Grammy comes to visit

It was nice to have my mom here for a few days, we wish she could have stayed longer!! 

Decorating the tree

The Nutcracker

This was the 3rd year she has been in the Nutcracker.

Kendall wanted to ride with her baby doll and this was the only way she could do it with out the doll falling off! 

Trick or Treat

                                           Our cute Minnie Mouse

Our UPS Driver

Our Dorothy

 

Mackenzie, our niece

Cumberland Falls

We went to Cumberland Falls on Sat with our good friends and we had a blast.  My girls loved going through the mini caves and climbing on the rocks.  It was the perfect day. 

Updates

The girls are now taking private tumbling lessons and they love it.  Katie is still taking ballet and Karissa is still playing the paino. 
Jason's job was changed and now he is on call.  He likes driving to different places every day so it works for him. 
Krista, Jason's sister is teaching at the Village in Nicholasville and loves it.  Joe will be moving here next week, they've been apart since the end of July and they are tired of living apart.  He finally got a job transfer so he will be working at the At&T store in front of Target and he also got a part-time job working at the tennis club!! We are so excited that they are here and the girls love visiting them.  Kendall and Mackenzie are so cute playing together.  I know they will be best friends!!

Our Sweetie

Middle school dance

Karissa was so excited to be going to the first middle school dance of the year.  Jillian, her best friend, got to with her. Jillian did her hair and they got ready at her house and then I picked up a carload of kids to take to the dance!  It brought back memories of me and my best friend getting ready for the dances!  I was so glad Jillian got to go because they do go to different schools.  Of course unlike my 8th grade year when my dad forgot to pick me up from my dance, she did get a ride back home!  It was just me and the principle standing outside and I had to call home to see what was up and dad thought I was in my room, I guess mom forgot to let him know and then she feel asleep!  Memories!! 

Its so hard to believe how grown up she is getting and we are so proud of her and the little lady she is becoming.

Our DC trip

This is where the plane hit, (I was allowed to take a picture of this).

Let me just say that 9/11 has changed everything which I'm sure everyone knows. I had a hard time with how it changed the Pentagon. We couldn't even take a picture of it and this was a place where my dad worked for 10 years. My sister and I ran up and down the corridors by ourselves. Dad drove to work 2 hours each way for 7 years and if we had a doctors appointment we had to spend the day with him. If he had meetings to go to he would put us on a tour, I'm pretty sure that Chanda and I could give the tours by the time he retired!! I wanted the girls to go on a tour but found out that I was suppose to arrange it 9-21 days out from the date we were there.

We had a good time in DC. We walked from 9:30 in the morning until 9:30 that night. Karissa gets to go this year with her 8th grade class but she now says she doesn't want too. I guess we wore her out on the walking. It was good to go back since I hadn't been there in 11 years. Its still the same well with the exception of the reflecting pool being gone. I did find out that they are in the process of repairing a leak in it.

On the 2nd day there my sister, Jason and their kids and my mom came with us!

I am very proud of my dad and what all he accomplished. He was in the Air Force for 21 years.

First day of school

First day of 2nd grade!

A Couple's Only vacation!

We had the opportunity to go with Brooke and Wayne to Fort Meyers. At first I was excited then the closer it got I tried to get out of it, but Brooke and Jason wouldn't let me and I am forever grateful!

It was nice just focusing on mine and Jason's marriage. We kept calling it our second honeymoon! We did a lot of neat things and had a date night every night! We went on a dolphin cruise and an airboat ride and ate at some great places too!

My girls had a blast visiting their grandparents and aunt and uncle. They want to go again next year!

Summer is here

I love summertime not because of the heat but because I get to spend time with my girls. We've been to the pool almost everyday since school let out.

The girls did great this year in school and now they are going into 8th grade (sigh..) and 2nd grade.

Karissa is doing Art camp again this year and Katie is going to Dance camp.

On another note Jason's hours changed, not something we wanted, so we are still trying to find a routine that works for us. The one good thing is that he now can eat supper with us.

May Happenings

May in our family is a very busy month so Jason and I half joke when we say we dislike May and can't wait til the month is over!

It started out with Karissa turning 13 on May 7th. We are now parents of a teenager and it's like having a new baby again because there are no instructions! We have been "blessed" with the rolling of the eyes, attitudes and the looks that she gives us like we're speaking in another language. Don't get me wrong the eye rolling has been going on for a while but it's a new rolling. She is still a sweet child most of the time but a teenager has invaded her body.
Jason and I gave her a ring with 3 sapphires in it and we are using it as a true love waits ring. She is very proud of her ring!! We took her to Red Lobster and she ordered crab and lobster!

On May 14th we are celebrating, with his parents, 25 years of Herko Family Mission. There is a huge banquet on Saturday and Jason's grandmother and grandfather and sister and her little family are coming into town!! We haven't seen Mackenzie since she was a month old-she's 9 months now. It will be fun watching Kendall play with the baby! My girls are so excited that Uncle Joe and Aunt Kika are coming to visit. Then on Sunday Karissa has her piano recital.

On May 20th which is Katie's 7th birthday she has a ballet recital at 7:30. She is in 2 shows and has 2 dances to perform. She also has a show on Saturday so I'm not sure when we are going to celebrate with family. On Sunday I am having a birthday party for the girls at Champs. They both love to roller blade!!

Starting May 7th and ending June 3rd our girls birthdays are 2 weeks apart from each other. So we will end the madness with Kendall's 2nd birthday- wow where has the time gone?!

Happy Easter

Photo shoot with Geri

My good friend Geri is an on location photographer and she was great with the girls! They had a great time.

Happy Easter

Karissa's new smile

Before: Notice the gaps by her front teeth

We found out at the age of 4 that Karissa was missing 6 teeth ( the two in the front, 2 wisdom, and 2 12 year molars) and the most noticeable ones were the incisiors beside her 2 front teeth. Its hereitary so our other girls could possible have missing teeth too. I did find out yesterday that Katie isn't missing the 2 in front!!

When she gets her braces off they will put the teeth on a retainer and she will wear that until she is old enough for implants, which they say 18.

I feel so bad for her because she has a terrible fear of dentist and of course she is the one who needs the most done.

BEFORE


AFTER: Upstairs

Downstairs

It's so nice to have a place of our own. All the kids toys are out of our living room and they also have more space in their bedrooms! Jason did a great job and I am very proud of what he accomplished

This weekend is the end of our huge construction project!!! Jason finished painting the living room then he is going to paint Kendall's bedroom and the girls bathroom and we're finished!! The living room looks great and the girls love the loft. We had the carpet installed on Valentine's Day. I love it and it makes a huge difference in our heating and the noise isn't overbearing anymore. I love that the girls now play upstairs instead of our living room. I feel like we have a grown-up zone and some privacy.
I will post pictures of our living room after Jason gets our curtains up.

Kendall

She got a new apron and she loves wearing it all the time and then yesterday she found her chef hat and put it on. She is 20 months now and she is the apple of her sisters eyes. She is so spoiled by them.

The loft from downstairs

Our ceiling is done!!! It looks so good! If anyone needs a drywaller we have a great person. As you can see Jason has some painting still to do and my curtains haven't made it back on the windows either. I haven't taken any new pictures of the upstairs because it pretty much looks the same and we are just waiting on the carpet to come in.

The loft

Just getting started 1/21/11

This is the view when you get to the top of the stairs. We had a cat walk that over looked the foyer and the living room and it connected the girls rooms and bathroom. Now we just have it over looking the foyer and the living room has a ceiling over it.

The girls love their new room. Kendall has already moved in.

2/7/11-The drywall was put up today and it makes our living room so much more inviting. Plus we're not freezing anymore because Jason moved our heat vents out of the vaulted ceiling and now they are in our new living room ceiling.

Karissa's latest creation

We are so proud of her!