Awana end of the year ceremony

May 9th Clayton had his first (I hope of many) AWANA end of the year ceremony. He learned so much in AWANAs! I was honestly a little nervous that he wasn't going to be able to memorize the verses but he did and he did great and he has a little certificate to show it. But more importantly he has the gift of the Word on his mind and in his heart and for that I am awestruck.

The little bear is for completing his first year book and the "C" is all the patches he recived at different stages in his book.

Look at that pride!

And silliness :)

And of course Charleigh had to get in on the action!!

Well deserved trip to the pinball house

Clayton responds well to positive rewards so for Christmas I bought him a Melissa and Doug responsibility chart with his Christmas money.

So far he has loved it and works daily to earn his smiley face magnet for each completed chore/manner. After week one I thought it was good idea to treat him to a reward since he completed most of his chart. I wanted him to see that he would get special treats and a positive response when he follows directions.

A week of so before we started the chart I took Clayton on a "date" to see Happy Feet 2 (really cute movie by the way!) the bowling alley on post is across the street from the theater and Clayton got so excited as we turned onto that street because he thought we were going to the "pinball house". Of course I knew we were going to the movies but had not told him but I was so confused on what he was talking about. When we pulled out of the theater he said, "see mommy the pin ball house"....Oh the bowling alley. I guess the sign kind of looks like a pin ball machine set up? Anyway, I knew that had to be his first reward.

The day we went actually turned into a trying day for him but honestly I think it was anxiety. The kid had been waiting for days!! It turned out to be a really fun night for all of us. I even bowled...horribly but I bowled! Here are some pictures from out night:

Since that night Jason's company has started a bowling night! Just what Clayton needs :)

Groovy Smoothies!

 

If any of you watch Nick Jr you will know The Fresh Beat Band and their groovy smoothies. Clayton has been asking me to make a groovy smoothie for days so after nap one day I printed out the Fresh Beat Straw Toppers and we made some smoothies! I have no idea what we put in there but it was tasty and fruity and made Clayton happy!

Charlotte on the other hand was pretty bored with our smoothie making : )

I love these pictures!

The 1st water play of the year

While Jason was gone to Torrance the weather finally hit warm enough to enjoy the desert sun. Clayton's Grandma and Papa brought him a slip n slide from GA and it was the perfect weekend to set it up! Clayton had a blast!  

As you can see it was a little chilly :)

And it turns out the desert sand does not soak up the water! Sorry Jolene and Micah! 

Charlotte and Grandma watching from the sidelines

Once Jason got home we pulled out the little pool. Seeing as how it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to take them both to the pool alone this little pool does the trick until daddy gets home from work!

She is not super sure about this swimming thing but we are hoping it was just a mood.

Torrance Armed Forces Day Parade 2011

Every year Torrance, CA hosts the Armed Forces Day Parade through their city and every year the 11ACR horse Detachment is asked to ride along with several other units from Ft Irwin. You can read about your trip down there last year.
The weekend that my in laws were in town happened to also be the weekend the parade was on which turned out to be a good and a bad thing. Bad because they were not able to spend the time they wanted with Jason here at the house but good because they were able to go with me and the kiddos to Torrance to see Jason in action! Also good because it meant I was not home alone so soon after the baby was born. 
Torrance is roughly 3 hours from our house so I was a little worried about both kiddos is the car that long and it was the first time I had had Charlotte out that long and would need to nurse in public which is super scary to me. Over all the parade was nice, we got to see Jason ride and we got off of "the island" for the day.

Clayton and Donnell crossing the street for a better look...and a potty break!

 The police officer we talked to about the parade route told us wrong and we were not able to see the whole parade because we were on the wrong street...along with quite a few other annoyed people!

 Tired boy!

 My patriotic boy...I love him!

The fly over

And no there were no pictures taken of the baby because she stayed tucked away in the Bjorn all day...sweet cuddly baby :)

Our Thursday read and relax

Thursday mornings at 11:30 the on post library offers a story time for little people. We had gone a few times during the "school year" but the time didn't work out from us then. So on a Thursday starting a weekend that Jason was gone I knew I needed to fill up as much time as possible so we headed to the library after camp. It was a success! The majority of the kids he already interacts with somewhere on post and the other moms were familiar too. This summer they are offering a reading program for older children and a modified version for 0-5 year olds.  There are different stages to complete that lead to different shields. Each shield completed the kiddo gets a price.

The sword is the award Clayton got for making it to level 2 in his reading program.

The crown was that weeks art project. They do a project after the story time.

This week's project was a necklace.

Charlotte's take on story time...and yes she is wearing pant in June in the desert...the library A/C is not lacking!!

The library is across the street from Starbucks so of course we go over after story time and I enjoy my Thursday special treat!

Charlotte and I enjoying our treats at Starbucks!

Oreo Turkeys

As our activity on Monday I decided we should make turkeys out of Oreos. So easy! You need Oreos, candy corn, Whoppers, icing and creativity! That's it

Clayton did not help at all he only wanted to eat the supplies

Finished product

He was trying to put the turkey back together with the pieces he didn't eat!

Happy Turkey Day!