Christmas Fun

This weekend we had a great time!! We went to the Jenks Holiday Parade Saturday morning (which the boys loved mostly for all the candy!) And then we came home and put up all of our holiday stuff. We usually do it the weekend after Thanksgiving, but we are going to be gone, so we choose this weekend. Hey, if your gonna get all that stuff out, you might as well enjoy it, right? :D The boys had a ball.

The top picture is the boys and I. We are not standing on steps or anything! I realized the other day that Ethan comes up to right under my chin!! I had Clay measure to E, and he tucks right in under Ethans chin! We were going to take a picture of the 3 of us and realized that Micah tucks under Clay!! Isnt that cool? It will prob never happen like that again!! We've got some tall dudes!

California Trip!!!

Last weekend, Mom, Betsy and I headed to California for a quick trip to see the Grandmother. Seeing Uncle Dave and Aunt Kay was a great bonus too!!! :D We all got in Friday (well, after Betsys plane was delayed, she showed up EARLY Saturday!). The next morning, we got up and headed out to Modesto, to the Cook house. What a great house!!! :D It was so fun to see Grandmother, and she was excited to see us and have "company". We sat and chatted for awhile, and then decided to go on a trip to Yosemite National Park. It was about a 2 hour drive away, around steep and curvy roads! About 1/2 way there, we popped a tire! What an adventure that was. It took a little while to get fixed, but back on the road we went!! Betsy and I entertained everyone with a few AMAZING renditions of "Great Adventure" by Steven Curtis Chapman. Can you believe Grandmother said she couldnt understand us???? :D We stopped at several vistas to check out the view. At one place, we were able to see Yosemite Falls! It was so cool....beautiful. We also saw El Capitain...which I've heard about for years! It was a long trip, but amazing. And the best part, Grandmother said as we were driving home, she'd had a wonderful day. It was a Great Adventure!!!!! :D

Happy Halloween!

As we all know, last Friday night was Halloween!!! We had a crazy day, but Nana and I made it to both the little dudes fall parties. They had a lot of fun!! It was a nutso afternoon, but we made it. We came home and chilled for a little bit, then started carving the pumpkin we'd gone with Nana and Papa T to get. The boys loved it...getting their hands dirty, choosing what face to carve. Fun stuff. Finally, it was time to trick or treat!! We met up with our friends the Barths, as we always do, and after we were done with that neighboorhood, we had to empty out their buckets!!! Then we went for another round in our area. They made quite a haul! :D They were all exhausted by the time it was all over. HOpe you all had a good one too!!

Pumpkin Patch!

Today we made a trip to our local pumpkin patch!!! :D Micah's teachers had set up a "Meet Your Teacher at the Pumpkin Patch" day, so we had lots of fun with our fam, and lots of the kiddos from his class. They got to ride the hay ride, feed the animals, go through the hay maze and pick out a pumpkin!! And, of course, take cute pictures!!! (Which they loved, dont you know!!!)

Family Fun Weekend!

Last weekend we had a ball just spending time as a family. The whole weekend was Miles Family Fun!!! It's been awhile since we've had time like that...it was so great. Friday Micah and I had a "date morning", just he and I, and had so much fun I kept him out of school!!! Friday night, we headed to the Tulsa State Fair...we've lived her for 7 years and never gone! So, off we went. We rode the park and ride bus to the fairgrounds, and I think Micah was about as excited about that as anything! We got to watch a piglet being born, pet camels and giraffes and llamas, a baby bunny, all kinds of stuff!! We even saw "The Worlds Smallest Horse" (yeah right) and a "GIANT alligator!!" Each dude got to ride one ride....E and Clay picked the scrambler...and neither threw up!! :D Micah and I rode the Ferris Wheel. So much fun. Saturday was a trip out to the lake to meet some of the people we camped with lots last summer. Such a ball, lots of laughing, eating and great stories!!! Sunday was church, friends over and more fun.
Hope all of you are having as great a kick off to fall as we are!! Much love.

Micah turns 5!!! (Almost :D )

I know, I post a lot of slide shows, but I love to take pics!!! Anyway, Saturday night we had Micahs birthday party! It was so much fun. He wanted a Hoops and Yoyo theme (they are Hallmark characters) and no one carried any of that stuff!! So, we set about making our own decorations, and I've got to tell you, I think it was the most fun I've had putting together a birthday party!! I went online and found some printable stuff, so we spent one evening coloring pages to put up around the house to decorate with. It was so great, sitting with the kiddos and hearing them talk about how special this was to make it by ourselves. We spent Friday evening putting things up, and they helped me decide what would go where. Saturday was the party, and of course, it was pouring rain all day. Micah had wanted a pinata, but I was not going to have a bunch of 5/6 year olds swinging bats in my house! So, we decided Twister and Apples to Apples for kids was a better alternative. They all had a ball playing. It really was a fantastic day!! I still have all the stuff up in the house b/c Micah dosent want to take it down until his REAL birthday....not that I mind it, it's pretty cheerful!! :D

Jenks Wild

Last week, Ethan had the opportunity to go to a environmental/science camp with all the 6th graders at his school. It was at Dry Gulch, in Pryor about an hour from here. They left Tuesday morning and finished up Friday afternoon! I got to go for the last 2 days and we had a ball!! We were in a bunk of 18 boys! Holy cow. During the day, the kids would have outdoor classes and activities and each night was something special. One night was a talent show and the night I was there was the "Social". Not a dance, but there was dancing :D. All the kids did a great job performing the line dances they learned earlier in the week. It was so neat to see Ethan in that element...I tried really hard just to blend into the background and not "mother" him. All the bunks were arranged so they had one or two people from their class in thier bunk, but for the most part, had to make new friends. E was really nervous about that, but did a fantastic job. It was quite an experience!! I cant wait to go with Clay!! :D

Oh Heavens......

Look closely and you'll see the new haircut the boys tried to give themselves!!! This morning I was talking to Micah and realized, HOLY COW!!! He'd tried to cut his hair!! I was trying not to giggle, lectruring about how it's not safe to have sissors by your eyes, etc...but it was too funny!! Clay came in and I was telling him to look at what Micah did, and then realized, OMG!!! He did it TOOO!!!!! At that point I was beyond trying to keep my composure. Both Josh and I were laughing pretty hard. Seriously, what else are you going to do??? Once Micah realized that we'd have to cut his hair, he was not so thrilled with his little adventure. Josh gave them buzz cuts tonight, and we stayed as long as we could, but it had to go pretty short. Too, too funny....
(By the way, for those of you thinking I'm a horrible parent for having sissors accessible to my children, they did it with thier safety sissors!!! Can you imagine the SAWING they had to do??? Oh, and they did get a serious lecture about sissors near eyes, and their ones taken away for right now. :D )

Our new tree house!

The weekend I was in Chicago, Grammy and Papa came down to visit and built a tree house! Josh and his dad worked all weekend, making an awesome fort for the boys. They love it! This weekend we painted it, and finished the trap door. Now, the neighborhood kiddos are begging their parents for one. ;D

Trip to Chicago!

About a week ago, I headed to Chicago to help my sister and bro-in law, Jason move into their new house in Lombard. It was a fantastic trip. We spent the first day unpacking and putting up pictures and things, and the next day was shopping!! We headed to the outlet mall for a bit, then into the city to meet one of my dearest friends who lives in the area, Mimi for some lunch. It was fantastic!! We went to the Cheesecake Factory right at the base of the Hancock Tower, and after eating, Betsy and I headed up to see the view. Pretty awesome...the boys got a kick out of seeing the swimming pools on top of the big buildings. :D Sunday was Jasons first *official* Sunday to preach and he did amazing. They are such a fit for the church, and I know they are oging to do amazing things there. We got to spend some time with all the peeps afterward, and it was fun to get to know some of them better. That afternoon, we headed to White Castle for some sliders. Yes, they are called sliders, and that is exactly what they do!! ;D Overall, it was a ball, eating amazing food, shopping, unpacking and just goofing off having agood time. We bawled like babies when it was time to go...and I already miss her like mad.

First Day of School!

Holy cow...can you believe he's in 6th grade???

Clay is so excited!

Micah ready for school!


And so it begins!! The boys all started school this week, hard to believe its that time already, huh? I'll give everyone a quick update about where all the dudes are!

Ethan is now 11, and starting 6th grade. Holy moly, blows my mind! As I'm typing this, he's out mowing the grass with his dad. He's so big! I cant get over it..of course, he wishes I could! ;D I get a lot of "MOM,ughh." (Imagine a huge sigh and rolling of the eyes!) He really is an amazing kid. He's in that stage of taking a bit of advantage of his little brothers by being the "oldest and knowing the most", but really, thats his age, right? He's learning how to control that impulse! ;D So far he loves his teachers, and his class. He's also still really active in Boy Scouts, and this winter is going to try his hand at basketball. He takes quite an interest in my classes, so when he's able, I may let him start participating.

Clayton is 6 and just a mess! He can be quite the turd when he wants to, but turn right around and be such a sweetie. Hes got that amazing combination of rough and tumble and big teddy bear. He is getting ready to start fall soccer, and can hardly wait! That dude would play a sport every day of the week if he could. This year, Clay is in the multi-age program at school, which means he is in a class of 1st and 2nd graders. Its cooperative learning, with the older kids helping the younger ones, etc. I'm really interested to see how this works out! His teachers are amazing, and definately passionate about the program. Next year, he'll have the same teachers, and the opportunity to help the younger ones. I think he has the personality to benefit big time from this set up.

Micah is nearly 5, only a month before his birthday! He just started the Pre-K program, and has the same teachers as Clayton did. They are AMAZING, prob my most favorite of all the ones the boys have had. Micah is that typical youngest dude, convinced that he can do anything his older brothers do...and has no hesitation in trying! This summer, he and I worked hard on his swimming and he's able to go down the slide and off the diving board w/out me catching him! He's so proud of himself! So are Josh and I. He's kind of extra attached to me right now, the transition of school has been a little nerve racking for him. But he's going to do wonderful. It's going to be hard for me to have no dudes at home!!! :D

So, thats it, we really are blessed with fantastic kiddos. Of course, they have their moments, but we wouldnt have it any other way.
Happy back to school!! ;D

Farewell to the Davis'

This weekend, my little brother and his family came down to say Adios to Betsy and Jason. The Davis' are leaving for Lombard, IL in just a few days. Jason accepted a job as a senior pastor there! So exciting for them! We had a little party for them Saturday, and got to hang out with the El Dorado Whitsitt family and Mom this weekend. It was lots of fun...Micah was the *official* photographer! ;D We'll go help them pack the POD tomorrow, and they will head out Thursday morning for Chicago, with a pit stop in KC and St. Louis.

Pizza!

Tonight we made pizzas, once again, trying to entertain my dudes!! Josh is in Dallas, so we're having some fun with Mama this week. They loved doing this project! They were bummed today b/c we were going to go to the pool, but it was closed due to thunder and lightening! Ah well, it was a good day for a movie and popcorn, and pizza too!

Fun at the Water Park!

Yesterday we headed to Muskogee to go to a water park. We were all badly in need of something new to do! End of the summer blahs, right? So, we went to a "mini Big Splash/Oceans of Fun" for a day of water and sun. It was a perfect day, not too hot, finally! Our friends Sandy and her daughter Abbey went with us. Abbey was so good, Micah loved having her ride slides with him! We spent all day down there, nearly 6 hours! Those dudes were exhausted by the time we got home....Clay was even asking when it was time for bed...now that is TIRED! ;D One week from today, they will be sitting at a desk, not waiting in line for water slides. ;( Amazing, huh?

Painting Fun!

This weekend we decided to paint our living room and stairway/hallway. It's been stark white since we moved here nearly 3 years ago! BORING! So, now its all spiced up. The boys loved watching us paint, and even helped a little bit. Micah took pictures for us, kind of random, but cute!! As we were starting, Clayton exclaimed "That looks like Oklahoma!" And sure enough, it did! Funny stuff. :D