Florko Family Blog

Chris Turns 33....finally

2012-01-27T18:28:00.000-08:00

It is funny to think that Chris is 6 months younger than I am, but it is true..( although he acts much younger at times) We finally celebrated his 33 birthday on the 12th of January, a day late. We still haven't had time to go out to dinner, but that is what happens during busy season.

At least we were able to sing him Happy Birthday with an ice cream cake.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!

Hockey

2012-01-27T18:22:00.000-08:00

2 weeks ago Ethan, Ella and I went to McCall for a hockey tournament, and Eli and Chris went to Nelson for a hockey tournament. I took a few pictures of McCall, which was a ghost town without any snow, and a photographer at the tournament snapped some great shots of Elijah. (He is number 14 in the red helmet.)

Ethan is number 87, with the colorful gloves

This was a cute bear statue in front of the Lake...it was too bright and they couldn't see me :)

The hockey rink

Ethan ran out on the frozen lake

Disney on Ice

2012-01-08T21:48:00.000-08:00

Just now posting this picture from Toy Story Disney on Ice Elijah and I went to. This was lots of fun for Eli, although he was a little scared when we got there, not knowing what to expect. I remember taking Ethan to the first Toy Story Disney on Ice, so this was a special event for me!

Christmas

2011-12-26T13:00:00.000-08:00

Ella wanted to pose today with her babies and new stroller she got for Christmas from her Grandma Florko. I am working on getting the rest of the pictures put on today.

Dee turns 90

2011-12-18T13:21:00.000-08:00

Picture with Papa

singing happy birthday

all 90 candles lit

We celebrated Dee's birthday a day early last weekend when they came down to visit. 90 candles on a cake is hot and hard to light fast enough so that all the wax doesn't cover the cake. It was pretty funny, but when all said and done we lit all 90 and sang happy birthday

Hockey

2011-12-18T12:48:00.000-08:00

Eli scored his first goal today during his Jr. Mite hockey game!! He is too funny to watch out on the ice, for starters he is the smallest kid out there, and he is usually trailing behind the puck trying to catch it. Today they played three games and he did great! Here are his team pictures along with his individual picture with Ethan.

Elijah and Ethan 2011

Jr. Mite Raptors

(Can you see how happy Eli is to get his first team picture..usually there are no smiles in hockey pictures, the boys try to look tough)

Christmas Picture Attempts

2011-12-11T20:02:00.000-08:00

My good friend Erin came over today to help us try and capture the perfect christmas picture. After many, many attempts we managed to capture a few good ones. Here are some out takes for you to enjoy.

2011-12-05T22:09:00.000-08:00

Video of Eli Skating

2011-11-25T19:46:00.000-08:00

Watch for the red helmet skating fast

Elijah playing hockey

2011-11-25T19:30:00.000-08:00

Elijah is now playing hockey on the Jr. Mites Team "Raptors." Here are some pictures from their first game. He is number 14 in the red helmet.

Boise Getaway

2011-11-09T21:42:00.000-08:00

I had the chance to make a quick weekend trip down to Boise to visit my family and my best friend from high school. I was able to come by myself, which rarely happens. Here are some pictures from my trip.

Ella turns 2

2011-10-31T21:44:00.000-07:00

opening presents with her two helpers

baby!

so excited she got a baby (notice the face in the background, I found about 5 more looking at the pictures)

another little baby

This is her new smile we get every time we ask for a picture

Happy 2nd Birthday Ella

The many faces of Ella

2011-10-06T22:07:00.000-07:00

Chris has been working on different facial expressions with Ella so I though I would capture and share some of them with you.

Back to School

2011-09-06T22:37:00.000-07:00

We are back to school once again and things are sure different this year. Ethan is now a 7th grader, if you can believe that! He gets to get up early and ride the bus to school everyday, (not sure how long the excitement will last) and he gets to go to 6 different periods each day with all different teachers. Today went smoothly and he didn't have any complaints, so far so good. I am going to try to snap a picture of him tomorrow getting on the bus...he he he :)

Elijah did not want to go back to school today, but once we arrived he didn't throw a fit and went right into his preschool class!!

Ella is always ready for school until we get there and then she grabs onto my leg and doesn't let go....why does this always happen to me. I want to be the dad sometimes and just wave goodbye like they do with him.

Well I didn't win the mom of the year award today and post back to school pictures like all my friends, but I had a good excuse..our carpet arrived today!!! I have been waiting for this day for the past three years. Pictures to follow

Ethan Wakeboarding for the first time

2011-08-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

sorry this is sideways

Fun on the Lake

2011-08-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a chance to go boating out on lake CDA with a good friend of mine from college and the kids and I had such a good time. Ella surprised me the most, I thought she would be scared, but it was just the opposite she was yelling and laughing and dancing the whole time. Elijah and Ella wouldn't get in the water, but the rest of us did and we had a blast, Ethan and I even tried wakeboarding for the first time...we need more practice!

Here are some pictures from our fun filled adventure :)

getting ready to head out on the water

Ella wanted to drive most of the time so we let her try it out for a little bit

This is as close to the water as Elijah got

they wanted to sit at the front of the boat and Elijah was cheering the whole time

we took a break to stop in at Eddie's and eat

Ethan getting the wake board on his feet

in the water ready to go...I will post the video of him

staining fence

2011-08-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

Eli was my little helper this week when I was staining the fence, we finished 2 sides of the fence!

Horses

2011-08-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine let us come over and see her horses and Elijah was so excited that he was able to ride around on one. Here is a pictures of the day...afterwards we visited and picked raspberries. Yum Yum!

Kiwana's Sprint Triathalon

2011-08-06T18:41:00.000-07:00

Finished my second sprint triathalon today out in Medical Lake! My time improved a lot due to the shorter swim (I am a terrible swimmer) and I am pretty sure my bike was faster too. I think I need to be doing more than one a year and I need to get my own road bike. I am going to keep working at it!!

U District 5 K

2011-07-28T22:28:00.000-07:00

I have started the summer 5 K series again, hoping to get back into running again. Here are the three of us from last year back at it again.

Shawna, Susy and me

Surviving Silverwood another year

2011-07-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

We started with the little kid rides, here are the planes

Then we did a little bit bigger rides

Ella was mad she couldn't go on the swing ride with the boys since she was too short

another kid ride for Ella and Elijah

train roller coaster, Eli is having a blast!

helicopter ride, they were fighting over who was going to steer the ride, Ella won

toddler springs, Ella's favorite part of the day. Chris and Ethan went on the tube rides while we were at Boulder Beach

this is the ride that gets you pretty wet

Eli on the slides at Boulder Beach

All in all it was a good day, about 73 degrees so not too hot, but the water wasn't very warm. The kids had fun and Elijah almost got to go on the rollercoasters to end the evening, but he was 2 inches too short. Next year for sure.

Skyhigh

2011-07-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

I didn't get many pictures of anyone jumping because they all came out blury. I guess I do not know how to capture shots on the trampoline. Here are a few pictures that I did get.

Ethan's 12th Birthday Party at Skyhigh

Logan, Hunter, Wealthy, and Cade came to celebrate with Ethan

Ella trying to jump with Ethan

Skyhawks Soccer Camp

2011-07-25T09:22:00.001-07:00

Eli scored 4 goals in his game on Friday...now he just needs to learn how to pass to his team instead of stealing the ball away from them.

Elijah having fun at soccer camp this week

Cheney 3 on 3 Tournament

2011-07-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

Ethan played in the Cheney 3 on 3 Shootout this weekend and his team placed first in their bracket!

Way to go Blue Thunder

winners

VBS

2011-07-20T17:06:00.000-07:00

Elijah has been having such a great week at Vacation Bible School, I am so glad we signed him up. They got their shirts today and he was very excited to show it to me when I picked him up today.

They both posed for me wearing the panda mask Elijah made today

Potty Chair

2011-07-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

Ella's potty chair came today and we set it up in the bathroom and practiced sitting on it a little already. You should have seen her face when I took it out of the box. Here is what it looks like....so exciting to almost be out of diapers in the Florko household!!!!!

Elijah turns 4

2011-07-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

Elijah turned 4 yesterday and we had two of his good friends over to sing happy birthday last night. We had cake and played with toys outside.

4th of July

2011-07-05T21:49:00.000-07:00

We decorated our wagon this year with stuff around the house, nothing fancy. This is the first year we have done the entire neighborhood parade from beginning to end, it was fun, but too long for Eli to make on his bike. This is also the first year that Eli has seen the fire hose spray water from the truck. We had a lot of fun all morning, Boo even ran through the water with me.

ready to go in our parade transportation

waiting for the truck to start the parade

here we go

the truck is setting up the water hose

well worth the wait, popsicles

Eli sitting in the drivers seat

Water Water

Eli finally got brave enough to ride partly through the spray and there was a rainbow :)

I tried to get a picture with Ella but she was busy looking around

Pizza Hut field trip

2011-06-13T22:24:00.000-07:00

Elijah went to pizza hut for his school field trip last month and I wanted to share some pictures from that day. I was able to go with him and we each made our own pizzas.

washing hands at the sink

waiting in line

his class waiting in the lobby

adding toppings

pizza coming out of the oven

waiting for his slice

yum yum! Time to eat

End of the School Year

2011-06-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

As the school year comes to an end, our family birthday's begin. Ethan will be 12 on Friday June 10th, Elijah will be 4 on July 12th, and I will be 33 (dare I say) on July 17th. I am excited to get summer started!!

Picture Day

2011-05-19T22:26:00.000-07:00

Today was picture day for Elijah and I took a couple pictures before he went to school just in case he messed up his hair before the school pictures (which is what usually happens). I can't believe how big he is getting, he will be 4 in July!!

Ready for Easter

2011-04-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

Eli decorated an egg at school today, but had it peeled and started eating it before I could get a picture. Ella had a plastic egg with a plastic baby chick inside and Elijah got one too from her teacher. They are ready for the easter egg hunt on Sunday.

Bunny Ears

2011-04-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

Ella made bunny ears at school yesterday, and Elijah and her both took turns trying on the bunny ears when we picked her up from school! So cute!

Spring Break

2011-04-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Mike came to visit us for Spring Break since Ella was sick all week. We were so excited to see him!! I am so happy he was able to sneak away for the quick visit. Here are some pictures from our week together.

Adult assebly required on Elijah's motorcycle that Grandpa got him, he can hardly wait to play with it

finally ready to play... cranking the handle

Grandpa showing Eli how to get it started

Ella looking at the motorcycle's in Grandpa's lap

success!!

mini golfing at Wunderland

playing at Franklin Park

swings

Ella giving Grandpa a smooch :)

We had a great week with Grandpa...We love you Grandpa Mike

thank you so much for coming!!!

Running this year....

2011-03-14T23:14:00.000-07:00

St. Paddy's Day Run 2011

Trying to get back into running again!

Elijah's favorite seat

2011-03-09T19:59:00.000-08:00

Yes he is sitting on a small 4 wheeler! He pushes it all over the place everywhere we go and tonight, I was walking around cleaning and looked over and there he is, on top of the coffee table sitting on his truck. I had to get a picture. He is such a boy!

Lucille Jensen 1908-2011

2011-03-08T21:31:00.000-08:00

My grandmother passed away a few weeks ago and I have been trying to think of what I wanted to post about her. Her are some Of my memories of being with her as I was growing up:

When I stayed at her house she would make wheat cereal that she would cook over night on her stove, which I still cannot duplicate. It was my absolute favorite! She made her own honey butter that I would put on my toast every morning. She made a cottage cheese fruit salad that I still make from time to time. We would pick strawberries in her garden and I would help he weed the garden everytime I visited.

She had this really unique basement at her house that had an interesting storage area downstairs that used to freak me out, and she had an attic upstairs you could pull down and climb up. Its the only attic I have ever been in to this day.

She had the biggest purple couch(or davenport) as she called, that I used to bounce up and down on, even though I shouldn't have. In my grandpa's room there was this little window space that connected to the living room so if you were in there you could spy on people in the TV room.( Not quite sure what it was for) There were always walnuts on her fireplace or on the table I could crunch open and eat right out of the shell.

I loved visiting her house in Riverton, whenever I see a brick house I think of her house still today. I would love to go back there someday and visit again, I haven't been there probably since middle school.

So many things I miss about her, she was the kindest woman I have ever met. Her compassion, kindness and unconditional love for others was truly inspiring and I strive to be more like her with my family.

I miss her so much and I know she is in a better place with her husband in heaven.I love you grandma :)

Funny pictures I found....

2011-02-12T19:14:00.000-08:00

Bath tub fun

Ella with Eli's glasses

Packers vs Steelers

2011-02-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

We get to celebrate the super bowl this year with some good friends. Looking forward to a great weekend!!

This little piggy.....

2011-01-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

Ella loves to do this little piggy with her toes, and sometimes she does it to herself. I was trying to catch it on video, but she stopped doing it. I did get a little video of Chris playing with the kids and doing the little piggies with Ella and Elijah.

Ella and Elijah

2011-01-29T14:04:00.000-08:00

These two are definitely destined to be best friends, they love to do everything together and here is a shot of the two of them together watching a movie. I love the way they follow each other around and play together.

Elijah...

2011-01-18T20:12:00.000-08:00

Elijah says the funniest things sometimes so I have decided to start adding them to the blog as I have time. Today I picked him up from daycare and we had the following conversation;

Eli- "Mom I had the best day today!"
Me- "Really, I am so proud of you Elijah!"
Eli-" Yea, I was the best napper and I was still tired when I waked up."
Me- "You were?"
Eli " Yes, I lawned really big!"

Ha, Ha.... he always makes me laugh and remember how fun it is to be a kid. Make sure you take the time to laugh or smile with your kids each day!

Ella has also started copying us more and more, and will try to say what we tell her. Lately, she says yea, yea, yea and moves her arms up and down. She has also started saying HI and Bye.

Eli with Boomer

2011-01-14T18:32:00.000-08:00

Elijah had the opportunity to skate at Avista Stadium this afternoon on the ice that the Chiefs are going to use for their Rockstar Outdoor Classic tomorrow. The funny tihing is that he is usually pretty scared of Boomer everytime we go to the Chiefs Hockey games, but today he got his picture taken with Boomer who was out skating on the ice with all the fans.

Future Hockey Star

2011-01-12T21:18:00.000-08:00

Eli eats, sleeps and breathes hockey....here he is showing his stick, Ella joining in and Eli sleeping in his hockey gloves as he often does.

striking a pose

our next hockey player?.... she is raising the sticks saying, "YEA"!!!

sleeping with the gloves on his hands

New Year

2010-12-31T21:53:00.000-08:00

As the new year is quickly approaching, (countdown roughly 2 hours away) I look back at all the memories from 2010 with our friends and family ,and I am looking forward to another year filled with great new memories.
Ethan turned 11, Eli turned 3 and Ella turned 1. My cousin got married, my sister got engaged and we spent a lot of time outside watching Elijah run up and down the street with his dump truck. Ella has grown up so much this year, it has been so fun watching all her changes, and now we are chasing her around everywhere just like her brothers.

We are in for a crazy year with Ella in her terrible 1-2 phase (not my favorite) and Elijah and Ethan both in there sassy, stubborn phase (funny since they are 8 years apart). I pray Chris and I make it through this next year with a smile everyday and I hope for good health and happiness in the new year for everyone.
Happy New Year!!

Sledding, Sledding, and more Sledding

2010-12-26T23:42:00.000-08:00

Chris was out sledding with the kids for about 3 hours yesterday and another 2 hours today.....

I helped once... mainly took pictures

Ethan and Eli together

Eli loving his new sled

Seattle Trip

2010-12-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

Fun at Pikes Place Market. We had our picture taken behind the counter with the whole crew!

breakfast by the water

fun in the streets

space needle

at the top

my BFF Staci and I at the top

Happy Holidays

2010-12-16T18:49:00.000-08:00

Finally getting my christmas cards in the mail this week!

Fun at Idlewild Park-Cranbrook BC

2010-12-11T16:09:00.000-08:00

Here is the address to Chris's you tube video at this park, it has a great sledding hill and out door rink that they went ice skating at today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfrM4HhViHE&feature=player_profilepage

Fun in the snow

2010-12-04T22:16:00.000-08:00

Elijah having fun in the snow

Dad with Ella and Eli

Ella checking out the christmas tree, she only took a few ornaments off

sitting with daddy reading a book, when she is ready to sit down she will back up and plop right down in your lap...so cute

Ella in the snow

2010-12-04T22:05:00.000-08:00

Family Photo

2010-12-04T19:51:00.000-08:00

We had a group picture taken at my cousins wedding in August and it turned out pretty good, except Ella isn't looking at the camera of course.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T08:23:00.000-07:00

We started out our day getting ready for Halloween by Chris finally carving his pumpkins and then taking Eli to Cat Tales BOO ZOO event they had that day. Kids were free and the cats all got a pumpkin with meat inside to eat and play with. Chris and Eli also were interviewd by KXLY news and were on later that night at 11:30pm....so cute.

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Ethan and his friends tonight, but they all looked great. Here are some pictures of our day. Happy Halloween!

All the pumpkins finished

Eli and his good friend Drew and his sisters went Trick-or Treating together

I was Snow White handing out the candy

Ella looking to see if there are any more kids coming! Everytime the door bell rand she ran to the door to help give out candy.

Pumpkins 2010

2010-10-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

finished pumpkins

pumpkin seeds

Here are the kids pumpkins we carved this year, I am still working on 2 more. We made pumpkin seeds this year for the first time and they turned out pretty good.

Ella's 1st Birthday

2010-10-31T13:03:00.000-07:00

Ella eating her birthday cake

playing with her stroller

opening presents

in her pumpkin outfit from papa

Boo walking

2010-10-24T13:51:00.001-07:00

Ella loves playing with Eli and Eli loves to play in his underwear :)

walking around

she learned how to crawl on Eli's bed, but she can't get down

More pictures from our sunmer...

2010-10-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

Me and Grandpa Lehman

Me, my mom and Ella
Kadence and Ella

Here is a picture of Chris and the boys when they went hiking in Dubois this summer.

Ella

2010-10-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

My baby wll be 1 in a couple weeks which is bittersweet since she is my last one. She has been walking everywhere, getting faster and stronger each day. I think she will be running in no time, which if you have met any of my children, will surely be fast!

I still can't believe a year has almost come and gone. I am enjoying this as much as I can.....before she is all grown up

6th grade camp

2010-10-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

ropes course

my lovely cabin bed

the owl I volunteered to hold

Fair

2010-09-13T06:01:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Mike was visiting this weekend and was nice enough to take us to the Spokane County Fair. We had to stay over in the kid rides, but Ethan found a haunted house he liked, a carpet slide and the swings. They had a great time.

car ride

spinning bears

carousel

more cars

Yellowstone National Park

2010-08-31T21:49:00.000-07:00

It started hailing and raining really hard right when we got out to the sign to get our picture taken, and the lady only took one picture so this is how it turned out with a big rain drop on the lens.

We traveled through Yellowstone National Park on the second part of our vacation. We were hoping to see a bear, but missed one by 5 minutes! We saw Old Faithful, some Buffalo, Elk and Wolves while we were there along with the beautiful landscape.

Visiting Great Grandma and Grandpa

2010-08-31T21:40:00.001-07:00

We went on vacation this past weekend to my cousin Brad's wedding in WY. We stopped in Boise on the way and took some pictures with Great Grandma and Grandpa

Uncle Jack and Boo

2010-08-02T16:23:00.001-07:00

My brother Jack was visiting for the weekend and I took a picture of hm and Ella. She liked him right away which usually doesn't happen since she has been scared of everyone she doesn't know lately.

Trying to get a group picture

2010-07-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

This is the final product, but you can see below how hard it was to get this shot

this is after about 30 seconds of sitting with Elijah...

she is still trying to get away..

get me out of here

really mom!

One good shot without Ella

Green Thumb

2010-07-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

I just started growing my own tomato plants this summer and I have some actually growing! I am so excited, my goal is to have a full garden by next summer. I am going to build some planter boxes and get some good soil and grow zucchini, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers and maybe some strawberries.

Eli is 3

2010-07-13T17:03:00.001-07:00

Dad and the birthday boy

typical Elijah

Toy story cake, I think I could have done better

Elijah looking at his toys, he got lego's, backpack, trains, a gift card and money

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIJAH

Eli's backpack

Ella enjoying the nice weather

2010-07-11T18:45:00.001-07:00

fun in the swing

in the pool

picture with a hat still on, she usually takes her hat right off!

Ethan's 11

2010-07-11T18:33:00.001-07:00

opening presents

Ethan with his birthday hat!

Chris after a fun game of laser quest with Elijah as his partner

Hunter, Ethan, Zack, JT, Riley, and Cade

4th of July

2010-07-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

We attended our annual neighborhood parade this year around the block, Eli and Ella both decorated their stroller and bike just for the day. Elijah ended up not riding his bike so Chris and I took turns carrying it, I will be very happy when he learns how to pedal a bike.We sat in the fire truck too at the end of the parade but the camera decided not to work when Chris tried to take the picture, so you will just have to take my word for it.

Father's Day 2010

2010-06-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

Dad and the kids pose for a picture on the porch this morning, I still can't believe we are now a family of 5. We are truly blessed to have such a beautiful, happy, and healthy family.

Water Fight

2010-06-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

Dad joined in...

and they both went after Ethan

Ethan turns 11

2010-06-13T16:20:00.001-07:00

Ethan holding his olympic mascots he got from Grandma Florko

inside the tackle box

Ethan opening his tackle box we gave him for fishing

Ella holding onto the gate, look at Brownie

smiles

Fun at Maggie Moo's

2010-05-29T07:32:00.001-07:00

Here they are with a smile

This is what happened last night when we went to get ice cream at Maggie Moo's. There was a giant cardboard picture of a roller coaster that you could stick your head into for pictures, and of course that is the first thing Elijah tried to destroy when we arrived. He almost knocked it over twice. By the end of our visit he finally figured out that you were supposed to stick your head into the hole for picture and I took two cute pictures!
Here is the funny face

Chuck e Cheese Pictures

2010-05-28T07:00:00.001-07:00

Chuck e Cheese

2010-05-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

Ella started crawling all over this week and pulling herself up on anything she can grab onto. This is bad for me since I now have to vacumn daily and watch her more closely or she falls over on her head. Even though she can pull herself up she cannot balance at all.

Eli was invited to a party at Chuck e Cheese on Saturday and was having a great time until he heard over the loud speaker that Chuck e would be coming out in 5 min. Panic set in and he was soon hiding for dear life under Ella's blanket. He ended up taking a picture next to him and he even said "Hi" when we walked by him.

Fun in May

2010-05-17T17:48:00.003-07:00

This month has been a busy one so far and it is almost over, here are some highlights from our month so far.....

I hosted bunco last week and our theme was "Casino Night" and we had a blast

Ethan caught his first fish in Trail

Ella has started sitting up ..

and has started crawling , she was carrying her hair ribbon in her mouth the other day while crawling around. It was pretty funny in person.

Ella discovered the kitchen gate today and found a cat on the other side.

Fun at the Fair

2010-05-09T17:56:00.001-07:00

Dad and Boo

Eli and Ethan on the roller coaster

Ethan on the Ferris Wheel

Me and Boo

Ethan holding Eli on the big slide

We took the boys to the fair by Eagles that comes every year and Elijah had the best time ever. He has no fear of any of the rides and wanted to ride all of them. It was so fun to watch him on the rides with Ethan. Some of the rides had a height restriction which was really disappointing to Eli since he thought he should be able to ride all the rides. The roller coaster was Eli's favorite ride, he rode on it twice screaming the whole time!!

Ella 6 months old

2010-05-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

Ella is up on her knees all the time know rocking back and forth

she also likes to push up in a plank position

big smiles all the time

Ella definitely has eyes for her dad

Bloomsday 2010

2010-05-02T19:56:00.000-07:00

Before the Race getting ready to head downtown

Ethan with his two friends

Ethan and I completed another successful Bloosday this year, with Ethan once again beating me with his friends. I was happy I completed it faster than I have for the past couple years. My official time was 1 hour 33 min 48 sec and Ethan finished in 1 hour 31 min 56 sec.

Fishing with Ethan and Eli

2010-05-02T19:40:00.001-07:00

We took Ethan fishing on Saturday morning as part of the Fish-In program. Ethan and Eli went out on the dock and had a chance to catch 3 fish in 45 min. It was a pretty fun morning for Ethan and Eli since they have been wanting to go fishing for quite awhile. Ethan caught 3 small rainbow trout, and Eli caught 1 (the biggest one) rainbow trout.

Out on the dock at Clear Lake

afterwards with Hube, Ethan and Eli

Cleaning the fish

Ethan with the fish

Eli with the fishing pole

Eli eating the fish...yum yum

Do Right does it again.....

2010-04-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

Chris played in the Rec League playoffs this past week at Eagles and his team won! Here is a picture of his team and a great shot of him scoring a goal!

Easter 2010

2010-04-12T17:19:00.000-07:00

Uncle Joe and Ella

Eli searching for eggs at Grandma Jensen's nursing home

me trying to get a picture of Eli with eggs

Eli, Ella and Uncle Joe

We went to Boise for Spring Break and came home Easter Sunday, we had a lot of fun visiting all our family and cousin while we were there.

Mobuis Kids

2010-03-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

Chris took the kids to Mobuis yesterday to see the Baby T-Rex from Walking with Dinosaurs. The showing was supposed to be from 10:30-11:00am but it only lasted 10 min!! I didn't even get a picture of the dinosaur, I couldn't believe it. We are usually late to everything, but good thing Chris was early today or they would have missed it.

Since we had to pay admission to see the dinosaur (did I say it only lasted 10 min!!) we decided to come back later that afernoon after the crowd cleared and let the boys play. It was Elijah's first visit and he had a pretty good time, Ethan even had a good time playing at the water works table and looking at the science experiments they had set up.

Ella watching the boys run around while she was content to chew on her fingers, I think she is getting more teeth already if you can beleive that.

Spider

the water works of Spokane

Sand and Water table

Ella and Lucky Puppy

2010-03-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

Ella was having fun reaching and grabbing for Eli's lucky puppy the other night when we were reading bed time stories. She is starting to push herself up and really likes to touch your face and look at everything. It is so fun to watch her explore everything around her.

Job!!

2010-03-20T10:57:00.001-07:00

I just found out that I am going to get to do a long tem sub job for the rest of the school year starting at the end of April. It is going to be in 6th grade and I am very excited, hopefully this leads into a job for next year (I have a good feeling about next year.) Even better, it's at the school I taught at last year so I already know all the students and I can see all my students from last year!! GO JAGUARS

I am still taking my classes at Eastern for my Masters Degree and that is going really well, I have learned some interesting things about education. I might even pursue an administrative degree when all the kids are in school and after I have worked for a few years.

Eli

2010-03-20T10:53:00.001-07:00

at Eagles with his friend Evan in his learn to skate class, this is the part where they slide on their tummies...
Eli made this had at school, but wouldn't stop eating this pretzel so I could take the picture so the pretzel is in the picture...

at recess on his playground at school in a fish, he never wants me to leave so I usually stay and play with him for a little while...

Fun with Playdough

2010-03-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

Elijah found some playdough in the garage that a friend gave us, that I totally forgot about...here is what he created!

2010-03-09T14:41:00.000-08:00

Here is Ella just relaxing in her jumparoo with her finger in her mouth, poor little girl her teeth are really bothering her.

Ella is 4 months now, she weighs 16 pounds and she is 28 inches long. She has 2 bottom teeth cutting through so she has been in a little bit of pain the last couple weeks. She also just started eating cereal, even though she doesn't really like it. I took a few pictures of her "eating", or actually "wearing" the cereal on her face...so cute!!

Our Weekend

2010-03-02T13:11:00.001-08:00

We went to the park

we took pictures while we were watching the olympics

Ethan showing off this braces..

All three of the kids cuddling on the couch

Go Canada

2010-02-28T12:16:00.000-08:00

Chris is going a little overboard with the olympics trying to root for Canada. Here is what Chris and Ethan looked like before the USA v Canada Hockey game today....

Chris and Ethan getting ready to go watch the game at Flamin Joes

Ella with her flag

State Champions

2010-02-16T15:33:00.001-08:00

Spokane Major Junior Chiefs

pointing to the cheering crowd

getting ready to go on the ice

getting his medal

Team Shot

Ethan's hockey team won the State Championship this past weekend in the Tri-Cities, they beat the Snow Kings 5-3 in the finals. Go Junior Chiefs!! Here are some shots taken of Ethan during the tournament.

2010-02-13T21:25:00.001-08:00

We just brought the saucer and Jumparoo upstairs for Ella to start playing with, here are some pictures. She seems to like them both, but when she's in the jumper she is all over the place.

Ella, Eli, and Dad

2010-02-03T15:09:00.001-08:00

Not sure what Eli is doing with his face in this picture, I thought it was cute though..

This cracks me up because when ever Chris holds her at night, she gets this look like she wants to eat him and slobbers all over his face. This is the look right before the attack...

This is the look I get most of the time, SERIOUS... she loves to be on her tummy and look around

Ella 3 Months old

2010-02-01T16:31:00.000-08:00

Ella is 3 months old now and is getting so big each day. I still can't believe that she came into our lives and how much fun it is to have a little girl in the house.

She just started trying to roll over, she has done it twice, but I can't seem to get it on tape. She also laughed a little the other day, and I can't wait till she just burst out in laughter. The little things make me smile from ear to ear and I am so blessed to have such a nice family.

Teresa Shirley Bilesky

2010-01-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

Chris' grandma or Nana as she was know to us, passed away on January 15th after having a stroke a few weeks earlier. We attended her funeral on January 19th up in Trail BC. Chris and his father Wayne gave the eulogy and they did a wonderful job. She did so much for our family, and her community, and she was very close to Ethan as he was groing up. Ethan has many fond memories of spending the summer with Nana and Dee and I am very thankful that she was able to spend that time with him. She will be truly missed by her family and friends, but we know we will see her again in Heaven. We love you Nana....

2010-01-24T12:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Dad!!

We L-O-V-E you and miss you a lot!

Bunco Fun in 2010

2010-01-18T10:39:00.001-08:00

I love, love the one night a month I get to hang out with all my Bunco friends, this month we had everyone finally back and took this cute group picture. Hats off to the New Year was our theme and we got to wear all these fun hats throughout the night. Can't wait till next month.

Chris turns 31!!

2010-01-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

Between work, meetings, and our busy kids we managed to fit in a birthday song for Chris with a little birthday cake...

Chris looking super excited with his cake

blowing out his candles

Eli enjoying his piece!

Happy Birthday Chris, we love you!

Ice skating FUN!!

2010-01-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

Sad News

2010-01-02T17:48:00.000-08:00

We receieved some sad new Wednesday morning that Chris' grandma had a stroke Tuesday night. At the time, Chris and the boys were in Vancouver BC at a hockey tournament and I was still in Spokane with Ella. As soon as we could, we pack up and headed to Trail to be with her and thankfully she is slowly recovering from the stroke. She has little use of the left side of her body, but she is still able to talk to us and she has been getting better each day since. It is going to be a slow road back to recovery, but she is a strong woman and has many family members and friends that will be by her side the whole way.

We came back home to Spokane today, but I will keep you posted on how she is recovering.