14 Things I Love About Kellen

Kellen turned fourteen March 8.  Fourteen.  I really don’t know how this happened!  Thirteen was bad enough, but fourteen, that is two years from driving!    I decided to make a list of 14 things about Kellen, instead of rambling on and embarrassing him.  Although the list will probably take of that anyway!

1.  You are smart.  So smart!

2.  You love to laugh and even laugh at yourself!

3.  You love your family.

4.  You love your extended family.


5.  You are a leader.
6.  You are so helpful.

7.  You are good-looking.

8.  You are creative.  Kellen made this Halloween costume (except the vest), by himself.  He had the ideas for it for months, and made sure it happened!
9.  You are the best big brother.  You always looks out for your brothers and sister.

10.  You go with the flow.  You have always just gone along for the ride with me, even when it is was crazy things like driving all over the Missouri University campus, twice, looking for this Beetle Bailey statue.  You are always up for an adventure!

11.  You are a good friend.

12.  You are a good finder.  You always find the keys, or the shoe, or whatever is lost!

13.  You are a gentleman.  I know, this is probably not cool!  But you are.  A very cool gentleman.
14.  Most importantly, you love God.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all my family and friends out there in blogland!
Hope your day was very merry!

 

RIP Hammie

Garrett had a mechanical hamster named Hammie.  This was one of those little hamsters that came with a clear ball that you can buy at Cracker Barrel, like the one below.

In the last four years or so, we’ve made many a stops at Cracker Barrel restaurants.  All the driving back and forth to Oklahoma and going on trips made this possible!  I like to stop there because you know it is going to be decently clean, if it is a meal time, you can eat decent food, and you can shop (all in the name of stretching your legs!).  Well, Garrett had wanted one of these hamsters forever!  So, finally, one trip a few years ago, he had enough of his own money with him to buy it himself.  Like most toys, he played with it a while, then we wouldn’t see Hammie for a while.  BUT, he would always reappear when it was time for a trip.  Hammie made the trip to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving, minus the big plastic ball, that I think disappeared long ago. 

Anyway.  Just as we were getting ready to leave Grandma’s and head for home someone hollered “Callie has a hamster in her hair!”  I came into the room to see Hammie hanging from Callie’s head by her hair.  She had turned it on and gotten the wheels too close to her hair, and yes, the wheels had sucked her hair up onto the axel.  The hair was not budging.  I really, really did not want to cut it.  She has not ever had her hair cut.  It is finally coming in thicker, not a lot longer, but it least it is thicker!  We finally determined that the only way was to cut it out.  I let the hamster dangle to go get scissors and, it fell to the floor.  With a huge chunk of Callie’s hair.  She didn’t seem the least bit disturbed about it but was excited because now “Hammie looks like a horse!  He needs to go in a barn”, and she proceeded to start setting him up in a barn.  Yes, Hammie had so much of her hair it looked like a horse’s tail.

But, the story doesn’t end there.  Move ahead a few days, we are home.  I hear the same call, “Callie has a hamster in her hair”.  Seriously people?  Again?  I would think this would be a lesson learned after one time.  No one will fess up to getting the hamster too close to Callie’s head.  This time Hammie was in the back of her hair, so I’m not convinced that she didn’t have a little help getting him there!  Well, it was twice as much hair this time and still not moving.  I wasn’t going to do what I did last time, and I was definitely not going to cut out that much hair!  So, Hammie met his demise by way of a screwdriver.  I pried his little wheels off and unscrewed his battery pack, and retrieved the hair.  Very tangled hair I might add!  I feel a little bad about Hammie.  He actually survived two moves and many trips without being lost.  But, I think it was a good lesson for the boys.  When it comes to girls, it’s all about the hair!

Thanksgiving

First of all, we were thankful to be close enough to travel to Oklahoma this year for all the Turkey Day festivities!  We had planned to drive two cars to Tulsa so Todd could spend a Thanksgiving day with extended family for the first time in years, but he was sick.  The kids and I had already left by the time he decided that he just couldn’t make it, so I was a little bummed.  I felt bad leaving him two years in a row on Thanksgiving.  But, we made the best of it and enjoyed Thanksgiving day with the Foxx family in Tulsa.  The kids were so excited to see their cousins!

 

All the Foxx kids at Nana and Poppa’s!

Karlee, Callie, Taryn, Kymree, Kellen, Gannon, Jack and Garrett

Just the girls!

We left Tulsa and went on to Shawnee to spend time with my side of the family.  Another fun day with lots of kids!  I didn’t take a picture on this day, unless you count the pics Callie took with my phone!  I really, really have to get better at this!  

 Here we are all eating at Hamburger King.  A yummy hamburger place that has been there since my grandparents used to go on dates there!  Can you tell it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, OU/OSU game day?  We were all decked out!  Can yo see the boys in the booth behind Grandma and Grandpa?  I just have to brag.  The waitress said she had never waited on a better table of kids.  Warms this mama's heart.  I hope I remember to do this for mama's I don't know.  It is always nice to feel like something your doing is working!  And yes, we left immediately so she didn't get a chance to see their true colors!  Not really, but it was tempting!

Since Todd works non-stop this time of year we stayed a couple of days in Shawnee then stopped back in Tulsa for a short visit.  So, lots of driving.  But, lots of good times with our families.  I can’t wait for the day that Todd can be there too! 

All the time in the car gave me lots, and lots of time to think about what I am thankful for.  My list doesn’t change too much from year to year, but I count that as a good thing!  That means all the things that are dearest to me have not changed much.  I am so thankful for my little family.  I have a great, hard-working husband and four great kids.  I am thankful for my extended family.  I am thankful for the comforts I have in this life right now.  A home, cars, food, cloths.  I know I have been blessed and have more of all these things than a person really needs.  I am thankful for old friends, I am thankful for new friends.  I really think I could go on and on.  When a person really stops and thinks about it, even on their worst days, they can find something be thankful about.  Sometimes it might be hard to think about that when things are not going our way.  But, if you will just let your mind go there, and think of something you are thankful for, I bet your mood will start to change.  I can usually come up with something earthly that I am thankful for on whatever day it is.  I am most thankful for Jesus that died for my sins.  That is something that will never change, no matter what on this earth I have or don’t have.  Whatever people are in my life or not in my life.  If that is not something to be thankful for, I don’t know what is!  So, go, be thankful for all that God has given you, especially His Son!  (Yes, I am totally preaching to myself!)

100

Well, from what I’ve seen, it is a blog tradition to type 100 things about yourself when you reach 100 blog posts.  So, since I always like to follow the crowd, ha, here I go!  These are in no particular order, I am just adding to the list as I think of something since I know if I sat down to type them all at once I would never think of anything to say!  It is probably supposed to be things that people don’t know about me, but since I’m pretty sure my readers are all family, you already know all these things!  And, I am sure that it is supposed to be 100 quick things.  Mine will not be.  I am a rambler.  Maybe that should be number one!  So, get some caffeine to keep yourself awake and read away!

1.  I love to blog.  I wish I had more time to blog!

2.  I don’t watch much TV.

3.  When I do watch TV, the volume must be on an even number.  I will even have it too loud or too low just to have an even number.  Don’t even think about watching with the volume 21, just don’t do it!

4.  As of July 6, 2010, Todd and I have been married 19 years.

5.  One show I do watch occasionally is Say Yes To The Dress.  I love wedding dresses.  But, even after nineteen years and many dresses seen since, I still love my wedding dress and would choose it over and over again.  I guess that is why it was “the” dress for me.

6.  In another life I would love to be a wedding planner or wedding dress designer, or even a wedding dress salesperson.  I love everything about weddings.

7.  My parents and Todd’s parents were all in school together at Oklahoma Christian at the same time.

8.  Oklahoma Christian is where Todd and I met.

9.  On our first date, we determined that our mom’s both made spaghetti a lot on Wednesday nights.  This was in between him tying and untying his shoes no less that 620 times.  I decided then and there that he was the one for me since I could feed him spaghetti and he could teach our kids to tie their shoes.  Just kidding.

10.  Todd and I dated about six months, then we were engaged, then we married ten months later.

11.  I have two brothers, Todd has two brothers.  I love having sister-in-laws.  No offense guys!

12.  Todd and I have moved sixteen times.  You read that right.  Moved sixteen.  Married nineteen.  Yes, it is as bad as it sounds.

13.  If you count Edmond and Yukon as part of OKC and Nixa as part of Springfield, we’ve only actually live four different places in all those moves.  I don’t know what this means, except that I wish some of those moves would have been to some fun, exotic places!

14.  I could totally live in downtown Chicago or NYC.

15.  I think I have been to eleven major league baseball games.  Have I mentioned I don’t care for baseball?  Or hot dogs?  I do like apple pie though.  Why don’t they sell apple pie at baseball games?

16.  I love to sew.  I love to embroider.  I’m so excited I have a daughter to sew for.  At least until she tells me to stop, which will probably be pretty soon.

17.  Everyone told me that girls are easier to potty train than boys.  Guess what, they are NOT!

18.  I wish all the time I was ten years younger so I could have more kids.  I really would like more kids.

19.  I am a terrible decorator.  This worked out well when we were renting most places we lived.  I had the excuse that we would be moving on soon.  When we buy a house, that excuse doesn’t really fly.

20.  I wish I had the nerve to have a whimsical, colorful fun home.  Right now my whimsicalness sits at two chairs.

21.  I have four of the sweetest kids I know.  Ok, I’m a little biased.  But, I love them!

22.  Kellen started Kindergarten in Tulsa and was in school until November of that year, then we moved.  We’ve homeschooled ever since.

23.  At this point, I can’t imagine not homeschooling.  I don’t know what the future holds, but I’ve gotten very spoiled having so much time with my kids.

24.  You don’t have to read very many of my posts to guess what my grades in English were.    But, I continue to write them anyway. 

25.  I can’t stand to scrapbook.  My perfectionism gets me too freaked out about the whole process.  So, I blog.  I am printing my blog so I can put it up for my kids to have someday.  They may not care, but it makes me feel better.  At least they’ll have a little notebook to put next to their spouses 65 professionally done scrapbooks of their lives.

26.  I have a tendency to be sarcastic.

27.  My parents will be married 49 years this year.  Todd’s parents have been married 48 years.  For these marriages I am so thankful.

28.  At our rehearsal dinner, Clay said he knew Todd and I would stay married because we are the two most stubborn people he knows.  He was right.  Sometimes it takes pure stubbornness to make it work.  Or maybe the stubbornness makes the work.  I don’t know.  But, we’re still here.

29.  This may be a list of 29 things.  I don’t think I can think of 100 things to write about myself!  I will need at least one more, I can’t end on an odd number.

30.  Todd and I have only had one pet.  Well, we had some fish when we were first married, but then we moved, and well, they didn’t make it.  Abby was our one and only.  The sweetest little daschund .  She was not supposed to be a miniature, but she never got over 9 pounds.  We had her sixteen years.  She moved and moved with us and never seemed to be bothered by it.  She was bothered when we had babies.  She was bothered when we tried to get a second dog for her to play with.  Needless to say that friendship didn’t last long and we found a good home for the new dog.  But, moving didn’t bother her. 

31.  I would have loved to have named Callie Abby but everyone thought it would be too weird.

32.  I am a nervous wreck about having a daughter.  I have no idea what I am doing!

33.  I love pink.

34.  Lucky for Todd we had a girl.  This last moved I changed the color of our bedroom from pink and white blue and white.

35.  Todd always said he wanted three boys and a girl.  That’s what he got. :)

36.  The boys were born in Oklahoma City.  Callie was born in Iowa.

37.  All of our kids names had to have double letters, to go with our last name that has double letters.  Daddy’s idea.

38.  If you look in the right baby name books, all of our kids names are Irish.

39.  Even if we had more kids we could only have about four more since by the time you take out all the baby names that don’t have double letters and are not Irish, you are only left with four.

40.  I love to buy shoes.  It’s not fun to buy shoes for myself anymore since I have to start with comfortable and work my way down.  So, I buy shoes for Callie.  :)

41.  If I won the lottery the first thing I would do would be hire someone to clean my house, regularly.  I am so over cleaning.

42.  I love to fly.  In airplanes that is.

43.  I love to travel.  The second thing I would do if I won the lottery is buy a bunch of airline tickets to all kinds of places.

44.  I spent six weeks in Europe in between my junior and senior years of college.  Loved it!  I was part of a mission group with Let’s Start Talking.  We spent five weeks working with a church in the Netherlands and a week traveling.  One of the best times of my life.  I would love to take my kids there.

45.  Sam’s will not allow employees to take more than a week of vacation at a time.  So, even though Todd has four weeks vacation, it doesn’t do us much good when it comes to traveling great distances.  Unless I go by myself, which I have been known to do!

46.  Tulips are my favorite flower.  I would love to visit the Netherlands when the tulips are in full bloom, except that I am scared it would be too commercialized and then I would be disappointed. 

47.  I am not a fan of Disney.  So, a trip to Disneyworld if about last on my list.  That probably makes me un-American.  Oh well. 

48.  The commercialization of things drives me nuts.  Why does EVERYTHING have to have a sponsor?  I know, because someone has to pay for all the “stuff” that people enjoy, but it is all just too much these days.

49.  I have a terrible memory and that makes me sad.  I wish I could remember every little detail of my kids lives, but I can’t.  Bits and pieces jump out to me every once in a while, but that is about it.

50.  I will not ever win the lottery because I don’t buy lottery tickets.  But, it’s a nice thing to think about sometimes!

51.  I think my second dream job would be to design children’s wear.  I don’t know if anyone would buy it, but it would be fun.

52.  In sixth grade, we had to make a poster titled something like “About Me”.  In the part where we were supposed to draw a picture about what we wanted to be when we grew up I drew me feeding a baby in a high chair.  Being a mama is all I ever wanted to do.  So, I guess my actual dream job is coming true!  Of course now I realize being a mama is way more than one job!

53.  In sixth grade I rode a bus to another school to be in a gifted and talented class.  We were a mixture of kids from all over town that got to be in the most wonderful class with the most wonderful teacher.  I know, how did this happen?  What can I say, I can take tests!

54.  I pretty much didn’t like school except for sixth grade.  I was so very shy that any thing other than sitting at my desk doing schoolwork was torture.  I even volunteered to wash dishes in the school cafeteria so that I wouldn’t have to go to recess.  Should I even admit that?  I guess it doesn’t hurt for people to know I have been weird all my life!

55.  I can’t draw to save my life.  I wish I could.  I wish I was an artist and super-creative.  But, I’m not, I’ve learned to deal.  I’m glad my kids are creative in spite of me!

56.  I was deathly afraid of the dark growing up.  I have outgrown it, a little.

57.  Easter is my favorite holiday.  Three reasons:  Jesus, new clothes and the beginning of spring!

58.  Fall is my next favorite.  The temperatures are just right and even though I would not care if I ever watched another football game on TV, the thought of a high school game with a marching band just makes me happy.

59.  Next would be summer.  I love the freedom.  Don’t love the heat.

60.  I really could live someplace that didn’t have a winter.  I despise being cold and despise snow.  My Iowa friends can attest to this, since I complained the entire time I lived there.  Sorry about that!

61.  I also love to buy socks.  I can’t stand to wear socks, but love to buy them.

62.  I once took a sack with 102 pairs of socks to Goodwill.  In my defense, there were a lot of little baby socks.  My boys never really wore them since they were spring babies, but apparently I couldn’t resist buying them!

63.  I was born in October.  During the OU/Texas football game.  I think that was an omen.

64.  We have four OU football season tickets that we never use.  Don’t worry, we sell them, but it would be more fun to use them!

65.  My parents live in the same house that I grew up in.

66.  Todd’s parents live in the same house he grew up in.

67.  Our kids don’t know where they live.

68.  In the third grade I got chicken pox and glasses all in the same week.  Not a good week.

69.  I have a college degree in Physical Education.  I never wanted to be a teacher, I wanted to work in fitness or physical therapy.

70.  My first job was at Presbyterian Hospital in the Oklahoma City Center For Athletes.  I know what you are thinking, right up my alley.  It was a semi-fun job that only lasted nine months because we moved.

71.  My next job was for an eye doctor.  I decided then that I wanted to work in the optometric field.  That lasted seven months.  Then we moved.  Can you see a pattern here. 

72.  I have a terrible time making decisions.  Big decisions, little decisions, it doesn’t really matter.

73.  We were married six years before we had Kellen.  We wanted to be “ready” before we had kids.  Of course we soon found out you are never ready.

74.  We would have loved to have our kids close together, but God did not have that planned for us.  I think I will trust His judgment.

75.  I really, really try to trust God and His plan for my life.  It is not easy.  I’m a tad controlling.  I would have never laid my life out like this.

76.  I have a pretty good life, so luckily someone else is making the plans!

77.  I don’t remember when Clay was born, I was only 22 months old.

78.  I remember every detail about the day Ryan was born.  I was seven.  While I was initially a little sad he was not a sister, I got over it very quickly.

79.  I am now very glad he was not a sister.  There are some advantages to being the only girl.

80.  Ryan had long curly hair as a toddler, so I curled it and fixed it for him.  The next best thing to having a sister.

81.  People always thought Clay and I were twins.  He was tall, I was short, and we were dressed alike a lot.

82.  I sort of bossed them around a lot.  Sorry about that.

83.  Clay and Ryan both work in public education.  I do not.

84.  Clay and Ryan both live in Oklahoma.  I do not.

85.  Todd still says we will end up in Oklahoma City some day, for good.  I’m beginning to think that is not in the plans.

86.  If we could, we would move back to the first little house we bought in the Village.  We LOVED that house, still do.  Of course, we have added two more kids since then, so it might not really work out.  But, that was the best house.

87.  The second house we owned was in Iowa.  We loved the space.  I loved the laundry chute and laundry room. 

88.  The house in Iowa was supposed to be a work in progress while we lived there.  But, we didn’t live there long enough.  So, it became a major stress to get it done and sell it. 

89.  Todd never saw the finished product.  I wish he could have.  It turned out really cute.

90.  Thank the Lord we sold it in three weeks.  I couldn’t take that house anymore!

91.  The third house we have owned is the house we are in now.  It is new.  Or was new.  We’ve used it now.

92.  It is sooo boring.  Maybe if we built it ourselves, it would not be boring.  But since we just bought it this way, boring.  It is boring because I’m afraid to touch anything.  Something about having an old house makes me think I can fix that, make it look better.  Here, it’s hard to change anything since it is new.  I don’t know if I ever want a new house again.  But, I’ve learned to never say never.

93.  I know I am blessed to have this home, don’t get me wrong.  I am thankful for it every day.  Just bored with it. 

94.  Or maybe I’m bored because I’m not pregnant or packing.  Or pregnant and packing.

95.  I wish I knew the Bible better.  You’d think by going to church my whole life and taking Bible classes in college I would know it better.  But I am finally realizing that you have to actually study it, not just sit and listen about it.

96.  I desperately want my kids to know the Bible.  So, we start our homeschool day with Bible and I am learning right along with them.  It’s the best part of our day.

97.  I love my kids.  I can’t even describe how much I love these four people in my life.

98.  I love my husband.  I am so thankful for him.  He has put up with a lot from me and is still here.

99.  I love God.  I am so thankful to Him for blessing me beyond what I deserve.

100.  I love you for actually reading to the end!  Ha!  Unless your like me and you read the end of the book first to see if you actually want to mess with reading the whole thing.  If that is the case, don’t bother going back to read the list.  It will be ten minutes of your life you’ll never get back!

A Sloooow Day

This must have been a slow day for the Springfield news!  We were taking our lunch break from schoolwork when the doorbell rang.  A couple of men asked if they could ask me some questions about having a sprinkler system in my house (which we do not have, btw).  After I answered him he asked if he could interview me, since I am ever so quick I just stood there, thinking, “I think you just did”.  Then I realized he meant for TV.  Ha!  I don’t know what I was thinking.  Why didn’t I just say, “no thanks”.  Instead, I said, “Can I go brush my hair first?”  We were not planning to leave the house except to go swim at a friends house, so I hadn’t done much in the hair and makeup dept. and I had on my uniform of a black tee and jeans.  Lovely.  

Anyway, I ran in, took my hair out of a ponytail an slapped on some mascara and “lips” as Callie calls it.  I came out and they had me sit on my porch.  Yes, I’m just hanging out on my porch, talking about sprinklers.  Very natural.  Then, they asked if they could get some shots of my kids running around in the yard. !Oooookkkkk.  That would also be very natural.  We do a lot of just running amuck in our yard!  After a minute I asked them if they would like me to get a football or something.  So, we have the boys throwing the football around and Callie being shy.  They got a nice shot of me forgetting that I can’t throw a football.  They don’t actually show me, but show the football randomly landing in the middle of the circle and Garrett trying to reach it.  Luckily they also cut out the part of Callie picking her nose! 

For the record, I don’t have strong feelings one way or the other if people get sprinklers in their homes.  I have always been paranoid about my kids not waking up if our house was on fire and the smoke detector didn’t wake them up.  I think I saw a show about that on 20/20 or something.  So, sprinklers would probably wake them or put the fires out before they needed to wake up. That would be a good thing!  I also mentioned to them that if the sprinklers were ugly I would not want them.  I guess they didn’t feel that was newsworthy!  Yes, I really said that.  Luckily, it was  not a piece about “Local SAHM rambles on about random stuff”, I could have helped them out with that too!

Click to see the Foxx Family on the News, ha

Love

Not much going on these past few days.  Thank goodness!  I don’t know when I’ve been able to say that recently!  I’ve had these pictures saved for a while to share because I LOVE them.  

Callie loves her brothers.  She loves to play with them.  She loves to pick on them.  She loves to boss them around.  She just loves them.  I love the expressions on her face in these pictures from Gannon’s birthday! Callie is  watching Gannon open his birthday gifts.  She had no idea what any of the the stuff was, but she knew this was exciting because he was excited!  Of course his expressions are priceless too!  Oh to be young!  Little things can make them so happy!  Callie and Gannon are becoming quite the playmates now that she is playing “with” people more.  She is coming out of that play stage where they just play alongside others.  She pretends all the time and tells long stories that we have no idea what she is talking about!  Of course other than just playing together Gannon and Callie are fighting more too.  I won’t go into that obnoxiousness!  (is that a word?)

                       

Garrett reading to her at bedtime.
  Playing in the fort together.

Kellen sharing his iPod.  Or showing it to her, I’m not sure which one :).

Gannon holding her hand while we go through the carwash.  Todd’s store has a carwash and when we first moved here, she was scared to death to go through it!  So, Gannon started holding her hand.   Now that she is not scared anymore, she still wants to hold his hand. :)

The love is not just Callie to her brothers, I think they love her too!

“We’ll Never See These People Again”

I don’t know about you, but every professional sporting event I have ever been too I have been scared to death I was going to fall on the stairs.  They make them soooo steep and narrow and a jillion people are trying to use them all at once.  But, I have never fallen, until this game.  I have no excuse.  I was not carrying a kid.  I was not even carrying the backpack.  I think in all my freedom I was be-bopping a little too fast down the stairs and just fell. 

We were on our way down the stairs after the game to take some pictures.  Todd was leading the way.  About the second stair from the bottom, I started falling.  I was doing everything in my power to stay up, but it wasn’t going to happen.  In the process I pushed Callie out of the way, so she fell.  Then, for some reason, I decided Gannon could save me, so I put my hand on his shoulder.  He is six.  I am not.  So, all my weight on his shoulder did not work, he went to the ground, squashing Garrett’s foot under him, with me on top of him.  Flat.  Finally, Todd turned around.  I can only imagine what he was thinking.  He just stood there in shock.

Gannon is crying, I am laughing, Todd is trying to unload since he was carrying the backpack and camera and sack of stuff from the gift shop.  I was laughing so hard I couldn’t get up.  Anyone that knows me knows that I laugh when things like this happen, whether it is to me or someone else.  I don’t know why, I just do.  I didn’t even look around.  I didn’t want to see the look on  peoples faces as I lay there laughing as two of my kids are crying and my husband is going into shock.  I managed to get up.  We all examined our scrapes, and went on with our picture.  By the time we got home the next day I found scrapes, bumps, and bruises that I don’t have any idea how I got.  I feel like I’ve been hit by a car! 

The really sad thing is that the Royals stadium is kind of like an oversized minor league field, so the steps  are not that steep and narrow.  Wrigley Field, the old Busch Stadium, I can see falling.  But here, I don’t know what happened.

As I lay there laughing, all  I could think about was my Grandma,  when things like this have happened to her, she always says, “Oh well, we’ll never see these people again!”  Thank goodness!

We managed to recover pretty well and get a family picture.  I’m hoping all those big smiles are not my family laughing on the inside at their clumsy mama!

That Time Of Year

Well, it was time for our summer trip to a baseball game.  It doesn’t seem like it would be summer without heading to a ball field!  Todd had already chosen the Yankees/Royals game in April, when we had no idea what kind of heat we would be having!  Yes, I know it is always hot in the summer, but this is a little much!  We had intended to have a few days to enjoy Kansas City, but that didn’t work out thanks to Sam’s.  I’m really trying to not have a pity party about it, since they are technically the ones paying for the fun.  But, Todd has had to change pretty much every vacation and day off this summer.  It is getting a little old!  Yes, I’m thankful my husband has a job and we can do this, but mama’s organization skills have been extremely challenged this summer with the constant changing!  My little brain can’t take it!!  Ha!  So, it was just an overnight trip to KC, but a fun one!

Yes, it was this hot!  The game had not even started yet, bless her heart!
The guys enduring the sun.  Ok, so mama didn’t do a good job of picking seats.  Oh well!  But, it turned out to be a great game.  A-Rod, who is one of Garrett’s favorites, hit three homeruns.  Yes, three in one game!  There were a lot of homeruns in fact, which makes for a much more exciting game.  By the, oh, sixth or seventh inning, the heat broke a little and the game was quite pleasant!

We were under the seats checking out the concession stands when someone hit a homerun, this is Callie’s reaction!  “Too loud, mama"!”  (Pardon the bad phone picture!)

Our family pic.  Next time I think we will take the picture before the game!  Although I don’t think at this game it would have helped.  This is  what we looked like by the time we walked from the car!

But, this makes it totally worth it.  Garrett’s reaction to A-Rods third homerun.  This was his reaction to pretty much all the home runs, but I know this was the third one because I told Todd to get the camera ready just in case.  I couldn’t believe he actually hit another homerun! Pure excitement from a ten-year-old boy.  I guess mama can sit in the heat for a few hours for this face!

Independence Day!

Well, I am hoping to get all of July blogged about before August 1.  There is a good chance I am not going to make it, just in case you are on pins and needles to hear about it!

July 4 we started out with company, but sadly they had to head home since they had things to do bright and early Monday morning.  Since we hadn’t really checked into what to do in this area for the fourth, we decided we would just stay home and see what we could see.  Best decision EVER!  Have I mentioned that we live kind of in the middle of no where?  Well, that is not exactly true.  There are cities and neighborhoods all around us, we just happen to be in a little patch of land with not a whole lot around us.  Have I mentioned that we have some new neighbors?  Yay!  Since the first of the year five houses have been completed and four more are almost done.  No one is right by us, which is nice.  (Or should I be paranoid?  Do all the trashcans and outdoor kids stuff scare people away?  I don’t care, I like a little space!)  Well, we could seriously have sat on our roof and had a 360 degree fireworks extravaganza.  The other nice thing about being out of city limits is that you can pop your own fireworks.   At least that was nice for those of  us that wanted to just watch our neighbors fireworks! The boys couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t do this!  Umm,  safety maybe?  Thirteen year old that thinks he knows how to do everything and fireworks was not a battle I wanted to face this year!  One of our new neighbors had a party and had fireworks galore.  We decided to elect him chairman of fireworks for our neighborhood from here on out!  It was a fabulous time.  Perfect weather, lots of fireworks, our family all together.  Loved it!

Gannon, Kellen, Callie, Garrett, and Daddy enjoying the shows.

This girl was the LOVING the fireworks!  She clapped and cheered the whole time!

This is just a good picture of her curls.  :)

Yay!!

Garrett and Callie deciding to stand and watch.  It was better this way since we could turn around in all directions to view the shows!  

Just to show how close we were to our neighbors show.  Perfect!  Just like having your own but we didn’t spend any money on fireworks or ER visits!  (They didn’t go to the ER thank goodness, but it just takes on crazy firework you know!)

Better Than Last Year, I Think…

Well, Easter has come and way gone this year.  It was a crazy time.  Easter is my favorite holiday, and it seems to be crazy every year!  Not the way I would like to enjoy it.  I love Easter because it is spring!!! And because you get to buy pretty new dress clothes!  And there are the Easter eggs, the bunnies, the pastel colors everywhere…I could go on and on!  Easter 2010 was crazy all because of me.  I had too many things planned at once.  Not surprising I know!  

The week of Easter we had just gotten back from a trip to Tulsa, where I never took a picture!  I took my camera, but never took a picture.  Trust me when I say we had a great time!  While I was there we did some shopping.  I decided since I was running out of time to make Callie a dress, I would buy Callie an Easter dress.  Between Nana Charlene and I, we managed to pick out three dresses, two purses and a pair of shoes for Callie.  Just in case.  You never know what mood I would be in!  I had also decided to order a pre-made, pre-pleated dress to smock, in case I had time.  I really didn’t think it would be here in time to even start, but oh well, we had backups!

The Monday after Easter was the day to take things to our local Just Between Friends sale.  This is a huge consignment sale that I have been missing while being in Iowa.  I started going to them in Tulsa, and have since sold stuff through them in Norman and OKC as well.  So, the week before Easter I had to get all my stuff ready to sell.  Never mind that I had known about this for a few months!

And the week of Easter my parents were coming for a visit.  This was a good thing as they haven’t had much time to visit us and my dad was coming to help me hang shelves in my John Deere room.  Since I would be dragging stuff out of it to sell at the consignment sale, this would be the perfect time to do this.

And there was all the usual stuff:  school, co-op, homeschool PE, probably orthodontist appointments since we manage to go at least every other week!

Well the dress I ordered came on the Thursday before Easter.  I couldn’t stand it.  My parents came on Thursday and I started alternating between pricing and smocking, and trying to be a good hostess, which I am sure I was not!  This is why I titled this “Better Than Last Year…”  Remember last year when I decided to make an Easter dress in a week?  (Last years Easter saga:))  Well, this year I did it in three days.  Granted I only smocked it.  No sewing involved on this one.  But the smocking is what I love to do anyway! So, is this better since I did it in less time?  Or worse since I waited until the last minute two years in a row?  Oh well, who cares,  I love it!  I do not have a great picture of it yet.  But it is bright pink check with white and green stitching.  It is not as long as I like for this type of dress, but cute anyway!

Look at this grin.  This is her two-year-old grin.  The grin that says “I am so cute, I can do anything I want!”  (Can I just say she actually minded me tonight at dinner and even the boys were telling her good job it was such a surprise!)  Ornery!

Todd has put his foot down on the matching clothes for the boys.  This is the closest I could get without being vetoed!

Callie and Grandma having a conversation at the kitchen table.

Callie and Gannon taking a break from cleaning out the John Deere room.  Notice all the tubs in the background?  All empty now!!  I am so excited.  The consignment sale was a huge success!  Worth all the madness getting the stuff ready.  I would share how much money I made but it is embarrassing to think I had that much stuff to sell! Taking time out from the work to fly kites with Grandpa.  One advantage of living in a house with no neighbors, trees, or anything for that matter!  There was plenty of room to fly!

Callie and Gannon watching the kite action. 

All in all it was a great week and Easter, just tiring!  I really am going to start Callie’s Easter dress sooner next year.  I know, I could have used one of the dresses we bought, but I love to make her things!  I figure I need to get things made now before she refuses to wear what I make.  We are already starting to have issues with her picking out her own clothes!

So, moving right along in our little family journal.  I recently started printing my blog for 2009.  Since I don’t scrapbook, I thought this would be a perfect thing to print and bind for the kids to have someday.  They may not ever care, but it will release some of the guilt I have for not scrapbooking!  Or even just putting pictures in albums!  Anyway, I feel the need to go back and include some of our life when I get behind so we can remember what we do! 

Be afraid. Be very afraid!

Callie has taken to picking on Gannon when she gets the chance.  I don’t know why.  All of my younger kids have done this.  Gannon would bite Garrett for no reason.  He never did it to Kellen, just Garrett.  Callie will pinch Gannon, not Garrett or Kellen, just Gannon.  I think they just know that that is the child closest to their age so maybe, just maybe they can take them.  Who knows!

Well, the other day Callie decided to stand on Gannon.  He was laying on the floor drawing, she walked over and just stood there on his back.  I was at the sink with wet hands so while I finished what I was doing, I was giving her the evil eye.  (She, of course, was just giving me the I’ll do whatever I want smile that she has mastered!).  After a few seconds, she jumped off Gannon, ran to Kellen for him to hold her and said “I’m scared of those eyes!”.

You better be scared sister!

During a not so scary moment!  Callie ready for summer with her pink flower pants, pigtails, and Sonic!  The best time of the year!

Behind. Behind. More Behind.

Are you wondering what I am going to write about?  Well, if you know me at all you know it is not what the title could be about.  Well, maybe it could be about that.  Besides getting more and more behind in just living, I am getting more of a behind in the process!  But, I don’t think we want to hear about that.

I haven’t posted much lately, as I am behind in everything.  I have moments like this every so often, where there are just more things that need to be done than can get done.  I know some of this is because I tend to make things harder than they have to be.  But, hey, at least I made it to Easter before I failed my New Year’s resolution! ( New Year's Post here :) )
So, hopefully, I’m back on track and will be catching you up on our lives from the last few weeks.  Spring has spring and we are excited!  Spring and summer in a new area, so there will be lots of exploring and adventure!  I’ll try to keep up with blogging about it, I know all three of you that read are sitting on the edge of your seats!

Budding Artist

I am not an artist.  I wish I was.  My mom is an artist.  My brothers are both good at drawing and “arty” things.  Apparently I missed that gene!  I am also not so quick sometimes.  Let me explain…

Kellen and Gannon both love to draw and do a great job.  Garrett does a great job drawing, but I wouldn’t say he loves to do it!  So, being the not–so–quick homeschool teacher that I am, it never occurred to me to push some sort of art besides drawing, painting, etc.  Garrett is very much a hands on person.  You need a cabinet built, he’s your man.  Need your pencil sharpener fixed when your two old tries to sharpen something besides a pencil, again, he’s your man.  (This has happened so much at our house I think he could go into business fixing pencil sharpeners!)  Need someone to work hard until the job is done, he’s your man. 

Luckily, the co-op leaders are smarter than I am!  All the art projects they have worked on this semester are hands-on, right up Garrett’s alley.  These are the projects he has brought home so far.

Garrett’s planet Saturn.

Garrett’s horse head made out of clay.  I am quite impressed, he was really attentive to the details and it actually looks like a horse head!  If I tried this, you would not know what it was!

He made this at home with Play-doh a couple of weeks ago.  I think this is so cool!

Hopefully we can find a creative niche for him now that I see what he really enjoys and is good at.  I remember my brother Ryan sitting for hours making things out of clay.  He would have whole dioramas set up, just for the fun of it!  Tiny little people and battles and whatever else went with the scene.  He really could have gone into business doing that, if there is a business doing that! :)

So, I am just so excited for Garrett!  And I am excited for me!  It’s good to wake up and figure something out once in a while!