Gale Munchkins

just have to say that it has been nice that although~Kaylee is sick~it is nice that she can make it to the bathroom to do her stuff...namely throwing up &...well you know...

from Utah!! Mike's sister Kathryn and her little family came for a quick visit these past few days. It was fun to see them again! The girls had fun playing with Kirsten and Zack, and getting to know their newest cousin Caleb. Yesterday they went hiking all over the hill by Grandma's home, and even had a small pre-Easter egg hunt in the backyard. Mikenna LOVED that! They filled up on WAY TOO much candy...but overall it was a nice weekend!

"... is fun to do, fun to do, fun to do...cleaning our home is fun to do, to do, to do, to do!!" I believe this is the tune going through my daughters minds as we have been trying to madly clean in preparation for Grandma & Grandpa Chan to come home. We try to tackle a few things a day, which dusting or more like polishing, the wood in this home has been a HUGE task. Each day Kiera asks to help dust something, she loves doing the slats on the closet doors. Mikenna just likes to follow me around with a dust cloth, and if I don't "assign" Kassi a job, she gets her own dust cloth & a cup of water--I'm glad they all want to help~even if it would be easier to do it my way. Hopefully it'll still be clean by the time Grandma & Grandpa come home...which is SOON!! BTW: Kiera took the pics

Friends aren't too easy to come by, especially good ones. Since Michael and I have been married, we've moved practically every two years. We've made friends along the way, but knew that eventually we would move and make new friends again, while still keeping in touch with old ones. Since moving back to Kennewick, we've met many new friends--and since we were no longer "short term in our residence" we didn't anticipate moving-thus friends not moving as well. Well, when my friend Karla told me they were moving, I was a bit...speechless...she has truely been my best girl-friend over the past (almost) 5 years. I don't have many friends (outside of family) that I am close too, so I will miss her. She and her husband, Justin (they are on the left) have moved to Idaho Falls. Our kids are friends as well: Cadence is a fun friend for Kassi, Ceder is just a few weeks older than Mikenna, and Hunter is in 1st grade with Kaylee. We will miss them!! We have had grea

YARD WORK !! and gobs of it!! While I've been to bell choir practice and 2 different baby showers today, my dear husband has been doing a LOT of yard work!! He must love it (or he's just very diligent) because he has been out there since 9 am!! (It is now 6 pm). He took breaks to change the kids, feed them, give them medicine (Kassi is sick), start a few movies....but overall he has been hard at work. It's amazing what Michael can accomplish when he puts his mind to it. Oh and BTW, my weatherbug says it is 77 degrees out there!!

Michael and I switch off in giving helping the girls with their baths/shower. Actually, I have the 3 older ones take a shower, rotating 2 through at a time. Sometimes Kaylee and Kiera take a shower on their own. It's not so bad to help them out at times, especially when Kassi joins in--this way I know their hair is clean. Afterwards, I give Mikenna a bath (and if Kassi is lucky, instead of a shower, she gets a bath with her.) Michael however, insists on throwing them all in together for a tub. He puts ear-plugs in and scrubs away. It just seems too crowded and perhaps not as clean when it's done that way. He wants me to chop the girls' hair short. Plus-notice that there is hardly any water in the tub!! "Soapy water is soapy water no matter the amount. I rinse them with clean water at least." But hey, I'm glad for the help in bathing the kids.

Yesterday we went on our first family bike ride of the season!! It was so nice, the sun was warm and the sky was blue!! We dusted off the bikes, filled the tires...and off we went to the park. Both Kassi and Mikenna rode in the bike carrier, and Kaylee & Kiera had to make do with their "old" bikes." (We need to get Kaylee a new one so Kiera can move up to the larger one.) It's amazing how much they've grown through the winter! We are looking forward to more bike rides!!

lovely warm weather...Kassidy knows how to pump, but loves to be pushed...Mikenna loves the swing, and won't get off without a fight, Kiera & Kaylee are doing well to "share" and take turns pushing!! WELCOME SPRING !!

Well, Mike just finished pruning all of the fruit trees...here's a shot of the finished product...He had David jumping on the branches a few time to try and squash them down so they could fit more in...Like I said before...it's amazing we get any fruit with all that is pruned... oooohhhh...and sorry my pics are bad...you'll have to click on them to get a good view...

So, in the middle of the night...Mikenna started crying and screaming and tried ripping the curlers out of her head-at least the ones on the sides...the ones on top stayed in fine...but, well...Michael said, "I think she should stay home from church." We tried putting curlers back in, and drying it, but it didn't work in the 1/2 hour we had until church. Kassi took one look at her and called her a moose. (Why a moose, I have no clue.) Anyhow, this is what we ended up with. So, she may look like a moose, but we still think she is a CUTEE!!

Mike decided to prune the peach trees in the driveway today...I thought I would do the before and afters...they are quite dramatic, and we still end up with gobs of peaches!! Way to go Mike!! (I'll post after shots tomorrow)

After putting the girls hair in curlers tonight, Mikenna came walking in, patted her head and said, "Uh...uh..." {translation} "my turn for my curlers!" The past few times we've done the "curler" thing, I've managed to put a few on top of Mikenna's head, figured those wouldn't bother her during the night...Tonight, I decided to do her entire head...we'll see if she sleeps with them, and then find out what happens tomorrow!! (BTW: Mikenna is folding her arms for prayer in the first pic, then trying to do a sommersault in the second.)

The girls love to chat with their grandparents in Taiwan! Kaylee and Kiera usually read a story to them, and then talk about stuff...typically they rattle off numbers in a game they like to play (obviously they are made up numbers) "I love you 400, 5000, 60 million, 70 hundred, 600 thousand!!" I think my mom would play this with Julia a long time ago. Mikenna just keeps saying, "Hi papa!!" and of course she loves the winks they send her. Kassi will just ask all sorts of questions and just chatters away. 5 more weeks and they're home!!

Kaylee had numerous questions about the tooth fairy today. "Is there a tooth fairy?" "Who is the tooth fairy?" "Are YOU the tooth fairy?" (of which I answered no) "But did you give me money for my tooth?" (since Michael is the one who did, I could answer no again!) but then she asked, "Did daddy put money under my pillow then?" hmmmm.... Why all of the questions? She lost another tooth!...the last until the molars fall out...crazy how time flies! She was up early this morning, 6:30...I hear her running down the stairs..."Daddy!! You took my tooth but didn't leave any money!!"