MAN Stuff!!

Picking up firewood from the back of the truck

Handing them off to Daddy...

Helping push the "hebby" wagon

Too cute!

Little R helped Daddy unload some firewood from the truck the other day. R is always trying to get little R to do "man stuff"...he seems to think that we have "girlified" little R...just because he likes to do cartwheels, ballet, and wear "makemup"! So the boys had some bonding time outside...little R had a blast helping Daddy with his "maann-tuff" as he likes to call it!

First Day of School

R discovered T's saddle in her room the other day...he kept saying "giddy up, horsy"!

A is ready for her first day of 2nd grade!

T putting on her "brave face" for her first day of 7th grade!

The girls started school at a new school AGAIN on Tuesday.

T is in 7th grade, in a new middle school, and she has 7 periods in a BIG school, with only 4 minutes between classes!! I am so proud of her...she has been very brave...at her age I would have been totally traumatized if I had been told I had to move to a new school with all new people. As she gets older, it becomes harder for her to make new friends...kids in 7th grade (especially girls) can be quite mean and only interested in their own little group. But she has gone into it with a pretty positive attitude, and we just keep praying that God will place good friends in her path and that she will adjust and enjoy her time here.

A started 2nd grade (this is her 4th school), and so far she is enjoying it! She makes friends quite easily at her age, and she has a great teacher so this should be a good year for her. A's only challenge is that here in OK they teach a different writing style than A has already learned...so she has to "relearn" a new style of writing. But she will do great...her handwriting is wonderful, and if we can just get her to stop worrying about failing writing, then she will be just fine!

I thought that little R would be somewhat traumatized by the girls being gone all day. He definitely enjoyed having them around all summer. But, he has done quite well...he is very happy to see them when they get home, but I really think he enjoys having me all to himself during the day (he sure doesn't like sharing his mommy with anyone!)

Brandon Heath

This was our wonderful view of the stage from our seats!

We were all hot & sweaty...it was around 95 degrees and HIGH humidity!

I always get on to A for her "fake" picture smile...no fake smile here...she was genuinely happy!

The girls with their meet & greet passes...genuinely happy again!



The girls and I got to see Brandon Heath in concert on Saturday night! I have loved his music for a long time, but the girls have really started enjoying it in the last few months. Anyway, when we bought our season passes to Frontier City, we saw that Brandon Heath was part of the concert lineup for the summer. The girls have been waiting all summer for this concert, and they were so excited!! The concert is free with admission to the park, so we weren't sure how seating would be. We got there early and found out that we could buy VIP seats for $5, so we did...and ended up in the 2nd row. The lady was also nice enough to give us "meet and greet" passes, so we got to go backstage and meet Brandon before the show. The girls were so excited and nervous...but he was great, and very down to earth. The concert was awesome, and we thoroughly enjoyed our girls day out!

Funny!

R the Happy Boy

Sable the "mooing" dog

As most of you know, we have a 10-yr old yellow lab named Sable. She is a very good dog, and very rarely barks. One thing that does set her off are sirens though. Well, here in Edmond we have sirens that go off at noon on Saturday. Usually we are out running around at noon on Saturday, but today we just happened to be at home, and R just happened to be at the kitchen table eating his lunch. The sirens started going off, and Sable started howling (she NEVER howls, except at sirens) and little R thought it was SOOOO funny! I told him Sable was howling and he just laughed and laughed. Then he started saying, with a smile "Sable moooooo". Seems the little guy thought that Sable was "mooing" like a cow. Daddy was in the shower, and little R just had to go back there and tell him that Sable was mooing! It was way too cute!

Back to the land of blogging...

Okay, I know it has been a VERY long time since I have posted, and I am so sorry for that! We have just been soooo busy!! I am determined to get you caught up on what has happened in the last few months since my last post, and then I WILL start back with weekly updates...I WILL!!! So bear with me on this EXTREMELY info-packed post...from now on they will be short, sweet and frequent! :) So hang on tight, this is quite a ride! Here are a few of the things that have we have done in the last few months...

We participated in the baby dedication at our home church in Clarksville-dedicating our precious little R to the Lord was exciting and important to us as a family. He was definitely the oldest baby being dedicated, but it wasn't something I wanted to do while big R was away.

A was baptized on our last Sunday at our church in Clarksville. She was saved last summer at VBS, but she wanted her Daddy to be present when she was baptized, so we waited until he returned home.

T graduated 6th grade!!! They had a graduation ceremony because in Arkansas they move to Jr. High in 7th grade. Here in OK she will still be in Middle School for 7th grade. But the graduation ceremony was great, and she had to wait for several minutes while they read all of her academic accomplishments before handing her the diploma. We are very proud of her!

We packed up and moved to OK!! I think I was unpacking boxes for a full month! But now everything is unpacked, things are hung on the walls, and we even had a garage sale to clear out all the clutter! Our big 'ol house is finally feeling like our home!

Grandma and Grandpa Willis were our first visitors at the new house. They came down one evening for a quick visit, and we were very happy to have them.

MiMi and PaPa were our 2nd visitors...we were very happy to have them too!

We have had a mini waterpark in our backyard...all 3 kids have enjoyed playing in R's boat and the sprinkler!

R celebrated his 38th birthday with a homemade German Chocolate Cake...yum!

R and I went to a Casting Crowns concert with Christie and Jason...fun times and great music!

We have visited White Water and Frontier City numerous times (gotta love the season passes). Little R has discovered Bob the Builder at Frontier City, and he is his new favorite person. Bob fits right in with R's love of tractors!!

R tried watermelon for the first time...and kinda liked it!

The girls were jumping/dancing on our bed (yes, they DO know better) and they BROKE it!!

T introduced R to the joy of building a fort in the living room...lots of fun!

MiMi and PaPa came down for the 4th of July. This was R's 2nd 4th of July, but our first together as a family. The 4th is one of our favorite family holidays...it was great to be together for it this year!

We made a quick trip to AR...just me and the kids...rented a hotel room and the girls had some friends over for some swimming and pizza!

We went to Branson for the Willis family vacation. It was great fun seeing our kids with all of our cousins. Little R really enjoyed "the boys" and wanted to know where they were at all times! :)

We drove to Cuba, MO to attend R's 20-year class reunion. Yes, he IS old!! It was great to see where he grew up and meet his high school friends. We discovered that we have very similar "small town" roots, just in different states.

We got to spend a week in AR while R attended a class. It was an unexpected chance to spend more time with family, which we always appreciate!

T went to church camp the week that we were in AR. She is officially a "big kid", even though we have a hard time admitting it. She had fun, learned a lot, and didn't even miss us too much!

Last weekend while driving down the road, we saw a monster truck (the real Bigfoot) doing a show. We pulled in and little R got to see a REAL monster truck jumping over cars and sloshing through the mud...it was a little scary at the time, but he LOVES to watch the video we got on the camera! He said "BIG truck...AWESOME" at least a hundred times in the following days. Big R enjoyed it tremendously...he was giddy with excitement!! :)

And now we are 12 days away from the girls starting 7th and 2nd grade at brand new schools. We have had a great summer together, and I really will miss them being here during the day. The house will be a little quieter (but not too quiet, as the noisy little guy will still be here), and I have a feeling little R will find me a little less entertaining than his sisters. But we will be back to the time when the highlight of his day is seeing that bus pull up in the afternoon...not only because he LOVES a big yellow bus, but because he knows his sisters will be getting off that bus and the fun will begin!

I know this is a very long post, but I haven't been failing to post for lack of postable events, but rather because I have been so busy living those events that I haven't taken the time to reflect on them. Well, those days are over...let the blogging begin!