Our Church talks

We were ask a couple weeks ago to give talks in church. The kids were asked to talk on "Love one Another". Jakob bore his testimony of the people he loved. Logan talked about ways he can show love to his family. Kellsie talked about the Last supper and Jesus washing the disciples feet. She also gave examples like the Parable of the Good Samaritan and personal examples of helping me when I was sick with Jakob and when she gave up her recess to help her teacher pack up their room (they are moving from the portables to a real class room).

Jeff was asked to talk about a scripture on loving your wife like Jesus loved the church. He gave an amazing talk! I was asked to talk on the scripture that basicly says, if you love God then you need to love your brother.

The kids did a fantastic job giving their talks in front of everyone. I am very proud of them. They each prepared their own talk. I just helped them put their thoughts into the right order. Again, I am very proud of them.

Our Church Christmas Party

Here are the pictures from our Church Christmas Party. Kellsie was asked to be the angel (she is standing on the picture on the left). Jakob was asked to be one of the animals (he is the cow in the green shirt in the front row). Logan was in the choir and he is behind kids so you can't see him.

Then we have the pictures with Santa and the kids. Enjoy. Sorry it took me so long to put them up.

Saturday is a Special Day...

Jeff was off work today. This is a major thing, because he rarely has Saturday's off. It was a relaxing day, but we got a lot of stuff done. WE started by getting up at 5:30am and getting dressed, because Jeff volunteered us to help clean our church building. The kids worked really hard. We vacuumed the Chapel, counted all the baptism clothes, counted all the chairs and hymn books and made sure they were in the right rooms. There were some other families and people there to clean windows, bathrooms, vacuum rooms,etc.

I have always been very grateful for our freedom of Religion in the United States and I talk to my kids about it all the time. So I am glad they had the opportunity to serve and give something back to the church. We had fun together as a family and that was worth getting up at 5:30am.

We also gave the down stairs a good cleaning, dusting, mopping, sweeping. I am glad my kids are hard workers. Then as a reward we watched a movie together.

For dinner the Missionaries came over and Jeff made fried chicken with mash potatoes. It was a really good meal. The best part of the whole night is that I made (for the very first time) Cinnamon Rolls (using my kitchenaid that I got for Christmas). And they tasted really good. I might never go to Cinnabon again (I am just kidding about that part...I am totally going to cinnabon again).

Jeff and the kids are down stairs playing the Wii and I am relaxing...

So good day all around.

Day after Christmas Shopping!

So I woke the kids up at 5:50am to get dressed for our Shopping trip. I know most people would hat to take their kids out with them shopping on the day after Christmas, but my kids are so good.

We went to Walmart, Target and Joanns Fabric. We didn't get back until 9:30am. Jakob's job is to stay inside the cart and organize the things that I toss in. Kellsie is really good about finding me the items for the people on our list and helping me find prices. Logan helps the same way too, but he is really good at finding the cool stuff on the lower shelves. I basically say "yes" or "No" and then pay for the items.

There were not very many people out today. Walmart had no line for returns and there were only 2 lines open for checkout. Target had all the lines opened at checkout but most of the lines were clear. Joanns had no one in the store but us. CRAZY!!! I feel bad for the retailers this year. And I am thinking staples is slow too, because Jeff keeps calling me and asking what we are having for dinner. And just for you information we are having Hamburgers. I want to have left over ham, but Jeff thinks that is not a good idea, so we changed it.

Kellsie is playing online at epets and the boys are playing Wii Star wars Legos, so the house is quiet. I think I will organize something or eat chocolates... I will let you know my choice latter.

Christmas Day

What a trip. Logan was up somewhere between 2am and 6am. He came into bed and asked if he could stay up all night. WE said that was fine as long as he let us sleep. We turned on a Christmas story and let him watch until 7am. As soon as Jeff turned on the Christmas music (we couldn't find the polish cd, thankheavens)! the kids rushed down to find tons of gifts.

Santa got Jakob a transformer Bumble Bee. He was so excited! Jakob also got tons of clothes(from Aunt Kim and Grandma Joan) , more transformers (from the grandma and grandpa Logan) , Savings bond from Uncle Tim, a gift card from Uncle Mark, wallet, candy, bow and arrow and a superman cup from Kellsie...

Logan of course got some transformers (from the Logan side), he got clothes (which I think he was the most excited about from Aunt Kim and grandma Joan), Walmart Gift card from Unlcle Mark, Savings bond from Uncle Tim. candy, a bow and arrow from Jakob, wallet...

Kellsie got a snowman blanket from Aunt Kim. Really cute clothes from Aunt Kim and Grandma Joan, a epals puppy from her best friend Hailey, candy, Gift Card to Walmart (from Uncle Mark), Savings Bond from Unlcle Tim, Will Turner Journal from Logan, earings...



Jeff was really good this year and got a gaming chair to sit in while he plays Madden on the Wii. He also got seasonings, candy, aftershave, shirts, ties and some more fun things.

This year I was really blessed. Jeff bought me a kitchenaid mixer. Life is good. Last night I opened my gift early and made a cheese cake. YUM! I also got bath stuff, a sewing machine (thanks for my parent's and Jeff's parents), and car cd holders and steering wheel cover from my kids ( I had been looking at them for a while and they picked great ones).

For the kids from Santa we got them Wii stuff. New remotes (everyone has their own now), Remote covers (Orange, blue, black, pink and white), Wii games like fishing, soccer, smarty and skateboarding). Jeff bought me some Wii points, so he could down load Mario Brothers for me. I have already played it and I love it. Jeff Rocks!!!

I hope you like these pictures. The kids had an amazing Christmas. They are so lucky to have grandparents, Aunts and Uncles that love them. THANKS!!! Merry Christmas!!!

Nativity Story

Here are the pictures from Christmas Eve. Kellsie was Mary and the Angel (she planned her costume so she could be both without changing. Logan was the innkeeper and a wiseman. Jakob was Joseph and he was very caring and kind while he was helping "Mary" onto her "Donkey". I hope you enjoy the pictures. We really love acting out the story and it helps make Christmas more meaningful.

Christmas Eve Traditions

On Christmas Eve, after we eat dinner we act out the Nativity Story. We had this tradition when I was growing up and I really liked it (not so much my teenage years, but I still did it). I have all the costumes from when I was younger and I have added to them over the years.

Kellsie likes to be Mary. Logan varies between Joseph and a Shepard. Last year Jakob and myself were the innkeepers. And Jeff is the Narrator and the Donkey. Jeff and I also take turns with being wise men and Shepard's as we don't have enough in our family to play all the parts.

Then afterwards we each take some paper and write one or more gifts we can give the Savior this year. Things like, being kinder to my brother or sister. Praying more and things like that. After we are done writing, we fold the papers and put them in a special stocking that is just for the Savior. We have never opened them. I think that might be one of my favorite parts. You see the kids always need help writing their gift down, so I get a sneak peek at what my children are thinking about.

Right before bed, each of us gets to open a gift, and it is always PJ's. That way on Christmas morning, when we are taking the pictures the kids are always dressed in clothes that will not cause us emotional stress.

On Christmas morning when the kids wake up, they can't do down stairs until they hear the Polka music. Yes, I know. And you did read that right. Jeff has this polka music that he plays only on Christmas eve (unless he listens to it on his way to work). That reminds me, I don't know where the CD is, I had better start looking.

Christmas Eve is tomorrow and I can't wait. My kids are really excited and it is hard not to get excited with them.

The next post will be pics of the kids on Christmas Eve and on Christmas. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Letter

A lot of you have said that you can't open our Christmas letter...here it is. Sorry about the file not opening. Next year I will ask Jeff to do it. He is better at this stuff anyway. ENJOY!

Christmas 2007

As always we had a very entertaining year…

In May we went to San Diego for my brother Robbie’s wedding. All the extended Logan family was there, so the kids were able to meet their great aunts and great uncles. The wedding was beautiful! And we welcome Aunt Melea into the klan. We were able to take some time and go to the Beach. Believe it or not the water was very cold, but that did not stop our kids.

In October we were able to go and visit family in Buffalo. All of Jeff’s side of the family was there. It was Jeff’s parents 50th wedding anniversary which is a great milestone and we wanted to be there to spend time with them. We were able to spend time with Grandma Joan, Pa Pa ED, Uncle Tim, Uncle Mark, Aunt Denise, Aunt Kim, Laura, Justin and Cody. We went to the Fisher Price toy museum, Letchworth park (with cool train tracks, bridge, and waterfalls) Aunt Kim, Kellsie, Just and I went to a big craft fair and Justin made me eat some really yucky maple candy. Jeff, Tim, Mark and the boys were able to go watch Cody’s soccer game and then we all met up and ate pizza at Mark’s house. It was great to be able to spend time with family and have the kids play with their cousins . Jeff was able to see two of his friends, Tim and Jeff while we were there. He watched a football game between the Bills and Cowboys (Bills lost!!!) with them. Jeff had a long list of places he needed to eat while we were there, so we made sure we hit all those places. But the best part was the family dinners and spending time with the crazy family in Buffalo.

We did some work on our home this year. We laid laminate flooring in the front room, the hall way and the living room. Then latter we installed a big kitchen island in the kitchen and then tiled the kitchen and laundry room. We painted Kellsie’s room blue and we are in the process of making it look a little more mature.

Kellsie turned 8 years old in February. We are so proud of her and her choice to be baptized. Her Grandma Logan, Uncle Robbie, Uncle Randy, Aunt Susan and Aunt Melea came from San Diego to share this special day with her. Kellise became a Junior in Girl Scouts this year. Along with her troop she has made baby blankets for hospitals, She earned badges for First Aid, Horse Care, GS in the USA, GS in the World and Pet care. Kellsie is doing fantastic in School as she just made Honor Roll. Kellsie loves to eat Weird Polish food like her Dad. I am trying to put a stop to it, but I think it might be a lost cause. Kellsie just got a pet rat and she named her Pinkie. She takes her out and plays with her all the time.

Logan turned 6 in July. He choose to continue to do Judo this year. We took him to El Paso for a Judo Tournament and he took 1st Place! In December we went to Phoenix were he took 2nd place. Logan was excited that Grandpa Logan, Grandma Logan, Uncle Randy and Aunt Susan came to Phoenix to watch him. Logan loves going to school because during recess he gets to play football. Boy does he love football. He is the coach of his recess football team and they call themselves the Buffalo Bills (Jeff’s influence…I am working on that too). Logan is getting A’s in school and we are very proud of him. Logan still has his snake Babalu and he takes care of him every day without us reminding him.

Jakob turned 4 in November. Jakob is all alone with me during the day, so we have been doing a lot of bonding. We do dishes together, laundry together, he loves to clean the table and chairs with cleaning wipes. But as soon as Kellsie and Logan get home he’s playing football, working on Judo moves and playing “pets” with
Kellsie. Jakob’s best friend in the whole world is Timmy. Timmy moved away this summer. Jakob and Timmy call each other on the phone all the time. All he wanted for his birthday was for Timmy to come over and play and eat PB&J sandwiches. Jakob is really good at taking things apart and putting them back together again. I wonder how much trouble that will get him in? Jakob is a fun and happy kid. He makes us laugh all the time!

Jeff has been working hard at work as always. He is the General Manager of Staples in Los Lunas (½ hour ride from Albuquerque). In the Summer he drove to Farmington, New Mexico and Opened an new store up there. He stayed there for 2 weeks to get it up and running. As soon as Jeff gets home from work the kids attack!!! Logan challenges him to a Madden Wii game, Jakob tackles him and Kellsie wants to hug him and tell him about her day. He is the best dad ever. Of course I want my time with him too, so he makes sure he takes me out on dates (without the kids)! Jeff has been playing basketball and volleyball at the church on Wednesdays, so he comes home wanting a backrub. Jeff’s big news is that he got a new truck. A Ford Ranger Sport 4 x 4. He looks really cool in it and that is all that matters.

My life has not changed much. I still need a nap, but I am getting more things done even thought I am sleep deprived. I help out in the kids class rooms, I am the secretary of the PTO, I help with the book fair at school and this year I am the chairman. I do Humanitarian Aid every Thursday at church, I am Kellsie’ troop leader . Besides that I clean the bathrooms, sweep the floor, toss laundry in the washing machine ( I got a new one this month and it has lots of buttons and cool things to play with. It is a front loader too. Eat your hearts out ladies), and every once in a while I take a bath. I like my life. I have a beautiful house, cool minivan, 3 great kids and a wonderful husband. I could do without the snakes and the rat, but perfection is something we can’t attain in this life, right?

The Giras Family is great! We hope your year was a fun and entertaining as ours!

Love,

Jeff, Katie, Kellsie, Logan, Jakob, Harley (Kellsie’s dog), Ransom (Jeff’s dog), Babalu (Logan’s Snake), Elvis II (Jeff’s snake), Pinkie (Kellsie’s Rat), Superman (Jakob’s turtle) and a handfull of fish.

My new Kitchen!!!

By popular demand here are the pictures of my new kitchen. We tiled the whole kitchen and laundrey room ( I had to rub Jeff's knees for a week). And we put in a new kitchen island/bar. There is enough room for all three kids to eat at the island. I want my brother David to come down and put an electrical outlet in the island, but last time I asked him to help he ended up chasing me with a hammer. Maybe I will wait on that a little longer.

The tiles are brown with a suede like look to it. We grouted in the darkest brown we could. I almost went with black, just so I didn't have to clean as much. But I am glad we went with the brown.

Anyway, this is my kitchen. I guess Jeff thinks that if he makes the kitchen look all cool that I will cook more. He is so funny. But I love my kitchen!!!

By popular demand. The pictures of my new kitchen. I know most of you don't know what my old kitchen looked like, but we tiled the whole kitchen (I had to rub Jeff's knees for a week) and I have a new BIG kitchen island. I need my brother David to come and visit so he can add an electrical outlet to the island. Of course I have to be careful with that because last time he tried to help he ended up chasing me with a hammer.

Anyway the tile is brown with a suade like look. It is really nice! the kitchen island had 2 drawers and 2 more cabinets to put baking stuff in and things like popcorn poppers, toasters and waffle makers. IT ROCKS!!!

Notice that there is no kitchen table. I moved it out to mop and since the kitchen looked so pretty all cleaned up, I thought that was the perfect time to take the picture.

Santa Time

Jakob was really excited for Santa this year. We were able to see Santa at our Church Christmas Party, but Jakob wanted to see him at the mall. We stod in line for 1 1/2 hours for the kids to se him.

I know the picture is dark, I am not the expert at taking pictures in the family. Also I thought it was funny that according to the mall "rules" I was able to take pictures of my kids, but I had to stay behind the red carpet. If I took the picture on the red carpet then I would be in vilolation of the malls "rule". I really wanted to step on the carpet and see would happen. If my kids wern't there, I would have, but with the whole example thing...

The Mall Santa was great. He spent lots of time with each kid. Jakob just loves santa and I can't wait until christmas Morning. Santa hunted for months to find a Bumble Bee transformer and he finally found one. Santa worked his butt off this year. Way to go Santa!!!

Ginger Bread House

this was our gingerbread house this year. I bought the package from our Nextdoor neighbor Stephanie. She made the gingerbread herself and the package came with the candy and icing. IT was a lot better than the gramcrackers I usually use. This was the first year that Jeff helped with the making of the gingerbread house. He is usually busy at work this time of year. But this year he had an extra night and he was excited to help (because his kids asked, not because he normally likes to decorate things with icing).

I think it looks pretty cool. The kids are proud of it.

A Smart 4 year old???????

Today is our baking day. Kellsie and Logan are at school and they get to decorate cookies when they get home. But for the past 3 hours Jakob (4 years old) and myself have been baking.

My sugar cookies never turn out, so this year I bought packages that I only have to add eggs and butter ( I can't mess those up right?). Before I started making the cookies I was working on the fudge (my personal favorite). Jakob felt he had the emotional readiness to make the sugar cookies on his own. And he did most of it right. The pictures fo the butter and the 1 egg where on the back of the package, so he added everything to a bowl and started mixing. The only thing was that the butter needed to be melted prior to putting in the bowl, but we worked around that ( I think). I was pretty impressed and a little nervous about baking the rest of the day with him, but I am sure things will go ok.

With the help of Jakob we have 2 batches of Rice Krispys. 6 lbs of Fudge, 4 doz sugar cookies and a batch of peanut brittle. He does not want choclate chip cookies and he asked if I could find another kind of cookie to make.

It is nice to work with him. He is fun and cool to hand out with. He is picking up on measuring a lot faster than the other two kids did. Maybe I should hid the measuring cups until I know it is safe. Enjoy your holiday baking.

Sizzler Baby!

This is the family pictures (without me of course. I was taking the pictures).

The other picture is outside Sizzler where we went out to eat the last night there. Jakob slept the whole time!

More Pictures

More Pictures!!! Kellsie and my brother Randy. Kellsie and my sister Susan. My dad and Logan. My mom and my boys.

Logan at Judo Turnament

This is Logan at his Judo Turnament. We went to Arizona, where Logan took 2nd place. Boy was I proud! Just me and the kids went. Jeff had to stay behind and do inventory. My Mom, Dad, Brother Randy and Sister Susan came up to watch Logan and spend time with us. We had a lot of fun as you can see from the rest of the pictures.

camera back

I got a package today from my mom. She sent my camera (new pics are posted) and a DVD set of I Love Lucy. Boy I love I love Lucy. 31 episodes. One of them is of her making the chocolate and stuffing them in her mouth. Doesn't get any better than that!

Giving Tree

Last week my friend Laurel and I went to help at the coranado mall out here. We volunteered at the Giving Tree for 2 hours. WE handed out names of kids to people who wanted to buy a gift for them. And then took the gifts when they returned them.

I was amazed at the number of people who stopped to get a name. And I was even more impressed at the thought and money spent on each gift. I wish we could have that same spirit the whole year.

There were so many names of children who needed help with Christmas this year. It saddens me.

IT also makes me grateful that we have the money to take care of and provide for our children. Santa is having fun this year!

More Christmas Parties

Kellsie and Logan both have Christmas Parties this year and both of them are on the same day and the same time and they both want parents there. AHHHHH!!!

I am making Homemade Macaroni and Cheese and Enchaladas for Kellsie's party. Logan wanted me to bring soda to his, so that works out great. For those of you who really know me, I hate to cook. I have no idea why Kellsie's told her teacher I would make those things. I might just go buy mac and cheese and fried chicken from the store. Kellsie won't care as long as I bring her hot sauce too. Crazy kid!

Jakob and I will go to Logan's party first and Kellsie's party second. No one told me having kids was all this work.

Almost Christmas

The kids picked names for eachother for Christmas. Kellsie got Jakob. Jakob got Logan and Logan got Kellsie. They each had 1.00 each to spend on their secret santa at the dollar store. I told them we would talk down each isle to let them know what was there and then we would do some quick grabbing to hide what each of them was getting.

Of course Kellsie was the best at this. I didn't even know she had gotten somthing. Logan tried really hard, but he kept whispering really loud and kellsie overheard.

Jakob wasn't good at all. He yelled, "Logan look what I am getting you!". They all asked me if I could lend them another 1.00 each, so they could buy their special person one more thing. I was so excited that they wanted to be nice to eachother that I said yes.

Kellsie got Jakob a superman cup and a bow and arrow.

Logan got kellsie a journal with Will from Pirates of the CArrabian and bath gel.

Jakob got Logan a bow and arrow and a policeman gun.

Gotta love how excited they were. I love it when my kids remember how much they love eachother.

Pictures

I will pst pictures as soon as my Dad mails me back my camera. I asked him to hold it while I was packing the car and then I forgot to get it back. Sorry dad!

Logan and Judo

We just got back from Arizona were Logan took second place in Judo. We are really excited and proud of him. We met my family there and they were able to watch the matces also. My mom, Dad, Sister Susan and Brother Randy came. The kids loved playing with them. I think my family will be able to sleep well tonight.

I will write more another day as I am tired from driving with three kids for 7 hours.

Kitchen Floor

A couple months ago we started ripping up our kitchen floor and installing tile in the kitchen and laundry room. I still need to take finish pictures of the kitchenm but here are some pictures of the boys ripping the old flooring up. They really did most of the work. I have them the tools and by the time Jeff got home from work, they had ripped up most of the floor. Saving us a lot of work.

They had a lot of fun doing it. I just had to keep saying" We are only doing this to this floor, please do not touch any other flooring in the house". So far they havn't.

We want to put rock in our back yard, I think I might just have a truckload dumped in the back and have the boys go play and see what happens. They are really good workers.

Kellsie was helping me get all the stuff out of the kitchen while the boys were working on the floor. And as soon as she was done with that, she pulled up a lot of flooring herself. MY KIDS ROCK!!!

Mission

My youngest brother Michael left today for Utah. Tomorrow afternoon he is entering the MTC and will be there 6 weeks. From there he will be going to Kiev, Ukraine for 2years.

I already have 4 boxes ready to ship for him. They are mostly filled with candy and cards the kids have made for him. The Christmas box is filled with ties, since that is all he will wear.

I have not seen my brother in over a year, but I all of a sudden fill really sad. I am going to miss talking to him and having my kids talk to him. They really love him and Logan especially is going to miss him. Micheal is Logan's favorite uncle (He plays soccer and basketball with him).

Just needed to talk about him...HE will be a great missionary.

Ironing is not so bad...

I have been going to Humanitarian Aid every thursday at our church for a couple years now. We work on projects for our community and for places around the world. We make blankets for hospitals and to ship to Salt Lake City for them to send to disaster areas around the world. We make scrubs, ABC books, leper bandages, teddy bears and the list goes on.

When I started going there, the ladies in charge would help me learn new things like crocheting and sewing. They are always telling me that when you start off sewing it is important to iron all the fabric. IRON!!!! I hate to iron!!

Well I just started a blanket for my sister for Christmas and Ironed a lot of material! It made it so easy to cut and sew. I was very impressed. So I think I will give ironing a chance. That doesn't mean that I will be ironing clothes or anything like that, but I will do some ironing when it comes to sewing.

The blanket looks really cool and I am excited to see my sisters face when she opens the gift.

Surgery

On Thursday Kellsie's foot doctor told us that she needs surgery on her feet. He has been working since July to correct her feet, but now that the bones are moving the ankles are getting weaker and falling inwards.

He would like to do the surgery in December, during her Christmas brake. We are working on getting the xrays on monday that will help the doctor find what surgery he needs to do. We also are working on getting a second optinion, but we have to wait for the xrays.

Please keep Kellsie in your prayers. She is still so young and I worry about her so much. We will keep you posted.

Kellsie's stories

Kellsie like to write short stories and I love reading them. Last night I have her 6 words and asked her to use them while writing a story. The words were: Santa, Elves, Picnic, San Diego, Pizza and beach. This is what she came up with.


Santa’s Vacation
By: Kellsie Giras
Once upon a time Santa and his Elves were making toys. Then Santa got a letter saying, “Take a brake and go to the Beach”. Santa thought that that was a grate idea. So He told his reindeers and lined them up and went to the beach.

While he was riding he said “ I’m Hungry, let’s go get pizza:. MMMMMMM. That was good pizza.

Then he got in his sleigh and headed to San Diego to take a vacation on the beach. When Santa was almost there there was a snow storm. It took Santa 1 hour to get to the beach.

Then Santa said, “ I have a great idea! I’ll have a picnic with the left over pizza”. After that he sat down and sun bathed. Then Santa went home and he lived happily ever after.

The End