***T-Ball***

My life may be changed forever...Khara went to her first sports practice tonight. Her first T-Ball practice was tonight and she is thrilled!!! Last year I encouraged her to play but she wasn't sure about it, later she wished that she had signed up. This evening after 1 1/2 hours of throwing, hitting, catching, and running the bases, she came home and said, "I didn't know T-ball was so fun!!".

She has a great coach that is going to make sure they learn the correct fundamentals of ball!! (He use to play college baseball-eeekkk, pressures on). They are still kids; 5, 6, and 7 year-olds at that, so I'm sure it will be a great season full of lots of laughs.

Mark bought Khara a new glove today. Saturday we will go in search of cleats. She should then be all set. Now, Kelsey can't wait until she can play next year. :-)

Photo Session

Brenda, here they are, finally!!!

A couple of weeks ago I took Kelsey and Kaden to a really neat studio to have their pictures taken. We had taken Khara when she was younger but never had Kelsey or Kadens done there. (Since they don't cost "pennies", it may be just a "once in a childhood" thing :-)). We had a great experience, though I was a nervous wreck by the time I left. A two-year old in a huge room full of beautiful antique props while a 4-year old is trying to give a "real" (vs. fake) smile, can be a little stressful on a mom who is there solo.

I picked up the proofs last week- 52 of them!!! Now we have the very hard job of trying to stay on a budget while choosing the ones we like the best!!

I am still so new at trying to scan and post pictures, so please excuse them being a little crooked, dark, or with a white border around them. If only I knew.... Of course a picture of a picture will never do it justice but, Gives you a little idea anyway.

**Bunnies To Bobcats**

I'm back in the world of blogging, yea!!

The Saturday before Easter we were at my parents and Mark found this little rabbit. (just before the dog did-eekk!!) The kids had SO much fun with it and Dana and I laughed and laughed at them. Khara, our MAJOR animal lover, wanted to just hold, hold, and hold it. Kelsey wasn't quite sure of it, but since Khara did...the pressure was on. :-) Kaden, all boy would grab it with just one hand, give it a good squeeze, drop it when he was done, etc. All while Khara was crying "he's going to kill it, he's going to kill it". Hilarious!!

We let them keep it in a box for the day until their cousins Andrew, Caleb, Kaley, and Camen could see it. Khara then "released it back to the wild". :-) I know, I know, if you know anything about wild animals you know that it could never survive with all of that handling, being squeezed and dropped, but Khara didn't have to know that. :-)



Last week Mark came home with another animal he found for the kids to see. I was on my way out the door for a School Board meeting as he came in. He told me to look on the trunk, I told him to be sure and take a picture. We did not let the kids hold or pet this one.

Balloon Art

On Saturday our local library was having a special celebration in honor of Library Week. We went and ended up staying about 2 hours. They gave all the kids free books, folders, and buttons; plus they had a really neat clown doing some incredible balloon art. We've probably all seen the little clowns that can make a horse, giraffe, etc. from one little balloon. This guy was amazing. He could make just about anything. My favorite is the motorcycle that Kelsey requested, (complete with handle bars, seat, and kickstand that allows it to stand up)--5 balloons and about 3 minutes!!!

I didn't even think about taking my camera to the event but snapped a couple of pics. of the balloons that Khara, Kelsey, and Kaden got when we got home. Oh, one more neat thing...we all received coupons for free drinks from Sonic!!! Gotta LOVE Sonic!! :-)

Easter Weekend

What a wonderful weekend!! Easter egg hunts, Dyeing Eggs, Easter Baskets, New Easter Outfits...I think we managed to get it all in and had a great time enjoying family. For the sake of Brenda/Aaron, and Kendall/Leanna; I will post several pictures...we missed you guys!!!! For some reason, I forget to take pics. of the adults...I will work on that, my dad, mom, Jeff, Vicki, Dana, Mark...they were around also.

Saturday morning we went to a very chilly Easter egg hunt at Stockton. It was 25 that morning with wind. Mark said the wind chill must have been about 10 or 15. Sounds like we were a little crazy, but the kids did enjoy it and got some neat prizes!! Our kids were in three different age groups, in three different places. We were thankful to have Dana along so that they could all participate .Kaden wasn't real thrilled with the Easter Rabbit. But, you know the spill--"real quick, just for a picture..."



Saturday evening Khara, Kelsey, Andrew, Caleb, and Kaley had a blast dyeing eggs!! That is a wonderful memory I have of every Easter doing that with my family. Great fun for all ages!!!


Kaley watches as Kaden cracks and tries to peel another one of her eggs.

Some very creative eggs from Drew.

Ready to go to church. Kelsey is even armed with her snack bag of Easter candy. :-)

Excuse the glare. This will come as a real shock, but we were racing, again, to get to church on time. We just snapped a couple of pics real quick before going out the door.

Khara's Easter Party

Today was Khara's 1st grade class Easter Party. I volunteered to bring snacks and attend to help out. I tried to think of a snack that was cute and also appealed to children. With the help of one of my 150 cookie cutters, I made Rice Krispie Rabbits.



It was a chilly 33 degrees, but they still went outside for the egg hunt. I think kids seldom think it is to cold to go out. And, what would an Easter Party be without an egg hunt??


Now I'm off to do a marathon house cleaning!! My sister Dana flew in from Alabama Thursday (yeah!!!) and the kids all wanted to go with her out to grandma's this afternoon. We will see how much I can get done in oh, maybe an hour. ( I don't want to take advantage too much...) :-)

My brother Jeff and Vicki and their four children are coming tomorrow (another, yeah!!!). It should be a wonderful Easter weekend!!

Kelsey's Easter Party

Kelsey had her preschool Easter Party today!! I don't think I have ever seen a group of more excited 4 & 5 year olds!! They were so anxious to get outside and hunt for eggs that I think we threw away more of the food than they ate. I'm thinking more and more that this would be a wonderful age to teach. They are so fun!!!

The Results of Staying Home on a Saturday!!!

two loaves of bread, two cracker pies, chocolate peanut butter bars...yum, yum, yum

This past Saturday during the day we...stayed home!!! Seems like our Saturdays are normally so busy. Mark had really hoped for us to all go out in the boat for the first time of the season , but when the day looked cloudy and stormy that was quickly postponed. I had a chance to get a jump start on my "Monday work" and do some much loved baking. We had a church dinner the next day which is where the bread and pies went.

Later that day we traveled about 40 miles to Ft. Scott and heard the G.B.S. Band--very good. What a great way to spend a Saturday!!!


*Yes, I did manage to do this with three children around...they all took a nap on Sat. afternoon--at the same time!!! A wonderful thing at our house. :-)