Rewards!!!

Sometimes the reward for cleaning something out is worth the hard work.

PaPa is Here

What a fun weekend we have had so far. We knew that PaPa was coming but we just thought it was for the weekend. What a fun surprise to know that he will be here until Thursday morning. The kids were so exited to see him when they woke up this morning.

We were given some tickets to the "Oklahoma Yarddogz" football game. The kids had a good time which of course included drinks, snow cones, cotton candy and a milk shake. They enjoyed the food more than the game.

We are looking forward to spending some fun time with PaPa.

Cooper Sleeps

For a couple of weeks now we have been trying to get Cooper "potty trained" through the night. We set our alarm throughout the night get him up and take him.

He is a such sound sleeper that it is almost impossible to wake him up no matter what we do. One time Chris picked him up by his feet and held him upside down. We thought that surely that would wake him up but no. He continued to sleep. As you can see from this picture, he did not want to wake up to go to the bathroom last night. He just leaned over on the dirty clothes basket and continued sleeping.

I guess he did not want to be disturbed.





We will keep trying.

Did He Really Just Say That?

Well, VBS started this week. Needless to say I am already tired.

This morning the roofers came and started on our roof. For those of you who don't know...while we were on vacation in May there was a hail storm and it messed up our roof. We are getting a new one put on today. I am so excited. I have never been very fond of our "white" shingles roof. More on this later.

The noise was quite loud. We spent the afternoon at my parents house and after a quick bite at our noisy home we decided to run some errands. We went to Target (my all time favorite) and then to the mall. Well, as we are walking into the mall, Christopher was holding the doors. I'm not sure exactly what I was doing but I think I was pretending that the door had hit me.

OK...Are you ready for this...

My sweet 6 year old little boy looked at me and said, (I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS) "You are embarrassing me." Can you believe he told me that. He was smiling & Chris thought it was funny. I think that Christopher was amused by my reaction because he said it a couple more times.

He is so funny...getting SO tall...and eating us out of house and home.

I'm Inspired...maybe.

Well, I got my sewing machine fixed and even though I have a couple projects going already I decided to put the machine to good use.

My friend over at "Outside the Camp" made her girls these darling dresses for easter. They are called pillow case dresses. So I decided to try to make one for my girls. Well, they are not as cute as my friends but for my first try I think they turned out OK. It's hard to tell from the picture but it is a "Mary Engelbreit" print on an ice blue background with cherries.

Kaityn Mae's will be next. We'll see. Maybe they can wear them Sunday. Maybe.

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for the flowers my kids brought me this morning. They were so excited and were proud of them. I am proud of them too.

Kaityn Mae

Kaityn Mae turned 16 months old today. She is such a little cutie. She thinks she is big. This is just some of the things she is doing these days.

TALKING...

"bubba" - Christopher
"Poopa" - Cooper
"MaMa"
"DaDa"
"Tatoo" - Thank You
"BaPa" - Backpack - I guess we watch "Dora the Explorer" too much
"Uh Uh" - Blanket
"Mah" - Maddy (My parents dog...or any dog)
"Boo" - Peek-a-Boo
"Bah" - Bath (anytime she hears this word, she stops what she is doing and heads to
the bathroom
"NighNigh" - Good night. If she is real tired she will bring us her blanket, we'll
pick her up and take her to bed...no fussing.

She can make the sound of a dog, cow and can imitate the sound when you say "I love you", and she can make some of the meanest faces. If she does not like what is going on you definately know.

She is developing her own personality. She DOES NOT LIKE IT if I am reading a book to any of the others and SHE is not in my lap. She does not like to share. There has been alot of screaming and grunting noises lately when it comes to toys.

Kaityn is very sweet though. She loves her "bubba" (probably more than any of the others). If he is laying on the floor, she likes to be right by him or on him. Last night he got hurt and was crying she walked over to him and put her arm on him and just leaned over on him. It was the CUTEST thing ever.


She is a little girl. She loves purses and shoes (any shoes). She usually has a purse or some sort of bag on her arm. When I get her dressed in the morning if I don't put shoes on her she will bring me a pair or take me by the finger to her closet and point up to her shoes and grunt.

What a blessing she is.

Brady & Cooper

Last night and today Cooper has had a friend over named Brady. His Mom went on a mission trip with our church so he spent the night with us. He is an active little boy so I knew with three active boys it could be chaotic at our house but they could go play in the backyard.

Well, we woke up this morning to rain, thunder & lightning. So the three active boys are running around the inside of the house with guns chasing each other. They are guarding a "cowboy restaurant". They are having a great time though and are being pretty good.

It is always fun to see my kids interact with their friends. This is just another reminder to me that my kids are growing up and so fast.

Christopher's Accident

Christopher has calmed down enough to where I could take a picture of his "boo boo" and tell the story.

He was doing so well riding by himself...he learned VERY quickly so Chris took Kaibryn into the street and let Christopher ride with them. Well, Christopher has not yet learned to use his brakes. His way of stopping is to run into something...whether it is a rose bush or a parked car. This one particular time he did not use his brakes and ran into the side of a large trailer. I was up in the yard with the younger two and noticed Chris running and then pulling off Christopher's shirt and holding it next to his face. Of course, Christopher was screaming. I had Cooper sit down on the grass and I took Kaityn and went down the street a little bit to help her get herself and her bike out of the street. It was crazy. Chris said or spelled, "It is b-a-d."

When we got inside Kaibryn went to the drawer to get a towel, got some ice, Christopher's blanket and one of his stuffed animals. She did this all on her own without us asking her to. It was very sweet. She was very concerned about him. We put ice on Christopher's eye and came to the conclusion that no stitches were needed (thank you Lord). He was worried about how it looked. We just reassured him that this "boo boo" meant that he was a little boy. All little boys gets cuts, bruises, scrapes. It just means that he was tough. That seemed to help him feel better. I don't know, maybe the fact that he got to stay up later and have ice-cream while everyone else was sleeping made him feel better.

Later on that night Chris said that he was impressed that I stayed calm. It is only by the grace of God that happened. "I come from a long line of over-reactors." (line from "Father of the Bride"). I wanted to scream on the inside especially when I saw Chris take Christopher's shirt off.

We all survived and he is not so concerned about his "boo boo" today. I'm sure this is not the last time that something like this will happen. (I'm just glad Chris was home) :)

Fabulous Friday Favorites

Glad we are back to doing this. I have gotten some good ideas.

The product I chose for today is "Terro Ant Bait". About a month ago we had a TERRIBLE ant problem. They were everywhere and in every room. At one point it was hard to imagine that there were any ants outside because they were so many inside our house. We got these and within 4 or 5 days we started seeing results. The ants eat the bait and take it back to their "home" and the queen ant (?) eats it and the colony begins to die...how sad...not really. And now I can say that we are ALMOST ant free. Every now and then we will see one or two. This product works. The only bad thing is that you have to clean around the bait traps because ants will just kick the bucket right there. I can handle it though. It's easier to get rid of dead ants than those

Thankful Thursday!!!

Once again "Thankful Thursday" is almost over and I am posting at the last minute.

I love my family. Chris came home tonight and we cooked out on the grill and ate outside. Afterwards, Chris took the training wheels off of the kids bikes and we played in the front yard. It was so much fun...until Christopher rode his bike into a trailer and cut his eye. I will post pictures later...christopher is still pretty emotional right now. I am thankful that we did not have to go to the emergency room and I am thankful that we have fun being together at home...we don't have to go anywhere.

Here are some pictures of the kids I took tonight. They are SO cute if I might say so myself.

Big News for Christopher

He can ride his bike by himself with no training wheels...I'll show pictures of the boo boo later.

Happy Birthday Grandad!!!!

We hope you have a great day. We love you!!!!!!

Cooper...Cooper...Cooper...

He can have fun doing anything. Right now as I am typing this he is in his room cleaning it BY HIMSELF because he did not help his brother and sister.

Realize, he is supposed to be in trouble.

Well...he is in his room...sorda cleaning...and at the TOP OF HIS LUNGS he is singing,

"All God's children singing
glory, glory, Hallelujah, He reigns, He reigns"

OVER & OVER & OVER

Funny kid...at least I know he is hearing something in church.

Happy Anniversary

Today, Chris and I celebrate being married for 8 years. Many things have changed in those eight years...we have moved 3 (Chris says 4) times, had a job change, had 4 children, owned 3 cars, have gained and lost several pounds, & many others.

They have been 8 great years. Chris is a hard worker and strives to do the best he can in all he does. He loves the Lord and loves the students that he has been blessed to work with. He is a great Dad...patient, loving, rough, gentle, kind, FUN and so much more.

He is a great husband. Willing to help do anything. This past weekend I went to a baby shower and when I got home the house was clean, laundry was going & he was replacing some hardware in our kitchen and laundry room. He is always telling me that he loves me and reminds me that what I do is important and it does make a difference. I have been blessed with so much. When I would think of who my husband might be and what marriage was like I NEVER expected it to be like this. I have been blessed more than I could have ever dreamed or imagined.

"This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in (my) our eyes."

Chris,
I love you more than you will ever know and more than I could ever express in words or actions. You are such a blessing to me and example to me. Thank you for how you are always seeking to do right. Thank you for seeing the best in me when all I see are the faults. Thank you for being such an example of Christ's love. I am blessed to be your wife. To think that God chose me out of all the women in the world to walk with you and be by your side is amazing. I pray that this year I will be a prized jewel to you & I pray that you will be able to say that you have found a "good thing." I look forward to the next years ahead.
My heart is yours!!!!!

I'm NOT old!!! :)

I was just talking to the kids about how after lunch we can go outside and play in the sprinkler PaPa and Grana got them. They asked if I would play with them...they would show me how.

Kaibryn asked, "Mommy, did the instructions say it was OK for old people?"

Wind Storm 2008

I opened up our blinds this morning and noticed something missing...our swimming pool.



This is where it normally is.





This is where it ended up...over our fence.


It did not have water in it (obviously)...that's our project this weekend. That must have been some wind to pick it up and carry it over our fence and turn it upside down.

Peace & Quiet...SCARRY!!!!

I was checking e-mail...knew Christopher was outside playing...where are the other three...it is WAY too quiet...



Kaibryn is reading them a book...HOW CUTE IS THAT!!!!!!



It's Monday and we (as usual) had a busy weekend. I had a wedding shower and Chris worked HARD on our yard. He is such a hard worker and it looks great. He was able to finally kill some ANNOYING grass.

We also cooked out on the grill. We had pork-ka-bobs. I know they were good because he went on and on about them. I took a picture because they were so pretty.



Hope everyone has a good week. We are having some friends over for dinner tonight and getting ready for a visit from Grana. It will be fun!!!!