Isaac - Student of the Week

Each Friday afternoon in Isaac's kindergarten class they take time to highlight one of the kids as the "Student of the Week". Isaac was very excited for his turn to come up. He had his chance this past October.

On Mondays the kids get to bring into school anything they want to show off to their friends. It sits on this counter all week long until Friday afternoon right before the end of the day. The whole class gathers around while the Student of the Week tells about each item.

Isaac brought in a lot of things that he loves to play with and that he is interested in right now. Those would be Beyblades (what he is pointing to), Chuck E Cheese (the coin hanging on the wall), Legos (books and video games), Transformers, and Cars. Once upon a time he was Cars crazy and that was his favorite. That has definitely been replaced by Legos especially those that are for Ninjago.

And of course we can't forget the pictures. Isaac is one of the best smilers around and is totally adorable in pictures as he has grown up. And we can't forget the picture with his brother. He loves his big brother (sometimes a little bit too much). But I am glad that they are such great bro's as Isaac would say.

 

 

The whole family was able to make it over to Isaac's school to witness him describing all his stuff to the class. In our book he is always "Student of the Week", at least for the grade of Kindergarten.

Family Night at the Pumpkin Patch

One Monday night in early October we went for Family Home Evening to a local pumpkin patch / farm. We were accompanied by another family who we are good friends with in the ward to have some fun. There was a lot for the kids to see and play with and on. And we even got to have a special treat of home made donuts and hot apple cider.

Brigham pretending to milk a cow.

They had lots of animals for the kids to look at. We spent a few quarters for food to feed them.
At many of the pens they had a button to play a story over a loud speaker.
At this particular pen we got to listen to the story of the "3 Pigs".

The boys, along with their good buddy Logan, liked climbing up on top of the hay bales.
And then seeing if they could jump from bale to bale. And to be king of the mountain.

Even dad got into a picture. They didn't leave the keys for me to start up this bad boy.

Who needs a sand box when you can roll around in a box full of corn kernals.

I think I prefer a corn box over a sand box in terms of the mess.
But we were finding corn kernals in shoes and jackets all week.

Our happy family trying to bear the sun and deal with the shadows to get a nice family picture.

The boys sure are getting tall.

 



Brigham and Isaac waiting with their friends for our turn to go a ride through the pumpkin patch.

The boys thought we were going to buy pumpkins to bring home for carving.
These are the ones they picked out. We didn't end up getting any (too early for pumpkin carving).

So instead I had them sit and think while we waited.

It was finally our turn to take a ride. They really enjoyed the hay ride.

 

 

I am glad that we were able to go and spend some good quality family time all together. Next year maybe we can go back to this farm and enjoy another good night. Or go find a new farm (there are lots of them around) and keep exploring and enjoying the nice area we live in.

Brigham's Raingutter Regatta

The month after Brigham joined the Cub Scouts he had a rain gutter regatta. I never participated one I don't think when I was a young Cub Scout many years ago. He had fun sanding and painting his boat in preparation for the big night. And then a lot of fun racing his boat against his friends.

Holding up his boat. He went with red, black, and silver to paint it.
You got to love that smile of his. Dimples!!!

The start of the race. The boats are propelled by a rudder held in place between
 two poles with a rubber band. The rubber band is winded up and then he would let it
go at the start of the race. Thankfully it wasn't one where they had to kneel behind the
boat and blow on a sail to make the boat go.

The trick was to have the rubber band placed at just the right height on the
 poles along with the proper amount of winding. Too little or too much
winding of the rubber band could lead to problems.

We are proud of Brigham and the effort he put in. He wasn't very successful
duing the night, but he had a lot of fun with his friends. And Isaac sure had a lot of
fun too watching all of the boats.





Brigham's Baptism

Finally after all the hoopla to celebrate Brigham's 8th birthday the day finally arrived for him to get baptized and become an official member of the Church or Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a day that I had been thinking of since he was born. We had many friends show up to witness this special event for Brigham.

All ready to go dressed in white. I love his smile.

Of course Isaac was hanging all over him. He adores his big brother.

Brigham and dad all dressed in white and ready to go. I am a proud daddy. We make a handsome pair.

Grandma and Grandpa Choate were able to come to celebrate this special day.
Grandpa gave a very nice talk about baptism and the Holy Ghost and Grandma played the piano.



We had a simple gathering after the ceremony to celebrate with our friends. We gave Sam's Club a digital copy of some pictures to make into edible photographs to go on his special cake. Sometimes I say that he is just so cute that I could eat him up. Well today we literally could. We also made grandpa's special party juice (7-Up and raspberry sherbet) to serve alongside.

 

 

I am grateful to hold the priesthood and have the honor of baptizing and confirming Brigham. It was a special day for the him, me, and our family. He is such a great example to his brother. We have seen him grow and develop spiritually over the past few months since his birthday. Of course some of this could be attributed to getting older, but I think a lot of it is because of the gift of the Holy Ghost that was conferred upon him that day. I know that gift is real and that it was given to Brigham. I felt a power flow from me to him as I pronounced the confirmation and blessing. It will be Brigham's responsibility to continually receive the promised blessings and feelings that the Holy Ghost will bring into his heart and life.