Photography Session with Leigh Ann

Can I just tell you that I'm thrilled with the pictures Leigh Ann took tonight of my girls? If you haven't seen them, you must look either on her blog or her website (both links are listed on the side of my blog). However, seriously, I thought the mosquitoes were going to pick us up and throw us all in the river. We even put bug spray on but one of those sorry suckers bit me right on the middle of my neck. Nice. I can't even wear a tutleneck to cover it up. Oh well, it was worth the sacrifice. No pain, no gain. Anyway, I would highly recommend Leigh Ann to anyone who needs a photographer. It will be so nice to have beautiful photographs that look truly natural and capture the girls' personalities and that don't just appeared to be "posed."

"CARS" Movie Premiere at Church

On Sunday evening, July 22nd, there was a special movie "premiere" of "CARS" at our church for preschool and elementary age children and their families and let me tell you it was quite the event. They asked the parents to drop the children off at the sidewalk in front of the building where the movie was being shown and make their entry on the "red carpet". (In realty I believe it was a long piece of red paper taped to the sidewalk but it was cute nonetheless.) So anyway, we let Meredith, Alli and our nephew, Will, out of the luxurious white minivan and onto the "red carpet." Upon their arrival on the carpet they were given movie star sunglasses and the paparazzi took their picture. They were then ushered inside to some comfy beanbag chairs and given bottled water and popcorn. The kids had a great time. The movie got a little long for Alli so we took her outside for part of the time so she could eat a cupcake in true Alli fashion (eat the frosting off the top and then proceed to eat the rest). Then, once the movie was over, they had a drawing for prizes. They had some prizes designated for preschoolers and other prizes for elementary age. Well, wouldn't you know it, that little Alli got her ticket drawn twice. The first time was for playdough and then when her ticket was drawn the second time for the grand prize she was able to trade her playdough in for it. She won a good size "Lightning McQueen" car and she was quite excited. Meredith also won a little 5 pack of "Cars" cars from the movie. Unfortunately my little nephew Will did not win a thing (I guess he takes after his Aunt Jennifer). We felt so bad, especially, when he said "Uncle Michael, when are they going to draw my ticket?" UGH! Meredith was such a sport though and opened her package and let Will borrow a couple of her little cars and they seemed to suit him just fine.

We made it to 10 years!

Well folks, that's right, Michael and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on Thursday, July 19th. It's hard to believe 10 years has gone by so I guess what they say is true in that as you get older time goes much faster. In that 10 years, we've lived in an apartment in Tulsa while I was a paralegal at a law firm and Michael was an auditor for the now out of business, Arthur Andersen. We then moved to our "first house" in Springdale where Michael continued auditing for AA and worked at Tyson. It's so funny that during that time "before children" Michael and I would get in the strangest arguments and it's clear to see that children have made us a lot less selfish. However, don't get me wrong, we still have our share of doozies but in the end, it's all good which brings us to the time Meredith was born. Now, let me tell ya, it is a little stressful to have your husband decide he wants to work for the family business and decide to commute to work an hour away while the wife is big and pregnant, sell your house, build a house an hour away, in the meantime living in a cramped apartment in Springdale while I worked until Meredith was born. How nuts was that? But, we made it through it and looking back I think how blessed we were to even be able to sell and let along be able to build a new house. Anyway, that brings us to Dyer (outskirts of Alma) where I stayed at home with our oldest. We then decided it was to much of a hassle to live that far from work so we then sold our house by owner in two weeks (oh yeah, did I mention I was pregnant again?) and then find another house in the Fort quickly. Well, that brings us to the present along with our baby Alli's birth and we're still in the same house! I guess if I don't want to move then I don't get pregnant (not planning too). So, we celebrated the past ten years with a big trip in March and went to Doe's Eat Place (excellent steaks for those who are not familiar) on Friday night. Hmmm, I wonder what the next 10 years will have in store.

Sunday Night Social - July 15th

On Sunday night, July 15th, (yes, I know I'm behind in my posting) a Brett and Thurronda invited all of Adult 1 and 2 Sunday School classes over to their house on Sunday night. Bless their hearts! I don't know how many people came, but it was a bunch. I'm not talking just adults either, everyone's families were invited as well. I must say I don't think that is something I would want to conquer but it turned out great. I think everyone had a wonderful time with the water inflatable slide in the backyard and the hamburgers and hotdogs. I know my girls greatly enjoyed their gigantic playroom with all of the Barbies and other "girlie" stuff. Towards the end of the night, we were even entertained with Britton and his paraglider (I think that's what it's called) flying through the sky dropping down little parachute men on the children which thrilled them all.

Broken Arrow - Here we come (again)!

This past week we made a last minute decision to head to Broken Arrow for a little "getaway" from Wednesday until Saturday. Before we left though, we headed to cousin Will and Zach's house to check out their new playhouse that Uncle Patrick built. We were quite impressed and the kids had a great time playing in it.

We left Wednesday afternoon so we didn't do much that night except go to the Woodland Hills Mall and let the kids play and then we headed to Hideaway Pizza (yummy) for dinner. Thursday it rained (big surprise) and instead of going to the zoo that day we took the girls and saw "Ratatouille". The girls seemed to enjoy it overall but I thought it was kind of long. Meredith is a bit of a scaredy (sp?) cat so in the beginning when the lady was trying to shoot the rats was not a good start. But, eventually, she took her hands off of her ears and stopped crying and we made it through the movie. Of course, while Meredith was scared, Alli declares, "I'm not scared." That pretty much sums up the differences in my two girls. Thursday evening we headed to Chuck E. Cheese's and met my brother and Carlee. Staci came along with us on all of our adventures as well and she was such a great help. We all managed to play enough games and earn enough tickets to get each of the girls a little squishy ball thing and they were pleased.

On Friday we headed to the zoo and luckily it was just overcast after raining the night before. My sis-in-law Carrie brought cousin Carlee as well and the girls just had a great time. Cydnee stayed at home with Carrie's mom. Of course, Alli and Carlee wanted to splash in every puddle they could find which was pretty funny. They were a little disappointed that the polar bear exhibit was under construction but the disappointment lasted about 20 seconds and they were on to the next exhibit. That evening my parents watch my girls and Chris and Carrie's parents watch their girls and we met up with them at PF Chang's which was quite delicious as normal. It was great visiting with them without the children for a change and it was a great time.

That brings us to Saturday and we headed home around lunchtime. My dad was moving his carport to the back of the house to make room for the addition that they're adding on so the granddaughters got to put their hand prints in the cement which was neat. If you haven't heard, my parents are adding on another bedroom and bathroom so my grandmother can move in with them. We are all very excited and hope the plans will be approved soon.

Last Week at Work

Monday, July 9th and Tuesday, July 10th were bitter sweet days for me. Those were my last two days at the Marshals Office in Ft. Smith. I have worked there the past year and a half and have enjoyed almost every bit of it. The office was sweet enough to throw me a going away lunch party on Monday and brought in lunch and a yummy cake. They also gave me a gift certificate to a day spa which is so awesome! I agonized over going to work in the first place after staying home for 3 years after Meredith was born but things seem to fall into place and it looked like the Lord was providing a good situation for us. However, recently childcare became more of an issue and Michael felt strongly that it wasn't worth the hassle so it was with a heavy heart that I gave them my notice. I do look forward to the future and staying home with the kids again. It will be nice to spend quality time with Alli like I did with Meredith when she was younger. I plan to break Alli of her closet pacifier sucking and get her potty trained this summer as well. Meredith starts kindergarten in the fall and I hope to get involved in her school so the future looks bright as well.

Leisa and Holly - I plan on visiting you gals often at the office so you don't forget about me!

July 6th Weekend

I was just informed by my sweet friend at work, Leisa, that it was time for me to update my blog. So, here I am, doing what I'm told, as usual, updating my blog so I guess I'll write about this past weekend.

I worked Friday and met Trish and Holly that night at Holly's favorite store, TJ Max. I then went back home and went to bed (yes, I know it doesn't get any more exciting than that).

Saturday was a pretty good day. I took the girls and we met Michael at the mall for lunch at the Food Court and then Michael took the girls on home and I headed to the Dillard's 30% of Clearance sale prices (can't beat that!). I looked at swimsuits (depressing) and got Alli some new shoes and Meredith some new kindergarten clothes. By the way, if anyone knows the dress code for FSPS please let me know. Are they strict on kindergartners? My main concern is sleeveless shirts. That's as about as "risque" as it gets in this household. Anyway, later that evening Michael's cousin's daughter, Hannah, came over and babysat the girls so we could go out to eat and to a movie. We went to Chili's (thanks to a gift card) and, unfortunately, I picked the movie "1408". UGH! Can I just say that no one should go see this movie if you want to have an enjoyable movie experience. I was in the mood to see an exciting movie and saw that this movie received good reviews. However, it was just disturbing. I have a feeling that Michael will want to pick the next movie we see (probably in about 6 months or so).

I guess now I'm up to Sunday. Can I just say "extended session"? Those of you that go to our church know exactly what I'm talking about. If not, "extended session" duty means it's your turn to take care of a preschool class during the main church service and the schedule rotates every 2 to 3 months or so. Well, it was our turn to watch the 2 year old (Alli's class). There were 11 of those little ornery critters. Keep in mind that my daughter is one of the orneriest of all so I say it with love. Needless to say Michael and I were so glad when the church service was over and we managed just to have one child with a fat lip (victim of a toy run-in). Believe it or not I did take my camera with me but we were so busy trying to keep the children from hurting themselves or others that I did not have time to take any. So, you just have to take my word on it. After Alli and I took our Sunday afternoon naps, we headed over to a couple's house in our Sunday School class for a class social which was a lot of fun. The girls had fun playing outside and Alli made a complete mess of a chocolate ice cream cone and we had to hose her and borrow clothes before we left.

Have a great week!

Jennifer

Fourth of July

I'll just start this saying that I forgot my camera for the big Fourth of July celebration at Tom and Patty's. Oh well. I guess I'll just copy Leigh Ann's idea from her blog and put some past "patriotic" picture or pictures (whatever I can find) on the screen.

We had a great time celebrating our nation at Grammy and Papa's this year. They had a pretty big shindig (sp?) with swimming in their new swimming pool, great food, and great fireworks. They had several of their good friends, Becky, Patrick, Zach and Will along with our family, Roger, Trish and Jedidiah and friends of Becky and Patrick. We were all grateful that the rain stopped that night so we could actually go outside. (Personally I've decided all of this rain is a plague and I'm fully expecting locusts and frogs soon. We also need some good 100 degree heat coming around, if you know what I mean.)

I did learn one interesting thing about Trish though that night and that was her fear and possibly hatred of frogs. During the fireworks display (thank you Michael, Patrick and Roger) I was walking back towards my seat on the driveway and all of a sudden I heard a loud scream shouting "Watch Out Jennifer!" or something along those lines. Immediately I thought that a firework was coming straight towards me so I my stomach kind of did a little flip. Then, once I gathered my wits about me, she mentioned something to me about not stepping on a frog (I guess technically it was a toad). Anyway, as you can imagine a big relief came over me and it made me laugh. I don't know if Trish found as much humor in it as I did. I have a feeling this won't be her last run in with this type of creature since her son did not exhibit the same type of fear that she did.

Weekend of 7-1-07

It's taken me a while to get this post on the blog due to me letting my camera battery die and having to recharge it. Likely excuse, huh.

This past weekend me and the girls headed to Broken Arrow to visit my side of the family which was great fun. The girls always look forward to going to see Grandma, Papa, Great Grandma, Gran, Aunt Staci, Aunt Carrie, Uncle Chris a/k/a Uncle "Bubby", Aunt Carrie, and cousins Carlee and Cydnee. I guess you see why they are always excited to go. We went to BA on Thursday afternoon and hung out with all of the family that evening and ate dinner together. After dinner, Staci and I headed to my sister-in-law's salon for an 8 p.m. appointment for cuts and color (I know you thought it was natural). It certainly comes in handy to have an awesome sister-in-law to make appointments that late at night and gives a great cut too! How blessed am I to have her as a sister-in-law.

On Friday, Staci and I met my friend Adi and her daughter at Woodland Hills Mall (boy, do I love and miss that place) for the kids to play at the little playground they have there. It was so nice to see Adi again and her sweet little girl. Adi and I went to TU together and met through the Baptist Student Union and have been friends ever since. Her daughter and Alli are close to the same age but her daughter is almost as tall as Meredith! I think they had fun playing and then we headed to the Food Court for some chow.

This is Meredith and my Dad playing Kung Fu. Dad prefers to play from his recliner.

Friday night we all headed to Ricardo's (my favorite Mexican Restaurant in Tulsa) and ate Chili Reanos (sp??). We braved taking my girls and Carlee and Cydnee and it went relatively well. I only had to threaten Alli about 20 times. Staci, the girls and I then headed to Gran and Dency's (her new husband) place at the Retirement Home. It was pretty funny because when we arrived Dency was taking and shower and when he came out he was ready for bed with his robe on. Alli proceeded to ask him a few times (until he could understand her) if he were in his "nighties" and then proceeded to look at the wrinkles on his fingers. She is definitely not shy. Meredith and Alli then danced around on the floor acting like I hadn't let them out of a cage in a year and then we headed home.

On Saturday Chris, Carrie, Carlee and Cydnee brought donuts (I do love donuts) over and they all had a good time playing together. It's so fun to see them interact and how crazy they are about each other.

This is a picture of Alli & Cydnee.

This is Carlee playing the piano.










I then had a successful late night drive home on Saturday with both the girls falling asleep in the car (once the pounding rain stopped) and put them in bed.




This is a picture of Alli getting ready to go to "Mom and Me" gymnastics. I just thought she looked cute as can be.