my right now

new location

2011-01-04T21:38:00.000-06:00

i ran out of space for pictures on this blog, so go to my new one! it's where i will be posting from now on!

www.stillmyrightnow.blogspot.com

december

2010-12-27T21:44:00.000-06:00

december was super-busy which was part of the reason i am just now blogging about it!

it started off with a man from church calling us about a couple of stray dogs that they had rescued. he knew that rocky had died and was wondering if we would be interested in either one. they were cute, and i was ready to take the black and white one home them. but daryl said to wait and think about it....just because we were looking at them didn't mean we were getting a dog!

after we left those 2 dogs, we stopped by the spca.

i had never been to an animal shelter before, so i wasn't prepared when i walked in. there were adorable, barking, begging dogs everywhere! i couldn't help but cry. i wanted to help all of them, but i couldn't.

the one that really spoke to my heart was this dog, harry. he was a couple of years old, and he was blind in one eye from an injury. he had to move to his own cage because the other dogs picked on him, and he wouldn't fight back. he was calm and sweet. i knew we would be best buds.

basset hounds rock! i love their ears. i told these guys that they had awesome ears, and i just had to play with them. they were kind enough to let me. {grin}

a.dor.a.ble.

turns out that daryl wasn't planning on taking any dogs home that day. we left empty-handed, and i left broken-hearted. i love animals.

later that evening was the annual bartlesville christmas parade. as we were walking to our parade float i saw this ginormous snowman on another float! so i went over there, tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he would take his picture with me! what an awesome snowman!

somehow i managed to be the only adult on our float for the church. everytime another kid walked up, another adult bailed off of the float! i kept asking if i needed to walk instead of ride, and they all said, "oh no. we need a responsible adult on there with the kids!"

we put our HUGE snowman/snowglobe inflatable on our float! it looked so cool......

until the generator ran out of gas! the lights went off and frosty melted. {sniff} but that didn't stop the kids and me from singing! after all, "the best way to spread christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!"

my little buddy, rylie!

a few days later was the annual church christmas party. the kids from sonshine school sang a few songs for us. rylie had this same look on her face the whole time she was on stage! she wouldn't sing and she wouldn't smile! it was so not like her.

so after the performance daryl gave her a hard time about frowning! they had fun tickling each other!

of course santa made a visit to the party! what's a christmas party without santa?

a few days later....it was time for daryl's staff christmas party at our house! this was us just before the fun began!

the snowman glasses were fascinating to all who tried them!

this is the youth minister's son, john. he is so stinkin' cute!

finally the last week of school rolled around. we kicked things off with a christmas play by the second graders! colby was a toy-making elf.

on december 15th, daryl and i celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. i went all out and made sloppy joes before we went to church! (this ornament was our wedding cake topper 15 years ago! it always gets a special place on our christmas tree.)

december 16th...a day that changed our family.

out of nowhere daryl called and asked if we wanted to go back to the spca and pick out a dog! what??? i thought he didn't want one, but i didn't argue. we looked at many dogs, and held many dogs. we all finally agreed on this little guy.....smudge!

he was named by the people at the spca, and we liked it so much that we didn't change it.

december 17th....slumber party at nellie's!

gina, nellie and i had a slumber party at nellie's apartment friday night. it was so great to be together again! we talked and laughed, ate cupcakes and laughed some more!

this is my birthday cupcake....pretty in pink!

we went to our favorite store, river city trading post in jenks, on saturday morning. we found these glittery legs with rubber boots and all we could say was "why?" they were so much weirder in person!

december 18th...happy 37th birthday to me!

since we hadn't done ANY christmas shopping yet, we decided to stay in tulsa for the day and do some shopping. i thought we, meaning the boys, daryl and me, were ALL going to go to the mall but i was wrong! daryl pulled up to a mall entrance and said, "i'll be back to pick you up in a little while." he dumped us off at one of the craziest malls i've ever been to on one of the busiest days of the year!

i was less than excited. i don't really like shopping at malls, and i really don't even like shopping. so there i was with two BOYS who only wanted to go brookstone (the gadget store). we got all of our shopping done in about an hour and had to wait for daryl to get his shopping done at best buy! we were actually just sitting at the entrance of the mall, waiting....

but it all got better when i got to pick the restaurant for my birthday...TED'S! there's no place like TED'S for mexican food. they have the best queso, chips and tortillas! the boys kept trying to tell our waiter that it was my birthday because they wanted me to have to wear a sombrero while the staff sang to me. either the waiter didn't hear them or didn't care because i never got serenaded! ha ha!

spencer gave me the new lee dewyze (american idol winner) cd. it's really good.

colby gave me scented socks! i got 3 pair that smelled like vanilla, lavender and clean breeze! they are so cute and smell amazing!

daryl gave me a comfy! it's not a snuggie, but it's basically the same thing. i've always thought they were stupid, but after using mine while i'm knitting....well, they're not so stupid anymore! my arms actually stay warm.

the first week off from school was pretty much consumed with taking care of the varmint dog, smudge.
he didn't like the singing penguin, so he kept trying to run away with him!

his favorite place to lay is under the tree, where....

he chews on lights,

pulls on ornaments,

and yanks the garland off!

varmint!

this is how he redeems himself with me! he knows i think he's adorable when he sleeps in my arms!

oh, and i think his favorite pastime is eating my yarn! EVERY time i sit down to knit, he gets in my basket or my lap and steals my yarn! he must be part cat!

december 23rd...christmas in edmond

we drove to edmond thursday night to spend the night with grandma instead of driving back and forth all in one day on friday.

there is an incredible house near my sisiter's house that does a spectacular light show every year. i was all excited about seeing it, but my fellow passengers weren't exactly in the mood for looking at lights, so i didn't get good pictures. :(

friday morning we went to my sister's house to celebrate christmas with my family. the whole gang was there!

my nephew, marcus, and spencer were playing "the lazy game". they both plopped down in chairs across the room from each other and played catch. if they dropped the ball, they would not get up to get it. thus, the name, the lazy game.

dad and me!

mom and me.

let's open presents!

spencer and marcus don't look quite so thrilled...

i have no idea what makenna is doing!

grammy and pappy gave the grandkids the perfect gift....cash! they were all excited about that!

thank you grammy!

thank you pappy!

he's so funny!

christmas morning....

we made the boys wait until 7:30 christmas morning to get up. of course they were wide awake before that, but they were told not to bug us before then!

we even waited to open gifts from each other until christmas morning!

spencer was so glad to get a heated mattress pad for his bed! he freezes at night!

the boys gave daryl a new OU watch.

i love that i captured colby's reaction to getting a new DSi! this picture speaks for itself!

"yes!!!!!!" spencer has been begging for a cell phone, and he finally got one!

i got a new phone, too! an iPhone! how awesome is that? i've been playing on it ever since.

december 27....

so here we are. i've done a lot of nothing since christmas day. knitting and sleeping. that's pretty much it.

smudge!

2010-12-16T20:02:00.000-06:00

we got a new puppy! meet smudge! we adopted him from the SPCA tonight. he's adorable, and we are all already falling in love with him.

it's amazing how much joy a little dog can bring!

i know i should update my blog....

2010-12-09T21:56:00.000-06:00

but i'm really sleepy! it's almost 10 o'clock so it's quickly approaching my bedtime!

i know my last post was depressing, so i thought i'd just put something random on her so that it would be a little cheerier!

here's one of my favorite jokes.

   what did the dog say when he sat on sandpaper? rough! rough!

   hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!! get it? rough! rough!

i miss my friends...

2010-11-29T21:55:00.000-06:00

it seems like some of my dearest friends are hurting right now.
i don't like that.
i want to be with them.
talk to them.
listen to them.
pray with them.
hug them.

i don't know what's going on in their lives right now to cause this hurt.
i don't like that.
it makes my heart sad.
makes me wonder.
makes me question.
makes me feel helpless.
makes me miss them.

turkey day!

2010-11-27T15:40:00.000-06:00

this year thanksgiving was at our house! i love it when family comes over. i wish they could have stayed longer.

daryl and i started food preparations early in the week. we made the cornbread for the dressing on monday night so that it would have time to dry out so it could soak up all the chicken broth on thursday. doesn't make much sense, does it? oh well, it sure was good!

daryl seasoned the turkey wednesday night so it would have time to absorb all those flavors. i was laughing at him wrestling that 22-pound bird! he was having such a hard time pulling this metal brace thingy off the turkey's legs. he kept pulling and the bird kept sliding! finally he got the thing out, and then he read the directions..."do not remove metal bar from turkey." hahahahahah!!!!!!

he tried for all of 2 seconds to put that thing back in before he said, "forget it!"

i got up at 5:50 thursday morning to put the bird in the oven because the package said it would take 4 to 5 hours to cook. that over-achieving turkey was done by 9:30! i have a thing about under-cooked meat, so i kept asking daryl, "are you sure it's done?" it was done, and it was yum-o!

dad and andy watching a little pre-turkey football....

before we ate we all shared what we were thankful for this year. colby was thankful for everything, and spencer was thankful for pappy! (i wonder what he's buttering pappy up for!)

i managed to get some really goofy pictures of all of us this year! sorry family! i had to post them because they are the only pictures i have!

spencer and marcus

my brother and me! he just loves sitting by me! you should have seen the expression on his face when he found out we were sitting together! :)

grammy and pappy...a.k.a. mom and dad

pappy tried to shove a marshmallow from the sweet potatoes into spencer's mouth, but he managed to miss!

the little kids weren't the only ones who had fun drawing on all the windows with the window markers!

partners in crime....

while the girls ran around town a little bit, spencer and marcus decided to set up for a little practical joke. they wrapped a rubber band around the sprayer on the kitchen faucet so the button was pressed down. it's a classic prank. i've seen it hundreds of times. who knew that i would be a victim of it one day?

they were hoping that grammy would have turned the water on first, but i think they were just as pleased with themselves that they got me instead! it's probably better that they didn't get grammy...she might not have been as merciful!

proud mama

2010-11-27T15:10:00.000-06:00

last wednesday night at church, my two very favorite boys read scriptures in front of the entire congregation. i love to hear young men lead in worship, especially my two young men!

(yes, the pictures are blurry. i was trying to be sneaky taking these pics, so i had the flash off!)

spencer read philippians 4:4-7

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

colby read I Thessalonians 5:16-18

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

grandma's chicken and dumplings

2010-11-22T22:07:00.000-06:00

a couple of people have asked for this recipe since i mentioned i made them, so here it is!

grandma sprayberry's chicken and dumplings

1 whole fryer or 6 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup

3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon shortening
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup hot water
flour

boil chicken in water until done. remove chicken from broth and set aside to cool so meat can be removed from bone (or cut into bite size pieces). save broth.

blend butter and shortening together. pour hot water over this. add baking powder and salt. add enough flour to make dough to roll out thin, like pie crust. you'll know you have enough flour when you get a lump of dough that is not longer sticky when you touch it. it will be between 1 and 2 cups.

sprinkle flour on working surface. roll dough out thin. cut into strips about 1" by 2".

bring broth to a boil. add cream of chicken soup. drop dumplings one at a time into boiling broth. cook over medium heat and keep stirring. you don't want them to stick together. cook until dumplings are tender and cooked through. add the cut up chicken and serve!

i usually double this recipe for my family of 4, and there aren't many leftovers!

happy sunday (and monday)

2010-11-22T21:57:00.000-06:00

yesterday was colby's 8th birthday. spencer decided it would be a great idea to practice his new trumpet skills out on colby! (of course i thought it would be pretty funny, too, so i volunteered to hold his sheet music for him!)

it's kinda hard to tell but colby is in the background of the picture with his little hands clasped over his ears! i was laughing so hard i kept moving spencer's music so it took him twice as long to play the song!

rise and shine, birthday boy! i love this little guy!

it's beginning to look a little like christmas around here....

daryl and i took advantage of the nice weather this weekend and put our christmas lights on the house and trees. since he likes to celebrate one holiday at time, we haven't turned them on yet! that's ok, though. i'm just glad he likes christmas almost as much as i do! thank goodness i didn't marry a scrooge!

i discovered i have my holly berry bushes! happy!

the bow was daryl's touch!

last night i had the honor to work with 20+ kids from church making thanksgiving food sacks for some needy families at the school we sponsor. these kids worked hard, and i didn't hear a single complaint! (well, except spencer telling me to quit taking pictures!)

today i heard my first radio-played christmas song! it happened at 3:34 p.m. as we were pulling into sonic! it was mariah carey's "all i want for christmas" which just happens to be one of my all-time favorite christmas songs! yay!

quote of the day: "put a little yay in everyday!" ~heard it on a commercial

moving on...

2010-11-20T21:01:00.000-06:00

well, it's been almost 2 weeks since rocky's untimely death, and we're all moving on. the boys have been much better than i thought they would. it must be all the prayers! god is so good.

i still get a little sad sometimes. he was such a happy little dog, and his happy little spirit is definitely missed around here.

anyway, to help take our minds off things we had cooking classes last week! (not really. i just put the boys to work!)

one cold rainy night i decided that chicken and dumplings would be perfect for supper. spencer was in total agreement and even asked if i'd teach him how to make them! the only way i know to do dumplings is from scratch using grandma sprayberry's recipe. they are soooooooo yummy!

spencer turned out to be a natural dumpling maker! maybe we'll have them more often now that he knows how to make them, too!

while spencer was working on dumplings, i helped colby make banana bread. he was shocked that i actually let him use the hand mixer! he did a great job with it....didn't even lift the mixer while it was going!

he was pleased with his very first loaf of banana bread. (the rest of us were, too! it was gone in one day!)

spencer had his very first band concert this week. he is playing the trumpet right now. he was nervous about the concert because it was just the 6th graders, and they haven't been playing for very long. he was afraid they would stink!

i'm not saying this just because he's a trumpet-player, but the trumpets were the best section! i was very impressed with them.

last night i went to the ladies christmas gathering at the battle creek church in broken arrow. it has quickly become one of my very favorite events of the year! kashia and kori went with me, and now they are hooked. they can't wait to go next year!

our stomachs hurt by the end of the night from laughing so hard!

today we celebrated colby's birthday. we let him pick anywhere he wanted to go for lunch...even in tulsa. out of all the places he knew, he chose ron's hamburgers in skiatook!

the people who worked there were so nice to him when they found out that he picked their place.

they brought him a birthday balloon hooked to the ranch dressing! i have a feeling that someone ran out and bought it real quick just for colby because it still had a price tag on it!

then the owner told him to pick any ice cream from the freezer, BUT he had to let his brother get one, too! how cool is that? i love small, local business because they usually know how to make their customers feel special.

quote of the day: “One word or a pleasing smile is often enough to raise up a saddened and wounded soul.”

Therese of Lisieux (1873 -1897);
Catholic nun

goodbye, rocky

2010-11-08T18:42:00.002-06:00

nearly 6 years ago, god blessed our family with a scruffy little dog named rocky. he was spencer's 5th birthday present. we went to canton on a cold february day and looked at lots of dogs. but rocky was the one that captured spencer's heart.

today, rocky went to be with god.

he somehow managed to get off his chain, and got into another yard. the dog in that yard was much bigger than rocky and wasn't nearly as friendly as rocky. the owner of the other dog took rocky to the animal hospital hoping they could save him, but unfortunately they couldn't. rocky died around 8:30 this morning.

i have cried off and on all day...mostly because i knew that after school, daryl and i would have to tell spencer and colby that their friend was gone. there's no easy way to do that.

it's so hard to see your child's heart break.

spencer buried rocky. he put rocky's favorite toy and a dog biscuit in the grave with him and said, "enjoy your treat on the way to heaven rocky."

after we all went back in the house, colby went back outside and put rocky's food by his grave.

this is so hard.

we are all going miss rocky a lot. i've already looked for him a couple of times. i've walked through the house and found his toys.

my heart hurts for my boys, especially spencer.

goodbye, rocky. i'm going to miss your unsolicited kisses, your funny 3-legged run, your running to bed every night and the way you flop on your back at my feet so i'd rub your belly. you are a good dog.

goodbye, rocky. you're with god now. i know he'll take good care of you, and you won't have to worry about big dogs being mean to you anymore. i thank god that you were a part of our family the past 6 years.

october

2010-11-08T18:20:00.000-06:00

i love this time of year. lots of things to celebrate and do!

this october 11 was the 70th birthday of one of my favorite men in the whole wide world...my dad! the family got together in edmond at texas roadhouse steakhouse to celebrate.

since i got stuck...i mean, since i had the pleasure of sitting closest to all the kids, i got some great pictures! (i think i was the only mom who thought stuffing rolls in your face was funny!)

dad got to ride a saddle while the staff sang to him. the first time he sat down on it backwards which cracked the singers up.

grammy wanted a picture of pappy with his grandkids. i love this one! look at spencer and pappy!

two peas in a pod!

the birthday boy.

i love this man.

fall break finally arrived, and the varmints and i kicked things off with lunch and a road trip! of all the restaurants to choose from we ended up at long john silvers!

you know, long john silvers always SOUNDS like a great idea, but just a couple of hours after eating there i am reminded why i DON'T eat there! but the hats are so cool!!!!

our pirate faces...aargh!!!!!!!

for our road trip we played right, left, or straight. that means whenever we came to a stop sign or a place to turn someone would say right, left or straight and that's the way we went! we just traveled the back roads of bartlesville, but it was fun!

i love cows. this one was on the side of the road right by the car. no fence!

i wouldn't want to meet this guy in a dark alley.

the boys wanted to see if the bull would charge them if they had red. the only thing red in the car was my umbrella. they stood in the road twirling the umbrella and taunting him, but he didn't move an inch.

the boys had never walked on a railroad track, so we did that.

the weekend of fall break, the jones crew came over for a visit. we went to the local pumpkin patch for our annual pumpkin gathering.

this was the first pumpkin i picked out. the pumpkin patch was kind of small, and most of the pumpkins were obviously just placed in the field. this one was still attached to the vine. i set it up, dusted it off and stood there admiring it. the next thing i know some little kid came out of nowhere and grabbed my pumpkin!!! he yelled to his mom, "i want this one! i found mine!" and walked off with it. sigh. oh well.

colby took this picture of me with this pumpkin. pumpkins make me smile!

the three of us girls were surrounded by boys all weekend. we were WAY out-numbered!

the week after fall break was red ribbon week at school. on wednesday we released balloons with a message asking people who found a balloon to log on to a website (www.ifoundaballoon.org) and tell how drugs have impacted their lives or the lives of someone they know.

i've never done a balloon release in all my years of teaching, so it was really something amazing to see.

within 24 hours our first balloon had been found in pennsylvania!!!! how cool is that?

a couple of days before halloween we finally carved jack-o-lanterns. colby sketches his out first, and then i carve it.

his was easy to clean out this year because when i cut off the top, i found pumpkin soup inside! thank goodness it didn't stink or i might have puked!

spencer carved and cleaned his own pumpkin this year. it turned out really good!

saturday, october 30, we went searching for a costume for spencer. our first stop was the mall because daryl thought there was a halloween store there. wrong! but we did spot something interesting in the parking lot.....weiners!

seriously! we got out of the car and there were 2 weinies on the ground, no buns or anything! colby had to take a picture because he thought it was HILARIOUS!

the next stop was wal-mart. we had fun trying on all the masks and wigs!

colby ended up being darth vader, and spencer used daryl's inflatable sumo suit and went as a wrestler. daryl and i went with another couple and dressed up as the flintstones!

daryl and i were fred and wilma.

kashia and michael were betty and barney!

before all the trunk or treaters got there, we witnessed an epic battle between darth vader and abbie kadabbie!

the boys got so much candy that they filled 4 big bowls!

this weekend daryl went to a conference in dallas, so the boys and i partied! not really, but we had an interesting adventure friday night.

first we had dinner and watched a movie. when it got dark, we got ice cream at braums and played "ultimate freeze out."

it was 40 degrees. we rolled down the windows and cranked up the a/c as cold as it would go. then we drove around town until the last person's window was still rolled down. it was SO STINKIN' COLD! i lasted 8 minutes before i quit. colby lasted 12 minutes, and spencer was the champion!

fat guy's and a carnival

2010-10-11T17:59:00.003-05:00

so last week wasn't all that exciting.

i had a 3-day workshop in tulsa about literacy. i've had a similar training in arkansas, but i still learned some great ideas and activities. the best thing was that we got to eat lunch at real restaurants (not in a teacher's lounge) and we had an hour and a half!!!! that's an eternity to a teacher.

two of those days we walked down to a place called fat guy's burger bar. it was really yummy. mom would have loved their french fries because they are "real". they still had the skins on!

daryl was sick all last week with a virus that the doctor said was very contagious and was lasting 10-15 days! yuck....i hate it when he's sick. he's not a happy camper.

saturday night the boys and i went to the fall carnival at school. colby got a ghost and a

pac-man painted on his face!
at then end of the evening we all came home with something we really wanted...

i got a chicken hat.

spencer got a viking hat.

and colby got an inflatable giant bat.
oh, and let's not forget the cotton candy.....

it's fall, y'all!

2010-10-03T16:41:00.003-05:00

thursday night i went to a little league baseball game for the first time since spencer played when he was 5! one of the boys in my math class has been begging me to come watch him play, so i made a deal with him...if he'd start turning in his homework, then i'd come to a game. so he turned it in every day for 2 weeks!!! friday was chicken nugget day! i forgot my lunch so i partook of colby's favorite lunch.
this afternoon spencer climbed the apple tree in our backyard to pick apples.

i can't believe this little beauty came from our tree!!!

the ones he couldn't reach by hand, he and colby tried other methods...

all play and no work...

2010-09-28T20:35:00.009-05:00

remember that horny toad that one of my kids found outside? well the kid that found him went home that weekend, researched the critter and bought everything he needed to keep it as a pet! and guess what else he did...brought it back to school to have as our CLASS pet! i'm such a sucker for critters. they fascinate me, so of course i let it stay.

this is spike. his favorite thing to do is straddle this soccer ball eraser one of the kids put in his cage! so funny!

he scared me one afternoon. the kids always gripe about how cold my classroom, and i've even heard them ask if the cold would kill spike. nahhhh.... but spencer took him out of his cage one afternoon after school and put him on my desk. this is all he did!

doesn't he look dead to you???? (don't worry. he's not dead, just weird!)

so my objective for last weekend was, all play and no work!

mission accomplished!

two of my very best friends, nellie and gina, came up from tulsa friday night! they spent the night, and saturday we spent the entire day exploring, laughing and playing.

i took them to see the bowling ball yard art in nowata because it's just something you gotta see when you're up this way! of course i couldn't pass up the opportunity to take pictures again!

this is the top of the bowling ball house!

this little piggy is a new addition!
after we photographed the bowling balls, we walked around back and found all kinds of cool old stuff!

there were As everywhere!

i know this is a picture of a pipe, but the colors of the brown and turquoise together were so amazing!

nellie had to check out the inside of this building! she's been watching too much american pickers!

i detest spiders, but we found this one on a gate, and i couldn't resist taking a picture of it! the thing was huge! if i was brave, or stupid enough, to put my hand near it, it would have easily spanned the palm of my hand. {i just gave myself the chills thinking about it!}

after the bowling ball place, we headed north to kansas! we found so many flea markets and antique stores! score!!!! i managed not to buy a single thing at any of the stores, but i did find some weird items...

i think i had one of these when i was a kid. it seemed really familiar.
this christmas tree was made out of old costume jewelry! so cool! if i had old jewelry, i'd make this.

we were driving around coffeyville trying to find one last junk store when we stumbled across this lot full of wooden carved objects. i've tried to find out information about this place, but so far i don't know what they are! all i know is that they were big and so cool!!!!

most of them were HUGE like this cowboy. i was standing next to him!
but this guy was little. i thought he was cute, and geeg thought he was creepy!
my friends looking at me like i'm weird! :)

sunday i played some more {after my nap, of course!}

colby has been pestering me to take him to the park, so since the weather was gorgeous i gave in and took him to sooner park first. we were there about 20 minutes when he said that sooner park was boring. so we found another park where there were lots of kids and they all played tag forever!

this little girl was going around in circles on her roller blades while her dog pulled her! that's my kind of skating!

sooner park had beautiful willow trees. i don't know why, but i think willow trees are so pretty.
since i accomplished my goal of playing all weekend, i had to stay up past midnight grading papers and writing lesson plans. ugh. not gonna do that again!

dear mr. autumn...

2010-09-20T20:10:00.003-05:00

football has started... the kids are back in school... i've even made my favorite fall snack...

will you please come now? the sooner the better. (don't tell summer, but i'm ready for her to leave. she's overstayed her welcome.)

good intentions

2010-09-11T21:47:00.017-05:00

i know why i don't blog as much anymore....it takes forever! i take too many pictures, and i want to post them all, and uploading them all takes hours it seems. so i'm going to try to blog more often so i don't have as much to catch up on.

so the last time i blogged i was completely motivated to set up studio A. well my intentions were good, but my motivation didn't last long enough! i unloaded every box and put all of the stuff out all over the place. that was stupid! i was completely overwhelmed! i just sat there and stared at the stuff. so it's still not finished, but it's not as bad as it was 2 or 3 weeks ago!

i wasn't just doing nothing during that time, though. i found plenty of things to do instead!

the varmints and i took a road trip to skiatook for some chicken and bacon cheese fries at ron's hamburgers. then we drove around skiatook lake checking out the campsites.

colby somehow managed to get our waitress to put a dollar in the jukebox for him! he's not even sure how he did it, but he was pretty impressed that she spent HER dollar!
mmmm....bacon cheese fries! so worth the drive!
after driving around the lake, we ended up in hominy, oklahoma (i think). we were hot, so we stopped at the local sonic for some ice cream. it was here that i encountered the dumbest idea i've ever seen. to keep the napkin, spoon and straw all bundled together, they wrapped them all up together and sealed it with a sticker!!!! tell me how i was supposed to get the sticker off without tearing the napkin!

spencer read a scripture in front of the entire congregation! lots of our young men have been serving in worship, and it warms my heart. i especially love to see the boys standing beside their dads serving communion.
daryl tried to rescue a little hummingbird from being trapped in the garage. the poor little thing just kept going back to the window. we were leaving for the weekend, and we knew if he stayed in there he wouldn't survive. rest in peace little fella.

rocky is just like the other 2 varmints....put him in a car and he goes right to sleep! it's a good thing he'd just had a bath because he was snoozing on my pillow!
we spent labor day weekend in edmond. we had daryl's mini family reunion at aunt carla's.
even though the sun was shining, the pool was freezing! i think the kids were the only ones brave enough to get in the water!
in order to protect my "rep" of being a cool aunt, i volunteered to ride with my nephew stephen as he drove us to POPS (our usual hangout when we go to aunt carla's!) i must admit i expected him to be a crazy driver, but he was actually very cautious. he didn't scare me at all!
even with a car full of people and pets, stephen was a great driver! not distracted at all!
we tried to go up in the round barn, but someone had it rented. seriously? i don't think you should be able to rent a historic attraction out, especially on a holiday weekend!
so we just went to pops, and got a drink. i decided i was going to branch out and try something besides big red. i chose cheerwine because i liked the name. it was just a cherry cola.
sunday, we worshipped with my family at memorial road church of christ. mom and dad were there, too! then we all had lunch at earl's BBQ. i love this picture of my dad and me!
the next weekend (instead of working on studio A) the varmints and i went to the washington county fair in dewey, oklahoma. i'd never been to a county fair, so i said, "who wants to go to the fair with me?" it was a gorgeous day!
this was the most amazing thing i saw at the fair. it is a handmade quilt paying tribute to route 66. the thing was HUGE! i think it could have easily covered my king size bed! this picture doesn't do it justice at all! each block is a different attraction or landmark on route 66. of course this won the grand prize ribbon!

what's a fair without a sock monkey?
or adorable little cowboys with their calf?
my favorite part, though, was the animals!!!! colby walked through the animals barns with his shirt over his nose the whole time. city kid!

this is chester, the donkey. he was so sweet.

these fluffy chickens were hilarious! i think dad needs to get a chicken like this!
colby liked this white guinea pig the best. i thought it looked kinda creepy.

this goat has the most awesome ears ever! i wanted to play with them so bad!

this cow was so pretty with the sunlight coming in the barn window.

unfortunately, there were some really UGLY critters there, too. this chicken was just gross.

ah, but then....we came to the pet adoption table. and i fell in love. with this dog.
she wanted to come home with me so bad, but we can't have another dog because we don't own this house.
spencer sat down on the ground and she immediately crawled in his lap and laid down. it was even harder for spencer to let her go.
that afternoon i took spencer to a birthday party. the directions mentioned that they lived out towards the pumpkin patch. pumpkin patch??!! i didn't know bartlesville had a pumpkin patch! so after i dropped him off, i tried to find it. i drove for miles down the road and never saw it! but i passed this gate a couple of times.
it intrigued me. the sign on the wall said 'casa manana'. it made me wonder, what was the story of this place? why was 'keep out' built into the gate? what was it like when it was an actual functioning home? what else was around here?

i was in the middle of nowhere i'd ever been and i kept seeing neat old places and beautiful scenery. i had planned to go home while spencer was at the party for 2 hours. instead, i filled the tank with gas and drove around with the windows down, country music playing and loving every minute! i stopped and took lots of pictures:

i found this turtle,
and put him in my car!
old barn...love the red!
very cool abandoned mailbox
this playhouse was on a piece of land that didn't have a house. there was a shed and a barn, but no house.
who lived here before? what happened to their home? who played with this little army man?
this old barn was so rustic. i couldn't help myself...i went in! (daryl says i was trespassing. oops.)
i crossed lots of railroad tracks. i even stopped my car on the tracks, got out and stood on them for some pictures! such a rebel!
reminds me of the song "big green tractor."

i also crossed lots of rickety old one lane bridges.

wildflowers make me smile.

i ended up on top of a hill overlooking bartlesville. it was such a beautiful view. this was looking out the passenger window.

and this was out the driver's window.

this is a zoomed in shot of the flowers in the lower left corner of the picture above.

this was at the very top of the hill...lots of working oil pumps. this is what i think of when i think of oklahoma.

on the top of another hill off in the distance was a white cross.

the turtle rode all the way home, and has been living in our courtyard/atrium for a week now. i named him ronnie.

yesterday at school, one of my kids found a horny toad!!! i hadn't seen one of these in years! my kids were so fascinated with it that i let them bring it in the classroom as our pet for the day. mistake! total distraction! ( i can't blame them, though. it is very cool!)

he's just so adorable!
last night i attended the ladies retreat with my sisters at the adams blvd. church of christ. i didn't get to go last year, so i was really excited to be there. we had our retreat at an old girl scout camp called camp wa-sha-she.

it was a convicting weekend. our speaker was incredible! my heart has been touched. thank you, god.

my sisters....angie and shirley
joanne and pam
carolyn and tammy
sheila, sandra, brenda and me! (someone literally to the camera out of my hands and said let me get a picture of you now!)
this was the view from the back porch of the lodge. beautiful.
i went for a hike with a couple of the teens and saw some more of god's beauty.

a tree with eyes! (giggle.)
rock path.
another new friend, mr. ladybug.

so maybe now i'm ready to finish studio A. maybe.

tomorrow's mission

2010-08-27T22:26:00.004-05:00

back in february 2009, i finally finished studio A. this is what it looked like then.

this is what it looks like right now...

my mission tomorrow is to get it looking like studio A again! it's gonna be a long day.....

p.s. spencer wasn't elected president of the 6th grade. bummer. elections don't always go the way we want them to, do they?

campaign headquarters

2010-08-24T20:45:00.004-05:00

sunday afternoon our "game room" became campaign headquarters!

spencer is running for 6th grade class president, and we helped him make posters to hang up at school. that is the only campaigning they are allowed to do. no speeches. no handouts. no candy. nothing!

spencer came up with his own ideas for his posters and we just helped with the production of them. in this picture you see one poster that says "Vote for Spencer Hayes...so easy a caveman can do it!" he attached a picture of the Geico caveman!

in this one he capitalized on the pop culture phenomenon twilight. he put a picture of edward the vampire and jacob the werewolf. instead of saying 'team jacob' or 'team edward' they are both wearing "join team spencer" buttons! in between them there is a thought bubble that says "whose team are you on?"

aren't those the best ideas ever??? i'm so proud of him for running for office. 5th grade was not a good year for him, so i'm really glad that he's stepping out and embracing 6th grade!

the election is thursday! i'm nervous for him. he understands that this is basically a popularity contest, so win or lose, i think he'll be ok.

good day

2010-08-21T22:28:00.005-05:00

today lisa and i met for lunch in skiatook. of course we can't meet for lunch without going junking! so we scooted on over to collinsville to visit one of our favorite junk places! we both agreed that the next time we go there it would have to be cooler weather! we both had sweat dripping off of us, but we still managed to have fun!

it was really bright out there!

i'm not crazy about birds, but this little one just makes me smile!

check this out...a sock stick horse! isn't he awesome!

lisa was scared,

but i thought he was adorable!

this doll, however, was VERY disturbing! i have no idea where its face went. yikes!

and this!!! seriously. why would you have a container with this painted on it?

i LOVED this little guy! i almost bought him. i had him in my hands, but i put him back. if he's there the next time i go back, i am going to bring him home with me!

totally random thought: if i ever got a tattoo, i'd want a sock monkey!

youth group swim party

2010-08-15T20:58:00.007-05:00

today at 5:00 it was pouring down rain, thundering and lightning! yay!

rocky had his toy in his mouth frantically running around the house every time it boomed!

the bad thing about it raining and storming at 5:00 was that the youth group was scheduled to come over to our house tonight for swimming and supper! the kids had been told that if it was raining at 5:30 (the actual start time) then we would cancel the party. at 5:15 the storm moved on and the air was so cool compared to the past few weeks! thank you, God!!!

the kids came over and had a great time. they are a really good group of kids....no problems at all!

these two varmints plotted and schemed for a long time to take down daryl, a.k.a. the preacher!

this was their accomplice!

daryl kept his eye on them because they were all acting very suspicious...but finally he got distracted down in the deep end, and they took him under! one of the other kids yelled, "you dunked the preacher!!!!! you're gonna get cursed for that!"

there were lots of noodle fights going on....

and the parents didn't have to worry about it being mixed swimming, especially with the junior high kids...the separated themselves! it was so cute to watch!

girls on one side......
boys on the other....

boys........
girls........

since then 2

2010-08-12T18:06:00.015-05:00

geez! i know i said i'd blog more, but at least it hasn't been as long as last time!

so here's what's been happening since i last checked in....

we've had lots of people over to swim because it's just more fun when you have more people! one night we had almost 30 people in the pool!

(pool pics are courtesy of daryl because he wasn't swimming either of these nights.)

july 28th was daryl's 38th birthday. we celebrated with gifts and lunch at outlaws steakhouse.
colby gave daryl a shirt that said 'poke me'! this was the PERFECT gift from colby. for some reason he recently started annoying daryl by crawling in his lap acting like he's going to be all sweet and cuddly. instead he looks daryl in the face and says, "poke!" and pokes him in the face with his scrawny little finger! it's so funny to watch because it just drives daryl nuts, but he can't keep a straight face when he's telling him to stop! (it reminds me of how i used to bug my dad!)

this sign was hanging on the wall at outlaws steakhouse. i'm not from oklahoma, but i still think it's funny!
the day after daryl's birthday we headed to grapevine, texas for our family vacation! here's our first pic of the trip!
we stopped for lunch at jack in the box! i haven't eaten there in years (after eating there, i remember why...not that great.). BUT the cashier gave us 3 jack in the box antennae balls!!! they are too cool!
at the great wolf lodge waiting for the big bucket to dump water on daryl and spencer!
check out their faces! spencer is screaming and daryl has one eye wide open!
the boys picking out their wands for the magiQuest adventure at the great wolf lodge...
the adventure begins at the big tree.

ever seen the movie, the shining? the hallways were loooooooooong and they reminded me of that movie! creepy.....
smallest balcony ever!
daryl promised colby he would go magiQuesting with him if he would rub his nasty feet! eww!!!
then spencer had to put his shoes on for him after the massage!
i don't remember why colby was so mad in this picture!
ahhh....the lazy river.....

the boys and i loved the aracade!

i hit the jackpot on this game and won 105 tickets! woo hoo!
not 3 seconds later, colby upstaged me by hitting the jackpot on the wheel of fortune game!
500 tickets!!!!!

spending their last tokens....
you could buy a smurf with your tickets!
matt, judy, katelynn and courtney, a.k.a. the harrells, came over to the great wolf lodge on saturday and spent the day with us!

matt and katelynn waiting to eat lunch....

the boy in the GAP shirt standing behind matt "fell in love" with katelynn! he followed her around everywhere! even when we all got out the waterpark, he got out too and changed his clothes! so cute! :)

this happy little bear, well he wasn't little, was outside of the sweet shop! he just made me smile every time i passed him!

colby and spencer got glitter tattoos and crocs as part of their paw pass package.

daryl was fading fast......
after we left the great wolf lodge we headed to terrell to spend a couple of days with the harrells. there were too many of us to fit on one pew at church on sunday, so matt sat behind us. during the sermon we heard this loud rumble, crash kind of noise. we looked around and saw that matt had broken the end of the pew! the arm of it fell off completely! i'm surprised the preacher didn't call all of us out for laughing!

sunday afternoon i had a little 'me' time at the east fork antique mall!!! yay!
i have no idea what this little guy is, but i bought him! he's too cute! i named him 'mister.'
poor little pinnochio was stuck between these 2 scary christmas, troll, elf things.
i walked into one booth and nearly wet my pants when i turned around and saw this ginormous creature standing right behind me!
after we got back from vacation, i decided i wanted to tackle the extra bedroom. i'm ready to set up my creative space. i decided not to call it studio A anymore because someone else already has that as her blog name. i need to be unique. i don't know what to call it.

i figured since i didn't get hired at the 4th school where i had interviewed that i might as well keep myself busy doing something. i was starting to get really worried and depressed about my job situation. i didn't even get the job offer from my former principal. that hurt.

as i was sitting in the middle of this mess last tuesday, spencer brought me the phone and said a man wanted to talk to me. it was the principal from colby's school. he asked if i was still looking for a job, and if i would be interested in interviewing for a possible position at wayside elementary. he said they were probably going to be adding another 4th grade class because they had so many kids. of course i said i was interested! he said as soon as he got the ok from administration to add the class, he'd give me a call.

that call came at 8:45 the next morning! my interview was scheduled for 9:30 THAT MORNING! i was still in bed when he called! i've never gotten ready so fast in my life! that afternoon around 4:00 i was offered the job!!! praise God!

this was the view from my kitchen window sunday morning! beautiful......
these clouds were over my school one afternoon this week! at least there's some beauty in all this dreadful heat!
yesterday was the first day of school.

mr. colby, the 2nd grader....
spencer, the 6th grader! ( i LOVE this picture of him! he looks so cute!)
and me....the 4th grade teacher!
when we got in my car this afternoon, this was the temperature! yuck!
i promise i will try to do better at blogging. i enjoy it for myself, and i enjoy the feedback i get from my readers. so why don't i blog more? i don't know!!!!!

since then...

2010-07-21T13:14:00.021-05:00

so what's been going on in my life since then? let me quickly fill you in.....

my niece, caitlin, graduated from high school. when daryl and i first started dating, she didn't like me AT ALL! she wouldn't even call me by my name. she referred to me as "uncle daryl's friend". she was only 4 (i think) and she wasn't happy that i was taking her uncle daryl away from her. one night i started blowing some bubbles from a bottle in her backyard, and that was it....we were friends after that!

colby slept through most of caitlin's graduation....
the next week, i said good-bye to jane phillips elementary. since it was my first year in the district, i was on a temporary contract, meaning i was not guaranteed a job for the next school year. principals were moved around, and i was not rehired at JP. i shed MANY tears on the last day of school for many reasons...the kids, the teachers and the unfairness of the whole situation. jane phillips elementary will always hold a special place in my heart.
my awesome group of 4th graders at jane phillips elementary...i'll miss all of you so much!

the next day i cleaned out my classroom and packed everything up AGAIN. i even through away this little dog. it was the first "decoration" i ever made during my first year of teaching. it went on a bulletin board i used with my favorite kids' book, shiloh.
we moved out of the king's house and back into our house in broken arrow.

the boys and i kicked off summer with lunch at one of our favorite places...freddy's!!!!
then we bought a slip and slide for the backyard since we didn't have the trampoline anymore.

spencer played on the slip and slide for about 30 minutes.
colby, however, spent a couple of hours sliding!
spencer finally saved enough money to buy an iTouch. he was so excited to get it that he couldn't wait until it was delivered to our house! we drove to the fed ex place at the tulsa airport to pick it up! i really didn't mind taking him because he'd been saving his money for a year, and i was really proud of him for doing that.
i went to daryl's high school reunion. i was dreading the event, but it really wasn't bad at all. only 9 of the 30-something graduates showed up.
the next week the boys and i dog sat for my sister in law! wow! that was an adventure! their biggest dog, boomer, is completely freaked out by storms, and she and i stayed up almost all night because of storms. she kept barking, drooling, panting and trying to chew her way out of her metal cage! i thought she was going to hurt herself so i sat by the cage petting her and singing to her to get her to calm down. it was exhausting. i just wanted to sleep.....

the daytime was great though. we swam in their pool everyday!

one day we went to the oklahoma city zoo. it was so hot that day! of course compared to the temperatures right now, that heat was NOTHING!

colby and i are pretending to be miserably hot waiting for the sea lion show to start!

awwww....aren't they a cute couple?
i love turtles!

it's ok, spencer! it's not real...just a statue!

this is how i felt at the end of our zoo adventure!
later that month i tried to surprise my dad by showing up for worship at their church on father's day evening. i called mom to see what time service started and told her not to say anything to dad. when they got to the church he saw me and said, "i knew you were coming! i was listening on the other line when you were talking to mom!"

oh, well! i'm glad i got to spend the evening with him! i love this man!
my sister and her kids also came to worship and dinner that night. it was fun!
we saw toy story 3 in 3-D later that month. it was such a great movie! if you haven't seen it, i highly recommend it. seeing it in 3-D isn't necessary, though. i bawled for the last 15 minutes of the movie! (yes, i know it's just a cartoon.)
i saw some really awesome clouds....
colby and i went bowling with caroline and her mom.
yikes!
one sunday at church, colby and his friend, jack, were walking up to people and saying, "hi. we're cheese...get it? colby jack cheese?" so jack's mom made them t-shirts! so funny!
colby and i walked to the ponds near our house in BA one last time to take some pictures. it was sad...there was lots of trash, and it was completely overgrown. we only got a few pictures.

4th of july weekend we went back to edmond to hang out with family some more. the first stop was aunt carla's (daryl's sister).
she has pretty flowers so of course i had to take some pictures of them!

i also played with sidewalk chalk at carla's.
my niece, natalie, making art.
colby posing with his artwork....ribbit!
the next day we went to grammy and pappy's for burgers! yum-o!

the boys picked tomatoes with pappy.

my mom, posing for a picture! so pretty!
totally random picture..i kept putting my coke can on the deviled egg platter to try to get a cool looking picture. i never got one, but the can in the eggs drove my mom nuts! :)
my new little brother, chico the chihuahua.
it rained the whole time in edmond, so i had to take pictures of grammy and pappy's flowers in the rain!
i went for a walk at the creek, and my patriotic toes got a little dirty....oh well!

my niece, makenna, went for a walk with me, and we caught baby frogs! she named them amy and makenna!
this is my baby frog trying to escape!
i found freckled flowers!

about a week or so later the boys and i went back to edmond to hang out with my sister's kids while she and her husband went on a romantic get-away for a few days.

we made sun-catchers and shrinky dinks! (spencer recorded the shrinky dink process while they were in the oven. if i could figure out how to upload video, i'd put it on here!)

it rained a lot that week, too, so i sent the kids out to play in the rain. they had a blast!
when the rain ended....
a week after that, we moved! we took a HUGE leap of faith and rented a house in bartlesville even though our house in BA hasn't sold or rented yet. daryl and i both believe that god will provide, and someone will be in our BA house soon.

this is my new kitchen! so cool!
huge living room!
and a pool in the backyard!!!!
taking a swimming break for some ice cream!
even daryl enjoys floating around in our pool!
so that's what's been happening. and the reason i haven't blogged is we didn't have internet at our BA house. it was driving me nuts! i missed blogging so much!

now we are in our new house, and there are lots of boxes to unpack. but it sure is great to finally be here!

m.i.a.

2010-07-20T22:58:00.003-05:00

yes, i know i've been gone for a long, long, long, long, long time! i promise i have a good reason! but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to read about it! i've spent the past hour just changing out the pictures on the side. i'm sleepy now, and i know that it will take me a couple of hours to catch up on everything that's been happening since may 1st! so check back later!

may day

2010-05-01T14:35:00.027-05:00

wow! it's already may 1st! i can't believe i let a month go by without blogging! i've missed it.

so here is a summary of what's happened in my life since easter weekend...

when i left my school good friday afternoon, the bradford pear tree closest to my room was in full bloom! so beautiful. of course i couldn't pass it up without taking some pictures, and apparently i wasn't the only one liking this tree at this particular moment!

that saturday i went on an adventure with lisa! we started out by stopping at a storage place near my house that was having a sale in the parking lot. i scored big at this sale! a DS game, a tin with sewing knick-knacks (including buttons) and a bowling ball with the bag all for $5 dollars!!! i now own my very own bowling ball! how cool is that?

someone at this sale sure liked funnels....kind of weird if you ask me!

speaking of weird....this statue of liberty was standing on a corner in claremore trying to get some business. i wouldn't have gone to that tax service just because of this "statue" on the corner...super creepy!

then we stopped at a junk/antique store in chelsea. the store itself wasn't all that great, but the owner lets people sign the outside of his store! legal vandalism!!! f.u.n.! neither one of us could resist!

i also tried a blue coconut cream slush from sonic for the very first time. it sounded better than it tasted! it wasn't bad, but i think i'll stick to the orange cream slush!

poor colby man felt terrible that weekend. he had fever off and on the whole time. it never actually went away. we just kept it down by alternating tylenol and motrin. we went to waffle house for supper that night and all he wanted was bacon and chocolate milk.

once his medicine kicked in he felt well enough to create a little something for the easter bunny. we were at our house in BA so we didn't color eggs, and all of our decorations were packed. since "necessity is the mother of invention", the boys found a way to make something for the bunny because they "needed" him to leave some easter goodies for them!

later that week when colby was feeling better, the boys and i went to birch lake one afternoon after school to look for rocks. i'd bought some acrylic paint, and i was in the mood to paint rocks. (i don't really know why.)

we didn't have much luck finding the right kind of rocks to paint, but i enjoyed being by the water. i always like being around lakes, rivers, ponds, oceans, etc. it's so peaceful to me. and the boys enjoy throwing rocks in the water, so it wasn't a wasted trip!

saturday spencer went to BA with daryl to mow the yard, and colby and i went on a little field trip. we started out garage selling, but that was a waste of time. some friends at church own a rock shop here in town, and they've been asking me to come visit it. so i thought, "why not today?" i had no idea what we were in for!

the whole family was at windle's rock shop, and they gave us the royal treatment! we got to go behind the scenes where mr. windle fixes watches and shines up all kinds of rocks. colby got to pick out a geode and watch mr. windle's machine cut it open, look at a watch under a microscope, see how planes are made from aluminum cans and learn all about a kind of coral that's found here in bartlesville! we even got to see dinosaur poop! what a fun and educational excursion!

after that we headed east to nowata. that wasn't our final destination, though. we had martha (our GPS device) with us, and we pulled up a list of oklahoma cities. colby picked bushyhead, oklahoma as our final destination because it was a funny name! on our way there, just outside of nowata i passed this sign for bowling ball yard art. curiosity got the best of me, and i just had to turn around!

this place was so cool! it was on someone's property, and they didn't care if you got out and looked around. all of the "artwork" was made out of bowling balls!!!

bowling ball house....

bowling ball pool table....

bowling ball bobber....

bowling ball A.....for amy!

bowling ball C....for colby!

this is the entire alphabet made with bowling balls!

bowling ball fence....

bowling ball lady bugs...

bowling ball caterpillar...

this pig was around the corner from the bowling ball place. pigs are so stinkin' cute i just had to stop and take a picture!

bushyhead, oklahoma turned out to be about 1 square mile in size, and it was kind of scary. so we set out for bartlesville by way of lake oolagah. it was a beautiful lake, and we found lots of great-looking campsites if we ever want to go camping.

martha led us all over north-eastern oklahoma that day, and i had complete confidence in her guidance until we left the lake. of course i had NO idea how to get back to bartlesville so i was completely relying on martha to get us home. at one point she told me to turn left, so i did. the paved road turned into a dirt road which i thought was no big deal because she'd led daryl down a dirt road before. we had seriously doubted her, but it turned out to be a short cut!

so i just kept going. but the longer i drove the narrower the road became, and the muddier it got. before i knew it we were in the middle of nowhere with what looked like the lake a few feet in front of us! that's when we noticed the smell of rotten carcasses.... i knew then that martha had led us astray and we needed to get out of there!

i looked out my window and quickly figured out where the smell was coming from. there were 3 dead coyotes all piled up together! not just one....THREE! then out the other window i noticed bullet casings. i started imagining myself in a horror movie, and i started backing up real fast! i scraped my car on a big branch that was sticking out in the narrow road, and when i looked in the side mirror to see the damage that's when i noticed a child's shoe was also in the road! all of these terrible thoughts of scary backwoods dwellers came pouring into my mind, and i was scared! i thought martha was mad at me or something!

we did manage to get out of there alive (obviously), but i'm not going to be so trusting of martha when i'm the one driving!

you can't tell in this picture, but the water's edge is just a few feet ahead of us, and i remember the woods being a lot thicker and darker than this! the dead coyotes are to the left and the bullets are to the right!

sunday was a normal day. (thank goodness!) colby chose chinese for lunch, and this was daryl's fortune! giggle...

the boys and i finally found some rocks to paint, so one afternoon we sat outside and created little masterpieces!

spencer painted abraham lincoln on one of his rocks!

this is colby's collection.

spencer's collection.

my collection.

these two are my favorites!

i also bought a 96-count box of crayons that week. i {heart} crayons!

another night the boys and i went on a mini excursion looking for some of the coral that mr. windle had told us about. he told us about a field where those kinds of rocks were everywhere. we didn't find any, though.

spencer found some sort of skull,

and i found a leg!

i also went for a cookout that week with an awesome bunch of 3rd and 4th graders from my school!

last saturday night our school had a fundraiser at the american legion. we hosted a bingo night! i have never seen real bingo in my life....those people were serious! i was afraid to even sneeze! the very first game some lady won $70!!!

last sunday the boys and i went to caney, kansas. we didnt' exactly know what we were doing, but we ended up at the safari zoological park. they weren't technically open, but the owner said he had a church group coming in for a tour and we were welcome to join them! what a nice guy!

it was so amazing. i love animals anyway, so this was right up my alley. we were only a few feet from all the animals...not like at the zoo where you can't see many of the bigger ones. the man explained every animal, and we got to feed some as well as hold some!

the first thing to hold was a ginormous boa constrictor!

yes, i actually wrapped that around my neck, mom! he had just washed her off so she was very cold, wet and HEAVY! spencer got up the nerve to hold her, too, but colby would only touch her with one finger!

i also held part of a baby alligator. the guide/owner held the head so it wouldn't bite anyone. colby wasn't afraid of the gator, but spencer stayed back!

the coolest part was feeding the lemurs! they let us walk right up to their cages and give them animal crackers! the lemurs are so adorable!

these monkeys were LOUD! it's like they were jealous of us feeding the lemurs. as soon as our group got near the lemur cages they started screaming and running everywhere! it was so hard to take a picture of them, but i finally managed to get a picture of this one. her name is nellie!

i don't remember what these things are called, but they were so cute! they like animal crackers, too, and they only live in female colonies. they go meet up with the boys when necessary, but in the wild only the girls live together! hmm....

the baboons were pretty amazing, as well. they would catch the animal crackers if you threw them one at a time! and they were little beggars!

the lions were beautiful. their roars sent chills through me.wow. such a powerful animal.

gorgeous leopard.

a few years ago there was a story about 3 white tigers who were born in captivity, and their mother rejected them. a golden retriever who lived there nursed the 3 cubs and there was a huge media event about the whole thing. it happened here!!! these are the 3 cubs!

the owner told us the amazing and inspiring story about how they were going to have to close down safari because it wasn't making enough money to sustain them. (his wife is a teacher, and you know teachers don't make enough!) he said they prayed to god for a miracle by august 1st, or they would have to close down. on july 27th, the 3 white tigers were born. 2 days later, word of the story spread and people came from all over to see this extraordinary dog and her cubs! safari was saved, and god was glorified! he shared this verse from hebrews 10:35-36 with us:

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised."

god is good!

the brown bear, cujo, was spencer's favorite animal.

safari also had 2 hyenas! did you know that hyenas have both male and female parts? i didn't either! i learned something!

this is the white tiger that abandoned her 3 cubs.

this is lily. she's a sweet monkey!

heart rock in the parking lot!

on the way back, we stopped at copan lake just to see what it was like.

the boys loved the playground!

i found another heart on the playground, only this time it was the inside of a walnut.

last tuesday night, the boys and i had supper with the stewarts at red robin...yum!

(abbey had my camera, so the next 2 pictures are courtesy of her!)

yum-o! red robin's fries dipped in ranch dressing!

and that's basically it!

hopefully i won't be gone so long next time!

my week at a glance

2010-03-27T18:41:00.006-05:00

on tuesday these two precious people you see in the picture below made a little girl's day so special! this couple mentors two kids in my class. one of the kids' birthday was tuesday and they showed up with cupcakes for the whole class because they knew that most of the kids' parents at my school can't afford to send cupcakes for their kids' birthdays! such kind people!
later that afternoon i looked out my rearview mirror and saw elmo's life being threatened from the backseat of my car! :)
wednesday night i went to the tulsa workshop worship service. amazing ac cappella music! i am so grateful to god that we still live in a country where we are free to gather and worship him (even though things are happening in our government right now that i don't like.).
thursday afternoon we went to k-mart for a few things (i don't normally shop at k-mart but wal-mart is so stinkin' crowded that i really hate going in there!). the varmints discovered some blue singing fish on the easter aisle. the fish are like the big mouth bass that was popular a while back. they are apparently the fish that are used to make the mcdonald's filet-o-fish sandwich. they sing this whole sad song about being eaten. the varmints thought they were hysterical. they both manned 2 fish and had synchronized fish singing! more than one k-mart employee came down the aisle to see what all the music and laughing was about!

and of course our week wouldn't be complete without a visit to our favorite duck park! i love the geese because they are just so fearless. they walk right up to you and stick their honking beaks right in your business!
my favorite duck, chuck (i named him!), waddled over to see me! (daryl thinks he's ugly. that is so mean!) poor chuck is pigeon-toed!
we also met this adorable little dog on our visit to the park. she was so friendly! i had a hard time getting her picture because she was jumping all over us!
a few flowers were starting to bloom! not only are these beautiful, but they smell SO good!
in case you can't tell, that's the moon just to the right of the branches. it looked much cooler in person.
today i slept in really late, ate a few cheeseballs for lunch and went to wal-mart with the family. colby got his hair cut there at the salon. when the stylist was finishing up on him she asked me if i wanted his neck rounded or straight. i told her i really didn't care because no one had ever asked me that before. they just cut his hair. about that time colby chimed in and said, "uhh...i like my neck just the way it is!!!" i couldn't help but laugh! i reassured him that the lady wasn't going to cut his neck....just the HAIR on his neck! too funny!

while i was trying to have a quiet moment outside this afternoon, i took a few pictures:

of course my moment didn't last too long. the varmints found me when they were out looking for "their sticks".

colby made friends with the weinie dog next door. his name is dash.

quote of the day:

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” ~Jawaharlal Nehru

ugh. snow.

2010-03-22T19:16:00.003-05:00

so let's just say that i was less than enthusiastic about all the snow we got over the weekend. friday had been such a beautiful, warm, sunny day, and then wham! SNOW! yes, snow is beautiful, too, but i've had enough of it this winter....it's time for some green grass and trees and colorful flowers!

most of saturday i stared out the window at the falling snow. i was mainly watching the bird feeder to see what kinds of birds (or squirrels) would drop by for a snack. there were lots of cardinals, but i managed to scare them off every time i cracked the door open for a better shot.

saturday night i had a very sweet moment with my boys. colby and i were sitting in his bed coloring, and spencer asked if he could join us. so we all sat there on the bed and created! such a happy mom moment!

quote of the day: “Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.”

—Kahlil Gibran

it's been a long, long time

2010-03-19T20:48:00.015-05:00

wow. it's been almost a month since i blogged! that's a long time!

so here's what's been going on in my life....

the boys finally got brave enough to feed the geese by hand! so fun!

a couple of weekends ago the weather was so beautiful that i just went outside and laid down in the grass and soaked up some sunshine! then i got all my boys to go on a road trip with me!

we got in the car and headed west. our final stop was in ponca city. i wasn't all that impressed with that town, but i did like pawhuska! it had such a cute downtown, and we found an antique shop where everything was 50% off! score! guess what i bought.....

the next day at church a very generous person gave me 2 tickets to see the 1940's musical revue called "in the mood". it was so AWESOME! i loved the music and the dancing. i would have had more pictures, but right before the show started they made an announcement that no photography was allowed during the show.
the next day, we took flat stanley around to visit bartlesville. he's a children's book character that travels around learning about different places. courtney sent him to us so he could learn about our new town. we took him to frank phillip's home...
and to our favorite place....the duck park! {it has a real name, but i can't remember what it is right now!}

the geese were very friendly to flat stanley!
the next weekend i went antiquing in broken arrow with all my boys again! we didn't really find anything, but i really wanted this 3 foot plastic easter bunny! i don't know what it is about large, plastic, light-up decorations that make me smile so much! if he hadn't been almost $20, he would have come home with me!
we spent most of spring break in broken arrow {since we still own a house there. ugh!} of course we had to get up early and drive to bartlesville for church. that's usually not so bad except this happened to be the weekend the time changed! {i despise losing an hour of sleep!} i tried to sleep in the car on the way there, but i didn't have much luck. the boys, however, had no trouble at all!
monday the boys and i went shopping at a few stores i've missed!
tuesday evening i was in the kitchen cooking dinner when spencer came running in the house shouting, "mom! come quick! colby's bleeding!!!! a lot!!!" somehow daryl heard colby screaming before i did and made it to him first. he was sitting on the trampoline shrieking and holding both hands up. blood was pouring down his face and dripping into his hands. my first thought was.....stitches!

we got him cleaned up, bandaged and finally settled down. then we learned what happened. the boys were wrestling around on the trampoline and somehow spencer's front tooth went in to colby's forehead! so colby has a gash the size of spencer's front tooth! i think all the blood scared colby more than the pain did.

i thought colby had taken the brunt of the collision, but i was wrong. spencer's PERMANENT front tooth cracked going across it just under the gum line! he had to go to his dentist at 7:30 the next morning to see if dr. owens could fix it. because of crack's location, dr. owens wanted to make sure there wasn't more damage up under the gum so he sent spencer to an endodontist. spencer had a root canal done that same day! that's when we found out that there is also a crack up under the gum! so now we are waiting for him to see a prosthodontist!!! dr. owens patched the crack temporarily until this other dentist can fix it permanently! wow!

it's hard to tell in this picture, but the cracked tooth is the one on the left. his gum is actually swollen over the crack!

headwound harry strikes again!

today was the warmest day of the entire spring break, so i spent most of it outside! daryl and spencer rented a u-haul and went to BA to load up all the boxes and stuff that were in our garage.

so while they were busy doing that, colby and i played!

our first stop was the duck park! {of course!}

i got brave and actually sat down on the ground at the edge of the water to watch the ducks and geese. these 2 geese started fighting just a few feet away from me.

then the next thing i knew these 4 geese started honking and headed straight for me! they had no fear! they were close enough for me to touch without straightening my arm out! then they started ducking their heads and honking even louder. that's when i decided it was time for me to get the heck out of dodge!
before i got up, though, i asked one of the geese if i could take a picture of his adorable feet!
colby spent his time making sure that all the "sleeping" ducks got some bread, too! he was so cute!
he also took some time to pick some flowers for me!

after duck park, we drove to osage hills state park. we were both in the mood to keep exploring nature, and that's the only other place i could think of going that spencer and daryl wouldn't mind us going without them.

it is a nice little state park. lots of picnic tables and camp sites. our church is hosting a church camp out there this summer! i bet it's beautiful then!

colby found a lady bug!

i looked for woodpeckers that i kept hearing in the trees!

i also got a visit from this friendly little critter! i almost knocked it off without taking a picture! i'm glad i didn't because it's amazing up close!

after we played on both playgrounds, we had to come back into town to help spencer and daryl unload the uhaul. let me just say right now that i HATE moving boxes and furniture!

when all of the unloading was done we came home, and i ventured into the king's backyard to see what was blooming.

i don't know what these are but they are beautiful!

i found this tree with a heart in it! i've lived here 5 months and have never noticed it! shame on me.

i call this picture "rocky at sunset".

colby just adores honey!

my peaceful moment in their backyard was abruptly interrupted by the shouts of spencer saying, "i'm going duck hunting!"

i think dirty little boy feet are cute as long as they're not on me!

after supper the boys convinced me to take one last journey with them. they wanted to look for 4-leaf clovers over by the golf course. as i stepped onto the front porch and looked north, i saw the awful winter storm approaching.

spencer loves these things because they look like grenades!

the tree is still sad because tomorrow is the first day of spring, and we're supposed to be getting many inches of snow!!!!! i feel the same way about the approaching winter storm!

to me it looks like zorro had been by this tree and left his mark!

moments after i took this last picture of the dark blue sky, a gust of cold wind came blowing out of nowhere. the cold front literally blew in on us while we were walking back home. it just reminded me of god's awesome power and presence in this world.
so, those are the photographic highlights of my life since the last time i blogged. i know i don't need to wait so long to blog again. i promise i'll try to do better!

quote of the day:“Every now and again take a good look at something not made with hands: a mountain, a star, the turn of a stream. There will come to you wisdom and patience and solace and, above all, the assurance that you are not alone in the world.” ~Sidney Lovett

duck.....duck.....goose!

2010-02-27T21:39:00.007-06:00

thursday afternoon, the boys and i went to the park to feed the ducks and geese! the weather was actually above 40, so i couldn't resist getting out!

when we got there, the ducks and geese weren't anywhere near us. but within seconds we were surrounded! the geese actually seemed to fly straight at us {which sent colby screaming and running!}

colby's tactic was to throw a cheez-it and run!
spencer was a bit braver. he actually let the geese get a bit closer to him, but not much!

these ducks were beautiful, but it you got too close they hissed at you!
these two ducks made me laugh! we were almost out of food when these two finally got out of the water and run toward the rest of the crowd! i imagined them shouting, "wait! we're coming! save some for us!"
i was afraid i was going to have to rescue colby from the water! he just yelled, "c'mon ducks! let's head for the pond!"

this duck in the back obviously thought something was funny! he's laughing!

ducks everywhere!!!

this next duck is my favorite! he's all splotchy, and he's got this little tuft of hair that sticks up on the back of his head! he came closer to us than any of the other ducks!

he's so cute! i want to take him home!

quote of the day:“Because life is a living, breathing work of art, you are a painting as you go. Be a masterpiece. Drink in life. Laugh too loud. Compliment others constantly.”

—Nicole Johnson

king and queen of country music

2010-02-21T19:37:00.004-06:00

last night daryl and i got to see george strait and reba mcentire at the BOK center in tulsa. my very awesome and generous friend, nellie, gave us the tickets for FREE!!!!

i was so excited to be seeing george for the first time in concert! i wasn't really looking forward to seeing reba, but i have to admit that she put on a very good show! leann womack also performed, but she was nothing compared to george and reba. george didn't take the stage until 9:30 and was still singing at 10:45 when daryl made me leave. {he was being the responsible adult!} the boys were hanging out with geeg and nellie at geeg's house, so we had to go rescue them...meaning nellie and geeg! we didn't get home until after midnight, but it was so worth it!

george strait rocks!

p.s. i have lots more pictures, but of course blogger is being uncooperative tonight, and this is all i could upload! but, hey, at least i got a picture of george's magical grin! no one smiles like george!

chess tournament

2010-02-21T19:20:00.002-06:00

spencer competed in his 4th chess tournament yesterday. he tied for 3rd place in his division! way to go, spencer! i'm proud of you!

ziploc omelets!

2010-02-21T18:57:00.005-06:00

yep. that's right. you can make omelets in a ziploc bag! it's super easy!

step one: bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.

step two: put 2 large or extra large eggs in a zipper bag along with any other omelet ingredients you like. then close the bag and give everything a good squish and shake.

step three: make sure all of the air is out of the bag. then place the bag in the boiling water for 15 minutes.

step four: carefully remove the bag from the boiling water. the omelet will slide right out of the bag.

and there you have it! a perfect breakfast! if you want this delicious waffle, you'll have to employ spencer's service. he made waffles in his waffle maker he got for his birthday! the were yum-o!

quote of the day is back because i missed it! i love quotes!!!

quote of the day: “Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.” ~Oprah Winfrey

everything in my life since friday, february 12

2010-02-16T19:59:00.004-06:00

friday was the premier of missoula children's theater's production of rumplestiltskin! after 4 nights of practice for 4 hours per night, the show was a huge success. i am still amazed at the whole process of starting with 180 kids monday afternoon, narrowing that down to 60 by monday night and producing a play by the end of the week!

colby and spencer even had some fans in the audience watching! grandma came all the way from edmond to watch, and there were at least 7 people from church as well!

the knights of blat

the main cast and crew

the cutest little singing, stinging bee! zap!

photo of the day

2.12.10

the entire cast and crew of rumplestiltskin

saturday i took colby to broken arrow for ethan's birthday party. while they were having a blast bowling, i hung out with geeg and nellie at river city trading post in jenks. they found a lot more stuff than i did, but i found what i think is the perfect birthday present for my brother. i can't tell you what it is because he reads my blog. the clerk at the store asked me if i was going to buy when i took it to the counter to ask if it really still worked! she was so disappointed when i said yes. bummer for her!!!!

on the way back to bartlesville i pulled off the side of the road to take this picture. i have passed this little canyon many times and have thought about taking a picture. this was the day for the picture. it is just a beautiful small canyon carved out of the land in the middle of a field. i've always been fascinated by it.

photo of the day

2.13.10

canyon

sunday was another blood drive at church. i'm glad they schedule these regularly so i'll know when it's time for me to donate again!

even the preacher gave some blood!

the first 50 people to sign up to give blood had their names put into a drawing for a ginormous box of chocolate truffles. and guess what......i won one of them! i thought it was pretty amusing and ironic since i don't really like valentine's day! oh, well! the chocolate is still yummy!

photo of the day

2.14.10

my big heart!

yesterday was hectic from the moment i woke up until the moment i finally went to bed. i don't have a photo of the day, but i do have a conversation of the day!

colby: mom, dad said to help me with my bath.

me: why can't he do it? i'm busy writing my lesson plans.

cobly: because he's watching the olympics. he's your husband and he said to help.

me: so?????

colby: soooo.....he's your husband...your OLDER HUSBAND and he said to do it. you have

to.

me: i don't think so. that's not how it works. i think you've got the wrong understand of

the marriage relationship.

colby: what? did i pronounce it wrong???

{for all of you thinking daryl isn't the boss of you and he can't tell you what to do, don't worry. he didn't actually say all that! colby exaggerated! }

tonight was a first.......the boys actually chose to sit on the same side of the table and they didn't even fight! what a moment! i had to capture it!

photo of the day

2.16.10

harmony

daily grateful: daryl, spencer and colby

photoless update

2010-02-11T21:35:00.004-06:00

thursday, february 4th, i celebrated my birthday (yes, it's 2 months late but that's ok! that's how we roll!) with geeg, rhonda, trish and zoe. lots of fun seeing my friends again!

photo of the day

2.4.10

zoe!

last weekend we celebrated spencer's 11th birthday! he can't be that old! i am not ready for him to be finishing elementary school.

photo of the day

2.5.10

birthday at rib crib!

photo of the day

2.6.10

birthday party!

after we partied with spencer's friends saturday afternoon, our family had supper at freddy's (yum-o!) with nellie, brett, gina, abbey, jacob and lisa! great food and even better friends!

sunday, colby FINALLY got his certificate for completing the bethlehem level of goal keepers at church! he was so excited. he's been waiting for this moment since november!

photo of the day

2.7.10

monday he and colby auditioned for the missoula children's theater's production of "rumplestiltskin". this is the first time either of them have ever tried out for a play, and guess what....both of them got parts! spencer was so excited, and i have to admit i was/am an extremely proud mom! spencer is playing the part of a knight, and colby is a "singing, stinging bee"!

photo of the day

2.8.10

auditions!

they have been practicing all week, and their first performance is tomorrow at 12:15 for all the bartlesville 4th graders. then they perform again tomorrow night at 7:00. i can't wait to see my boys on stage!!!

spencer is loving this. he's had practice every day this week from 4:00-8:30, but i haven't heard him complain once. i hope he's found something that he really likes to do and something he's good at.

photo of the day

2.9.10

yay!

colby the night before the first show

photo of the day

2.11.10

spencer the night before the show

the boys got to be excused from school on friday to perform in the play. they had to be at rehearsal at 8:00 a.m.! yikes! that's earlier than i have to be at work!

school has been tough emotionally this week. one of my precious little students has had her world turned upside-down. i can't go into detail on a blog, but just know that this little girl needs lots of prayers. don't worry that you don't know her story or her name, god will know exactly who you are talking about!

daily grateful: people willing to step up

yesterday, february 2 and today, february 3

2010-02-03T20:14:00.020-06:00

yesterday spencer got his last "child's" haircut. if he keeps going to smart style at wal-mart, being 11 makes you an adult. so after this friday, he has to pay full price!

photo of the day

2.2.10

spencer's new do

he looked through some books will we were waiting and actually picked out a short hairstyle! i was so excited! it is a little longer on top so he puts some gel in it and messes it up. it looks really good on him!

after his haircut, i drove by the house here in b'ville that i really like. spencer peeked in the window and said he liked it! the only thing we need to do is sell our house in BA.

i didn't have a photo of the day until a few minutes ago. rocky spent the day in the garage and apparently had a lot of fun disassembling a bag of trash! spencer was not happy that he had to clean up rocky's mess!

photo of the day

2.3.10

daily grateful: wednesday night meals at church

yesterday, january 31 and today, february 1

2010-02-01T21:07:00.016-06:00

yesterday was a good day. first we had worship and everyone sat together in two sections because someone roped off the balcony and the two far sections below. it was cozy, but the singing was beautiful.

photo of the day

1.31.10

after morning worship we had lunch with 3 other families from church. and then we came back to the house and i knitted for most of the afternoon. i'll admit i really wanted to take a nap, but i forced myself not to......almost. around 4:30 i just couldn't stand it any longer! i took a short 45 minute nap before our 5th sunday evening service.

we all met in the family life center for our evening of praise and worship. normally small groups meet in different places on sunday night, but since it was a 5th sunday we did something a little different and all met together. the singing was phenomenal! i had goosebumps most of the time, and a couple of songs made a lump in my throat. can you imagine what heaven is going to be like????

today it was back to work. {sigh} all these snow days are spoiling me! i was sort of hoping that i'd get a call this morning saying school was cancelled again. no such luck.

on the way home from school i decided to drive by this car just so i could take a picture! it reminds me of lizzie from the disney movie cars.

photo of the day

2.1.10

daily grateful: Daryl cooking supper!

yesterday, january 29 and today, january 30

2010-01-30T21:55:00.005-06:00

can you believe it? another snow today!!! i don't think i've ever seen this much snow in one season! i was afraid we were going to have school yesterday because when i went to bed thursday night, it hadn't been canceled. at 6:00 a.m. though, my phone rang and i knew it was good news!

so i went back to sleep for a while, and then stayed in my jammies all day long!

even the doggies enjoyed the lazy snow day!

around 2 o'clock the boys (the 2 little ones and the big one) decided to go sledding. they tried the hill on the golf course behind the house, but it wasn't steep enough. we had to go find a better spot.
first we tried behind the church, but that hill wasn't steep enough either. the snow was deep enough to cover the asphalt, though, and daryl managed to drive off of it and get the car stuck for a while! he and spencer had to push it while manned the wheel!

we ended up at the soccer fields just down the road from the church. daryl had driven by there earlier, and he said the place was packed with sledders. but when we were there, only a few families were sledding.

colby was the first one to go! he had the fastest sled, and it didn't take long for him to reach the bottom of the hill!

there many wipeouts at first! daryl and spencer had the hardest time staying upright! colby crashed once and rolled right in front of another sledder and took him out, too! it was awesome!

after watching the boys for a while, i couldn't stand it any longer. they were having way too much fun without me! so i handed the camera off to daryl and trekked up the hill for my ride. i gave spencer specific instructions NOT to give me a push until i was completely settled on the sled. i had ONE cheek on my sled, and the next thing i knew he shoved me and off i went! i screamed the whole way down while snow went up my back above the one cheek i was sliding on!
this is what i looked like when i finally came to a stop at the bottom! of course i wasn't mad at spencer because i had too much fun going down!

i love this picture of me and my man!

spencer got tired of waiting for colby to bring the sleds up the hill, so he sat down at the top and waited....

photo of the day

1.29.10

family fun day!

susan put out bird seed yesterday hoping to attract some cardinals, and this evening as i was cooking dinner, i saw one! i grabbed my camera and had to zoom in through the blinds to get this picture. i know it's not the greatest photography ever, but i still like it! the cardinal is beautiful!

photo of the day

1.30.10

snowman and picture by spencer!

daily grateful: snow

today, january 28

2010-01-28T19:47:00.004-06:00

for the entire week, tulsa meteorologists have been saying we're getting slammed by a major winter storm starting wednesday night into thursday. be prepared, they said.

the storm slowed down, and so they issued a winter storm warning beginning at 6:00 a.m. today. so of course the kids have been anxiously awaiting this storm so we could be out of school early today and all day tomorrow. well, it didn't start doing ANYTHING here until about an hour ago (7:00 p.m.)!!! all of the major school districts in the tulsa area have cancelled school for tomorrow because the major storm hit them this afternoon. they have ice everywhere, but as of right now, bartlesville is still in session and there's just a little bit of snow on the ground. ugh!!!

one weatherman just said that it's still coming down though, so i'm not giving up hope yet!!!

photo of the day

1.28.10

he finally lost a front tooth!

daily grateful: a warm bed

yesterday, january 26 and today, january, 27

2010-01-27T20:16:00.004-06:00

monday one of my students said, "i can't wait until friday." i told him i was looking forward to the weekend, too, and he said, "i'm not excited about that. friday is when i get the food from the office to have over the weekend. we're almost out of food, and we're getting hungry."

my heart broke for this poor little boy. so yesterday i took my boys to wal-mart and we got some groceries for them. i'm not telling this story to pat myself on the back. the part of this story that's really cool is i ran into someone from church while we were at wal-mart. i told her about this poor family and why we were there. we met her a couple of aisles later, and she asked," do you think they'd eat this?" i said, "who?" she said, "your sweet family in your class."

i told her i didn't tell her about them expecting her to help. she didn't know them. to which she replied, "hush. god put you in my path today for a reason, and i'm going to help." how amazing is that???? i love that about god's people. so loving and so generous.

i took the food to that family today during my conference period. the mom cried. i told her that god has blessed our families, and we wanted to bless theirs, too. she just cried some more and said thank you.

photo of the day

1.26.10

blessings

tonight at church it was my turn to teach the 5th graders. they are notorious for being varmints! i was way off my game tonight because before class had even started one of them had picked my pocket! i had the keys down in my pocket with my happy face strap hanging out. one of them disconnected the strap and passed it off to another kid! i didn't even notice until i looked down and saw one kid swinging it around! i was about to say, "i have one just like that," when i reached down for my own and realized it was gone! wow!

photo of the day

1.27.10

daily grateful: blessings

today, january 25

2010-01-25T21:56:00.003-06:00

today was a good day.

daryl didn't even groan when i asked him if he wanted to be my picture of the day and put the camera in his hairy little face!

photo of the day

1.25.10

daily grateful: iTunes

today, january 24

2010-01-24T19:55:00.002-06:00

colby and i spent all afternoon in my classroom again today! it was a lot of work, but my room looks awesome! it feels so much more like me now. i hope the changes don't make kids nuts tomorrow! oh, well....there's no turning back now!

photo of the day

1.24.10

daily grateful: smiley faces

yesterday, january 22 and today, january 23

2010-01-23T21:51:00.004-06:00

yesterday was a good day. it was hectic at school, but not bad. we had a fire drill, then a tornado drill, followed by a lock-down drill....good times at jane phillips elementary!

last night we went to hear my niece and nephew perform with the edmond memorial choir at victory episcopal church in downtown tulsa. other schools performed, and the singing was so beautiful. that old church was designed for music, so i think it's a shame that they have all those big pipe organs everywhere. oh, well. i didn't get any good pictures from the performance because they wouldn't allow flash photography.

photo of the day

1.22.10

today the boys and i spent the entire day at my school redoing my classroom. i started working there in october, and it's taken until now to have the desire to make the room my own. it's way past time, and today i was actually excited about doing it! i didn't get finished, so i'm going back up there tomorrow to hopefully finish. can you believe i'm going to forfeit my sunday afternoon nap to work in my classroom??? {me either, i'll believe it when i see it!}

photo of the day

1.23.10

totally random gnome picture

daily grateful: my job

today, january 21

2010-01-21T19:01:00.004-06:00

daryl is out with the guys from church, so i went to dinner with 2 very handsome, younger men! after supper we went to BigK...the super K-mart! i haven't been to a K-mart in years!

i only went there to avoid going to wal-mart, and i'm glad i did! we found exactly what we needed, and it was on sale! while spencer was trying on jeans in the fitting room, colby was checking himself out in the big mirrors.

i was waiting outside the mens' fitting room when i heard, "hey mom! i pulled out a nose hair! cool! i got another one! wanna see it?" then colby came trotting out holding his pointer finger up on display! he was proud of his discovery!

photo of the day

1.21.10

as we were walking down another aisle, colby and spencer were still discussing nose hairs {which is better than the discussion they were having about the bras we had passed earlier!}. colby told spencer that he was going to pull out all of his nose hairs because he didn't want to be "one of those old men who have really long hairs hanging out of their nose!"

daily grateful: short faculty meeting today!

yesterday, january 19 and today, january 20

2010-01-20T20:19:00.004-06:00

yesterday was another non-eventful day. i was even wondering what i would take a picture of to represent my day! i took a picture of myself driving home after school...nah. and then i took a picture of a squirrel that i nearly ran over....nah. and then when i walked in the door, i knew what my picture of the day should be.....rocky. every single day he greets me at the door barking hysterically and wagging his little body. it's so nice to have something that exciting to greet me!

photo of the day

1.19.10

today the weather was so beautiful that i decided to get out and go to lunch. so i went to my favorite sonic in the world, right here in bartlesville, oklahoma. i think i've mentioned this one before, but i just love it. all of the employees are super-nice, and the service is quick! when the guy brought me my food today (on skates, no less! they all wear skates!) he asked me if he could get me anything else, so i asked him for 15 straws. i told him my class needed straws for a math assignment we were doing this afternoon, so he reached in his apron and gave me a handful!

then he told me that the carhops at that location had decided to have a fundraiser on saturday. they're going to be showing off their moves on their skates as they deliver food, and they are going to give ALL of their tips to help people in Haiti! how cool is that? i'm definitely going to make a special trip across town to visit that sonic on saturday!

my sonic is so awesome that i just had to call the corporate office and brag on them!

photo of the day

1.20.10

my sonic

tonight i taught the kindergartners and first graders at church. yikes! we were talking about how we could shine like stars in this dark world. during craft time one of them, my own child maybe, decided to decorate me! how cute!

daily grateful: stars

today, january 18

2010-01-18T18:06:00.003-06:00

today the kids were out of school, but all the bartlesville teachers had inservice meetings. yippee! my brain is literally stuffed with too much information. i don't know how to sort it all out so that i can put it into practice!

i had grand intentions of getting to school early this morning to start rearranging my classroom. i've finally gotten the desire to really make it my own now. there are still lots of things in the room and on the walls that belonged to the previous teacher, and it's time to take it down. i want it to feel like MY classroom when i walk in.

i didn't make it early, so i probably won't do anything until this weekend because it takes me many hours to totally rearrange a classroom. plus i'll have to do a lot of sorting and packing up things that aren't mine. i want to do it right.

i didn't take any pictures today, so i asked spencer to pick a 3-digit number. he picked 765. so i went to my 7th folder, the 6th folder in that folder and the 5th picture to get my picture of the day. it is a picture of becky meador (spencer's teacher in BA and my 5th grade team member). good friend and good memories. great choice, spencer!

photo of the day

1.18.10

daily grateful: daryl and spencer cooked supper!

today, january 17

2010-01-17T20:33:00.002-06:00

today i went to worship, ate lunch at hunan, and then slept all afternoon! i wasn't planning to sleep that long, but the room was dark and the bed was warm! i couldn't help myself. everyone else was watching the cowboys lose to the vikings so it was also nice and quiet upstairs.

after my nap we went to the annual singing night with the adams blvd. and dewey churches of christ. this year it was in dewey. the singing was beautiful....a glimpse of what heaven will be like. we sang "the lord bless you and keep you" with the 7-fold amen, and when it was over i had goosebumps all over and tears in my eyes. it reminded me of chapel at oklahoma christian.

we had supper at mcalister's deli. i stepped out of my little box and had something completely different...havarti grilled chicken panini with chipotle peach sauce. it was yummy! colby and spencer both got super spuds which are actually 2 baked potatoes put together. i didn't think about how big those were when i ordered! when they set that down in front of colby i thought there was NO WAY he was going to even make a dent in that!

boy was i wrong! not only did he make a dent, he ate the whole thing! as we were leaving he loudly said, " that was a good tater!" don't you think that would make a great slogan for mcalisters?

daily grateful: a cappella music

today, january 16

2010-01-16T21:58:00.003-06:00

road trip!!!!

today i met lisa in skiatook for a day of treasure hunting. it was so good to hang out with her and search for happy junk that we don't really need.

the first store was nice which in our minds equals over-priced. if there are wide aisles and tidy booths, then we're probably not going to find a treasure. we were looking for bargains! that store had lots of awesome pyrex bowls, but they $25, even $45 each!!! yikes! that's too much for a bowl!

however, if i had lots of money, i would have purchased every piece of this pattern that i saw! i love the colors and the design. i could picture it on my dining room table in the fall. ahh....but it was way more expensive than the pyrex, so it won't be happening on my dime!

i was very tempted to buy this awesome blue typewriter! it was only $18, which was pretty reasonable considering the price of the other things. but i already have an old typewriter, so i left it there. {sad face} i told lisa that if i ever go back to that store, and it's still there AND it's marked down, then i'm definitely getting it!
since we couldn't afford their stuff, we just played with it! don't we look beautiful in these vintage hats?

there were actually 2 other antique stores in skiatook, but one of them was closed. the second store we visited wasn't that great at all, but in the back corner there was a Delorean! i'm not a car person AT ALL, but i do know enough to know that this was the kind of car in the hit 80's movie back to the future!

after a yummy meal at ron's hamburgers, we decided to go east on highway 20 to collinsville to check out their antique stores. i googled 'antique stores in collinsville' last night, and only found one. there were actually 3!!!

the first one had some really amazing things in it. if you were a true antique collector {which i'm not} then that would have been the perfect store!

the second store was boring.

but the third store..........HOLY COW!!!!! it was not for the faint of heart. we walked in and were immediately surrounded by junk! it was piled everywhere! you literally had to dig through stuff to find anything. this was EXACTLY the kind of store we were looking for.

we hadn't gone very far down the first row when i spotted this:

photo of the day

1.16.10

blast from the past!

this is the exact same bank i had when i was a kid!!!! i gasped really loud and then grabbed him off the shelf saying, "oh, my gosh!!!!!! i had one of these when i was a kid! he's mine!" i carried him around the store safely tucked under one arm. another couple that was not too far behind us heard my cheering. when they walked by the husband said to his wife, "i guess i won't be getting that bank i was looking at. she had one like that when she was a kid." he was just teasing me, of course! i guess i was louder than i realized...imagine that!

when we went to check out, there was another happy find just waiting for me at the counter. blue dice! and they were only 50 cents a pair! score!!!!
daily grateful: treasure hunting