Bays Family Happenings

February 21, 2010

2010-02-21T19:00:00.001-06:00

We are now settled into this rent house for the time being. We met with our builder this last week for our preconstruction meeting to make sure that the plans that the builder received are the same plans that we signed off on. Everything was A-OK. The ground on our lot has been “cut” but concrete hasn’t been poured, yet, because of all of the wet weather. We get a few days of good weather in between wet storms but its not enough to dry the ground up. So, we are hoping it will be this coming week.

A few years ago, when both boys started going to school all day, I decided to work part-time instead of full-time. I just couldn’t see myself working those extra hours and paying the extra money for just a few hours of before/after school child care. When crunching the numbers, I ended up with more money at the end of the month by working part-time without childcare costs than I would have full-time with that expense. Well, starting this month, I am now working full-time again. BUT, I still get to take the boys to/from school. The majority of my working hours are at my home office and a few days a week I spend a couple of hours at the Global Software office for meetings & such. I LOVE it!!! I get up & take the boys to school, work for a couple of hours at home, workout, shower, work for a couple more hours (at home or go to the office), pickup the boys from school, evening activities, then I work for a little bit longer after they go to bed. I get MORE work done from home than I do at the office! I still get the flexibility to do what I need to do as a mom and also keep up with my professional skills. It’s the best of both worlds!

The company I work for is based out of Canada and I handle the accounting for one of their divisions, Global Software, here in Oklahoma City. But, I have added on the accounting for another one of their divisions that is based in Texas. I really do enjoy it.

Now time for some pictures:

January 30, 2010

Kaleb was a little camera happy this day and went around the house taking various pictures. He snagged this one of myself & Kameron, my little lovey-dovey boy.

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February 6, 2010

After having one bathroom in the house for the last 9 years, we FINALLY have a 2nd bathroom in this rent house and the boys still insist on using our bathroom! They are combing their hair for their basketball game.

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February 6, 2010

Kameron getting his “guard on” at his basketball game… HANDS UP, KAMERON!

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February 13, 2010

Kaleb getting his “shot on”. TWO!

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February 19, 2010

It’s Friday night & I let the boys stay up late. The house got really quiet and I came into the living room to check on them and this is what I found… they wore themselves out!

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February 20, 2010

My neice, Anna, plays on a competitive fastpitch softball team. They had a fundraiser Spaghetti Dinner where over 100 people came to show their support. Some of the men of the team (dads, uncles, cousins, friends, etc) dressed up as women and had a “talent show”. It was HILLARIOUS! The “woman” with the most money in “her” bag at the end of the evening won the Softball Crown. (faces have been blurred for humility reasons, ha!) On the way home, Kameron says “Mom, those were really men, right? Then, how did they have boobies?” I was laughing too hard to explain it to him!

January 2010

2010-01-31T17:32:00.002-06:00

WOW! I think it's time I clean the cob webs off of this blog. I have some friends that post pictures of the week on their blogs and I always enjoy scanning through those. So, just to get started, I am going to give a review of all of January.

Boy, was it a month! Just to catch you up to speed, we are building a house in Mustang but we couldn't start the building process until our house sold first. We sold our house 3 days before Christmas. I spent the rest of 2009 (the last week of it, anyway) searching for a rental house. I wanted to stay close to their school because I didn't want them to change schools mid-year. We found one on the south side of OKC. The first 2 weeks of January were spent with various inspections and packing as much as I could (without packing up the things I'll need before we move). The inspection went really well. I was told that was the best inspection he has had in a long time. But, the only problem we had was our electrical box was a "Federal Pacific" which was discontinued about 30 years ago because of fire problems. Insurance companies are no longer insuring houses that contain these electrical panels so our buyer was not able to obtain homeowners insurance unless it was replace. Well, we had a $750 repair cap written into our contract with her so we said we would replace it. It ended up costing more than the cap so we split the difference with the buyer. But, it was just very stressful in the meantime with inspections, appraiser, funds, repairs, coordinating the move, utilities, replacing carpet in one bedroom, replacing kitchen floor, painting, moving... all within a 2 week time frame. OK, I'm getting myself all worked up again just typing about it. :) Moving on...

So, we are now in our rental house until June 30th. Our home is expected to be completed around end of May. However, things never go as planned so I'm expecting it to be prolonged to mid-June. That works out perfect for us... as long as we can close by June 30th to get the $6500 tax credit then I'm happy. :)

Now, for some pictures.

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January 1st, 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

My niece, Anna, & nephew, Jakob, spent New Years Eve with us. We played games until midnight then went outside to bang on pots/pans and lit up the night with sparklers.

All 4 kids decided to turn Kaleb & Kameron's bunk beds into a club house. Blankets were draped, pillows stacked, tables brought in from other rooms in order to make it all happen.

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January 5, 2010

So, as we are preparing the house for closing and preparing to move, our heater decides to give us problems. Ugh! After stressing out about it and then Bryan troubleshooting the problem over the phone with my friend Dave in Michigan (he's a heat/air guy), it was decided that a tech will need to be called out because parts were probably needed. The tech arrived about noon the next day (the house was quite chilly by then)... $350 later our heater was fixed!

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January 14, 2010

Also, while all of this selling/moving was going on, we had to get our selections made for the house we are building. We had a deadline to get the brick and interior colors & fixtures picked out so that we could get on the schedule for ground breaking in order to meet our June 30th deadline. The decision was a bit overwhelming (so many choices!). This picture shows a sample of items that we chose. We are getting SO excited!

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January 23, 2010

I had a great video of Kameron playing Star Wars on the Wii... but I am having uploading issues. Hopefully I can get it on here soon. It's funny to watch.

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January 29, 2010

We had another winter storm come through. This is very unusual for Oklahoma... record-breaking 14" on Christmas Eve and this time around it is 1/2" of ice followed by about 4" of snow. The weathermen are talking about another smaller storm again later this week. We'll see how it pans out. But, still very unusual for us to have this much winter activity. Of course, the boys love it! They got out of school Thursday & Friday and went through many pairs of socks while playing in the snow. Bella loves the snow.

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January 30, 2010

Jake & Anna came over again today and all 4 enjoyed a game of Twister. Kameron spun the wheel and Kaleb sat on the couch and laughed at them. I'm not sure who won but they had alot of fun!

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Congrats if you made it this far! I've got it on my todo list to update my blog more so keep checking back. I won't make any promises, though. *wink*

Are you superstitious?

2009-02-14T14:35:00.002-06:00

I'm not. But it REALLY sucks when something happens on a day like Friday the 13th!

We decided to have our Valentine's dinner out last night instead of tonight hoping that we could beat some of the crowd. We got to the restaurant at 7:30 and walked out at 8:40pm. When we came out, Bryan saw that the passenger windshield of his car had been smashed in and my PURSE was STOLEN! My mind immediately switched into "damage control" gear and I grabbed Bryan's wallet and started getting out credit cards & debit card to call. Bryan wanted to call the police first but I was more concerned with stopping the thieves in their tracks and not letting them have our money! Within 15 minutes I had all 4 cards cancelled and my bank account noted for extra security with all transactions. Luckily, I didn't have any checks in my purse so I don't think they would have access directly to my bank account. But, better safe than sorry.

During this time, I realize that my car & house keys were in my purse (along with my driver's license so they know where we live) so we quickly cleared the glass out of the car & raced home hoping to find our home still in peace. Home was fine. During our drive home, Bryan was on the phone with the police to file a report. Something minor like vehicle vandalism and a stolen purse is just done over the phone, they don't take the time to come out. *roll eyes*

Once we got home, I got online with the 3 credit bureaus (experian, transunion, and equifax) and filed a fraud alert so that credit can not be opened in our name without us being notified first. We decided to park my car at my sister's house for the night (since the thieves have my car keys) and we locked our storm door until we can get the locks changed on our main door today.

WHAT A PAIN IN THE REAR!!!

So, today is a new day. I think I have done all I can to safe guard our identity & money. They did use one of my credit cards last night at a Buy for Less, Save-A-Lot, and rented $15 worth of Redbox DVDs. So, I figured they had a party last night on our behalf and bought beer, cigarettes, and movies. But, that's as far as they got before we had the cards cancelled,

The bad thing is that now we don't have access to money since our debit card has been cancelled and the bank is closed until Tuesday. Luckily, Bryan had some of his Christmas cash stashed away that should hopefully tide us over until then.

I just got off the phone with our car insurance and they will cover replacing our car keys (they are very expense now with the computer chip inside of the key plus the remote) and to also have the doors & ignition locks changed and to replace the broken windshield... after our $500 deductible, of course! Ugh!!! (we'll have to dip into our "new house" fund for that one, man that urks me!)

So, there you have it! HAPPY FREAKIN' VALENTINES! LOL!

You have GOT to watch this!!!

2009-02-07T09:08:00.002-06:00

I laughed so hard I made my side hurt! Too funny! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83JDXXKzOXg

After you watch it, post a comment on my blog & tell me how hard you laughed! (plus, I would like to see who reads my blog. *grin*)

A week in the life of... 2/5/09

2009-02-05T18:45:00.003-06:00

Last week we had an ice storm that closed the school for 3 days. The boys LOVED school being closed but that meant that I had to stay home from work. I love having the occassional day home, but let me tell you some truth... I am NOT cut out to be a stay-at-home mom! I was going bonkers! They were wild because they couldn't go outside & play (well, they did but would only last about 5-10 minutes at a time because of how cold it was) and we couldn't get in the car & drive anywhere. Even though I couldn't go to work, I still was able to work online from home (gotta love today's technology!) but it is hard to get much done when I am constantly having to play referree.. "mom, Kameron hit me!" "I did not!" "Yes you did...just like this!" "Mom, Kaleb hit me!". Gggrrrr!!! Please tell me that I am not the only one that has this problem!?!

Bryan ended up staying home from work on Friday because he now has the *crud* that I had a month ago. It starts off with a fever for about 4 days and then the cough begins as it moves into your voice box area. Now, today is Thursday and he has not voice at all. He's been back to work all week but his voice was getting more & more horse. So, this morning he walks into work and whispers "good morning" with no voice and they say "good bye". So, he came back home today. He scared the pee out of me when he walked into the house as I was getting ready for work. I heard the front door open & then I saw his shadow around the corner... he better be lucky I didn't stick a hot curling iron on his face! LOL! Anyway, he went to the doctor today & they gave him two shots in the booty and said to stay home from work again tomorrow. I know how he feels... it took an entire month for me to start feeling better & I am STILL battling the cough & runny nose! I hope his doesn't last as long (I didn't go get shots in my booty).

Monday night, my nephew, Ricky, had his coronation for Mr & Miss Del City High School. He represented baseball. He looked so handsome in his tuxedo. I got a few pictures but they are on my iPhone and I haven't gotten them off, yet. I will post them when I do.

Right now, I am sitting at Kameron's basketball practice. It is almost over. I have a hard time sitting for a solid hour without having something to do. Hooray for the trusty laptop and wireless internet! :)

Looks like practice is over, gotta go!

School Play & Baseball

2009-01-18T21:01:00.001-06:00

For the fall season of baseball, Kameron's team, the Red Sox, played in 1 weekend tournament. Kameron has played for 3 years already but most of the kids on this team have not played before. So, we didn't play in too many tournaments because we didn't want them to get frustrated when they didn't win a trophy (t-ball is a very competitive sport!). This tournament didn't start off very well... they lost their first game to a pretty good team (boys who could hit the ball over the fence). But, they fought hard and won their next game later that day. The next day, they ended up playing 3 games in a row (no break!) because they kept winning and ended up with 3rd place! They were SO proud of themselves! We were so proud of them! They played so hard & the excitement on their faces made the long weekend well worth it. I am assistant coach so I got the honors of handing each of them their trophies. Sorry for the blurry pictures... we didn't have our regular camera so Bryan was trying to get the best pics he could on the camera phone.

Kaleb's school had a small part in his school play this year. I don't remember the title to the play but his role involved the "Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" song... he was one of the monkeys. He was so funny. He was monkey #5 and he jumped & jumped and when it was his turn to fall he dramatically fell down and a play doctor came and tossed him an ice pack to put on his head (picture #2). He loves to be in the spotlight! (again, bad pictures... I forgot the regular camera!!! Shame on me!!!)

Kaleb's 8th Birthday

2009-01-13T17:35:00.001-06:00

Kaleb had a great time at his birthday party this year at Celebration Station. Every time we go to Celebration Station, he will not ride the go-carts. He'll drive the kiddie ones but he won't ride as a passenger on the adult ones. We have been talking to him lately about "facing your fears" and he finally agreed to ride with me on the adult carts. Why me and not Bryan? I guess he thought that I wouldn't drive as fast... little does he know! HA HA! We got in the fastest car on the track & I drove full-speed the whole time, even squealing around corners. He had a BLAST!

What summarizes Kaleb at 8 years old:

Positives:	Negatives:
Loves to Read	Controlling
Enjoys Soccer	Already has a teenager attitude!
Competitive	Gets frustrated when he isn't the "best"
He is SO smart!	Sometimes too smart for his own good.
Cherishes true friendships

He is growing too much, physically & emotionally... make it stop!

Here are pictures of his birthday party...

Check out his face when he got some money in a card from Grandma & Grandpa! This boy loves money! You can catch a glimpse of me in the pictures in the white shirt w/ red flowers.

Gotta love BOY birthday parties!

Here, Kaleb is trying to act COOL and not show his excitement about his cake coming out of the pretend oven. But, he really enjoyed it. :)

This is his favorite present... his electric scooter from us. After getting home that day, he took his scooter out for a test drive. It goes about 5 mph and he has so much fun zippin up & down the street.

Princess Isabella... and an update!

2008-11-18T17:14:00.005-06:00

I was going through pictures today & came across some that I took last month of our pretty Bella. We got her back in January of this year as a tiny little puppy. She was so beautiful and sweet and cuddly. We fell in love with her immediately. She has grown quite a bit since then. She started out as a little bitty 6 pound cutie and she is now approximately 11-12 pounds. She is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and she just turned a year old on Nov 10th. I met 2 adult Cavaliers about 3 years ago and fell in love with them and told Bryan at that time that I wanted one. They are very expensive dogs and so I figured I would never have one. Bryan never forgot, though. He was looking in the dog section one day and found an ad that had registered Cavaliers for sale at a very reasonable price. I am so happy we have her. She is so sweet & loveable. Although, she doesn't seem to like going pee pee outside... thank goodness we don't have carpet anymore! LOL! But, as you can tell by these pictures... she is spoiled ROTTEN! She is perched up on the couch pillow resting as only a sweet spoiled little princess would.

UPDATE on my surgery: Today is day 6 after my surgery and I am doing fine. I still don't have much energy and stay a good portion of the day with my legs propped up in the recliner. When I get up & move around too much, my legs swell up so much that it makes them hurt. I am wearing a compression garment to keep the swelling down and so that my skin doesn't stretch out from it... thank goodness or else my legs would be the size of an elephant! They already feel that way, though! My dad took me to my doctor's appointment on Monday for a follow-up and I got a thumbs up. My incisions all look good and look like they are healing well. Blood flow is really good in the area so we are hoping that I don't have any skin breakdown issues like I did with my tummy-tuck earlier in the year. I am ready for more movement in my legs so I can start to do more things. Well, the movement really isn't too bad... I still have a hard time picking my legs up to get in/out of the car. But, it's mostly the swelling that happens when I am up moving around. Each day will get better, though.

WHEW! What a week!

2008-11-15T14:20:00.003-06:00

I don't have any pictures to share with you today... I do have many pictures that I need to share, but not any that pertain to today's post.

This has been a WHIRLWIND of a week for me. And, I thank God that I have Bryan to help me handle it all.

#1 - I went to Real Estate school about a month ago and kept procrastinating on taking my license exam. With my upcoming surgery (more on that in a bit) I decided last week that I was going to buckle down & study, study, study so that I can take my test this week and get it over with (if I passed) before my surgery and the Thanksgiving holiday. So, that's what I did. I studied non-stop (practically) from Friday night through Tuesday night and took my test on Wednesday morning. It's a pretty grueling 2 hour test and I am happy to say that I PASSED! WOO HOO! On Saturday, Victoria from Prudential took me to lunch to talk with me about what they have to offer. On Monday, I had a phone conversation with Century 21 and on Tuesday, I went to the team meeting at Keller Williams and talked with the broker there afterwards. I have decided on Keller Williams. They all seem to offer the same things... commission rates, ongoing training, business development, and all 3 are in the top 5 companies in Oklahoma. I decided on Keller Williams based on the agents that I met at their office on Tuesday and the overall team-friendly atmosphere. Everyone seemed happy and were talking with each other and helping each other out. Being a newbie in the business, it makes me feel better knowing that they will be willing to help me out with my relentless questions. :) So, between the studying, meeting with brokers, and the test I was under a bit of stress for that.

#2 - Since I was going to be off work for 10 days starting on Thursday, I was feeling under pressure to get AHEAD in my work. With the end of the year coming up, I've got many reports & spreadsheets to prepare for the 2009 year that need to be done by Dec 1st. I'll be off work until the week of Thanksgiving and then that week is only a 2-day week so I knew I had to have them done this week. So, I was bringing work home with me to work on in between reading chapters & taking study quizzes for my real estate exam. My schedule was: read a chapter & take a quiz, get up & put in a load of laundry, log into my work computer & do some work, change the laundry from washer to dryer, read a chapter & take a quiz, fold & put-up the laundry, log into my work computer & work on spreadsheets... get the idea?

#3 - My nerves were on high gear all week because I was having surgery on Thursday morning. With having lost 145 pounds, I've had issues with extra skin. It's a myth that exercise can eliminate that problem. Exercise can tighten the underlying muscles under the skin but it can't shrink the skin. And, trust me, I am an exerciser. But, with that much extra weight and with being overweight most of my life, it was inevitable that I would have extra skin. This is my 3rd plastic surgery to help correct this issue. It's not about the cosmetic issue of the skin but more about the emotions the extra skin reminds me of my "former self"... a person that I never want to see again. This surgery was to deal with the skin folds hanging from my inner thighs. I had to buy pants 1-2 sizes too big in the waist & hips in order for them to fit my thighs. I've been very happy with my surgeries in the past and I hope that this one is no different. Even though this is my 3rd surgery, I was still so nervous. I wasn't nervous about the pain... I can handle the pain. But, I absolutely hate that time frame of when you are first waking up and trying to get your bearings together, the dry heaves, the scratchy throat, and the overall inability to stay awake (I'm pretty much out of it for 24 hours). I guess it wasn't so much "nerves" as it was "dread" of knowing what was coming. And, also, I hate being wheeled into the OR completely awake, hopping up onto that super cold bed (they keep it like 55` in the OR!), getting strapped in, and then the dizzy feeling I get when they are administring the anesthesia. Ugh, there is just something about that feeling that I hate.

Well, I am happy to say that today is Saturday and all of that is now behind me. :) The boys stayed the night with their Aunt Dea on Wednesday night because we had to be checking into the hospital at 6am Thursday morning. Bryan & I sat around in my hospital room... poor guy, he had to listen to me chatter away. That's what I do when I am nervous. I talk. And, Bryan doesn't talk. Luckily, the nurse came in after awhile & she & I talked. :) My dad came after awhile, also, and so he & I talked. At 7:45, they wheeled me into the holding area and got my IV hooked up, and various people came in to talk with me... the anesthesiologist, OR nurse, and of course, Dr. Panchal. He has a very calming demeanor that he always seems to calm me down. They asked me if I wanted some anxiety medicine, but I declined because I don't like how those medicines make me feel. Dr. Panchal got out his markers (good 'ole sharpy markers) and marked up my thighs with the areas that he was going to cut, and the areas that he was going to do the liposuction on so that my thighs can be in a good proportion. After that, they wheeled me into OR room #3. I loved my OR nurse. When I got into the OR room, I had to stand up in the middle of the room so she could disinfect my whole body with an alcohol wash. So, here I am standing up stark naked in the middle of the room with various people walking in & out of the room bringing in supplies & such getting ready for the surgery. Can't be modest in situations like that. LOL! My OR nurse and I just chatted away and even giggled a bit and ignored everyone else (she was the one washing me down). After that, I layed down on the table, they strapped my arms in, got the electrodes hooked up to my forehead and chest, and that's all she wrote until I woke up in the recovery room.

Recovery wasn't so bad this time. I had dry heaves after my last 2 surgeries. I think it was because of the morphine. They didn't give me any morphine this time. They just had me take loritabs when I needed them. They wheeled me into the surgery room at 8:15 and they were wheeling me out of recovery around 12:30pm. Around 3pm I was ready to try getting up out of bed to go to the bathroom for the first time. Ummm... ouch! That was difficult. I had a male nurse that afternoon, but they sent in a female nurse when it was time to help me go to the bathroom. She started pulling me up out of bed and I called Bryan over to help her. I ended up telling her "your going to have to use more muscle than that... I cannot use my legs at all". Once I got up on my feet, it wasn't so bad. I could scoot across the floor fairly well. But, I couldn't lift my legs at all or bend them to get in & out of bed. Ever had your thigh muscles (quads, inner thighs, out thighs, and hamstrings) really sore after a vigorous workout that you had a hard time moving around? Picture that 20x and that's how bad my leg muscles hurt. LOL! AFter I was able to go to the bathroom, they were ready to send me home. We were in the car on our way home at 4:30pm.

I dozed on/off a good part of that evening & night in the livingroom recliner. Friday (yesterday) was about the same... a little less sleeping, but the pain was about the same. I only got up to go to the bathroom. Today the pain is better and I am getting up out of the recliner a little more and walking around the house. And, as soon as I log off here, I get to go take my first shower... WOO HOO! I had to wait 2 days before taking a shower. What I am NOT looking forward to is trying to get this compression garment back on over my swollen legs. UGH! Wish me luck on that one!

Bryan has been WONDERFUL. He has taken on alot this week to take up my slack from being so busy and then incompacitated and he doesn't complain (mostly :) ). I try to be as self-sufficient as possible to help him out. I need to get up to stretch out anyway so I might as well scoot myself into the kitchen to refill my own drink, etc. But, he is always willing to get me something if I ask. He finished off all of the laundry yesterday, and took the boys to Kaleb's soccer pizza party today. Tomorrow, he's going to the grocery store. He's a good man. I love him!

Well, that's all I have to say for today. I'll try to post again in a couple of days for an update on how I'm doing and by then I'll have some pictures ready to share on some other events (Halloween, maybe?).

Remember back to August...

2008-10-28T17:38:00.001-05:00

... when school started back up? They went back on August 12th... on Kameron's birthday. It was such a big day for him. He was so excited to take cupcakes to share with his class... he felt like the 'big-dog' of the class! (even though he's the youngest one).

I wonder why...

2008-10-25T20:54:00.003-05:00

I have politics on my mind??? Hmmm... This was sent to me by my good friend, Martha. I just had to share!

4th of July... I know, it's October, already. :)

2008-10-17T17:02:00.001-05:00

The boys love to play with the camera. I just had to post this picture that Kameron took earlier in the summer. He walked into the kitchen, said "mom & dad, say cheese!" so we did a quick pose & he snapped the picture! Notice, the upward angle, the blurry photo and the finger in the corner. All of those things are what make me love this picture.

I am going to put it at the top of my to-do list every day to get caught up on events over the summer. OK, so it can't go to the top of my list but I'll put it up there pretty high. Today, I am highlighting the fun we had on the 4th of July.

During the hot afternoon time, we had a picnic with my sister & her family and my mom & dad at the sprinkler park. The kids all had fun staying cool in the water while we all sat in the shade and roasted. :) It really wasn't TOO bad (97`)... we've had much hotter 4th of July's in the past. We set up tables & chairs, I brought KFC chicken & sides and my parent's brought the deliciously sweet watermelon. Fried chicken & watermelon... can't get much better than that! :)

Jakob and Anna brought horseshoes out to play.

After the picnic at the park, we went home for a little rest and to get out of the heat. Of course, Kaleb & Kameron are two active boys who don't know how to "rest". We bought some fireworks that would be easy to do at home. One of the boys down the street (his face is blurred because he's not my child so I don't feel comfortable with posting his pic on here) came down to have some fun. They had a blast with the smoke bombs. We also had blooming flowers, black cats, snakes, and whistlers.

In the early evening, we went to UCO for the Freedom Festival with Deanna's family and met up with Bryan's mom & dad to finish off the evening with more watermelon, hair & face painting, moon bounces, live bands, and of course fireworks!

This year's fireworks show is the BEST I have EVER seen. They were loud, flashy, SPECTACULAR! We had patriotic music playing, and I swear the show lasted 30+ minutes! The Grand Finale at the end took our breath away!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2008-09-23T20:37:00.002-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love you!

This is a layout I did a few months ago.

Kameron's 6th Birthday

2008-09-23T14:41:00.009-05:00

I realized today that I never posted anything about Kameron's birthday last month. Kaleb's birthday is tomorrow and I can't be a good mom and mention one son's birthday without the other one. :)

On Aug 12th, my baby turned 6 years old... sniff, sniff. The day of his birthday, we took him to Andy Alligators (mini-golf & indoor games) and to dinner with just the 4 of us as a family to celebrate. Then, that Saturday, he had his birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese. Here are some pictures...

How about those trick candles??? HA HA!

Talk like a pirate day!

2008-09-19T10:42:00.005-05:00

Yeap, you read that right! It's official! LOL!

Much thanks to Shanna for allowing me to swipe this from her blog.

Arrggg... have a good day, mateys!

The Great State Fair of... Oklahoma!

2008-09-17T14:08:00.009-05:00

If you've lived in Oklahoma for any period of time, then you probably know the State Fair song they play on the commercials every year. So, did you sing it when you read my title? Now, I can't get it out of my own head... ack!

That is where we went on Friday night. We had tickets to see High School Musical. I know, I have two boys, but you'd be surprised at the following of this show for the boys... even junior high boys love it! The boys loved watching it on ice. They both sang the songs and danced in their seats like it was nobody's business! I had more fun watching them (and the little 2 year old boy in front of me who simultaneously belted out the songs at the top of his lungs and pulled his sisters hair... at the same time, the whole show! It was hillarious!) than watching the show. I even had to giggle at Bryan a couple of times. He sat in his seat with this "why am I being subjected to this" look on his face.

Before & after the show, we did some activities at the fair. The boys got armbands and they hopped from ride to ride in the Lil' Partner land and also on about a hundred different fun houses. They had alot of fun. Of course, Bryan & I had to get our fair must-haves while we were there... Bryan's cajun turkey leg & my fresh-squeezed lemonade. Yummo! I look forward to that every year. We also waited in the gigantic line and bought the famous cinammon rolls to eat for breakfast on Saturday morning. Note to self & others: eat them that same night while they are warm, fresh, and melty... much better!

You can't see their faces on the log-ride but that is them going down the slide. That was probably their favorite ride of them all.

Hamming it up!

2008-08-20T10:54:00.005-05:00

My loveable, spontaneous, free spirited, dare-devil... that would be Kameron. Words can't really describe his personality. He is ALL BOY.

Loveable - he loves to sit in the chair in someone's lap (especially daddy's) and cuddle at night. It ends his world if he gets in trouble and has to go straight to bed without having "daddy lap time" at bedtime. He still sleeps in bed with us EVERY night. He always falls asleep in his own bed, but usually around midnight to 1am he wakes up and crawls in our bed. We are so used to it that we don't even wake up when he comes into our bed anymore.

Spontaneous - most of the time, this is NOT a good thing. For example, last night the boys were playing around in the livingroom. Kameron got a hockey stick and was swinging it around and cocked his brother right in the nose... blood everywhere. Oy! He wasn't trying to hurt his brother... but his spontaneousness has him do things before thinking them through.

Free-spirited - What can I say here? He dances to his own beat. He doesn't give in to peer pressure.

Dare-devil - unless that peer pressure stated above is telling him to jump off the top of a garbage can onto a mini trampoline and onto a skateboard... then he'll do it. Have I mentioned we've been to the emergency room once with a cracked head and I see more trips to the ER in the future?

I am sure you can see some of his personality in the following pictures:

Barnum & Bailey Circus

2008-08-15T20:34:00.005-05:00

I know, I know... it's been a LONG time since I blogged... don't shoot me! I told you this is all new to me. So, just be patient... sheesh! :)

In June, we went to the always entertaining Barnum & Bailey circus. I have always gone to this circus growing up and this year was one of the best that I remember. It's still the same dare devil stunts but with a fun twist. There was a main character named "Bello" that was secretly "in love" with one of the pretty lady performers. Bello would make appearances in between most acts and would even perform several of the stunts in order to get close to his love. It was a cute story to watch. I don't know who enjoyed it more... me or the boys. Kaleb says his favorite part is the lions. Kameron's favorite is the clowns. That doesn't surprise me!

Kaleb loves to take pictures and he was in charge of the camera when we first got to the Ford Center downtown. He is the one that took the lovely picture of us. See the upward perspective? LOL. The second picture is one I took of the boys trying on circus clothes. Before the circus started, they had alot of fun things for the kids to do in the arena... ride an elephant, be in an interactive show with the clowns, watch an elephant paint a picture (for real!), etc.

So, I'll leave you with some parting shots that Kaleb & I took of some of the circus acts. We can't wait until the circus next year!

Arbuckle Wilderness

2008-07-07T16:18:00.003-05:00

On our way home from our trip to TX, we drove through the Arbuckle Wilderness to see the animals. I know I went here a few times growing up, but I just don't remember that many animals and how they just come right up to the cars & even stick their head inside! I don't know who had more fun... the boys or myself! We each started off with a cup of food that we bought at the entrance going in. Kameron's cup was gone right away... he kept dumping it on the ground outside of the car. Bryan & my cup lasted about 3/4 of the way through. Kaleb had almost a 1/2 a cup left at the end... know why? Because he wouldn't feed them! After the giraffe got slobber all over the car and his cup, Kaleb said he didn't want anymore animal slobber on him. LOL! Have you ever seen a giraffe slobber? It comes out in a streaming line of spit that just flies in the wind... so, I can't say that I blame Kaleb for that one. It was pretty gross. I especially got nervous when he stuck his head into the sun roof of the car... I ducked and just hoped he didn't slobber on me. LOL!

So, here are a few parting shots...

And, my favorite of them all... I wish the camera had captured Kameron's face... hillarious!!!

Tuesday Happenings 7/1/08

2008-07-01T12:59:00.003-05:00

Can you believe that 2008 is now 1/2 over??? Where does the time go?

Weight: Remember the 7lbs I gained last week at my girls retreat? I have lost 6 of those pounds. *Relief* I worked out 4 times last week and increased my running speed and distance. I dread getting on the treadmill but always feel so good when I am finished.

To-do: I'm still working on Chapt 4 of my Economics homework. I'm also still dealing with the girls insurance company about my car repairs. We had everything worked out yesterday but then they called me back and said an insurance auditor wants to come look at my car before they release the funds for repair. Maybe he's not satisfied with the estimate from the body shop?? OK, fine. Whatever it takes to get it fixed. He'll be at my work tomorrow to take a look. Workout 30 minutes of cardio and alternate arms/legs/abs strength training for 4 days this week.

Calendar:
Monday 6/30/08: Nothing
Tuesday 7/1/08: Nothing... I am cooking dinner, mushroom chicken. :)
Wednesday 7/2/08: Nothing (see a pattern here? Baseball season is over.)
Thursday 7/3/08: Nothing
Friday 7/4/08: INDEPENDENCE DAY - We're having a picnic at the park in the afternoon with my parents & sister and then we'll go to UCO for the big annual LibertyFest event with Bryan's parents.
Saturday 7/5/08: 6:30pm church
Sunday 7/6/08: 10am – Bryan serves at church; 1pm - Kim serves at church

Great Wolf Lodge

2008-06-25T11:50:00.015-05:00

I am finally getting around to posting about our stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX on Memorial Day weekend. We left for Texas on Friday evening (see earlier posts), stayed at the Hilton hotel in Grapevine, then headed over to the Great Wolf Lodge at 1pm on Saturday. That is the earliest we could check in and be able to use the indoor waterpark.

OK, so, this place is REALLY cool. I couldn't believe how big it is inside! There is a huge kiddie area, wave pool, lazy river, and many HUGE slides (that swirl around inside the building, then go outside the building, then come back in the building before shooting you out into the pool!). Also, there is a big splash area for the kids with a big fort for the kids to climb up & down while getting wet. And, don't forget about the pool outside with more big slides! If you've never checked out the Great Wolf Lodge, go to http://www.greatwolflodge.com/ and take a look!

The first slide Bryan & I ride together is called the "cyclone". Two people ride in a double tube, you FALL down the slide and end up in this big funnel thing where you go back & forth until you FALL down through the end of it and splash into the water. It was fun, but I was a bit nauseaus and week-kneed afterwards because I went down BACKWARDS! Yeap, Bryan got to see my screaming face the whole way down. :) Since I was backwards, I couldn't see what was about to happen next... turns, twists, falling, up, down, sideways... oy!

We talked Kaleb into going down the slide they call the "toilette bowl". Imagine the bowl of a toilette and what happens to the water in it when you flush it. It swirls around and around until finally it gets sucked through the hole into neverland. Kaleb started out at the top on his tube and went down the short slide until it dropped him off into the toilette bowl. Then, he swirled around & around in circles and it "flushed" him out into the water (see the big green & white striped bowl in the very first picture). His face when he got off of that was priceless! He said it was fun but he was too scared to ride it again. In fact, after that he was too scared to do any of the big slides... scaredy-cat! ;-)

We stayed in the waterpark until about 6pm when we were all getting tired & hungry. So, we got cleaned up & went to dinner in the hotel restaurant. The next day, we got packed up & checked out of the room but we were able to stay in the waterpark the rest of the day. We played for several more hours until we were ready to head back to the Hilton where we stayed Sunday night.

The waterpark is not open to the general public... only guests at the lodge. Staying 1 night at the lodge allowed us to have almost 2 days of the waterpark. I am glad that we didn't stay longer than one night because we were exhausted!

Tuesday Happenings 6/24/08

2008-06-23T21:35:00.003-05:00

Weight: So, I did well the first 3 days of the week. And then I went on my 4 day retreat... where I GAINED 7lbs!!! Did you know you can gain 7lbs in 4 days??? OK, so I know I didn't eat enough for that to be physically possible so I am going to chalk most of it up to water weight. A 2-3 pound gain... sure, I can accept that. But not 7 pounds. YIKES! I had a great day today staying below 1400 calories and ran/walked for 30 minutes on the treadmill and did 20 minutes strength training for my legs. My goal is to keep this up the rest of the week.

To-do: I finished Ch. 3 in my Econ homework this last week before I left on the retreat. This week my goal is Ch. 4. Get an estimate on the body work on my car where it was hit in a parking lot this last week. This young girl backed up into me and her insurance is paying for it. By the looks of her car, she's done this before. ;-) Workout 30 minutes of cardio and alternate arms/legs/abs strength training for 4 days this week.

Calendar:
Monday 6/23/08: 7pm - Kameron game (cancelled... don't know why. I think it might be a field scheduling issue)

Tuesday 6/24/08: Nothing... I might actually cook dinner! *shock*

Wednesday 6/25/08: 4pm - the bug man will be here to do our quarterly pest spraying... it's flea & tick season! We are going swimming at Regional pool after work until they close at 8pm.

Thursday 6/26/08: 6pm - Kameron game; 7pm - Anna game

Friday 6/27/08: BRYAN'S BIRTHDAY!!! HAPPY 35! - We'll take him out to dinner - his pick. I think it'll probably be Red Lobster.

Saturday 6/28/08: 6:30pm church

Sunday 6/29/08: 10am – Bryan serves at church; 1pm - Kim serves at church

Tuesday Happenings

2008-06-17T11:29:00.004-05:00

Here I am posting again on Tuesday instead of Monday. :) Mondays are just such a busy day for us.

Weight: I had a much better week this last week. I worked out at the gym 4 times, and had 4 out of 7 perfect days where I stayed around 1400 calories. And, the other 3 days were not perfect but not too bad, either. And, guess what happened??? I lost 3 1/2 pounds! WOO HOO!

To-do: So, I finished chapter 2 in my Econ homework... this week is to finish chapter 3. However, I doubt that will happen since I will be away on a scrapbook retreat from Thursday through Sunday... WOO HOO! Workout Mon, Tues, Wed and also fit in a walk at the retreat... maybe drag some of the girls along with me.

Calendar:

Monday 6/16/08: 6pm - watch Anna's softball game; 7pm - Kameron has baseball game.

Tuesday 6/17/08: 8pm - Kameron baseball game;

Wednesday 6/18/08: NO PLANS... WOO HOO!!!

Thursday 6/19/08: I am leaving for Tahlequah today for a scrapbook retreat until Sunday. The boys & Bryan have no other plans this week.

Friday 6/20/08:

Saturday 6/21/08: Bryan & the boys will probably go to church tonight.

Sunday 6/22/08: 10am – Bryan serves at church

Rainforest Cafe

2008-06-13T13:55:00.003-05:00

Once we arrived in Grapevine, TX, we got checked into our hotel and then we had a late dinner at Rainforest Cafe. We went to one for the first time in San Antonio last year and I fell in love with the place. The food is not great and VERY expensive, but it is so much fun & different than any place else I have ever been. I will say that I like the one in San Antonio better, but this one was still alot of fun. Our table was RIGHT next to the elephants. So, every time they started moving, the elephants trunk was practically in my hair. LOL! If you have never been to a Rainforest Cafe, you have to go at least ONCE to experience it. But, be sure you are ready to spend $! So, I will leave you with some pictures of our time there. I will be back in a couple of days with a post about our stay at the Great Wolf Lodge/Waterpark.

Thunderbirds

2008-06-10T11:15:00.016-05:00

On Memorial Day weekend, we took a mini-vacation to Grapevine, TX. We left for Texas on Friday after Bryan got off from work. Well, the "Star Spangled Salute" airshow was going on that Saturday at Tinker Air Force Base. The Thunderbirds were practicing their flying stunts on Friday night and we could see them (and DEFINATELY hear them!) from our house. Kaleb, the budding photographer, grabbed my camera and got some awesome pictures of the jets flying by in their formation.

They practiced a good part of the day that Friday until we left for Texas around 4:30pm. At some point during the day, the boys even had their kid-sized foldable chairs out and were sitting in them next to the street watching the "show". I wished I had my camera at that point, but Kaleb was still holding onto it. Even the neighbor girl, Jamie, got in on the picture-taking action. She took these funny pics of Kameron & Kaleb.

Monday (or Tuesday :) ) Happenings

2008-06-10T11:03:00.004-05:00

I'm a day late on posting my Monday Happenings. But, I'm still trying to get used to this whole "blog thing" LOL! Better late than never, right?

Weight: I had a terrible eating weekend and gained a couple of pounds. :( Here's to getting back to healthier eating this week. I am also focusing on getting into a good workout routine.

To-do: Continue daily bible reading... Currently in Leviticous. I was reading and answering chapter questions for my Economics class during swimm lessons, but they haven't had lessons since Wednesday. So, I really need to buckle down and get through chapters 2 & 3 this week. I desperately need to shop for a dresser. Ours is falling apart!

Calendar:
Monday 6/9/08: 4:30pm - workout; 6pm - Swim lessons - cancelled (thunderstorms) so we ended up staying at the YMCA for a members-only barbecue they were having. The boys had fun getting their face painted & chowing down on watermelon. :)

Tuesday 6/10/08: 3pm - workout; 6pm - Swim lessons; 8pm - baseball game; Bryan is handling the swim lessons & baseball game while I go with some coworkers to the Redhawks baseball game downtown.

Wednesday 6/11/08: 4:30pm - workout; 6pm - Swim lessons. I think we will all stay & swim afterwards for a little while.

Thursday 6/12/08: 4pm - workout; 6pm - Swim Lessons & baseball game... not sure which one we will go to. Probably swim lessons since he has MANY more baseball games to play in but only 2 more swim lessons.

Friday 6/13/08: 4pm - workout; 6pm - Swim Lessons (make-up for last Thursday's cancellation). Family game night (probably games on the Wii)

Saturday 6/14/08: Not a whole lot planned today... probably catching up on housework & laundry. We have a wedding to attend later this evening for my cousin, Sarah. I can't believe "little Sarah" is getting Married!

Sunday 6/15/08: 10am – Bryanserves at church; 1pm – I serve at church. Then, the usual Sunday stuff... laundry, bills, grocery shopping, etc.

Weekly update

2008-06-05T15:24:00.003-05:00

Here is what I would like to do weekly. Post an update to the family calendar & upcoming happenings for the week. I have a couple of friends who do this & I enjoy seeing what their homelife is like on a weekly basis... I think part of it is because it makes me realize that my chaotic homelife is somewhat "normal" LOL! Below is for this week. I will try to do this on Mondays along with a recap with any pictures or funny stories from the previous week.

To-do list:housework, housework, housework. The house is a mess & driving me crazy! Daily bible readings (finishing up Exodus). Finish Chapter 1 & 2 in Micro Economics correspondence course

Calendar:

Monday 6/2/08: 4:30pm - workout; 6pm - Swim lessons; 7pm - baseball game

Tuesday 6/3/08: 6pm - Swim lessons; 8pm - baseball game

Wednesday 6/4/08: 4:30pm - workout; 6pm - Swim lessons

Thursday 6/5/08: 4pm– Bryan dentist;6pm Swim lessons (cancelled – chemical imbalance in pool); 6pm My plastic surgeon (the wonderful Dr. Panchal at http://www.genesisokc.com/ ) asked me to be his guest at a plastic surgery seminar for people with large amounts of weightloss.

Friday 6/6/08: 6:30pm – Women’s softball game (boys will be at grandma’shouse)

Saturday 6/7/08: 2:30pm – I have training at Life Church with the newcheck-in system for the kiddos. 6:30pm – Life Churchworship experience

Sunday 6/8/08: 10am – Bryanserves at church; 1pm – I serve at church

Very first post!!!

2008-06-05T14:57:00.002-05:00

Well, here it is. My first post on the blog. I never thought I would actually do this. But, here I am. I enjoy reading others blogs and thought that maybe it would be nice for family & friends to keep up with us here.