Long time....and I am sorry about that. I have been really struggling since we moved back in August. Maybe it's depression, maybe it's laziness....I am chalking it up to a little of both.

I really don't care for our apartment (something that really bothers the Scout Master). I think it bothers him because he "picked" the apartment. However, it really has little to do with who picked it and just how terribly tiny it is....and all of the things that are inconvenient about it, things that don't bother him because they aren't his everyday job (take laundry, for example or even better carrying the groceries up a flight of stairs and then not having anywhere to out them once they are in the apartment). So this makes me not want to blog all the negative I feel because after all blogs are supposed to be lovely and happy, right? So also then I don't want to go back and catch up on all the things that happened before we moved because there are pictures of our house and our yard and our other things....which are, sadly no longer ours.

I've tried so many things to brighten up. Shopping (yuck, it takes us anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes to get to the shopping), working out (that's working a little....I've lost almost 15 pounds since we moved here), and I even went and got my long hair cut off, but I still struggle. I know I am not the only one who has had these struggles and I have turned to so much prayer I am sure Heavenly Father is weary of listening to me. So here I am writing and I feel a little bit better.

The best thing that has recently happened is that Bee is fully potty trained now! It's made me so happy to see her take this step to big girl land, but it has made me sad too to know that my baby is growing up. Weird, I know!

The Christmas Season is upon us and low and behold my address book is in storage somewhere....so if you are out there reading this please send your address my way!

I promise to try really hard to get back on here and get more of our doings posted.

Love and safety to all this season!

Our Adventures at Sauder Village

Today we ventured over to Ohio, to a place called Sauder Village. If you are thinking to yourself, Sauder sounds familiar to me....where have I heard that before? You've heard it because it is a brand of ready to assemble furniture. So what would hold interest for us there? Well, let me tell you. It is a historical village and that kind of thing is right up our family's alley! E and The Scout Master had gone on a school field trip there on the 23rd of September but they didn't get much time because school was delayed for 2 hours that morning due to fog. So we decided to go back so all of us could have a look around. The best part was that it was Scout day so any Girl Scout or Boy Scout in uniform got in for free!! So all of the kids got in for free because Bee is still young enough to get into most places for free. Which is really awesome.

So here are a few pictures of what we did that day besides walk and walk and walk.

On the working farm the kids:
a. loosened kernels from the cobs of corn
(this was to feed to the animals)

b. played games

She is really good at this. She did not get that from me.

Made corn husk dolls.
Ky's was a boy scout, of course
(originally, he didn't want to make a doll
because they are for girls)

Learned about the doctor's office in the early 1900's
(here he is demonstrating a wrist splint)

They even went to school in a one room
school house (for about 5 minutes).
Don't you love the look on Ky's face?

Decorated pumpkins
(left to right, B, Me, Ky, E)
??, Fall Goddess?, a boy scout (see a theme here?), and
a witch.

In an uncharateristic moment (when the rest of us were
enjoying ice cream) Bee decided to throw a fit.

There was a museum there and I thought this was funny.
I love this band's music, but never realized they were
named after a car.

This is a view from behind the main circle of buildings.
Isn't it just beautiful?

The Scout Master and Myself.
(He just wouldn't be serious, and can you see
that huge wrinkle on my face?)

We had a really great day there. We bought herbs, a little yarn, and some wonderful chocolate. We made bracelets in the Indian village too. It was so nice that they had those experienced for free for the kids. We had a great time (did I say that already? I don't think I could say it enough).

8-9-10

Today was Emma's 9th Birthday. I can't believe that she has gotten so old so fast. We are in the middle of moving and packing so we couldn't have a party at our house so I asked her where she would like to have her party and she said Waka Dog, which is a lot like it sounds, a hot dog restaurant. Only she would think of having a little party at this place. It was only the guilt of us being in total chaos around here that granted her wish! There hot dogs are pretty good. It was last minute as so many of our "parties" seem to be, but we were very happy that all the family could make it out at least for a little while. I am so grateful to them for making the effort to come out and help make my Emma smile. Here are a few pictures of the night.

Emma Getting exactly what she wanted.
Another mermaid Barbie.

Kyle took this picture of Great Gramps.
Not to bad, if I say so myself.



Opening some presents.

Picture of the cute cupcake cake we found
at Target just before heading over to Waka Dog.
We really lucked out and they offered to write her name on
it for us. We also found a few extra cupcakes that
matched. It was a big hit!

Myself and the Birthday Girl.

The Scout Master wasn't able to make it home from work in time (just another reason why we are moving closer to his work) but he brought her home a Littlest Pet Shop present and she adored it. Also her Aunt took her out to the mall for a little fun. She got to make a Build a Bear, Jump on the Mall Jump, and ate at the food court (just a little note to Aunt Audrey: Kyle sulked all evening and kept asking us why Emma's birthday was better then his. She got jump on the bungee thing at the mall and I didn't. I secretly think he would have loved to make a Build a Bear too. I've never seen my little man so sad. I just told him he wasn't 9 yet and that maybe when he was 9 he would get to do the same thing. Though I would love to do a mommy daughter date with him soon.-Love Katie) Emma did have a pretty awesome day. I wish adult birthdays were as much fun!

Moving Again

I have been horrible at this blog thing for awhile now. I haven't wanted to make a new post because I wanted to catch up with the old before starting on the new. Well.....the longer I wait to post again the longer the list of catch up posts gets. Now I am not going to be really great at posting for the next few weeks either because.......we sold our house!! Which is a good thing and a bad thing all rolled into one.

Good because the kids will only miss out on 4 days of school and because it was an almost exact answer to our prayers.

Bad because after a week and a half of looking at almost everything available.....there isn't anything we can make work. We have a whole basement of furniture and hobby and exercise equipment that refuses to fit in a house without a least 4 bedrooms. Long story short.....there isn't anything near our price range that will work and everything below those houses needs extensive work before one could move in. So there isn't any middle ground. Plus there is always money to consider.

So we decided to move into a teeny tiny apartment for 6-8 months and then be able to afford the house we really want. It was a hard and stressful decision. But once made we felt pretty good about it and we can't help smile at thinking that our cost of living is going to be cut in half, which means we can save and save and save!

So there you are updated but not quite up to date with everything that has happened.

Spring Break 2010

Easter 2010

This year Easter fell on the first weekend of Spring Break as well as General Conference weekend for Church. The kids had a fun fill hour searching for their eggs and we were all spiritually fed by the Prophet and select leaders of our church. It was a good weekend.

Book Character Day

Today was Book Character Day at the kids' school. Last year Emma won in her class for dressing up as Fancy Nancy and was rewarded with a pizza party with the principle. This year I was so excited. I wanted Emma and Kyle to both win for their classes. I was sure if we picked characters that were cool but not ones that everyone would pick they would be shew ins to win. I only have pictures of Kyle today because Emma was Miss Mary Mac and I didn't get a picture before school, and after school all the sliver buttons down her back were pulled off. I was not that happy about that. The winner of her class dressed up as Junnie B. Jones. I was sad about that too.
But here are the pictures of Kyle before I dropped him off for school. I will let you look at the pictures and see if you can guess who he was for the day.





Any guesses? I will give you a hint. He solves mysteries with a crazy hungry dog, a talk lanky guy and two gals. Now do you know?
Fred from Scooby-Do. We had the book at home and therefore I classified him as a book character. Kyle didn't win for his class, but since it is just half day kindergarten it is possible that they weren't included in the pizza party. Kyle was sure cute none the less!

The Air Zoo

We had so much fun today. We went to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo. Never been? You are seriously missing out! It is all in doors (2 buildings worth) and there are fun rides for kids of all ages (including adults). It's free admission to the zoo, but if you want to ride the rides then you much purchase a wrist band....one price and unlimited rides. Or if you prefer you can buy just a few tickets to ride just a few rides. There is history, planes, and fun. We really enjoyed ourselves despite the rain outside. Did I mention how cool it is that it is inside? Anyway here are a few pictures from our day.

Some Spring Time & Kite Flying Picutres

Just a few pictures I have taken lately. Emma age 8, Kyle age 5, Bee age 2.

Grams has a Birthday and an Anniversary

Gramps and Grams.....were married on my grandmother's 18th birthday after having known each other for only a few weeks. Then they ran off to Guam where my Gramps was stationed with the navy. There marriage, I am sure, has had it's trying times but they have made it through so much, including my Grams having some really bad stints with her health. They are always such a good example to me of how a truly loving couple should always treat each other with respect. I can't remember how old my Grams is today or how long they have been married (am I terrible or what?), but aren't they cute?

To celebrate my Aunt Laura took them out to eat and my mom, Bee, and I crashed their party! (Boy we've been doing a lot of partying on this blog lately!! ) We had a lovely meal, to which I was a tad bit late, since I forgot my cell phone and had to go home and get it in case the kids' school has to get a hold of me (you might think that I am paranoid but it has happened more then 5 times). We laughed and talked and I got in trouble from my Grams for eating to fast (which I defend by saying, if a mom doesn't eat fast, she doesn't get a hot meal). Here are a few pictures to commemorate the occasion.

Eating

Laughing
(Grams and Aunt Laura)

After this picture popped up on the review screen on my camera and we saw how much we really do look alike, Aunt Laura told me a funny story. Apparently one of her friends (in real life and Facebook) saw a picture of me on Aunt Laura's profile page and insisted that we were related and that there was no way that she could deny it and wanted to know exactly how we were related. Maybe not funny to you....but something I think is worth remembering, so I document it here.

Relief Society has a Birthday

Every year in March (the 17th to be exact) the Relief Society organization celebrates a birthday. This year the Relief Society is 168 years old. I was in charge of the events for the evening and even though we had to change the date to 2 weeks earlier then originally planned with some help we pulled it off quite nicely. We had pot luck soups, with salad and bread. Yumm!! My new friend Mikie helped me make all the favors which were shaped like little purses (that held post-it notes) since "Let's Make Relief Society Purse-onal" was the theme. I had it in my mind the black, white/cream should be the color scheme and it turned out nicer then I planned! I wanted to take purses and stuff them with black and white tissue paper, but a misunderstand occurred so that did not happen, but I had a back up (which must have been inspiration from the Holy Ghost because I had no reason to do it other wise). There was a great turn out and we had one extra table then planned. After dinner we played a few purse games, which had us all laughing until our sides hurt. It was a really great night.

Mikie and I
(both dressed to match the decor)

Mom and I
(she actually came, I was so proud)

The Stake RS President (far right) and one of her
councilors (center) attended as well.
Check out the decorations and center pieces.

Making a Model Plane

The Scout Master bought a snap together model kit and he and the kids put it together this evening. Kyle loves war so this war plane was right up his alley. Emma loved the mechanics of it and popping the pieces out of the little plastic grid. Bee tried to help but, well......mostly got in trouble....so she helped me take pictures and played along side them as they worked. They were able to get it all put together without fighting or yelling, which was really great! Then they took it downstairs to display it on the Scout Master's computer desk. But first they posed for me to take their picture with the finished project.

The Scout Master explaining the parts and their position.

All done!

My kids sure are cute. But Emma looks especially pretty in this yellow shirt tonight. She is sure to grow up to be a "looker." Notice that she is the only one in the family not in her pajamas.