John. 'Nuff said.

Today's blog post is about my brother, John! I think he deserves some blog time because he is the only boy in the house, and lately, he has come up with the wackiest things.
For instance, yesterday John decided that he wanted to be a stunt double. Therefore resulting in jumps off the couch, the top of his bunk-bed, somersaults, and other things like that.

He also has become interested in weapons, and will find anything that looks like gun, knife, sword, or bazooka and store them in his personal collection. Nerf Guns are very rare in the Karako household. (espesially since John lost all of the bullets)

This is one of my favorite photos. Look in the background and you will see.

And what would John be without Legos? Give him Legos and he will make the coolest things out of them. One time he made an airport with a working elevator. The picture above is one of his recent creations.

Famous quotes from John:

(when offered a piece of candy) "No thanks, I'd rather have a brother."

(while in the car listening to some music)

Me: "That sounds like Oprah."

Betsey: "You don't know what Oprah sounds like."

John: "Opra is a play performed in song."

From Freckles to Sadie, and everywhere in between

As most of you may know, we have a new puppy! She is a ten-week-old lab mix. We found her in her crate outside our church door, with a note hoping that she would find a good home.

We originally named her Freckles, because of her freckled nose. But then we decided that her freckles might grow out, and that the name Freckles wasn't very feminine. So after much deliberation, from names like, Butterscotch, Sprite, and Skittles, we chose Sadie.

Sadie loves her new home. We moved her into a bigger crate in the dining room so she could see all the happenings in the house. Snickers has become her best friend and will sit in front of her crate and they will bark back and forth at each other. (whether that is a good thing has yet to be decided)
Rizzo, however, is a different story. Oh, Sadie absolutely loves anything that Rizzo does to her, but sometimes he gets waaaaayyyy to crazy. Like last night, Rizzo was playing around and decided that he wanted to glom Sadie. (glomming is what we Krackos call it when Rizzo drools all over a smaller dog) He has good intentions, but he is just to big to be playing around with an 18lb puppy.

Sadie is quite the character. When she plays in the snow, she will lick it up, dig a hole in it, stick her entire nose in a drift, and just bound around scattering little snow flurries all over the place. When we took her to the vet yesterday, she caught a glimpse of herself in the vets mirror above the sink, and she started barking at her reflection.

No More Raking! :)

Last week we had a small wildfire experience in our backyard. Ee heh.
It all started right after Mom left for work. Soon after, I was emptying the coals/ashes from our wood stove, as it had gotten enormously full. I put them in the ash pile outside, and observed that they were smoking a bit.
I thought, no problem, coals do that all the time. So I went inside.
About a half an hour later, Betsey and John left to go to a friends house for a party. (John was a guest, and Betsey was babysitting.)
And another half hour later, Chrissy looked outside the doors leading to the deck, and said, "Brittany, the backyard's on fire!"
"Chrissy, it's just the coals from the ash pile, nothing to worry about." I said,
"No seriously, the backyard is ON FIRE!!!"
Reluctantly, I got up from my school, and looked outside. Sure enough, the backyard was enveloped in smoke, and flames were licking at the leaves ten feet away from the propane tank. I went outside to survey the damage, and immediately called the neighbors, who came over with a 100-foot hose, and a ton of shovels. At first the fire seemed to be beating us, and calling the fire department was a very good option, but then at the last moment, we finally got it out.
The neighbors told Chrissy and I to stay on the deck until it got dark, to keep an eye on all the spots where it might re-start. So, we stayed on the deck watching Phineas & Ferb on Mom's computer, until the sun went down. There were a couple of times when we needed to spray a log or two, but other than that, all was quiet.

The area of damage.

New Sounds In The House

John's very very very very very very very, (did I mention very?) early Christmas present.

His brand-new, totally awesome, completley cool, electric guitar!  

He spends about an hour every day just tinkering on it, and another half hour practicing his guitar lesson book.

Already he has the makings of his own song on there, as he repeats various notes and chords, and then turns up the amp and blows the roof off the place.

 John also helps out Suzy, and is teaching her all the drills and songs that he has to learn.

A Trillion Dollar Question

On Sunday last week, Betsey went downtown to go play her violin in front of Dick's Five And Dime. Somebody passed by and dropped a trillion dollar bill in her violin case. Turns out it was a real one dollar bill wrapped up in a fake trillion. She let us all examine her "counterfiet" bill, and I found a message on the back. Here's what it said.

The trillion dollar question: Will you go to Heaven when you die? Here's a quick test.
Have you ever told a lie, stolen anything, or used God's name in vain? Jesus said, "Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Have you ever looked with lust? Will you be guilty on Judgment Day? If you have done those things, God sees you as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. The Bible warns that if you are guilty you will end up in Hell. God, who the Bible says is "Rich in Mercy," sent His Son to suffer and die on the cross for guilty sinners. We broke God's law, but Jesus paid our fine. That means He can legally dismiss our case. He can commute our death sentence. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Then he rose from the dead and defeated death. Please repent, (turn from sin) today and God will grant eternal life to all who trust in Jesus. Then read your Bible daily and obey it.

This message should be told, written, and printed all over the place. We should not stick to the basics. We need to let ourselves be heard, Jesus Is Lord and you can know him. No message like this should be kept a secret.

Tornadoes = destruction, and lightning gets on my nerves.

Everybody on Face-book who lives in California are all over the thunderstorms that are happening over there. And me, being the thunderstorm loving person that I am, I am totally jealous.
When we first moved to missouri, thunderstorms were my worst nightmare. I didn't mind the lightning and thunder so much, it was the wind that freaked me out. Why, you might ask, when it's the thunder that is the most noisy and the lightning that is the most annoying?
Well, wind = tornadoes. Tordnadoes = destruction. That was the BK Theory of thunderstorms.
Now, I know that tornadoes don't stand a chance when it comes to the Ozarks. Well, they do sorta, but where we live, nu-uh!
Lightning, is totally AWESOME!!!! But you might say it gets annoying sometimes. When its a faint light, you might think that the thunder won't be so loud, but then.... BOOM!!! It freakes you out. Same thing happens when it's really bright and long. You think it's gonna be big, and then theres a low rumble. After a few of those, and you think you just might get to sleep, a bright one comes and you think its gonna be low, and then the thunder cracks one second after the lighting and jerks you awake. But hey, lightning is random, and that's the fun of it. Sometimes.

A Tour

Welcome to the SDC Amusement Park Tour! My name is Brittany Karako, and I will be your tour guide today.

First up, The entrance. You will present your passes here.

For you smokers, there are lots of designated smoking areas throughout the park.

The Swinging Bridge. Also known as The Earthquake Simulator.

A favorite among kids, and a horror to adults, Grandfathers Mansion twists your brain with all sorts of weird phenomenons.

The entrance to the Grand Exposition, which has many games and rides all in itself.

Also in the GE, is this life-like statue which many people fawn over.

One of the many favorites in the GE, the Electro-Spin.

This mural is inside Fire In The Hole, an indoor roller coaster.

Wildfire, which takes you upside down 5 times!

And the newest ride, Tom and Huck's River-blast! The ultimate water battle!

More of Wildfire

The Swings in the GE.

This is what Electro-Spin can really do.

And what would be an all-family park, without the kiddie rides!

The Butterflies

Not to mention, you can go on a train ride, and be robbed by the dumb-witted train robbers!

(Conductor is not train robber.)

And all around the park, you can watch craftsmen at work!

Powderkeg. A favorite to all, this roller coaster takes you 0 to 65 in 2.8 seconds!

And over the hill.

For the scaredy cats, you can visit the Fireman's Graveyard right next to Fire In The Hole.

Thank you very much for taking our tour. Now you know some of what to expect when you come here! Please exit to the left, thank you and good-bye.

Reminiscing

I love the rain. When the clouds are dark, and when it seems like its evening in the morning is the best. When it rained in California, if it rained at all, it would pour. Our backyard would get flooded every time, and our patio would be like an ankle-high pool.
We had one of those plastic car strollers that you would push with a metal rod. One time Betsey and I were playing outside on the patio, and one of us would sit on the hood of the car, while the other one pushed the back. When we got up to speed, the pusher would jump onto the the back of the car, and let it glide to the end of the patio. Then we would tumble off and do it again. Then we would go "swimming" in the knee-deep hole in the corner of the backyard. By the time we went inside, we were cold and wet, but happy.

Today we don't have the car anymore, and our porch isn't big enough to "surf" on, but I still like cuddling up in a blanket watching the dogs play in the rain. I have also come to like thunderstorms too. The first and only thunderstorm I saw in California, was at night so the lightning show was spectacular. Mom woke us up at about midnight to show us that is was hailing, lightning, and thundering. It was the first thunderstorm us kids had ever seen, and we were all scared at first, but as the lightning and thunder abated, (the hail didn't) we gradually got up enough courage to go outside, hold our hands out, and catch hail as it fell from the sky. The hail melted pretty quick, but that didn't stop John from trying to eat it.

Old Pictures (2002)

All of these pictures were taken in 2002. Mom took all of them, so that is why you don't see her in any of them. Suzy was also not in the picture until December, so there is only one of her in this post. Hope you like them!

The Karako Kids in 2002




With Dad at ISP




Chrissy and Dad




John and Dad looking at Dad's dream car




Chrissy




Our lovely house




Playing "Puppies"




John and Chrissy




Story time




Chrissy getting her first Bible




John




First time I rode a two-wheeler.
Betsey the instructor stands in the background




Chrissy and I




Me




Chrissy and John swinging on the swingset



John



Betsey and Suzy




Dad and John, at the ice rink




Dad after trying to show off for Mom




Betsey




Chrissy, competing in the annual Paper Airplane Match




Betsey




John in the Lego Shark




Chrissy and The Captian




Me in my favorite Lego-Thingie  in Legoland




Betsey's favorite was the driving




In a fire truck that stopped by




More of the same





John and Dad in the Lego Boats