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

It's about time, I know, I know. I've been hearing it from everyone, when are you going to blog again? Well the long and the short of it is due to technical difficulties. For those of you who really know my skill level or lack thereof related to modern technological wonders like digital media, computers, etc, should not be surprised that it took my 15 min just to login to my own blog after a month's time. Honestly the real reason I haven't posted is b/c I haven't been able to download any of my pics to my computer where I can access them to post. I finally recruited my more technical savvy husband and even he couldn't fix it so I am not sure what we are going to do. Of course I think it warrants a new camera and computer but Mark seems to think we need to try other options, imagine that! I figure a new camera and computer would certainly fix the problem. For some reason unbeknowst to us the docking station and the computer cannot communicate to successfully transfer the photos. We have not been able to identify whether the problem is with the camera, the docking station, the software, or the computer, so this is a rather daunting problem.
But enough about our technical difficulties, let's get on with what we've been up to.
March has been a great month overall, capped off last week with Spring Break. The weeks prior to the break were routine with the ongoing business of spring activities I mentioned prior. T-ball is in full swing with our 1st game next week. Cubscouts continues strong with the spring Camperee just around the corner. (Only Mark and Logan will be attending the weekend campout despite the fact that it is a family event. Mark and I decided Addi isn't quite ready for tent-camping just yet, so I will be making the sacrifice to stay home with her.) Addi and I are taking a break from gymnastics as we are plenty busy with the boys schedules. Work is status quo and busy as ever. So back to spring break, we had a great week other than it coming and going so quickly. The first weekend we traveled to my grandparents in SW OK to Hollis, a place we love to be, on the farm. The kids had a real "farm experience" getting to feed a baby calf, seeing newborn kittens, kicking up some dirt, and eating good food. My sister, Auntie KK, went along and we all 6 crammed into Mark's truck for the 3 hr trip in order to take the boys 50cc dirt bike. This is where I really want to be able to post some pics b/c I got some great shots of the dirt bikin! I even survived my 1st lesson and made several laps around the hay barn all by myself without crashing (my motorcycle/scooter history isn't so great). Logan is 'a natural' according to his father and he can sure ride and does seem to love it. Garrett has recently mastered riding his bike without training wheels, a balance skill obviously required prior to riding the dirt bike, but he isn't quite ready to ride the motorized unit just yet without help. It is quite a sight to see he and Mark together on the bike, again I need to show you a pic. So the weekend was a blast and was over all too soon. We did make it a long weekend and came home Monday afternnoon. Tues Mark and I had to work but Wed we loaded up in the luxiously spacious minivan and traveled to Tulsa along with some friends for a day of fun. We started out at the Tulsa Aquarium and the kids had a blast. We went 2 yrs ago when Addi was a baby so she and Garrett didn't remember it but Logan did some. They all had fun but I was the most surprised at Addi's reaction. She just couldn't get enough, she squealed and laughed and carried on like it was the greatest thing she'd ever seen. She was really amazed. Lunch was at Fuddruckers followed by the new Dr. Seuss movie for the boys and a nap at the mall for Addi. I made the sacrifice to skip the movie and walk around the mall while Addi slept, haha. Then we headed to the Bass Pro where we met Mark's mom to swap the kids out for a day or two. Jiji took all 3 of the kiddos back to Sallisaw where they dyed Easter eggs and got to visit a farm and hide the eggs. They got some great pics and had lots of fun. Mark and I worked Thursday while they were gone but did manage to have a quiet dinner that evening. Friday while Mark was at work, I met Mark's parents and the kids at the Jasmine Moran children's museum in Seminole and we spent the afternoon checking it out with what seemed like 1/2 the kids in OK. It was really busy being the last day of spring break but we managed to have a good time. My advice to any considering a visit is to go when the weather is nice as some of the great stuff is outside, including the train ride, and being a hands on place, the kids got dirty, dirty, dirty. Mark's parents came on into OKC with us and we met Mark at the Cattleman's Steakhouse for dinner. Oh, how we love the Cattleman's, thank you Papa Don for dinner!! Our Sat was uneventful for the most part. Sunday was Easter of course and we had a nice day. The boys had their 1st ever ties which they requested and wore with such excitement. Even Mark donned a suit and tie not to outdone by his boys. Addi Grace had a great dress which I found on clearance online over the winter. She was precious and even I had a new dress that I had found a great deal on. We even managed to set the timer on our camera for a pic of the whole family which turned out surprisingly well (wish I could show you). The weather wasn't so great so we hid our eggs inside but the kids were pretty well done with that after all the Easter hoopla they'd done earlier in the week. This week was back to the grindstone as we count down the days to the end of school. The warmer weather has been awesome and we are making the most of it. Well I hear my husband telling my daughter to go find her mother so I must be going. I promise to do better with my updates and I will post those pics when I overcome my technical challenges. Happy spring to you all...........

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

Can you tell I had a few problems downloading my pics? I spent 30 minutes trying to fix the problem which I never really figured out what it was and then finally decided to publish what I had and start over. So if it works great and if not until next time goodbye and have a great week!!

On the mend...............

Well a week later we are mostly better, or at least those of us that were sick last week. Mark has succombed to a similar fate with a nasty sinus infection/cold/fever, etc. He stayed home from work today and we are avoiding him like the plague for which he is grateful or he should be. I kindly reminded him that while he stayed home in peace & quiet today, I took the kids to school/daycare and went to work. This was not a treasure of which I got to partake in last week when I had the flu. Don't get me wrong, it's my job, and I love it but it is hard not to remind our precious menfolk of the different expectations made of us moms whether we are 100% or 50% (most moms I know never get to function at <50%).>

The pics I have today are a few from this past weekend when we were just taking life easy. The kids built forts out of the couch cushions and every pillow/blanket we own. The pics are of them after the fort crashed and they gave up to watch cartoons. The others are misc shots including Addi modeling some of her precious new duds and Garrett in his president's day mask. A HUGE thanks to my dearest friend who took her precious time to sew Addi Grace some amazing outfits. We attended the Affair of the Heart a few weeks ago and saw many cute home-embellished outfits which my friend knew she could duplicate. So we scouted the cute material and xtras at Hobby Lobby and she whipped out the darling outfits you see above. Addi loved each and every one and danced around for an hour trying them on and changing from one to the next.

Hope you are all well. We have one more weekend of no real hard-core plans and from then on it seems like our weekends are booked. Mark and Logan have a cubscout sleepover at the Omniplex coming up and spring break and Easter are right around the corner. I know it's only the end of Feb but it seems as if school will be out before we know it and I for one am ready. Most of all I'm ready for the time to change and our days to seem longer. Ah the wait for spring!!

Down for the count.............................

Well we are definitely down for the count. We could escape it no longer. I am sad to say that our family or at least over 1/2 of us have the flu. Garrett, Addi Grace, and myself are battling the misery of the full-blown body aches, headache, fever, sinus yuck, etc, etc. So far Mark and Logan have escaped and I am doing everything in my power to keep them healthy. It's not like they are really taking care of us but it's 2 more people I don't have to take care of in my sickened state, cause as you know a mom can never really be off-duty, we just have to load up on Motrin and keep going, or at least that's what I've been doing. I have stayed home from work the last 2 days and have rested as much as possible. That is a challenge with a very needy Addi Grace on my heels, in my lap, hanging from my leg, depending on what duty I am trying to accomplish. Mostly I am just busy trying sanitize the house and keep us from passing it back and forth, so I was my hands every 5 minutes. If you've ever been to a doctor's office where they have separate waiting areas for the well and the sick, that's basically what we've done to our home. The little ones and I are camping out in the master bedroom and Mark has relocated to the bottom bunk in the boys' room. I have drug myself out of bed to get the boys off to school each morning and managed to run the mommy taxi at least to school and back. Other than that we are housebound. Mark escapes every morning to work where I know he is relieved to be as it's a break from the overbearing household he comes home to each evening with me so miserably under the weather. Speaking of weather this nasty cold front isn't helping anything either. I can't wait to see what lovely precip the next 24 hrs brings along with the howling north wind we currently have. It sure would be nice to have no school tomorrow but I doubt I'll be that lucky. Picking Logan up from school has become a great challenge. Since it's so cold they are holding the kids in the cafeteria and we have to go stand in line to claim them one at a time instead of them being able to come out and meet us. As you can imagine this takes a while to complete the process and is very annoying for the parents standing in line outside in the bitter cold, the very cold that the kids supposedly can't handle. Don't they know that kids are more resilient than we adults. Just let them run out like usual I say!! Well I've escaped Beauty and the Beast for about as long as Addi is going to tolerate so I hope this finds you all in better shape than us. Later....

Survival mode.........................

We are sooooo ready for spring and the return of consistently warm days. Our week has been complicated with the challenges of sick children. Last weekend Garrett came down with a sinus infection which had him really down until Tues afternoon. I haven't seen him that sick in quite some time. Mark took the day off last Monday to stay home with him and I took off Tuesday. Fortunately by Wed he was well enough to return to school. Kids have been out of school here in Piedmont by the dozens last week with all kinds of bugs, flu, respiratory, and stomach stuff. It seems as soon as you recover from one you get in line for another.

We didn't let that keep us down though as we headed to my parents house in Duncan Friday evening to celebrate my sister's birthday. Addi had a little stomach episode en route which we chocked up to "carsickness" as she was totally fine and chowing on pizza an hour later with a 100% recovery. The weekend was uneventful but the travel was miserable with all the precipitation which was freezing at times. We went down in 2 cars as Mark and Logan came home early Sat afternoon to attend the Scouts Blue & Gold Banquet. This is the awards ceremony and graduation so to speak for the cubscouts turning boyscouts. Logan is still years away from that but did earn another badge (oh great, another patch for me to sew on). I spent all morning Sat getting his previous badges sewn on in time for the banquet. The rest of my morning was spent building a patriotic themed cake as an entry into the cake contest at the banquet. I'll attach some pics. Now I know it looks amazing and you'll find it hard to believe that there were 3 cakes there better than mine, I know, crazy!! Logan was proud that we got 4th place and that gives us room to improve next year.

The whole family was present for lunch followed by birthday cake and presents and we were thrilled that we made it without anyone getting sick. We have this terrible luck of passing the GI bug around the weekend we all get together to celebrate KK's birthday. All in all it was peaceful and relaxing but quick as we came home Sat evening so I could work Sunday.

Last week was also eventful for Valentine's Day which was celebrated by the kids at school with their class parties and at home with a little treat from mom and dad. The boys got movies and Addi got some great dress up shoes from the Disney store (princess shoes aka "beast shoes" for beauty and the beast). I think I have a picture. I had to work a late day that day so we had a short family celebration when I got home and next thing we knew it had come and gone for another year. The kids are excited that school is out tomorrow and Mark is off. I still have to work and our day will be marked by another trip to the doctor as Addi Grace likely has an ear infection. She spiked a 102 temp today and told me her ear hurt. She is usually right on about these things and I'm not surprised as we found out about 6 wks ago that her ear tubes which were placed last May have already fallen out. This is quite frustrating as they made her so much better with no ear infections while they were in and now this the 2nd since they came out. The doctor wants to wait and see how she does before we get another set and I guess we're ok with that b/c it's not really a cheap endeavor. We just don't want her to have any long-term damage to her ears from frequent infections. Garrett really struggled with ear infections as a baby and we were conservative per the doctors recommendation with waiting to put tubes in until he was 22 mo. Now everyone who looks in his ears says oh he must have had terrible ear infections based on all this scar tissue. I guess that can be his excuse for not hearing us tell him to do things!!

Well it's off to start another week. It already feels like Mon evening to me since I worked today but alas it's still Monday again tomorrow. Nothing too big on our agenda other than trying to get well and stay well and squeeze in spring sports into our already busy schedule. Tball starts this week so Mark and Garrett are needing some good weather to practice outside. Our next treat will be spring break I guess which is really only about 3 wks away so I guess we will survive until then. Until next time.................

Life in the fast lane..................

Can you tell we've been crazy busy? It's been a while since I've made time for an update so here it is, all the latest adventures in family life, winter 08. I'll start with Mark as he is pretty much status quo, going with the flow and taking it as it comes. He's been great with the flexibility required to be the husband of a nurse during the busy winter season and the father to kids crazy without our regular routine. Obviously I've been busy and largely due to the hospital being overrun with sick, sick people. It seems every year we forget how bad it gets during the winter and these last few weeks are some of the fullest the hospital is likely to see this year. I'm sure you've seen on the news how all the OKC area hospitals are full and on divert. Well Baptist is no exception and it takes lots of nurses to make it work which translates into lots of hours in addition to my regular schedule. Top that off with some sick days of our own, a crazy school schedule, cubscouts, gymnastics, church, birthday parties, spring sports sign-up, etc, etc and you have our last 4 weeks. Most of my xtra hrs have been in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit where I worked full-time for so long. Those that know me know my heart is still there and I can't say no to them. It is such a specialty area that they have trouble finding xtra staff. I've battled a sinus infection and a bout with the GI virus but am currently just tired but well.

Logan has been busy being a super kid at school and received a special honor this past Friday called Kiwanis Terrific Kid. This is an award that each child can receive only once in his Piedmont elementary school career so we were so proud he was recognized in the 1st grade. His picture will be in the paper this week and he was very excited. The award is for good citizenship and positive role model and we couldn't be more proud. Logan is also busy with scouts and has followed in his fathers footsteps as a "natural" dirt-bike rider. Mark found a deal on a 50cc dirt bike and has been living his life vicariously through Logan teaching him to ride. They spent this past Sat morning at Draper Lake riding the trails. Logan loves it and I'm dealing with it so long as they focus on being safe.

Garrett is gearing up for his 1st season of t-ball and just hanging out in pre-k being a good all-around kid. He takes one day at a time and lives it to the fullest, if only we could be more like him. Poor little Garrett is battling a sinus infection or maybe strep right now. He's been sick this weekend and will be going to the doctor in the morning to hopefully get him on the road to recovery.

Addi Grace is loving gymnastics and is crazy about her bubbas and their friends. She hangs with the big kids every chance she gets. She is crazy about her babies and loves to play dressup.

So as you can see, life is crazy and this is just a sliver of our goings on. We are excited about the news of my sister and her hubby that they are finally going to make Mark and I an aunt and uncle this Sept, near my birthday. Finally a baby in the family I can rock and give back!!

The weather has been crazy and we've had rain, snow, sleet, and beautiful sunshine all in the last 10 days. Every morning when I raise the garage door Addi runs out to see what the weather is today. She loves to announce her new found weather vocabulary. Here's a few pics!! Until next time...............