It Appears We Are Still Alive

2012 has been a difficult year.

Here are some highlights of April and May...

 Zane made a lovely sticker story at school that says...

Oh No! Cried Nemo. We're inside a shark! It's okay said the dad, now how do we get out? I have an idea! OK. I know how to get out of this place!

 On the other hand, Avery got in trouble for a terroristic drawing.

The other side was all balloons and happiness, but apparently the teacher did not appreciate her "Happy Died Birthday" side of the card for a fellow classmate! She said the boy it was for thought it was funny. She came home crying worried about my reaction. I laughed and signed the dern thing.

 We finally made it to Edmond's Touch-a-Truck little annual gig. Zane cried wanting to leave at first. The poor kid has always had sensitive ears and one side was full of non-stop honking horns. We went to the other side until our ears got used to it and had a good time.

 We enjoyed the annual mother son cowboy BBQ for the fourth year in a row. We not only did not dress up this year, but apparently we didn't even make it out with an adorable mother son picture. I love my little cowboy and am sad he has now aged out of this activity.

  We finally took the kids to a Redhawks game for the first time in YEARS. Am I the only one who wears pj pants out in public? 

I do get dressed ocassionally...

 My older sister had another little baby boy, but I guess getting a picture of the Five Guy's burger I ate that day was more exciting?

I do indeed love Paxton dearly. I promise. 

Zane graduated Kindergarten!!!

Avery turned into a rubberband...

 and Zane realized he hated Karate, even though he begged to do it for a month. He apparently really hates saying "HU" after every move he makes. Live and learn.

 The kids have become iphone experts... 

and I graduated from Pathways Core Training.

This is a hard but very rewarding program.

 Time is flying...



Happy Easter!!!

It wouldn't be my blog if it weren't a month behind!!

(All photo's courtesy of my non-flash iPhone)

First up: OC Egg Hunt

I had no idea she could hula for thirty minutes non-stop AND look graceful, barely moving her body. I either forgot how or never mastered this trade, as I looked very similar to a fish flopping in the air...

Apparently the kids outgrew their Cars and Hannah Montana Easter buckets five minutes before the egg hunt this year. Turns out Walmart sacks can hold a lot more melting chocolates...

Next up: Austen's church Egg Hunt

Cookie Decorating!!

Zane's Icing Easter Bunny Holding Basket Skills...

Avery's Icing Easter Bunny Holding Basket Skills...

Night Before Easter

Only 2 eggs each this year...

EASTER MORNING!!!

Zane: Tub of Lego's and Snickers Bunny. (That lovely basket is Austen's)

Avery: Art stuff and Snicker's Easter Bunny Zane figured out that a ghost and a bunny head can make a pretty rad Easter Bunny.

Hope yall had a good Easter with much better picture quality!!

Goodbye Grandpa. See you in Heaven!

Going Back a little...

When I came home from Dallas the third weekend of January, I heard my grandpa had fallen and was in the hospital and they didn't expect him to make it much longer. I went to visit him in Tulsa that next day. I was expecting a relaxing Monday of no work and all sleep after an intense sleep deprived 5 days of training where bedtime was no earlier than midnight and as late as 2 to 3am. However, I'm very glad I got to see him alert enough to know it was me. He squeezed my hand and didn't want to let go. He tried talking but it was all just mumbled nonsense. He ended up living two weeks longer and passed away while I was in Dallas the first weekend of February. I came back and went to his funeral that Tuesday.

He is the first grandparent I have lost and I wasn't really ready for it. When Avery was 18 months old I lost my great grandad (my dad's mom's dad). He lived through two wives and the last several times we visited all he would talk about is how he was ready to go Home, so I was ready for him to go. Not to mention, during his funeral Avery had a bad case of diarreah, so I had to change her diaper litteraly every 3 minutes practically missing the entire funeral.

My dad's dad however, was a hard funeral. Funeral slide shows are killers and when my dad got up to talk, I could not stop crying. He was a great grandpa and will be missed.

Here he is with my kiddo's through the years...

For his 80th birthday, Zane really wanted to give him a present. He chose his sling shot. So precious!!

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving 2011

His children. Three biological, and the younger three are his neice and nephews who came to live with them after their parents were killed in a car wreck when they were 3, 6, and 9 years old.

These are all but two of his grandchildren (and one who he gets to see in Heaven) and his 4 great grandchildren.

Thankfully, everyone was able to see him at least once in a semi-coherent state where they felt he recognized they were there. What a blessing for us and him.

The boys worked outside getting the leaves and gumballs out of the backyard to help my grandma out

This was not easy for me, but it's so much easier to say goodbye knowing 100% where he is right now. Can't wait to see him again one day.

It's been a crazy last 4 months...

January

Wes's dad came to visit, so we had all the cousins from OK come over. We had A LOT of Just Dance competitions. Even Mario and I battled off...I think I won!!Zane will not go anywhere without his Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and journal...

Girl time!!

Morgan, Levi, Mario"Abbie", Avery, Zane, Austen. They sure are some cute kids!! The end of January was my boss's big 71st birthday so we threw him a little surprise party!! He's still working 6:30am-6:30pm everyday and 6:30am-12:00 on Saturdays. He's crazy healthy.

February

The first weekend I was in Dallas and got to dress up for a Valentines themed P-Party where I dance a lot and saw a lot of people sweat! Good times. For my outfit, I sewed little hearts all over my jeans. I am pictured with the sweetest miracle ever. Then there was the gormet Valentine's breakfast of a strawberry banana protein smoothie and cinnamon sugar toast shaped like a heart! I didn't get a chance to make Avery a cute Valentines outfit :( I decided to go all out and get a big tattoo of my Pathways (The program I've been going to in Dallas) contract. They play the song The Rose before we are done for the evening, so that is why I chose a rose. The writing says "I'm a strong proud loving woman joyful and worthy of God's plan" It's big, but I LOVE IT! It was 3 hours of crazy pain though...

Then it was Avery's first real Level 4 gymnastics meet with a lot of people watching, judges, scores, and awards only given to the top scorers. She was sooooo nervous. She did great though.Her best score was on floor with an 8.50...

Here are some of her little gymnast friends. She looks pretty happy here, but five minutes later she realized she didn't get a single award except for a pair of toe socks that everyone got! She was devastated and cried, but she competed against like 30 girls in her age group. I sure had fun watching!! March

Avery's 2nd and last meet of the season. Sadly, I was in Dallas and the video camera got left but thankfully EVERYONE got a trophy so she was happy!!!

We all went to the science museum and watched our first movie inside the omnidome. It was Tornado Alley. Really neat. Avery and I also built the tallest structure using only 30 straws!! I really wanted to make a St. Patricks Day outfit for Avery but I only had time for a peg doll necklace and matching flip flops. I realized after school that it looks better with a black thick ribbon behind the green and pink ribbon, so I added that after she got home! The blurry poor lit before school pic!Z-man got some little sore that he wouldn't leave alone...so it turned into leprosy...yuck...Thankfully it's almost gone after 10 days of medicine!

The kids went to GG and PaPa's for Spring Break which it ended up raining the whole time over there, but it looks like they got some girl time in! Avery has gotten so good at doing nails...

When I got the kiddos back, we decided to paint! The kids painted their pictures and I painted random colors around their pictures since I don't like seeing white canvas!! I probably should have let them do that part, but I was worried Zane would mess up his masterpiece by trying to paint in between the cute little fingers he gave Mario and Luigi!! Can't wait to hang them up in the art room. After painting I decided to grab a shirt of Avery's that had a little stain on it and throw a chocolate bunny on it to get into the Easter spirit. I probably shouldn't sew in poor lighting because purple yarn can look brown...oh well...at least she had cute toes...We then decided to play at the park since the weather was awesome. I can't believe we have not taken any snow pictures or eaten snow ice cream this year. We never even had a winter. I'm Ok with that. I love this weather!!