Sunday, July 18, 2010

Bricktown Canal Ride **Bucket List**

We spent some time down at Bricktown the other night. We were trying to mark some things off of our bucket list. We started off at Bass Pro Shop where Matt was drooling over the boats. He and the boys really, really want a boat. We didn't mark that one off the bucket list, though! We did go and ride on the canal. The kids had fun, although they were kind of disappointed at how slow the boats went! Here are a few pictures, somehow Kate and I didn't make it into any of them!




Kate's Silly Faces

Kate has been acting a little goofy lately. She cracks me up with the faces she makes! These are just a few she made on the way home from the museum the other night!

Sam Noble Museum

I was completely prepared to be stuck in the house for a week taking care of Ryan after he had his tonsils out. But the next day he was bouncing off the walls! And he was totally obsessed with eating. So we decided that since he was feeling up to it that we would get him out of the house. I figured this would distract him a little bit. We went to the Sam Noble Natural History Museum in Norman. The kids had been a few times with my mom and dad but Matt and I had never been. We had a good time. The kids loved looking at the dinosaur bones, Kate was even entertained!


That's Gabe down there pretending to be squished by the mammoth.

Excavating in the Discovery Room


Sunday, July 11, 2010

Look what I just pulled out of the oven...

Peach pie! Yum-O! It's my mom's recipe and it is oh so good! Can't wait to have a piece!

Tonsils

Ryan had his tonsils removed last week. There was a bit of drama involved with him getting the surgery done, he was supposed to get them removed on Tuesday but we ended up having to wait until Thursday due to a scheduling mistake. But everything worked out in the end. We waited until the night before the surgery to tell him because he gets so very nervous about anything that involves doctors. This boys has had more medical incidents than any of our kids: a nickel stuck in his throat, broken collarbone, and lots and lots of trips to the doctor for strep throat. I had already told Ryan that he was going to the doctor the next day but I hadn't gone into detail. Matt started off by telling him that when he went to the doctor the next day he was going to take a nap while they looked at his throat. Ryan laughed a little laugh and said, "You're kidding, right daddy?" Then he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, "Daddy's kidding, right mama?" It was the saddest thing I've ever seen! But we got through the talk and he seemed to be okay. The next morning he cried when we left house, he cried when they called us back to the room, he cried when they wheeled him back to surgery. It's so hard watching your baby cry because they're so scared of what's going to happen. Somehow, I went the whole day without crying, I don't know how but I did! After surgery Ryan was doing great! He ate a popsicle and some jell-o. While he was eating his popsicle he was still loopy from the anesthesia and he held the popsicle up in front of his face and kind of squinted his eyes and said, "If I do this to my eyes I can see two popsicles!" It was so funny!
After he was released we took him home and he's been doing great ever since! He hasn't even acted like he had surgery! We've been trying to keep him on a soft food diet, but that only lasted for the first day. Well not even the first day because he snuck a cheddar bite Matt had brought home from Sonic that day. He's been eating lots of jell-o, popsicles, icees, ice cream, mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs and yogurt. But he's also eaten part of a cheeseburger and french fries with absolutely no problem. And he's also using his voice at full volume as usual! This kid is so loud it's like he can't control the volume of his voice! I thought surely we'd get a couple days of him using a soft voice. That didn't happen! The first day he came home he was yelling.
Needless to say, he's doing great! Thanks to all our family and friends for your help and prayers!


Look at how fake this smile is! He was totally annoyed that I was making him take a picture with his Icee!

Eating mashed potatoes and Jell-O, it doesn't get much better than that!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

I Heart Saturdays

Saturday mornings have got to be my favorite time of the week! We usually sleep in until around 9:00, when Kate wakes us up. The boys are usually up by then watching t.v. or playing the Wii in the living room. When Kate gets up we get her a cup of milk and bring her back to bed with us and we all watch cartoons in bed. It doesn't take long for the boys to find their way back to our room. It's just so nice having everyone in bed, relaxing and just being plain lazy! It's something that I hope we get to do for many years to come!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Gabe's Losing It...

...his tooth that is. Gabe lost his first tooth this week! It was really pretty sudden too! He had told us his tooth was loose on Monday, and it was a little loose but I didn't really think anything of it. Then on Tuesday he came home from soccer camp and was wiggling it like crazy. He was bound and determined to get that thing out! He even tried to eat an apple to see if it would come out! He brought me a washcloth and asked me to pull it. I tried and tried but his teeth are just so small I couldn't get a good grip on it. So he took the washcloth in the other room and worked on it for a bit. Not 10 minutes later he came back into the kitchen with a big grin on his face and his tooth in his hand! It was so cute! He didn't even realize that his mouth was bleeding until I told him to put a washcloth on it! Usually he's freaked out by blood, but this time he didn't care! These pictures of him are right after he pulled it. I must say he is awfully cute without that tooth!

Quote of the Day


I saw this quote over on Blessed Little Nest and just had to share.

I'm going to try to make this my motto this week, by using everything He has given me...

Repurposed Play Kitchens


I've seen these play kitchens on various blogs that people have made out of old entertainment centers. I just absolutely love them! I just love the fact that something so unattractive can turn into something so darn cute! I would love to make one of these for Kate one day!

This first one is from Our Sweet Life.

Before
After

And this one is from Sutton Grace.

Before
After
And this last one is from Giggleberry Creations.

Before
After
And I think this one from Kelly and Her Kalon Kids is my favorite! I just love the bright colors!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

4th of July

We had our annual 4th of July party on Sunday. We invited over some family and friends to celebrate with us. Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, it rained on 4th of July. We had a lot of people not come over since it was raining so hard. They all know how small our house and how crowded it gets when we all have to be inside at the same time! But we still had a good time with the family that did come over! After we ate dinner it had stopped raining so we headed outside to pop some fireworks. Our neighbors were outside popping fireworks as well so all the kids got to run around and play together. It was lots of fun!

I love this cute little shirt I made for Kate! (If I do say so myself!)
I had some extra time this year so I made the dessert table extra cute! :)
Notice the kids artwork that we made earlier is on the back of the table.
::Popcorn and water bottles ::
:: Chocolate covered marshmallows ::
Matt doing what he does best, shooting fireworks!

Painting Masterpieces

We did some painting the other day. I told the kids we would paint some pictures for the 4th of July. They did a great job! We displayed them at our 4th of July party (pics to come later). Kate had a smaller canvas and she wanted to do pink and turquoise. She loved it! She wanted someone to paint with her the whole time. If I stopped painting she would yell at Ryan to "color". When it was time to put the paints away she threw the biggest fit! I think she would have stayed out there all day to paint!




Water Balloon Fight **Bucket List**

Just a few pictures of the kids throwing water balloons. The boys really try to nail each other with them and Kate just stands next to the bucket and drops them. I think it takes me longer to fill them up than it does for them to pop them!


Summer Bucket List

We got an idea from a friend of ours to make a list of all the things we would like to do this summer. I let the kids tell me all their ideas and I typed them up. A couple of them are quite extravagant and may not get checked of this summer, but we went ahead and included them. Gabe and Matt really want to buy a boat so that got added to our list. And the boys really want to go back to Florida this year, but with the oil spill in the gulf I'm not sure if we'll accomplish that one this year or not.

At-ti-tude!


We've been getting this face a lot from Gabe lately. It's usually followed by some kind of loud sigh or an, "AWWW!" The age of being annoyed by his parents is coming on a little early, isn't it?

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Another Zoo Trip


We bought a zoo pass to the OKC Zoo this year so we've been visiting the zoo a lot more than usual lately. They've really done a lot of neat things to the zoo. Now they have a children's zoo that has a spray park where the kids can play in the water. My kids love spray parks so they always want to go straight to the children's zoo when we visit!



I love these pictures. I think I have a picture when I was young just like this!