Basketball Star in the Making

For Kallie's New Year's resolution this year she wanted to learn to play basketball. She came home with a flyer from school the YMCA with a reasonable priced basketball class. So we sign her up and tonight she had her first practice. I think she is a natural-she was making all but one of the baskets that she was throwing. I took some video of it so I thought I would share it with ya. The funny thing about this is that her legs remind me of my legs when I was her age-sticks and knobby. But she is way better at basketball then I was, hopefully she got that from Kyle.

Made From Scratch

On Saturday I made some chocolate frosting from scratch to put on top of some brownies that I made to take to a Elders Quorum activity, but Kyle said that the frosting was still kind of lumpy and not to put it on the brownies. So I had this extra frosting but no cake mix so I went online (allrecipes.com) to find a recipe for chocolate cake from scratch. And yesterday I made the chocolate cake from scratch for the very first time. And it turned out really good. Very moist and very YUMMY!!

Me and My Shadow

Another cute drawing of Jaron's-He calls this Me and My Shadow

I think he did a great job and I love his hands with all those fingers and the fun sun that is casting the shadow. He is getting better at writing his name.

Lip Smackin Good

Karlee does this funny thing with her lip when she is done eating. The sound that you hear in the video is the sound she makes with her lips. I tried to get it on video but she wouldn't really let me get it she would turn away from or just ended up crawling away from me. This video is my fourth attempt of getting it on film. Sorry it is so dark and short.

Hidden Valentine

I was cleaning out Jaron backpack on Tuesday morning and I found this Valentine in it. He said that it was for me (it had no name on the letter. It had a poem on it that went like this. Roses are red, violets are blue. Because I Love you so much , I made this heart for you. Keep it in your pocket, Wherever you may go. And whenever you touch it, You'll know I love you so! Love-Jaron. Here is a picture of the heart (front and back). This morning as we were leaving to take them to school, he asked me if I had the heart in my pocket...what do you know I pulled out but the heart and he was so HAPPY he had big Jaron smile, the one I love so.

Fancy White Mittins

Were you wondering why Karlee was sporting those fancy white mittens in the post about her just starting to stand. Here is the answer... About two weeks about I notice her thumb bright red and getting really puffy. We then puts some antibiotics on it and it took down the swelling and start looking alittle better. What we are thinking is that she got her thumb smashed in her many adventures around the house. But she never really cries so we didn't know it happen. But she will cry or yell at you if you touch her thumb right now. So it must really hurt. So the reason she was sporting those fancy white mittens is so that she not take off the band aid we had on her thumb with the antibiotics on it. Below is a picture of her thumb and what it looks like. It looks like her thumb nail is going to fall off. Poor thing.

Primary Activity

On Valentine's Day our ward had a primary activity. The kids had a blast. They went to the local gymnastic center here in K falls and the kids played on the equipment. Then afterwards they had fruit, vegetables, and water. They had a craft for the kids to do but ended up having the kids take it home to do because the kids were having so much fun playing. I thought that when the kids got home they would crash and fall asleep but it turned out I was the one that fell asleep-I must of got worn out watching the kids play. :0)

If you close in this photo you can see all the kids doing stretches but then there is Kelsie in the middle doing here own thing. :0)

What Kids Are Thinking...

After church today Jaron and Kallie were discussing what they wanted for dinner when we got home from church. This is how the conversation went. K: what should we have for dinner mom? Mom: I don't know. J: I know spaghetti. K: No. J: Mac and Cheese. K: No we just had that last night. J: Hamburgers and Hot dogs. K: No we just had that twice this past week, think of some Sunday food. J:I know then Bread and water. Jaron is so funny. We didn't have bread and water for dinner but I thought it was cute.

Happy Valentine's Day

Wanted to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day. Here are some of the Valentines that the kids made at school. The one on the left is Kallie's she named him Bob. Then the big heart is what Jaron put his Valentines in at school. I love that he put "I Love mom Jaron", and sewed around it.

A Fun Twist In A Book

Kelsie and I got this book at the library the other day. I didn't know anything about it when I check it out. But I think it is one of my favorite children book now. It starts out where the wolf wants to eat the lamb, but by the end of the story they are the best of friends- good message to pass onto kids. Plus I love that the wolf is wearing a cherry apron. :0) It is a great a book with cute pictures. "But you don't have to take my word for it." (Reading Rainbow)

I Read The NieNie Dialogues

Yesterday night I stayed up late into the night reading the NieNie Dialogues. It is a blog done by a mother of four beautiful kids, about how much she loves them, her husband and family. And their happy life. She is such creative and fun person. But tragic struck their life, her and her husband were in a plane crash where they were hurt really bad. They are now recovering from it. My prayers go out to her and her family. Reading her blog makes me want to be a better mother and person. I encourage you to read her blog. Thank you Stephanie for sharing your life and I pray for yours and your husband fast recovery and that you family can be together again.

Look Ma... I'm Standing!

Karlee has learned how to stand all by herself.
Good Job Karlee!

I'm a BIG GIRL Now!

Yay!! I am so excited Kelsie is finally potty trained. She is 3 1/2 years old. People have been wondering when she was going to be potty trained. I wasn't in any hurry to potty train her ( basically it is just mommy being train to take the kid to the bathroom every 30 minutes to try to get the kid to go potty-with usually one of them leaving in tears.) - I speak from experince of doing the training thing two times before. When Kelsie was two I tried the 30 minute thing and it really wasn't working so I stopped. I then got pregnant with Karlee and used the excuse that when I had the baby Kelsie would just regress. Then we were moving and we moved-so I used the excuse that moving would just make her regress, so what would be the point in training her. So I wasn't jumping on the band wagon to train her or her me.

But when we came back from Christmas break in Oregon City/Gladstone area. Kelsie started wearing her big girl underwear and going potty on the toilet by herself. I never even urged her to do it, it was all her idea. So she made up her mind that she is a "BIG GIRL" now. I think that this will be the way I will train Karlee when she wants to do it.

So now that Kelsie is Potty Trained and has stop using diapers, I was so excited because that meant one less expense of buying Pull-Ups for her. But really it isn't one less expense. Because....

You ask why does she have a picture of an empty roll of toilet paper? Good question. This is my new expense to replace the Pull-Ups expense I now have to buy tons of toilet paper. Kelsie hasn't got the idea that you only need to use 3 or 4 squares for each wipe. She thinks that you need to use a roll for each time. I have gone through so many pencils in fishing out the wads of toilet paper that has clog the toilet up. Hopefully soon she will learn to use only the allotted amount. Until then Jaron will be making a lot of rocket ships out of the above item. :0)

Tag Your It...

This is the first picture that Kyle, Kelsie and I had taken right after she was born. It was a murder of delivery. They had tried to give me an epidural but it wouldn't take and so they told me to do just do it without anything. So I tried, but the ring of fire hurt so bad that they gave me a spinal tap and then I was able to get her out. And I was so grateful to have her out as you can see from the smile on my face, but look how wasted I look.

I tag Emily, Michelle, Mandy, and Alycia
Here are the instructions:
1) Go to your picture folder, or where ever you store you pictures on your computer
2) Go to your sixth folder and pick the sixth picture
3) Post it on your blog and tell the story that goes along with the picture
4) Tag four of your friends to do the same thing

Search for the Bald Eagles...

This Saturday we went for a ride as a family to go find the Bald Eagles (Kyle said that once we found them we couldn't make jokes make any bald jokes (0: ) It was a fun time had by all in the van. Klamath Falls area is known for the opportunity of being able to see the Bald Eagles. They have a festival it is called Winter Wings Festival. If you want to see the link about it, it is http://www.winterwingsfest.org/. The festival is over Presidents Day Weekend but we thought that we would go find them this weekend, next weekend is a little busier. So we left at 1pm , that was our first mistake we should of left early in morning. You are better able to see them in the morning. When we got on the road we headed down into California, towards Klamath Basin . As we drove we kept our eyes open for Eagles- that was our main goal. But as we went we saw this lake that had over a 100 some kind of white birds it was awesome to see. I think they were White Pelicans, this picture does not do it justice.

We stopped at this one view point, to see if we could find some there. There wasn't, but it had a great view of a lake. So Kyle got a picture of the kids on the rocks to look like birds. We had birds on our mind. As Kelsie got out of the car she said "Wait I got to get my camera so I can take my pictures". It was cute because her camera is a toy Tinkerbell camera, not real. Then when she got back in the car she had brought her handful of rocks that she collects whenever she sees rocks. She was ready to share them with Karlee and I said no Karlee can't have rocks she will eat them. Kelsie then chucks the rocks out the door and says "Oh okay goodbye rocks," she cracks me up by the things that she does.

As we were heading towards the ranger station visitor center, Kyle started making this weird whooping noise and pointing. I was looking at him like what is wrong, but he kept pointing and whooping. Finally he slowed down the car to almost a stop and said "LOOK!" On the side of the road there was about 20 doe deer eating the grass. He said it was a sight that he had never seen before. And that his hunter side came through and was very excited to see it. Now we have an inside joke for Kyle on what sound we make when we see a deer. (0:

We stopped at Visitor center and saw a video on birds, got pamphlets, and asked where would be the best place to see the eagles. They had this cool wall that had bird wallpaper and actual stuffed birds hanging form the ceiling. I thought that would make an awesome picture to make it look like the kids are standing in the middle of the birds. Here is a Jaron flying with the birds. Below Kallie is being attacked by the birds, just kidding Karlee is attacking Kallie's zipper. But I love Kallies face in the picture. I couldn't get Kelsie to pose in the pictures.

After we got our pictures with the birds we headed out on the Wildlife Tour Route (by car) on Tule Lake. It was is a one way 9.6 mile tour. The self guided tour talked to us about how the lake has gone down from what it was, and what kind of bird we could see. So we continue to keep our eyes peeled for the eagles, we thought maybe we had saw some but it turned out they were crows. We were almost done with route when we saw one sitting on the pole perch, so we crept closer and closer all the while snapping pictures in hopes that we could get a shot. Well we got close and this is what it was....

Okay it is not a Bald Eagle, but at least it is an eagle. We are just claiming that he is dirty and hasn't had his bath yet for the Winter Wing Festival. We are thinking that he is a Golden Eagle. We were excited to see him. And to be able to have a fun afternoon as a family seeing the new area where we are living. We can't wait until it warms up so we can go see the Lava Beds down here.

Indoor Grass

The other day when we were at the park this lady told me about a place that does an open play time for toddlers, in the winter time because it is so cold outside to play. I thought that would be fun for Kelsie, I have been trying to find things for her to do during the day when the kids are at school. Well I waited until Kyle could go with me to check it out, which happen to be today. It is an indoor soccer place that they put out all these different sizes of balls, kid goals and stuff. Kelsie enjoyed having the space to run around and playing with the balls. Karlee wasn't to sure of the indoor (not real) grass it was stiffer then the real stuff, but soon warmed up to it. Within the hour Kelsie was ready to go. It seems like a fun thing maybe we will do it again.

Mother and Daughter Date with Kelsie

Yesterday Kyles class got cancelled and so he said that I could go spend sometime with just Kelsie. So I got Karlee down for a nap and Kelsie and I were off. We went to Wendy's for chicken nuggets and a child size frosty. There we tested out if chicken nuggets taste good in frosty's like fries do, and yes they do. While we were ordering our food I got a call from the kids school, saying that Jaron was not feeling good and could I come and get him. So after we ate our food. (It was fun eating with just Kelsie she was so cute. She was saying "please" and "thank you" and "this is the most delicious food mom ever". Kids act different when it is just one of them and you.) We then went and got Jaron from school and dropped him at home with Kyle. Kelsie and I headed over to the Library and read some books and put together puzzles. Then went to Fred Meyers and she got to do her favorite thing, go to playland while I grabbed some groceries. On our way home we picked up Kallie from school. It was a fun time hanging out with just Kelsie.

Karlee's Two New Teeth

Karlee is showing off her new two teeth. She just turned 9 months. She still is a very happy baby. She is crawling all over the house, wants to be right there with her brother and sisters. She is being more daring and will let go of things and stands. She says momma and dada it is very cute. She likes to put things in her mouth luckily we try to let it just be Cheerios, she can really chew those with her new teeth. :0)

Peanut Butter No-Bake Bar

For the past while here I have been craving Reese Peanut Butter Cups, with the peanut butter scare they were cheap. And I was excited about that but it was still getting expensive. But I remember when I was younger my aunt AnneGenne made these awesome peanut butter no bake cookies, but I couldn't find the recipe so I went online looking for the recipe. Well I found a recipe but I was being lazy and just dump them in a pan and cut them in bars. They are good either way. A pan of cookies doesn't stay around to long at our house.

This is what it looks like. Here is the Yummy recipe if you would like to make some for you and your family.

2 cups sugar
1/4 cup margarine
1/2 cup milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups rolled oats

1. In a large sauce pan mix the sugar, margarine, and milk. Bring to a full boil over medium heat.

2. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla and peanut butter. Stir in until peanut butter is melted. Then add and stir the oats.

3. Working quickly, drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. This is if you are making cookies. When I am doing the bars I line a pan with wax paper and then pour the mixture into the pan. Let it cool, cut and then enjoy .

We tried something new tonight we mixed in some chocolate chips in when it was still warm and then did the same thing by pouring it in the pan for bars. This is also yummy!

This is just to show you how I had the two in the same pan. As kyle said I didn't want to cross contaminate the cookies. Just kidding.

First Vision

For Family Home Evening tonight we talked about what to put in a Testimony. And about Joseph Smith and the first vision. We watch the Church DVD-The Restoration. And then we made these craft pop-up of the First Vision. We all had fun making them.

Here the kids are showing off their craft

I love kelsie's face in this picture

This is what the craft look like

Kitchen Dancing

On Sunday Jaron and Kallie got dress in their church clothes and were ready to go. I still needed to get dressed and so they were keeping themselves busy. Here they are pretending to be a prince and princess at the the ball. And some pictures of them dancing in the Kitchen. They look so cute.

Which one is going to be twirled, I think Jaron was trying to twirl Kallie.

I think Jaron is leading

Such cute happy dancers