Birthday Extravaganza......................

Birthday Diva

Sleeping Beauty cake

Watch out, Garrett on wheels.

Logan has become very aware of money and the spending of it.

These were a hit all around, thanks Aunt Nancy!

Boys and their posing, made me laugh.

WOW! Where did 9 yrs go and how did I get old enough to have a child this old?

Well after many months of my idle blog I have decided to make the time tonight to update, plus it has gotten me temporarily out of the turkey decorating project going on at the dining room table. Garrett had a homework "family" project to decorate a turkey. I know you other parents out there know exactly which turkey I am talking about. This surely seems like the 100th time we've done this and it's only our 2nd child. I think the teacher got the memo wrong and this is a kindergarten not a 1st grade project!! Anyhow, the turkey is taking shape and I will hide in the office and just accept it for what it is when done rather than try to guide the placement of the macaroni, glitter, etc. Besides I think the boys are having burping contests and I'd just as soon miss that too.

I am pretty beat after all the birthday goings on that have ensued here the past 72 hrs. We kicked it off Friday with Logan's sleepover which turned out to be a go home at 1 AM party but that suited me as I didn't have to get up early and feed them breakfast. We did a low key friend party with pizza, cake, gifts, movies, lightsaber wars, boy mania, etc. Fun was had by all and we certainly considered it a birthday success. Logan's actual birthday was Sat and we got to share that day with Grandma Jiji, Aunt Sue, and Granny Jackson (Mark's grandmother). These ladies came bearing pizza, gifts, and more party magic. Thanks to each of you and to Aunt Nancy who sent balloons and monkeys which were a hit as well. Addi got an ironing board which she wouldn't even recognize what it was if it weren't for the movie Cinderella. Garrett got some roller blades which he loved (not his bd till December but was nice to get something now as it's tough to wait when both your siblings are back to back days). I keep telling him his time will come but so hard to wait when you are 6. I spent every free moment and some not so free moments on Addi's princess cake. I had previously decided that I was going to save money and make my own cakes. Well now on the other side of the experience I realize why cakes cost as much as they do. It was still fun and I am so pleased with how they turned out and they were certainly unique and special to my kiddos.

So that brings me to today, Addi's birthday!! 4 yrs ago today after a short and sweet induction this fluffy 9.5 lb angel came into our lives at 12:35 pm ( had to look that up in her baby book) and changed our family forever. I had wanted a girl since my first positive pregnancy test but God knew she needed 2 older brothers. Well the pink has arrived and we all treasure her. She has been planning this princess party for weeks, I shudder to think what planning her wedding will be like. Being her first friend party, I wanted it to be smallish enough to handle but big enough to seem like the end all for her. So we invited 3 friends and were so thrilled that all our invited princesses were able to come. Everyone wore their princess attire and we ate princess cake, opened princess gifts, and watched Snow White! And it all ended happily ever after.....

It has been a full but wonderful weekend. Just a little update for those not as involved in our daily lives. School is of course in full swing with half the yr almost over, where did it go? Logan is thriving in 3rd grade, a spelling whiz and recently got his mini facts master (a math achievement he has been working on). His football season is over, Praise the Lord! Although it can't be called a winning season to the average spectator, it was to Logan. He has wanted to play for yrs and held us to our promise to allow him in 3rd grade. It was a big time commitment and one I am happy to be done with. He is busy with church activities and has a big part in this years children's choir production. I actually started teaching choir this yr (no, I didn't assign the parts) so it has been fun to watch the program take shape. And all you who are laughing at me teaching choir can stop now. I may not sing but I do have a knowledge of music :) Garrett is also having a stupendous year in 1st grade and has really amazed us at how gifted he is with his studies. This has been a real answer to prayer as his kindergarten teacher was a little concerned a yr ago. But he is doing so well, his teacher actually thought I must be a teacher because of some great phonics knowledge he had. I assured her while I was honored that she would think so, I promise he didn't learn any official phonics from me. Garrett was playing fall baseball which is also over, yeah! His team was playing a practice season as they were crossing over from tball to machine pitch. Now Garrett has long been known as the daisy picker in the outfield and wasn't terribly into anything but batting. Well as almost all kids can hit a ball off the tee, that didn't make him terribly special. But wait what's that, Garrett hit a home run in almost every game of machine pitch and was on many nights one of the only kids to even hit the ball. This made Garrett famous on the team and he ate it up! Looks like we'll be playing baseball again in the spring. Addi is just mostly along for the ride, having to take a break from dance and gym to accomodate her brother's schedules this fall. She goes to preschool 3 days/wk when I work and although she tells you she doesn't like it, she is always having a blast when we pick her up. She is growing like a weed and we continue to be amazed at her antics and the differences in girl dramarama she brings to our family.

Well the boys are now running around playing with the princess toys (the princess missed her afternoon beauty sleep and is crashed out) that their sister rec'd today so that must mean the turkey is done or worse they've lost interest and it still lacks completion despite the fact that's it bed time. Either way, I should wrap up and post some pics before I have to get them to bed.

Technical difficulties...........

Technical difficulties...........

Back in business..................................

Well whether you missed it or not I am happy to say my blog is back in business. I have a new and highly functional I might add, computer that is ready at my every whim to access the internet at an amazing pace and has enough virtual memory to accommodate my needs. My old computer told me about every 5 sec that is was low on virtual memory! So I didn't really look back to see exactly when the last time I posted but I feel pretty sure it was before school let out. So I'll just see how much of the summer I can remember and then try to post some pics of our recent travels.

June was pretty much just work, work, work, and planning for our crazy July. The kids got to go on some cool field trips with their daycare summer program and I stayed quite busy at work. Recession or not, plenty of people have been having surgery at my hospital. The plastics business might be down but we are plenty busy patching people up who find ways to destroy their bodies. I'll try not to preach about this but I must say as someone who has to live with a neurologic problem that I can't control I have little sympathy for people who knowingly participate in activities that destroy their health. You want to know what's wrong with health care, well here is my opinion. We live in a society full of people who want to go and do with no regard to how it will affect their future, then they expect to be provided with a quick fix to keep the going. Well I am tired and frustrated with people who don't care enough to take care of themselves burdening our system to the point that those of us who work so hard can't even get healthcare for reasonable cost. Ok, so too late, got to preachin, back to update...

Is it spring or not???????????

Logan at country school.
One of our attempts at family photo

D
Do you think she looks disappointed to get toothbrush from Easter bunny?

Our neighborhood snowman, pretty good for <2 in snow!

Garrett just about frozen in the miserable north wind, time for hot chocolate!

determined to make snowman

just days before the snow in bricktown

more fun in bricktown

Garrett's lapboard I made

Addi's

Logan's

Well life continues at a fast pace around here as we race toward the summer and the last day of school. We have passed several milestones, spring break, Easter, etc. On the home stretch now in the last 9 weeks of class, just finished parent-teacher conferences last week with glowing reports that all our hard work is keeping the boys on track with their education. The weather has been crazy up and down as my pics will reveal, sunny and warm one day with snow the next. Tball is in full swing with our 1st game a victory! Scouts is winding down thankfully as that will make tball easier. We had to cancel our plans this weekend due to a very wrong weather forcast for 100% chance of rain that we rec'd not one drop of, but I guess we shouldn't be too surprised. So we are now thinking about camping next weekend at Roman Nose as the scouts have a hike planned there. Logan and I attended his 2nd grade field trip to the musuem in Kingfisher yesterday which was fun. We got to see a gun fight, attend a 1900's school, wash clothes with a scrubboard and ringer, ride a steam engine tractor type, ride in a horse-drawn carriage, and see all kinds of neat old things that were not so long ago part of everyday life. Logan really enjoys history and this was right up his alley. We have been to this museum before 2 yrs ago but he was enough older to enjoy it even more. I was disappointed as a whole at the children's response to the collections and info from our past but I guess I am just getting old enough to really appreciate those things. I can't imagine what hard work it must have been to live without our modern-day conveniences but sometimes I think it would be fun to return to that simpler way of life.

In place of our camping trip we had a fun evening with our friends that we going to camp with us. As the weather turned out pleasant, we spent the evening on their patio and the kids had a blast playing outside. Today is housework, bills, laundry, tball, and restless kiddos with dreary weather outside. Hopefully it will brighten up before our Sunday school cookout party tonight. If this post is crazy, please forgive me as I have been interrupted no less than 6 times as I have been composing. Since I began this post approximately 1 1/2 hrs ago, I have unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, done 2 loads of laundry including folding and putting away, prepared 2 different breakfast dishes for 2 different children, refed my child who slept over at friend's house, bathed and blow-dried Addi, answered 2 phone calls, and managed to get my teeth brushed, so you can imagine that my mind might be clouded. At least I can now check this off my to-do list and move on to exercise, bills, etc. Oh where is my husband and why did I say it was ok for him to go off and do guy stuff all day?????????

Some time away.....................and some busy weekend.........

Logan after receiving wolf patch.
Logan posing with the 1st place snake cake.

Anyone needs a snake cake, just call me!

...that is unless you think you can do better!!

Open house at Piedmont Primary last week

Addi with her sponge roller curls last Sunday

The steps in the lobby of our hotel

nice indoor heated pool

patiently (not) waiting to swim

modeling winter bodies in swimsuits

baby cousin

Happy Birthday Auntie KK

Well, as usual.... I haven't taken the time to read my last few entries but it seems I keep starting with well, as uual it's been some time since my last post. So I am gonna try and come up with something new.

In February we had the good fortune to get away for a few days over the President's day holiday weekend. My sister's birthday is around that time so my family usually gets together for the party. So we went down to Duncan to celebrate the birthday and then since my parents are swamped with tax season, we left Sunday morning and headed to the big D! We had requested time off to go skiing over this weekend which didn't pan out. So instead, we got a hotel with a nice indoor heated pool and just hung out, swam, ate, shopped, ate, played, ate, you get the idea! The kids were taken with the hotel and pool, remember when that used to be so cool! Would have been a perfect trip, but my sister got a stomach bug and got real friendly with our hotel bathroom, poor thing! She was a trooper though and despite my offers to come home early, she was determined we would get our day at the Grapevine Mills mall. Love ya for stickin it out sis!

The only problem with weekends like this is that I miss out on my time to recover for the upcoming week and such was this weekend. We returned home Monday evening to a messy house, made it even messier with the unloading of our stuff, which created piles of laundry, and so on and so forth! It has taken me 2 weeks to recover from that venture. This weekend has proven to be just as much of an endurance test. Friday evening found us, or should I say myself and my sis, baking a snake cake for Logan's scout banquest jungle contest Sat evening. I was up past midnight completing this project and then drug myself out of bed at 6am Sat morning to attend the Focus on the Family Marriage Simulcast at our church. That great event was from 8-4 sat and then we came home long enough to tidy up the children and get our cake and head to the banquet. Then from 5-8 last night we attended the Blue & Gold scout banquet where the boys advance to their new ranks. Logan is now officially a wolf! I'll post some pics.

Home improvement, what a chore.....................

Well the weeks just keep passing by and we are about to start the countdown to summer! We are in the process of making plans for our summer vacation to Yosemite this year which is really getting me excited. The past few days have been so beautiful and pleasantly warm that it is quite a tease and then the sun goes down at 6 pm and I remember oh yeah, it's still February. Addi and I have had recent sinus infections but seem to be much improved. Logan woke up with a random fever this morning so we kept him home but seems to be better tonight. Hopefully this week will find us well. Mark and I are totally exhausted as we have worked ourselves to the bone this weekend by painting. After living in this house for over 4 yrs I finally got motivated to paint our dining room and kitchen. Wow! What a project. We have painted rooms before but never areas with the kind of woodwork and details that had to be painted around in these areas. We also painted our back hallway which has a great deal of woodwork as well. And to make it even more challenging it was 3 different colors. I will post some pics, although they really don't do it justice. Despite this project consuming our entire weekend, I am glad it's done and very happy with the result. The kids were able to play outside a great deal which really helped. I think Addi only touched the wet paint maybe 5 times! The boys just kept wanting to help which I just wasn't up to allowing. My brain is so exhausted that I can't even remember what else we've had going on. Oh yeah, Mark is currently serving jury duty and is in the middle of a lengthy case so he is just doing that. I really am enjoying it myself b/c he doesn't have to leave for work so early and can help get kids ready for school. It is a rare treat for me to just get up and get myself ready for work and not have to feed, dress, fix hair, pack lunches, find coat, hat, gloves, and get 3 kiddos in the car, then run in and throw something in crockpot, pack my own lunch, and we're off! Ok so I've still been helping but at least not doing it all myself. Otherwise we are status quo and that's good for me. We will be celebrating my sis's bd this upcoming weekend and enjoying our 3 day weekend, especially sine school is going to go on forever as Piedmont had no snow days built in.

Snow days............................................

Garrett and Addi

Eating snow

Logan and Addi

Sweet Addi Grace

Garrett sailing down hill

Garrett and Logan

Logan relieved that spelling bee was over!

Can't really see him so far away, but Logan is spelling his 1st word (ulna)!

Is it rain, is it freezing drizzle, is it sleet, is it snow? Well the answer is yes to all the above. What crazy weather these past few days. Not really crazy for OK I suppose as we are used to this stuff but what an inconvenience. Mark and I attended Logan's spelling bee early Monday morning and went in late to work. It was the beginning of the precip and little did we realize what was to come. As OK began to shut down midday Monday, I rec'd calls from the school and daycare that we needed to come get the kiddos. Fortunately Mark got to leave work around 3:30 and made it to get the kids just in time. I was stuck at work for the duration and it took me 2 hrs from the time I walked out of the hospital to de-ice my car and get home. But as duty calls for us medical people, I braved the elements again Tues morning to go back. Ironically when everyone else is shut down for this stuff, the hospital is busier than ever! Of course lots of our xtra surgeries were people who neglect the advice to stay inside and end up getting hurt. Can't tell you how many broken bones I've seen this week. Anyway, Mark's office was closed so it was slumber party, movie and Wii day at our home. Although the going was slow, I had no trouble getting to work and back and was ever so glad to be home last night. With school out again today and waking up to a winter wonderland with bright sunshine, I think I actually turned out to have the best day off I could have! Mid-morning I bundled the kids up and we headed out to sled, and sled we did. There were several neighborhood kids zooming down the hill and I admit that I joined in for a few runs and it was quite fun. Even Addi Grace got in on the action, little dare-devil that she is. Despite her sinus infection she had a great time. Although she and I needed to thaw after about an hour, the boys were out for several hrs. They even complained about being hot! I thought surely to goodness that school would resume tomorrow but we've already heard that it's cancelled. Too bad b/c I sure don't want to tack any days on at the end of school but I am sure that's what will happen and the winter isn't likely even over yet. There could be more of this in our immediate future. I guess we'll take it as it comes. Hope this finds you all well and cozy warm.

Do you wanna dance? .....................................

Well I have been meaning to post some pics of Addi at dance for a while now. You might remember Addi and I had attended a mom and tot gymnastics class when Addi was 2 and I must admit I was not crazy about it. Addi liked it ok but we opted not to reenlist when our term was up. Instead we decided to try a new option, DANCE! After looking around, and consulting with my friend and other mom victim of the aforementioned class, we found a gym that offers a dance/gymnastics combo. So we took a chance and enrolled and it has been great. We just completed a 10 wk session of tap/gymnastics and Addi loved it! I did as well, b/c the moms just sit and watch. And the best part is that Addi's friend from down the street is in the same class so my friend and I can carpool, grab a coffee on the way, and visit for an hour uninterrupted while the girls dance and jump. The pics I will attach are from the tap recital in early Jan. The girls only have 6 in their class but as multiple classes are offered the recital was for all the girls. They learned a cute routine to frosty the snowman . Now I was wondering just how much tappin Addi would actually do during the recital and as I expected she spent most of her time watching the audience. But she looked cute anyway! We are now in the session of ballet/gymnastics which has proven just as fun. We go every Friday morning and it is something we both look forward to.

Here comes Santa Claus: again......................

Addi loves to sing with guitar hero!

Rocking out!

In the money now.

Addi with her favorite Barbie.

Cousins playing in the beautiful December weather.

Logan loves to climb this tree.

Well here is the long overdue conclusion to our Christmas marathon. I didn't reread my 1st post so if details are repeated or don't make sense, sorry! You know it has also now been a month since these events took place and my mind is so full these days that it is like my DVR, it dumps the oldest stuff to make room for the new stuff. Anyhow, the week of New Year's I met my inlaws 1/2way b/w here and there to drop off the kiddos. Mark and I attended some New Year's celebrations and managed to stay up to see the new year in. I was on call New Year's Day and was at the hospital for about 12 hrs that day. Although on call overnight as well, I was fortunate to not have to go back in. So early Friday morning Mark and I left for Sallisaw to spend the long weekend with his family and have our Christmas with them. If you can remember back that far, the weather was pleasant and we were able to play outside quite a bit. Mark's bro and his new wife Tracey (yes another Traci but with 'ey') were here from Detroit and we got to spend the day with them before they had to leave to drive home. Mark and I had taken our Wii and guitar hero which proved to be a hit until about 2am when Papa Don shut down the show and sent us all to bed. It is so easy to lose track of time while playing that game! Overall we just had a blast visiting all our friends and family there and xchanging gifts with the family. The boys rounded out their GI Joe collection and Addi's fave gift was a princess Barbie she rec'd from her uncle (nice job Uncle Gary). As usual, all too soon it seemed, it was time to come home. And so that was the final chapter in Christmas 2008. I'll post some pics from that adventure and then add another post of our January fun!