Running Partner

William stretching before our run on Saturday morning

At William's school they have a "Fit Cat" award for kids who run a total of 25 miles during the school year.  To help William achieve his goal {and to give me some motivation} he and I went on a 2 mile run Saturday morning.  He was a great running partner and didn't complain once--even when we got chased by one of the neighborhood dogs.  I look forward to having a new little running buddy.

ps. I still have Halloween pictures to post... I'm getting there.

We love our mom!

And James & William & Dad & Alexander & 

Jesus & Heavenly Father & cousins 

& not Darth Vader, 

but we love Luke Skywalker & R2D2

{a note I found up on the wall after being gone one evening... written by Rich and dictated by William and James}

Back to School Feast

The Monday before school started we had a Back to School "feast".  In my mind I had planned a nice, special dinner.  But when I asked William what he wanted he told me that he wanted pizza and fruit.  

  

Not exactly the feast I had in mind but he loved it.  And since he is the one going back to school that's what mattered.

For Family Home Evening that night we played "Trash or Treasure" in which the boys chose a card and we decided whether is contained words which we should treasure or put in the trash.  We added words that we hear too often at our house (and wish that we didn't) and for some reason the boys thought that was really silly.  They recognized them as words that belong in the trash.  We then introduced our family theme for the school year: "Speak Kind Words."  

In the kitchen we placed a jar (that had previously been used to collect warm fuzzies).  This jar collected our kind words... and every time a unkind word was spoken we took one out. It took a whole week to get it filled but once we filled it up there was a special treat (ice cream sandwiches).  I then emptied the jar to start over but William wanted nothing to do with it.  I finally realized that he didn't like the "stress" of worrying about losing a fuzzy.  So we did away with losing fuzzies and now we just earn them for speaking kind words. 

Rich and I were discussing our family theme the other night and we both agreed that it has made such a difference already.  The boys are much nicer and respectful.  And even when they're ornery a quick reminder of "speak kind words" helps them to remember and try again.

Hopefully we can make the feast and theme a new tradition in our home.

Pops!

Well, we finally made it down to Pops.  I have been wanting to go there for a long time and we finally got the chance!

The food was delicious... and I've never seen so much soda in my life!  Our waitress asked us if we were married and then told us that we were the happiest married couple she'd ever seen.  (Then she told us that she saw our rings and thought we might be married to other people?!  Super weird.)

We brought home a small sampling of the {over 500} soda's they had available.

 {Cucumber, Leninade, Marionberry, Butterscotch Rootbeer, Rootbeer, Chocolate}

We tried a few last night... I didn't try the rootbeer {we brought it home for Rich's dad} but it didn't seem to be a favorite.  The Dang! was for Lisa and she said she felt like she was drinking Butterbeer {from Harry Potter}.  Lisa, Rich, and I had a sip of the Cucumber soda. Lisa described the experience as "like drinking grass."  I'll have to let you know how the rest of them taste.

I am so glad that we got a chance for a little different date night!


Update: Chocolate soda--bleh.  Marionberry--tastes like Nyquil.  Leninade--the winner!!  Super good!

What a weekend!

This past weekend Rich took off for Texas to run a marathon--actually a marathon to Marathon--with one of his old roommates, Darin.  {Why didn't we join him?  Because it was a 10 hour drive one way... no thanks.}  This meant I had a few days to fill with fun activities that doubled in wearing these boys out.  Friday evening we attended the Fall Carnival at the elementary school.  We met up with William's best buddy, Colt, and spent the evening wandering around the school with him.  The boys had a blast.

They loved all the bounce houses.  {Who doesn't?  I kind of wish I could have joined them.}

The games were great too.

William loved seeing all of his friends.  James thought he was a really big kid.  And Alexander enjoyed the live music {as exhibited by his clapping and head bobbing every time he heard it.}

After our chores were done on Saturday we made newspaper ghosts,

pumpkin oreo truffles,

and then ended the day running around at the park.

 

By Saturday night we were all exhausted... but no one more so than Rich.

What's in a name?

I've always liked my name.  I thought it was neat that I was named after my mom's BYU roommate.  And it's just different enough that I never had to add my last initial to my name for someone to know who I was--unlike all the Jennifer's and Amy's in elementary school.  I had only ever met a few Jeanine's in my life.  That is until I moved here.  A few years after we moved here so did Jeannine... and then Janine moved in a little while after that.  Three of us all in the same ward!  We all agreed it was weird.... but fun at the same time.  My name was once announced over the pulpit to release me of a calling I didn't have... they meant to say Jeannine.  To me the distinction (in writing) is simple because we all spell our name differently...  so still no need for last initials. But that's assuming that everyone remembers how each Jeanine spells her name.  Jeannine has since moved... so now we are down to just two.  However, in the past week I have been "mistaken" for Janine.  It doesn't help that Janine replaced me as Young Women's President.  One of the mom's of some young women in the ward approached me about an idea for Young Women.  It took me a second to realize that she forgot which Jeanine she was talking to.  And then this afternoon I got a call from one of the Stake Young Women leaders with a question... and I had to point her in Janine's direction. 

Trendy

Elementary school has introduced at least one new thing into our life: silly bands.

   

William just thinks they are the coolest thing ever.  After he first collected a bunch {I haven't bought a single one} he just wanted to leave them home.  Finally he decided {with a little prodding from me} that it was more fun to bring them to school and trade them... and that the more he shared, the more his friends wanted to share back.

I know that some moms hate the things--but I think they are fun and encourage William to be a little less selfish.  In fact, just yesterday while I was cleaning up, William asked, "Mom, do you like silly bands?  Do you want some?"  And then he gave me all his purple ones.  Very sweet.