Chocolate Popcorn

A few weeks ago I wanted to make some chocolate popcorn for a movie night treat. As I was carefully making the chocolate sauce I ran into a stool in our kitchen (thanks to Preston pushing it into my direct path as I was hurrying across the kitchen!) Which then led to me forgetting about my sauce because my foot was numb, which led to my chocolate sauce burning, which led to me getting more upset because I just wasted an entire bag of chocolate chips, which led to Steve taking over and him making chocolate sauce, which led to me getting even more upset because his sauce looked WAY better than my sauce
The sad truth though, is that my sauce looked somewhat like that BEFORE I stubbed my toe. Good thing Steve can melt chocolate chips in a pan!

Preston!

A few weeks ago I told the boys to clean up their room. Braden likes to divide the room and have each of them clean a side. Well a little while later Preston came down and said he was done (this has NEVER happened before). I went upstairs to check the room and Preston's side was all clean and Braden's side was a mess. Here is what the conversation sounded like between me and Preston.

Me: Did you really clean your side or did you just throw everything onto Braden's side?
Pog: I cleaned it!
Me: Really? Are you telling the truth?
Pog: Yes mom! (in an exasperated voice)
Me: Really? I may not know if you are telling the truth but Heavenly Father knows.
Pog: Mom, (very matter-of-factly) I lie to you all the time, but this time I'm really telling the truth!

Hmm, do I believe him or not??

Family Scriptures

The other morning as we were reading scriptures as a family we were reading in Mosiah 16:3. Steve started reading, "For they are carnal and devilish, and the devil has power over them... " After he finished reading the verse, Braden started laughing and said he thought Steven read, "For they were carmel and delicious."

Braden

Today I got a letter in the mail about Braden. It says "he has been identified as a high ability learner." Apparently he did very well on some testing done at school. He was very excited and we were all a bit surprised!

New Carpet!!

We finally got around to putting carpet into our living room. Cold, hard, uncomfortable laminate floor just wasn't cutting it for me (or my knees during family prayer). I LOVE the carpet. The room feels much more homey now and it doesn't echo anymore when I shout. :) These are just some pictures of the progress the room has gone through in the last year.

Cloudy with a chance of ???

I just had to post these pictures that Kari took because I thought the clouds were so cool. They moved very swiftly over our house with a little bit of wind, but that was all! I thought for sure some ultra-dangerous storm was upon us...as we're out taking pictures and picking veggies from the garden.

Soccer

Preston was able to play soccer this year! It took a few days for him to really enjoy it, but by the end he was a little pro. This picture is on the last day. You can tell by looking at him that he did a lot of running that day. He was actually told to STOP kicking the ball so that someone else could have a turn...even though half team was picking bugs out of the grass. j/k

Preston is the one kicking the ball in the back. My camera battery was dying or else I could've gotten the goal he scored.

Before each game the times grouped up and shouted a little chant across the fields to the other teams. Once again, I waited until the last day to bring my camera...with the dead battery...so I couldn't film this either. :(

First Day of School

Preston started Preschool this year at Zion Lutheran Church. He goes 3 days a week for three hours each day and I love it...I mean HE loves it. Except chapel time. He's not a big fan of that yet.

Braden and Kari started school at the end of July. I put them in the "optional" calendar. They start about a month earlier then everyone else and have two 2-week breaks throughout the school year. Braden is now a 4th grader and Kari is a 2nd grader. I also switched them to Meadowlark Elementary, which is the school close to our home. Kari misses Windy Hills, but Braden is doing much better at Meadowlark. Yeah!

Chop Chop!!

About a year ago a new family moved into our ward. They moved to Kearney because the husband got a job as a helicopter pilot for the hospital. Steve, of course, had to ask for a ride if there was ever a time to do so. Well, this past week Br. Kennedy called up Steve and said that the helicopter was at the airport for maintenance and needed to be returned to the hospital and therefore asked if Steve would like to ride along (along with the rest of the family). Luckily it was a Wednesday morning when Steve doesn't see patients. So within 15 minutes of the call we were all at the airport waiting for our cool ride over Kearney. Preston was actually at a day camp, so Emmalynn took his spot.

I didn't tell the kids where we were headed, but they were very excited when they finally discovered what we were doing.
There was only two headsets and lucky Kari got to where one of them. Braden and Emmalynn just got earplugs. We were able to talk to our pilot and "co-pilot" throughout the trip.
Braden didn't get to wear them during the flight but wanted to try them on after we landed.

Steve was VERY excited to help fly the helicopter. He did an excellent job hovering at the airport and then was able to fly over our house. He thought he was pretty cool.

This is our neighborhood. Steve flew directly over our home so I wasn't able to see it.

This is an aerial view of Kearney. Isn't it beautiful?!

Thank you Br. Kennedy for an awesome experience. Let us know when you need more assistance. :)

MONA

Every year for art class the kids need to make their assignments and then the art teach, Mr. Hansen, chooses a few to go on exhibit at the Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA) here in Kearney. Well this year, Kari had 2 of her pieces on display.

This is a painted picture of edelweiss:
Here is the bird and nest that she molded out of clay.

She even received a little certificate for her good work. The boys didn't care much for the art, but they did enjoy the cookies and lemonade!

Braden's Birthday

Braden turned 9 years old this year. He wanted to have a party with friends, but due to school he had to wait about two weeks before having his party. So on his actual birthday we went out to eat at The Cellar, came home and did doughnuts and presents. My boy claims to not like cake!
Talking on the phone with someone who called to wish him a Happy Birthday.
This is his latest haircut. Just kidding. Steve does like to cut his hair in ridiculous ways and then take pictures of it. It was funny though. This time before he could finish cutting it his clippers ran out of batteries. Braden refused to leave the house until the next day when the batteries were charged.
We had his "friend" birthday party at the Big Apple Fun Center. He wanted to do the big indoor playground "Ballocity." He originally invited only boys from his class at church but because I had to bring Kari with there were a few other little girls allowed.

Thanks everyone for helping Braden have a fun birthday!

Kari's Bedroom Make-Over

I FINALLY got around to painting Kari's bedroom. I told her she could choose two colors from her bedspread. As you can see, she chose pink and green, I mean 'Orchid Breeze' and 'Little Bit o' Lime.' The gray color was just too dreary!

Before:

After:

Pet Rocks for Sale

Kari tries ANYTHING to make a dime. She is constantly trying to find things to make and sell so she can earn some cold hard cash. Well last week she decided to try selling pet rocks. Her and a neighbor girl collected all the nice little rocks they could find and set them out on a bin. They then drew a great selection of faces that could be put on the rocks. The customers were able to pick a rock, a color of marker, and the style of face.

The first picture is a lady across the street who apparently had some mercy on them. You can't really tell by the sign, but each pet rocks is $.10. I'm pretty sure this lady bought three rocks for $.11 however.


They even made a sign to post by the main road.
Being the good mother that I am, I purchased 5 rocks for $1.00. Without Kari realizing it, I had her draw our family on rocks. And this is what we look like. The neighbor girl, Emily, actually drew Steve. ....And I'm not sure what is going on with my very orange skin. I promise I do not look like that.

Braden's Music Program

For Braden's program they performed songs from the past. Braden's main song was Green Acres. I also have posted here the song from Fresh Prince of Belair because I thought it was so cute. The other song is the Lone Ranger and they are using plastic plates for the sound effects.

Kari's Music Program

These are from Kari's music program. The kids were all dressed up as trees, nuts, or little forest animals. The last song is about being 'little nuts." The second one is about being 'big, bad squirrels, and the firstclip is Kari saying her part in the program.

In the last two clips Kari is near the middle of the screen with a green shirt on. She is in the second row. On the first clip she says her part fourth.

Utah

For Spring Break this year I decided to take a quick trip to Utah. One of these times it will be a 'long' trip to Utah so I can visit everyone that I want to see. But, until that time happens, my quick trips will only be spent with family. Which is just fine, because I have an awesome one. We got to Ronda's house late Friday night. She wasn't expecting us until Saturday evening, so it was great to surprise her and scare the bejeebers out of her husband...who was standing in the garage when I appeared at the door. We spent a few days at Ronda's house, then went to Sally's for a few days, and then back to Ronda's. After I got home I realized how few pictures I actually took. We didn't really DO anything, but that's the way the kids like it...they just want to play with their cousins.

Sally and Jason have 3 adult rabbits and 5 adorable bunnies. The kids LOVED them and begged to take one home. Guess what the answer was...a big, fat NO! Sorry kids, you have mean parents.

While at Sally's we were also able to have a little visit with Steve's brother Brian, who came over for supper. He informed me that he is ALWAYS available when food is involved.

While at Ronda's the kids got to go on a four-wheeler ride in the trailer. My kids thought it was the best thing in the world. Hmm, maybe I should get some fun toys too.

Kari and Kylee also set up a Beauty Parlor. They did hair and nails. Well, they did Addison's hair, not mine. But I do have some lovely pink and green fingernails and red, gold and purple toe nails. I'll have to post pictures of that when I find Kari's camera. She took WAY more pictures than I did. :)

Kids will be Kids

So for Kari's birthday we gave her a digital camera. She loves taking pictures....of everything. Well there were a few pictures from her birthday that I wanted off of her camera, so I put the pictures onto my computer. Good thing it's a digital camera because she would be in a heap of trouble if I actually had to pay for all the pictures she took. I've learned from her pictures that she likes to do crazy poses and take lots of pictures of herself. These are just a few shots from her camera. Trust me, there were MANY more to choose from.

I guess she thinks she's a tough girl here. Actually she is pretty tough and I would hate if her and Braden ever got in a real fight because I think she would win. (Don't tell Braden.)

This is what my kids do when I'm not watching. They throw all of their underwear on the ceiling fan, then turn it on and watch the underwear fly around their room. Where do they come up with these games? Unfortunately, they didn't pick any of their underwear back up so I took them all away and now they have to buy them back or do a chore to get clean undies. What a mean mom I am.

Another picture of Kari. I'm not even sure what is going on here, but there were a ton of pictures with her hair all weird and her making funny faces. She's quite the character.