Christmas Eve Pictures

I've got quite a few Christmas pictures so I thought I'd make a few post with different slide shows of the different Christmas celebrations we participated in.  Anyway, here's some pics from Michael's parents' house on Christmas Eve.  Along with us and Michael's parents, Becky, Patrick and the boys were there and Patty's sister, Darla and husband George along with their kids, Janie and her husband Dale and Terry and her husband Steve.  Hannah (Janie's daughter, remember from Gulf Shores?) and Sarah (Terry's daughter) were there as well as providing entertainment.  Our kids are so crazy about Sarah and Hannah, they just love spending time with them.  Hannah taught Meredith, Alli and Will an animal game where you have to remember each other's animal signs which they had good time with.  The girls' big gifts from Grammy and Papa included a dollhouse for Alli and a Barbie Cruise Ship for Meredith.  They were thrilled to say the least.

29 and Holding

For those of you that are on Facebook, I'm sure you saw that I had my 29th birthday, yet again, on Wednesday. (yes, I know, lucky me for having such a convenient birthday for everyone). Anyway, we had a good time. Michael ordered a cookie cake on Tuesday and the 4 of us pigged out on pizza and cookie that night. It was yummy. Michael got me a "hot stone" massage gift certificate that I'm very excited about using. I've never had a massage like that but I have a feeling that I will like it. If any of you have had one, let me know what to expect. The girls got me an itunes gift card which is something you can never have too much of so I was grateful. Tonight Michael's parents, Patrick, Becky and the boys along with our family went to the Catfish Hole in Alma (yummy) and had birthday banana pudding with candles and everything for dessert that Patty made and it was delicious! When we were in Broken Arrow, my sister-in-law Carrie made me a yummy birthday poppyseed cake which was so sweet.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. 

Oh yes, for those of you that haven't already heard that great news, my friends Nathan and Emily went to South Korea and brought home their baby boy Owen. The girls and I went to the airport along with a bunch of others and greeted them and it was so great. Take a look at her blog for more details. It will definitely make you smile.

Alli's Preschool Christmas Program

On Wednesday Alli's preschool (& cousin Will's kindergarten) had their Christmas program before they let out for Christmas break.  As usual it was cute as can be and if you make it to the "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" song Alli is pointing straight at her Grammy to wish her a personal merry Christmas.  This is kind of long so it's mainly for the Grandparents to watch, however, you're more then welcome to as well.  I will put Will's main parts on Youtube and send to Patrick to put on his blog at a later point if he chooses too.

We came, we saw, we conquered.

Well, we made it back from Disney World today and I'm tuckered out. Let's just say the flight there was a whole lot shorted than the flight home (thanks to icy weather) but, hey, at least we didn't have to spend the night at DFW so it could have been worse. Anyway, it was a nice trip. On Friday and Sunday we spent the days at the Magic Kingdom on Saturday we went to Disney Hollywood (formerly MGM), and on Monday we went to Animal Kingdom. I think the girls loved meeting all of the characters the best and their favorite ride was Splash Mountain (a fancy log ride). Alli enjoyed all of the rides and shows but Meredith wasn't too crazy about the Star Wars flight simulator ride and the It's Tough to be a Bug show at Animal Kingdom (both too scary for her taste). They enjoyed the High School Musical 3 show/parade at Disney Hollywood as well. Oh yeah, they all really liked the character breakfast at Disney Hollywood with all of the Playhouse Disney (Disney Channel) characters like Little Einsteins and JoJo and Goliath.  Here are some pics from our trip. Oh yeah, one memorable moment at DFW was when we were all waiting to board the plane, she asked the question in earshot of all around us, "Did somebody toot?" (It wasn't me either). Anyway, we gave a lot of strangers a good laugh for the day. What can we say?

Children's Choir Performance

On Sunday, our children's choir and adult choir put on a great Christmas performance at our church.  Meredith sang in the children's choir and here is a little clip of one of their performances.  Enjoy!

Breakfast with Santa

Last Saturday the girls, myself and Patty all went to "Breakfast with Santa" put on by the Junior League here in town.  The girls had a great time visiting with Santa along with listening to a husband and wife music team sing Christmas songs for kids.  Believe it or not, the girls even made it to the newspaper.  It was pretty funny because I teased Abby, a fellow blogger, the other day saying that we only make newspapers or magazines if we're in the background and here's the proof!  You have to look closely where I've circled them in the top right hand side.  I've also included a picture of the girls which I scanned.  Bedford's Camera & Video took the picture at the event, to give credit where credit is due.

All I want for Christmas is. . . . .

As I'm sure most of you know, my sweet Meredith had a rather unpleasant day at school on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  She was up late Monday night first of all coughing so I gave her some powerful cough medicine so she could sleep since nothing else seemed to work.  I then let her sleep in later and I took her to school around 8:45 a.m. or so.  I then proceeded to take Alli on to preschool and go home and cook a corn casserole for Michael's work's Thanksgiving lunch that day.  So, I take the casserole to the lunch and just fill my plate with yummy food when my cell phone rings.  I look down and see it's her elementary school calling.  Now, you moms know when you see that phone call it's usually not a good thing so I was already prepared for a sick child (I figured she had a coughing spell).  Boy, was I wrong.  It was her principal and she told me that Meredith got her top tooth knocked out at recess and I needed to come pick her up.  I asked her how Meredith was handling it and she said that she was being brave.  So, I gave my yummy plate of food away to Patty and off I went to the school.  Of course, as soon as I walked in the nurses room all braveness went out the window and she cried.  Oh, it was so sad.  She had blood all on her jacket and shirt and two fat lips and a swollen nose that also looked like it had been bleeding.  Apparently she was handing a pair of gloves to her friend that was on the swing and she didn't time the hand off right or didn't account for the girl that was swinging right next to her friend.  You guessed it, she got whacked in the face and knocked on her caboose.  Of course, when I heard swings I thought just your normal playground swings.  But, oh no.  These swings in the back of the playground are something I have never seen before.  I'm sure they're great fun to ride on but not to much to get hit with.  They are made out of metal with some sort of a seat and a platform thing for your feet, I believe, and she got hit with the metal platform thing.  OUCH!  We are so fortunate because she had yet to receive her permanent teeth up top so this was just a baby tooth that got knocked out.  Her other tooth is loose as a result but thank goodness it's still hanging on.  So, since that tooth really wasn't loose prior to this, it may be a while before she has another tooth again.  We tried to look for her tooth on the playground to no avail.  They have a bunch of trees so all of the leaves were on the ground and it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  So, Meredith wrote a sweet little note to the toothfairy and she got her cash.  It was quite a day.  Here's a picture Michael took with his cell phone but it really doesn't do it justice since she won't show her mouth nor the huge cut on the inside of her lip.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you and yours had a marvelous Thanksgiving and reflected on all we should be thankful for along with a scrumptious feast.  We ate our big meal at Michael's parents' house along with Patrick, Becky, Will, Zach, Becky's friend Julie and our friends, the Lightner's.  We had a great time and the kids all really enjoyed playing with each other.  Not to mention the beautiful weather as well.  

 

After lunch we then headed over to Broken Arrow to spend some time with my side of the family.  My Uncle Dean was in town from Albuquerque so it was nice visiting with him as well.  On Thursday night we spent the night with my brother Chris & Carrie so the girls enjoyed the "sleepover" with their cousins Carlee and Cydnee.  Then, Carrie, myself, my mom, and Staci all met at 7:30 a.m. (minus Staci, she met us later) at WalMart for some deals.  That's about as early as we can function.  We then headed to the mall and messed around shopping there.  We had a good time nonetheless.  The guys played golf at 1 p.m. so we had to make it by so they could go.  On Friday night we all headed to Hideaway Pizza (yummy!) and then took all of the girls to Rhema to look at the beautiful Christmas lights.  On Saturday Carrie cut all of our hair and then we headed home.  Pretty busy weekend!

Becky's Birthday

Today is my sweet sister-in-law, Becky's birthday (Michael's sister).  Tonight we're heading over to the in-laws for pizza (I'm supposed to order a canadian bacon/pineapple pizza for the birthday girl - not sure what to think about that) and chocolate pie made by Patty (Becky's favorite).  She is exactly one month older than me, even though I choose to stay at age 29 Becky is truthful and has come to terms with her age.  Anyway, I am quite blessed to have her as a sister through marriage.  She is so incredibly thoughtful, caring and sweet.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECKY!

Picture Tag

Sorry it's taken me a little longer to post this time than normal but Alli came down with strep throat on Tuesday afternoon and seemed to be better on Thursday and now Meredith is complaining of a sore throat so I've started her on the antibiotics now.  So far, this fall has not been good to us in the health department.  Hopefully it will get better.  It'd be nice if we could stay well for a week so we can get the flu shot before we get the flu.  

Anyway, my sweet friend, Leigh Ann, from Still Moments, picture tagged me this time.  I'm supposed to post my 4th picture in my 4th folder on my computer.  So, I looked through my files and this is what is was:

This picture was taken on February 23rd, 2007, and it was Michael and Meredith's birthday.  Yes, they have the same birthday which is pretty neat.  I didn't have to buy Michael a birthday present in 2002.  I thought a baby was good enough.  The girls hair is all fixed up (by their Aunt Carrie, of course) because Meredith as a flower girl in her great grandmother's wedding that day.  It was quite the day!

So, I now tag Patrick (he always has great pics), Corrie (tagged you back, hehe) and Trish (yet again, sorry).

Weekend

Meredith and Alli were both out of school on Friday for Teacher Meetings so we planned to head to Broken Arrow to spend the weekend.  Well, guess what!  Meredith started throwing up on Friday morning around 6;45 a.m. or so.  So, that kind of threw that plan out of the water.  So, Meredith started feeling better and acted fine and still wanted to go to BA.  So, we packed all of the bags loaded up the car and got to Roland and you got it!  Mama, I don't feel so good and I feel like I'm going to throw up.  I then whipped the car in the McDonald's parking lot (last stop before the interstate, thank goodness) and grabbed a plastic bag and handed to her and that was that.  I then left a present for the town of Roland and headed back to the Fort.  Meredith then ate dinner like normal and seemed fine the next day so we tried the trip again and this time with more success.  

It was a quick trip.  Basically, we got to my parents' house, they watched the girls while I ran to Gymboree (great sale over the weekend by the way).  We then headed to Aunt Staci's current employer, Ted's Mexican restaurant and waited for an hour so we could sit in her section.  Oh yeah, my brother Chris and niece Carlee also met us there (Carrie was babysitting a friend's baby along with Cydnee).  The girls were very well behaved which made it so much easier and Staci did an excellent job serving us.  We then packed up the van and headed back on Sunday around lunch so I could make it for choir practice.

I didn't even have time to break out the camera. 

I've Been Tagged!

Well, my friend Corrie aka the "Cent-sable Mama" has tagged me and this is a different type of tag then normal.  Here are the rules:

• Grab the nearest book.
• Open the book to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post the text of the next two to five sentences.
• Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the intellectual one.  Pick the closest.
• Tag five people to do the same.

Most of you that are familiar with me know that I'm not the biggest novel reader on the block, unless, of course, you're talking about children's book.  But, it just so happens the closest book to me right now is "Walt Disney World with Kids 2009."  For those of you who don't know, we're planning a trip to WDW in December so I'm busy getting tips and making reservations regarding this trip.  So, let's see, pg. 56, fifth sentence is in the chapter titled "Choosing a Hotel" and is under the subsection of "The Grand Floridian" and it says:

Pluses:

• Convenient location on monorail line.
• A private beach and marina on the Seven Seas Lagoon and numerous boating options.
• On-site child-care center.
• Three programs for children: Grand Adventures in Cooking, Disney's Pirate Adventure, and Wonderland Tea Party.
• On-site health club and full-service spa.

Sounds lovely doesn't it?  Too bad we're staying at an "off-site" resort that is probably a lot less expensive.  That child-care center does sound grand, doesn't it?!

So, I think I'm going to tag:

Trish

Jennifer M.

ShaRhonda

Emily W.

Jenni

 

Baby Shower for Emily W.

On Saturday afternoon several of us ladies from our Sunday School class had the honor of hosting a baby shower for our friend Emily.  It is so exciting because she is just waiting for a phone call from South Korea telling she and Nathan that they can go pick up their baby boy, Owen, they are adopting.  I'm sure several of you have read her story on her blog that I have linked on my sidebar.  Anyway, she received so many precious gifts and her cake was just beautiful.  In case you can't read it due to its foreign language, it says "son."  She also has pictures on her blog of Owen and he is just the cutest little thing and you just want to pinch those little cheeks.  Congratulations Emily!

America's Most Wanted

Hopefully a lot of you Arkansans watched or recorded America's Most Wanted on Saturday night.  The show focused on Arkansas cases and in particular Fort Smith.  It was pretty cool to see my old buddies from the Marshals Office in the background on horses behind John Walsh as he introduced the different stories.  Leisa- You did a fine job at keeping that horse under control.  I knew Leisa could ride a horse but I didn't realize the other guys could.  Anyway, much of the show was focused on the murder of Missy Witt, in particular.  She was kidnapped from a bowling alley in Fort Smith and her body was found 50 miles away in a forest area.  Since it was featured on AMW, you probably figured out that her killer has not been caught.  I specifically remember when this happened because Michael had asked for prayer for the family at the Baptist Student Union at TU during this time.  Michael and I were not dating then so I didn't know many of the specifics but remember being horrified at such a monstrous crime.  I want to encourage all of you to go to this website and read about the crime.  The website is http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=59549.  The more people that read and are familiar with this crime the better the chance that someone will come forward with information.  For example, the police believe there was a good samaritan that moved Missy's body from its original placement so that it would be more easily found.  Even if that person would come forward I'm sure it would be a great help.  The show also featured information regarding the recent gruesome murder of Little Rock reporter Anne Pressly.  It is so important to get this evil person off the streets as well so he does not brutalize someone else.  

I promise my next post won't be so depressing but I feel like this information is so important to share.

Tommy's Birthday

This past Saturday we had the honor of celebrating Tommy's (Michael's dad) birthday with all of us, Becky, Patrick, Will & Zach along with Patty, of course.  Tommy better enjoy this year because next year is a big birthday.  Kind of like I'm still 29.  Anyway, Becky picked up Popeye's Chicken for us all and Patty fixed a peach cobbler and we all had a good time.  Here's a picture of Tommy along with his little buddy, Jessie (one of his 5 little buddies).  Tommy- It's my pleasure to call you my father-in-law and I wish you the best over this next year!

Meredith's Soccer Tourney

Meredith's team did a great job in her first soccer tournament.  Their team, the "Dynamite" finished second place overall.  They managed to come up through the losers bracket and play three games on Saturday to finish second.  It's safe to say they were exhausted by the third game and they were playing a team that hadn't played yet that day so it was tough.  It's funny though how they played and beat their first game on Saturday against the same team that put them in the losers bracket but yet there were different players on their team.  Oh well, such is life.  The girls were quite excited about their trophies and all of the girls soccer teams in their age bracket had a skating party afterwards which was so fun.  Meredith and Alli had a blast.  It will be nice to have our Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays back for a while as well, until Spring season anyway.  Now we just have dance on Tuesdays and Church on Wednesdays.  YEA!

Halloween

Thank goodness we were all well for Halloween this year.  It was a close one, that's for sure.  Meredith dressed up as Cinderella and Alli was Jasmine.  Neither one wanted to wear their crowns with their costumes because "they bothered them."  Meredith didn't want to wear dress shoes with her dress, just tennis shoes and she didn't even want to wear makeup.  So, we were pretty basic princesses at that.  Oh well, that makes it easy for me.  We first headed up to our church for the Fall Festival where the girls went trick or treating at car trunks in the parking lot.  They also had hot dogs, cotton candy and popcorn along with music which was neat.  I took Alli's picture with her buddy Mason (Superman) from church and I thought it turned out so cute.  She's just crazy about him.  We then headed back home where I took Alli up and down our street to different houses and Meredith stayed home with Daddy to hand out candy.  For those of you that don't know this, Alli has a true passion about candy.  I have a feeling she'll be one of those teenagers that are 18 and still dressing up trying to get candy.  We'll see I guess.

Meredith's Awards Assembly

Meredith started off first grade with a bang this year. Her school had their awards assembly on Friday afternoon and she received the Perfect Attendance/No Tardies award as well as the Principal's Honor Roll. She was really excited about the perfect attendance award because all of the kids that received this award get to stay after school one day next week and watch "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movie with the principal. We're so proud of her. She puts a lot of effort into her schoolwork and always tries to do her best. Our parent/teacher conference with her teacher went really well this week as well. She actually has a little bit of homework this year. She must read at least 20 minutes every night and one night she must write her spelling words and another night do math problems. She has spelling and math facts tests on Friday so she must study for those as well. I really dread the days when she's bombarded with homework and projects. I'm sure it will be here sooner then we think.  

On a side note, don't forget to turn back your clocks tonight!

Oh Well, Maybe Next Year

UGH! I'm sure as you have figured out, I'm pretty bummed about the game today. I really thought this was TU's year to beat the good old U of A. The Razorbacks seemed to do an excellent job shutting done our rapid scoring. If Arkansas plays us next year, maybe we can win that one. I guess there's always basketball.

Go Tulsa Hurricane!

Okay, I had to hurry up and get this posted online before out soccer games today. As a lot of you already know, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane take on the Arkansas Razorbacks today at 1 p.m. in Fayetteville. Granted, normally, I would root the Razorbacks on in victory. But.......... not in this case. I see this as being the best chance in a very long time for my little alma mater of 4,000 to 5,000 students to beat the gigantic school on the hill. Michael is still hoping the Razorbacks win, which I will never understand since he, also, went to TU so that mere fact makes it of utter importance that TU win by at least 30. I've learned to never count my chickens before they hatch because playing at the U of A is an atmosphere like no other.

GO TULSA!!

Alli's MDO, Preschool & Family Party

As most of you already know, I seemed to have caught Alli's little sickness.  I seem to be on the mend now, finally, but now it seemed to move to my ears.  Oh well.  Anyway, we finally ended Alli's birthday celebrations on Saturday when my parents and brother's family came over.  Here are some pictures of the special days on the slideshow.  I'll go into more detail at a later point.  I hope the rest of you are well and stay that way!

High School Musical 3

The girls and I hit HSM3 today on the first day it opened in our town and it was really cute.  I think Meredith really enjoyed it.  Alli would have enjoyed it more if she hadn't been so tired since we saw it at 4:30 p.m. and that's the time of the day that Alli struggles the most with her tiredness.  Anyway, they were both very well behaved and I was proud of them, especially Alli.  A friend of mine, Jennifer M., invited us to go see the movie with her two older girls and I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend Allyson along with her kiddos there as well.  I was just so relieved to find out that the movie would be rated G again for the third time.  I was so worried that since it was making a change to the "big screen" rather then just on the Disney Channel that they would rate it PG to try and get a wider audience.  If you enjoy singing and dancing and good clean family fun, go see it!  However, I definitely think the movie has ran its course now and it should end on a good note.

Good news & bad news

The good news is that Alli is doing so much better today and those shots in the rear must have really helped along with prayer. Her temp has gone done and she didn't sleep during the day (which I was sad about) and she slept for 4 to 5 hours straight last night which was a big improvement. She was a little cranky, but who can blame her really.

The bad news is that while I was getting in to Alli's closet I noticed that the carpet was all wet. So, I immediately concluded that Alli had been playing with her little baby that pees that was laying in the floor right next to the wetness. Alli and Meredith then both denied playing with the doll and I then called in the hubby. He explained that there was no way that the baby doll could have peed that much in the floor anyway. Well, I'm sure you know what's coming next, some drain thing got stopped up and had flooded her room under the carpet. So, after the girls in bed, Michael and I cleaned up everything out of the floor (this was not an easy task) and the guys from the shop are coming tomorrow to take a look at it. I have a feeling that Alli will be getting some new carpet out of the deal considering your feet literally sqooshed (sp?) as you walked on it. It was not pretty and I have a feeling we'll be taking all of the furniture out tomorrow. Oh the joys of this week. I guess when it rains it pours.

Update on Alli

Unfortunately I had to take Alli back to the doctor today (yes, it's her birthday) because her temp was up to 103 today (the highest yet that I know of). Her doctor called us yesterday with the results of her urine test and said that afterall she did not have a bladder infection. She said she hoped it was a virus but if I didn't see improvement today to bring her in. So, around noon the ole temp started up the thermometer again and we got her in. The doctor listed to her lungs, did another blood test and another chest xray and it appears that she now has the beginning of pneumonia. So, they gave her two lovely shots in the backside which she agonized over and gave her some Tylenol with codeine and sent her home with several prescriptions. She is already starting to perk up so who knows if it's the codeine or the shots but she did mention not ever wanting to go to the doctor again and I can't really blame her. I definitely don't look forward to her next appointment whenever that should be. So, please keep us in your prayers and especially for little Alli to have a quick recovery.

Also, please keep my grandmother "Gran" in your prayers. She is in the hospital and was diagnosed with emphysema, which really doesn't make much sense to me since her previous two doctors in the last couple of weeks never said anything about that after their xrays, just fluid in her lungs. She's never smoked either. UGH! I wish Alli was feeling better so I could go see her but you know sometimes things just don't work the way we want them to, do they?

Alli's Sick

Tomorrow we were supposed to have Alli's family party with my side of the family driving over for the day but Alli started running a fever last night and I took her to the doctor today. Apparently she has a bladder infection which is what I suspected since we've been in almost every bathroom in this city. In case you don't know, or have boys, girls have a tendency to get the bladder infections simply due to their anatomy at this age. They are also more likely to get them if they "hold it" which is what my little Alli does until she's about to explode. So, today her fever was up to around 102 and just felt bad. She wouldn't go to the bathroom at the doctor's office so they had to use a catheter to get a urine sample which was traumatic for her but she was a little trooper. They also did a blood test and chest xray so it was quite a morning. She's now on an antibiotic so we hope it kicks in quickly. So, as a result, we have to postpone her family party until, hopefully, next Saturday. Poor little Alli. She was sick 2 Halloweens ago and then sick last year for Meredith's party so we had to postpone that one as well. She seems to get sick on special occasions.

Alli's 4th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese's

Well, I survived another birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's and Alli loved it.  I was hoping that since it was on a Tuesday night there wouldn't be many people there but, of course, it was a fundraising night for a school so there were a lot of people there anyway.  Oh well, it didn't seem to bother the kids and that's all that matters.  It's funny because besides sister Meredith and her friend Annali all of the rest of the kids she wanted to invite were boys from church and of course, cousins Will and Zach.  It was funny because after we decided on Chuck E. Cheese she said she changed her mind and wanted a tea party like Meredith had last year and I had to remind her that a majority of her guests were boys and they probably wouldn't get into a dress up tea party with a fashion show and their dads probably wouldn't like it either.  Maybe next year I told her.  She has had a great day today playing with all of her new toys such as Polly Pocket, Strawberry shortcake, painting set, make-up and tattoos (temporary that is).  I'm including a slideshow of the party.  Enjoy!  For those that came, thank you!

Trish's Visit

Trish, Roger, Jedidiah and cousin Raven should be back in Tennessee by now.  I think all of us here crammed in as much time to spend with them as possible and it was so fun.  On Friday a bunch of us met for lunch at a Mexican restaurant in town without kids which was wonderful.  On Saturday we had a play date at their house so the girls really enjoyed seeing and playing Jedidiah along with the other kids that came.  Saturday was girls night again at Red Lobster which was yummy.  Sunday we were able to see them at church and on Monday we met at the mall for lunch.  Trish- I'm already ready for you to come back sister!

Tagged

For the first time in my blogging life I have been tagged by Julie and Abby.  

The tag is to answer the questions with a one word answer and then tag 5 of your blog friends!

Here are my answers:

1.  Where is your cell phone? kitchen counter

2. Where is your significant other? in bed

3. Your hair color? blonde

4. Your mother? thoughtful

5. Your father? dependable

6. Your favorite thing? shopping

7. Your dream last night? weird

8. Your dream/goal? content

9. The room you're in? office

10. Your hobby? computer

11. Your fear? burglars

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? earth

13. Where were you last night? church

14. What you're not? disciplined

15. One of your wish-list items? skinniness

16. Where you grew up? Broken Arrow

17. The last thing you did? read

18. What are you wearing? pajamas

19. Your TV? babysitter

20. Your pet? N/A

21.  Your Computer? iMac

22. Your mood? tired

23. Missing Someone? sure

24. Your car? minivan

25. Something you're not wearing? socks

26. Favorite store? Talbots

27. Your summer? vacation

28. Love someone? Michael

29. Your favorite color? black

30. When is the last time you laughed? today

31. Last time you cried? noremember 

I am now tagging Carrie, Jenni, Trish, Jennifer M., &  ShaRhonda! 

Good luck!  (one word answers are kind of hard, especially on the last one)

 

Pumpkin Patch

After Meredith's soccer games on Saturday the girls and I made our annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin patch (Michael elected to stay home and help pick up the house which was great by me). As always, we had a great time.  Alli was able to ride on a pony for the first time in her life, with me by her side, of course.  Her horse's name was Star and was not exactly a speed demon and was lapped by some of the other ponies but it made her ride last longer.  I think Star felt she put in her hours already and was just going to take her time.  Who knows, maybe she's the leader of the pony union.  Meredith and Alli each picked out a pumpkin and I got a couple of mums which are quite pretty.  Now I just have to remember to water them and keep them alive.  Meredith was thrilled because she saw several of her friends from school and soccer and they both were excited to see Miss Linda and Callie from church.  

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday.  I believe he is around 59 as I am around 29.  Unfortunately we aren't going to be able to see him this weekend but we'll catch him next weekend when they come up for Alli's party.  Don't worry, I did mail him a card and we called and sang him Happy Birthday.  Anyway, I am so blessed to have such a wonderful Christian man as a father.  He rarely, if ever, missed a soccer or basketball game of mine and he built a soccer goal in our backyard when we were playing that sport and he built a tetherball pole for me when I loved tetherball in elementary school (I was tough to beat in that tetherball, I must say).  He would often shoot hoops with me in the driveway and drive me over to my friends' houses whenever I needed him too.  He's also an excellent papa as well.  My girls are just crazy about him and love to go to their house and swing on the tree swing he put up in the tree in the backyard and just spend time with him, especially outside.  My little Alli is in fact named from his side of the family.  My middle name is Allison, my dad's middle name is Allison, my grandfather's middle name was Allison and my great grandmother's maiden name was Allison and so on.  (I hope I got that right).  I couldn't ask for a better father.  Thanks Dad!  I love you!

Target Here I Come!

For those of you that haven't already found out the news from Jennifer M's blog, Target was open tonight!  I know most of you will find this hard to believe, but after Alli and Meredith were done with dance class tonight I had the notion to drive by our new Target shopping area to stalk the stores and see when everything is opening (yes, instead of people, I stalk stores, very sad).  Well, lo and behold Target was open!  I drove by the entrance about 3 times just to see if only "special people" were invited in to shop.  I couldn't tell by my drive byes, so I finally stopped and asked a young couple walking in if it was open and they said they were just going to walk in and see what happened.  So, I watched them just walk in with no bouncers kicking them out or anything so I knew we were in!  I then parked my car and the girls and I (like the proper English Mom?) headed inside to check it out.  Now, Target is not supposed to "officially" open until Sunday and I had heard they were going to have a "soft" opening so I guess this was it.  I'd never heard of a "soft" opening before but, hey, I'm always ready to participate.  Let me tell you, I've never been asked if I needed help as much as I had tonight.  I've never seen so much red and khaki.  Finally I asked a young man if he provided babysitting and he kind of just walked off (imagine that?).  For those of you that live in larger cities you do not understand what a big deal this is for our community.  I always took Target for granted in the Tulsa area so I didn't really appreciate it but now we have one.  Books a Million (similar to Barnes & Noble), Old Navy, Shoe Carnival, Best Buy, Lane Bryant and Michael's are all relocating to this shopping area with bigger and better store (bad news for their old soon to be vacant buildings).  Dress Barn, Bed, Bath & Beyond (bad news for Linens N Things), Cheddars, an additional Chick Fil A and an Ulta are also opening.  I'm very excited about the Ulta because this is like an ultimate cosmetics superstore that carries your basic brands to high end brands.   Anyway, now you all can share in my joy! 

Subscribe to this Blog Feature

Some of you may have noticed the "Subscribe to this Blog" feature that I have included on the side of the screen.  I must tell you that this has been the greatest tool for me to use to keep up with friends and family's blogs that I consistently read.  Basically, if you have a google account, it will automatically update you on new posts on the blogs you read.  If you don't have a google account this will probably make no sense to you.  However, if you do just go to your Dashboard and you'll see a reader list.  You can then add and enter the URL for each of the blogs you want to follow, even if the blogs do not have the "subscribe to this blog" feature.  You can choose to either publicly or anonymously follow blogs.  I probably have a list of 10 blogs I follow and it saves me from having to go through and click on each blog address individually.  Clear as mud?  Leave me a comment if you have any questions.

Panama City Beach, FL

As most of you already know, Michael and I just returned today from a Carrier incentive trip to Panama City Beach, Florida.  Alli stayed at my parents house in Broken Arrow and Meredith stayed with Michael's parents here so she could continue to go to school on Thursday and Friday.  It was a great break for us but I think Meredith and Alli had just as much fun at their grandparents' houses.  Michael's Uncle Alan and Aunt Jan along with their foreign exchange student from German, Maria, went as well.  Michael and Alan went deep sea fishing all day on Thursday and then Michael played golf on Friday.  You may be asking yourself, hmmm, I wonder what Jennifer did while he was out and about.  Well, I went shopping baby!  I think it's my favorite pastime and it's not that I have to spend money, I just enjoy getting out and looking.  Actually on Thursday Jan, Maria and I all went to get massages which was fantastic (thank you Carrier!) I have to share this story with you regarding Wednesday night, the day of our arrival.  Carrier had arranged for all of the HVAC people there to eat a buffet around the pool and they had a Polynesian dance crew there for entertainment.  Anyway, Michael got suckered into coming on stage with some others to try their hand at hula dancing.  Well, those of you that know Michael know that dancing is not exactly his forte so it was pretty funny. (However, I'm sure he didn't mind having the good looking hula girls around him.)  We ate at wonderful restaurants while we were there but I think my favorite was the Boar's Head in case you all ever go and are looking for a great steak/seafood place to eat.  

Here are some cell phone pictures from our balcony and Michael's dancing exhibition.