Four Camps in June!!!

CHURCH CAMP!!

Right after school ended, we dropped the kids off at Camp Rock Creek for their very first camp experience!

 Zane had his cousin and a backwards green tshirt and Avery had her accessories. I kid you not, she packed a headband, bow, and necklace for every outfit!!

While they were gone, we lost power at home from a tornado, making me a tad worried. I received a text informing me they were just fine thank goodness! They had a blast!!

CAMP SING-A-LOT!!

Avery had a good time going to day camp everyday for a week. I have misplaced the fun CD of all the pictures, but here she is with the CEO of camp!!

Click here for proof she has not yet decided if she's alto or soprano!!

OU GYMNASTICS CAMP!!

Avery BEGGED to go to camp with her friend this summer. They stayed in a dormroom by themselves...

 with this OU gymnast monitoring their hall...

 The evenings they had fun doing a talent show...

 swimming and deocrating their door...

but the rest of the day it was just gymnastics. Apparently she doesn't love doing gymnastics 6 hours a day. She said she will not go back!! I'm glad I had to sell an organ in order to pay the tuition...I guess I can rest in peace knowing I won't have to do that again!

Her favorite part of camp was this...

Click to see Avery Dance. Back Center.

GOLF CAMP!!

Avery was not excited about this, but Wes is convinced he'll create a daughter with a full ride college scholarship...

She makes a cute fashionable golfer that's for sure!

There was only 2 days in June that Avery didn't have something going on...not sure what we were thinking...

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.