I don't know if

Caleb enjoyed our visit to Cabelas or not?

What you shouldn't do at the library

Yep, rock climbing.

Eliana's new wheels

 

The neighbors gave Eliana a fun toy!  She loves it.  

Reading while shopping

Caleb reading to Karis while shopping.

  I'm not sure how Caleb's legs fit in that tiny cart.

Birthday week for Caleb & Karis

We celebrated Caleb's & Karis' birthdays tonight and had some fun!

Happy birthday!!!

 Karis had a bit of trouble with her last candle.

She finally got it!

I love to watch Karis' expressions when opening gifts.

Hmmm.  What is it?

I think it was his favorite gift.....

Ahh, he got a pair of socks returned that he left at a friend's house.
Caleb actually got a very fun toy this year. I'll try to take some pictures soon!

A spin at the park

The weather has been so nice lately.  It's perfect for taking a spin at the park.

She spun herself silly!

Eye check

We all went in for our regular eye exams today.  This was Karis' first visit and she enjoyed the part where she had to cover up one eye and tell the doctor what pictures she could see.

 

She did great.

Joel's smiling passengers

Joanna and Caleb got to go up with Joel on one of his latest flights. 

They had a lot of fun.

The Orphan Train

While driving home from visiting my sister, I saw a sign for the Orphan Train Museum. It caught my attention since we are currently studying the 18th century and decided to stop and take a break.

 
The museum ended up being closed for lunch when we stopped, but it was nice to take a quick break and look around outside.

Here's a link if you want to read a little on the history of the orphan train.  http://orphantraindepot.com/OrphanTrainHistory.html

Spring break

The kids and I came up to visit my sister and family during spring break.  It has been pretty rainy, but we finally had a nice day to play outside.

Here's cousin Katie with the daffodils.

Joanna, Caleb, Eliana, Karis and cousin Mark

Asked Eliana if she wanted to go to Sonic for a slushy...

Guess she wants to go!

Use your forehead

What started as Karis just putting some laminated letters in order

turned into lots of fun

once Karis realized that the cards stick to your forehead. 

Big Square

I found Eliana on the couch early this morning working on her crochet.  She learned how to make a granny square yesterday and has decided she's going to make 2 big squares and make a bag.

Santorum Rally

We went to a Rick Santorum rally today!

Here's Joanna and her friends waiting for it to start.

Caleb and his friend with their signs.

Both Caleb and Joanna got his signature. Joel shook his hand and wished him well.

He posed with Joanna and friends for this cool picture. The more we learn about him and hear what he has to say, the more we like him. 

He's definitely not your run-of-the-mill politician. His almost 45-minute speech included quotes from Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and the Declaration of Independence -- as well as a few rather disturbing quotes from Barack Obama. (All extemporaneous with no notes, teleprompters or, as our kids confirm, non-words like "um....uh.") After the speech, he and his wife stayed and greeted everyone present who wanted to meet him.

Check out this YouTube video for a cool pro-Santorum song:

Finally

The kids have been waiting for snow!  We were beginning to wonder if it was going to be a winter with no snow!  As Karis was looking out at the snow, she said "Yay, now it's Christmas!"

  We didn't get much, but they are loving it.  Karis could not wait to go out and did not think she needed a coat or gloves. 

Smores

Eliana really wants some smores.  It was pretty funny when she burst out with  

"Let's have a fire and Marsh Roastmallows!

Any excuse to watch a movie

We were learning a little bit about China and Japan for school a couple of weeks ago.  One night Eliana was supposed to be getting ready for bed, but ran out of her room all excited and said, "Mom, mom we HAVE to watch the movie Mulan this weekend!!!!" I asked her why and she said, "It's Chinese or Japanese and it'd be good for school."

When will I be in charge?

Recently I was getting ready to leave for a meeting and was making it clear what they had to do and who was in charge while I was gone.  Well, Karis followed me and said in her cute 3-year old voice,

K:  "When do I get to be in charge?"  

Me:  "Maybe when you are about 12."

K:  "Well, when I have kids I'll be in charge."

A couple days later, she started talking about being in charge.

K:  "When I have kids, I'm going to be in charge."

Me:  "Yep, you're right.  What will you tell your kids to do?"

K:  "Stay out of the lipgloss!"

The Plate Trick

Caleb taught Karis a new trick before dinner.

 Uh, thanks Caleb.

Princess Cookie Dough

Eliana crocheted a crown last week, and there's no one more deserving to receive that crown than her favorite bear, Cookie Dough. 

Scott's "First First Flight"

Congratulations to my brother, Scott who flew the new Citation Ten prototype on its first flight today. As this was the first time Scott flew a new prototype that had never flown before, it was his "first first flight."

 Joel came home and picked up Caleb so they could go and watch the airplane take off.

Caleb thoroughly enjoyed it and was proud of his Uncle!

 The first flight was a success.

Happy 2012!

Happy New Year! 

I printed off this printable for the kids to fill out.  It will be fun for them to read again in future years. 

 

This is Karis'.  She said her favorite Christmas gift was lip gloss and I'd definitely agree.

Below are just a few shots of the other kids questions.

Joanna is almost taller than me.  She can't wait to pass me up.

 

I'll go to Hawaii!

The Bean Skit

Eliana, Joanna, Cousin Sam, Aunt Sharon, & Caleb put on a skit for the whole family.  It was pretty funny!

For a very professional video with excellent lighting, great sound, no children talking in the background and absolutely no children kicking the videographer, watch the video below!  Enjoy.

Some Huskers!

I made hats for some of the Husker fans in our family!

We claim this one  :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Tina's family was all able to be here for Christmas again this year. We had a great time together!

Look what happens when Grandma & Grandfather walk away.

Nutcracker

Karis really enjoyed watching the Nutcracker on tv. She danced and twirled right along with them.

They want a snow day real bad!

They tried to go play in the little dusting we got.

Cookies!

We're almost ready to decorate cookies!

Maybe I'll clean up a bit first.

Laughing

I caught Eliana laughing at Joanna!

Two Lessons

We learned two lessons tonight.

The first - What happens when you drop a bag of flour?

It could have been worse.

The second - When the toilet is overflowing, don't pull up on the flapper valve!

**Didn't think you needed a picture for that one.**