What we learned from Coloma in the 1850's...

Once there was an elf and a fairy...

Cori and Brandon's baby Alyssa turned one year old. Elves and fairies were invited to come and celebrate. The kids were pretty excited to dress up...before Halloween. Kaya's I was ready for but the night before, I was cutting up one of Eli's old shirts up for the elf. It turned out really cute. But do you think that there was a chance that they'd want to use these costumes again. Nope! They were pretty sure that they had other ideas in mind. Here are the pictures before the party because I forgot to bring my camera to the party. (It had already been a pretty long day for Kaya since she had attended a fancy tea party birthday that morning) The elf was pretty excited that he got to have a sword. You just never know when that might come in handy.

Nothin' better than cousins!

Hair Begone!

The other day when I picked the kids up from school, they all jumped in the car and Ethan's first words were... "Mom, can you cut my hair?" He was just way too hot. Sweat was dripping down and it was really gross! I wanted to make sure that he had thought it out. He has been growing it out for such a long time and it is almost winter. Kira and I tried to convince him otherwise. I asked him if he was sure several times... In the car, inside the house as I was getting the clippers out of the drawer, as I was plugging them in, as I was wrapping a towel around his neck, and finally as I had my clippers on and ready to cut. He was definately sure. "It is just hair, it can grow back!" he said. I know that...but not for awhile. We took some before and after shots. It is amazing he looked like a different kid! What makes me really sad is now Canaan is talking about wanting a haircut. So far he hasn't asked me at a time when we were able to do it, but I'm afraid that sometime soon I'll be making a similar post about Canaan, because after all...it is just hair!

Big Birthday Bash!

So I thought I would go through the pictures in chronological order. This is the problem I have with scrapbooking too...I can't get my mind to work any other way and then I get behind, so I just do nothing. We'll see what we can do about this.
In September, my Grandad turned 90. My aunt and uncle hosted a birthday party for him at their home. Most everyone who is reading this is probably thinking...uh huh...old news, Kara already talked about this so I won't bore you with the details, but as I already explained this is how my brain works. As we were getting ready to go, I realized that I had not taken any pictures so we took turns having our picture made with Grandad.

What...did Kelcey have a new post?!

Ok, Ok, Ok...it has definately been awhile! I am not going to make any promises here, but Eli left town for 5 days and you know what that means...Kelcey gets a chance to use the computer. This is usually when big time blogging happens. I thought I would start off with Hayley's tag, since my pictures are still being copied to the hard drive. Here we go!

As a recipient of this award, there are rules to follow. I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others! (Which is a rule that I am pretending that I did not read)
The questions are as follows:

1. Where is your cell phone?kitchen

2. Where is your significant other? Texas

3. Your hair color? brown

4. Your mother? Kay

5. Your father? Don

6. Your favorite thing? scrapbooks

7. Your dream last night?crazy

8. Your dream/goal? lighter

9. The room you're in? bedroom

10. Your hobby? scrapbooking

11. Your fear? snakes

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? sane

13. Where were you last night? home

14. What you're not? bored

15. One of your wish-list items? dishwasher
16. Where you grew up? middletown

17. The last thing you did? sat

18. What are you wearing? pjs

19. Your TV? Thursday

20. Your pet? stinks

21. Your computer? mac

22. Your mood? good

23. Missing someone? yep

24. Your car? clean
25. Something you're not wearing? slippers
26. Favorite store? thrift

27. Your summer? busy

28. Love someone? lots

29. Your favorite color? purple

30. When is the last time you laughed? today

31. Last time you cried? movies

Summer slideshow

Here are just a few highlights from the summer. Enjoy!

Back on the blogging wagon!

It has been pointed out to me that I have forsaken the blog world. Yes, I repent it is true. No great excuses, just the busyness of life I guess. I thought that the kids being out of school would provide more time for such things, but no. I think that I enjoyed the vacation just as much if not more than they did. School is back in session now and we are starting to get into a routine. Kaya started Preschool and it is going well(she hasn't even need to use the "emergency clothes" that are at school). I was worried after the first day, she didn't seem too eager to go back. The apple that we made with all of her favorite things on it was just too much fun. She didn't want to leave it at school. Her teacher let her make another one, because she couldn't part with this piece of art that represented her. The name tag was for my window, until they learned what kid went with what car. When I ask her what her favorite part of the day was she usually says "Playing outside and finding treasures in the sandbox." Which is interesting because that was Canaan's favorite part too. He still has a yellow cup in his room full of sequins, and holiday shapes that he found in there daily. Classes at the charter school for Kira, Ethan and Canaan start this week. Then we'll really be on track! Thanks for bugging me to get on this...you know who you are!

Back after so many years...

Eli was invited to speak for the Church in Chico. They were having a family retreat at Sierra Bible Camp. We thought it would be fun to all go and show the kids where we met. Ethan said "So if there was no Sierra Bible Camp, we(meaning the 4 kids) wouldn't be here? Thank goodness for Bible Camp!" I guess that is one way of looking at things. We had a great weekend. The girls and I stayed in girls cabin 3 and Eli and the boys stayed in Boys cabin 7. It was pretty funny to be chasing my kids around on the logs up there. Who knew?! Ethan got quite good at Ping Pong while we were there. He was always trying to get someone to play him. Eli asked Kira on the "midnight hike", but she turned him down, so he went with Ethan. It got so cold on Sunday night that I took the little ones to bed before the devotional. In their class on Sunday, they were talking about helping one another and they went all over the camp "feeding the hungry, giving clothes to people, untying people from trees..." Kaya and Canaan loved the costumes and wore the mustaches almost all day.

BLACHLY ROAD TRIP

Yesterday we left on our road trip to drive Chris back to NY. Kara is updating her blog as we go along so you can track our progress through their blog. We had such a great time yesterday, we sang and laughed our way to Utah.

Welcome Summer!

This is the last week of school for the kids and obviously there is not a lot of schooling going on here right now. I am just as bad as them. We are all ready for summer break. When we start up again Canaan will be in Kindergarten. I will be juggling three children that all need to learn + Kaya. It should be interesting. But until then we are ready for summer fun...watering our garden, running through sprinklers, blowing bubbles(or letting the bubble machine do the work for us), going to the river, watching movies, enjoying our blessed life!

A Mother's Day Tea

Today at Canaan's school they were having a Tea Party in honor of Mother's Day. Canaan was so excited to be able to make and serve the food to me. He got dressed in a shirt and a tie and was a very handsome date! One of the other moms said that he had four girls following him around on the playground. That's what happens when you put a man in a tie I guess.

They had all of the moms wait out in the courtyard, to be escorted by our kids. Canaan had a huge smile and was really enjoying all of the formality of the day. He served me a plate of food and we ate together. Then the class had a few songs to sing for all of the moms. They had made us some presents, but the thing that was priceless were his answers to questions about his mom.

I thought that I would share them with you. His answers are in blue.

My Mom
by Canaan

My mom has black hair and green eyes.
My mom is 10 1/2 feet tall and weighs 110 pounds.
My mom likes to help kids and wash laundry.
My mom is happy when I do good jobs.
My mom's favorite TV show is the news.
My mom is very smart she knows all about that Jedi's aren't real, but in Heaven they'll be real.
My mom likes to eat Thai Food.
It really bugs my mom when I'm not doing good jobs.
If my mom could have one wish come true it would be a new stove or a new house.
My mom is special because she helps cook food and reads stories at night.

My heart was full today. It was great to just be with Canaan and to see his loving and serving heart. It is a day that I will keep with me forever.

My, My How The Family Has Grown!

Many years ago...before we were married and just barely dating, Eli and I were at Pepperdine for their big youth rally, Youthfest. We sat on this swing together and had our picture made. Last week we were down there for the lectureships and this swing was outside our dorm. My mom brought the kids down to meet us on the last day and before we left we took this picture. I was trying to find the "young and kidless" picture to share, but I'll have to keep looking. I was afraid if I didn't post now, while I'm thinking of it, it might never happen. As I was sitting there with my family (worrying that the swing might not hold us all) I was thinking about how God has blessed my life with a husband who loves the Lord and 4 great kids. I am so thankful for all that He has given to me. God is so good!

First Days of Spring

So it is already spring. I was thinking about this the other day and realizing that it has been a whole year since Kira, Kaya and I went to visit the Rush family in Mexico. Our first day there, Kim had to make a mask for Quincy to wear to school for the first day of spring. It was so much fun that we made them for all of the kids to enjoy. When we went to pick him up at school, all the kids were wearing them. He was waiting for us and flapping his bird wings.

Panoramic Easter Eggs

As a kid I was alway mesmerized by these little eggs. It looked as if it was a real world "for easter creatures" in there. I think that we would usually get them from our Grandparents. The easter bunny that visits my house cannot afford to buy these little treasures at $5-$20.00 a piece. So, we decided to make a memory all of our own.

Joyce Wynn, a really crafty lady at church, had the molds to make her own and thought that my family might enjoy making them. What a process! It was fun but not something I think that we'll do every year. First you have to knead 4 1/2 cups of sugar with 3Tbs. of water to make the sugar stick together. Then press it into the mold that has been rubbed with cornstarch. Then the egg is dumped out onto wax paper. You cut the holes to peek into and then wait 4-8 hours so that the outside gets hard. Then you scoop out the sugar from the inside(we now have pastel colored sugar that we are sweetening our coffee and tea with) and let it dry for about 24 hours before they are ready to decorate. We broke a few eggs during this process and had to start over again.

I guess the point to all this is just to say I will never see those pretty little eggs the same way again. And now I know why they are so expensive. What a lot of work! My kids are dying to bite into them. I am making them wait until after easter. Hello cavities!

When you run with the big boys...

You might skin your pretty little knees!

This was a lesson Kaya learned on Sunday. She wanted to play outside after church with her big brothers. It was during a fateful game of "Johnny, Johnny can I cross the river please?" that she took her big fall. These are our first Bandaids of the season. Nothing says "little sister" like a pair of bandaged knees peeking under your dress. She'll keep up with them no matter what. She has fallen before and said to Eli "Daddy, I think I broke my knees." Then gave them a quick brush with her hand and off she went again.

One more talented actor/singer

It was then Ethan's turn to try being upside down man. Enjoy!

I Heard Roaring Laughter...

The other day I was cleaning up in the front part of our house, you know doing dishes and all of my glamorous chores when I heard hysterical laughter coming from our back room. I went back to see what was going on. The kids were watching this video that they had just taken of Canaan.

Kira and Ethan had Canaan upside down on the couch and all dressed up. It was some good old fashioned talent show fun. He is singing one of his all time favorite songs. I love to hear my kids all laughing and having a good time together. It is one of my favorite things!

Enjoying the snow

So, it has been snowing here for the last 2 weeks off and on. There has been some that has stayed on the ground. So far my kids have been able to roll our entire yard up into one giant snowball that sits in the front yard for a day or two. Today it finally snowed enough that it would have been impossible to push the snowball around, had it been made. Schools were even canceled. We took a little break too. The kids were out playing in the snow almost all day. We dug out our snow clothes and the kids stayed warm. I thought I would share a few pictures of our snow day. They were jumping on the trampoline. It gets pretty slippery, it is a good thing it has a net or they might slip right off. I think the kids would agree that the best part about
playing in the snow is coming in to a cup of hot chocolate. A fun treat that we don't usually get to enjoy in the middle of the day.