We're Off!

Well, still not completely packed, but will get there soon. I will be gone for 8 days. No A/C, no computer, no babies, but rather on a bus with no A/C with 30 people--24 being teenagers. Be envious people, be envious! Just kidding.

I think it is going to be a great week--one of much stretching and growing and definitely being out of my comfort zone. Please pray for us. Please pray for our campers. Please pray for our safety.

I am still quite nervous about it all, but I am certain God has a plan and a good one. I'll write when I get back next Sunday! Till then, keep praying :)

Random Photo Stop IV

These are a few of our adventures from the month of May!

I absolutely love these two pictures of Jeff and Jackson and below of Creighton and I!

Jackson in his Dragon towel he got from Aunt Jennifer for Christmas. He growls in it...but this face is priceless!

First time on the potty chair. She didn't produce anything but really likes sitting there!

He still loves his 4-wheeler!

This is them eating our 2 left-over Chocolate Walls from PF Changs (birthday surprise)...they LOVED them. It was worth it to see them eat it and hear their "thank yous" for them.

Thought this was cute!

Sweet Rae!

Matching swim shirts! We've had lots of fun play time in our pool these past two weeks!

He is Jeff. Jeff was sitting next to him in his sunglasses, but told me not to put his picture up in his swimsuit. :/

This is from our adventure at the Zoo ...where they like to play the most...the park. That is our friend Amari, Maria's son.

This pic is of them blowing kisses, but earlier in the day Creighton planted a HUGE kiss (like practically make-out style) on Amari. I am struggling with saying it was cute...that is how crazy of a kiss it was! But they are cute...

Jeff took this picture of Jackson, and I love the reflection off the train...great shot, honey!

I guess I was having fun too...Jeff snapped this while I was riding with Jackson on the see-saw:)

We played lots of trains, cars, tunnels, castles, riding "horsey", etc on Tuesday with the bad weather.

They sat quietly for a few minutes together and just "talked" it was priceless!

Our week in words...

Well this week hasn't been as insane as I thought it was going to be, but we've stayed busy that's for sure. We went to the zoo on Monday. I thought it was going to be really busy but it wasn't too bad. We met up with Maria and Amari there and that was fun. It was really humid and hot so we didn't stay too long, but with season tix it doesn't matter...

Tuesday was yucky weather here and the kids and I played hard inside all day. We had a good time. The interns arrived that day so Jeff was really busy. We had a dinner that night for them, so my parents watched them for us. And then called to say they could stay the night...what joy for this momma!?! :)

Wednesday I had my dentist appt. which went a little crazy, but we finished the project of a filling and the permanent bridge! Yeah! Then I met my dad at Taco Bueno with the kids and we had naps and played hard till it was time for church. We had training for Barnabas trip and then came home and played a little before bed.

Then today Jeff was in and out of the office a few times but mostly was able to play with us, and when he went to the office he took Jackson twice, so that was good! We went to the park this morning and then went to Sonic for lunch. Then we went to Caroline's to swim and the kids had an absolute blast! Completely fearless both of them of water. Completely! I got Jackson a new floaty device from Wal-mart and it was great for him. I wish Creighton could fit in it because it held him out of the water much better than traditional floaties like she had on.

After naps we ran several errands and then went to Wendy's for dinner. Lots of fast food this week because I didn't want to go to the store since we were leaving! Oh well. Then we headed for the Kiddie Park. Tonight it wasn't busy at all and so we used LOTS of tickets and rode everything there and some things more than once...like the Jupiter Jump at least 6 times. It was great. We bought like $20 worth of tickets at the beginning of summer and have been at least 4 or so times and still have about $8 left in tickets. That is why I love the Kiddie Park.

A full week. Lots of play. Lots of fun. Good sleep for everyone most every night. We leave tomorrow to take the kids and then leave Saturday morning for 8 days. Oh the packing I must do tomorrow.

I think we are having friends over tomorrow morning for swimming and play and then we have our friend Parker coming in town for a few hours to say hi and see the kids and I off before we leave for Enid. Busy day tomorrow too! :)

Dentist...and a bad patient!

The last dental appointment...it's over. Yee-haw! I swear though, my poor dentist! I had him on his toes every appointment for one reason or the other. If there were awards for worst dental patient ever, I'd have it in the bag!

Today I almost passed out. I am hypoglycemic to begin with, hadn't had anything to eat at all (or drink) all day and had LOTS of local anesthesia in my mouth, not to mention my heart was racing just because I hate dental work--it makes me break out in a cold sweat! So, I had to be put on oxygen, they had to stop the work and throw food in my mouth and put me on a heart rate monitor...seriously...didn't know that happened at dentist offices.

But I am totally fine now and was within minutes of the "occurrence" but it scared me a little with all the commotion. I didn't think anything of it just thought I was getting light headed and they started in with all the contraptions and stuff...whoa!

I have my permanent bridge in now and a new filling! With all the appointments to get to the point, I'd say I am excited about it all now! (probably wouldn't have said that otherwise).

I think I don't have to go back till August to get a cleaning done! :)


Not that my dentist reads my blog, but thanks SB, you are wonderful in every way! I really appreciate all your patience with me and of course your unending generosity and kindness towards me, even though I am the worst dental patient ever...I could never thank you enough for all you've done for me...and my family. Thanks!

Laugh it up Chuckles!

Well, it is officially true (in my life) that if I say anything at all, it will come back to haunt me, hunt me down, and beat me to the ground.

I was up last night for a long time because of the thunderstorms. Jeff was busy at work until like 2:30 am and I don't remember him coming home so I had fallen asleep sometime between 12 and 2, but don't know when. Jackson was up at 3:45 for what I don't know. I didn't know what time it was at the time so I put him in bed with us. He proceeded to attack me every 5 seconds in his sleep...which is probably what woke him up in the first place. He was like scissor-kicking me in the kidney and the head at the same time! I had enough so I carried him back to his bed (I am not even sure he knew). Then I came back and tried to go back to sleep (which has been a problem for me lately). Before I could (at 5) I hear a blood curdling scream from Creighton's room that seemed like some ant hill happened upon her and were eating her to death or something. So I race in there and calm her down. Nursed her. Left her. Tried desperately to go back to sleep and finally did at goodness knows what time. I was up again at 8.

Oh well, huh...I was expecting it to be a rough night...I should really learn to keep my mouth shut!

Have a great Tuesday everyone. Summer interns arrive today! Yee-haw

Cry-It-Out!

Okay, so I am not sure if I have been able to turn off my "mommy ears" the last two nights or if my daughter has, perhaps, actually learned how to sleep.

I hate the cry-it-out method, but people, it works. I have two kids that couldn't be more different in everything from looks to personality, and it is like magic. I must say I waited a LOT longer for Creighton (18 months) than with Jackson (10 months), but either way, it worked both times. It is one of the hardest things for me to do...to just LISTEN as they wail and scream and cry and call out "mommmmmmyyyyyyyy". But for me I just had to get to "that" point where I was so miserable frustrated with them that I momentarily didn't care they were crying. I wasn't sure I'd ever get there with Creighton because it just tore me up inside to hear her cry. I am so glad I did though because she is a much happier kid (and a MUCH happier mommy) when she gets sleep!

Now that I have cursed myself to kingdom come by posting this on the blog, you can ALL laugh at me later when she isn't sleeping or something...

Happy Memorial Day Holiday...hope you and your families have an amazing time together! We might head down to the zoo... :) (Maria, want to go?)

Insane week ahead

This week will be a bit insane, but I am so thankful that it starts off with a Holiday! Yeah yeah yeah! Jeff will be off most of tomorrow (although he has to go in for a little bit since it is such a crazy week). The summer interns arrive Tuesday and they have their retreat for Tuesday/Wednesday and maybe even Thursday I am not sure...so Jeff will be gone the whole time. Then Friday I am taking the kids to Enid because we leave early Saturday for the summer Mission Trip to Camp Barnabas. (we'll be gone 8 days)

I'll say it now I am WAY nervous about this adventure. So if you feel inclined, please begin to pray now for me, for our trip, for our campers, for our safety, for my small group girls who are going, for my kids while they are away!

Whew...it takes my breath away just how nervous I am about it all! But I am excited too...

Comment gone Post

Thanks again sweet friends! I so appreciate verbal (or written) encouragement! Creighton ended up sleeping through the night which was awesome! I on the other hand am still trained to her old cycle and sat up from 6 on waiting for her to get up to nurse...she didn't till 8:20. :) I wasn't sad about that for ONE second. I actually got a lot done this morning and we all went to church as a family...first time in a long time...usually we have to take two cars.

This started out as comment and thought it was too long and who goes back to check all those comments anyway...so there ya go...thanks guys...

And Maria, yeah, I am being pretty careful about making sure I stay on top of all of my stuff this time...I'd say I might be borderline, but fairly okay most of the time.

Sleep and Burdens

6 nights of sleepless baby. Last night, she slept! Praise God! Actually I am the only one up in the house and that is nice too. I got my quiet time done (and it was good) and I made breakfast. I woke up at 6 something and couldn't go back to sleep, but I was thankful for the sleep I got I could barely contain myself! :)

Yesterday my sweet friends Katie and Caroline took the kids for me for a few hours so I could have some alone time. That was amazing. thank you both so much! And apparently they wore them out...if they aren't careful I might have to hire them all the time! :)

After all of that Jeff watched the kids a little longer so I could take one of my small group girls out. My heart is burdened for my entire group. The conversation went okay but there is just a disconnect between what is truth and what is not. It makes me sad in so many ways. I think I got a VERY SMALL glimpse into how Christ might feel when we sin and just don't get it, when we know truth but don't apply it, and just how hard that must be to watch for him.

I learned a valuable lesson (again) : they aren't failing me, but Him (and themselves). They aren't denying me, but Him. It hurts Him way more than it hurts me. It isn't about me at all...that was the kicker! When you pour out your heart and work so hard to try to lead teens and then you realize that the ENTIRE past year has been a flop (in my opinion) it just stings and stinks! I don't really know what I think about it all, but I know that I am burdened for them. I just feel kinda silly and awful. I just hate thinking I knew 5 girls so well, without knowing them really at all. I missed the boat people, big time. When you go to bat for someone...it just stinks, that's all...I'd do it again because I love them though.

Anyway, I am actually excited to go to first service...haven't been in SO long. Then I might actually get to go to class! :) Thank you Katie and Caroline and Jeff for watching the kids...
Happy Sunday!

Better

Thanks so much for all the encouragement from all of you (and prayers!). I think it got worse before it got better, however, tonight it is a little better. Thanks be to God for his pulling me out of the pits. Nothing changed on my kids' end, only mine. That seems to be the case more often than not. I actually think that maybe they got worse, but because I changed my response, attitude, and heart, it got better.

My kids are great...and they are kids...not adults. We have youth that sometimes behave worse than my two two-year olds. I know this. The fact that I have my kids with me is a blessing. I know this.

I just need this weaning process to speed up a little bit because this go-around is NO fun for either of us...but mother nature is stepping in and helping out (and I can't decide if I like that or not) because I drying up...I think. I am not totally certain, but it seems to be the case and Creighton is H.A.T.I.N.G it. She is miserable and inconsolable pretty much a majority of the day, but I have been forced to go with the cry-it-out method of parenting much to my dismay because of this matter. I think that is another reason my stress level hit the roof the last few days. I can't imagine having another colicky baby, but I feel as if I have a colicky toddler...not sure which is worse at the moment! :)

Anyway, all that to say, I am doing better, not much better, but I'll take better.

Today we went to several graduation parties, and then ate dinner at Taco Bell and then went to the Kiddie Park. I LOVE the Kiddie Park. It is the greatest thing ever in Bartlesville! Jeff had graduation and then project graduation till 5 tomorrow morning, poor youth minister!

Off my rocker...

I have NEVER in all my life felt more crazy than I did 5 minutes ago (for the last 14 hours). Well there was one other time where I was completely off my rocker, but this was close. I have never even had a sip of ANYTHING alcoholic in ALL.MY.LIFE., but today I considered becoming one. Forever.

The strange thing is that unlike the other time, today I don't really have a story to along with it. I am just fed up with my children. They have got to be the worst behaved little beings of all time at the moment. After reading several other blogs over the course of the last week, I think there is a signal that cannot be heard by "adult" ears that lets everyone under the age of 5 know that they are suppose to be ungodly in every way imaginable. Maybe this was a birth pain left out of Matthew 24 and the world is really coming to an end before my very eyes (although I believe this to be true anyway).

I recently told someone that I didn't "desperately NEED" (just enjoyed) my kids to go to Mother's Day Out like I did a year ago when I was insane with PPD and literally couldn't function as a mother or a human being.

Well I was straight WRONG! I need it. I crave it. I feel like this very moment I can't live without it and maybe I should go find a job so I can put them there 5 days a week. It hasn't even been a week that I have been back from my fabulous excursion away with my husband, and I want nothing more than to escape reality again for...forever.

Don't get me wrong I love (dearly) my children. Right now, I just don't like them much at all. Thank heavens my husband loves to ride his bike. He has them in tow at the moment on a bike ride so I could try to calm myself down a lot little. Some people try to tell me I will miss this time in life...they are wrong. Others say "this too shall pass" and I think I want to throw stakes at you...so don't tell me that.

Today

We are back and into the full swing of things immediately! It's been good though. The kids are going through a severe detox program for the next few days from being spoiled so badly (but that is what grandparents are for, right?) Oh well...its tough on me to be consistent, but it's tough on them too, but we are making it! I am back to weaning Creighton again, and this time, barring another virus, we should be able to do it well! Today was tough, but I stuck to it and she did okay. One thing that scared me to death (no totally) was that she found a Binky and wanted it! AHHHHHH...my love/hate relationship with Binky's...I DO.NOT.WANT. another Binky lover in my house. I haven't had the heart to do away with Jackson's at nap/night yet, but he is pretty good at giving up now during the day. I am thinking that at 3 he should give it up, but that is so soon! Not sure on that one. I am thinking one thing at a time and not sure if I want to tackle no Binky (and blanky?) or potty training first! Ummm...neither...but I know I have to.

Kids played hard today and took 2 hour naps and went down great just a while ago. We went to the duck pond and then after nap played outside and in our pool (blowup). They had a ball!

I ran from downtown to the HS and then did bleachers and then ran back to the YMCA. Then, I played 2 hours of competitive volleyball tonight. i am hoping I sleep well tonight! (I didn't sleep at all last night--reason unbeknownst to me! arg!)

This is quite some ramblings...can you tell I am exhausted! It's been a good day though. I got up before the kids and did my quiet time...I think that is what helped me get through the day! Jeff was gone before we got up and is still gone. I miss my alone time with him already!

The Birthday Surprise!

This smile never left my face!

I barely know where to begin. But my birthday was A-mazing! I loved it all. It had mostly highs...no lows--except that it came to an end.

Here's how it all went down...

Wednesday
Jeff left at 10a to go to Enid for a special trip for Pop (step dad) and also to take the kids so they could play with Enid grandparents for a few days while we were away. While he was gone, he'd scheduled me a massage, lunch with my dad and my grandma, and an hour at the race tracks for go-carts for me and my friends. There were about 9 of us or so and we had a blast. I don't have pictures yet from that (but there were some taken). I had an absolute blast. I (randomly) got the fastest car he had and I was killing people. In one race I lapped my friend Kara 4 times! I asked the guy if I was in the fastest car and he said, "yes, but I have never seen it go that fast"--nothing could have made me happier at that moment! I have this thing about going fast! :)

Anyway, I got some cards and flowers and phone calls and emails and such from friends and family. And my mom and dad got me a massage gift certificate and some money too. Really sweet and lots of fun!

Jeff made it back from Enid and we left to start the surprise trip that I didn't know any details of. So we ended up in Broken Arrow, OK at a B&B named Stone Creek. It was the most fantastic place ever! I loved it. The hospitality was phenomenal, the food was great, and the cabin was fantastic! There wasn't anything I didn't love about it, but I will say that I couldn't stop talking about the sheets at this place for days. They were chenille/plush heaven-sent goodness. I now know what I want for Christmas...these sheets (and maybe another night at the cabin :)). The only thing the slightest bit negative was the horrible weather we had that night so we couldn’t enjoy the hanging bed outside to watch the stars! Check out the website for pics of the place. We also had reservations at my favorite restaurant in the WHOLE world (Shogun Tulsa). It was a great experience and the food did not disappoint, but it never has...

Thursday
We got up and had our breakfast that was really good and then got dressed and got in the car and headed to Wichita. On the way we ate at Dairy Queen, complete with chocolate dipped cone & Butterfinger blizzards! On the way there Jeff is telling me a few details, one of which, a Castle was in store for our sleeping quarters that night! I was so excited. The Castle Inn Riverside is where we headed to drop off our things. It was really neat.

The place is a historic landmark (nationally and locally) and so it was a crazy with details and fun things and history. We stayed in one of the two biggest rooms and it was fun. This was on the roof of the castle
What is a castle without a gargoyle?

This is actually at the Exploration Place but it was fun to sit in the King/Queen chairs with another castle behind us.

After we dropped off our things we went to The Exploration Place and that was fun. There were several things broken/not working and one entire exhibit closed but it was fun and it was free! (There was a RiverFest event going on that lasted for 2 weeks and that was part of it).
There were, however, lots of other things we ended up playing with! This is a balance machine/timer. I had none, and Jeff was above average with close to 3 seconds. I was lucky to get .64 seconds without it falling This was so cool. My kids would have loved it because they love bubbles so much! You were INSIDE a bubble. Such an easy, yet very creative concept for kids. I think I was the oldest one to enjoy it (by actually doing it). Then we walked around outside where there is a beautiful new bridge, and this Indian statue and a ring of fire. It was a gorgeous day out! I was being silly. It was so fun! I could let go of being “mom” for a little bit and acted like a kid myself! I made Jeff pose like this because I thought it was funny!
After we played around some more and explored some more of the city, we went to eat. We found a place called Scotch & Sirloin and it was pretty good. I got a birthday picture and a piece of cake (Snickers Cheesecake that Jeff ate). It was a Polaroid so I don’t actually have it for the post. We ate dinner SOOO late every night and stayed up way too late enjoying each other’s company and runnin’ around town, but we had a blast!

Friday
Friday we slept in till the lady called us down for breakfast (about 9:15) and we ate a “hoity-toity” breakfast. Then we got dressed and ready for the day and packed up our things. We went to our new hotel to drop off my breast milk we’d been carting around with us (and stored every place we went in a freezer). Then we went to Botanica. It was so pretty. I loved the colors and the fragrances and the weather was again amazing! Jeff took lots and lots of really great pictures with our camera.

I almost fell in that little creek while he was taking this picture! We stayed at the gardens for a little over an hour and then left to go to the Wichita Art Museum and had a ton of fun! I love art museums. I really like the Realism Collection that was there. I love abstract art too and really colorful things like this glass work by Karg. Umm….seriously this was amazing. I was laying on a floor for the second floor which also was the ceiling for the first floor FULL of blown glass by Rollin Karg. The chandelier was also done by him. Can you imagine that? It was enormous and a bit over-the-top crazy, but wonderful at the same time! I bet it was about 15 feet long!
This is a “painting” I made of Jeff on a Zen board in the museum store!

We went to eat a cool place (that we forgot to take a pic of) called TJ’s Burger House. It was awesome. Probably the best burger to ever cross my lips! They were huge too!

From there we were very excited at the opportunity to go see Karg’s Art Glass shop about 15 minutes from Wichita. It was hard to find, but we had a lot of fun there. We left empty handed although we both really wanted to buy a piece. Everything we loved was just too expensive after a weekend getaway like we were in the midst of. Maybe next time!
The shop had thousands of pieces and they were all fantastic.We got to go out in the “studio” to watch them blow glass. It was really neat. It is such a detailed thing and takes forever! We were out there for 30 minutes and not sure when they would have finished. But it was cool to see.

From Karg’s we left to go back to The Hotel at Old Town and check in. It was a cool old hotel in the heart of downtown Wichita. There were bars and restaurants all around (that partied late late into the night). All of our rooms (each different place) had Jacuzzi’s in the rooms, but this one was like a pool it was so big! We were the corner room on the top floor. It was a fantastic view. And the room was HUGE! The biggest hotel room I think I have ever stayed in. It was the King Suite. And I felt like a Queen. We stayed and watched TV for a little bit and I started my new book (the last of the Restoration Series) Dawn’s Light by Terri Blackstock (my favorite).

Then we headed off to the Old Cowtown Museum. I wasn’t excited about this until we got there and I really enjoyed it. It was fun. We walked around 47 buildings in this “town” of what Wichita was like in the early 1900’s. It was very neat. Our camera batteries were low and so I don’t have many pics from there, but here is Jeff on the old railway. After we left there it was late and we went to find the Warren Theater. We finally go there and realized we hadn’t eaten dinner and if we went to a movie at that time we wouldn’t have the opportunity to eat afterwards because most things would be closed. But it put us close to PF Chang’s and even though our goal was to avoid places we could eat in Oklahoma, we ate there anyway. It was very good. (Albeit expensive). They used to do the Great Wall of Chocolate for birthdays which was the deciding factor to eat there. When we got there our waiter informed us that they had these new desserts that I could choose one of for my birthday. I was so disappointed in that. We were going to get the Wall anyway in addition to the little shot glass cake. However, our waiter took FOREVER to come back. When he did he said they were OUT.OF.CHOCOLATE.WALLS. I was so bummed about that. But he surprised us with 3 little shot glasses of mini chocolate walls. I was happy again! It wasn’t quite the same, but good enough. Then about 15 minutes later, he came back and said, “as if you aren’t spoiled enough” and handed us THREE more. We got 6 shot glasses of chocolate walls. Then the manager came up to us and apologized emphatically and told us to go ahead and take the shot glasses home with us (we were so STUFFED). We ate all but 2 and took those two with us. They are in my refrigerator now J we’ll have them later!

It was a great night’s sleep after a very full belly. We got up and had a great breakfast again this morning (at 10:45a). Then got packed up and headed out after one quick stop at the Farmer’s Market that popped up overnight outside our hotel. We bought some dried pasta that was fantastic and I can’t wait to make it! We drove home and Jeff went straight to “work” with all our graduates and events this weekend. (*and next).

The greatest birthday ever! I am spoiled, blessed, and very grateful for my hubby and for my 28 years on earth.