Yes, it is spring!

We've had lots of really nice weather already this year. It seems a bit weird to have just gotten so much snow. It is pretty!

Here are some of my flowers sticking out of the snow.

Joanna & cousin Katie getting pulled around on the sled. Katie couldn't move much all bundled up.

Caleb stayed out the longest. He had to come in for a fresh set of gloves and hats so he could keep playing.

Karis found a hat in the pile of snow stuff and wanted to wear a hat too. She enjoyed watching the kids from inside.

She didn't seem to mind the hat over her eyes.

Double Digits

(Joel here.) We're so proud of Tina/Mommy. She ran more than 10 miles yesterday for the first time! She's been working up to being able to do a half marathon. We all went to a park yesterday, and the kids and I tried to follow her on our bikes while she ran, but she was so fast we couldn't keep up! (Well, actually we couldn't keep up because the kids kept wanting to stop for swigs from their big water bottles.) When we finally crossed paths with her again, the two youngest kids were wiped out, so I took them to the playground while Joanna rode alongside Mom for her final lap.

Go Runner-Mom!

Swim Lessons

The kids are taking swim lessons this month and loving it.

Here is Eliana with her friend Jacob. They are enjoying lessons together. Jacob's mom posted earlier this month about their lessons here.

Caleb learning to dive.

Joanna trying out diving too.

Karis hanging out in the stroller. She had fun brushing her hair today and "eating" an apple.

(You can also see her 1st tooth in this picture - Finally, she's almost 1! She got her 1st tooth about a week or so ago. She's gnawing on her fist off and on, but no signs of tooth #2 yet.)

Green Smoothies

Tonight we all tried our first green smoothie! And they were DEFINITELY GREEN. We used this kid-friendly recipe for our first try and they turned out pretty good. We called them Popeye-Incredible Hulk Smoothies. Joanna was pretty nervous before drinking it and said, "Mom, no pictures!"

Caleb was ready to go and eager to be like Popeye.

Karis even liked hers. She kept handing her cup back to us so we could help her drink some more.

Out of the 6 of us, 5 chugged them down. Eliana said it tasted bad and she'll drink it in the morning! (We'll see....)

Riddle from Caleb

Caleb made up this joke for the grandparents this morning.

What kind of jam do you use on your peanut butter and jelly sandwich when you're stuck in traffic?

See below for answer.

(Caleb wanted me to put lots of space so you can't cheat!)

Answer: Traffic Jam

Kid's first response

I've seen this a couple times, so I thought it would be fun to ask the kids. I asked them separately so they would come up with their own answers. Some of their answers are funny!

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Joanna-Go pick up your dirty clothes
Caleb-Do your school
Eliana-No and I guess so

2. What makes mom happy?
Joanna-Bringing our plate over from the table without being asked
Caleb-By doing my school diligently
Eliana-By giving you hugs

3. What makes mom sad?
Joanna-When we don’t obey the first time
Caleb-When I whine
Eliana-Doing wrong things

4. What makes your mom laugh?
Joanna-My laugh
Caleb-Telling you a silly joke
Eliana-Funny jokes

5. What did your mom like to do as a child?
Joanna-Play soccer
Caleb-Race with a remote control pink car
Eliana-Play barbies

6. How old is your mom?
Joanna-35
Caleb-96 – I don’t know
Eliana-35

7. How tall is your mom?
Joanna-5’5”
Caleb-25 inches tall
Eliana-I don’t know

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Joanna-Have chipwiches
Caleb-Shop
Eliana-Play with me

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Joanna-Her flying club work
Caleb-Wrap presents
Eliana-Do work

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Joanna-Being pretty
Caleb-For your architecture
Eliana-A mom

11. What is your mom really good at?
Joanna-Telling us what to do
Caleb-Being the teacher of all of us homeschooling
Eliana-Questions, typing and doing school work when you were a kid

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Joanna-Singing
Caleb-Knitting
Eliana-I don’t know

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Joanna-Flying club work
Caleb-Work at the flying club
Eliana-Go to the flying club

14. What's your mom's favorite food?
Joanna-Chipwiches
Caleb-Pizza
Eliana-Pizza

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Joanna-She’s smart
Caleb-Taking me on walks
Eliana-By loving you

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Joanna-Wonder Woman
Caleb-Popeye
Eliana-Daphne

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Joanna-We saw the Cinderella ballet
Caleb-Spending time together on the wii
Eliana-Play stuff and play wii

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Joanna-We are both the oldest
Caleb-Our eyes
Eliana-Because we have the same eyes and have the same hair

19. How are you and your mom different?
Joanna-I have blue eyes, you have brown
Caleb-Our hair
Eliana-Because we have different shirts

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Joanna-Because you say I love you
Caleb-She tells me that
Eliana-By giving hugs and kisses

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Joanna-Friend's house
Caleb-Aldis (I have to just say that there are other places I'd rather go)
Eliana-CiCi’s pizza (I think that’s Eliana’s favorite place to go!)

Charlie bit my finger

My kids just love this video from youtube. You probably have seen it before, but if you haven't...We've watched it too many times to count and it just makes us laugh.

Laughter

I love when Joanna just laughs uncontrollably. Here's a quick little clip!

Messy girl

I just got some of those teething biscuits for Karis. I forgot how messy they are.

She loved them!

All clean after a bath!

SOOOO Big!

How big is Karis?

Soo big!

She really gets into it.

What is this?? She just makes us laugh and she knows it!!

More from the country

Here's some pictures of the day we went out to our friend's house. The kids enjoyed playing outside - digging, playing in the creek, scooping up algae, and especially finding the geodes.

Caleb on Mucinex, Money and God

Caleb has a cold this week and we've been giving him Mucinex. He told Joel very seriously this morning, "Mucinex is better than money...but God is better than Mucinex. There's always something more important than something else, but it stops with God."

Karis crawling & sounds

Ok, so here's a video of Karis crawling towards Aunt Sharon. Just listen to her laugh. I don't know where she learned to laugh like that. When she gets silly, she laughs like that. I think she's going to make herself permanently hoarse.

Our little light weight

Karis had a regular checkup at the doctors today. She's only a little over 17 pounds - which puts her in the 9th percentile for her weight. She's small but doctor says nothing to worry about. It's a little hard for me to grasp because the other kids spent most of their baby days up in the 95 to 100% for their weight. She's even got some chub on her legs to spare.

Views of Karis

Karis is getting around and getting into lots of things.

This is one way I see Karis these days. I can't get around in the kitchen very efficiently since she likes to hang on the back of my legs. (Joel calls her "The Immobilizer.")

She also gets herself caught while she's on her exploring adventures.

She didn't really like this spot.

Strawberry Shortcake

I was planning on making pancakes one night last week when Joanna came in saying, "I don't want pancakes, they make me feel sick. I want waffles with berries and whipped cream." I don't know when pancakes have ever made Joanna feel sick, but I did think it was okay to just do waffles. So Joanna got very excited.....until I remembered we had thrown out the last of our waffle makers (We had gotten 2 for our wedding quite a long time ago now.)

By this time, no one wanted pancakes so we splurged and had non-strawberry, strawberry shortcake. I had a bag of other frozen mixed berries and it was yummy. Most of us had two - one for dessert and one for supper, I guess. (Dessert was first, for a change.)

Mmmmm!! (This picture doesn't do it justice.)

No picky eaters at this meal!

Don't stop the music

Here's a little clip of Karis "dancing" sideways when Joanna is playing a song on the piano. We just love how she stops when the music stops and looks over at Joanna as though she's wanting her to start up again.

Kissable cheeks

Here's another picture from Christmas. Karis is getting some love from Grandma & Grandfather.

Zoo Day

Well, I've finally gotten around to uploading the pictures from our very full camera card, including a bunch of photos from Christmastime. I've got lots of pictures to share so hopefully I can get some posts done. We went to the zoo over the Christmas break for Winter Wednesday. It was cold on Winter Wednesday, but a lot of fun.

Aunt Sharon & Eliana

Karis was bundled up for the cold. She likes being outside.

Did I say cold? I don't know about that hat though, grandfather....

Joanna & Grandfather

It was very interesting to see the hippos get a massage. They loved getting rubbed all over especially in their mouths. They didn't want the zoo lady to stop. Not a job I would enjoy!

One of my favorite exhibits is the otters. However, it always seems like they are off-exhibit when we are there. Grandfather and Eliana saved the day for me - you can watch the video clip to see how!

Caleb had to stop at the playground.

Joanna and blue sky.

Grandfather hanging out - I think he's feeling right at home in this picture. He can be his goofy self with these guys! The hat fits in this picture???

Well, I guess we've got some more goofy people in this family.

Doll Clothes and the Ballet

The girls were very excited when they got a box from Grandma. They already new what was coming in that box - some doll clothes she said she was going to make for them.

Eliana got some pajamas that were made with princess material!!

Joanna got a ballet outfit for her doll. It was very cool to get the box the day that Joanna & I were going to the ballet (we had gotten tickets for her birthday in November.)

We went to see Cinderella performed by the Russian Ballet. Joanna loved it. She sat on the edge of her seat for just about the entire show.

Went Shootin'

We went out to some friends' house last night. The boys wanted to go shootin'! Joel had the day off work and it turned out to be a very nice day. Caleb doesn't like how loud the real guns are, so he sometimes would sit in the truck and wait for dad to get out the bb gun. I even tried out the pistol. Just make sure you're behind me--I'm not that great of a shot.

On the property is a little creek that the kids love to go down and play in. Yes, Caleb did manage to get his feet wet. There is a big ledge of clay and rock that they can dig in. On this trip they dug out lots of little things that look like geodes, but they were pretty fragile and most of them were broken open by the time they dug around them.

Our friends have a very cute and friendly cat and a very friendly rooster. I'm not sure the rooster is all "there." The cat and rooster look like they are becoming good friends and keep each other company.

Family Pics

We had family pictures taken this weekend. Karis pretty much stole the show. They'd set her down and she'd start crawling towards the photographer who was making her laugh and smile. Enjoy!