"Coco Bite"

The other day Jayden was going outside to feed his puppy, Zipper and Zion was just standing at the back door's edge peeking out. I said "Zion, go on out and shut the door." Zion replied, "NO", I gave him a gentle push and said "go on", he pushed back and said "no momma, Coco bite!" LOL..... Coco was the lab we had before Zipper but Zion hasn't gotten the names straight yet. As cute as can be.

The Power of a Praying Child....lol

The other night I was on my knees beside the bed praying and Jayden and Zion came in to see what I was doing so I invited them to join me. I realized Manuel wasn't there so I had them go get him and we began to pray together as a family. I had Jayden go first, he had his little 7 year old spill. I went next, I had my little 33 year old female spill. Then Manuel went last, he had his little 36 year old male spill. As Manuel was concluding our family prayer and we were rising from out knees, we heard this "bzbazfifzabazzzzbberassead" it was Zion PRAYING! He had his little head cupped in his hand and he was going at it loud enough for us all to hear. In his little mind it was his turn (how cute is that). We looked at each other, bowed our heads and let him jibber jabber it out, then suddenly he said "Hay Men" (amen). They do say the darndest things.

"Deck the Halls"

Over the past couple week's my nephews and sister has been staying with us until she get her own place and last night we decided it was time to decorate for Christmas. Zion was exhausted so he didn't get to participate in the festivities, but we had plenty of help with Jayden, Josiah, and William. It was like herding cattle on roller skates (lol)! I wanted to claw my eye balls out.

"Sea ya lala"

Today Manuel took Zion to the dentist for a cleaning. This was his 2nd visit. Some time ago he developed a contusion above one of his teeth that was coming in and everything was fine. It eventually went down, so he's not afraid of the dentist. Manuel said he marched right into that office like he owned the place. He played on the lobby with the other kids and really got a kick out of walking through the sharks mouth. Once they got him back to the exam room, the nurse was a little nervous that he wouldn't behave because he's so little. But, just like a big boy he layed down on the table and opened right up. The only thig was that he would only let them clean a tooth or two before he needed to take a break. He's hop up and say "all done", try to get off the table, then they'd convience him to do a couple more. This went on the entire visit. Manuel said, they all laughed when the cleaning was completed. The nurse said "he did real good, he just needs to take alot of breaks". As they walked out of the office, Zion said "sea ya lala".

My big boy My BIG helper

Last night, Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer came on TV and Manuel was really excited about watching it with the boys, so he called me when he was on his way home and told me to turn to the station and have the boys ready because he was going to be pushing time to make it there when the show started. I got off the phone and told Jayden to take a shower and get into his bed cloths because dad was on his way home. Zion was throwing a fit to keep playing with Jayden so I had my hands full finishing up the dishes. I Jayden to undress Zion and put him in the shower with him and I'd be in in a sec to wash him. By the time I made it into the bathroom both Jayden and Zion where getting out of the shower. I said "Jayden don't turn the shower off, I've got to wash Zion" he said "no you don't have to I already did". Of course I didn't think he could have possibly gotten him all that clean so I spelled the both of them and it was obvious the had both been well washed. I still don't know how he did it with ease. It's so hard to hold onto that wet baby when I do it. How he was coordinated enough to was both of them is beyond me. But, that's my big boy my big helper!

"Daddy Locked"

After being home with the boys a few days in a row, Zion will often get up looking for me. This morning, Manuel said he got up crying and went to the bedroom door, pulled on the handle and said "daddy, lock, lock, lock, lock!", Manuel opened the door and Zion proceeded into the living room to shout (around his passy mind you) "mommy, mommy, where at, mommy". Once he discovered I wasn't there all "H" "E" double hockey sticks broke out and he was fit to be tied. It's nice to be loved, appreciated, and missed. It's just not the way Manuel wanted to start his day.

"Tank you daddy, Tank you"

It was cold this morning, in the lower 20's, Manuel got Zion all bundled up in this lined coat with the fur around the hood. After they dropped Jayden off at school they headed to Mrs. Perry's house to drop Zion, a few minutes into the trip Manuel said, Zion was screaming "Hot, daddy, Hot!". After a few minutes of the unbearable ear piercing screams, Manuel finally pulled over, rolled the window down and reached in to take Zion's hood off. A few moments later, after driving down the road a bit, Zion started screaming "Cold, daddy Cold". At this point Manuel was aggitated and determined to make it to their destination without stopping again. He looked in the rear view mirror only to discover that he had left Zion's window down and the poor baby was freezing. Even is little lips wer blue! Manuel rolled the window up and a few seconds latter, Zion said, "tank, you daddy, tank you".

You don't like what they say, just close the door.

Last night, I was attempting to take a shower without Zion and he was determined to get in with me although he'd already had his bath. Manuel was in the bed room trying to convince Zion to come to him and play. He wasn't having it. "No, daddy, no baff! Mommy baff". After several failed attempts as persuasion, Zion got tired of Manuel trying to talk him into it, so he just closed the bathroom doors on him. I guess he figured, "dada's getting on my nerves, let's just close these, maybe he'll go away."

Selfless Love

Jayden and Zion have such a bond. Jayden really wanted a sibling before Zion was born and since there's such an age difference I thought by the time the baby got here and Jayden realized that it would take away from the attention and lavishing he got, he'd be ready to send him back. That has not been the case at all. Just the other night, Jayden went out to walk his dog and wherever Jayden goes Zion is not far behind. It was a frigid night and Zion apparently walked outside behind Jayden. By the time I noticed he wasn't in the house with me, I rushed outside because I knew he didn't have on a coat or shoes. I made it to the garage shouting Zion's name and around the corner with a lease in one hand and a baby on his hip Jayden shuffled into view. Jayden weighs about 40 lbs and Zion is pushin 30 lbs, but Jayden still carries him around like it's nothin. He had picked him up off the ground because he didn't have shoes on and Jayden took his own coat off and put it on Zion because Zion didn't have one. Now that's selfless love! What more could you ask for from your children?

We'll take two! What?

In May this year, Jayden got a Chocolate Lab for his birthday (Cocoa). This was the most defiante creature I had ever seen in my life! He would not do anything we commanded him to do, so instead of fighting the constant battle teaching him to potty outside, we decided to give in and make him an outside dog. When Jayden went to camp in July, Cocoa, got to hot and died.

We promised him that we would get him another puppy, but purposefully did not put a date on when. In all honesty, I was hoping he'd get over the dog thing. Long story short, Manuel has a friend who knew about Jayden's dog and had a lab who gave birth to 6 puppies 6 weeks ago. He mentioned to Manuel that he had them ready to go and wanted to give one to Jayden. I was very hesitant, so he brought the two black ones to our house for Jayden to choose one.

My sister and her boys are staying with us for a week or two and as did Jayden her boys guilted her into getting them a puppy as well, so I went from being completely resistant to a puppy to having two running around my house! How did this happen!

Two puppies (Zipper and Shaddow), one Min Pin (Shordee), one Bird (Blu), one 21 mo. old (Zion), one 3 year old (William), one 5 year old (Josiah), one 7 year old (Jayden), and 3 adults all under the same roof. I’m a saint I know! Oh yeah, I forgot the turtle (Toby)!

"Jayden Pack Pack"

This morning Manuel was getting the boys ready for the day and he told Jayden "Son, get your back pack and lets get ready to go." Zion walked around the corner into the living room and returned with Jayden's back pack and said "Jayden, Pack Pack, Pack Pack, Jayden". So sweet!

"Watch, Watch!"

A few days ago, I was in the bathroom ironing clothes and I heard Zion say "Jayden, watch, watch!", "Jayden, watch, watch!" then louder, "Jayden, watch, watch!" by this time I had made my way to the corner of the door just in time to see what Zion was trying to show Jayden, he was turning his sippy cup upside down and letting the juice seep out onto the carpet and getting the biggest kick out of it. It was just about the cutest thing I've seen in a while, but I did have to put a stop to it before we end up with ants or something (lol)!

"I DO"

Zion and Jayden are so sweet together. Jayden is so patient with his little brother and Zion is so demanding. Just the other day we were going out to run a few errands and Jayden decided to bring his game boy along. Zion was screaming bloody murder pointing at it, so Jayden positioned it so that Zion could see what he was doing. When is got close enough for Zion to reach it he snatched it away and said "I do Jayden, I do". Jayden just smiled and said "Mom look at his little chubby hands on the gameboy" and occupied himself with the music on his hand me down cell phone. I am truely blessed to have boys with such a big age gap but still love each other so dearly and show it everyday in their interaction with one another.

Pumpkin Carving and Hay Rides for EVERYONE

Manuel decided again this year to do a hay ride for all of Jayden's friends. We ended up with about 15 people including little boys and a few adults. Jayden and Zion had the time of their lives and they were the cutest two spookers around. Jayden was a NINJA and Zion was a PIRATE. Manuel and I were just proud, worn out parents. Before we took the hay ride, we carved a couple pumpkins. Zion was right in the thick of it. We could hardly use the knives because he sat right in the middle of the table and insisted on having his hand in each of the pumpkins right when we were ready to start the cutting. Babies!

Smarter than mom

This year Jayden is in the 2nd grade and it now up to 20 word/week spelling test. Many of them are what the school refers to as "sight" words, which mean that they can not be sounded out by traditonal methods. They must be memorized. Because of this we have to spend a great deal of time studing them and testing Jayden over them each day to insure he's prepared for Friday's spelling test. On Monday, October 13th, Jayden was about he normal routine of writing the words for the day and saying them out loud except, I noticed that he really wasn't paying much attention, he was just going through the motions. I asked him a few times to really think about what he was saying and writing so he would get the words right the first time and wouldn't have re-write the words again (as is our custom if he misspells a word). He didn't seem a bit concerned so I left him alone with the assignment and started getting things together for the next day. Several minutes later, Jayden came into the master bath room where I was ironing clothes and said "mom, I'm ready to take my test" rushed out of the room and returned to the notebook he had been writing in. I asked "do you need extra time to study?" "No, I'm ready" he said. This was completely uncharactoristic, normally I have to prod him to get the test over with. So, I walked into the room where he was shielding a piece of paper, suspicious as to what he was up to I said "let me see you paper", he reluctantly gave it to me and to my suprise he had written the words at the bottom of the paper lightly so that he could reference them during our mock spelling test. Needless to say, I gave him a lecture on CHEATING and how I wasn't born yesterday and every little trick he even thinks about trying I've already tried them with my parents and know what he's up to even before he's up to it most of the time. He think's he can outsmart me, I don't think so buddy.

"WEEEEEEEEE!"

I was in the bathroom trying to have a little bit of privacy and while I was doing my business, and lo and behold here comes Zion wanting to be right under me. I said "Zion, do play with bubba, momma will be right out" he refused, "no", I pleaded some more "Zion, let mommy use the bathroom, I'll be right out" and just a calmly as he said it the first time, he said "no". I said "Zion, do you want to go the naughty spot?" only then did he realize I ment business so he tried to divert my attention. "momma, momma, look, look, weeeee, weeeee!" Zion was grabbing hold of the toilet paper holder and swinging on it! "Boy you're going to rip that thing out of the wall with that 30lbs swinging on it" he said, "it fun, it fun!"

OMG, Jayden is still interested in girls!

Last night, I was watching a show on TV that I didn't think was appropriate for Jayden to watch so I had him go to my room and watch TV. After about 30 minutes of dead silence from the bedroom where he was watching TV, I decided go check out what he was watching. As I walked into the room, he changed the channel. I asked "what are you watching", he said "I'm looking for the Disney Channel" I said "what were you watching" he said "I don't know, nothing really" I said "Son, you know all I have to do it press the back button on the remote and it will take me to the last channel, so would you like to tell me what you were watching or would you like me to just figure it out on my own?" He swugged his shoulders, I took the remote and hit the "last" button. The channel went to the Dallas Cowboy Cheer leading Tryouts! I would even consider what they had on a bathing suite. I said "why were you watching this?" he said "I just wanted to see what they were doing." I said "why did you lie to me about it?" he said "I didn't lie, I didn't know what it was called." OMG, they are getting good at skirting the truth young these days.

Jayden's interested in girls!

OMG, my seven year old is starting to show an interest in girls. I picked him up from the sitters today and this is how the conversation went:

Jayden: "mom I asked Iquiria out to the school dance and she said no!"
Mom: "you asked someone out?"
J: "Yes Mom"
M: "why are you asking a girl to go to the school dance with you. You don't need anyone to go with you, are the other little boys asking girls to go?"
J: "Yes mom, most of them already have dates."
M: "why do you think she said no?"
J: " she just kind of mean like that"
M: "well, why did you ask this particular girl out, isn't there other girls you could ask?"
J: "I asked her because she's HOT MOM!"
M: long pause!!!!!!! "She's hhhhhhot?"
J: "yeah, she's hot"
M: "what does hot mean Jayden?"
J: "Mom, you don't know what hot means?"
M: "sure I know I just want to know what you think it means."
J: "it means she's really cute and has a rockin body."

End of conversation.......... ROCKIN BODY! OMG, what on earth am I going to do??????

"Naughty Spot, what Naughty Spot????"

Over the last few weeks Zion has progressively gotten more and more agressive and strong willed. He started out hitting me back when I'd spank him, then when he realized I wasn't having that he would hit Jayden or Manuel when he'd get in trouble, and most recently he just throws or kicks stuff until he finally realizes that everytime he does something out of anger he gets in more trouble. This process has lasted anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes, moving from thing to thing taking his frustration out on it. Yesterday I listed to a Family Life Broadcast talking about the proper way to discipline our children and I decided last night to try placing Zion on time out instead of spanking him since he appears to have anger issues. I was in the kitchen cooking and he tried to get in the oven. I gave him the traditional warning and advised him that if he did it again he'd have to go to time out. Less than a minute later, he again had the oven open and was trying to climb in. I told him no, the oven is hot, and picked him up and headed to place him on our stairs, "the naught spot". On the way I explained that he had disobeyed me and that god punishes those who disobey and that I was required by god to hold him accountable for his actions.... All of this I explain to a 20 MONTH old, but suposably he understands. I placed Zion on the naughty spot and stood there since it was his first time and I fully anticipated that he wouldn't stay seated. To my dismay, he sat perfectly still until his minute and a half was up. I picked him up and again explained to him why he had been punished and reassured him that I loved him. I went back into the kitchen and proceeded to cook the entire meal without him going back to the stove. Ahhhh success! Later on in the evening I was ironing the kids cloths for the next day and Zion got mad because I wouldn't let him climb onto the counter top, "where the HOT iron was, not to mention he could fall down and split his head open", so true to form he begins throwing a fit by going into my closet and getting my shoes and throwing them into the bathtub and turning on the water. I gave him a warning not to continue his behavior or he'd be placed in time out, he didn't listen so I picked him up, explained that he was being disobedient and that god punishes those who disobey and that I was required by god to hold him accountable for his actions. I placed him on the "naughty spot", told him he must stay there until I came back to get him and walked away. You would have thought I was killing the child. He cried bloody murder, I continued what I was doing, and to my suprise all of a sudden Zion stopped crying. I was thrilled! It worked, and I don't even have to stand over him to make him sit there! He understands! When the minute and a half was up I walked out of our bedroom to go release Zion only to find that Jayden had gone to the stairs and picked him up and was sitting in the Naughty Spot HOLDING Zion!

"My stomach feels empty and my head is hot"

Over the last couple days Jayden has had a head ache. He discribes it as his head going in and out in one spot and it being hot. Yesterday we picked him up and he had not touched his lunch so we knew he wasn't feeling very well. We took him home and gave him lots of TLC and he appeared to be feeling much better until it came time to do his home work then all of a sudden his head felt "hot" again and he could barely keep his eyes open (drama king if I ever saw one). This morning he woke and told Manuel "my stomach feels empty and my head feels hot and is going in and out" today he goes to Mrs. Perry's with his bubba, but when Manuel explained to him that he had to take three books to read, must practice his spelling all day, and couldn't go outside to play all of a sudden he wasn't feeling quite so bad and thought maybe he'd try to go to school. I don't think so, not so we can be called away in the middle of the day!

Shoe What Shoe?

Over the last few weeks it's been difficult to keep up with Zion's shoes. He's recently found the window button in the car and he rolled it down only to pitch is shoes and socks out the window. Then I hear, "bye bye, bye bye shoe!" I think nothing of it the first few times and get home only to find him both shoeless ans sockless. Now we have to lock the windows so we make it home with both shoes. Over the last few weeks I've purchased at least 4 new pair of shoes. These things are cute of others to hear about but they are a pain to replace.