Words of Wisdom from Trevor

Recently I had a discussion with the kids about what you should do if someone is teasing you, and you don't like it. Trevor piped up (first) with some sound advice of his own. I decided to share it with everyone since he is so wise--and only five!

What to do is someone is teasing you and you don't like it:
1. Mrs. Dill says if someone is bothering you to just ignore them. (Mrs. Dill is his school teacher.)
2. Or you can talk to your teacher.
3. Or you can say, "Dude, that hurts my feelings."

My favorite is #3. Sounds good to me! :)

Chase turns 14

Chase turned 14 on September 16th. He REALLY feels like a teenager now. I know he's a good boy, but man, he can be so "teenagery" at times. I've been told that they get hard at age 14 and turn normal again at age 16. I can't wait. But I guess it's not Chase's fault, I mean, Jerel and I can be so "LAME" sometimes. He loves to roll his eyes at me and say in his bored teenager voice, "Whatever."

We had a small little family party for Chase's birthday and then invited family over the following Sunday for dessert (peanut butter cup trifle) and homemade ice cream. Vanilla, of course--Chase's favorite.

Chase told us he didn't want a party with friends this year; he just wanted us to give him what we would have spent on the party instead.

He said, "You know, a lot of kids at school just have their parents pay them what they would have spent on the party."

I said, "You mean like $100."

Chase replies, "Yeah, like $300."

I then said, "So like $100."

Chase answers, like he hasn't even heard my responses, "You know like $300."

I said, "Well maybe like $50."

Jerel likes the $50 amount so we're still in discussions about it. :)

He got some other nice presents like an itunes gift card, Twilight (a book), gum, money, Mindtrap (a game), The Count of Monte Cristo dvd, apple juice juice boxes, a soccer movie, a soccer ball, a $2 bill, etc. Of course, we did our traditional "hot and cold" find the presents game. Trevor was THRILLED when Chase couldn't find the present he hid. He kept saying, "He totally can't find it. I did such a good job." He really was pleased with himself; you would have thought it was his birthday instead. In these pictures you can see Chase STILL looking for his present, and Trevor all pleased with himself.

Let me expound on the juice boxes. This is a total teenage moment. The day before Chase's birthday, Chase asked me if he could have an apple juice juice box. I do appreciate him asking first, but the answer was "no."

He thought this was, you guessed it, "retarded."

I explained, "They are for lunches, and if you drink them as a snack now, then everyone will get into the habit of drinking them as a snack. Then, when I need them for a lunch, they will be all gone."

He replied, "It IS lunch."

I said, "School lunch."

This was still, "retarded."

So I explained, "If you want to take a lunch to school then you can have one for lunch then."

Chase thought I was "so dumb, because NO ONE takes a lunch in Junior High."

"Sorry, Chase, that's the decision."

So that night I went to the store and bought Chase (for his birthday) his own pack of apple juice juice boxes. Then he could drink them whenever he wanted and not just at "school lunch." :)

Here's some pictures of Chase looking for his presents, opening presents, and blowing out his candles. In one picture you can see him looking for one of his new movies. It took him forever to find it since we mixed it in with a bunch of old movies. Hee Hee. We're so sneaky. And just look how happy he is with his very own juice boxes.

Oh, and we can't forget the best of all! Chase was ordained to be a Teacher by his dad on the 23rd. So proud to have more than one righteous priesthood holder in our home.

What a trooper

Way back in July, Jordan had surgery on his mouth to help four impacted teeth come down. These teeth--two on the top and two on the bottom--have been missing for almost 4 years. Well, the orthodontist decided that there was plenty of room in his mouth, and that we had waited long enough. So he sent me to an oral surgeon to fix the problem. They made incisions in his gums, bracketed the teeth, and then attached a chain to the brackets. About a week later, the orthodontist "activated" the chains and hooked them to the wire on his braces. (And we thought Tanner's palette expander looked like a torture device--this looked even worse.) He was in immense pain, but didn't complain even once. That's huge for him--what a trooper! And talk about being a tough guy, he didn't even take the pain medication. Every 6 weeks, when the orthodontist checks Jordan's braces, he also sees if he can take a link out of the chain to move those teeth down. We were told it could take up to a year for the teeth to come into place. We hoped that they would move quickly so he could move onto the next phase in his braces. No one wants to be in braces for 3+ years. Well, the 2 teeth on the bottom have started coming in. YEAH!!

You can see how happy Jordan is about this. Plus, if you look closely, in the mouth close-up you can see the little gold chains coming out of his gums in the top teeth. You can also see his bottom right tooth finally coming in.

To sing, or not to sing . . . that is the question!

Okay, family discussion that I need to share. Our family usually will call other family members (aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, etc.) on their birthdays and sing "Happy Birthday." Sometimes we forget, but that is our typical traditional celebratory birthday call. Well, this week we had 5 birthdays: 2 aunts, 2 cousins, and 1 uncle. A few nights back, I mentioned that we needed to make a call and sing to the newest birthday celebrant. Well, Jerel suggested that it's probably about time that we forgo that "tradition" because now that our kids are older--it's not so cute anymore. He actually said something like "When Chase is 18, we're still going to make the call and sing?" He also mentioned that it's kind of "lame" for us to still do it.

So now I am at a loss. We didn't sing, but didn't have time to get cards out in time either. So now we have to come up with our own "new tradition" of celebrating family members' birthdays--and QUICK! We can't do the favorite candy bar because Megi and Ty cornered the market on that one. Lindy and Jonathan do the whole $2 bill thing--although I have yet to receive one myself. :) We could go back to singing and then make our now belatedly "lame" singing telegram via phone once more. Oh, decisions, decisions.

I guess I just love the singing because Nanny and Grandpa used to call me every birthday and sing to me--and now my mom and Randy carry on the same tradition. It makes me happy! Of course, once someone has heard our family sing--voice changes, kabooms, and all--it might not instill that same level of happiness. So to sing, or not to sing . . . that is the question!

Behind again!

I know, I know . . . I'm way behind on posts, AGAIN!! But I promise to catch you all up. So stay tuned for: Chase's bday, Camille's bday, Jordan's mouth surgery, Chase's soccer games, Jordan's football games, Tanner's football games, my dad's heart attack and miracle, Timeout for Women, the Court of Honor awards, Arizona State Fair . . . . . .