So last Sunday, our week started out with Jeremy being on call. Doing church and everything solo, I knew I needed to get up early in order to get everyone ready and out the door on time. Braylei and Tayscen were so helpful and on their best behavior, so we actually were all ready 2 hours early! I guess I over prepared a little, but I was just proud that we were on time! Bray and Taysce entertained themselves while I got ready by playing dress up (of course!) and drawing pictures of prophets. Their pictures were so good, I wish they would have been on paper instead of dry erase boards, but nevertheless, here are some pics!
While we were at church, Braylei was assigned to give a talk the next Sunday on "How I Can Show Jesus I Love Him by Obeying Him". She was so excited, that as soon as we got home she wanted to write it. I told her what the topic was and then she wrote the whole thing all by herself and drew a few pictures to go with it! When I say she wrote it, I mean not only in her own penmanship but her own words too! She practiced it a few times and read it to us for Family Home Evening on Monday night. She was so excited all week, and yesterday at church she did an AWESOME job! She walked right up to the podium and read the whole thing all by herself. I didn't help her at all! We are so proud of her and her sweet spirit she brings to our home.
Of course, while she was writing her talk, Taysce wanted to write one too. He actually wrote a word all by himself. It is "Tag" from the Letter factory Videos by Leap Frog. Braylei is such an inspiration to him and a really good teacher too!
We also kept busy on Sunday afternoon putting the goody bags together for Braylei's birthday party. She picked out Disney Princess bags and we filled them with mostly goodies to eat a just a couple of small toys. While we did this Tayscen was busy building with blocks and stringing beads, one of his favorite pastimes.
Monday was a pretty fun day because Jeremy was post call, so he had most of the day off! Brix and Taysce loved having him home and Braylei was excited that he got to pick her up from school! In the morning, Jeremy and Tayscen built with blocks for awhile while Brix ate her morning snack of Cheerios. Then, the boys headed outside to work more on our backyard project. They did a great job leveling out the ground and laying the landscape fabric down. Taysce was so cute hammering the pins into the ground and was actually a huge help to Jeremy! He loves being outside and working with his Dad! Hopefully, one day soon, we will be able to get this project finished and the swing set built for the kids to enjoy! We also had a great time that evening playing "Simon Says" during Family Home Evening, after we talked about our new family goal for the week, which was doing what we are asked the first time so it does not have to be continually repeated. The kids thought it was great to play "Braylei Says" and "Tayscen Says"!
Of course, our big day this last week was Thursday, September 16, which was Braylei's 5th Birthday! She was so excited to have gotten to sleep on the birthday pillowcase my mom made for our family and couldn't stop smiling all day. I let her choose anything she wanted for breakfast (I even gave her the choice of homemade cinnamon rolls) but alas she chose turkey bacon and whole wheat applesauce muffins. What an easy kid, right? (Only when it comes to food:) Lol!) She got to wear the new birthday shirt she picked out and a birthday princess ribbon and I even let her decide how she wanted her hair. She chose to have it straightened and where it done, which I was happy to do even though it took a long time and I knew that as soon as she walked outside the humidity would make it all curly again, but she was happy and that is what mattered! Taysce, Brix, and I walked her up to her classroom because she had made cupcakes to share with everyone and of course she loved showing her siblings off to all her friends. She also got to open her first present on the way to school, which was a "SkippyJon Jones" book that she had been asking for (if you haven't read these books they are hilarious!) She took the book to school and got to read it to her class during the day. While she was at school Taysce wanted to make her chocolate chip cookies, which I think he enjoyed more than her!
When I picked her we came home and all she wanted to do was open the rest of her presents. It took a lot of work to get her to do her homework first, but the presents became a great incentive! She loved everything she got which included, make-up, a Jasmine dress-up, a radio for her iPod, an Ariel nightgown, and some crafts. She also enjoyed talking to everyone who called her on the phone to wish her a Happy Birthday. For dinner she requested pizza, so together we made homemade pizza crust and sauce and the kids got to decorate their own with whatever they wanted. Tayscen just wanted cheese and Braylei had mushrooms (her favorite!), olives, onions, and cheese. We also had watermelon and corn, per her request. Unfortunately, Jeremy had to work late again but we decided to let the kids stay up late so that he could see her on her birthday and we met him at Baskin Robbins for dessert. Braylei chose pink bubblegum for her ice cream and Taysce had chocolate fudge, which are the usuals for these two. It was a really great day for everyone and the best part was that Braylei just couldn't stop smiling!
While we were doing preschool on Thursday, Tayscen had a huge accomplishment: He wrote his name all by himself for the first time without looking at anything or asking me for help. He has been able to spell his name since he was two, but being able to write it without any kind of help is HUGE! I was so proud of him and he was so excited that he ran around the house shouting and cheering about his accomplishment!
On Friday we had Braylei's birthday party at Monkey Joe's, which is a huge venue full of several different bouncing houses and obstacle courses. We had about 15 kids show up, some from school, the residency program, and church. Everyone had a blast, but the best thing was that they did all the set-up and clean-up! Jeremy had to work that day but was able to get off a little early so that he didn't have to miss the party. We had it from 6-8 at night and served both pizza and cake. Braylei got to sit in this huge inflatable chair at the head of the table, but really didn't want to. I had to actually bribe her to sit there! She kept telling me it was dirty and made me wipe it off with a couple of wipes before she would even consider it (she is definitely my child!) All the kids had a great time and the party was a great ending to her birthday celebration!
We finished off our weekend, by again Jeremy being on call on Saturday. That morning the kids entertained themselves making things from the fusible beads Braylei got from her birthday. Surprisingly, Braylei onlylasted a few minutes with these while Tayscen spent about 45 minutes making his hexagon design! That afternoon, the kids and I went to a birthday party for one of Braylei's friends from school. The party was at her house and was amazing! It seriously was just like a carnival! There was a huge circus tent set up with food, tables, and chairs and then three different bounce houses around the yard. There were also clowns and jugllers walking around and a real cotton candy machine! That's not all, though, there was a huge 60 foot inflatable water slide, which Tayscen loved, and then a bungee trampoline and an orbitron. It was crazy, but a lot of fun! There were also people there painting masks on the kid's faces. Braylei got Batgirl painted on hers, which was really cute. 
