Hippopotamus

Hunter and Kora have found a new fascination in Hippos. I guess this isn't too new because they first became interested when we went to Disneyland back in August after riding on the Jungle Cruise. Hunter was scared of the hippos when they came out of the water wiggling their ears. He was also impressed at how large they were. Now, whenever something is big he calls it "Hippo-ca-ma-mus". Kora has now adopted the term but pronounces hers as "Hippo-ca-ta-mus". I find it funny that each child pronounces it differently. After we got a Christmas Tree last month, Hunter told me we got a "Hippo-ca-ma-mus tree". Kora also told me that we don't have a little dog, we have a "Hippo-ca-ta-mus dog".

A New Year!

The month of December has flown by. With many intentions of posting on our blog, things were just too crazy to sit down and type. As a result we have what has become a standard catch-up post to summarize the last month.

Something I also meant to do for the month of December was make Christmas cards. The photo above was the picture I meant to use. My goal #1 for 2010 is make my Christmas cards early this year so all we have to do is address them and mail them.

December was actually pretty eventful. Earlier in the month my brother and his wife asked us if we wanted to go to Mission Inn to see Christmas lights. We had never been there before so we thought we would check it out. The lights were beautiful and it was a fun evening.

2 Days before Christmas we found out that Kelly's sister, Jodie and her family were down for a little over a week. We spent a fabulous Christmas Eve at Kelly's parents house visiting with his parents, grandfather and the Hendricks and enjoying each others company. The kids had a great time with their cousins. Hunter's highlight was tracking Santa's progress as he delivered presents. There is a site online that shows exactly where he is delivering presents and how soon he'll be in your area. All day Hunter had to drag someone over to the computer to show us that he has moved along. Very cute!

Christmas was a fun day. Santa had made his famous visit. Kora helped me make cookies the day before and it took some convincing that only 3 cookies were meant to be for Santa. For some reason Kora insisted the entire batch was for him. Hunter got a stern scolding from Kora after he tried to swipe one of "Santa's" cookies. On Christmas Day We went over to Papa Spuds house to spend time with him. He was all alone for Christmas and we thought a visit from the kids would cheer him up. After the visit we headed home and my family came over to spend Christmas with us. It was a fun day with family, good food and games.

When the Hendricks come in to town we plan a date night sans kids. This has been the 2nd year we have done this and as always we had a great time. One of Kelly's old friends happened to be in town with his girlfriend and they came along as well. We went out to dinner and spend about 2 hours just talking and reminiscing....I did more listening than reminiscing...but I enjoyed the stories.

For New Years we drove on up to Arizona to spend 2 nights with Kelly's Brother and family. We had such a great time we ended up spending a third day. Going up to AZ New Years weekend has become a tradition of ours for the past 3 years. We always have such a great time and really enjoy their company and wish we didn't live so far apart. On the right the kids are in their swim suits getting ready to leave for the heated pool. Yes, a heated pool. It was wonderful. If only all pools were heated in the winter time I think they would get more use.

We saw our newest little niece for the 2nd time and boy is she beautiful. We can't wait to see them again. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family and are excited to see what the new year will bring. Goal #2 for 2010, keep up on our blog. Happy New Year to all!

A Little Peek at December

Just a little peek to how the month of December has been going.

.....well, things could be better. Ha ha ha.

Actually, things are going well for the K Kerr 5. We have all been busy with various church activities, work and school. As always I am amazed at how quickly time is flying. The kids are anxious for Christmas as are both Kelly and I. As for now we are enjoying Christmas music, cookies, the cool weather and watching TV with all the lights off so we can enjoy the glow of the Christmas tree lights. It's fabulous!

Tag Team Quilt

I am finally finished!!! When my Sister-in-law, Kristin found out she was pregnant she asked me to help her make a quilt for her baby. Once they found out it was going to be a boy we went to Joann's and picked out fabrics. Jeremy and Kristin wanted a Volcom blanket so we cut up about 6 of Jeremy's shirts to make this quilt. I drew out a pattern of different size squares and rectangles. Kristin cut out the patterns, I layed it out and pieced it together and then she sewed it. I sewed on the backing and "quilted" it. I love it. I am so proud of it. The picture actually does it NO justice whatsoever. I really love this pattern. I want to make a quilt for our bed using this pattern....of course not the same fabrics and not a Volcom blanket. Now to look for fabrics...

The Tinkerbell Song

We were out running errands today and Kora asked me if I wanted to sing the Tinkerbell Song with her. I told her, sure, but I don't know how it goes. She starts singing it...

Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell, Tinker all da way.
Oh what fun we ride in a sleigh.
Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell...

I ask her, "Don't you mean Jingle Bells?"

Her reply, "No Mom, it's Tinkerbell!"

I guess I have been singing it wrong ALL these years.

Surprise Haircut

As I was making dinner the other night the kids were quiet. Normally when kids are quiet you know they are doing something they shouldn't be. I should have checked it out....but I was busy and thought they were just being good. Kelly got home and went upstairs and brought down a big clump of hair. Kora had cut her hair a few months ago so I suspected she had done it to herself...again. Not So. When I asked her why she did it she told me "Hunter did it". Hunter cut off about 3 precious inches of just one side of her hair. I straightened it out but her once long beautiful hair is now much shorter. She had been bald for so long that we were excited that she was finally getting some length. I guess we start all over.

Halloween

Halloween was interesting this year. Normally I am stressing out the week before Halloween trying to get costumes sewn. Fortunately, our ward Halloween party was the Saturday before Halloween so I was rushing two weeks before trying to get costumes made. This made for a stress free week before Halloween, which was very nice. The kids chose what they wanted to be for Halloween months before so all I needed was the desire to make them. Having to get them done the week before made it really nice. Sometimes I need that push to get things done. So, here are our little munchkins Halloween night. The pictures are a little dark because I took them at night. Sorry.

First up is our little Mylie. When she first started sprouting hair we would clump it together on the top of her head to make a little ponytail. Kelly started calling her Pebbles and so we decided for Halloween the only fitting costume for her would be pebbles.

Next up is Kora. She surprised us this year by suddenly liking Snow White. When we asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween she said Snow White. For some reason I kept expecting her to want to be something else since she has never seen the movie and at that time had never been on the ride at Disneyland. She didn't change her mind. About a month ago Kelly was at Sam's Club with his mom and saw a Snow White dress with shoes a crown and a little wand for an awesome price. We cheated this year on her costume and bought the dress. She was happy...and so was mom. I take pride in making my kids costumes. It has become a tradition that I LOVE but it was really nice not having to make her dress and since it came with shoes, even better! Okay, I couldn't have her be the only child that I didn't put work into her costume so I broke down to make her a cape. Snow White can't be Snow White without a cape.

Finally, is Hunter. He decided he wanted to be Anakin Skywalker for Halloween. I searched everywhere for a pattern but they didn't make any his size so I made my own pattern for the shirt and belt and altered a pattern to make his cape. He loved it...therefore I loved it.

We continued our tradition by going to Steve and Carolyns house to trick or treat. We went out with Colt again which the kids love. Kelly set up a new rule after going to a few houses because Hunter was so much faster than Kora. He made them hold hands so they couldn't go ahead of each other. Who would have guessed so many people thought it was so adorable that they would give them more candy? Overall, we had a wonderful time. The best part was that the weather was so nice that the kids could walk around without jackets. It was perfectly pleasant. Hunter is already planning for next year and secretly, I can't wait!

I had to add this last picture because I just love it. I love Mylie's smile...so cute.