Happy Easter!

We have had my sister in law and her daughter, Kaitlyn here all week long!  They came up for Kaitlyn's spring break.  We have been on the go! 

We are thankful for Easter for the reminder of our Savior and the Resurrection.  How wonderful it is to have hope that after this life their is much to come.  We hope you are having a wonderful day with family and friends. 
 

 

 

1,2,3,4,5,6,7...all accounted for and all filled with goodies from the thrift store and dollar bin, except for Will's basket, he got baby food. :)

 

Happy Easter and wishing you a happy spring,

The Klippels

We had the best weekend filled with fun.  Gwyneth has been going to play practice for two months twice a week to perform "Hats off to Broadway."  In our church we have so many talented people who every year, put on a full play production.  They hadn't done a Broadway type in fourteen years.  This year Gwyneth was lucky enough to be in it because they needed young girls.  Usually the youth have to be twelve or older.  

The play was held at the our church building in Willow Glen so we started things off right by eating at our favorite restaurant Aquis!  Here is our weekend fun in order...
 

Kirk and Georgia having a moment.
 

Eating with baby Will on my lap. (Trying to eat really)
 

Loving baby Will on my lap.
 

Getting treats at Powell's before the play.  Reece wanted to get Gwyneth Garfield gum because she loves reading Garfield comics.
 

The play...

For starters I knew my daughter Gwyneth could act and be "boisterous."  I had never gone to any practices with her until about two weeks away from the play.   I was waiting for the practice to start when Gwyneth comes prancing onto stage.  I thought, "is that my daughter?" I could not believe my eyes!!!! Every move was full blown and she had a small singing solo part as well in Annie's "Tomorrow."   She was completely in her element.  She was so great, loved it so much that it translated exactly this way on stage.

For the opening of the play on the left she was center stage.  To the right she is in the number "Doe Ray Me" from "The Sound of Music."
 

More of the opening act...
 

More of "Doe Ray Me."


After the play on Friday evening I informed the kids that we would be spring cleaning on Saturday.  They worked hard and my house is detailed.  We pulled out beds, vacuumed behind everything, cleaned blinds, dusted, removed cobwebs, organized piano music and on and on.
 

The little kids always take the job of scrubbing the backyard's ground.  I guess they love the water and scrubber because they could do it for ours.  My lemons fall off the tree and stain the ground.  The scrubbing takes it right off.
 

Saturday night, after cleaning all day long we went back to the last night of the play but we only took our two oldest boys and called it a date. 

Gwyneth is a full blown actress!  After I saw her practice, I told her that if she could keep up the act in front of hundreds of people she would be the real deal.  And she delivered for sure.  She kept the act right up.  She was meant for the stage, we loved watching and can't wait to see what is next for the budding star!

(Gwyneth is bottom row with glasses waving in the air.")
 

Day by Day...

I love these moments when the kids are in the kitchen together.  Kalen is baking and Gwyneth is crafting on our island.  Kalen always says, "mom can I please bake?...I promise I'll clean it up just the way you do."  And I always say yes, and I'm always cleaning way more than I thought I would be.  :)  But, that's ok because there is nothing better than seeing your kids love life. 
 

He usually gets to about this point with the batter, gets lazy, wants Gwyneth to finish the baking but she was clearly crafting...so he made the batter into one big cookie cake.  Which is fine.  Small cookies or one huge cookie, it gets eaten either way.
 

Making Masquerade Masks was the craft of choice on Monday.
 

 

Of course Georgia was in on this too.  Later on a neighborhood friend came over and Georgia helped her friend make one too.
 

This is Shane's made all by himself.  So cute!
 

I love doing science and history with the kids.  This year we are studying Biological Sciences.  We are ending the year with the Human Body. 
 

I just found this picture, I think Shane got a hold of the camera.  Which is funny because sometimes kids get the most real pictures.  This is my life.  I am a teacher, a mother, a crafter, a baker, a cook, a mentor, a wife, a friend, and the list goes on.  In this picture I am teaching a history lesson and the baby is chewing on a glue stick...with the cap on of course.  :)
 

This cracks me up.  In the way of crafting, Georgia, with permission cut an old pair of jeans to make a "jeans purse."  Instead of using a needle and thread she used tape and a stapler.  It's so classic.  And by the way she calls stapling, "stamping."
 

Precious baby boy is eating from a big boy chair and he loves it.  He has been "chomping at the bit" to eat solid food.  I've held off for as long as I could and there is no more holding him back. 
 

I love you too Gwyenth...
 

Summer looooves the ipad.  It's the kids ipad and it has cute apps that tell stories and the like.  She'd be on it all day if I let her.
 

Georgia loves to surprise me.  The latest surprise was her organizing and folding all of her clothing in her drawers.  So cute. 
 

Kids are too much.  Have you ever felt like the blog helps you to stay sane?  I come upstairs only to find my framed Family Proclamation hung up with tacks along with the "My Gospel Standards" for the young women also hung up by tacks.  At first I'm annoyed but then I think, "it'll be good blog material."  :)
 

My husband is a ward missionary so he goes on "splits" (helping share the gospel) with the full time missionaries every Wednesday nights.  Tonight after they were done they all came back and the Elders showed us a video on the ipad about Fathers.  It was so great.

Day by day I am so busy.  And it's the best busy ever.
 

Weekend Fun

At the beginning of the year Kirk, Kalen and I set out to make our Temple Goals.  Since Kalen can perform some ordinances at the Temple now, Kirk and I go once a month on our own and every other month we take Kalen to the Temple. 

On Friday our dear friends Mark and Thira were taking their son Dell to the Temple for his first time and invited us to go along.  It worked out perfectly since we were already set to go with Kalen this month. 
 

 

This is the lobby right before you go into the temple.  It's the only place you can take pictures, besides outside.
 

 

 

I can't express what a joy it is to be with my oldest son in the Temple.  In the LDS religion we believe that families are forever and so when we are married in the Temple we are "sealed, for all time and eternity."  As we teach our children they learn to love the Temple as well. 

I am so thankful to see Kalen have love and respect for the Temple.  And I am thankful to see him honor and serve his Father and Heaven by performing the ordinances that he can as a twelve year old.  I will always look forward to being at the temple with my family and dear friends.  I hold these memories dear to my heart.
 

Switching Gears, no pun intended :)...It has been so beautiful here in California the past few days and on those days one of our favorite family outings is to bike to the lake. 
 

 

 

 

Almaden Lake/Park is about a mile and a half from our house.  It has a great path to follow.

 

 

With all of our bikes it looks like we're in Amsterdam.
 

You will never find Gwyneth has gone anywhere without a book.  No siree' where there is a Gwyneth, there is a book.  Always.
 

Watching America's favorite pass time sport, Baseball.
 

 

We had the best weekend.  We got to be with our best friends, enjoy being together as a family and enjoy the sun.  This was our weekend fun.