Jack's Birthday Celebrations

 Jackson had his birthday several weeks ago - October 25th to be exact. Howard has been either in the field or TDY for the past month and was home for a brief 16 hours the weekend prior to Jack's 5th birthday. We celebrated early with presents and cupcakes so Howard could participate.

 On Jack's actual birthday he was able to bring snack to pre-school. We made mini-cup cakes. Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (from a box, and tub) Yeah - I'm a great homemaker that way. Ha Ha!

It was so cute watching his class sing happy birthday. A class full of 4-5 year old children  are so cute!

 The Saturday following his birthday was his big birthday party. Since it was so close to Halloween, we dressed up in costumes and decorated the house in spiders and cobwebs. The kids had a lot of fun and I was relieved when it was over since I was doing it solo.

 

We also had a spider cake with eye ball cupcakes. It's safe to say after having cake for 3 days within a week, I'm still not ready to eat a bite of cake.

Myriad Botanical Gardens

After the Taylor Swift concert on Saturday night, Erin and I walked through the downtown Myriad Botanical Gardens before we went to our car. The gardens had been closed for a long time due to renovations, but just reopened. I was so impressed with it I had to take the family back ASAP!

Here the children are waiting for the wave fountain to splash water on them.

Get ready...

Get set...

Go!

I tried taking cute pictures of each child, but they are in that awkward photo stage. 

I love Jack's goofy face.

While I was snapping away at the kids, Howard asked a passerby to take an impromptu family photo. Turned out the passerby was a photographer scoping out the place. Lucky us! Too bad not all the kids are looking, but at least Luke isn't hiding and everyone has their eyes open. I've really lowered my standards to what is acceptable photography with 4 children.

Luke rolling down the hill. If only he had made his legs straight, then he would have gone much faster.

Gorgeous view of the gardens!

This may seem random, but my Okinawa friends will appreciate it! The renovated bathrooms have this hand dryer which actually dries your hands. These are all over Japan.

It spells GROW.  This was in the Children's Garden area.

It's amazing how a random piece of metal art can be so entertaining. I have so many pictures of the kids doing crazy things on this.

My stud muffin!

I had to keep yelling at the kids because they kept putting their hands in the photo or jumping in. We were loosing daylight fast and Howard was having difficulty with the camera settings.

The Crystal Bridge changed colors throughout the evening. There were also lighted rectangles embedded into the sidewalk as well as lighting under benches and along the walk paths to light your way.  There were a lot more interesting things, but not enough time to blog about it all.

The temperature dropped fast tonight and the winds really picked up. I can't wait to go back!

Father Son Camp Out

This weekend while Erin and I had our lovely girl time, the boys were able to go on the church's father/son camp out.  They went to Red Rock Canyon State Park, and Howard said it was even better than the Chickasaw Natl Rec Area.  As soon as we have time time and good weather (who knows when that will be?) in the same weekend, we will go back as a family.  Since Howard had to leave right after work on Friday, I was in charge of packing. I did great except for one thing - I forgot to pack pillows. Sorry boys! Erin and I are looking forward to more father and son outings, we enjoyed the peace and quiet!

 Luke was camera shy.

 Howie loved the rock climbing. According to Jackson, they "climbed a mountain".

Howard assisted with another boy. The boy's father was up the wall on the other side keeping everyone safe. If you notice carefully, Howard is doing it without ropes or anything. Maybe not the safest thing to do, but I was impressed.  Although, it's only impressive AFTER he did it and told me about it in the safety of our home.

 

 This is what you get when a 9 year old is in charge of the camera. (Plus 20 more of these poses.)

Brotherly love. They may fight and tease each other until I cry, but I know they love each other very much.

Concerts

Last week Erin and I were able to go to a concert on top of the Union parking garage at OU. I parked right under the concert and when we walked up to the top level, we were surprised to get a close preview of Phil Wickham rehearsing. We arrived early since it was a free concert and we wanted to make sure we had good seats.

It was a benefit concert sponsored by "Wishing Well", a non-profit org promoting awareness and activism in supplying people with clean drinking water. 

We enjoyed the wait with perfect weather and a cozy spot on the curb.

Since we arrived early, we were able to sit in the front row - it was amazing. Erin got a little tired, but I was a mean Mom and wouldn't leave, so I let her lay on my lap.  This is how close were were, and I wasn't even using a zoom or anything! The roof-top was packed with people, so we were extra thankful for good seats.

 Our second great adventure was the Taylor Swift Concert on Saturday, Oct 15. The tickets were her birthday present in July.  I nearly cried when Taylor Swift came on.  Not because I was excited to see Taylor, but because I was so happy to so how happy and excited Erin was. It was like Christmas for me!

 The opening act was a guy named David Nail. I had never heard of him, but he was really good.

The second act was the band, NeedToBreathe (yes, I wrote it correctly).  I had heard one of their songs before, and enjoyed them as well.

 

 Erin and I got all dressed up, we curled our hair and did our make-up.  I'm so glad I could go with her!

The venue was very high quality. The video and audio were excellent! Here is Taylor, as seen on the large screen next to our nosebleed seating. Taylor is looking toward our section. I think she was staring at Erin directly! :)

This tree was near the back side of the arena. It was a nice treat for her fans in that section.

 

 

I had no idea she could even play the piano. She is one talented singer/performer! And very quick at changing clothes too! I think she changed about 7 times, maybe more.

During the finale, she sang "Love Story", which is Erin's favorite song. Overall we had a wonderful time! Taylor Swift is a good and tasteful performer, very family friendly! 

My only complaint would be that I purchased our tickets from stubhub.com (NEVER AGAIN!) Our seats were sold TWICE! Fortunately for us, my tickets were scanned first, so we entered the arena without any problem.  The other ticket holders had a problem, had to buy an additional ticket, but made it to our seats first. I wasn't mad, because in reality the seats were equally hers. The arena upgraded the other woman and Erin and I were able to sit in our assigned seats. I'm glad the other woman received an upgrade in seating because she told me that her and her daughter were in tears initially and of all the hassle they experienced. Monday morning, stubhub.com will be receiving a call from me!

Here is a nice playlist of a few of the songs we heard at both concerts. Enjoy!

Air Force Ball 2011

 Howard FINALLY invited me to the Air Force Ball.  Most years I've either been pregnant, breastfeeding, or Howard was deployed.  I'm very grateful we had the opportunity to go.  Our kind neighbor watched the children and even took a few photo's of us before the ball.

 

Navy blue turned out to be a popular color for dresses  (and uniforms, lol) this year at the Ball.  Everyone looked beautiful and I was happy to blend in with all the other girls.  Fortunately no one had the same dress on, they were all unique.  The best part of getting ready was when I got my nails done.  Erin went along with me and also had her nails done.  I love having girl time with her.  Once I had my hair done, I was hands off for the kids. I wouldn't even let them kiss me good-bye.  My kids can really get excited showing affection and I wasn't about to let them ruin my hair or make-up.  They were good sports about it and didn't complain too much.

 

 (My dress fell just below my knees and I had sparkly silver 4" heels and a matching clutch.)

At the beginning of the ceremony, the speaker explained in detail the significance of the empty table in the front of the ballroom.  It represented service members from each branch who are MIA.  I couldn't get through that without crying.  Our table was filled with some wonderful people who were very easy to talk with and dinner was delicious!  Pictured below is our place cards along with a bracelet to remember a fallen soldier.   Each bracelet had a different name, date, and location of battle.

 

 After the dinner and speakers was dancing.  My feet were killing me after only a few dances, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.  The USAF Band of Mid-America played and we were seriously impressed with their talent.  Howard is not much of a dancer, so I had to fly solo when everyone on the dance floor started line dancing.  Luckily they were dancing the only line dance I know.  That was my favorite part! Luckily Howard danced a few slow dances with me. :)

 Afterwards we went out for ice cream at Braum's and shared a sundae.

School

 We're in the swing of things and I'm playing catch-up a little on the blog. These photos are a couple weeks old, but they're still good.  I started school a week after the children did. I have not been in school since Spring 2000! I was really nervous, but now that I have a few weeks under my belt, I'm feeling good about things. I'm taking one Online class, Reading Literature and Writing Argument and one classroom lecture, U.S. History 1865-present.  I am so grateful that I have spent the past 11 years reading American history books, keeping up with current events, and writing on this blog (since 08). It has helped me stay focused academically. Sometimes motherhood makes my brain feel like a wet noodle, but I now have a renewed confidence in my abilities as a student! I'm not 100% sure yet, but I think I want to major in American History and one day be a high school history teacher. ( I change my mind a lot, so this is subject to change.)  Howie told me he wants me to be his teacher. I don't think I'll graduate in time if I take it slow, but once Luke gets into school I might be able to kick it into high gear. Time will only tell.

I have a renewed appreciation for Howard working and providing for our family. He has to associate with many different people every day. Not everyone is nice, but he has to deal with it anyway. Since I have been a homemaker the past 10 years, I have primarily surrounded myself with family or friends who have similar values as myself. I like nice people. You don't have to agree with my religion or politics to be my friend, just a common level of respect. I learned recently at school some people lack the type of respect I am referring to. It's okay if people disagree, but do respectfully please! I obviously need to grow a thicker skin when it comes to criticism. Constructive academic criticism is one thing, but negative and rude is not acceptable!

[I'll stepped off my soapbox now.]

 Here is Jack on his first day of school. He loves school so much! His teacher is WONDERFUL!

The first full week of school was spirit week and we all had a great time on "Wacky Day".

 Some people thought Howie was a girl, I think it's time for a hair cut.

 Erin is just a little bit of everything! I tried to tease her hair, but because of the length, it went horribly wrong. I didn't tell her that, so I just did something crazy and she was happy with it.

Jack was the only kid in his class that did crazy hair. His teachers LOVED it!