The Daily Court

A New Year

2012-01-07T21:13:00.001-06:00

We rang in the New Year 2012 driving home from celebrating Christmas, Papa John's birthday, and the New Year in Enid! January 1st Jeff began a very LONG 40 days (currently only one week in to it). More to come on this later.

We had an epic Battle of the Bands that night, we raised over $1000 for charity, and saw over 300 people come in to the Warehouse! Exciting stuff.

We had several days just to get back and get organized...still in that process. But we did a lot of family time and building things and having fun. We have lots of new gadgets, toys, machines, electronics, games and fun things to play with and do! We've really enjoyed having low key days (Daddy had to work though ;( ).

Charleigh LOVES her new Toy Story 3 collection. She also found Jesse and Woody dolls that were big hits last year for Creighton and Jackson. She adores them and carries them around all over the place. All of her "friends" ate breakfast with us one morning. She thought it would be fun to get up for 5 days in a row (not a happy mommy) at 5:45. She's done some crying it out to fall back asleep till a later time now. She doesn't particularly like it, but Mommy, although still awake, is at least not quite as grumpy throughout the day.

Creighton asked for a new helmet and pad set. She didn't know it came with GLOVES. She was thrilled beyond belief and has worn just the gloves now several times. We were invited over to play at a friends house and they told us to bring bikes. So she was so excited to get them out of the packages and wear them. She even wore them in the car on the way there! Crazy girls...

Monkey see, Monkey do here. Holding Jesse and wearing her new Mickey glasses too. WITH HELMET. In the car. Just like that. The whole way there. Priceless.

Charleigh LOVES sunglasses. She steals Daddy's all the time. She's pretty cute!

Mommy and Daddy have worked hard on this for days. Grammy gave the house that Pop built a long time ago to Creighton and Charleigh for Christmas. But since it was so old, we gutted it and pretty much just left the framing. We added rooms and new wallpaper. And Creighton really wanted and ice rink and a dance floor. (Ice Princesses have to practice ballet to perfect their moves on the ice, ya know?) Anyway, Daddy loves doing things really well, so it's been major overhauling. We both had fun working together and making this for our girls. I hope they play with it forever and then pass it on to their girls. They got the cute yellow furniture for Christmas too!

We added light fixtures to all the rooms, too. Cute feature. There are two bedrooms, a kids room and a "master". It was bunk beds but the room weren't quite tall enough to be able to get a barbie on the top bunk while they were bunked...so we went with twins :)

Living room could possibly still have a fireplace, but it wasn't even started yet. We found cheap small tiles on sale that will work if we decide to do that. :)

Here is the dance floor complete with ballet bar and mirrors!

Ice skating rink complete with view area, rails, and a bumper pad entry. My man just thinks of everything! It's awesome.

Jeff did a special thing with the kids today. He found all the supplies to make marshmallow guns! They each built their own without having a clue what they were doing. They were pretty cute following directions. When I brought out the marshmallows they were even more excited!

We had an all out war that was fun to watch. Charleigh REALLY enjoyed the war (unless she got hit) because she just ran around eating all the marshmallows! It was a cheap and fun activity that everybody loved.

Way to go Dad on then taking it to the next level and spray painting them! Yay for fun!!

We are in the midst of trying to make room for all the toys we have, the new ones, and getting rid of the old ones. I love organizing but this is like overhauling the whole sunroom. Donation central here we come! Whew!

I am hopeful for this year. I don't like change and last year was chalk full of it. I am hoping this year will be a rebuild year where we find our new normal and get comfortable in it. I am looking forward to many things. To God be the glory whatever may come! Happy New Year.

2011 in Review

2011-12-31T23:59:00.004-06:00

I've been hesitating to write this post. It's been a hard year. A long year. A ton has happened in this year. When we rang it in one year ago Jan 2011, I don't think we had a clue what laid before us. I knew there'd be change, but never in my wildest dreams did I know it would be so hard, so painful, yet full of memories, and a lot of good along the way.

So here goes....

We rang in the New Year while we were on a SPECTACULAR family vacation with Papa John & Grammy Ebbie and a first ever trip for our big kids to Disney World/Orlando/Universal Studios! That was a great start! :)

While we were away in Florida, our home church where we ministered 8 years, Grace Community Church in Bartlesville, was being told that we were no longer going to be doing ministry there, but we would be starting over in a new town, a new church, a new ministry at New Beginnings Church in Bixby, OK. This was a VERY bittersweet thing. We loved (and still do) Bartlesville and GCC. It was a painful thing to leave, but we felt the Lord's hand and calling in it and so we were being obedient. I knew this would be a difficult thing, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it playing out as painful as it ended up being.

It began to snow. That was fun until....

Snowmaggeden hit and we sat at -28 degrees with 30+ inches of snow. You don't really sell a house in those conditions. And you don't get to leave the house either. FOR WEEKS! Jeff began his new job as Youth Pastor in Bixby commuting every day until the house sold. He was suppose to begin February 1st but with the snow and ice hitting in mass quantity the night before, he missed almost his whole first week! What a way to start... At this point, we started all going down to Bixby on Tuesday and Thursdays and the kids would go to the Mother's Day Out program and I would search with Tina Butler ALL DAY LONG trying to find a house for us to live in. I was inside close to 100 homes in the Bixby/Jenks area. It was an EXHAUSTING and FRUSTRATING process. In the end we had made 8 offers before we finally were under contract for the final time. HOLY MOLY PLEASE NEVER AGAIN!

But eventually we were able to get from here to there and back and we made some really sweet and great friends! That was HUGE blessing and they still are to our family. We adore the Fowler family. Matt and his three kids! Friendship for the kids is something specific I prayed for. The Lord answered the prayer mightily and quickly!

The Warehouse finally opened! It was a big day! We were excited and so was the church. It was a long time in the making and we came in on the tail end of it all...

Finally our house sold April 4th! It was a long few months of stress and cleaning, but the Lord knew the buyers would come. And they did. That was also a bittersweet day. All of our children were brought home to that house. We did A LOT of ministry there. A LOT of life happened there. I still miss it sometimes.

All the while Jackson remained at Ranch Heights in PreK with Mrs. Ellis until the house sold. He had his first fundraiser and did so great that he and 8 other students won a limo ride! He was thrilled and so was I! At the last minute they let me ride with him! It was a fun thing!

In April after the house sold, we were homeless. That's quite the humbling feeling. But graciously my parents (Papaw & Nonna for those keeping track) let us move in with them in their home in Owasso. So their home that two people normally sleep in, had 7 people LIVING in it. It was a crazy time, but I am so thankful to have had family close by to make that an option for us. It ended up being only about 6 weeks or so that we lived there and FINALLY....

WE HAD A NEW HOME. I think the Lord had it all planned out that it needed to be an exhausting process so I would be ever thankful for the home that He provided for us! Moving in was long and tiring but so good to be in our space and place! With all our things.

Jeff and I went to Dallas with some incredible friends. Catalyst was a neat weekend full of healing for me in a many ways.

We finally were able to get our bikes all together and take a family bike ride like we used to do all the time in Bartlesville. That was balm to my soul that day. The sun. The family. The "normal" things....

My good friend Amy taught me how to sand down wood to its naked state and restain it and seal it. I made my once ugly table beautiful while Jeff was gone for a week, his first-ever time to lead a group to Falls Creek.

My parents took the kids and I to Silver Dollar City and Charleigh rode her first "rollercoaster" (just a ride). She loved it.

June 24th and my baby turned 6. He needs two hands now! Wow. Where did the time go?

I love this family picture!

Jeff and I were THRILLED to be able to go back to Haiti this year. Our hearts love being there. We can't wait to go back!!! When I got back from Haiti, I was asked to join the neatest group of ladies as an Assistant Director to Crisis Pregnancy Outreach, where we adopted Charleigh! It's been a VERY neat opportunity for me. I love the ministry there and what we do! It was an amazing honor to be asked to be a part of this team!

July 7th we celebrated Charleigh being a Berg for ONE year. It felt then and now like much much longer than that!

I dressed my whole clan up as cows just so they could eat free. We LOVE living so close to

Chick-fil-A. HOORAY!!!

The Lord also answered prayers for us to be graciously accepted by the youth (and leaders) and has allowed us to do ministry here. The people are great and we love it. They know our house and come over often! We love that!

Summer is now over and school is starting. Another new. Another different. Another change. For all of us. It wasn't easy. However, I was super scared, but excited, to be jumping head first into leading a girls small group again this year. It's been a super HUGE blessing to me this year to be with the most outstanding group of senior girls! They are priceless to me as well as the two leaders I get to lead with. I love them and have made lots of great memories with them all already!

My sweet kiddos and their first day of school...

a VERY BIG school. Oh my goodness it's HUGE. But even though it's been hard, it's been good. We were blessed with amazing teachers. Mrs. Haughey, Mrs. Finch, Mrs. Harsha, Mrs. Downing (Kindergarten teachers and assitants/aides) and Mrs. Cavin and Mrs. Pease (Prek)

Pop and Grammy helped Daddy fix up the fort that didn't survive the move so well. It was a work in progress for awhile, but this was the first day they were able to be inside it since the winter months back in Bartlesville. They loved it (and still do very much!)

In August we were able to go down to Beaver's Bend in Broken Bow with Terrie and Philip and all the family on that side. I am so thankful for this trip as it was a great stress reliever and time to just relax and renew. Everyone had a great time!

Jeff and I got tickets to go down to take a tour of the Dallas Cowboys facility and I also went to my first ever Pro event. That was fun!

We were introduced to a game called Settlers. We played this game a TON. I love it! We were also so excited to be able to utilize our back porch! It's awesome in the spring/fall.

Jackson lost his first tooth!

Jeff competed in The Warrior Dash. As none other than William Wallace...of course.

He finished too! Way to go babe!

Pop and Daddy worked tirelessly on our new swingset!

And finished the fort! It's awesome!

We had a birthday party for the girls that was a great time. Charleigh turned 2 and is in all kinds of love with Mickey Mouse.

The same day Charleigh turned two, was also a very horrible day. Philip died of a massive and incredibly sudden and unexpected heart attack. The rest of the year from this point forward just seems a little blurry and a lot sad.

However, with kids, life doesn't just stop and only a few short days later, my baby girl turned 5 and needed it to be celebrated. So we did.

Her love of horses was heightened and experienced a new level as she rode Doc for an HOUR. Even though it was freezing cold that day, she would have ridden till the horse collapsed if we'd let her. She loved every minute.

We celebrated Thanksgiving week with my brother, sister and my family. It was a good time to be with family, as more than ever that is what my heart needed to heal...time and family.

And then it was December. Celebrating Christmas this year was so different than ever before. Remembering and celebrating the birth of our Savior was good, but knowing it was another first without Pop was very sobering.

The kids loved helping decorate the tree and they played hard with our many Nativity sets. They are all doing better now, but Jackson has dealt with losing Pop the hardest of the three, both because he is more aware of things and because he is my compassionate and tender hearted little guy. He misses his Pop very much.

I am not one for change. However, besides our first year of marriage in 2003, there hasn't been a year that's even come close to this year with all the changes that took place. We all survived it and grew and learned and matured, but I am hoping for a little bit less of "change" this coming year of 2012. It's been a long and hard year, but of course, looking through pictures and posting here has reminded me yet again, that woven within the growing and painful times/things, there is God! He is with me. He leads me. He guides me and holds me. He laces life with blessings all along the way. I have so much to be thankful for. And I am thankful. I am hopeful, too. Hope is such a powerful weapon. Hoping for another year of life and memories!

REPOST: Jeff's 'Top 10 Moments of year!!'

2011-12-31T23:55:00.001-06:00

If the 'Titles' are a different color click on them and read more about that event from Court's blog!!

Honorable Mentions:
* Braveheart on Blu-Ray...

* Setting the record at CherryBerry...

* Touring the New Cowboy Stadium...

* The Warrior Dash...

* Settlers of Catan...

* Chuck Norris... Nothing happened, he just deserves to be, at least, an honorable mention!!

* Catalyst with good friends...

* GCC Next Level meeting NBC Next Level...

I know right... That was just the honorable mentions, what's in the top 10?!!

10) Prepare & Enrich Certification... That's right I'm a certified Pre & Post-Martial Mentor!!

9) Snowapocalypse-Snowklahoma-Snowmagedden... The coldest day EVER!!

8) New Schools... Bixby North was much bigger than we were used to!!

7) New House... It took a very long time but we did find the perfect house for us: We own a home!!

6) New Job... Yeah, I'm a baptist again: New Beginnings!!

5) New Friends... Though there are many, this pic was too fun to pass up!!

4) Going Back to Haiti... To see a complete set of pics click here!!

The last three are hardly the best things but they were the biggest moments of 2011 and also the hardest in my life!!

3) Leaving GCC... This was an extremely hard night, but after just under 8 years it was time to move into the next stage of our ministry (WE LOVE YOU BARTLESVILLE)!!

2) Saying Goodbye to Our First Home... If it wasn't for how hard the buyers were on signing day this would have been the #2 hardest days of 2011; we did so much LIFE and MINISTRY in that home (all three of our children were brought home here), it will always be our first home (Court says it was our second to last home :))!!

1) Pop... Philip was my step-father but I grew up in his home; he treated my mom like a queen and my family like they meant everything (it is fitting that he was here when he past but that has also made this the hardest thing I've ever faced)!! I love and miss you Pop and will continue to always put my family first, serve my wife, and play with my kids as much as you did!!

((this is the second to last pic we have of Pop (the last pic is with his "Charleigh Girl")... He past away the next afternoon working on the girls' fort with me))

P.S. So not to end it on a sad note... This was my favorite post from Court this year, I feel it gives the best glimpse of who we are: The Berg's

Berg Trifecta

2011-12-31T23:15:00.000-06:00

We celebrated our Christmas with the Bergs on December 31st. I titled it the Trifecta because it was our Christmas celebration, Papa John's birthday, and also New Year's Eve! Whew....lots of reasons for eating goodies!

We took our family pictures first and had some really cute ones.

Then we all ate homemade pizza! YUMMY!!!

Then we snapped a few pictures of the grands with the Grandparents before unwrapping presents. This is the only one I got. They were taking others that I am sure are better, but I liked this one anyway :)

Debbie passed out Santa hats to the kids who then got busy sorting gifts. There were a ton! :) I didn't take many pictures, and NONE of them are good, but I wanted to document it anyway. That is Charleigh and Jackson

Creighton

Jackson

some more sorting taking place

Aunt Steph is very pregnant with Baby "boots" or "dora" as Kinsley refers to her newest sibling to be. Uncle Matt and Kinsley and Aunt Jessica and Grandma Debbie!

Kisling Family with Jackson and Jeff's heads :)

Jeff and Charleigh

Jackson and Creighton had the biggest couch to themselves loaded with gifts!

Jeff got a Demarcus Ware (?) Jersey. He was so bummed they lost last night as this meant he doesn't get to go to the the Playoff games with his Dad. :( But oh well....

The kids got a ton of new board games to keep us busy throughout our "no screen time" days and we LOVE GAMES anyway, so it's a super win! They got S'Match, CandyLand, Operation, Guess Who, Pretty Pretty Princess, Sequence for Kids, new tag books, socks, some toys, and they were excited to get some green this year too! :) Money...it's so exciting for some reason. Charleigh got a set of Toy Story 3 toys and a set of Mickey Mouse toys that she carries with her ALL over the house all day long. She loves loves loves them all!

Jeff got a Juicer and I got some new running shoes with our money, and then we opened some other fun presents too! We are beyond blessed by all of our families all the time.

Thank you Grandma Debbie and Papa John!

We then celebrated with another family favorite Chick-fil-A Nuggets and Stirfry (and Chicken Lettuce Wraps too!) and ate and celebrated Papa John's birthday! Yay!! Another excuse to eat cake and lots of food! Oh my goodness I was stuffed. (had nothing to do with eating 3 or 4 Katy's Pantry cookies either:))

We headed out much later than planned (we didn't want to be driving so late on New Year's Eve) but it ended up working out as for 1.5 hours of our 2.25 hour trip we were THE.ONLY.CAR. on the road heading to Tulsa. It was kinda creepy. But nice. We made it home just after 11:15 and got the kids in bed and celebrated the New Year by unloading the car and heading to bed right at midnight. I don't think our kids have a clue about "celebrating" a new year. We just don't do it. For me it's just another day, another night. A different number on the end of the year. But I must say I welcome a new year, as this one has been a hard one.

Love Christmas Pics

2011-12-31T23:14:00.000-06:00

thanks to our lovely photographer! :) Bebbie :)

Clover Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T00:17:00.000-06:00

We went to Enid on Friday (23rd) and stayed there until this evening (the 26th). Christmas was certainly not the same this year. It was hard to celebrate as we are still grieving. We all miss Pop so very much.

But Grammy has certainly outdone herself this year with her gifts to us. Wow. And thank you again.

Charleigh opened up a precious Minnie Mouse shirt and of course she loved it! She also got a Mickey Sing-a-ma-jig that is PRECIOUS. She got a Mickey bowl, plate and silverware set, too. All things Mickey bring ridiculously sweet smiles! :)

Creighton waited patiently in the beginning to open her presents, but somewhere in the middle when everyone else had many left to go, she was finished. I really don't even know what all she opened....little stinker! :)

She is completely expressive and dramatic in everything in life EXCEPT opening gifts. It's the same at parties, birthdays, Christmas, it doesn't matter. It's like she's scared to smile or get excited. She cracks me up. It'll be the coolest thing ever and she's somber faced, if not a pouty lip, but she IS excited. I don't get it. :|?

Jeff got Michael Jr. DVD and cd and was thrilled! I love that cheeseball smile!

Jackson (and all of us) got many Fire Dept things this year. He really liked his fire truck and Billy Blazes Rescue Hero!

He also loves DVDs, Wii games, etc and he received a ton this year! Happy boy he is

The Kislings got a lot of ski gear (I'm jealous they are all going skiing!)

THere's her I really like it but I WILL NOT SMILE :/ She loves the fingernail stickers!

Charleigh got baby bottles as well! :)

Jen's new Prov. 31 shirt. She's a Prov. 31 woman :)

As if we needed another costume to add to our heaping box, but I must admit, he looks pretty darn cute!

Creighton doesn't know it yet, but she's gonna love this. We all will need ear plugs forever, but she'll be singing her heart out. Her newest song obsession is Adele "Rolling in the Deep". I must say, ~~when she learns the lyrics,~~ she sounds pretty decent! I'm impressed....difficult song to sing and she can hang in there with Adele...

Nerf...nuff said

I was the photographer and thus this is the ONLY picture of me, but to document my newest TOMS and myself at Christmas, I wanted to add it! I love my TOMS. They are brown corduroy. YAY! I got a new blender, some cool clothes, new winter boots, giftcards (I love giftcards!!!) and so much more!

Charleigh couldn't wait, so she didn't, to put on her new Mickey Mouse JAMMIES!

The kids' big gift was the Leap Pad (and a few accessories to go with it). They LOVE them!

Charleigh couldn't get the box opened at first, but once she did....

..she was so excited. She loves Rapunzel. However, so does Creighton and she was thinking that Grammy put the wrong name on the box. haha. It's Charleigh's and Charleigh is the most possessive 2 year old I've ever met. So, good luck with "sharing" her Creighton :)

Creighton finally smiling! *after presents are all unwrapped. She has her PURPLE Leap Pad. All things purple for this gal. She also received an adorable purple sweatsuit that matches my new Purple North Face jacket (I love it, but I have to get a bigger size).

I kinda like this shirt :) Jeff got a new blu-ray player and lots of new movies and games, clothes, a special gun, and much more.

Jeff got a Kilt Towel...oh joy

Ironman OPERATION. cool!

Pop built a dollhouse (huge!) many years ago for Jeff's cousins and they are all grown up now and sent it on our way (and it has tons of meaning now). Creighton didn't know anything about it till she opened this up and a ton of other wooden furniture for her new house (for both girls really). She also got a small framed picture of Pop that is her newest prized possession. She misses her Pop.

Charleigh got a rug, Mickey of course! She laid on it for a long time. :)

Jackson opened every box hoping it would be Skylanders. It's a Wii game were you get to play different characters. I have no idea what it is, but he was MOST definitely excited when he finally opened the box with that in it. And he got A TON of characters! (so spoiled) :)

LEGO sorter is cool, except it doesn't come with legos *(crazy!)

Charleigh loves love love to push things and she loves this new adorable stroller! Holding her new "Katty" that is precious. Creighton got a LuLu cat that purrs and creeps me out.

Oh Chuck.

We made homemade pizza for dinner and the girls LOVED helping!

WE also decorated Happy Birthday Jesus Mini Cakes. They loved that too. (and so did I!) (oh look I was there!)

We are abundantly blessed with life, with love, with family, (and now a bunch of material possessions), but we all miss our Pop abundantly. We had a picture of him making a funny face that was life sized that made us smile and laugh in the midst of our tears. There were many tears. Some very sad, some good memories, so painful, yet his life was a beautiful gift of servanthood and love. All of us remember, how could we forget? Life is forever changed and different. We miss you Pop. Christmas was not the same without you, but I know you experienced a Christmas radically different than what we could have ever imagined this year. We love you.

Pictures

2011-12-23T09:20:00.000-06:00

Just a few pics from the week.

Cute dresses the girls got from Nonna and Papaw. They are precious, except I still don't know what I think about the tights...they kinda look like lingerie. Charleigh, of course, had to don her new boots.

Big smiles with new boots!

Grammy got the kids wall stickers for their rooms. Jackson's has had a few issues, but is now back up :)

They both really like them...and since they are sharing a room, it makes it their "own" space.

Sassy little one in another new dress from Nonna and Papaw

Handsome boy in a faux hawk :)

Precious little girl in a new outfit....she LOVES those pink glasses.

Creighton had her Christmas party at school. :)

Jackson had a Christmas program and he was an elf! ;) It was cute. They did a retelling of the Gingerbread Man.

Nonna came and then took him on a special date afterwards :)

My two favorite boys in the whole world

THis little guy has stolen my heart. He is precious and so tenderhearted. He's really been struggling with the loss of Pop. It breaks my heart to see him so sad.

Cookie face!

Cool Dude!!!

Creighton had Lillian over for a playdate and they put on MULTIPLE ice skating/figure skating performances (aka PROGRAMMING to Creighton). THankfully I have a lot of video. It was pretty classic. This girl is obsessed with Ice Skating and says she wants it to be her sport of choice. Thing is she's actually pretty good, without the skates and ice :) She's never been in skates or one ice in her life but she saw a movie, The Ice Princess, and she LOVED it ever since. Oh me oh my. This girl has some serious spunk and determination! Her limits are boundless *until you factor in our financial status, and then it all comes halting back to even with everyone :)

A Little Family Christmas 2011

2011-12-18T14:30:00.000-06:00

My side of the family Christmas was yesterday. It was a relaxing and fun, excitement filled day, of course full of FOOD, love, presents, and family.

Creighton got another really cute winter hat. She loves all things purple. She's just adorable in them!

Hilarious and precious present for Charleigh! They are dubbed "my Mickey Mouse Boots" and she LOVES them. They squeak every step she takes and they are PRECIOUS. She can't get enough of them. I never thought any pair of shoes would trump her "parkolees" but they have. She sleeps with them and is completely possessive of them!

Jackson was super excited about his new remote controlled car, until he found out that it had to charge for 8 hours minimum. But he was still really excited...

Papaw and Charleigh. Papaw gave the kids a Hallmark book with him reading it. These are the greatest gifts!!!

Creighton's big toy was a Barbie cruise ship. It's pretty cool. It only took me a about an hour to get ALL of the stickers on it. :) But it was fun. She loves it and while I am typing she's busy playing hard with it! I love it! Her imagination is unstoppable.

Pretty blessed with very cute kids...

A little family picture

Diva Creighton

Sweet Jackson

Jackson and Nonna

Papaw Nonna and RaeRae

Grands and grand-dog Owen

Mom and Dad!

All the kids got these light up Christmas tree ornaments that they all 3 love!

Amazingly cute and only slightly annoying after hearing it over 100 times in a row, is this very fun dancing monkey. We all like it and you really can't help but dance! :)

Creighton at home sporting her new hat and new Horse pjs :) Happy girl

Charleigh attempting to peace sign like Rae in the above picture, also sporting her new Monkey pjs :) Hilarious.

We let Jackson stay up, bundle up, and play with his new car, since he was SO patient for 9 hours. He loves it!!!!

a VERY random picture post

2011-12-14T23:54:00.000-06:00

So when life and time get away from you, your blogs become LONG and VERY random...but at least it's here, right?!

We went to Chuck E. Cheese's with the Smith's for Eli's birthday. The kids had a blast

Jeff wasn't able to join us, so my mom came to help!

I finally got the pictures in the frames and put up! Yeah me...I LOVE THEM.

Chuck E. Cheese pencil sketch pictures....cuteness.

He wasn't sad, but maybe he knows what a dunce hat is

Birthday party for Cooper Holley at the farm :) chasing chickens, petting goats, making goats faint, shooting bb guns...does it get any better?

love these "twins"

Charleigh and I had fun trying on all the hats in Walmart. I took MANY, but I'll just put up the cutest ones!

Lillian and Creighton having a dress up for their play date.

Charleigh at Walmart....she LOVES Tangled

Creighton, same green hat, different time at Red Robin :)

New hat for Charleigh from Grammy. She LOVES it

Jackson had strep throat and had to stay home. We did this 150 piece puzzle. It was fun and although it took a long time doing it with him was just a great quality time thing!

My crazy cowboy

The girls LOVE to sing

Jackson's backpack went to the trash and so we needed a new one. He chose this one! :)

Mom brought gingerbread houses for the kids...they love doing it.

Such fun times!

Creighton's finished product

Jackson, Brooks and Chandler!

Random Reindeer.

Creighton got a new coat! Thanks, Grammy

Curls

Bixby Kids for Christ

Scary and hilarious all at the same time. She was SO funny

Staff Christmas party was a Murder Mystery. Only Jeff and I looked like fools. I was the mental person who liked wearing costumes (like a oompa loompa) to work.

2011 staff and spouses at NBC :) John and Missy Kanady, Todd and Jessica Eubanks, Stephanie and Danny Kern, Terry and Monica Langenberg, Jeff and Courtney Berg, Matt Fowler, and Phil and Carol Sallee.

Creighton had her Winter PreK program at school. She did a GREAT job.

Charleigh is so cuddly with Jeff in the mornings!

Creighton's preK class during their program.

Food and Crafts...or crafts with food

2011-12-14T22:49:00.000-06:00

This is completely random. But I saw that a few of the many times I've been creative lately I (or Jeff) have taken pics! For posterity sake I'm posting them here.

Stuffed peppers...they were yummy, and even the kids ate the stuffing (not so much on the pepper)

decorating Charleigh's cake :)

Thanksgiving treat we did at Gramma Debbie's!

Saw this on Pintrest and happened to have all the ingredients...it was super super yummy!

Very very very messsy

and a whole lot of fun

I love making this soup. It's Minestrone. Our family has an inside joke and we call it Mine Strone. (like rhymes with Fine Lone) Anyway, it makes me feel super healthy and the kids will eat it too! :)

Made two pies for Thanksgiving dinner and also made Twice baked potatoes but I guess they weren't cool enough to get a picture....but everyone loved them!

Busy elf I made a TON of pretzels

Dipped oreos...SUPER DUPER YUMMY

And although I do not have a picture of the final product, Creighton took a picture of the middle of the old fashioned Hard Candy...CINNAMON. I love love love this stuff and I only make it at Christmas time and it's so pretty. I make it in red and green, and dust it with white powdered sugar....It's divine!

so completely random, but hey, whatever....

A little Christmas Cheer

2011-12-05T20:58:00.000-06:00

Man do I ever have so much to be thankful for!

God is good to us. Oh so good.

I have three perfectly beautiful and healthy children.

I have an amazing husband who diligently put up the Christmas lights on the tree and helped "fluff" the branches with me.

We have a nice cozy warm house (well at least it is now that the heating guy came and fixed the heater!)

I have a full belly and food in my fridge. So does every person under this roof.

I have a heart full of love and feel thousands of love from all the people we are blessed to call family and friends

But most importantly I have a Savior whom we celebrate this season. He loves me even when I am unlovable. He forgives me when I am unforgivable. He holds me when I am lonely and sad. He is there for me in ways that NO one on earth can come close. He is my best friend and I am His. He chose me. Like seriously, on purpose, chose ME.

My heart is full. Hopefully my cup will begin to overflow again. I am thankful for those whose cups 'ranneth' over for me when mine felt empty.

I love nativities. I have since I was little. I have 7 up this year. It happens to be the perfect/complete number. I think mine are perfect :)

The kids love love love playing with theirs.

It delights my heart.

Seriously. I think it does hers too!

life is hard, but i am thankful for moments

2011-11-29T10:41:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving...just a LITTLE one :)

2011-11-27T17:25:00.000-06:00

Pop had picked out these outfits for the girls before everything happened. They were suppose to be Christmas, but we thought they looked a little Thanksgiving-ish, so that's what the girls wore! :) Precious.

I love them!

Charleigh was super happy on the way to Papaw's house!

We were being crafty :)

Our attempt at a family picture. It was okay...

The goal was to take a family (all) picture but that never ended up happening. And Clay and Owen were there but Lacy was with her family because her dad was sick, so it wouldn't have really been EVERYONE anyway...

This was the result of our craftiness. It is a bread basket but shaped like a turkey with feathers with all of our names on it! I think my sister secretly looks at Pintrest....but either way it was cute present for Nonna!

Owen rocking the shades!

Creighton eating her yummy stuff! Pictures are all random but since Pop, it's really important to me to document life. So I do, even if they aren't great pictures. Real life, in motion, not set up, is just as important to me now.

Charleigh ate like a CHAMP on Thanksgiving! She had like 5 plates full of food.

Sarah Nicole is getting entirely too old! I can't believe she's turning 16 soon. Oh, and there is a picture of my twice baked potatoes I made...woohoo I didn't know I had one of those! :)

Not the best picture of us, but I love my mom and she did a WONDERFUL job of cooking a FABULOUS meal for all of us. She always works so very hard! She's a wonderful cook, but a great Nonna and Mom.

My man!

My one and only sister! Only wish I saw her more!

Finished product, now that the rolls are out of the oven. Isn't it PRECIOUS!?

Real life... :)

There's Clay and Aaron! :) They don't love having their pictures taken so I have to steal shots :)

Jacob and Jeff

DOUBLE TROUBLE!

Again...

They had SO much fun riding these big wheels down the steep driveway! All mess right there....:)

I walked into the office after a little while to see what my parents were doing. It appeared they were watching tv and playing on the computer....

Till I got a little closer :)

I'm sure they'll love me for this! :) But oh well. Documenting REAL life and that's real. They were WORN out. Sleeping and snoring away....we let them rest for awhile before heading off to our traditional movie on Thanksgiving evening. We saw The Muppets. Jeff and the kids loved it. I didn't care for it and was up and down at least 3 different times so I think I missed some, but really didn't care about missing it as I guess I just didn't follow the muppets when I was little enough to think it was "fun" or reminiscing in anyway :/ But whatever. :) I love that we have a fun Little tradition and that it's awesome to look forward to each year.

Thanksgiving was a time to reflect and be thankful, and even though we were still grieving, it was good to be thankful for what we have, how we've been blessed, and have a very FRESH reminder to be thankful each day for the family, the life, the blessings and love that we have. It was a good time with family. I needed family, time, and home. I was glad to have the opportunity to have all three at the same time. God is good. I am so thankful! Happy Thanksgiving...

One really fun evening

2011-11-07T22:18:00.000-06:00

Walmart had this pink cowgirl hat. I just had to pick it up for my girl.

Creighton striking a pose.

Charleigh saw said pose, and attempted to recreate it herself. It was terribly funny to me. :)

My handsome lil-man.

Charleigh was NOT into the leaves at first. She was happy to sit on the monkey grass and watch.

Creighton with fierceness. I have NO clue what she was doing. But with all her might, she was doing it!

Finally a pile big enough to jump in (didn't take long, we'll be raking everyday for awhile...good thing they think it's fun!)

Charleigh saw the stroller and decided to play in it, still wanting NOTHING to do with the leaves.

Creighton, my dear, you are just stunning to me. I love this picture (and I'm kinda proud to say I took it) but seriously can you stop growing up and getting so gorgeous on me?! You're scaring me...:)

Beautiful little diva tom-boy

We attempted to get Charleigh to like the leaves...

Much happier when I placed her by the tree instead.

Love that little black hole I see peering through the leaves...love this boy!

2 little heads, bodies you can't even see. The leaves were very fun!

Blurry but playing together and I just love it enough to keep it!

Precious smiles!

Haha. Sorry Charleigh, just can't get over your face here! You crack me up. I put you back in the leaves for the 3rd time, trying for that charm, and it worked. Only your head is on the leaves here (so maybe that was the trick) but you finally smiled and laid there.

And of course, you are precious!

Fun throwing leaves in the air, wish it wasn't so blurry. But I love action shots where you can literally almost HEAR the giggles.

And Charleigh liked that part too!

After a ton of time in the leaves we headed for a yummy Taco Soup (love Crock Potting) that everyone devours. After dinner we had a fun time of art dessert.

I found it on Pintrest

The kids all loved it (and I did too)

Charleigh actually only liked the "teeth" but oh well, I ate her apple and peanut butter!

Oh I know this is embarassing but whatever, life is too short to care and not have fun with my kids. So I put it in my mouth to take a picture and my "teeth" went everywhere. We laughed and said I'd be rich from the tooth fairy! :) I love memories...last forever.

It was Family Night and the "key kid" was Dad. He chose to do building projects we've been holding on to for awhile. The kids were VERY excited!

Charleigh didn't have an actual project but she looked cute and helped and Daddy gave her some blocks of wood to pretend with!

I helped Creighton and took pictures.

Jackson's was way more complicated!

He LOVED using the drill for the first time. We talked about how Pop loved to do woodworking and use his drill and he said Pop would be so proud of him for using the drill by himself! He is I know it!

Sweet babies! Not so little anymore, but always my babies.

LOVE my sweet husband, who wins the coolest and best Daddy in the world award.

I mean, really, does life get better than a smile like that?!

Creighton and I finished hers earlier than the boys so we decided to paint it. One of her favorite things is painting, and with her favorite color, she was a happy camper too.

Charleigh was gladly "helping" by this point and since the paint was out I decided she could do HER favorite thing and watch a video on my iphone. This kid seriously has an Apple product addiction.

Family time is so precious to us. It's always been, but more than ever now we know the quickness of life and that tomorrow is most definitely unpromised. We cherish these times and I am thankful for the renewed perspective we have and reason to celebrate and to love well. We will celebrate life, real life, non-occasions and big ones, the little and the big. It's good to be together as a family and love each other well. I am SO blessed and SO very thankful for my family. Thank you Jeff for being a wonderful Daddy, Husband and friend. I am so honored to do this with you. I love you.
To my sweet family, I love you more than words can describe. I know I don't have all my stuff together all of the time, but I adore you and care for you and love you the very best that I can. I am honored to be considered worthy to be your Mommy/Wife/Friend. It's a high calling. I don't take it lightly. Thank you for your forgiveness when I am less than I should be, and your encouragement to be better each step of the way. Your graciousness and love get me through the toughest of days. I am so blessed.

Creighton is 5!

2011-11-02T23:59:00.000-05:00

As I was trying to figure out how to do your birthday tribute, I thought of capturing moments from the past year. I realized what an amazing year we've had and SO many awesome memories...

just barely turned four. Enjoying hot chocolate with mom!

Christmas time. I love your cuddles any time I can get them!

We met so many Princesses, but none of them surpass you, my Princess.

We had a blast in Florida at all the theme parks....

you still love to throw attitude, only here recently you've really mastered the art of rolling your eyes. It makes your Daddy's skin crawl. :'/

So full of life and excitement and typically about very random things....milk and bread :)

Killing time during the snowstorm, we dressed up and went all out. You looked way too old but gorgeous.

spunky and cute...just like you always are

You've apparently learned to meditate...that was a random one to find looking through the past year...

You've expressed a love for horses for several years, because I think you just love any animal, but you've never been the same since this day. You LOVE horses and are so excited we get to ride tomorrow on YOUR birthday. ;) I can't wait to see your smiles.

Budding diva rock star....(secretly hope not sweetheart, but you are quite talented, so we'll see)

beauty for Easter :)

I really love this pic of you. The sky is beautiful and the colors are great. Your smile takes up your whole face. It's wonderful.

I got to go on a special date with you and you got to meet Ariel. She's not your favorite anymore, but you still thought it was VERY cool to meet another Princess.

you dressed up to go on a date with Daddy. We both adore our time with you one-on-one. You're so fun to be with

You love to play hard and when you aren't diva-ing it up with all the girlie things you can muster, you are digging in the dirt, playing with animals, picking up crickets and digging out earth worms. You love to sweat and run and jump...I love all of those things about you. You are a great mix.

You dressed yourself this day, and I needed to document it for later :) Just so you know I begged you to change. But you really were thinking you had nailed it. Good thing when you get to High School they have homecoming week for outfits like this :)

You adore your sister and treat her (most of the time) with such sweet sisterly love. She loves you so much and wants to do and say and be EVERYTHING you do. Please continue to be a good leader and always take care of her!

I love the moments you two are not fighting, but working together, loving, playing, dancing, I don't ever care what it is, it makes me happy when you guys are together without sparks. It's a rarity nowadays as you are constantly fighting over alpha dog. But you guys love each other too with a deep love that cannot be separated. It's a beautiful thing. He takes good care of you, especially when it matters :) Love this pic.

We dressed up as cows for free lunch. :) Hey, free food, we'll do it! Especially for Chick-fil-a which is so sweetly referred to by you as Chickalay.

Here is my royal Princess. :) Beautiful.

Every.single.day. you BEG me to do a craft. Big or small, as long as it's one you don't care. I love your artistic-ness and you actually really amaze me at all that you do already. Your favorite color is purple, but sometimes you say rainbow :)

Check out that gorgeous girl who is growing up so fast!?

Another craft=another happy girl.

You are gaining in the fashion world. You look way too cute. I love this pic.

Fierce. You are very fierce. You give just about everything you do your all. Keep that up....it'll get you far.

looking incredibly too old. this was your 1st real school picture. You are now really loving school.

Especially since you've made such a sweet friend in your class. Lillian and you are inseparable. I love that you've made a preK friend. We spend a LOT of time with Lillian...and I love it because you desperately need/desire that level of play that only another 5 year old can give you. (mommy is old and boring :))

Your love for animals has not waned. It doesn't even matter what it is. You did NOT get this from me.

Silly girl. When I showed you the picture of yourself, you were appalled. It was funny!

You love princesses and Barbies and Polly Pockets and your play horses. You role play with a vivid imagination EVERY day. It amazes me. It keeps you busy for hours sometimes. I love listening to you. You usually have no idea I'm listening. Your toys are well loved by you.

Love this sweet picture from your birthday party. You are loved by all of your grandparents and Mommy and Daddy so very much.

surprise a pink and purple pony, that flies, and we got to do a craft (cowboy hat)....there couldn't have been a more perfect costume for you this year. You love "Sally" and slept with her that night and wore her around the house the whole next day. I never told you that it was a 2T/3T size and incredibly too small. It was the only one and you really wanted it and it just fit. Your Nonna got it for you. I loved it on you.

You were excited to have makeup (freckles) on.

sweet friendship and sisterhood. You love the park.

Your love for animals doesn't even stop at stuffed ones. You love them all.

Your boots and hat you got for your birthday. You looked precious.

Creighton...
I get the privilege of being your Mommy! I sometimes bang my head against the doors and walls because you are so thick headed and stubborn, but so much like me. You amaze me, though, with how talented you are, how strong you are (both strength of mind and body), how vibrant you make our world. Sometimes when you are gone, after I get my much needed rest :), I realize how boring life would be without you in it. You are beautiful, you are gifted, you are smarter than a whip, you are a leader, you are tender. You have the makings, the beginnings to be seriously ANYthing in the world you want to be. Your will and tenacity make you unstoppable when you want something and put your mind to it. Stay strong (we will get through it together, no matter how hard it is) and pursue the path that the LORD has laid out for you. You will do big things. I know it. I can't wait to see His plan unfold for you. I can't believe you're turning 5 in 5 minutes. It seems like just yesterday you were in my arms (nursing all the time). You are my baby girl and you always will be Rae. We will have our ups and downs, but I will always love you with an untamable love, with unending prayers, with open arms, and yes, kisses to go with it. You hug and kiss at least a million times a day. You still occasionally get me to carry you. You love to climb and run and dance and jump things (like a english horse). You love all things animals, all things pink and purple and rainbow. You love your little sister. You love to sing and create. You love art and crafts like noone I've ever seen. You are full of life and live it always on the go. You hate to slow down and rarely even want to sit long enough to watch tv. You are full of energy all the time. I have no idea how you keep going, but you always do. I love you dear Creighton. Happy birthday sweetheart.
Mommy

Remembering Pop

2011-11-02T11:15:00.001-05:00

The past 10 days have not been easy.

Grief is such a powerful emotion.

We are all still grieving and mourning the loss of our Pop, but I wanted to take the time to remember him too.

The service one week from tomorrow was the most powerful, beautiful, and amazing celebration of one's life that I've ever witnessed.

It was intense because of the man Philip was, the role/position he held in the community of Enid, and the grief that was running rampant within the hearts of hundreds of people.

Pop was probably looking down in shock because he was such a humble man that he would have never thought he had the kind of impact that he had on SO many people.

But he did.

His smile, his heart, his work, his leadership, his friendship, his relationships, his skills, just himself.

He freely gave in all ways, always.

The procession was unbelievable.

There were probably 200 armed service men, firefighters, police officers, honor guard, etc lining the roads at attention as Pop's casket, positioned atop a firetruck, was led to his final resting place.

Lights ablaze on 40ish firetrucks, followed by miles of people who loved him and his family--it was definitely a sight to be seen.

They blocked off the highway that runs through the middle of Enid and people stopped on the side roads, and came out of their workplaces and shops to pay respect.

It tells so much about a person by the way they are loved at the end of their life.

There just aren't enough words to put together eloquently enough to describe our Pop.

But the city of Enid (and surrounding towns) certainly painted a gorgeous picture worth far more than a thousand words.

We often have spoken of the legacy that he leaves behind.

It’s a legacy of strong character, leadership, unconditional love, humility, patience, servant-hearted, kindness.

Pop’s life reminds me of what it looks like to be a good fruit-bearing tree in scripture.

Even though this is one of the most painful things I’ve ever endured, on so many levels, already good is present within the pain.

Pop’s years here feel cut short, but he is dancing and singing (with a beautiful voice :)) with the angels.

He has gone before us to help prepare for the time when the Lord calls us all home.

Thank you to all of you who have written, blogged, facebooked, called, texted, emailed, visited, etc to tell us you are thinking of us, praying for us, sending love, food, money, flowers, and "fairies" :). We know how loved we are and how many people care for us. It means more than we are able to express at this time, but it hasn't gone unnoticed I promise. Thank you friends and family.

Pop

2011-10-23T23:07:00.000-05:00

Tonight as Pop was doing one of the things he loved most--woodworking and for his grandkids at that--he had a heart attack. We, nor the paramedics, firemen, or ER were able to revive him.

We just celebrated Creighton and Charleigh's birthdays last night.

He loved his girls (and boy) so very much. Charleigh's birthday will forever be a day of joy and of great loss. Charleigh was his little princess. They had a special bond. Now I know even more why. God knew we needed some good on this day and he sent our princess to provide just that.

Philip leaves behind an amazing legacy of honor, service, humility, loyalty, sincerity, honesty, and literally the list could go on for miles. This man was unique in a million ways. He was such a sweet, quiet spirit, gentle in all that he did, yet strong and capability as an ox. He rarely slowed down to do anything for himself. His life was a gift to all as he continually just gave: his time, his resources, his skills, his heart, his hands. He loved well. He lived well. He was an amazing man. He leaves us while it feels way to early and was too fast. It's painful all the more because of who he was.

Pop, we love you. We always will. Forever. We'll never forget you, your life, and the example you left for us. I hope that Jackson can one day be even just half the man that you were and he'll be great. Thank you for all the thousands of times you gave of yourself for and to us. So much of what we have you've had such a major part in. We are all so sad. Jackson and Creighton miss you so much already (as do we all). We don't understand but I do trust the Lord. I love you Pop. Thank you for everything. I am so thankful for the 9 years I was privileged to know you. I am so blessed to have been your daughter-in-law. I will see you again some day, Pop. I am a better person from knowing and loving you. It will never be the same without you, ever.

Sweet baby turns 2!

2011-10-23T00:00:00.003-05:00

Charleigh Tatum October 23, 2009. Only a few hours prior your first mother made the most selfless and loving choice of giving you a Mommy and a Daddy. She chose for you. She chose us. She gave you life. She gave us your life. She's our hero.

Your story sweet girl is special. It was ordained by the Creator of the universe. You were meant to be here, to be a part of three families, to have a story that will encourage others, to have life, to be a little sister, and so much more. There is no doubt that the Lord has plans waiting ahead for you, no doubt. His weaving of stories and people to get you here at all, and to get you into our arms, is undoubtedly a story woven with purpose, with love, with care, with preciseness. You are indeed, one special little girl.

When you were just a few weeks old we dedicated you to the Lord in front of our church family in Bartlesville, OK. You are so loved and cared for by so many people.

You have always had these EYES that just sparkle and twinkle and glow! You were expressive from the beginning and oh, my, are you expressive still to this day!

Your first Christmas...you were the best gift of all that year...2 days before Christmas we knew you'd be ours forever. Your birth father made a choice to make, and it was hard, but he allowed us to be your Mommy and Daddy. It was such a special holiday with SO much to celebrate.

From the very beginning your brother and sister have loved you with a love so unconditional. Still to this day they can't get enough of you and your sweet personality. (when the "taradactyl" comes out, they indeed still love you but it sends them running far away :))

Your sweet smile lights up the room, still to this day!

On July 7, 2010 the judge told us what my heart already knew. He said you were ours. He said I was your Mommy and Daddy your Daddy forever. He gave you a new name: ours. OURS. You were ours. I knew it already but to have it confirmed legally was just beyond my wildest dreams. I couldn't believe it had all happened, that it was real. As if it might come out of my chest, and be physically visible, my heart grew once more, and immediately it was filled again with love for all of my kids, for our family. It felt complete.

You grew and grew and became a little person. You delight my heart.

God made you adorably cute. I mean A-Dor-ABLE.

You are full of life. Full of laughter. Full of joy.

Your first birthday was so much fun! I couldn't believe you were one! You loved loved your cake.

Your smile overtakes your face. You are a happy happy baby!

I love your rosy cheeks!

Such a trooper even in freezing weather! You look adorable!

You gave me hope to be out of diapers by now, but it was all just for fun and games and now you haven't been on that potty but once in a long long time. :) stinker!

Dressing up is fun too!

You are so silly and SUCH A MONKEY!

Maybe you'll grow up to be a doctor :O)

For sure though I know you will always fashionable.

And so many people love you! :)

My littlest Diva.

And yet, silly as can be :)

And a girly girl and a tomboy all at the same time.

You love to stop and smell the roses and pick flowers and enjoy life. You make me enjoy life.

The smallest things are important to you. You already see so much detail. Nothing is too insignificant for you. One of your favorite toys to carry around is a purple plastic play knife. It's special to you and I have no clue why, but you love it.

You LOVE shoes. In particular right now you love your "parkoly" shoes (sparkly). And then there is a famous pair of flip flops around here that are navy blue and have white sharks on them. They are boys size 12 (as in your brothers) and you LOVE them and want them everyday. If you see them you scream, "my floop flops" and it's all over if I don't let you wear them. You don't care that they aren't yours, are 8 sizes too big, or that it's cold out...and thankfully it's humorous and you're cute! :)

Charleigh, our world hasn't been the same since you entered it. Actually since the day we began praying for you, it's been a journey. It's not always been easy, nor has it always been tough. There are moments I just look at you in wonder and awe of our amazing God. When I see you with your birth mom it delights my heart. I am thrilled beyond what makes sense because before we knew of you it was a little scary to think of you having a birth mom and a mommy. But it works. It's not always easy but it's wonderful all the same. She loves you immensely, and I know because I see it in her eyes when she holds you. We love you immensely and I know this because I feel it, know it, believe it, trust it. I am so thankful that this was the Lord's plan for our lives, for you life. God gave me you. I am so glad He did.

You are beautiful Charleigh. People from all over talk about you, even when they just get mere moments with you. There is something special about you. You talk every single day more than most 5 year olds. Your vocabulary is astonishing. I can't believe what all you can do. You've known your ABC's for some time now, you can count to 10, you know most of your colors very well, you know your animals sounds, you are learning shapes, you can repeat anything (even when it's really inconvenient :)), you adore your Daddy and stop EVERYTHING you are doing when he comes in the door each evening, you love to sing and dance and have memorized the words to SO many songs it's actually very impressive, you can laugh at the right moments as if you have an amazing sense of humor you obviously didn't get from me, you have an attention span much longer than it should be at 2, you have a deep understanding of many things no one would believe....you are just amazing at every turn. You constantly on the move, unless of course, you want to watch "punzel" which I have no idea why you still like that movie, but you do...and you want to watch "teebee" all the time. You are spoiled beyond belief and since you are my baby, I'm okay with it. :) You are super sweet on one hand and very independent, stubborn, and already sinking into the "terrible twos" on the other. You keep us busy and on our toes as you constantly think you can do ANYthing and everything your brother and sister do. I love your sweet voice, except when it's not sweet and you scream in the highest octave known to man...I don't really love that, but we're working on it. You are growing like a weed, but still seem some days so little. Since you are most likely the last one, I'm trying to savor every moment I can with you (and then some). You are a delight to our family Charleigh and we all love you dearly. Thank you for who you are, for loving us back, and for making me a better mommy!
I love you,
Mommy
Happy Birthday Sweet Charleigh Tatum.

2nd and 5th Birthday Party

2011-10-22T19:00:00.001-05:00

We have a lover of all things Mickey Mouse (I think it's funny she was the only one NOT at Disney World last year).

And, probably like most other 3-100 year olds, the most fave Princess for Creighton is Rapunzel!

So we had a combined family party this year. It was a nice time had by all.

I bought a yummy chocolate chip cookie cake from Sam's and did the art myself....I was quite proud of myself...The girls were happy campers!

We had some Rib Crib catering for din din...

We had a short dance party

snapped a few family pics :)

and opened up those awesome presents!

She has a few Mickey Mouse friends, but she was super excited about this guy

Creighton was mighty excited about most of her presents. Love her looks!

Cutest hat on the planet...she wears it so well (and often!)

Love love love these two girls!

She's talking on her phone and cuddling with Mickey. She's precious

Kinsley and Charleigh loved playing with all the fun new things.

Creighton got ALL the princesses for her birthday...they are well loved

The Table!

Walmart does a great job for me...

It's not perfect, but I was impressed :)

Jessica's birthday is the day after Charleigh's so we celebrated hers too! The birthday girls and their cakes!

Devouring them

Nonna and Charleigh

3 generations of strong women!

Love this one of my mom, Creighton, and I.

That's thumbs up! :)

We have two priceless pictures of Pop from the party.

Creighton and Pop

Charleigh and Pop

loving still on Mickey...he goes many many places throughout the day

School pics 2011

2011-10-19T13:36:00.000-05:00

Jackson, Kindergarten Mrs. Haughey, 2011

Creighton, Pre-K Mrs. Cavin, 2011

THEY ARE GETTING TOO BIG TOO FAST! NOOOOO make it stop. Two cute kids if I do say so myself. :)

Pumpkin Patch...Good times.

2011-10-17T23:14:00.000-05:00

Jackson's class and all the other Kindergartener's went to the Pumpkin Patch this year. Creighton and I joined along. There were a TON of things to do that were all hands on.

of course, the plastic horse was a huge hit!

as was milking a cow

learning learning everywhere...

shucking corn

we have these at home, but they really wanted to ride them

bright sunshine!

horse swing!

love this one!

hayride!

picking pumpkins

she was the most indecisive person on the face of the planet that day....

Jackson's class!

Jax and his pumpkin

I think she finally settled on this one.

Then Terrie and Philip bought us some tickets to another local pumpkin patch with inflatables. We were able to go and had a blast. Charleigh loved all the houses and play things throughout the field

cute punkins!

Charleigh!

Jackson

This was the best there was and we had about 40 to get it this good. Not in the mood for a pic that day.

All smiles here though.

"train" ride, more like a tractor pull, but whatever, it was fun

Nonna joined us too!

There were Pony Rides and Creighton of course, couldn't resist!

I do love Fall.

Time...

2011-10-14T16:38:00.001-05:00

Time seems to be flying by. I can't believe it's October. We are staying very very busy. We have fun while busy though. We've really enjoyed the weather change and have spent quite a bit of our time at the parks, in the backyard, outside for whatever reason lately. I love it!

I took the girls to the park while killing time between pick ups one day. They were extra cute...and I had my camera on hand thankfully!

silly girl

with so many faces

sweet Charleigh

thought this one of them together was so fun!

love sister love!

Charleigh is now in Creighton's old wardrobe and I love it. I have so many memories of my older daughter in her clothes and now I get to remember them again, and watch new memories created. It's pretty sweet really!

My little diva. She's way more fashionable at almost 2 than I ever will be :)

This is random. Our family photo from 2 years ago was published in the Bartlesville Monthly magazine this month. This was only a few days before got THE phone call that Charleigh was born. :) Precious memories!!

Creighton has met the cutest little friend in her class and they are FAST buds. We've had several playdates and if she had her way then they'd be everyday. We enjoy sweet Lillian coming over to play! We went to the park and had a picnic this day. They play VERY well together! I love it.

Phil and Carol, Monica and Terry, and Jeff and I all went to Shogun for dinner. It was a fun night out with friends! :)

My mom took all 3 kids to the Disney on Ice by herself (she's crazy) but they had a great time. They brought home this little hat and Charleigh thinks she is (because she is) so CUTE!

Philip and Terrie came over to do Fire Safety with Jackson and Creighton's classes. Jeff dressed up as SPARKY and all the kids loved him.

Charleigh, who loves Mickey, was wearing her Firefighter Mickey shirt.

Creighton and her Prek friends! :)

Jackson and Pop in his Kindergarten class...

Jackson and the robot. They all loved having Philip and Sparky come to their classes! It was a big hit!

I worked the booth for CPO at a fall festival and Creighton came with me and LOVED it. She rode ponies, ate all kinds of food, held turtles, saw all kinds of fun things, did crafts too...she was in heaven.

Jeff and Pop have worked so hard on the fort the last few weeks. It's FINALLY finished. It looks awesome. This whole time I have NOT gotten Charleigh to want to be on the slide at all. I finally got her to do it and now she LOVES it!

The kids all helped paint the fort. They all had so much fun. I was NOT careful to put Charleigh in paint clothes (why, I do not know!) and she ruined her clothes :( It was Jeff's fave for her to wear (and Creighton used to wear it) and now it has brown paint on it. Oh well.

big helper

Jackson's attention span is not too long, but he did a good job.

This is our little artist in the family and she painted forever. She loved it!

Jeff did a great job of staining the new wood and painting the old....

Wahlah! :) awesome "new" fort.

Terrie and Philip made from scratch this swingset. The kids have used it a lot already and will continue for years I am sure!

Jeff took the 3 girls to lunch for a date one day and that was fun (except Creighton was naughty during the whole thing) but Charleigh did great and we all had fun.

Terrie purchased lots of Minky Dot Fabric for me in several different colors and I made the two big kids large blankets and I made Charleigh another small one but she will have NOTHING to do with it! NOTHING at all. This was before I made it into a blanket and I made it exactly like her old one and she can tell the difference even in the dark. It's SO frustrating! :(

This kid is obsessed with her blanky and it goes everywhere with us. It would have been so nice to have had 2 again, but I've gotta give it to her....she is SMART!

Polly Pockets or "Holly Pockets" as Creighton calls them, have become our newest obsession around here. I purchased them for $5 and it was the greatest $5 garage sale purchase possibly of all time. Even Charleigh and Jackson play with them. :) YEEEHAW

Princess Rapunzel. She got a cool new braided hair piece. She likes it! She thinks this costume is "itchy"--she's SO my child.

Jackson had a great week as Spartan of the week. Mrs. Haughey makes it very special for them. She's so wonderful. He loved it.

He lost ANOTHER tooth! Right above where he lost the bottom one. I'm not a huge fan of the fact that he's loosing all his teeth. It means he's getting older. I can't stop it. It changes his appearance too. His sweet smile is still sweet but it's a reminder that he's old and I can hardly stand it!

We've found this new park and the kids love the "tongue slide." It's actually frightening. There are no sides on it at all and so it appears you will fall off! It looks like a big blue stretched out AirHead candy or a tongue. This park is crazy with all it's unique features...they love it!

Randomness but I find it's the only kind of posts I can do lately...so that's what I get. I know I am leaving so much out. But for now, it's all I have to give. We are getting settled. Life is "normal" whatever that is, but it's good. Life has gone on around us and I feel like we are kind of on the same planet now. :) That's nice.

One day when I have more time (yea, right) I hope to post better/more often....we shall see :)

A few weeks worth of memories...

2011-09-27T09:03:00.001-05:00

My superheroes.

My sister in law Lacy had a birthday and we had the sign out so we snapped a sweet (and sassy Creighton) picture of them and sent it to her via email....Happy Birthday Aunt Lacy and Uncle Clay's is coming up this week!

my kids are PKs and so they sometimes get to spend lots of time here :) they're just random pics...but had to add them too....since this is all very random

my kids were not going anywhere but just wanted to dress up with accessories! LOVE THIS STAGE

This little peanut is ADDICTED to the ipad. She thinks it's hers and that she should be able to watch Tangled AT ALL TIMES. We have lots of temper tantrums because of it, but it is nice when we need to accomplish something because she will just watch it so quietly you almost forget she's there!

Creighton wanted curly hair for picture day! :) I hope by the time she had the pictures taken that she still looked somewhat presentable. She looked so big and grown up!

Love my girls!

My handsome man picked out his own picture day outfit!

All my babies! They are getting WAY too big for my liking!

We had Grandparent's Day at the MDO program at New Beginnings. Nonna got to join us and Charleigh sang her ABCs and sat through one other song. :) SHe was really tired as this performance is during her usual naptime.

Creighton has made a sweet friend Lillian in her PreK class. Yesterday we had Lillian over for a playdate and they had lots of fun. This is at their jog-a-thon!

Creighton with the other PreK ers

Rae made it 14 laps!

Jackson's K class did it later in the day. Jeff and Creighton went to support him.

Jackson had a big day that day at school. He crunched into a cheese ball and LOST HIS FIRST TOOTH. He didn't seem overly anxious to tell Jeff, in fact, Jeff just noticed and then he showed him. Nonchalantly he said he lost it at lunch! I thought for sure he'd be crazy about it... But later that night he was playing with it (after I told him not to) and he lost his tooth (technically again :)) but oh well. Not having the tooth fairy issues was nice. He never even mentioned it (although he was VERY sad he lost his tooth and couldn't find it).

THis is Jackson and his class at the Jog a Thon. (well part of them). Sam is his best bud on the right side of the picture. Max and Sam are on either side of Jax and they are both super tall boys! I think they have lots of fun!

Jeff and half of Oklahoma ran in the Warrior Dash Tulsa 2011. Jeff of course loves any opportunity to paint his face and don a kilt :) My manly man looking so "manly" in his ~~skirt~~ kilt!

Elmo and his 3 Ladies came to our house and Elmo and Jeff left together to go be in the madness. We came later to watch them cross the finish line.

Starting off...

We were entertaining the kiddos while waiting. There was a huge crowd! Early in the day Debbie and Jessica had also run the Warrior Dash and had already finished. They stayed around to watch Jeff. When you race you get a Viking Helmet hat. Rae wore Gramma Debbies.

Jackson thought Aunt JEssica's was TOOO SWEATY. :)

Matt's kids were there too, since he was racing! My kids love hanging out with them. THis picture cracks me up. Look closely at what Jackson is holding onto. :/

There is Pastor Phil finishing... (jumping over fire!)

Matt finished WAY ahead of everyone else from our group. Matt, Phil, Mike

This is Jeff finishing...yea! I was worried he'd broken something. But he finished in less than an hour!

His shorts weren't making the cut so they finished the race in his hands.... My word they are all so mess it's disgusting!!!!!

Charleigh with Grandma Debbie! :) Love that full face grin

Happy Warrior Dashing all... and no, I don't think I will be doing that next year...

And so it begins....

2011-09-13T10:16:00.000-05:00

The kids came home from Enid and two of our Bartlesville friends came over. So we picked up the football and showed the big kids a little snipet.

It was just fun to watch.

Love my family!

She's a world class cheerleader! (seriously she is an amazing encourager!!!!)

After we put the kids down we all played on the patio a game of Settlers. I love this new game!!! It's awesome. We love the Doe boys!!! So fun to have them both at the same time.

We love love love fall weather so we can be outside more. Bring it on!

Sweet girls!

2011-09-13T10:11:00.001-05:00

Our sweet friend Miss Christie made these cute cute outfits for my two girls and Jeff's coworker Matt's little girl Mati. They are sweet friends (and Mati has two older brothers around Jackson's age and I adore that they love to hang out!)

Anyway, Christie brought the girls outfits over one night (*after baths and pj time...if you wondered why my girls have their's OVER their jammies) and they all took a picture together. So sweet. Love those smiles!

They all wore them on Sunday to church (and she also made bows too!) and they all looked adorable.

Love my crazy girls. Thanks Miss Christie for such thoughtful and cute cute outfits! You rock.

Charleigh Loves Mickey!

2011-09-13T10:07:00.001-05:00

This sweet princess got to spend lots of one on one (or two) time with Mom and Dad over Labor Day weekend because the big kids went to Enid and split up to be having their own one on one (or two) excursions with the two sets of Enid grandparents.

Mom and Dad have a fascination with Cherry Berry and went EVERY DAY the bigs were gone (we had a giftcard, don't judge :)) Charleigh thought she was in heaven!

We went to the mall on Monday and Charleigh had never been to the mall before. You would have thought the kid was in Disney World. SO much to see, do, places to run, hide, etc. She was thrilled. We bought her her first tennis shoes and off she went to the races.

But then she found Mickey Mouse. Just her size. And never put it down.

I thought I was going to have to find a way to buy it (I had no purse) because she was not convincing me it was going to be possible to leave the store without Mickey. But eventually I distracted her enough to let me hide Mickey and we left on a new adventure to find Daddy. Good thing she has a Grammy that already ordered it for her birthday.

I am not sure why this girl loves Mickey so much. The big kids didn't even really know who he was till we went to Disney World this past Christmas, but Charleigh didn't even go and she definitely knows! It's precious.

She got a Dancing Mickey for Christmas (so that's maybe why) anyway, the other day I captured her dancing with him in the kitchen.This girls got some moves :)

Complete Randomness

2011-09-11T03:47:00.001-05:00

My time to sit at the computer nowadays seems limited if not nearly completely extinct. It's sad really because I love blogging and being at the computer, but my smart phone is just accessible and I have lots of time in my car waiting or lying in my bed trying desperately to fall asleep (unfortunately usually to no avail). So here I am at 3:33 am blogging. But good news I got LOTS of laundry done too! Ya. Bad thing about blogging at all hours of the night, is I tend to ramble...

When they fixed up the fort, they put some fertilizer around the area to grow grass where there was no longer any. I thought it was some cool padded stuff for the kids in case they fell or something. Well, unfortunately it's the MESSIEST stuff on the face of the planet. As documented by Charleigh's sweet face and my lovely feet! Black is always EVERYWHERE.

The big kids eat breakfast some times in the morning at school. I don't know why they like to because it doesn't give them very much food. But it does ensure they are on time, that's the positive for sure. And both Jeff and I love getting this time with them! Jackson is SO sweet and such a good big brother to Creighton at school. I sincerely hope this is ALWAYS the case.

I took this picture on Charleigh's first day of Mother's Day Out. She was SO adorable and kept trying to pose for pictures, but they kept being blurry because she kept moving. But for record keeping sake, here's the best one :)

She also told me she needed to go potty this morning. I had to document that as well. It's not the first and she hasn't done it since, but hey, it's something right!?

She and I get lots of cuddle time. She pretty much hates it when the big kids are at school. I think I must be very boring.

Oh Jackson, I know this picture will come back to bite you one day. You know I love you and I always will. But please let's not ever look so cute in pink again, okay?!

We made yarn dolls. Charleigh loved it. I think only because it was Creighton's and they love to fight with each other over the silliest of things, yes, already!?

But I love this picture of my sweets with their ~~hideous~~ yarn dolls. Thankfully with smiles like that, it's a priceless picture whether our crafts are in it or not. Jackson named his Hammer, after MC Hammer. Hahhaha cracks me up!

I've gotten some really great pictures of Jeff lately with the kids. Sorry honey. But Rae looks too cute to keep it to ourselves :)

Once a week I try to eat lunch at school with Jackson. Rae really really likes being up there, so I try to go on a day when Charleigh is at school so I can just hang with the big kids. This is Jackson's friend Sam and they love to play together. They are both 6 and tall and wild boys! We've had 2 play dates so far with Sam (who also has a twin sister to play with Rae.)

Creighton and Jackson both like for us to stay for recess....so we do.

Thankfully it's cooling off.

Sam and Jax rulers of the "moon" as they call it.

I took Creighton shopping for ideas for her birthday and to find a pair of shoes. She and Charleigh both have outgrown ALL of their shoes here in the last few weeks. Crazy. I thought my little Miss Diva looked quite adorable in her boots and hat. She's WAY too trendy and fashion forward for me. I don't know what to do with all that. At one point she also had a scarf on and loved it but I didn't get a picture.

They LOVE spending time with Daddy.

Ash and Charleigh. SWEET smiles I love to see.

of course, everyone has to be in one too!

Big Brothers

2011-08-25T21:19:00.000-05:00

(this is from the other morning at breakfast (Jeff took it) and he does this every morning!)

I always wanted a big brother. But seeing as how I had a little brother and I was the big sister, that just wasn't likely. I survived.

However, I was thrilled that we had a boy first.

Today I got to witness firsthand one of the reasons I wanted a big brother. I am thrilled and my heart was swelling inside my chest like you couldn't believe. I didn't bring my camera but I'll forever have the pictures etched on my heart.

Jackson wanted me to come to lunch with him today (I will be so sad when he thinks I am weird and is embarrassed by me so I am eating it up while he still thinks it's cool to have mom around). I figured today would be a good day because Charleigh was at Mother's Day Out and I would just have Creighton and she could eat there too. So we went (and we were running late, imagine that) and so he was already eating when we got there. But they relocated us to a different table so we could all sit together. Creighton went through the line and got her tray and he waited patiently for us all the while. We ate together and it was so fun. Then Creighton wanted to go to recess with him, I said she had to ask him. He said, "yeah, that's fine with me!" I was thrilled he didn't break her heart.

We get in line to head out to recess and he holds her hand tenderly as he is talking to his new buds. He didn't care at all what they thought (and I don't think at this age they would have thought it was too weird anyway, thankfully). It was just sweet. But once we got out on the playground he made sure she was with him every step of the way. The boys wanted to play one game and she suggested another and he talked them all into playing what she wanted to play. What 6 year old does that? I think he's pretty spectacular.

Then another time they were playing on this apparatus that is similar to swinging poles with foot stools attached and she got scared (there were a million kids playing at the same time, so I was scared for her too) and he went first and then came back let her go and then followed behind her so sweetly. He made sure she didn't fall and encouraged her the whole time. He's awesome.

They ran around and played and held hands on and off. Jackson's best bud is THE tallest Kindergartener (next is his twin sister, and then their other friend Max). Jackson was running around with Max and Sam and all the while being the very best, most sweetest big brother I've ever encountered. I loved every single minute of it.

It gave me mini heart attacks when I envision them about 10 years down the line, but if today was any indication on how well he will protect her, I think we'll all be alright! I love my kids.

Ps. Creighton threw the biggest fit she's ever thrown in her life when we left. When I finally figured out what it was all about, I just had to laugh. She didn't get to hug her (really Jackson's friend) Eli goodbye and was seriously a heap of tears and screams for nearly an hour. It was the most ridiculous thing on the planet Earth. Thank the Lord she finally fell asleep. Oh my she is exhausted with only half days...next year might do us all in.

Jeff's birthday weekend

2011-08-24T14:31:00.001-05:00

Jeff's Mom and Philip came over for the weekend to celebrate the birthday and rebuild the fort. It was pretty much trashed in the move but now it's awesome. The kids haven't been in it since winter because of all the bad weather we had and then the move. Needless to say, even though at this picture point it was far from ready, they were thrilled to be in it!

This was Sunday morning. We woke Daddy up with a very happy girl!

This was Sunday afternoon. Jeff and I had already left for Dallas to celebrate Cowboy style!

Jeff and I left straight from church and hauled it down 75 to Dallas. We made it and had a great dinner at Pappadeaux with John, Jessica, Stephanie and Jennifer. Then we all headed to the game. It was insane that it was a preseason game and there were still 50,000 people there! What on earth?! I guess when it can hold 110,000 that's not too bad. I can't imagine going on a real season game. I think I might hyperventilate.

Fun pic outside the stadium going in. We were missing the cheerleaders make their grand entrance.

Pregame and Cowboy entrance. The game was crazy. The cowboys lost but it was so overstimulating I don't think I saw more than about a second of the actual game.

I got us an awesome hotel (Hilton Arlington) on priceline. It was like $50 on a game night. It was a very nice hotel. And I enjoyed greatly getting to sleep in. Then we went back to the Stadium after an awesome Italian lunch for a tour of the whole thing. (during the game you can only go where you have a ticket).

We got to go on the field. Too bad Jeff had a bum ankle or he would have joined in on a pickup game that was going on :*(

Field GOAL

DeMarcus Ware is Jeff's fave. Each locker cost between 9 and 10 THOUSAND dollars because they planted/harvested specific special trees just to cut down just for this facility. Kinda insane if you ask me.

I slipped on a jersey and pads they had sitting out. Pretty sure you aren't suppose to do that...but I am daredevil :) Just so happened to be DeMarcus' :)

This is the Miller Lite Bar where they enter the field. No worries its only like a billion dollars to own a suite that allows you access to this area. (yet there are starving people all over the world...I just can't be okay with this)

Jeff ON the STAR. Happy boy. :)

It was a fun trip. Fast, but fun. Kinda stinks having birthdays and anniversaries right at the height of youth ministry, but we manage to squeeze celebrations in! (and we always will!!!)

I love you babe. Happy birthday. Hope you enjoyed your weekend!

Random Picture Post :)

2011-08-17T21:33:00.000-05:00

I might have already posted this picture. But it's my all time fave of my babies! I can't believe they are all getting so big so fast. Sweet smiles and all looking at the camera...it's hard to come by these days. I'll treasure this one for eternity.

The other morning, Jackson and Creighton made Jeff and I breakfast. Complete with OJ and each of our individual kinds of cereal we like. I was very impressed as this was not asked of them, they've never done it before, and we hadn't even talked about it. Made my heart do a jig in my chest :) (until I found the OJ poured all over the counter and floor...but I got over it quickly :)) They were so proud of themselves too. Jackson said, "Mom, you always make us breakfast, and so I wanted to make you breakfast..." the kid has the sweetest heart there ever was!

This sweet face also joined us at breakfast and helped me eat mine :)

Charleigh and I are learning how to fill our days just the two of us. She loves to dance, sing, and watch/listen to music videos. It's hilarious. She seriously is talented.

No screen time on school days is great for them, but neither of them ever have homework and so we are being creative. I love it. This pic makes me happy!

Jackson and Creighton both seem to be doing fantastic with school. Granted tomorrow marks one week, but Jackson seems to be really thriving in his class and Creighton has come home smiley and happy as well. She crashes almost every afternoon hard. I am so thankful we got her switched to morning. Daddy has been taking them every morning for breakfast and drop off. Then Daddy, Mommy and Charleigh go on a walk until Daddy leaves for work. The mornings have been nice!

Since the big kids have the same schedule now, we've just (today) moved Charleigh into her own room and the bigs are sharing a room for now. In 2 years when Charleigh is in school we'll switch back, but for now it makes so much sense. They are loving the bunk beds anyway! It'll be great. Creighton took a nap in her own bed for the very first time (because I would never let her stay in her room while Charleigh was sleeping....yay for new ideas!)

Completely random post. Yes I know.

8 years!

2011-08-16T21:25:00.000-05:00

Today is our 8th anniversary! Woohoo. :)

(that's us way back in 2003 :) and now)

We had two sweet youth volunteer to watch the kids for us for free, love that! Then we tried a new restaurant called Osaka. Not a huge fan and probably won't be back, but it was fun and I love time with my man. Then we went to the Purple Glaze. They were amazingly friendly and gave us a "special" since it was our anniversary and so that made it even better (can you tell I am cheapo!). We get to pick up our ring holder on Friday! Then we went Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (101st and Sheridan!!!) and our friend Ryan McAdams (we went to the Institute with him in 2003) owns it. I got a carmel apple and Jeff got some almond clusters. Then Ry gave us some chocolate coins for the kids! All around a great fun and fairly cheap date night with my hubby.

I am so thankful for the marriage covenant and commitment we have. I know so many whose marriages have or are on the brink of falling apart and it's so sad no matter the circumstances. I am so blessed to be married to a godly man who daily tries to know me better, love me to the best of his ability, and most importantly is growing in the Lord. I am one lucky girl.

I love you Jeff with all my heart. I am so thankful to do life with you, even though it's a bit crazy at times. I think after 8 years I wouldn't know what to do without the madness :) You make it all better with your tender hands and heart with our children and with me. They are incredibly lucky to have you as Daddy and I am blessed to call you best friend, lover, soul mate, husband, confidant, and leader of our home. I made the best decision to say yes to your request for my hand in marriage. 8 seems like a long time, because I don't feel old, but there is no one on earth I'd rather grow old with than you. Thanks for loving me so well and leading our family well. Hoping for many more years to come, right by your side.
All my love,

Courtney

First Day of School 2011

2011-08-11T20:13:00.000-05:00

Jackson and Creighton are both going to school this year. First time in Bixby. New places and faces. We decided to get our teeth cleaned and checked the day before and also get new haircuts. It was a crazy day but we got it all finished!

Smiles before bed the night before to show off new hair and clean teeth!

Charleigh of course needed in on the pics :)

This pic just absolutely cracks me up. I have no idea what she was doing but I think the flash caught her off guard and she was looking at it funny...

I went in to check on the kids before I went to bed (and they were all in bed at 8:15 and asleep by 8:30!, yeah mom!) Anyway, I found Jackson like this...Not sure what he was doing, but it was funny.

My sweet Rae. Can't believe she's big enough for school. (Pre-K in Bixby is only halfday).

Morning of. All ready. He picked out his own outfit :)

All my babies!

Creighton. I had to make her let me fix her hair. Oh the joys of strong willed children :)

My sweet school aged kids! What happened to the time!?

The sun was bright! They were so excited.

They wanted to eat breakfast at school today, so we did. They only had cereal and that seemed to please them both just fine. It was so exciting for them. Nonna even came and ate with us all! :)

Love that my man adores his kids and wants to be actively involved in their lives, and that he has a job that allows him flexibility to do so!

Jackson has Mrs. Haughey (although it's pronouced HOY, like TOY). She seemed great with him and said he had a great day! Woohoo....day one down!

I love my little man!

Creighton is in afternoon PreK (which we might have to change because she is one grumpy bear without a nap (and that is when she is normally napping).

She got her name tag, found her cubby, and sat down with NO tears. She did wonderfully!

Both of them had a great day. Jackson was way more excited about his first day than Creighton was at the end of school, but I think it had a lot to do with her being absolutely exhausted. I think she did great though and hopefully if we can't change her to AM preK she'll adjust soon.

We celebrated the first day with Braum's afterwards. We had a great evening at home with them and a good meal, family devo time, prayer time, books, and bed. All were in bed before 8 and I don't hear a sound. God is good.

Love these faces

2011-07-30T10:16:00.002-05:00

Family

2011-07-30T00:30:00.000-05:00

I don't have great pictures or many, but what I have I love. We had the opportunity to hang out with my sister Christy and her kids and then also got to go to Enid to see Jeff's sister Andrea and Reagan too. They both live far away (TX and CO respectively) and so it was a treat to be able to hang out together!

Sarah and Charleigh! I can't believe that Sarah and Aaron are so big and adult like now. Strange....:)

Charleigh bit 2 holes in each side of her tongue (or one big one all the way through each side whichever way you want to look at it ) but was a trooper.

We went to Silver Dollar City and Jackson FINALLY measured at 48" tall! I can't believe it! He's getting so big! :) He was SO excited

The proof is in the color of the band! Finally got a yellow one!

Jacob is tall enough to ride everything! Again, how'd everyone get so big since Christmas!?!

Creighton had to take a picture too :)

These silly boys! I love them. They are wild and absolutely crazy when they are together! My mom and dad took all of them and my two big kids to Arkansas to go "white water" (haha) rafting. It was a 5 mile trip and it was paddle paddle paddle the whole way because the water was so low. The kids had fun and the adults were sore the next day :) They had fun! We left straight from Silver Dollar City to Enid (after having just driven from Bixby to Branson that morning) so we were wiped out after this trip. Because we left Enid the next day to head back.

Charleigh doesn't keep bows in her hair long... but she sure looked cute while it lasted.

Reagan and Charleigh.

Pop and smiley Charleigh

Jeff's dad just opened up a Cherry Berry in Enid. We love CB...especially now!

Jeff of course had to break the record. 31.3 ounces of CB yogurt. CRAZY.

Really!?

Sweet Creighton!

15 minutes and it was gone! Don't worry, it caught up to him later that day.

All the cousins on that side...They are all getting big!

Everyone except Grammy and Pop. I love the fact that the kids are all lined up by age! I don't think that was planned....

This Crazy Fun Life...

2011-07-30T00:13:00.000-05:00

Our days are random and sometimes slow. But our weeks fly by. We had so much going on this week, I am thankful for digital age and opportunities to take quick snap shots. Most thankful for my family and the moments we have to stop time, mostly with smiles!

Jackson and I built these two boat/ships and then he painted them, but I can't find that picture for some reason. I am quite impressed with the little man's abilities... He is a natural and inherited it all from his Daddy :)

This is my wall art (vinyl) that I put up by myself. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it and the way it turned out, however, putting it up was WAY more difficult than I think it should have been. Thanks Terrie and Philip for our awesome verse! It's in the entry way, so it's the first thing you see when you come in. I think that's awesome.

Jeff had The Next Level groups from New Beginnings and Nikao! Fun times. We all ate at Chick-fil-A Good to see old faces in new places :)

This week was VBS at New Beginnings. It was a DRIVE theme and to wrap up on Sunday we are doing a pinewood derby. Jackson lovingly refers to it as his pine cone car. I love that! He is SO excited about his Batman entry. It's not quite complete but it's getting close. Pics to come. But he was excited to help Daddy every step of the way.

Aunt Steph and Uncle Matt (with Kinsley) came in Tuesday night and so Wednesday we were all going to go to the zoo. But because it was 123 º outside we decided it might not be best for every one's health...so we opted to go to Kaleidoscope instead and everyone had a GREAT time. We were there for close to 3 hours, which is MUCH longer than we would have lasted at the Zoo in the heat. Jackson LOVES to climb the wall and really is very fast getting up.

Charleigh with her now infamous "picture face" was cheering bubba on. I at one point said, "I see you Bubba" and she repeated that loudly several times to the amusement of everyone!

It's a hands on children's museum/play place and my kids loved it! The big kids did NOT want to leave, but we had to because Charleigh was SO tired she was miserable.

I kinda had to get over my germophobia. I think I might have had a minor heart attack watching him get into all the costumes that were EVERYWHERE and that a million and one children had donned before him.

But they had fun!

and loved their pizza that came with the ticket admission....can't beat that! (and Charleigh was free!)

I wasn't great at getting pictures, and sorry Steph and Matt, but I had to let the world know you were there :O)

My sweet Rae...we missed you, but man, it's kind of quiet when you are gone :)

Jackson was JAMMING out to his own music... hilarious!

Dr. Charleigh

Kinsley and Charleigh painting! Love it. They are only 6 months a part and I hope their sweet friendship/relationship blossoms!

Jackson!

Rae is such a focused artist and VERY good at it too! Uncle Clay and Aunt Lacy would be proud.

Charleigh loved this little walker. It was so funny to watch her walking with it. It was just her size and she was so cute!

Creighton playing in the "store"

Today we had a family day and it was fun! We went to a special breakfast at The Apple Barrel in Bixby and it was good. All three kids got the Mouse Cakes. Creighton ate half of one and then ate that entire one! She was a hungry girl and she loved that it was shaped like Mickey.

We went straight from there to swim with our friends the Hopkins. Charleigh and Daddy taking a break!

I just love this girl to pieces. I love her sweet face and funny camera smile with no eyes...(although I hope she will smile normal again soon, because as cute as it is, she's SO much cuter with her eyes opened :))

Jackson and Creighton didn't want to smile for the camera because the sun was too bright!

My goofy Charleigh ...

Daddy gets to be home with us on "staycation" in a few days and we are all VERY excited!

One silly thing from today...Jeff and the kids were in the kitchen (and he'd just given them all a sucker) and I came walking in. Jackson said, "mommy you need to start making some decisions, you're giving too many decisions to daddy today" Which was true, I was all mommy-ed out and definitely let Daddy take control today since he was finally home with us (it's been a long and VERY busy week for him). Jeff said, "buddy, pretty sure you wouldn't have a sucker in your hand right now had mommy been making all the decisions..." We all laughed. And since it was an hour past rest time start time, yes, they most definitely wouldn't have been having a sucker in their hands... But it was worth the extra 4 minutes it took them to eat them and letting Daddy be the really cool guy for awhile. We are so blessed with such a hard working Daddy who loves us all so well and does a great job of balancing life and work.

Haiti Day 6

2011-07-25T15:27:00.000-05:00

This was our last full day in Haiti. I woke up feeling very nauseated, Rachel was still sick (and didn't join us for the day), and I think Michael and Alex were still recovering. Everyday we watched from our balcony these boys play soccer with a ball that was less than functional. We wanted so badly to get them some of our balls, and finally our director let us go down there. I was lucky to have made it up on to the JAC (they finally got it working!) so I stayed behind and watched from above. I know it made those kids' day!

On our way to the Special Needs Orphanage we passed the market. There was raw meat EVERY where. It was so gross. At one point they dropped some on the dirty sidewalk and then picked it back up and put it on the table. We passed this same way back to the house and it was still sitting out there in the heat, as it had ALL DAY LONG. And we wonder why some of us were sick while we were there...?

The Haitian people have a BIGGEST moving vehicle has most rights policy. We were not the biggest, but were pretty big, so most of the time we had the right of way, but this time we didn't and seriously they were within CENTIMETERS of hitting us. It was nuts! This picture does it NO justice. It was frightening being on the main roads with all the traffic.

Just a picture while driving of some pre-earthquake construction.

And we finally arrived at the orphanage! They were SO SO SO excited to see us.

We didn't have as much time as we had with the other orphanages here so we made the most of our time while there. Praise the Lord by the time we got there, the Lord allowed my stomach pains/nausea to flee for the time we were there. That was an answer to prayer because I really didn't want to be useless here. I wanted to love as best I could for the short time we were given. We got the balls and Frisbees and bubbles out immediately here. They were awesome and shared and loved it!

This orphanage probably had the best of both worlds. They had a lot of food (in comparison to the others). In fact they were donating some of theirs during our time there. (that's awesome). And we also felt like their emotional needs were being met as they were not nearly as needy of our attention and there did not seem to be the institutionalized "hierarchy" that we saw on Day 4. That was a breath of fresh air to see someone "get it right". However, this is all my very unprofessional opinion (on all accounts) and we were only there for a short amount of time. Either way, needless to say, it was my favorite to visit because it wasn't as hard to leave knowing that when we left they were being cared for well.

you can see her Frisbee coming straight at the camera! they were thrilled at the Frisbees!!!

this sweet gal and I played Frisbee for a long time. I don't know the extent of her mental/physical disability but she was beautiful and had a gorgeous smile. Anytime I clapped for her, she was half embarrassed and half elated! It was awesome

I played soccer with some of the boys in the beginning and the end. It was fun even though I know NOTHING about soccer at all. I played goalie for a little while and that is way more fun because I can use my hands...being a volleyball player that felt way more natural ;)

The second floor is where the "severely" handicapped children are. There were some precious kids up there, some who literally NEVER go anywhere other than the 2nd floor of that building. I am so thankful they have a balcony!

playing (pretending to know how to) soccer!

I went upstairs to meet with the sweet people up there. It was a great time. This young man is Mario (as best as I could understand). He had a sweet smile. I sang Jesus Loves Me to him and he was so excited that he hit me...several times. And he is VERY strong. But it was worth it because I know that was his way of saying thank you and I do believe he knows (better than I) what it means to know Jesus. Oh this precious boy's smile gives it all away. He is just precious (and heartbreaking all at the same time).

Here is Jeff and Mario!

Most of the kids were very sweet to those on the second floor. This little boy brought up a ball and started playing with them on the crowded balcony. It was just neat to see that.

He was precious. So sweet and quiet. He has some minor physical disabilities that were noticeable but all the more precious in God's sight!

Soccer balls are the best thing ever!

This is Veh-le' he was precious. Jeff fell in love with him and didn't leave his side the whole time. He like wearing Jeff's glasses. Veh-le' has a sweet sweet spirit and is full of joy. He has severe physical and mental issues but rarely is without his beautiful smile. He can't talk, but he understands everything you say. He can't walk, but he crawls with joy and a smile.

Bubbles were a huge hit!

Veh-le' lives on the second floor but is able to crawl when he needs/wants to go downstairs. It was heartbreaking to watch him and not want to just fix him. But he's never known different and has no idea. The medical teams that were in before us said he is too far and will never, no matter the interventions, be able to walk, but it doesn't slow him down too much. And like I said, his heart and smile make up for all that he is lacking. Oh the lessons to learn from Veh-le'

Sweet smile.

They performed for us and we did the salvation bracelets with them. It was a great time!

Jeff and Veh-le' again!

At the end we gave them all stuffed animals. Veh-le' had a different animal that unfortunately was taken from him, but he ended up with this little lamb and he loved it and I think it's perfect...he is a little lamb. A beautiful lamb of the King of Kings, the great Shepherd, HIS Savior and Healer. God is good.

Jeff went with him back upstairs to get some food and to put his lamb and bubbles on his bed. His was the second bunk. Such a tiny bed for him, but his legs do not go straight, so I guess it's just right.

We had to leave around lunch time to go back to the TNM house because they had to go get a new washer because theirs had broken and we were also going to get to see some of the completed construction sites that has taken place before our arrival.

So after lunch we came out to Marie Claire's house. It was built by a team of Haitian and also teams of volunteers from the US. It was so good to see a finished house after having been on site on Day 5 with nothing completed. It was good to see a visual of how it will all look once it's completed.

Marie Claire was a very sweet woman who helped build alongside the teams.

This is her inside her home. It's very "cozy" and snug but it's perfect and so much better than what she was staying in after the earthquake.

I believe this behind Alex is her home after the earthquake.

Everyone said how STRONG she was. I think they were speaking of her physical strength but her mental and emotional strength is something to speak of! :)

After the earthquake this is what she lived in. I am not sure if she found all the supplies and did it herself or if she had help.

Afterwards we begged Mark to let us go see Rodney's house. Mostly because Alan had worked on it during his prior trip and had met a young girl named Getche and he really wanted to go back to say hi to her. So finally Mark said yes (I am not sure he would have heard the end of it had he stood his ground) :) This is what you have to climb through to get to the house. But before you get to it you have to climb up a very steep and long incline. Alan was telling us his trip (all construction) was the most physically intense trip he's ever been on. Mostly because they did everything at the bottom of the hill and then carried it up to the top and through all the brush. I can't imagine!

But this is Rodney's house. It wasn't completed when we visited (and so he isn't staying in it yet), but I saw pictures of it completed since we've been home. YEAH!!!!

Rodney's aunt gave him a part of their land so that TNM could build him a home! You can't have TNM build a home unless you own land, so that was a great blessing for Rodney! He and 3-4 others will live in this house. It is the same size as Marie Claire's above. Crazy to think it will be everything (kitchen, bedroom, sitting area) for 4-5 men. The bathroom is not inside.

This is a house dog. Very skinny just like the ones on the streets.

This is the bathroom. I will never take for granted a bathroom again!

Rodney's house is WAY up in the mountains. It's very beautiful on the way. We had some gorgeous artwork to see!

This was an abandoned structure (I am assuming it was damaged in the earthquake but I do not know).

This little boy was on top of the building and he kept yelling, "Hey, give me a dollar" in sweet Haitian accent. He spoke no other English, but he saw white people and was taught how to say that phrase from someone.

On our way home we saw this sign. I don't know what it was like on the other side of the wall but I was VERY curious. A YMCA? strange.

People walking and a cow running up beside them. Scared me but they didn't even flinch.

Beautiful backdrop!

The guys all thought it was funny that it appeared to have weed growing outside of the compound, but someone else said it was too big to marijuana. I haven't the slightest clue....anyone?

Alan was sad that Getche was not there at Rodney's house but I think it was good to have at least tried to see her.

These are just random pics taken of all the spray paint. We liked this woman holding a baby and an I love Haiti sign.

Driving by you don't always get the exact shot you want. This says "Obama we need change" we thought it was funny that someone spray painted that on the wall in Haiti.

Some more traffic...

We went back by the Baptist Mission on Saturday to get a few more souvenirs. I found a family of 5 figurine that I've been looking for. It's fun that I found it in Haiti. And that wraps up Day 6.