First Grade Field Trip

Easton had his first field trip of the year last Friday. He really wanted either Phil or me to go, which we both thought was really sweet. Well, Thursday before the field trip came around and we hadn't yet really decided who would go with him. After school Easton came home and told me that we would be in charge of him and two other boys. Then Easton said, "I told Aaron to be good." What?? That did it, Phil was going. I told Phil he was more equipped to be in charge of a bunch of boys like Easton. Ugh! I could feel my blood pressure going up just thinking about it. Phil, being the awesome dad that he is, went without hesitation.

The entire first grade went to the Martin Nature Center in NOKC, a haven for 1st graders. I think Phil had a good time but Easton made it all worth it when he said, "Thank you dad for going on the field trip." Ahh, now that has to warm your cockles. Phil also did a fabulous job with the camera. Enjoy...

Here's the group Phil was in charge of. Don't you see trouble all over?!?!


Bird watching...


Nature walk...


A little further down, Easton fell into this creek. Yep, you read right!! Crazy boy!


Look-out below, serioulsy!!

In Honor of Earth Day...

You guys are going to get used to me being late on things...it's just how I roll. Usually things just sneak up on me and by the time I get an idea the day has passed.

Even though Earth Day 2009 has officially passed it's never too late to take care of the world God has blessed us with. I want to honor the person in my life that demonstrates that the most...my mom!!

We tease her a lot because she is constantly getting after us to recycle things, picking up behind us, and at times getting things out of the trash that we've thrown away...sometimes we do that on purpose!! Hehe!! It's all in good fun but she truly is going above and beyond most people to keep God's earth beautiful.

I took some pictures of her and my dad in action...
I thought this was so pretty. This is what you'll find as you walk up to their porch. It's only one of many things they've planted. My parents are always out in the yard and really do enjoy gardening...even though my dad would say he didn't!! Ha!!


I laugh at my mom because she has a fetish with dishes...I tell her she has "dish-ues". Here is one more bowl she has added to her collection. It is actually called the Rachael Ray Garbage Bowl. She uses this to put her recyclable food. I remember when she bought it, she was so excited. We're a lot alike in that way, we get excited over simple things.


Every couple days they take the bowl to the backyard where they have a compost. The kids like to help with this and it's a great thing for them to learn. As you can see from Livie's expression it doesn't have the greatest smell!


Here's a closer look inside...


Then my dad has to get in there every few days and "stir" it up.


And over time, out from the bottom...


...you get soil! Pretty cool. I'm needin some of that in my flower bed so I'm hoping dad will wheel barrow some on over to my house


Okay, so I couldn't do a post like this without adding a pic of moms famous oak tree in her back yard. Dad and Phil are always threatening to cut the branches but as you can see it really is a beautiful tree. You stand your ground mom!! Love you!

Happy 6th Birthday to Our Sweet Girl

Today at 4:11pm, Olivia will officially turn 6 years old. I've teased her over the last few days that we weren't going to celebrate her birthday because I didn't want her to get any older...if only that could happen. Needless to say she DID NOT like that idea. She's been planning here birthday since her 5th birthday party ended. I'm not sure where she gets that from!

Livie is definitely a gift from God. If you know the story surrounding the year before she was born you'd know that to be entirely true. It was God's plan for her to be in our lives and she is our bright sparkle.

Happy Birthday Sweet Olivia! We love you!!

She wanted me to put a candle in her crescent roll this morning and then we sang Happy Birthday to her...so silly!!


Sassy Six...these are her "fashion" glasses!!

Birthday Breakdown

The older you get the less important you seem to feel your birthdays are but this year ended up being a nice birthday. If it were up to me I'd have a birthday "week", that's how I tend to celebrate others birthdays ;). I received calls, emails, texts, and even blog posts from family and friends wishing me Happy Birthday, that was fun. Nancy, my m-i-l, called to take me to lunch; just minutes after I hung up with her Phil called to see if he could take me to lunch--two-for-one, that doesn't happen very often. We went downtown to eat at La Luna...yummy! It's been years since I've been there and it did not disappoint. Later that evening Phil decided (notice that Phil decided--that was the best part) to take me and the kids to Red Lobster for dinner...another yummy! Needless to say I don't think I can eat the rest of the week. While we were there Elvis sang Happy Birthday to me. If you have never experienced a serenade from Elvis at Red Lobster you are missing out; it's worth eating there just for that. After we got home my parents came over with strawberry shortcake...should I say it...yummy!! Someone sent me a VERY SPECIAL message and I am so proud of it I want all of you to see it...check out my s-i-l's blog The Princess and Her Peons and see my gift. I LOVE IT...or should I say HER!!

Thank you again to all my family and friends!! Love you!!

Newest Creation

I made Catherine a canvas for her birthday with the help of Phil and Becky. Since Cat said she was going to hang it in her living room I'm going to assume she likes it!! I put Jeremiah 29:11 on it, it's one of the verses she has posted on her blog. Sorry to all of you that have been waiting to see the finished product...here it is.

Happy Birthday, again, Catherine!!!

Happy Easter

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. Our Oklahoma weather was not the greatest Easter weather; it was rainy and cold all day. The egg hunt at church was moved indoors which made for an interesting hunt! The Easter Bunny still managed to visit the kids inspite of the yucky weather.

Sit back, have a nibble on some Easter candy, and enjoy the slide show!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Yard Work

We FINALLY got out and worked in the yard Saturday. The weather was Be-U-tiful so we took full advantage of it. Phil and Parker took care of the yard while me and Easton and Olivia cleaned out the flower bed. We haven't planted any new flowers yet but everything looks SO much better.
I'm embarrassed to say this is a before pic of our yard. I don't have an after pic yet, I'm waiting until I get some things planted. Watch for that to come.

The kids showed me EVERY root of EVERY weed they pulled. They were so proud of their accomplishments.

Easter Egg Hunt

Olivia's class had their Easter egg hunt Friday and Phil and I were able to volunteer to hide eggs for her class. I was excited because I haven't been able to do many of the kids school activities. We were able to meet a few of her friends as well. Coincidentally, her teacher had her baby the night before so she wasn't there but Liv has been looking forward to the arrival of that little baby boy for a long time. Congratulations Mrs.W.
Here are some pics of Liv with her friends at the egg hunt.


I was so proud of Olivia. Her friend fell as they were running after the eggs and Olivia stopped to help her and make sure she was ok.

Produce Pointers

I get emails from Oprahs fitness guru, Bob Greene. Earlier this week I got an email that talks about picking out produce and since it's spring and fresh fruits and veggies are always yummy I thought it would be a great thing to share.

Use the following tips to help you get the most of your produce purchases.

Before you pick a watermelon, slap its side. Hear a hollow thump? It's ripe and ready to go.

When shopping for a grapefruit, it's not necessary to avoid fruits with green on the skin, as the color does not indicate ripeness.

Small bright green Brussels sprouts with compact heads are your best bet; the smaller the sprout, the better the taste.

For raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries, avoid containers with juice stains; they may be a sign of crushed, moldy, or overripe berries.

Skip scallions that are a translucent green. The lack of opaqueness means they have been sitting in ice for too long.

Always store tomatoes at room temperature. Putting them in the fridge can make them mealy and flavorless. Ditto for bananas.

Potatoes need to be stored in a cool, dark place, but don't refrigerate or they will develop a hard core and an undesirable taste.

To make your herbs last, snip off the ends and submerge them in a glass of water. Cover with a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator.

Mangoes, plums, peaches, pears and apricots ripen faster at room temperature in a paper bag.

Keep your bell peppers dry. They rot faster when exposed to moisture.

Happy "Healthy" Eating!!

Our Little Diva

Olivia has definitely been our child of surprises. She has done some pretty funny things (see previous post). Well, last night I went into her room to check on her before I went to bed and here is what I found...

She cracks me up. What makes this even more funny is she always wants to sleep with the bathroom light on. Sometimes Phil will go in there and turn it off after she goes to sleep and she will either wake up and turn it on or grill us in the morning to see who turned it off. We asked her the next morning and she said she slept all night with them on. So funny!!
All I could see was fast-forward about 15 years...a Legally Blonde Reese Witherspoon look-alike laying in her bed with all her pink and bling wearing her sleeping mask. What the world!! That's my sassy Livie. And like I said, she's always full of surprises.

The Bald and the Beautiful

Last night I asked the kids to help me clean the house, specifically for Olivia to clean their bathroom. She was eager to do that for me. She wanted to clean the bathtub and I thought that would be okay. Well, we have a cleaning tool the kids like to use called the ScumBuster. Here is a picture of Livie with the ScumBuster.

How this thing works is it has a button you push and the brush rotates allowing you to clean whatever. Before she ever made it into the bathroom she decided to show us that she could brush her hair with it. About the same time Phil started to tell her not to put it in her hair. Olivia screams as we watch her hair wind up in it. It seemed like I froze and forgot how the ScumBuster worked. As I'm unwinding her hair we looked up and Parker was holding a wad of hair telling me I needed to scrapbook this. I had no idea where he got the hair. Olivia was still crying so I looked at her head and she had about a quarter size chunk of hair missing from above her right ear. Phil was so freaked out he couldn't look at it, and still hasn't.
Here is a picture of her bald spot.

Don't worry!! Olivia was fine after about 3 minutes. She asked for booboo piggy, which is essentially an ice pack, and after that she was up and cleaning again. What a trooper. She was even laughing about it later.

Spring Break Recap

Well, we made it through our Spring Break with minor bumps in the road. I didn't post much during the week so I thought I would just give you one post with a "week-in-review". Here goes...

-Olivia had Aubree over to spend the night Friday.
-Parker played a soccer game in Mustang on Saturday.
-While at the soccer game our car got sick, luckily Gary & Nancy were there and my parents came to help tow the car home. It ended up being the fuel pump. Thanks to the parents for always being there for us.
-Phil and I took Easton and Olivia to walk the track and then played on the playground afterwards (pics to follow) while Parker stayed home and slept.
-Jake and Lainey stayed the night Monday night.
-We all went to see Race to Witch Mountain Tuesday...Hello Dwayne Johnson!!!
-Easton lost another tooth.
-Easton and Olivia both fell off their bikes multiple times with booboo's to prove it.
-I was able to work from home most of the week...that was a huge blessing.
-Parker started reconnecting with his dog, Daisy!
-Phil hung with the guys to kick off March Madness and watch the OU game while the kids and I ate Freddy's with my parents.
-Easton and Olivia each invested their own money in a Beta fish. Olivia named hers Slurpy and Easton has steadfastly decided not to name his.
-Friday night was date night for Phil and I. We went with the Dean's to The Warren for balcony seats and dinner to see I Love You, Man. Lot's of fun!!
-The kids spent the night with Papa Gary and Grandma Friday and went to see Grandma Zig and then went to Incredible Pizza.
-I ran around Saturday morning with my friend Becky and then scrapbooked Saturday night at Whole Lotta Scrap with Jeana and Becky...one of my favorite past-times.

Well, that was the Cliff Notes version of our Spring Break. We were lucky that the weather was beautiful and the kids were able to play outside a lot, even though we still had to threaten them to get them out there! Seriously!! I've really been trying to get some projects done around the house and thankfully I have some great friends who not only have offered to help but are pushing me to do them. I'll keep you updated on some and hopefully I'll remember to get before and after pictures on here. Unlike my usual self I didn't take very many pictures last week but here a few I did take so Enjoy!! Love to all!!

Blog Make Over

After a couple of comments that it was time to take the snowflakes off our blog I decided to give it a make-over. I'll probably be doing a few more adjustments to it but for now it'll work. I've also been working on Brad and Catherine's blog make-over so be watching over at The Princess and Her Peons.

We hope everyone is having a great spring break. I wanted to post a picture of the first life of spring around our house. This is the tree in our front yard. It has special meaning to me and I'm always excited every spring to see that has made it through the winter and still has life.

Same Kind of Different as Me

I just finished the book, Same Kind of Different as Me. This is a book that will tug at your heart in so many different ways. It's a about a modern-day slave from Louisiana who finds himself in Fort Worth, TX, an international art dealer, and a determined women who loves God. I love how this book is written, it goes back and forth between two peoples point of view.

This story is filled with faith and love and will truly make you re-evaluate where they fit into your life. The main thing that really pulled on my heart is what God's purpose for me is in this life and am I allowing myself to hear what God is directing me to do for his kingdom. Am I making excuses to avoid His will? I love to see what God does in the lives of people. I love to see where He starts and all the little off-roading He does that we don't understand or notice until after it's all said and done. This book is filled with examples of this.

I HIGHLY recommend this book. It is extremely easy to read, very inspirational and thought provoking but will also give you a new love for God's people.

My Latest Creation

This is my latest creation. Ellen's mom asked me to make a name frame for the school she works at in Texas as part of a fundraiser. I'm pleased with the way it turned out. Let me know what you think!!

I've got other projects lined up so be watching for them.

Me Time...

I got to enjoy a little me time today and one of my absolute favorite things is getting a pedicure. I'm not sure which part is my favorite from the foot soak in the extremely warm water, the wonderful foot rub(which is a close first), the cute way she always paints my toenails, or how soft and pretty my feet look afterward. It's one thing I like to do to pamper myself. Anyone need a good nail tech let me know and I'll give ya her name!!

One more thing...Easton is feeling much better today and so far no one else has contracted his tummy troubles.

Easton's Got the Pukies...

Easton's school called me this afternoon to tell me he was sick and had thrown up. Uh oh!! I called Phil to see where he was and if he would be able to get Easton. He was deep in Norman eating lunch but would be leaving soon. Phil called me after he'd picked Easton up and said that he'd thrown up all over himself on the playground and then two more times while waiting in the office. The school secretary told Phil a lot of kids came down with this during the week.

Once home, Easton got a bath and has been on the couch since. You could set your clock to him, he's thrown up every hour on the half hour. Poor guy!! He's a funny thing when he's sick he wouldn't hardly say two words all day! I sure love this little guy!!

One more thing, Easton missed his Dr. Seuss party today so his friend Alyssa and her mom brought him the goodies from the party. That was so sweet of them. Thanks guys!

WE HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER SOON TINY E!!!

The Rock & Worship Roadshow

I mentioned in an earlier post that Easton has already asked me about going to another concert. Well, this is it The Rock & Worship Roadshow. I found the website and the artists include Mercy Me, Hawk Nelson, Tenth Avenue North, Addison Road, and Flyleaf, who is filling in for Jeremy Camp for the OKC show. I showed Easton the site and he was pretty pumped until I told him it was $10 general admission like the last concert we went to. He thought about it for a minute and said, "Can't we go the same way we did last time?" I knew he was pretty traumatized from the last one. Anyway, the concert will be in OKC on April 4th at the Ford Center. We'll have to see what we can do.

2009 Bloggies

I know it's almost unheard of that I would have so many posts in one day but I ran across something I found very interesting and I wanted to share. Have any of you heard of "the Bloggies"? Well I hadn't until now. It's like the Grammy's for Blogs. The Bloggies are the Web's longest-running blog awards, and the nominations, finalist selection, and votes are all up to you, the blog reader. The votes are in, and you'll discover which blogs are this year's champions. It's a great way to check out some great blogs with your specfic interests. Check it out...2009 Bloggies.

Honduras Missions Auction

The youth at our church has gone on a mission trip to Honduras the past few years and actually Phil goes with them as a sponsor. This year Brian, our youth minister, came up with a great fundraising idea. They are having an auction and "free" (donations accepted)dinner this Sunday. People are donating all kinds of sports memorabilia, services, hobby items, etc. Well, one of my girlfriends, Becky, has an amazing talent of making decorative things for your home so I talked her into making something. Since we didn't have a lot of time to do it I told her I would help her. We decided on a canvas. She made the canvas and I did the lettering. Here is what the finished product looks like...I'm quite proud of our collaboration. I hope it brings in big bucks!!

Creative Parenting

I have been at my wits end with my kids fighting and not minding...anyone else been there? Ha!! Monday night Phil took Olivia to gymnastics and I'm in the kitchen cooking dinner. Parker and Easton are in the other part of the house and I suddenly hear loud banging, screams, yelling and cries (honestly these are very normal sounds at our house and Phil and I don't typically go running to check them out). I holler at the boys to come tell me what's going on but I guess I really wasn't really hearing what they were saying, I was just trying to calm myself down so I didn't attack either one of them the way I'm certain a mama bear would attack her cubs if they acted like my children do. Well, I was proud of myself because in a very short time I was able to calm down and I even came up with a pretty good discipline for them.

I told them to stand in the middle of the kitchen, face each other, and hug for five minutes. If they said anything ugly to each other or let go I was adding minutes. I only had to add one minute but by the end of it they were actually laughing. Actually the punishment was right up Parker's ally, he tends to be the pesterer of the family and he got a kick of getting to hang on Easton for six minutes...poor Easton.

Winter Jam 09

My mom and I took Easton, Olivia and Sawyer to Winter Jam 09 last Thursday. Winter Jam is a concert with several great Christian performers, Stephanie Smith, Francesca Battistelli, NewSong, Brandon Heath, Hawk Nelson, and headliner TobyMac.

This was a crazy night and I'm going to try to do it justice and explain it to you. It started when we got to the Ford Center and the sidewalk was packed. The concert was general admission for $10 so you can imagine the crowds. They finally started letting everyone in at 6pm. As soon as we got in we were in a mad dash to find seats so we went straight for the escalator. We were almost to the top of the escalator when I look up and realize no one was moving. I started to have a mini-panic attack. People were coming up behind us and I was freaking out that Easton and Olivia were going to be crushed...it was that bad. Let me just say there are good people in this world, and I'm talking teenagers specifically, we were surrounded by teenagers and one teen guy was yelling for people to move back to give the little kids room. I was so touched by that. Soon after I heard the emergency switch on the escalator. I decided to go back down and look for another way up.

We finally found a clearing and were walking quickly through the Ford Center. I was holding Easton's hand and looked back at him as he was in tears saying he wanted to go home. He was so overwhelmed with the chaos and probably my focus on getting us a seat. We found seats and got Easton calmed down; he just needed a little mommy lovin'. Once the music started Easton was good, he really enjoys music and concerts (he's already asked me if he can go to another one) and Olivia fell asleep. I'm just glad Sawyer was there. She's always a great help with Olivia and she keeps a level head!!

We heard some great music. I highly recommend a Hawk Nelson or tobyMac concert...great music and lots of energy. By 9:30pm, which is past bedtime, Olivia was whining to go home. So at 10pm we made the decision to leave. Easton was mad and kept saying Olivia ruined the concert. Ha!! My mom and I kept telling him that wasn't true but it was a little funny that he was so mad about it. He said she couldn't go next time!! Here are the few pictures I was able to take. I know I'm not in any of them but I promise I was there.

This is Easton and Grammy soon after we found our seats. Notice Eastons "deer in the headlights" look...


Sawyer and Olivia


Hawk Nelson


tobyMac--Amazing and full of energy!!