Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Pioneer Woman Book Signing


Yes, this post is a bit late but I wanted to get it out there. Ellen and I went to The Full Circle Bookstore in 50 Penn Place on Thursday, Oct 29. The book signing started at 6:30pm, we got there at 6pm and the line was probably already 200ish people long. We knew we were in for a LONG night!! I think the line started finally moving about 7:15 or so. We saw several news media, met some new friends (Hi Scott & Amy), and Ellen and I bonded!! Ahhhh, good times!! A glass of wine and some snacks would have made it all better, although Scott did come through on the snacks later in the night!! Ha!! Anyway, we finally got to meet Ree, AKA The Pioneer Woman, about 9:40pm. She is the nicest person, very genuine! I'm not sure I would still be so 'happy' after signing SO many books but she was wonderful. I had her sign three books, one for me and one for my mom and Nancy! They were Christmas presents for my moms!! My mom has already read it front-to-back and has made 2 or 3 recipes. She loves it! I will agree, it is a GREAT book...very well written/made. Ree is a VERY talented woman. If you haven't checked out her cookbook you should...it's worth it. You can click HERE to check out The Pioneer Womans website...not only can she cook, but she can write and is a talented photographer.
Some of the line...

Me, Ellen & Ree

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Monday, December 21, 2009

Elf on OUR Shelf

We've been visited this year by a little guy in red; our very own Elf. The kids have given him the name Schmoopy. Here's how he works...everyday he sits on a shelf and watches the kids and at night, while the kids are sleeping, he flys off to Santa to report on how the kids acted that day. In the morning, when the kids wake up they get to look around to find where Schmoopy has landed for the day. It's always fun to see where he ended up. BUT, there is one stipulation...no one can touch the elf or he loses his power and won't be able to fly back to Santa.

Easton and Olivia have had a fun time looking for him every morning and imagining him flying off to see Santa. We've not had very good luck on the side of what he might be reporting to Santa, it hasn't seemed to phase their behavior any!! Urgh!! I hope this is a tradition we can carry on with our grandkids cause it's a fun one!!
Here's the book that tells the story of the elf!

Crazy places 'Schmoopy' has shown up...




Sunday, December 20, 2009

It's a Shabby Souls Kind of Christmas

One thing I truly enjoy is getting together with my Shabby Souls. I think a couple of reasons is because of the unique way this group came together in the first place and the other reason being how I went from hating to read when I was younger to now loving it!! Anyway, our meeting for this month was our First (hopefully annual) Christmas Dirty Santa. Each of us brought a new, wrapped book that we ourselves would like to read. Nicole and Natalie cooked up some yummy goodies too!!
All because two girls became friends...


The gifts before our game of Dirty Santa, Shabby Soul style!

This is the book I left with...LOVE IT!!!! Thanks Nicole!!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Iron Man 2


The previews for Iron Man 2 have been released and I am so excited. The kids and I watched the first one and LOVED it. Robert Downey Jr. plays this character amazingly and reminds of what an excellent actor he is. I know, I know, some of you are probably rolling your eyes but if you haven't seen the first one you really should...it's worth it. Click HERE to watch the trailer and leave me a comment with what you think. I know me and the kids will be in for some popcorn and a comfy seat at the Warren come next May!!!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Happy "8th" Birthday Easton!


Eight years ago today God brought a sweet little baby boy into this world...can you hear the squealing of breaks as you read that? Anyone that knows Easton knows that sweet isn't always the best word to use when describing him. In fact, for his birthday I bought him a shirt that says, "I'm Not Trying to be Difficult it Comes Naturally"! Yep, that about sums up Easton. He really is a fun kid and he does keep us on our toes; we never know what his reaction is going to be in any situation. But when he wants to be loving he is AWESOME at it!! I've tried to train him to say, "I'm a Lover, not a Fighter!" Seriously, God did bless us with a HUGE-hearted, loving, unpredictable, moody, spirited, sensitive, strong-willed, smart, and God-loving little boy.
WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH LITTLE EASTON!!! HaPpY bIrThDaY!!!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Shabby Souls Night Out

In November us girls went to the Warren to see New Moon...it was GREAT!!! Our seats were in the balcony and we had such a fun time! I always enjoy spending time with my Shabby Soul sistas! We hollered and giggled like high school girls! We're already eagerly anticipating the next movie in the Twilight saga...Eclipse.
Kelly, Jeana, Becky, Karlin & Natalie

Allison, Natalie & Nicole

Kelsie & Megan - Love the shirts, girls!!

Sarah, Nicole, Natalie, Michelle, Becky & Karlin

Jeana, Kelly & Sarah having 'Edward's Kiss'...bluch!!!

All of us in front of the New Moon poster

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

LSI Ribbon Cutting & Open House

Last Wednesday, Dec 2, was my big debut as event and party planner at my work. I've never had that responsibility and to be honest I wasn't that worried about it. I will say I was ready for that day to be over though!! And look, here I am a week later, alive and still with a job!! Haha!

The President and CEO of our company, Logistic Specialties, Inc., and two Vice Presidents came all the way from Utah to participate in the acitvities. Our office in OK moved this summer from one office park to another, Tinker Business and Industrial Park (TBIP) on the corner of 29th and Sooner Rd, and we wanted to invite people in for an Open House. We had guest from all realms of the aeronautics industry attend, it was a great success. I hired Andrea from Two Olives Cafe and Catering to cater...go with what ya know, right! Well that was smart cause the food got rave reviews! Oh yeah!! I received lots of praise...just bring on the raise!!

Here are some pics from the day!
Jack Srnec, Ken Calhoun, Larry Kennedy, Sean Slatter-CEO & President, Kelly Thompson, Kori Ann Edwards, Jenny Marosok, Allen Shipes, Bill Foster, Tom Hand

Pic of the Food

Monday, December 7, 2009

Let the guys loose in Walmart...

and they seem to find the craziest things. I could not believe what Phil and Parker showed up with when we split up from them the other night at Walmart...but we sure had some good laughs. I wanna know if anyone else had heard of this stuff.



I am not kidding, this is a real thing!! You can click the link below and go to the website...
Anti Monkey Butt Powder

Good times!!

Urgh...

Well, I blew it, that didn't take long. I'm pretty upset with myself but I'm continuing on anyway!! Urgh, it really aggravates me! Sundays are hard but that's no excuse. There were other things I had intended on doing yesterday that didn't get done either. The list is long. I'll double post today, maybe that will make up for no-post yesterday! Man, what a disappointment! :(

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Glozell

I've been introduced to someone pretty funny by my cool friend Lainey, her name is Glozell. She posts a lot of videos on YouTube and even has her own blog. She has several funny videos but this one is a current event and we thought it was great!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Her Fearful Symmetry

By Audrey Niffenegger


When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt, only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers -- with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another. The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery in London. They come to know the building's other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Marjike, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt's neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including -- perhaps -- their aunt, who can't seem to leave her old apartment and life behind.

I was SO disappointed with this book! My fellow Shabby Soul, Nicole, and I started reading the book at the same time and she only made it through 100 pages because of boredom. I decided to push on through hoping for the 'magic' to begin. Well, it never came. Even up until the last page I was left empty. I didn't connect with the characters, the story or the plot. I was really wanting great things from this book after reading The Time Travelers Wife, Audrey Niffenegers' first book. It was amazing. BTW, it took me two months to get through this book. Sheesh!!

For more book reviews checkout The Shabby Souls blog.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

OK Capital Tree Lighting

Tuesday night was the annual Oklahoma State Capital Tree Lighting Ceremony. Governor Brad Henry invites first grades from all over the metro area to come and be a part of this 'festive' event and I use the word festive very loosely! It's more like a 'chaotic' event.
Here's how this works, each class gets a 4-ft tree to decorate, the Governor, First Lady and Santa, along with their entourage, come around to each school for a photo opp, then everyone makes their way down for the actual Tree Lighting Ceremony. I wish I knew how many schools participated but there were 4 floors full of kids, teachers, and their families, oh and media. We went last year with Easton's class. We arrived early, stood around forever and then went down for the Tree Lighting, which by the way was not really appropriate for a bunch of elementary kids. The Governor and someone else gave some speeches and then the tree was lit!! Sounds cool but honestly we couldn't really even see the tree very well, and we actually had good seats.
Okay, so I know it sounds like I'm complaining a lot but I was truly excited about going last year until I got the beat down of the year...ugh!! This year we decided to do things a little differently. We got there right when things were supposed to start, 4:30, but we forgot to take into account the security line we'd have to wait in. We made it to Livie's class tree at 4:39, the Governor and his group were already there for the photo opp!! REALLY!!! I threw Livie into the picture and ran in front of everyone to at least try and get a decent picture!! Yes, I'm that mom!! Mrs. Dorran, Liv's teacher, said we were the Governor's first stop, figures! After that we let Livie hang out with some of her friends for a little bit and get a few pics and then we were ready to go!!
I guess I wouldn't discourage people from going but just be forewarned that it is pure madness!!!
Just in time...

Olivia with Mrs. Dorran

Olivia, Alyssa & Audrey

Olivia showing off the ornamnent she made for the tree

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

30 Days of Blogging

My Super-Cool friend Shannon has inspired me to take on a challenge. She too has a blog, A Plumb Crazy Life, and I don't think she would mind me saying that she was not a 'regular' blogger. So she decided to challenge herself to 30 days of straight blogging. Yesterday was her 30th day and she did it...YAY ShanCat!!! Since I have been less than dedicated to my blog lately I decided to take on her challenge, maybe inspired is a better word. Truth be told I was going to start yesterday since it was the first of December and go the whole month but that didn't happen. Hehe! I know, it looks like I'm already getting off on a bad start but you just watch...and read!!

Monday, November 30, 2009

Snowball Fight!!!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

New Design...Renewed Motivation

I know, I know...I think I've said it so many times. I get so behind on my blog and then I try to get caught up only to quickly fall behind again. I have a ton of things to blog about but are so old now they seem 'out-dated', but I may end up blogging them anyway...you just never know!! Tis the season for new beginnings. I'm still working on the title of the blog so keep checking back for that at least...hehe!!

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday. I'm SO thankful for a job that not only gives me Thanksgiving off but also the day after. We decided not to brave the early crowds this year but instead slept in...definitely one of my favorite things to do. I'm equally thankful that Phil has a job that is flexible and allows him to be home with us during these times. Phil and I, mostly Phil, did manage to get a lot of shopping done online, fireside!! It was pretty awesome. We stayed up til about 1am Friday morning catching sales and missing long lines. We've figured out how to get it done!! Woohoo!!

Okay, so there's a brief post. I promise I'll have more to come and to be honest all my pics are stored on an external hard drive which makes it a little more complicated to retrieve.

Have a Happy Holiday Season!! Love you all!!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Ella Caroline

Can you say, "Beautiful Baby Girl!"? Well, that's what we have...well, actually that's what Brad & Catherine have, but we got another sweet niece out of the deal!! She was born last Tuesday and we were lucky to be able to go to Texas and see her. I definitely could have snuggled her much longer than I got to and I'm sure Phil and the kids could have too. Ella came into this world weighing 7lbs 8oz and 20in...she couldn't be more perfect.





We love you Baby Ella!! And can't wait to see you again!!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Sickey...


Well, our family so far has managed to avoid any of the major bugs going around...thank goodness, but for some reason my laptop has visited the 'hospital' more than any of us. Phil had to take it back to the Geek Squad this week. He did come home with possible good news though, they may just give me a new one!! Yippee!! That would make my day...maybe even month!! Why am I telling you this??? Because my pictures are on that computer which means the things I want to post will have to be put on hold.
Another little sad story is that my camera freaked out on my this week. We're in the process of looking for the receipt to get that taken care of. Whew!! It's really hard being without my camera!! Poor me!!

Monday, November 2, 2009

CUBS TAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!

Last week Easton and his team, the Kirby Cubs, managed to pull off an undefeated season. In fact, I think every game was a run-rule!! WAY TO GO, CUBS!!

Easton is enjoying baseball more and more. He's getting better everyday. We all love to watch him play! The last game of the season E even hit his first homerun...Woohoo!!
Our Little Champ

The Cubs!!

The 'Crazy' Cubs!!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

The Very Besy Spider By Easton Thompson

Once a pon a time thry was a very besy spider. let me tell you abot the spider. One day they was a spider he was bilding a website and a trachula came up and sayed want to go make a web the spider sayed no am bilding a website please get away. But the thrathula did not get away. And so the spider bilt a website on the church coputer. The end


Easton read me this story last night, I LOVED it! He said he wrote it at school because he was bored! He loves to read and I'm finding out that he also enjoys writing. E surprises me all the time! When I asked him if I could put it on our blog he said, "Yes, but what about those words, there, built, computer...?" He wanted me to correct his spelling. I told him I wanted to post it just like he wrote it because that's what made it so cute...he said ok! Love him...

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Pumpkin Patchin'

Today was the start of our Fall Break and it was definitely Fall weather. Jeana, Kellie and I took the kiddos to eat at Mazzios and to TG Farms in Newcastle. It was a little chilly but all-in-all we had a good time.
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Sassy Sleep Over

Livie had a few friends stay over last night. These girls are some of the best there are; I'd have any of them over anytime!! But, I will say my sweet little girl is, unfortunately, the ring leader of naughtiness!! Yep! I know it's SO hard for you to believe but it's true.
Alyssa, Livie, Aubree, Kennedy

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

NYC Day 2

**WARNING** Longest Post EVER
I have really been procrastinating this post which is really sad because this was definitely a GREAT day in NYC. I'm worried I won't be able to convey the GREATNESS of the day...but here goes.

First we started out early at the Today Show; we got there about 6:30 and there weren't too many people. They were giving away Mariah Carey fans promoting her new album. Woohoo! We were excited with just that. Soon word spread that she would be making a surprise guest appearance on the show that day!! Man, were we excited. We stood around making friends, trying to stay warm. We met one girl, Gina, and her mom. They were very nice. Gina wanted to have her pic taken with the crazy girl...ME!! Ha! Too funny!! We were having a good time! Her mom bought us lattes to help us stay warm. Jeana and I decided to have our picture taken with the guy that stands outside on the Today Show everyday. I'm sure you've seen him if you watch. Anyway, when you check out the pics it's the one with the 'guy'!! Too funny! Nancy and her boss, John, hung out with us for awhile but had to get back to their conference. Unfortunately, that's when the action started.

Al Roker came out and made his way around the crowd shaking hands with almost everyone. As we were standing there waiting for the action a girl was walking around behind everyone giving out pink t-shirts and Mariah Carey posters. She said she was from the company marketing MC. We were pumped to get a free t-shirt. Anyway, she told our friend Gina she had something else right before she was shooed off by NBC security but that she would be back. WHAT...MORE!!! In the meantime, Al, Meredith, Matt, and Ann all came out and shook hands and filmed more of the show. They were all very nice but Jeana and I thought Meredith and Ann were much prettier in person then they appear on the show. Ann seemed to go out of her way to talk to people...very cordial.

So the girl comes back around after awhile and asks me if we could be available from 1-4, "oh are you a fan of Mariah?" Heck yeah!! So she proceeds to tell me that Mariah is having a signing at Macy's today and wants some of her fans to ride over on her bus with her to the signing. It's not a done deal yet but she would call with details if it's a go. So I give her my name, phone number and age along with Jeana's info. We were totally freaking out. Soon after, Mariah came out on the Today Show and she walked right over to us...the girl two people over apparently knew her and Mariah walked straight to her. You should have heard us...we were screaming MARIAH!!!! It was crazy!! Mariah does her little interview and they rush out and that was about it.

We hung around for just a little longer, well until they took down the Today Show banners. We decided our next stop would be Central Park by way of Subway through Grand Central Station. Jeana and I both loved GSC. I wish we would have looked around a little more. We went into the market in GCS, we were so fascinated at all the fresh foods they had. It was so neat. We both recommend touring GSC if you take a NYC trip. This was our first ride on the Subway and we didn't have our tour guide with us...we were a little nervous, but we did REALLY well! We made it to Central Park, actually with hopes of seeing more famous people, but as far as we knew we didn't see any. CP was very relaxing and ginormous!! We took a break on a park bench and enjoyed the great weather and scenery. Making our way through we decided we should head towards Harold Square (this is where the girl told us we would meet the bus). We did NOT want to miss it. We did some shopping around there and had lunch in a little corner diner. I will say one thing that we're spoiled to in OK...you can pretty much find a fast-food restaurant on any corner but in NYC it's all little diners or pubs and you just have to hope the food is good. We did pretty good on the picking though!! While we're eating, my phone rang...EEEK!!! Guess who!!! Oh man! Honestly the whole day we were hoping it would happen but these things just don't seem to pan out or it seemed too good to be true. So when the phone rang we were giddy with excitement! The girl told us to meet the bus no later than 2:15 on 60th and Lexington..."if you aren't there by 2:15 the bus will be gone." It was already 1:30 and since we didn't know exactly where we where going we wanted to get going.

We got on the Subway and it didn't take long for me to realize that the street numbers were getting smaller...GREAT!! Sheesh! So we hopped off and got on the subway over. It took us further downtown until we could get on one that would take us uptown. We finally made it to 59th; by this time is was a little after 2pm. This is where that great advice came in from Day 1 "Locals think places are a lot closer than they really are." A guy on the subway told us it would take us less than 5 minutes to get to Lexington. REALLY???? We RAN at least a mile. We were huffing and puffing when we finally found the bus, at 2:20ish. Envision this in slow-motion; Jeana and I running up to the bus with a huge crowd in front of it, both of us in our twinkie hot-pink Mariah Carey t-shirts, license out about to pounce on the security guy standing outside the bus. We looked like crazed fans!! The security guy says, "Slow down girls, these things never get started on time, you're ok!" Talk about embarrassing. Anyway, he called us Oklahoma after that! Ha! Sorry, we didn't help the reputation of our great state any!! Sheesh!!

Finally the time comes for us to get on the bus. A guy from her crew comes out of the bus and tells the crowd that if you think your name is on the list to line up...HELLO!! Our name was on "The List". Hehe!! So Jeana, me and about 18 other people load into her bus. They have food and drinks for us and MC music blaring. At that point we were just glad to be able to sit down in the A/C and rest. Whew!! We were on the bus for about 2 hours. They made one stop and we could tell Mariah got off because people outside started screaming and the camera flashes were going crazy. We were supposed to ride over to Macy's with her for her new perfume signing. Apparently plans changed because Macy's didn't want us to do that but Jeana and I were cool...how often do you get to do what we did?!?! They did take our address but we'll see if they ever send us something.

Sorry for such a long story but it was a CrAzY day...a definitely one we'll never forget! After all that we met Nancy in Times Square for dinner and more shopping. When we got there she called us and said she found the Naked Cowboy...we were cracking up. So of course we had to have our pic made with him. That was funny! We ate at Bubba Gumps and then went into Toys R Us. I think one of the best parts of our trip was all the fun people we met along the way. I guess it pays to be friendly!! Hehe!! Needless to say we were exhausted by the end of the day.

I hope you didn't get too burned out reading my post...it was a difficult one for me to write! If you have questions you can leave them in the comments or just ask!!
Day 3 coming soon...don't worry, it's not this packed full!! Hehe!!
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Tuesday, October 6, 2009

NYC--Day 1

Well, our first day in NYC was more of a day of settling in and becoming acquainted with the general directions of the city. It took us probably 30 extra minutes to find The American Girl store when it was only about 10 minutes from our hotel. We got the best advice from Taunda, a friend I grew up with and now on facebook, "Tip: Never ever ask a local how far something is. They will always say "Oh not too far, you can walk" You will then have to walk at least 3 miles to whatever it is. Take the subway when you can." You don't know how many times this happened to us. In fact, seconds before I got this comment, it happened to us...crazy! That night we decided to have a "free" meal and tag along with Nancy to one of her work functions; it was fun! Afterward, the three of us decided to walk down the street to Barnes & Noble, it was only about 8:30. By the time we got there they were telling everyone it was closing time...WHAT??? Are you kidding!! Doesn't the B&N close in OKC like around 11ish? So we walked around and stumbled into Times Square. Needless to say we were very excited. That really about sums up Day 1...more to come!!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Yay MWC Vision!!!

Parker plays on the MWC 98Boys Competitive Soccer team. This team is only in their second year together and they've already experienced several set backs. Last weekend they were in a local tournament, Southlakes Cosmos Cup, which is the league Parker played for before going to MWC. They took 1st Runner-up in the tourney!! Woohoo! This is such a HUGE accomplishment for our team and we are SO proud of them. Check out a few pics and I hope you're able to come out to a game!
GO MWC VISION!!

Parker receiving his medal.

The team rallys around their trophy!

Parker & Coach Matt Clark