Hallelujah Night 2009

Every year New Creation Academy holds a Hallelujah Night This is a positive alternative to halloween. (Joe and I have chosen not to have the kids surround themselves with all of the negativity of halloween.) This event allows the kids to dress up, play games, get candy, and praise God at the same time!

The school sets up a "photo booth" and this year we were able to get all three kids in the picture. They were able to get one where all of the kids were looking. Of course Jaden was playing with his tail in all of the pictures I took.

Jonathan was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle this year. He still dresses up and wears the costume around the house!

Jaden was the cutest Triceratops around!

I was sure excited to have a little girl to dress up this year in a girlie costume. Makayla was Snow White.

There are lots of games for the kids to play. Jonathan was really good at this one. He made the ring over 4 pop bottles!

Jaden thought this game was pretty neat too.

There was bowling there too.

This "game" is always a hit. The kids get to "dig for gold". The swimming pool is filled with popcorn and gold wrapped chocolate. I think Jaden could have stayed at this spot all night!

This game was interesting and Jaden ended up "winning" two pieces of candy. The kids had to drop Life0Savers into cups on the ground. One of the Life-Savers Jaden dropped made it into a cup and bounced out and into another cup!

This year the school decided to have the kids "fish" for plastic ducks. In the past the kids fished for real fish. We have lost quite a few gold fish over the years...

Jonathan has been pretty good at putting the golf ball. Poppy has been letting him play with his golf clubs in the backyard during the summers.

Poor Jaden was trying to figure out how to use a right-handed golf club with his left-handed brain! (They forgot to bring the left-handed golf clubs this year.)

I think this was Jonathan's favorite station this night. He had a lot of fun riding the bull. The men bouncing the bull did not take it easy with him either!

I think the men were a little hesitant to have Jaden up there, but he did great. He came off laughing, so we all called it a success with Jaden!

Jaden was showing off his soccer skills at this station. He actually made more than one goal! We always thought he would be our football player, maybe he will surprise us and be a soccer player.

Makayla was too little for the games, but had a great time with Poppy!

Well, it is just a couple days until Christmas and I am just getting my Hallelujah Night pictures up. I will try to get the Christmas ones up a little quicker!

Joe, Jonathan, Jaden, Makayla, and I all wish you a Blessed Christmas with the love of family, friends, and Christ surrounding you!

Trip to the Photographer

Okay, so really I don't ned any excuses to take the kids to get more pictures, but I needed an excuse for Joe. Luckily Makayla was turing one! We took the three kids to get updated picture. This time Jaden actually followed directions and smiled nicely in the pictures!



Both boys enjoyed the attention they were getting from the photographers!




I think Jonathan looks so much older than 6 in this picture. He is such a mature little 6 year old. He also is a ham in front of the camera!





Jaden was being so good during this trip and was trying so hard to follow in his brothers footsteps when it was his turn.

Then we added Makayla to the group. She really did not know what she thought about her brother holding her...

Makayla looks to me like she is asking, "What did I do to deserve this...?"

Jaden was so proud to be the big brother in this picutre. Makayla is just looking for the exit!

Makayla seemed much more comfortable when she was alone in front of the camera.

I could not believe that Makayla was able to sit on this block by herself and not fall off. She sat so still and we were able to get this great photo!

I think Makayla's face says it all in this one, "Can you tell me again why I am doing this?"

I love the sparkle in Makayla's eyes in this one!

As usual, Jonathan was hamming it up.

I was so excited that Jaden was able to follow directions this time and we got some great shots of him!

Okay, this was the best group shot we got of the kids on the second background. At least Makayla didn't look scared this time!

We were doing everything we could think of to get Makayla to smile. It took giving her one of her dolls to get this smile out of her...

So her doll and mobility were the things that we making her smile this day. Makayla was pretty much done at this point and just wanted to move.

I love this picture too. This is Makayla looking up at me while she was stanging next to some blocks. I think she looks so sweet in this one!

General Summer and Fall Activities in the Ciszczon House...

We hung a basketball hoop in our garage this summer and the kids all had a great time playing ball with us. Makayla even took some turns with the ball!





Here is Jonathan on his first day of school. Jonathan is in first grade this year. He is doing great! I was a little worried about how he would do with full day school since he still took naps during the summer. He is doing really well during the week, but still takes naps on the weekends.



Here is Jonathan showing us how dirty his desk was after only 3 weeks of school. I was hoping that was a habit he did not get from me...

Makayla had a big step this summer and joined the family at the "big table"!

She also started pulling herself up and walking around furniture.

This day we had spent about 4 hours running in the sprinklers with our neighbors and apparently Jaden was a bit wiped out. I don't think I have ever seen Jaden not finish his dinner before this!

Now that I am home with the kids, I have been trying to find different projects to work on with Jaden. This day Jaden found the package with the gingerbread train we never had time to make last Christmas and decided he wanted to make it. I think it was wishful thinking!

With being home, I am also able to go on field trips with Jonathan and his class. Jonathan was so excited to have me come with his class, but I had to laugh when he didn't want to sit by me in the bus.

We were on a trip to the Fair Oaks Farms. We were able to see all about the 3,000 cows they have, how they are milked, fed, sleep, how ice cream and cheese is made, etc. This was Jonathan's favorite cow at the whole farm!

The coolest part of the whole trip was watching this little cow being born. It was really neat to experience this. When I asked Jonathan what he thought of seeing the cow born he told me, " I think the Mommy cow's bottom must really hurt." I still laugh when I think about it!

Jaden helped me make some applesauce this fall. He really liked helping stir the pot. Of course I think he enjoyed eating it more!

Jonathan recently had Spirit Week at school and got to dress in costumes instead of his uniform. He still really loves to dress up and even put his "Cowboy day" costume together all by himself.

Jonathan and Joe started Cub Scouts this fall too. It seems to be going very well and both of them are enjoying the time together without anyone else interrupting.

Makayla has started really showing her personality and making lots of funny faces. I love the fact that I was able to get a picture of this one. This face seems to be her current favorite to make!

Makayla Turns One!

Oh my goodness, can you believe it has been a year since we got Makayla?!?! We surely can't! Miss Makayla turned one year old earlier this month on October 6th.



We were having Makayla's party on the weekend after her birthday, so I decided to make cupcakes for her to enjoy on her actual birthday. She seemed pretty happy about the attention.

Then we put the cupcake on her tray and she just looked at us like she was saying, "And what do you expect me to do with this?"

The best part was when she got some of the icing on her hand. I thought she was going to melt!

I figured we were trying to celebrate her birth, so I should probably give her something she would consider celebrating about. I'm not sure what we would do without puffs in our pantry!

Here is the cake we ordered for Makayla's party. There are quite a few boys in the family, so it was really nice to be able to order pink and flowers!

We love being able to utilize our church of gatherings. It makes it so much easier to serve and celebrate with our family and friends!

Here is the birthday girl with our friend Beth.

Makayla received a few different dolls and she got excited every time. Man I love having a girl!

Here is Makayla with one of the dolls she received for her birthday. All in all she ended up with 6 different dolls that day. Joe was asking what she was going to do with 6 different dolls, wasn't that too many. All you have to do is look at her face here to see that Makayla feels like she can never have too many dolls!