SNOW!!!!

We saw A LOT of snow in Germany.  We didn't expect to see much snow once we moved back to Oklahoma, so this was a nice surprise for the kids.  Me, not so much.  I'm not a fan of the snow.  It's wet, it's cold, and it's messy.  But I do enjoy watching my kiddos have fun in it!  And this was Hazel's first snow...and let's just say she was definite fan!!

The view from our front door...several inches of snow!

Little R bundled up and ready to go!

Pretty girl Hazel in the snow.  She LOVED it! 

And now, a video of the fun the kids (and Hazel) had playing in the backyard.  It's a little long (just over 3 minutes), but I promise you, it's worth it!  There are some real gems in this little video.  I still can't watch it without laughing!  These 3 kids (and now this dog) that we share our lives with are something else!  They keep things interesting around here, for sure!  Hope you enjoy it half as much as I did!!

 

 

Celebrating T's 16th Birthday

T had a pretty mellow 16th birthday celebration.  She's not a fan of big parties, and she is still finding her group of friends here in Edmond.

MiMi & PaPa came up the weekend before her birthday.  So we had some hotel swimming, s'mores, and of course gifts!

Then on her actual birthday we went out to dinner, had cake,  and presents, too.

A "jump for joy" for T's 16th!!

She requested a pumpkin pie cake...and said it was delicious! 

I forgot to buy candles, so we had to improvise...

Sweet friends came by to sing Happy Birthday to her, and their son (the king of origami) brought her this sweet paper bow he made.  Thanks Luke, it was one of her favorite gifts!!

The next weekend it was laser tag and frozen yogurt with some more sweet friends!  Fun!!

T, I can't believe you are 16!  It truly seems like yesterday that you were 3 years old, strutting around the house in play heels and pink tutus!!  You are totally different than I ever expected you to be...from pretty, pretty princess ballerina to a t-shirt & holey jean wearing artist rockstar!!  But you amaze me pretty much everyday with your sarcastic wit, your musical and artistic ability, and your intelligence!  You are an amazing girl, and I wouldn't change a thing about you!  Well, okay, maybe the affection for black t-shirts, and maybe the lack of room-cleaning motivation....but not much more than that, really! : )  I love you girl, and no matter what...we've got your back!!

Fall Fun!

We are thrilled to actually have some trees at our current house.  We have one tree in the front yard, and five trees in the back yard.  But while trees are great, they equal work when the leaves start falling.  So we had a day of work/fun raking up and playing in the leaves.  This isn't something the kids have gotten to do very often...for some reason the houses we end up in usually don't have a tree on site!

They raked up a pretty good pile

And then took turns jumping in it!

And now a video, just to show a bit of the character we share our lives with.  No one can ever say this boy doesn't have personality!!  He is a ham!!

Halloween 2013

Halloween was pretty low-key for us this year, as usual.  T dressed up as Darth Vader and stayed here at the house to hand out candy.  Little R and I went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, but after going down a couple of streets, he was done and ready to go back home!  Halloween is a bit creepy for a kid who doesn't like the dark or spiders or ghosts or skeletons...you get the idea! : )  He enjoyed spending the rest of the evening in the front yard handing out candy with T.

A was grounded, and spent the evening inside writing sentences.  But she survived it, even though she thought it was overly cruel punishment!

This was Hazel's first Halloween.  She freaks out when someone comes to the door, so we thought it would be best if T sat outside and handed out candy.  Hazel was not happy!!  She thought all those people were coming to her house to see HER...and she was not happy that she wasn't out there with them!  I finally had to take her on a walk...in the dark...to get some excited energy out of her system.

Cutest little astronaut...EVER!!

Who do you think won this battle?

Pumpkin Carving!

Okay, confession time.  I have been a mother for 16 years, and I've never once carved pumpkins with my kiddoes.  The whole process just doesn't appeal to me, especially the mess!  We have gone to a pumpkin patch almost every year of my kids' lives, and they always pick out a pumpkin, but we just set it up as part of our fall decorations...no carving!

But this year, Little R went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch with school.  He picked out his own little pumpkin.  And this happened to be the very same day R came home from Germany for a visit.  So when Little R got home with his pumpkin, he asked R if they could carve it, and R said yes!  I made them do it outside, but it was a great little activity for them to do together after being apart for so long.

Happy!

Digging out the seeds.  I can't believe our little guy did this part!  He usually doesn't like his hands to be wet or dirty in any way!

Workin' hard

The finished product!

T has wheels!!

We've been shopping for a car for T for a while now...looking for that perfect bargain.

Our budget was pretty low (cash only has a way of doing that)!  We saw several that were just horrible! 

Then we found this one.  A man had inherited it when his father died, and he just didn't have a need for it.  Low miles, been babied by an old man, and a great price!  JACKPOT!!!

I took T when we went and looked at it, and she really liked it.  But of course we had to discuss with Daddy before buying it.  In the next couple of days, I told her we were thinking about it, but it was a big purchase, so we weren't sure...all the while planning to pick it up while she was at school one day.

I parked it in the garage, then went to pick her up at school.  A was here with the video camera, ready to capture the moment.  The plan was to open the garage and A would be there to capture T's first surprised look at her new car.  Well...plans NEVER seem to go as planned...and when we pulled into the driveway, the garage door was already open!! 

But A did get video, even if it wasn't as dramatic as we had hoped! And on a side note, those of you who know T, know that she doesn't really get excited about much...or show much emotion about anything (other than anger toward her siblings..ha), so this response is a big one for her!

I can safely say she was VERY happy!!  And now she has to find a job because our deal is that she must pay for half of the car, along with her own gas and insurance.  Lots of life lessons tied up in this little car!!

Oh, and yes, we name all of our cars...and she has given him the name Morty, in honor of the old man on the Swiffer commercials! : )

Fall Break in Arkansas

For the kids' fall break at school, we loaded up and headed to Arkansas!  For our "city" kids, going to Mimi & PaPa's house is a treat.  They ride the go-kart, play in the dirt pile, drive the tractor, and all kinds of other exploring they just don't get here at home.  They LOVE it!  Little R loves walking down and checking on the shop...not sure why, but he has to do it several times each visit.  It was a great way to spend fall break!  And there's always LOTS of VERY dirty laundry to occupy my time when we return home!

Little R is loaded up and ready to go!

It didn't take the girls long to get the go-kart going.  A even drove it for the first time...which was a very scary experience for T, her passenger!

R's favorite...driving the tractor.  He likes to chase the girls on the go-kart.

We colored T's hair...deep, dark red!

Do you see the smile on little R's face???  Priceless!

Still smilin'

My kids...my heart!  All 3 of them are my greatest blessings and my greatest challenges...wouldn't want it any other way.

MiMi & PaPa with their favorite people in the whole wide world!!

My favorite activity...swinging in their new porch swing!  I love porch swings...but somehow I always live in houses with no porch...therefore, no porch swing!

Thanks for letting us spend our Fall Break with you guys MiMi & PaPa!  We enjoyed every minute of it!

Fall Decorating

Almost ten years ago, we started a tradition of decorating in front of our house for fall.  The first year was a scarecrow and a hay bale in front of our post housing in Virginia.  Each year we decorate, and each year I take a picture of the kids with the decorations.  Tradition.  I like traditions.  Maybe because our lives change so drastically so often, maybe not.  But I like traditions.

The last two years in Germany, I didn't get to do my Fall decorations.  R couldn't find a hay bale the first year, and then the second year I didn't even ask.  So what do you think was first on my list this fall???  Our tradition...reinstated!

The girls planted some pansies.

Hazel's first fall festivities!  She enjoyed being out in the front yard with us.

Finished product!

Losing our first tooth!

Little R lost his first tooth in October!  He was pretty nervous about it coming out, but once we got it out, he was so proud!

And isn't the snaggle-toothed grin just oh-so-cute???

Back to Blogging....R turns 6!!

Happy Birthday Little R!! 

On September 8, we celebrated Little R's 6th birthday.  We were only a couple of weeks into school and he didn't really know his classmates, so we decided not to do a class party.

Instead we chose a party at our neighborhood pool and clubhouse...and prayed the warm weather would stay around! 

Little R hadn't really reconnected with many of his old friends (he was 3 when we left for Germany), but I wanted him to be surrounded by people to celebrate his birthday, so it wouldn't be so obvious that Daddy wasn't there.  So, I sent out an invitation to our Sunday School class, asking them to make an appearance at his little party, to make him feel loved on his birthday. 

And boy, did people make an appearance!!  We had family members drive hours to make his party, and the Sunday School families showed up in huge numbers!  We had a GREAT turnout! He had kids of all ages, and tons of adults, too!  It was a party to remember!!

Little R requested a Ninjago cake from the very beginning, so I started looking for party items.  It didn't take long to discover there were no preprinted Ninjago party items, so we threw together a "do it yourself" Ninjago party!  We actually had fun searching Pinterest for ideas, and putting them all together.  We also had some super fun pool time, and then the Snow Cone truck came!  This was a huge hit for the kids and adults, too!

Ninjas everywhere!

I thought the cake turned out great!

Waiting for the fun to begin...

The snow cone truck...huge hit!

R got the first snow cone, a lei, and a Kona Ice t-shirt.

This was the look on his face most of the day...pure happiness!

Blowing out the candles!!  Whatever you wished for, Buddy, I hope all your wishes come true!

We also requested that the Sunday School friends didn't bring gifts.  Instead we requested donations for our World Vision sponsored child in Ethiopia.  Again, people showed up in a BIG way!  We were able to send an extra gift of $183.00 to Derege in Ethiopia after Little R's party.

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate our little guy!  I say it every year, but he is just such a special part of our family...can't even begin to imagine life without him!