The Election

No, I'm not referring to THAT election, I'm talking about the election for Vice-President of the Panda Power Club.  Now that Britton is in the 5th grade he is eligible to be a member of the Panda Power Club, a service and leadership club at his elementary school. They help plan and implement service programs at the school (Sub for Santa, etc.) and learn leadership skills in the process.  They have to apply to be a member of the club and are 50 students strong.  A few weeks ago Britton came home and announced that he was going to run for Vice-President of the club.  He informed me that he needed to have a poster and prepare a speech.  I let him write his speech and make slips of paper to hand out to the voting members of the club, which he did.  They said, "Vote for Britton, he likes pizza!" Totally random, but that's what he wanted. Before the election officially began Britton came home and said, "Ok, Mom, other kids are going to bribe people to vote for them, so I'm going to need some candy or something to pass out."  Oh, it starts so early, doesn't it?  We got him a bag of Tutti Fruties to take to school for his campaign and he changed his voter slips of paper to say, "Vote for Britton, he likes Pizza! . . . and tuttie fruties" Now I'm NOT a poster maker person so for me it's all about keeping it super simple.  We spent about 3 minutes on this beauty. (I edited out the last name)

The poster was a hit.  Everyone thought it was funny and Britton said that even the Principle made a comment about the poster.  Once I found out that 7 other students were also running for Vice-President I made sure that Britton was ok with whatever the outcome was, win or lose, and he let me know he would be just fine either way.  Well, he won the election.  I was pleased when another parent told me that her daughter mentioned that Britton was the only candidate that didn't promise the kids stuff he couldn't deliver.  Britton is really excited about his position in the club and is always looking for things to do for service hours as they all have a goal to get the Presidential Service Award requiring at least 50 hours of community service during the school year.

Jameson has reached the ripe old age of 9 months.  He likes to sleep on his stomach with his bum in the air.  One night I went in to take a picture.

He is always in this position with his knees tucked up to his chest.  It's pretty funny.  He is a busy little guy and is always on the go.  He has found his vocal chords and knows how to use them.  He is loud when he is happy, he is loud when he is mad, he is loud when he is excited, he is loud when he is bored--I think you get the picture.  My favorite is when we are at a store and he picks that moment to scream his high pitched ear splitting scream for no reason at all.  It's not that he is upset, he just felt like screaming.  After I am sufficiently startled he smiles at me and just keeps looking around. 

Jameson was born with Mongolian spots all over his body.  I'm not sure why they are called Mongolian spots, but they are quite common in Asian and African American babies and will mostly go away by the age of 2.  In the bath you get a good view of his "spots".  His bum is completely covered with one big spot.

He doesn't like to sit still in the bathtub, or anywhere else for that matter.

But at least he lets us wash his hair.



For General Conference this weekend Adam brought the TV upstairs and we watched it in our family room.  The kids made a big mess decided to bring all of the pillows and blankets together so they could watch in comfort.

We were surprised like everyone else when they announced the age changes for missionaries. It didn't change too much for Britton as he will turn 18 at the beginning of his senior year of High School, but it will allow him to go up to 3 months earlier than he would have.  For Jenna it's a game changer.  She has always wanted to go on a mission and was thrilled with the announcement.  If she does end up going it means she and Britton will be out at the same time for a few months.

The last few days we experienced a little cold snap around here.  I wondered if Jameson would still love going outside when the temperatures started getting colder.  Well, I guess this next picture answers that question.