Emmaleigh's Performance

Our precious 5 year old performed this morning for Morning Assembly at her school, Creative Connections Arts Academy. I thought the school did a fantastic job in teaching all of these little ones to not only sing but to follow direction while singing, especially in such a short amount of time. I love watching Emmaleigh get to experience more in her education than just reading, writing, and arithmetic. We are so blessed to have this school in our community and for Emmaleigh to be enrolled there. Below are videos of her performance. (The beautiful blonde girl to the right in the pink top and brown pants and pink ribbon in her hair is one of her best buddies, Carly! Next to Carly in the tan pants and Pink sweatshirt with headband is her other best buddy, Laine)!

Field Study Day

Emmaleigh had to do a Field Study Day for school as she didn't have school on Friday. So we did her report while we were up at ASC family camp trip. Below is the video of her practicing her report. She created the pictures and captions below herself and I did help her do the pasting but other than that it was done all by her. I am so proud of our girl!

Ellie's Birthday Video

I am sorry

I am so sorry that it has been so long since I have posted. I am determined to begin doing better. So here is the update on our life.
Emmaleigh just entered Kindergarten and she cried and I cried. It was very emotional but all in all turned out to be a really good day. I really enjoyed the time away from her as I was able to work with the other kids and she really enjoys learning. Now she is a big girl.

Koen is growing so fast. He is my little explorer and my little artist. He is so much fun and right now is obsessed with bugs and frogs.

Little Ellie just turned one. She had a great birthday and has been walking for a little over a month now. I am so happy for her. She has been a great blessing and edition to our lives.

Snow Day with the Piorun's

Okay so Dane, I, and the kids love our good friends Mike, Ashley, and Andrew Piorun. They are the sweetest family you could ever meet and we all decided to go up to the snow. We left about 7:00 in the morning and we had to stop for breakfast and gas and then of course I held everyone up while i got a STARBUCKS!!! (I AM SO SORRY, STILL! I really didn't think it would take that long) Anywhoo....we went up to Boreal! The snow was ice because it is melting so it is hard as a rock! So since there wasn't any good snow we decided to go up the freeway to a rest area and play there. It really was a lot of fun. Koen however did not like the snow. He whined and complained since we stepped out of the car. In fact as soon as we got out he pointed to the car and say "car, bye bye" it was truly pathetic. His best buddy Andrew liked the snow a whole lot more. Although they both mostly enjoyed eating it together. Emmaleigh on the other hand loved it, unfortunately that only lasted for about 30 minutes and she was done. I would totally do it again but maybe next time go earlier in the season and also have good snow clothes and boots for the kids because I really think that was half of the reason they didn't like it too much. The best part of the day was on the way home we stopped in Colfax and had lunch at The Pizza Factory. It was a really fun time and I am glad we went. Ellie of course stayed behind with Auntie Tina. Enjoy the pics.

OUCH!

I know I am way behind and most of you have heard about Emmaleigh's arm. Here is what happened.......Emmaleigh fell off one of her really good friends back while playing horsey and she injured her elbow. We thought it wasn't a big deal so I threatened to spank her if she didn't stop crying and over reacting but that didn't work so I knew she was really hurt. I took her to Sutter Roseville Medical Center where I got to sit in the ER, with neither of us having eaten since breakfast, from 1:30 until almost 5:00 while they "fixed" her arm. They started by saying they thought she had a buckle fracture. After 4 sets of x-rays with a very nasty technician they said she broker her elbow and that was the problem but what was worse was it looked like there may be osme injury to her growth plate. So she was put in a splint until she could see the orthpaedic surgeon. She saw Dr. Gotham and he put her in a hot pink cast and she will have that taken off on April 7th. If her arm has not healed by then she may still have to have surgery. Below are some pics of our experience.

Recipe of the Week

Okay, so I forgot to post last week in midst of the sicky chaos. I know Ashley you asked for something semi low fat. Well I am a fat cooker but I will see what I can do :o)! I am posting two recipe's today to make up for last week. Both of these recipe's are fantastic.

The first one is a great appetizer and is called Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapeno's. It is absolutely delicious and is great for parties.
And this next one is my personal favourite. It isn't too high in fat and is actually relatively healthy.If you like any Greek or Mediterranean food you are sure to love this. It is call Greek Chicken Pasta and is one of the freshest and tastiest dishes I have ever made. My only thought on this dish is that it makes a lot so it is one that is good for company or you can cut down the amount by at least half for a family of 4.Please leave comments once you've tried them and let me know what you think. ENJOY!

Recipe of the Week

Okay so I have had several requests for recipes that I like to eat and make and are simple. So every Tuesday I am going to update my blog and add a new recipe. This week's will be Chicken Flauta's. I got raves about this recipe and it is so easy to make. I made it for Koen's birthday party and it really is delicious and is fresh so that makes it slightly healthier. I would be happy to send you this recipe card to your email if you would like it. Just leave a comment and let me know.

I personally make my cards into a 4x6 and then print them at Walmart or on my home computer and put them in a cheap photo album because it is covered from spills and also you can pull the card out if you need to see it better. I do design all my own cards and you can do it as well. ENJOY!

Ellie is Sitting UP!

Our Ellie began sitting up this week. She is the cutest little girl and finally she is sitting up. I know it will be soon that she will be crawling and getting her teeth in. Enjoy the pictures of her sitting up.

My little Rock STAR!

So for those of you who know about our little Emmaleigh you know that she is not on short supply of personality. I love all of my kids so much but what I love the most is how God gives us the ability to love them each in their own way. One of my favourite things about Emmaleigh is how much she lights up a room. Her emotions are full blast and there is no holding back. I pray constantly that she will not let people convince her that she is wrong to be that way. I know in some ways her emotions need to be guided to better choices but I never want them to be dampened because that is who she is and I know she will do wonderful things in her life if she allows God to run it and uses the gifts he has given her.

For those of you who don't know, she is obsessed with Hannah Montana. Emmaleigh has said, "I am Hannah Montana's biggest fan, I even own one of her CD's." I personally find that hysterical. We have decided that the show is inappropriate for her age group and so she is just allowed to have the CD and a doll. She does own several articles of clothing with her face plastered on it as well. Below is a short video of Emmaleigh singing and dancing to Hannah Montana's, "The Best of Both World's." Enjoy! (Also you will notice Koen dancing in the background as he also tries to hold up his pants because he is so skinny.)

Jr. Highers and Sanity

I know it sounds like the two couldn't possibly go together and I think upon closer examination that would be a fair assessment. However, there are times of insanity that are fun and much needed. I cannot say enough about how much I love working with the Junior High kiddos.

For so long I refused to get involved because I felt inadequate. I have nothing to offer them. I am a dork. I am so far from being "cool". I can barely text. I don't care for talking on the phone so much. I would rather be asleep at 10 pm than gossiping. The list goes on and on. What I have found though is when you listen to God and you step out in faith you will be pleased with the results. I have found that I love to work with those crazy girls and miraculously they love to be with me. (I don't know why) Every weekend they want to come home with me and be with my kids. I have really gotten to know some good kids and I can't wait to see the things they will do in the future for the Lord. I just pray that they keep their hearts and minds focused on God because the hard years are yet to come.