The many faces of a princess...

I couldn't resist adding a little special photo shoot of my precious princess. She is after all my only girl and this was her 1st Halloween to really care about the event. As I said she recovered just in time for me to feel ok about taking her out to trick-or-treat. She was all about her costume, hair, and makeup. She didn't want to take it off when it was time for bed. She did look sweet if I do say so myself. A special thanks to my sweet friends Denise and Maddie who gave us the costume. Addi even had her picure taken at our church fall festival by the local newspaper so we'll let you know if we make the Piedmont Gazette tomorrow. The paper is weekly and sometimes a little behind the action. I'm not sure if Halloween will make the paper this week as it comes out tomorrow or if it will be next week. Addi made the entire route of trick-or-treating and while she hasn't mastered saying trick-or-treat, she learned quickly to walk up to the door, give her cutest princess pose, hold up her bucket, and say more peeaas!! These are some great days in the life of our parenting journey. We are so blessed!!

Trick-or-treat, smell my feet.....

Well another Halloween has now come and gone and I must say it was a great success. Despite some drama last week awaiting the late arrival of Logan's costume, everything went smoothly and what a blast! The kids all looked awesome as you can see and Addi made a terrific comeback from her illness just in time to trick-or-treat with her bubbas. Logan was Zorro, Garrett was a knight, and Addi was Snow White just in case you couldn't make it out from the pics. The only disappointment was that due to Addi's stomach bug yesterday I didn't feel good about taking her to the boys' fall parties today which I had taken off work to attend. It was just as well that I already had the day off as I would have had to have called in sick to stay home with her. It was evident early this morning that she was making a rapid recovery but I didn't want to chance a relapse during a school party. I would forever be remembered as THAT MOM who brought her sick child to the party and exposed the entire class. So we stayed home and took it easy. After we picked the boys up from school we got everybody dressed, had a little photo shoot, and headed for the church to attend the fall festival. It was the usual hotdogs and burgers, followed by games, candy, and inflatables. We headed out for the real deal trick-or-treating with some friends of ours around 7:00. Our friends live out in the country without neighbors so they came to our neighborhood where we made the rounds. The kids cleaned up and now we have more candy than we know what to do with. The night was a great success and everyone had a ball. And as Logan said as I tucked him in tonight, "Well mom, I guess now it's time for Thanksgiving and turkey stuff...." and so I guess it is!

A Good Old-fashioned Halloween Party...

Well there were hotdogs & hamburgers, a pumpkin pinata, apple bobbing, smores, scooter rides, friends and family galore, all the key ingredients for one awesome old-fashioned family Halloween weekend celebration. Mark's brother was in for the weekend from Detroit so the extended family jumped in and made it a regular holiday. We don't need much excuse to get together to eat and play but it is special these days to have Uncle Gary in town since he lives so far away. This was our first visit since we traveled to Michigan this past summer to see his new place. I think the pics tell it all, that we had FUN, FUN, FUN. The weather was a picture-perfect fall day which made the outdoor festivities even better. The kids had fun just playing around, not to mention getting to bob for apples ( I think this is a dying game due to sanitation concerns in the general population party), bust the pumpkin pinata, and eat, eat, eat. The food was great and I want to say thanks to all those who provided. This was a great weekend for me because other than getting my family there and helping out, I wasn't responsible for providing one thing. We wrapped up the weekend with our own recent family tradition of pumpkin-carving. It was great to visit with Mark's extended family and friends especially since we won't get to do Thanksgiving with them. We have the dilemma every year of which family to spend the holidays with so we long ago started a routine of trading holidays between Mark and I's respective families as we simply cannot be 2 places at once. Getting everyone together has only proved to be more challenging as the years have gone by and the families continue to grow. This year we will be in western OK with my family for Thanksgiving and in eastern OK with Mark's family for Christmas.

Well without being too graphic let me just say that I had to take a little break just now to clean up after my sweet baby girl. Addi came home "sick" from the daycare yesterday afternoon after one episode of vomiting. It was our consensus that she had a bunch of mucous on her tummy from her cold drainage and just had a little upset stomach as she proved fine the minute she rolled through the door at home. Well that is not the case today. The vomiting started around 5:00 am and hasn't let up as yet. She also seems to have diarrhea so we are having a not so great day around here. As Garrett says, I sure hope I don't get as stinky as Addi. I pray we don't pass it around whatever IT is. And most importantly I hope she gets well before Halloween. The long-awaited costumes ordered online have finally arrived and the boys are so excited to dress up tomorrow. Both selections of Zorro and a Knight have been a hit. Addi is supposed to be Snow White so we'll see how it goes. Tune in Thursday for the Halloween recap....

Oh how good it feels to be clean....

As some of you may know, this past week was fall break and we had been planning a camping trip for the last few months. The whole family packed up and traveled to Natural Falls, in eastern OK, with some friends of ours from church. We left out Thursday morning and made a day of the trip which took us almost to the state line. The kids did well on the trip although they were anxious to be there from the minute we got in the car. We stopped in Tulsa for lunch which was a nice break in the trip. We arrived mid-afternoon to find we had 2 awesome camping spots. The entire campground was really great, wide open and roomy. Since our friends have a pop-up camper they just spun theirs around on the slab and we had a great little mini-camp between our campers. We had a great fire pit which we kept pretty busy with fires in the morning and evenings. The weather couldn't have been more perfect with cool evenings and mornings with a nice warmup and sunshine during the day. Friday morning we hiked up to the natural falls which was really pretty and just about the right amount of hiking for the whole gang. Even Addi was able to make the trip and did a surprising amount of walking on her own. Our friends have 3 boys so Addi was a little outnumbered but she loved all the attention. Being the youngest and the only girl, she pretty much gets everything she wants and then some. After our hike it was time for lunch, then our afternoon consisted of time at the camp playground which was great, games with our friends, snacks, and just hanging out at camp. Next thing we knew it was time for dinner. Yes you guessed it, we ate well on this trip. The boys were always hungry and we were challenged to fill them up. Our friends introduced us to dutch oven cooking with a great mexican casserole dish which we loved. Our friends are relative experts in the area of camping, and I mean camping without amenities. I admit I am a little spoiled with my camper which connects to running water with a bathroom readily available. Anyway we had a blast cooking and eating which consumed a great deal of our long weekend. On Saturday Mark and I took the opportunity to take our friends and our own children to New Life Ranch, which is the place where Mark and I met. For those who have never heard of this place, it is a Christian camp in eastern OK that is an awesome place for kids, families, retreat groups, and just about anybody looking to have a great time in the great outdoors. We got to eat lunch with some of our friends from our camping days back in the summer of 1995. After lunch we took a little tour of the new stuff at the ranch and wrapped up the day with some canoeing which was by far the kids favorite part of the day. After a little freshening up we drove to Springdale, Arkansas, and met Mark's parents for some chicken at the infamous AQ chicken house. As long as I've known Mark, this was my first trip to the chicken house and boy was it good. The kids ate like horses and we got our money's worth. Sunday was just a lazy morning spent mostly eating, packing up, eating, loading up, eating, and heading for home. The trip home was long as they usually are when your vacation is over and you're thinking about the week ahead. I can truly say that it was a restful and rejuvenating time, spent with good friends, just taking some time to appreciate all we are blessed with. It's back to the grindstone this week as we finish out the fall semester. I know that before we turn around again the holidays will be upon us. It seems we are in for some real changes in the weather this week. As I sit at my computer composing this it is storming outside and it looks like snow with the ground covered by hail. We drove through the front on our way home today and the temperature dropped about 15 degrees between Tulsa and OKC. It was nice to unload in the cool. We arrive home safely around 5:00 and had everything unloaded by about 6:30 but it will likely be days before I have it all really put away. I am saddened that the trip is over as I usually am but have great memories and stories to tell for it. I am happy to say we escaped with our most severe injury being a spill Garrett took into the concrete picnic table. In his haste to roast his marshmellow he tripped on the concrete pad and went nose first into the concrete bench. He is still quite swollen and bruised and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it's broken but we'll see. I guess we'll be in for a trip to the pediatrician later this week. Having broken my own nose as a child, I know there is nothing they can do about it until the swelling subsides anyway. We were just happy to get it to stop bleeding which proved to be quite a challenge in Garrett's state of drama after the fall. I knew he was going to be ok when about 45 min later after some recovery time in the camper he wanted to know when he could have a smore. All in all, an awesome fall break!!

Ah, the light at the end of the tunnel

These pics are a flashback from almost 1 yr ago at each of the kids bd parties. As we are currently planning this years parties I was reminiscing about last year. My how time flies!


As you can see, it's been a while since I made time for an update. These last several days have been even busier than usual. It seems that Mark and I both take on a great deal of assistant responsibilities rather than volunteering to direct or lead as the primary person. However, much like the position of 1st runner-up in the Ms. America competition, these assistant positions have the important duty of taking over in the event of the primary being unable to complete their duties. Such has been the theme of this past week. Tuesday was our week to host cubscouts which entails presenting the lesson, preparing a craft, providing a snack, and organizing a game. All the prep and the meeting only lasts 1 hr. Wednesday evenings Mark and I both serve with our AWANA program at church. Both of our respective class leaders were gone which left us in charge. Thursday was soccer practice which we don't normally have to lead but once again the head coach was gone so Mark had been asked to help. Friday evening brought about the dreaded school carnival which we had 2 shifts to work, one for each of the boys. Logan's class was in charge of the "jail"where people could pay to throw people in jail and the prisoners or their representatives could post bail. Garrett's class was in charge of go-fish where the kids fish over the wall and someone clips a prize on the pole. Saturday was home maint and cleaning with a soccer game stuck in for variety. Sunday rounded out our craziness with an afternoon spent traveling downtown to watch the Centennial Parade.





It seemed that few people knew about the parade when I told them I was going but it was plenty crowded, let me assure you. It seemed as if all of OK was downtown today. The weather was pleasant except for a little wind. Thanks to some friends who arrived at 11:30 and saved some space for us we did have a spot. What they didn't know was that after the parade staff closed down Broadway which was part of the parade route, people would be allowed to move their chairs to the median of the road. This created a big problem for us and our ability to see. We ended up fighting for a view amongst hundreds of other spectators along the latter half of the parade. In hindsight I would recommend going early enough to get a spot toward the beginning of the parade as the route was a lengthy one and the participants were obviously tired by the time they reached our area. Having now watched the parade on tv I see what we missed as all the main performances were at the beginning as well. Along our part of the route there were several greater than 5 minute lags between floats as well. It made for a really long afternoon. I don't regret going as it was such a special event but it sure would have been nice to have watched it on tv from the comfort of my living room.








This week promises to be more relaxing as it is fall break and school is out wed-fri. We are leaving on Thursday for Natural Falls in the eastern part of the state. We will be going with some friends and camping for a few nights. Next weekend I should have an exciting report with some good fall pics.

Back in the saddle again....

Here are a few of the long-ago promised picks of Garrett's soccer team and a few action game pics. All in all the season is going well, if it would just cool off. It just isn't right to play fall soccer in the 90 plus degree heat. The pic to the left is Addi Grace at the Great State Fair of OK. She, Auntie KK, and I took a Thursday off and headed to the fair for some fair food, yummy! The pic of Logan was taken at the choo-choo park in Yukon last Sunday afternoon during a family outing. And last but not least is Garrett in his chef hat. Garrett's class has been studying community helpers this week and got to walk to the highschool today to visit the kitchen and see the cooks in action. I think it was his favorite activity at his "new school" so far this year. He has an upcoming field trip to Chester's Party Barn which will likely be a new fave. Logan is alive and well after just 24 hrs of antibiotics and will likely return to school tomorrow. We are just trying to stay afloat under the load of homework from just 2 days gone. Boy they work hard in 1st grade! Well it's off to the bath and bedtime routine. Until next time....

The no-good, terrible, horrible, neverending, very long day...

Well my day today began around 1:00 am at which time the hospital called to inform me that there was an emergency surgery that would finish around 1:45 am and would need my services for recovery from anesthesia. I knew I was on call and had just had that 'feeling' that I would be getting a call so I wasn't really very surprised. I arrived back home around 4:45 am to find my entire household in my bed. For some reason I was wired and couldn't go back to sleep. Anything and everything on my plate kept running through my head. I did manage to go back to sleep about 1/2 hr before Mark woke me up to send me to my own bed as I had crashed on the couch. I again managed to return to sleep about 1/2 hr before I had to get up to get Garrett off to school. So at 8:00 I delivered Garrett to prek and Addi to daycare as I was supposed to be at work today. Logan came home from school yesterday with a 101 fever which hadn't resolved so I ended up staying home with him. After settling Logan on the couch with gatorade, a nest of blankets and pillows, and a movie, I proceeded to start my typical morning cleanup routine which seems to take me from one room to another without finishing the original task only to find more work to add to my to-do list for the day. After vaccuuming the wood blinds in my bedroom (see what I mean, did that really need to be done in my sleep-deprived state) and finishing some more practical housekeeping tasks I made a doctors appt for Logan and headed for the bed around 11:30 am. At 1:30 pm my alarm went off to get us to the doctor on time for our 2:00 pm appt. I had to wake Logan up as well and we made it promptly at 2:00 for what I would later find out was a 2:15 appt. At 2:50pm after a very long wait with a miserable febrile and very nervous 6 yr old and watching another family who had arrived 20 min after us but already gone back, I finally lost my cool and headed to the receptionist to see what the holdup was. That's when I learned that our appt was technically at 2:15, the same as theirs, (but what about the fact that we arrived 20 min before them?) Finally at 3:10 we made it to an exam room. At 3:20 we promptly saw the PA (Wed is our pediatricians day off, convenient!) The PA felt like considering the duration of Logan's illness process (going on a month now) and considering that he just finished antibiotics last week we should get a chest xray since he sounded coarse (important medical terminology) on his right side. Now being a nurse who uses important medical terminology I can tell you that calling lung sounds coarse is what you say when you're just not really sure whether there is an inappropriate sound in there or not. Anyway I was ok with the chest film because he has this terrible, lingering, junky cough that continues to produce nasty phlegm (is that how you spell that?) So around 3:40 we had a chest xray which Logan performed beautifully through, holding his breath at precisely the right moment. Then around 3:55 we were informed that the PA would also like bloodwork, so I prepared Logan for his 1st venipuncture which took place promptly around 4:05. Logan was a real trooper thanks to the "freeze spray" ( I've worked in pediatrics for 10 yrs and haven't seen this stuff, but it was COOL, literally!!) The spray either really relieved the pain from the stick or was so distracting that Logan didn't even know when it happened. He did awesome and at 4:15, 2hrs and 20 min after our journey began we were on our way to Sonic for a free ice cream with the coupon we earned at the doctor's office. Mind you our prescriptions were emailed?? or something to Walgreens and we will have the results of our bloodwork on Friday?? I don't know what that's about. I hope it's not serious!! Oh yeah, our diagnosis was mild pneumonia with instructions to be diligent with the prescribed antiobics, mucolytics, fluids, and rest, rest, rest. And so it goes that Mark and Garrett have gone to church for AWANA and Addi, Logan, and I are off to Walgreens to get our meds which weren't ready when Mark stopped by on his way home from work despite the ever-effecient emailing system of delivery. Tune in next time for the long-ago promised pics......