Star Student!!!

Gideon was selected as Star Student again this month!!! I am sooo proud of his progress, his love for school and great friendships he is making!!! I am, however, totally bummed that my boss, who is also my husband, would not cover for me, so that I could attend the assembly and celebrate with Gideon. I even made special dinners EVERY NIGHT THIS WEEK and homemade blueberry muffins to try to change his mind!!! Well, let just say, I hope he enjoys leftovers for the rest of the week!!! ;-)

Gid, I am sooo proud of your hard work, great attitude and your desire, love and commitment to learning. You are a great and very special boy!!! I love you very much!!!

A New Love...

Over the last year, I have developed a love for Diet Dr. Pepper. I do not know why, since I have never really been fond of carbonated drinks before. I lived the last 30 some years never really drinking soda. I have wondered why people would waste money to ingest unhealthy chemicals. But, some how I have become and addict. I loved when the clock would strike 2 and I could get a half-priced Diet Dr. Pepper with any array of fun flavors. Then, I discovered that 7~11 has $0.75 drinks 24/7. But, I don't love just plain Diet Dr. Pepper. I love Diet Dr. Pepper with fun flavors...which some 7~11s have!!! You can add cherry, lime or vanilla!!! It has taken me several attempts to perfect my addiction. My first attempt lacked flavor. My second attempt, I went a little over board. My third attempt, I put the flavor in first, thinking I was about to taste a little bit of heave...took a huge gulp of pure flavor...no Diet Dr. Pepper...pure flavor...GAG!!! Not only did I get a huge sugar rush and a totally disgusting mix of flavor, I ruined my perfect ratio of flavor to DDP. Sooo, the perfect mix~one shot of cherry, one shot of vanilla AND one shot of lime!!! Life is a grand adventure!!!

Birthday Countdown!!!

ME turns 4 in 4 days!!! Yesterday, I decided that we would go together to order her Birthday. I do not do Birthday cakes, because I already have an inferiority complex and still have nightmares of Gideon's 2nd Birthday cake. Sooo, we headed to a cute neighborhood bakery and had almost an hour before I needed to be at the gym. ME had informed the entire family that she wanted a Princess cake...the only cake that would be suitable for the Birthday of a Princess!!! We walked into the door and the assistant showed us the cakes on display. ME went right over to one of the cakes and declared that it would be the cake for her birthday.

ME, that is a basketball.

I know that and I want a basketball cake.

I thought you wanted a Princess cake?

No, I will pick that tomorrow.

ME, today we are choosing your Birthday cake and you only get to pick one cake...one cake for a whole year!

OK, I want the basketball!

ME, why do you want a basketball cake?

Because, I can dribble and someday I will play!

We proceeded to look at 5 ALBUMS of cakes and 1 album of cupcakes. Eventhough she thought the Princesses, Castles, Barbies, flowers were great cakes for her NEXT Birthday, for this Birthday she wanted a basketball cake. I surrender my dream of a beautiful Princess cake or even a luxurious castle and agreed to the basketball cake.

ME, what about a pink basketball?

No, mommy! Basketballs are orange!

What flavor of cake would you like the Basketball to be?

Orange!!!

Branson~Day 3

Our fabulous time in the grand Tree House has come to an end today!
But, the fun has not ended!!!

We had to eat...at least one more time, because we were starving! ;-) Our last meal was at Lamberts, the home of the thrown rolls! I asked for a roll and got beamed in the head!!!

Seriously, who eats this much food?!?!

While we were in Springfield, we had to go to the Bass Pro Shop...

and pick out a boat for Grampy!


Good-bye Missouri!!! We will miss you!!!

Wait...one last stop...

and a shake from Steak-N-Shake for the road!!!

Branson~Day 2

Day 2 in Branson began with a delicious breakfast and a fierce game of Uno!
The guys and ME took a ride on the Duck, while Donna and I supported the Branson economy at the Outlet Mall!!!



After diner, we went to downtown Branson. There was live music, tons of tempting sweets and a gorgeous fountain.

Playing in the fountain, resulted in an early bath for ME!
As we were leaving, we caught the end of a great Light Show

and the night ended with lots of sleep!!!

What a great day!!!

Silver Dollar City...

We had a blast at Silver Dollar City!!! To see all of our wonderful memories, check-out our online photo album!

Branson!!!

Our first morning in Branson~perfect weather, gorgeous view and a fabulous morning!!!

On The Road...

Clothes~packed; food~prepared; camera~ready! The car has been filled with books, movies, games and in 5 hours, we will be in Branson!!!

Branson Or Bust!

We are headed to Branson for a long weekend with friends. The plan~Silver Dollar City, a little shopping, lots of eating and loads of fun and fellowship!!!

3 Hours Later...

His wound is getting worse...puffy and red! He also has a headache...of course, so does ME and they are both giving me one!!!

Wounded Cute Face

Cute Face fell from the Monkey Bars during Recess and said that when he got up he could not see!!! COULD NOT SEE!!! I totally freaked out, especially since I did not find out until pick-up...due to failure to inform his teacher of our new cell phone numbers!!! What sort of mother am I?!?! While I was sipping a latte, my little boy was blindly being comforted by a stranger!!! He cried when it happened and again as he was telling me!!! I feel horrible!!! I know that it doesn't really look horrible, but trust me...it is H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E!!! I want to protect Gid and ME from danger, mean kids, rude comments...anything that could possible cause my sweet little ones to hurt! It is hard to watch them grow, experience the realities of the World and hurt! I praise the Lord for His protection, love and good and perfect will! Please pray that there would be no lasting ramifications from this crisis.

But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
2 Thessalonians 3:3

My Favorite Aggies!

Better!!!

Gideon is better, but still contagious until 12:42! Sooo, we are home today...atleast until 12:42!

It's Official...

Gid has Strep. Today was a carbon copy of Tuesday, but the main character is now Gid and the throw up missed me and went all over the floor! Please pray that Gid would feel better soon!

When Will It End?

ME is better, but now Gid is sick! Off to the doc...

Improving...

After 16 hours of sleep and antibiotics, ME is much better! She did not cough once last night and all the sleep has given her extra energy!!! She complained when forced to take her medicine, but then said, "I actually think I like it!"

Strep...

ME has been sleeping a lot. Saturday night, she fell asleep at 7:45 and slept 12 hours. Yesterday, I walked into the living room and found her sound asleep. She seemed fine...she had the typical running nose and occasional cough. But last night before bed, she complained of a sore throat and then coughed most of the night. This morning said that she felt sick, her PJs were making her hot, she did not want to go to school, but back to bed...20 minutes later she was snoring in my bed! ME never confesses to being sick, loves school and the mention of a nap immediately causes her eyes to widen and her energy level to reach all time levels of awakeness! So, I knew that she was definately sick! I called the doctor and scheduled an appointment at 9:15...in 30 minutes! The only problem...ME was sound asleep. I knew she probably needed to go to the doctor, but who wants to spend the morning at the doctor with a sick 3 year old...even more, who wants to wake up their 3 year old to go to the doctor!?! Since time was ticking and I just wanted to get our morning adventure over with, I woke ME up and told her we were going to go get treats and movies for the day...which was not a lie...I just did not mention the word DOCTOR! Fortunately, this was our first time to go to the doctor here, so she had no clue what we were doing and was frankly to tired and grumpy to care. 15 minutes later, her vitals were taken and a stick was being shoved down her throat, before she could even protest. It was not until she was told that "the doctor would be in a minute" that her lip started to quiver and she began protest! She crawled up into my lap and said her stomach hurt...5 seconds later, I was covered in vomit! As our wait drew on, so did the whining and demands to "take me home!!!" Even though I really wanted to relax with a current magazine, I filled our time with stories and even sang to her to try to distract her. Finally, we were given a prescription and dismissed. I told her we could stop by Sonic and the Redbox, but she did not want to...I even begged, but she just kept saying, "I want to go home!" Since we needed an antibiotic ASAP, we stopped at Target...I love Target and I love any excuse to go there!!! We got her prescription and sushi :-) and headed home! The drive is a total of 4 minutes and when I turned off the car...I found ME sound asleep!

The fruit flavored antibiotics were not a hit and required a call to Granny to get the tears and whinning to stop and to give me a few minutes to change out of my vomit covered outfit.

I praise the Lord for Sushi, chocolate, the movie Bolt and Granny!!! Pray that ME gets better soon and that she keeps her germs to her sweet self!!!
Sushi is the next best thing to Sonic...Sonic serving Sushi...HEAVEN!!!

The Motions...

I love this song, but recently began really contemplating the words. How do we live with an all consuming passion of Christ in our lives and not just go through the motions? What are we to give or what are we to give up? I am sure it is different for each one of us, but I would love to hear your thoughts!

The Motions by Matthew West

This might hurt
It’s not safe
But I know that I’ve gotta make a change
I don’t care
If I break
At least I’ll be feeling something

‘Cause just ok
Is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions

No regrets
Not this time
I’m gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love
Make me whole
I think I’m finally feeling something

-isms

Keith went to help some friends last week during the wild fire crisis. Gideon said, "I need to call daddy and remind him to Stop, Drop and ROLL!" Then he demonstrated.

Last night, Keith told the kids the Easter story and Emme said, "That's not a good story. Tell us a story that Jesus doesn't die!" Her prayer, "Thank you God that I didn't die on the cross!"

The Countdown...

ME turns 4 in 19 days and has already started making plans and inviting (as well as, uninviting if you make her mad, punish her or ultimately do not meet her every whim). Tonight, we asked her what she wanted to do for her Birthday and she said, "Eat cake!"

"What else?"

"Go to Sonic!"

"What will you get at Sonic?"

"Water!!!"

That will be an easy and very economical Birthday!!!

So...if you are "3, 4, 6, 7, or 10" (Only if you are those ages, you are invited to her party...at least today!) meet us at Sonic on May 2!!!

Easter Day Celebration...

After Church, Hannah joined us on a road trip to Enid to visit our family. I love holidays, any and all holidays, because I love parties and celebrating and spending time with family!!!

Even though it rained the entire day, we had a blast!!!

I ate until I thought I would explode...another reason I love holidays...I LOVE TO EAT and holiday food is the best!!!

Grandma served as the Easter Bunny's delivery service and the kids reached and all time sugar level high!!!

The egg hunt was moved indoors and eggs were hid everywhere!!!


The kids appraised the plunder, filled their mouths and spent the rest of the day bouncing off the walls!

Grandma and the girls!

My dad and my sis...love you guys!!!

Happy Easter!!!