A Tall Snowman!

Joel took a vacation day today to stay home and play in the snow with the kids. They built this really tall snowman this morning and then went sledding (on a real hill this time).

Joel and Caleb employed a little home-spun physics to get that 2nd snowball on top of the first one.

Toofy didn't stay outside very long -- she kept taking off her huge mittens.

Eliana wearing Joanna's snow gear. Makes her look big.

Eliana getting lifted up to put the nose in.

All done.

Check out his feet.

Karis enjoyed Caleb's leftover "hot" tea!

Sledding in Kansas

Ok so we do have some hills in Kansas, but not in our yard.

Here's a video of Joanna pulling Eliana. Eliana loves to have fun and I guess she likes to scream!

Snow Day!

We've got some more snow today, but these pictures were taken a week ago. The kids had a fun time in the fresh snow. They're out now building a huge snowman so I'll post some pictures of today later!

Karis loves the snow but not gloves. She had a blast until her hands got cold which didn't take very long.

Eliana trying to pull Karis on the sled. Karis is so bundled it's hard for her to sit up.

Joanna and Eliana pulling Caleb around.

1st place!

Joanna's car took 1st place in the best non-car design for the Awana Grand Prix tonight. She really likes her pencil car! They almost gave Joel a Father of the Year award for the stitches he got helping Joanna make the car.

Hooray Joanna!

Ouch

I had just settled in to read a book this afternoon, when Joel came in from the garage saying he cut his finger. I knew it was bad when he said, "I don't have time for this." Yep, he needed stitches, so we gathered all the kids and headed to the ER for an unscheduled 2 hour visit. Caleb enjoyed watching the doctor do the stitches, while the older girls stayed in the lobby and watched tv. Karis on the other hand charmed the nurses in the ER.

All is patched up now and Joel headed right back out to the garage when we got home. Tonight was the only night he had to help Joanna work on her pine wood derby car for the Grand Prix. I think we should ask the commander to add another prize category - "Most Expensive Car"

"Now for my next trick!"

What he's actually thinking..."Well, that wasn't too smart."

Joel normally makes pizza on Sunday nights, so I had to take over tonight. Mine didn't turn out as nice looking, but it tasted good. Here's Karis waiting for the pizza.

Green Belts

My Taekwondo team was surprised tonight at class. Their instructor decided that they were ready to test for their green belts. It was a success! (The pictures are a little fuzzy. Joel just got a new phone for work with a camera and didn't realize the clear plastic sticker was over the lens.)

"The Mean Green Team"

Here's Caleb trying to get a kick in while sparring.

Caleb throwing a punch.

School wherever

Here's Caleb working on his school work in the middle of the kitchen floor. Don't think that's the most comfortable spot, but maybe he just wants to be near the food for when he gets hungry??

The Story of Miss Moppet

Karis was "reading" to me the other night, so here's a video!

The Story of Miss Moppet by Beatrix Potter

~the abridged version by Karis~

Karis and I were home alone reading when all the kids came home. Karis then wanted to read her books to Joanna on her bap (lap). Watch for when Eliana comes in from the car. Karis' expression is funny.

The kitty sound means there's a cat on the page.

(We haven't been able to figure out what "bump" is!)

In the book

Caleb is reading Homer Price by Robert McCloskey right now. While he was reading, he looked up and said,

C - "Mom, I feel like I'm actually in this book."

Me - "Oh, really, Why?"

C - "Because when the skunks sprayed, I could smell it."

I think he really was in the book too, because his eyes looked a little watery.

Must have been some smelly skunks!

Princess Belle

Eliana's favorite princess right now is Belle. On our first day at Disney, we read the schedule and saw that Belle had a storytime and so the girls wanted to go to that. One thing we didn't know was that Eliana had drawn a picture of a flower to give to Belle if she saw her. Well, after the storytime, Belle had to "rush off to the castle" so she couldn't stay and talk with people. A while later, the boys were off on a ride and the girls wanted to watch Belle's storytime again.

Eliana had her picture all folded up and ready to go, just in case!

To: Belle

From: Eliana

This time, Belle didn't have to rush off after the storytime...

So Eliana got to give her the drawing. We were so glad she was able to.

Rollercoaster Fun

Eliana had a blast trying the rollercoasters while we were at Disney. If you need someone to ride a rollercoaster with, Eliana is fun to sit with. Here is a video of her first ride on Thunder Mountain Railroad. She just screams and squeals with delight the entire time. We went at night so the video is pretty much all black, but it's too funny listening to her screaming the whole time. There are a few times when you do see her face, so it proves that she's having a blast. Watch close a little after 1 min. 40 sec and 2 min 9 sec. She also gets concerned that I have my camera out at one point and tells me firmly, "Mom, put your camera away!"

After this ride, Joel rode with the kids while I watched Karis. Just before it was their turn, Eliana said to Joel, "We'll surrender." Joel didn't really know what she meant until she demonstrated by putting both arms straight up in the air, which is what you do when you surrender -- and when you ride a roller coaster.

DW

This post is long in coming - We went to Disney World the week after Thanksgiving and had a blast! The kids had such a good time and survived even though we were at the park early and left late every night for a week. Here's just a few pictures to document our very fun trip with just some of the rides and some of the characters we met.

In front of Spaceship Earth

At Epcot's World Showcase, they had a Kim Possible mystery system with a loaner cell phone. The kids had fun finding the clues in the different countries.

Eliana keeping track of Karis.

If front of the "Tree of Life" in Animal Kingdom

Caleb liked to study the map and figure out what he wanted to do next.

Walking together to the next ride.

We sat in on some classes that showed us how to draw Disney characters. At first Eliana was a little sad that her drawing didn't turn out just like Mickey, but then we decided it looked like it could be Mickey's cousin!

Good job Joanna! We had so much fun, we ended up going to 4 or 5 drawing classes.

They met the new princess Tiana from "The Princess and the Frog."

Peter Pan too! The kids thought he was funny.

Karis riding on the carousel.

Karis enjoyed the rides too!

The castle was beautiful at night.

The Toy Story 3 ride was so cool!

Christmas lights galore on a street at Hollywood Studios. The lights on all the buildings danced to the music and they had fake snow falling.

The girls got to meet Tinkerbell and some other fairies.

Karis got a kiss from Tinkerbell.

Having fun.

On the train.

Sleepy head!

Mickey's huge hat at Hollywood Studios.

Getting ready to go to Mars.

Our last night at the castle.

We watched Steamboat Willie, the first sound cartoon. Caleb loved it.

After we got home, we watched Modern Marvels: Disneyworld. It was amazing to see how everything works behind the scenes.