What does a dog say?

Our Town, Our World

Tanner's school had a performance called "Our Town, Our World." The whole school helped make a quilt depicting Janesville and it's hot spots....Roosevelt School, Rotary Gardens, the YMCA, and other buildings. The Kindergarten class made butterflies for the quilt. Tanner did a nice job sewing his butterfly. Tanner also got to sing. It was a cute song with great actions. Tanner was a great performer. Barry is wiggling Tanner's tooth. Tan is really hoping to loose it soon.
The camera ran out of batteries, so this was the only video we got. You can't even really see Tan. He is in the second row on the left hand side behind the little boy in the red. Ok.....I just looked at it and you can't see Tanner at all....sorry.

Long Soccer Day

Before each game the coach leads the team in a little practice. He had the team kick their balls down the field and then put their foot on the ball when they stopped. Kara decided to put both feet on the ball and instantly fell flat on her face. The funny thing is that she did it one more time. Both kids got medals after their games!

Kara is getting tired of playing soccer. She did fine for the first game and every one after that has gotten progressively worse (as far as attitude). I don't think we'll sign her up again until next year.

School Carnival

Friday night we went to Tan's school carnival. It was a fun time. The kids enjoyed running through a blow up maze and playing carnival games. They even got
to choose a treat and both Kara and Tanner chose a 7 up. I love how Tanner and Kara have the same face in these pictures.

Spring School Picnic

Tanner had a school picnic this week. They had school lunches available for purchase. Kara got one and it took her forever to eat it (usually her lunch isn't so big). They had hamburgers, chips, carrots, celery, an apple, chocolate milk, and a cookie. Tanner was excited for us to eat lunch with him. It was a fun day!

These are just pictures of Kendy playing outside. She loves to ride Kara's scooter.

Struggle

So....it's been since Monday that we have had our bathtub and shower. The landlord decided to refinish the bathtub so it can look nicer, and maybe actually look clean. She said that we would be without a tub for 48 hours. That was fine, but it's been a lot longer than that. Barry got brave and set up the shower downstairs in the basement, but I haven't wanted to use it, so I have been going to the YMCA to shower. Today I brought along Kara and Kendra to shower them too. I really hope we can use it by tomorrow.

Mother's Dear We Love You So!

Where do I start? I really believe I did not fully appreciate my mother until I became a mother myself. There is just so much to motherhood! Thanks for all the sacrifice and devotion that you have made for our family. There are so many things that I am thankful for that you have given me...your time, talents, energy, service, love, fun and so much more! Thanks for being my basketball coach...not everyone can say their mom was their coach...it's pretty cool! Thanks for holding my hand through high school and thanks for letting go at college. Thanks for loving me...even when I was (am) difficult. Thanks for being a excellent grandma (I was going to put great grandma....but that's your mom) the kids really love you lots. I really appreciate everything you do for us. For the time you take to come visit us no matter where in the world we are living. Thanks so much for letting us live with you (I really don't know how you put up with us for so long). Thanks for your example and for your love of the gospel. Thanks for everything. I Love You Mom!
Love,
Jodie



Mom-

Thanks for giving birth to me on that cold February evening! You have always been such a good Mom. Thanks for all your time and effort in raising me. I Love you tons. I hope you have the best Mother's day ever. I Love You!

Barry

Face plant!

Tanner and Kara were wrestling and Kendra had to get in on the action. I put her down and she went to complete the dog pile, she jumped right over them and missed falling face first into the floor. I thought that it was funny that I caught her mid-air.

Dirt and Planting

We finally got all the stuff to plant our two containers. One with tomatoes and one with zucchini. The kids really had fun playing in the dirt and planting.

Kendy decided the dirt looked yummy and ate a handful. She kept taking handfuls out of the pot(not always eating them), and despite Tanner's efforts she even pulled leaves off the tomato plant. Hopefully the plants last through out the summer!

Tanner and Kara decided to name their plants Matt (zucchini), and Max (tomato). Matt because they have an Uncle Matt, and Max because Tanner really likes the name. They even sang a lullaby to the plants. These will be well taken care of....at least for a few days!

Garden

I was telling Kara that we needed to plant a small garden. I was given some zucchini seeds that Kara knew about and she said, "Mom, we'll have to plant your zucchini bread. Do you know where your zucchini bread seeds are?" I thought it was so cute. I guess the only form of zucchini she knows is the bread.

Helaman's Temple

So my kids haven't had much experience answering the telephone. The other day Tanner answered it, "Hello, Helaman's Temple." We decided that we better teach them some phone etiquette. Barry called our home phone with the cell phone so they could practice. They were really good at it. Hopefully next time they answer the phone they will have better manners.

Temple Trip

We went down to the Chicago Temple today with Jon Lefever (a guy from the ward leaving on a mission soon). We arranged for a babysitter (Jon's sister Liz a college student home for the summer) to watch the kids....meaning my kids and also the Andelin's four kids. Liz was watching seven kids all under 6 years old and three of them were 18 months or younger. We tried to stock her up with treats and activities. When we got out of our session she wasn't in the waiting room. She had taken them all (I'm not sure how she did this) out to the car to watch a DVD. She said that the temple workers kept looking in the room and she felt like they wanted her to go out. She did survive though and Kendra didn't cry at all....it might have been that I caved in and sent along a pacifier (Kendy has been without one for two weeks) so she would be good for Liz.

After the Temple we went out to eat at an Italian restaurant and then to Ikea. It was a good day, but a little long. Everyone was pretty grumpy when we got home. The only picture I took today was this one of Kara, Elena, Tanner and Lucy, before we went into the temple, by the time we got out it was raining so we didn't take any more.

Stuck

Barry and I got to go out Friday night. We had a nice time being able to talk with each other and not be interrupted. Alishia was babysitting and she brought along Kortney her sister (one of the twins). When we got home Kortney was showing us how she could fit through the rails of our banister. She turned to me and said, "I bet you could fit through too." So...of course I had to try, and I did fit through. Barry also was challenged to try, but things did not turn out so well for him. He was stuck! We all laughed soooooo hard for a few minutes and finally we asked him what we could do to help. So we ended up sawing through a rail....not really, we were able to scoot the couch away from the wall and he was able to climb up through the rail. I don't know how much he enjoyed the experience, but I Kortney couldn't wait to go home to tell her parents about the event.

Here's the video for your enjoyment!

Good News/Bad News

Today Barry got news that he might be able to start residency as soon as he graduates (Jan or Feb 2009). This is exciting news for us, but it isn't 100% sure. He wants to go for it, so he can't take any breaks in rotations from now on (although California's plane tickets will still be used). He had May scheduled off to study for his Step 2, but now will have to work. He is going to try to schedule easier rotations so he will still be able to get studying in. This also means that he won't be taking the exam at the end of May, it will probably be the middle of July, so summer fun with Barry is shot. It will all be worth it if he can start residency early though(no looking for a job for those six months off and we'll get paid)!