Valentine's Getaway

Nate and I got to do a quick trip to Seattle with our friends, Keni and April, to go to a broadway show called Rock of Ages. It was fun and relaxing trip!We love all the fun stuff to see on Pike Street
Nate's favorite doughnuts!

Ready for the show!

The Paramount Theater was pretty. The setting of the show takes place on the sunset strip in Los Angeles the 80s so we heard lots of "hair" band music, which Nate and Keni loved.

Thanks grandma and grandpa for watching the kids for us!

Four!

It's fun to have the celebration of the holidays linger just a little longer and we had one special four-year-old birthday to celebrate!!!
I was surprised at how sad I was when everyone headed back to school; we had a really nice time together!

Bradley and I kept busy by putting a little friend party together with just a couple of boys he plays with regularly from church. Paige was a special exception; Bradley wanted her to be the "one girl." We did a few fun games and had lunch and cake with none other than a Toy Story theme!



Bradley has a lot of things he says that we call "Bradleyisms." I want to remember these so here are a few examples:
One day while in the car, Bradley was not happy about me telling him he needed to act nice and have good manners when talking to friends and playing with friends. (He has a lot of trouble sharing when friends come to our house to play). After the mini-lecture he said, "MOM! The world is not about you!"

I wanted to get him to hurry and get going (probably because I was running late somewhere) and I told him if he didn't hurry he was going to have to be left at home. He replied, "You can't leave me! I know your phone number!"

He pretty much tells me we have a "game" meaning baseball, basketball or football during the day, what the name of my team is, how to play the game and when the game is over due to his team winning.

One day Bradley told me he had finished his breakfast and when I checked, he hadn't really touched it. I explained to him that he was lying and I asked him, "Do you know what happens when you lie?" He said, "you get in trouble." I said, it also mommy and daddy sad and it really makes Heavenly Father and Jesus sad. His response was, "Well, don't tell them!"

He is such a busy guy and these examples illustrate the fiery side of his personality but he is also very sweet and loving. We love him so much and he has every single person in this family wrapped around his fingers.

Happy 4th birthday Bradley! We love you!

Ringing in 2011

Several people from both Kraus' and Floyd families were still in town so we decided to host New Year's Eve at our home for anyone who wanted to come. The spread of food was ridiculous but YUMMMY!!!
The kids did several Minute to Win It games and Christopher introduced a game involving flipping whipped cream in the air which was a huge hit. The adults ate, ate and ate and played some Bunco.
Everyone, including Bradley, made it to midnight and the cousins went outside to bang on pots and pans and do poppers. There were fireworks across the river as well!

Happy 2011! We are looking forward to this year!

All Kinds of Catching Up to Do

I can't believe Christmas was a month ago! We had lots of fun and hopefully you won't mind a few catch up posts to get a little documentation of Christmas 2010 for the Kraus family. First off, the Parker's flight got cancelled from Denver to Pasco on the 23rd so we had a little time to kill on Christmas Eve while we were waiting for them to catch their next flight and drive from Portland so we went bowling!What was great about the bowling was that Aunt Colleen and her family were there bowling too so we got to bowl with cousins and it was fun to see them! We didn't know we were crashing a Robinson family tradition!

We were so happy when the Parkers made it in time for our Christmas Eve dinner at Applebees. My parents picked them up in Portland and there was a lot of sceaming and hugging when we all jumped out of our cars in the parking lot at the Restaurant. Brian's parents, Nannee and Papa and Sara and Joe also joined us for dinner. I didn't get a picture unfortunately but we had the group room all to ourselves so it was nice.
After dinner we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas at their house!




We did our reading of The Christmas story earlier in the day so we could stay late at Grandma and Grandpa's. The kiddos slept in until 7:00 a.m. which wasn't too bad...
Trying to contain their excitement!



After Christmas at our house we headed to Nannee and Papa's.
Snuggies!
AND Emily, Kevin and Jordan surprised us and came to town just in time for the festivities!

This is What We're Supposed to be Doing?

While I was planning on playing catch up with more Christmas and New Year's posts, tonight's family scripture reading and prayer struck me as something I want to remember just as much as the special events in our family so here I documented the following scene with names withheld to protect the not-so-innocent. Someday we might look back and laugh (although this is not unlike most nights):
Me: Time to read scriptures! (Finds all children without pajamas on even though I asked them to put them on 30 minutes ago).

Me: Go put your pj's on! (One child goes and comes back, other child takes FOREVER).

Me: Hurry up! (Both children return without their scriptures)

Me: Go get your scriptures....
(Meanwhile other child has completely adhered to one side of me on the couch and wants to pretty much sit on my lap even though they are taller than me and plenty of other seating is available. Another child sits sullking under a blanket).

Me: What's wrong?

Child: You and dad are mean to me.
(Discussion ensues addressing being mean versus being a parent and that asking someone to do something "x" times is not being mean. Child reluctantly crawls out from under blanket and decides to join in).

Me: Okay, you start (to another child).
That child starts reading in the best pouty-grumpy-emotional voice I've ever heard. Teenagers start snorting with laughter which sends other child into absolute tears and stomping off.

Me to crying child: Brush your teeth and get into bed. (Child stomps into bathroom and tries to make as much noise as possible while brushing her teeth by kicking the tub and slamming the faucet when she turns it on and off. Another child goes to peek in on her--while I've tried to start and stop reading about five times by now--and comes back in with more bursts of laughter. This sends other child into bed crying and moaning like her dearest pet just died.)

Me: "And it came to pass..."

Another child: Mom, we learned something in seminary today. What was it like when you had your miscarriage?

Me: What does that have to do with what we're reading?
(Several questions commence about what happened when I miscarried. Eventually we get back on task. Meanwhile, crying child gets louder and is probably going to wake up other child alredy put to bed).
Other two children take turns reading and have to bump me when its my turn because I am worried about the crying child and I forget where we are, which makes them start a whole new round of snorting and laughter...

Me: Okay! We're done! (somehow we actually got through a whole chapter).

(Dad is noticably absent because he is taking care of something at the school. Had he been here this nonsense would have ended much sooner and probably with a few more crying children)

I have often wondered why this is STILL such a difficult task after 17 years of regular attempts of family prayer and scriptures. Will the kids remember this? Are they getting anything out of it? I know the answer but I still shake my head in wonder when we have nights like this. I would love to have an expert come and evaluate us, kind of like a "scripture and prayer whisperer" to tell us what we could do to help our situation, except without putting us on TV :) I love our crazy family and some of the nonsense that comes with the package; I just hope there's a little bit of credit in heaven for trying.

Coeur d'Alene/Spokane

We had a really fun, cold and snowy weekend at the start of Christmas Break for Jared's AAU basketball tournament. It happened to coincide with EWU playing Villanova for a playoff game in Cheney that Friday so we all got to skip out of school and work a little early and Nate and Jared headed back to the Inferno for more football fun. They made all kinds of ESPN posters hoping to get 15 seconds of fame on their favorite network but unfortunately we didn't see any of their great artwork on ESPN. They still had a great time and EWU will be playing this weekend for the championship! Go Eags! While they were freezing on the football field, the rest of us went on a Christmas light cruise on Couer d'Alene Lake to the "North Pole." The lights were beautiful and it was such a fun activity for families--I definitely recommend it.

When we got to the North Pole, Santa came out and did some fun entertaining and then read all the names on the nice list. My kids were relieved when they heard their names--even Amanda!
This is the world's largest living Christmas tree.
We also got to watch Jordan's basketball game and eat at Chili's--our favorite place to go when we visit there. Jared's team played in a facility called The Warehouse right near Gonzaga University. Jared was in heaven when we went to the school store and shopped a little between games. His team did great; they came in 3rd place overall in the tournament. We are looking forward to more tourmaments where I can snap some pictures; the intensity of the games made me forget to take out my camera. We appreciate Kevin and Emily for letting us stay with them and for letting Megan and Bradley hang out and play so we could watch games uninterrupted--it was wonderful!!

Before Christmas

We had lots of snow to play in!

We had lots of friends to play with during parent/teacher conference time!
Sherrie came to visit and we had a '40th celebration' with her! I'm sure you are wondering about the cauliflower cake. You see, when one turns 40 they are so much more disciplined and wise they eat totally healthy, right? Okay, not totally true. She had been going strong on her current diet and was not going to cheat even though she was traveling--now that's dedication! Notice the brownies and ice cream in the background for those of us who are not so dedicated . . .
We put together a list of 40 things we love about Sherrie!
My kids love having her visit and stay with us. She was so great to work around our busy schedules--thanks for coming Sherrie!!!
Right before the Christmas rush we also put together our Thankful Tree for 2010. I am glad whenever we can take a minute to focus on the things we are grateful for and the things the Lord has blessed us with. It is a great thing for our family to do right before the craziness of the Christmas season.