If kids could blog...

So, I thought it would be funny to find out what my kids would blog about if they had a blog. I took them aside and asked what they would like to blog about. Here is what they said:

John: Hello, my name is John. I like sports, like football, baseball, and basketball and steal the bacon and dodgeball and lots of other things too. Bye. (He is a man of many words!)

Kiley: My mom is sweet and I like to play with my friends. And I like to play with my brother falling off the Willis tower, which is the couch. Or you could put sofa. I love you mom and dad and my whole family. Also, I want to say that my sister's birthday, last Monday, and she turned 5. And, I want to say one more thing, I want to appreciate my grandma for getting the Tinkerbell shirt, because I am wearing it. Good-bye.

Emily: My neighborhood is sweet and I have a lot of friends. There is a lot of pretty trees. When I turned six I got a big bike. And in the spring we like to plant flowers and I got a dog. Its name is Cinnamon. I like Pretty Princess. And after it rains in the spring then it shows a pretty rainbow right by my house. And this Christmas I got an Emma doll, it is Dora's friend. And I am going to go to Summer Camp with my family. And my birthday is on April 28th and I will be turning 7. I like dressing up and having makeovers.

Karli: For my birthday present I got from my Grandma and Grandpa a Barbie doll car and I got for Christmas a new coloring book that is Princess and it says Karli on the front so I know that it is mine. And I have, for my birthday, another present, two new dresses. And I love when I have sleepovers and tea parties and when I have cookies to dip into my milk. I like Pretty Princess and Barbies and I love make overs and I love my best friends. I like having picnics. One more thing, I like hugs and kisses when I go to bed. Oh, one more thing after this, I like my present that I got from Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy and Daddy and John, Emily, and Kiley. Two more things, please! Tanya ( glad she calls me mom) likes for her birthday the white thing that you can put your stuff in. Kiley likes Hannah Montana and Emily likes her too, and John likes Star Wars. That is all!

Could it be true? Five!

Today, I can't believe my youngest is turning 5! She still looks like she is three, maybe four, but still she is definately five. Her twin sisters, wanted to skip a year and say she was six so they could be "twins" with them. Sadly, we can't just choose our age, although I have a lot of friends who always seem to be 29! 8-)

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of when she was born, because our computer crashed later that year and we haven't been able to afford to pay to get the information off of the hard-drive. BUT, I thought it would be great to try and snapshot her first five years.
(The cinnamon rolls to the left were our special 5 year old breakfast).

She is such a blessing to our lives! Happy Birthday "Kars"!

Karli at 6 months old

Karli telling guests she was thankful at her 1 year party!

Our little ladybug turns 2! 2007

February 2008- 3 years old

February 2009

Karli 5 years old

Who did it?

John has been wanting to learn how to play CLUE. One of my favorite childhood games, so I was excited to share. He loves games and being competitive as his dad and mom do, so it makes for a fun time. And yes, that is our Christmas tree up in the background. Yes, I know that it is almost the middle of February. Judge if you want to. 8-) It was a fun time and due to the wonderfulness of being a boy we never found out that John had the wrench so when he went to make his finally guess we were ALL shocked that the wrench was not the weapon. Fun memories were made. Then we played the Wii. There were screams, shouts and I think we might have woken up the other side of the world with excitment. I am really glad we decided to do Friday date nights. It has only been one month and it has been amazing watching the kids get excited all week and how they will plan out their hour and a half. Oh, and for those of you who wanted to know who did it...Miss Scarlet, in the Dining Room with the CANDLESTICK (not the wrench!).

I realized, after I wrote this blog, that I forgot to write about Karli's date night, last week. So, just to make things even (and so I will be able to write about it when I catch up in her scrapbook) here is a little bit about what we did:

Karli wanted to play Duck, Duck, Goose. Instead of duck and goose, Karli liked to make up her one own substitutions, like cars and trucks. Whatever she says the most of you have to run on the other word that goes with it. Then we played musical chairs. Here is a picture of Daddy and Karli going around the last chair. Karli ended up winning, I think Jason was too concerned with the dancing part! 8-) After the games we read books on the couch at which time Karli grabbed Jason's arm and said, "I want to marry this man!" I then told her he was already mine. She replied, "Well, then I am going to have to find one the is fun and handsome, just like him....(stopping to ponder for a second)...oh no, what if another girl marries him first? I've got to find him!"

#145 of why I love to homeschool

We had 15 inches of snow that fell from Monday evening till early Wednesday morning. We couldn't help but go and enjoy the snow! THEN headed home to do our school work. How often do you get to enjoy play before work? It is good to do every once in a while! I love the snow, isn't it beautiful!

"When the dog bites..."

So, yesterday the song from "Sound of Music" was going through my head...Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens...when the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad....

If you notice in the picture to the right, Kiley has a bandaid across her nose. Yep, yesterday morning, she tried to get a napkin away from our puppy (later finding out that she used my boot to try and whap him on the nose instead of her hand) and he bit her nose. Thankfully, the teeth did not puncture it. She would not let me take a picture of the injury, but it takes up most of her nose. She was so brave and she really did not want to go to church after that. But, I knew she could do it. She was afraid people would make fun of her, but she handled it well and we dealt with it. I told her I would stay with her for two minutes in her Sunday School class and then that was it. She didn't like it, at first, but did it and when I came back was laughing and enjoying herself.

In life, as I told her, we have two choices. We can hide from our fears OR we can deal with them head on and find the fun or joy in the situation we find ourself. She had a choice. I was proud of her for choose to hit it head on. I told her how proud I was of her and how much courage it took for her to handle it. She was able to come and enjoy our Super Bowl party and handled all the questions about her nose with great strength. I am very proud of her! When we got home, after letting the dog out of the cage he had been pinned up in as discipline, she wanted to be the first one to hug and kiss him and tell him that she loved him and knew he didn't mean to hurt her. I was proud again of her response and not being afraid of him.

This again was a teaching moment with the other kids as well. When I had to put the dog in his cage and leave him in a dark room, Karli began to cry. "I love him mom, why are you doing this to him." I informed her that I loved her and that I had to discipline her because I loved her. He did something wrong, he has to learn. I went on to let her know that now she knows how I feel when I dicipline her. It breaks my heart (most of the time) to have to discipline for something they do wrong, but BECAUSE I LOVE HER I have to. I wouldn't be loving her if I didn't. I held her and let her cry. So many times we see dicipline as a bad thing, but in actuality it is great. And if we don't do it or allow ourselves to discipline or be disciplined we loose out on a lot.

It is funny how a dog bite could have such a great and momentous teaching experience. It again goes to show that no matter WHAT the situation...God works ALL things for his glory and for our good.

The faces of funness

Some much NEEDED boy time

Jason's college roommate, Dan, and his family came into town the other evening. John was so excited to have two boys to pal around with the a day. It was hard to see them go.

Oh, be careful little mouths what you speak

I should have been thinking about my words the other day when I was talking to my friend Rachel. We were discussing how our twins just can't get past a certain weight. Her's can't get past 20lbs. (they are 3) and mine can't get past 36lbs. (they are 6). We were commenting on how we were amazed they they were staying the same weight and not gaining, for mine three years. The doctors are fine with it, they just stay the same. LATER, Kiley came to me and told me that her feelings were hurt because she thought we were making fun of her because of the fact that she can't gain weight. I would have NEVER thought that to be an issue. We talked about it, a couple of times, and I think she finally realized we weren't trying to make her feel bad we were just discussing the fact that they can not get over a certain weight.

Oh be careful little mouth what you say...because you might, unknowingly, be effecting someones feelings. I am just glad she came to me and expressed her feelings and we were able to discuss it. Hopefully, that will never change!