Tuttle Creek State Park-- Our Cabin

Joel and I talked about going camping over spring break at Tuttle Creek State Park, outside Manhattan, but then he got a job in Utah. I was not up to going tent camping alone with four kids so we decided to rent a cabin. It was a good thing too because it really rained both nights we were there. But we had a great time. Here are some photos of the Osage cabin. The boys never tired of going up and down that ladder to the loft over and over again.


During the day the weather was great and we did a lot of hiking, I mean what hiking you can do with three kids 5 and under. They had a great park in the campground, shaped like a tree house, that the kids loved. Unfortunately we were there at 5pm one night when it started to rain. We made a run for it to our cabin but were drenched by the time we got there. The rain was coming down so hard it felt like hail!

We were close to the swimming beach so we went and threw rocks and sticks in the lake for awhile on our last day. I tried to teach the kids how to skip rocks without much luck. I should have been teaching Jude how to aim at the lake because he hit two of us with rocks he was trying to throw in the water.

One night we decided to go into Manhattan to get ice cream. We took a driving tour of K-State (actually a pretty campus) while there which resulted in Jude and Maeve falling asleep and missing out on ice cream. You should have seen Roman's face when I handed him his gigantic ice cream cone from Sonic. He was in heaven. I covered him in napkins that protected his clothes but they dissolved under the ice cream mess which was nasty to clean up. Not the best bib. You can't really call it camping when you sleep in a cabin and go out for ice cream.

On the way back to our cabin we passed the dam. This fat little animal came walking up on the road right in front of us. I was not sure what it was until it turned and waddled back to the water and I saw it's big flat tail. Maeve was bummed when we told her she missed the beaver.

Here are pictures from our hikes. It was a much needed, relaxing two days.

Jude and all his "weapons" (Should I be worried?)

2012 Relay for Life

I just joined the Douglas County Relay for Life. It is an over night relay style event raising awareness and money for the American Cancer Society. Here is my team captain, Debbie Ross, a cancer survivor! Isn't she beautiful.

A great photographer took this photo. He is donating his talents to help raise money for the fight against cancer. So you too can have a beautiful shot of your pretty face or someone you love.

If you would like to donate please visit my fundraising site here (if you are a Dahle you might see someone you know there!). And we can set up your photo shoot!

If you are camera shy, your donation is still welcome!

Thanks!

Funny Adelle

This is Adelle's mouth with her new fancy expander. A few weeks ago she told me that she now has two tender spots. Her mouth and her "nuts". Seriously, she said that. Once I contained the laughter, I had to explain to her that she did not have "nuts." I know I am a bad mom because I laughed but it was really funny. We already had the "talk" with her so I am not sure why she thought she did. I still laugh thinking about that conversation.

Activity Girls Pinewood Derby

I am the Activity Girls leader at our church, meaning that I plan biweekly activities for the 8-11 year old girls. We had a Pinewood Derby for the girls this weekend. We joined with another ward/congregation for the races. I was a little nervous about planning it because I heard the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby got pretty competitive and often ended in tears. But it when so well. No tears. Everyone seem to have a great time. I planned a brunch for the 70 people in attendance but had way too much food. But I think we will make this an annual thing so I can make adjustments next year.

Adelle's car was shaped like a whale, thus not fast, but she did it all on her own and didn't seem upset about being fuel efficient instead of speedy. Hers is the second one on the left in the top photo

Science Fair

The girls entered the county science fair this month. Adelle's experiment was about what the best thing to remove tea stains from eggs was. She found that if you put baking soda on your toothbrush and put a little hydrogen peroxide on it then brush your teeth, that is the most effective way to remove tea stains from your teeth. When she entered the school science fair in second grade she got first place, based pretty much on the fact that she had hand written her entire report (meaning her parents did not do it for her). She got second place this time and was a little disappointed. But I was super excited for her because there was a lot more competition.
This was Maeve's first science fair. We chose her experiment out of an elementary science book we found at the library but did not get the results that we were suppose to. She poured different liquids into cups of raisins to see if the raisins would float. Her hypothesis was that the raisins would float in the plain water because boats float in water. The raisins were suppose to float in the club soda but almost nothing happened. She determined that nothing happened because the raisins did not have air in them, like ducks. She was excited to have a participant ribbon until Adelle went on the stage to be recognized and she did not. Not like she would have gone anyway...
Even though I am not good at math or science I am really trying to help the girls to be better in those areas. Maybe they will grow up to choose different careers than artists or social workers. :)

Bowling with the cousins

My sister brought her kids to play from Texas for president's day weekend. We had a fun time with 3 adults and 8 children in our apartment! We started the weekend with dollar bowling at Jaybowl. Michelle was shocked at how empty the place was. Apparently the wilkinson center at BYU would not be that empty on a Friday night when games and shoes are a dollar!

McKinley won. At least it was a 5 year old that won this time and not a 3 year old. But Jude bowled in our lane without bumpers or he might have been able compete. He has a new technique now-- he pushes the ball off the dinosaur with his elbow. That is only when he can get there before Roman pushes his ball down for him.

It was fun to take the Bakers to the KU vs Missouri women's basketball game, except we lost and Roman fell on the bleachers and hit his head on the concrete. No lasting damage so far but I did get some looks from people around us that I interpreted as, "you are the worst parent ever." :)

Thanks Michelle for a fun weekend!!

Adelle's music concert

Adelle's school music concert was last week. Clearly this child did not get her musical abilities from me! She has rhythm for starters. She played this instrument which she spelled for me as "gon kogey" but googling that did not come up with anything so it must be spelled differently. Anyway look at my little star leading the group! I am pretty proud of her. She works really hard and is very self motivated. She is taking piano lessons, clarinet lessons, and singing in the school and church choirs. I did NOT overschedule her. She arranged the choirs and the piano lessons on her own. If I was not sure that she came out of my uterus I would not think this was my child!
We all know where that talent came from and she was very happy that her dad was able to be to this school concert, a first for him.