My mom and I took the kids to church today. We happened to walk in at the same time as Martha, which was nice because Michael had a Promiseland thing, so she would have been alone. The service was good. It was about how we as parents have to really instill spirituality and morality in our kids. Apparently a study was done that shows that most people believe at 13 what they will believe their entire lives (as far as God is concerned). Of course, it didn't work that way for Scott or I, but it's nice to know that we can really give our kids the opportunity to know and love God. I am so glad that Jaden is going to St. John's Lutheran. It's amazing to me the things that he's learning there. He often talks about Jesus. Anyway, the service talked about how bringing the kids to church isn't enough. We have to show our children through our faith that there is a God. The church only has 40 hours a year with our kids and we have 5,000. Sitting there, next to Martha, it made me feel good about our choice to have Martha and Michael be the guardians of our children. I know that that was the right decision.

When I picked Jaden up from Promiseland, I was appalled to hear that he had to be removed from the group because he was hitting and pulling hair. I almost didn't believe that they were talking about Jaden. They said that it was severe enough that they had to pull him out of the group and someone had to take him aside and talk to him. I was honestly shocked. I know that Jaden isn't perfect, but he's not usually the type of kid who goes around hitting other kids. I've seen him hit in anger before, but usually only once, and it's not like he does it all that often. And I've never ever seen him pull anyone's hair. On the other hand, I did see him hit a little girl at school and he has been talking a lot about hitting and kicking lately. Maybe it's been more of an issue than I realize - just not in environments when I'm there. Anyway, I talked to him about it and he seemed to understand that it was seriously bad behavior, and of course he says that he won't do it again. I told him that he wouldn't be able to go to Promiseland if he's going to hit or pull hair. When I asked him why he did it, he said, "I wanted to sit." Whatever that means. I couldn't get anything more definitive out of him. I guess I'll just have to wait and see and hope that this doesn't become a problem.

After church, we went to Chili's with Martha and Michael. Jaden was so cute. He said, "I want to go to Martha and Michael's restaurant." Ever since we went to IHOP with Martha and Michael after church that one day, he's been saying that he wants to go to "Martha and Michael's restaurant." Surprisingly, Martha said, "Actually, we'd like to go out to eat with you guys." (They usually kind of like to stick to a schedule and so we don't expect them to accept impromptu invitations really). We tried to go to IHOP, but it was really busy. Chili's was just opening, so it was perfect. It was much quieter there. We had a really nice lunch.

The kids were pretty tired. They didn't do so well with the time change - got up at 5:45 - so they were all off their schedule. So, we put them to bed almost as soon as we got home. Jaden didn't end up sleeping. But my mom and I got to play a few more games of Yahtzee. :-)

At 3:30, Danielle woke up, so we decided to give up and go to the store. We returned the coat that I had bought for Danielle (since I discovered that the 18 month coat that we got from Linda fits her pretty well). Then we went to Sams to look for Halloween candy, but they were out of the good stuff. After that, we went to Kohls and I bought a little dress for Danielle. My mom had a $10 off coupon. We also bought Jaden some toy dinosaurs that had kept him occupied the whole time that I was looking for clothes for Danielle. I distracted him while my mom bought it (we'll give it to him for Christmas).

Then, we went to Toys R Us. At school, they had a drawing for the kids who sold things out of their fundraising catalog and Jaden won a toy. But the toy was kind of made for an older child, so I decided to return it and get him something else. At first, he didn't want to give the toy up, but I convinced him that it would be better to pick something out at the toy store. At first, he was looking at dinosaurs, but then I went around the corner and saw these cool Buzz Lightyear dolls. He was really big and had lots of fun "accessories". Jaden really liked him and decided that he wanted him. At first he wanted a different one because the other one had on a different colored outfit that he liked better, but my mom and I finally convinced him to take this one. It was the same price, but came with several more things (it was like a bonus pack). It seemed so silly to get the one with less. Of course, Jaden didn't care - he just wanted the cool outfit. I would probably have just let him have it, but then he started saying, "No, I want both." Oh boy! Eventually, we settled on the one with his normal green outfit and more stuff.

He loves his Buzz Lightyear. He really likes the accessories too, so I'm glad we got that one. It has a rocket holder backpack and some other kind of backpack (with his flying wings). As soon as we got home, he wanted to go to bed because I had told him that he could play with it in bed. I finally got him to eat some carrots on the floor while he was playing, but after that, he went up to bed. Pretty funny!

Mom and I played lots more Yahtzee. She finally left at 9:30. I went straight to bed, since I had been so exhausted all day, but I still couldn't sleep. I think I fell asleep sometime around 11:30.