Pics from Jaydens Birthday Party

Jaydens 5th Birthday Party taught us many things about us and our son Jayden. First that we love him and others love him enough to have like 4 different parties. That is Grandparents survived Chuck E Cheese and Grandma and Grandpa Lee even went to Ice Cream with us afterwards. The fact that JJ's mother would take the time to make great cupcakes and find out what he wants his theme party to be and then have it at Garlands means that Jayden is loved. The fact that the rest of the family always takes time off of their schedule to celebrate with Jayden was impressive. He has so many loved ones and so many that want to be part of his life.

Then there is the bad,,, the fact that people do not RSVP or that some people who we thought liked our son did not bother to show on this special occasion was an eye opener and it kept Alison and I awake at night before the big party. But we should not have worried, we should not have ever felt bad. Because we found out that there are so many who do like JJ and who care. The party was a HUGE success. The kids that showed up were awesome. They played all over the place, on the big swing and on the mats and the poles and the zip line and the climbing rope,.... and then watched JJ get to do the Bungee line and he loved it. He was smiling and laughing and having a great time.. He was exactly what U know he is, the kid who always seeks adventure and fun. The kids who were there to celebrate the moment, Jayden, Kallee, Wyatt, Dawson, Jonah, Madeline, Parker, Bailey, Ellen, Olivia, and Marina, and Nolan and Mason who also celebrate with my son made his 5th very memorable. They all got perfect gifts that showed they know our so so very well... Hot Wheels, and Backugans, and Roller Shoes and race car tracks, then the computer and remote control cars, and nerfs and transformers... man Jaydens friends could not have done better.

I know that every parent wants to see their kid with rose colored glasses and think he or she is the perfect child and the most popular and the most athletic... but reality says that cannot be true. What can be true is this, a parent can hope and pray for the best for their children and care for them and love them. And when you ask your son who is his best friend and he says you and mommy, then all is right in the world...

So I will continue to pray for Jayden to have wonderful adventures with his family and loved ones, oh and for a great next year. Happy Birthday Jayden, you are 5 and wonderful.

Jayden Turns 5, Cinco, the big 5....

resending for connie

Jayden turned 5 on March 18th. What an impressive first 5 years. My son has exceeded my expectations which is hard to do... I have high ones for him. He has an engineers mind, a hyper excitement, tunnel vision that is so focused he can ignore anything and anyone. Jayden loves to construct and move things and not pick up anything!! that he takes out.

Jayden cares a lot about people, trying to take the blame for things his friends and especially his sister to wrong. He loves spending time with his family and always wants the next adventure.. that is unless he is focused on the current adventure. He can write his name and he can, with a skip of a few numbers, count to 100. He is even drawing within the lines.

He is so into the number 5 now. He is 50 pounds exactly and 45 inches tall. He passed his hearing test and vision. Jayden loves to play the wii with his mommy and build trains and geo trax's with daddy.

What impresses me the most about my son is his heart. That boys wears his heart on his sleeve and it shows in his face and his eyes.. that oh so cute boy shows his emotions all over. Nothing, and I mean nothing will make my wife go on attack mode more than seeing her little boy hurting... she wants to protect him all the time. I want Jayden to get a little thinker skin, but I will always, always make sure that his adventurous and innocent, happy look of life stays as long as I can. I know that I can be hard on him, and I know that it seems to others that I am harsh. But all I want is to make sure that Jayden knows that he can be crazy wild, but with boundaries.

He loved going to Chucky Cheese and he loved getting his presents. He plays Hot Wheels at least once a day and the computer.. he has learned to start it himself and get online. (I set him up on Chrome so he can only go to PBS Kids, Nick Jr, Cool Math Games, and Disney Jr.)

He is getting so old as now he gets up in the morning and gets his own food and drink as well as dressing himself (with the constant badgering from his mother and father.) He is, well, growing up. It has been such an awesome year for us and I hope that life just gets better.

We are so fortunate that we have such a strong family around us... it means so much to Alison and I that people around us love our children. People that are trustworthy and caring, who make Kallee and Jayden laugh and run and feel loved. To all of you a heartfelt thank you, because our children not only love having you around, but truly need having you around. Also know for a fact that Jayden can bring sunshine into your day as well. He is a great kid and I am so proud of him.

So for Jayden I cannot wait to sail into the next adventure with you... what will we become next... pirates,,, super heros... maybe trains, who knows,, but two things will be for sure... I will be tired at the end and Jayden will want to do more....

I love you Jayden, Happy Birthday!

Jayden the engineer

Jayden the engineer. He solves the problems, thanks to effort and work.....

My son the tough guy.

It is almost to the point of happy tears that I write this. My son Jayden is such an amazing child. Alison is also choked up tonight about how much we love our son and how awesome he really is.

So to the story,

Jayden and Kallee were taking a bath, and as always I am multi tasking by folding the laundry. All of a sudden I hear Kallee say "oh no JJ oh no JJ!!! and calling for daddy. I go in thinking Jayden is playing with something and come to find my son sitting in the bathtub with blood just streaming down his face. I do the nervous laugh and say Jayden are you okay. Of course, not being father of the year I tell my goodness JJ that is amazing... then have him get out of the bath and then look in the mirror,,,, then I get my phone and start taking pics.

Why am I taking pics... because I am shocked how calm my son is... he is smiling for goodness sake. I start cleaning up when we hear mommy coming up.. I tell Jayden that wait till mommy see's it... he says mommy is going to laugh at me... I suck as a daddy as I laughed... poor jj and dumb daddy. Alison is scared for JJ and wants to know if we should take him to the emergency room. I again take a pic and send it to Boyd. Boyd calls right back and says yes! So we take him and drop Kallee off. He wants to show Grandma Gebers the cut,, and she of course takes a picture. My wife thinks we are a strange family with all of the pics...

Alison, as a very protective and nercous mother starts asking JJ how is he and if he is okay and if he is alright. I ask him if he can count to ten and he does no problem... we get out of the car and just to see if he has a concussion, I ask him questions about things and he answers everything right. Including what color was the sidewalk and he said "cracky". (there were a lot of cracks).

We take him to KGH, Kennewick General Hospital, where he was treated awesome by the staff and the Doctor.

He sits very well and makes up always sit in the same seats and in the same order every time we have to talk to nurses and staff there.

Dr. Gurney was amazing and got Jayden all stiched up.

And this is where I get choked up.... Through the shots and the stiches he never cries or gets nervous and never does anything but sit patiently and wait. He gets 3 different layers of stitches with the last set having about 9 stitches.

Alison starts holding Jayden's hand but has to sit down after a while,, she is green and pale and the nurse is more worried about her passing out then Jayden who again, is just sitting patiently.

After it is done the Nurse gives Jayden stickers with Hot Wheels and he is so happy. He also tells his mommy, who is still not feeling well, that everything is okay and it did not hurt and she should be okay. He is telling his mother that all is fine and he is so happy with the stickers.

It was hard not to tear up thinking about how so blessed we are.. He shares his stickers with his sister, because she does not have any. Jayden shares his chocolate with his mommy because he thinks that is right... and so it goes for my son, just another day in his interesting and adventurous life.

Jayden and this season we call Christmas

Jayden and I are kin when it comes to this time of the season. We both love it. First it started with the decoration of the house with the lights and then the decoration of the Christmas tree in the front window. I must say that Jayden and Kallee did a great job with the decorations.

Jayden also loves to play in the snow. The cousins invited Jayden to go sledding this year and we ended up at Canyon Lakes and were out there for almost 2 hours. He went up and down the hill and had a great time. We got him a bigger sled this year and he has been sliding down the slop on the side of our house. He also takes his quad out in the snow and drives it around the yard.

He tried the bike on the ice, but that did not work as he fell 3 times and was mad at me. He is already pretty much mastered the riding of his bike without training wheels so when the sun is out again he will be ready to go(side note, he had Grandpa Lee out riding the bike yesterday). But now that the snow is here and still here, it is all about breaking icicles, and making snowmen, and playing until daddy is had enough.
This year was a unique one in terms of Thanksgiving as we had to move it back until Saturday. Alison was not feeling well so we had our first Saturday Thanksgiving. It went very well and was the first for Wyatt Dean in our house. He did a wonderful job sleeping. The kids had a great time and the food actually turned out very well. Jayden did a great job eating this year as he liked the Jell-o and the apple pie a lot.

Jayden had a Thanksgiving play and it went very well and Jayden was one of the bright spots. He has grown up so much in the past year as he is not as squirrely this year. But he is still one of the world’s worst dawdlers. It takes forever for him to get ready and it is worst as the winter months hit with all the extra clothes. He constantly has to be reminded to get ready and get his clothes on and get his coat on,,,, etc….. Plus right now it is a fight to get him to school. Jayden is a very sensitive child, so I am worried that the kids are picking on him because he is worried that the children will “make fun of him”. Yet when he gets there it is a trial to get him out, so I am hoping this is just a phase.
But even that has yet to deter from my sons good attitude. He always seems upbeat and loves to spend morning time with his mommy. On the weekends, Jayden and Mommy spend some time together while my daughter and I sleep. (at least that is what my guilty conscience says).
The things that I will remember about Jayden at this time are many. He loves to set up all his hot wheels (and I mean all of them) in a certain order and then leave them out forever if I do not tell him to put them away. He wants to use the entire train track when we build things. He always likes to take out everyone of his toys in the garage. It is almost like he feels sorry for the ones that are not being played with. He loves the Quad and burying it in a snow drift so that he can pull it out. He has my growl and uggh down as well as his “okayaay”. He says “Holey Moley” just like his mom. And he takes good care of his little sister Kallee. He likes ricola cough drops and loves his mommy’s pancakes. He loves watching the Christmas specials and he goes to his room to play on the computer at pbs.kids.org and cool-math games.

Jayden Gebers and The big Blasts at the End of the Summer

Jayden had a very busy end of the Summer. We went to fishhook with the cousins and then went to Robbie and Allison’s Wedding. That was a lot of fun because they had fun houses and toys to play with along with a great dance floor where Jayden broke out the funky moves.
The next weekend we took off to Portland and had a great time. Jayden loves OMSI in downtown Portland. http://www.omsi.edu/. There are many things to look at plus a great place for the young kids to play that Include Water Play, Blocks, Sand Play, Legos, Flubber play, legos, art, and Air play with tubes and balls. Plus there is another area with Cranes and levers and all of that. It was a great time and Jayden was really having a good time when we ruined his life by leaving. He has become what I like to call a cry-pouter, which really does drive me crazy. I lose it a times when he does that kind of thing, especially when I know it is coming… uggh.
But we will definitely visit the place again sometime in the future.

We also hit the Portland Zoo. http://www.oregonzoo.org/ They do a very nice job of having little plays with the animals and it has a great vast number of animals. We have a good time there when we go.
After that it was time to spend time on the beach in Seaside, OR. We stay at a hotel called Rivertide Suites which is awesome. Plus it is really close to a restaurant called Mc Keown’s. http://www.mckeownsrestaurant.com/ If you are looking for HomeMade Fries or a great Salmon, and the Burgers are great too, well go there. Be ready to be social because they are a little on the slow side, but we love the food and that is the reason to go.
Jayden, who is a creature of habit, made sure that every morning we did the same thing which is to ride the Carousel in the middle of a shopping mall. Then we hit the Toy store where he would play with the Thomas the Tank Engine trains and tracks. We would then proceed to the Video game store where would play bingo by rolling a little rubber ball or 25 cents a game. We would then walk to the beach and then back to the room to eat lunch.
The afternoon was reserved for the beach and we would have a blast. One time Jayden took Truck we bought and pushed it all over the beach and into the surf and then back out. Next time we made a sand mountain to drive on and then we made trails and a bridge. Finally we took a little plastic Jet Ski toy out into the waves and threw it out and tried to catch it when the wave brought it back. We got into the waves and was not afraid and loved running in and out of the waves. We also went to Cannon Beach and had a good time on the sand. We of Course ate at Moe’s.. Great Chili and Clam Chowder, and just a fun place to eat and hang out at, plus a great view of the beach. www.moschowder.com
Jayden also loved his time in the pool at both Portland and the Rivertide Suites. He loves adventure and playing so this vacation was exactly what he wanted. Plus Grandpa and Grandma Gebers came so that made it even better. He got to do twice as much with 4 people.
This week was the Fair and again Jayden could not be more excited. He got to go on kids day and ran all over the place. He walked the parade with other kids and Jonah and Kallee. Then he when the candy find in the hay and then it was time to see the animals and of course, my favorite the tractor pull. Jayden at 4 made the first pull of 25 feet and then in the finals he was doing great but got distracted with the trailer the tractor was pulling and lost momentum or I think he would have hit the mark again.
He got to ride some rides and hang out with his mom and cousins and Grandma Gebers. We went back that night and I got to watch him do so many things on his own. He did the Free Fall Drop ride with Jonah, Dawson, Madeline, and loved it. He did the Roller Coaster and got kicked off with Dawson, then did the mirror Castle and figured the way out first before anyone else. He of course did the Bungee Jump thing many times as he loves going high and just jumping. I loved the fact that Rick Springfield was playing so I got to hear his concert. That was great.
We also went to Mondays Demolition Derby and watch those drivers crash and drive and blow radiators, and drive trains, and trannys, tires, and had to be carted off. The Cars also had a beauty contest and they shoot water and candy at the crowd and I have to tell you it was a blast. We got great seats and Jayden was screaming and yelling and having a blast. (Where we stayed was upstairs in the box seats, so it buffered much of the sound and that made it great because when Jayden went outside he did not like the sound very much).
http://www.bffairrodeo.com/
At the start of this School year Jayden is 44.2 Inches tall and weighs over 48 pounds. He Should be starting Soccer soon so it will be his first organized sport… I am a little nervous, but if my brother survived it, I should be okay.

A great movie by the Lee's

Thanks to Grandpa Lee we have another great movie... thanks for the weekend of fun.

Jayden time with the Animals and the Beach

Sometimes, you talk about something so much that there are these high expectations. And these expectations when making them with your family become HUGE. So huge that you are worried that it will fall well short.

Those were the expectations of our last family adventure. An Adventure to Portland and the beach. And I have to admit I was very surprised how it went.

First our Daughter Kallee who is not a fan of trips, did awesome and slept most of the way. Next our son who travels awesomely, did is normal awesome best. We stopped at the McD's in Troutdale which was great, big toys and had a good time. Then we went shopping at the outlet mall. (Boring for everyone but Grandma Lee and Mommy). And then hit the hotel. We ate at BJ's Pizza. In Janzen Beach and it was great food, I love their Pizza and their atmosphere and I love that the have Pizzokies. Good stuff... But Kallee, who thrilled all by saying hi and flirting with everyone in the front was losing it in the restaurant, so I had to take her out. Jayden, who did not get a nap in was also in hyperland.. so both went down when we got back to the hotel.

It was Alison's Birthday so Kallee and Jayden got her Starbucks cards and Money for a new Purse... they are very smart Children. She also got Ann Taylor from the Lee's as well as cake decoration supplies and a chance to take classes.

The next day was the Portland Zoo. It was awesome.

Jayden had a blast as did Kallee and Mommy and Daddy. The animals on the other hand looked like many of them could use a big nap. Speaking of missing naps... Jayden did lose it at about 2 and was ready to go. He was over stimulated and started crying, but came around and was back to his ole self by the time we left. He use the potty a lot at the park and was very good about going now in public places. He is getting trained... yea. A big thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Lee for hanging out with us those first two days... They were saviors to my sanity.

Jayden and Kallee both fell asleep on the way to Seaside OR. That was a good thing because by the time we got settled in at the hotel. (The Rivertide Suites.. Check out the size of our room!! )

It was time to hit the road for dinner... or was it..... Opps...

Jayden was hungry so he got up on the counter in the kitchen and ate a raisin, oatmeal cookie with walnuts.. The problem was he is allergic to walnuts,, the other problem. we did not know.,

Opps.... so he started to cry right of f the bat and then he started to slurr. Then Alison look at his mouth and it was starting to blister... that is when Jayden, Mommy and I hit the road to the emergency room. Thank goodness for the Providence Heath Hospital in Seaside.. They saw that it was a food allergy reaction and Gave our son Benadryl, and respiratory services, an epie shot, steroids, and an IV... Dr. Opie,,, who was on staff at the time was awesome as were the nursing and specialist there. I cannot thank them enough for all they did in making us feel important and taking such great care of our son.

I have to say they were also very impressed on how cool and tough our son is. Alison was a little frightened and going crazy on the ride there.,.. But Jayden was calm saying things like... My mouth is swollen... I like the Doctor,,., Yes mommy I can still breathe,,, see.... He was drooling and breaking out everywhere and was very tough. Daddy was smart enough to get the movie player out of the car and he watched Finding Nemo, and get this, the room he was in... was decorated in Nemo stuff and he got Nemo stickers. He did not cry with the shots or the breathing of the steriods or having to drink all the drugs.. he only said he was cold when the saline went into the IV.. yes no crying with the IV,, in fact when they took it out, he wanted them to put it back in so he could wear the bandaging again... I love my son...

Grandpa and Grandma Gebers saved us with Kallee as we were at the Hospital for 3 hours. It was a scary expereince... but we so lucky it happened there with so much help and so quickly the nurses and doctors worked, it was a blessing how it worked out.

Jayden recovered in great fashion and we were off to the beach. That was so much fun Kallee and Jayden just played and played. Jayden played with some trucks we picked up at Safeway and he drove them here and there and near and far and into the surf and out of the surf and threw them into the surf and watched them come back to him. One day he wanted to jump waves with me and we could literally go out over 60 yards into the Ocean and it did not go over Jayden's Shoulders. We jump and splashed and got pulled around by the waves and had a blast.

Jayden loved the little train that he could drive and ride and he wanted to much to ride the carousel and just stay down in Seaside forever. The food was good and fun, though one of the best places to eat was very slow, but the food was very good. The Hotel was a perfect place to go for naps and hang out. Grandma Gebers and Mommy went shopping while Kallee, Jayden and I took naps to get ready for the nightlife.

The whole trip, even the bumps, was a complete success. I cannot wait to go to Seaside again. I Love our time there. I know that Jayden did and I know that Jayden wants to go back and we will, he had a great time.