Monkey Bars

Every since Jayden was an infant he has loved hanging from the monkey bars. After years of practicing (and being too little) he finally accomplished HIS goal a few weeks ago of going across all by himself. He is SOOOOOOOO excited! I'm a little sad though because his sweet, soft hands are getting ripped to pieces as they are trying to build callus'. I'll miss those baby hands.

Good job Jayden...we are proud of you!

Modeling in Japan

I'm learning a lot about Japan in a way that I never thought of! Apparently Japanese modeling agencies LOVE Americans. It is not uncommon around here to have your kids model. People have been telling me about it for months, but I had absolutely NO interest. We are just normal ol' people--not models.

Well, a few months ago my friend Michelle was telling me more about it and how much fun she and her kids have had doing it. She was going to an audition and asked if I wanted to come along and check it out. I asked the kids and Jayden said he wanted to do it, but Tia wasn't sure. So we went...Tia came and cried her head off, so she ended up not auditioning (oh well), but Jayden did and he was one of the kids that was picked for the job. I figured we'd at least give it a shot and see if he liked it.

We LOVED it! Jayden had an absolute BLAST! It's nothing like I thought. You don't need to have amazing modeling skills...they just want the kids to be kids. I was so happy! Tia even liked it and wanted to do it. They had people there entertaining the kids, making them laugh, blowing balloons up and letting them go, and just being silly. When we left (after 4 hours of 9-10 photo shoots) Jayden said "Mom, that was fun...can we do it again?"

Here are a few pictures from Jayden's first modeling job!

The company he modeled for is called COMBI MINI. They are connected to the same company that make Combi strollers. Here are 2 pictures they have on their website:

You can see more pictures of him in the catalog here.

(pages 14, 15, 16, 26, 28, 29)

Check out the boy with the long hair. He is amazing and hilarious! He's been modeling since he was 1 1/2 years old and was a blast to work with. He lives just down the street from us. It was fun to get to know him.

Here are some pictures from the photo shoot:

When we arrived we realized that one of the other kids that was picked was Jayden's friend from our church. This made Jayden really happy!

Isn't that hilarious...a tank top with a hoodie on it (Uncle Byron-it's a true "thangler"). I must admit...most of the clothes were pretty crazy!

Getting ready for his shoot.

Just a quick video

The staff fixing their clothes.

The funny guy to the left was the one entertaining them. The kids loved him!

They would come out and play with them so that they were happy and having fun.

Tia was awesome the whole 4 hours. I brought a million things to entertain her...surprisingly they worked!

The catalog that Jayden is in.

He and his friends are on the back cover.

I never imagined we'd be experiencing Japan this way, but it has been a lot of fun. It's taught us how to ride the trains (without our Japanese interpreter--AKA--DAD), go to new places (his last photo shoot was near Mt. Fuji), and we've met some really nice Japanese people.

We don't do it much (which is just perfect for me)...only about every 2-3 months. This is enough so that the kids (and I) still enjoy it. Jayden has done 2 jobs....I'm really excited to post the second one, but I can't until his pictures are published in August. It's for a company called MIKI HOUSE. All I'll say is that it was really fun and in one of the photo shoots he was wearing a black leather jacket and had a fohawk :) ...he loved it! However, in his other photo shoot he was wearing a turtle neck and clothes with teddy bears all over them...he didn't like that too much...I'll post a picture later to prove it...this kid cracks me up!

Tia told me one day that she was ready to model, so we took her and she got her first job for COMBI MINI also. The catalog should be out in a month or two.

Who would have thought that we would being doing this here. I love that just any normal kid can do it....and that they are still just normal kids when they are done. It's been a fun experience.

As long as the kids and I are still having fun, we'll keep doing it. Hopefully I'll be able to post the other pictures soon!

"I'm Japanese"

(Just a random picture of Jayden-I couldn't make a post without a picture :)

The other day I overheard Jayden telling Tia that HE was Japanese. I started laughing and moved into the front room so that I could hear what made him Japanese.

Jayden: "Tia, I'm Japanese...I watch Japanese, I eat Japanese Otter Pops, and I speak Japanese"

Mom: "Really??, what do you watch that is Japanese?"

Jayden: Pausing for a moment and thinking..."ummm"

Tia: "Astro Boy mom, we watch Astro Boy....he Japanese"

Laughing I asked the next question...

Mom: "What Japanese do you speak"

Jayden: In a really drawn out..."duh mom" voice he said... "Ko-- knee-- chi-- wa"

And the Japanese Otter pops is my fault. I found some Otter Pops at the Dollar store off base and told the kids they were Japanese Otter Pops...oops...so now my picky little kids actually think they each Japanese food :/

I'm so grateful for moments like this that make me laugh...I love these crazy kids!

"Tia, put some pants on"

One night awhile back I was having a really tough time with the kids. Shane was gone and I was really frustrated and exhausted from a long day. Somehow Tia ruined her pants (which made me even more frustrated) so I quickly and impatiently told her to go upstairs and get some other pants on. I continued to be really frustrated and was busy doing who knows what. I few minutes later Tia came down the stairs and was so proud of herself for getting her pants on all by herself. When I turned around this is what I saw....

At first I was a little confused how her pants had 3 legs until I realized it was her pajama top. I then said "Tia...go get some pants on". In the sweetest little voice she said..."mom, I did". As frustrated as I was I couldn't help but bust up laughing. Thanks for being you Tia!