Klassy 5

birthdays, glasses and more!

2009-05-26T11:54:00.011-07:00

I thought it was time for another update as it has been a couple of months. The last few months have been pretty busy. Naleah turned 5, Alexa turned 3, we had our 11th wedding anniversary, several dance competitions for Katelyn, company, zoo trips, recovering from yet another surgery and an exciting new adventure for Naleah ~ GLASSES.

Steve has been busy with work and is gearing up for his annual Ukraine trip in July. He will be gone for close to 3 weeks again.

I have had some changes with my dayhome. In December I lost 2 families (3 children) due to work situations and a move. Steve and I were trying to make things work with just 1 child full time. At the end of April that family decided to move back to SK, so I no longer have any dayhome kids. I am spending time in prayer and seeking direction over the next few months as to what God has for us.

Here are a few highlights from the last few months:

Naleah turns 5!

Alexa turns 3!Naleah's NEW GlassesAlexa the Butterfly at the zooMy beautiful Minnie Mouse on her Birthday

Naleah the Kitty Cat at the ZooNaleah Painting with all her new paint stuff in the contest she won at CaterTots

Naleah's Big Day

2009-03-26T16:57:00.005-07:00

Today is a day of celebration. Not only in our house but also with the angels in heaven.

With the help of a great book from a very special "Auntie" Gayle, Naleah asked Jesus into her life today. The story focuses on different colors to illustrate what it mean to be a Christian. It starts out with a black balloon... then explains the red balloon... then the white balloon... and ends with a green and orange balloon. Naleah has read this book several times but today she decided she was "ready". She said, "mom, I want my heart to be like the white balloon so I can always be with Jesus." So, we read through the book, Naleah explained everything to me and then asked me to pray with her. She hasn't lost her smile yet. We are so proud.

It is also really exciting to see that almost to the day, 3 years ago Katelyn used the same book to ask Jesus into her life.

Here is a picture of our proud new Jesus follower with her special book:

Missed it by THAT MUCH!!!

2009-03-12T12:52:00.006-07:00

What can we say... the joys of pottie training. Alexa runs by me and says, "Daddy no help, pee self please" so I followed her in and encouraged her on the pottie. The next time (2 hours later) she runs by me again and says, "Daddy no help, pee self please" - so... after seeing the success of her last attempt I thought I should let her try completely on her own.

SO CLOSE BUT YET SO DISGUSTINGLY FAR AWAY!!!!

NO MORE GOOGERS!!!

2009-03-08T13:36:00.011-07:00

We are so proud of our baby girl, who obviously isn't a baby any more.

Yesterday marked the day that Alexa officially gave up her soothers. As most of you know, we have had 3 soother babies, but Alexa has had the strongest attachment. I am sure this had to do with the fact that she teethed a lot longer and harder than her sisters, which caused her "need" for a soother to last throughout the day. Our goal with all 3 girls was to wean them from their soothers by the time they were 3. Katelyn and Naleah only had theirs at sleep time. On Katelyn's 3rd birthday party day she handed me her soothers and said, "here mom, I am 3 now I don't need them." There was no turning back, she didn't need them. Naleah didn't take one until 11 months and again only had it for sleeping. On her 3rd birthday we were in Edmonton and the morning she woke up she handed Alexa her soothers and said I am 3 I don't need them. So, we have begun preparing Alexa that when she turns 3 she won't have her soothers anymore.

Since her attachment has been quite different then her sisters, our fear was this would be a difficult task. So we thought we would prepare her early (she is 3 in May). She has developed quite a strong interest in Minnie Mouse since just before our trip to Disney World. So, this last week we started building up Minnie Mouse and maybe we should take her soothers to the store and use them to buy a Minnie Mouse toy of some sort. She helped me look on line and found what she wanted.

So yesterday, we packed up her soothers in her purse and went to Walmart. We bought balloons that look like Minnie, cheered like crazy and found the Minnie Clubhouse that Alexa picked out. She was so proud. She gave the nice cashier her soothers and in exchange bought the Clubhouse. We blew up the balloons in the van and had a "soother" party with hot chocolate and cheers. She was so proud....

That is until NAPTIME ~ yikes. Well she threw her minnie across the floor and yelled, "no minnie toy, you take back to lady and get my googers!!!" We decided to cuddle and watch treehouse and she fell asleep instantly, we were so proud (her first time ever falling asleep with no soother). Bed time was better in that she just read herself to sleep and she didn't come out all night!!! (another first).

Today's naptime she cheered, "no more googers", she read a book and she is in dreamland as I write.

We are so so proud of our baby. And she weaned before 3!!!! Way to go Alexa.

Next, step fully potty trained. She is 80% dry and for the last week has stayed dry most of the time and has been able to tell us when she needs to go, hooray Alexa.

THANKS MINNIE FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP!

A brief overview of our trip to Disney World

2009-02-17T21:08:00.006-07:00

To all of you who check our blog daily anticipating an update... it is finally here. Sorry it has taken so long.

We have arrived home from Disney World. It is hard to believe we have been back for almost 2 weeks already. If you haven't heard, we had a fabulous time, the weather wasn't great but Steve and I love the rain so it didn't stop us from having fun.

We spent 7 days in Orlando and 2 days of traveling. We were at the Animal Kingdom Resort. It was so beautiful. Every morning our friend Jen would run in our room and say, "look there are giraffes". So we would go out on our balcony and sure enough there were giraffes, zebras, and many other african animals that we had never seen or heard of. It was quite the amazing experience.

Our days were spent at Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. Animal Kingdom was our favorite. It was pretty rainy the day we went there. But it felt like we were in a rain forest, and the rain was somewhat warm so we didn't really notice. The line ups were short and we were able to walk and just enjoy all there was to see. The park really wasn't that busy which helped us enjoy it even more. While in Animal Kingdom we went to a broadway show (45 minutes) of Finding Nemo. It was amazing. The dancers/singers had life size puppets that they carried around and moved to sing or talk. It is hard to explain, but it really was phenomenal.

Some of our other highlights, were:

Tower of Terror (Naleah, she went on 5 times)

Splash Mountain, Mount Everest Roller Coaster (Katelyn's favorite), Soarin',

Minnie Mouse (Alexa)

breakfast with Minnie Mouse

a Kitchen Sink full of icecream

a polynesian luau (Steve and I were able to have a date)

The new Toy Story Mania ride

meeting the princesses

dancing with highschool musical

and so many others.

What a blessing this trip was, thank you to our friends for the opportunity, we love you :)

For more pictures check out the links below: (please let me know if they don't work)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=223339&id=679230297&l=8bfb1

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=218805&id=679230297&l=4459e

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=218794&id=679230297&l=142a8

IT SNOWED

2008-11-05T17:08:00.006-07:00

Winter is here!

We were so excited to wake up this morning and see snow. It wasn't so much the fact that it had snowed that we were excited, but more the type of snow. It felt like we were home in Kelowna. The girls had such a fun day being able to make snowmen, snowangels and snowballs. Who would have thought living in Kelowna we would have taken wet snow for granted. Well it sure was nice to experience it. Soon enough the cold, fluff that blows will arrive, but at least we will have a few cherished memories.

Here are a few shots of Katelyn enjoying the snow before she went off to school this morning:

Earlier this year Katelyn asked when Kisha's birthday was. We knew we got her in Nov. some time so we decided Nov 1st would be her birthday. Katelyn wanted to make her a tunafish cake. Below, the girls are singing Happy 9th Birthday to Kisha and Kisha is tasting tuna fish for the first time (notice the candle... we had to blow it out so Kisha wouldn't burn her wiskers). I feel like a horrible cat owner for never celebrating my cat's birthday or giving her anything other than cat food and treats in 9 years. Oh well, there is a first for everything.

Happy Fall

2008-10-15T13:37:00.005-07:00

Happy Fall!

Here are some pics from our trip to Lethbridge in September when we went to visit our new nephew Brett, as well as some pics from Thanksgiving at the Calgary Corn Maze and with Grandpa and Grandma. Enjoy

~Enjoying the leaves in Grandpa and Grandma's back yard~

~Cuddles with our new cousin Brett~

~The Calgary Corn Maze~

~Alexa loved the sheep, she couldn't stop hugging them~

~Fun with Grandpa and Grandma at Thanksgiving~

Mirror Mirror on the wall, whose the fairest of them all... KATELYN. Grandpa and Grandma brought Kristy's vanity (from when she was little) for the girls. Katelyn spent most of Thanksgiving doing makeup and hair for her and her sisters. At one point we turned and watched her look in the mirror, ask herself how she looked and then give herself a thumbs up, it was very hard to contain our laughter.

finally, an update from the Klassy5

2008-09-09T13:02:00.008-07:00

Wow! I cannot believe it has taken me this long to post. To all of you who check frequently for updates, I am sorry, I hope you haven't given up on me. It is amazing how fast life goes especially with three of your own children, three daycare children, school starting, activities etc...

Anyways, enough excuses, I am here updating, hooray! The summer for us was busy but enjoyable. It started with Steve's trip to Ukraine, included 3 camping trips, an amazing conference with John and Lisa Bevere, a few trips to the zoo, a trip to the Science Center, a visit from my mom, and our close friends, Scott and Danea, Farrell and her trio, a few sleepovers, a visit to Lethbridge, a visit to Blue Bronna, swimming lessons, VBS, dance camp, bike rides, painting the girls room, chicken pox, strep throat and stomach flu... Wow, that is a lot for two months and to post all of it would take quite a bit of time and space, so... I will attempt to make a new album on facebook for you, if you aren't on facebook and would like to see the pics, let me know and I will send you a link...

As for our blog... I thought that a few current pics would be nice... so here are a few of the last few weeks, enjoy!

Katelyn's First Day of Grade 2
Katelyn riding her first BIG HORSE at Blue Bronna

Naleah and Katelyn on the horse

Alexa and Daddy's turn

At the Zoo, Alexa enjoyed running through all of the flowers in the gardens

Naleah patiently waiting for our friends to arrive at the entrance of the Zoo

The new baby giraffe and the mother (only 1 month old)

Alexa and Anna posing with the Elephant

Alexa all tuckered out after our time at the zoo (for those of you that know our family, this is extremely unusual as my children only ever seem to fall asleep in the van or in their beds).

I had to sneak this one in of me and Alexa when she was sick at Grandma and Grandpa's, it was fun that she was sick, but I sure loved her cuddles.

TaDa! The girls (Katelyn and Naleah) now have a purple room. Alexa enjoyed helping as Naleah inspected her work.Katelyn and Naleah enjoyed helping create their new masterpieceThe finished product... the part above the ledge and the closet is dark purple and all the rest is light purple. I got to do my part and add pink flowers and polka dots.

Fun times in June

2008-06-27T20:19:00.005-07:00

Here are some fun pics of our crazy family in June. Enjoy.

Check out the girls new clothes and shades. Gotta love the children's place. We got the same outfit for Tanya (our sponsor child) in Ukraine. The girls are excited to see pics of her when Daddy returns. Striking a pose.

Katelyn's plaque for saying all of her memory verses from the year with only 10 prompts (Psalm 84:4-12; Genesis 1:1-2:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:7-12; 2 Timothy 2:3-6; Ephesians 2:4-10; Ephesians 6:1-4;7 and 8. She said these all in one sitting, we are SO PROUD of her). Alexa and Andrew (our nephew) getting ready for a wagon ride to the park. Steve took the girls to a movie, and Andrew's mommy and daddy went to a movie and I got to play at the park :)
Naleah making crazy faces while Andrew devours some watermelon.
Here is Katelyn enjoying our 3rd consecutive week of rain, this one included a ton of hail. She wanted to freeze her hail and take it to school. After much convincing we were able to dispose of the hail realizing it would be melted by the time she got to school.

Birthday Hugs.
Happy Fathers Day Daddy! The girls got Daddy fishing rods for fathers day. He took them out in the afternoon and they caught 3 fish!
Katelyn's fish
Another one of Naleah's crazy faces.

Katelyn all dressed up for her pirate carnival at school. There was face painting at the carnival. From pirate to Cat Women (we think, she can't remember what she asked for but it is not Spider Man!).
A day at the zoo, it was raining and the peacock wouldn't go outside or let anyone go outside.
Alexa's silly face.

Alexa is 2!

2008-06-03T09:34:00.003-07:00

Wow, it is hard to believe that Alexa is two! Even with me recovering from surgery, we had a great day. Grandma Ede was visiting from Kelowna to help me recover and helped make Alexa's day special. In between rest periods I made Alexa Dora cupcakes (she is consumed with Dora and Diego right now). She was super excited when she saw them.

Turning 2 also brought on the big girl bed. We went to the store for Alexa to choose her bedding. She REALLY wanted Diego bedding but finally settled for a Diego chair and the Dora bedding. Here is a peek at her room. She is very excited to be in a big girl bed.Before Grandma left we thought we would celebrate her birthday too. Here is everyone with Grandma's cake.
Naleah was extremely sad to see Grandma go. Grandma spent a lot of time with Naleah playing barbies, polly pockets and littlest pet shop. Thanks for coming to help us Grandma, we miss you tons.

Naleah is 4

2008-05-15T13:06:00.002-07:00

Well I finally made it out of bed, sort of, to share some of the pics from Naleah's birthday. The dancing ones are on Steve's work camera and so I can't post them until he goes back to work... here are a few of the cake I made her.
Here is a pic of our 4 year old helping make "strawberry" cupcakes for her real birthday.
We went to Chuck E Cheese for Naleah's real birthday. She waited 3 hours until he finally made his debut. Naleah was convinced he was on a potty break. That is one long break :)
Uncle Richard came up for the day to see Naleah turn 4. Here he is enjoying the wii while the girls shower him with hugs :)

Update on Alexa

2008-05-05T13:15:00.003-07:00

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for Alexa. Steve took her in to Children's yesterday morning to get her stitches out of her finger. It turned out that an infection had set in and so they had to begin treatments of direct iv antibiotics into her other hand. Her left hand was completely bandaged up because of the iv and her right hand was completely bandaged up because of her owie finger. We went back to Children's last night for another dose of antibiotics. Alexa had a rough sleep last night and was in quite a bit of pain. We had to give her medicine at 2 am and then this morning Steve took her back to Children's. The infection appears to be getting better not worse, so they gave her another dose of iv antibiotics and then sent her home with a high dose of an oral antibiotic for the next five days. Thankfully she now has use of her left hand. She was a much happier camper when they got home at lunch time. She is sleeping now.
Because the dose of antibiotics is so high to kill the infection there is concern over a sick tummy and extreme diareah (not exagerating), I will be giving her acidophilus so hopefully that combats it a bit. Please continue to pray for healing.
On a different note, my surgery is in 4 days... a little nervous with all that is going on with Alexa. Please pray for a smooth surgery for me as well as quick healing and no complications.
thank you to all
I will post pics of Naleah's birthday party in the next few days. She had a blast and danced herself right to bed (almost literally).

Alexa's Incident

2008-04-28T20:30:00.004-07:00

We just wanted to let you know about Alexa's horrible incident yesterday...

Within minutes of arriving at some friends in Innisfail (about 45 minutes from Airdrie) Alexa got her finger stuck in the back door going to the outside. We rushed her to the hospital in Innisfail and they inturn sent us to Children's in Calgary (1hr1/4 from Innisfail). Thankfully the wound was not as bad as first expected and Alexa was able to walk away with stitches only on her right ring finger. We don't know exactly how much of her finger she lost (appears to be the tip) and if her nail will grow back (she lost all of her nail). We are asking for prayer against infection as well as amazing healing. Alexa is such a trooper. She spent the day figuring out how to use her left hand for everything and only seemed to get frustrated once when she was trying to shovel sand into a bucket, it took her a minute and then she figured out. I am so proud of her.

Here are a couple pics of our baby girl...

Eventful happenings throughout April

2008-04-23T12:38:00.002-07:00

April started out so beautiful. We began relandscaping our backyard, moved the shed, enjoyed the sun and cleaned out the sandbox and filled it with sand. The girls and Ruffy had a blast with it until...

It started to snow. It has been snowing pretty much non-stop since Friday, April 18. What fun. Here is some shots of the snow in our front yard as well as the ice on Steve's car after my friend Kym and I arrived in Red Deer for the Brian Doerksen concert this last weekend. We could barely open the doors they were so full of ice.We also enjoyed Katelyn's school concert "Promise U" at the beginning of April. Here is a picture of her and her friend Caleb. She loved singing all the songs and I am sure she was reciting everyone's lines the whole time. She has such an amazing memory.On to the dreaded pictures of the nasty haircut. On Monday, April 21 I thought I would go get my hair trimmed... with maybe a thin bang that Icould still brush to the side. This is what i got. Halfway through my cut the girl mentions that she is graduating. Uhhh... graduating from what? she says highschool ~ yikes. It took everything in me to stay in the seat. It is hard to tell in these pics, but Steve had already cut out two 1 inch chuncks that were hanging down in the back as well as my right side has a huge gouge out of it which makes it extremely uneven. Oh well, hopefully it grows fast. thanks to my sister in law Emma who recommended Silica. I started taking it today. Hopefully it helps my hair grow fast:) ps... anyone know how i can get my hair back?

On a different note, I am getting geared up for my big surgery on May 9th (well not really). Please pray for me that i will have peace and strength and a speedy recovery. As well, please pray for the girls that they won't be scared and will do okay not knowing/understanding what is happening to me. Thank you.

The Do's and Don'ts of Babies

2008-03-31T12:59:00.007-07:00

Here are some great tips/ reminders for those of us who are already parents or parents to be... funny my girls seem to have an uncle and a father who have tried several of these DONT'S... hmmm... Can you guess which illustrations have been attempted on our girls?

Pics from March

2008-03-20T16:10:00.005-07:00

Some fun times from March...

Katelyn got to "impersonate" someone for the day. She picked one of her favorite characters from Robert Munsch... Lacy from the book ~ No Clean Clothes. Unfortunately the day turned out to be Katelyn's WORST day ever (in her words) as she threw up at school, poor girl.

For those of you wondering... impersonator day was during Katleyn's read a thon. Thank you to all of those who pledged to sponsor her. She raised 285 dollars towards books for her library as well as read 53 books in 4 weeks. Way to go Katelyn.

The girls decided to play hair dresser, Alexa was in her glory.

Naleah and some of our Daycare friends finger painting Silouhette crosses for Easter.

Alexa and Anna... washing their hands with all of the wet wipes.Alexa, Silas and Anna... I walked into the computer room and found the kids all cozy and ready for a sleep, so sweet.

Naleah's dream kitchen

2008-03-05T10:39:00.004-07:00

Oh to have the faith and dreams of a child...

So Naleah found a picture of this kitchen today and asked, "Mommy, please please can we get this?"

Me: um, no honey it is too big for our house.

Naleah: well, we can put it in my room, or at Christmas we can have a fire and then build a big big house and then put it in there.

Me: um, honey, I don't think God has called us to have a big house.

Naleah: oh, well, can we get it anyways, it can go in my room.

Me: honey, I think it costs too much money, we already have a kitchen, we need to be thankful for what we have.

Naleah: but Kristen gave me money the other day, please can't we get it?

Me: Naleah, that was only 1.25 it will buy you a chocolate bar. Maybe you should ask Grandma.

Naleah: okay

So... Grandma, here is the picture of Naleah's dream kitchen that she would like to put in her bedroom, or if our house burns down put in our new big big house.

finally, a Klassen update

2008-02-28T14:17:00.005-07:00

So I am finally feeling better and thought it would be a good idea to update our blog a bit.

Things have been the usual around here, although we did have quite a bit of company in January. Our good friends Greg and Farrell came for a visit and we got to meet their kids for the first time, Richard and Kristy came for a visit and we got to visit with our nephew Andrew, as well my dad came for a quick trip and we helped him celebrate his entrance into his 60's. How fun.

February has been full of illness, so I am looking forward to March, hopefully lots of happiness and good health.

Here are some pics of some of the happenings around the Klassen household:

Cuddle time with Daddy, on this particular Sunday all the girls and even the dog fell asleep with Steve at some point in the day (except me). He was in his glory.

Cuddle time with Ruffy, the girls are loving having a puppy, he is fitting into our family fairly well

So, it was finally time for a change, on Sunday I spur of the moment went for a haircut, here is the before and after, only about 6 plus inches, not too bad. I keep looking at the pictures and thinking I went from a 16 year old to a 29 and holding year old in one afternooon... haha

It's a boy!

2007-12-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we welcomed our newest addition to our family. Ruffino aka Ruffy entered our home. Ruffy is about 13 weeks old, he is house trained, kennel trained and has so far fit right into our family. He is a wire haired terrier cross and he came all the way from the beaches of Cabo San Lucas. Here are some pics we thought you might enjoy.
This last pic is my favorite. Alexa has taken quite the liking to Ruffy. She locked herself in his kennel just to get closer to him. She sure thought it was fun in there.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-21T23:14:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas from our home to yours

We hope that this Christmas greeting finds you well,

joyous and thankful.

“My peace I give to you…” ~ John 14:27

May you treasure and share the peace of the Lord this Christmas and always

Love Steve and Lisa Klassen
Katelyn, Naleah and Alexa

Katelyn's 6th Birthday Party

2007-12-09T22:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Katelyn's 6th birthday party. She has been planning it literally since she turned 5. Who to invite was a toughy, as she would love to have invited her whole class and all the people we have met outside of her school. We narrowed it down to her two good friends from Kindergarten last year as well as all the girls in her class this year. We decided to have a Party full of Magic. A youth in our church is an aspiring magician and he came to our house and performed a magic show for us. The girls loved it, they even learned their own trick. We also decorated magic hats and played some fun magician/rabbit games. The only thing missing was a real rabbit being pulled from a hat, we debated it, but decided we weren't ready for a pet rabbit.

Here are some highlights of Katelyn's day:

Here are Katelyn and her friends decorating their magic hats

Magicians in training

The Amazing Mitchell

Katelyn the assistant and Anissa the Magician

Our rabbit in a hat cake (quite the story here, will post pics of that at a later time, on a different camera), we also made bunny cupcakes

Katelyn opening gifts with her friends

Our new house (at least if feels that way)

2007-11-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a glimpse into what our new basement/upstairs looks like. I am so proud of Steve and all is hard work. He did everything himself, even the electrical. (he did let me paint a bit, scrape the floor and do some priming :) ) He even pulled up the old carpet himself (with the girls help). It is so nice to almost be done... light fixtures, baseboards and ledge to go. I think both of our favorite features are the archways, Steve did them all himself too. He is awesome. ~ To get the real experience of how great this all looks/feels you will have to come and visit and see for yourself.

A work in progress... Steve pushed back this wall, moved a door, created two new doors and a few archways.
Pulling up the old carpet upstairs ~ from 7lb underlay to 22lb what a difference ~ below, the new underlay

The new look upstairs (new couches too, they are chocolate brown, so the girls call them the chocolate couches). This is also Kisha's new favorite hang out (those are her glowing eyes)

One of the three archways downstairs. this is the play area (the wall colors are blue accented with Navy)Another archway and the entertainment room. Steve is loving it.

2007-11-01T21:51:00.001-07:00

Happy November everyone. Here is a small update from the last month. It is late and I am tired so this will be short and sweet ~ Just for you Grandma :)

Katelyn is already for Crazy Hair Day, she was so excited to have "crazy hair"

Here is Alexa above with her baby Adam (Katelyn named him Adam when she turned 2) she feeds him, puts him to bed, rocks him to sleep and reads to him, so sweet

Below is Alexa and Silas enjoying a book togetherHere we are at Butterfield Acres on a hayride in search of pumpkins

Naleah's Pumpkin is the little one beside her not the big one she was hoping for :)Here is Katelyn with her festive pumpkin

Daddy took a break from all his hard work in our basement and at work for his fundraiser tomorrow and spent some time carving a pumpkin with the girls. Alexa sure enjoyed getting in all the goo.Our finished product :)Here is our first snowfall ~ Oct. 22ish? It went from 22 degrees in the day to this at 10pm at night

Katelyn's Sparks ceremonies. She is in the back row, third from "your" left :)

The next weekend we had a mom/daughter sleepover, exhausting but fun... sorry no pics

Well, those are some highlights from October. Sorry no dress up pics this year. The girls were dressed up on Sat. when they went to a party at the Urban Treehouse, Katelyn ~ the Island Princess, Naleah ~ A Duck, Alexa ~ a Tiger... forgot the camera. Friday night, Katelyn got to dress up for Dance, and Monday Naleah dressed up as Snow white for her dance class... oops forgot the camera. Yesterday, Naleah was Snow white for a bit and then a duck, after she spilled her starbucks all over her (I have started her addiction early... no worries, it was just hot chocolate)... no pics again. Last night we went to a Carnival at Center Street Church, the girls had their nails done, faces painted and had a blast, oops, forgot the camera again. Sorry guys, will try to do better next year :)

Have an enjoyable November. Will try to update you on all of our exciting endeavors as they happen.

Life in the Klassen household

2007-10-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

Finally, the moment you have all been waiting for. An update on our blog :) Well, maybe it hasn't been what you all have been waiting for, but I figured it was finally time.

So, what have we been up to for the past few months? Let me give you a glimpse:

Katelyn:

Katelyn began grade 1 at the Christian school here in Airdrie in September. she is loving it. There are 22 kids in her class and her teacher is Mrs. Foster. She has really enjoyed being in a desk, meeting new friends, and getting 2 recesses. She has been busy learning her memory verses, September she said (for memory) Psalm 84:4-12 and Genesis 1:1-3 with only one prompt. She was so proud. This month she is working hard on Genesis 1:4-19. So far, with lots of practice, she has down 1:4-10, this week is 11-15, it is a biggie with lots of repetition which gets confusing, but she is eager to learn. We bought her a "grown up" Bible that she is taking everywhere with her and showing everyone her "special verses". We are so proud of her. She also took of with reading and seems to have a photographic memory, she sees a word once and knows it without help. Her teaching has been using phonics and sight words through rhymes and songs and Katelyn caught on right away. Her favorite rhyme is: knock knock whose there? "ee" "ee" says "e" and comes in the middle of words, like keep, beep, sleep, deep.... she has done ee, y, er, oo and a few others.

When she is not in school she spends her time on M-th with Josh and Emily, my daycare kids. They get about an hour of playtime together and have been having fun building Noah's arc with Leggos' ~ so fun. Monday nights she goes to Sparks with her friend Brooke. She has been learing the Sparks promise, and tonight we get to sell cookies :) On the 26th of oct. we get to have a mother/daughter sleepover, she is so excited.

Friday nights are spent at the dance studio. Katelyn asked to be in ballet this year, so we took a break from Gymnastics. She is loving it.

Naleah:

Naleah is growing up into quite the character. Her favorite saying lately is: "You're a stinky butt". We had to let her know yesterday that she can only say this to Daddy. She makes us laugh with all sorts of quirky sayings and facial expressions, she is becoming quite the comedian. Naleah spends her days with Emily (4). They enjoy the trampoline, Barbies, crafts, cooking, dancing and going to the park. Emily is here M-Th all day. Mondays both Naleah and Emily go to Happy Feet ~ ballet/dance. they are loving it. Today they got to do freestyle dancing with scarves, I think that is there favorite yet.

Naleah is also enjoying being in kids church (she graduated up from the nursery). I am her teacher 2 sundays a month and Mrs. Heather is her teacher the other two Sundays. She is growing up so fast.

Alexa:
Alexa went from sitting to crawling to walking within months and now there is no stopping her. She is running just to keep up with her sisters. If they are on the trampoline, she is on the trampoline, if they are playing polly pockets, so is she. She wants to be a big kid so much (which often hinders her napping ability) and keeps us hopping. She mastered the stairs (going down) in the last few weeks (going up quite a while ago) and is now enjoying maneuvering wherever she wants to go. At dance class she enjoys going into the empty studio and putting on her own show while her sisters are in their class. She has also become quite attached to Baby Adam (Katelyn's baby from when she turned 2). This baby is so heavy, but Alexa insists on carrying it everywhere, sleeping with it, feeding it, diapering it and putting it to sleep. Did I mention she isn't even 17 months yet? She has picked up a lot of sign language as well now and puts 2 or 3 together to let me know what she wants. Her most common are: eat, drink, please, more, apple, hat, dog, hot... funny we don't have a dog but she loves panting like one. I think she is going to follow in her sister's footsteps with her desire to make people laugh. So fun. She is also saying the words up, uhoh, mom, dad, hi dad, bye dad, and she has her own sounds for Katelyn and Naleah but i don't have a clue how to write them. Steve:

Steve is busy at work getting ready for the fall fundraiser. Tomorrow he is doing a power point presentation at the Calgary Christian School and is enjoying getting all the multimedia aspects ready. When he is not at work, he is working hard on our basement. our goal is to have carpet in 3 weeks. he completely finished one room and has started sanding his first coat of mud in the big room. I am so proud of him. He is working so hard. He also started playing squash on Fridays and is enjoying getting active again.

Lisa:

Well, not much to say about me. I am busy being a mom, childcare giver, chauffer, teacher, wife... I am enjoying it all and wouldn't trade it for the world.

I hope that helps update you a bit on our life here in Airdrie. We look forward to my mom's visit at the end of October and welcome any of you, any time. Did I mention, the weather has been beautiful... today is 18 degrees, not a cloud in the sky ~ Kelowna hmmm only 13 degrees. See, the weather here isn't always worse :) JK

Have a wonderful Monday.

First Day of Grade 1

2007-09-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, it is hard to believe our baby is already in Grade 1. How time has flown. Here she is all ready to go this morning. She was so excited. She wasn't nervous at all to be going to a new school (we switched her from the public school to the Christian school here in Airdrie). She was dancing around all morning.

When I picked her up after school she was so happy. She said, "Mom, you were right, Mrs. Foster is super nice." She also shared with me that if she had to be talked to 3 times she would get a time out... of course she was not talked too...she got second recess ~ what a surprise ~ and she has a Stephen at her table who spells his name just like Daddy.

I think what makes my heart leap for joy the most is when she shared about getting to learn Bible verses too. She was so excited. I then checked her Bible verse schedule, and thought wow, this is amazing. For Sept. alone she has to learn (with 4 or less prompts or mistakes) Psalm 84:4-12 and Genesis 1:1-3. You know what we will be busy doing every day. Practice, practice, practice. She is excited though, so that is good.

Well, off to make dinner and practice some more. As soon as I get time and figure out how I will post a link to our summer pictures and adventures. I know I have had a hard time from a few of you for not keeping you all up to date. Check back soon. I promise.

Home from Ukraine

2007-08-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

I had an awesome time in Ukraine. We traveled throughout western Ukraine, from Lviv to Uzhhorod to Novovolynsk to Ludsk to Chernivtsi to Ternopil to Rivne to Kiev to the Carpathian Mountains to the country of Moldova and every place in between. I traveled most of this in a 2 week period. I had opportunity to meet and see the partners HART supports - and understand why we do what we do. I met families that live in poor conditions in the mountains - children who have diseases and lack of proper nutrition. I also got to meet children from orphanages and foster homes. I have lots of stories to share... where to start...

HART has a child sponsor program which supports not only the child but the entire family. I was able to see clothing and medicine distribution to the families within the project. We took some of the children to the local market at a near by village and bought them some new jeans and jackets. There was one girl that had no emotion on her face... until she put on the new jacket - for just a couple of minutes she felt like a princess, special, cared for.

You could really tell the difference from the children who received love and those who had not experienced love and ultimately no hope. The look from their eyes, their emotionless smile... its gut-check time.

I spent most nights in Lviv - what a beautiful city. The old Soviet buildings are something else. To renovate a building us Canadians would tear it down and build a new one. Not there - renovations seem to take a long time. Lots of plaster, brick, concrete and no money.

Overall my time was great. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my job! You can get more info on HART at http://www.hart.ca/ .

2007-07-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

Mom, Naleah and Katelyn on the spaceship ride at Callaway Park.
If you look close you can see mm and Katelyn with their hands in the air near the bottom left.
Naleah (above) and Katelyn (below) enjoying the bumper cars. Naleah figured out how to drive and not go around and around in circles. So fun.

Wow, I cannot believe that the last three weeks have just flown by. I am so excited that in just a few days Steve will be home. He is actually sleeping right now and when we go to bed he will be getting up and boarding his plane en route to Calgary. He should arrive sometime tomorrow night, then one more sleep and he will be joining us here in Kelowna. This has been an amazing time without him, although extremely difficult especially only hearing from him about four times in 3 weeks. I feel like my heart has grown fonder, I have been reminded of how amazing he is and how much I love him.

The last 3 weeks have been busy but fun. There have been trying times but we survived ~ woohoo. As a recap... two trips to Calaway, two trips to the zoo, family visiting, vomiting ~ lots of it, cleaning up vomit, a wonderful drive to Kelowna with mom, a stop over at the new Crazy Creek Waterfall near Revelstoke, VBS for Katelyn, visiting wonderful friends in Kelowna. Wow we have done a lot. Although I only have a film camera, I was able to capture a few fun memories at Callaway with mom's camera. Mom had a blast going on the pirate ship with Katelyn, Going on the spaceship ride with Naleah and watching the Pirate show. I am so glad we got to experience that with her. We had quite the scare during our Callaway adventure when Naleah disapeared. It was probably the most frightening 15 minutes of my life (apart from my surgery a year and half ago and Steve's and my car accident 11 years ago). Once all the attendants and staff were looking for her she was found quickly and brought into Guest services, she was given a stuffed puppy to comfort her while they found me and we reconnected. I think the worst words to ever hear was when she kept saying over and over, Mommy you lost me. Ouch... What a blessing it was when she was found. It makes me think of God our Father and how He must feel when we turn from Him. How sad He must feel when we make the choices that we do that do not Honor Him. But what a party in Heaven it must be when we find our way back.

Katelyn has been at VBS this whole week at our church here in Kelowna. She is having a blast. It is so amazing to see her child like faith, her joy in learning more about God, Christ's salvation, and songs that bring praise and glory to Him. She has been singing none stop. It is awesome. I love that they do not drill things into her but it is her choice ~ the way God wants it be.

Well, I could write on and on... intead I will close and leave you with the verses Katelyn has memorized all on her own this week (even where they are found):

The Lord is the only true God ~ Jeremiah 10:10

The Lord your God is with you ~ Joshua 1:9

The Lord is my strength ~ Psalm 118:14

For the Lord most high is awesome ~ Psalm 47:2

If only we could all trust, believe and follow these simple truths.

A reason to like facebook (just for you Steve)

2007-07-08T14:58:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we went to the zoo with my dear friend Jen Light. We saw the anteater (amazing). I would post pictures but since Steve has the camera I had to resort to old fashioned film and am not able to post it quite as easily (lol). While we were there we ran into Silas (the boy I take care of) and his Grandma. (His mommy and daddy are in London). So via modern technology here is a pic of the girls with Silas at the zoo by the hippos (from Calgary to London to facebook to our computer). See Steve, another reason to want to like facebook, you get to see a pic of the girls while you are away with our camera :) (Love you and miss you tons and tons)

Thanks for the pic Cris.

Steve arrived

2007-07-05T07:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone, just heard from Steve this morning. He arrived safe, had no problems at customs (PTL) and went to the dentist this morning (Ukraine time). Steve's tooth broke about a month ago and we don't have dental here so he decided to get it fixed there. Four fillings, a screw for the broken tooth and a cleaning.... only 100 us dollars. Crazy. Wish we could all go to the Ukraine to have our teeth done. Here is a picture of him at the dentist.

We are off to Callaway Park with cousin Andrew, Uncle Richard and Auntie Kristy today.

Love you all.

Steve is off

2007-07-03T14:08:00.000-07:00

Steve is officially in the Ukraine. After travelling for 22 hours he should have arrived sometime around 5 am alberta time (2 pm Ukraine time) today. I have not talked to him yet, so Iam assuming he has arrived and is safe.
Please pray for him as he visits all of the Orphanages, prisons, churches, and other ministries that HART works with. He will have many long days and a lot of traveling.
Steve's sister and family are visiting tonight for a few days and then my mom is coming next week. We will drive to Kelowna around the 15th and Steve returns on the 21st. 3 weeks is a long time. Please pray for us as well.
I would love to post some pictures but Steve took the camera... if I find one to borrow I will get some up of our summer adventures.
Thank you for your prayers.

First Steps

2007-06-25T08:44:00.000-07:00

Hooray... Alexa took her first three steps last night all by herself. She was so proud. She kept doing it over and over and over. Then she decided to attempt a sommersault (her new favorite thing) and she almost made it over all by herself. So cute.
Anyways, will post a pic soon, just wanted to share our exciting news.

Up Close and Personal

2007-06-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Katelyn's field trip to the zoo. There is a no sibling rule so we thought we would attend the zoo at the same time and observe from a distance.

We were amazed at how many animals we saw upclose. I think this was our best experience yet. Here are some pics from our day.

Our first stop, the giraffes. Emily and Naleah learn all about baby Richard. Alexa plays peekaboo in the background.

Baby Richard is the giraffe in front, he was born in February.

Our second stop ~ the Lion. This is about 1 meter in front of us. If you wanted you could reach out and touch him, but I wouldn't advise it, you may lose a hand.

Our third stop was in the Rain forest. Here sits a lemur (like Zoboo from Zoboomaf00), curled up in the tree.

Here we are watching Katelyn from a distant. She was actually able to touch the peacock and found a feather right where he had been standing. We also saw three peacocks with their feathers extended as well as some baby peacocks. Too cute.

Here we are at my favorite spot, butterfly island. It was a bit muggy, but we saw lots of beautiful butterflies (some frogs and tadpoles too). Steve was lucky enough to have a butterfly land on his finger. The girls thought this was pretty cool.

Let us know if you are in Calgary and need some Chaperones to the zoo, we would love to take you.

Have a happy Tuesday.

2007-06-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

What Makes A Dad

God took the strength of a mountain, The majesty of a tree, The warmth of a summer sun,

The calm of a quiet sea,The generous soul of nature, The comforting arm of night,

The wisdom of the ages, The power of the eagle's flight, The joy of a morning in spring,

The faith of a mustard seed, The patience of eternity, The depth of a family need,

Then God combined these qualities, When there was nothing more to add,

He knew His masterpiece was complete, And so, He called it ... Dad

~Author Unknown~

Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a DADDY!

To my Daddy, Steve's Daddy and Steve, we love you. You have meant so much to us throughout the years even if we don't always show it/say it. We love you. Thank you for being you.

The pictures tell it all, you are all wonderful, give of yourselves and put our children first when we are near. We love you.

Happy Father's Day

Little Miss Independent

2007-06-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 3rd, marked the day that Alexa became little miss independent. What I mean by that is Saturday Night, June 2 we had our usual routine of bath, story, nurse, bed. At 11, our usual routine of her hour wakenings began (or so it seemed) ~ for those of you who don't know, for the last 2 months Alexa has been going down great for bed and then at 11 wakes up every hour pretty much on the dot until around 4 0r 5 and then goes back to sleep for a good couple of hours. It has been quite exhausting. The only thing to settle her most of the time is nursing, if we let her cry too long then I am completely exhausted and having two other children and a daycare to run, there is no option of napping... so we would give in and nurse so that we could get sleep. Anyways, back to the story... so she had her regular nurse at 11 and then we all went back to bed. We didn't hear a peep until 6:30 (very unusual). At that time I got up and tried to nurse her, she gave me the strangest look, gave me a flick (sorry maybe too much info :) ) and then started screaming, I tried a few more times and she proceeded to do the same thing. Steve came and took over and she was so happy. Throughout the day I offered her my milk at her usual nursing times and she did the same thing. Wow! This was so weird. That night we put her to bed without a nursing and did not hear a peep from her until 6:30. I could not believe it. on Monday I tried a couple more times to nurse her and she did the same thing again. Today marks day 4 of no nursing, and she has slept through the night (11-12 hours) for the last 3. This has been an answered prayer just not the way we anticipated. My goal was to wean Alexa before Steve leaves for the Ukraine in July. I also wanted her to sleep through the night with as little crying as possible. And yes, this is what has happened. The only downfall is that it happened in one day. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the weaning process, this is the least recommended way as it causes extreme engorgement, flu like symptoms, extreme emotional/hormonal fluctuations and possible mastitis. Thanks to my friends (Jen, Cristy and Marie,) I have been able to get through these difficulties with much pain rather than extreme pain. Thank you for your help ladies. I am still a little sore and a little emotional but getting better. Thank you Steve for sticking by me, loving me, and helping with Alexa, you are awesome. Thank you God for answering my prayers. Your way not ours.
And so now, I have 3 beautiful independent children that sleep through the night. HOORAY. I will miss my baby/nursing days but I look forward to what this new independence and freedom has to offer.

From Snow to Sun ~ Callaway Fun

2007-05-31T20:41:00.000-07:00

Like predicted, our snow on Thursday turned to 20 degrees and sunny on Saturday. Crazy. Steve and I both got sunburnt.

We decided to celebrate the hot weather with a trip to Callaway park. Having never been I wasn't too sure what to expect. It was awesome. The girls had a blast and there was so much for them to do. Katelyn can go on 26 rides, Naleah on 21 and Alexa on 7. We decided to get season's tickets which is a good thing because we were only able to do about 1/4 of what is possible in the time we were there. We have 4 guests passes to use until the end of June, they are free for the taking to whoever wants to come with us first, let us know we will probably be heading there next weekend to celebrate my 29andholding birthday :) YIKES

Anyways, here are some highlights from our day.

The first ride of the day! The girls 3rd boat ride (the first and second were with friends in GF). I don't think it was quite fast enough for Naleah but she still came out with a smile.

So this is more like it. The girls' first roller coaster. Naleah has no fear.

Alexa's first ride. She really enjoyed going around and around.

Not sure who enjoyed this one more ~ Alexa or Steve? I am so thankful he is a kid at heart. He sure makes life fun.

Here we are at the end of the day all worn out. What a blast.

"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow"

2007-05-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

So, Incase you didn't believe me... Here the kids are at 2:30 in the afternoon on Thursday, May 24 building a snowman and enjoying our winter mudland :) ... and yes, it is STILL snowing.

I was just thinking... why is Alexa sick all the time? Could it be these rediculous weather changes? Just a thought. Oh well, the kids all had a blast playing in it, that's what counts.

Snow, birthdays, and fun

2007-05-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

So we woke up this morning to well over 6 inches of snow. This is crazy. I cannot believe that it is supposed to be spring (and almost summer at that). I had to dig out Katelyn's winter coat and snow pants just so she could go to school. crazy. It is now 11:30 and still snowing. The strange thing about Airdrie/Calgary, is that on Saturday it is supposed to be 18 degrees. I will let you know if I ever adjust to this crazy weather.

We returned home from Lethbridge on Monday. Alexa had a great birthday. We spent the day hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's and Alexa's friend, Adam Friesen came to enjoy cake with us. Grandpa made Alexa her very own cake to play and enjoy. I was very proud of Steve for not shoving it in her face :) Alexa enjoyed manipulating the textures and tasting the icing. She remained pretty civil with it so that was good. After cake, we came back to Calgary and went to Chuck E Cheese. The girls had a blast.

Alexa's new thing after Monday is pointing 1 finger at everything. Here she is pointing, telling me she is 1. So cute.

Grandpa also made a cake for Naleah while we were in Lethbridge. She is really into Swiper right now. In fact Swiper (imaginary) goes everywhere with her. She tells him stories, sings him songs and locks him in her room so he doesn't swipe things. So Grandpa made her a cake with Swiper on it. It was strawberry flavored and so yummy. It was a nice surprise for her/us. They also got her a Dora table, here she is sitting so proud.

While we were in Lethbridge, we were able to go to the park and enjoy the nice weather (before we returned to snow). Here are the girls enjoying the park. They love being outside. Oh, the bandaid on Naleah's head (in case you are wondering) is to help her bonk feel better. She loves her bandaids.

Happy Thursday

2007-05-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who called/sent us Happy Anniversary Greetings yesterday. Steve got home late from Saskatoon but we were able to make time for our first bike ride of the season as well as a late night greek dinner. It was great. He brought me home these beautiful flowers, I just had to post them.

Naleah is excited to be a part of this blogging process too so she asked me to take a picture of her and post it. Here she is looking beautiful. I can't believe how grown up she is getting. On our bike ride last night she kept her arm around Alexa the whole time to keep her safe. She is slowly becoming a protective big sister (usually her most common words are "no Alexa, no Alexa" so it was nice to see her embracing her sister. Katelyn is anxiously awaiting Daddy's help/time to take her training wheels off so she can learn to ride with out them. Hopefully soon. We are off to Lethbridge this weekend to celebrate Alexa's first birthday with Grandma and Grandpa. Have a happy long weekend.

Oh, and here is a picture of our almost 1 year old. She is cruising everywhere, pulling herself up and happiest when she can walk holding our fingers. It won't be long now :)

Krazy Klassens

2007-05-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

The last week has been pretty crazy for us here around the Klassen household. Last weekend (the 4-6) we were in Edmonton with some friends to celebrate their son's 2nd birthday and Naleah's 3rd birthday. We had a blast. I was a bit worried since Alexa had been sick for well over 3 weeks I didn't know how she would do. Miraculously, she was 100% better when we left on Friday and did amazing the whole time. Funny, Monday morning she was back to her sick self (meaning: fussy, fever, runny nose, no sleep, needing mommy constantly), but hey, we got a good weekend out of it so that was great. We went to the water park at the mall and had a blast. Katelyn has no fear and was doing the humongous slide that is pitch black inside all by herself. She really wanted to try the "toilet" one but she was too small. Steve tried it out though with Katelyn looking on, it reminded her of "Flushed Away". Naleah was even attempting some of the big slides and wanted to go on her own... maybe next year. All three girls sure love the water.

On Friday of this last week (the 11th), we had a party for Alexa (1 on May 21) and Naleah. We had a ton of fun and enjoyed celebrating with our friends.

Yesterday, even though it was raining, we managed to get part of our flower bed done. The girls had a ton of fun, Katelyn got covered in dirt and Naleah (who prefers to not get her hands dirty), enjoyed adding the water.

After, Steve decided to take some left over birthday cake to our friend who couldn't stay at the party for the whole time. Her children just came down with pink eye so he took the necessary precautions needed so he wouldn't get infected. Here is a pic of my crazy husband.

On to this week, the craziness never ends. Today and tomorrow I have a house full with all 5 childcare kids here at some point. Steve is off to Saskatoon to pick up some medicine donations to HART and then Wednesday is our 9 year anniversary. It is hard to believe that 9 years has flown by already. Crazy how that is. Thursday I won tickets to a special premier of SHREK 3 so we are off to Chinook to take in the sneak peak. Katelyn is ecstatic.

Have a great week. Enjoy the pics.

Our Blog is Finally Here!

2007-05-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

After many months of viewing others blogs and thinking "we really should have our own blog", Steve sat me down and said here, this is how you do it. So here I am attempting my first blog post.

Hmmm.... what to write?

My girls are currently dancing in the living room and anxiously waiting to go shopping for flowers and plants for our flower bed. Katelyn is trying to figure out why we are going to have a bed in our front yard, but I think she will understand once it is done. So we are off, I will post some pics once we return.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there. May you find your day full of laughter, love and relaxation. May you take time to enjoy your children and all the little things they do. May you take a moment to thank God for the beautiful gift(s) he has blessed you with. I know for me, I often find myself consumed with all the "to do's" that I often miss out on all those little things. So, as encouraged by my mother in law, I am trying hard to let the dishes go, throw the cleaning out the window and take time to laugh more, cuddle more, and enjoy my precious angels before they are all grown up.

Here is a picture of my with my angels a year ago (a week before Alexa blessed us with her presence). Enjoy.