Blog Trip!

Here is our house in South Tulsa.

Here is the Golden Driller- a BIG Tulsa landmark. Those teeny tiny spots down on the right are my kids. Here are my 2 kiddos in front of the bear fountain at our Riverparks. Happy Trippin'!

Go Pokes!

Can I get a 'Go Pokes'! Yah! College football season is here! Get out your orange and black...

Visiting Stella

At long last Grayce got to visit her friend Stella! Yes, the infamous Stella Bella. Stella moved to a town about 30 minutes away from us, and we no longer go to the same pre-school.

So, we have had to make some serious plans to visit. At Stella's new digs there is a pool and a horse- both of which Grayce could hardly wait to happen upon. First, there was swimming.

Then there was a lot of playing and ...finger painting- of course.

Really ooey, gooey finger painting. Before that there was lunch, and more playing and running and jumping.

I am making no mention of a horse here for a reason. You see, Grayce was not really into the horse, past a swift pet on the nose. Sure, she had grand plans of riding him and all and had told her brother all about how she was going to- making sure to rub it in really good before we went. You know- because she knows just how to push his buttons, and we all know that there is hardly anything Gavin LOVES more than to ride horses. Well, she wouldn't even feed that horse a treat.

Everyone wave to Mr. Joe, the horse, way out in the field!

Sorry, I am busy here people...

Maybe you have noticed my lack 'o posting. Well, I am BUSY folks. My little home business takes a LARGE hit about now with all these football teams wanting stuff, you know, like on time. Plus, I am doing about 342 other projects and running the 2 kids around, etc. So, I am posting my fav Q & A segment for your enjoyment today. I will be back with more kid stuff soon!

PREGNANCY Q & A
Q: Should I have a baby after 35?
A: No, 35 children is enough.
Q : I'm two months pregnant now. When will my baby move?
A: With any luck, right after he finishes college.
Q : What is the most reliable method to determine a baby's sex?
A: Childbirth.
Q: My wife is five months pregnant and so moody that sometimes she's borderline irrational.
A: So what's your question?
Q : My childbirth instructor says it's not pain I'll feel during labor, but pressure. Is she right?
A: Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current.
Q: When is the best time to get an epidural?
A: Right after you find out you're pregnant.
Q : Is there any reason I have to be in the delivery room while my wife is in labor?
A: Not unless the word 'alimony' means anything to you.
Q: Is there anything I should avoid while recovering from childbirth?
A: Yes, pregnancy.
Q : Do I have to have a baby shower?
A: Not if you change the baby's diaper very quickly.
Q : Our baby was born last week. When will my wife begin to feel and act normal again?
A: Normal? Again? Are you freaking kidding me?

"Oh-ming" (edited: see the end)

Grayce was doing this, this morning while making a "ohmmmmmm" noise. When I say to her, um, Grayce what are you doing- she replies- "Oh-ming." Interesting, I say. Then, "Grayce, why are you oh-ming." To which she replies, "Uh, for power mom", as if I am dumb or something and should know one ohm's for power.

Then I ask the inevitable, where did you learn this from Grayce. She says, "Well, from Sam at my Pre-K mom. He says we have to do it to get more powers." Apparently, this is something Sam knows about, deep meditation for the 4 year old mind. ** Tuesday night was open house at Grayce's school. There is NO Sam in her class, by the way. This is totally bogus information. That girl has some imagination or something. Oh, she is a hoot.

Found Favorites!

I found all these favorite photos of Gavin just yesterday on a random CD. I was so excited, because they are my favorites of when he was about 2 and 3 years old. Above, one day he climbed himself in the toy box we kept in the family room at the time, and fell asleep. Oh, this is so great for so many reasons. Mainly, the boy- well, he never fell asleep. I had come out of the bedroom or something just to find him this way and about fell over. Priceless.

This one, doesn't even need words does it? So stinkin' cute, he was (is!)

This was one of those not cute at the time shots. This is Gavin with our weim Mattie. They had been playing in some water and mud together. It wasn't pretty. But, boy were they ever having fun at it!

This is one of Gavin's very first western lessons at age 3. Fun with shaving cream in the bathtub, a treat sometimes.

This one I will hold for ultimate embarrassment privileges later. Gavin with his hiney on the throne, checking out a hiney. Heh. Hahahhahahhaha. Ho ha ha. This is NOT staged people. I can't make this stuff up. We so just found him this way. The boy has a way with cracking us up.

Quick, look! Their rooms are clean...

I found these pictures today, from when we put a contract in on a house a while back. We didn't get that house & I haven't found another I like since, so we aren't moving now. But for a few, very brief moments my children did have clean rooms, because we told them we might be selling & they had to clean if they wanted to move to a house with a pool. Hey, it worked. We might have to use that one more often.

Grayce's room looks incredibly pink in print.

This is extremely, extremely clean for Gavin- even though there is a basket of laundry on the bed. I hadn't gotten to that yet. The dog crate is always in there. Jack is a fixture in his room.

Still makes me want to clear out about 38 more pounds of clutter just looking at these. But, if I took a picture of what this looks like now, you may just want to crawl somewhere and hide.

Ode to the Olympics!

Here's my little Nastia. Isn't she cute. We are so sad the gymnastics are over. My Grayce. She is a gymnast. I tried to caputre her acrobatics as best I could below. She practices them all the time, folks. She is talented, too. Of course, I am biased- I am her mama. However, she is only 4 years old and she had already mastered a cartwheel (at age 2), a round off (age 3) and is working on her back handspring. She's a little bit of a dare devil you see. Even if her clothes don't match today.

We must work on our form. Her toe pointing needs to be handled. But I see greatness in that cute belly button.

More Olympic action continues, and we will be watching- even though no more gymnastics. We liked to watch the trampoline jumpers too. Anyone see those? They train those folks at Grayce's gym. They have the coolest trampolines at SSB Kids! We also are loving Diving (although sad swimming is over too, Gavin was a HUGE MIKE FAN!), and Track and Field. Can't believe how fast those people are. Running the 100 in 9.6? C'mon. It would take me 9 seconds to get up from down on my knee like that. Is there an Olympic mom event? Like, I could change a diaper in 9.6. Whatever are we going to do when we have to go back to normal TV. It's going to be SO boring!

Our New Pastime....

Okay, besides the Olympics. *But quickly off subject (because I haven't Olympic blogged yet) the Olympics are another pastime at the moment and we love cheering them on daily and into the night. Grayce and I more into the night than anyone else, since we are the night owls around here. We are loving the Olympic glory! Woo hoo!
Back to my original post of our New Pastime, which is....waiting for 1pm (actually leaving our house at 12:40pm to get in line for drop off at 12:50). That is when Grayce's school starts. She LOVES school, people. It is killing her to wait to go until after lunch. She asks me for lunch starting about 8:52am, because she thinks this might move things along.

Grayce(8:52am)-"Mama, can I have my peanut butter sandwich now, then go to school"
Me-"No, Grayce. It still won't be 1 o'clock."
Grayce-"Humph!"

Grayce(9:34am)-"Mama, is it time for lunch NOW?"
Me- "No, Grayce."

Grayce(10:05am)-"But Mama, the hand on the clock is on the number 1, I see it."
Me-"Yes, Grayce. But that means it is 10:05 am, not 1:00 because the big hand is on the one and not the little one."
Grayce-"It's never time for me to go to school!"

This is what we do all morning. It cracks me up. Please tell me she will be this excited about it about 6 years. Heh.

Gavin & ADD

Oh, this boy. He gets to me. I don't usually post about his ADD, but today I am. I am learning more and more about it as he gets older and more signs become evident. More things I can't control. More things he can't control. I don't know what to do with him sometimes. With school starting, and football, and this and that, it's overwhelming to him and his little brain is on overload. I have to remind myself not be so angry at him, but it is so hard! So frustrating! Today was a bad day. A really bad day. He is a good kid and this has some hold on him I can't do anything about. I mean, I take him to the best Dr., we get the right treatment, but it's still there. It's so much more than just an attention issue. It affects everything lately. I just want him to be able to function the way kids do, and he can't. I am so sad for that and I don't know that I can fix it. When you can't fix it for your own baby then it gets to you. Edit: Today is a better day and we usually have much better days. This beginning of a new year is tough. I have just had an epiphany of sorts. It's better.

Great Grannies

Yesterday we went to Stroud to visit Granny. Granny is my grandmother, my dad's mother. And Saturday had been her 83rd (hopefully I am correct) birthday. Saturday was also, the day Elvis died. This is how I generally am reminded it's Granny's birthday. Weird, I know. I mean, it was her birthday first after all. But, whatcha gonna do if it's just in your brain like that? And, Granny has a weiner dog named Peanut. The kids think he's great. She also has a big swing, they also think that's great.

We went to take Granny to lunch, and there isn't all that much to choose from in Stroud- as you can imagine. If you watch the Food Network, you may know that Guy from Diner's, Drive-In's and Dive's visited there on his Route 66 show not too long ago and stopped in to film part of a show at the Rock Cafe. Well, the kids were all excited to eat there. Granny was still in church when we got to town, so we took a quick loop around main- only to see the Rock Cafe was burnt to the ground! What? I guess Granny forgot to mention that piece of news to us.

One day the kids will realize how lucky they were to know 4 great grandparents, including Granny, as many of their friends have older parents now and some don't even know their grandparents. But our kids still have my grandmother's and both of Joe's dad's parents. My own great grandmother Dirck, lived until my teens and taught me to crochet. I also remember both my Granny's parents. Great Papaw Brown would keep his change in a tea cup on a table behind his chair for us, and Granny Brown would always sit in the same chair to the right of the door. Both my grandfather's mother's I just barely recollect from the nursing homes, but I still remember visiting there. I couldn't have been much older than my Grayce is now, though when most of them had passed.

Again, we must work on the taking of a good picture together. At the same time. Why can two kids not smile, at the same time nicely, with eyes open, and no craziness? Why is this so hard? Why? Why? Why?

The Big Guy (Around Town, Series 3)

I believe he is actually called the the golden driller, but the kids refer to him as the big guy, for obvious reasons. Tulsa being an oil town and all, you can see why we pay homage to such a man. Anyway, they had a great time climbing all over his shoe.

Grayce has her boo-boos by now, and though she is smiling- she is randomly screaming out how she is bleeding and needs to go home for band-aids because she is hurting SO bad. She is not dramatic in the least, really- she's not.