Maybe I'm doing something right?

Today I went visiting teaching and one of the sisters I visit teach is subbing for sunbeams, which is Kayley's class. She told me some fun stories of them and what they say. Well she said one of her lessons recently was on Joseph Smith and she asked the kids if they knew who Joseph Smith was. She said the kids would respond with who their favorite cartoon was, etc and I was fully expecting an answer from Kayley that involved princesses. However I was proven wrong when her teacher said that Kayley responded first with, "Guys don't you know who Joseph Smith is, the prophet?" I was just beaming from ear to ear inside thinking that my little girl is growing so much and she is so smart and that what we do talk about during scripture study and family home evening is getting through to her. I love the Gospel and the knowledge we receive from it and the blessings we receive too. I know I wouldn't be the mom I am without it (which I'm not anywhere near perfect, but I'd like to be someday)! I love my family! This is a pic of Kayley & Audrey posing together for a picture.

Meeting Baby Big (Andrew McKay Sanders)

Well, this last weekend we got to go to Jeff City to see Andrew or "Baby Big" & my sister, Jan, who were up from Florida visiting my Mom and Otto. We had a lot of fun getting to hold him and pass him around and as you can tell from the pictures, he was very cooperative, even with the kiddos holding him! He sure is a sweet boy and we miss him already! If only Florida were a bit closer to us! But, he definitely lives up to his namesake, my brother Andrew as he is already the same size or bigger than Cora who is only 18 months and he is only 5 months! We really had a great time!

Oh and a side note on Kayley's new fettish with Rainbow Brite. A while back I found a 50 cent book at the dollar store about Rainbow Brite, so I took a trip down memory lane and got it for her and loved reading it to her as I loved Rainbow Brite when I was little. So when at my Mom's, I showed her the Rainbow Brite that Katie had that I also loved to play with when I was little. Katie and I were both into her as Mom also made her a Rainbow Brite costume for Halloween one year. Anyway, Kayley wouldn't put it down the whole time we were there and didn't want to leave without it. But we finally got away without taking it from Jani's house and Kayley told us when we got home that she was so proud of Grandma Jani for having a Rainbow Brite. Now she wants one for herself. So, about every other night now she asks me if it's going to be warm outside the next day as I told her the best way to find a Rainbow Brite is to go look at Garage Sales for it. So she is now patiently waiting for the hunt to start, or at least as patiently as a 3 year old can wait! :) The hunt is on!

Kids Say the Darndest Things...Little Updates

The other day the girls and I were at Aldi's doing regular shopping. Well, as most mom's know that shopping with kids are not fun at times, especially Aldi's since usually if you're like me you are stocking up and have a lot of groceries. Anyway, I was checking out and asked the girls to go stand by the tables where you load your groceries. Kayley told me she wanted to get a drink so I told her to go full knowing that she could barely reach the water unless I held her up. Anyway, Cora soon followed her and then Kayley comes up to me and said she helped Cora get a drink. I didn't think much of it as I was quickly trying to get groceries loaded. Then, Kayley mentioned to me that since Cora couldn't reach the water, Kayley put some water on her hand and then let Cora lick it off of her hand. I just started cracking up! Then sure enough a little bit later, I was able to be an eye witness to it! It was hilarious and I was bummed I didn't have my camera, but it sure was funny!

The girls are so funny and are definitely siblings and do what siblings do as you see them love to play with each other as well as fight like crazy. Most of the time it is Cora who picks on her big sister too! I can only imagine how it will be when they get older. The other night Kayley asked Cora to get her and Cora would run up to her and tackle her and they would both fall down and crack up at each other. It was funny to see little bitty Cora take down Kayley.

This is a picture of Kayley, Cora, & Ashlyn taking a bath together the other day. Grandma Bell came up to visit for the weekend to see Toodles and Bubbles. On Saturday, we told Kayley that they could all take a bath together (Kayley, Ashlyn, & Cora that is...) and she could not stop talking about it! They had a blast, especially when Aunt Michelle pulled out the bubbles to blow during bathtime...they are going to want to take baths at Michelle's house all the time!

Oh and on a side note...we sadly had to take Toodles back to the pet store the other day. She often times would nip at me on my fingers when I got her out of her cage and usually that could be calmed and stopped with a treat, but then the other day she kept doing it and she bit me really hard. Well, we decided that she may not be a good mix with our family and were scared that she would end up biting the girls, so we took her back. We still have Bubbles though who is still as sweet as can be and are on the hunt for a friend for her. We'll have to update later on if we get her a friend or not.

And one more thing...the other day I turned on the inauguration and without telling her, Kayley said "Mom, Barack Obama is on tv"...I was impressed that she remembered his name without me reminding her. Back on election day, we had a Parents as Teachers storytime and they had a mock election and the kids voted for either Dora or Diego to be president. We later talked about the election that day and Obama and McCain and how Mommy wanted McCain to win. Kayley wanted to call Daddy and ask him who he was going to vote for. Of course Nick likes to push my buttons and told her he was going to vote for Obama. Kayley told him he was nuts! Then later the next day Kayley asked who won and I told her Obama and she was so cute as she replied with an "Oh man!" It's cute to see how she got into it all and then remembered it all during the inauguration. I will also so it's cute to hear her say their names!

Announcing...

No...I'm NOT pregnant!! But we do have TWO, yes I said two new babies in our family and I don't have to have any stretch marks from them! We decided to get a guinea pig about a week ago and thought it would be good for the girls and low maintenance for us (me) who would be taking care of them for the most part. Well, we loved her so much that we decided to get another one to add to the mix. We called all the pet stores on Saturday around us and they were out of guinea pigs except for the males and we don't want anymore than two guinea pigs...we also found out it's not mating season. But, we finally got another female and they are surprisingly getting along as you can see I found them this morning cuddling together in their cage that yes, was built by Nick. He was like a kid in the candy store making it. They have a three level house and I'm a bit jealous that their house is bigger than mine!

Their names are Toodles and Bubbles...both names picked out by Kayley. Kayley came up with Toodles (which is the darker brown haired one with shorter hair) when we were at the pet store I asked Kayley what she wanted to name her (she was the first one we got) and she said, "Um...how about Toodles?" So that was the deciding factor on that one. Toodles comes from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cartoon...it's a tool that Mickey Mouse uses to solve the puzzle for the day. When they need him he says, "Oh Toodles!" And we always love to say that when we get Toodles out. Then when we got the second one (the lighter colored, fluffier one) we asked Kayley what she wanted to name her and she said, "Mickey Mouse." Obviously to stick with the theme of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We proceeded to tell her that was a boy's name and our guinea pig was a girl, so we suggested Minnie Mouse and she liked it, so her name was Minnie for a bit, but Nick didn't like the name, so he suggested Bubbles to Kayley and she of course liked it, so it went to a vote and I was out-voted as I preferred Minnie, but I do have to say that Toodles and Bubbles goes together better than Toodles and Minnie.

They are a lot of fun so far. Cora has only been the brave one to actually hold them on a consistent basis. Kayley held Toodles as soon as we got her and came home and she started to talk, which scared Kayley and made Kayley jump, which scared Toodles and her finger nails scratched her a bit, so now she just likes to pet them. But, Cora will actually be ok with me putting one of them in her lap. But, one of our favorite things to do is cuddle with them (which consists of me holding them on my lap) and watching tv with them. I've found Toodles favorite spot to pet and I can almost get her to start purring on contact now. We're anxious to find out what Bubbles favorite spot is and learn more about her personality.

The Nativity Story Starring the Felker Clan

Over the Christmas holiday, our family got together and decided to take a wack at acting out the Nativity Story. It was quite fun to see the nieces and nephews and some of the adults act it out. I didn't get a picture of it b/c I was helping her, but Kayley was one of the angels and she was really cute the way she did it with her really quiet voice. It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to next year's showing, we'll only charge for ages 12 and older to attend! :) We hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday!

Should I Go Into Business?

Well, I have to say that I was pretty impressed with myself with this gift I made for my Mom and Otto. I promised Michelle that I would post a picture of the finished product, so here it is. It was rather easy to do, just a bit time consuming as I did it by hand. All I did was buy a $4 black fleece blanket from Walmart and 1/2 yard of orange fleece material. I cut out an "M" and a "U" and then stitched them on with black embroidery thread. I probably spent about 3-4 hours on it! I love it so much that I'm going to be making myself one!

Christmas Pictures

Well we hope that everyone had a great Christmas this year! We sure did! The fun part was seeing the excitement of the girls about Santa Claus and their presents. We had fun with the Carles on Christmas Eve, especially with Uncle Jud being so willing to be the reindeer and having all the kids climbing on him!! :) The girls got what they wanted as Kayley was able to get her Pocahontas doll from Santa (the only thing she really wanted!) Cora of course was looking around for Santa Claus when we said "Santa was coming" or "Santa came." This age sure is fun! It is just going by way too fast! I remember our Christmas with Kayley when she was Cora's age and it only seems like yesterday! I'm just trying to savor every moment I can! We hope you all had a great Christmas and that you all will have a Happy New Year this week! Oh and please keep reading as I've put a few more posts up as I haven't posted in a while! Hope you enjoy!

This Is Our Cora

Well, the other day I tried to decide what Cora is, a hoarder of food or a houdini? She was helping me with the dishes the other day and I found these pretzels in the silverware holder and then when I was finished I found her eating on this chocolate bar, which she must have hid it a few days before and then found it again for later. Then she is also a houdini as a few nights ago she started to wake up around 4 in the morning and just cry and cry. Well, I let her cry it out and by the 2nd night Nick and I both heard a thump and she had fallen out of the bed! So, we had one more setting that we could lower the crib and then set up a fort around her bed in case she did her trick again. So far, so good as she has not fallen out and she has also gotten over waking up during that time...for now at least! But, until then, the girls love to jump on the mattress by the bed!

What We've Been Up To

Well, I realize it's been a while since I've posted something. The holidays just get you so busy! Here is a collage of pics that we've been doing. We've baked lots of Christmas goodies, attended a freezing cold Christmas parade in Springfield, played in the first official snow that left remains on the ground, and playing in our snow-wear.

Merry Christmas

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Here's our Christmas Card this year...hope you all enjoy and have a Very Merry Christmas this year! Best wishes to all this year! Be sure to click on all the small pics on the sides so you can see them larger and read the captions.