To clean or to shop, that is the question!

Hmmm, should I do some cleaning?? I know Mama would love for me to vacuum the dining room!
Or maybe some shopping sounds like fun!! Hmm, what ever will I do??

Umm, shopping wins out! How's about the credit card Daddy, and you can vacuum for Mama!

A story about a cookie...

Kali is becoming soooo independent. She thinks that she is a big girl now and insists on standing on a chair whenever possible. Of course I am always right there so she doesn't fall. Here is our little "Story about a cookie!"

What-cha got over there Mama??

Mmmmm... let me pick the PERFECT little morsel!!

Gotta take a closer look at what I'm gonna eat...

Start off with a little nibble first, gotta make sure I like the way that it tastes!!

Yup, I like it... I like it a lot!!

No more messing around, down the hatch with this little fella... hmmm, got anymore of those Oreos Mama??

Play time!!

With the stress of school and work and every day relationships we still find the time to play! Since Miss Kali came along she seems to be the center of attention... well duh!!

Kali rediscovered her friend the balloon! We have had this one pink balloon lobbing around the house for about a month now. It shows up in various different rooms and sometimes she finds it and holds it for a while, then loses interest and we don't see it for a few days.

While "loving" on the balloon she lost her grip and it started to slip away from her. There weren't tears involved but she for sure was upset about the situation.

As would any of us, Kali crawled after the balloon, after I took her pants off of her ofcourse. If you can't tell, she is very tiny for her age and her pants are not very "crawling friendly". Kali very quickly had the help of big sister Kimberly and big brother Nathan to catch the runaway balloon!!

Then she half-tackled the balloon!!

Then finally... she showed that balloon who was boss and took it to the carpet!

Next, Nathan played the funny hair balloon trick with Kali... super cute huh??!!

Then he did it to himself!! Still super cute!!

And then convinced me to do it... not so cute... but funny none the less!!

Spring has sprung for the Foley's!

You know that spring is here when you have to tell Nathan to dig out his cleats... the ones that have been buried since October... and then hear him say, " I need new cleats!!" I tell ya, this kid thinks he needs to go up a size every single time we get school shoes and every time we start a new soccer season!! Just so you know, we play soccer spring and fall!! Anyhow, today was the first day of practice for the Blitz Football Club. Kimberly is the only girl on the team again this season. As she has grown from 11 to "almost a teenager" in a matter of months, we'll see how the over abundance of developing testosterone affects her this season! I will tell you one thing, she can hold her own on the soccer field. She once told me that she never wanted to play with just girls ever again because the are whimps. She runs her tooshie off at practice and truly loves the game!!

So... off to practice they went. Mike decided, as he does every season, that this is the season he takes advantage of the play time and gets in shape! :-) When they got home he said he was regretting running. We'll see how long it lasts. When he got home I asked, "So, how did it go?" He smiled and said, "We'll see!" Not sure how to take that answer but, we'll see I suppose. Pictures to follow as the season progresses.

Tonight we honored an odd request by Nathan for dinner. We had White Castle burgers. Yes, I know, the true name is slyders! I warned the kids and they delved in anyways. It's after 10 now and so far so good! No requests for tums or extra trips to the bathroom!! Everyone enjoyed the burgers and Mike is very happy to know that there are two more boxes of 6 burgers each in the freezer!! :-)

So THAT is snow???

YEAH!! Finally she went out in the snow. Until this past week she wouldn't put her winter coat on without throwing the biggest fit. We've been layering clothes and a light coat or just not taking her out if it can be avoided. BUT, ALAS, she cooperated and was quite pleased in the end!! Kali says snow, and points out the window, but today she actually MET the snow. She had to hold Daddy's hand because it was slippery and because her short legs don't do so well on the uneven ground outside. I'm sure she was thinking... why haven't we done this before! :-)

I caught the end of her throwing a snowball. And yes, she is bare handed. One thing about thumb suckers... they can't stand to have anything on their hands. Believe me, I have tried! She loved putting her little hands in the snow though. She kept squeezing her hands and picking up big chunks of the wet snow... she even tossed some Daddy's way a couple of times!

When Daddy tried to head back to the house Kali pulled him in the other direction! Once you get this kid outside there are usually tears when you take her inside.

What it was time to come in Kali was less than thrilled. Soooo, Daddy brought the snow to Kali!! Here she is chomping on some fresh snow. Don't worry, none of it is yellow!!

Playing with Grandma!!

Papa and Grandma came over Saturday night just because. I have been trying to make sure that they can see Kali regularly. She's really getting comfortable with them and they are so goofy together. How is it that Kali already learned which grandpa she can wrestle with?? Kimberly learned that a long time ago too!! Anyhow, this time Kali and Grandma did all of the wrestling!

I think that Grandma had just as much fun as Kali did wrestling on the floor. I can remember growing up and wrestling with my dad... but NEVER mom! She was always the one saying "someone is going to get hurt!" and then she'd leave the room!! Funny how grandparents can change... must be the old age!!?? :-)

The girls kept rolling on the floor being silly!! This got Kali's appetite going and then she chowed down on Daddy's famous beef stew and sliced up tomatoes. She has been such a good eater lately!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We gave the kids their goody bags over breakfast. Kali loved her Dora Valentine book the best!! She kept saying "OOOOOHHHHH" and laughing out loud. She is so fun these days. For all of your new mommies, all of the new stuff is just as good if not better than what they are doing now!!
We took a chance and put a tiny bit of candy in Kali's bag. As you all know she has the Foley sweet tooth! All of the kids got books, candy, and then Kimberly and Nathan got a couple of other things. They keep running from me when I have the camera so now pictures for your viewing pleasure this time!! :-)

Here is my bright idea for a good Valentine's Day breakfast!! Pancakes with red food coloring shaped like hearts. I tried to make the bacon look like an arrow through the heart. I know, silly looking, but they sure were tastey and the kids loved the suprise. I almost missed Kimberly! She got up early and was reaching into the cereal cabinet when I came into the kitchen and stopped her. Man oh man was she glad that I stopped her!!

Kali and I went to Nathan's school to "help" with the Valentine's Day party. Needless to say they had more than enough volunteers and I spent my hour chasing Kali around the gym. Here we found Nathan in the bouncy house... silly boy!! When we weren't with Nathan we were bobbing and weaving through sugared-up 4th graders that ran around the gym like wild animals. Kali loved it, Nathan loved having us, and I was ready for a nap when it was all said and done! :-)

Kali thought that she wanted to play in/on the bouncy house but decided that behind the scenes was much more interesting. I have found that this age really is independent and loves nothing more than walking away from mommy!! She's a quick one and luckily there were no running 4th graders in this area to trample her!

I really wanted to show her shirt... "World's Cutest Valentine"... she seems to not find the camera as appealing as she once did. That just makes my job of photojournalist a bit more difficult!! I'm up for the challenge!

This is all we could get out of our little Valentine by the end of the day. Too much spreading of the love for her liking I suppose!!

We have Spring fever!!!

We got the fever for baseball when Kali through out the first pitch. She was squealing so loud. We were clapping for her and it made her want to keep on going. So.... as the big kids and daddy went outside, Kali got bundled up as well so she could attempt to run around on the bumpy yard... this ought to be good!

Nathan pulled his hood up over his face either because he was cold... or because I had the camera out... Hmmmm. Either way, he needed to wear his hood because it was a chilly chilly wind blowing across the yard.

As soon as I came out with the camera Mike covered HIS face too!! He's no fun!!

Mike, Kimberly, and Nathan throwing the ball around. They were soooo cold but it didn't matter because they wanted to play outside if it was the last thing they did!

Kali says bye bye!! It's too cold out here!! (What you didn't see was eskimo Kali on her face after tripping over a mound of grass... she didn't cry so we all laughed!!)

Play! Play! Play all day!!

The cabinets have become a favorite play area for Miss Kali. She always always grabs for the yellow funnel cake pitcher. Not sure why, but it sure is cute!

She is very good about closing the cabinet when she has what she wants!! She has been taught well!!

In this picture she is humming and singing into the pitcher. She loves the way it echos.

She heard me coming with the camera... I'm faster than she is!!

She went back to reading... on her car... in the middle of the living room... wearing no pants! Very relaxing way to end the day of playing if I do say so myself!!

Super Bowl Sunday!

We had three guests over for the Super Bowl: Nana and Papa and cousin Kaelyn. We ate yummy chili, little smokies, and salad and then scarfed down cheese cake for dessert. Good stuff! Here's how it mostly was: Daddy, Nathan, and Papa in the living room eating and watching the game....

... and the girls in the kitchen keeping busy! Here is Kaelyn and Kimberly making Valentine's cards. Kali mostly emptied out the tupperware cabinet all over the kitchen. :-) That seems to be one of her favorite things to do these days. Ah, the simple pleasures in life.

Busy Busy girl!!

This is how our morning with our little angel Kali starts... a cup of milk and a cartoons! After breakfast she is on the move and doesn't stop till we make her stop at nap time!!

This particular morning Kali found the iPod that Kimberly left on the table. Here she's trying to figure out what buttons to push. With a little help from Daddy....
She was on her way. She was on the move and I couldn't capture any pictures of her dancing but here she is singing!! Super cute!!

I tried to take it from her to put up so that Kimberly didn't come home to a broken iPod. Kali didn't like that idea and took off through the house! Catch that runaway munchkin!

Come see my room!

This is what Kali does when I say where is your bed... she runs to the stairs and motions me to follow her. It's almost like she's saying... come see!!

These letters are the latest addition to her room. I LOVE them!! She loves them too I think, she points to them and says "Kali". I would love to try to prove to everyone that she can read her name but really she's mocking me because I pointed to them and said "Kali"... :-)
Some of you know that she's been sleeping with us for a little while now due to a list of reasons. So here she is playing in her bed. That's right, she doesn't really like it to sleep in!...and more playing!

Since these pictures were taken however, Miss Kali has slept two nights in her bed!!