Joe Mama's Pizza

We had reason to celebrate, so we decided to go eat at a restaurant. But which one??  We were wanting to experience not only good food, but a great atmosphere... that was kid-friendly. After a quick Google search, we headed to the historic Blue Dome District in downtown Tulsa.  Home of trendy bars, restaurants, and a stone's throw from OneOK baseball stadium, the Blue Dome was full of people eager for a night out.  We paid $5 to park in a large gravel lot across from Joe Mama's Pizza- our target for the celebratory meal.  While it's nestled next to bars, Joe Mama's was kid-friendly with vintage PacMan & Street Fighter game stations inside.  After a 10 minute wait, we were seated next to a huge projector screen playing endless ESPN Sports Center at a table with white paper and a couple packages of crayons.  This was our kind of place!  We ordered craft beers for us and root beers for the kids, and enjoyed delicious fried pickle chips with ranch while playing Hangman & Tic-Tac-Toe. Then our waiter delivered our pizza, baked to perfection in Joe Mama's brick oven.  We got a large 1/2 Betty White (Alfredo sauce, feta cheese, Roma tomatoes, and mozzarella) and 1/2 T-Rex pizza (basically a meat lover's delight!)!  It was DELICIOUS!! 

Dad and Tim ALL GONE June 2009

Timmy LOVED pointing to others to pick up the things he threw off his high chair!  This is adorable!!

UPWARD- 1st game Dec 2010 Will

This is Will's first basketball game in the UPWARD Program as coached by Shaun. So fun to watch!

Memorial Day 2013
Owasso Cemetery

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
                                                                             -Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

Snowy Day!!

What a MILD winter it has been (knock on wood)!!  We did, however, get one decent snow where the kids could make a snowman and we could have a decent snowball fight!

Bench Updated!

Here is a picture of an old bench I found at a garage sale. I bought it for $5.

The bench had been recovered three times!  (and all of the fabric was hideous!!)

Here's the new and improved bench!

Total cost of facelift: $2.74!

I already had black paint and painbrushes, so all I had to get was the zebra fabric at $5.47/yard.

Coupon Book for Kids!

Will's love language is Giving Gifts- not necessarily BUYING gifts, but he's always making us cards or notes for us.  So, in thinking of a special Christmas gift for him, I thought we should embrace this!  We made HIM a coupon book!  Now, I made one of these for my husband when we first got married, but the topics within were MUCH different ;)
My husband and I both thought of five things we could do alone with Will.  Having a little brother means sharing time with mom and dad!  Here are some pics of the book:

Made with Love

Coupons expire in 9 years! 

"Music in the soul can be heard by the universe." Lao Tzu

Will started taking piano lessons from Mrs. Bass in mid-March this year.  He has proved to be quite talented in it!  What an amazing kid!  While we visited Grant for Thanksgiving, he gave an impromptu concert with Timmy at Westview.  He played without any music book, sang along, and helped Timmy ALL at the same time!!  The residents LOVED their performance!

Will also performed at a Christmas Piano Program sponsored by Mrs. Bass where 28 of her students performed.  He played The First Noel and did a wonderful job!  His Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, and Grandad were all in attendance, along with me and Shaun of course. 

The Things We Do To Protect Our Family...

This is a true story. A week ago, my loving husband left all the doors open to our house. A bird flew in! And guess what??? It didn't fly back out and we haven't been able to find it! Guess who decided to show its face JUST after friends left tonight?? THE BIRD!!!! So, I grabbed Will's BB gun and ran around the house after this bird!! It ended up in the boys' bedroom!!! After shooting 5 or maybe 10 times (HA!), I finally hit the poor thing! It took about as long for me to approach it afterwards as it did to shoot it down! But, alas, RIP lil renegade bird. Now I have to patch some BB dents in the walls...

After said birdy was down for the count, I heard Will tell Timmy, "I'm really worried now.  Daddy told me we have to eat everything we shoot..."

Kindred Souls

Some friends you meet only as acquaintances.  And some friends you meet who will be friends for life.  We've had the honor of meeting our soul mate friends- all of our kids get along wonderfully (in fact, my oldest son and my friend's oldest daughter are planning to wed in the future), our husbands get along great, and most of all, my friend and I are BFF's. 
Shortly after realizing our amazing friendship, my friend's husband took a job in Texas and a move out-of-state was in store. 
What I've realized now that she and her beautiful family are gone is that they really are our true friends.  We can't WAIT to visit them in their wonderful new home!!  In fact, how does two weeks sound??!!

Will's Song

Family

These are my people- my parents, my brothers and their wonderful wives, my niece, my hubby and kiddos.  I LOVE getting together with them all in one place!  We live three states away from them, and while there are many days I wish we lived right next door, I realize the time we spend TOGETHER is that much more precious because we can't have it all the time and whenever we want.  What an impressive, dynamic group!

I love you all!

Baby Kate, Baby Kate...

This is my beautiful baby niece, Kate.  She is so funny and energetic!  I LOVE her personality and baby girl gibberish!  She turns 2 next month- I can't believe how time flies!  Timmy and Will love playing with her- Will loves reading to her and jumping around.  Timmy, being two months younger, wants toys that she has and books she's reading.  The boys couldn't have asked for a more fun cousin!  When should she expect a little brother or sister?  I'm working on talking her parents into that one!

I learned MY lesson!

So, I grew up on a farm 6 miles from a town of 1,247 people. My parents never locked the doors to their house... or to any of their cars. You trust people there. People are still good- they may screw up, but they are good people.
In contrast, my husband was a military brat living in places all over the US. Their instinct was to trust your family, but be VERY cautious of everyone else. Question whatever is told to you and always ask WHY?
The other day, while Timmy napped and Will was at school, a man ran our doorbell. Now, my husband says to never answer the door if he's not home. I think that's ridiculous! People are good, right? So, I ignore his advice, open the door and a professionally dressed man greets me. He says they are doing free carpet cleanings- no strings attached! Well, how could I pass this up? As the lone vacuum pusher in our household, I found this invitation to be a dream come true! Someone else was going to vacuum AND clean the carpets??? What a deal!
A few minutes later, I find out it's the Kirby salesman! If I could have run away I would've! This young kid comes in, vacuums my entire living room and shows me how much filth we actually live in- even after our very own vacuum cleaned the carpets, his majestic Kirby picked up tons of filth! An HOUR AND A HALF later, this kid STILL isn't done with his Kirby shpeel! Now, I have patience- at least some! But I felt like I had developed a case of ADHD after watching him vacuum my carpet over and over again for an hour and a half! I panicked realizing he was NEVER GOING TO LEAVE!!! So, I told him we had someplace to be and basically kicked him out of my house! As I drove away, thankful to be out of the situation, I looked in my rearview at that young man standing at the end of my driveway waiting for his boss to pick him up. I realized my husband was right (as much as it pains me to say it)- never answer the door when home alone. You may end up buying one of those $4000 vacuums afterall!

Blogs

I've always wondered what makes a person want to start a blog. An obvious reason is to keep out-of-town family up-to-date in our busy world. I think the most important reason to have a blog, though, is to have a safe place to voice your opinions. Someplace you can "say" whatever you want... where you won't cause a disagreement based on your opinion. It's like a diary online. It's amazing what some people will admit to online... and they wouldn't in person!
All in all, I think blogs are great. I need to update mine more... I can't help but think, though... Do I really have insightful ideas I want other people to read? Or do I just need a place to vent... a place to brag... and a place to be myself?
Hmmm...

T-ball!

Shaun coached Will in T-ball the summer of 2009. Here's a fun video of his first game in May!

Mama's Song for Timmy

It's been awhile!

WOW! I can't believe how long it has been since the last post! LOTS of things have happened since then, but I won't go into all of them! The most important event, though, is that we had Timothy James on July 28, 2008! Here's a pic! He was born with Pierre Robin sequence- he had a recessed chin and a hole in his soft palate. Because his chin was smaller, his normal sized tongue was too big for his mouth and fell back- occluding his airway. We heard him cry twice and then he started turning purple! So, an ENT came in and intubated him. After a helicopter flight to Oklahoma City, a Tongue-Lip Adhesion performed twice, and 3 1/2 weeks in the OU Medical Center's NICU, we brought our new little boy home! What a miracle!!

Will's rendition of Rudolph song!

Here is the future rock star of the family!! He likes playing his guitar and singing. He'll even make up his own songs!

Funny Glasses

Here is a pic and a fun video of Will wearing my mom's old glasses. I think that's where they came from anyway! Will thinks it's funny to wear them around. So do I!!