FebruarWii

Not a whole lot going on here. We are thankful for our Nintendo Wii. Because it is still fairly cold, we are passing February nights by playing a lot of Mario Kart. It is pretty cool on the wall with the projector. Our competitiveness is enhanced by this large screen :) For you Nintendoheads (yikes, that's far from gearheads), to the right is Yoshi , Koopa Troopa, Toad and Donkey Kong battling it out. Baleigh usually kicks all of our butts.

Yea! The Koester5 was together for dinner tonight!

Last weekend, we saw our first robins of the season! Come on Spring! Baleigh went to the science center in the mall and made a colorful netting that we hung in a bush in hopes that a robin will use it for her nest. We also put a finch feeder out and had 2 little yellow friends visiting this morning.

This is a great memory of fun in the summer. I love the thought of that warmth and freedom (sorry, non-teachers). This is a picture from Lou's American Girl Camp last July. Baleigh is in the yellow shirt and glasses. I cannot believe how much she has changed since July!

Here is the shaggy Puppa Sade and the groomed Princess Sadie. I think maybe the flash bothered her in the groomed pic :) She got a fun little Shamrock scarf from the groomer today. The reason that I am featuring Sadie again is because the talented pet contest has begun. Baleigh typed up a 35-word paragraph of Puppa Sade's talents and entered her in this contest. What we didn't know was that in order for your pet to get votes, people have to donate to the Newspapers for Education fund at the Southern Illinoisan. I was unaware of the "pay to vote" details. Anyhoo, it was fun to see her in the paper and online. It will be interesting to see if she gets any votes.

Happy last week of February!

Love N 'Kinz

Baleigh, age 7 (Valentine's Day 06) showing off her super cute rainboots that Lindsey sent her for her birthday.

From my Valentine

Sunday, we had a great day hanging out at the MaMa's. Jeff, Conni, Bay and I finished MaMa's puzzle. I love how you can have great conversation and do a puzzle at the same time. It's relaxing and intimate (in the family sense).

Mama, buttering Baleigh's buscuits and telling us a story.




More WEBKINZ family portraits! Coming soon: Rob, the duck and Maddie, the collie

Bob and LouAnne

Right: Jeff and Conni




Top Row: Rhonda, John, Kyle

Bottom Row: Krista and Layla

These aren't very clear pictures, but if anyone would like to order any of these wood blocks for the new babies being born, Baleigh's dad has a lazer company now that makes these. You can order the Baby Blocks by going to www.jobolaserworx.com or call him at 217-251-4590.

He made this block for me as a sample, using one of my favorite pictures of Baleigh.

Fame, Glory and ...YOUR Webkinz Family Portrait!

Snowmancam just got first priority on this posting because I can't move these pictures to the end where I had planned! I finally remembered to do a little watching on Saturday night and first I saw a turkey, then some deer and then these boys! Sunday morning there was all kinds of action! I watched, and read a book (looking up whenever I saw movement) for 3 hours! Yeah, Baleigh wasn't home obviously. I saw a lot of these 2 deer, but around 10 am, they got 2 friends but I forgot to save that shot. Dan has been watching some too and he thinks we should all set up a cam. kvillecam, kutschercam, koestercam.
On to the origianl beginning of the post...
Baleigh got a big surprise from the Mayor of Carbondale when he came to her classroom and presented her with this "Turtle Crossing" sign! Mayor Cole had visited her classroom in November, discussing various Carbondale facts. Apparently, while he was talking, Baleigh drew a picture of a turtle and wrote "save the the turtles!" and "turtle crossing" on it and gave it to him asking if Carbondale had any turtle crossing signs. The mayor laughed and said no. Then he tucked her turtle picture in his pocket. On Wednesday, he pulled the turtle picture out of his pocket and explained to the class that he had kept the picture on his desk and finally decided to ask the city workers to make Baleigh a sign. Baleigh was so surprised and of course I tried not to cry during the presentation in fron of her friends - that's totally uncool ya know. Her teacher had called me to let me know about the presentation. The sign will stay in their classroom until the end of the school year and then Baleigh gets to bring it home. Also pictured is Lucas Feather, the class president, who asked if he could be in the picture :)

Well, the Steelers won and most midwesterners didn't like that. Poor Kurt Warner, he played a great game! I wish the Steelers would have played some other team, like the cheatin' Patriots. It still ended up being a good game to watch because of the 4th quarter excitement. The picture on the couch is at halftime. The kids weren't too impressed with Bruce Springstein. I thought the Boss did a pretty good job.

AND NOW....YOUR Webkinz Family Portraits!

Well, SOME of the portraits. Darn it! I am going to have to post Bob, Big Lou & Rob, Jeff and Conni, Michael, and John, Rhonda, Kyle, & Krista next week:( Sorry! I thought we had finished the photo shoot, but no. Zut Alors!



Megan, Chad, Landon, Stella

MaMa and PaPa

Bonnie, Brent, Lindsey

Top Row: Jensin, Kaid, Baleigh
Bottom Row: Lori, Dan, Sadie










And finally, my list of 6 Things That Make Me Happy...

1. The Great Outdoors. All landscapes, the sun, moon, stars, critters, even the scents of each season. I see beauty in it all.

2. Holidays. I am always off work and with family!

3. Competing. Sports, cards, Wii, word searches - I don't really care what type of competition.

4. Walking 18 holes of golf at 6 am - not for the competition, but for the beauty and the stillness, just the birds and the sound of the club hitting the ball. I haven't done this in a few years, but hope to this summer.
5. Helping. In any form. My earliest memories of helping go back to being under the hood of various cars with my brothers and helping Aunt Kae with laundry and dishes before we went out to through the softball around.

6. Listening to stories. Family history. MaMa stories about growing up back in the day. And also, just the stories of people I know and meet.

This was hard work Megan:) I tried not to copy - but I do love a clean house! and my baby girl and my family, and .....

I am tagging Baleigh and Michelle and MaMa.

Snowdayssss and a Birthday Party!

FOUR SNOW DAYS!!! We have never experienced 4 in a row. It was amazing. The roads stayed hazardous because of the 3 inches of sleet underneath the 6 inches of snow. The buses couldn't make their routes. I hope we don't have any more!





The heavy snow left Krista's ducks searching for yummy yums. We brought them bread and crackers. When I bent down to take this picture, one duck tried to eat my hand and my cell phone! It didn't hurt, just shocked me because I didn't see him coming. They also pecked at our boots and nipped at our gloves - poor starvin' things.

Baleigh, Krista and I made this friendly guy. Then, we built snow forts and had a snow ball fight! Krista's school was closed for 3 days. SIU was closed for 2 days. I guess we should be thankful though. Kentuckians are still without power. My friend Michelle's relatives from Kentucky are staying with her until their power comes back. Her mom's house got down to 42 degrees and she finally gave in and packed her bags when the news reports were saying that power would not be restored for at least a week, maybe two.

Elissa stayed 2 nights during the surprise vacation week. She and Bay had a great time together and were both relieved to be able to socialize a little bit. I think we were all getting a good dose of cabin fever after the first 2 days off.

Saturday, all of Baleigh's friends were sooo happy to see each other after being cooped up for the 4 days. The birthday party was a lot of fun. There were 14 kids plus me, Dan, Mike, Dusty, Camryn, Krista and the MaMa!!!! Ta Da! MaMa The Great made it down to Carbondale and we were so happy she came!

This is the birthday pinata. I bought it for the black and gold colors and it was cheap. It said "Happy New Year" on it. So, I thought we'd just tear that off and make it a Steelers pinata. I brought it home to Bay and explained my idea and she thought that was great. Then she said, "uh, Mom, isn't that a champagne bottle?" I covered my face and said, "Oh my gosh! You're right! I am so dumb! I didn't even think about it." It just really got my attention because of the black and gold and the Super Bowl coming up! I told Dan what I had done and he convinced me that the kids wouldn't even notice. I went with that and...no one noticed - Thank Goodness.



Here are some fun pictures of the pinata action. Baleigh's face is her consoling, "ahhh" after her friend missed the pinata.

Bay spinning Eli around.

A.J. jumps with excitement after Rachel drills the pinata - but no candy yet.

Baleigh about brought down the house with this hit, but still no candy. After everyone did a blind-folded attempt, we let them go back through without the blindfold.

Molly made it burst and the race was on! Look at Baleigh's excitement!

The Turtle Cake. She blew all 10 candles out in one breath!

They swarmed her while she opened her presents, but it was sweet. They are a pretty close group of friends. They all wanted to see that their gift was well-received :)

Besides the pinata action, there were bouncy inflatables which included jousting, a giant slide, a bouncy house and an obstacle course. On the other half of the area there were balls - footballs, basketballs, dodgeballs, soccerballs. The party was at a place called "Sports Blast". Good times, great memories.

Here are a few people sliding. I should have video-taped more action.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GO STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!