More Christmas pictures

Woot! A new game for the Wii!

Kalin was very interested in the cookies that Santa didn't have room for.....

Sis could barely sit still for a picture.....

Christmas day was soooo wonderful! Jon surprised us with a family gift (hah hah, really its all for me.....) of a new computer! I rearranged my living room with the help of my sister and mom to accommodate the computer desk and computer in the living room. Jon hooked it up and rewired the Sunday after Christmas day.

Ahhhh, I have been in heaven surfing and playing with iPhoto, iTunes and Pages (oh and a little Facebook and email are also thrown in there.....). Kiley got a Webkin kitty cat she named Lola, and got online to name it and feed it and do whatever else needed to be done. Jon down loaded a few baby games for Kalin so she can pound on the key board and not hurt anything. We are all getting our fair share of the new awesome computer!

So here are a few more pictures from Christmas day and Christmas Eve. We also had a wonderful Christmas Eve with the entire family going to the Candle Service at the Moravian Church.

New pictures from 2010 to follow......

Merry Christmas!

Last night we went to the candle service at the Moravian church as a family, what a wonderful time. Every year I say that we need to start going to church as a family and I hope this is the year I stick to it. We had a wonderful time, it was a wonderful time from start to finish.

What a fabulous day! I hope you had as wonderful of a Christmas as we did, we couldn't have asked for a better day. The girls slept in a bit and didn't wake up until about 8:00 a.m. Kiley was so excited when she hopped out of bed and grabbed her stocking. She did such a good job handing out presents and not going hog wild (Jon and I made a pact that we would slow things down this year!). My parents showed up around 8:30 and we all opened presents together.

Dillingham Dancing Queens

Here are my girls busting some crazy moves!

Buried alive!

We have gotten so much snow in the past few days! Last night we had a winter storm advisory and we got dumped on again. Now it is about 32 degrees, clear and so warm!

The girls, of course, had fun playing in the snow once we coaxed them outside. Camryn and Kiley enjoyed being buried in snow by Jon..... kind of like being at the beach and buried in sand, but the sand is wet, cold and heavy!

November and Thanksgiving

(Shannon in this one)

(Mom in this one)

We hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!!

What a whirlwind of 4 days! We were so lucky that Camryn and Auntie Jeanette got to come home for Thanksgiving, meaning that our entire family was here for turkey day. It seems like most of us were sick at one time of another with sniffles, fevers or stomachaches. That didn't stop us from having a good time though! We did a lot of eating, talking and playing games. It wasn't warm enough outside to do a whole lot, but we still got out a bit.

More pictures to follow....

Walking in Winter

She was carrying her gloves around like they were her babies

Oh man what a gorgeous weekend! In the teens with nothin' but blue skies! We had to take advantage. So we got all decked out and went walkin', or sledding, whichever way you want to look at it. We walked as far as we could and then decided to be at home and start the bonfire. We finished the day with a nice, hot steam. Can you get any better than that?
Kalin doesn't think so....

The New Pit

Fire pit that is. We broke ground in September and broke it in in October. A little late, but it was better late than never. Uncle Max came over and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. What fun! Kiley actually ate a marshmallow she roasted, she didn't like it but at least she tried it!

We knew it was just a hole unless we prettied it up a bit. So we went to the beach and found some great rocks to make our pit into a fancy fire pit. Jon and Kiley stacked and styled the rocks so now our fire pit looks rreeeeeaaaaaallllllll fancy.

Check it out, makes you want to come over and cook some dogs, doesn't it?

Post 2-2-2 dedicated to Miss Kalin

This is my 222 blog post! Wow!!! That means I have blogged a total of two hundred and twenty-two times! Dang, that is good work on my part. I really enjoy blogging, it has been fun to look back on our archives and to remember what we have done. Blogging is great digital journal.

So this blog post is dedicated to Miss Kalin Clouse, aka Sis. She has been feeling a little neglected since the last few posts have been all about her big sister and Whiskers.

You ask what has Kalin been up to these days? Well, let's see here, our 18 month old has been a busy girl!

• Kalin can jump- she jumps on the trampoline, on the floor, the table, mom, dad, Kiley.....
  
• Kalin can poop in the potty! She has done her business about half a dozen times in the appropriate place. Now she has also pooped on the living room floor, in my hand (not on purpose), on Kiley's floor, in the tub, in the steam and most recently on the kitchen chair.
• Kalin can dance, and sing (we think she will be the next Kareokee Queen)
  
• Kalin can follow directions; "Sis throw this away" "Sis Mommy said get OFF the table!" "Sis go get a blanket for your baby" etc, etc.
• Kalin can say, "Dada", "Mama" ,"Ditder", "Conk-Conk" (big truck), "More", "Papa" and she screams like no ones business!
• Kalin thinks Kami, Oscar and Whisker's food is yummy.......
  
• Miss Kalin is so cute she just about melts your heart!

We marvel every day at how different our two girls are. Kiley has always been the Drama Queen- everything 120% and at full speed. Kalin is laid back, but not afraid to tell you NO, MINE, a watcher but still quite charming and energetic. We can't wait until she really starts talking, but then again we are a little nervous to find out what she will say!

Whiskers, Up Close and Personal

She just wouldn't sit still....

She doesn't seem to like to pose for pictures. I tried to command her to "sit", it didn't work. I also tried calling her name and doing what I do to the dogs to get their picture..... um, she isn't a dog. So finally Kiley grabbed her so we could get a close up.

Our FIVE year old.....

Kiley had her big 5th birthday extravaganza on Saturday. We kind of had a lot of kids at our house... um, 17 little ones I think. It was a little crazy but we managed well; no crying until the very end of the party, honest.

We had the kiddos decorating felt bags for their pinata goodies, a very cool marble art project, pin the tail on the donkey, a parachute and then a pinata for the finale... phew! I'm tired just writing this... 5 year old parties are a lot of work!

It was absolutely gorgeous outside so the kids were stoked about playing outside. We had a lot of very happy preschoolers and most importantly Miss Kiley was very, very happy.

Kiley's First Day of School!

Kiley's first day of Pre-School! I think she will be very ready to go to Kindergarten after this year. She is one of the oldest kids in the program, I think she will turn 5 first. Her first day was fun and she made one new friend (even though she couldn't remember her name). Look at how big my first born looks in her snazzy new first day of school clothes! :)

Bubbles!!

The girls have been having so much taking baths with lots and lots of bubbles!!

Britni's Wedding....

Talk about a fun weekend! All the Clouses got to go to my cousin's wedding in Anchorage. It was a very fun family affair full of dancing and visiting! My parents were there from Washington as was my brother and sister plus other countless cousins, aunts and uncles. We had a great time but are glad to be home. Looks like our camera is working again, most of the time. It even got dropped again and somehow we fixed it. So here are some fun pictures from the wedding and the girls just having some fun.

Camera is Broken!

What is a blog without pictures? Our camera has been broken since Jon dropped it in the skiff on a fishing excursion :( in June. It works every once in a while... but here are some pictures from Jon's birthday bbq and live band adventure (thanks to Rhiannon). What a fun night!

More Pictures from Colorado

Our Internet is soooooooo slow at home. I don't know why but it has been a painful process to blog anything these days. I can blog, but I like to add pictures and that just takes for ev er!! So I am at work. Here are some new ones.
Me and my gurlz

Papa Paul, Kalin and Kiley

Miss Bella and Kalin

Dillon, Soren, Devin, Damon, Kiley and Kalin

We waited for almost two hours to get her face painted!

Home!!

That King is as big as Kalin!

Kiley got to go with her Dad to get the big Kings!

After a busy last week in Colorado we finally made it home. We filled every last day in Colorado with swimming lessons, sunshine, friends and family. Even with all that we were so happy to be home to Jon (aka Daddy).

We came home and have been so busy! Gardens, fish, flowers, weddings, bbq's, softball..... how are people ever bored? We are excited when we get to sit down and watch a movie and relax a little! Geesh.

So I will have to blog about our last week or so in Colorado because I have some great pictures to share, but until then I wanted to share a few of the pictures I've taken since we have been home.

Swimming with Toads!

By complete accident by children decided that swimming with toads was a very cool activity. Kiley has been collecting toads and putting them in a box... to just let them go again and as she was running by the wading pool she tripped and out they fell into the pool. Both girls were mesmerized by the toads swimming and got the biggest kick out them swimming around!