Red Elementary has a Snow Day!

Who would have thought we would see snow in Houston!  Well, apparently at Jaden's elementary school it's not the first time!  The PTO wanted to make a snow day for the kids.  I wanted to come and "chauffeur" AKA take pictures! :)  Jaden loved it!

It was hilarious to see the kids who had obviously NEVER seen snow in their life!  They would grab a pile, make a snowball or two, and then SCREAM!!!  Waving their hands frantically...."It burns! It burns!"  I'm glad I was there to help as an expert and remind them to just wipe their hands on their coats.  Problem solved.  Too funny!  Then there's Jaden slamming snow down his friends neck...then running for his life! :)

Yes he even threw a couple of ice balls at mom! OUCH!

It wasn't even a very big patch of "snow" but the kids all loved it!

I'm sure our friends in Utah would not have thought ANYONE in their right mind would WANT snow, let alone PAY for it!  But here in Houston, Texas...the kids at Red thought it was worth every penny.

100th Day of School

Every February we enter a very important day of school!  The 100th Day!  They each had a couple projects they had to do.  Kyler had to make a poster with 100 things on it, same or different.  He drew a big tree and glued 100 acorns on it, which he had gathered from our front yard, all by himself.  I'm such a great mom, I never even took a picture of it.  But he was sure proud of it.  Also he had to put 100 of something on a shirt to wear.  Here are his 100 stickers, again done all on his own!

Jaden had a similar project.  He had to create something wearable, (hat, shirt, vest, socks, etc) with 100 of something attached to it.  I cut out a big tie for him and he designed the rest.  He was so embarrassed to wear it to school.  When I dropped him off he took off his backpack and hugged it, so that it would cover his tie.

I'm so proud of him!  He won for the most creative in the whole 2nd grade!  Maybe someday he'll get over feeling "different."  Jaden's other project was to bring 100 of some snack food to add to the "trail mix." He brought 100 cheerios. (Which doesn't look like much in a ziploc bag.) All in all, they each had a great day at school.  Happy 100 day!

Silly Beckam

Beckam and I share a lot of time together.  While Jaden and Kyler are at school all day, there are so many things we get to do.  Here we are one day leaving a park.  He's running way ahead and telling me to come! :)

On our drive back from taking Kyler to school each morning we are driving directly into the rising sun.  It is SO bright!  I give him a paper to hold up and cover his eyes.  Sometimes I wish I had a paper to cover my eyes...but I guess someone needs to keep their eyes on the road.

I finally hung his swing in the backyard!  He was SO happy and loves me to push him in the swing.

While waiting for the boys to get their team basketball pictures taken, I took some of Beckam! :)

He's holding a ball behind his back and just looks so adorable!

I wanted to get a picture of him with me one day.  He did NOT want to get his picture taken.  So I pretended I didn't want to either.

He thought that was funny, and I got a picture of us!

We are outside just about daily, especially after school.  Beckam has really started to like the skateboard.  He takes it so slow and careful and does the cutest little dance when he's done, showing how proud he is!

Steady...

uh oh!

Try again.

Stay focused!

I did it! Time for that dance!

I LOVE that sometimes all he wants is for ME to cuddle him!  Gosh Beckam I love you!

Haircut date

For Christmas Christian got me some ice tempered hair cutting scissors.  I guess he REALLY wanted me to cut my hair! :) Actually, I had him come to one of my haircut appointments in Utah before we moved so that he COULD learn how to cut my hair.  Not only would this save us money, but I thought this sounded like a fun thing to do with him.  He prepared by watching a certain YouTube video like 20 times!  He was SO nervous.  I guess we forgot to take an official before picture.  Oh well.

I guess that's as good as you're gonna get. :) But that's already into the haircut.

He was so careful about fixing and re-fixing, and re-fixing his lines.

And 3 hours later (not a joke) it was done!  I thought it looked great.  I guess I know what our date will be now every 2 months or so! :)  Thanks for the date and haircut baby!  I think you could add this to your resume! :)

Jaden is growing up!

I love this kid!  I can be cleaning a bathroom and ask for his help, and he'll gladly do it. (Most of the time...except when he doesn't want to! :)) So this particular time I was cleaning the bathroom and Kyler was helping with the tub and toilet.  Jaden had finished the sink and mirror, but wanted to do more.  I told him that if he was VERY careful I would trust him to wash the windows in the family room. (Usually I spray the cleaner and they just wipe everything down.)  He was so excited to be able to do it all by himself!  I'm so glad Christian got this picture of him!  He did a FANTASTIC job!

Of course once I got my camera out he wouldn't do it again, but he'd been running back and forth after basketball practice and jumping up touching the net.  Beckam was so cute following after him and trying to jump as well.  Some of the other kids on the team also tried, but he was the only one who figured out the jump and was able to touch the net each time.  Although he wouldn't do it for the video he did stand under the hoop and reach up, so that I could show him how far he was jumping!  Way to go Jaden!

Gosh he's a cutie!  It's not every Sunday, but sometimes he wants to wear his tie and suit coat "like dad."  I took the opportunity for a photo opp.  Sometimes I just can't grasp the idea that he's actually growing up, and not my baby anymore.  He's so excited to be 8 this year and preparing to be baptized!

On day my sister Jennie asked me if Jaden still loved being in his sports shorts/ pants all the time.  So I took this picture of the boys after school that day.  This is what they had changed into (getting out of their school uniforms.)  Yup!  Still loves them!

Another recent highlight is that Jaden made the soccer team at Houston Express! Someone from last fall even donated a jersey! He was so excited to try on his new uniform!

And here he is...kind of nervous...at his first tournament, before the season officially begins.

Check out that bunch of tough boys! :)  His team lost both games, but played amazing!  Especially since they only had 1 sub!  Looking forward to this season!  And I think Jaden is too.  He LOVES practice and wishes it was every night!

Also, Jaden was invited to Grant's (a friend from basketball) birthday party!  He had such a fun time and I again feel so blessed to have great friends here in Houston who love having Jaden over!  I'm glad he's a good friend.  

It was a sleepover party, but we just had Jaden stay late.  I picked him up just after 11. (I was falling asleep on the couch, I don't know how on earth he wasn't tired....he'd had 2 soccer games that day!) Grant's mom said he ate the most...by far!  7 chick fillet nuggets, and fries and a TON of fruit salad!  She didn't know where he was putting it all! Glad he had so much fun!  He was so excited to get home and tell dad all about the Mario mustache straws, and playing Skylanders, and watching Thunderstruck.  

It's pretty common to see Jaden outside with his buddy Ian or Micah.  Ian comes over quite often and we're glad he feels welcome here.  Jaden LOVES his buddies!

Don't know if I ever posted this.  Great shot Jaden!

Here he is with his basketball team.  Games are over, but that doesn't mean there isn't still plenty of bball happening at the Mealey home.

Yes, he made that swish! (and I just love Kyler's hair in this photo as he's running for a ball!)

Jaden, you are an amazing little guy!  You'll be my baby forever...no matter how grown up you may be to everyone else!  I love you and am so lucky to be your mama!

Houston Zoo with Beckam

One morning Beckam and I hung out with Nemo and Dori! :)

I love that we can go to the zoo whenever we want to.  We should defiantly go more often.  He loved it!  It was so interesting to watch the clown fish do exactly what Merlin says Nemo should do...brush.  This fish did it again and again!

 And these 3 stripped fish just hung out there without moving.  Maybe their family was taking a nap together?

After we looked all through the aquarium, Beckam's buddies Porter, Cannon, and Jonas showed up.  They loved watching the elephants.

 Beckam did NOT want me to take his picture!

 We walked around and saw the monkeys, seals, and tigers.  We had our sack lunch in the park, then it was time to head home for naptime.
When Beckam saw this he was so excited.  It wasn't until I put him up there, I realized what he was so excited about.  Not the seal, but the ball! :)

I'm so grateful to live where we do, and to be so close to so many fun things to do with the kids.  I'm glad we have 2 cars so I can run around all day and not worry about taking or picking up Christian from school.  We are so blessed!