Some More pics

Here are a few more pics of the kids....Kourage on the table using Micah and Malachi's leather working tools, coon skin caps, Lincoln Logs, etc.

Mykaela's poem and the story behind it

Mykaela wrote a poem about some actions of their cousins in Salem (Kaleb, Katjana, and Kalvin). I am going to paste in an email from their mother that tells the story and then has Mykaela's poem:

So last night, Isaak was fussy in the evening, and then I stayed up too late....nearly 2am, and then wouldnt' you know he woke up crying at 3:30am. He kept rubbing his ear and crying and was up for a good 2 hours. I finally got him back to sleep at 5:30am and drifted back to sleep. Well, the night before, the kids had gotten it into their head to try making breakfast using a recipe or two from Katjana's Kids Cookbook that I got her for Christmas. They had not attempted this before, but Katjana mentioned she would be trying to get up early, and then Kaleb asked her to wake him up too, cuz he would like to help. Of course Kalvin wanted to be in on it too.

Katjana was up at 3:30am with Isaak, as he was sleeping upstairs, in the boys' room. She heard him crying and tried to help, but he was inconsolable. She laid down and drifted in and out I think, for at least one hour. I tried putting Isaak back to bed around 4:30 am, but he was up crying again in a few minutes. Well, eventually, all the kids were woken up by his crying, and I kept telling them to lay still and NOT TALK. I took him downstairs and when he finally fell asleep around 5:30am, I just put him in the play yard in the living room, after giving him Tylenol, and he seemed to be sleeping soundly.

Around 7:30, after only about 3 hrs of broken sleep, Kyle and I woke up to the sound of the BLENDER and 3 VERY EXCITED and ANIMATED voices, and the smell of EGGS!!!! Yikes!! Here Isaak is supposed to be sleeping soundly in the living room, and the lights are all on in the kitchen, 3 kids are talking loudly, and the blender is roaring! Kyle and I got up and found that they had already made three "omelettes" and were in the process of making a smoothie.

There were only 5 eggs left in the fridge, and the recipe was for 2 egg omelettes, so there were 2 normal omelettes and one small one, made with one egg. They had them nicely laid out on the table for Kyle and I to each eat one large one, and they were to split the small one, three ways. Well, the omelette recipe called for Cream cheese and fresh parsley or basil inside, and they didn't have those things, so they decided to make it a 'sweet' omelette. They weren't going to "make it all herb-ish and stuff" so they decided to delete the pepper that was called for, but they decided they better leave the salt in. Then, what to put in the omelette?

Well, I think they MUST have been thinking of Kami's peach crepes that we had at your house, because they found some "Whipping Cream" (unwhipped), and a bag of frozen blueberries in the freezer. They poured a nice strip of Whipping Cream down the center of those omelettes, and lined up a nice line of frozen blueberries, and Voila, an omelette. (They insist they KNEW it wasn't a crepe). Their voices and faces were the most animated and thrilled and pleased and excited as I have nearly EVER seen them. Kyle and I could hardly HARDLY keep from laughing and certainly couldnt' keep large smiles off our faces. They were SO logical and serious in their explanations about the salt and pepper, and how they were going to make muffins, but thought it was rather dangerous to use the OVEN unattended (but safe to use 'just the stove'!?) Oh dear!

They were in process of making a smoothie with some peach yogurt and more frozen blueberries. The smoothie was rather tasty, and washed down those salty crepes very handily. I was so tired, that it honestly felt like the very MIDDLE of the night, waking up to eat this strange food. We set them to work on their math, and went straight back to bed. If you can believe it--Isaak stayed asleep for a couple more hours, and I got 2 more hours of sleep. What a funny, funny night it was! I honestly dont' know if any of them slept a wink past 4:30 this morning!

Later this afternoon, I called Kami to tell her about it, and she thought it was great, and told her kids after she got off the phone. They thought it was the most hilarious thing, and Mykaela insisted that it sounded like a Dr. Seuss story, so she sat right down and wrote a poem about it!!!! She called it, Our Om-Crepe, and here it is:

OUR OM-CREPE

by Mykaela McDowell

"Say, let's mix up something for breakfast, you two!"

"Oh my, oh yes, let's do! Let's do!"

So we quietly got up and scrambled downstairs,

And began to cook like great hungry bears!

We first stole a look in Katjana's cookbook, and what we saw there--

"Oh, take a look--take a look!"

It was omelets! (or crepes, whichever you choose...)

So we started to cook-there was NO time to lose!

We looked at the picture-It looked pretty good,

But the recipe didn't sound right...the way a crepe should!

We decided to improvise and change...just a tad--

Oh what a surprise for our mom and our dad!

That pepper, the pepper! It REALLY must go--

But the salt? Oh it could stay , we needed it so...

We mixed and we blended, we scraped and we stirred,

And added or took out all we preferred.

We needed some blueberries--perhaps some whipping cream?

We were ALMOST finished, oh...of what more could you DREAM?

We finally finished--it turned out rather runny,

But our parents thought our om-crepes were very cute and funny!

I personally thought it could have been ended a little better, and I had my version, but Kami didn't think it should be included, so I will add it here:

Our om-crepe was not so great, we really shouldn't boast
I think we'll stick to mom's recipes, like creamed corn over toast.

Well, anyway...there is Mykaela's poem.

Kayson

Here is a video of Kayson's new laugh.

New Year

Well, here are some pics taken over the past few weeks through the holiday season. Here is Mykaela holding Manniah Kayson, Micah holding Mishael Kourage, Mercy, and Malachi.


We were able to go to Salem to see Kami's family. Here is a picture of all of the cousins on her side (except for Kellene and Jared's in St. Louis).


Here are a few pics of Kourage being goofy:


Here is Kayson and Kami: