Happy Halloween

The kids were all smiles this morning as they headed out the door for school in their Halloween costumes.  Jenna is Cleopatra, Britton is Lionel Messi doing one of his post goal celebrations (Messi is one of the most famous soccer players in the world, in case you didn't know), and Korinne is a hippie.  Jameson was still in his jammies, but we threw something on him so he could be in the picture, too.

I finally got around to updated the blog. It has been forever, but you haven't really noticed, have you?  October has been fun and busy and did I mention busy?  It happens to be my favorite month of the year.  The fall colors are gorgeous, the weather is great, and the National Day of Rejoicing falls on October 21st every year.  This year we were coming back from our annual S.G. fall break trip on my actual birthday, but Adam's family made sure we celebrated the night before we left for home.

(For every person that has ever said, "I don't think I'm ever seen Jameson not smiling." Well, here is a picture of him not smiling.  Clearly he hadn't gotten the memo a picture was being taken or he would have cheesed it.)

Here is a little video clip of Jameson with his adoring cousins in S.G.  They couldn't get enough of him and Jameson loved every minute of it.  I wanted to post this so you can hear his big belly laugh.  We love to get this kid laughing.

Jameson is a people person.  The more people the better.  His top front teeth are in.  I snapped this picture this morning and you can definitely see his pearly whites.

He has a few great loves.  The dishwasher, the refrigerator, phones and toilets. Unfortunately they don't really jive with what he can and should be playing with.  All bathroom doors must remained closed, we can only load or unload dishes when he is sleeping or otherwise occupied, and anytime the fridge is open there is a mash dash to get there before it closes and this kid is fast!  When he is crawling at top speed it is a thing to behold.  You have never seen a baby crawl faster. Never.  In S.G. he really enjoyed the pool.

He thought he was in heaven.

How do you spell trouble?

J-A-M-E-S-O-N.  Look at that twinkle in his eye.  We are SO in trouble around here.

If you want to play an intense game of Battleship I would suggest an opponent OTHER than Adam or Korinne.  I walked by them on Sunday night during their Battleship duel and heard Korinne say, "I would keep trying "J" if I were you" Wow. That's a little too friendly if you ask me. Adam returned the favor each time it was his turn.  I guess he knows how to keep a 6 year old happy during an intense battle.

The Election

No, I'm not referring to THAT election, I'm talking about the election for Vice-President of the Panda Power Club.  Now that Britton is in the 5th grade he is eligible to be a member of the Panda Power Club, a service and leadership club at his elementary school. They help plan and implement service programs at the school (Sub for Santa, etc.) and learn leadership skills in the process.  They have to apply to be a member of the club and are 50 students strong.  A few weeks ago Britton came home and announced that he was going to run for Vice-President of the club.  He informed me that he needed to have a poster and prepare a speech.  I let him write his speech and make slips of paper to hand out to the voting members of the club, which he did.  They said, "Vote for Britton, he likes pizza!" Totally random, but that's what he wanted. Before the election officially began Britton came home and said, "Ok, Mom, other kids are going to bribe people to vote for them, so I'm going to need some candy or something to pass out."  Oh, it starts so early, doesn't it?  We got him a bag of Tutti Fruties to take to school for his campaign and he changed his voter slips of paper to say, "Vote for Britton, he likes Pizza! . . . and tuttie fruties" Now I'm NOT a poster maker person so for me it's all about keeping it super simple.  We spent about 3 minutes on this beauty. (I edited out the last name)

The poster was a hit.  Everyone thought it was funny and Britton said that even the Principle made a comment about the poster.  Once I found out that 7 other students were also running for Vice-President I made sure that Britton was ok with whatever the outcome was, win or lose, and he let me know he would be just fine either way.  Well, he won the election.  I was pleased when another parent told me that her daughter mentioned that Britton was the only candidate that didn't promise the kids stuff he couldn't deliver.  Britton is really excited about his position in the club and is always looking for things to do for service hours as they all have a goal to get the Presidential Service Award requiring at least 50 hours of community service during the school year.

Jameson has reached the ripe old age of 9 months.  He likes to sleep on his stomach with his bum in the air.  One night I went in to take a picture.

He is always in this position with his knees tucked up to his chest.  It's pretty funny.  He is a busy little guy and is always on the go.  He has found his vocal chords and knows how to use them.  He is loud when he is happy, he is loud when he is mad, he is loud when he is excited, he is loud when he is bored--I think you get the picture.  My favorite is when we are at a store and he picks that moment to scream his high pitched ear splitting scream for no reason at all.  It's not that he is upset, he just felt like screaming.  After I am sufficiently startled he smiles at me and just keeps looking around. 

Jameson was born with Mongolian spots all over his body.  I'm not sure why they are called Mongolian spots, but they are quite common in Asian and African American babies and will mostly go away by the age of 2.  In the bath you get a good view of his "spots".  His bum is completely covered with one big spot.

He doesn't like to sit still in the bathtub, or anywhere else for that matter.

But at least he lets us wash his hair.



For General Conference this weekend Adam brought the TV upstairs and we watched it in our family room.  The kids made a big mess decided to bring all of the pillows and blankets together so they could watch in comfort.

We were surprised like everyone else when they announced the age changes for missionaries. It didn't change too much for Britton as he will turn 18 at the beginning of his senior year of High School, but it will allow him to go up to 3 months earlier than he would have.  For Jenna it's a game changer.  She has always wanted to go on a mission and was thrilled with the announcement.  If she does end up going it means she and Britton will be out at the same time for a few months.

The last few days we experienced a little cold snap around here.  I wondered if Jameson would still love going outside when the temperatures started getting colder.  Well, I guess this next picture answers that question.