Evan channeling Darth Vader

For the record... we have not let the boys watch any star wars yet, so this is straight from Evan's imagination :)

Eyebrows

Dan had to go to Florida for 9 DAYS for work, and on the day he was set to come home I was trying to get a nap in for all of us since we were going to stay up late when Dan got home. Christian doesn't nap any more but I thought I would get him to lay down with me. And while we were curled up in my bed my eyes were closed and I heard him say "Mom, watch this!" He then very carefully wiggled his eyebrows. I laughed and asked him "Have you been practicing that buddy?" And he smiled and nodded. He's so cute. :) So here are the boys wiggling their eye brows.

Fire Station

We braved going to the fire station today. They were having a little Safety Festival and it was crowded, but fun.
We watched them create this huge fire, and at first it was so sudden and hot all the kids screamed and started to run away until the fire fighter stared to put the fire out. When all was said and done and we were walking away from the demonstration Christian shouts "That was totally Awesome!"


They also let the kids have a turn with the fire hose which they thought was totally awesome!



They demonstrated how the jaws of life work and took the top of a car off in front of us.


And of course they gave out fire fighter hats, popcorn, and cotton candy. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon :)

Dealing with Fears

Evan has this funny fear, it's not a every day fear, but it keeps bubbling up. He tells me "Mommy! Fire Alarm SCARY!!!!" This morning I caught him shooting the fire alarm until he proclaimed it dead, I then had to take him downstairs so he could shoot and kill that one as well. What a funny kid.

CTR

Well our Christian boy is getting all grown up, he is 4 1/2 and we love him. But he still is naughty at times and the whole time out thing is not so much working any more for him or us. We decided to take a different, more positive stance. It all came about when our next door neighbor let Christian ride her bike with training wheels. It was love at first ride! After that Christian was not interested in riding his trike, he would ask permission if he could go over an ride her bike instead. He followed every instruction and was so obedient. One day he rode that bike for an hour and a half! Of course I was thinking well we are going to have to get this boy a bike for his birthday. But Dan felt like instead of being a gift it should be something he earned, so he doesn't feel like just because he has a birthday he gets anything and everything he wants. We came up with the idea of creating a CTR chart. Christian needed to earn 10 stars for 2 weeks for a total of 140 stars. He earned his stars by choosing the right which could include, listening and obeying, sharing, doing what he's told the first time, making his bed, eating his dinner, etc. We took this kid to Walmart and showed him all the bikes he could choose from, he tried all of them but kept gravitating to the bright green jeep bike. He rode it for a good 20 minutes int he store. We then said, okay say good bye to your bike. The kid was thoroughly motivated! And the next two weeks really were magical. He really did do great, sure he had his moments of naughtiness and when those happened we would take a star off the chart and put it in time out, and he had to earn it back. Then we would talk about why we choose the right and how it makes us happy and when we don't choose the right it makes us sad. Seriously the best thing ever, I think we may do another chart because it worked so well and we were all a lot more happy! I'm proud of the kid, he earned that bike :)


Of course the day we went to go get the bike after he earned it was pouring rain, so we let him ride it around the house to it cleared up.


Christian with his completed chart, all 140 stars!


Us at Walmart when we initially picked out the bike


Finally the rain stopped, it was freezing but he had to go out!

Home Depot

Did you know that The Home Depot does a kids craft day every month? Well they do and the best part is it is all FREE, well because they are hoping if they got the parents to the parking lot for the free stuff they just might wander in and buy something as well :) Well we went, we got orange aprons and made a cool orange car, and they had an ambulance, fire engine, and medical helicopter there. While we were there time was up, and it was time for the helicopter to take off, and it was so cool to see it go. We almost all fell over because of the powerful wind the baby stirs up. The kids were in heaven!

Some Spoiling

While browsing the toy section at Walmart, Dave and Lara couldn't help themselves, they HAD to get these capes and masks for the kiddos. I don't know what do you think, do they like them? :)