I have just a few minutes before I have to leave to pick up Andrew, but I wanted to post about HIS first day of "cool".  I had to get him up and ready the same time as Rach this morning which I thought would be a little difficult since he is so used to hanging out in his jammies until 9:00.  But with big sister's help we achieved it.  He wouldn't eat breakfast this morning but I did manage to get him to drink some milk and have a cereal bar before we left.  I know that sounds a bit rushed, but I have to have Rach at school by 7:55 and his school starts at 8:15 so there's not much time to go home in between to eat breakfast.  But we'll get the kinks worked out eventually.  We dropped Rach off and headed to his school.  I asked him, "Are you so excited to go to your school?"  To which he replied, "No! I don't want to go to school."  Oh great!  I thought.  This is going to be fun.  But...he surprised me!  Once we got to his school and parked the car he was ready to go.  He says to me, "Get me out Mom.  I go to my cool!"  So we walked into his classroom, hung up his backpack and he found some playdough.  I gave him a kiss and told him I would see him in a little bit and he said, "OK Mom, Bye!"  And that was it.  I was so prepared for tears and hanging onto my neck that I didn't know quite how to react.  So I just walked out and watched him for a bit.  He was having a great time!  Gotta go pick him up and see how his first day was! 

I haven't been real good about updating this here blog, but honestly there just wasn't much to write about.  Until last Thursday and then I have been completely busy and haven't had any time to update.  But thing are a bit more calm now.

Last Thursday was Rachel's first day of FIRST GRADE!!  She was so excited!  She had a great first two days of school.  Let me back up a few days...Tuesday evening we went to Open House to meet her teacher and look at her room.  She was pretty anxious about that.  She wanted Mrs. Haworth so badly because all the kids said last year that she is the "smart kids" teacher.  And, of course, Rachel said she is smart so she just knew she would get Mrs. Haworth.  I don't think she is the "smart kids" teacher, but she does expect more out of her students and isn't as warm and lovey as Mrs. Craig.  It's funny how kids describe teachers. In fact I mentioned this comment that Rachel made to me last year to her kindergarten teacher, and Mrs. Jarnagin even told me that she wouldn't recommend putting Rachel in Mrs. Haworth's class just for the simple fact that Rach needs someone who will give her a bit of TLC.  So I kind of had a feeling that Rach would get Mrs. Craig. And when we looked at the class lists posted outside the front doors of the school Tuesday night, I said, "Rach you got Mrs. Craig!  And so did Nicole!!"  (Nicole is her best friend)  Her shoulders just kind of fell.  So she was a little upset.  But I knew that Mrs. Craig was the best teacher for Rach.  While we were waiting for the doors to open she was standing in front of me and and I had my arms around her with my hands on her chest and I could literally feel her heart beating a hundred miles a minute.  But when we walked into her room Mrs. Craig came up to her and said, "I remember Rachel from last year! I'm so excited to have you in my class!" and shook her hand.  Rachel relaxed a little bit.  We found her desk which she was SO excited about!  We put away her supplies and looked around her room.  She really liked it. 

Ok..fastforward to Thursday.....

She had a great first day of school.  She was a little nervous, but Mrs. Craig came up to her and put her arms around her and told her she was going to have a great day!  And when I picked her up that afternoon, she was all smiles!  We have been so lucky to have such wonderful teachers so far!  Friday she had a great day too.  So...so far so good!  She's excited about buying her lunch tomorrow.  They're having goulash, which is her absolute favorite menu item at the school.  I REALLY need to go have lunch with her on goulash day so I can find out what's in it and make it for her at home!

Ryan got home from work early on Friday which was nice so that I didn't have to wake up Andrew.  He has become accustomed to 3-4 hour naps in the afternoon and so waking him up after 1 1/2 hours isn't much fun.  So I was able to pick up Rachel.  The first thing she tells me when we get into the car, "It's not fair!!  All my friends are going to watch High School Musical 2 tonight and I can't because we don't have cable!!!  PLLLLLEEEAAASE can I go to Anna's tonight to watch it??  She said I could...PLEASE?!?  I said please!"  I calmly said, "Let's talk to dad.  I don't know what's going on tonight."  I lied.  I knew exactly what was going on.  If you all remember a couple posts back I mentioned that we had a surprise for Rach, but I couldn't tell you what it was. Well, Ryan and I knew how badly Rach wanted to see HSM2 and so we made reservations at the nicest hotel in town, Holiday Inn, for Friday night so that Rach could see HSM2.  It was so hard to keep it a secret from her.  I really wanted to tell her badly!!  But all the way home she whined and moaned, and complained.  It took everything I had not to smile at her or laugh because that would have just made her more miserable.  We got home and she was just in a mood.  This "mood" is relatively new in the last couple weeks and I'm not really liking it.  It's a whole other post in itself that I'll have to save for another day. 

Anyway, we just kind of let her stew for an hour or so..get a snack...watch a bit of TV. And then around 4:00 Ryan says to her, "Rach we need to go to the store.  We need to look at some seeds for the garden."  Oh boy...that completely set her off..."I DON'T WANT TO GO!"  I was having a hard time not laughing..if she only knew where we were going really!  I had to carry her to the car.  She cried the whole way.  When we got to the hotel and Ryan was turning into the parking lot, the tears stopped and she said really sarcastically, "Dad.  You're going the wrong way.  Why are you turning into the hotel?"  We parked the car and I turned around and said, "We're going to watch High School Musical tonight!"  She just sat there.  She was stunned.  "Are we spending the night?"  Yes.  "But we didn't bring our clothes."  "Don't worry.  I packed us some this afternoon."  By this time we're all out of the car and she is jumping up and down with the biggest smile on her face.  She jumps into my arms and says, "I'm so excited mom!  I get to see High School Musical just like all my friends and get to sleep in a hotel!"  I haven't seen Rach this excited about anything in a lonnnnggg time!  It was so worth it!

We had a great evening.  We went swimming.  Got some dinner and came back to the hotel to watch the countdown to HSM2.  And then watched it.  It was really good.  We all really enjoyed it.  The music is so good.  We actually had already heard all the music before.  The soundtrack came out last Tuesday so on Thursday I bought it for her.  And after she got home from school on Thursday, Ryan gave it to her and said, "Mom and I got you the soundtrack since you're not going to be able to see it tomorrow night."  We are so mean.  But she didn suspect a thing.  It was a fun weekend.  She is so excited to go to school tomorrow and tell her friends.

Now we're getting ready for the big HSM birthday party this Friday.  She is definitely in planning mode.  So I'm trying to prepare myself. If I don't post the rest of the week that is the reason.  I have pictures from the first day of school and the HSM premier but they're on a film camera and not digital.  Mine is still broken.  So when I get them developed (yes, Mom I'm going to develop these as soon as I finish it up) I will get them scanned in and posted.

 

 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie!!  This has been my family's "summer" movie for as long as I can remember.  I know Brett and Larry no longer watch this, but my mom and I have to watch this at some point during the summer vacation.  I borrowed it last week from my mom so that Rach and I could watch it.  Yesterday after I got Andrew down for his nap, Rach and I settled in to watch it.  It brought back so many memories and feelings.  I remember when I would watch it when I was younger just wishing I lived in the "yellow house in Beulah, Maine" and lived during the ragtime period.  I found myself singing along with all the songs.  "Land of plenty, here for us, this is beautiful Beulah in the rock state of Maine..."  And then when cousin Julia comes to live with them, I remember also not liking her so much because she "thinks she's the Pink of Perfection".  But later on in the movie when Julia is not so stuck up, I would just wish I had beautiful dresses like her and parasols.  ~sigh~  It was so fun to watch it with Rach and share one of my childhood summer movies.

It got me thinking about summertime when I was growing up.  We didn't do a whole lot during the summer or went anywhere.  Except Albuquerque and sometimes to Utah.  And after we moved to Oklahoma we went to Waco quite a bit to my Aunt Linda and Uncle Bryant's house.  About every six weeks it seems like.  And, boy, did we have a TON of fun!  It was especially fun when we'd play "Let's Make a Deal".  Uncle Bryant would don on this awesome blue sports coat and be the host, Monty Hall.  All of us kids would dress up in some git-up and find something to maybe "trade" and make a deal with.  I remember Mom and Aunt Linda would go to the store earlier in the day to find prizes and then spend some time in the afternoon putting prizes together.  Then that evening when Uncle Bryant got home from work, we'd play "Let's Make a Deal!"  So much fun!!

(I actually found some pictures of one of the times we played.  The pictures are a bit grainy.  Gotta love the technology back then)

Uncle Bryant (aka Monty Hall) in the awesome blue sport coat!

Here's the participants from left to right:  Bill, Brett, Leigh, Jenny, Shelly, and Me

Bill and Brett.  I'm not sure who Bill was supposed to be, but Brett was Skeletor.  I almost didn't post this picture, but then I noticed Brett is holding the pan pusher thingy to an Easy Bake oven.  I guess it was his sword.  So randomly funny...

This is probably my favorite picture.  It's Jenny (sorry, Jen if this embarrasses you, but I love it!) dressed up as an old rich lady.  She really got into it, and if I remember correctly did the voice and all!  Good times!

I have good summer memories when I was growing up even though we didn't go many places and spent alot of time inside because it was so incredibly hot outside.  There are just some things that say "Summer" to me even now. Like the movie, "Summer Magic" and red twizzler licorice sticks and jolly ranchers.  I can still go to my mom's house and she has those two candies sitting on the counter from May until the end of August or so.  These memories are the "Magic of Summer" to me.   

I know everyone is dying to know the progress of C3P0's arm.  It passed this evening around 6:00 pm.  No problems.  Everyone is doing well!

Life is never boring around our house as long as Andrew is awake.  This morning as we were getting ready for church, Ryan was in our room putting on his tie.  He chose to wear his Yoda tie.  Andrew asked him, "But Daddy, wha bout yor das mader tie?"  Ryan told him that he decided to wear Yoda today.  Ryan asked him if he wanted to wear the Darth Vader tie.  "Esss!!"  So Ryan put it on him.  Ryan said that he stood so still which is so not like Andrew.  He thought he was big stuff.  He came into the bathroom to show me.  He was all proud of it and stood up on the stool to look at himself in the mirror.  He just got the biggest smile on his face.  He is so dang cute I had to take some pictures!

(Sorry, the picture is out of focus because it's still broken.)

I love the one on the right where Andrew looking up at his daddy!  Soooo cute, he sure does look up to his daddy!

He went to church all excited to wear his tie.  He received lots of compliments on it!

This afternoon after church things went like they always do...we took naps, watched some movie, etc.  But then after dinner Andrew did something that Ryan and I have just been waiting to happen.  For those who might not know, Andrew has a "thing" about putting things in his mouth.  ANYTHING...dirt, bugs, french fry off the floor at Chick-fil-A,...the list goes on.  Oh I didn't mention that he also puts small toy parts in his mouth.  Uh...like the detachable arm off his C3P0.  Here's a picture of it...

I know it's a teeny picture, but it's also a pretty small toy.  It's one of those Star Wars Galactic figures, the ones where most of the figures of large hands.  Well, C3P0's arms are not so large.  Well, he was sitting on the floor playing with them and Ryan was sitiing by him reading the paper.  He hears Andrew say, "Uh-oh!"  Ryan looks over at him and noticed that C3P0 was up by his mouth and he had a sort of stressed look on his face as though he couldn't breathe for a second.  Ryan noticed that C3P0's arm is missing.  He asked Andrew if he as ok and where C3P0's arm was.  Andrew answered him, pointing into his mouth, "It's gone."  Ryan asked him if he swallowed it, "Ess."  I was on the phone with my mom and Ryan looked up at me and told me, "Uh, Andrew just swallowed C3P0's arm."  "You.Are. Kidding."  I told mom I had to go.  Ryan and I just stared at Andrew for a minute in total unbelief.  He actually swallowed a toy!  We looked everywhere where had had his Star Wars toys.  It was nowhere to be found!  I asked him where it went.  "Gone down my mouf." 

So we decided to take a trip to the hospital just to make sure it wouldn't get stuck.  When I told the registration lady the reason for our visit, she just smiled and said, "Ok.  We'll get you right back."  The doctor told us after looking the one arm toy that there really was nothing they could do for him.  We just had to let it pass.  The kind of plastic that it's made of probably wouldn't even show up on an x-ray.  Chances of obstruction are pretty slim, but if any signs develop to bring him back in.  He basically told us (and I warn you this part is graphic, although a common word in our household lately!) to check his poop in the next few days to see if it passes.  So after he left Andrew kept saying over and over, "I going to poop C-tree-o's arm out!"  Almost in a song.  I'm sorry...but we couldn't help but laugh at him!  Anyway I'll keep you updated on the arm.  I just hope it passes with no problem.  We had a little chat about what we put in our mouth.  He did repeat back to us, "Food, water, and uh...oh, cookies!"  Then he put the rest of C3P0 back into his mouth!  I think that toy may go in hiding for a while.

The thought did come to me, Maybe this is why there is a recommended age for toys.  These particular toys have a recommended age of 3.  Okay, so he's not quite 3.  But I thought a few months wouldn't make that much of a difference.  In our case, it does!

Until later!

I just have to tell this cute, yet hilarious, story about Rach and Andrew.  Today as I was working on the computer getting things ready for our quarterly Enrichment night at church, Rachel comes walking into our bedroom holding Andrew's hand.  The conversation went like this:

Rach:  Mom.  We need to talk to you.  I have talked to Andrew and explained to him that he is a big boy now and so he needs to start going potty like a big boy and not wear diapers.

Me:  Oh, really.

Andrew: Ess!

Rach: Yes.  I told him that if he uses the potty I will give him a M&M.

Andrew is nodding:  Ess.

Me:  Ok

Rach:  Now Mom.  This is a trust.  Right, buddy (speaking to Andrew and Andrew completely agreeing with her, nodding his head "Ess") And so this is a trust and he will do it.

Me:  Looking at the kids, "A trust?" (I don't think Andrew comprehends what trust is, but apparently Rach explained it to him...comprehension??? I don't think so.)

Rach: Yes.  He goes to the potty like a big boy because that is what he is!"

I just had to say "Go for it!"  I thought to myself if Rach can potty train him, more power to her.  That would take some stress off me.  It will totally be a hoot if she does it, though!  Such the little mother!  Love it!

(P.S. Andrew did put on some Buzz Lightyear underwear after his nap and did very well until later this evening.  I called home after the Enrichment meeting to see how things were going to find out that Buzz got a little dirty.  Oops.  Kind of freaked Andrew out, but all was well.  It's a learning process.  I'm not sure if the "other" mom in our house is willing to clean up the accidents....better check on that one :-) )

I didn't realize that it had been a week and a half since I last posted.  Alot going on, alot on my mind lately.  After some serious thought we decided that it wasn't the right time for us to go to Utah this week.  It was a hard decision to make, but we think we made the best decision for us.  Our trip isn't canceled just postponed...so don't worry we'll be up there soon!! 

But we did get to Dallas this past weekend for my cousin's, Mike, bride-to-be's shower.  Mom and I hosted a family bridal shower for Steph at the Chocolate Angel Tearoom.  If you are ever in Dallas I highly recommend stopping by there.  It was DELISH!!  And the atmosphere was so tearoom like...it reminded so much of Anne of Green Gables (my favorite books of all time!).  Loved it!!!

We came home on Sunday and we were pleasantly surprised by the bounteous harvest our garden gave us.  See!!!

I blanched the corn, cut the kernels off the cob, and froze the corn.  Now we'll have at least one meal with fresh corn!  Mmm, Mmm!  After I cut the kernels off we all sucked on the cobs and Oh. My. Gosh!  It was so yummy!!  This afternoon we picked some zucchini and more cucumbers.  We have so many cucumbers, it is unbelievable!!  We are so grateful for the good food we have gotten so far.

Other things going on....just getting ready for school.  School starts on Aug. 16th.  We're almost done, just need to get a couple more new clothes and school supplies.  The kids and I were at the mall yesterday and we stopped by Famous Footwear to look for some shoes for Rachel.  She found what she wanted...High School Musical tennis shoes!  She was so excited!!  Last week we went to Edmond to go to Target and she got her HSM school bag and lunch box.  As she will tell you, "I am a BIG fan of High School Musical!"  And, boy, is she!  She is literally counting down the days until the "World Premier" of High School Musical 2 on Disney Channel August 17th.  She is a little bit worried about it since we don't have cable, but Ryan and I have a little surprise planned for her. (Shhhh...I can't tell you now what it is.  You'll have to wait too!)  But with all the planning for her big HSM first day back to school, we are also planning her big HSM birthday party!  She has even asked me if I could just call a couple of the people from HSM and see if they could come to her party.  You all might remember "Cinderella" came to her 5th birthday, so she thinks I know how to get a hold of these people.  Too bad I don't know anyone who remotely looks like Zac Efron or Ashley Tisdale.  What to do...But it's going to be fun no matter what or who shows up!

Andrew is quite the little talker lately.  Before we left my parent's house on Sunday, Larry came into the kitchen just wearing some shorts, no shirt and Andrew asked (in a complete sentence), "Uncle Quarry, where are all your clothes?"  It was so funny.  He just talks and talks.  It is fun to listen to him.

That's about it from here...

Wow!!  Ten years ago today we were married in the Mount Timpanogos LDS Temple in American Fork, Utah.  Look at how young we look.  We were young....21!

The one thing that I remember most about that day is that it was the hottest day of the year...102 degrees!! (And watching the weather up there lately, it has been hotter than that!)  And here we are wearing a beautiful long sleeved wedding gown and a tuxedo.  We were crazy!! I remember at one point during the picture taking time (it must have been close to the end because Ryan and I were sweating), our photographer had us out by the sign that says "Mount Timpanogos Temple" to take our picture with the temple behind us and this lady driving by stops, rolls down her window, and yells out to our photographer, "Do you take wedding pictures?"  Ryan and I were like "Are you kidding me?  We are just standing out here in 102 degree weather in a wedding dress and tuxedo for the heck of it!"  Our photographer was a bit perturbed and told her, "Uh, yeah."  And this lady wanted to actually chat a bit with him, but he was very professional about it and told her to give the studio a call. Crazy. 

Then.....

...Now 

(this was the most recent picture I could find of at least Ryan and I together)

Without getting too sappy or mushy, this has been the most wonderful ten years of my life!  Difficult at times?  Yes.  But even through those difficult times, we have grown closer.  And that's what it's all about.  Growing closer together, learning how to work through things together, experiencing life together.  I can't wait to see what the next 10 years holds for us!

I know it's been a while since I last posted, but the kids and I have been gone on a litte trip.  Well, not really little.  An extremely fun, relaxing, and needed vacation!!  Two weeks ago the kids and I flew to Houston to see my cousin Shelly and her family.  She has two kids, Ethan and Lauren.  They are both the same age as Rachel and Andrew.  In fact, Lauren and Andrew are only a couple weeks apart in age.  It was INCREDIBLY fun!  Shelly and Allen showed us a really fun time.  And the kids got along so well.  Shelly and I were actually quite surprised.  However, by the end of the week Lauren and Andrew were at each other's throats (Ha! Ha!) We did some fun things with the kids, but Shelly and I did not forget about our wants--FOOD!!  We did some fun testing experiences; we made a couple of different graham crackers, a chese cracker like Cheese Nips, english muffins and three different kinds of cookies.  We had food on every counter of her kitchen.  It was funny one night when Allen came home and saw all the bags of food and he asked us if we created anything besides a sink of dirty dishes.  And I have to admit with some of things we tried, all we created was a sink of dirty dishes.  He was a good sport about it all.

Monday night Shelly and I took Rachel and Ethan to the drive-in movie to see Surf's Up.  It wasn't quite what we (the adults) thought it would be, but cute movie nonetheless.  The kids were just excited about watching a movie outside!  Then on Tuesday we went to the community center and learned all about animals and butterflies, planted a little flower and then got to actually release a butterfly outside. The kids loved that!  I had some really cute pictures, but I dropped my camera and it broke.  Ugggg!!!  On Wednesday we took the kids to the mall for a free showing of Happy Feet.  I was a little nervous about Andrew since every other time we've taken him to the movies either Ryan or I end up in the lobby with him for the majority of the show.  But once we got him some popcorn and sprite he did very well!!  

Thursday, we went to Galveston Island.  I was especially excited about this because it was the first time the kids have been to the beach.  I went quite a bit as a child since my family lived in south Texas for the first 8 years of my life and have wonderful memories of the beach, but it was so fun to see their little faces and hear all the excitement in their voices when they saw the ocean for the first time!  It was awesome!!  I found out that our little Rachie is quite the boogie boarder and swimmer in the ocean!  She had no fear (which made me a little nervous).  And Andrew thought he was just as big as the big kids, of course.  But after a while was content on just sitting in the surf as it came in and collect seaweed with Lauren.

Look at how much fun we had!!

Beach Baby, Beach Baby

Galveston Fun

I love the picture of Andrew and Lauren together walking toward the water.  They were playing the "Follow Me" game.  They would both chant "Follow me, Follow me, Follow me" as they would walk to the water and scoop water into their buckets.  Then they would walk back up to where we were sitting, dump the water out, then walk back to the water.  This little game went on for about 10 minutes.  The whole time chanting, "Follow me, follow me."  It was too cute!  At the end of the day when we got back to the car and changed their clothes, Lauren and Andrew's diapers were FULL of sand. 

Before we went to the beach we took the kids on a tour of the Sea Turtle Research Lab.  It wasn't quite what we thought it was going to be, but the kids thought it was pretty cool.  We learned that sea turtles do not pull their heads inside their shells like land turtles do.  Pretty cool.

On Friday we drove to Waco for our annual craft weekend at Aunt Linda's home. Mom got there soon after.   We got to work on our crafts right when we got there which was an unbelievable accomplishment.  We usually just sit and chat and then we're rushing on the last day to get everything done.  But we had plenty of chatting time.  The four of us younger girls stayed up until the wee hours just talking.  It was so much fun!  We made some SOOOOO fun things and I wish I had a camera to show you.  I made a Family Home Evening board, some holiday stackers, advent blocks, and some button ball ornaments using my grandma's buttons.  It was a fun time as always and memories were made.  I love spending time with my aunt and cousins and watching my kids have fun with all of theirs.  Fun times!!  Can't wait until this Christmas when we get together and bake!!  Mmm, Mmm, Mmm!!!

Mom, me and the kids left for home on Sunday.  It was sad.  We didn't want to leave.  And I think if mom didn't have to work on Monday we might have stayed.  Oh well.  We got back to Edmond that evening.  The kids and I stayed at mom's house and then Ryan came Tuesday night for the Fourth of July festivities the following day.  We went to the parade, to the movies and then had a barbeque.  It was fun!  We really missed Brett and Kate this year, though.  They went up to Vermont to see her family and are having a great time! 

Anyway...I know this was quite lengthy.  Thanks for reading and "listening" to me go on and on.  Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!!!  Now it's time to get back to reality for a few days and then we'll be off on another vacation.  This time back to Texas for a couple nights and then on to UTAH!!

 

 OR

 

 

Yesterday I was driving mom's car (and for those of you, who may not know, she drives a mini van) with the kids.  We came to a stoplight and there was a high school girl in a car next to us.  Rachel began to ask me some questions.  The conversation went something like this:

Rach: Is that a teenage girl in that car?

Me:  It looks like it.

Rach:  Yeah, I think it is because she is using a pink cell phone and mom's don't like pink cell phones, right mom?

Me:  (Smiling)  yes, I guess so.

(I have no idea where she came up with the idea that moms don't like pink cell phones.  Sometimes I feel like having a pink cell phone.)

Rach:  You know what mom?  When I'm a teenage girl I want to have a mini van to drive.

Me:  Oh really.  Why?

Rach: Because I think that would be really cool.  Don't you think so?

Me:  If you think so, I guess.

Now in my mind I'm thinking,"Is she already smart enough to figure out that if she drove a mini van she could fit more friends in it?  Or does she really think that driving a mini van is a "cool" teenage car to drive?  Scary or....what?  I had to laugh though at the way she just talks like she is so grown up.  She IS growing up too fast though.

Oh and bytheway,  I would have definitely chose the Beamer when I was in highschool. :-)