Fat Cat!

Kinsey opened a fat cat account with all the money from her piggy bank, Christmas, and money from chores that she's earned. She was SO excited and is joining the others in learning how much more fun it is to save money than to spend it:). Now she's always asking to do extra chores, pick up gumballs, and constantly on the lookout for fallen pennies outside.


We were happy that one of our two favorite 'bank ladies' was working to help us out. We've been going there since Cailey was 14 months and they have seen our family grow. It's always one of the first places we take cookies at Christmas.

sky painting

We have had crazy weather this year...unseasonable hot weather. With it we've also had some GORGEOUS sunrises and sunsets (on the few COLD days, that is). One evening Ephram gasped with delight as he looked out the window and saw this sunset. It was amazing. We both ran outside to take it all it...with our bare feet...in the cold:). What a great talk we had about God's beautiful sky painting. When we got back inside he wanted everyone to come see. Love how God has the ability to make us all STOP and take it all in...together....at dinner time:)

Sunrise

I usually see the gorgeous sunsets but rarely capture the beauty of a sunrise and boy it was beautiful! This picture doesn't even do it justice because off to the right it was blocked by a group of trees but I was in awe standing in our room staring at it until it was gone. I ran out barefoot (and it was a 20 degree morning) to capture it. SO amazing.

it's a.....Strawberry milkshake!

Kelly gave me the AWESOME privilege of revealing the gender of their baby with a CFA milkshake:). The plan was to have the dr. write it down, then I would read it and order a cookies and cream milkshake if it was a boy and a strawberry one if it was a girl. Then Caden and Caroline drank it to tell everyone. Brandon is like me and just couldn't wait and peeked at the screen BUT he still let me know first and go order the milkshake...YAY!! I was so happy to do it and THRILLED to reveal that they were having a baby girl. Cailey is beyond excited to have a little friend to help with and Caroline just can't wait to have a big sister! Can't wait to meet Charlotte Faith Klick:)!

kiddos looking to make sure:) and supportive friends!

apparently ephram thought he should have some too...
good thing carter is a GREAT sharer!

box boy:)!

Ephram was in HEAVEN when the pampered chef things came in because he LOVES boxes! He's got such a great imagination and pretends that it is either a boat, rocket ship, house for his doggies, place to play peek a boo, roller coaster (thanks to his siblings)...you name it! This all led to me making him his boat for Christmas which right now he's been saying is his doggie crib. According to him frank keeps barking at night and waking up Brody (aka Doggie aka the first dog he loved). LOVE this boy and his imagination! None of my others did as much imaginary play and play WITH other friends at this age but boy he loves it!

runner boy

in the FREEZING cold or in the SUPER heat this boy keeps going. and going. and going. he just loves to run! the first picture was a REALLY cold day and none of the three brought the right clothes for running but somehow they made it through. poor braden (with no meat on his bones) was shivering and couldn't move his hands...it was in the 40's if I remember correctly and they had hardly anything on! the other picture was taken when it was in the 80's! he likes running in the heat better but boy i love the cold:). he's already asking for his next race and can run MUCH farther than his mama right now. proud of you, braden boy!

car track!

Ephram loves playing with cars so one evening when I was playing with him I decided to make a road on his floor, wall, and bunkbed using masking tape. He was very excited as soon as he figured out what I was doing (as were the other kiddos) and couldn't wait to play.

There is even a parking lot:). The kids have all had a blast playing cars with ephram! He loves playing with them by himself while we're doing school and is sure to show his friends when they come over. It's so neat to see their different personalities come out just by playing cars. One likes to create traffic jams, one likes to build bridges for the cars to go under, another one just goes around the roads over and over, and the last one loves playing in the parking lot. I love masking tape:)! Such an easy (and temporary) way to make the boys room even more fun for them!

playdate with landon:)

Landon came over for a playdate and was loved on by ALL! Ephram wanted him to play Legos but he wasn't quite ready for that:). The girls were smitten..as they always are with babies and were begging to hold him whenever their arms were empty.

ah..sweet kinsey just adores this baby boy! (as do them all:) i love the picture of kinsey sneaking a kiss.

Braden and ephram would try to entertain him if he ever got sad. ephram was very interested in how little and cute his feet were:).

Dolphin Tale Date

On New Year's Eve I went on a double double date with the girls to see Dolphin Tale. We went with the Morgans and all agree we need to do it again! It was at the $2.00 theater and such a GREAT GREAT movie!

puzzle dump

I did this as a preschool teacher about once a month..and the kids would look SHOCKED as I dumped them all out on the table. But then they'd each take one at a time and start putting them together and loved it! Every year this would be such a great hit and it's so simple. I dumped out a couple for ephram and the big kids wanted in on it so I took every wooden puzzle we had and dumped them out on the homeschool room floor. Once the shock wore off (a type A mommy dumping puzzles out??) they got right to work and enjoyed themselves! Braden was able to work the fastest and somehow able to find all the right pieces among the chaos. The picture doesn't do it justice as there were 35 puzzles dumped on the floor!

so thankful to spend my days with these blessings!

Pookie Pepperoni, Princess of Clementine

That is her title in our family. This girl LOVES pepperoni... and Clementines. She has been known to eat an entire package of pepperoni before getting caught. It has to be rationed:). And her love for clementines has run deep for years too. One day she had both...and told me it was her dream come true and I should take a picture:). She doesn't really care about the pizza part (I recently discovered) but loves to pick off the pepperoni and eat it off...then eat ephram's, and anyone else who will give it to her:). Love that girl. She's requested it for her gotcha day and MAY have gotten a package to herself in her stocking:).

chicken poop, pig candy, and peeing in the creek:)

yep. that's what they said when they got home from their playdate with the corbett's. cailey got pooped on by a chicken, kinsey said she ate pig candy, and braden said he peed in the creek...all with HUGE smiles on their faces. laura was so sweet to take all THREE of the children for almost FIVE hours so brian and i could clean out the attic. they came home wanting to go back..talk about great playdate! i also heard they ate raw cookie dough which was a first for them..yep, my mom made me paranoid as a kid. we are SO blessed to call them friends and will certainly miss them when they move but are trying to get in as much fun now:)!

Once

Once I had a dream
That I did not know,
It had some sleet
Without any snow.

Once I had a wish
That everyone was good,
And knew right from wrong
And did as they should.

Once there was a man
who would never sin,
He died on the cross
To make new life begin.

Written by: Cailey Anne Barbour

sweeper...

I was the sweeper as a kid...and the duster. (Then later earned my allowance by being the bathroom cleaner). And I loved doing it..there is just something about seeing dirt and dust disappear that makes me happy. Plus I'm type A and wanted things put back correctly after dusting. Anyway, my Cailey girl has never really enjoyed chores but the other day told me that she can 'finally say' that she loves to sweep. What a help it's been because we have to do it several times a day! She also wanted me to take a picture of her and blog about it:). Girl after my own heart...she decided she should 'pose' and take and 'action' shot:).

New Year's Day

We spent New Year's Day organizing, changing around the boys room, and "taking away Christmas" as Ephram put it. He was NOT happy to see the "Christmas" aka Christmas tree come down.

That night we had the Klick's over (including grandparents:) for our traditional Chili and cornbread. Then everyone played and hung out..another fun night with friends.