Crazy Hat Night

The winning hat! Sunday Night at AWANAS was crazy hat night. So after church, we started brainstorming what to do. She decided to wear a fruit of the spirit basket on her head. Miss M colored all the fruit and the basket and we glued it on to a broken easter hat, then we found some play fruit and connected them to the hat with pipe cleaners. It took her an hour to color all the fruit cause she wanted to know exactly what colors to color them. The fruit with the fruits of the spirit on them along with the basket was her craft from Sunday School class that morning, that she had not finished coloring/cutting out, so she had to take home. Miss M won for her group- Cubbies (3-4 age). She was very excited.

Miss M and Miss O with their great neighbor friend, Miss I. Miss I came over to show the girls her special purple lipstick and star glasses. She was also wearing a tiara when she came over. Super cute!

Big News... and toes

Hey everyone. I thought I should let you all know that the Air Force informed Mr. J this week that they want to send him on a 4 month all expense paid vacation to the desert. This has been a long awaited trip, as Mr. J has gone for 8 years without one. The Air Force has decided the best time for Mr. J to go on this trip is the end of next month. For those of you doing the math, that is when Baby #4 is due. So please join us in praying that all the details work out and Baby Elizabeth gets to meet daddy before he leaves. Please pray for Mr. J as he has a big inspection at work in a couple weeks, a test for promotion to study for and lots of preparation stuff he needs to get done before he leaves. Also, please pray for me, that God would continue to give me peace about all this. Even though I know the 4 months that he is gone will be hard, I know God will give me all the strength I need to get though this. He has already provided me with many blessings... an awesome sister and bro-in-law that live 10 minutes away, a great church family, mops group, work friends and neighbors, and grandparents that are willing to hop planes and spend time with us.

We sure will miss him when he is gone. Below are some pictures from the other night when him and all the kids were trying to eat their toes. The kids think this is hilarious. I just remembered I posted similar pics in one of my first blog posts 8 months ago.

This is for you, Grandma Jones

During our recent dentist visit, we were reminded of the importance of getting Miss O to stop sucking her thumb. The dentist noticed the changes that were already happening in her mouth, and also told me about the long term effects it could have on her jaw growth. All of our kids have been thumb suckers. They seem to have inherited this trait from their daddy, who had a hard time giving up this habit as a little guy. He has bad memories of the things his parents did to encourage him to stop... one of these things being socks on his hands before bed. The dentist told me that this worked for his child, so we thought we would give it a try (even though I do remember Mr. J swearing he would never put his kids through this). We put socks on their hands and then used clear packing tape on the wrist area of the sock, as he suggested. We made it a "fun" event, having all the kids put socks on so Miss O wouldn't be the only one. (Miss M gave up her thumb sucking on her own right around 3... I was hoping the same would happen with Miss O, but it hasn't yet). Mr. J said I had to take pictures to show his mom, so I posted them below. Immediately after I put them on, Miss O tried to suck her thumb through the sock with minimal success. As you can see by the last photo, the socks didn't last long. The girls worked together shortly after they were put to bed.. Mr. T got his taken off when he went to bed as well. So if anyone has any good ideas to getting her to stop this habit, please let me know!

This picture was taken in the dark, about a half hour after they went to bed.

Our trip to the dentist

Happy Childrens Dental Health Month! The girls happened to have their 6 month cleanings this month so we went to the dentist on Monday. Ever since they had their last appt in August, we have been in the habit of brushing, flossing and swishing every night. The girls never let us forget to do that. They did great during their cleanings and thought it was very fun. Unfortunately, Miss M had 2 cavities in her upper right section of her mouth that needed to be filled. The dentist had some extra time and was able to do it right after her cleaning. Both the hygenist and the dentist were so good with the girls. They explained to her that they need to make her back teeth "go to sleep" so they could fix the spot the "sugar bugs" made. She was fine with this. She didn't even flinch when they were injecting the numbing stuff and later told me "it felt a little weird." The drilling didn't seem to bother her at all either. I was so glad she had such a positive experience. They gave me some tips on how to prevent future cavities, like having her at least swish (or brush) after eating fruit or sugary stuff. I saw that my friend Jane posted

some great tips on her blog. So here is your reminder to take good care of your kids teeth (and your own too).

Spelunking

On the Saturday when the W's were here, the guys took 3 of the kids, Miss S, Miss M and Mr. T on a hike to a cave (near Red Rock) for Mr. J's squadron hike. Deanna and Tom also joined them. Deanna tells me it's probably a good thing I didn't go as there was some mild rock climbing involved. Here are some pictures from their fun day...

Walking the trail

Inside the graffiti'd cave. They say the camera really picked up more than they saw when they were there. Deanna said Miss M was so brave!Miss S with her flashlight

Mr. T taking a nap on daddys back

Mr. W and Miss S Mr. T, Mr. J, Miss M and Aunt Nanny

Miss M saw this rock and asked Mr. J if she could climb it. He said, "oh, maybe another time when we come and you are bigger." And she said, "no daddy, I would like to climb it today." And she did!

At the top!
She did it!

Girls Night

Last Thursday, when our friends, the W's were in town, Lisa and I spent an evening on the strip. Our husbands would probably rather have their toenails removed with pliers then go to the strip, but we had fun. My favorite shows in Vegas (well, the only one's I have seen) are Cirque de Soleil shows. About 5 years ago, Mr. J and I had the opportunity to see O (thanks Dad!) when Mr. J was here doing some training and in October, I saw Ka with my mom and sisters. Both when we saw Ka and this time for Mystere, I have been able to use the 50% off military discount.. which is fabulous! To get this discount, you just have to call the ticket office and tell them you want the discount and the person who pays for the tickets has to show their military ID.


Since we had some time to waste after we picked up the tickets and before the show, Lisa and I got to see the Treasure Island pirate show. I had seen this when I was younger and remember it being quite cool. However, now the show includes scantily clad "sirens" and pirates with no shirts on. They dance around singing a Britney Spear-ish type song. Then we walked through the Venetian. It was fun to see the canal boats and the drivers in their striped shirts. That led us into the Palazzo where we saw The Living Garden exhibit. That was pretty entertaining.

The show was great! The acrobatics in it were amazing. The performers have a way of making all they do look so easy. After the show, we drove to the Bellagio. We walked through Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. The current theme is Chinese New Year. This is one of my favorite things to do on the strip. I wasn't a huge fan of this theme cause it didn't use a lot of flowers, but the panda bears were cute. We then had a fancy, delicious dessert at Jean Philippe, a European style pastry. They make the most delicious crepes! I had a banana foster one, yum! After that we went out and saw the Fountains of Bellagio. This is another free show that is pretty amazing. The fountains "dance" to the music. It's usually a different song each time I have seen it. I love the Frank Sinatra songs, but my favorite one I have seen so far is Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be American."

The pirate ship

Inside the venetian with a cool ceiling.

Notice the water coming out of their fingertips

Posing for pictures

Cute pandas in the garden

Mr. T has a crush on a mermaid

Here are the videos and pictures I promised of my handsome little man kissing the mermaid in the tank at the Silverton, right outside of the Bass Pro Shop here in Vegas. We love going to Bass Pro Shop to see all the animals and the big fish tanks. Last week, we took our friends there and happened to be there the same time the mermaid was swimming. Mr. T thought this was so cool. I wish I knew what was going on in his little mind. For those of you who live here, the mermaid show runs from Thursday - Sunday, between 2:30 p.m. - 6:45 p.m., every 15 minutes... and it's free! I also posted some pics that my friend took inside the Bass Pro Shop.

Little Miss A.W. in front of the tank The lions A really tall giraffe

Natural History Museum

On Monday, Miss M's preschool class visited the Natural History Museum. I went along with Miss O while Mr. T and daddy spent the afternoon together. They had a fun time exploring and seeing the different animals and things they had on display. Here are some pictures!

Miss M

These dinosaurs made noises and my girls weren't huge fans

Miss O digging for fossils
In the Africa room

Miss O finding nemo in this fun fish tank

Learning about whales

Miss M

More in the Africa room

Miss O

T-rex

The shark pool
We played at Heritage park after the museum. The girls loved the slide there and trying to figure out these toys.