Aubrey's First Game

Aubrey had her first Basketball game today. We weren't sure how she was going to do because she had a huge meltdown at her first practice, crying hysterically and saying she was too nervous to play. Eventually she joined practice and ended up having a lot of fun. Today she was very scared again, and cried before the game saying she didn't want to play. After a heart to heart with daddy she decided she wanted to play, and as soon as the game started she was okay. And she did great! Here is her very first basket, which was the first basket of the season for her team. She said she had a lot of fun and can't wait to play again. I am so very proud of my little girl.

Way Back Wednesday #41

 Here is Austin at age 2 helping daddy change the oil in 'Old Red'...

And here is Austin helping daddy change the oil in the Saturn, just the other day...

30 Days of Thanks, Day 30

Thankful at last and most of all for God and His love and forgiveness, His guidance and constant patience with me who fails daily. Without Him, I am nothing.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 29

Thankful for the multitude of memories I have throughout my lifetime that make me smile every time I think about them. Some still make me laugh out loud...

30 Days of Thanks, Day 28

Thankful that it is the Christmas season and that there are Christmas songs on the radio and Christmas lights up all around town. I love this time of year!

30 Days of Thanks, Day 27

Thankful for all of Austin and Aubrey's Grandparents. They are so blessed to have Grandma and Papa, Grandpa Dave and Virginia, and Grandma Pam who love them and spoil them rotten.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 26

Thankful for free luncheons at work on days that I forgot my own lunch.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 25

Thankful that we have found good friends who love to go camping and let us tag along. 

Thankful that we didn't freeze to death sleeping in our tent in 20 degree weather this weekend. 

Thankful for early morning fishing where the steam rises off of the river. 

Thankful for rainbows on the end of my line. 

Thankful for late nights by the fire, good food and lots of laughter. 

Thankful it was my friend Machelle who fell in the river and not me. 

And especially thankful for the permission from these wonderful friends to sleep in their warm RV so we wouldn't have to endure another hypothermic night.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 24

Thankful my parents have agreed to help me with a huge project (again) when they are visiting for Christmas. Projects are always so much more fun (and so much more of an adventure) when they help. And they turn out so much better!

30 Days of Thanks, Day 23

Thankful for our "new" truck! And thankful that our Red Sox friends got a new one so they could sell us their old one. Pretty huh? And roomy!! I am hoping that we can now drive more than 50 miles from home without fear of being stranded (knock on wood). 

30 Days of Thanks, Day 22

Thankful for our Red Sox friends, who we call our Oklahoma Family. Because they really are family. We spend and share so much of our lives with them. They have been so good to us, and we are so blessed to have them in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

30 Days of Thanks, Day 21

Thankful for my sister. Although our busy schedules don't allow us to talk as much as I would like, I hope she knows how very much I love her and how lucky I am to have her as my big sis. My kids are especially blessed to have their Aunt Di Di, who they absolutely adore.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 20

Thankful for multi-weekly phone calls with my mom in which we talk about nothing and everything. She is my cheerleader, my critic, my confidant and my best friend. I love you mom!

30 Days of Thanks, Day 19

So Thankful for my dad. He is the strongest, most kind, generous, and patient man I know. He is the standard to which I hold most everyone. I love you daddy!

30 Days of Thanks, Day 18

Thankful that this is a very short work week (2 days!) and that I get a 5 day Thanksgiving break!

30 Days of Thanks, Day 17

Thankful for lazy Saturdays and sleeping in.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 16

Thankful for Fridays. And thankful that I have a job to go to everyday so that Fridays are a big deal. Thankful for "crazy" people.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 15

Thankful that my kiddos have such a good daddy. He knows how to keep the magic and the fun and the playfulness alive for the kiddos, mostly because he is just a big ole' kid himself. Thankful I get to share my beautiful kids with him.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 14

Thankful for free tickets to Oklahoma City Thunder game so my boys could go (Austin had a blast with his daddy), and for dates nights with my little girl.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 13

Thankful for French Vanilla creamer and coffee before bed.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 12

Thankful basketball has started, and that Austin is playing with his baseball team again. We have grown to love his team, and the parents too. And thankful that little Aubrey is going to venture out and do basketball too. Pictures to come! (Her first game isn't until the first part of December).

30 Days of Thanks, Day 11

Thankful always for the men and women who serve to keep this country free. I admire their bravery and courage and know that they are the real heroes.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 10

Thankful most of all and every day for my kids. They fill my days with laughter and beauty and noise (oh so much noise) and faith and wonder and stress. I would be empty without them.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 9

Thankful for the fancy schmancy recipes Brian finds that call for wine. Thankful for left over wine.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 8

Oh so very thankful for "I love you Mommy" notes left by my little girl on my nightstand.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 7

Thankful for my kids' school. We have been so blessed by wonderful teachers, especially this year. Thankful they take such good care of my kids.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 6

Thankful this election crap is almost over. And thankful for the right to vote, which (yes mom) I exercised today.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 5

Thankful that Brian and I both have pretty flexible jobs so that at least one of us can get off when one of the kids doesn't feel good. Especially thankful that Austin's belly ache went away.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 4

Thankful for long naps in the afternoon while cuddling with my girl.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 3

Thankful for beautiful fall Saturdays spent outside sharing stories and laughter with friends who I love,
& watching the kids play.

30 Days of Thanks, Day 2

Thankful for Friday nights at home with nothing to do; the kids busy on the Wii and me with free time to play on the computer and listen to my tunes on Pandora.

Halloween 2012

My little Princess Fairy and Harry Potter. 

Aubrey and Austin's pumpkins from the pumpkin patch

Our spooky pumpkin

30 Days of Thanks, Day 1

Thankful for goblins and ghouls, ghosts and zombies, witches and vampires, but most of all for Harry Potters and Princess Fairies.

Blue River

We went camping again this past weekend with some good friends of ours, kind of a last minute trip. We went to the Blue River this time in south Oklahoma. It was gorgeous. Our campsite was right on the river, so we got to sleep to the sound of the water running. Nothing better...

We fished, we hiked, we climbed rocks. 

We roasted mallows, we froze and we sweat. We stayed up late and got up early. 

We made campfire coffee that was AMAZING, especially with my french vanilla creamer. 

Austin managed to get wet, but thankfully no one fell in the river. And he and I managed to get hung up more than once fishing. He felt bad because I had to cut his line once, and said he was horrible at fishing. I told him to ask Papa just how many times he had to cut my line. Or wade in to get me unhooked. 

Both of the kids caught a fish all by themselves, and I was so proud. They were tiny little perch, and may or may not have been the same fish being caught over again, but they loved it. And so did I. I CAN NOT wait to go again. I am so very sad that we spent so many years here not camping. 

I plan to rectify this from here on out.

Annual Trek to the Pumpkin Patch

The kids were on fall break last week already. I was able to take off Thursday and Friday for a nice four day weekend. We took advantage of our time off (not by cleaning the house mind you) and went to the pumpkin patch again. Here are some pictures of the day...

Aubrey riding her pony. This was the main reason she wanted to go, and was the first thing we did once we got there.

Austin on his pony. Not quite as excited as Aubrey was, but I think he enjoyed it too.

Oh how to chose just one!

Petting the animals...

Austin liked his horns. He said they weren't as sharp as he thought they would be.

Goat on a sink?!

My gorgeous kids!

Camping

As promised (although a little late but I am pretty sure you all had no expectations of me), here are pictures from our camping trip. I think the kids had a lot of fun...I know I did. I can't wait to go again!

Aubrey helping to make S'mores...and making silly faces

Seriously?! The kids spent a lot of time in the "kids' tent" playing video games. They also played a lot of football, spy games and laser tag, but they were only still enough at this time for a picture.

Playing in the lake, throwing mud in the air and catching it with our head...

makes you look like this.

Our Campsite

Aubrey "spying on the bogies". The kids spent a lot of time spying on other campers and reporting back to base with their walkie talkies. When Aubrey went with them, she was the "precious cargo" that they had to make sure to protect. I wish my sister and I would have had walkie talkies when we where little...oh the fun we would have had!

The boys on our nature walk.

Aubrey on the nature walk. I taught her well about the importance of proper cold drink procedure.

Can you see the deer?

The view from our campfire.

Roasting Mallows.

Skipping rocks. 

Finding the perfect rocks to skip. Or the perfect rocks to bring home.

Overdue For An Update

Oh I am such a slacker. But a busy slacker. It is hard to believe it has already been over a month since school started! We are almost done with the first quarter; and we went to parent-teacher conferences tonight. I must say, I am one proud momma. Austin's teacher said he is doing great, is a wiz at math, and is well behaved (for the most part-she did say he gets excited sometimes and has a hard time staying in his chair and not talking to his friends, which was not news to us). We got his test scores from the state testing last spring for 3rd grade, he scored high on both math and reading. Aubrey is doing great as well. Her teacher said she started Kindergarten having already mastered all of the Kindergarten skills, and is almost finished with all 1st grade skills as well. She is reading really well, and like her brother, loves math. My brilliant babies. They are already smarter than their mommy.

Baseball is back in full swing for Austin. He is in kid pitch, which has been a learning experience for the team, but they are doing great. Austin likes to pitch and does really well. Aubrey's team didn't play fall ball, so we are looking forward to spring. I keep trying to get her to try something different like dance or soccer or gymnastics, but she only wants to play baseball. I think if I just signed her up for something she would love it, but I am not sure how much thinner I can spread myself so I don't push her too hard! My poor girl, she needs a shirt that says "I have no life...my brother plays baseball".

I am staying busy with work, and am back to working 5 days a week during school hours. I really enjoyed having a few days off during the summer each week! I also had the opportunity to work in Tahlequah (180 miles north east) for a few weekends doing intakes for a mental health agency, and made some extra money for Christmas. That was exhausting but worth it, although my little Aubrey missed me very much. On top of that I stay busy with the PTA. I took on the Treasurer's role, and my president is wearing me out. She is a 20 something, high energy, manic girl who has fifty new ideas each day that she has to call me about, and is always needing a check for something. Not sure how long I can take it...

We continue to try to spend weekends playing as much as possible. Last weekend we went camping with two other couples and their boys, who are Austin's age. I was so excited to go, because I have missed camping so much! We have gone only one other time since moving to Oklahoma, and that was pre-children! We had a great time, and I will post pictures soon (I promise!!!).  I think this coming weekend is the first weekend in over a month where we don't have baseball, or work, or plans at all. I am looking forward to getting some work done around the house and taking a long nap. And maybe writing another post...

Funny...

...and just a little too much like me.