Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Aniversary and Kindergarten

Well, as I have said before it looks like all I'm having time to update this thing is monthly so here goes on the happenings in "T" town... A few weeks ago Michael and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Our babysitter got a real job at the local Olive Garden and since she's new she works the weekend night shift, kinda puts the kibosh on our date nights for now, but the whole family got in on the celebration and we all went to Oklahoma City to the botanical gardens and the zoo, the boys really enjoyed it and we were all really tired by the time we were done and headed back to Tulsa.We stopped in Tulsa before heading home and ate at Copeland's (a Cajun restaurant) and enjoyed a nice dinner, since the boys were so tired we didn't have to scarf down the meal to keep them from tearing the place apart and Samuel actually slept across a couple of chairs while the rest of us ate. WOW, 10 years! Where has the time gone it doesn't seem like that long ago we were having our wedding and now we have been through buying a place, Michael getting hired by Williams, I quit my job at the airport, we built a house, moved to Tulsa, bought another house, Michael went to school, we had a kid, and then another, Michael finished school and got a promotion, we had a third kid and now our oldest just headed off to his first day of Kindergarten this morning!! It's bitter sweet, and I didn't cry...okay so yesterday I did but not today. I think I was more anxious about Hunter starting full day school because I could not sleep, after much laundry (washing, drying and folding) I finally got to bed at midnight and then couldn't fall asleep till well after 1am, then I woke at 6am when Michael headed to the "Y" for a work out.
Yesterday we got to go to the school and bring supplies by while we met with his teachers and bought his lunch tickets too! My goodness Hunter was so excited this morning as were Michael and I. He insisted on wearing his backpack while eating breakfast and as we waited for the bus to our amazement it was a regular bus picking him up instead of his usual special ed bus. Hunter was so excited he didn't want to stop for pictures (I know, I know...but he'll never ever have another first day of Kindergarten and on a regular bus of all things!) There were 3 other little boys on the bus already and Hunter went straight to the back to sit with them all and it looked like they were all comparing their cool new back packs and how cool they were to sit in the back like big boys!! It should be exciting to hear how his day went and see him get off the bus too, I'll post when I hear more!! I'm also anxious to hear how lunch went, how they get 30 kindergartners (and that's just one class) to the lunch room, fed and cleaned up in 25 minutes should be interesting to see!! One of these days I'll get someone to watch the little guys while I have lunch at school with Hunter, is that too corny? Oh and Hunter has been doing fairly well without his medication this summer so we are trying out school with out his medication also. We have given a heads up to his teachers so that if he's not having success in class we will have to start him back up on his meds but at least we are giving it a shot. He didn't gain much weight even being off his meds this summer and I hate for him to have no appetite while he's at school and needs his brain food so much (when he doesn't feel like eating we tell him even if he's not hungry he still needs to eat so his brain can think, brain food) usually that helps to get him to eat something but if we're not there to monitor what he's eating he probably won't eat at all.
On the other hand it has been very quiet around here with out Hunter stirring things up and making everyone (including me) cry!! And in a couple more weeks it will be even more quiet around here since Samuel will start a parents day out program 2 days a week, Tues and Thurs from 9:30am - 2:30pm, how much cleaning, painting, and sewing can one person get done with just a baby around?! We shall see, I may be too busy shopping and napping to get all that other stuff done!! I will also post when Sam has his first day of preschool too!!
Sorry to say my computer and camera are still not cooperating so when you get some time check out my Face Book photo albums since occasionally I get on my regular computer to post many of my pictures all at once rather than just a few here and there!
Gabriel is growing so fast, he just turned 8 months old and is growing so quickly he's already in 12 month clothes. I just had some pictures taken so when I get those back I'll try to post those as well. As soon as Gabe conquered the crawling basics he was quickly pulling up and now he crawls only to get to the next piece of furniture so he can cruise along as far as it will take him. I'm thinking he may walk earlier than 1 year YIKES!!! He has also found my Tupperware and dishrags so I'm constantly picking up things in the kitchen and ever so often getting a stuck hand out of a drawer too. It has been a difficult task for the boys to keep things off the floor, and since Gabe is so mobile and puts everything he gets his little hands on in his mouth we are finding lots of stuff being chewed up!! Oh well, this shall also pass.
Hope you all are doing well, and keep in touch too!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Birthday and Crawling

Well Saturday was my Birthday and Michael asked me to get a sitter from noon till 10pm, so our sweet neighbor girl Jessica who always watches the boys when we go out said that would work for her. We had no idea what we were going to fill our time with except searching for a great deal on steam cleaners. After the search ended I asked if Michael would take me to the quilt shop to look around and maybe sign up for a class, being so sweet Michael did and luckily the lady going to teach the class was there teaching another class. She talked our ear off and Michael was playing the very interested supportive husband even asking questions and helping to find fabric for my class (which is next Friday, One block wonder...a stack and whack type technique) It's been on several different quilt shops class list (including Durango) and it just looks so cool!! So I'm signed up and ready for Friday!! Michael's office in the summer works longer hours due to the daylight and almost everyone then takes every other Friday off so he said it worked out that he could be home to watch the boys!! Hurray, this will be my first quilting class since being pregnant with Hunter, wow 6 years!! Michael then let me pick where we would eat and I had a hard time choosing between the Cheesecake Factory and Ti Amo (Italian Restaurant) and since I hadn't been to Ti Amo's but had heard it was great I chose it and was NOT disappointed. After that we went to Dave and Buster's (a restaurant/bar/game place) we played a bunch of games one of our favorites being Big Game Safari Hunter, it was a blast. I couldn't believe how many people were there with little kids, seriously it's not real family oriented with the bar being center stage. Go to Chuck-e-Cheese or Incredible Pizza if you've got kids. Any who as we were headed home we came to a stop light and noticed the red sign lit up at Krispy Kreams screaming HOT NOW, and if you've never had a hot right from the fryers Krispy Kream doughnut you don't know what you've been missing!!! I told Michael, hey I didn't have any cake for my birthday so we dashed across the street and ate a doughnut and picked up some doughnut holes for the boys for after church the next day!
As for Crawling, Gabriel has figured out how to go to and from his belly to a crawling position easily and he rocks back and forth so happily that he smiles so much and thinks he is so big! He is actually hopping his little knees forward too and Michael showed him how to move his arms so that he can travel forward yikes!! He is going easily from a sitting position to crawling also and is starting to figure out the reverse of that as well! It won't be long before he is into EVERYTHING!! I keep reminding the boys that everything they leave on the floor will be put into his mouth so it's important not to leave food and small toys and such on the floor, hopefully they will be a little better about this but who knows. Today Gabriel actually got his feet underneath his bottom and pushed up from crawling to having his butt in the air legs extended, SCARY!! He's getting so big so fast it's exciting but also sad that this is it. But there are so many fun stages to look forward to with all the boys. Hunter will be starting all day Kindergarten in just 4 or 5 weeks and Samuel will be starting preschool. A lot of parents around here start their kids in organized sports such as soccer, basketball, t-ball even flag football (heck they start some of that for 3 year olds, seriously?) but I don't think Hunter's ready for any of that stuff yet, I'm thinking Golf, Swimming, Piano, stuff that is not group related but who knows, mainly I'm just not ready to drag all three kids to every practice and games just yet. Does that make me a bad parent?

Thursday, July 9, 2009

4th of July in Colorado

Okay, well it looks like my blog is turning into a monthly thing instead of every couple of weeks, but I guess that's how it goes when you have kids and lots to keep one busy!
Well, I'm not going to talk about my last trip, I survived and am moving on so I will tell you what we have been up to these last few weeks, minus pictures...my laptop has been having a lot of loading problems so Michael talked me into completely wiping out everything and reloading the start up cd's so now my camera is having trouble loading all the pictures since I have over 1700 on my camera flash drive, yes I can delete a bunch of them or so I thought. I checked my portable hard drive and found that the pictures I thought I saved on it are not there, but I did load them on my regular computer!! WHAT A PAIN!!!!
Any who, Gabriel turns 7 months on Sunday and he is trying to crawl, he is real wobbly getting up on all 4's and it's only happened a few times but I did catch one time with the camera after a bath!! He has also gone from a sitting position to all 4's just today. Even though I have witnessed this amazing thing 2 other times it is still so exciting to see. I just don't look forward to when he is actually crawling real good since the boys leave all kids of stuff on the floor that the baby will most definitely put into his mouth!!!
We just got back from an AWESOME vacation/visit home!! Our friend Seth who lives just north of Fort Collins got married the weekend before the 4th of July and we were lucky enough to be heading to Colorado for the 4th so we took a detour and enjoyed a fabulous wedding and reception and got to be with Michael's brother, mother, aunt, uncle and several cousins while there since many member's of his family were friends with Seth. After that fun time we headed to Durango and spent a couple of days with my folks as well as visited a few friends one of which is my good friend Kelly Rey who just had triplets (all natural, no fertility treatments involved) which is a total amazement. I got to be there to help with a feeding and diaper change, what a production she has got quite a system down and those babies sure are doing good too!! I miss living just down the road from them along with her sister in law who also just had a baby. After that we headed up to the mountains above Delores, CO for the annual Paulek (Michael's mother's maiden name and obviously her family) camp out. The first night it was just Michael, me and the boys, we went up early wanting to enjoy just being on "vacation" at least one night alone, but I noticed later the next morning Michael was saying well if they left (meaning his Mom & Dad, or Brother and Family) by 8am they will be here around 1pm or so, I'm guessing he wasn't enjoying the seclusion as much as I was. So yep as he predicted the next day Michael's Mom, Dad, Brother and Sister and their families set up camp with us and we enjoyed a wonderful day all together, which was a first since gosh, I don't remember!!! The 3rd day the rest of the family showed up, that's a huge party with tons of 4 wheelers too so all of us enjoyed many rides during the camp out (Michael's Dad let us take his 4 wheeler up with us early) Samuel couldn't get enough rides and climbed on whenever one started up, he's not shy or scared of "strangers" when it comes to riding fast, Hunter was exactly the same way last year! Hunter was surprisingly very interested in playing with all the kids and being a part of what they were doing, which is not usually him. He likes to be around the kids but not really participate, he tries but doesn't usually get what playing they are doing but they were pretending to play Star Wars so that was right up his ally!! On the other hand Samuel, stayed away from the kids most of the time he would pick up sticks and whack at all the flowers and weeds saying I kill bad guys, he would also grab a nearby adult by the hand and show them rocks, sticks, flowers and such to collect while they walked. It's so fun to see how those two are growing and changing, and it seems so much more apparent when your away from modern conveniences!!
Around noon on the 4th day which just happened to be the 4th of July we headed down the mountain (much to our dismay) and back to Oklahoma, but we only got as far as Santa Rosa since a good nights sleep was hard to come by in a tent, freezing your but off ,cramped by 5 people!!! Okay why do I like camping again? Not to mention the smell of clothes being worn for 4 days mixed with dirt and camp fire smoke. Boy was I looking forward to a nice warm shower, I had to wash my hair twice with twice the amount of shampoo I usually use. I won't mention having to shave!! WOW
Well despite the fact that we got rained on every afternoon and almost floated away one night, we had a blast and you can bet we will be back year after year to Ground Hog!!!
As soon as I fix my computer stuff I will post some pictures.
Hope everyone had a great Independence Day...Thank You to all the troops, and veterans for all that you have done for this country!! God Bless the USA!!!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

3 weeks of insanity!

Sitting up

grand parents, Mom, aunt Rebecca, cousin Sara, sister and our kids

Chillaxin at the pool



Grandma with the baby


Grandpa with the great grandsons




Well for the past (almost) 3 weeks I have had the boys almost completely on my own. Michael went out of town for work in Durango/Aztec/Farmington the evening of May 19th (on the corporate jet, which I hear is really the only way to fly) his trip coincidentally took place during the annual API golf tournament in Farmington. Michael was scheduled on a 4 person team but I guess work got overwhelming and he was unable to participate. I guess work really got the best of him and he wasn't even able to go fishing with my Dad, which he was pretty disappointed about (my Dad that is, but was able to call up another fishing buddy to fill in).

Meanwhile, Hunter's last day of school was the 22nd, well actually it was the 26th but I couldn't see him having a 4 day weekend only to go back to school for 1 day, too confusing for the poor kid. He was so excited about NO MORE SCHOOL, he didn't quite comprehend and the first 5 days he kept asking every morning do I have school today? Luckily over Memorial weekend a friend of mine invited me and the boys along with a few other families over for a bar-b-q and we had a great time.

I had so much planned for my time with the boys that included mastering potty training with Samuel, re caulking the master bathroom, painting the boys bathroom and or Hunter's (old)bedroom since the boys are sharing a room now and maybe even some landscaping in the front yard. Alas my common sense said halt once I finished the bathroom and was headed down a dark and dreary road with the potty training!!

Michael's return trip was scheduled for the 31st and my grandparents were making a long and weary trip from Georgia to Brady, TX (one last time) to visit some friends on the 29th. When my mother herd of their plans she planned a trip to my sister's (in Abilene, TX only a 3 or 4 hr trip from Brady) so that they could travel together to see my grandparents. Since I didn't have anything else going on and Michael was going to be gone another 4 days so I decided I would take the boys to visit as well since my sister and her family hadn't met Gabriel and my grandparents hadn't met Samuel or Gabriel. So on Thursday the 28th I packed up and me the boys headed to Texas. It was a good drive even though I put the potty training on hold, I couldn't imagine trying to clean all those underwear and shorts while traveling or my 2 year old actually saying he needs to potty while in his car seat watching movies, plus my sister has new carpet in her house and I just couldn't do that to her!! But we did the next best thing, popped in a DVD all about going potty on the toilet!! So the entire 6 hour drive to Abilene we watched that DVD over and over until Sam finally fell asleep (maybe only 4 hrs of awake time). I'll give more details about the trip in another post.
Can you believe it, Gabriel will be 6 months old TOMORROW!! and Michael turns 32 also, holy cow where does the time go, we met and started dating when he was only 20 and our 10 year anniversary is next month too!! YIKES has it really been that long?!
Gabriel is sitting up on his own now but can't get himself into that position just yet. He's also rolling over independantly to and from either side and is scooting himself backwards when on his belly too. It is so scary how fast they grow up. Since he is our last I'm trying hard to savor every moment, but some moments are more trying than others and are more easily rushed through. Like the every 3 or 4 hour feedings in the middle of the night!! I have completely weaned him to a bottle during our trip and am feeling more than a bit guilty about it but at the same time it gives me much more freedom to get out of the house every now and then too. Which I find myself needing more and more these days, is this just from the 18 days of constantly being with them or just being a stay at home mom and the more kids you have the more "me" time one seems to need in order to feel like an adult with their own interests and needs to be met?






Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Growing up

He's getting so big already!

Gabriel can sit up with some support to keep him from tipping over, his balance needs some work but it won't be long till he's observing his brothers from a whole new angle! And look how big that belly of his has gotten, such a good eater I have to supplement with formula!!

It's potty time, to keep him interested in staying seated he plays video games, hey it work for Hunter!!


My Garden, (3 weeks) good corn and beans!



Michael's Garden, good lettus and radishes!


Well Gabriel is 5 months old as of yesterday! I can't believe how big he has gotten, it's seems like he just sprouted over night. I'm already having to go through his clothes again and take out the 3 to 6 months and put in the 6 to 9 months clothes. It's so fun to pull out all the old clothes thinking about when Hunter wore this or Samuel wore that, it's sad to see how big they both are but it's great that they are becoming so independent.

Hunter only has 7 days left of school, next year he will be in all day kindergarten. It breaks my heart knowing he will be away from me so long and not able to monitor him or see how the other kids are treating him (which usually isn't very nice because he's different), what's a mom to do. At least it's not all bad, I thought with his teacher telling me that he would be able to go to regular kindergarten that he would be on his own, which I was glad to hear he was doing so well but at the same time it scared me to death, what if he didn't do well and the teacher was mean to him and the kids too. Luckily that is not the case, he will join the regular kids in Kindergarten for things like PE, Computers, Library, Music, Lunch and Recess but his core studies he will still be with the delayed development kids and teachers (smaller student to teacher ratio) which is exactly what Hunter needs. He is easily distracted and too many people and noises really bother him. So even though he won't be fully in "regular" kindergarten he will still be able to socialize with the kids so that they will "demonstrate" the proper social skills for a 5/6 yr old. He needs a lot of help with his social skills, he really doesn't understand when an adult raises their voice or changes their tone to reprimand, that isn't what a child is suppose to do to an adult. Or when he doesn't listen for the 4th or 5th time and we stop saying please and just "command" him to get his butt in gear and do what ever it is he is being asked to do, he in turn uses the same words and tones for someone to get him something to eat or drink which sounds really bad especially when we are out in public! Then add to that a really frustrated parent who is sick and tired of asking the boys time and time again to do something, then comes the raised voices, with some added swear words...Hunter (the parrot) then uses the same tone and words "someone needs to get me my damn sippy and I mean now" doesn't really go over well with anyone!! So hopefully being integrated with more socially able kids he will learn a lot.
Samuel is starting to potty train and Michael actually got him to poop in the potty last night!! Hooray! I know TMI but that's what my life revolves around! I'm really hoping by the end of summer he will be completely out of diapers and ready for preschool come September! He will be attending a parents day out program on Tues and Thurs from 9:30am to 2:30pm and I am looking forward to getting errands done with only one kid in tow rather than two or three!!

My running/exercising is coming along well, I finally finished a 5k with out a walking break on Monday, so now it's all about picking up my speed and shaving some time off of that run. It took me a little over 33 minutes to finish but the point is I did it! 12 weeks ago when I started back to exercising I could only run 2 minutes out of 30 minutes and that was at a very slow speed. So I'm pretty excited to finally get a whole 5k in with out stopping to walk and catch my breath!!

Michael's actually thinking about participating in a 1/2 marathon this weekend (that's 13 miles!) I know he can do it but he is always so doubtful of his abilities. I'll let you know what happens with all that.
We have had so much rain our gardens haven't had much sunshine to grow, but they have still been doing great. This weekend will be 5 weeks since planting and we are already pulling radishes, there only shooter marble sized, but we have to thin out the patch to let the others grow bigger. They are still tasty none the less. Hunter and Samuel are really enjoying tasting the garden, I think seeing it grow in their own back yard makes trying new veggies a more positive experience rather than forcing it on them. YEAH we planted brussel sprouts, maybe they will get a taste for these green vitamins, I know as a child I was forced to sit at the dinner table by myself for hours until I ate my brussel sprouts eeuuwww! I got over that as I have aged and found my taste buds changing, just try getting my mother to eat mushrooms....come on Mom grow up already! HAHAHA
Well that is all for now.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Finishing the quilt

Samuel practicing his downward dog on the Wii!


Driving with Mario Cart on the Wii

Starting the quilting part of my quilt, what a BIG HUGE PAIN!!


That's a whole lot of fabric to feed through that little machine,
I so need a long arm to do this stuff!!



It's quilted, now on to the binding!


This is such a pretty quilt, I love all the colors, but when you do a project this size it just never seems to end, especially with what little time I have to spend on extracurricular projects!

More Easter pictures

A friend of Michael's had a trampoline they weren't using and asked if we wanted it!! So now we have more stuff in our yard for the boys to play on. The Easter bunny was very generous this year!! It's funny too how a new trampoline will barely give when little kids are on it, Michael got on this one (10 yrs old) and actually hit the ground with one of his big bounces!! It's so nice having so many friends with older kids, we have gotten our big swing set, bikes, bouncy horses, picnic table, bunk bed, and many other nice hand me downs that way. Got to love saving money!
looking for eggs

Lightning McQueen Easter egg!


Lots and lots of eggs


lets count em


Thanks Katherine for all the fun Easter decorating stuff you got for the boys!! They could not keep their little paws off the "Cars coloring kit" or the window decorations. Oh well what fun is it if you can't play with it?
Sorry the blog will only allow for so many pictures to be uploaded and I wanted to post more so here they are.

Easter

Coloring eggs

Bunny Pancakes for Easter

Humm which one shall I start with?


Wow look at all this stuff we got



Gabriel 3 1/2 months




We had a really good Easter, we colored eggs which the boys loved maybe a little too much. I've got boiled eggs out the wazoo, luckily Michael's pretty inventive and we have put a good dent in the 2 dozen eggs that were colored.

Samuel ate too much candy and after a good nap in the afternoon he woke up puking!!! UGG. I ended up staying up with him till midnight (when he finally held it in and fell asleep) so that he wouldn't choke on anything. We were all really tired the next day from all that excitement. I don't think the boys will ever forget when we tell them to stop eating candy, because now they really know it will make them sick. Why do life lessons come the hard way?
Gabriel is now 4 months and I didn't get a picture taken on the 12th but will post one as close to the 12th so you can see how big he is!!!

Baby Food and Bunk Beds




I should have waited and posted after I had made the beds!! Oh well, you get the idea!


The boys are enjoying sharing a room and Michael and I seem to think they are getting along better since they moved into Samuel's room. A friend of ours gave us a bunk bed frame but the top bunk didn't have rails so Hunter had to wait a few days after we got home from Durango (the ol switcharoo with the crib) for Michael to add some rails to the top bunk and a ladder too. They think bunk beds are so cool. Heck I did too when I was young!

Gabriel is growing like a weed, I missed getting his 3 month picture with the date, height and weight posted because we were traveling but we did get professional pictures taken while were visiting Durango. So when I get those returned in the mail I'll post em. They are SOOO cute! He has also started on solids now and he took to that no problem. I think he likes food...what Beeman or Paulek doesn't.

Snow Storm

Raised bed gardens, one is Michael's and one is mine we are competing to see who grows a better garden!! His is coming up faster but I'm sure mine will yield more produce.



I will figure out this blog thing soon, but for some reason it posts the pictures the opposite of how I pick them. So here is a picture of after the big snow storm...literally the day after all the snow was gone!! That's how I like snow here for a day so we can play and gone the next.

It was snowing so hard and coming down in big flakes, the boys really enjoyed it.



My Azalea's!! RUINED




Sure sign of spring, a cardinal looking for food!! BEAUTIFUL!



Spring has sprung

The boys flying kites







Hunter and Sam waiting for the bus, can you see Hunter's name he wrote? The H is REALLY long







Well, I have finally found some time to download some new pictures and post on my blog, or is it more like I am ignoring my chores and playing for a little while!! HAHAHAHA

We had a great trip to Durango, I got to go to one of my best friends baby shower while I was there, she's having triplets in June (identical twin boys and 1 girl) she already has a girl Kody who shares her birthday with Hunter only she's a year younger and SOOO beautiful like her mommy! At the shower of course I got to see so many of my friends which I usually don't get to see because when we visit Durango there is so much family we are obligated to visit that it's hard to fit in visits with friends. It was so fun to see all their kids (or at least the little girls) I had to laugh noticing no one brought their boys with them unless they were infants, they can be so ornery especially when your trying to have a quiet get together!
The weather was beautiful while we were there and a week after we left I guess it got crummy again so I'm glad we got to enjoy nice weather while it was to be had. Especially since I wanted to go to Florida or Mexico (some place warm) for spring break, not Durango.

My bulbs bloomed and I got some great pictures of some of them along with some of the trees too. But two days after I took pictures a big snow storm came through and totally ruined my azalea buds so not much bloomed on those!

Michael and I planted a garden last year and this year expanded it and built a new one too. We got it all planted right before a big rain storm so we got some great moisture on the garden. Isn't it funny how you can water and water but there is just something about rain water that does miracles. So after one week we have radishes and lettus coming up and after a week and a half have brussel sprouts and corn coming up too! So excited to see what two weeks will bring up. Especially after more rain!! HURRAY!

Friday, April 3, 2009

Ethan & Samuel enjoying dinner

Samuel being the "Bad Guy"


Gabriel's first long distance trip!

Gabriel's new bed









Current quilt in progress, although I have more pictures just havent been able to download any of them yet. Pattern called "Turning Twenty" Uses 20 fat quarters.




Okay I've been really busy since my parents visit, Michael and Dad going to Louisiana fishing, their return, Samuel going with my parents to visit my sister in Texas and our trip to Durango. Lot's of things happened in that 3 weeks and I'm still trying to recover and get ready for spring...cleaning, planting and more cleaning!! So I'm sure I'll have to break this up into 2 or 3 posts!! Don't want to bore anyone...too late I'm sure.

Well My parent's visit was great as usual, Michael and Dad got anxious to go fishing and left a day early, which was fine by Mom and I, gives us more time to go shopping. Although Shopping would be so much more fun not toting around a cranky 2 yr old and a hungry 3 month old!! And we always had to wait till after Hunter's school bus picked him up at noon and had to be back by 3:45pm to meet his bus also, not much fun when your always pressed for time either. One day we almost didn't make it back in time..oops! But we both decided to try our hands at using fabric Jelly Rolls (google it if your not sure what that is) although we didn't get anything made while we were together I am quite antsy to dive into my stash of new fabrics, but I have to get my other quilt binded (is that a word?) first.

Michael and Dad had a good time fishing, they brought back lots of Red Fish, Salt Water Trout and even a Flounder.
After the guys returned my parents decided to go visit my sister and her kids for a short while and bravely decided to ask if Samuel could go with them. Michael and I debated whether this would be okay or not, Hunter went with my folks to Colorado for almost two weeks just before his 2nd birthday but with his PDD he didn't know this was a scary thing, so we thought the pros out weighed the cons and let Samuel go. He did great and had an awesome time with Katherine, Ray, Evie and Ethan. I don't think they wanted to give him back they were having so much fun with him.

While Samuel was gone I got a lot done on my quilt and some cleaning/organizing done too. We also moved Samuel's crib out (he has refused to sleep in a big boy bed while his crib was in the same room) and since Gabe was in our room in a bassinet and quickly out growing it we jumped on the opportunity. Hoping upon Sam's return he would adjust quickly without a crib to crawl back into! Gabe is still in our room, we don't trust Samuel enough to stay out of the crib with the baby in it. But Samuel has adjusted to his new bed very nicely and so has Gabriel!! I'll get a picture of Samuel's new bed posted soon.

Well it's getting late so I'll do another post on our Spring Break trip later.






Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Awaiting a visit from the Beemans

Hunter helping keep the baby quiet


Samuel giving Gabriel his first bottle


Well not much has been going on here in Oklahoma. The weather is so wishy washy with spring arriving that one day it will be 70' and very windy the next day it won't get past 40' with very little wind. It stinks because the boys stay inside ALL the time and are bored to death and start bugging me and each other trying to drive me insane! I'm so ready for warm weather, so we can all get our daily dose of vitamin D.

My eight weeks of rest post c-section has expired and I am now back at the gym trying to lose all this extra weight. It's amazing what 9 months and 50 lbs can do to a body, prior to finding out I was expecting I was training to run in my first 5K race. I was actually up to running 4 miles every-other day. It finally dawned on me why I was wiped out the entire rest of the day after I exercised...duh!! So to be fair to the boys (and not sleep all day or just lay around while they tore up the place) I decided I would put working out on the back burner until now! So I will be trying again to get up to running a 5K, maybe by October I'll be ready for the annual Tulsa Zoo run. Michael ran that race last year only he did the 10K, he's so awesome!

Oh as for the visit, my folks are coming down later this week!! AWESOME!! Michael and my Dad are going on their annual, week long Red Fish, fishing trip to Louisiana, while mom and I hang out and go shopping. Once they return we'll all have a week to spend together and then it will be spring break for Hunter so we are all headed back to Durango together!! I'm hoping to get in a quick snow boarding trip to Wolf Creek and hot tubbing at the hot springs in Pagosa after busting my butt on the slopes! My old aching body will need the healing waters and maybe a message too! Although I would much rather be in Florida or Mexico soaking up the sun and enjoying the beach, I guess seeing some family and friends along with some free time (without the kids) will be very nice too!!

Looking forward to our Durango trip March 14 - 20, clear your schedules!!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Hunter and Gabriel


2 months old



Grinin'


What?

Gabriel found his thumb