back to normal

sunday was back to normal.  church. nap. more church.  america's funniest home videos. bed.

i had great plans to do laundry and catch up on blogging, but my sunday afternoon nap was calling me.  i couldn't resist!  i slept all afternoon.  i guess it was because i hadn't slept well the past 2 nights.  oh well.

today's photo of the day made me giggle.  i looked up during the middle of worship yesterday morning, and there were bunny ears!  i started to take a picture, but gina grabbed my camera saying she had a better view!  {i got in trouble by the preacher for taking pictures. :( }  i know, i know. shame on me.  but it was still funny to see the bunny ears!  thanks for the giggle, bella!

photo of the day #81

bunny ears in church

quote of the day: “Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.” ~Robert Fulghum

back in god's country

saturday morning we got up even EARLIER and drove to the great state of texas for a family reunion.

just seeing that sign brings a tear to my eye...{sigh}

we had a blast at the reunion!  it wasn't because we spent a lot of time catching up with relatives, though.  it's because the reunion was at "the ranch" and we got to ride 4-wheelers and go fishing!!!  i was in redneck heaven!  this was the first time colby and spencer had ridden 4-wheelers, and they LOVED it!  colby didn't even lunch because he was having so much fun!  spencer enjoyed going up in the hills and exploring more than colby did.  

colby just liked to go FAST....................he even scared me a couple of times because we were flying down the trails!

at one point colby was singing at the top of his lungs, "i can't drive 55!"

after lunch i went fishing with the varmints, pappy, andy and marcus.  {yes, i was the only girl!} marcus caught the first fish just a few minutes after we got to the pond.  then i quickly caught the next one!  it was a little mud catfish.  andy took it off the hook for me, and then asked me if i wanted to kiss it!  of course i didn't want to kiss it, but i DID want a picture with it for my photo of the day.  it was hard to take the picture AND watch andy to make sure he didn't shove the thing in my mouth!

photo of the day #80

my fish

{for the record i caught 3 fish, pappy caught 1 and andy caught ZERO!}

i think it's funny i caught more fish than my dad or brother because they would NEVER let me go fishing with them when i was little.  they said if you couldn't pee over the side of the boat, then you couldn't go.

there was something about being outside all day in the texas country.....i was thinking all the way home that i would love to have a few acres of land with an iron gate over the drive. i'd name my little place peaceful valley.  {that was the name of our street growing up.} i'd have one of these in my yard:

and these would be flying in front of my house:

being in texas also got me in the mood for country music again!  it's been years since i've listened to it, but all the way home i listened to some CDs i have...george strait, trisha yearwood, garth brooks and alan jackson.  i guess i really am a country girl at heart.

quote of the day: Texas is a state of mind. Texas is an obsession. Above all, Texas is a nation in every sense of the word. –John Steinbeck

spring break day 5

friday morning, grammy {my mom}, the varmints and i got up early to do more treasure-hunting at garage sales!!!  i didn't find anything, but the varmints did!  the first place we stopped, i spotted a box of rocks so i pointed it out to spencer.  the sticker on top said 50 cents, but we weren't sure if that meant 50 cents each or 50 cents for the whole box.  spencer asked a man that was working there about it, and he said he wasn't really sure.  while he was asking other people about it, colby came along and was suddenly interested in this box

of rocks.  {spencer is the one who collects them.}  the man finally said to spencer, "how much will you give me for them?"  colby jumped right in holding his 2 quarters in the air and said, "i'll give you 50 cents!" and the man handed the box to colby!!!!  spencer was SO MAD!  of course colby ended up sharing the rocks with spencer, but there was a lot of silence in the car for a while after that!

after lunch, daryl arrived in edmond and our family went to guthrie.  my main goal was to treasure hunt at all the wonderful antique stores there!  since daryl spent part of his childhood in guthrie, he wanted to show us some special places {loved that!}.  this is the first house he lived in when they moved to guthrie:

and this is the second one:

after touring the town, we stopped and had some ice cream at this little store in downtown guthrie.  a man and a teenage boy were walking down the sidewalk with two little weenie dogs on leashes.  they stopped in front of the ice cream store, and tied their little doggies to the light post out front like they were horses!  colby loves dogs, so he stayed out there and talked to them while we ordered his ice cream.  after the men left with the dogs, colby came running up to me and said, "mom! guess what that little brown weenie dog's name was!!!  OSCAR!!!"  i thought he was kidding me since he had heard my comment several days ago about me naming a weenie dog oscar if i had one.  but he assured me that when the man untied him he said, "c'mon oscar, let's go!!"  HOW COOL IS THAT?!!  so guess what my picture of the day is for

 friday?  OSCAR!  i even managed to snap a picture while he was shaking his head so it looks like his ears are flying away!

photo of the day #79

oscar, the weenie dog!

quote of the day:  I have a dog so mean, he ate the neighbor's weenie dog. Now he's a bratweiler. ~Nick Arnette  {i guess this is more like a joke!}

spring break day 4

thursday i woke up and decided i wanted to go see my parents a day early.  so the varmints and i packed up and headed to edmond.  on the way there, we had to make a little detour because i was on a secret mission for the smors!

back in november 4 friends and i (a.k.a. smors) took a road trip from catoosa, ok to arcadia, ok along route 66.  we stopped in this antique store in kellyville.  the owner of the store was less than friendly to us, and when we were being silly and taking pictures of each other and of the cool stuff she had in her store she said, "you guys are really freaking me out with your cameras!" so she earned the nickname madge.  unfortunately in all of our picture-taking, NONE of us got a picture of madge!!!  

so i decided to take a little side trip thursday, and sneak a photo of madge.  when i explained to spencer why i was stopping at this store HE volunteered to take the picture for me!!!  she never even saw him take it!  so my picture of the day for thursday is dedicated to the smors!

photo of the day #78

madge

mom and i went treasure hunting in edmond at a couple of thrift stores and antique stores, while the boys hung out with my dad.  while pappy grilled burgers {he makes the BEST burgers, sorry daryl} the boys and i went exploring at the creek behind their house.  here are some pics from our little exploration:

i found this little squirrel when i was looking for the wood-pecker that was knocking on a nearby tree!

i love the bare toes, colby!

natural beauty

colby was fascinated with the ant colony and begged for the camera so he could take a picture of it!  of course i didn't say no!

this stump was actually a 20-foot tree until one night in january.  while my parents slept a beaver (or beavers) snuck into their yard and took the ENTIRE tree down and carried it off!

quote of the day:  And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. ~Kahlil Gibran

 

not a real post

for all of you missing your daily dose of {ME}, i promise i'll catch you up on the adventures of my life tomorrow!  we've been in oklahoma city since thursday, so i haven't been able to post.  don't worry, i still took pictures so there will be a photo of the day for every day i haven't blogged!

i'd post more tonight, but i'm about to fall asleep as i type.  it's been a long, exhausting, awesome day!!!

spring break day 3

today was another beautiful day in tulsa, so we took advantage of this lovely weather and went to the tulsa zoo.  apparently most of tulsa had the same idea because the place was PACKED!  i couldn't believe it!  we actually had to wait in line to get in!

we met some other teachers and their girls there.  it was fun to watch colby because one of the girls is his "good friend" and the other little girl actually kissed him a few weeks ago! {of course he didn't think that was a good thing to do, and he punched her!}

all of the animals were very cooperative today and were out of their cages!  even the polar bear was back!  we also got to see a pig paint a picture with his snout!  they had a drawing for the picture, but i didn't win...bummer!  they also had a new animal i hadn't seen before.  apparently he was lost somewhere in the 80s because he was still wearing his leg-warmers!!

photo of the day #77

totally rad

after the zoo, the varmints and i had to buy the food for the wednesday night meal at church.  i signed up to cook tonight since it was spring break, and i wouldn't be stressed about having enough time to cook.  the last two times i've cooked i've burned something unintentionally.  i know how to cook!  last time some less-than-logical person put wooden spoons in the oven and i burned those.  anyway....

tonight i didn't burn anything!!!  if fact i had to get creative in order to get everything cooked!  so my creativity project today was cooking!  the stove would NOT work tonight, so i had to come up with a way to brown hamburger meat, cook rice and make queso without the use of the 6 burners that i desperately needed!  

talk about multi-tasking, i made the rice in the microwave {one boil-in-bag at a time every ten minutes} and melted the velveeta for the queso in two crock pots.  the biggest obstacle was how i was going to brown 10 pounds of hamburger meat in less than an hour without the use of a stove or an electric skillet!  i managed to find an electric griddle and just made do with that.  do you know how hard it is to brown meat on that flat surface?  pieces of meat kept falling off, and grease was all over the counter!  i was panicking!  

i was unsure that i could everything ready by 6:00, but thanks to carnita and her sweet boys' help, we got it all done with 2 minutes to spare!  woo hoo!!!  the next time i volunteer to prepare the wednesday night meal, we're having sandwiches!!!!

quote of the day:  "The zoo is a place for animals to study the behavior of human beings." ~author unknown

spring break day 2

today i...

-slept late

-bought soccer shoes for the varmints

-bought roller skates for colby

-went fishing and got 2 bites {stupid critter took my worm!}

-conducted a science experiment with spencer {he's growing his own crystals}

photo of the day #76

mad scientist

-made a new dish that was in the latest issue of kraft foods magazine {which was disgusting}

-watched american idol and voted for kris, danny, anoop and the last guy.

quote of the day: "The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he's one who asks the right questions."  ~Claude Lévi-Strauss, Le Cru et le cuit, 1964

if this quote is true, then spencer will be a great scientist because he asks A LOT of questions!

spring break day 1

today was officially the first day of spring break.  i slept until 10:30 in MY OWN BED!!! actually i was awakened around 8:30 by two varmints dressed in green, holding light sabers and shouting, "happy st. patrick's day!!!"  dorks!  they were a day early!  i wish i would have actually opened my eyes so i could have seen what they did to their faces!  colby told me later that they had colored their faces green with his markers!!!  maybe there will be a repeat performance in the morning!

today was also a special day because a torch was passed....daryl taught spencer how to mow the yard!  woo hoo!  now i won't feel sorry for daryl on 90 degree mornings and help him mow.  i can just send spencer out there to help him!

photo of the day #75

new lawn boy

this afternoon the varmints and i took our new fishing gear to the neighborhood ponds and tried to catch some fish.  no luck.  i got one bite in an hour.  then some strangers invaded our fishing spot so i was ready to leave.  maybe we'll catch something tomorrow.

i got some happy socks today!  i don't know why, but i ordered these from little missmatched! they are awesome!  they are color-coordinated socks, but they're not matching socks!!!  how fun is that?

something else that made me smile today were these beautiful strawberries!  i made some fruit dip to go with them...yummers!!!!

but the most happiest part of today was that daryl is feeling even better!!!  he actually spent most of the day outside working in the yard.  he took spencer to lunch, and he didn't have to lay down once!  that's such a ginormous improvement for him!  the poor guy has been out of commission for two weeks.  he's tired right now, but he said it's a good kind of tired from actually doing something today! {smile}

quote of the day:  "A joyful heart makes a cheerful face."  ~Proverbs 15:13

yay!

daryl is finally starting to feel a little better!!!  he didn't run any fever today, and that's a BIG improvement!  he even got outside for a little bit and worked in the yard.

i finally washed the dishes and folded some laundry.  i think washing dishes is one of my least favorite chores {not that i really like any of them!}.

photo of the day #74

empty sink

quote of the day:  A spotless house is a sign of a misspent life. ~anonymous 

i didn't do it...

today i didn't:

 - wash the dishes.

 - do any laundry.

 - cook a meal.

instead i:

 - had lunch with colby.

 - took a nap in MY bed.

 - scrapbooked!

photo of the day #73

creating in studio A

so now studio A is messy, just like the rest of my house, and that's ok.  i have all week to clean, but i had to create something using my scrapbook supplies today because gina and i challenged each other.  i couldn't show up to church tomorrow empty-handed!  i worked on my route 66 album!

while i was working on my scrapbooking, colby was busy creating as well.  he calls this piece of artwork "colorful artistic cheese." {he's already got it hanging on his wall!}

quote of the day: "Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."  ~Pablo Picasso