Hiking and a new kitchen floor

What an amazing Spring it has been! Both Karis and Timothy have been able to go on hiking trips with Ben. Karis and Ben hiked to the top of the bluff at Hixon State Forest.
Ben and Timothy hiked in Perrot State Park.

This was Timothy's first hike in the big backpack!

We had the kitchen floor replaced in early April. There was wood laminate flooring that had been
damaged by water before we bought the house. This is what was under the wood floor... ugly, but it saved the sub-floor!

The final product... vinyl tile with grout... we love it!

Easter

Timothy with his basket... trying to eat the chocolate.
Karis with her basket... gotta love the crazy bedhead!!!!
The kids played bells on Easter morning...
Timothy was very attentive during church.
Karis showed off her egg.

Vegas

The pool complex at the MGM Grand
The water show at the Bellagio
New York New York
AMAZING art work at the Bellagio
The Venetian
Back in Early February, I was struggling with the winter weather. Amy Jo and I were talking about this and the idea of Vegas came up. Within a week, the trip was booked! We ventured to Vegas for a long weekend in mid March. I was able to reconnect with my childhood neighbor, Barrett, via Facebook. He has lived in Vegas for a few years and his parents have also moved there. We planned to catch up and visit Red Rock Canyon with them.

While in Vegas, Amy Jo and I stayed at the MGM Grand... there are too many stories to tell about our first night there, but the rest of it was wonderful. We were able to see "Ka" (Cirque de Soleil) and "Blue Man Group"... two amazing shows.

We hung out in the hotel pool complex, ventured in and out of the hotels and people watched. I had a blast without gambling or doing anything illegal...

Vegas Part 2

Barrett, Dawn, Serena and Alex at Red Rock Canyon
Amy Jo and me at Red Rock Canyon

Phil and Linda Snyder with me in the lobby of MGM Grand.

The inside of the Venetian.

Hangin' with Blue Man Group after the show!

Vegas is such an interesting city... never a dull moment. What a great way to get away from the winter cold.

Star Student and a beautiful quilt

Timothy is so excited to show off his new quilt, made by our friend, Kim Burkhalter. Thank you Kim for taking the time to show this little guy some love through your amazing talent.
Karis was "start student" today at school. She made up a picture book about her family, friends, home, favorite activities, food, etc... Ben, Timothy, and I were invited to be a part of her presentation to her class. Timothy was amazed by all of the activity in her class.

This is our family participating in the presentation. We were so proud of Karis. The ironic thing was that the school had an "intruder lock down" drill while we were there. We had to sit quietly in the dark in a corner of the room with the rest of the class.

Sorry again for the delay in posting pictures. We've had a busy winter, as you will see below. We also haven't ventured into getting another computer, so I continue to post this through Ben's work computer.

Ben is working hard as our church continues it's three year plan. My work is experiencing the downfalls of the economy... less jobs, no affordable insurance, high medical costs, and more cancer diagnoses than ever.

Karis is half way through Kindergarten and learning at a very fast pace. She especially enjoys art and music. Timothy is growing like a weed. He's over 21 lbs. and just got into a "big boy" car seat this week. He loves to "click" his tongue, eat anything he can fit into his mouth, and make attempts to pull himself up to prepare for crawling.

We were able to attend a gymnastics meet at UW La Crosse this winter. A member of our church, Kasey Crawford, is one of the coaches. The above picture is of Ben and Karis at the meet.

Timothy enjoyed watching gymnastics too!
Karis loves trying winter sports. Most recently, she's been ice skating. She did really well and enjoyed the time with Dad.

There's been a lot of inside days since we've had a cold winter. During some downtime, Karis wanted to make sure that Timothy has been able to enjoy her iPod. I'm not sure what he thinks about the pink thing in his ear that plays "Miley Cyrus."

We'll just call this one "toothless." Karis lost three teeth in a week. The tooth fairy is going broke in our house!

We've also had quite a bit of sickness. Karis and Timothy like to "cuddle" during the sick times.

Sunday Night Family Time

We didn't have an exciting weekend. The weather was pretty rotten. We got a few things done around the house. Most importantly, we spent time together.

Here's a few pictures of our family time.
Karis LOVES getting pictures taken with her brother. Mom and Dad are just an added bonus!

Okay, so this isn't a family time shot! But this is one of T's favorite past times! Just an FYI... he probably won't be doing this much longer. His first tooth started poking through his gums today.

Ski Bunny

Today was an adventure! Our church had a ski day at Mt. La Crosse. This was Karis's first skiing experience. Timothy enjoyed watching his sister, Ben and all the other skiers.
Since Karis is under 10, she was given a private lesson by a staff member from Mt. La Crosse.
Even though this was not cheap, it was worth it for her. She had someone to teach her to ski without learning our bad habits. Aaron is helping her put her skis on in this picture.
This is a close up of Karis and Aaron about half way through her lesson. They conquered the bunny slope and quickly headed to the ski lift. Aaron said that Karis has no fear. She must get this from her dad.

I love this picture! Karis, Ben and Timothy enojoyed the "warm" weather on the slopes. We were so excited to see temps in the 30s this weekend!

Check out these two wild skiers! Karis doesn't look very happy since her hat fell off while she was getting on the lift. I held it for her until she returned from her run. This didn't slow her down at all.

A good day was had by most of the gang from Cornerstone. Poor Amy Jo dislocated her shoulder and had to have it put back in place in the ER. I'm also wondering if Ben will be able to get out of bed tomorrow.

A NEW YEAR

Sorry it's taken so long since we added some pictures to the Blog. We are still without a home computer. This is a recent picture of Timothy. The outfit is compliments of Mom-Mom.
Karis picked out this blue dress to wear for the Christmas program at church.
She was so proud to show it off.

Our PSU cheerleader and giraffe at Halloween.

I promise to do better with updated pictures. Timothy has battled two ear infections in the past month. He's growing like a weed. Karis is doing well in school and loves to learn. Ben is really enjoying his work at church. I never have a dull moment at the hospital... one of perks of being a social worker. We hope everyong is doing well so far in 2010.