Spring Re-cap

WOW! It's been so long since I last posted that blogger changed its format. 

Anyway - Here's a little re-cap of the past couple of months.

Spring Break

Spring break was spent on "staycation". We did a lot of activities around town (library, rollerskating, movies) and we also took a little trip down to Texas. It was a good excuse to get a hotel room - the kids LOVE hotels!

 

Along the river at Dinosaur State Park

  We even enjoyed some authentic Texan BBQ.

 Chillin' in the hotel room.

School and Hair

 

 I've been having more fun with my hair lately. Recently I started finding gray hairs (just a few), and decided that it was time to start coloring. I haven't done anything drastic, all natural colors - just enough to hide any gray.  I currently have a slight A-line bob. 

I also just finished the spring semester in college. I'm a Sophomore.  This year I had a 4.0 both semesters. I'm really proud of myself and I am so happy that I am back in school after a 12 year break. I'm currently at the local community college, waiting for PCS orders so that I can apply to a four year university at our next duty station. I've really worked hard this year and I have learned so much. I'm much better off because of it, unfortunately my house is not. I've been using my break time to catch up on chores around the house, but I would much rather be doing school work.

Soccer

 All the kids have been in soccer since March. Fortunately, we only have practice on 2 nights a week for all of the kids and all the games are on Saturday mornings. Many times we've had overlapping games times, so we've had to split up to watch the games. Good thing Howard didn't deploy this year like we had planned.  I've decided that I'm not a very good "soccer mom" and prefer other activities over sports. Some of the kids have decided they don't like sports either, but we made them finish out the season since they were on a team and needed to fulfill their commitment. Overall, I'm very proud of their sportsmanship. 

A Visit from Paul

Paul is our super special friend that we hadn't seen since 2005. He was passing through Oklahoma and stopped for a short visit. We had a great time. Paul introduced Howard and I in January 2000. We actually met in Paul's apartment, so we can thank him for our marriage. :)

 At the Myriad Botanical Gardens Children's Park

 Having some fun with Daddy.

 

 Paul had recently purchased a gun and was anxious to try it out. We got a sitter for you little boys and went shooting. I was surprised at how much fun I had and how fast the time went by. Before we knew it, the shooting range was closing for the night. The only bad thing that happened was a bullet casing popped up and fell down the front of my shirt, burning me. I now have a scar on my chest from it. Ugh!

 I was impressed with the kids, they were very mature and were very responsible handling the gun. Of course we were hovering over them like white on rice, but they still did a good job.

Random

 Howard recently snapped some snuggle time on a Sunday morning. There's usually not a morning that I don't wake up with an extra body in bed with me.

Luke and I have the mornings to ourselves while Jack is at pre-school. Normally it is spent at the gym, but sometimes I stay home to catch up on house work. Luke was so excited to show off his "work". I'm happy we finally have a rug in our living room. We haven't had anything since we put down the flooring last spring. It's nice and cozy now.

I can't guarantee that I'll update this blog very much anymore. I'll try, but life is keeping me too busy to carry a camera around wherever I go. 

Big News

 About a month ago we found a lost Dachshund named Louie and took care of him until we located his owners. We were so sad to see him go, but happy that he was reunited with his family. Ever since then we've been wanting another dog for Dash, but we hadn't done anything about it. Yesterday I received a text from Louie's owner asking us if we wanted to keep him. After a quick 5 minute family discussion we decided to take him. He was dropped off at 10am this morning and the dogs are best friends.  It turns out the Louie is older than Dash by 13 days.

The only reason why we had to think about taking him, even for 5 minutes, was because we received some big news on Tuesday from Howard's work. His unit, known as the 3rd Herd, will be shut down at Tinker AFB. That means we will be moving, likely within the year. We're going to try our hardest to go back overseas.  We will miss Oklahoma City very much. We had no idea we would grow to love this city as much as we have. We love being an Air Force family, but each move seems to be harder emotionally since we leave a piece of our heart wherever we go. 

 Louie - age 2

 

 

Erin's Garden Room

We redecorated Erin's bedroom this past week. She named it "The Garden Room".  I'm really happy how it turned out because it will grow with her. It's not too babyish and not too old. Just right for an 8 year old!

Sorry that some of the pictures are redundant, but some offer better angles than others. Her room isn't very big and it's difficult to get a good picture, especially with the poor lighting (it was raining when I took the pictures).  Erin and I had so much fun redecorating. We've been planning on doing it for a long time, but we were waiting until she got a sister through adoption. Things didn't work out as planned and if you want to know about us not adopting please feel free to email me about it.

Anyway - enjoy the pictures!

My favorite thing about her room is her lamp and accent pillows. The pillows were on clearance at JC Penny for $7 total. It's hard to see, but they are a deep plum color.  The color of her walls is "Foxgloves" by Behr paint. It's a grayish lavender. There are still a few little details that I need to work on, but for the most part this is it. I'm also happy that we stayed under budget.

I would like to get her nice drapes eventually, but she didn't want them. She kept her butterfly valence that she's had in her room since she was born. It matches, so I'm okay with it for now. Overall, Erin did a great job selecting her items. I just had to guide her with what coordinated and what didn't.

Happy Birthday Lucas!

Lucas turned 3 on February 10th and it was a birthday party year!

I consulted YouTube to learn how to make the tissue paper poms and I am posting them at the request of my sister. Decorations were sparse, but they generally always are. I like parties that don't leave me all stressed out before they even begin!

Early Friday morning, before Howard went to work, Luke opened his presents. His favorite presents were the clearance toys I bought a few weeks ago. The toys that he was least interested in where the one's I paid full price for - how ironic!

 

 Friday afternoon Luke helped me decorate his cupcakes. He originally wanted a Diego party, but since we couldn't find a cake topper, or even toys to put on it, we scraped that plan. Luke was in charge of picking things out, so we had sports themed plates/cups, and Spiderman cupcakes. He was happy!

 

I forgot to write out the invitations for his nursery classmates, and since I wasn't very motivated to have ten 3 year olds over, we had one family come. We had a nice time and were not overwhelmed.  Our 4 kids and their 3 kids made a nice amount of people for a party atmosphere.

 The day before his party he wanted to pose for the camera. This is his new favorite pose.

January (and a little bit of February)

Howie had a birthday and was crazy excited about his present, a boy's dream - a B.B. gun.

 This was not a b-day party year, so we went out to dinner of Howie's choosing (Red Lobster) and had cake (Angel food). The weather has been great and we've been able to go out into the wooded area behind our house to shoot. It's been fun.

 

 Howard got off of work early yesterday (he's been working long hours lately). We've also had incredible weather, so the boys got some energy out before dinner.

 Just a little while ago I heard a rustling in my bedroom. It's laundry day, so for the few hours the laundry sorter was empty and Dash managed to get stuck. This was a first for him - and too funny not to take a picture. He was truly stuck!

 

 A few days ago Erin wanted me to take some pictures of her and Dash, so I thought I would share those too. We curled her hair in sponge curlers the night before and she felt like a princess with the ringlets all day. Her hair was curly like this naturally when she was little, but now it's straight like mine.

December

 I had finals at the beginning of December and Howard was very busy with an exercise at work. Then the whirlwind of Christmas festivities fell upon us. 

To recap December:

I bought a new red dress for the Squadron Christmas party (but it was canceled, grrr) and got a new hair do at the end of November. I also earned high A's in both of my classes. It was my first semester back to college since 2000 and I'm LOVING it!!!! I'm studying history and hope to become a DoDEA teacher by the time Howard retires in 10-12 years.

 Erin had a speaking part in the 3rd grade musical - she was Reindeer #7.

 Jack anxiously awaited Christmas.

While on Christmas break he decided to sleep in the living room one night.  Luke also joined him.

This is Jack's "bed" he made for himself.

 

 Howard was off for a little while and dutifully took care of the kids with me. Howard also worked on some home improvement chores (fixed a screen, and re-sealed a door), as well as yard work during our warm front that was here (65F for about 3 days). Winter break was filled with bowling, the park, the library, the YMCA, and lots of sleeping in and staying up late. The best part has been watching "I Love Lucy" as a family every day since Christmas.  Howard bought me the complete series and it's now one of the kids favorite shows.

 Jack gave us the BEST expressions when he opened his gifts. It was like he got the best present each and every time he opened one.

The kids each got to open a gift on Christmas Eve (not pjs). The 24th was our big dinner like usual, while the 25th was reserved for a buffet of appetizers all day while we played with our new toys. This year Christmas was a lot different. We had church in the late morning, but then we spent the evening downtown at the City Rescue Mission. It was nice seeing our friends who live there and working the dinner shift. We are blessed each and every time we go there to help.

This is the most excitement we are probably going to get for a while from (an almost) 10 year old Howie.

 Erin was thrilled with her gift as well. This was her first year knowing the secret of Christmas. 

*wink wink*

Luke was more excited for his pillow pet than he was his train table. Oh well.

 New Year's Eve

Luke was the only one who didn't make it to midnight - he made it to about 11pm though. New Year's Eve was spent having an "I Love Lucy" marathon.

BTL Graduation

 For those who did not see my facebook post, this is Larry and Jack. They are best buddies at the City Rescue Mission. 

We met Larry last March when we started working in the kitchen and gained a new friend (actually several) in the process. Jack talks about Larry all the time and is always excited when we see him. Larry recently found employment and will be moving out of the Mission to be reunited with his wife (who also graduated from BTL a few months ago).

Last night we went to Larry's graduation from the "Bridge to Life" (BTL) program. It is about a year long (self paced) rehabilitation program through the Mission. Larry is special, as are the other graduates. He really did accomplish something great!  Larry was one of the speakers last night and shared with us his story. He was a drug addict for 27 years (meth, heroin, etc  - just about everything), in prison for 23 years, prison escapee, etc. He hit rock bottom last year on a high speed chase from the cops through OKC. Because of the City Rescue Mission - and most importantly the Lord - his life has been restored and he has hope. His slate has been wiped clean and we are privileged to call him friend.

The BTL graduation was the best graduation I have ever attended and I hope to attend many more while we live here. It was filled with celebration, worship, prayer, scripture, and personal stories. Not too many dry eyes were there last night. The Lord is working miracles in the lives of His children - it's an awesome thing to witness. The people we have met at the Mission have enriched our lives in innumerable ways. We don't bless their lives with our service, they bless ours!

Black Friday

We had the most awesome Black Friday this year! It was actually the best and most fun I've ever had Black Friday shopping. We went prepared and that made all the difference in the world. Fortunately we didn't get anything big - I think that helped a lot too. We only had a shopping cart at one store.  Being able to maneuver in Walmart and Target without a shopping cart made a huge difference and contributed to our speedy checkout.

Here's a little timeline -

6:00pm - Dropped Howard off at Toys R Us and he waited in line. Lisa and I went back to her house to get the kids ready for bed and finalize Black Friday lists
7:00pm - Got in line with Howard, Levi watched the kids
9:00pm - We were in the first group of 50 people to enter the store. Howard waited in the checkout line while Lisa and I shopped. Picked up 5 items, out in 10 minutes.
9:10pm - Howard went to Target to wait in line, Lisa and I drove to Walmart.
9:30pm - Waited by the 1 item I wanted (legos) while Lisa browsed a few items. Out about 5-10 minutes after the 10pm sale started.
10:30pm - Joined Howard in line at Target
12:00am - Howard worked his way to electronics while I got the toys on our list. He had to wait in the electronics line in the store, so we didn't get out until about 12:40am.
1:00am - Our list was complete, but we browsed the mall a little. Picked up some boots at Macy's for myself.
2:00am - Back to Walmart for a price match
2:30am - Back at home in bed.

Favorite stories -

- A food food truck pulled up to the front of Toys R Us and Howard and I were able to enjoy some hot chocolate together.

- Met some awesome ladies in line at Target! I wasn't able to get an item at Toys R Us, so I asked Walmart to price match. They wouldn't. One of the ladies knew the Walmart manager personally and put in a phone call to him and fixed the problem. We didn't even ask her to do it, but are glad she did! The best part was that instead of getting the sale price matched for $24.99 (leapster) we got it for $15 because the box was damaged. Once again, we didn't even ask for it, but that's what they did.

- While at the mall there were male models in swim trunks in front of one of the clothing stores. Naturally we're shopping for swim trunks in November (haha). Anyway - they looked exactly like the models that are on the posters in those stores. I heard one lady squeal "Oh My G--, they're real!" yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking, but I didn't say that out loud. I was in the middle of a conversation with Lisa and Howard, but when we saw them I went speechless. That's never happened before to me. It's pretty funny in hindsight. The picture below is a similar representation of what we saw at the Columbia, MO mall.