Our trip to Tulsa....

When I got to G-ma and G-pa's house on Saturday night....boy were the kids excited to see me and their sister!!!! They were so hyper!!


On Sunday morning, we went to church. Of course, about 5 minutes before leaving, I realized I could not find M's white sandals. I knew I had put them in the bag, but they were not there. Argh! So, M and I made a detour at 8:30am to Wal-Mart to buy shoes. I was not going to bring her in hot-pink, dirty Croc knock-offs with her pretty dress!! Was NOT going to happen!!! So, I did arrive at Sunday School late. Oh well, would you really expect that I would be on time?!?!

But, wow! What a great day! During Sunday School, we saw a Beth Moore movie. Wow...if you've never heard her....you should read one of her books...Well, within 4 minutes I was in tears. Just as I walked in late, she was talking about being held hostage by things in our past....Wow! Can you say this lesson was meant for ME!

Then, the preacher's message was also very good, except I got paged by the nursery in the middle of it, because M was crying her eyeballs out! Poor sweet angel! She was brave at first, but that faded away into panic of "where's my mommy?" But, she did pretty good.

I saw my old youth sponsors, Steve and Sonja B. I love them!!! Sonja updated me on their girls, who are 21 and 25 now. (that is just wrong! I changed both of those girls' diapers!!!!!) Just seeing them brings back such good memories...memories that are very close to my heart!! I seriously love these people...they are fantastic!!! I also saw so many people that are important to me and have known me since I was a little girl. Such love there. And I was super excited to see a friend of mine, Jennifer, who went to college w/ me. I got to see her adorable daughter, Camden, who is close in age to Marinne. It was so good to hug her and I was sad to hear she's going thru a divorce....Jen....call me if you need someone to listen.....((hugs))

Anyway, several people mentioned after seeing my kids how much they looked like me (and Ike, too) but I was surprised how many time I heard that Marinne looks like my mom. That warmed my heart.

Speaking of Marinne.....



Grampa wanted this picture.....
...it's not great, as the camera battery was dying and it only let me take this one....but he loved her hair in the double ponytail, so he asked me to take this picture.

On Monday, I took L and J to see their friends A and R. They all went to school together. We have gotten together every summer since we moved. We spent the day in the pool and even though it rained/sprinkled about 5 times while we were there...they still had a blast! A and R have a little sister who is 4 months younger than M and she goes off the diving board. So, you guessed it, M was going off the diving board after seeing A do it! And these tiny girls did this like 25 times each. As A warmed up to me, she wanted me to catch her off the board and she started calling me "other mommy." Isn't this cute?!?! I can't believe how brave these little girls are!!!


Here they are....minus R and M. R was getting kinda grumpy and M had already gotten out of the pool and was having a snack. There was no way she was going to give up fruit snacks for our picture!!

I snapped this one poolside, while she ate fruit snacks. I changed it to B/W because her suit is pale pink and the floaties are bright orange!

Doesn't she look so sweet?!


On Tuesday night, I was so happy to be able to see our oldest couple friends...the Warwicks.....you see, we go WAY, WAY BACK!!! And I seriously love this FAMILY!!!! All 4 of them!!!!

So, the dad....Matt and I met and dated for a few weeks over the Summer of 1990 at Oklahoma State University. He's a great guy. But he's Catholic and I wasn't, so it just wasn't meant to be. (plus I'm a little too high maintenence for him!!!) But, we remained friends as the years went by....tied together by a love of Melrose Place. Over the years, he met my hubby and they became friends. And I was quite busy trying to set him up on dates w/ my friends. But, he could not seem to find the right girl and the wrong girls always seemed to find him....

Then, one day, Erica was brought into my life, by circumstances that were unfortunate for both she and I. But, nevertheless, we formed a bond and became good friends. And as I got to know her...I realized, she had a LOT in common with my good buddy Matt. So, I got them together over a movie and they hit it off.

Fast forward over a decade and they are married with 2 kids and still our best friends.......and I miss them sooooo much....
and I love them even more!!!

So, everytime we get to visit.....we try to snap a pic of the kids so we can see how much they've changed and grown.

Here's the June 2007 version:

Logan 11, Jensen 8 1/2, Danny 8 1/2 (5 weeks apart,) Marinne 2 1/2, Josh 5 and Griffin 4 1/2.


Except for the sudden departure....the visit was fantastic. We spent a bunch of time just hanging out, which is what I love the best. Oh, and I started reading a Beth Moore book that my step mom has graciously loaned to me, so I could finish reading it.

Self-Portrait Thursday?

Well, I took it on Tuesday, like the "rules" state. I just didn't have access to post it until today!


I guess I'll really have to try to take the pic and post it on TUESDAY.....next week!!!!

I'm BACK.....

Got the kids...they had a great time! The big boys *loved* church camp! They had a blast and they say they want to go back next year.....

Once I finally left, I decided to stay a few days. We had a really nice visit! Now G-ma and G-pa have to use this week to recover!!! I had planned to come home on Wednesday, but Ike had a late meeting scheduled, so we weren't in a hurry.

(TMI alert for coming passages.....but I just tell you like it is.....)

Until....Ike called at about 1:30pm with a scared voice. He was passing blood in his urine and he was freaked out! For once, I was pretending to be "the calm one" and I urged him not to worry, it was probably a urinary tract or bladder or kidney infection. But, he was still freaking... and actually, so was I. (of course, I didn't tell him that I was freaking.....I just calmly told him how to look up what Minor Emergency Center he could go to and gave him the insurance information he needed.) Poor guy had a fever and felt raunchy to boot! (and I wasn't here to be with him....)

So, I quickly got upgraded to "we are in a hurry to get home" status. My step mom started shoving the kids things in bags and I was dragging stuff to the front door. My dad and the kids started carrying it out, while I met them outside to carefully cram everything in the van. It's a jumbled up mess at this point!!! But, we got out of there pretty quick....

Before we could even leave town, I had to get gas. And I had to use the facilities, because my stomach was so messed up! (Don't you hate it when you get so worried that your bowels betray you?) Thank God I had to drive across Tulsa before leaving town and they sold 7-up!

Anyways, we came blazing home (to the tune of 4 hours) and found Big Daddy laid up in bed. He has a horrid UTI and that's so weird, because men rarely get them. But, the dr. says his is BAD! Poor Guy!!! And as an added bonus they gave him a prostate exam. Can you imagine, that would be bad enough, but to have to have one when you feel like dookie....not cool! I felt real sorry for him and boy was he glad we were home.

Luckily, the doc gave him the nuclear bomb anti-biotic and he was already feeling a tiny bit better.

I put the 2 littles to bed at 8pm and the 2 bigs to bed at 8:30pm and Big Daddy and I were in bed by 9pm. We were all exhausted! Gosh, we are OLD!!!

So....how was your weekend?!?!

I'm off to get my kids.....

....and I've decided to stay in Tulsa a day or two. So, I'll be leaving the computer at home. Too much hassle for a girl like me.....

Talk to you all REAL soon!

xoxoxo

rox

I've been tagged by Amber! (thanks a lot!)

now- I need to tag some people. Ok-

Lisa, Amanda, Jamie, and Roxy...... let's see em girls!!

7 random facts about me....

1. When I got one of these "tags" I sit and obsess for the first 30 minutes about how to give you guys the most clever, witty and truthful answers and I worry you will judge me if I reallllly tell the truth.

2. I am TERRIBLE about picking, chewing and pulling at my cuticles. And they usually look like crap. And the more stressed I am, the worse they look.

3. I used to be a sorority girl. Big bows. Plaid clothes. As big daddy would say....I rolled in the posies and cried w/ my sisters. And I LOVED every dang minute of it.

4. I don't think I will ever teach school again. I just don't want to go back and give the best I have to other people's kids. I think I would be a seriously bad mother to my own kids. Maybe not, though.

5. I'd love to be a labor/delivery nurse, but its the needles that I just don't know if I could deal with.

6. Seriously, I still think about having babies, even though I am TOTALLY DONE with that. But, it does make me sad every time I think about being DONE. (I know, I'm insane.) (and Stacy...no comments from the peanut gallery...but it's because of nurses like you, that make me want to do #5....Thanks and hugs!)

7. I can "hold it" like FOREVER. Sometimes I even surprise myself when I think I "need to go" and like 4- 6 hours later...I still haven't gone. Sometime dragging all these kids into a public b/room w/ me ....just isn't worth it....kwim?

So...there you have it....NOW I TAG:

Sherry P.
Beth
Elizabeth
Kerry
Nikki
Karen

Tell us 7 random facts about you!!!!

THIS is where I am going......

WOO HOO!!!! That's all I have to say about that!!!!!!

FYI.....

I HAVE OVER 2000 HITS ON MY BLOG!!!!

WOWZA!!!!

(now if I could only get all you readers to comment
ALL THE TIME!!!!)

Anyone wanna guess what my birthday present was??????

And, no Jamie...it wasn't a pushup bra!!! Smarty pants!

First Crush....

This is Logan and Loghan.
Loghan used to live next door until 3 weeks ago.
Loghan is Mike's (Logan's best friend) cousin.

Logan had never shown much interest in girls...until Loghan. He's had a little crush on her. And she has a little crush on Logan.

Mike told Logan that Loghan wrote " I love Logan" in her diary. (so sweet!) They are really just friends. They like to swim together. They like to "chat" on the computer. They don't talk on the phone or anything. Since she moved, they haven't seen each other for about 2 weeks.

She's a sweet girl. She goes to a private Catholic school and she's one grade behind Logan in school. I'm sure it will be for short-lived.

But for now....it's very sweet.

Logan + Loghan =
ACCKKKKK!!!! I HAVE A PRE-TEEN!!!!!

Happy Father's Day, Big Daddy!!

See this guy.....he's probably the best daddy you can find out there!!!! We are so lucky to have him!!!
He changes diapers. (yep, even poopies)
He bathes children.
He wipes bottoms and noses.
He plays in the floor with them.
He wrestles with them.
He tries to teach them lessons.
He reads books to them.
He plays PS2 with them.
He helps them build things.
He hugs and kisses them.
He builds them a swingset.
He tells them he loves them.
He prints pictures of each of them and puts them on the wall in his office, so he can see them while he's at work.
He works hard to provide a good living.
He loves their momma.

All in all...he's a pretty great daddy!

Happy Fathers Day, Daddy!!!!
We love you so very much!!!!

PEACE and QUIET

That's what we have at our house.....
PEACE and QUIET!

The big boys went to church camp with their cousins and uncle Randy in Arkansas. Griff went home with Gramma and Grampa. The only child we have here is Marinne, who seems to be having some anxiety about being here alone. She is GLUED to me....freaking out if I walk out of the room and especially losing it when I went to my appointment earlier, while daddy came home to watch her. She is shunning daddy in favor of me. As much as I love that she wants/needs me....it is stressing me just a little and I hate it that she's hurting daddies feelings. Luckily, he takes it all in stride. She is such a 2yr old!

We go to Tulsa this weekend to pick them up....
...so until then....
PEACE and QUIET!!!!

What's Been Up around here!!!

Logan requested his birthday dinner be at Texas Roadhouse. Man, that's some good eating!!!!And naturally, they embarrassed him by throwing him up on a saddle and making everyone say Happy B-day "cowboy" style....
YEE-HAW!!!!!!!

Meanwhile...we had swim lessons on Monday-Thursday for the past 2 weeks.

When I scheduled the lessons, I had no idea the place was a 25 minute drive from our house!!!



I was very concerned about Griffin, after all, he hadn't even successfully gotten into the pool at home before lessons started. Every single time....he would change his mind about getting in the pool...saying, "but Mom, I don't know how to swim!" I kept telling him that's what swim lessons are for.

When it came right down to it...he did great! He worked really hard and never showed any signs of fear. (of course the water is like 2 feet deep)



He made some new friends, learned how to float and is now much more relaxed about water getting on his face, even though he still doesn't really like it.

Here's the Red Cross, Level One swim lesson graduate...

...how adorable is he?!

Here's Logan taking his exam for Level 3.... you had to do the front crawl for 30 yards.

<-----------------

Then, tread water for 3o seconds...

--------->
Then, finish up with swimming the backstroke for 30 yards back to the starting point.

Dang....that's hard!!!!

Here's Jensen at the pool.....

Now, it's Jensen's turn....

...30 yards of front crawl,

<------

30 seconds of treading water.......

------->
And 30 yards of backstroke
back to the starting point....

Just typing that makes me tired!

Both boys successfully did it! Yay!!!
Then they celebrated by doing this........

Jensen!

Logan!!


Then, they did this.........

Jensen!

Logan!!

Now, we just have Marinne's private lessons. (and the big boys now want to take more lessons, so they'll do private lessons as well. Thank goodness that it's only a mile from our house!!)

-------------------------------------------------------

BIRTHDAY PARTY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Logan wanted a luau, so that's what we did! I think it turned out pretty cute!!! The towels on the left were the goody bags! No cheesy crap toys and candy from this mom!!!!!

With me behind the camera....Big Daddy was forced to be the hostess and cut and serve the cake!!! Nice hat, Big Daddy!!!!

Funny thing about this cake......Walmart screwed it up!!! My MIL picked it up for us...so she didn't know. They gave her a plate that the cake was supposed to match and after seeing that it matched and that it said, "Happy 11th Birthday, Logan!" she paid for the cake and left. So, when I saw the plate....I knew what had happened before I even saw the cake....I knew it WAS WRONG!!!!! (why does this crap always happen to me?!) I was determined to try not to freak out, though. So, frightened, I peeked into the cake box. Thank Goodness......at least it wasn't girly and that the colors were at least similar to all our Hawaiian stuff!!!!!!!! But, I bet there was a really PO'd mom when she picked up a Hawaiian cake that was supposed to be polka dotted!!!! I bet she seriously had a cow in the Walmart!!

Here's the gang: Logan, Mike (his best friend), Loghan (the crush....more on this to follow), Jensen, Griffin, Olivia (Griffin's crush), and Chase! Aren't they a great looking group?!?!?!

Logan had a great time and the weather was definately hot and perfect for a pool party!!!! I was so happy to see him so happy!

Self-Portrait Tuesday

On Saturday.....FINALLY!!!! It took me a few days of thinkin', but I finally figured out what I did w/ the camera upload cord

This is me at On The Border for my birthday dinner!!!!

Anybody want to know what my birthday present is?!?!?!


In other News:

Logan's Birthday Luau is today! Big pool party w/ a cookout and all the birthday festivities. Lots to do to get ready.........

The boys are all goin' home w/ Grampa and Gramma! WOO HOO!!!! A major break for Momma and Daddy!!!!! L and J will be going to church camp w/ Uncle Randy and their 2 cousins from Sunday to Tuesday. Then, they will all be with G and G until the weekend when we come down!!!
I have A TON to do to get them READY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN!!!!

I can't believe this kid is ELEVEN!!!!!!!!And I love the stuffin' out of him!!!!!!!!

Self-Portrait Tuesday

Ummmm.....yeah. Ok, I took the pic at my birthday dinner last night, but I can't find the dang cord to upload it. (that's what I get for not putting it where it belongs!!!)

Maybe I'll find it tonight......

R

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO......

ME!!!!

By Special Request....

Here are my 2 latest layouts.......

Lovin' this Daisy D's paper!!!!


This page is a perfect example of how you can take paper from 1976 and scraps and make it look cute!!! These pics were a booger to match because of all the weird jumble of colors, but I think it turned out pretty ok.


What do you think????

A FANTASTIC VISIT....

These are the adventures of
Sherry and Roxann


(isn't that the most AWESOME picture....it was a self-portrait!)


So...on Friday, we watched tv in bed all morning and then spent the afternoon in the pool. Due to the children being there....I did not bring the camera out to the pool. For the record, the water was freezing, but we very much enjoyed laying out by the pool!!!


On Saturday, Big Daddy was on kid duty and the Mommies went out with a LONG to-do list!!!!


First we hit the local scrapbook store so Sherry could check it out and so we could take advantage of a Buy 10, Get 5 FREE Sale on Bazzill cardstock! Awesome!!!

<----Here's Sherry matching color to the prints we bought at Archiver's.









So, I walk in and near the front door, what do I spot?!

MORE ...... Love, Elsie!!!!


Now, I know your thinking...hmmm, that's not surprising. Well, actually
IT IS!!!!!


You see.....if you remember, this is the lss that I unfairly was screwed over at regarding a job.

(no, I'm not bitter....really)

So, anyway, not long after I got to town and after I began trying to get a job at this lss....I inquired with the owner whether or not she was getting the entire Love, Elsie line. When I asked her...I was shocked by her response.
She said, "Who's Elsie??"

Excuse Me?!!!

Who's Elsie? Are you kidding me?

So, I kindly replied, "You've never heard of Elsie Flannigan?!" Her: nope. "Well, Elsie Flannigan is one of the most up-in-coming, hip, hot designer and scrapbook artists right now. You've never seen her book?" Her: what book? "Her book 52 Scrapbooking Challanges." Her: nope, never heard of it.


Me: seriously floored!!

How can she be a store owner and not know who Elsie Flannigan is?! (I think somewhere during this conversation she realized that I would be a good hire...that I know stuff and I could be useful to them.)

So, when I saw an entire rack of the Love, Elsie stuff....I started cracking up!!!! I knew that the only reason they had this was because of ME!!!!
(and I bought mine at Archiver's!!! Ha ha ha!!!!)


And she tells me they only got a partial order...just this one line. The rest is coming soon!!!!!
(probably because they didn't order until SUPER LATE.....after I told them about it!!!!

After we finished our shopping, we decided to get some lunch. We went to a new place called Red Robin.

<----It was cool! They had a tv IN the floor right inside the door, right below this:

------>
This should have been my first clue of what was to happen to me a later, after we finished our hamburgers!

These are the BIGGEST hamburgers I have ever seen at a restaurant. So, of course, we had to take a silly picture! (even w/ my big mouth....this thing was wayyyyy too big!)


And they even had this SUPER YUMMY sauce for the steak fries called Campfire Sauce. O my gosh, was it delish!!! (it's a bbq sauce and mayo mixture)


So, anyway, after we finished, we were sitting there and I was wondering where our cutie waiter was......and I look over and here they come! All I could say was, "Oh, crap!" But they were already on their way over!


So, they sang. They tied balloons on my head, like giant pink/yellow ears.

I was embarrassed.

But, I got a fudge sundae, so I was happy.

So, wanna guess where our adventures took us after lunch?!?


The CASINO!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!

Sherry and I both must have the "gambling" gene. It's really hard for me to stop, especially if I am having good luck! Sherry says that she loves the kids game where you put tokens in and try to knock the tokens off the shelf and win them. She says she'll blow thru tokens and be beggin' Doug to buy her more! She just can't stop.


So, we both agreed, we'd only go in with a set amount of money and NO MORE. We didn't take the ATM cards, credit cards or anything else. In advance, we had agreed on $30. Well, the cash we had, turned out to be $26.00 each...so that's what we took.

So, we head towards the door both of us excited!!!


So the security guards at the door? We got ID'd!!!!
Hilarious!!! I am going to be
38 in 2 days (3 days, then) and WE got ID'd!!!!


So we got inside and Sherry was in AWE! She had never seen anything like it!!! When we saw the cash machines, they had stickers that said... "Got a gambling problem? Need help? Call 1-800-gambler." We cracked up! (i know, i know....it's not funny! But, I seriously thought about programming it into my phone just in case!)


She couldn't believe that all the drinks were free. They have waitresses who bring you drinks or a soda fountain where you can get all you want! The only drawback at the casino...the cigarette smoke.


We decided to do slots first. Since I have some experience, Sherry wanted me to go first. We walked around until I found my FAVORITE slot machine called Haywire! It's such a blast!! And within about 20 minutes....I had gone from $26 to $54!!! Woo Hoo!


Unfortunately the Slot Machine wasn't quite as nice to Sherry. It continued to unfairly steal her money. Meanie machine!!!


We decided to take a break and walk around and check things out. Then...we found the ROULETTE WHEEL. Now, I have to tell you....I absolutely love the ROULETTE WHEEL!!! Sherry was intrigued, but a little apprehensive, so she wanted to watch me play. Well, I managed to win, win and WIN some more! Yea, ME!!! I played about 2 hours and ended up with about $180. But, I kept playing. (like an idiot!) But, I made a goal in my head that I wouldn't go below $100, so I walked away with that! (still pretty good...doubled my money two separate times!!!)

It was soooo fun!!!! (Even Sherry had fun enjoying my win!)

All in all, we had an excellent visit. I was so happy to have these days together...I have missed Sherry so much! I am so glad we have remained close! I hope I get to see her again real soon!!!! Thanks for coming, Sherry!!! I love ya!


(Ironically....we did not stamp AT ALL!!! And that's what we do!! We played with all the stuff we bought and I finished a page I was working on before Sherry got here!)

So....I picked Sherry up at the airport......

And I wanted to make sure she wasn't hungry....so I took her to one of the most fantastic Mexican restaurants I know of... Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy. Sure, I know the name is "cheesy," and lucky for us....so is the food! Mmmmm, good!! We absolutely stuffed ourselves on the most divine Mexican eats and left completely satisfied!


This picture of us is in front of Abuelo's and the Kansas wind did not dissapoint....it is WINDY today. Wind gusts to 40-50 mph! Can you believe that?! Insanely wild winds! So....after we finished eating....we set out to find.....

(drumroll, please!)

Neither Sherry or I have ever been to an Archiver's before. It's only been something we both had wanted to do FOREVER! We were beside ourselves excited!!!!

<------- This is us in front of Archiver's! Aren't we cute?!

Let the SHOPPING begin!!!

--------->
Here is Sherry at the beginning of our MARATHON SHOPPING SPREE!!




Things were going great and we were plugging right along, when we spotted something that made us REALLY EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You guessed it!!!!

Love, Elsie!



(if you haven't seen it....it's fantastic! There are three lines and one of them is named ROXIE, so of course, it's FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!! And yes, I bought the whole line!!!

So, get your butt to Savannah Scrapbooking and get it before it's all gone!!!!! Jamie expects it to arrive this weekend!!!!!)

For the record, I spent $157 and Sherry spent $125!


This has been a *fantastic* day!!! It's so great to see Sherry and it was great to hug her!!!!! I've missed her sooo much! I am happy to have her here!!!!


More adventures to come......so far our short list includes:

• lounging by the pool
• movies (we don't even know what's playing, that's how "out of it" we mommies are!)
• the local scrapbook store
• Kohl's
• Harrah's casino
• pedicures
• stamping
• scrapbooking
• drooling over our Archiver's conquests
• the mall

Look out Topeka....here we come!!!!

(Big Daddy is on kid duty all weekend!!!)