A bad blogger's way of catching up

I was never a diary keeper either. Yes, I must admit that I am just a tiny bit behind. Almost a year of life has passed since I last posted. What has happened since then you ask? I will give you a very brief synopsis with a photo journal! I will start in May of 2011 and work my way foward to the current day.

BREAKING NEWS!

I must now interrupt the timeline I was on to catch up with my blog to make a very important announcement ! Parker got
married Wednesday, May 18th! Oh yes, I know. Quite shocking news, huh. I myself admit that I was shocked to find out on Tuesday night at 11 pm. Not enough time to plan or to prepare myself for the stories to follow.
After we got back home from the boy's baseball game, he asked me if we can locate a wedding ring and ring box. Being the super resourceful mom and in my tired stupor I searched (at 11 pm) for the said items. I decided it was easier to go along with the whole wedding plan as opposed to fighting at this hour. After a quick search of my jewelry box and vanity I found the items that would satisfy my son and hopefully his bride to be.
I will share some of the details of the eventful day. A girl from Parker's class was the minister/wedding planner. The traditional wedding march was substituted with the Spongebob Squarepants theme song. This will be an event to remember for a lifetime. What will it be next? Stay tuned. I'm sure there will be many more stories to come!

New Year's Day

With every holiday, comes tradition. New Year's Day is no exception in our family. One must is black-eyed peas. I know weird, right! Not for me and my family. To those that marry into the family, maybe. Chris can't stand black-eyed peas but in order to have good luck for the year, one must ingest or digest at least just one. Chris eats his or should I say he takes it like a pill. One swallow, down the hatch it goes. I on the other hand, happen to enjoy them and really look forward to eating my mother's New Year's Day feast. Yummy, my mom always cooks us a wonderful meal for the day! Oh, by the way, thanks mom if your reading. Love ya!

Redi, Set, Go

One of the highlights of Madison's Christmas was the fabulous XpressRedi,Set,Go. Madison watches too much television. She found the info-mercial channel. In early fall she spotted the handy dandy cooking device that cooks everything under the sun from breakfast to dessert. She absolutely loves cooking she is just afraid of getting burned. She is petrified to take anything out of the oven. She tried cookies once and bumped her hand on the rack and that was the last time she tried it. In her opinion, the Redi, Set, Go was the solution. For weeks we ate what Madison cooked. We ate pizzas, quesadillas, cakes, muffins, you name it and she made it! We were really relieved that the new wore off and we were able to move on to the next phase.

Christmas Day 2010

Christmas morning is typically a really early morning. This year is the first time that the kids didn't wake us up before sunrise. Amazing! We actually slept til 8. Which in turn means that my kids are growing up! This makes me sad and a little nostalgic. I love Christmas mornings! The celebration of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a time of love, family, and celebration.



This picture is from 2009 Christmas morning. We spent it with family at the Great Wolf Lodge. It was a fun Christmas just a little strange to be in the water, swimming after just driving through the biggest blizzard in years. The kids loved it!








The last two pictures are from 2007. See this is what happens when I blog. I spend more time looking at old pictures and get a little sidetracked and off the subject. Madison was in love with Troy that year, she was so happy to have the High School Musical movies. Parker is showing off his new pj's.
He wasn't so excited about clothes, kids never are. He would rather be opening toys. Ignore the wild hair in the background of the picture. That is the hair of some crazy lady that lives in our house! She doesn't do mornings, trust me I know her well!! Ok, ok. Enough with reminiscing. Move on already. On to the next post.

Christmas Eve

I have to state this first off in this post. I know that Christmas isn't about gifts. With that said, I will share the events of Christmas Eve.
By the time that Christmas Eve rolls around, the kids aren't the only ones around the house getting anxious. I am just a bad. I love surprises and opening gifts.
This year was full of surprises.
Starting with our surprise for my dad. He has been shopping for months for a new grill and we found the perfect one. We were all excited. I love to surprise others. But...... I love to be surprised myself too! I mean really, who doesn't love surprises. Throughout the year, I always list things and name off things that I would love to get at Christmas. I list them early that way when it gets close to Christmas I don't have a clue what I am getting. I might ask over and over, "What are you getting me for Christmas?", but I don't really want to know. I just love to increase the suspense. So....when it comes time for me to open my gifts, I can't wait! I got several things that I had really been wanting! I was so pumped! I got a potato ricer, Oprah's Favorite Shoes, Nike Free Run +, and a new pair of TOMS!!!

Christmas with Grandma Sheryl

Christmas with Grandma Sheryl and Lori is one of the kids favorite times. It always comes early and it kicks off the kids Christmas season. They are always so excited to open presents and this is their first opportunity.

In Sheryl's traveling she found the cutest hats and scarves that were handmade. Madison absolutely loved hers. I am not sure that she didn't go anywhere this year without the hat.

Boys of Fall

I know when some of you read the title of this post you are expecting to see football. Not on this one! This post is devoted to my "Boys of Fall." Chris and Parker love fall for one single reason, deer hunting. If we aren't tied up with some other activity you can be sure to find them in the woods at any given moment.

Thanksgiving

This year due to my lifelong dream of having a Griswold Family Christmas, we had Thanksgiving. All of my family came to my house. What an awesome day!! The menu was rather large, we ate entirly too much. Isn't that what everyone does on Thanksgiving? Oh and we all watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
I had really planned on taking pictures on all of the delicious food. But..... in all my cooking and planning I forgot. I know...stink. I'll just share the menu and links to some of the recipes instead. You can see the pics there.
It was Pioneer Woman Menu for our Thanksgiving Feast. It was delicious.
Ham
Turkey
Dressing
Delicious,Creamy,Mashed Potatoes
Soul Sweet 'Taters
Parker House Rolls
Green Bean Casserole
Pecan Pie with Whiskey Maple Cream Sauce
I think I waited too long to post this because I can't remember the rest of our menu.

Bad Blogger

Ok.....so I am not PW, I can admit that. For those who don't follow many blogs, PW stands for the Pioneer Woman. She lives, eats, and schools blogs!!
I realize I have been absent for a while now. I know, I know, absent minded. I have plenty of excuses. Madison's birthday was my last post so let's just start with the list.
1. Christmas
2. New Year
3. New job
4. The Cold, Cold, might I add COLD weather
5. Soccer
6. Soccer, did I say that twice?
7. Spring Break
8. Wind
9. Lots of Wind
10. The Drought, or should I say Drougth? Not sure?
(just a little joke from work)(maybe it's just a joke with myself!)


The List could really go on and on but I will say that my day off tomorrow will be a day spent blogging and reminiscing.

Madi's 11th Birthday Party

When birthday's come around I do my best to avoid parties.  Too many   children in one small confined space is not my thing.  I especially avoid sleep overs.  I can't stay up all night and I can't leave a group of pre-teen girls unsupervised.  I may be a bit of a control freak!

When we started out planning I decided I would give in and allow them to stay over all night.  By the week of the party before sending out invitations, I panicked and backed out.  I talked her into one evening full of fun.  I researched some party ideas online for the pre-teen.  I knew I would need to have them busy or they might get out of control.  I found one web-site that recommended a cooking party.  I thought about it and decided that I could do this.  I had to keep telling myself you can do this, you can do this.  It is only a few hours, you can do this.  I felt like the little engine telling myself over and over.   I made homemade pizza dough and gave each of them enough to make their own pizza.  After cooking the pizzas, we had homemade doughnuts for dessert.  The girls helped to glaze them and add the sprinkles.  I actually survived the evening and enjoyed being around the girls.  One down, one to go?!

      

      !!

OU Football Game

Saturday, November 13th, 2010

We were lucky enough to be given tickets to the OU football game against Texas Tech.  (Thanks so much Cindy!)  As much as it pains me to say this, it was a really fun, even though I am a Cowboys fan.  Anytime I can see Texas get beat it is great.  The truth be told I'm a person that is a fan of several teams.  I root for OU as long as they aren't playing against OSU.  I don't get to wound up or yell and scream too often.  LOL! But next weekend may be another story.   I am pulling for the boys next weekend.  They deserve the win.  They are rockin this year.  Having a 10-1 season I would say watch out OU. 

Back to the game.  We had an awesome time.  The kids loved it and couldn't believe how big the stadium was.  Parker and Madison both wanted to move to higher seats.  Parker took pictures of where he wants to sit next time!

Parker wants to be at the very tip top.  He said the higher the better!  I think he has mistaken this with the penthouse suites, not stadium seats!

Madison was a little grumpy, she stayed up way too late the night before at a slumber party.  She needs to get her rest to be a pleasant person.  I have no idea where she gets that?:) 

       

  

 

As I was cropping these pictures, I noticed the guy guy cheesing in the background.  Too funny, couldn't crop this one because it made me laugh.  Madison was more interested in what her friends were doing than who was winning the game.  Parker said "Say Cheese"  so I guess the guy in the background was just doing as told! HAHA

 

 

GO POKES!!!  Sorry just couldn't help myself!

Parents vs. Storm Soccer Game

October 26th, 2010

With all the craziness in the end of soccer season, I forgot to post about the end of season parent game.  The boys coach always has them scrimmage against the parents.  The boys love it!  It gives the parents a chance to realize how hard it is to actually play soccer. 

                     

                       

     

Just Because

Chris loves cake so much I think sometimes he thinks about getting married again just to have wedding cake.  I know he doesn't really want another wife. The one he has is probably hard enough to deal with. Hah  He loves white cake with white frosting.  I shouldn't say just white frosting.  There is a certain type that he prefers.  I think it is just the Wilton Buttercream.  It may even be made with Crisco, who knows but you know the stuff.  The amazing white cake icing that you get from the bakery.  The chain store white icing doesn't count or qualify if you are Chris.  It has to be the good stuff.  So after we had Paula's birthday and Jarrett's birthday I decided he was special enough to deserve a special surprise.  Two birthday's and he said he only got a single piece of cake!   If you know Chris you see that this is a funny statement.  One piece for him is usually as big as several pieces to the rest of us.I called the cake maker Christina and asked her to make up a cake for Chris.  She asked if it was his birthday and I said nope, this is just because.  Just because........I am hard to live with......I can be a witch.......I love my husband...........He deserves something to smile about........I know that this cake is his very favorite and I am to busy to make it myself.  So Just Because.  Isn't that something to celebrate?  It is for Chris!

 

                   

Shopping with Parker

Last Saturday, we went grocery shopping at Elk City.  We went to check out the new Wal-Mart.  I know woo hoo!  What an exciting thing, not really.  I am being facetious.  I just didn't know what to do on a Saturday with out soccer.  Parker isn't the easiest child to manage while shopping even though he is almost nine.  Sometimes I ask myself, why did he come along?  He doesn't shop unless he is shopping for himself.  I try to accommodate him the best I can.  We looked at the toys, hunting, and sporting goods.  But after that I am out of options.  Once we move onto the food he is getting a little antsy.  Unless we look at the junk food.   The boy loves junk food.  So to make it interesting for him I let him pick out a few things.  When we were on the cookie isle he says, "Mom, we have got to get some of those cricket cookies. They are so good!"  So we look at every cookie possible and he says that's them, right there with the elf!"  When I saw the name I cracked up.  Grasshopper cookies!  I love my son.  He says some of the cutest things.  Cricket cookies!!!!!  Too cute!

  

       

Salt Plains Deer Hunting Trip

November 5th-7th, 2010

        

Every year the state of Oklahoma has a special drawing for areas in the Wildlife Management Areas that are only hunted if you are drawn in.  Chris and his buddies put their names in the drawing and just wait to see if they get a chance to go.  There are several details that I don't understand about all of the draw.  They gain preference points and have better odds the more times they put in for the draw.  Blah, blah, blah.....  Anyway, they were drawn this year for a hunt in the north part of the state close to Jay, Oklahoma.  Chris said that the Salt Plains is a very interesting area.  A must see for all in the state.   I'm hoping that he takes the kids and I there this spring to dig for salt crystals.  He and Corey both got their deer quota, a doe and buck.  

Their aren't too many areas for them to stay near the Salt Plains so they decided to camp.  Roughing it for three whole days.  Not really my thing for full weekend but something happens to my husband when deer season opens. 

          

I call it deer fever.  He absolutely looses his mind.  All logical thought process is disturbed by the though to antlers. They get all pumped up and crazy.  The words of a TV hunter...BBD....Big Buck Down, Baby. This must be said in a low, growling voice with just the right enthusiasm.  If you haven't ever heard this, let me just say that I am sure that your missing out!  LOL All in all they had a really good time and enjoyed the male bonding time together!

Soonerfest Soccer Tournament

Halloween took second place this weekend to soccer.  When I think about it just about everything from the first part of September is scheduled around soccer. 

The annual Soonerfest Tourn. was held on Oct. 30 and 31.at the Norman Youth Soccer Complex.    We started Saturday off with 4 games.  Madison's team went into the tournament undefeated.  Parker's team had a challenging season.  Moving up to U10 has given them a lot of areas to improve on.  They are a good little team, just have more to learn this season.  They did win against Hobart and Clinton during regular season so that is a great accomplishment.   

We had a great weekend.  Parker had some interesting things happen in his games.  One game got particularly rough and a boy jumped on Parker on the field.  He tackled him down and was pounding him.  And why do I love this sport?  I'm not sure.  The boy was red carded and wasn't able to play the rest of the game.  I think Parker was actually just playing fair in this case but not so much in the game on Sunday.  He was the one that was yellow carded.

        

Madison's team won both of the games on Saturday and also won their game Sunday morning to move on to the finals game that afternoon.  Sunday turned out to be a great day for soccer.  Madison's team won and placed first in the tournament. 

        

Power Balance Craze

Everyone is wearing a bracelet called a Power Balance band. Everywhere you look you can find someone wearing one.  A craze like this has happened another time.  Before the Power Band it was the copper bracelet. 

Quoted from the Power Balance Web Site:

Power Balance is Performance Technology designed to work with your body’s natural energy field. Founded by athletes, Power Balance is a favorite among elite athletes for whom balance, strength and flexibility are important. 

Power Balance is based on the idea of optimizing the body’s natural energy flow, similar to concepts behind many Eastern philosophies. The hologram in Power Balance is designed to resonate with and respond to the natural energy field of the body.

“This product gets me tremendous results, it really makes a difference. As a starting pitcher balance is essential in repeating your delivery, instead of falling off towards the plate I am able to maintain much better balance throughout my leg kick. Also, you need core strength and endurance for everything and in going through my routines there is no doubt I feel better with the product on than when I don’t have it. I have no doubt PB in going to get me to the next level.”

-SCOTT KAZMIR

 

 

Chris and Mike have decided that if you make a claim and get people to support you publicly, anyone will buy into it.  So they decided to make their own, more economical version of the bracelet.  I would say it's the Dave Ramsey version of the Power Balance Band.  Chris calls his the SUPERBAND.  It makes you feel super and helps your balance just as well as the name brand.  His is so super, it has two names.  He is also calling his a Fall Prophylactic.  I think all of this saving and spend thriftiness may have gone to his brain!

 

Sock Monkeys

For our day together on Fall Break, the kids and I decided to make sock monkeys.  We went to Alco to get the supplies. Our list consisted of buttons, socks, and polyfill.  Who knew it was going to take an act of Congress to find socks here in town.  I know this is off the subject, but Alco is a MESS!  We dug through tub after tub looking for the perfect pair and came up empty handed.  We decided to try K-Mart.  Mission accomplished, we found the socks!  We ate lunch and then we got started on the project.

                     

                     

We had so much fun!  Nanny said, "I've never made a sock monkey."  Me either.  It was an interesting day.  Madison and Parker did the stuffing and Nanny and I did the sewing part.  

     

                

I've never done any sewing of any kind.  Probable not even a button.  It took a while.  I'm not a seamstress, but I actually enjoyed this project.  I think I may have to try sewing again!  Nanny is usually great at sewing but her arthritis is getting the best of her hands.  She said laughing, after we finished, "Theses monkeys would probably look better if they said "MADE IN CHINA",  my handwork is terrible!"

Here is the finished project. 

            

                                   George and Esmerelda

Two Lessons

1.  When buying a house, make sure when you take possession that you have a key for every door.

2. Don't hurry.  When you hurry, you can forget some things causing you to waste time making more than one trip to do one task.

How I learned these lessons, all in one days events. 

Today was a crazy day at work.  Not only do I deal with the normal everyday stuff that goes on, but today, I had to deal with my heathen children!  About 3:45 this afternoon, Madison calls me and says, "Mom, Parker locked me out!"  I was very busy, several customers were waiting on their prescriptions.  I tell her I'll call you right back, I have people waiting on me, I'm sorry, stay where you are I'll deal with this in a minute!.  I know, I know, I shouldn't put my kids after work, but when you have all these people standing around, you have to deal with them or else.  So after the crowd clears, I head straight to the house to deal with the next pressing issue, MY CHILDREN!!   When I drive up I see that there are several sodas on the porch but no children.  I look around and spot that there bikes are at the village.  I proceed to the front door, and sure enough the screen door is locked.  I go the the door in the garage next, yep you got it, it's locked too!  So, I go back to the car to retrieve the keys, assuming I have a key for the doors.   You know what the old saying is about assumption, guess what?  I don't have a key for either of the doors.  I look around the garage for any tool to break in to my own house.  Nothing.  I can't find anything.  And thanks to Dave, I have no credit cards to break in.  At this point, I must stop and ask the Lord and my neighbors to forgive me, because I did do a little yelling.  I am so mad at this point.  I have now wasted twenty minutes trying to break into my own house.  I want to scream, well maybe I did.  When Grammie arrives to the house, I get a card from her.  She had an insurance card, at least it is good for something.  Finally, I was able to break in and get back to work.  As I hurried out of the pharmacy, Chris asked me to stop buy the Co-op while I was out.   I head right over to get the horse feed.  I am on a mission.  I get there and realize that in my hurry, I left my purse at the Pharmacy.  I can't even pay for the feed.  I am so mad and embarrassed at this point.  I go back to work and decide to try the Co-op again later.