Tantrums

Jacob has been having a few tantrums lately. When he doesn't get what he wants, he falls apart. Last week, Jacob and I had a serious talk about his behavior. We talked about how sometimes we don't always get what we want. Sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes life isn't fair. He seemed to understand and told me he would try and do better. Since our talk, every time I could sense a tantrum coming on, I reminded him about our discussion and tried to get him to settle down. This hasn't always worked, but it has helped some.

I couldn't resist a few pictures of Jacob's most recent tantrum. Poor guy. It probably didn't help that his mother was snapping pics..... :)

And Eric couldn't resist sticking his face into one of the pictures.....he is a teenager after all. And it's always funny when it's not YOU throwing the tantrum. (Oh, and he got his braces off....what a good looking kid, even if he is making life worse for his little brother).

A few days ago, I got this letter from Jacob. Keep in mind he's in 1st grade and this is exactly how it was written....punctuation and spelling, even spaces.

"momy I am sory for thowing a tandshroum and I like appls and I like bunanus I hop I dont get in chrubl. I hop you have a grat wekend

frum Jacob"

Awww, it melted my little heart. What a sweetie! I'm so proud of him. And while I don't think the tantrums are completely over for my little Jacob, I think we're making progress.

This is the way I like to see him.....what a cute smile!

Today he gave a talk in primary on missionaries. It was sweet. Here is a little bit from his latest letter to me after his talk. (He wrote it during sac. meeting)....

"We can bey mishanerezz rit now I can bey a gud mishanre I now that jesis love's me sow mch..."

I just can't get enough of it. Tantrum or no tantrum, I just love this little guy!

Brandon's Post

Brandon keeps telling me that I haven't posted enough about him on my blog, so in honor of my secondborn.....here are a few pics of him.

Brandon has been playing the flute for a few years now and suddenly during the summer, he decided he wanted to learn to play the Alto Saxophone. He'd never picked one up before, but for some reason it looked fun to him. So his jr. high band teacher let him borrow one of his saxophones for the summer. Brandon immediately started practicing. We could hear him belting out the notes throughout the house at random times during the day. He was so excited. Then one day, we found out that someone in our ward was selling her alto sax. We immediately called and made a deal. And Brandon became the proud owner of his very own Alto Saxophone.

It's been a few months now and can I just say that this instrument is quite LOUD? We can hear it upstairs when Brandon is in his room downstairs. But it sounds so awesome and he loves it. He's become quite the little jazz player. And it's pretty much been all self-taught. Brandon also loves jazz music. He has a jazz CD that he frequently plays in the kitchen. Personally I've never been one to listen to jazz music, but it's so fun to see him "love" it. He listens intently and wants me to listen as well. He reminds us all about his upcoming concerts and even made me schedule his orthodontic appt to get his bottom braces on AFTER his November concert. "Because, Mom, it might mess me up." :)

Here he is with a friend of his and their twinner saxes.




And here they are trying to sneak up on Eric and then playing it loud right behind him while he's trying to watch TV. Eric didn't even see it coming.....it was pretty funny. And then Eric just tried to ignore them. Typical teenage behavior.....

Here are a few pics of Todd showing Brandon how to tie his tie. I love this ritual and I don't think it will ever get old as I watch each young man in my family learn this great skill. They are growing up so fast. I can't hold onto their childhood like I want to....

Brandon is totally "skilled." Apparently that's the new word these days....he and his friends use it all the time to describe themselves. (so funny). We love you Brandon!

The Pinewood Derby

The pinewood derby......what do I say about that? It comes upon us every year and while Todd is not one of the "crazy, competitive" dads out there, there's still this underlining "hope" that our children do well.....

And while every year, we go home, proud of our children for "doing their best," pat them on their backs and say, "good job, sons," we've never come home with a trophy. We feel good, yes, but the kids know, darnit, that someone else won the coveted prize.

I've never been one for competition. I'm not really a competitive person. We're all winners. We should all be proud of the efforts we've made. And even though our children's cars don't go as fast down the track as other kids' cars.....well, it's okay. Life goes on and we're happy.

This is the mentality of the pinewood derby for me. And a couple of weeks ago, it was with this same feeling that we entered the building for yet another pinewood derby.

Kyle and Jacob (even though Jacob was too young to compete.....he still wanted to race his car after it was over) drew their designs of their cars on paper and Todd brought the block of wood to our neighbor's house for a good ol' cutting. They were simple. They were back in five minutes. The cars were ready to be painted. They each picked out a color.....Todd spray-painted them. This year we actually bought rub-ons for the cars. They looked awesome.

This is Jacob's car.....



This is Kyle's car.....

This is Dallin's car.....from last year, though he added a few little things this year (the shiny metal sheets). He wasn't really planning on competing since he just turned 11, but they talked him into it when we got there and he decided to do it.

We got there plenty early to register and weigh in. Kyle was the first one to register. His car was #1. He was among the first group to race. When the cars came across the finish line, to our surprise, Kyle's car was first. Todd and I both looked at each other in shock and amazement. It's not that our kids' cars have never won a race (among the group), it's just that in this particular race, Kyle's car was pretty far ahead of everyone else's. Crazy!

As the races got going, the first 4 different races Kyle was in, he came out first each time. We couldn't believe it. And Dallin was doing well also. He wasn't winning them all, but he was doing okay. 1st, 2nd, 3rd.....about what our kids always do.

By the middle of the derby, we knew Kyle's car was pretty fast. We don't know how.....and we're pretty sure we couldn't repeat it, or give any secrets as to why (although Todd seems to think he has an idea.....), but each race, Kyle came out ahead. He was either first or a really close second. By the end of the first round of races, they tallied up all the scores of all 17 cars and narrowed it down to the final 6. Kyle's was one of those cars.

I've got to admit. This was kind-of exciting. We've never been in this position before. We've seen other parents and children get excited over having "the fastest car," but we've never experienced it first hand. Never. And we have a lot of boys. We've been to quite a few pinewood derbys in our time.

The last races were a little intense for me. By the end of the finals, Kyle had tied with one other car. They each had the same amount of wins and losses. So they decided to race the two to see whose car would win. They used tracks 1 and 2. Kyle won the first race. Then they switched the cars to each other's track. The other kid's car won. They were tied again. They switched the cars to tracks 3 and 4. Kyle won first. Then the other kid won. They were tied again. They did this for all 4 tracks, alternating each race, and each time, taking a turn at 1st place, then 2nd place. Talk about stress!

The final race they decided to race them individually on the same track and time them with a stop watch. Kyle's was first. His car's time was 3.1 seconds. It was FAST. It was exciting. Then it was the other kids' turn. He let go and I swear my heart skipped a beat. I held my breath. The guy timing yelled out.....3.1 seconds. It was very exciting. The two kids had tied and they decided to have them share the first place title. It was the perfect ending for me. I would have felt bad for the other kid if Kyle had won and I would have been disappointed for kyle to have him come so close and come home with 2nd place. In the end, it was the perfect way to go home.

Jacob with his car......

Dallin with his car.....and by the way, he was only one point away from being in the finals. Way to go Dallin!

The four kids who placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd.......Yes, that is Kyle in red pants! :)

It was a pretty exciting night. One I never expected or anticipated......and never will again. But it was fun. Good for you Kyle! Not bad for your first pinewood derby.

Now we have a title to defend......YIKES! (I hope that's really not true).