Christina's Corner

Outing with Christina

2011-07-10T15:02:00.000-05:00

The last week of school Christina kept pestering me to go somewhere. She loved the aquarium so much that she asked to go back, but I talked her into the zoo or science museum since it was closer and cheaper. Since these attractions are right by each other, we went to both that day. I was more sluggish than normal, so I let Pinky set the pace, which meant we just picked and chose a few things at each place. That's an advantage to season passes, when you don't have to get your money worth. I'm always amazed at momentum. Even if I'm not in the mood for something, if I can get in motion and "fake it 'til I make it," my attitude and energy turns around. Interesting thing.

As you can see by the pictures, I didn't even muster the energy to put on makeup and pulled on a hat that day too. Hmmm. Hat days mean bad hair days in my mind! I knew we'd get sweaty and I'd shower when we got back anyway.

Mostly, Christina wanted to see the baby elephant, so we headed there first. Pinky has loved wearing her new "apris" and asks to wear them daily. Thankfully, she accepts that they are sometimes in the wash and unavailable.

The baby was so cute, moving more and getting into mischief. We watched mother and baby for quite a while. Pinky took this photo on her own.

Not surpringly, Dumbo came along for the ride.

It was a nice day seeing Pinky's favorites at both places. On the drive home, we grabbed a hot fudge sundae at McDs and made it home just in time to get Katie from school. The day goes fast when it's an hour drive and back. Even though I really would have preferred staying home this day, I was glad to spend time with Pinky and do something that made her so happy. I must have faked it so well that I talked myself into having fun too.

Day Camp

2011-07-10T14:56:00.000-05:00

Here is Pinky showing off her flamingo skills as she joins her day camp group - The Pink Flamingos. I knew she wasn't ready to just be dropped off, so I had planned to help her group. It worked well, since there were two days that one of the Flamingo leaders had other commitments. This group of 4 & 5 year old girls was too cute. I loved being one of their leaders.Abby helped the girls spray paint their bandanas. It was a clever idea, making a reverse using a contact paper cutout of a flamingo. They turned out really cute and they used the same technique, making matching pink t-shirts.

Orienting the girls at the Flamingo campsite

I loved watching them sing so intently at the Singing Tree with Miss Julie. They made a creative version of S'Mores that didn't require a campfire. I think Abby called them Fuzzy Tigers. The girls placed chocolate chips in aluminum pans to melt in the sun. They they crushed up graham crackers in a ziploc. When the chocolate chips were melted, the girls put a big marshmallow on a fork, rolled it in the melted chocolate, and then the crushed graham crackers. In some ways, they tasted better than traditional S'Mores. I have more photos of Christina's group than my other kids, since I volunteered with her age group. The Flamingos had fun doing crafts, playing water games, doing the tire and butterfly swings, going for walks, doing scavenger hunts, listening to stories, playing with bubbles and play-dough, and doing their kapers (or jobs).

I was happy to re-learn some string games and couldn't believe how quickly it came back, after 30+ years. Abby was impressed with how fast I could still do cat's whiskers and Jacob's ladder. After one time of doing Jacob's ladder, it all came back. It's silly that this was so fun to me. But then, it's true what Malaury said to me this week after being silly with the girls, "You're kind of like a kid." I responded, "Yes. You're right. And kind of like a Mom too."Getting soaked at water games cooled us all off! We learned that wetting your baseball hat and bandana helped stay cool too. Keeping hydrated was vital to making it through each day. The camp as a whole did great with this. Playing with the parachute was fun too. Christina always loves swinging, especially on tire swings. She's little monkey! Her finished flamingo bandana. I love the spray paint idea! Some of the girls were afraid of all the bugs we found, but Pinky was a fan. One day we found lots of caterpillars. Another day she held ladybugs tight in her hand. Most days we found ticks on her and me when we returned home for the daily tick check and shower. Daniel and KT had fewer ticks since they were mostly on the water. Christina was amazing and would take 90 minute showers most days!These little girls (Elle, Malaury, Emma (a twin of Elle), and Pinky were so sweet. I love them! I'm going to make photo cds for them and we'll plan a reunion playdate at Chik-fil-A soon.Pinky and Malaury were spirited and similar in their energy. This was a re-created rainforest near Arts & Crafts. They took soaker hoses and wrapped them in the trees. These two got very wet and muddy here. This was another clever idea for handwashing. It was like milking a cow - in the blue tights were soap and a nail brush on a string. The girls washed in the blue bins and rinsed from the red bins. No one knew washing hands could be so fun!A Silly Flamingo pose (Madeline was also in our group - far right. The last two days, another girl named Riley joined our group)

I gave Malaury and Christina the Mud Pie awards. Look at those socks and shoes! After 5 days, these shoes are officially camping/hiking shoes and I went to buy Pinky a few new pairs for everyday wear yesterday.

Although I loved helping out, it was a complete treat to have the house to myself yesterday. When I was home cleaning house and running errands, the Flamingos paired up with the 3rd grade Purple Penguins that befriended the little girls. Supposedly, they served the little ones their lunch and babied them. They loved it. Even today, Christina found her big girl buddy, Emma, after playing some combined games with their groups. Look how sweet they are walking together.

A little big to be carried by a 3rd grader, but they both seemed to love the mutual attention.

The singing tree was too cute, even if our girls thought it needed a mouth.

I would definitely volunteer again and maybe with this same age group next year! Katie might have the opportunity to be a program leader too. It would be fun to do it together.

When things were boring around camp today, I let the girls take pictures on my camera. The resulting photos were pretty funny. Way too many of me without makeup, hair done, and very sweaty.

Here's Pinky trying on some big shades. I love Pinky. Look at those freckles and full lips. Darling!

The butterfly swings were fun. All week I loved seeing the girl's personalities. Some were daring - wanting to go high and circling on the swings. These same girls often loved bugs and getting dirty, wet, and muddy. Other girls were more cautious, conservative, and careful about it all. One of these cautious girls was more daring and outgoing as a leader. I loved them all. It was so fun to watch them and see their uniqueness. They all had innate strengths. I love children.

This was a great week for us all at day camp. We will definitely do it again. I'm hooked!

Summer Time Fun

2011-07-10T14:48:00.000-05:00

One of our afternoon outings this week was to a local splash pad. They seem to add something each year at these fun fountains. Last year, the kids favorite thing was catching frogs. We were hoping for frog catching this year, but we had to be creative and look for butterflies in the nearby fields instead. Not sure what happened to the itty, bitty froggies.

Lots of butterflies and dragonflies in this field and the kids were all geared up with their nets.

If you look closely, you might be able to spot a butterfly or two. They're kind of camouflaged. I loved this beautiful field of wildflowers. I think they are a type of Black-eyed Susan.

Daniel was having so much fun. Exploring is one of his favorite things.

Oklahoma is beautiful, isn't it?

And let the fun begin! Christina is becoming such a tease and loves to dump/pour/splash/squirt water on anyone, especially Daniel. The kids played in the water and then would run to the playground to warm up. Christina made a little friend-boy who loved her teasing and teased her right back. He hugged her before he left. It was a sweet interaction.

We didn't catch any little frogs, but Christina found one big dead one. Yuck. They begged me to take it home. Daniel just knew he could sell it for $2. No way was that frog coming home in our van. I won that battle.

Such a fun outing. On the way home we stopped at Sonic to redeem the kids "Free Medium Tater Tots" from the Summer Reading Program at our local library. We barely missed Happy Hour, but got slushies and sodas anyway. I love making time to play in the water because my kids come home so content and tired. They seem to fall asleep easier at night when they've had water play.

Fourth of July

2011-07-10T14:47:00.002-05:00

While the rest of the family went to the Freedom Festival parade, Daniel opted to go buy fireworks with Grandpa. I guess everybody doesn't "love a parade." Daniel was elated about his purchase of these firework tanks. I found a pack of smoke bombs after the parade and donated them to his stash. This is what the Fourth is all about for Daniel.

After lunch, extended family started arriving. Here are Steve (my brother - #4 and his wife Tiercy), along with their adorable daughter Alayna. Their sons Tyler and Ethan were nearby playing too.

The girls got in a little crafting before dinner. I brought the supplies to make more patriotic pinwheels.

We even made a variation with patriotic pencils that actually spinned. Well, sort of. I still prefer the fake-hot glued versions better. We found that they will spin, but they're not very durable. So, I think they work best as decoration. Still so cute!

My brother Scott's new girlfriend, Alyssa, taught the kids how to make these paper frogs. She taught two different groups and was so patient. The kids loved having jumping contests with them afterwards.

Of course, the fun truly began when the meal started. It was a traditional 4th of July meal - burgers and hot dogs, baked beans, a veggie tray, dump salad, chips, and lots of desserts.

Just look at those desserts! Lee and her kids made the patriotic cookies. Tiercy made the Dulce de Leche cake. The caramel, whipped cream, and Heath bar made it delish.

As part of her talent show entry, Lizzy did some face painting. Why, what a fun idea for Ethan. Go Cougars! Lizzy has some definite artistic talent.

And then the part that the grandkids await all year - The Talent Show!

Let it be said that the Hadlocks know how to dance.

Katie played her violin. There was a joke-telling segment. And lots of gymnastics and break dancing too.

Shake it Kathy!

Then we got out the massive rope for tug-o-war and jump rope! Here are all the grandkids in age order, except at the end where Drew and Lizzy are switched. I think Lizzy was already tied in as anchor.

I always love these extended family game photos.

Pretty strong bunch of kidlets And men-folk too

I usually get a ton of fun jump rope photos. This was probably my favorite this year. At one point, everyone had to do something silly when they ran in. Ben and I held hands and ran in together. I even tried out double dutch this year. Not easy. Maybe I will get it next year. Nicole was the sole champion of that!

Making s'mores is tradition. So is roasting Starbursts and Cinnamon Bears.

Here is much of our group that gathered that evening. This year, my sister Kathy's in-laws and extended family came over for part of the evening's festivities.

Let the family fireworks show begin!

Sparkly Katie

Christina adores cousin Michael and had so much fun playing with him.

This year's fireworks were bigger and better than ever. With changes in fireworks laws, there were lots of big fireworks all through the neighborhood. It almost felt like Disneyland!

This is one of my favorite holidays each year. I love spending it with our families. Such a fun tradition that unites us as extended family.

Temple Square Outing

2011-07-10T14:40:00.001-05:00

My sister-in-law and I decided to go to Temple Square last week. It's one of my favorite places on earth.

It's so pretty walking through the gardens, seeing the church headquarters, and being in such a beautiful part of our church's history. You really can feel the reverence and significance of the area.

One of these years I am going to take the Garden Tour of Temple Square. With six youngsters in the group, I knew this wouldn't be the year for that particular tour!What a beautiful day to explore Temple Square. Here are Alayna, Christina, and Katie. And all the kids at a closer spot to the temple. Since we were planning to see the movie, we wanted to go get tickets before we did anything else. We discovered that you don't need tickets, but just walk in to the particular show you are interested. We had about 30 minutes before the 12:00 noon show started, so we explored the kids area of the family history floor. Katie always wants to spend lots of time here. The little girls thought this was one of the best parts of the day too. The bigger kids enjoyed the activities about family trees, family crests, and the Ellis Island photo opportunity. Then we walked around the corner to see the movie - Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration. It was very well-done, although heavy in some parts since it traced Mormon history and included difficult parts of our church's migration to the west. Along with this, though, were faith-inspiring accounts and stories of church history. Katie was teary through much of it. The older kids sat very well for this 70 minute film. At one point Christina was tiring of the intensity and said very loudly, "Me hate this movie." She wanted to go back to the family history play area.I know the children felt the Spirit and hopefully had strengthened testimonies. When I asked them all in the car on the drive home, what parts were the most spiritual to them, they replied:

1) The Joseph Smith movie2) The Salt Lake temple3) The tabernacle4) The rooftop tour of the conference center

Daniel said he felt the Spirit the whole time and that it was all spiritual. I was so happy to hear him and Ethan talking about their spiritual feelings. I think it was a successful outing.

After the movie, we found a shady spot within Temple Square for a picnic. Both Tiercy and I had packed lunches. It was nice to relax and eat in such a neat place, even if my younger two were getting very squirrely.

My kids remembered their last visit to the tabernacle and wanted to hear "the pin drop" again. We asked a sister missionary about this and she did a broader presentation, using two pins and a needle, along with tearing newspaper. The acoustics were amazing! They played some Mormon Tabernacle Choir music that added to the spirit. We met at least 6 sister missionaries this day. Most of them invited us to think about a friend who might want to learn more about our church. I told them it was a great question, but I wanted to think about it. Talking with these sisters brought back great memories of my visitor center mission experience. One friendly, bold, and smiling sister reminded me a little of what I might have been like in those years.

We walked through the North Visitors Center too and saw the Christus statue. This is one of my personal highlights of this outing. KT recommended the second floor family experience where you travel from various rooms that look like a simulated house. It tells a sweet family story and was very moving. There is so much to see on Temple Square that we hadn't allowed enough time to do as much as the kids wanted to do. Both Tiercy and I thought they might be complaining and bored by this point, but they weren't. We could have filled another few hours easily.

Initially there was an organ recital in the Conference Center, so we didn't think we could show the kids where General Conference is held. As we departed the visitors' center, we found out it had finished up, so we briefly toured this massive room. I had never seen the rooftop and hoped to see that too. We did that tour afterwards, although the guide was my least favorite of the day.

The water features were being repaired, so that was disappointing, but it was fun to see the beautiful trees and shrubs. When I saw the three girls overlooking this spot, I couldn't help but think of this song.

"I love to see the temple. I'm going there someday."

It was a wonderful day on Temple Square. I know it touched us all and made us want to be better people. I was strengthened, being reminded of the Mormon pioneer's sacrifices, and having my testimony of Joseph Smith renewed. I was glad to spend the day with Tiercy and her children. I especially enjoyed talking with Tiercy on the drive there and back. I love how open, honest, and striving she is. It's interesting to talk about the gospel with her too.

We are making such good memories on this trip to Utah. I am loving this summer!

Christmas Eve 2010

2011-02-20T15:47:00.002-06:00

Santa came early to our house this year. . .

Since we are going to Utah next week and hauling gifts for both extended families, we thought it would work best to write Santa a letter, requesting an early visit. Everyone seemed to feel fine about it, so on Saturday we celebrated Christmas early!

Before we'd made our Santa plans, we had invited some friends over for on this particular night. Initially it was going to be a later evening with games and dessert, but when Heather told me they have been sick and might need to make it an earlier evening, it worked out great for us all.

Another friend wanted to be a Santa's helper and watch Christina that day. I decided that it would help most during those cooking/prepping hours. I don't think I've enjoyed cooking a meal so much in years. It was peaceful, quiet, and so fun to cook without whining or anyone pulling at me.

I couldn't find red paper napkins at Walmart, so the Santa napkin holders were funkier this year in plaid and holly! These Santa napkin holders are becoming tradition and we love using them. I remember making them years ago from a pattern that my mother-in-law gave me.

I love using my Christmas china. I swap out our dishes and try to use it all month long. I tried to make favorite dishes of each person in the family for this Christmas Eve dinner.

So I included our Creamy Ham & Peas Penne (the kids favorite), along with an Alfredo Penne, spinach salad (with grapes, craisins, apples, and toasted almonds) (Ben's favorite), holiday juice (grape juice and Sprite), and garlic bread. Heather brought a Paula Deen rum cake for dessert. It was a wonderful meal and so relaxing. That's usually not the case with dinner parties in our home, but for whatever reason the kids were amazingly quiet and well-behaved. After eating, Katie went to play with Christina while the adults visited and finished our meals.

Our next Christmas Eve tradition is to open an ornament and one gift each. The kids love opening gifts on Christmas Eve. It's fun to find an ornament that reflects each person.

The next part is not as fun to some of our family (ie. Ben and Daniel). I did get them to ham it up a little bit and get our traditional "Christmas tree on Christmas Eve photos." Daniel is so silly. He cracks me up. Ben did a great job setting up the tripod and getting the camera settings just right for these pretty sequence of photos.

I loved these next shots of Father and Son.

Handsome boys

Darling girls. I was too tired to go find Christy's dolly and locate her matching nightgown too. Maybe I'll photoshop her in later. Christina's rosy cheeks are too cute, but due to her lingering cold. I keep wondering when my girls are going to kick this cold virus. It's been a doozy.

And we got a great photo of us all. Merry Christmas Eve!

Christina, Pinky, or Rudolph?

2011-02-20T15:37:00.001-06:00

This photo of Christina adorned her recent preschool foamie ornament. When I brought the extra photo home for the fridge, everyone wondered who it was. Isn't this a cute photo of our Pinky? Christina keeps asking everyone to call her Pinky. It's making us laugh. Ben thought it looked like a magazine photo. I think her poor lips look chapped and she looks a little pale and sicky. But darling nonetheless!

Pinky has been Rudolph obsessed all season. She asked Santa for Rudolph toys. She loves the classic Bass-Rankin movies. And she dons these antlers whenever we make goodie deliveries. On our way into sacrament meeting on Sunday, I looked over and somehow she'd snuck these on as we walked into church.

On another day, the red nose in acrylic paint was the finishing touch. She loved it until it started to dry and got itchy. She loves the story "Night Before Christmas" and especially the pages that focus on the reindeer and their names.

One night on our way home from an activity, the younger two kids and I saw deer in our neighborhood. I drove around until I could shine our headlights on them. We decided they must be Santa's reindeer, practicing their flying. Oh this made the kids happy. They sprinkled some magic reindeer food on the lawn for them, hoping they'd make their way to our house.

Genessee & Taylor - Do you remember this sweater outfit? You mailed it to Christina. It fits her darling! Thank you!

Charcoals of the kids

2011-02-20T15:33:00.000-06:00

When I opened a package from my in-laws today and saw what was inside, my eyes filled up with tears. Bob and Kathy commissioned my brother-in-law, Mark, to draw these charcoals of our kids, and mailed them to us. Wow! What thoughtful gifts.

I agree with Bob's insight, "We think that Mark did an excellent job of capturing each of you on paper!" Can you believe how talented Mark is?

Mark chose these frames so we can paint or stain them. I'm leaning towards black paint to match many of our other frames.

Thank you Mark for one of the most special gifts I've ever received!

I can't wait to paint the frames and hang them somewhere really special.

All kinds of snowmen

2011-02-20T15:32:00.000-06:00

With our recent snowfall I was itching to build a snowman.

But with chilly temperatures in the teens, I opted to make snowmen made out of old socks with the kids today. A much warmer and craftier option.
Katie suggested I write down who is in our new Valentines Snowmen Family. We shared some giggles tonight as we described ourselves. Or, our snowmen selves. From left to right: Katie (strangely the same height as Daddy and hourglass shaped), Daniel (thankful to be lacking a flower accent, with boyish brown buttons), Ben (a little round in the middle - honestly, not intentional), Debbie (statuesque and should we say - a little flat chested), and cutesty Christina (the littlest of the bunch).
I was so happy to find an inspiration sock - one of Christina's old Valentines socks - that kicked this project off! A red argyle sock of Ben's worked well with the color scheme and a pale pink one of mine came in handy too.And the next set of SnowKidlets from left to right: Christina/Pinky, Daniel (always chooses black), and Preppy Katie.
So here's the background on these sweet snowmen. Katie, Christina, and I filled a bunch of socks - taken from a bag that were missing their mates with dried beans. It felt so good to use our food storage! Hee hee. Katie started getting frustrated with the project and lost interest. It took some figuring out how to shape the snowmen. I find most crafts have a learning curve and are a bit tricky to figure out, but then it might just be me.

Christina continued with me, however, until she started getting messy in her creating. Somehow this Little Missy finds a way to make most things a messy experience. I went in our bedroom for just a few minutes and came back to this! Even with beans all over the kitchen floor, I stuck with the project and encouraged Christina to sweep up her mess. As the typical baby of the family, she tried to get Daniel to help her clean, singing the "What's Gonna Work? Team Work" song. Gotta love a little Love & Logic parenting moment as I held my ground and had her clean it up.

Daniel became interested in designing a snowman too, requesting one in black and red, but mostly enjoyed filling it with beans.

I've found some great new crafty blogs recently. I love finding practical, thrifty blogs with cute ideas that use items I typically have on hand. When I saw this link, I thought of my bag of "socks without mates" that was itching to be utilized. This was such a fun project - different than anything I've done in a long time. Once again, I had most of the required materials on hand: white socks (tube and calf length work best), colored/patterned socks, hot glue gun, twine and embroidery thread, ribbon, buttons, black sequins, and coordinating embellishments. I used dried beans to fill the socks, but rice also works. The blog's craft creator used BBQ sticks (what is it with everyone having BBQ sticks on hand?), but since I didn't have any, I used some toothpicks that I colored orange. When they were complete, I wished I'd had some small black buttons for the eyes, but the black sequins worked okay too.

While we drank our hot cocoa this afternoon, the kids wanted their look-alike snowman by their mug. It was the perfect project for a snowed-in Snow Day!

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-20T15:24:00.001-06:00

There was a time when going to baby showers was a little heart-breaking for me. Now that those 7 long infertility years (full of heart-wrenching yearning for a baby) are past, baby showers are full of pure joy. It's nice to have moved past those aching years and be able to feel true happiness for others having babies. On Saturday I was able to help with hosting a shower for a sister in our Relief Society. It had been a long time since I'd attended a baby shower. Not only do I enjoy rejoicing with the expectant mother, I enjoy the conversations with other women and tasty food too.

A friend organized a group of us in planning the shower. I made the email invitations and prepared two platters of cheese and crackers. I made up my own recipe for the cheese balls and they turned out pretty good. I formed the cheese balls into heart shapes and rolled them in chopped almonds. They tasted great and looked cute! That is, until they were cut into and then you'd never know they started out as hearts. We only needed one platter and my family was thrilled when I brought home the other. I was pleasantly surprised with how much everyone liked the cheeseball. Something I'll add to our party food agenda.

The day before Valentines day was a Sunday. The girls and I scoured our closets looking for dresses in reds and pinks. Both KT and Christina wanted pretty braids. If I would have photographed KT's braid from above, you would have seen a sort of heart shape. She is growing her hair out to donate it to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths. She is almost there, but wants to hold off cutting it until her dance recital is over.

Her hair looked so pretty with one of our hot pink fabric flower bows.

Daniel could not be persuaded to put on his red tie and his black corduroy church pants had become floods within the week (how do kids outgrow clothing in a week?), but his khakis worked out fine. Aren't these three so darling, ready for church. On Sundays that I'm struggling to gain their cooperation while Ben is away at bishopric meetings, I pull out the "Gumball Club" strategy where I offer a gumball after church to kids who cooperate. It often helps to turn their attitude around.

Daniel was quickly done with the photo session, but the girls were still having fun. This photo makes me smile. I love to watch the kids getting silly together.

Christina was pretty wiggly while I was doing her hair. Thus, it's not as smooth on top as it could have been. She has the most tender scalp and always thinks it hurts to have her hair combed. She thinks she looks like Rapunzel with braids and sometimes tells me she wants to grow her hair longer - just like in Tangled. It makes me cringe, imagining the tears while combing through that long of hair on Christina!

My pretty girl who also has nearly outgrown this dress. She definitely has long legs and limbs!

On Sunday night as I started getting the kids ready for bed, I realized the kids hadn't written out their Valentines, so we scrambled to get that done before stories and prayers. It was so cute to see both Daniel and Christina working so hard. Daniel wrote his, while Christina put hers in her box. Daniel ended up wanting Ben to cut a slot in the other matching Valentines box so he could take one too.

As you can see, Fun Dip is the candy of choice amongst my kids. When Christina and I were picking up Valentines at Walmart, we called Daniel to find out which ones he wanted. He told me in a confident voice, "Fun Dip!"

Last night I had to finish up last-minute Valentine preparations since the younger two had class parties today. I signed up for a sweet treat in Christy's class and since I was tired from a long Sunday, cupcakes were the quickest, easiest option. I did try to jazz them up by doing the "marble between the liner and pan" trick, making them heart shaped. I'm out of red food coloring, so we opted for purple cupcakes. Again. I'm getting a little sick of purple, but I hate to buy another set of food coloring, just because I'm out of red. Yes, I'm frugal.

I know I've said it before, but I love my double cupcake pan! By 11 pm I finally got Daniel's game/craft and Christy's treat ready and was also ready for bed! I'm always tired on Sunday nights.

Christina received a ring pop that day and knew how much Daniel loved them. It was cute to hear her first response, "Daniel loves Ring Pops. I want to give him mine." Those rare and voluntary sharing moments melt a Mama's heart.

The heart theme continued today as Christina was proud to take in her festive cupcakes and Valentines box to preschool.

After lunch at home, Christina and I made more cupcakes (I think I made over 70 in the past few days) and put together goodie plates to be Secret Cupids and deliver goodies to sisters in our ward. I thought long and prayerfully about who I thought could use a boost today. I wonder if Valentines Day is difficult for singles, especially if they don't have family near. Christina and I wrote up cards, cut out hearts to heart-attack their doors, and had a great time together.

It was perfect weather to be outside, taping on hearts, and trying to be secretive. We did pretty well at most of the homes, although we were caught at one house. The owner's dog gave us away!

The big kids joined us doing deliveries after school, when we did two more houses. Katie and I finished them up tonight after Family Home Evening, surprising two more ladies. I hope it made their day a little bit happier. It was a great opportunity for my kids to serve with me.

This photo cracked me up and made me realize that I barely notice how HUGE these pink boots are on Christina. Doesn't she look cute, though, in her Valentines outfit? Katie recently gave these boots to Christina and she loves wearing them. Most of the time, it's not worth fighting about, even if they don't fit her well yet. I'm not sure how she walks comfortably in them! She got so thirsty and whiney half-way through our deliveries so we hit Sonic's Happy Hour and got some sodas. I think she enjoyed our time together and I hope the spirit of service filled her heart, as it did mine.

Next on the agenda was Daniel's class party. Christina is becoming a regular at these parties and Daniel's thoughtful teacher had even set a place for Christina with goodies. It made her happy. I realized right before it started that Katie didn't have a house key, so walking home could be a fiasco. So, I went and checked her out early instead and she came along to Daniel's party. I'm sure the other Moms really wonder about us!

Although I'm not in charge of the parties, I seem to always be the Mom doing a craft and/or game and this party was no exception. I helped the kids make some lollipop mice valentines to give to a family member. Daniel was my assistant and helped the other kids who had questions. I loved seeing him stretch himself in more of a leader role. He really liked it. Come to think of it, Katie helped too. The kids did very well making them and writing their "You're so 'mice'" valentines cards.

Daniel prefers games to crafts and I promised him a game today. When I gave him a few ideas, he liked the "Cupid Says" or "Simon Says" the best. The class listened and participated well. Then Daniel and a few other classmates took turns being Cupid. I think my favorite moments was when his classmate, Caden, commanded, "Cupid says Give Me 20." Everyone laughed. Then I whispered in his ear, "Cupid says, "Keep on going."

I love simple. Sometimes it works better than complicated and effort-filled plans. Today's craft and game were easy and not stressful, yet fun and age-appropriate. That's just my speed with all the directions our family is going these days.When we finally got home after all the fun, the kids wanted to play outside. It was beautiful weather and the kids didn't even need coats in the early afternoon. I made up a few more "Mice" Valentines for Christina to deliver to our neighbor friends.She put them in her scooter backpack and off we went!

It was a heart-filled day that hopefully showed lots of people - "We Heart You."

Snow Fun

2011-02-20T15:15:00.001-06:00

Our sweet friends have surprised us with goodies twice in the past two days. Yesterday, they brought this hand-me-down bike for Daniel. He has needed a new bike in the next size up and was thrilled. It was perfect timing, too, since we are supposed to have warm weather all week. Christina received a fun Candyland DVD game from them too.

Then tonight, they brought a Valentines plate of mini heart cakes in chocolate and Red Velvet. How did she know all day I've been dying to make a Red Velvet cake, but hated to do all that work, just to satisfy my craving for a piece. What fun friends they are!

The skies were just beautiful today and it was nice to have my camera ready in my coat pocket.

I love our neighborhood.

Christina was so sad that Daniel went to a neighbor friend's to play. I played outside with her today to cheer her up and distract her. She has been loving playing with Daniel and Katie lately. She pesters them continually until they will spend time with her.

So, after making Valentine deliveries and going on a scooter ride, we decided to make this snow baby. It's right in the middle of our driveway between the 2nd and 3rd car garage. Funny, dangerous spot for a baby of any kind to be hanging out.

Then we started making snowmen that were a little bigger. This one is supposed to be Christina. She helped me find rocks for the eyes, sticks for the arms, and put the hat on. I have found that building an actual snowman is not that easy for kids to do on their own.

When we were looking for rocks and sticks for the face, we noticed this sign of spring that's just around the corner. I'm trying to remember just what spring bulbs I planted in the fall. I think Dutch Irises.

Snow baby looks more warm and cute with a too-big hat on its head.

This little tease then engaged me in a snowball fight. She has quite the arm and aim! Me on the other hand. I'm horrible at aiming when I throw. The kids thought it was funny that I could rarely hit them. It brought back bad memories of being in the outfield playing Little League girls baseball.

I love her grin in this one. She threw a bunch right at me that went down my coat and was so proud. You can see her dimple in these two photos.

She just looks innocent.

Then we all played together in the snow and built The Three Musketeer Snow Kids. From left to right: Katie, Christina, and Daniel. Katie hates it when I don't make her significantly taller than the other two, but we did our best with the snow conditions. It's getting pretty slushy and dirty, but I'm just happy it's warmer to play in the snow.

Daniel can be clever and thought to use pecans for the eyes and buttons. He enjoyed smoothing out the snow on the snowmen's bodies. I wonder how quickly these guys will melt with the weather possibly reaching the high 70s this week.

I was stunned to see them making snow angels in such wet, slushy snow, but they had a ball!

Daniel wasn't happy with the quality of the pecans on the ground, so he climbed the tree to find better, more fresh ones. He cracks me up!

Christina finally got cold and went inside. Daniel made a massive snowball to throw at me. I love this time with my kids playing in the snow.

It was "SNOW" much fun this Valentines Day afternoon!

Date with Christina

2011-02-20T15:07:00.001-06:00

Christina has a new boyfriend. His name is Otto. He's a robot and he lives at the Science Museum in OKC. She carries his picture in her pocket wherever she goes. She likes to blow kisses back and forth at Otto's photo at bedtime. And she asks me to do the same. She couldn't wait to go see him again on Wednesday.

Right when we arrived, though, we found out that they weren't running Science Live that day. That meant she wouldn't see Otto. She was disappointed, but happy to explore the museum and have a one-on-one date with Mommy.

In place of Science Live, this employee did a great job showing most of the same explosions and science experiments.

Christina was mostly excited to do face painting and play in the "Ding Dong House." I ended up making her leave the house earlier than she hoped because she wasn't playing very nicely. She is still working on sharing and playing cooperatively. We spent a few hours on Wednesday morning, taking advantage of our family membership.

Right next door to the museum is the zoo, so we re-parked and headed to the zoo now that it had warmed up. Just the night before I bought an annual pass to the zoo. This zoo lets two families share a membership, so we shared some with church friends, costing $35 for the year. When we arrived at the zoo, we shared our picnic lunch and started exploring. We found out from an employee that this zoo is ranked #3 in the nation. I can believe it! It's so large and packed with fun that we can never see the whole thing in a day.

It was a beautiful day to walk and see the animals, even if most of them were napping from 12-2.

I think the funniest thing about our day was hearing Christina obsess and worry about the rhino. She just knew his eyes looked sad and when I asked her why he was sad, she said, "The rhino is all alone and doesn't have any friends." I thought it was perceptive and observant.

The tender zoo moment was seeing this snake cuddling with the turtle. I had never seen that before.

We'd also never seen the waterfall iced over. The weather this week was warm, reaching most days in the high 70s. One day our minivan showed it was 83 degrees.

I loved having my new camera. The zoom is a little better and took some good photos of animals.

This Oklahoma area is fairly new and the best place to see lots of animals in a short walk.

Lots of deer, wolves, and bears in this area.

The trees looked wintery and bare, but I loved the unique dangling seed pods on this particular tree.

It was a fun date with Pinky!

This carousel is becoming a zoo tradition. Pinky always wants to stop here before we head out. The day goes fast when you have to be back to pick up the big kids from school by 2:45. Daniel was a little sad about missing out on the science museum, but I reassured him that he'll have his turn soon. I have a feeling we are going to love our memberships to these neighboring attractions - the science museum and zoo. I love getting my money's worth too!

End of Summertime Fun

2010-09-05T17:27:00.003-05:00

We thought the weather was supposed to be a bit cooler in Oklahoma. Surprise! Apparently, it's about the same climate as Dallas. Hot and humid. Nearly all summer long. So, to beat the heat the past month, we've had to get creative. As we find fun things to do to fill the days, I also find there is less bickering and fighting within the home. I don't know how many times I've reminded the kids to "Be kind" to each other. It hasn't been easy this month and makes me feel as some Northerners do at the end of winter when they've been housebound for months.

When we were in Utah, I was looking for crafty ideas for our ward Craft Blitz this October. I saw this cute vinyl saying and had to buy it. I'm not sure how I've missed out on the vinyl trend in the past 10 years, but it was fun to add some vinyl to our home and have it be kind of unique. Ben even liked this sign. He notices fonts and things like that and appreciated the lettering and fonts in this one. I am glad he likes the font in this sign. It was fun to paint this board last week and add the vinyl. Since I have done so little with vinyl, I had a blonde moment and placed the first layer on, forgetting to peel off the second. I asked Ben what he thought, since something didn't seem right to me. He carefully peeled off the second layer to create this. I love that I married a crafty "non-blonde" guy. Ta-Da!

Anyway, I love this gentle reminder right in our kitchen, near the kids bedrooms to "Be Kind. Be Wise. Be True."

Here are some other things we've done to beat the heat and boredom, encouraging us all to be more kind to each other.
I had forgotten about the best summer tool in my Mama's Toolbelt - the wet trampoline. It's something my kids love and they do so happily together, no matter their age. I enjoy spraying the hose and making up lots of games with them. It's even helped our back flower bed to come back to life a bit since Ben moved the trampoline more toward our fence.

Our best surprise was yesterday's discovery that if I spray the overhead trees, that these walking stick insects drop down, adding some fun for the younger two. Daniel was entertained for about an hour with his buggy buddies.
Of course, Daniel hasn't lost his groove and can still flip and do lots of tricks on the trampoline. This year, he's added a side flip - kind of an aerial thing, along the cartwheel lines. He's amazing! Even if he's inside playing video games or watching tv, he's generally standing up, wiggling, and being tempted to jump on our couches, walk from couch to chair and back, and is mostly in motion. I guess that's how you keep your six-pack.
Daniel is mentoring Christina well in the art of insects. KT wouldn't have played with a walking stick insect in a million years. Christina had her own bug, crawling up her arm, until she accidentally squished it.
Look what I found?
Ugh. Daniel found several green ones and one brown one.
With all this boy stuff, it's nice to see that Christina still has a bit of princess in her. Cute little poser! Christina has gotten so tall and leggy. Her hair - even when it's messy and that morning hair - can look so stunning. She's a beauty! A church friend mentioned to me that her eyes remind her of Barbara Streisand. Hmmm.

On Daniel's Father-Son date, Ben bought him a few Super Soakers at Toys R Us. We don't have one in Stillwater, but they dropped in while at the movies. Wow! This has kept Daniel very busy. He hunts for spiders on our patio with the gun and today, had a water war with neighbor boys. Of course, he loves to surprise Mom and soak me too.

I love our sprinkler toys too. This water rocket has been well-used. They are hard to find. One year I found them again at the Dollar Store and bought another when this one bites the dust. The start lever has broken, but it's still useable. I'm gonna see how much more mileage we can get out of it, since it's my personal favorite. Christina likes to "use it plain" without the rocket. She appears to be having a contemplative moment here.

One day we headed to the Aquatic Center. Unfortunately, it's closed on weekdays for the summer now. We'd forgotten that our schools start a bit later than neighboring towns. Daniel just cried and cried. We checked out this funky fossil museum, where the kids all picked a polished rock. It's a fun stop for about 30 minutes.

So we didn't ruin the hour drive, we headed to our town pool. It has two waterslides - one that Daniel could ride with a lifejacket on. Christina wasn't quite tall enough to climb up for the ride, but she loved the wading pool with a kiddie slide. KT enjoyed the diving board - or jumping board - is more how she used it. They don't allow lifejackets on the diving board here, so Daniel was once again a bit disappointed. This pool has a ton of rules - like so many city pools - that really limits the fun kids can have.

I think Daniel went on this slide about 100 times. My slide photos weren't very sharp. I was mostly in the water, so my photographer moments were limited. I am a pool Mom. Some Moms prefer laying out and getting sun. Me - I like to mostly stay cool and be with my kids in the water. We've had fun in the water this summer.

Another day we headed to the only bowling alley in town. The kids were able to bowl for about $5 a game. KT invited her neighbor friend, Ana Teresa, to come along.

Daniel and Christina shared a game, which worked out perfectly, since they were both distracted by the video game area.

Katie had some cute moments, like this one. She did very well bowling, getting lots of spares this game.

Afterwards, we hit another play area in town - at Burger King. Not known for the greatest food, I was pleasantly surprised that at least our favorite food - Funnel Cake Sticks - were not disappointing. They're even better than the fair kind, since you dip them in icing. There's never enough to go around. We bought several containers and gobbled them up. The play area strategy has been great for the past few weeks. The little kids play and explore, while I get to chat with KT. Chik-fil-A has the cleanest play area in town. Burger King's is #2 and McDs is #3, even if it's still my kids' favorite food of the 3 spots.

Another fun way to beat the heat in is this pizza and mini golf spot. It's a bit run down, but the food was delicious. Wednesdays is 1/2 price day for golfing. And who can beat $3 for kids' unlimited pizza bar and sodas. The owner was sweet and made up pizzas of our choice for the pizza bar too. We'll definitely return on Wednesdays to this spot. I forgot my camera for this outing. KT kept score for each hole of mini golf. The younger two mostly ran around and did the ones that looked fun. They honestly didn't last too long.

I think we're getting the hang of summer with just a few days to go until school starts. I have never been more excited for school to start.

Sew Cute

2010-09-05T17:24:00.001-05:00

Lately, I've been into sewing. It started when I went to a neighborhood 4-H meeting. When I walked in the door to our clubhouse, I honestly wasn't planning to sign Katie up. We're pretty scheduled already and the calendar is starting to fill up, but when I heard how flexible it is and how involved parents can be, I was crossing my fingers KT was interested too. I looked over and she'd already filled out the complete form. And was beaming.

I was involved with 4-H as a girl and loved it. My Mom was my leader and we had a small group of neighbor girls who did mostly sewing, cooking, and fashion-show type projects. Generally, when people hear 4-H, they think agriculture or animals, but for me I think of homemaking. 4-H was a significant part of getting a glimpse at how to make a home and I hope it will motivate KT in the same way. I remember the white and turquoise striped jumper and white shirt I made that I modeled in a 4-H fashion show. I was proud of my sewing and felt cute in the show! These skills helped build my self-esteem and made me feel good about myself.

So, back to 2010. Katie was officially signed up in the local 4-H program that same day and making a plan for what to enter in our local County Fair. 4-H continues to be a very inexpensive and organized program with lots of flexibility. I like that we can work activities around busy times of year and other activities. It's ideal for boring summer days and those dragging winter months. The club that we'll mostly align with meets once a month, but then we can take off from there and do our own mini groups, neighborhood clubs, and activities. In our area, there are horse clubs, archery clubs, and a little of everything.

What appeals to me most is that I can just do things one-on-one with my children. So far, four kids - including Katie - in our neighborhood have joined - three girls and one boy - and they're all great 6th grade kids. I think all four like to cook and we'll be doing that together. There is also a small group of 5-8 year olds called Cloverbuds and I think Daniel might have fun doing a few projects for next year's County Fair with me. Our local school club doesn't have many little ones in 4-H, but he could make cookies and a craft project for next year's fair. It won't be long until he's in Scouts and he'll be plenty busy.

We got right on the ball since the County Fair started this week. Our first projects were tote bags. Katie made the denim/watermelon one on the right and I made the turquoise/floral one on the left. They were harder to make than they looked on the pattern. I wish I had the bag pattern that we made when I was in school. It was an easier pattern and I think created a better bag too. KT entered this bag in the fair. Christina helped me to make my bag, pushing the pedal for 80% of the project. That made it more cumbersome to complete, but she thought she had made it! And she sort of did.

Next on the list was getting together with another neighbor girl in 4-H who has sewn before (how amazing is that, considering she is also 11 and not a Latter-day Saint?). Her Mom and Grandma sew, but her Mom didn't have time to work with her on a sewing project for the fair. She offered to buy the fabric and lend a skirt pattern, if I'd help the girls. Twist my arm. So, Ana Teresa came over for a Friday night of sewing. Ben was a good sport and put the younger two to bed for me that night.
KT brought her Janome Mini machine into our master bedroom and we set up a sewing center. It's days like this that I wish I had a project/craft room, but for now my master bedroom will suffice. After two hours, the girls finished their darling A-line twill skirts. Julia (Ana Teresa's Mom) did well with color selection since aqua is KT's favorite color right now. The girls joked that they looked like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella in their blue and pink skirts. We cut at least 4-6 inches off the bottom of the pattern and it was still very long on the girls. I've always found that patterns are overly generous in their sizing and run big.
At around 10 pm, they finished up their skirts, had them ironed with seams finished, and modeled the skirts for me and Julia who had just arrived to see how it was going. What wholesome, sweet girls they are! Ana Teresa even has this same polka dot Children's place t-shirt. They were joking that they should coordinate and wear them on the same day to school! Both girls entered them in the fair on Tuesday morning. We're anxiously awaiting the results of their projects.

Julia cut back on purchasing the suggested fabric and still we found there was a ton of leftover fabric. Christina and I made the floral tote bag with some of it. Christina was wanting a skirt too, so I whipped up one for her that is a bit fuller, more gathered, and shorter. It's cute. I surprised her in the morning with it in her room and a heart note. I could tell it made her feel loved.

It was fun to see that "I still got it" and could sew without a pattern. I got very good at this in high school and college, if it was something I had made lots of, like elastic waist skirts and shorts, knit boat-neck shirts, and a particular style of dress pants and skirts. As I look back, I can't believe I made a dressy suit and oxford shirts. Crazy girl!

I was on a roll and found some leftover cowboy fabric from a project long ago. Within about 20 minutes I made Christina this little cowgirl skirt and then one for her doll, Annabelle. She was so thrilled. I did some shortcuts on the hem and waistband with both these skirts since I knew they wouldn't be worn often. I think the doll skirt took 10 minutes to make.

In this photo Christina was trying to get Annabelle balanced on her horsey and was frustrated that she kept falling off.

Yee-Haw!

Now that I think about it, I might have to encourage Christina to be a cowgirl for Halloween. If we put her hair in braids, added some red bows, and freckles, she'd be pretty cute. KT might even lend her old pink cowboy boots, if it was a good day. Now to find a doll cowgirl hat. That might be tricky.

Cowgirl Cuties!

It was "Sew" fun to make these projects and see my girls' sewing skills improve too.

Back to School 2010

2010-09-05T17:22:00.001-05:00

The kids started school this week. All week I've thought of that old Staples back-to-school commercial using the Christmas song, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year."

This is the first time I've had three kids in school in three different schools. I may be spending some quality time in My Mini Van this year. I'm still getting the hang of the rhythm of our days, but it is going so well. I love getting Katie off first to Middle School. She has to be there by 7:50, but has been going for free breakfast most mornings with Ben. They've enjoyed that time together and have a fancier breakfast than they'd eat at home. We have our family prayer just the three of us.

So far, KT is loving Middle School, even if she's had daily struggles opening her locker. She has teased me that I jinxed her with all my nightmares about locker troubles. She is making new friends, trying to find ways of finding neighborhood and church friends, and figuring it all out. Last weekend she made herself a daily chart of all the things she's working on: scriptures, twice-a-day prayer, brushing teeth, washing face, homework, helping in the home, etc. And she is doing so well at being disciplined. I've seen the blessings of her commitment already and hope she keeps up, being so obedient. It has made her happier and more calm.

Sixth Grade Katie wore her Belk's Fashion Show outfit for her first day of Middle School.
Here is Daniel and his neighbor friend, Jackson (5th grader), before we went to school on the first day. I love that they are both missing their top teeth.

Daniel is always the balky one about school. I'll never forget his quote last year that he was worried about kindergarten since he hated sitting and working. His attitude is still about the same, but he mostly comes home from school happy.

It's just getting him there. Each morning, I have a prayer in my heart as we battle getting his tennis shoes on and getting his teeth brushed. His shoes always hurt and he plays in the water more than he brushes. But, I like him to get off happily and without much fighting, so I work hard to discipline and teach in a gentle way. Mostly our mornings have been paced well and it's easier, just focusing on one child at a time. I breathe a sigh of relief when we're home from dropping him off, knowing he's safe and he loves being with friends at school. And he seems to cooperate more for other people than for me and Ben.

Ben often returns to the house after taking Katie and then we do another round of family prayer with the younger two. We have yet to figure out how we're going to do family scriptures this school year. It might be easier to do in the evening, other than our nights are packed with bishopric and R.S. visits and meetings.
First grader Daniel likes his teacher and has been playing with his kindergarten buddies at recess. So far, he's not as interested in making new friends, but reconnecting with his old friends. He was thrilled to have a new black shirt - with nothing on it - for school. He has requested more silky athletic shorts, instead of the bulky jean and khaki shorts. Needless to say, I'm taking back all the shorts I bought to look for what he really wants. He has enough to get by until I can shop a bit more. With the recent cooler weather, we might be buying jeans sooner rather than later.
Christina started preschool for the first time and has been so excited. What a big girl, marching in her first day without any fear. She jumped right in to singing time, putting her Tinkerbell backpack in her cubby, and then asking me, "You come back, Mama?" She actually asked me 2-3 times that day. It was so sweet. I got her a new shirt for school and she wore hand-me-down shorts and Strawberry Shortcake tennies. I loved that she re-rolled her socks, instead of how I'd cuffed them. She was going for the 50s look, it seemed.
I tried to get a big smile out of her, but instead this is what I got! Her red flower looked really cute with this shirt.

Here she is settling into her preschool class. It's such a loving environment to learn and play in. At this point, Christina is signed up for the Monday and Thursday 9-11:30 program. If she gives up her naps, I might extend one of the days, but I'm playing it by ear for now.

That morning Christina thought Ben and I also needed back-to-school photos. Here I am looking like a very tired Mama. At least I was dressed for this photo. I might be in pjs more often than not taking the kids to school the rest of the year.
This photo of Ben made me laugh. It shows you a child's (Christina's) perspective, but also focuses on Ben's great tie. He has a ton of ties and in the last year has added a bunch of orange ones!

Silly Family

2010-06-20T00:17:00.000-05:00

Daniel is a Sooner fan through and through. I finally caved in and bought him a crimson OU t-shirt. It's silly that something so small could make him so happy. And of course, I got a deal on it. $6 at JCs. Love that.

Dads seem to have the pancake gift. Although I can make them, they aren't nearly as good as when Ben bakes up a batch. Plus, he makes all kinds of silly shapes - without help from molds even.

Our family loves the Sunday lunch or dinner pancake tradition. This particular Sunday, the shapes got pretty silly - a sunshine, princess crown, race car, and my favorite - hearts. Ben makes sure I always get a heart pancake. I heart you too, Ben.
Kind of a silly family that wants to make homemade caramels in June. Isn't that a Christmas tradition? Katie loves to make goodies with me, so one afternoon we made a batch of soft caramels. Everyone had fun wrapping them up to share with friends. That's the part of candy making that takes forever - the wrapping. Just before we left for Utah, we delivered caramel treats and birthday bags to several Oklahoma friends. Goodie deliveries make me so happy.
Katie's new friend, Shelby, came over in the middle of preparing the caramels and helped stir and mix too. They were a bit overanxious for them to be done and we didn't quite cook them long enough. Although perfect in flavor, they were a little on the soft side of "soft ball." We shared them anyway. I'm not a perfectionist and good is sometimes good enough.
We've enjoyed quite a few trips to our neighborhood pool. At one point, I glanced at silly Christina who I thought was enjoying a snack of pretzels, and instead, had them stuck all over her feet. Goofy girl. Oh, and then she wanted to eat them afterward. Ick.
The kids seems to enjoy our trampoline in the summer as much as the rest of the year. Water balloons are always a hit. Our Dollar Tree water blasters work great for filling the balloons. Even the kids can do them. I like that since water balloon making has typically been a Mom-intensive activity. I've learned if I make tiny water balloons and not fill them as full, they play with them longer. When I looked over at Katie and Shelby, they had stuffed Christina full of the balloons.
She looks like a Silly Pink Incredible Hulk. With skinny, long legs.
The silliness continues. In preparation for being out of town most of the summer, I tried to use up the perishables in our pantry. I found 1/2 a bag of green chocolates (leftover from Christmas) for dipping and decided we needed to make another goodie. Who dips pretzel sticks in June? The kids and Ben really enjoyed another silly snack!
I think Christina must be the biggest silly in the house these days. She found our breakfast-in-bed tray and decided she likes to eat her cold cereal on it each morning. Although we have both a dining and kitchen table, this one is just her size and easier for watching cartoons. I can be a softie too and feel like this is one battle not worth fighting. She's so happy in her little spot each morning. Now that the kids are home from school, she can't rule the roost as easily. A few minutes in her space make her happy.

And then there's me. I'm kind of silly myself. Whenever we go to Utah, we always end up doing some crafting and creating with my sister and sisters-in-law. As I gathered some things while packing, I got the itch to start some jewelry-making that night. Well, fifteen pairs of earrings later, I was still pumped to get crafty in Utah. Very fun and now I have some new earrings to wear while we travel.

Oklahoma's Okay

2010-06-20T00:13:00.001-05:00

One of the highlights of my week is day trips with Christina. One of the best ones from last month was when we headed to Oklahoma City to relax.

I love utilizing tripadvisor.com as a resource for traveling and outings. It also mentions attractions that are off the beaten path and unique. One of these unique attractions is where we stopped next - World of Wings.
This quirky place called "World of Wings" has a ton of pigeons that are used in racing. The small museum had some information about the history of homing pigeons and how they were used in WWII.
This antique collection of racing clocks was neat. Mostly, Christina enjoyed getting numerous drinks of water and looking at a preserved pigeon in a bottle. Kind of gross, but she seems to like that kind of thing.
Our next stop was a place that came highly recommended - Bricktown. It is patterned after the Riverwalk in San Antonio, but had some other unique features that made it so much fun.
The Bricktown ballpark is right in the middle of everything. I hope to take the kids to a baseball game sometime this year.
Christina and I grabbed some lunch at Sonic - in fact, the only indoor Sonic that I've ever seen. We learned that Bricktown is where Sonic's headquarters are located too.
I splurged on the boat ride (or water taxis as they called them). It was $8 for me and $2 for Christina. Our tour guide took a humorous and historical approach to the tour. We enjoyed it, although it was a little long for a 3-year old.
I love spending this one-on-one time with Little Miss.
Another great Oklahoma mural. I've seen so many brick walls with cool paintings on them since we moved here. This one showed the transportation history of Oklahoma City.
The river water is dyed green and is very pretty, with waterfalls, neat statues along the way, and cool bridges.
This set of statues depicted the famous Land Run.
When Missy Moo got tired, I browsed through my purse. Not much in there that day, but the hand sanitizer had to do. Christina ended up putting it on not just her hands, but her arms and legs too. She loved going under the bridges and shouting to make an echo. I bet the guide questioned his initial encouragement to do this, since she did it as we passed under ever bridge after that.

Bricktown has tons of restaurants and shops that we didn't even attempt. I knew Christina was getting tired of walking. Sightseeing is so fun!

We had a little extra time and we weren't far from the Oklahoma City Capitol, so we decided to stop by again and go inside this time. On our last visit, I had all three kids and they were wiped out.

Some fun facts I learned this day are:

The OKC Capitol is the only capitol with active oil rigs. In fact, it sits directly on top of the OKC Field. What fun to see oil derricks right on the grounds!

The first capitol was originally in Guthrie (see previous post about that particular outing).

Its dome was only built recently - in 2002.

We thought Texas was cool with its six flags that have flown over it. Since explorers first came to the New World, 14 flags have flown over the territory that became Oklahoma. Wow!

Oklahoma City was founded in 1889 during the Land Run. Its population grew to over 10,000 within hours of its founding.
Such a beautiful interior too
Christina liked this contemporary painting of a clown.
The capitol had guided tours and self-guided tours, using a written guide. I skipped both and asked an employee which floors she'd recommend us stopping at. We skimmed over the 4th and 1st floors and mostly enjoyed looking at the art exhibits and dome
Christina looked adoringly at this statue of Kate Barnard, one of the first women in Oklahoma to hold an elected state position. When we walked up to the bench, Christina did a double take to see if she was real or not.

The dome was especially stunning from the inside. What a fun day in OKC!

Talented Kids

2010-06-20T00:11:00.000-05:00

May is such a busy time of year. In some ways, it feels busier than December. We've been enjoying all the end-of-the year concerts and events, even if it makes things extra nutty around our house. It's fun to celebrate each family member's talents and the activities they've participated in through the year. Honestly, though, I can't wait until school is out and we can par-tay!

Katie has enjoyed being part of a Children's Choir. We had to order her costume for this one last concert. I hope she continues next year with choir - not just for the costume's sake - but to improve her singing talent. It has been an amazing group to be involved with. The level of teaching and attention is phenomenal.

This concert had a great variety of songs. I loved how they added clever touches like the sunglasses, tossing beach ball's into the audience for a Beach Boys number, and kites for "Let's Go Fly a Kite." Christina sat intently on my lap, listening and swaying to the tunes. Daniel - on the other hand - played with my camera for much of the concert, videotaping his feet, his own face, and some great nose shots of me too. No, I won't be posting those.

Katie looked so pretty that night - kind of like Alice in Wonderland in her long, silky locks and headband. She wanted to wear her contacts that night so she could easily put on the cool shades and not be bothered with putting them over glasses. I think she knew she looked pretty too.

Daniel wanted a break from karate, so we decided to discontinue lessons until the fall and start up swim lessons. We had a little break before swimming and enjoyed a few weeks without structured after-school activities. Daniel has a social talent and loves playing with neighbor buddies. One day, he and Ben made this cool Star Wars model that Daniel received for a late birthday gift. Daniel was so proud. He also loved that individual time with Daddio.

He was so proud of it, carrying it around with him for every meal, on the way to school, and kept it by his bed all week. I loved hearing him tell people that it took him and his Dad over an hour to build. I think this one showcased both of their talents!

Christina has worked on developing her flower arranging talent. Hee, hee. Actually, I think her talent was in the flower picking. We have several empty lots in our neighborhood with wildflowers. One day on a walk, Christina gathered some dandelions and several other purple and yellow flowers. Christina was so proud to put them in this clear pitcher and place on the kitchen table.

I think she was proud of her Mom's bravery, too, as I picked off several bugs on the flowers. The only other downside to wildflowers is that they wilt awfully fast.

Fun times with my Little Miss

2010-06-20T00:04:00.002-05:00

Christina has a sweet life. Staying home with her Mom. Weekly playgroup with church friends. Outings with Mom. Shopping at Walmart. Ruling the roost during the day. Watching her favorite tv shows. Not having many responsibilities. And most recently, playing with her church friend, Gracie. Gotta love it.

Really, I think I've got it good too. I love being home with my children. These pre-school years are some of my favorite ones. I love my one-on-one time with my kids. It's strengthened our relationships and made for lots of memories.

Speaking of happiness, I am reading the greatest book right now. It's called "The How of Happiness" My Mom bought it for me and Ben as a thank you after staying with us. I am reading it rather slowly, trying to think about and apply the concepts. It takes a very scientific and studied approach to being happy. I love the idea that 40% of our happiness is controlled by us - our actions, attitudes, and approach. It suggests that 50% is our nature - what we bring to life/genetics/etc. Only ten percent of our contentment is our circumstances, which is about what I would have guessed. I would highly recommend this book. If I'm ever feeling a little blue, I get ideas that have been so helpful.
My friend, Lyz, watched Christina for me while Katie and I were in California. I was thankful to have her and my neighbor help us out. I was able return the favor and watch Lyz' daughter, Gracie, this past week. The girls played well together and had a ball. That particular day had weather in the 80s so we hit our community pool. For the first time, ever. Great morning even with some mild sunburns all around. We had the pool to ourselves and enjoyed some fun in the sun. I've heard other mothers say that they do some of their best mothering at the pool. I would agree.

The girls enjoyed catching beetles and mayflies (Daniel's influence on Christina) with their buckets, watering the bricks, splashing and swimming, ring-a-round the rosies in the shallow end, watering my wedding ring and toes, eating pink ice cream (aka raspberry sherbet), and playing with penny banks and dolls. I loved watching them fill their backpacks with all kinds of toys and walk around like big girls going to school.
Although I've been a bit tired from our busy trip and then all the house catch-up when we returned, Christina was begging to go somewhere this week. I was honestly dragging my feet, but decided to muster some energy. I looked in my email folder "Oklahoma Outings", and noticed a mellow day trip to Ponca City. It looked about my speed and something that all three kids would not enjoy. I'm trying to save some of the really fun ideas for me and all Three Musketeers. Christina is like me and loves it all. So, we got on the road.

We started out at the Standing Bear Park. It had a wonderful walking path with a pond and fountain, lots of ducks and geese (10+ baby geese to see on this particular day), and neat Native American exhibits along the way. Beautiful day to walk and explore. The museum was pretty small, but I enjoyed learning a bit more about Oklahoma's Native American history.

This Missy Moo and I love to be outside. A perfect day for an outing and walk.
Next we headed to the Conoco Museum. I doubted Christina would find anything of interest here, but it was free and something to see. Today when she saw my photos on the blog, she asked "Go pumping place again, Mama?" Like I said, she likes most anything if it's out of the house. This little gal is so ready for preschool. I've been researching options for next fall. She is ready to stretch, learn more, and have something more structured.

The museum was well-done, but when you're dealing with the topic of gas/oil/refineries, it's a challenge to make it real interesting. To me, anyway. Somehow, Christina managed to sit on my lap for the 10 minute movie and we browsed for a bit before lunch time. The grandma-aged employee there was so kind to Christina, showing her a fun computer game that showed a Conoco autocade to Yellowstone Park. Little things mean a lot. The attention and laughs made Christy happy.

However, It's been a while since I've seen Christina have a melt down in the car like she did this day. Even the tater tots and burger from Sonic wouldn't calm her down. I think she was tired, hungry, and had low blood sugar, along with the fact that she's a strong-willed 3 year old. Finally, she calmed enough to eat something and then things turned around. While we ate, I drove around to see the famous Marland (the oil tycoon that eventually merged his company with Conoco) Grand Home and Head Country's famous BBQ restaurant. It's the BBQ of Oklahoma, we hear. I had planned to eat there for lunch, but with our delays and low blood sugar, fast food worked better. Maybe we'll head up for some Okie BBQ another day.
The most famous statue of Ponca is the Pioneer Woman one. We snapped some pictures and spent $4 for admission to the museum. The front desk employee was less than warm and when I asked how child-friendly it was, she was curt and wanted me to make sure that Christina didn't touch anything there. She soon went back to reading her book. Nope. Not a welcoming museum. I didn't know if I'd be back to Ponca, so it was still worth the $4 to see the museum. It had some neat artifacts and exhibits, but not much to see.
Our last stop was the oft-photographed Marland Mansion. I was just planning to drive by and get a photo, but when Christina saw the playground on its property, we had to stop. The house would be fun to tour if you didn't have little ones. Maybe Ben and I will make it a date some day, along with the BBQ spot.
There were some pretty and unique irises to admire. I hope the irises I brought up from Texas bloom next year. They seem to do well in Oklahoma.
And swings to enjoy. I think this was the happiest Christina was all day. After our outing was done, I asked Christina if it was a great or so-so outing, she replied "So, so." I would definitely agree.

To me, so-so is still good enough for an outing. I was happy to see Ponca City and check off another Oklahoma day trip. And I loved being with Christina most of all.

Snowed In

2010-03-23T09:46:00.002-05:00

Last month the kids got out of school early one Thursday since a storm was a comin'. I couldn't imagine on the way to school that morning that it would be that bad. But it was a doozy! The kids and Ben ended up having Friday off too due to the ice and snow. We've had some weird winter weather this year. On days where we're stuck at home, I try to think of a few fun things to do so that things go more smoothly. So, we turned to sugar and decided to make some Valentines Day cupcakes.
I had some leftover frosting from Daniel's birthday and also made some homemade frosting too. I don't make homemade often enough and it's so good. The buttery, red mint-flavored one was a hit. The kids loved the mini sized cupcakes most of all. They're just the right size to fit a whole one in your mouth!
For whatever reason, I've accumulated a ton of sprinkles in all kinds of colors. That's my kind of food storage. The colorful toppings make the decorating that much more fun. I've learned with kids that it's best for everyone to have their own container of frosting and a knife because "double licking" is inevitable. So much for asking the kids not to lick their knives.Ta-Da! We made 20 regular sized cupcakes and 24 mini ones. With all the extras, we thought we'd share with our neighbors. I hate to have too many sweets sitting around the house, since we all end up eating them.All the kids were going to make deliveries together, but Daniel snuck out to play before the plates were done. So the girls were our Valentines deliverers this time.
The snow was really coming down, but the girlies had fun going out together. With the cold temperatures, quiet day, and the snow, I was able to listen to the girls' conversations at the neighbors' homes. I stood in our garage and heard complete conversations in doorways across the street. Kind of a funny and spooky thing. Ben explained why this happens very scientifically that night at the dinner table. I couldn't explain it to you now.
The next day we needed more fun ideas, so I pulled together a Hot Cocoa bar. I used our handy Cocomotion machine (one of my favorite gadgets) and put out peppermint mixer sticks, Red Hots, milk, and some other cocoa fixins. Afterward, we had an indoor picnic lunch on the floor. Christina especially loved this and has had tea parties daily since. Today, she sprinted from the shower and headed straight to her tea party table. When I made it to her room, she was dining sans clothing with her dolls and puppy.
Christina's favorite part of the long weekend was being "allowed" in Katie's room to play with her stash of Barbies.
Probably the most fun thing of the weekend was Ben's idea. Hooray for Daddio! Ben tried to shovel the snow off the driveway, but it wasn't working well. Instead, he smoothed it out to make the perfect sledding hill. One problem. No sleds. Ben remembered using trash can lids as a kid and they worked great. He put some car-washing towels in them and gave the kids a push!
Ben was pooped after shoveling and pushing the kids. At one point, Katie ran up our driveway and yelled, "I love living in Oklahoma!" They had a great few days, throwing snowballs, making snow angels, and playing outside.
Those Walmart garden boots have sure come in handy!
Ben tried to make a snow cave/igloo too, but it didn't last long.
Christina finally woke from her nap and was able to take a turn too! She didn't stay out long since the sun was going down and it was cold. As the days wore on, the snow has gotten slushier and today I noticed that the water from the drain is running down the driveway, making a nice patch of ice. Both Daniel and Ben slipped on it before work and school this morning, but it will be an ideal spot for Daniel to race his Hot Wheels downhill this afternoon.
Katie finished this Susan Winget "Homespun Treasures" puzzle too. It was one of the more challenging ones she has done with just a little help from me and Ben. The summery theme helped make the tail end of our Snowed Inn Weekend a little more cheery.

I got such a kick out of hearing Daniel offer to read to Christina last night. I've heard this is a helpful pre-reading skill. He doesn't actually read yet, but summarizes based on the pictures and his memory of us reading to him. It made Christina happy. And me too! Is there anything more heartwarming than seeing your children be loving and kind to each other.

Not a bad weekend for being snowed in!

Celebrating Valentines

2010-03-23T09:18:00.001-05:00

Love you more than candy...

Last month Ben and I did some shopping during one of our dates. In the Hallmark store, I saw this little Valentine plate that says, "Love you more than candy." I knew I had to buy it since this phrase, "I love you more than..." has always been a joke in our family. I love these 4 more than candy. More than pizza. More than football. Well, that's not much of a comparison.
It felt good to start getting out my seasonal crafts. My kitchen hutch looked pretty cute with all the red accents.
When the kids and I were grocery shopping one day, I told them they could pick out one of these tulip bunches as their Valentine to me. Sometimes you have to drop a lot of hints to get a Valentine. Oh, they've made me happy and look so cheery on our kitchen table. I can plant the bulbs in my front flower bed when they die too. That's double the fun.
One afternoon Katie and I worked on our foamie Valentine tree. I found these foamie hearts and had fun making a garland for the fireplace. It turned out pretty sweet, even if some of the glitter ran a bit after being hung up. No, I will not re-do them.
Two of Katie's classmates were out for a walk and surprised her with a visit. They helped us with the project that day. I love having the kids' friends in our home.
I love these foamie crafts as much as the girls!
Crafty Katie
In February, I made so many treats. Too many, really. Some were with a purpose - class parties and a funeral lunch, but many were for us. I need to get the snacking under control.

We had some new friends over for a FHE on Monday. They did such a great job with a clever "Wise Man built his house upon a rock" lesson and we made some heart-shaped cupcakes for treat. Have you all heard the trick about putting a marble between the paper and muffin tin? Yes, they look a bit like Pac Man initially, but with frosting and sprinkles on, they look like hearts. Fun little trick.
Our ward has participated in the Project Linus service opportunity by making some blankets to send to Haiti. It has been a great opportunity for me and the kids to work together on a project. Originally, I thought Katie and I would do most of the work. Guess who ended up being more excited about helping out? Yes, DANIEL! I was so proud of him. He pushed the pedal of my sewing machine, while I guided it. Having kids help with projects is often more work, but worth it, I remind myself. He also helped me tie the quilt when we were done. Trimming the connected threads was his favorite thing. When we were done, he said, "This is just beautiful!" I wouldn't go that far, since we'd just used extra fabric and batting we had on hand, but the quilts did turn out cute - enough.

If you haven't heard about the Project Linus organization, I was impressed with their mission and activities. They accept various kinds of handmade blankets - fleece, crocheted, quilts, etc. A really neat way to teach kids about serving and helping those who have been through devastation too. As I worked on the lighthouse one, I thought about light and how it gives hope to those in darkness. We've all had dark times and I am strengthened by that imagery of light and lighthouses.We had such a fun Valentines week this year. Katie and I worked on making handmade Valentines, too, to take over to the nearby nursing home. She has been finishing up her service hours to receive her Bronze Award with Girl Scouts. Making the cards was fun, but I was touched as we went to deliver them to the seniors in this care center. The initial visiting and sharing of our Valentines and chocolates in the dining room was mostly superficial and brief. We still had extra cards and asked the front desk if there were residents who could use a little 'pick me up.' We had some neat conversations with two elderly women who were so appreciative of our time. I got the sense that the gift of our time meant more than the cards and candy. It was a good experience for Katie and I enjoyed my Sunday afternoon too, listening to these seniors who were so lonely.

Our last Valentines surprise was on a Sunday night when we heard the doorbell ring around 8:30 pm. Daniel jumped out of bed and all the kids ran to the door in excitement. Someone had heart-attacked our front door, showering it in hearts and darling doily Valentines on picks, stuck into the ground. There was a big basket with candy and brownies too. What a nice surprise.

Spring Break to Missouri

2010-03-22T15:20:00.001-05:00

Spring Break is one of my favorite times of year to go on vacation.

The kids and I enjoyed a vacation to Branson last Sunday morning to Tuesday night. Since my parents and brother, Scott, were coming to visit the last part of Spring Break, we moved our trip up a bit. With Ben's new responsibilities in the bishopric, he needed to be at church on Sunday and had duties that afternoon as well. When we found out he had another meeting on Tuesday night, I decided to just take the kids myself since we wouldn't have much time and the drive was kind of long. I was anxious for some fun!

The up side of being the driver is that I can stop at whatever sights I'd like to see. On each trip to Missouri, we've seen repeated billboards for the Precious Moments chapel. Since we'd missed our church services on Sunday, this seemed like a good place to stretch our legs and see something new too. Plus, it was free and kind of cute. It was definitely a little cheesy and "precious", but worth the stop.
After being in the car for hours, the kids enjoyed running around outside and exploring the animal statues. Exploring to Daniel often means climbing.
In the visitors center, there were lots of moving Precious Moments figurines to look at.
The walk to the chapel was pretty. The little kids found a perfect hide out.
I love this one of me and Christina. Daniel in the background is so - Daniel.
Sweet sisters on their way to the chapel.
Patterned after the Sistine Chapel, their version really was sweet. One side of the chapel was dedicated to Old Testament stories. The other side to the New Testament.
The wall of stained glass windows was pretty too.
I think the view from the back part of the chapel had to be my favorite. Too bad we couldn't walk to this neat little castle.
I let the kids choose a treat from the vending machine before we finished our drive to Branson, which we enjoyed in a covered gazebo area near the parking lot. And just a little more climbing and running for Daniel. He complained regularly in the car that his bum hurt. Christina did better sitting than Daniel on this trip.
The drive into Branson was fun - lots of rolling hills that the kids pretended were roller coasters. After we checked in, we walked around and explored the hotel we were staying at - Grand Country Inn. It really was a great place to stay! The rates are much more reasonable than most indoor waterpark resorts. Normally it's $99 a night and you can enjoy 2 days in the waterpark for free. We got a Spring Break special for $250 - 2 nights included, plus the waterpark passes, 2 large pizzas, and tickets for the whole family to the Amazing Pet Show and to the 3D glow-in-the-dark mini golf. It was definitely worth it!
I try to find things that help us keep the Sabbath in mind. It's hard to do that on vacation, but we ended up going for a drive and saw more of Branson. We stopped at Branson's Landing and saw the fountain show. The fountains are choreographed with lights and put to music. Kind of a nice walking area too. We ordered our free pizza, watched a little tv, and then got ready for our big day on Monday!
Daniel has been doing lots of similar karate moves in recent months.
We were the first ones in the water park doors that morning. 10 am didn't come fast enough for my kiddoes. We paid an extra $10 to get a fridge in the hotel and to stay in the building closest to the waterpark building. Both were worth the extra money.
The waterpark has an outdoor section that is only open in the summer.
Not as fancy as Kalahari (in Wisconsin Dells) or Great Wolf Lodge, Grand Country was a lot of fun and perfect for the ages of my kids.
The Lazy River was everyone's favorite part. I think we rode around it 100 times or more. The water was pretty warm and there were always enough tubes to go around.
Similar to Nickelodeon Hotel's big bucket, this one dropped tons of water every 4 minutes or so. Christina kept chanting, "Slime, slime, slime", even though it didn't drop green slime water at this resort. The water in the tower and on the two slides was a bit colder, but not too bad. The basketball pool had 4 baskets and lots of bouncie balls to shoot hoops. Daniel wouldn't go in and was petrified of the "big boys." Even if the girls and I were in the basketball pool, he would watch a few feet away and not get in. Kids are funny that way. We all spent lots of time in the two hot tubs. One was really hot and perfect for adults and the other was full of kids, trying to get warm and get in some actual swimming.The arcade/golf area also had an adjoining pizza buffet and the supposedly the biggest banjo in the world. Gotta love Branson and its cheese!
The mini golf was one of the cutest I've seen. The 3D effects were really quite good. I only bought a few pair since I knew there would be one or two kids who wouldn't keep them on. Christina mostly liked the glow-in-the-dark animals and kept trying to kiss the piggies.
A little more cheese!
We opted to do the mini bowling on this trip. It was $3 for 10 frames and pretty fun. Christina took a few of the kids' turns and was content to "pretend play" Guitar Hero nearby.
I liked Branson, but it made me want to get out of the busyness and find a little fresh air too. We took a drive around Branson and went out to Table Rock Dam and Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery. I had read about it on Tripadvisor.com. It was a neat little stop and rated well on the website too. They had cups with "trout food" for .25 and we all fed lots of fish. I've never seen that many rainbow trout in my life.
There is a part of me that loves all these goofy touristy places. We didn't go in the wax museum or Ripley's Believe it Or Not, since we tried to stay on budget, but it was sure fun to see all the clever mini golf and go cart places in town. I think Branson must be the mini golf/go cart capital of America.
Christina was the first to spot this gorilla and loved driving by King Kong!
We had a busy few days and these brief car naps were the only ones Christina got. The second day's was even shorter. The balloon animal that Katie gave her (from the Amazing Pet Show) squeaked and woke her up!
The rooms at Grand Country are very basic - 2 Queen beds with a small table and 2 chairs in one big room. Katie found a way to get some privacy - even if it ended up being in the bathroom. She finished a book and made some lanyards while the younger two kids went to bed in the evening.
The next morning we were excited to head to the Amazing Pet Show just next door at the Grand Country Music Hall. I was glad our tickets were included in the rate since I doubt I'd have splurged on tickets. Daniel was chosen early on to participate, but he got cold feet and chickened out. KT was selected later on and loved being carried up to the stage for a funny segment with the magician/funny man/host. He nicknamed her Puddles and made all kinds of doggy puddle jokes. She loved being on stage!
The show featured all kinds of amazing tricks done by birds, dogs, a donkey, and even housecats - supposedly the animal most difficult to train. After intermission and the second half, it was noon and we hadn't even checked out yet. We went back to the room, loaded the stuff as quickly as we could, and headed out of town. I had promised the kids some souvenir shopping, so off we went to find a few stores. I found a store with t-shirts 3 for $10 and got the kids the same shirt, but in different colors. They are cute. After a McDonalds lunch run, I was ready to get on the road. I was feeling tired and ready to be home and sleep well.

I saw some signs for Wilson's Creek Battlefield and had recalled someone recommending it to me. I loved having our GPS on the trip and it helped me to be spontaneous and adventurous. It didn't add too many extra miles and we decided to go for it. Daniel and I loved the visitors center. He enjoys anything involving weapons, it seems. The movie and displays were interesting, especially for a brief stop.
You gotta have a few silly cannon shots, right?
Christina did some peek a boo before we got started on the drive.

It was $5 (per adult or $10/car) to drive the 5 mile loop. We stopped a few times to see the cornfields, cannons, and places where this early Civil War battle took place. It was quite a bloody battle and interesting to learn more about Missouri history. I missed the turn off to leave and ended up back on the 1-way loop - AGAIN. So, we drove around Wilson's Creek twice. Way more than I wanted to see of it, that's for sure.

By that time, we were anxious to get on the road and get home since Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Scott were coming that night. It was a fun getaway and a successful Spring Break vacay! I enjoyed Branson, the Grand Country resort, and we hope to return to visit Silver Dollar City next time. We stopped for a wimpy dinner at a gas station in Morrison, OK. I missed a turn off and we ended up going the scenic route through the country.

We were officially welcomed to Oklahoma on our way home, since we stopped at the Oklahoma welcome center for a bathroom break and stocked up on as many brochures as we could carry out. I am amazed at how much there is to see here in O.K. I have tons more ideas for weekend outings and stuff to see with Christina.

I was reminded that Oklahoma's O.K. and Missouri's pretty marvelous too.

Christina Turns 3

2009-11-21T23:08:00.000-06:00

Christina Beana turns 3 tomorrow. What happened to my baby girl?

With all the busyness lately, I wondered how we'd fit in a birthday party, but we kept things simple, including a party in an hour time-frame, and I enlisted my #1 party assistant - Katie Girl. Thankfully, I have my Walmart/Dollar Tree stash in the master closet with all kinds of party supplies. (The amount of stuff I store in my closet is ridiculous, but I love it). I had a Princess-Fairy party box tucked away for this party, along with all kinds of favors, a tablecloth, craft, and other supplies. We were ready to roll with a smidge of planning.

We invited just a few kids this year and asked them to wear their favorite Princess/Fairy/Prince costume. Christina was adamant about being Tinkerbell and not Sleeping Beauty. I washed and ironed them both this week, wondering if she'd like to dress like KT did when she had her Princess party as a little girl. My kids know what they like.
I knew this cake idea was destiny since the party supplies had fairies, princesses, and a rainbow as their decor. AND, we had a ton of leftover Skittles- perfect for a rainbow - from Halloween. AND, it was the easiest cake on the planet. I got distracted mid-cake and wished I had not added the clouds under the rainbow, but oh well. That's why I'm not a true artist. A good artist knows when to stop and I didn't. The border turned out cute though.
Christina is pretty easygoing about all the party planning, although she did request having balloons "up high" too. Most were on the ground for the kids to kick around, juggle, and play with while I was gearing up for the partay. As the noise levels grew, I remembered my Mom saying she could tell by kids' sounds in their playing when someone was going to get hurt. It started sounding that way before long.

Adding crepe paper streamers is one of KT's 'party essentials' and I was so thankful to skip those this time. They're one of the most time consuming party elements. It still looked cute without them and decorated-enough.
Here's how everyone worked together. This morning Daniel and I sorted the Skittles and made the lemonade. Katie got the supplies out and worked on the game accessories. Christina and I put together goodie bags. She was so happy to make and hand them out to her "friends." I have to admit - they were cute bags with lollipops, barrettes, a pencil, sparkly tiara, notepad and markers, and diva feather pen.
I actually had a few minutes to spare before the start time and decided to make some quick "mini princess wands" with some pretzels, melted chocolate chips, and sprinkles. I remembered making these for KT's princess party and wanted something similar for Christina's. They worked out perfectly, since I passed these out while I cut the cake, scooped ice cream, and poured pink lemonade. They bought me just a few extra and essential minutes.
Here are the friends from left going around the table to the right: Kayla (Snow White), Kelsie (Cinderella), Daniel (The Chief from Pocahontas - yes, a stretch!), Little Daniel (Everyone's Prince), Christina (Tinkerbell), Katie (A Slightly Dressed Up Princess), and Jayden (A Hard-to-be-Seen Fairy).
Could this cake be any sweeter? Between the dark chocolate fudge inside, the cream cheese frosting, and then all those Skittles, it was pretty sugary. Let's just say the adults enjoyed the non-candy laden pieces.
Before cake and ice cream, we decorated foam mirrors, played "Pass the Princess", "Pin the Tiara", and did our traditional "Fishing Pond." With our packing and purging, I couldn't find our play fishing rod, so I improvised with a yard stick, masking tape, and yarn. It worked fine until KT and Daniel were reeling in an obviously HUGE fish and broke the rod in half. The younger kids' eyes got so big. With all the game prizes, Little Daniel was one of the only ones who wanted to wear his cute hair clips. It made us all laugh. I'm sure he'll hate knowing that some day.
Sweet Kayla loved participating in all the games. All these kids were so good and well-behaved and I was thankful to have several parents there, since we had so much work going on in the yard and house. Ben was working on a master bath project during some of the party too. That's multi-tasking for you. Long day.

I wondered how the party time from 4-5 pm would work out, but it ended up being wonderful. Most of them had just woken from naps and were so mellow. Loved it! Maybe having a small group helped with that too.
After cake and ice cream, we played a few rounds of Ring around the Rosie, Motor Boat, and London Bridges. Then parents started arriving and we opened a few presents. When I put Christina to bed tonight, she gave me tons of hugs and kisses, thanking me for her party. I even got a bunch of honks on the nose too. When I asked her what game she liked, She said, "Lock a up. Lock a up", which meant London Bridges won out. She was so cute, talking up a storm, after quite an over-tired melt-down/tantrum. Birthday party nights showcase the word - OVERSTIMULATION. I had to dim the lights, tidy up quickly, and have some separating of the children to get everyone to settle down.

Christina had ideas for more birthday cakes - a Nemo one, a Yellow one, a Go (Go Diego G0), and an Elmo one again. She had an Elmo cake last year and remembered it. I could tell she felt loved and knew I had worked hard on her party. It was sweet to feel a childlike thankfulness.
A few of the children, including Christina, didn't want to participate in this game with a blindfold. Here's Kelsie giving it one more try before she left.
Parents started picking up their children just as we opened up gifts. Opening gifts without the givers around isn't such a bad thing with 3-year olds. They usually want to keep what they're giving. That is often the most stressful part of their party. Christina was sweet to give thank-you hugs. Here she is with Kelsie's Mom - Patricia - who is our neighbor friend.
After opening gifts, we enjoyed a new easy meal idea - the premade Big Sandwiches from Walmart. For $4, you get a french bread loaf with all the fixin's. We chose a roast beef, cheddar, one with lettuce and tomato too. They leave the mayo and mustard off and just send separate packets of them, so it doesn't get soggy. We'll have to remember this meal for future roadtrips and busy days. Yummy, healthy, and easy. All the kids - minus Katie - thought it was fun. Then Christina was free to play with her new toys. She was so happy and especially loved her new FurReal Pet - a parrot that gently coos with a bottle.
Big kids like to change things up and make things creative. Christina received this darling Princess Snow Hat and after everyone left, Katie thought it would be a good replacement for the lost blindfold. Christina finally gave the game a try and really had fun. Doesn't this seem much scarier than a pink blindfold?

Don't judge me for not jumping in on this 'not wise' idea. I thought it was funny. The other thing the kids couldn't wait to do was to jump on the balloons and pop them all. I made them promise to wait until the little kids left. They're so loud and scary sounding. After all is said and done, I love a good party, but then I also love a good party clean up.

Knowing tomorrow will be a bit quieter is something wonderful to ponder on tonight.

Oklahoma - Here we come!

2009-11-21T22:11:00.001-06:00

Guess who's going to be living here?
Introducing....our new home in Oklahoma. We're sad to be leaving Texas, but we are so excited about this house and the adventures that await us in our new house, ward, and neighborhood! This home has almost everything we've wanted for years. We feel so thankful. The inspection was a few days ago and our OK realtor told us it was one of the most clean, easy inspections she'd seen. It is just a few years old and well-cared for. We love it!
Love, love the gourmet kitchen with a pantry even. So new and current. Katie was thrilled with the size of the kids' bedrooms, although she thinks all the woodwork in this home will take some adjustment. It won't take me long.

Most of the online photos didn't do it justice. It's just a beautiful house. This is the living room.
The master bath is great with an extra long tub and a hip cave-like shower.

Covered patio in the back with a fenced back yard even. Love the wrought iron too.

It seems surreal that we'll be living here within 3 weeks!

Our latest Halloween

2009-11-10T23:14:00.000-06:00

Christina the Cat and I had fun at our Moms Club Halloween party last month. It was nostalgic for me since I am guessing it will be one of the last club events that we attend. I've been considering phasing out since life just feels too busy, my kids are getting older, and besides, the town we're moving to doesn't have a Moms Club anyway. One of the interesting aspects to the party was the location. The host, Michaele, recently moved to the area and is a new member of our club. She bought a home that belonged to some other friends of ours, the Keysers. Isn't that a funny feeling when you walk into a home that now belongs to someone else? She was kind to offer up her home to all those kids and a lot of chaos and mess.
Moms Club parties always have great food and friends. Christina had fun playing with the kids and I enjoyed chatting with the Moms. The kids decorated pumpkins with these neat foamie stickers from Oriental Trading. It's a great way to go with young children. I loved this idea. Christina's is the cat with closely set eyes.
Today, we continued the fun by honoring Daniel's request to decorate the Candy Haunted Castle. I bought a kit last year on clearance and we finally had a mellow day to make this together. The only crafty moment I seemed to have was hot-gluing the pieces. That was the only part that turned out well.
As you can see, the icing wasn't thick enough and didn't work to adhere the candies. Let's just say ours doesn't look anything like the example. Daniel was kind to me about it anyway and said it just looked extra spooky with the icing running down the house. Not our most successful craft project, but it's most likely going in the trash tomorrow anyway. You win some. You lose some, but we did have fun.
Then Ben took Katie to lunch at Texas Roadhouse on a Daddy-Daughter date. It made Katie so happy. One of her favorite things is going out to eat. Fast food doesn't count to her.

Christina could barely wait for them to return so that the whole family could go have an adventure. Ben was thoughtful and brought back much of his meal in a box so that I could enjoy a loaded baked potato and steak too. The younger kids sampled KT's leftovers before we headed to Bass Pro for their Halloween fun. The highlight of the store's events was the S'Mores. We all enjoyed one by the massive fireplace in the lobby. I loved this family photo taking by the employee who was the Official S'Mores Maker. It wasn't what I thought it would be since she made them and we ate them.
We also sampled the Dutch Oven cobbler on our way in. None of us cared for it since it was burned. Mostly Christina couldn't wait to see the bass. Here she is telling them something in her cute, animated way. She has two voices. One if really soft, sweet, and feminine. The other is loud and bordering on screaming. We hope the nice voice sticks.
The girls enjoyed coloring their animal masks. Daniel opted out, but then was angry about not having a mask when we headed for the car afterwards. Isn't that outings with kids for you?
Daniel did love exploring in the tents and the boats. I was bummed they did away with their putting green and the ducks area. This photo of him gives me the giggles since I remember him patting the mannequin's chin, explaining that he looks just like Bear in Man vs. Wild.
Christina left her mask on the rest of the time we were in Bass Pro. She likes to copy Katie. The kids and I had fun in the shooting gallery and then we did a little Christmas shopping and browsed. I don't think Ben was able to shop as much as he would have liked though. He loves Bass Pro. This store is just testosterone packed on a Saturday!
I look forward to my quiet afternoons when Christina naps (most days she still naps, but times are changing!) During that time, Daniel played with his neighbor friend, Michael, and I assembled this foamie Halloween Haunted House. This project was much more successful than the candy house in the morning. I was glad Katie finally made time to work on it with me. School and 'recovering from school' has sure kept her busy.
We've started a new Halloween tradition since we made one of these last year too. Nana bought us last year's tree house. I found this year's at Michaels for under $5. I hope to keep this craft going each year.
The boys wanted to help, so I let them put on ghosts and bats. Katie worked diligently adding the sparkly glitter to the mints and candy corn. She also added the glitter on the sparkly base.

Soon Christina woke up and she was thrilled for "Mommy's Halloween Cooking Class." Calling it this helped her wake up more happily. Last week I read about some fun Halloween food ideas on this blog and was excited to try some easy, kid-friendly recipes for our Halloween dinner tonight. Ben kindly bought some of the ingredients for me this week. The kids and I had a ball making these MUMMY DOGS with crescent rolls and tasty Hebrew hot dogs that were cut in half. A definite "make again."
None of my photos turned out well, so I'm adding the photos from the recipe blog. These mummies are adorable and tasty too. The kids opted for ketchup - instead of mustard - eyes, although they're more camouflaged and less photogenic. We also added mustard or ketchup on the side for dipping.

These easy CHEESY FINGERS were my favorite dish, if you can even call it that. I generally have string cheese and I keep slivered almonds in my freezer. You can adhere the nuts with cream cheese, but I opted for sour cream since I was using it in the next recipe. I also stretched the cheese by cutting them in half both lengthwise and cross-wise. Don't forget to add the knuckle marks. They looked really cool.

I made a variation of this since I wasn't up for the work of seven-layer dip tonight. My kids love cottage cheese and tomatoes, so I made it with a SPIDER-WEB of sour cream on top. The added black spiders made it look creepy.

The last dish that I made was by far the grossest. In fact, NONE of the kids would touch it. To make them more bite-size, I used hot dog buns and cut them in half. To make the WORMS, you thinly slice hot dogs and place them in boiling water for a minute or two. They curl up and look perfectly Halloweeny. Then you mix them with BBQ sauce and place in a bun. Ben and I enjoyed them anyway. I also had some leftover angel hair with carbonara sauce that I served as BRAINS. It was fun to have soda for a treat too. KT called it brain juice. I had to work to keep my appetite with all this gross stuff on the table. We all enjoyed a creative Halloween dinner!

By this time, we were running ate. Usually I don't plan creative meals right before trick or treating, but tonight's dinner was worth it. We hadn't even gotten costumes on or prepped the front door when we heard the first door bell ring. Our neighbors had come before we were ready. After they left, we hustled. Here are kitty Christina and Harry Potter ready to knock on doors.
Since they weren't cooperating for photos, I suggested they knock on our door for some candy. I loved this picture of us all.
Trick or treating brings back great memories of my childhood. We walked down Warrington and up Amhearst streets. Then we went to pick up Cate, a neighbor and ward friend who wanted to join us. About half the houses (or less) in our neighborhood participate and celebrate Halloween. It's kind of a bummer.

A funny moment tonight was at a neighbor's haunted house. I had to talk Daniel into going in. Mostly it was dark and spooky, but in the last room, there was a mannequin on a chair. Cate told me it wasn't real. Well, at one point the creepy guy moved and I screamed, scaring the two little kids even more. When we came out of the spook alley, I admitted to all the adults in costume that the screams came from me. Kind of funny. I am a scaredy-cat and have always watched the scary parts of movies muted. It drives Ben nuts, but I just can't handle those intense parts of movies. Daniel told Ben at bedtime that he was scared and going to have nightmares because of the haunted house Mom made him go into. He put on Primary music to help him calm down. We'll see how tonight goes.
We drove over to another neighborhood where we have lots of friends and there's great Halloween spirit. I wanted Ben to join us this year, so we turned off our house lights so he could take a break from passing out candy. It was fun to see our friends at their neighbor's kiddie carnival. The kids played games, won prizes, and then headed to one of their neighbors that often gives out full-sized candy bars. Some received the big bars and some didn't. That bugged my kids. Here are Daniel and Ryan M. both as Harry Potter. How cute are they?

After trick or treating in that neighborhood, we took Katie to Cate's house to let her Mom continue with the big girls since they could stay up a bit later. Ben and I took the little ones home to get ready for bed. It was almost 9 pm and they were pooped. Me too. I thought it would be fun to let the kids eat a little candy while we drove around to see the cool Halloween decorations. Ben hadn't seen some of the homes that go all out! There's a neighborhood with tons of inflatables and lights. It was something we hadn't done before. Fun. I'm inspired and hope to add at least one inflatable for next year. And maybe some orange lights. And maybe some....I'll stop now.

Although we never carved pumpkins (for the first time ever) this year, we sure had some fun this Halloween. How could Walmart run out of pumpkins? Ben and I ran out of steam to hit another grocery store so we improvised. The kids didn't even seem to care. Plus, I had all these other ideas for fun today and I had my fake pumpkins with lights anyway.

Hope you all had a spooky time too! Whoooooo.

Connect Pass Sightseeing Deal

2009-07-31T16:32:00.000-05:00

I recently heard about quite the sightseeing deal in Utah. It's called Connect Pass and it's offered through the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau. An adult pass is $20 and includes admission to 12 sites, including a free lunch buffet at the Lion House pantry. Right now, it's a buy 1 day, get 1 free, so we had 2 days to tour around. Although we could have been more intense in our touring, we ended up visiting 7 places and had a great time! First, we started at Clark Planetarium in downtown SLC, where they printed out our cards. Their museum is small, but we thoroughly enjoyed their "Under the Sea" IMAX movie.
My favorite pics from the planetarium were these photos on Mars and then...
the Moon! The kids look cute in their matching family shirts. I made (well - the iron-ons anyway) them for our Disney World vacation last May.
Right across the street was the Gateway Discovery children's museum. It was more crowded than I like when I visit museums, but it's an amazingly well-done museum. First, the kids played in the beehive ball area and then explored this musical instrument.
Christina would have hung out in this play house all day! Look at her elated smile.
Daniel enjoyed the water area.
Daniel was surprisingly tall enough to do this climbing wall. Both he and Katie had a great time being little monkeys!
Our newest construction workers - Christina and Daniel
The theater area had fun costumes that the kids tried on. Christina opted to wear hers while she created a comic strip. What a cutie patootie!
My three little rays of sunshine!
Bobette the Builder
Katie shows off her creation and her new contacts
On the outside patio there was a Life Flight helicopter that the younger kids liked to play inside.
After two museums in a morning, we headed for lunch near Temple Square. Our free buffets at the Lion House Pantry worked out well. The chicken pot pies were especially tasty!
This photo made me laugh. Daniel wondered who these statues were (Joseph and Emma Smith).
It was amazing to walk out of the restaurant and see this! We walked on the east side of the temple grounds and saw the beautiful reflection pool, gardens, church headquarters, R.S. building, and of course - the Salt Lake Temple. I've mostly seen Temple Square from the west side, so it was a treat to explore the other side this time.We walked through the North Visitors Center on Temple Square. It's always such a joy to see the Christus statue. The little kids seemed to really enjoy it this time. We saw their newest movie about the family. It was clever, going through 6 different rooms that felt like rooms in a home. Katie and I really felt the Spirit of peace during this movie.
Daniel wanted to go downstairs and see all the paintings and exhibits. This "Love Thy Neighbor" story of the Good Samaritan was interesting to him.
On our walk back, we noticed visitors going in and out of the Tabernacle (famous for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) and we also were able to pop in and see it. Since it was the week of Pioneer Day (a big holiday in Utah - July 24), things looked so festive. I loved the patriotic bunting and flags in the tabernacle. They did their classic "drop a pin" demonstration that shows off the amazing acoustics of the tabernacle. I feel like I am officially NOT living in Utah with all our Temple Square sightseeing.
Next we walked in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and took the elevator to the 10th floor. What a view. I think this photo of the kids is one of my vacation favorites. We walked through the Family History Center where they added a play area for kids. It was a nice spot for the kids to let loose - well, sort of anyway - and play.
Here's another view of the Lion House on our way back. This was one of Brigham Young's residences.
We took a 20-minute tour of the Beehive House next. I loved the beehive accents throughout the home. All the kids were tired and bored and squirrely, but I was happy to return for a tour. I hadn't seen it since I was 12 and in the Beehive program in the church. I enjoyed seeing such cute sister missionaries who did tours for us in Salt Lake. It made me thankful to have served a mission and especially in a temple visitors center.
A few pretty shots of the Beehive House. Love the hollyhocks and bunting!
Then we headed to our van, which we had parked conveniently close. I even found free parking on the street. Hooray for free! On our drive back to Orem, I took the kids around the Capitol and then geared up for some freeway driving. The freeways are much improved from 10 years ago when I used to work often in SLC. The HOV lane got us 'home' in no time at all!

Connect Pass Fun continues

2009-07-31T16:28:00.002-05:00

Here's Day 2 using our awesome Connect Pass in the Salt Lake area. We definitely got our money worth with the passes. Our first destination that morning was Thanksgiving Point Discovery Gardens in Lehi, not far from my parents' home. The first thing we saw was this neat Noah's Ark water area. The kids waded and Christina accidentally sat down in the water. In the dry Utah climate, her skirt didn't take long to dry. Christina's hair is getting so long. We've been putting it in a ponytail or messy bun on hot days lately. She likes it out for naptimes and bedtimes.
What a beautiful morning for a walk and some exploration along the kid-friendly, windy paths! I even got my lighthouse-fix. This was a darling corner. The flowers were beautiful and blooming in all parts of the garden.
And then we discovered an outdoor painting area. It reminded me the of the Impressionist era in Paris. Christina and Katie both did two paintings, although Daniel preferred looking at the beehive and books inside the discovery center. Christina didn't want to leave and needed some sweet-talking to head to the next area.
These children's gardens had fun areas around every corner. This music spot was fun for the kids, until they started bickering. I pulled out water bottles and a small snack to tide them over. Other fun things here were the hedge maze, the bear cave and crawling tunnels, and the koi ponds.
Then we drove over to the other adult Thanksgiving Point Gardens to explore some more. The Connect Passes were a great way to get us out here. I've always wanted to see the gardens, but at $10/adult, it often felt a bit pricey. Daniel was more excited to spot a lizard than actually looking at flowers. To motivate him to keep walking (which there was a lot of), Katie offered him a piece of gum every half hour. Her motivational strategy worked and we were able to walk through most of the gardens. I was proud of the kids and myself that morning. At the beginning, they offered golf carts for $25 to drive around the gardens. I thought this was the wimpy way to do it!
When the kids saw this huge, grassy hill they decided to roll down it instead of walk around the pathway. The grass in Utah is so beautiful, thick, and green. There was lots of pretty grass that they even allowed us to walk on.
We had the gardens mostly to ourselves, except for Hispanic gardeners deadheading petunias and other blooms. Katie picked this pink petunia up off the ground and wanted me to pose for a photo. I find that I'm often the subject of her photos. Most of the Utahns complained of the heat, but it felt relatively nice to us - compared to the humid weather in Texas. We heard it hit 105 back home that week.
This one is a butterfly garden - look at the shape of its design.
At this overlook with three columns, Katie explained to us about the different types of columns. Their cute posing cracked me up in this photo.
Here are Daniel and Christina checking out the Monet garden. Katie and I didn't think this garden was that well-themed, but overall the gardens were amazingly beautiful and colorful.
After the gardens, we hit a drive-through (Del Taco - again!) for lunch and the kids cooled off in the car while they ate. Then we headed to the nearby Museum of Ancient Life- dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Christina liked this dinosaur play area and I love seeing all the massive dinosaur bones. Few of my photos turned out very good inside the museum.
Last time we toured this museum a few years ago, the kids didn't want to leave this water/sand area, but I think they were getting tired and we breezed through it this year. I don't mind touring this way, especially when you know it's "free" and included in your passes.
One last photo with "Bruce the Shark" - or whatever his name is. We didn't spend long in this museum and needed a snack when we were done. I noticed an Iceberg Drive-In ice cream place as we were exiting and we grabbed twist cones in a cup to cool us off. On our way up to Salt Lake, Christina fell asleep in the car and I quickly went to Plan B - taking the tram ride up the mountain at Snowbird. It was the perfect length of drive, although a windy one up the canyon. I started to wonder if our van would make it since it was hot and steep.
It was cooler in the canyon, which was a nice change. I hadn't been up Little Cottonwood Canyon in years - very pretty in the summer! It was also fun to see the Snowbird Ski Resort without snow. The last time I'd been up there was skiing in my college years.
The kids and I enjoyed our tram ride up the mountain. We even saw several deer resting in snow.
We had about 15 minutes to walk around before the next tram came. We decide to take a potty break, snap some photos, and have a near heart-attack with the kids getting too close to the ledge. This evokes memories of traveling with my family to Dead Horse Point when Mom opted to stay in the van to tidy it up, instead of seeing us all near the edge and looking down. I've officially become the Mom - not living on the edge, I think.
Katie took this photo of me. I actually liked it too! With the mountains and pine trees in the background, it makes me think that I'm still a Utah-girl at heart.
Daniel was mad when I asked him to step away from the edge. With his flip-flops on and his wiggly little personality, it was making me anxious. Don't you love his stomping feet and angry face here?

Then we headed to get a shave ice on the way to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. The treats kept us going today as our Connect Pass energy was lagging.
We were getting tired since it was dinnertime and saw nearly everything in this museum within an hour. I actually prefer reading all the info on the museum signs when I go myself, but with kids along, it's the 'sweetened, condensed' version. Okay with me.
This is my favorite photo from the aquarium - love these jellyfish. Christina has become a Little Mermaid and Nemo fan and enjoyed all the fish. During our trip, her most viewed DVDs were Monsters, Inc. and Dumbo, though. Since she's started watching tv, she has become a much better car traveler.The kids - especially Daniel - liked touching the stingrays in this large touch tank. He played at the tank for about 30 minutes, while the girls looked around in this same area.

Totally opposite expressions here. Daniel was tired and sick of photos and Christina was in a cheesy place! That evening we headed to my parents' for dinner leftovers and to put our feet up! All that sightseeing made me so happy. It was fun to see some of these places I've heard so much about and it made me happy knowing we saw it at such a discount. I'm impressed with the family activities Utah has added in the 9 years we've been away. Utah offers such a variety of things to do - lots of outdoor stuff, LDS church history sites, along with some fun museums. There is much I miss about it, although I have learned to love Texas too.

Great Memories in Utah

2009-07-31T16:24:00.000-05:00

Much of my family gathers on Sunday evenings for dinner and chatting. I miss this, living far away. Many of the cousins (minus Steve & Tiercy's boys) stayed at Grandma's that night for a sleepover. This is mostly how we found Daniel and Nate - playing video games.
With my birthday money, I bought some jewelry making kits to play with on the vacay. Aunt Lee sent some of her supplies for the sleepover too. The girl cousins and I got creative and crafty that night while we watched "Princess Protection Program."
Here are the girls in the family room - pretending to sleep.
And the boys in the living room ... None of them were falling asleep too easily, so I ended up laying on one of the couches at 12:30 am to help them settle down. By 1 am, I was pooped and ready for bed.
All the kiddoes were up at 7 am - rarin' to go. Grandma made bacon and waffles for breakfast, while Christina and I slept in. That was one of my favorite parts of our vacation - sleeping in many mornings. Then it was time for some Ninendo DS and board games. "Life" is great fun!
Here are some of my and Katie's creations from the weekend. I enjoyed it so much that I bought more beads at Michaels when we returned home.
I'm glad Aunt Carol got us going on jewelry making. It has become a fun, new hobby.
Cousins Nicole and Katie show off their handmade jewelry.
One morning that week, Grandpa wanted to take us out on the lake one last time. Daniel had begged to go fishing. Katie and Christina had fun on the tube. They both signaled thumbs up to go faster. Christina is a little daredevil. All our kids were like this at 2 years old and then became more cautious in their 3s and 4s. Daniel was pretty nervous to go on the banana tube and the tube this year. He never would go on the tube. Katie tried skiing at Bear Lake and supposedly made it up for a few minutes (I wasn't on the boat and missed this fun moment). All the kids ended up loving the banana tube.
It was so nice to spend time with family on the boat and at home. Being at my parents' home is so easy for us all. They're patient, easygoing, and it's very kid-friendly. They're used to having many grandkids at their house and it didn't seem to stress them out having us there for so many days.
Daniel didn't enjoy fishing from the boat as much as he likes it from the shoreline, but it was fun to have a little varied fishing experience. We learned that he's all about casting! The waiting part isn't as fun for a 5-year old.
Uncle Scott knee-boarded and had fun spraying Katie on the tube. I was able to pop up on waterskis too. This year it was more challenging than in past years and I didn't ski long. I need to build up my core strength, I think. What fun to be out on the lake and "ski the scum!" We enjoyed feeding the seagulls and flying the boat kite too. It was a great morning and 3 weeks in Utah!

Park City Part II

2009-07-31T16:23:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite sights in Park City. I love seeing this on the way to/from the outlet mall.
Cute cousins - Christina and little Mark at a Park City park. That sounds kind of funny.
I love the expressions on both Carol and Mark's faces as little Mark zips down the zipline.
Grandpa Bob was great to make this Park City reunion happen!
The fam: Anne, Nana/Kathy, John, and Carol enjoying some of Aunt Carol's homemade ice cream.
Ben won the tennis match!
Katie, Carol, and Ben hit a few balls on the tennis court. The kids and I didn't even bring tennis shoes for the trip. Go figure. Yes, we're not big exercisers, but I sure hope to improve our family fitness in future years.
What a pretty Christina girl!

Park City 2009

2009-07-31T16:17:00.000-05:00

We spent six days in Park City with Ben's parents and siblings. Our days were full of swimming, eating together, visiting, watching movies, playing tennis, going to dinner, exploring Main Street, and a little shopping at the outlets.

One evening we drove to Oakley where we ate at the neatest restaurant called Road Island Diner. It was interesting to learn the history of this diner too.
Probably our favorite part of the condo was swimming. The water temperature was perfect for our family. I'm finding we've becoming Texanized and prefer warmer water for swimming. Ben cracks me up in these photos. He looks like a SeaWorld employee or some kind of dolphin trainer. He loved tossing and flipping the kids around. Here's KT showing off her tricks!
Daniel could hardly wait for Daddio to get to the pool. Daniel continued to be quite a trickster. Having him and Christina both in lifejackets gave me peace of mind and gave them autonomy to do their thing. I'm hoping to get the two youngest in swim lessons this August to help them learn actual swimming skills.
Here we are showing off the George Washington hair-do. We all had some giggles over this look. In this photo from L to R: me, Katie, Carol, and Anne.
Christina was so cute at the pool. She loved running and jumping in from the side and would do it even if no one was there to catch her. She got a rash from her lifejacket, so we tried arm floaties the next few days. It didn't take her long to figure them out. She is a total fish! Katie loves it when Christina will let her "help" her. Usually she just wants her Mama. Today in the van, she told me, "Thank you, Mama." It made me happy. Her language is improving.
The kids loved exploring around the condo and having lots of drinks. We all found Utah and especially Park City to be so dry. Having a stocked fridge - thanks to Grandpa Bob - helped to keep us hydrated.
Christina and little Mark had fun playing and did pretty well together. We heard lots of "Mine", but they enjoyed each other. I think they look very similar - almost like brother and sister, which is fun since they're both adopted. I thought often during our stay in Park City how lucky we are to have these little ones. Adoption has blessed so many lives in our family!
Ben's family has vacationed in Park City for years. In fact, I remember receiving post cards and birthday cards in high school from Ben that he bought at this Dolly's book store. It's always a "must see" when we go to Park City. The kids spent lots of time looking at books. Ben and I tag-teamed it so we could also browse the bookstore. We walked up Main Street for a bit. Christina and I explored an art gallery and then we all went into the Family Tree Center that the LDS Church hosts. They took a few family photos that were super cute.
Afterwards, we all went to dinner at the Baja Cantina, a family favorite, that's up on the mountain near the Alpine Slide. While we were waiting for a table, we walked around. Aunt Carol took these family photos - our only from the trip so far.
Goofy family photo - I just love it!
Their presentation of food is just beautiful - full of color and cute mini flags.
Eating outside helped tremendously with kids along for the ride. You know I've mentioned before that our youngest two don't sit real long for meals. What delicious food and great company!
They surprised me with a birthday dessert and song too. The blue sombrero is truly me!
Then the kids did a few rides - and I say few because they are super pricey here.
Katie and Daniel both did this bungee type jumping thing. Katie was great at flips and Daniel was great at getting height as he jumped. They loved it!
Aunt Carol gathered the kids around to read Elmo. It was great to spend time in Park City with Ben's family.

Fab Fourth

2009-07-31T16:08:00.000-05:00

Although we arrived in Utah County late on July 3rd, we somehow mustered some morning energy to make it to the famous Freedom Festival parade in Provo. We donned our patriotic shirts and headed with Uncle Mark and Aunt Anne to find a spot.

While the adults and Katie scouted around for a spot, I waited with the younger two under this tree. It was perfect as it started to sprinkle and offered some protection. The kids were happy that I brought leftover cold pizza to snack on too.
We were at the prettiest spot to watch the parade. This view of the flags, trees, and mountains in the background added to my patriotic feelings.
Matching red shirts and toothy grins (Daniel actually lost his first tooth in Wichita, Kansas. The tooth fairy even found our hotel!)
Anne and Mark (Ben's youngest siblings) added to the fun morning.
What's a parade without a little snack? I was happy the kids all chose these blue raspberry snowcones. Although they did a great job staining the kids clothes, they cooled us all off and made for some festive photos with the red,white, and BLUE.
Gotta love Daniel's patriotic blue tongue!
Hangin' out and watching the parade
Christina had the perfect spot on Uncle Mark's shoulders. I loved watching Christina's cute little wave to all the entries.
On our walk to/from our car, we found Herbie or his look-alike!
There's always something fun to find in Provo. I love being in college towns and you just can't beat BYU country!
After the parade, we went back to Ben's parents for a BBQ. Aunt Anne outdid herself again with her festive flag jello. It not only looked adorable, it tasted great too.
Tasty meal #1 on the 4th! - It's apparent that I love burgers, but boy do I look tired!
These two cutie patooties, little Mark and Christina, were found often at this little table, just their size. Christina was vigilant about keeping the red chairs around it.
Katie shows off her fierce look with her olive fingers.
Here is Ben with the kind hosts of the partay - Bob and Kathy, his parents.
Their neighbors were kind enough to let the kids play with their chickens, pick cherries, and explore in their yard. Daniel showed off his creature skills by catching and cuddling with the chickens. The kids also had fun wading in the irrigation that morning. Hanging out next-door to pick cherries was an annual 4th of July tradition of Ben's as a child and it added to a special day for us too.
Uncle Mark was so fun to wrestle with!
Cheery Christina loved picking some cherries!
We finished the afternoon at Ben's family and then headed to Partay #2 at the my family's house. It's been a blessing having both our families live in the same town. It also makes holidays a bit busy, but hey! We're up for the fun!
My family likes to do backyard games and this year continued in tradition with tug-0-war, jump-rope, and the annual Cousins Talent Show. Uncle Steve has worked all year training for marathons, triathalons, and of course - the tug-o-war. Everyone had fun that evening!
Our kids always look forward to playing with their cousins. The weather in Utah is so refreshing too. Even if everyone is complaining of the heat, it never feels bad to me! It's all relative, isn't it?
I think Grandpa turned that rope for over an hour. Most of the adults and all the kids gave it a try. This year we tried some fun double dutch variations!
Uncle Scott's favorite thing is getting out his fire pit for S'Mores. It was a bit warm, but we had fun roasting marshmallows.
Chocoholic Christina had her own way of making S'Mores - an uncooked marshmallow wedged between two pieces of Hershey's. Not a bad idea!
My Mom got out one of Grandma's infamous mink furs for all the girls to try on and model. We had lots of laughs over this! Grandma was quite the corker with her high heels, red lips, and furs.
Some of us took a break and moved the party inside for some karaoke. Steve serenaded his wife Tiercy and made us all giggle! We never knew Steve had such a great falsetto!
Daniel's favorite thing about the 4th is sidewalk fireworks. Cute Nate seemed to like the sparklers too.
What a blessing to be part of both family's celebrations on this holiday. We miss out on so much, living far away, but I don't take it for granted when we can join in the fun. Here are Aunt Lee, Katie, and Ethan showing off their sparkling personalities!
Isn't this how much of America spends the evening of the 4th? We enjoyed round two of BBQ and then did some watermelon eating and spitting and then rallied for fireworks!
Grandpa made them extra dramatic this year by putting them on top of a ladder. My Dad can be so funny! They definitely looked higher up and bigger, I think anyway. The patriotic music in the background adds to the evening too.
Hands down - the cutest picture of the day. These two 2-year old cuties were so huggy with each other while they watched the show.
Another sweet touch to the day were the patriotic flower clips that Aunt Lee and her girls made for all the girls. They looked so cute and it's fun to be part of this Utah style trend! This huggy photo of Christina and Alayna shows how we all felt being together on this fun holiday - full of love for each other and for our country. Happy 4th of July to one and all!

Last Week

2009-01-12T15:40:00.000-06:00

Ben went to Hawaii this past week with his parents, siblings, and their spouses. They had a great time at his parent's condo and enjoyed swimming, relaxing on the beach, snorkeling, shopping, eating, going on a boat ride, playing games, and visiting. Thankfully, Ben didn't buy either of these two groovy board shorts/swimsuits. I just can't imagine them on Ben.Hawaii sounds so beautiful with great beaches, palm and banana trees, and good weather. I will post more pics of the fun as soon as Ben's family emails photos to me. Ben was the video guy and mostly brought back video clips from the vacation. I am glad Ben was able to get away. He needed a break and loved this trip with his family. Here he standing near one of the biggest banyan trees in the world. So much of his video looks straight off the tv show 'Lost.'

Here is Ben doing a little t-shirt shopping. He got this $ shirt for himself and his Dad.

Ben was thoughtful and brought back a t-shirt for each of us. (I know. I know. It sounds vaguely familiar. 'My husband went to Hawaii and all he brought back for me was this lousy t-shirt.' I don't really feel that way). Here's just a little background on why I didn't go with Ben to Hawaii. Truthfully, I wished I could have been there. All the adults in his family went, except me. I had moments of feeling left out and being bummed, but the timing wasn't right. Between living away from family and having little ones at home, I didn't feel comfortable leaving the kids with anyone. For months we've tried to figure out a good arrangement.

It ended up working out well since the big kids had back to school this week. It was a week of adjustments and getting used to waking early. KT had her school spelling bee and TAKS practice test. She felt quite emotional and tired those first days. I needed to be there for the kids this week. I keep telling myself that there will be future years I can go. And I'll have some fun this year too. Katie and I are planning our Annual Girls Trip to Williamsburg, Virginia in the spring. I let myself feel bummed for a few minutes and then moved on emotionally to better things.

Back to the shirts. Ben found these at a cool shop called Crazy Shirts. One of the coolest things is that many of the shirts are dyed in various things like: shredded dollar bills (see Ben's green shirt), the ingredients in chocolate (see Christina's shirt), and lavender (see my shirt). Very clever marketing. Christina loves her monkey shirt, but then she adores chocolate and the 'Monkeys Jumping on a Bed' song. She hasn't wanted to change her shirt. Daniel got a hip shark shirt, which he really likes. And KT's navy shirt is perfect for her with the line (that we can't pronounce) from High School Musical - "Humuhumunukunukuapua'a".

Three Cute Hawaiian T-Shirts on Three Cute Kids

Ben also brought us some Macadamia Nuts (can you go to Hawaii WITHOUT buying these treat?) and also these tasty Macadamia Nut Kisses. Supposedly, you can't buy them unless you are in Hawaii. The little Hershey's flags says Aloha. Very cute!

There is nothing I like better than a lazy Saturday. It started with getting to sleep in until 9 am. What a treat! Thanks Ben. Amidst some regular house chores, organizing, fixing the shelf in our master closet (that came crashing down one night), and getting our new upstairs gaming area set up, both KT and Dan had friends come to play. It worked out so well today. I raked leaves while all 5 kids played in the back yard. (The back was needing some TLC, flower deadheading, and of course - more raking). I am sick of raking. It seems to never end. Katie and Daniel and their friends Katie M. and Michael moved my piles to the end of the slide. The leaf play and clever trampoline games kept them super busy. It was a cool day, but it felt fine if you were moving around and active.
There's nothing better than jumping into piles of leaves. The kids called me out at one point and Katie M. asked, "Would you help me find Katie and Michael?" They loved being jokesters and soon I realized they were hidden - completely covered by the leaves on the ground. The annual tradition is piling leaves near the rope swing and flying into the leaves there too. Other than finding some cat poop amidst the leaves and subsequently on Daniel's socks and pants, the day was a blast! (I sound like such a Mom saying that).

Christina was happy to have her Little Tykes rollercoaster cleaned off and give it a ride. She can even push it back up the ramp when she's done now. Christina is already good at putting things away, tidying, and cleaning up. I am thankful. So far, my girls have learned this skill easily. It's nice to have helpers around the house and in the yard.

I love Christy's little crooked smile here. She now likes to get right in with the big kids, jumping on the trampoline, but she watched patiently for a long time from her swing as the kids played in the leaves. Her little cheeks got so chapped and needed some lotion, which made her so happy. I'm glad to finally have a child who loves lotion like I do. Gotta love "boom boom."

After washing up, shaking off leaves, we had lunch together. I promised Daniel we would build a fire that afternoon and make S'Mores. The kids had a ball and spent a long time roasting marshmallows in our fireplace and eating S'Mores. Boys especially love anything fire-related.

What a fun day for us all.

Christina is a chocoholic and loved her candy bar unmelted and without the other stuff. Here she is saying, "Cheese," and doing a cheesy smile. She uses more napkins than anyone in the family and has to have one at every meal. Looking at her face, you would never guess how much she tries to be eat tidily. Messy Marvina.

Our roasting tree came in handy again. Daniel was able to play with Michael much of the day - first at Michael's house and then here for hours. What a treat for him. After devouring almost the whole bag of marshmallows, the kids were ready for more play. I was teasing the kids with roasting awards. Christina and Katie M. got chocolate awards. Daniel was honored with the burnt marshmallow award since all of his were completely charred. Michael got the "Perfectly Toasted" award. KT got the gooey award since she barely cooked hers and just liked them warmed.
It was fun to use my S'More roasting stick too. If you'll look closely in the background, you can see my S'More buddies lined up near my sink. Oh. I love these little gooey guys.
Daddy is so creative with Christy's hair and didn't want her hair to get any stickier, so he gave her a new look - out of her face. Kind of hip, huh?
Tonight was another fun date night. I am going to love Ben's gift of weekly babysitters. We went with some friends to a true Texas BBQ in Coppell called Hard Eight BBQ. Wow! This place is heaven for carnivores and we loved it. They slow cook the meats over open pits and it give all the meats great flavor. You choose your meats and buy them buy the pound. The sides were good, but I think it's the meat that people come for. I especially liked the turkey (moist and flavorful) and sausage. The only down side of the night was that they were out of Dr. Pepper for nearly an hour. Ben has theories about drink/food combinations. Dr. Pepper is best with BBQ. Coke Classic is best with Mexican food. A&W Rootbeer is best with pizza. And Sprite...."Well, it's good with soda crackers", Ben told us tonight.

It was great to spend time laughing, visiting, and eating with good friends. I am definitely an extrovert, gaining energy when I'm around people. Often after parties or Enrichment meetings, I have a hard time falling asleep because I'm so energized. I've heard that introverts are worn out and feel drained after being around people.

Allyson and I held our own with all this tasty food. I've always enjoyed eating and used to be able to out-eat many of my dates when I was in college. I can often eat more than Ben. Not sure being a good eater is a good quality, but I keep it in balance.

Winter is perfect for:

2009-01-12T15:37:00.000-06:00

Eating icicles. We've had weird Texas weather lately. Last week we had a day into the 80s when we dragged out the short-sleeved shirts, sweated, and played outside. Then yesterday the high was in the 30s with lots of freezing rain and icicles all around. After I picked up Daniel from preschool he begged me to stop and get him a big icicle. I'm a softie and found the "cleanest icicles" I could. Oh, right. I tried to not focus on the fact of it being frozen dirty water, but boy was Daniel happy. When we got home he found and ate more and then collected a bunch for the freezer in our garage.
Eating them off of Ben's car is probably not the cleanest thing, but definitely better than Daniel's other idea. He said, "Hey Mom. There are some really big icicles on our garbage can." Eeeewwww.
Decorating with snowmen. I have finally taken the indoor Christmas down (Minus our big tree in the family room. This is Ben's main decorating job and I'm fine to wait until he's back from Hawaii to pack it up). I'm nearly done with the outdoor stuff too. Katie was a huge help to me in taking off the tree ornaments. I dread this job and this year decided to pay her 1 penny per ornament to help me. She worked on the lower half the tree and made $2.57. Not bad and what a lot of ornaments! I think Daniel might have earned a nickel.

The upside of winter for me is welcoming our snowmen collection! Adios Santa and Mrs. Santas. I particularly love this collection on the mantle. And my S'Mores collection in my kitchen makes me smile as I'm doing dishes.
Puzzles. Katie and her friend Cate worked on her new Dowdle Gingerbread Village puzzle yesterday.

Hot chocolate in snowmen mugs. While we did puzzles, we all enjoyed some hot chocolate made in our Cocomotion machine. Fun! Our love for Dowdle's paintings continues. The girls finished this one in a few hours and what a fun puzzle to work on. All the tiny gingerbread cookies are famous characters. We enjoyed trying to figure out who each of them are. Katie didn't want me to "help" do the puzzle. Oh well. Maybe another time.

School stuff. KT and Daniel went back to school yesterday. I'm happy to be back in the routine, sad about rushed mornings, and nostalgic about our fun holiday season. Getting going at 7 am was a shock to us all. Katie especially jumped right in to the swing of things and was in the school spelling bee today. Each 4th and 5th grade class sent 2 kids to the bee, based on a test in class. Katie's a great speller and rarely misses a word the whole year on spelling tests and that's without studying either. She - or should I say we - didn't study as much as I would have liked, but KT did fine, making it through several rounds. The booklet of study words had super hard words. We learned for future years to prioritize our study and start with the easier words, since that's how the bee is run too. The majority of the words were age appropriate, unlike the booklet. Mostly, I was proud of Katie for even participating and it was fun to see how many of her girlfriends were also in the bee. She has a great group of buddies who smart, nice, and well-rounded girls.

I'm amazed when these bees start at the pressure I feel as a parent. I'm always hoping that Katie doesn't feel embarrassed or low about the experience. I never feel like we're prepared either, but I don't want to be the parent who is driving the studying. At a certain point, the motivation has to come from the child with me as the supporter. I'm relieved it's over.

Good Job Katie!

17th Wedding Anniversary

2009-01-12T15:34:00.000-06:00

These are some of my favorite wedding pics since they show a little personality and also our desire to be equals in our partnership.

Ben and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary yesterday. Since we both have colds, we were pretty mellow and went to dinner at Outback and then did a bit of shopping. And I decided to take my turn at a little poetry.

Ben:

Seventeen years ago we were just wed.
I knew I loved you with my heart and my head.

Having known you for what seems most of my life,
gives depth and a history as your dear old wife.

I'm thankful to be your wife all these years.
We've shared many laughs and just a few tears.

I've always known marrying you was the right thing.
Especially the moment - on my hand went the ring.

The years have flown by every so quick.
If I did it again, you'd still be my pick.

You do so much for me and our family.
Your love, care, and kindness mean a lot to me.

Happy 17th Anniversary to you!
I'd say I'm forever stuck to you like glue.

Yours forever,

Debbie

After getting the kids to bed, we exchanged anniversary presents. This is what I got for Ben:

Both of these were made by Jim Shore - one of our favorites. We still enjoy adding to our Mr. and Mrs. Santa collection, and especially when it's Mickey and Minnie. I think we're going to tag along with Ben on business to Orlando and hit Disney World this May. Yahoo!

This piece touched me when I saw it online at the neatest website - Cherry Lane Keepsakes - located in good ol' Utah. You sense such parental love and tenderness from both Mary and Joseph in this. And I love how colorful and richly designed it is.

Here's what Ben gave me for our anniversary. I was so surprised:

Ben and I have always been somewhat choosy in our LDS/temple art, but we really like Eric Dowdle's folk art. This one of the Salt Lake temple is a favorite, even though we were actually married in the Provo temple.
This quilt-styled print called "Pioneer Patterns" includes various temples and LDS religious motifs. It's one of Ben's favorite Dowdle prints. Ben's Dad actually saw these nice giclee prints at a Costco in Utah (what a great marketing idea) and called Ben about the deal. They are great quality and Ben had Dowdle's company frame them. What a sentimental surprise! Now to find an empty wall to hang them on.

Ben got this one for himself - it's Brigham Academy - the Provo, Utah school that later became BYU. He's going to hang this in his office.

It was quite a Dowdle holiday for our family. Ben's parents bought us this interesting book about his art. I love knowing the background behind his art work.

I stumbled upon these Dowdle puzzles of Boston and Philadelphia (two cities Ben visits frequently on business) at our local Wal-Mart. With our fun family vacation to Boston and hopefully a tagalong trip to Philly sometime this year, I thought they'd be fun to add to our puzzle collection.
And now some unrelated photos of some favorite new decorations. These are the S'Mores Ben and I gave each other this year. Ben is so good about finding cute Mrs. Santas each year. His is sleepy S'More. Aren't they cute?
Another new favorite plate is from my friend Beverly M., who used to be our neighbor. I love its message "Ya'll have yourselves a Merry Little Christmas."

My sister-in-law Carol made this cute magnetic board for me for Christmas. (We draw names in Ben's family at Christmas time). Little did she know that the colors she chose would match our recent family portrait so perfectly.

Happy New Year Get Away

2009-01-12T15:23:00.001-06:00

Just had to include this sign that I saw on our trip. Truly Texas!

After cleaning through piles this week, I found a certificate for a free night at a Marriott hotel. Not being one to ever pass up a truly good deal, I called and booked a Residence Inn in Fort Worth that day. I had already planned to take the kids to the zoo there since it was 1/2 price day and this would add to the fun. I told Ben later that day what I had decided. He's a good sport to indulge me in all my yellow-ness (you know the personality test).

With an expired Dallas Zoo membership, we were ready to try this zoo again. I actually prefer many things about this zoo - it is so beautiful and I love how the animals are kept in more natural habitats. The annual passes here are much more pricey than the Dallas Zoo though. I wish I fall asleep as easily as these flamingoes - they can sleep, even standing on one leg. No insomnia problems there!

Since it was New Year's Eve day, we hit lots of traffic going in and out of the zoo since there was a game at TCU. Traffic makes outings so much more stressful with 3 kids in the car, but we hung in there. It was a sunny, but cool day at the zoo. There were enough exhibits and attractions indoors that it helped keep us warm.

These meerkats were the cutest posers of the day.

The kids watched patiently for the hippo to come out of the water, but to no avail.

Christina has continued to sleep in and we quickly woke her, got her ready, and buckled her in the carseat. This poor baby has eaten more breakfasts in the car than any of the other kids. Her hair shows a bit of the rush too. It is pretty straight without being wet down or sprayed - gotta love that natural, messy look. She's a beauty no matter what!

Katie and I both adore giraffes. We got some great pics of them yesterday.

I'm going to love this stroller. My parents bought it for us when we adopted Daniel. Katie was 4 1/2 and didn't really need a stroller, but sometimes her legs got tired on outings. We haven't used it much, but I find that lately Daniel complains more of needing a rest when we sightsee than he used to. It's surprisingly easy to push and KT likes to help too. I love the big basket for all our water bottles, snacks, and supplies.

Katie loves to wear her cowboy hat in cowpoke country. Her pink boots aren't the greatest for tons of walking, so we left them at home. This little bench was a perfect spot for snacks and watching the elephants. They put on a nice little show - marching 3 in a row, playing with the balls, and were really cute. I wonder. Should these humongous elephants be called cute?

A nice lady saw me taking a photo of the kids and offered to take one of us all. I love this spot with a big area full of various animals. The zoo was pretty crowded, but then it's Christmas break and discount day. It didn't matter, since I prefer touring in cool weather, than the hot summer any day!

Such beauty and grace!

I hadn't noticed this climbing wall in the past. Katie tried 3 or 4 times to make it to the top, but it was quite challenging. The employee was kind, telling her she did very well, and mentioned that it's designed for older kids. I was proud of KT who tends me be afraid of heights and not always daring. When she struggled at several spots and I chatted with her, she got grouchy with me and told me I was distracting her and making her lose her focus. I'm not a fan of blaming others and especially when I noticed Daniel saying the same thing later in the day when we played tennis. You take the bad with the good on these outings, don't you?

Here's Cowgirl Christina aka Jennifer Aniston with her fluffy hair.

I love the learning at zoos and we were intrigued to distinguish between the spots on a jaguar and leopard. A jaguar's spots have spots in the middle of the rosettes. So, what do you think this pacing animal is?

Zebras are always a favorite. This Grant's zebra was so beautiful. On our way out, we browsed a souvenir shop at KT's request. Katie found a great deal that was marked from $15 to $5 - a kids' fanny pack with a drink holder full of fun things: toy binoculars and compass, camping cup, and play snake. She talked me into it and I got one for her and Daniel. I am proud that my daughter is learning the fine art of deal-finding.

After we finished at the zoo and fought through several miles of traffic up University Drive, we made it to the hotel. We relaxed while we waited for Ben to join us after work. The kids got antsy and hungry, so we went to play (if you can call it that) a little tennis instead of getting on each other's nerves in the hotel room. I loved this action shot of Daniel. Soon I could see Ben walk into the foyer and we could head for dinner. It was day of traffic for us both, but I was relieved to see him.

We like to take advantage of free shuttle service when we can. It makes it easy for everyone to enjoy the drive and eliminates parking hassles. So, we headed to the infamous Stockyards for some dinner. We tried to get into several steakhouses (Cattlemens & H3), but with no luck. Oh yeah. It was New Year's Eve. We are so spontaneous with our planning. We hadn't tried Riscky's Steakhouse before (just the BBQ spots) and it was available with no wait and family-friendly. Their flat-iron steaks, ribs, and hot rolls were pretty tasty. The salads were fine. For me, it's all about the dressing and the Ranch was fresh and yummy. The baked potatoes needed some improvement.

We made the mistake of ordering Christina a milk. She wanted the big kids' Sprites instead. KT was kind enough to share. They each sipped from their own straw. Hmmm. Maybe this is why we keep sharing colds with each other. This picture cracks me up. Christina loves giving kisses and bonking heads right now. How did she ever learn head bonks? They hurt.

Christina got restless quite soon. Daniel was full and ready to go. And Ben was kind enough to take them both out and walk around the Stockyards to see the sights. Our little kids have never been great at sitting well at restaurants, but the stage passes soon enough. I paid and packed up the remaining food so Ben could eat more later. Katie and I enjoyed the rest of our meals and then we went to find the fam. Of course, we are both easily distracted - especially in longhorn country. Look what Katie got to do, for the mere price of a requested tip. Not a subtly requested one either. I didn't understand about the charge/tip factor and headed off to cross the street. The cowboy yelled, "Hey Katie." We weren't sure if we left something, so we walked back. He wanted a tip. Spacey us, but bold and tacky cowboy. We tipped him anyway.

We called our shuttle driver for pick up. Ben's nerves were shot by this point from the squirrely kiddoes and he was ready to be done. Ben has worked most days and has been tired by evenings. He was happy, just having gone to dinner and hung-out in the Stockyards. Ben wants to make this a tradition. Since I've known Ben, he has always loved just going to dinner. None of that creative dating for him. It's cute.

We window shopped for a few minutes (15 min. to be exact) and then headed to our Residence Inn on the shuttle. We weren't upgraded to a 2-room suite and with Christina's cold, we wimped out and had Ben drive home with Christina. I had hoped she'd sleep for him until noon, since she hadn't napped and would be going to bed late, but it didn't happen. She woke earlier than she has all week - 9 am. My Mom always says that when it comes to kids, "Sleep begets sleep." That is true for this little curly Q. So much for Ben having extra time to work on some home projects. She was whiney and a handful today. I hate to hear that when we've been away playing. I'm sorry, honey!

Our washer isn't working well and he took the whole thing apart last night. He assessed 2 problems and ordered parts to fix one of them. Tomorrow he has to put it back together before he heads out on his Hawaii trip. Ben and I like to fix stuff, if we can. It's part of that frugal mentality, I guess. With a 17-year old washer/dryer set (we actually bought them BEFORE we got married), it will probably cost about the same to repair them as to buy new ones, so we're seeing if we can stretch it a bit. We may end up buying a new washer soon, though.

The kids had popcorn while they watched a Christmas Mickey movie on my laptop. I put Daniel to bed first, while Katie and I studied for the school spelling bee and listened to the iPod in the other room. After he fell asleep, Katie went in and slept by him. This was the first time this has worked for them. Usually one is too squirmy. I did put an extra pillow between them - just in case. We are turning corners in our traveling. I love it! I think traveling is just going to get easier. And I've loved it even when it's been hard. Something to look forward to in future years. And I got my own room to relax, ponder a bit, and take a turn with the iPod too. With 5-6 hours of walking in a day, I went to bed early. No way was I staying up until midnight!

Today the kids got up around 8. Katie was sweet and closed my door, while the kids watched cartoons for a few minutes. I could hear them trying to be so quiet and then we got dressed, hit the hotel breakfast, and onto more tennis. I got a lot of exercise on this trip. It turned out to be a little warmer today (into the 60s), which was a nice surprise.

Katie used to take tennis lessons and had fun brushing up a bit these past days. Daniel was a crazy little player and kind of kamikaze, but cute to watch.

This has to be one of my happiest photos of our mini-vacation. This is a genuine smile on Daniel's face. They had a lobby fireplace that you could also sit by when you were outside on the patio. Its warmth felt great after hitting a few tennis balls. I had about 10 minutes of quiet and still, while the kids played. Those moments are sweet, aren't they?

The front desk employee offered to take a photo of us all and it turned out so warm and cheery. Just how we felt on this little trip! I am dreading taking Christmas down. We're still enjoying listening to Christmas music and basking in the holiday lights. The cd of choice for our car ride was the Nutcracker. Is that funny or what? Daniel, even, is loving this soundtrack. On the drive home, we worked on memorizing the 12 Days of Christmas. KT's got it! Of course, this was between bouts of bickering. Initially, KT wanted Daniel in the backseat by her. I knew it wouldn't last more than 30 minutes, and it didn't. Soon, he was back in the middle.

Today was New Years Day and most things were closed. I had to do a bit of research before we left, trying to find a few things to do. I have never seen downtown Fort Worth so quiet. I loved it and it was a fun time to drive around, seeing the messy remnants of their huge New Year's celebration. We hadn't been to the Water Gardens in years. Last time we tried, they had been closed due to some tragic drownings. This first photo is an internet photo. When I saw it, I realized that we could have walked down into the "Active Pool." However, with Daniel in tow I might not have done it anyway. That seems scary.

Is this amazing or what? It's the noisiest with the rushing water sounds.

This photo is my shot. It's a beautiful pool and so cleverly designed.

The kids and I probably shouldn't have been climbing on this "Mountain" as they call it, but it was fun anyway. Better to ask forgiveness afterwards? What a view of downtown Fort Worth too!

Then we walked around this "Quiet Pool," which was just beautiful and peaceful. The designer created the stairs going up and down differently to make a unique "Alice in Wonderland" experience. As I recall, when you walk down it feels like you're getting smaller and when you climb up, you feel bigger. It's neat!

This was my favorite "pretty shot" of the gardens. I loved the reflection in the pool. These gardens are truly an oasis in the midst of such a busy city. We loved reading each garden's descriptions. The water running down these brown walls was so neat. The Water Gardens are free to tour and open year-round. There is another spray pool that wasn't open. Maybe we'll go back another time in warmer weather to see it.

I love going places with my kids. It makes us all happy, provides great memories, and does a body good!

Not quite sure what the kids are doing, but the are cute. Oh. Maybe they're drying their hands after dipping them in the cold water. I ended up feeling thankful that Christina was home with Ben today since neither of our two stops today were really stroller-friendly. She'll get to come along soon enough, right?

The last stop of our mini-trip was the Fort Worth Nature and Reserve it was about 30 minutes away. I've always wanted to go there and today was an ideal day to do it. Our first stop was to see the bison herd. Then we went on a little walk at the prairie dog town. It was so fun to see the little prairie dogs poking their heads up across the prairies. When they'd stand up and bustle over to another hole, it was entertaining to watch. We saw a ton of cactus growing and it felt very Texas-esque.

The marsh boardwalk made for a nice walk. It was so still and peaceful - ideal for listening in nature. We heard and saw birds and ducks. We wished we'd seen more nature though. The kids intently looked for alligators.

The Reserve was neat, but a place I probably wouldn't return to often. I would imagine it's more active and alive in spring and fall. There are some neat and varied hikes all throughout the reserve. I'd have to take a backpack for Christina since much of it wouldn't be easy with a stroller. Our last stop was at the Interpretive Center that is like a visitors center. There were many more walks in that area, but we were tired and ready to head home. I'm fighting a cold too and had walked hours for the past two days. I loved it, but I knew Ben and Christina were probably missing us - I mean me - and felt some urgency to get home.

A fun ending to a fun day.

And what a way to ring in the new year.

Happy 2009 Ya'll!