vet trip

Braden went on a field trip to the Veterinarian's with scouts and learned all sorts of cool facts about animals.

Braden's words:
We looked in the room where the animals had surgery and in the fridge where all the medicines were kept. Then we saw the room where the animals got their teeth cleaned and got to see a dog's real tooth that had fallen out! We also saw a dog and a cat's skull. The cat's skull was only a teeny bit bigger than a squirrel's head.

Next we saw where the dogs were kept while they were there and where they played. The veterinarian told us that they read to the dogs while they were playing outside! Then we went back inside and the dogs were barking so loud that the floor shook!

We got to see some x-rays of hurt dogs and an x ray of a turtle. One dog on the x ray had bullets in it's leg and the other had a broken leg. They also let us see dog's blood under the microscope.


It was a lot of fun!

SEVEN puppies inside! that's one busy mama:)

The kids brought all their stuffed animals into our room and daddy hid sweet ephram in with them all! He wasn't quite sure what to think but loved 'big bear' who he is grabbing onto:). He's definitely the CUTEST one in the pile!

kinsey girl

This was in January. Our Kinsey girl constantly makes us laugh and smile with the funny things she does. It was 40 degrees and I told her to get her play clothes after church so she could play outside with everyone. Then I was cleaning up the house and wasn't paying attention as she went out of the house. When she came back in HOURS later I couldn't believe what she had chosen to wear! The neighbors probably thought we were crazy to let her out there like that! Granted it had been in the 20's and 30's all that week so to her it was 'warmer' but my goodness! Clearly it didn't bother her because she just played and played. She also had on a Halloween shirt (that goes under a dress) with her Hawaiian shorts and flip flops:). Kinsey, Kinsey, Kinsey! Oh...and those poor dry knees!

Fishy Medicine

I took Kinsey to the doctor because she was wheezing a lot and had a bad chest cold. After listening to her and taking her pulse ox they decided she needed to use a breathing machine for a few days. They did the first treatment in the office and after realizing it wasn't going to hurt she just thought it was the funniest thing ever! She LOVED doing her 'fishy' treatments at home because she knew she'd get all the stories she wanted (UNinterrupted) while I sat with her until they were over. Ephram was fascinated with it and always wanted to help her hold it. He'd even say, 'me help kinsey'.

She's a lot better now and uses her 'fishy' to help her babies and Ivy feel better:). Considering how worried we were when she was having trouble breathing we are so thankful for the fishy! Just LOVE that Kinsey girl!

time out love

I had to do a post on this because it just warms my heart. Ephram is a very compassionate boy...reminds me so much of how Kinsey was and still is. He is always concerned when one of his siblings is crying but it mainly comes out when someone has to go to timeout. He will literally hang around them the whole time..either sitting near them or trying to give them hugs. Seems like the girls have spent a bit of time there lately and he runs to them to hug them. Same with Braden, though...if Braden is crying he RUNS to squeeze him tight:). such a SWEET boy!

He is no stranger to time out and does a great job sitting to get self control or sitting after being unkind or screaming.

lots of monkeys

I took a break from doing school with the big kids to take Ephram outside the other day. It was chilly enough for a hat and I had been wanting to try his new monkey one on him...HOW CUTE is he?? He LOVES to be outside. Constantly. He loves to walk and run around exploring everything. He was trying hard to not do his 'silly smile' in some of the pictures and I could see a 'fake' smile starting to come out. Yikes!

I had such a great time playing outside with my littlest guy!

gotcha day celebration

Ephram is getting four eye teeth and two molars and hasn't really been wanting to eat lately. For breakfast on his Gotcha Day he asked for a poptart and a nana (banana) and ate both of them! This is the first time he's used the 'B' plate and he was pretty excited about it after he saw the kids reactions. We sang, "Happy Gotcha Day" to him and watched his video all day long!

Ephram did play doh, colored, did stickers, painted with water, did chalk, 'played' a game, and I read lots of books to him on his special day. He still wasn't feeling great so he gave out lots of extras snuggles too:).

I couldn't get Ephram to eat anything for lunch...not even his favorites because he was just hurting so much. Thankfully he made up for it at dinner.

Brian and I couldn't stop thinking about our time in Korea and really felt like this gotcha day brought back wonderful 'REAL' memories for us.

For dinner he wanted eggs, rice, and apple. Strange combination but he actually ate it so that's all we cared about! Poor guy is hurting so much he doesn't want to eat. He didn't even want to eat ice cream or fruit snacks (his two favs) when we offered them to him.

Pictures with three of his fav's! Daddy, Doggie and Panda! AND...I got
some real smiles! He's actually 'learning' how to be bribed and 'will work
for m&m's' when he's in the mood. BUT he def has to be in the mood to participate!

Crazy Hair Night...speedy version

I always do what the kiddos want me to when it comes to crazy hair night...EXCEPT for 'hair paint'. The idea of having to give them baths at 9:00 pm when they are already exhausted doesn't sound like much fun to me so I draw the line there. Thankfully they don't get too upset about it and always love the outcome! Braden wanted tiny pony tails...and Cailey wanted 'loops' all over her head.

They were both thrilled with the outcome:)! Not bad for having two sad/sick little ones climbing on me, dinner, finishing school, and trying to get them out of the house on time...all on my birthday!

making and eating Snowflakes

the kiddos and i made tortilla snowflakes in january and they were so yummy and easy to make that i thought i'd share the idea. first we folded and cut shapes into the tortillas just like you'd do with paper. they can rip easily, so put a damp paper towel in between layers and microwave for a few seconds until they are warm and more flexible. put in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until crispy.

add powdered sugar to look like real snowflakes OR you can add cinnamon and sugar. they loved them!

Fun Filled Valentine's Day 2011!

Part 1: Breakfast

I started out this morning by going on a run with my Cailey girl! We ran 3 miles then I came home to make red velvet pancakes (which were started by daddy while we were out:)

I always try to do red/pink themed food on Valentine's Day just to make it more fun for the kiddos. It's a little harder for us to do it since we can't use Red40 because of Cailey's allergy but we've found great ways around it. We don't usually do big presents but focus more on spending time together making and doing fun things. This morning they had red velvet pancakes and pink milk! They ALL (even ephram who hasn't been eating) ate a TON!

and kept coming back for more and more! We'll definitely be using this recipe again!

Part 2: The Park

It was so nice out that we decided to meet the Klicks at the park for some playtime and a picnic! The kids had a great time taking a break and playing with friends.

ephram didn't care for the slide...at all. but LOVED the swings!

We've been cooped up for so long that I haven't been taking many pictures lately. I really could have broken this post up into several but wanted to go ahead and do it all at once since it was one day. We just did so many fun things today! LOVE LOVE LOVE pics of my babies! Oh..and lunch was Nutella and PB sandwiches with the red velvet pancakes as the bread (requested by the kiddos) and red apples. (They loved it:)

buddies!

love the man hug they give each other!

every girl loves to twirl!

This boy was asking me to take his picture the whole time! LOVE it! Braden also did a great job on the monkey bars which have always been hard for him. He was really happy about it.

Kinsey did AWESOME on the monkey bars and was just so thrilled with her accomplishments. I'm so glad I captured her excitement.

sliding with my guys...thankful cailey took a picture!

group shot of our sweet friends!

Part 3: arts and crafts

The kiddos and I planned out our afternoon and had lots of crafts ideas of things we could make for Valentine's Day. We didn't get as many of them done as we wanted to but we need to have something to do next year! We had a great time together...treasure this time!

they made a 'conversation heart' door hanging, heart people, Valentine's hats, and a heart mobile

Their cute hats! Also, you can see the door hanging in the back ground. They cut out and wrote sweet things on each of the hearts hanging up (like Love is Kind, Cailey is special, Jesus loves you, etc.). As soon as Ephram came down he ran over to it and said, "hearts! yots (lots) hearts!"

kinsey did a couple crafts for Valentine's day
last week. dot a dot giant heart and do a dot tiny
hearts for a mobile she made

Ephram was in a super grumpy mood because he was hurting and didn't want any part of wearing a silly hat. I still love the picture! The other picture has a heart Kinsey made, two of the four heart people, and a heart mobile.

Part 4: Amanti's

We were going to make heart shaped pizzas with heart shaped pepperoni for dinner (decided by the kiddos). Unfortunately we didn't have any sauce so I decided to surprise them with a long lost coupon and fun night out. We went to Amanti's where they work with the kiddos and have them make their own pizzas. Ephram got into it (which was amazing since he was so sad) and loved it as much as the other kids.


The adult leading it was AWESOME and even taught the kiddos how to 'toss' their pizza dough. Poor Braden accidentally threw it at the teacher..oops:). I couldn't BELIEVE how much Ephram was participating! Brian and I learned some new techniques too.

They all had a BLAST...but especially Braden. He really enjoyed himself.

Topping time...notice Ephram eating the cheese right off the pizza. Cailey made a sausage and pepperoni pizza, Kinsey made pepperoni, and Braden made his favorite...mushroom! We kept just cheese on Ephram's.

Ephram ate SO MUCH! He ate three pieces of pizza so i guess he loved it! He basically survived on pizza and pancakes (with some yogurt and mandarin oranges thrown in) today.

The finished products! They forgot all about wanting to make it heart shaped until it came to the table. Oh well! Cailey didn't end up liking her toppings but loved the pizza once she pulled them off. The other two loved everything about theirs. They all devoured it!

Part 5: Family Time

We came home and gave the kids a little present from us. The oldest two got great age appropriate devotionals and Kinsey and Ephram got books. All of our gifts for them were focused on God's unconditional love for them. We also played tag, listened to the kids read, tickled, read bible stories, and listened to Cailey play the piano. The kiddos made very sweet cards for us too! We had a busy, but wonderful day together...and managed to get some school done too:)!

Posing after a game of tag!

Daddy reading Ephram all the hearts...and hanging out with his boys

When I got upstairs to my room I discovered a gift card and some yummy treats waiting for me too from Brian:). We don't usually exchange Valentine's gifts since it's a week between our birthdays so I was pleasantly surprised! So thankful for a great husband and daddy!