Random Kelsey

Kelsey is my buddy.  She is with me all day.  Every day.  I think she will be the only one who feels like an only child.  Kari technically was the only one who actually was, but only until the age of 2.5, so she doesn't remember it. 

As a result, she accompanies me wherever we go.  One day we went to help a friend load up a trailer.  And Kelsey somehow, inexplicably, ended up extremely dirty.  Black streaks down her face and arms.  But that didn't stop her from eating pie :)

 We attend church 99% of the time.  I won't say, however, that we are always the best at paying attention.  We do what we have to to keep little ones quiet.  Including sharing some glasses.

Happy Weekend!

Beaver Face!

Nana and Pop came down to visit for the Memorial Day weekend.  They were nice enough to take everyone out to lunch one day, where, of course, the adults sat around and chatted for a while after all the eating was done.  In an effort to keep from being bored, the girls borrowed Nana's sweatshirt because they were cold.

And then I got this picture.  Which I love.

Beaver Face!

Reading Fair 2015

Last year, Kari was the only one old enough to participate in the reading fair.  She even got an award.  This year, she chose to do a book she had borrowed from her teacher.  It is in the Spirit Animals series.

 There is a map inside the book, and Kari decided to decorate her board with the map right in the middle.  She drew it by hand, and did a pretty good job!

 She even included a key.  She made up her own font for the board too.  Half cursive (which they are only sort of teaching her at school) and half print.

 This is Kaitlyn's first year participating.  She chose to do a book from the Magic Treehouse series.

 At first she was very intimidated.  She doesn't think she is a very good artist.  I was finally able to convince her that she didn't HAVE to draw.  Just decorate.  So we printed all the words so she could trace them in colors....

 And then scanned and blew up some illustrations from the book.  She did end up drawing her own Magic Tree House to put in the background.  Originally was going to draw bricks all over the board, but ended up not liking it.  So she colored the whole board red.

The girls were given plenty of time to read their book, and work on their project.  Like, 2 months.  As they started working on their boards, their evening prayers changed a bit.  They started to pray that they would win an award!  We had a brief lesson on things to ask for, and how hard work is important.  Thankfully, both Kari and Kaitlyn DID get awards for their projects.  

 Kaitlyn got Honorable Mention for 2nd grade.  (Yes, that boy is in second grade!  He is SUPER tall!)

 Kari did too!  She got Honorable Mention for 4th grade.

The gym always provides such great lighting :p

  While both of the girls had wanted 1st place, they were happy they got a trophy.

As of Friday, school is OUT FOR SUMMER!  Heaven help with with 4 kids at home! 

Horsey

A lady that I visit has her very own horses!  And whenever we go, the horse is nice enough to say hi.

And Kelsey thinks it is pretty awesome.

She is her father's daughter.

Catch, Kelsey Edition

This is Catch, Kelsey Style!

As a 3 year old, she doesn't really have the strength or coordination to play much catch.  

But she certainly has the will to play with her siblings, and the personality to be a little bit crazy.

She does a lot of watching.

And occasionally there is some of this too....  Such a cute little ugly cry face.

At one point, Dylan went inside to get his cap to keep the sun out of his eyes.  Kelsey had to get hers too.  Though, I am not sure it did the same thing ;)

I love to take pictures of my children running...  Anyone else?

Of course, she got her turn to play catch too :)

She might need a little more practice :)

Catch!

Saturday we had a random game of catch.  Actually, it was an easy Saturday.  We had some stuff to do that would make it difficult to get dirty and cleaned several times during the day.  So we took a day off home improvement (who'm I kidding?!?!  We have taken several Saturdays off....  we just felt guilty about it) and had quite a bit of fun.  

I think Dylan and daddy started it...

...and the girls had to get in on it.  I love how they both threw at pretty much the same time.

Don't sweat it.  Hubby played ball in high school, and one day, when he feels a bit better, he would like to do more of it.

Besides the fun times, there was plenty of instruction going on too.

Of course, Kelsey wanted to play too.

More on that later.

I love this little man.  His real smiles are hard to capture, but sweet to memorialize.

To Be Continued...

Another One Bites the Dust!

This is #8 for Kaitlyn!

 She asked me if she had to start eating only soft food now.

I told her she could have bread and applesauce until they grew back in.  Said said, "I think I have enough other teeth." :)

Mothers Day 2015

Saturday night, the girls made daddy take them to the store.  They needed "supplies".  And to a mother, that sounds pretty ominous.  Thankfully, it turned out to be a wonderful surprise!  They came home with some Mother's Day treats!  Kari wanted to make sure I had some chocolate (the Hershey's bar) and Kaitlyn said I HAD to have the cookie cake because my favorite colors are blue, green and purple.  I don't know where cookie cakes have been my whole life, but that one was delicious and practically gone before Mother's Day was actually here.  Not pictured is the ginormous balloon that sings "Simply the Best!" whenever you hit it.  It was great, in an annoying kind of way!

Sunday morning, I woke up to a party!

The kids (and daddy) made me breakfast and even cleaned up after themselves.  They had flowers for me (and the small one was from church).

And they had the whole house decorated for a party!

They did a really good job of making me feel special and loved.  I know they love me all the time, and I don't want attention very often, but once a year I can handle :)  And, probably the best gift of all was my nap!  It's the little things!  

This year also happened to fall on my 13th wedding anniversary!  I know, 13 years is a long time!  So, for dinner, I busted out our china and fancy glasses and we had one of hubby's favorites for dinner and drank sparkling juice from our fancy glasses.  I even found some cheap, plastic ones for the kids to use, and it was a hit!  It was a good day for us all!

Sticker Face

Dylan came to me one day saying his ear hurt.  Actually, it was one night.  So, I gave him some meds, said a quick prayer that we would make it through the night, and scheduled an appointment for the next day.  We drive a decent ways to go to my pediatrician, who I think is awesome, which translates to time in the car.  Turns out, Dylan DID have an ear infection.  And we got our prescription on the way home.  Our pediatrician also gives out stickers to all the kids who have behaved well.  On this particular day, I ended up taking all 4 children with me, and the nurses were nice enough to give all 4 children a sticker.

 Some how, on the ride home, Kelsey ended up with all of them.  And she played with them for the whole trip home.  And she was happy.

The End.

Saturday Morning

I have told hubby often that the sooner the children attack him, the more they missed him while he was gone.

While his back keeps him from being as active as he would like to be, he does occasionally feel well enough to wrastle with the kids a little bit.

This particular Saturday morning, we were supposed to be working, so I guess it is a good thing that he felt good enough to play with the kids.

Because when one of them starts something, they often all get in on the fun.

And while Kaitlyn isn't a big wrastler, she enjoys cuddling.  So, she sits over on the sidelines, doing her best not to get pummeled....

... while there is fun to be had very near by.

It often extends to the siblings as well, though they aren't as careful as daddy is.

*Whew!*  Water break!

And straight back to it.  Kari is the most serious, but Kelsey enjoys getting right in there, and Dylan enjoys dishing out, though he isn't so fond of taking it.

And, in the end, when play time is over, there is a little cuddling to be done.

Until the next round starts.

And this could go on for hours. :)