Spring Break in Lincoln!!!

For Spring Break, we went back home to Lincoln to visit all of our friends. We had a great time!!! Instead of driving 13 hours in one shot, we broke up the trip by staying overnight in Oklahoma. The favorite event of course was the POOL!!! Oh and hottub!:)





We stayed with out friends the Herbels. Thank you so much! The boys played outside in the cold:) and downstairs on the playstation! It was fun watching LillyAnne and Kru getting to know each other! Really LillyAnne was more interested in Kye than Kru, but they were so cute together!

We also saw many other friends including our good friends the Fosters. Mic was so happy to see Kye that when they hugged, she didn't let go and actually hugged him with all "4s":) So cute!! We have really missed them.

Eamonn and Kru reintroduced themselves to each other. It is amazing to see how big everyone has gotten!

Kye was WAY excited to see Becca and Piper. Kye and Becca have a special relationship and he has talked about her often since leaving Lincoln and we were so happy that we could meet up at the mall to play and ride the carousel. Piper and Kru also have a special bond! It was great seeing them both.

Kye didn't want to say goodbye and Becca actually had to tell him that he had to let go of her hand!

Our trip was chilly but wonderful to see a lot of our friends and to visit our church! We didn't get to see everyone, but we were thankful to see as many as we did. It was too short of a visit! I didn't pack enough warm clothes for us and we kind of froze, but it was great to be back home. We procrastinated as long as we could, but it was finally time to go back to Texas. It was a LONG ride home and we all were getting a little nuts!

Are we there YET!!!!!???!!!!

The boys stayed occupied with DVDS and gameboys!
Kru also found the gameboy a good way to pass the time, but was really ready to get out of his seat!

Did you know in Texas that people and kids can ride in the back of trucks!?! Well we just went down our street to have some fun!

Kru was worried but safe inside with Dad.
Dakota's last basketball game!
Kru likes the headband too!!:)
Dakota is in DC visiting Kory and Shelley right now. We hope that you all had a nice spring break! Write and let us know what you did. Enjoy the changing of the season and I hope that you have an amazing Easter! Love to you all! Kari

NASA Visit

Yes, I know I just updated, but this past Friday, we took a trip down to the Houston Space Center. It was so cool and I wanted to get the pictures up as soon as I could. We drove the 2 1/2 hours down and spent most of the day there. Unfortunately, by the time we were ready to head home, so was all of Houston! It was rush hour and it took forever to get out of Houston! 4 hours later, we were home after having a fun day at NASA.

It was a special homeschool day there and they had different stations set up for the kids to make different items and to learn specific things. The favorite was crawling through the 3 story Martian Matirx! Think McDonald's play place but much larger and better! We also tried our hand on a flight simulator to land the space shuttle! We saw the first spacecraft that only held 1 man and then a replica of inside the space shuttle, with a man "floating" around. Kru was fascinated with the "men" that looked so real. He kept waving at them and saying hello! Too cute!

We took a tram tour that actually went a few of the buildings at Johnson Space Center. We sat in the observation room at the control room where the Apollo missions were controlled from. Very retro and 70s looking! Very cool. We went into another building that holds the mock ups of the shuttle and the arm of the space station. Quite impressive! The shuttle was HUGE! The last stop of the tour was a huge building that held the SaturnV Rocket that was used in the 70s. It was so big! Dakota really enjoyed himself as we just completed a unit in Science about space. Kye was content with playing in the Martian Matrix and Kru just wanted to run around after the car ride!!!

So here are the pictures of our day at the Space Center!

Are we there yet?
The first 1 man shuttle
"Digging on Mars"
Astronaut Kru
Darrin landing the shuttle
Going up into the shuttle to see the control panels
Astronaut Kye
The car of outerspace!
Dakota controlling inside the shuttle
Dakota lands the shuttle too!
Sitting in front of the Saturn V rocket. It was GYNORMOUS!!!

2007 Mid-Winter Hello

HAPPY 2007!!!! We had quite the party here! Margaritas and Dancing!







I can't believe how time flies! I didn't realize it had been Christmas since I update, but there hasn't been too many going ons for us and not much picture taking either. January was pretty boring and dull. We didn't do much of anything and the first part of February was pretty quiet as well, but things are beginning to pick up now.

Dakota began playing basketball for the first time and the first soccer games of the season are today.

Dakota scored his first basket on Thursday night, but of course I didn't have the camera! Never fails. He is enjoying basketball more than I thought he would and is excited for soccer too! Kye is playing soccer again as well and is started swimming lessons too. So our evenings are busy again with practices,lessons and games, but so far things are going smoothly. Kye loves swimming and is a bit dissapointed as the lessons are only 25 minutes here. In Lincoln, the lessons were 40 and every night he can't believe that it is time to go already! He spends most of his time under the water, worrying the teacher, but he is a natural underwater! Gets that from Darrin. He is doing very well and is swimming alone for short distances. He also swims like dolphons and whales. In spend most of the 25 minutes laughing! He is crazy in the water, well actually out of the water too!:) I'm hoping he will play better in soccer this season, but we will see today how that goes!

We were hit with the flu bug here about 2 or 3 weeks ago, We kept passing it around to one another! Kye complained a week ago that "I have a pumpkin in my ear!" And later that day, "My ear is wet." He had an ear infection and his eardrum burst, so he didn't go to swim lessons this past week, but is better now. I had the body aches and head stuff as well as Darrin and Kru. Dakota has only had a cough, knock on wood. We are glad to be feeling better and that we are able to get outside in the nice weather.

We went to the park yesterday and it was a chilly 50 degrees!:) I know for most of you reading this, that sounds like a heat wave, but down here it is still considered cold.:) It's all relative I've decided. We haven't even been here that long and I'm a wimp too! It got down in the low 20s the last couple of nights, which is record lows for here. I know some of you aren't even reaching that as a high! Crazy!!! So I do appreciate that here, that I can get my kids out of the house in the middle of winter to go to a park!

My girlfriend, Stacy, came for a week long visit the last week of January! We had a great time! It was so nice to have a friend to hang with for a while and have someone to laugh and talk to!


And Raymond and Lois, Darrin's parents, came for a couple days right after Stacy left. It was nice to have visitors!

Other than that, not much else goin on. All the boys continue to grow, and Kru says more and more everyday! We continue to miss our family and friends back home and are looking forward to visiting Lincoln over Spring Break in a few weeks. I hope this finds you well and warm whereever you may be. Write and let us know how you are and what you have been up too! Take care!

Kari

Everyone can play GameCube now!!!
Kye's Valentines party at school!
Kru decides he is going to have school like Dakota!

Christmas Greetings 2006

Merry Christmas Yall!

Decided to not do the whole Christmas letter through snail mail and just update the blog with a holiday greeting and wrap up of the year. Still attempting to take a photo of the boys to get out in the mail for New Years, but haven't yet succeeded! Who knows!?!

Nice having the blog so I don't have to go back through the year to update you, so will just update since Thanksgiving. If you missed any other part of the year, just look back on the blog to catch up! Some of the pictures may be gone, but the details are intact!

We spent Thanksgiving up in Dallas with Darrin's family. Lois and Raymond came down from Ohio and we had dinner at Dean and Shelly's new house. It was a nice time. I sure did miss my family, being the first in 15 years that I wasn't with a part of my family in one way or the other! But being that we are so far south, it was nice being able to be with Darrin's family instead of alone.

In mid-November, Dakota wrapped up soccer and football. The last football game the QB wasn't there, so Dakota was able to play QB for the first time this season. I think he enjoyed it, but commented about the pressure of the position. He did a great job! Basketball begins in January with spring soccer beginning in late February.

About 3 weeks ago, Dakota began guitar lessons! We, with the help of PaPa, got him an early Christmas present, a blue guitar, which he can already "play" 2 songs; O Chrismas Tree and He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. He enjoys it a lot it seems and I hope that that continues!

Homeschooling goes fine, he just completed a unit on Insects and only missed 2 on his final test. It's amazing how quick we can get through things on some days and how long it takes on others! All in all it is ok. We are going to Austin for a field trip in January to see the capitol as we are studying government. He misses his friends from Nebraska terribly as we all do, but I'm trying to get him together at least weekly with other homeschoolers to be able to play. Thank goodness it is so nice here year round, we can go to the park all the time!

Kye continues to like school, we had a field trip to cut down a Texas Christmas Tree (a Cedar) and that was great fun. The kids choose the tree and then made tons of ornaments to decorate it once it was placed in their room. They had a book exchange for their party and he got a Curious George book which he loved!

Kye played a couple more soccer games near the end of the season and I think out of the 4-5 games he played he kicked the ball 3 times (2 were kick offs) :)

He really liked it best going to brother's games and playing in the dirt nearby! He will begin swimming lessons in January, which he loves!!! We have been trying to think what other things he might excel in, but are still scratching our heads. I don't think there are classes or lessons on "How to act like an animal," or "How to run like Cheetahs" are there? If there were, Kye would be first in line! Seriously, you would be amazed at how fast that child can run on all fours while making animal noises! See.... he has talents!! Kye is Kye and those of you who know him well know exactly what I mean!!!

Kru continues to grow! He is talking a lot more, most of which you can't understand, but he is sure telling a story. He has said water, bye-bye, hot dog, thank you, and his first sentence, "turn it on" in regards to the singing snowmen that he loves listening and dancing too. He is still very busy and into everything. He has broken several dishes, enjoys emptying the pantry of it's canned goods, and his new favorite, playing in the toilet! Sigh! Must I put a lock on EVERYTHING???!!! Yes, I think I must! Kru is so sweet and loves to give loves and kisses, I hope he stays this sweet, forever!!!!

Darrin and I are the same. We had our 12th anniversary yesterday. Can you believe it!!?? I say sometimes it seems just like yesterday and other times it seems like 40 years ago!:) Darrin is getting busier at work which is good. One of his latest projects is animating 300 different types of bombs and missiles. He has been working some freelance on the side when he finds the time. His computer died a while ago and it is harder to do the freelance using my laptop! I'm good, sometimes a bit crazy, but who isn't right!?! RIGHT!!! Thank you for agreeing with me!:) Seriously, we are fine, really missing Lincoln and our friends during the holidays though. It's amazing to me how hard holidays can be when you aren't "home." But we are still trying to find a church and to find some friends! Didn't think it would be that hard to do either!!! But I guess when you had such great friends and a super church, it's hard to find replacements!

We will be in warm Texas for Christmas this year, really all of you who are freezing cold, this is the best time to visit! So if you received this, you are welcome anytime! Being in shorts in Decemberand playing in the water table 1 week from Christmas is too bizarre! Sound appealing?

With the warmth, our tree was a bit dry when we bought it not to mention now. It is super dry!!! Darrin worries that it is going to burn. At work, they sent everyone a video that was a Christmas tree that caught on fire and within 40 seconds the room was consumed! So we don't leave the lights on all day anymore!:)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7723421500841104465&q=christmas+tree+fire

But on a more serious note, I am becoming more and more aware of certain things, and even though I never would have guessed I would be living in Texas this Christmas, I know my Heavenly Father knew, and even though my circumstances may not be what I want, HE wants! I hope that wherever you find yourself this Christmas and New Year, that you are very aware of the Lord's companionship there with you! May this season only increase your love and desire for Him!

We miss you all!

Love,
Kari


Kye was WAY excited to get his soccer trophy, he was awarded the save the day player for helping at the end of the season!
Down....Set....Hike!
And he passes!
Nice Handoff!
Kru enjoying brother's football games!
Darrin and Kru
Enjoying Aunt Shelly's trampoline! Nice hair!!
Kru liked it too!
And so did Kye!
One of Kru's favorite foods!
Picking our tree, oh such joy!!!::)
Kye placing his 5th Christmas ornament on the tree
Kru adding his 2nd year ornament
And as always, Dakota finishes it by topping the tree with the bear!
Brotherly love or shove!?!:)
Making sugar cookies!
A yearly tradition!