The Weekend in Pictures

Here are a few pictures from Mom's and Grandmother's parties. NOTE: the flash on my camera stopped working so I am waiting for Mom's friend's to email me some good photos from her party.
The most delicious red velvet cake EVER!!!
SURPRISE!!!!
Even the kids wore BLACK!
Little Cilla Grace
Grandmother and "the ugliest cake I've ever seen" (said Aunt Sue Ellen), oh well, it was very yummy!
Kandy and Destiny...I promised I would post this one since it is such a great picture of both of them!
Grandmother and her sister, Aunt Sheilah
All the granddaughters (minus Marissa and Makenzi)
Cash and his Great Grandmother

Roadtrip with the Gang: The Element of Surprise

As often as we jump in the car for a little getaway, I have decided to designate an entire section of the blog to document the "adventures" we encounter on our roadtrips!
This past Friday we (me and the Sundance Kids) loaded up and headed to Edmond for a weekend packed full of activities and SURPRISES!! I LOVE surprises! Brock was already in OKC on business so it worked out nicely for us to meet him there before all the playtime began. Our two main purposes for going were to celebrate Mom's 50th birthday and to attend the wedding of our sweet family friend, Jordy Mercer. The weekend plans were altered a bit when our Uncle Russ who was in the hospital after taking a terrible fall became critically ill. Our family was gathered around him with love and prayers. Thankfully he is doing better, but his road to recovery will be a long one.
The first surprise of the weekend was a party for Mom (look for pictures in a following post). We secretly gathered family and friends together at Ted's and pulled off a great surprise party! She was SHOCKED to find us all waiting for her, complete with cake and gifts and every person in the room wearing BLACK!! On Saturday, Kandy and I (and Cash), along with several cousins and aunts gathered to SURPRISE Grandmother for her 80th birthday. We had such a nice time and Grandmother was overwhelmed when she saw us. She is a wonderful lady and deserves to celebrated! Needless to say we thought there were no more surprises in store for us, until...our trip to Wal-Mart!
Early Sunday morning Kandy called to inform (and warn) us that Mark and Paxton were both sick with a stomach virus. Everyone seemed healthy in my family so we went to church, had a nice lunch, and went to get some groceries. All was well, until I hear Mom yelling for assistance a few aisle away. I turn the corner and am SURPRISED to see that Tytus has thrown-up EVERYWHERE in the middle of Wal-Mart...all over the floor, all over the cart, all over the food in the cart, all over himself! And that was the beginning of him being a very sick little boy for the rest of the day. So, Monday morning I decided it was time for the boys and I to head back home, as we had successfully spread our germs and Mom was now not feeling well at all. Unfortunately Brock had to stay for meetings in OKC all week. We arrived safely home only be SURPRISED yet again as soon as I opened the door to the house. It seems I had forgotten to take the trash bag of dirty diapers out to the dumpster before we left four days before. You can only imagine the smell I was greeted by! Despite how the trip ended we had a great time seeing lots of family and friends. It was definitely a roadtrip for the books and I should clarify my previous statement...I LOVE A GOOD SURPRISE!!

T-Man Turns FOUR Years Old Today!!!

Wow, I can't belive my little boy is FOUR years old today!! It seems like just yesterday we were rushing to the hospital and it has been an excited adventure from the very beginning!! At four years old, you are really into music, you love playing the guitar and singing songs...songs like, 'Ring of Fire', 'Big Green Tractor', 'Country Fried', and lots of praise and worship songs. You love sports, especially playing football and golf with daddy. Your favorite food is pizza, your favorite color is green, and your favorite superhero is Batman. You love learing new things and are already beginning to read and spell simple words. You weigh 34 lbs and are 42 in. tall!

T-Man you are the most amazing little boy I know. I can't imagine our family with out you. I thank God everyday for you. You are kind, generous, thoughtful, helpful, smart, funny, talented and just a total joy to be around. Thanks for being such a great brother, son, and friend.

The first picture taken of you...4lbs, 6oz., 16 in. long.

On your first birthday we really celebrated your good health with lots of friends and family that helped us get through a tough first year.

On your second birthday we had the "Second Annual Birthday Bowl"...you sure changed a lot that year!

On your third birthday you were really into firemen and fire trucks, so we went to the fire station for your party. You and your friends even got to ride on the fire truck!

From the Mouths of Babes...(Seeking Independence)

Today as the boys were getting dressed to go to school, Tytus and I had this little conversation...
Tytus: "How about you just drop me off at school and then leave?"
Me: "Well, I kind of need to go inside so I can help your brother get to his classroom."
Tytus: "Well, then I'll just go upstairs by myself and you can stay downstairs."
Me: "Well, I really should go upstairs too, so that I can sign my name where all the mommys and daddys sign in."
Tytus: "How 'bout I just sign your name for you, M-O-M."

Although I was a tiny bit crushed that he is becoming such a big boy that he no longer wants me to take him into school, I was quite impressed that he can spell my 'name'! We agreed that I would go upstairs with him to sign in, but I would stay in the hall and not go into his classroom. Here we go...taking steps on his jouney toward independence...I can do this, right?

The Christmas That Kept On Giving!

So I am finally getting around to posting some pictures from our Christmases. They totalled five, yes five Christmases, all complete with a tons of family, food, and presents. I failed to get pictures from each one, but let's face it, it's a lot for a girl to handle, and I was trying to help the boys and video at the same time! We had a great time this year...the boys had tons of fun and despite our plans being changed due "The Blizzard", everyone remained in good spirits (for the most part). This was our first year to be at our own home on Christmas morning and it was really nice. Then thanks to the snow and ice we were able to spend the entire day at home without the stress of rushing around to travel to the next family member's home. (I was a little sad at first, but it was really a blessing getting to spend all day with Brock and the boys and they had tons of fun playing with their new toys!) We did get up the following morning and brave the treacherous road conditions, only to arrive saftely eight and a half hours later at Grandmother's house in NWO.

It was Cash's first Christmas and although he slept throught the majority of the festivities, he was the first to awake on Christmas morning and didn't seem to mind watching his big brothers open his gifts for him.

Santa brought Beau a "piano-thingy" and Tytus is taking his turn with younger Brother's new toy.
Beau obviously didn't mind, as he was filled with joy (and sugar) when Santa was faithful to bring him the only thing he asked for, "a treat".

Tytus was also very pleased when Santa brought him a green guitar just like he asked for. (To avoid confusion and embarassment, Tytus was trying on his new Buzz Lightyear undies, when he decided to sarinade us with a little "Big Green Tractor", besides that his snowman pajamas were making him a bit too toasty!!)

Future O-State quarterback and wide receiver???

We were literally snowed in!!!



The boys begged to go outside and play in the snow and I'm pretty sure it took longer to get all of their winter gear on them then the amount of time they wanted to 'play' in the freezing cold, windy weather.

Grandma reading the Christmas story and sharing the good news of salvation with the grandkids, minus Cash (who was sleeping) and Priscilla (who was determined to get a gift open while no one was watching!)

Beau LOVED his new bike helmet and boxing gloves. Tough Guy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE WHOLE GANG!

Jolly Ol' St. Nick

This is the first Christmas that the boys have really been interested in Santa Claus. It has not taken them long to learn the "rules" of Santa...the reindeer, the chimney, the being nice (not naughty), and of course the presents! Just a little side note: I personally was never a huge fan of Santa as a child and I was quite young, probably four or five years old, when I revealed to my mother that I knew that she and dad "were Santa". With that said, I am finding it difficult to play into the whole 'magic' of Christmas, but I am also trying not to be Mrs. Scrooge and let the boys have their Santa fun and pray that it is sooner than later that they come to know the truth about the big man in the red suit. So rather than dismissing the Santa tradition (and being labeled the weird, over bearing mom that doesn't let her children fantasize) I decided to teach them a bit about the REAL St. Nicholas. With the help of the Internet, a trip to the library and our new Veggie Tales DVD(given to us by MeMaw Bobbie), we began learning about the generosity and compassion of a deeply religious man for whom our current day Santa was based upon. I had heard before that a man named St. Nicholas existed, but never knew the story in its entirety. I will spare you all the details and rather encourage anyone reading this post to check him out for yourself. I know that you will be pleased and possibly enlightened to learn of his remarkable acts and deep love of the Lord. Now, in the spirit of commercialized Christmas, I couldn't NOT take the boys to visit Santa Claus. So yesterday we headed to the mall for a cheesy picture and a chance to let Santa know what was on their wish lists. Just as I suspected might happen, Beau wanted nothing to do with him and at first glance clung to my leg and hid his sweet little face. Tytus in his usual cautious manner, slowly approached him and eased himself up on Santa's lap. I am convinced that Ty's desire for the new guitar that he has been asking for for months was all the motivation he needed to talk to this large bearded man. And Cash just smiled and laughed and was happy and adorable like he most always is. After a few minutes of coercing, I was able to get Beau to get close enough to Santa's chair so that he would be in the picture and I would not (except for my leg). I think the death grip on Big Brothers hand and 'deer in the headlights' look in his eyes says it all. Once the picture was taken and Tytus told Santa that he wanted a guitar and spoke on Beau's behalf that he wants a "treat" (that is all Beau will say he wants for Christmas...no toys, no games, no balls..."just a treat") then we went on our merry way. Memories were made, with a not too shabby photograph to prove it!!