother and wife had never even met Jaden although their kids had come to "grandparent camp" when he was a baby).

Of course, there is nothing better than sun, fresh spring air, and COUSINS!

After lunch the boys had to play in the drainage canal (dry of course)
Boy was it fun to run up and down that steep ramp
Jaden playing ball with Grandma H

We stayed in Oma's house. It has been mostly empty since she came to live with Stephen's parents although they had been there a few times to fix odds and ends. Stephen's sister and uncle spent a lot of time getting it ready for us to come.

And here Jaden had to help daddy and grandpa tidy up before the other cousins arrived
Playing games
all the cousins (plus Stephen's uncle's grandkids........I don't know what those are called! In my family I still call them cousins!)
Silly boy, silly mommy
Not maybe the BEST picture of the three of us....
Stephen's sister Laura's family
Stephen's sister Teri's family
Stephen's sister Angela's family
Stephen's brother Philip's family
Mom, Dad, bros and sisses......never a dull moment
a shot at getting everyone.....

there was a photographer....

hopefully his are better!
chillaxin' with a tootsie pop (having newly discovered candy I think this one might be an addict!)
checking out the river

telling stories
walking (running) home
playing at the park
and even a tractor to ride (don't tell the construction company working on the courthouse!)
Oma's house with SERIOUSLY the COOLEST TREE in front of it
doesn't it just SCREAM to you - CLIMB ME!!!