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!

We found them!

For those of you who helped dig through the Christmas trash not once but twice, and search through the whole house - We found the hand bands for Caleb's "Cosmic Keepaway" game. Somehow they wound up inside the box that holds Caleb's new little wooden pinball game. We had just about given up hope of ever finding them. Maybe we should throw a party or something.

White Elephant

Our family has a tradition of having a white elephant gift exchange every year. Usually we have it on Christmas Eve, but this year we did it the day after Christmas. It's always a lot of fun! Here are a few pictures.

Uncle Dan was the man to steal from tonight.

Joanna's face shows just how much she didn't want anyone to steal what she had. She didn't seem all that interested in it until Dad mentioned that he liked the kind of candy that was in the box. It seems she then became determined to get and keep that box. Immediately after the game, she came over and shared some with Dad.

Ok, quick story about this one. These are some of my very old pajama/sleep pants. Well, the night before, I was given a hard time about how awful these pants actually were so I decided to try to "give" them to someone else since they all liked them soooo much. At one point during the game, I wound up with them again (but didn't have to keep them).

We had diet coke and mentos for a time.....

Karis tasted them, of course - before they quickly got stolen.

MMMmmm. Eliana won these Christmas nougats. Have you ever had these? They are so yummy. Good job Eliana!

Ok, just another picture of Karis chewing on some Kit-Kats. She chews on everything and always finds different things to put in her mouth. Chocolate I can understand. Maybe even paper and tape, but please not the shoe inserts!

Eliana solves a mystery

Eliana loves Scooby-Doo. So much so that when we are working on a school paper and I ask her to put her name on the top, she has to write Daphne.

Grandfather and Grandma decided to give her something extra special -- a personalized Scooby-Doo book that featured Eliana as the main herione!

Eliana was on cloud nine as Grandfather read to her the story of how she helped Shag, Scoob, and the gang captured and unmask the "polar bear" that had been raiding the ice cream shop. (We had to emphasize to her early on, however, that this time she wasn't Daphne, but herself, in the story!)

The story ends with the gang celebrating Eliana's ingenuity with an ice cream party. We had a real ice cream party of our own for everyone afterward. I think we're going to be reading that book to her a lot!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

My family is all here this Christmas and enjoying being together in our cozy quarters. It is an especially fun year as we celebrate Karis' first Christmas! She's a very curious explorer and tries to get into everything. We're hoping to get the presents open before she does.

(PS - Yes, Karis does have her tongue out like this A LOT!)

Pile-on

Aunt Sharon with Eliana & Joanna

More of us wanted to join in!

Mini Piano Recital

Joanna & Caleb would like to share some Christmas songs with you all!

Enjoy! Merry Christmas!

Joanna & Tina playing "Angels We Have Heard on High"

We played these right before we left for Awana and it was red & green night.

Joanna ended up winning for her age group and was very excited.

She especially liked that I let her wear bright red lipstick and green eyeshadow.

Caleb playing "The Snow Lay on the Ground"

Gingerbread Train Kit

The kids put together this gingerbread train kit. It must be going around a bend since it's leaning a bit.

Joanna's bday present

We gave Joanna a "coupon" to get her ears pierced for her birthday. This past weekend we went and got that done. She was very excited and nervous at the same time.

Should be interesting to see how many earrings she loses. Not even 24 hours after getting her ears pierced we had to go back to get one of the earrings replaced. Joanna was just getting the cat some food and new water and "poof" it's gone. I didn't think that they could fall out so easily. We still haven't found it, so we're thinking Karis will be the one to find it.

Christmas cookies!!

Tonight we made some sugar cookies and started painting them. We always have a lot of fun "painting" and listening to Christmas music.

Caleb enjoyed getting the cookies ready

Ready, set, decorate.

Joanna getting started.

Busy kids

Eliana painted a lot of cookies. She was fast!



Mmmm. They are yummy!

Still have lots of dough left, so we'll have another decorating night soon.