Merry Christmas!!!

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm. I'll have to suffer through a few more hours of cold (it's 9 degrees, but it feels like -5!) and then I'll be off to the Philippines.

A few weeks ago my kindergarten students realized that I have a family at home. I showed them a few pictures from this blog and needless to say they were shocked and amazed. I told them that we could make a video and put it on. So, here it is (^_^) the one and only video of Korean children singing for the Evans clan. They were so excited that they got nervous and would hardly say a word, but I swear, normally that chat my ears off!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FP_10WwfK4

Anywho, I wanted to say that I miss everyone and send my love. I can't believe that in a few months I'll be home already, giving you the hugs, kisses and love that I wish I could give you right now.

Merry Christmas!!!

<3 April

Thanksgiving Day

Jada at the firestation. July 24th at Griffin Road Fire Department.

Photos

Picture at Mom and Dad's. More to come!!!

Random Pictures

Apparently April has requested pictures.... well you are so far away that you know you get precedence... so here you go!!!

Piacente Halloween!

OK, so I'm finally sending you pics of the kids in their halloween costumes. You must know that I did NOT start sewing them until tha Monday before Halloween. I know, I'm nuts.

So here they are:

Roark: he is a Satyr, like from Greek Myths, the goat/man. It's hard to see in the pictures I guess, but his pants are furry, and he's wearing a "leather" vest and a quiver for his arrows. He wanted to be like the Satyr from Percy Jackson an the Olympians, the book, not the movie :-)

Cameron: he is Ang, from Avatar: The Last Air Bender. His turned out great!!

Brigham: is Jet Ray fron Ben 10 Ultimate Alien (cartoon) When he lifts his arms you can see the yellow underside of his wings, as well as a tail :-)

Katherine: is Princess Tiana, thank goodness I had the sense to BUY her costume!! she is awfully cute:-)

They had a great Halloween!

My Stunt Riding Day

So I know you've all heard about my little accident. But I thought you'd like to hear the dramatic retelling of the story. Alright... ahem... so - Ryland and Ema were bored - more than usual. Jason decided to give them something to do and together they decided to build a bike ramp. They used the front-end loader, made a pile of dirt, and laid a piece of plywood on top to keep it sturdy. During all this, I was making a new recipe for dinner - AND getting it done ahead of time. I decide that some Jiffy cornbread would be GREAT with the Cheese Soup ( Kirkland family recipe) I just made FROM SCRATCH!!! I hop in the Mitsubi i (the other letters are missing off the back) to go to the store, but drive back down our little dirt driveway to find everybody. Everyone was down admiring the new bike ramp and watching Ryland jump it with perfect form - making it look like it was a mere bump in the road and not a 2 foot high pile of dirt with a piece of plywood on it- which by the way was angled up at a steeper angle than it looked like. As I drive back I see Ema nervously deciding to try the jump. As she prepares herself and gets last minute pointers from Ryland on form, speed, etc., I bossy-like tell Jason ( in an annoying tone, mind you) "Jason, she has on Crocs. She needs to have on tennis shoes. Please make sure after this pass that she gets on lace up shoes - she is going to get hurt!" So Ema goes over the jump, VERY SLOW, and almost eats it when the bike nose dives off the end. She is OK though - a little shook up, but ok. I think she was saying she couldn't do it, kinda being hard on herself, etc. About this time I am thinking about her, and then how I am afraid of the jump... and think it's a miracle she survived intact. THEN COMES THE MOMENT OF STUPIDITY. I realize I would never want to make that jump, that I've never jumped a bike, and that the thought scares me. That is a recipe for disaster, because I don't like being afraid of things like that, especially not ones that my kids are willing and able to try. Also, I wanted Ema to see that I could try too, even if I didn't do it right. SO.... I put my truck in park, get out and tell them I wanna try it. Ryland and Ema didn't want me to. But my ego and know-it-all Mom'ness combined and I smiled and nonchalantly said "Oh you guys, I'll be careful, but I'll be fine. I wasn't always just a Mom you know... I like trying different things! Ryland, just give me some pointers." About this time Jason says, " Hey, don't get hurt now... I need you!" We all laughed, and I said " Oh Jason, I'll be just fine!" So I slowly drive down the dirt driveway at an angle towards the ramp. I realize I don't really know how to land, and that Ryland has alot of practice with this kinda thing... and that this required practice, and probably wasn't meant for someone who hasn't ridden a bike in quite a while. There was no turning back though, and I ran through his instructions in my head. Stand up on the pedals going over, lift up the front and DON'T try and sit down on the landing. About that time I realized that it was happening too fast and I was gonna bust my butt when I came off the ramp. My worst fears were not realized, however. I made it over the ramp, barely, but was sitting down. The bike started to veer side to side and I made a split second decision to stand up and put my feet down before I crashed. So I did! I held onto the handle bars, my shoes were slipping off the pedals anyway, and so I stood. The bike moved forward about another foot, but since I had ahold of it, it didn't fall on me. I felt a little scuffed up from my legs scraping the pedals or maybe the chain, but I was ok!!! A little embarrassed, a lot glad I didn't kill myself and ready to jump in my truck to hide from the embarrassment, I figured I could give myself a thorough once over for scrapes and cuts once safely seated in it. Everyone was freaking out asking if I was ok, which made me even MORE embarrassed! I looked at my left leg and saw I had a few scrapes but nothing major. More questions if I was ok. I started to walk to the truck when one of the kids looked at me and started freaking. I said something to the effect of: "Oh guys, I just  got a little scraped up! I'm fine, really! Then someone pointed to my right leg. When I looked at it it was unreal... like a dream. It was sliced open with stuff hanging out!!! I was sure it was like when you first see something and it's ALWAYS worse than it really is... so I was just like" Oh my. Look, guys, it's not as bad as it seems. I'm fine. " Someone told me to not step down, I did, and it started bleeding. Then I realized it was that bad. So Jason carried me to the truck, and the rest is history.
4 to 5 inch gash, all the fat hanging out of my leg, fat stuck to the screw on Ryland's back that gashed into my leg. 10 stitches, spread apart so the wound can drain, and to let it better "heal from the inside out". I'm on crutches for two weeks, and then I have to find a doctor so I can have the stitches taken out.
Let me just say I had on flip-flops while I was riding. Yeah, after the whole tennis shoe thing. I know. And I got comments at the hospital along the lines of "don't you know you're too old to be doing stuff like this?" Way Embarrassing!!! Anyway, you've seen the pictures, here they are again.

Love ya!
Kelley
PS I've made Ryland agree to show me how to jump the ramp the right way as soon as I'm all healed. I Have to do it now! Otherwise it'll haunt me forever!

Right after it happened

Just got my stitches

One week later.

One week later.

So here's the latest in my little family. Ryland just started Cross-Country at school. Take a look... there he is running - you can just see his head!

Kimmie and the kids came this week. So Kimberly, all her kids, Billy, Warren and Jada, MICHELLE, Mom, and Aubrie and I ate lunch, brushed the horses, and the kids jumped on the trampoline with water. Here's Jada after leaning on the screen trying to get in to the porch.

 Here's a pictures of Aunt Jan, Uncle Brad, Trina an Jack at the wedding this past weekend.

I hope everyone is doing well. I love each of you and think of each of you every day!

-Kelley

School Starts!!

So all three boys started school yesterday!! Everyone was excited, even Brigham. Kat became disappointed when she realized that she was NOT going to school with "my Brigham" as she calls him. They got all dressed up in their new clothes and new shoes. This is the first time I haven't taken the big boys to school on their first day!! Rick practically drives by their school on his way to work so he dropped them off.

Brigham doesn't start quite as early as the big boys so when we finally left I asked him if he wanted Kat and me to walk him to class and he said no, just drop him off. I did get a little teary eyed when I drove away and left my baby boy at school. Kat and I were able to go do some shopping. It was fun to shop with only ONE kid!!

Anyway, it was a successful day. When we got everyone home theyall said they had good days, and enoyed their teachers. Roark came home with some fun news...

He's a safety patrol this year! How fun! He has an assignment in the morning and in the afternoon everyday.

Well, it was a great start to another school year!!

Love ya'll,

Kimmie

Boys Room Sign

Alright... so this is the sign that Kimberly, her boys and I designed for their bedroom door. Here you go Kimmie! Hopefully you can download it???? Love you guys!

I'm so excited you guys are catching on to this!!! And FINALLY... pictures of April!!!!!! YAY!
Sarah - congrats on the job. You know Frogger's is my FAVORITE place for wings... yum!!!

Guess what - we're moving in to the old trailer on Jason's parents property - its directly across the street from the front entrance of Rock Springs Ridge - Warren and your neighborhood. That means - WINGS AT FROGGERS!!! Woohoo!!!

We're planning on moving next weekend - so EVERYBODY - we're moving to a trailer next weekend... it takes effort to continue to strive to be white trash - I feel proud that once again I've managed to pull it off.

I can't wait to see most of everybody more often.... we're gonna stay for about 2 months and save some money for a rental place in Tavares or Howey-in-the-Hills.

Love you all!!!!

Hi!

Hey everyone! Kelley, you're so awesome for figuring this out. I think it will be a great way to stay connected ^^

I thought I'd post a few pictures of what I've been up to.

This is a street in Meyongdong, part of Seoul. It's famous for shopping and generally a fun place to be. I came here with a friend to see a show called "Nanta" in a little theater.

So this is one of the things I love about Korea! I was walking in Seoul and right in the middle of the street is centuries old arcitecture!

I visited this place a month ago. This is Gyeongbuk palace, originally built about a thousand years ago. It's a shame that I'm not a better photographer, because this place is beautiful! Even though I went on an overcast day, it was amazing. The Palace is huge, like a city in itself. It's in Seoul, but once you're on the palace grounds it's like a different world: quiet, peaceful, tranquil. The mountains here are soft and rolling, the perfect backdrop for the palace.

This is some of the traditional interior architecture and decoration. You find it everywhere here: parks, historic sites, temples, etc. I love it!

This is me beinga tourist at the palace! ^_^

Now that I've posted some pictures, I expect to see some from you!

Big Fat News

Ok guys... I hope you all got an email... I finally figured out how to use this thing - hopefully!!! We are all added as "authors" of this blog - all meaning all us kids and Mom and Dad. Nobody else can write, only comment. This is all new to me too - so we have to figure it out together.

AND ready for my big news? J and I have decided to move back up to Orlandy.... sort of. We're gonna stay with Jason's bro in Apopka for a couple months to save up some rent money and then rent a place in Tavares, or Howey, or something in that area - and we're moving in like 2 weeks so that the kids can start school up there by the 24th I think it is.

I know we're crazy... but we're so excited!!! And we fasted, prayed and know it's the right thing to do. Jason will still drive down here and work his territory... but it'll be WAY BETTER for the kids!

Ok... everybody write... this thing is supposed to email us all anytime someone posts something.

Have Sweet Dreams, See You Tomorrow, Love you Everybody!!!

Hey everyone! This is a good idea kelley ;)

I'm so glad to b home! I hope we can all get together soon <3

So I am so proud of Ryland! He has been kicking some butt at Flag Football on Saturdays... I can't wait for his game tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to Rick, Jason and Gina this week!

Congrats to Sarah on the new job....

and April send us pictures of your apartment.

Love you all!

Ok... here it is. Our own blog! Post your info, your pictures, your whatever!!!!
Love you all! - Kelley