family

Merry Christmas!!

 

Merry Christmas to all of my blogging friends.  We have been enjoying the time at home together.  We had a great time with Keith's family on Christmas Eve and spent the day at home on Christmas Day.  We tried to get a photo of the cousins but this was the best shot we got.  At least I can count on Kayleigh for a little cooperation.  :) 

 

I did manage to get a cute photo of Kenadie and Paige being silly...they were thrilled with all of their Barbie gifts.

I cannot believe how warm it has been here.  We spent the day outside watching Kenadie try to maneuver her new wheels.  Literally, she got new wheels for Christmas.  The bike was Kayleigh's but we needed training wheels for it.  So, Santa brought Kenadie new wheels for an old bike.  I guess if we had really thought about how cheap a bike is, we could have sprung for a new one, but Kenadie is content with what she has, so why spend more money, right? 

 

 

 

Kenadie received the Barbie Diamond Castle from Santa.  (don't ask why she doesn't have her jammie bottoms on because I don't know. )

 

Kayleigh got a bed for her American Girl doll and a trampoline from Santa.  Another big hit was the Barbie idesign kit she got.  It's so cool.  You just scan the clothes through the scanner and design outfits.  I would have LOVED this when I was her age.

 

Oh and one more thing they got was the McDonald's play set.  I am hoping that this is the only time I'll see either one of them with a Mickey D's visor or headset on. ;)

 

We still have one more stop at Grandma Barbara's tomorrow.  I have a feeling I'll be doing some more rearranging in their rooms when we get home.

Thankful

I'm a few days late in my Thanksgiving post, but still want the cyber-world to know how thankful I am for my family, friendships and health.  I try not to take any of those things for granted.  It's hard sometimes, but I really do try to stop and recognize how very blessed I am!

I got no Thanksgiving photos because I guess we were so wrapped up in the day that we totally forgot.  :(  I need to be better about things like that.

On Tuesday, Kenadie's class had a Thanksgiving program and lunch.  I snapped a few quick photos before I had to run back to my own classroom.  Lucky for us, it was Keith's day to work from home so he was there to enjoy lunch with Kenadie.

  This is Kenadie telling the class that she is thankful for her family.  She wasn't too sure about the microphone.

 

Oh, the week before that was the 4th grade report card awards.  This is Kayleigh with her Principal's Honor Roll certificate (All A's!!).  Would you believe that I showed up to the awards and couldn't figure out why my camera wouldn't turn on?  I had forgotten to put the battery back in it after I charged it.  Luckily there were tons of parents with cameras and a friend of mine took this for me.

 

On Saturday we took the girls to see Santa Claus at the mall.  Kayleigh wouldn't get in the photo...she's always been a little intimidated by Santa.  She loves to go visit him, but she likes to keep her distance.  Kenadie was a little shy too, but she did manage to sit on his knee and tell him that she's like the Barbie Diamond Castle for Christmas.  (done!)

Oh, and lookie what I found at Target?  Isn't this so pretty? I had to get it.  :) 

 

Happy Halloween!

I am just a couple days late with a Halloween post.  It's been a busy week.  Thursday evening the girls carved their pumpkins.  They used a marker to make the face they wanted, then Daddy went to work in carving them.  It wasn't an easy task as we forgot to purchase the carving tools at the store. 

           

 

 After we carved the pumpkins I roasted the seeds.  I have never done this before but Kayleigh really wanted to try them.  I placed them on a cookie sheet with a little butter, salt and cinnamon.  They are okay...not a snack I'd want every day.  But Kayleigh was happy, she kept saying that it was one of the best days she's ever had.  :)

 

 And finally here are a couple of pictures from Halloween night.  Notice that Kenadie has lost her witch's hat and tights so basically she just had the dress on.  I just found her witch's hat in the back of the car this afternoon.  Isn't that always the case?  Anyhow, she didn't care.  These are our neighborhood kids that we hang out with every day.  Keith walked around with the girls while me and my mom sat outside and passed out the candy.  They had a great time and got lots of yummy candy. 

Now that Halloween is over I need to concentrate on Kayleigh's birthday party next Saturday, after that I will start thinking about Christmas.  :)  Have a great day!!

Feels like Fall

Well, not so much the weather, but everything else.  I love seeing all the fall images on tv and in stores.  I'm not exactly thrilled to be seeing Christmas decorations so soon, though.

Last night we all went to a Halloween party at our Karate school.  The girls looked so cute in their costumes.  Kenadie kept asking me when was I going to paint her face green.  I told her that we put lipstick on her instead.   She informed me that on Halloween she didn't want lipstick, she wanted a green witch face.  LOL  Kayleigh is some kind of vampire.  She just liked the dress and wanted nothing to do with the collar.  Oh well, the costumes were cheap, they fit, and no one argued about it.  That's a win-win, if you ask me.

Oh, and poor little Ken-Ken.  When I went to put on her black Mary Jane's she started yelling, "It's tight!  It's tight!"  Her shoes no longer fit her, so she pulled out these lovely pink glittery Strawberry Shortcake hand-me-downs from Kayleigh. 

 

This is Kayleigh and her bestest, Lauren...and Kenadie and her BFF, Ella.

   

We went to Target this morning and I scored these two Halloween T-shirts for $5.00 each.  This is about how far I like to go with Halloween at school.  :)  We have some teachers who have a full week of "holiday wear" from their earrings down to their crazy socks.  You remember those teachers, don't you?

     

And one last shot of my baby girl looking so grown up.  I can't believe she'll be 10 in just a few short weeks.

Catching Up

Whew!  It's been awhile.  I was wondering if I was ever going to get back to the blogging world.   Since I've got a few moments to breathe, I guess I'll take this time to catch up my few friends in the Blogosphere with what's going on with us.

Last month, Keith and Kayleigh earned their yellow belts in Karate.  I'm so proud of them.  Both of them work so hard 3-4 days a week.  I should join them, I know.  But until they update the uniform, I'll watch proudly on the sideline.  :)  Seriously, I would do it, but Kenadie is too young and not focused enough to join in or to sit quietly by herself while we were working out.  (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

 

 

This is just a cute photo of Kenadie and her buddy, Ella waiting patiently while their sisters were testing.

   

What else?  Oh yea, I am trying to save a little money and make more meals from home.  Here is my version of Jack-o-Lantern Sloppy Joe Pie.

And here is the recipe.  It was so simple and the family really enjoyed it.  Got a quick, easy family-friendly recipe to share with me?  I'd love to try it!

It is hard balancing having a career (Yes, teaching IS a career!) and being a mom, so I try to have a healthy balance of both.  Last week I took a personal day to chaperone Kayleigh's field trip to Cracker Country.  I swear I was probably more excited than Kayleigh.  So, at 9:00 all of the 4th graders, their teachers and chaperones all headed to the front of the school to wait for the buses to arrive.  We waited...and waited...and waited.  At 10:00 we discovered that the buses went to another school on the other side of town that has a similar name as our school does.  By then, it was too late to go.  The kids were so deflated when they heard the news, and so was I!!!  I had wasted a personal day.  :(  They rescheduled the trip and the kids had a picnic lunch and got to watch a pioneer video instead.  Here is a photo of Kayleigh and her friends waiting for the buses to arrive.  I didn't have the heart to take an "after they got the news" photo.

   

But, on a happier note, I was able to chaperone a walking field trip to Hershey's Ice Cream with Kenadie's pre-school class on Friday.  Here she is with her two best buddies from class enjoying their colorful treats.

 

Oh, and the latest family news is that we're all booked for our first family ski trip.  We're headed to Breckenridge in February.  We're renting a condo with ski in/ski out right between Peak 8 and 9.  Everyone is really excited!!!  The girls have never seen snow, and of course have never skiied before.  We're going with another family so the kids should be thoroughly entertained.

I guess that's it in a nutshell.  Here's hoping that I can continue to keep this blog current.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Keith!  Today my dh is 41.  We had a nice, relaxing day.  We went to Outback for dinner and then home to have an ice cream cake from Coldstone.  After that we took a quick swim in the pool, but not before we snapped a quick family photo.  Looks like the girls got the Bukovan squint from their dad.  :)

That's about all for now.  Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

 

The Zoo

Last night we attended a VIP night at the zoo.  Since they are a huge business partner of Keith's work, we were able to attend and also invite some friends to come along with us.  Everything was free last night including food and drinks.  Usually, they stick it to you by charging for the kiddie rides.  I hate that!  So, we went on their new flume ride, then did the rest of the zoo.  The girls even did the pony rides but Kayleigh's camera pooped out just as I was taking a photo of our neighbor.  You can see Kayleigh right behind her.  We had a great time even though it was horribly humid outside.  Have a great weekend!!

 

Hi-yaa!!

So Kayleigh has officially started karate lessons.  I would have never in a million years have guessed that this was something she wanted to pursue.  But her little buddy, Lauren and her family are doing it...and after going a few times with Lauren, Kayleigh was hooked.  We're just so glad that she is interested in something extracurricular.  She took a year off of gymnastics and hadn't really found an interest in anything.  This new venture will give me a whole new purpose for taking pictures.  As you can see, I need  little help with taking "action photos"...any advice?

For some reason as I watched them practice I kept hearing in my head, "Sweep the leg!  Sweep the leg!"

Kayleigh and Lauren

 

This move comes so naturally that she's able to push her hair behind her hair while kicking. 

Kenadie and Ella were more than willing to pose for the camera.

Who says Karate can't be fun?

What have we been up to?

Keith - Hmmm...what has Keith been up to?  Doing lots of things with the family and a little bit of golfing here and there.

Karen - Breathing a sigh of relief that school is out in 6 1/2 days.  FCAT scores are in and my class did great.  :)  And as much as I love my class, I'm looking forward to a relaxing summer with the girls.  Oh, and for Mother's Day I received a GC for golf lessons so I'm excited to book my first lesson.  I'm sure Keith is thrilled to start golfing with me.  Ha!!! 

Kayleigh - Kayleigh has had a fantastic 3rd grade year!  She was her class's student council representative and has really learned a lot this year.  We're trying to get her back into gymnastics, tumbling...something!  She went to a karate lesson a couple of weeks ago and she really enjoyed it.  We'd love her to get interested in something extra-curricular again.   Other than that, she's getting so tall and is enjoying talking on the phone with her friends.

Kenadie -  We are SO excited that Kenadie will be starting the pre-K program at my school in the fall.  This will make Keith's life so much easier and mine just a little bit more stressful.  Right now Keith gets up with her in the morning after Kayleigh and I have left for school.  If she's slow to get motivated it's okay because she doesn't have to get to school at any certain time.  Next year we have to be ready and out the door at 7:10.  Oh well, maybe the early wake-up time will work to our advantage...earlier bedtime.  :) 

I love that she'll be at school with me.  I still get a thrill each time I see Kayleigh.  It's silly, I know.  I'm already freaking out that she'll be in another building next year and not right across the hallway.  Anyway, both of my babies will be with me at school.  :)

That's about it in a nutshell...going to try this blogging thing again.  For now here is one of my favorite photos we've taken lately.