Gale Munchkins

Another kid photo session, ala Kaylee...

We had an enjoyable few days with Mike's sister Lisa and her family. Jessie is on the verge of turning 3, and knows quite well how to stake her territory. The girls had fun playing with her as well as baby Tanner. Uncle Chris was also back in town...it was nice seeing them all. Mike and the girls enjoyed doing some Christmas shopping, they decided (or dad decided) that Chia pets were the "in" thing for 2007, because they had one for everyone!! It's amazing what shapes they came in. I wonder if they'll turn out. (PLEASE LET US KNOW, or SEND PICS!!--I'm assuming you read our blog :) We spent Christmas Eve Day up at the Gales...the beginning of gift opening and of course the eating!! Great-Grandpa & Grandma Gale, and Aunt Gloria also spent Christmas Eve day with us. I don't remember the last time I saw them laughing so much. I'm not even sure what they were laughing at, but it was funny.

Here are some pics I found on Glenna's computer from Halloween that I though were cute...just a tad late :)

Tanya was web surfing for an idea for her Christmas letter...she came upon something...and so we tweeked it into our own and here it is...we are loving Photoshop!! We also tried out a tutorial for taking pictures by the light of the Christmas tree...not sure how well they turned out...but here are some of those pics too!!

I know many of you have seen this movie already, but the girls and I went and saw this movie yesterday!! It was GREAT!! In fact...for those of you who like useless trivia...there's all sorts of interesting references to other Disney movies that they used throughout the movie...wikipedia lists a lot of them...aside from the obvious ones, there's some fun things they did to tie in other movies...even some "cameos"...so go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchanted_%28film%29 to read them!!

Not sure how long this link will last...but click away!! http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1241242385

So, we thought Kaylee had finally out grown her HSP ...only, after speaking to the doc in Utah...the mottled appearance to her legs is actually Livedo Reticularis ...which is just another manifestation of the vasculitis . There is no treatment, other than taking care of the underlying cause, HSP , which isn't curable...plus, she came down Monday after taking a shower to show us that she has spots on her legs again... grrrr .... She is back in school, mostly full-time. We've still got her set-up for homeschool ...in case of a flare-up. Otherwise...she is happy & loving school!!

After showers tonight, the girls pulled our bucket of sponge curlers and insisted it was time to bring out the "moose"!! (or as Kaylee put it, the Uncle Tim's brother look-a-likes .) Even Mikenna was into getting them put in. Then, after everyone was in bed, Mikenna in mine...my mom comes down to tell me something & leaves (I'm in the computer room which is next to the bedroom), Mikenna hears her and starts saying, "Night Grandma, night Grandma," but my mom doesn't hear her...then Michael comes in and says something, but for some reason Mikenna thinks it's my dad and starts saying, "Pa pa, doing? Pa pa, doing?" Then a few minutes later I hear her quietly crying and saying, "owie, owie....owie...owie." I go in after a bit, and she's sitting there, touching the curlers and repeating over and over, in a very quiet voice, "owie....owie..."I felt so bad :( We took them out, and fearing they'd all get smooshed or d...

Our Thanksgiving break was preceded by the dreaded flu bug...but before I go there...(working backwards...) Thanksgiving day, (despite having smaller appetites )...we were able to gather with family, the Elders & friends...have a yummy meal (big THANKS to Mike's mom for preparing all of it) ...play a few games...scope out Black Friday ads...move furniture around... Before that, Wednesday was all about napping, TV, napping, and not eating (even Kiera & Mikenna)...because the previous night... 10:30 pm...baby monitor...we hear the dreaded sounds of someone throwing-up...rush upstairs expecting it to be Kaylee...and it's Kassidy -still asleep-all over herself, bed & Kiera below! ICK !! A few hours later, I decide to follow... Earlier...we're home, Kaylee is achy and crying...Kassi asks, "Why is Kaylee crying?" "Because her tummy doesn't feel good." Kassi, "My tummy doesn't feel good either." (We're thinking she's havin...

Last year, when we spent Thanksgiving at Tim & Julia's in Provo, Tim's mother showed us how to make gingerbread houses from scratch! So, this year I decided to try channeling the girls creative powers....so...here we are...(Thanks & HUGS to Grandma Nuttall!!) Kassi & Mikenna on the left; Kaylee & Kiera on the right. at every opportunity, Mikenna was putting candy in her mouth...and really, I don't think you'd want to "pick" off of her and Kassi's house...several times, I caught them licking the candy before they placed it...EWW!! Kassidy wanted to use m&m's everywhere ...each time I put some frosting down, she was ready with the m&ms. Kaylee & Kiera were assisted by their dad, Kiera came up with the idea of a rock climbing wall on the back of their home...Kaylee wanted the little people climbing, and it was her idea to have the other one tumbling off of the house.

...and here she is!! Since the little gal this cake belonged to didn't have a preference for a Disney princess or barbie princess...we just had to "design" a dress for the cake...(requested colors were yellow, pink & purple.) I don't believe it's a dress anyone would ever recreate to actually wear, but it was loved by the birthday girl! (And that's what really counts!)

...to join our cake collection!! There are times when I enjoy using my creative skills. Luckily I had the opportunity to help make these birthday cakes: one for my niece Emma, and another for a friend's daughter....I was also just asked today for help on another cake next week!! Happy Birthday girls!! In case you didn't know, Emma's cake is Roe from the newest Barbie movie "Island Princess." BTW: notice the pretty beads...Tanya...

not acceptable!! So, WHAT DO YOU DO??? Let me know, and I will try them ALL...because Kaylee....grrrrr..... for example...tonight.... {It is time for bed, we've let them stay up late to watch a few shows with us} {Kaylee has gotten into the habit of sleeping with hot packs, filled with rice, warmed in the microwave} {she can now warm these up in the micro on her own} Mike: "Kaylee I've told you a 100 times (tonight), go warm up your hot packs !" Kaylee: "Dad! I've told you 1000 times , I need someone to go with me! " {And boy, can she throw attitude into her phrases! GRRRRR!!}

had to put a clarifier on my "Tag" post...

We have been prednisone free for about 3 1/2 weeks now with no obvious symptoms of HSP!! Hopefully Kaylee has finally "outgrown" this auto-immune thing and we can work on ridding her body of the meds we had to put in her. Her legs still have a mottled look, almost like a bruise that is on the verge of fading away, but hasn't. You've probably been able to tell that a few of the side-effects are subsiding as well...each day she is looking more and more like herself. We have finally gotten into a workable routine of homeschooling...just in time for Michael & I to decide to put her in for a few hours/day at school. Kaylee was a bit nervous when we first mentioned her going back, but agreed when we explained our plan. November is a crazy month with holidays and PT conferences, we figured it would be a good way to ease in. SOOO ... today Kaylee had her first day back to school!! She loved it!! (and so did I!!)

I despise these "tagging" things, mostly because it's not easy to come up with things about myself, let alone have them be interesting...but I suppose I'd better participate: 1. I love to read...can't put a book down once I've started it...will even stay up until the wee hours to get that much further into the story. I really got into science fiction a few years ago (never thought I'd read science fiction) like Orson Scott Card, or a Wrinkle in Time, or The Eye, The Ear & the Arm...I especially love children's books...Pipi Longstocking, Betsy Byars...Stacy has me hooked on Stephanie Meyer... 2. I am critical...I'm always looking for how things can be better. Like lessons taught in church, or talks...I sit, listen and think, now...if I were to do it, I'd do it this way, or that way...I don't think "O-I can't believe they're doing that!! It would be much better if it was done this/that way..." I suppose it's from te...

What a wonderful day!! With beautiful weather & plenty to be thankful for!! We couldn't have asked for more. So here are a few pictures to share. Kaylee & her cousin James were baptized today! We are so pleased with their choice to become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thanks to all of those who participated or attended. We are blessed to have so many family and friends to be our support!

Just a few pics from our Halloween this year... You of course have the pumpkins....thankfully, most of the girls stuck with the standard face. Kaylee was the only one insisting on something different, but when you have 4 pumpkins to get done, faces were encouraged ! Luckily, because we carved at Michael's parents home, we had David & Grandpa Gale's help. Kaylee did another pumpkin at her art class, so we ended up with 5. (Hmmm...I wonder if Michael let the candles burn all night...) Mikenna didn't have much interest in what we were doing. Mostly wandered from pumpkin to pumkin. Kassi worked with David, Kiera helped scrape (and scrape and scrape) various pumpkins. Kaylee worked on "poking" her design out, after she helped Joe seperate his seeds from gunk from his HUMUNGOUS pumpkin. Here we are at Great-Grandma's after we'd Trunk-or-Treated at the Union building. We were then off to trek around our neighborhood. Grandma Gale put together Kaylee's cos...

Thursday night, Jaime (Stacy's sister), the girls and I, drove up to Yakima to watch Disney on Ice, Princess Wishes!! The girls absolutely LOVED it!! Mikenna's eyes were riveted to the skaters! Her little hand would wave & wave as the characters waved to us...she even knew the names of the princesses as they came out on the ice. It was fun & I enjoyed chatting with Jaime in the van...My camera died 1/2 way through the show, but here are some pics...Stacy & Emma were also there with some other friends...maybe they'll have some better pictures to share...

My sis-in-law, Stacy threw this way fun party the other night...and my other sis-in-law, Allison blogged it!! Rather than repeat repeat... go here to read all about it!! THANKS STACY FOR THROWING A FUN PARTY AND INVITING US !!

with the four girls... at least that's what it has seemed liked over the past few weeks... I have nothing to complain about...except the girls...they really miss their daddy...I at least see and chat with him when he gets home late or early in the morning...but they, especially Kiera , don't see him as much... ???WHY??? you may ask...well, October is sprinkler blowout month for us!! What is this, you may ask...well, for those of us living in Kennewick , once the irrigation water is turned off, sprinkler systems then need to be winterized by blowing any left over water out of the pipes. Once freezing weather sets in, if water isn't blown out, there is danger of freezing/bursting pipes...which are not fun to fix! (Mike fixed several this past spring.) Sooooo ....Mike & his dad and brothers...pass out fliers, call previous customers, set up a packed appointment schedule, rent these compressors, and drive around--blowing out sprinkler lines!! Mike & Co. have been doing ...

Kassidy looked more like me by 3%. Kiera looked more like me by 4% (It sure did take a long time to decide too.) Kaylee looked more like me by 14%. Now, the program said it compared facial features and etc...so....