The Klock Family

A Few Pictures of My Favorite Baby

2011-02-27T21:47:00.001-08:00

To update or not to update...

2011-02-06T22:36:00.000-08:00

Does anyone read this anymore? Now that I have facebook, I just don't feel the need to update too much anymore! For the sake of my conscience tonight, update I will.

We went to Riverside State park yesterday and it was gorgeous! Cold, but beautiful!

And....Sigmund is 3 months old! We are so thankful every day for such a healthy, happy little boy. He laughs and smiles at us all day and he LOVES his big sister and brother! He has been trying to roll over which he seems to enjoy very much.

Sigmund...two weeks old

2010-10-24T01:59:00.000-07:00

He's home!!! Sigmund finally came home on Friday! It was a very fun day of meeting family members and he enjoyed every minute :)

Here he is meeting Grandma great

And Grandma Marilyn

And at long last, here are all three of them! In the hospital, Katie and Sammy only saw him once through the window.

This one is just for fun. This is Sigmund's Halloween costume. I think it's a penguin.

Sigmund...1 week old

2010-10-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

I think this has to have been the fastest and slowest week of my life! On one hand I can't believe it has already been a week since Sigmund was born. On the other hand it feels like an eternity has passed with him still being in the hospital and all of us being at home.
He is doing great and is perfectly healthy. We are so thankful for that and know that God's hand has been in this circumstance from the very beginning. We also know that He continues to be in complete control over every moment of this trial.
Here are a couple of pictures from today. Sigmund looks healthier every day and I love seeing his little smiles when he sleeps!

Introducing...Sigmund

2010-10-12T06:44:00.000-07:00

It's a boy! Those were the words my dear husband exclaimed to me at 7:51 Sunday evening. On 10-10-10, Sigmund Loren joined our family after what seemed to be the longest 35 weeks of my life! He weighed in at 5 lbs. 9 oz. and measured 18" long.

Because he was born a month early, he has to stay in the NICU for a little while. He breathes on his own, keeps up his temperature and eats on his own. He is just so sleepy he can't always stay awake for an entire feeding so then they need to feed him the rest through a tube. When he can stay awake and eat the whole feeding for 2 days, then he can come home with us!

Tonsils

2010-06-21T19:58:00.000-07:00

Sammy had to have his tonsils and adenoids out last week. They were so large the poor kid was having a hard time breathing. He did great! It was also surprisingly fast. We arrived at 7:00 am and were home by 10:30 am! He was such a trooper the day of his surgery and continues to be as he heals! Here are a few pics..

Waiting for the nurse to bring him back for surgery..

One last peek at those tonsils!

Silly faces to pass the time

Surely playing with my ship will help distract me!

It's over, yay!!

Home sweet home and ready for some ice cream :)

Hmmm... a little sleepy. I think I'll rest up!

Updates!

2010-06-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

Looks like I have some updating to do. Here is a little of what we've been doing.
Early this Spring we took a small hike out north (can't remember the name of the place!) Very fun and so nice to get out in the fresh air!

The entire time we were there, Loren kept saying he was sure there were snakes there. As the kind, loving, supportive, reassuring wife that I am, I kept saying he was crazy and there weren't any snakes. So guess what Loren saw?

In case you can't see it, there is a snake in the picture! When he spotted it, I had to chase after it to get a picture. This ends our outdoor adventure for the afternoon :) It was fun!

Sammy turns 5!

2010-06-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

Aaarg! Happy birthday Matey! Sammy likes pirates. This is a huge understatement!

The birthday boy himself!

So fun!

You can't have an official pirate birthday without pirate cupcakes for school can you?

Katie turns 7!

2010-06-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

Wow, how did I get a 7 year old so fast? Happy birthday sweet Katie!

Katie painting her home made pinata. Pretty good I think!

My first attempt at a fondant cake...

Final Preschool Program

2010-06-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

This will be our last end of the year program at Beautiful Savior :( At least for awhile anyway. Sammy did a great job and we had the privilege of our dear friend Jennifer to join us this year!

Bird Whisperer

2010-06-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

Katie is truly an animal lover! A couple of weeks ago a bird fell on the car at the library and couldn't fly. So Katie came to it's rescue and got it safely to the ground!

Field Trip!

2010-06-09T21:10:00.000-07:00

With Sammy's preschool to the downtown library. By the way if you're on the second floor you can see a picture of Loren from 1982 on the Bloomsday poster wall! Very cool :)

New baby!

2010-06-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, and we're having another baby! Did I forget to mention that? Sorry this picture isn't great, but it's the only one I have. My photographer is a little new at this too :)

Pool Time!

2010-06-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

It's swimming time!! One of our favorite times of the year! Lots of family and lots of good pool time, love it :)

Alice! .......for now

2010-03-13T21:38:00.000-08:00

Today we got our new puppy, Alice. Tonight Sammy asked if we could name her Lily, because he can't remember the name Alice. So we'll see how long she stays Alice :)
So far things are going swell. She is very sweet, quiet and very easy....for a puppy! Few accidents in the house and she was very pleased with herself tonight when she went potty outside!

Date Night!

2010-02-27T22:12:00.000-08:00

Loren took Katie out on a date tonight and boy was she excited! So, I got to take Sammy out tonight. Our first stop was one of Sammy's favorite places...Senior Froggy :)

Next stop....Toys R Us, woo hoo!

He's a fun boy and we had a fantastic date, thanks Sam!! He even let me have his guacamole at dinner :)

Beautiful Day!

2010-02-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

It was such a beautiful day today, Sammy couldn't resist getting his bike out for some fun!

Hooking up the "trailer!"

A little basketball too. Don't be fooled by the soccer ball....just try and ignore that :)

Not much happening...

2010-01-26T22:56:00.000-08:00

Not too much going on in the Klock household lately. Kids are back in school and we have settled into the post Christmas routine again. Boring! I am, however, grateful for some boring :)

Snowman

2009-12-15T22:00:00.000-08:00

Piano Recital

2009-11-25T22:55:00.000-08:00

Katie had her second piano recital earlier this week. I think she did a pretty good job!

I've had sprinkles for 2 months...

2009-10-24T13:12:00.001-07:00

I've been just dying to use these cute Halloween sprinkles I've had for so long. It was so rainy and yucky out yesterday I pulled them out and decided it was high time to bake some cookies!

It's about time!

2009-10-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

That I updated my blog :)
Today we went on a field trip to Greenbluff with Sammy's preschool. Very fun and a bit chilly! We got an apple, some cider and a somewhat squishy pumpkin. Here are some pics...

AND Katie joined cross country...

Whew! That was a lot of updating. See you in a couple of months :)

Apples!

2009-08-17T21:08:00.001-07:00

Can you guess what we did today? I know it's hard to tell by my very clever titles :)
I can be tricky. One of our favorite things to pick at Greenbluff is apples. Mostly because they are big, easy to grab and low so the kids can reach them. Here we are...

Cute obligatory picture under the apple tree :)

I'm not sure what he saw, but he looks a little worried doesn't he?

This was the favorite photo worthy apple. I'm not sure what made it special, but here it is! If you take a look at Sammy there in the background.....that is him pushing the apples down as hard as he can to make room for more. Don't I have a thoughtful boy? (I'm pretty sure they all survived :) )

This one is just because I really liked this picture of Katie :)

Sammy demonstrating the "proper" technique for picking an apple

I've gone Little House on the Praire

2009-08-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

Look at this....I've made soap. MADE SOAP! I can't remember what posessed me to do this, but I'll admit it was kinda fun :) If I did this, then what's next? Matching denim jumpers for the kids? Home made yogurt? Oh wait, we did that too! The yogurt, not the jumpers! I've gone mad and I love it. Home made soap anyone?

Cannon Beach!

2009-08-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few of our pictures from Cannon Beach, one of our favorite places ever! More to come later :)

Katie and Sammy at "Whale Park" enjoying candy from Bruce's candy kitchen

Sammy NOT eating sand this year..hooray!

Do you think she threw the sand at Seth??

Cousins are the best!

Grandpa and Sammy following an injured bird

Katie and Grandpa having some pizza...yum!

BUMPER CARS!!!! Our favorite in Seaside!

Katie on our yearly ride on the carousel in Seaside

What kind of bugs?

2009-07-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

Last night at dinner, we asked Sammy if we should give him a buzz cut. He thought for a moment and replied, "What kind of bugs? Bumble bees or ants?" Anyway, here's what happened...

Here is the before picture. BTW, it's ice cream sandwich all over his face. We thought it might be nice for all the hair to have something to stick to :)

So far so good

Here is the finished product. You handsome devil you! I kind of miss his hair, but this will be OK for awhile too :)

We love Greenbluff!

2009-07-22T23:13:00.000-07:00

We really do. I wish I could go every day....seriously.

A visit from Kermit

2009-07-12T23:06:00.000-07:00

The frog that is. Tonight Loren and I were watching a movie and out of nowhere a frog jumped right on my computer screen. I'm not normally scared of a little tree frog, but we were INDSIDE and in the dark...quite shocking. Needless to say my laptop flew from my lap and I was out the door in about a second. Loren had a good chuckle and we decided to save him for the kids to see in the morning. I'm sure they'll want to keep him... I hope he doesn't have a family.....hmmm

Mt. Spokane

2009-06-25T23:03:00.000-07:00

It all started with Sammy getting a new backpack from REI. So then we HAD to go someplace so he could try it out. It wasn't quite warm enough for the lake, so last Saturday we headed up to Mt. Spokane and it was lot's of fun! We even (almost) made it the whole time without anyone crying! Sam had a little spill at the end and Katie fell out of the car onto her head (long story). But fun was had by all and I think we'll go back sometime. The view is really amazing and I had forgotten what a beautiful drive it is.

Sammy was a little nervous about the view below...perhaps because I had just told him not to fall off :)

Feeling a little bit more comfortable

Snow?!?? Not too sure what to think of that...

Ahhh sunshine! It was 50 degrees up there :)

Sammy's favorite part of the day...snack time!!

I threw this one in because lately we have this face in every one of our "photo shoots." Silly girl :) It makes me smile every time!

Looks like I have some catching up to do.....

2009-06-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

WOW! Please excuse us, we've been a little busy. I don't know how it happened, but I've suddenly become the mother of children who DO things and need to BE places. What happened to my days of reading books all morning and thinking going to Target or the grocery store was a big outing?? Here is a little of what we have been up to the last couple of months...

Katie had a birthday. Happy birthday sweetie!! How did 6 sneek up on me so fast anyway?

We have a new gardner, her name is Lily. She's in charge of all the digging. Cuteness is the only thing that keeps her around :)

Sammy's school bike-a-thon. He rode the ENTIRE hour and a half. Katie got to join in on the fun too!

POOL'S OPEN!!! And Grandpa keeps it heated very warm for us, thanks Grandpa!

Hot weather in May means only 1 thing for us...the lake!!

Yes...we went IN!

Our bathing beauty :)

Katie's class field trip to Finch Arboretum

Sammy's Spring program at school..

A new kitchen project...lots of sanding. Sanding, LOT'S of it....Did I mention there was some sanding?

Sammy's school field trip across the parking lot to the nursery :)

Katie's school program..

The bowl and pitcher..

Last day of Kindergarten!! Boo Hoo and hooray!

Last chance on the monkey bars as a Kindergartener :)

Katie's first piano recital. She did great!

Just look at this face!

2009-04-29T17:05:00.001-07:00

This is our new puppy! We chose her last night and it was so much fun :) All of the puppies are so cute, it was hard to choose just one! We won't get to bring her home until late next week, but we're very excited. There are still a few available if anyone is interested (Jennifer) hee hee :) Here are a few more pictures...

Our New Furry Addition

2009-04-14T22:52:00.000-07:00

We went to look at some adorable Golden Retriever puppies today and guess what??
We don't know which one will be ours yet. We won't get to pick one for a couple of weeks, then she won't come home until the middle of May. Here are some pictures of the puppies. Aren't they cute?

Signs of Spring

2009-03-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

Sammy and I came home from school a couple of days ago and found this...

Yay!! Spring may come after all!

Happy Birthday Sammy!

2009-03-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

Today is my little boy's 4th birthday. I can't believe it! Here he is 4 years ago...

And here he is today...

We had a fun party today and Sammy scored BIG TIME in the guitar accessory department!

Katie showing off her new beautiful mask!

Oops! Got a little burnt hair blowing out the candles :)

A guitar stand! A guitar stand! Thank you Grandpa and Grandma :)

Sammy of course has to try out his new loot!

Happy birthday Sammy!

Sammy sings!

2009-03-06T21:46:00.000-08:00

Last week, Uncle Roland was so gracious and asked Sammy if he wanted to "help" lead worship for Discovery that night. Uh.....YES! It is so sweet to watch my little boy singing Bible songs and loving it :) Thanks Uncle Roland! After much frustration, I've finally been able to upload this video. This clip is of the practice before Discovery.

It's Official.....

2009-02-26T22:01:00.001-08:00

Katie has a loose tooth! That was going to be the title for my post last night until it got too late and I went to bed. Today, the title changed to.....

It's Official......Katie lost her first tooth!!!

Here is the picture from last night when we first discovered she had a slightly, hardly noticeable loose tooth

A mere 18 hours later and here is what we have, or don't have I should say...

Can you believe that? It all happened so fast I'm still in shock. I guess I wasn't very prepared to have Katie losing teeth yet! I was completely unaware of the the apparent, yet surprising attatchment I had to the tooth. I know that sounds weird and I'm OK now, really.
Uncle Roland was the kind person who happily pulled out the tooth and it was quite quick and relatively painless, so I hear. I witnessed the whole thing. Katie took it better than me or Sammy. In fact, after we were back in the car on the way home Sammy started crying and when I asked him why he was sad he said, "Katie doesn't have anymore teeth and I don't want Uncle Roland to yank all my teeth out!!" He was consoled and will be happy to have Uncle Roland pull his teeth out when the time comes. That is if Uncle Roland is still a willing participant :) Anyway, it was very exciting and the tooth fairy has paid a visit to Katie and you just can't believe you have read so much about 1 child losing a tooth in your life (if anyone is still reading at this point).

Sunshine!!

2009-02-21T15:02:00.000-08:00

We have sunshine today! It is so beautiful and sunny we just HAD to get the bikes out!

Then we decided it was so nice, we had to go for a walk...

A boy and his dog..

Happy President's Day!

2009-02-16T23:07:00.000-08:00

For those of you who think I'm patriotic, I'm just excited to have the kids home today for some fun :) So instead of honoring our President (sorry Obama) we just had fun today!
Our first stop, of course, was here...

The kids enjoying a very special treat...

Then, (we're such nerds) we head to the library to find some books!

Last but not least, a trip to the Colbert store for some insanely cheap candy. A little background, the Colbert store is some run down store that I used to go to as a kid and buy candy. If you go in and "granny" is there, you will feel as if you've personally smoked an entire pack of cigarettes....no kidding. But the kids can each walk away with a bag full of candy for about $1 each! It's an experience :)

Mmmmm...candy...

Happy President's Day!!

Valentine's Fun!

2009-02-13T20:36:00.000-08:00

This afternoon was our Valentine's cookie decorating "party" at home. You might think we would be tired of cookies by now. Why you may ask? Yesterday was Sammy's preschool Valentine's party where there were heart shaped cookies to frost...

Also yesterday Katie's Kindergarten class celebrated their 100th day of school with some cool "100" cookies...

Today was Katie's class Valentine's party with, yup, you guessed it! More heart shaped cookies to frost!

So of course when we got home today, what do you think we wanted to do? Frost MORE cookies! (You would think this would get old for all of us....NOT!!)

Of course you must ALWAYS sample just to make sure it is edible :)

Sammy sits back and relaxes after a job well done..

Chica quickly smells the cookies and comes shamelessly begging for one

Katie, feeling sorry for our poor, starving Dog, eagerly shares

Time for a new post huh?

2009-02-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

As you can tell from my extremely long hiatus from blogging, not much has been happening around here. Not much except waiting and longing for Spring to come and trying not to go crazy in the meantime!
One new and not too exciting thing is that Katie made it past the beginning phase of pierced ears with no infections and she now has the freedom to change her earrings whenever her little heart desires.....or whenever I feel like changing them!
Sammy has reached a new milestone and no longer even says goodbye to me when I leave him at school :( I'm trying to remind myself this is a good thing!
Until something new and or exciting comes along, I'm going to post some warm weather pics and try to remember life OUTSIDE the house!

Katie's Big Day!

2008-12-27T21:41:00.000-08:00

Not too big of a day, but to Katie it sure was! Loren let her get her ears pierced for Christmas. She's been asking for awhile, and last night was the moment. Here are the shots....

Right now she is completely ashamed of me because I'm taking sooo many pictures.

Marking the ears with the marker...the excitement is building!!

Sammy watches with a smile!

Ouch!!

Ice cream makes everything better! She really was very brave and stopped crying right away :)

A hug from Daddy can't hurt either!

Sammy was enjoying the whole ordeal too...

Last but not least, a blurry close up of the newly decorated ear...

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T22:26:00.000-08:00

We spent a wonderful, joyous evening with Loren's family tonight. We started off with an absolutely delicious dinner of briskit and baked potatoes followed by some yummy Christmas treats! Next we sat in the living room singing Christmas songs, knitting, ringing jingle bells and playing with the train. What a wonderful start of our celebration of the birth of our Savior!

It's a Festivus for the restivus!

2008-12-23T21:58:00.000-08:00

Happy festivus everyone! For those of you "normal" people, Festivus is a silly holiday on the Seinfeld show. Instead of a tree, there is a metal pole. Here is the best part....you get to tell all your family members how they have dissapointed you over the year. All in good fun of course! Every year (for the 10th year now I believe), we get together with Loren's family and fondue for Festivus. The fondue is not part of the show, but hey, it's fun and yummy!!

Popcorn Balls

2008-12-22T22:08:00.000-08:00

Every year at Christmas, Grandma Verna slaves over the stove making syrup for popcorn balls. The rest of us scurry and stir like mad attempting to form the "perfect" popcorn ball. They taste oh so yummy too! Thanks GV for being the brains and the talent of the whole operation. We look forward to doing it again next year :)

Snow and Katie the missionary

2008-12-14T22:27:00.000-08:00

We finally have snow!!! Here are the kids having some fun...

I got some new cookie cutters on Saturday. I'm so excited about these so I have to show them. It all started with a conversation with Katie in the car last Friday.
K: Mommy, wouldn't it be fun to make baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph cookies this year?
Me: That would be really fun. But where would we get cookie cutters like that?

Fast forward to the next morning at Carolyn's Cakes just browsing by myself. I look up on the wall and what do you think I see? Imagine Katie's excitement!

So here's the Katie missionary part....I am not aloud to say anything about Jesus to anyone in her class anytime, even at Christmas and neither is her teacher. BUT, Katie may say anything she likes! So Katie will be taking these fun cookies to share with her class at school tomorrow and while she is passing them out, she is going to share the real Christmas story with her classmates. Cool huh? We're very excited to find out how this goes! There are so many kids in her class that have never heard of Jesus and at least one whose Mom believes in Allah. Katie is very excited about this fun way to share about Jesus :)

O Christmas Tree

2008-12-06T19:37:00.000-08:00

For the first time as a family, we hiked into the mountains and cut down a REAL Christmas tree! It was so much fun, we think we'll do it again next year :)

Here we are....I think this might be THE SPOT!

This is the one :)

Cutting down a tree is hard work!

And here is our Charlie Brown Christmas tree....and we love it!!

Winter is Here!

2008-11-29T22:20:00.001-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving with sweet family and to top it off, we got snow!! We're pretty pumped at our house. So to celebrate the wonderful upcoming Christmas season, and the new snow of course, Loren decided we should go ice skating. We've taken Katie several times and she loves it. Sammy has never gone. And being the one with less athletic motivation (we'll say), we weren't sure how long we'd be at the ice rink :)
Getting all suited up. And yes....it's true. Our children are THOSE kids whose parents make them wear helmets. We had to hang our heads in shame over this one.

Okay....we're having fun so far!!

Starting off strong...still on our feet

Gimme a break Mom, it's been a couple of years

After a few times around it all comes back to her and she's doing great!

And the verdict is..... we like ice skating!

One tired little ice skater. She did get quite a nice compliment from a boy we found out later we knew from church. He said, "WOW! She has the coolest hockey helmet!!" This was pleasing to her :)

The Christmas Train

2008-11-29T21:13:00.001-08:00

Every year, Sammy's favorite thing is for Grandma and Grandpa to get out their train to go around the Christmas tree. It is a MUST that we talk about the train every day. It's better if we can go see the train. If that isn't possible, quite a bit of conversation about the train is required. Well.....yesterday was the day after Thanksgiving and guess what came out?? We have a happy boy :)

Uh oh, paper crafts....a holiday must be coming!

2008-11-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

These cute little hand turkeys are so fun to make and so easy too. Even not-at-all- crafty, I-hate-coloring- Sammy had fun making them!

He does, however, enjoy glueing anything and everything he possibly can...

and, drumroll please.......

A beautiful turkey in the shape of Sammy's hand. This is a proud moment for me as a mother of a boy. He's completed a crafty task people.

Being the complete opposite, this one oozes creativity and craftiness from every single pore.

That's my girl!!

She takes great pride in her work, doesn't she?

Cookies and make -up..odd combo I know

2008-11-16T21:04:00.000-08:00

This week we had a special visit from our friend Mrs. Dingfield. So the girls (Erica, Katie, Mrs. Dingfield and Kate) and Sammy too, had a cookie baking adventure. During the mixing, Sammy got out his guitar and was our live entertainment! We followed that up by trying on some new make up that Mrs. Dingfield so graciously shared with us. Thanks Ruth!! Of course during the make up portion, Sammy and Mr. Dingfield retreated to Sammy's room for some "guy time." :)

My 7 (very) random things...

2008-11-03T21:09:00.000-08:00

Here you go Kate!!

1. My dryer broke last week. I told Loren not to buy me a new one.

2. Katie and I have become pioneers and are hanging our clothes to dry and loving it! Does that count as a separate one??

3. I am picking up Mindy and her family from the airport at midnight tonight.

4. I canned apples this summer (weird I know) and am loving all the apple goodies I can bake so easily!

5. I've already purchased my children's Halloween costumes for next year. You'll have to wait to see what they are :)

6. I ate dessert for lunch today....apple crisp from those canned apples :)

7. Loren just ordered the Peanuts Christmas music cd for me. It will be here Wednesday and I don't know if I'll be able to wait to listen to it!!

Halloween.....sorry, can't think of anything better!

2008-10-31T22:34:00.000-07:00

OK, to avoid blogging 5 days in a row, you'll be getting a slideshow of not only trick-or treating, but some school "Autumn Harvest" activities. Our trick-or-treating pics were taken at the Waterford last night, which is the highlight of Halloween for us!

Autumn Program

2008-10-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

Wow!! Three days in a row I think. This is some sort of record for me. Today was Sammy's very first school program. It was completely uneventful, aka, pretty boring. But it was very fun to see Sammy sing and be a real kid. He didn't cry or just stand there motionless either. He did pretty well. Good job Sammy! Daddy, Grandma Marilyn, Grandma Great and Grandpa Great came and shared in the morning with us!

Cookies!!!

2008-10-29T21:39:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things to do during holidays or special occasions (if you can call Halloween either of those things) is to decorate cookies with Katie. This year Sammy decided he would join us and we all had a great time! You'll notice quite a difference in Katie's cookies vs. Sammy's. :)

Busy as a bee decorating...and then...her finished product....

Sammy happily decorates, frosts and sprinkles.....all in about 90 seconds

and the boy's finished product...

I know you thought I'd be too embarrased to show my cookies, but I can handle it :)

And since some of these went to Katie's friend Kael who had a finger accident at school, we had to sample and make sure they were fit to give away!!

Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the big pumpkin carving night at our house. The kids have been waiting for this day ever since we went to Greenbluff a couple of weeks ago. Here are a few highlights.

Sammy watching intensley as Loren begins carving.

Katie doing the same...

Katie carving ON HER OWN

Scoopin' out the guts

Showing some scary faces...well Katie anyway

Ooohhhh, scary!!

Katie's New Scarf

2008-10-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

If any of you know how poor my knitting skills are, you'll really appreciate this miracle that's happened. Katie asked me to make her a purple scarf for Christmas. So naturally I got my needles and yarn...and went right to work....fully expecting complete failure followed by a trip to the mall. Well, after completion of said scarf, I decided it needed some "flair." So I went online and read how to do this flair and here it is.... Oh-this is a Christmas gift for Katie. So if any of you tell, well...you're in big trouble. BIG!

I'm feeling confident now. I think I'll go knit a hat....then head to the mall :)

Hallelujah it's fixed!!

2008-10-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

This may not be the tremendously lovely sight for sore eyes you've been waiting for...but it certainly is to me! After a couple of hard hours of work by Loren, I have my sink back. No sock sucked up by the washing machine, just years of literal crud finally taking over space in my drain. I've never been so thankful to have the dishwasher, washing machine and faucet running at the same time. It may seem silly, but I actually spent time thanking God for a working kitchen. Funny how these things make you appreciate every day things so much. I'm also thankful for a husband who recognizes my need to have these things working :)

Sink Update

2008-10-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

I know the very few people who read my blog have all been in suspense to get an update on my backed up sink, so here it is. Loren has determined that thewashing machine did NOT suck up a sock, it is NOT the disposal, but in fact a clogged pipe very near the actual sink itself. I went to lowe's today and purchased two contraptions (one of which Loren will choose to unclog the pipe).

And in case you're wondering....he chose the one on the left.

Still...more dirty dishes....

The drain pipe auger (aka contraption on the left) did not work as successfully as hoped. I am heading back to Lowes shortly to find more contraptions so Loren can "rig" another contraption and hopefully blast out the clog with some water and more wiggling of the contraption on the left. As silly as this sounds, I'm really enjoying my "break" from doing too much cooking seeing as how I can't do the dishes :)

I love my sink

2008-10-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight my kitchen sink backed up...at about 10:00....with a sink full of dishes....and houseguests....I think I may be sick. We thought it was the disposal at first. Then Loren realized the pipe was clogged. He couldn't find the snake "thing" that is supposed to unplug anything you can possibly imagine. SO he came up with an alternative. His newest theory is that my washing machine sucked up a sock (which it has been known to do) and plugged EVERYTHING up. So lets all be appreciative of our working kitchen sinks, cause I could really use one right now :)
I'm really missing it. That is a sad statement I know, but oh the joys of life when Loren gets it working again! Here are a few photos for your enjoyment...

The non-problem causing disposal.

Dirty dishes

I'll let you know how it turns out!!

Picture for Mary

2008-10-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

Here you go Mary! This is Katie's 5th birthday cake and Mary is doing a butterfly cake for her daughter's birthday. I hope it turns out better than mine!

How I spend my free time

2008-10-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

I'm absolutely sure no explanation is needed....

Our visit with the Kroll's

2008-10-09T21:28:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of having our dear friends the Kroll's over for the afternoon. It was so good to see them after so long! I think almost 3 years in fact, jeepers :) Jack and William have grown so much and are so handsome! Here are a few pics of our day...

Flower Child

2008-10-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

As it turns out, Katie has a green thumb. In the Spring, Katie plucked the seeds from the previous year's sunflower and planted them. This is what happened....

Apple Butter Recipe

2008-09-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

Here you go Angie!! This is a yummy one :)

8 medium apples, peeled, cored, sliced
4 cups sugar
4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. salt

Put prepared apples in a crockpot. Add sugar and spices (I use 1 cup less sugar).
Cook in crockpot on high for 2 hours. Then turn on low for another 2 hours. Transfer to blender and mix to desired consistency. Return to crockpot and cook on low without the lid until it thickens. Then I can it so I don't have to refrigerate it!
I must add that I couldn't have made all that apple butter without my wonderful, generous mother in law giving me so many apples. Thanks Mom!!
--If you have a large crockpot, you can easily double the recipe too :)

My new favorite thing this week

2008-09-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

Apple butter. Something happened to me in the last week and I've discovered my love of making apple butter. It's very Little House on the Praire-ish, but it feels so good to have jars of the stuff piling up in my pantry. So any of you who read my blog will probably be getting some at Christmas time...whether you like apple butter or not! Oh, and it makes my house smell really, really good!

I did it!!

2008-09-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

This story will sound pretty silly, but I'm telling anyway :) At the beginning of the summer we were at the lake and I started thinking out loud. I said to Loren, "I wonder if I could ski from Rockford Bay (where we go every weekend) to Coeur d'alene." That is about 15 miles. I was thinking somewhere in the 5 year range. By the end of the conversation I had made it my goal for the summer. So yesterday, my very patient husband took the day off from work and humored me by taking us to the lake so I could do my silly ski. So I did it and it wasn't nearly as exciting as I had hoped it would be :) Oh well! Now I have to think of something else for next summer. Any suggestions??

My sweet Katie cheered me on and this is how exciting it was for Sammy....

Happy (almost) Birthday Grandma!

2008-09-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated Grandma Marilyn's birthday a few days early and headed to the fair. It was a beautiful day and the kids got the full fair experience.

He did it!!

2008-09-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

Yup, he actually did it. This little baby became a big boy and went to preschool today! Or as he calls himself "a very fast man." So my very fast man went off to school and I got the report that he only cried a very little bit for a very short time. Hooray!! It doesn't hurt that he has known his teacher Mrs. Larson for two years now :) We love Mrs. Larson around our house! I'm so relieved and proud of my very fast man for doing so well on his first day of school. Good job Sam!

Another first day of school tradition...the picture by the front door. So far no tears have been shed and we are all still smiling :) This is a good sign.

Well here we are in the sanctuary of Beautiful Savior. In a few short moments we will get an introductory speech from Pastor...then the fun starts! And by that I mean Sammy will start crying. But wait......he actually didn't!! Hooray!

You'll notice the after school picture is not the teary eyed, sad faced little boy I was expecting. Instead I walked to the car with a happy, smiling, very proud of himself big boy who had fun at school! I asked Sammy how he got to be such a big boy and he said, "cause I went to school." Duh Mom :)

The traditional first day of school McDonald's ice cream :)

Is there such a thing as a "quick" trip to Greenbluff?

2008-09-08T22:29:00.001-07:00

I got a wild hair this morning and decided we would head up to Greenbluff for a quick apple picking trip. Can you really have a quick trip to greenbluff? Apparently you can. I thought we'd be there all afternoon, but I guess we picked a pretty good time to go. We arrived and were the only ones picking! It was a beautiful afternoon and although we didn't come home with tons of apples, we were there just about 30 minutes. That's a pretty quick trip for us anyway. I think this was the first time Sammy actually enjoyed picking fruit :) Now what am I going to do with those apples?

Ready....set....pick!!

He's working pretty hard to pull that cart! He decided he didn't want me to have to pull it, so he would. What a gentleman :)

Mmmm, apples taste pretty good on a hot afternoon!

This is me forcing them to stop and pose for the camera!

Sammy continues to eat apples...

Katie being the good little worker bee that she is, eagerly searched for the biggest apples with no holes or brown spots. Good girl Katie!

....and Sammy still eating...

Already enjoying the fruits of their labor, so to speak...

Two exhausted kids!

Tea Time

2008-09-07T22:20:00.000-07:00

This afternoon Loren, Grandpa Larry and Sammy took off for the lake so the girls decided to get together for a "real" tea party. By real I mean we drank out of actual tea cups, had yummy food, dressed up fancy (well.. as fancy as we get) and then we called it a real tea party. I'm pretty sure we didn't follow any of the "real" rules for a "real" tea party, but we called it real so there you go!

Say hello to Kindergarten!

2008-09-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

It's happened. My little girl with the tiny bit of hair on the very top of her head, who used to want to guggle (snuggle) every night, who would go everywhere with me and be my little pal had her first day of Kindergarten today. After 2 years of preschool I knew this day would come. I found myself not being nearly as prepared as I thought I'd be. After much prayer, God has given me peace about sending her out into the cruel world of public school. Ok, I know Kindergarten isn't exactly the "cruel world" but in my mind the last few days it has been! I have a feeling my prayer life will grow dramatically this coming year :) All that said, Katie had a great day and I didn't get arrested by driving around the playground 4 times in a row looking like a psychotic stalker rather than a mother trying desperately to see her baby playing outside :)

This sweet little thing went to bed a child and woke up as a Kindergartener! Ok, she's still a child, but where did the time go?

Our annual picture in front of the house. The kids stay still longer every year :)
Katie would have you notice that she has brown in her shirt (the color for the day at school) and she has jeans on. Yes, you read correctly. I said jeans. She has decided after 5 years of hating any clothing with 2 leg holes, that she absolutely loves them. Go figure!

Can you feel the excitement building?? We're in the car, we're buckled....and here we go!

Loren got to come to school with us this morning (we love having a Daddy that works from home). This is where Katie and her classmates will stand in the morning while they wait for Mrs. Jacobson to bring them in to class.

.....the after school pick-up...

And of course the day wouldn't be complete without our annual after school trip to McDonald's for ice cream! Yumm!

Tea Party!!

2008-08-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at breakfast, Katie said, "Mommy, I'm not feeling well. I think having a tea party would help me feel better. Can we have a tea party?" It had been awhile since our last tea party so I agreed. "Mommy, can Sammy stay in his room for our tea party?"
I know that boys don't go to tea parties, but I couldn't make the boy stay in his room, so Sammy joined us for the tea party and had quite a delightful time :)
Then Katie saw our neighbor Joan, (aka Mrs. Joan) and thought she should join us. So we had a wonderful afternoon tea with Mrs. Joan too!

20 Years Ago...

2008-08-21T22:58:00.000-07:00

I was 10 years old probably in the 5th grade. I'm sure I spent most of my time being as silly and goofy as I could be with Kim. Playing volleyball, rollerblade basketball and laying around outside. Oddly enough Loren had come to my house with my cousin to drop something off. I wasn't home and we had never met. We might have had quite a different future :)

10 Years ago...
I was in my 4th year of college and Loren and I were planning our wedding and had just purchased our first home.

5 Years ago...
I had a 4 month old baby Katie and life was completely different (and fantastic) than I ever imagined.

3 Years ago...
We had a 2 year old little Katie and a 5 month old little Sammy. We had just moved into our current house and we were figuring out life with a new house and two kids!

1 Year ago...
Enjoying Loren working from home and had just turned down a job in Arizona. Katie was ready to begin her second year of preschool 4 days a week. Sammy was enjoying the thought of time alone with Mommy :)

Today...
Enjoying the company of my Mom who drove over from Seattle to teach me how to can peaches. Very fun, thanks Mom!! Went swimming in the rain at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Today I am thankful for my kids who apologized to each other when they were not kind and decided that they love each other and worked together happily :) I know it won't last so I'll enjoy it today!

Tomorrow...
Go to church and do some work, maybe go swimming and/or a bike ride??

Next Year...
Who knows?? God has been showing me this summer that I can plan my days all I want,
but He is the One who owns my time, not me :)

My Page!

2008-08-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

In my deep desire to get some scrapbooking done, I have gone digital. Traditional was getting me nowhere (sorry LaNae). I must say I love it! It may just be the greatest thing ever. Ok, maybe not ever, but it's pretty cool. I haven't been doing any of the cool things I should be doing, but at least it's getting done, right? So, here's a sample that is not quite finished yet. Here you go Mindy :) Let's see some of yours now! (Unless they are better than mine, then forget I said anything)

Bologna Face

2008-08-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

You can tell nothing fantastic is happening when I post pictures of bologna!

I'm a sell out

2008-08-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

I've finally caved and had to change the background of my blog. What do you think?

One Sleepy Boy

2008-08-04T13:18:00.000-07:00

If this isn't tired, I don't know what is :)

And she's up!

2008-07-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

On the 4th of July, Katie learned to water ski!! She had a blast and during part of her trip, she let go with one hand and gave us a thumbs up :) She's a natural!

Jam anyone?

2008-07-10T21:58:00.001-07:00

It's strawberry season and today we went a pickin'! We headed up to Greenbluff this morning and had a very successful trip. I had two great helpers and the three of us came home with 12 lbs. of strawberries and 6 lbs. of rhubarb. Mmmm!!

One hungry berry picker :)

My number 1 strawberry picker :)

Hard at work!

After a hard day of picking strawberries in the hot, windy field, we stopped for some Huckleberry ice cream. Yummy!

Soon these yummy little buggers will be turned into some delicious jam. Yum!!

Oh Nooo!

Ahh....the finished product! I can even hear the lids "sealing" as I type. What a great feeling!

We're stickers!!

2008-07-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

This is our sticker family. Fun huh?

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

I think we're out of gas.....

2008-07-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

Every year, Sun Up Bay holds a fireworks show on the 3rd of July. We thought we'd check it out. It was mildly entertaining, but that was to be expected. It was a good warm up for the "big one" the next night. As we were leaving and feeling quite exhausted and children who were on the verge of tears, the boat shut off and Loren says, "I think we're out of gas." In complete disbelief I asked if he was joking. Nope. We both grabbed a paddle and went to work getting back to Sun Up bay, praying there would be someone there, anyone, who could give us gas. Fortunately, the volunteer Coast gaurd came along and towed us to the bay, found the guy who could give us gas and we were on our way. Whew!! The teary eyed children were very worried we were going to be living in the boat for the rest of their lives. :)
Now... here are our pictures from the actual 4th of July and we did NOT run out of gas!! We had the pleasure of having our cousin Kristina with us along with Mindy and her family.

The Ice Cream Man Came Today!

2008-06-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

No explanation needed.....

A Conversation with Sammy

2008-06-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

Background: Kids are in bed and we hear some footsteps in the hall.
Loren: Sammy, what are you doing?
Sammy: Just walking around
L: Why?
S: My neck hurts so I can't go to bed
L: That's too bad, where does your neck hurt?
S: Right here (pointing to his tummy)
Erica: Hmm, well I gues you shouldn't go to bed then
S: Ya, I need to go in the hot tub. Then I feel better
Loren has pity on his son and ten minutes later in the hot tub:
L: Does your neck feel better?
S: No, still hurts (pointing to his arm)
E: What made your neck hurt?
S: All the animals in my room, just the elephant made it hurt A LOT!
The rest is less interesting. Seems he's getting smarter :)

I Threw a Rock at my Grandma

2008-06-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

It's true.....Sammy threw a rock at my Mom a couple of days ago. Of course being a three year old, he doesn't know how to aim well and it was a complete accident! It was also a very small rock and he didn't throw it hard. We had quite a good chuckle over the whole thing. It was pretty funny! Despite the kids being wet and muddy and me and my Mom being repeatedly bitten by mosquitos, it was a great day!

It's funny how you forget that throwing rocks into the water for an hour is really fun. But it actually is!! I guess that's one of the joys of having children.

Pacific Science Center

2008-06-01T23:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were able to go to Seattle for some fun and today we headed to the Pacific Science Center. We didn't have a lot of time, but we saw some pretty cool stuff!

Bike-A-Thon and Mommy's Little Princess?

2008-05-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

Katie's school had their annual bike-a-thon this week and it was pretty fun. We had some good laughs and there were a lot of cute kids on bikes. Even I did a lap around the course!

This week Katie's friend Erin came over to play. As you can see, she and Sammy had a chance to play together as well. Here's what they did....

Giant Duck

2008-05-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

There really aren't words to describe this, so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

The Pool is Open!

2008-05-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

On Mother's Day the kids decided it was time to take the first official dip in the pool. They were slightly chilly, but they all had a blast!

Katie's First Apple Pie

2008-05-05T21:32:00.000-07:00

Katie decided in honor of Grandma and Grandpa coming home from Russia today, she was going to make an apple pie all by herself. This all started at Benedito's Saturday night when she fashioned a "pie crust" from her yummy yet slightly undercooked bread stick. She actually did a pretty good job for a 5 year old. I'll let you be the judge!!

Ahh, the lake...Yes I know it's April in Spokane

2008-04-27T22:21:00.000-07:00

Today we took our first trip of the year to the lake. The weather man promised us warm weather and by golly, we just had to go! It was a bit chilly, but we had a blast. And yes, that is a winter hat on Katie's and Sammy's heads :)

Happy Birthday Katie!

2008-04-25T00:09:00.000-07:00

Today my little baby turned 5 years old. I can't believe how quickly she's grown and what a sweet girl we have been blessed with. We celebrated birthdays all week in our family, so these pictures were taken over a one week span.
Today, we started off the day with a donut breakfast. After opening a few presents it was off to Starbucks for some drinks! Back at home we had a very enjoyable time decorating cupcakes for Katie's class then off to McDonald's for lunch. After school Daddy took us to the bike shop and Katie was able to get a new bike, yay!! (pictures later) and then we had Uncle Danny, Auntie Mindy, Annsley and Seth over for waffles for dinner. It was a great day and once again we find ourselves being so grateful for Katie and what a wonderful blessing she is to our family. We love her dearly and I have a feeling life would be very boring if it weren't for her!

Beauty Night!

2008-04-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight Katie decided she needed a beauty night. This is something she decides every time Loren is out of town for work. It's pretty fun and we have a great time! Here are a few pictures of Katie becoming "beautiful".

Our trip to Pomeroy

2008-04-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

Today we took a little day trip to a place called Pomeroy. For those of you who are like me and need further explanation, Pomeroy is about 30 miles West of Lewiston Idaho. We were there so my brother Rex could do an el switcho chango on the back of Loren's truck. We got to see Rex's family as well as Grandpa Roger (who treated us to some very yummy milkshakes). Thanks Dad!! On our way to Pomeroy, we stopped in Colfax to have lunch and visit Tick Klock drugs. This is a drugstore that Loren's Grandpa Tick used to own years ago, but they have kept the name. Very fun!
We were also able to see Tyler, Clayton and Dylan's two cows who were not at all excited to see us and were glad when we left. And I don't want to forget Buddy, their very large, happy dog. He loved the kids and the feeling was mutual! Anyway, here are the pics.

Erica's Top 5

2008-04-11T22:46:00.000-07:00

5 things I couldn't live without under $5
1. Chapstick, blistik to be specific
2. I'll agree with Pam and say a Soy Chai from Starbucks
3. A senior froggy's bean and cheese burrito (with hot sauce)
4. Hand sanitizer
5. Coke

5 favorite movies
1. Sound of Music
2. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
3. The Jerk
4. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
5. The Trouble with Angels

5 baby names I love, but won't use (I'm not sure if I can take this one seriously)
1. Ada Klock
2. Nina Klock
3. Tina Klock
4. Peyton
5. Elsie

5 songs I could listen to over and over again
1. Sam's song (not at all related to the fact that it's my son's name)
2. What a friend we have in Jesus
3. The Christmas song
4. Barbara Manity ( silly I know, it's Veggie Tales)
5. Gorgeous

5 people who have influenced my life in a positive way
1. Jesus
2. Loren
3. Karol
4. Kelli
5. Katie and Sammy (I know that's two, but oh well)

5 things that stay in my purse at all times
1. Hand sanitizer
2. Chapstick
3. Gum
4. Advil
5. Katie's sunglasses (weird I know)

5 moments that changed my life forever
1. Giving my life to the Lord
2. Marrying Loren
3. Having Katie
4. Having Sammy
5. hmmm...not sure

5 obsessions I have right now
1. Vacuuming....I love to vacuum
2. being on the computer
3. Green tea (cold with honey)
4. getting the kid's bathroom done
5. teaching Sammy how to buckle his own carseat

5 places I would like to go
1. New York
2. Rome
3. The Carribean
4. Hawaii
5. Disneyland

5 people I would like to see their top 5
1. Mindy
2. Sarah
3. Alicia
4. Wendy
5. Stacy

Bathroom Project...What day am I on? Day 4

2008-04-11T21:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am finally DONE!! The last coat of paint was applied, then dried. All the hardware is back in their proper places (I think) and whew! I'm done. So here is the before picture. Remember this?? Now scroll down to see the after picture. I think you'll be as pleased as I am.

2008-04-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

.......after.

Not terribly wonderful, but definitely better than it was!

2008-04-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

And here is the bathroom after adding our new rug, towels and shower curtain from Ikea.

Ahhhh...Now I can breathe a sigh of relief!

Bathroom Project Day 3

2008-04-11T00:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, there have not been any more unforseen disasters, so....I'm ready to paint!! This is drawer # 1 and doors # , hmmm....I hope I numbered them. Oh yes! Doors numbers 3 and 4. Get ready, get set, here we go!!

2008-04-11T00:39:00.000-07:00

Here is the can of paint I will be using. I'm very sure you'll all run out this minute and buy some. Rodda paint # 8406 in case you were wondering.

2008-04-11T00:36:00.000-07:00

These are drawers numbers 2, 3 and 4 with 1 coat of paint. Very exciting huh? They will get 1 more coat tomorrow and then, hopefully I will be done, hooray!!