Summer 09 Rewind- Part 1

Weeeeeelllll, here I am! With the persistence of two fellow bloggers and friends, Julie and Ashley, I am making a comeback. I am not promising anything.

I will not give you a long list of excuses why I have taken such a L-O-N-G break, I will just try much harder to keep up this fall!













Soooooo, the first entry of my comeback will be what we were up to this summer. I don't know if I will stay in chronological order, but our first big fun of the summer was our return trip to Captiva Island, Florida. We had even more fun this trip than the last one two years ago. Maybe because the kids are older, maybe we just knew what we were missing!!




















This trip was so special for so many reasons, but most of all, because it was the last extended visit we had with my mother-in-law before she suffered a massive stroke in early August. Praise God, she is recovering miraculously, but while she was recovering, memories of this trip kept her going and gave her something to reflect on and look forward to. What a blessing.



Our family is planning on making this an annual trip. Next year we are going to stay 9 days instead of 7. We just can't get enough of the laid back lifestyle, gorgeous scenery, wonderful resort and priceless family-time.

I love my life!!

Cowboys and Indians

So much to blog, so little time! I thought I would combine a couple of posts here... they seem to go together... randomly!

First, the Cowboys. As you can see, we are OSU fans! Go PoKeS!!

O - S - U !


Like the mullet? I know, I know, this look is more for a Sooner fan rather than a O-State fan.

Second, the Indians. It was Lauragale's 2nd grade Thanksgiving play and she was an Indian. She was also "Speaker #2". (I thought it would be funny to call her #2 the whole day, but I figured she wouldn't get it.)

Hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving!!
Gobble, gobble!!

Get Well Soon

A few weeks ago I was pretty sick for about 3 days. Of course, my sweet family came to my aid with no questions asked! Above all, my precious Curtis went beyond what any hubby should and cared for me and the kids better than I could have asked! He even took off work on Monday to care for the boys so I could rest and recover.

My sweet kiddos couldn't have been any sweeter either! As you can see from the pictures, Lg took it upon herself to serve me dinner complete with a menu.

Can you guess what I chose?? GRITS of course!!

My sweet girl!

Noah was my comforter... giving hugs and loves on an hourly basis!

I love my family!!

Bad Blogger! Bad, Bad Blogger!!

This is embarrassing! It has been soooo long since my last post, I am a BAD blogger. I do have a list of excuses which include such hits as:

- being sick 3 times.
- trying to get used to raising three kids instead of two... after 6 weeks, I am still no better at it!
- being behind on lots of other stuff that has to get done first.
- out-of-town.
- 3 sick kids and sick hubby.
- horse show.
- majorly hurting back that refuses to get better.

I have an even longer list of posts that I am going to start on today. As much as I would like everything to be in sequential order, it won't be happening now. And many of the posts will have long lost there value in numerous ways because I have waited so long to post them, but, oh well. I refuse to let that stop me from catching up!!

Love to all,
B

Sweet Baby J

As many of you know already, our family has welcomed our second foster child into our home and hearts. We refer to him as "Sweet Baby J". With big brown eyes, curly eyelashes and hair, he can sure draw a crowd!

J is a sweet and beautiful 10 month old baby boy who has transitioned into our family so seamlessly! It has been some adjustment on our parts, getting used to a baby in the house. Nap times and hand feedings are things that have been long-since forgotten around here.

I so wish I could post some sweet pictures of our little guy, but since I decided to go public again with the blog, that is a big no-no. So if you have yet to have the pleasure of meeting "Sweet Baby J" you will just have to use your imagination... or have me e-mail you some privately!!

Please join us in praying for this sweet boy, he deserves God's best and a beautiful life!

Playing Catch-Up

Hello out there! It's me, I am surfacing!! Things have been so crazy around here the past few weeks, I am behind in a LOT of things, one of those being blogging!

Not much to post tonight, I just decided while things were quiet and I was up by myself that I would drop a few lines to update everyone.

First of all, the reason I am up alone tonight is because Curt is sick with some nasty stomach thingy. So pray that the rest of us stay healthy!!

Second, one the reasons my life has been so crazy the past couple of weeks is because we welcomed our second foster child about a week and a half ago! Jordan is a sweet 10 month old who has a great disposition and sleeps well!! The sleeping well part means a lot to us... we love our sleep! More about Jordan to come, I am just too tired to post pictures and such tonight.

Third, Noah started Pre-K and is really liking it. He goes to school at my parents church here in town and has since he was two. We love his teachers and I like having one more year with my baby boy before kindergarten! He is having issues with the fact that the teachers will not let them play "swords/light sabers" whenever they want. BTW, Noah calls light sabers "life-savers", I love it!!

Fourth, Lauragale seems to be doing well in school but has developed some unexplained separation and performance anxiety. It makes me sooooo sad!! She used to ADORE school but things are different this year. She did have to change schools this year because of re-districting, so that, along with the new foster kids, are probably a lot for a 7 year old to handle.

Fifth, Tomorrow is our first riding lesson since my "Unscheduled Dismount" two weeks ago. Last week Lg was sick, which worked out well for me because I was STILL painin' like crazy and walking like John Wayne!! I am still a little nervous about getting back on the horse, my body can't take another fall like that! I STILL have bruises on my bum!

OK, there is probably lots of other random stuff I could bore you with, but I will stop with those exciting highlights. More to come soon, I promise!!

Love and blessings to all!

Goodbye, Zachary...

On Friday, we received a call that a friend of Zachary's family was approved to care for him until his mom is able to bring him home.

It is a bittersweet time. We knew this would happen at some point, I guess we just thought Zachary would be with us longer than 3 weeks. In any case, this is our ministry. We are here to impact a child's life in a positive way whether it is for a week or a year.

We couldn't have asked for a sweeter first foster child. Zachary was an angel. Yes, we had to work on some things... and sleeping was not his favorite activity, but what a great first experience for us all. I hope he feels the same way.

We should find out on Tuesday who our next placement will be. As always, I will keep you all updated...

Because I have made this blog private, I feel comfortable sharing a couple of photos including Zachary. Most of you have met him at church, so you already are familiar with him...

Love you Zachary...

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James 1:27

Gatesway Balloon Festival

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to attend the Gatesway Balloon Festival in Claremore again. Curt is on the board of Gatesway so we scored the VIP pass which was priceless because it gave us access to AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!! And on those two days, air conditioning was a MUST!

Holding a VIP pass not only gets you the sweet accouterments such as AC and grub, but you're also expected to help out a bit... mostly that means volunteering to be balloon crew. Not that big of a deal, we find it super fun and most balloonists are super-nice and like kids... bonus!

We all woke up before dawn to drive to Claremore Saturday and Sunday mornings to help crew. The kids loved it and Curt and I are big enough dorks that we are already talking of someday buying a balloon and trailer! Seriously folks...

We were fortunate enough to crew for a sweet couple from Kansas. They had a beautiful 3 passenger balloon named "Prairie Sunset". You can see why...

There are many fun things to do at balloon festivals as a balloon pilot. There are competitions each day such as target competitions where each balloonist takes off from a chosen location and flies over a target where they have to fly close enough to the ground to drop a small sandbag as close to the bulls eye as possible. Another competition is the "Hare and Hound" where a chosen balloon is launched and flies an unknown course while all the other balloons have to follow and the one who chases and finds the "hare" balloon first, wins.

There were lots of other activities to take part in at the festival... There was a killer car show, (I *heart* cars!) arts and crafts and believe it or not, a Mr. and Mrs. Balloonfest pageant.

I wish I could tell you that we were able to avoid that pageant like the plague... not so much. Not my daughter, but my *SON* ASKED to be in the pageant when they were on stage calling for contestants. Oh my, that was interesting!

He got 1st Runner-Up, he did! ~*Proud parents we were!!*~

You like how he is all decked out in his t-shirt and athletic shorts... yeah, we were not thinking "Pageant Contestant" when we were dressing to help with the balloon at 5 in the morning!!

They even gave Lg the 2nd Runner-Up gift because only 2 girls entered the contest!!

Ahhh, my two beauty contestants...

Finally, I will leave you with some pic's Curt took while on his balloon ride. Can't wait for Curt to get his pilots license so we can do this whenever we want!!!!

Who wants a ride???

Fun at the Lake

After we picked up Lg from kamp, we all stayed for a long weekend at a super-cute cottage in Blue Eye, MO. While we were there, we spent a couple of days at Tablerock Lake. We had a great time on our rented "Party Barge" and wave runner.

Here are Lauragale, Noah and their cousin Adia in front of our cabin. Notice the matching outfits I found for the 3... ALL for under $20! (I HAVE to mention that!!)

Here are some more pics of the super-cute cottage. It was right on the lake and very secluded! It was just built last summer and it has a beautiful deck with hot-tub, a great kitchen and two bedrooms plus a loft!

Ok, enough about the cute cottage. I know your dyin to see some lake pictures now!

What fun!!! We HAVE to do the lake thing more often!