Ethan's 2nd grade class has a few boys in it that struggle to behave. It has been a rough year for his teacher and for the kids who behave because they have spent all year trying to earn a party for good behavior. The teacher has a big plastic container with three lines on it. Each time they got it to a line they would have a party. It took all year long but they finally got to the first line!! Their teacher wanted to celebrate so we had a big party on Thursday.
The teacher borrowed a popcorn machine and a movie for one station, another mom had a game on the grass, another mom had a balloon game outside on the sidewalk, and another mom had a game in the outdoor classroom. I rotated the kids around and helped out where I could. It turned out to be a lot of fun and the kids loved it. Courtney came along, as usually, and helped. On one game a boy was acting up and wasn't allowed to play so Courtney got to play. It was fun.
I am so proud of Ethan and all he has accomplished this year. His teacher has been great and he has learned so much! He is a good worker and helps others.
Ethan had a great day yesterday! Thanks to everyone who helped make it special for him. He truly was spoiled!
His birthday-day began at 5 a.m. when he woke up to read. Yeah, he loves to read that much. He then had breakfast in bed (eggs, sausage links, bacon and orange juice - a real clog the arteries morning). Then he did awesome at practicing the piano and running around the house telling us how much he loves us and how he loved how we decorated the house. Courtney and I had made a huge sign that we put outside on the window and he LOVED that too. Then he was off to school.
At school, he got to decorate and wear a birthday crown all day long. His entire class made him a birthday book where they all wrote notes to him and let him know things that he was good at and that they liked about him. They sang him birthday songs all day long and just gave him a ton of attention. I showed up at the end of the day with some brownies (he had me buy a certain kind because those are what "everyone loves") to hand out. He was in high heaven.
We came home and began to get ready for his party. Bryan came home from work early to control all the guests (11 kids with only one being a girl). Ethan wanted a Lego party so the first game was to guess how many Legos were in a jar with the winner getting the jar as their prize. I had bought a small Lego set for each child (on clearance at Walmart, gotta love it!) so we spent the next 20-30 minutes putting those together. The kids loved them and Courtney was happy to pull out her pink Legos and build something right along with the kids. Our next game was to dig a Lego piece out of jello with chopsticks. The kids thought this was too hard but they loved making a mess of the cup of jello! Then it was time for the way-overfilled-because-I-wasn't-sure-how-much-candy-would-do pinata. It was so heavy! But when they broke it apart they loved all the candy and legos that spilled out.
By this time my parents had arrived with the pizza so the kids and adults chowed down. When we were full, we had cake and ice cream. Ethan bought me a Lego person cake pan last March when we went to Legoland so I used that to make a cake with Agent Chase (from Lego Agents) on it. It turned out well, thanks to all the help from Bryan! I had bought a sparkler candle in the shape of an 8 and it was SOOOO hard to light. But it finally went off, we sang and then had cake and ice cream.
Opening-presents-time finally arrived. Ethan made out like a bandit! He got a bunch of Legos, water toys (2 huge water guns), 500 water balloons (he can't wait to use), and a bunch of scout stuff from friends. He loved it. Then the party was over and all the kids left.
We then opened family presents and he loved it. We gave him scriptures with his name on them and a case, scout stuff, books and a pocket knife (his favorite). He got all kinds of transformers, Lego sets, books and money from family. Courtney gave him some night vision goggles she found at a store last month. He was in heaven.
Now, our little guy is officially 8 years old and a scout. He had me help him pass stuff off in his scout book this morning and said, "I bet I could do this whole book in a month!" Not quite, but I'm going to do my best to keep him excited. The fact that he got so much scout stuff and 2...yes, 2, pocket knives for his birthday helps!
Here is the slide show I did for Ethan's 8th birthday. It's about 7 minutes long, but it's pretty cute (if I do say so myself!). We are so excited for him to turn 8 years old but it's a bit unbelievable that our little guy is getting so old. But he is such a great kid and we are so blessed to have him in our family. We love you Ethan!!
Our Stake had a flag football tournament yesterday. Each ward was asked to fill out a roster for the young men's and the men's divisions. Our ward was supposed to have 2 men's teams and 2 young men's teams. Saturday at noon we loaded into the van and drove to the local elementary school where the fields were all set up (our Stake High Councilman over the sports is in our ward and amazing). Only enough men turned up for one team from our ward and other teams didn't show up. So, after the first games were played the bracket had to be tweeked a bit, but it all worked out. Our men's team (after 3 games and 4 hours) won their division and our older young men's team won! Then our young men challenged the "old men" in the ward to a game...and lost! But it was close. Our young men are, for the most part, on all the high school sports teams. But the men pulled it out. They are all sore today and it will be worse tomorrow, but they have the bragging rights!
Here are videos of Courtney's dance recital at the beginning of the month (I'm a bit behind on this). The music was really loud that night so it doesn't sound great, but she did a great job. She is the one on the far right.
Here is the invitation to Ethan's baptism in June! He is so excited. We went to Deseret Book last night and let him pick out his own pair of scriptures and a case. He was so excited. But he doesn't get them until his birthday. I'm so proud of him!!
She is having a rough time not being able to suck her thumb. She hasn't sucked it in 2 weeks and it's been horrible! The poor girl can't calm herself down and has trouble napping. Tonight she has decided that she doesn't like any of her pjs and wants us to figure out something. I told her that she could just wear what she has in her room but she insists that they are all dirty (she dressed her dolls in all her pjs today and that seems to make them dirty). Bryan finally went in to try and help her but she told him to get out and that she will just "sleep naked" if he doesn't get her the pjs she wants. Then I heard her yell "It's not funny. Just stop laughing... No it is NOT funny!" I had to laugh.
My questions are: #1) How long does it take a screaming 4 year old to lose her voice; #2) When will she figure out that it really IS funny?; and #3) How do we help her to self-sooth so she calms down?
Bryan keeps saying: "This too shall pass" but I'm not so sure. Maybe this is what my parents meant when they said I was stuck in the terrible twos for 16 years. Hummm...
