Happy Birthday Mommy!!!

Follower of Jesus, wonderful mother, friend, sister, daughter, aunt, cousin and wife.  I just read a blog about how our kids want us. They want us right where we are and exactly who we are. It got me thinking about my own mommy and how lucky I am to have her.  I tell my kids if I could line up ALL the boys and girls in the whole world I would pick you to be my kids. And I feel the very same way about my mom. My mom is the perfect mom for me. She listens, encourages, and corrects me. She laughs, cries and shares with me. I am do thankful for a mom that I can call anytime of the day or night and she will answer to phone and take time to talk to me. I can ask her any question and she will thoughtfully answer. Just the other night I called her around 9pm and our call went a little like this  " Hi mom hows it going? what do you believe about hell?" ha she of course was completely caught off guard and unprepared to answer such a crazy question but we ended up having a great conversation about it. Other times are conversations are much lighter. From what to wear, how to make gravy and of course kid and husband questions.  I value my moms opinion so much. I am so thankful that's have a mom that loves Jesus more than anything and let me tell you she knows her bible well!! I am so fortunate to have been raised by parents who love each other and made a wonderful home for us. We got to go on fun vacations as a family and do all kinds of neat things together, but most of all my parents taught us and are teaching us to love the Lord. To serve God. And to put Him first in the good times and bad. What a tremendous gift!!!  Today is my moms birthday. Mommy I wish you the happiest birthday! Thank you for all you do for our family. I can't say it enough, you're the best and I couldn't ask for more. :)

Out takes with the King's!

Follower of Jesus, wonderful mother, friend, sister, daughter, aunt, cousin and wife.  I just read a blog about how our kids want us. They want us right where we are and exactly who we are. It got me thinking about my own mommy and how lucky I am to have her.  I tell my kids if I could line up ALL the boys and girls in the whole world I would pick you to be my kids. And I feel the very same way about my mom. My mom is the perfect mom for me. She listens, encourages, and corrects me. She laughs, cries and shares with me. I am do thankful for a mom that I can call anytime of the day or night and she will answer to phone and take time to talk to me. I can ask her any question and she will thoughtfully answer. Just the other night I called her around 9pm and our call went a little like this  " Hi mom hows it going? what do you believe about hell?" ha she of course was completely caught off guard and unprepared to answer such a crazy question but we ended up having a great conversation about it. Other times are conversations are much lighter. From what to wear, how to make gravy and of course kid and husband questions.  I value my moms opinion so much. I am so thankful that's have a mom that loves Jesus more than anything and let me tell you she knows her bible well!! I am so fortunate to have been raised by parents who love each other and made a wonderful home for us. We got to go on fun vacations as a family and do all kinds of neat things together, but most of all my parents taught us and are teaching us to love the Lord. To serve God. And to put Him first in the good times and bad. What a tremendous gift!!!  Today is my moms birthday. Mommy I wish you the happiest birthday! Thank you for all you do for our family. I can't say it enough, you're the best and I couldn't ask for more. :)

Cooking with The King's Rainbow Cake Edition

Spring break has begun here on the Palouse and we are loving it. I'm sure tomorrow when the rain begins I will be singing a different tune, but for now we are chipper and having lots of fun.

Yesterday was quite full. We spent the morning playing draw something. I know so thrilling. But the kids are really into it right now. We did a little running around and then for some reason I got the idea to bake a cake! A rainbow layer cake. Since the kids were home it was the perfect opportunity to produce another episode of Cooking With The King's!!!

Yes you saw that. There are 9 kids at my table! They crack me up. I love having the kids here. As crazy as it seems it makes my days easier. My kids are occupied and having fun. After my M & J went to bed last night I realized we hadn't turned the tv on all day! Major feat in this house I tell you.
The kids aren't always here. They kind of move in a pack from house to house. It is so fun watching them take off on their bikes and scooters for their next destination. My house often goes from shoes piled up in the doorway, kids running in and out to pure silence in a matter of moments. And i cherish both!
We are so thankful for street full of kids and amazing neighbors too.

Our latest activity! It's all fun and games until someone breaks a limb.  I should probably put a stop to it before that happens.  :)

Stay tuned for more highlights from our last few months and the fun to come over our spring break!!!

My Little Gymnast!

Madeline started gymnastics here at the first of January and totally loves it.  I think she is quite talented.  Last weekend she got to "compete" in her first gymnastics meet.  It was super cute and very fun for her.  She loves to perform and did an amazing job.

The following day she had her first basketball game here in Pullman and scored her very first basket!!!!

She is quite busy with activities including Spanish, Girl Scouts, Basketball and gymnastics.  For now Jude isn't doing anything but in the spring will start soccer and t-ball.  My goodness kids!!!!

ONE.MORE.DAY

I think I can make it!!!!  I just have to make it through tomorrow and they will be back where they belong! HAHA School.  I am so sorry I ever took you for granted.  Actually this has been a pretty easy week.  The kids were great and really had a great time.  I am just ready to be back in the swing of things.
The snow is still here but I'm not sure how fun it is anymore. It has been kind of iced over as the temp has risen and could be a major hazard if we got too crazy.  Which they most definitely have been.  The hill right next to our house is quite steep!  And one of the runs that they created has developed quite a jump.

Snow day 2

Ok snow day one = tons of fun
      snow day two = still fun but kids a little cranky
  What will snow day three bring????? That's right.  We are starting the third day of no school.  The kids aren't up yet but I am pretty sure Madels will be sad to hear that school is closed because she will have to miss gymnastics and Jude will probably be thrilled to have another day of fun.  And I, well I don't know.  We will see.

Yesterday our snow became a little icy and wet.  That made for quite a mess coming in and out of the house.  Thank goodness for a tiled entry. It also made for a mom that didn't go outside much.   I should take a picture of my entry way it's quite a sight with all the snow boots and gear piled up as the kids come in for a hot chocolate break!

One of my neighbors gave us a mini donut maker and so I thought a snow day would be a perfect day to give it a whirl.  I think they turned out perfect! And the kids snarfed them.

There were several recipes that came with the donut maker but they all called for things I didn't have, so I found a recipe online that worked great!  Check it here.  I also knew what I wanted to use for my frosting so I called my sissy and got the recipe from her.

We had lots of fun making snow ice cream too!!! Our fun neighbors brought down all the fixings and the kids loved covering their snow cream with all kinds of treats.  This was also my first time making snow ice cream that wasn't sprinkled with bits of leaves and gravel! HAHAHA I remember making it with Lindsey and Grandma Merlyn any time we had snow!

Gathering the main ingredient!

So proud of their creations.

So please wish me luck as we begin day three!!!

 

I'm back!

For now.  I am not going to try and catch up on the last month but I thought I would share some fun pictures from our last couple of snow days!
School was cancelled Wednesday and Thursday and the kids are loving every second of it!  There has been about 189473874 cups of hot cocoa consumed along with 5798759248754 marshmallows.  Our neighborhood has lots of great sledding hills and the kids have had so much fun running all over the neighborhood with friends.  Some hills are good for sliding down on your tummy, others sitting upright and then of course there is one that is great for surfing. aka snowboarding.
We didn't get any new snow over night but I did just look out to see that it is at it again.  From what I saw on the news we have got about 12" over the last three days!

Cocoa Break!!

The Boys!

Today is another snow day!  Not sure when we will head out to play but I know the kids are looking forward to a lot more fun.

I will leave you with this video of Jude from last night.  Sorry it is so dark.  

Like fireworks with no fuse

  I am changing the title of this great song to Christmas without family.  And I think the line in the title of this post is oh so fitting for my firework selling family!  

It's no secret I'm a family girl!  And who can blame me?  All around I have a pretty awesome family. 

I mean seriously did any one else's Uncle and Aunt dress up as the Mr & Mrs Claus this year?  

and how about these amazing cousins!  They chatted with me on skype while our mothers did the dishes.  You know we wouldn't want to break tradition and actually help in the kitchen.

I'm a pretty lucky lady if you ask me.  And also if you ask me I have done some pretty crazy things to make sure I was at these awesome get togethers in the past.  

There was the year I broke out the tears while working at Candy Tyme! 

Definitely did some major begging and pleading with co-workers at Nordstrom to switch shifts and the most famous, or shall I say infamous would be the syrup of ipecac incident!

You read that right.  I did it.  I took that awful potion while at work to get out of working on a day that I wanted to be with my family.  I won't go into detail but I will say I did eat clam chowder and orange pop for lunch that day. 

But this year, this year was different.  I didn't have a co-worker to switch shifts with, a manager's trash can to vomit in or anyone to cry to about why I can't miss this Christmas dinner with my family!  It's a weird feeling.  So this year for the first time in forever I didn't get to run around to 328473897 Christmas parties but I did manage to make it look like I did.

Thanks girls for taking me around at the Kume Christmas Party!!!

Now believe me I am so so sad to have missed these parties but I kind of feel like a grown up because of it.

I didn't throw any fits!  What a big girl I am.  

Now don't feel too bad for me.  I will be at my parents house for the next week and will get to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with our family and as a bonus I get to spend Thursday night with some pretty great friends too!  

And just for the record this is where the Jer man ended up!

I may or may not have woken up in a slight panic at 12:30 realizing Jerry hadn't made his move.I think it is pretty obvious that I didn't consult Pinterest on this one! hahaa
So tonight we will hit the road to Spokane and hop on the train.  And guess what that awesome family came through again and Matt's amazing cousin Torey has spared us a bus ride and is picking us up and taking us to Albany!  

You're a crazy one Mr. Elf!

Here is what we woke up to saturday morning! ha The kids got a kick out of it.  And then of course proceeded to eat all of the marshmallows!  

Our Saturday was a nice relaxing day.  Matt didn't have to work so that was just wonderful.  The kids played with the neighborhood friends most of the day which they hadn't done in a while so they were thrilled!  

This is our wonderful bittersweet chocolate cake with coffee ice cream! HOLY FRIJOLES!!! It was so good!

Matt and I had a date in the evening to a wonderful restaurant here in town called Swilly's.  It was nice to have some time just the two of us since we haven't had much time together since Matt has been working like a mad man on his latest project. Click here to keep up with his project.  

Yep, that's right.  Jerry went for a ride in the night! HAhaha The kids are cracking up and wondering where in the world he found that string.  They are coming up with all kinds of ideas as to where the string came from.  It's pretty awesome.  I love that they totally believe that he is magic and is doing this all on his own.   Now we have to figure out how to get him to Albany with us.  I am going to have to sneak him in the bag at the last minute and then have mom quick grab him when we get there.   You hear that mom?  I'm going to need your help.  

Speaking of, going to Albany.  We are quite excited to be taking the train this time!  The kids and I will be taking the train early tuesday morning.  We will hop on the train around 2:30 am so I am hoping that we sleep most of the time.  Then once we are make it to Portland we will take the bus!!! Yippeeee.  Now that is going to be an experience. 

Matt will meet up up with us on Friday for a crazy weekend of family fun!  We are so looking forward to spending time with our family!!!

So that being said, I had better get my buns going and get our stuff packed! Yikes. I  haven't started and we are leaving tomorrow night. 

If anyone is looking for a last minute gift for me.........

I would like this.

Unfortunately the hubs doesn't read the blog so I don't think he'll see this.

Edit:
I tried to froth milk in the VitaMix.  It kind of worked.  I think I will hold out on purchasing this frother for now.  :)

Elf on the Shelf`

So, in our family we have never done Santa.  Not for any major reason.  It just wasn't part of growing up for Matt or I so it just didn't come naturally once we had kids.   As the kids have gotten older we have sworn them to secrecy, told them they may not talk about Santa with their friends or tell them he isn't real. So far so good.  Then this year however,  they decided they wanted to believe! HA! Cracks me up.  So here we are 7 years into it and we are believing in Santa.  I really don't know how far to take it and personally I don't want let any one else take the credit for the awesome presents I get my kids. :) I thought about putting from Santa on the big gift.  But I just can't make myself do it.  I guess I have a little bit of time before I have to make that choice.  Another thing we have jumped on board with is The Elf on the Shelf.  The kids were at their friends house and saw how very fun it was so to the store we went.  Now, technically I probably shouldn't have let Jude see me buy it at the store!  But they still think he is magic.  I love it.  It has just been two days but I just can not get enough of their belly laughs when they see what Jerry has been up to the night before.  Thank goodness for pinterest!  It is full of great ideas.  Otherwise I don't know what I would be doing with him.

So here is Jerry the first morning when the kids woke up.  

I may have to start video taping them when they come down stairs and see his latest mischief.  It is awesome! 

And here is this morning.   Jerry made a zip line off of the Christmas tree!!!

So stay tuned for more mischief from Jerry the elf! And please pass on any ideas you may have!

Merry Christmas From the Kings!!!!

So I pretty much should not be allowed to design my Christmas card.  It seriously takes me forever!!! Just as soon as I decide on a design I find something I like better.  Ahhh So this year I thought, I will make it easy on myself and just buy some templates and use one of those.  Oops, big mistake.  Nope, buying a template does not stop my indecisiveness.   I just ended up spending too much money on templates.  This being one of them.  This isn't what I mailed out but now that I am looking at it I kind of wish I had.  Oh well.  I am just glad to have them sent out.  Well, except for a few.  I accidentally didn't order enough.  LAME.  So those will be here soon and then I will be done.

Merry Christmas from the King Family!!!!

Happy Birthday to me!

So I know this is old news, and many people would be shocked to learn this but I turned 30 in June.  It's true.  So while this isn't recent news I want to make sure and have this documented in the blog.

It was quite a day.  Actually, quite a week.  School was coming to an end and summer was just around the corner.  I had plans to be helping out at the coffee shop and just like every year my birthday was the same weekend as the strawberry festival.  And this year to add to the fun Matt's company planned a company party at the wings and waves water park on my actual birthday.  (Yes, I think they did that on purpose) So, my big 3-0 day was packed.  Just the way I like it. :) The day was starting with me at the coffee shop. The Strawberry Fest was in full swing and it was a great day at the shop!  At about noon I hit the road and headed home to meet the family so we could make our way to the water park.  We felt quite privileged to have our party there considering it wasn't opening to the public until the next day.




 It was so great to get to experience that with a small-ish group.  The lines were short and so we could do all the slides and other fun stuff without waiting forever.  Matt and Madels are the dare devils of our family so they went on all the crazy slides while Jude and I stuck to the kids slides and the wave pool.   Fine by me!
We were at the pool for several hours and enjoyed a nice lunch and of course spent some time in the arcade!  This is where Matt started stressing.  I didn't get it at the time but looking back I can see it!  He was rushing us and I just didn't get it.  Why would we have to leave early?  We had plans to be at my parents house for dinner but we still had plenty of time to get there.  So off we went.  Speeding back to Salem.  Once we were home the rushing continued.  A few quick showers and a little make up for me and we were on our way.  We pulled into my parents drive way to see the normal vehicles.  The ones I expected to see for my bday dinner.  We took our time getting out of the car  and headed to the back yard.  I am almost going to start crying again!

When I came around the corner I was SURPRISED! I can't even describe how I felt.  I immediately started bawling!  No not cute tears, not a little cry, full on ugly bawling!  It was awesome.  It was so crazy.

There were so many people there.  My family and many of my friends had pulled a fast one on me.  I had received texts, phone calls and facebook messages throughout the day from most of these people!  And there they all were.  It was so awesome.

Not only had Matt and my sister went to a lot of work to invite all the people I love, they provided quite the spread of food!  Lindsey, Mom and I'm sure many others worked all day friday and saturday to put this beautiful table together.  What a gift!

Linds also did a s'mores bar!  It was so fun.  She even made the graham crackers and some of the marshmallows!

There is never a shortage of food when Mom and Linds throw a party!

Fun sign made by my dad!

Lindsey also took lots of time putting together a wall of photos and a great scrap book.  Full of sentiments from many friends and family. 

We had a wonderful night full of laughs and of course many many more tears from me.  

Thank you so very much to Shawn Garber for taking all of these pictures.  I was so busy bawling my head off I didn't even have a chance to think about taking any.  

It was such a great day!  Full to the top just like I like it.  I am so very thankful for my amazing family and wonderful friends.  I wouldn't have had it any other way. 

The King Family Christmas Tree!!!

"We're kicking off our fun old fashion family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols"  
So while the Griswolds headed out into an snow covered field, numb up to their eyeballs the kings,  headed down the open road and ended up here............

Yep, that's right.  We bought our tree at Rite Aid this year.  At first I was quite sad about it.  Most years we make an afternoon out of getting our tree.  We find a tree farm and bundle up and head there after church.  We have fun wandering through the trees trying to find the BEST tree available.  Matt gets to cut it down and we drag it back to the car.  Sometimes there is hot chocolate waiting at the end and candy canes or other times we just head home and start pulling out the decor.  Another part of our tradition is making a big pot of golden cream soup and warm our freezing selves back up before we start the best part.  The "best" part usually includes arguing over who's ornament is whos.  Me untangling lights for most of the time.  Matt putting the lights up.  Me getting sad/mad because another ornament has broken.  And of course the best part, trying to decide who gets to put up the star!  But through all of that we have found the secret to keeping the peace.  Video camera!!! Hahah I set the camera up and just let it roll.  And guess what?  Everyone is a little nicer, a little happier and all around a little more fun! It's amazing how we behave when that thing is on.  Madels is definitely her mothers daughter and spends a large amount of time jumping up and down in front of the camera, and Jude mostly tries to avoid it. 

Too bad that beautiful flocking job didn't stick around.

Yep, we did that!  Good thing the house isn't far from Rite Aid.  I actually held onto the top of the tree from inside the car while we went up the hill to our house! We must have been quite a sight.

Matt King, the best tree lighter I know.

Cutest light helpers I know. 

We can never remember who put the star up last year so this was our solution this year!

What a beaut!  The kids are so happy with the tree!  They walk in the room and just gush about how much they love the tree.  It smells sooooo good and I love the glow of the lights through our front window. 

So although this year's tree hunt didn't start out like I had planned (hello story of the last few months!)  it turned out like it always does.  My family was together, we made memories and we have a beautiful tree decorated with love! :)  

So what are your favorite family traditions when it comes to putting up the tree?  

Merry Christmas from The Kings!!!