Little Updates

It's been a while since I put out an update so I just wanted to put out a few pics of what we've been up to here in T-Town.

The girls at the Tulsa State Fair

Cutie Patootie


J.P.'s 1st TU game (good luck charm...we won 56-3)

Half time we went into the Letterman's Association Suite at the TU game.

Sending out love to the Golden Hurricane!


Love these dimples!

Hug or Headlock?

Race for the Cure

Catching all 4 in one spot, not as easy as it looks.

Loving our crazy life...

It's over

Sorry all you moms out there.

Cutest Baby in the World contest is over. We have a clear winner....

Not that I'm biased or anything...

A Week of Birthdays

Our lives have revolved around birthday parties for the last 2 weeks. Celebrating birthdays the final week in August through the 1st of September - Brooke, Cade, Wade's sister Katie, our nephew Clark, Wade's mom and my brother Heath (although he's not in T-town.) We also celebrated Wade's aunt and Step-Grandpa this week even though they have early Sept. bdays. My oldest brother and my in-laws both have anniversaries that week too. Phew. There's so much activity we've always condensed our kids birthdays together, but this was the final joint party for them.

Brooke turned 3, and wanted a "peh heh" party (Princess. All things princess for this one).

Cade turned 5! His passion is all things Star Wars.

A closer look at their cakes which reflect their biggest interest at the moment...

Next year they will each get their own day. Not that they care...as long as they have cake and presents...they're happy.

1st Day of School

Kids went back to school yesterday (woo hoo!)

Riley's now a big 2nd grader!


Cade is going to do the Pre-K program (again). Because of his birthday he should start Kindergarten this year but we are going to wait to start him until next year... so he'll be the oldest in his class now. I take him at 1 and he comes home on the bus at 4. During which time Brooke naps so I have really good mommy and J.P time.


Here's all the bus stop kids...


Don't know who is happier, the kids or the moms?
(Hint...It's the moms. We we're so giddy we practically all skipped to the bus stop!)


I didn't have the problems I had last year letting them go...guess I have my hands full at home. I was super excited to see them come home though. I asked Cade what special treat he wanted after school and he told me, "potato chip cookies" Potato chip cookies? he meant chocolate chip cookies. And they were waiting for him when they got home.

Video Link

I just tried to watch Cade's video and it looks way too dark on my screen. I hope you are able to see it.

Adorable little ones...

The 3 oldest were all in Wade's cousin's wedding this past weekend.
They were all so adorable and actually behaved themselves exceptionally well!

Riley was a Jr. Bridesmaid

Brooke the flower girl, and Cade the ring bearer.

J.P. went too...

Of course, the kids favorite part was the dancing. Check out this video of Cade. We may have to rename him J.B. (for Mr. James Brown)...Would that be confusing? JP and JB?

ps. I don't know what happened to the audio but you can see why he was the star of the dance floor.

The whole family...how lucky am I?

Through the Eyes of a Child

This morning I had the TV on and someone was promoting the new movie "Funny People". Adam Sandler is in it and the kids recently watched his movie Bedtime Stories and so Riley asked if we could go see the movie.
I said, "No, you can't see it because it's an R movie...that means its only for adults"
She said, "Is it because they use potty language?"
I nodded and said "yep"
She said, " So they say like 'shut up' and 'suck' and 'stupid'?"
Made me smile, how innocent she is...

Our 4th Celebration

Below is a snapshot of what our 4th looked like this year.

One of our family traditions is that we go blackberry picking every year...not necessarily on the 4th, but because of the OK weather this season a lot of crops didn't make it (and if they did they were delayed in producing fruit). This year we woke up early on the 4th to go picking and got just over 2 lbs before the skies opened up and drenched us in the fields. The rains (unfortunately) didn't let up and our neighborhood parade got cancelled. The kids were pretty disappointed as we had already decorated our wagon, scooters and bikes. But the weather eventually let up and by afternoon we were poolside. Wade grilled delicious ribs and we had plenty of yummy sides. For dessert? Our flag cake (see slide show), *fresh* blackberry pie, and homemade ice cream. It was such a great day. I LOVE the 4th...the weather, the kids excitement with the fireworks, the food, and just hanging out with family and friends without the pressure of gifts and travel.
What a blessed life we live...reminds me of a quote by Erma Bombeck: "You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence...with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness."

No Job Like It

Father's Day at the Lake

This was definitely among the best Father's days we've had. We decided to spend the day at the lake and although it was hot (when isn't it hot in Oklahoma) we had a blast.

We did a little bit of everything...fishing,

swimming,

tubing... (this is Riley and Cade)

We were so worried about how J.P. was going to do...but he was a champ. He loved the boat.

Brooke, Riley, Clark, and Cade lovin' the water...

Now I desperately want a boat. *hint hint Wade...next Mother's Day ;)

2 Month Check-Up

We had our 2 month checkup last week and what a boy we have.

He weighed in at 14.25 lbs (which is in the 96%tile) and was 24.25 inches long (90%tile)

He is a HUGE baby. Very unlike our other babies. There's no worrying if he is getting enough to eat.

I finally rejoined the living these last 2 weeks.

Rejoined my monthly DDD Alumni dinner. This was really the first night I had without J.P. Mixed emotions...was really good to get away, but felt like no one can really take care of him like I can. Wade is a good daddy, but 4 under 7 is a lot for anyone to take on.

Finally made it back to Book Club...Wanna have a baby? Join our book club...we're pretty fertile. Charlie is next to J.P...he is a month younger. Harper is next to him and she is a month older. Kay is newly pregnant and we're not sure what she's having yet.

Natalie came in town and we all wanted to meet little Emma, so Jennifer hosted a mini Tri Delt playdate at her house. I'm sure I provided some good birth control for some of them. Of this group only Adriane has 2. Ashley has 1 (and one on the way), the other 3 have only one so far, (2 have none). My crew may have scared them off from wanting more. It was a lot of fun to get the little ones together. Times sure have changed. Can't believe I graduated college 10 years ago. I'm officially old.

Got some great pictures from Father's Day at the Lake and the 4th. Will try to update again soon.

Been there...there now...(again)

How do they know just what you need to keep going?

Some pics of the new guy

I have a ridiculous amount of pictures. I need to go through them, but thought I'd put a few out. JP getting bigger--he is a chub...I've already given up carrying him in the baby carrier...

Dreaming of scoring some touchdowns like daddy

A little too small for the jogging stroller...

We've gotten a few smiles from him

"I wuv KP"

(Brooke cant say her J's so she calls him KP)--she is totally in love with him...she stares at him like this all the time.

Welcome J.P.

Here's our newest little dude...

He's 3 weeks old and just lost his umbilical cord stump a couple days ago.

I forget how exhausting it is to have a newborn...the sleepless nights are not as easy as they used to be, probably because I still have to get up and get kids out the door and on the bus. But I know it will pass...

This is JP throwing his 'west side' gang signs...

JP had his first playdate. This is Harper, she's a month older than him...look at the cougar trying to grab his hand...robbing the cradle, literally.

I have lots of photos to upload on the computer, but haven't had a lot of time to do that, so this will have to do for now. Enjoy.

Hoppy Easter

Had a really nice Easter. The kids did the usual...colored eggs, neighborhood egg hunt, scavenger hunt for baskets. Tried to cut back on the candy this year seeing as mom has a hard time keeping her hands off it, but couldn't help buying some of the faves. I love these munchkins (4 legged one included).

Our Final Vacation as a Family of 5...

3 Weeks ago was Spring Break. We wanted to do one last trip as our little family of 5 but because I'm so far along I had to stay close. So we decided to spend a couple days in "the City" (a.k.a. Oklahoma City) and then on down to Dallas for a few days. We jam-packed the trip but we all had a lot of fun. The kids favorite part were the pool in the hotels...go figure (we could have checked into a Super 8 here in Tulsa and saved some moolah).
But we really had a lot of fun. Thought I'd share a few pictures of our trip.

OKC:

We visited the OKC Memorial. Incidentally the 14th anniversary of the attack is about 2 weeks away, it happened the year I moved to Tulsa. All the little details of the site are fascinating.

The chairs are in 9 rows (for the 9 floors of the building). They have a chair for each victim. The 2nd floor was where the day care was so the 2nd row has the smaller chairs for the children killed. Most of the chairs are in the middle of the "field" to indicate where most of the deaths happened (where the bomb went off). 5 chairs are on the outer edge of the "field" to indicate the victims that were killed in the street (and one rescue worker). A part of the original building remains and all the survivor names are etched in the stone there. There are a lot more symbolic little touches throughout.

Wade and the kids in front of the reflection pool and survivor tree.

Other highlights of OKC were meeting up with Jody (a dear friend from college) and his wife Kelly. Spent some time in Bricktown and took the kids on this 3-D dragon roller coaster ride (which they loved, but it was pretty, oh...whats the word...lame. ) And we went to the Omniplex, a children's museum. Let's not forget the pool in the hotel...the kids fave.

Dallas:

Didn't really have a chance to catch our breath here. Had a little playdate with Holly (one of my DDD sisters and old roommates), went to the Ft. Worth Zoo with the Chadwicks (on the day that the rest of Dallas decided to go too). Met up with Jarrod and Brody and met Jarrod's fiance. Had dinner on St. Patty's day with Randy. Of course we had to stop at the outlet malls on the way back to Tulsa, although it's not really fun to shop when you can't try things on, but we got the kids some great things and lots of new stuff at the Banana outlet for Wade. I did buy a BCBG dress for $19 (originally $109)...sorry you cant pass up a price like that. Someday I'll be able to fit in it.

The zoo had the funniest little kangaroo (Shaina and I called him the "playboy kangaroo"...it's almost like he was "posing" for the crowd.

That's our spring break in pictures. Saw lots of friends, had lots of fun, and am glad we had a few days to recover in Tulsa before returning to the real world.