Happy Birthday Karlee!

Jaron the Teacher

Today at school the kids were suppose to dress like teachers, and teachers were dressing like the principal, and the principal dress like the kids. This is a picture of Jaron dressing as a teacher. He wasn't to thrilled about having his sleeves rolled up but I thought he looked cute. We will see if he comes home with the tie still on. Kallie also dressed like a teacher in a skirt and shirt with a country twist on it because she is going to do a song from Hannah Montana movie in Music class.

Do The Elephant

With the scare of the SWINE FLU going around. I have my kids washing their hands all the time and telling them they need to do the elephant when they cough or sneeze. The elephant is a the way they have been telling us to cough or sneeze into our wrunkle (on our shirt sleeve) rather then our hands. There is this children band called The Jimmies that sing a song called the "Do The Elephant". You should go to this website and click on the Do The Elephant video and watch it with you kids it is a cute video and something good for them to do the elephant. Stay healthy.

http://www.gimmejimmies.com/videos.html

Visiting Teaching Twilight Style

I just read this on one of my friends blog and it made me crack up. And I knew that you my friends would get a kick out it too. Too funny Jodi.

Letter "T" Song

I was watching Sesame Street with Kelsie the other day and they had this fun music video about the letter T. It's a kids' song about the letter "T", but sung to the very acoustic tune of "Hey There Delilah".Kelsie and I love it. It is also sung by the actual lead singer of the PWT's (Tom Higgenson). Wanted to share with you guys. Got to love Sesame Street. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4J_7jfck7Y

School Lunch

Yesterday the kindergartens invited their parents to lunch. I wasn't feeling good in the morning and so I told Jaron I might not make it. As he left for school he gave me one last plead "Please come mom" (with his dark eyes and cute smile it is hard to disappoint). I made sure that I would get there. When I showed up at the cafeteria and he spotted me- he got a big grin and waved me over. The lady that was standing in front of him said that he was worried that I wasn't going to make it.

We got our lunch and went upstairs to eat it. Jaron had one bite of his sandwich and asked if we could go out and play. We ate more of our lunch and then went and played outside. He showed me all the play equipment, sand pit and tether ball. He then found a hole in the grass and started making me a stew. "This stew will make you fill better mom" he said. It was cute and I remember doing that when I was younger. The bell rang and he had to go to class and I went home back to bed. Thanks for lunch Jaron.

Go Lava Go

Jaron after his game

(his team is called Lava)

Tonight I was able to go to Jaron's soccer game. He did a really good job and scored two goals (they don't keep score). They get plenty of playing time. There is three players of each team on a field and they play the whole time, because there is a field right next to them with three other player from his team playing a game at the same time. So the coach has to watch both fields. You could say Jaron's coach was turning around in circles. I enjoyed watching the game. Except for the time when a little boy behind in the stands threw up. ("he told his mom that he wasn't feeling good" that is what the mom said as she walked past us to get him cleaned up.) Here is a video of the part of the game, Jaron is #35.

STAR STUDENT

Lat week Jaron got to be the STAR student in his kindergarten class. He has been looking forward to this all year. When you are star student you get to help out in class like passing out papers, being line leader, taking the lunches to the lunch room and the class gets to learn all about you. The Friday before the week started when he got the blue paper explaining that he was going to be the star student next week, he came up to after school like he had just won the lottery and was so excited about it.

On Monday: he brought in 8 pictures of himself and I was supposed to write a story about Jaron (I have included that below-I had a hard time making sound interesting) those things get to hang on the STAR student board for the week. Tuesday: he brought in a guessing jar- we filled a glass jam jar with candies, then the kids get to guess how many items are in the jar. Wednesday: he drew his name and colored it and then it hung in the class. Thursday: he was able to bring in his favorite story book which was "Don't Eat the Babysitter". Friday: he got to bring his favorite snack, we were going to send in Nutty Bars but then we decided not to because it had peanut butter in it his favorite food. He ended up taking Better Cheddars.

Jaron has had a hard time in school this year, learning how to sit still and stay focus and on task, he is in all day Kindergarten. And so he gets in trouble when he can't be good. One day during his STAR student week, I guess he wasn't his best and his teacher took away his star student privileges for the rest of the day. I thought that was sad because he looked so forward to that, you could tell that he was sad about that too.

Below is the pictures I sent to school with him and the story I tried to write about him.

Six and half years ago a little boy was born, to a family that was so excited to have him join the family. The family already had a daughter name Kallie, and she was so excited to have a little brother. The family named this little boy Jaron. From the time that Jaron came home to his family he always had smile for anybody and everybody. And his smile would bring a smile to anybody, his smile would light up his whole face and he had such kissable cheeks that his mom loved to kiss them all the time. Jaron also has the biggest heart ever, he always thinks of the other person and their feelings, many times he will be very sad when someone else gets hurts and feels for them. His mom loves him so much for his tender heart. When Jaron was six months old his sister Kallie had to have hip surgery and she had to be in a huge cast. Jaron was always right there giving her loves and snuggling up to her. You could tell that he really cared for her wanted her to be well and to be able to play with her.
When Jaron was about 18 months his mom was going to have another baby and she got really sick. So his Aunt Alycia came to help his mom out. During this time Alycia and Jaron became the best of friends. She almost kind of came like a second mom to Jaron. And still today they are great friends. Last summer he got to spend two weeks with just Alycia and they had a blast together. They are two peas in a pod.
One time when he was two, his mom was trying to get a video out of the VCR to find that there was a spatula stuck in there, the one that Jaron was playing with a few minutes earlier. Jaron also had his first trip to the ER that year. He was running and hit his head into a chalkboard tray at church, ended up getting two stitches. You can still see the scar on his head. When the doctors were trying to do the stitches the only thing that would get Jaron to stop crying was to talk to him about rocks. He loved rocks and had to always stop and look at every rock he saw.
Jaron has two more sisters in his family, they are younger than him. Kelsie who is three and Karlee who is almost one. He is a great big brother to them he likes to look after them and care for them. You can tell that he really loves them. And he seems not to mind being the only boy among all these girls.
When Jaron was in preschool he loved to paint pictures on the easel at school. He would come home always wanting to paint more. He got an easel for at home and he still loves to paint and draw pictures. His mom loves all the pictures that he draws and is sad that she does not have enough room on her fridge for all of his pictures and wishes that she could make wallpaper out of all them and have them all over the walls.
Jaron loves to make things when he was in preschool he came home with a “masterpiece”. To his mom it just looked like two piles of clay with pasta and beads pushed into it. But to him it was an American forest that his sisters and him were hiking through (marked by the beads- each one of them had a color) and then they had to cross a river, which was made out of pasta. His eyes lit up as he told all about it. When his mom asked his teacher if that is what they were talking about in class and she was like no, he came up with it all on his own. He is so creative.
Jaron loves trains. He loves to watch them go and build big set up of tracks for them. When he moved to Klamath Falls, he moved far away from his grandparents but one time he got to go see them, and was able to ride the train. He was so excited he could barely sleep. When it was time to actually ride on the train up to Portland, he was in heaven being up so close and in a train.
Jaron loves vacuums he got his vacuum for his second birthday and he has not looked back since. Every Christmas he asks for a new vacuum with a new feature on it. This past Christmas when Jaron saw Santa he asked for a new vacuum but he wanted something that he hadn’t ever had on one of them before. He wanted one that really worked. Santa brought him one and his mom loves it because Jaron will vacuum up the house for her. He is such a big helper.
This boy Jaron is such a blessing to his family and they love him very much and would not trade him for anything. Enjoy being the star student this week Jaron you have been looking forward to this all year. :0) WE LOVE YOU!!

I've got a joke...

Tonight at dinner the kids were telling jokes and Kelsie said I have one, I have one. This is her joke...

Why did the girl cross the road?
To go to see her family, then in the middle of the road, a car full of chickens got her....
And she was never heard from again.

Jaron has been doing chickens crossing the road jokes and she has been listening to this bedtime stories CD that is nursery at the end of some of the stories it says "they were never heard from again. It is funny how kids put things together.

I was so excited today because Kelsie had a good day in primary she was so good and walked to class with her arms folded, and stayed with her class the whole time. Hope it happens again next week. :0)

Kallie's Cooking Birthday Party

If you know me you know that I love to plan parties and put them on, especially birthday parties. I think birthdays are the best and when it is your day it should be celebrated to the highest and something that you will always remember. I love doing a party for Kallie because she can help me and she gets so excited. For past birthday parties for her we have done Purple Princess, Blue Clue's (Thanks John x 3), Lilo and Stitch, Finding Nemo, Princesses, Fairies, and Hannah Montana Rock Star. This year we decided to do a cooking party and it turned out really good.

The invitation was a wooden spoon tied to a recipe card with red ribbon and it said:

Recipe for: Birthday Fun

From the kitchen of Kallie Kenner

Ingredients: A few homemade pizza, 1 gallon of friendship, 2 cups of fun, 1 cup of imagination, sprinkles of laughter, lots of cupcakes, 1 gallon of ice cream.

Start off with a few pizzas. Add friendship, imagination and laughter in the kitchen at (address) on (date). Blend until laughter bubbles to top. Bake from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Top with cupcakes and ice cream. Please join us for fun. RSVP asap to make your reservation.

These are the top chefs that came to the party. When they came I gave them each a apron (that my mom and I made.) A dish towel that was hooked on their apron, for every time they washed their hands (and they did it a lot) they had a towel right there. I took a group photo (as seen here) and then individual pictures of them mixing some dough to use for the thank you notes. Then we began our cooking. We started by making individuals pizzas, using Rhodes dough for the crust. The girls had so much fun doing this building their pizza with lots of toppings. Kallie's pizza had tons of cheese on it and it spread across the pan as it cooked.

While the pizzas cooked, I taught them how to crack an egg and separate the yoke from the whites. They got a kick out of that, one girl went home and told her mom that was the best part of the party. I brought out a cooking memory game for them to play- where you put cooking supplies on a cooking sheet and then they have to write it down. Our pizzas were done and the girls enjoyed eating their creations. After they were done eating we went into the living room and played another game. A hot potato meets musical chairs game- it is a wrapped gift with many layers on it. The gift is past around the circle while the music is playing when the music stops that gets to unwrap one layer of the gift and the last person that opens the last layer get the prize/gift. While in the living room Kallie opened the gifts. The girls wanted to do a game with Kallie where they would disguise their voice and Kallie had to guess who was giving her the gift. After all the gifts were open we went into the kitchen and back to cooking. They made ice cream sundaes and decorated cupcakes and ate them too.

If you know me, you know I don't like fire. I was the only adult at the party and I couldn't find the candles. So we didn't have candles for Kallie to blow out, but we did sing Happy Birthday to her. Above is a picture of Kallie pretending to blow out candles. Below is a picture of the goody/ thank you item that we sent home with the girls said: "Thank you for making my party really COOK!" We had so much fun at the party. I really didn't have to do anything but switch out the trays with all the food on it. And the girls had a blast.

Happy Easter Day

We had a stressful morning getting ready for church and out the door. Kyle and I had to speak in Church so we were finishing up our talks and getting the kids in their clothes. So I didn't get a picture of them before church. So afterwards I got their picture taken in their Easter outfits (They have had these Easter clothes for three years now, I found a matching dress for Karlee at Ross for $8 so I was so excited about that.) In the process of trying to get all four kids to be happy and looking at you when taking the picture is a hard task to pull off. Here is one attempt. I put my best picture as the head of my blog now. Kelsie is in tears because she did not want to have her picture taken. My parents have a similar picture where I am crying in one of our Easter pictures.

Once we gave them there Easter baskets they were happy. Even Kelsie was trying to squeeze out a smile. The Easter bunny came while we were at church. So this is the first time that the kids got to hold and see their baskets.

Here are the kids checking out their baskets of goodies, they were excited for their Littlest Pet Shop (even Jaron). Kelsie had all her candy eaten before we left for dinner, except for her chocolate bunny that I had to put up.Karlee even loved checking out the contents of her basket. She was checking out her peeps.

We had a very good Easter. My topic for my talk in church was the Resurrection and introducing our family. Preparing for my talk help me to really get my mind in the place for the reason for the season. And I am so grateful for my Savior and what he has down for me. Our friends the Petersons invited us over to there house for Easter Dinner and we had a very yummy ham dinner. I hope that you all had a Happy Easter too.

Easter Egg Hunt

We took the kids over to the Easter Egg Hunt at the college. Kyle stayed with Kallie in her age group. So I took the other three to be in the younger section and I had the camera. This is a picture of Kelsie and Jaron waiting for the hunt to begin. I told them to stick together and they did a good job of that.

This is Karlee checking out the egg that someone handed to her. For just sitting in the one spot she she got four eggs, so she did pretty good for herself.

After the kids hunted the eggs out they had to turn the eggs back in so they could use them next year. Here Jaron, Karlee and Kelsie are emptying out their eggs and checking out their loot.

Check out all the eggs Karlee got. Just kidding. The kids were just playing with the bin that had 1/4 of the eggs in it. Karlee really got in to it.

The kids had a lot of fun doing the Easter Egg Hunt.

Oh No I am Stuck

Karlee got stuck in a bucket I love her face is like "Oops I can't get out, help"

Happy Birthday Kallie!

Happy Birthday Kallie. Today Kallie turn 9 years old. I can't believe that she is already that old. When 5 pm came around I was telling her minute by minute her birth story, I can remember it clear as day. We were scheduled to go in to surgery at 1pm but we got bump to 5pm. When 5 finally rolled around, I was so ready to have her out in my arms and I was ready to eat something because they had you fasting since midnight. At 5 they rolled my in to the surgery room. I laid strapped to the bed with my arms straight out. The room was cold, I was waiting for Kyle to come in the room, when he finally did I didn't know that it was him until he spoke to me and sat by my head telling me to breathe ( that is what he was taught in our birthing class) . He sat by my head the whole time that they were getting Kallie out. When the doctors finally got her out they said "It's a girl !" Both Kyle and I asked each other what they said and so they repeated "It's a girl!" We were both beaming and so happy. They wrapped Kallie in a blanket and handed her to Kyle. He held her so I could see her, I could touch her because my arms were strapped down. Kallie was so beautiful and perfect. Kyle was torn when he had to choose to stay with me our go with Kallie as she got checked out and cleaned. I made him go with her. I have the cutest picture of Kyle sitting and watching Kallie as she laid under the warmer. I couldn't wait to hold her, but I had to wait two hours after she was born.
Kallie has been such a blessing in our family. I am so grateful for her. She is turning into a beautiful young women. She does great in school, loves to read, draw pictures, and do math. Today she was asked what her favorite class in school was and she said Library. She is always wanting to write a story and has one ready to go. She wants to learn to sew now, so she has bought the fabric to make some pajama pants for herself. She is also a great big help around the house, and with her brothers and sisters.
Kallie I love you so much and I would not trade you for anything. You remind me so much of me, I love being your mom. You make me so happy. Happy Birthday Kallie!

"The Sound of Freedom"

Today I went with Jaron and his kindergarten class on a field trip to Kinsley Air Force Base. It was a lot of fun and Jaron enjoyed it too. The Air Force Base is on the edge of Klamath Falls. It is a base where they train pilots in F-15, you can always hear the jets go over our house or town. It is a cool sound to hear all the time. At first when we moved here the jets were really loud and noticeable but over it is just something I expect to hear. But the sad part is that the jets are moving to the Boise base at the end of the month so that they can repave the run way here.

We arrived at the base and loaded off the bus and into a room where the pilots told us what we were going to be doing and handed out earplugs and explained to us that we needed to keep the earplugs in. We were going to go watch the jets taking off.

We loaded all of us on the AF bus and drove on over to the runway and got out of the bus with our earplugs in and watched as jets took off. It was so awesome when it took off past us it would shake your whole body. Jaron loved it. We were able to watch and feel six jets take off. The pilot that was giving us the tour, told us that the noise the jets make are not just noise but the sound of freedom.This is a picture of one of the jets taking off.

After we watched the jets take off, we went back to the classroom and a pilot came in and showed us all the gear they wear when flying the jets. It was cool to see, I didn't know that they had to wear these air chaps (that is what they look like) around their legs so that their blood continues to flow right. Because they go up so high so fast. This is a picture of him in his gear.

We watch a couple short shows about jets and then went out to the hanger and got out picture taken with a pilot in the cockpit. And then a group shot next to a jet. I don't have those pictures because I was able to in the picture, but I will post it when I get them. The picture below is what is on the back tail of the jets.

This is a picture of Jaron and I on the way back to the school on the bus. We had a lot of fun together I am so glad that I got to go with him. He is such a good boy. I love him so much.

Soccer Boy

Jaron started soccer today and he was so excited he didn't want to take off his shin guards and leave his ball. Here is a short video of in his first practice tonight.

Spring Break

We had spring break about two weeks ago, I just hadn't gotten around to it because I had so much I wanted to tell you about. Just say I put things off. We had a great spring break it was really really relaxing and we got to visit with family and friends. And of course the time went by way to fast. Kyle and Kelsie went up on Monday to Oregon City, then Kallie, Jaron, Karlee, and I came up on Friday after they were done with school. We got in late about 8pm Friday night we took the Medford route which is longer but the other way had snow on the road. For the week we stayed at Kyle's mom's and brother's house.

On Saturday we ran some errands around town. Kallie was able to go stay the night and attend her best friends birthday party. The rest of us were able to the Portland Temple and distrution center. The temple was so pretty with all the flowers that were blooming all around. They always have the grounds so beautiful. While there Jaron asked if he could walk around the temple all by himself. I thought that was so cute the he wanted a peaceful moment for himself around the temple. There is times when he says that he doesn't want to go to Church but I know that he knows it is true (he just has a hard time sitting in church). He looked so grown up walking around the temple. Don't worry we did not let him out of sight we followed him in the car. :0)


On Sunday we were able to go to church and it was the ward that we moved from. It was so good to see family and friends there that we hadn't seen since we moved in October. I can't believe that it had been six months since we had been to that ward. After church we had a birthday party for our nephew Ashton, with all the Kenner family there. He turned 14 today. Happy Birthday Ashton. This a picture of Ashton blowing out his candles on his birthday cheesecake, Jaron and Kallie helped him get his candles. Then later that night we went over to Serena and Randell's and visit with them and enjoyed some yummy homemade rolls. It was a fun visit.
This is a picture of Chantel, she is Kyle's brother chad daughter. Here and Kelsie were two peas in pod during the trip the loved playing together. And learning each other trick and trades to do once the other had gone back home.





On Monday I met up with my best friend Heidi at IKEA with the kids, our plan was to put them in the playland so that we could walk around IKEA without them, but everyone else had the same idea and so playland was full. So the kids walked around with us in IKEA which made the trip go a lot faster. After IKEA we went to Heidi's house and were able to visit while the kids played. We made some cupcakes and then took some pictures of Karlee for her 1st birthday. That was a lot of fun. Here are a couple of the pictures. Heidi did a great job on the pictures, and Karlee loved the frosting on the cupcakes she couldn't get enough of the frosting. :0)

Then the kids and us made yummy ice cream sundaes. Which my kids keep asking for another one. We then went to my parents house visited and had dinner with them, the night before they had just flown in from Atlanta, Georgia. It was good to see them.

On Tuesday I went shopping for my mother-in-law with Serena, my mom, and Karlee. It was a lot of fun. We were also able to go out to lunch at Sweet Tomatoe. YUM! While Kyle and the other kids went to the park and the dollar store with $3 for each of them to spend on themselves from Grandma Kenner. They really enjoyed finding things for them. Thank you grandma.

Wednesday was Shane's birthday- he is Kyle's oldest brother and he past away over a year ago from cancer (Ashton is his son). His mom still does a birthday party for him on his birthday each year since he has pasted away. This year he would have turned forty, so for his birthday all the brother (Chad, Kyle, and Russell) smoked meat which is an all day event. Then the brothers and Ashton played one of Shane board games, they are in depth board games into the night like they used to. We had cake and ice cream, sang Happy Birthday to Shane. Also wrote a birthday card to Shane and sent it off to him with balloons. Shane loved smoked meat and playing board games it was great way to remember Shane on his day.

On Thursday I took the kids over to my mom house, so Kyle could write a paper for school. While at my mom's house she helped me make seven aprons for Kallie's birthday party that is coming up. Thank you so much for all your help on them, it went so much faster with your help we got it done in three hours. We visited for a while longer. Later that night I was able to get together with Heidi and Melissa we went to Barnes and Noble and hung out there. It was so much fun because Melissa had bought the Twilight trivia board game and so we found a spot in Barnes and Noble and played the game. It was a lot fun to play and spend time with them.

Friday morning I woke up and drove over to Tigard to visit with a very good friend of mine and my roommate from Snow College- Charisse. She just had been to the Oregon coast and was heading back to Boise that day. It was so good to see and visit with her, the time went by too fast. Karlee also came along with me so that Charisse could see her. After the visit I went to the house and then I helped Kyle's mom in the kitchen. Then Kallie and I made two cakes for the party that we were going to have Kallie's birthday.

Later that night we had family come over and had cake and ice cream for Kallie's birthday. Her birthday isn't until middle of April but we wanted to celebrate it with family. Ashley and Ashton came over early and so we played some party games to pass the time. It was a lot of fun. The first picture here is Kelsie playing the pin drop game, I think she is kind of cheating but it was cute. The next picture was Kallie blowing out the candles on the cake. I can't believe she is turning nine this year.

We were going to leave on Saturday to head home, but I just didn't want to leave yet. I am glad that we were able to stay another day, I got to see my cousin Lisa new baby. Lisa had a little girl Thursday morning and was home by Saturday and I was able to stop by their house. Lisa she is a cutie. We visit with John and my parents also that day.

Sunday morning we woke up and packed up and left by 11:30. It was a fun trip but went by so fast. On our way home we decided to take the short way home and we hit snow and had to put the chains on. But we made it home safely. About 5:30 at night.

Thanks for letting me share our spring break with you. I hope that you all had a great spring break too. And that the spring weather will come and stay for awhile I can't to see the green and flowers all around.

HAPPY SPRING!!!