Palmyra and Niagra Falls Trip

July was a very busy month for us! My mom was in town for two weeks and during that time we had many fun trips planned. It was such a peaceful experience to go to the Sacred Grove, the small little sounds of Creatures really helped me to imagine that spring morning of 1820. I just couldn't stop thinking that I was actually standing in an area where God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared! I sat on one of the benches and just felt this overwhelming feeling of peace come over me. It was interesting to think that some of those trees actually stood there at the time that Joseph Smith had his Vision, my mom was noting that at that time those trees would have been just babies. So I looked really hard for all the really Big trees which wold have been now fully grown. Later that night we went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant and I mean to tell you I was thoroughly impressed! They really went all out with the staging and the props everything was amazing and the kids were so wonderful the whole time which is a big Bonus! After staying in Palmyra for almost two days we headed to Niagara falls which is really only about an hour and half drive. We took a trip to the Falls back in May with our Couples Retreat so this was our second time going. It was very nice to go again and I am sure we will be heading back that way a lot more in the future. Next time we are going to the Canada side!

                   This guy does tight rope walking in Niagara Falls, but on the Canada side and he does this all day.

All of the pictures from here down are from our May trip to the Falls that I am just now posting, I am so on the Ball here!!

                                           Kaden is just like his Daddy; A BIG GOOFY NERD!

Britynn was shivering the whole time on The Maid of the Mist. We had to huddle up in the back and then she fell asleep from all the rocking of the Boat.

                                                             Our little Thrill seekers!

NYC trip

When I was younger I used to dream about living in New York City. I thought for sure I would move there someday and have such a happy life living like some of the celebrities. Well lets just say I am sure thankful that I don't live there, I know that it is perfect for some people but not me! We made the trip out on the 3rd of July and stayed till the 6th. I think those three days would have to have been the most busy days of my entire life. WOW! It was very much the way it looks in the movies, all the lights and big billboards. Thank goodness for the USO which is a Army information center which was located at the Port of Authority. Every morning we would wake up and rush to hop on the bus to get there and fill up on free drinks and snacks for the day. NYC is definitely a fast paced and worldly place to be! We did have some fun though, I felt kinda uncomfortable in certain situations with images and things but I knew that we would eventually get back to our slow yet happy way of life. Britynn ended up getting sick on our last day in NY and thankfully we drove most of that whole day. She and daddy went to the hospital that night and found that she had developed Bronchitis and Croup. The poor girl had been through so much on our trip and went without her beloved nap which was very hard for me to witness, since I am a very scheduled person and like to have a predictable routine.

                                    Here are the kids with Elmo, I guess quite a few people thought this would be an easy way to earn a few bucks, because we saw quite a few of them especially around Time square. Britynn was terrified of him! LOL

 Here we are at the Toys R us store. This was a very neat experience, I can now say that I have been inside a Toys R Us that had three levels, mini Ferris wheel, and life sized Lego creations!

 This T Rex was robotic and made some blood chilling sounds, Britynn stood right next to it. Interesting that she would not be afraid of T Rex, yet was terrified of Elmo?

                                                    Statue of Liberty made from Lego's

Here is a picture of the Empire State Building, which is the tallest building in America. Before 9-11 the tallest buildings were the twin towers

             Here is a statue of Theodore Roosevelt which is located in front of the Museum of Natural History.  The Night at The Museum was filmed at this Museum, pretty Cool stuff!

It was crazy to see all the detail of these dinosaurs bones, the tail was so long!! I cant imagine how hard it would have been to find such tiny pieces.

It was so amazing to see how they had preserved this wildlife, I had to keep explaining to the kids that the animals were once alive. They just couldn't seem to understand why they were killed. Quite honestly I didn't have a good answer. But it was fascinating to see none the less.

                                      This is a giant clam shell found somewhere in the ocean

         Thank goodness he is not alive, could you imagine how freaky that would be to be chased by one of these!

The lds Temple Located right at the Heart of Manhattan. This is one of the most unique temples I have ever seen. This Temple has four levels.. The first is I believe an area for Changing and the baptismal font. The second floor is distribution. The third floor is a church building which has in rotation three separate wards each Sunday, and the fourth floor is the temple.

                                             Here we are just after getting off the subway.

We got tickets to go see 9-11 well in advance, we were worried that we wouldn't make it because we were running behind. But thankfully we were okay. I didn't realize it but they are actually rebuilding the towers!

Here is one of the two reflection ponds which is in the exact location where the towers once stood.

                                      This is the only tree that was a survivor after 9-11.

While we were walking out of the memorial a Butterfly landed on my moms hand. I thought that was very good timing and a perfect place for it to be! After all the Butterfly is symbolic of and how our nation has gone through quite a lot since we were attacked, yet we never fail to recognize the strength that it took to regain ourselves. The Butterfly has an amazing story to tell that is quite similar as well. A new beginning, a change for the better, and a motivation to press forward no matter how challenging it may be. I am so thankful for the Firefighters that made sacrifices that day and for the many soldiers who fight for our Freedom!

We took the ferry to Staten Island so that we could see the Statue of Liberty and the city all light up at night. Amazingly the ride was free

                                                  Such a Beautiful Picture with the sunset

Britynn's 2nd Birthday!!

Our sweet little baby britters is not a baby anymore :-( It is hard to believe that she is already two! Man time is really escaping from me. Britynn turned two on may 20th. We had our friends from Oswego come into town and stay with us for the weekend. Britynn's birthday was pretty low key, I figured that she is still too young to have a big party so we just did the usual stuff. We went on our family bike ride and then came home for cake and presents. She is very much into Mickey Mouse so I decided to make her a Minnie mouse cake and she LOVED it! It was a bit of a challenge prob because I didn't have all things needed to make it. I had to improvise and make the bottom layer brownie since I ran out of cake mix. Consequently the different textures stacked on top of one another created a big bulge on the side so I had to try and tuck it in with a ribbon around the base.

So every year I like to make a list of my children's favorite things it seems like they are all quickly changing so I have a goal to do these little servery on their birthday.

All about Britynn

Fave food:  Bagels, eggs, Fish ( especially Talapia) and Flowers (also know as cauliflower & Broccoli)

Fave T.V. Show:    Blues clues and Mickey mouse Clubhouse

Favorite Activity:  Going on family bike rides especially now that we have a seat attached to my bike

Dislikes: She does not like to get her teeth brushed by other people

Britynn is such a lovable little snuggler, she is very sensitive and is sensitive to others especially when they get owies. She is very friendly to all people and says "Hi", to just about anyone. She is very polite and says "please" and "thank you",without being told to say it. She will keep saying "thank you" until you acknowledge her and say "You're Welcome"! She knows about five of her shapes.  She love to pretend especially with her food, she will bite until it turns into shapes like a heart or a Dinosaur. She is very proud of her little creations and holds them high in the air to announce what she has made. She love to sing her ABC's and can count to 13! She can also stack and amazingly high tower of blocks. She loves balls and has one heck of an arm, It is a very exciting thing for her to throw the ball and have someone then throw it back! she will giggle and get really excited. Her best friends are Kenidi and Kaden and Brianna from church. She cant quite make the R sounds very well though so she ends up calling her Banana! She also says a few other things that I just cant bring myself to correct... for example she will call her sippy cup "Sicky Cup"! I love it ! LOL Britynn is very attached to her blanket that Grandma Wanlass gave to her when she was born. When she cant find it she will go around the house calling out "Blankie, where are you?" Until she finally finds it. She is a clean Freak and will wipe her own face clean in between bites of food. And will request wipe after wipe until it is cleaned to her satisfaction. She came into the Kitchen yesterday and saw that I was making pizza and the first thing she says is  "Mommy hands messy!" Then she leaves and comes back seconds later holding up the wet wipe tub for me to clean with and insists that I clean up! This girl cracks me up!! Last of all her favorite color is Green which is also the only color that she can name correctly. Oh and I also forgot even though she is a clean freak she can also really enjoy making a mess while it lasts the pics of her playing in the dirt speak for itself! Love You Britynn!              YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE !!!!

Jan-Feb Happenings

As always I delay my posts for so long that I have a ton to catch up on. These past few months have flown by! In January Kaden celebrated his 4th birthday, I didn't originally plan on making him a fondant cake  but after feeling quite guilty I did some last min stuff. We ran to the store and got him a handy Manny demolition set and I went strait to work. I was very surprised at how quickly I pulled it off, it took about 2 hours to make and just in case you were wondering that is fast for me. Kenidi's cake took a little more than a day. That night we went to MacDonald's for dinner (Kaden's choice) then we rode bikes at walmart to see which Bike was best for Kaden. He rode the bike all the way up to the cash register and said in a very stout voice "Big Boy bike please!" This kid cracks me up!

Britynn has been suffering from ear infections since she was about 11 months old. We finally decided to get tubes, I really didn't know what to expect and spent the night before the surgery tossing and turning. I was really surprised at how quick and easy it was! It was all worht it to have Britynn free of infections!

I have been very busy at the gym these past few weeks. I am now running 4 miles! Yay I have tried to run outside but it is too cold and painful so for now I am gonna stick to the treadmill till it gets warmer.

The Carthage school district just had Winter Break, it was nice to have Kenidi home and to spend time with all of my kiddos! We got to do a lot of fun activities that her school challenged the kids to do during the break. All of it related to 100 since they passed the 100th day of school. We took 100 steps in the snow, made pictures with 100 stars, counted to 100 by 5's,10's and 1's. over the break we got sick, first it was Britynn, then me then Kaden and Adam. Kenidi is the only one who has not come down with any symptoms. We had what is called gastroenteritis, which is basically two days of throwing up and five days of diarrhea. I lost 5pounds!! It was so yucky and I am so glad that it is all done and over with.

 

  All of my kids have had this same interest in putting their feet up on the table, the funny thing is that they have all discovered it right around the same age!!

More catching up

Okay so I have all of you Grandparents in mind when I take soooo many pictures. I know that you appreciate it though.

 Kenidi:  She finally started school after having a week and a half break for Daddy's homecoming. She ended up starting in the first part of October. She was so excited to take the bus, here she is just getting home after her first fun filled day. She has really adjusted to the public school thing pretty well. I am a little concerned about the behavior of other children in her class but Kenidi is great with communicating and keeps me up to speed pretty well. She was working on some more advance stuff in Arizona so she is kinda taking a step back now since the public school doesn't have as high of expectations. I plan on looking into some extra classes she might take to keep her interested.

Kaden: He is such a lovable little guy, always has a smile on his face and always in a goofy mood just like his daddy. He and I have been having fun spending time together during the days. I am kinda doing the same things I did with Kenidi before she started school. He knows all of his letters and is reading three to four letter words and he writes his name. He loves to draw pictures of cars, trees, power boxes, and his family oh and houses of course. He is a great help with britynn and loves to sing songs about his family and how much he loves us. He just started Primary and LOVES it!! I am very glad that he finally advanced :-) Adam got me some cheese for Christmas, I know it sounds weird but when Adam was on his way back to the states he stopped in Ireland and got me several different kinds of cheese. So he found a Mennonite shop in Philadelphia and bought some as a Christmas gift and Kaden's favorite was the Munster Cheese. He came running into the kitchen and asked if he could please have some "Monster" Cheese!

Britynn: She is a busy little girl and expresses herself very well. She loves baby dolls and books most of all! She loves loves to read books she has been having quite a few ear infections and is actually scheduled to get tubes on the 26th. I am a little nervous but think it will ultimately be the best for her. She loves to watch the squirrels outside and is very attached to her blanket. Her vocabulary is quite large. She repeats almost anything you ask her to say. She can say: Apple,Tree,Baby,Jesus, Water, More, Book, Uh oh, Owie, Thank you and she says it on her own, Blankie, Mouth, Bubble, Got you, Go, Car, Bagel, Peek a Boo, Play, Dog, Nap, Juice, Strawberry, Orange, Horse, Get Down, Truck, Block, Circle, Pretty, Boots, Squeaky, Me, Sleep, Bread, Seat, Tickle, Breakfast, Help, Door, Cranky, Buckle, Hat, Hot, Want more please, Square, Brownie... I pretty much just gave up keeping track. Those babies first year books really make me feel guilty because I can never seem to keep track of everything it is almost impossible! Anyways she is doing really well with her speech considering the fact that she cant hear very well with all of these infections.

                                                      Britynn started to read the dictionary

                                        We discovered that our camera can make distorted pictures. This kept us entertained for hours one night!

  Christmas at the Steimle's was busy and Fun! We did the twelve days of Christmas to a new family in the church  the Cramers and also did a family gift exchange. As tradition we each pick a name out of a hat to see who we will get a gift for. We woke up to find that Santa did in fact come and he ate every last bite of the cookies and a thank you not. We had church at 10 and then rushed home to work on dinner. We had the Cramers and the missionaries over for dinner. We didn't do Turkey because I always make it taste icky, instead we did roast.

             Britynn got daddy a box of his favorite cookie, it is the closest thing to thin mints.

                    Kenidi has decided to become a nurse someday. Here she is checking the vitals on her patients and recording her findings. She cracks me up !