"These are a few of my favorite things" - Caroline

Conversation this morning over our kitchen island while we prepared lunch:

Caroline: "Daddy what do you think my favorite thing is?"
Daddy: "I don't really know. Let me guess, baby turtles?"
Caroline: "Nope."
Daddy: "OK, what then?"
Caroline: "My favorite things are quesadillas and checking the mail."

Picture #1: Earlier in the morning, daddy spent some time disassembling Abigail's old stock radio from her 2003 Toyota Matrix which she purchased a few months ago. I had a big helper in Olivia as I scavenged for various fasteners and other parts to throw in my misc nuts & bolts box.

Picture #2: As I was sipping my coffee this morning, Sarah started playing a beat from her phone. I started bobbing up and down, doing my best to sincerely impress my teenage daughter with my white boy dance moves. Of course, I did nothing more than embarass her and give her something to laugh at. She really laughed when my coffee mug handle broke right off from the sheer up and down force of my dancing bobs. Surely only a naturally skilled hip hop dancer could actually break off a mug handle, right? The mug was actually one I broke many years ago in a hallway at Zebco. My great co-worker Chad Hoffman who was our model maker at the time, fused the handle pieces back together which gave my mug approximately 10 additional years of life. It had a great run, but this time it was not worth attempting to fuse back together.

Picture #3: For the 2nd time in a week, we had a tiny box turtle exploring our back yard. I was cue'd into this little guy by a trail left in the grass by his scooting across the dew drops earlier that morning. The girls eaglerly took turns holding it and give it the name "Pokey".

Pictures 4 and 5: Abigail got her license Monday morning by narrowly passing her drivers exam. Phew! As soon as her and I returned home from the visit to the DMV (and of course a daddy-funded coffee to show his congratulations), she and Sarah jumped in and took their first freedom ride with no adult present. They went to the local coffee shop to "study".

Charlotte's Cold Feelings For Ty

This afternoon, Charlotte and Caroline were out in the yard playing with the neighbor boys, Grant and Ty Hawkins. According to Caroline, the conversation went like this: Charlotte: "I want to marry you Ty" Ty: "Do you think I am hot?" Charlote: (walks over to him, pulls up his sleeve, and touches his arm) "No, you are cold" The humor of 4 year old Charlotte always brings smiles to this family. It is spring break week and yesterday was Sarah's birthday. We decided instead of a whole family dinner of Sarah's choosing, we would make it a special mommy/daddy/daughter date out with just the 3 of us. We had a great time eating at Charleston's where we debated whether or not fishing was a strenuous enough activity to qualify as a "sport". Abigail needed help tonight as she dipped her toes into Trigonometry for the first time, and Daddy was eager to help because that is his favorite math topic of all time. Anna had a normal soccer practice tonight and came home to tell us that Braylen apparently injured herself while ice skating during Anna's birthday party on Friday night. It started with just falling on her duff, and apparently the pain started creeping up her back and now is hurting her neck so much she can't even turn her head! Meanwhile, Papa helped watch the girls tonight while we were out to dinner. He did a great helpful thing getting Charlotte ready for bed and getting her all ready in her PJ's. After he left, mommy and daddy were messing around in the closet not keeping an eye on her. Charlotte and Caroline were already in the bathtub, and when daddy walked out of the closet, Charlotte had crawled into the full bathtub, PJ's, diaper and all!

And lastly, we've been saying the rosary each night as a family activity for lent. Because it always works into bedtime, Charlotte has been known to fall asleep sometime during the 2nd or 3rd decade. Tonight was no different. It might seem sacreligious, but we chuckle because Charlotte looks like a corpse in her sleep pose with a rosary wrapped around her hand.

Funny Charlotte

This morning we woke to over 5" of rain that fell overnight. With the girls in the kitchen I cracked a joke about Noah's Ark and asked "Who built the ark?" Charlotte didn't miss a beat and nonchalantly answered "Not me."😂 

We've also had a bumper crop of cucumbers lately. Uncle James brought some pickled cucumbers over last weekend and they were snappy and oh so good. Daddy decided to try his hands at pickling so we went and bought the whole works. Anna and Caroline were gracious little helpers and we now have 6 quart size jars of homeade picked waiting for us in about 12 hours. 

We finished the day with dinner at the Oppers who generously fed us and where we enjoyed the usual skit performance by Katie, Sarah and Anna which tonight turned into an entertaining musical. And as usual we enjoyed a beautiful Oklahoma sunrise. 

The Lion King

We had a wonderful girl day last Sunday.  We went to the Spagetti Warehouse and then we went to see the Lion King.  The girls loved it.  Sarah kept telling people she went downtown.  She also wants to be Nola when she grows up.  That is so fitting since she walks around on all fours all day and loves cats.  Abigail was enthralled with all the characters and was amazed with the entire musical.  We definetly need more girl days.  Thank you Grandma for the wonderful day filled with memories.

 

Lindsey and Sarah

Melissa and Abigail

Grandma, Abigail, Sarah, and me.

Abigail's 7th Birthday

Abigail loves horses. It is what she talks about, reads about, and she wants to work with horses when she grows up.  So for her birthday, which was May 6th, we went horseback riding where she was is heaven. 

 

Here are all her friends that came to ride horses with her.

Abigail and Lydia (one of her best friends)

Look at that smile!  She smiled the entire time.

Happy 7th Birthday!

Aunt Ashley made the cake for her birthday and Abigail loved it.

 

Abigail has turned into a very mature girl.  She is growing up fast, acting mature and wanting to do more grown up things.  She loves to read and can absorb herself into a book and not notice what is going on around her.  She has a caring heart and wants to please others.  She makes me very proud to call her my daughter.

Sarah's Graduation

Sarah had her preschool graduation in May.  She has come from such a long way.  She used to cry to go to school every morning and loved the days she could stay home and play.  By the end of the year she was ready to go to school every morning.  She once was a loner, but by the end of the year she was a social butterfly and had two or three boyfriends.  I am a little worried for the future.  Sarah is a smart girl but doesn't like to show her knowledge and requires cohersion to show what she knows.  I was once very worried about her going to kindergarten but thankfully that fear has been greatly diminished by the end of May.  I am so proud of how much she has grown over the year.  Her time in preschool went by in the blink of an eye and she is growing up so fast.

 

Here is Sarah with her teacher, Ms. Sylvia.  We love Ms. Sylvia and are so grateful for how much love and hard work she poured out to Sarah.

Easter 2013

We had a beautiful Easter spent with most of our family.  We found our Easter baskets and Abigail showed us what the tooth fairy brought her and then we got ready and went to church.  After church we went to my mom's and shared a wonderful Easter dinner with some friends and family.  After Anna had a nap we went over to Aunt Kim's where Grandma and Grandpa Denton were and had a wonderful dinner there.  We are now full and the kids are sleeping peacefully in their beds.

 

Not a half bad family photo!

 Sisters

Anna loves all the sunglasses she received for her birthday.

Abigail looking so grown up.

Sarah growing up as well.

 

My three beautiful girls with beautiful smiles after a beautiful mass.

Anna's Birthday Party

We had Anna's birthday party this weekend and it was a lot of fun.  We celebrated with wonderful family and weather.  Thank you everyone for coming and celebrating with us.

 

 Josh and I got Anna a water table for her birthday and we gave it to her early in the morning and she really enjoyed it.  Sarah enjoyed it too.

 



 Hopefully it will provide hours of endless entertainment.

My mom generously offered to make gumbo for Anna's birthday and Anna loves gumbo.  She had four servings of it.

She also wore a lot of her meal on her shirt, but look at that smile.

All the kids were excited to see what presents Anna got.

I think Anna finally figured out it was her birthday when the cake came out.  She was so happy and ready to sing Happy Birthday.  She also blew the candles out before the song was over.

 

Happy Birthday Anna!

 



Anna is 2

Two years ago today we were anticipating the arrival of our new baby boy or girl and it was another beautiful girl.  I think Josh had a hard time believeing we had a third girl.  She was the happiest baby and she has turned into a very active 2 year old.  She loves her mommy and wants me to be near her at all times.  She will tell me to "sit mommy" or "hold mommy" or "stop mommy" and she makes sure I am doing what she wants me to do.  When we leave her at the nursery you can see she wants to go and have fun but she is just so nervous.  She gets up on her tiptoes and she backs off in new situations.

 

Anna enjoys playing in water and she likes to throw or kick balls. In fact she has quite an arm on her.  She likes to take her baby on walks and will boss Cooper around and tell him what to do. 

 

Anna has a little humerous streak in her and will try to do something to make you laugh.  She will also move her eyes to give funny looks at people.  

She is very determined and independent.  She will try to figure out something several times before asking me for help. Sometimes she never wants help.  I often say she doesn't say please because she just helps her self to whatever she needs.  She has learned to take the stool to wherever she needs and get the item herself.  Anna wants to be like her older sisters and will try what they do. For instance she doesn't want a lid on her cup.  She is such a blessing and I am blessed to be her mom.  I can't wait to see what the future holds for her.

Her birthday.

 



Her 1st birthday.

 

 

 2 years old.

 

Happy Birthday Anna we love you so much!

The Weeziana

For Spring Break we went to visit my family in Louisiana or as my girls say "The Weeziana."

It had been way too long and I learned that we did not take near enough pictures of everyone and everything.  We took a long car ride with only an hour nap in the car from everyone but we made it with much of our sanity in check.  The girls did a great job.

Abigail and Great Paw Paw

Sarah and Great Paw Paw.

Grandma and Abigail.  Grandma taught the girls how to make dandilion necklaces.  Abigail loved that and even decided to put charms on the necklace and bracelet.

We went to New Orleans for a day and it was fun as well as hot.  We walked around, saw the square and the cathedral, ate seafood and finished with beignets.

Abigail found a hat to cover her face from the sun and she enjoyed eating gumbo at the restraunt.

After lunch Sarah was reaching a melting point and needed a break.  Thankfully she mustered the strength to get through the rest of the afternoon.

Anna and Sam had fun walking with each other.  Those two really love each other.

Sarah really liked the beignets and looked pretty cool while eating them.

One of the highlights of the trip was all the kids playing in the ditch.  They played in the ditch from 2:00 until 6:00.  Their Mardi Gras beads were bows and arrows and Lucas was the bad guy.  They wore themselves out in the beautiful weather.

They then had a picnic and nobody got up and everybody ate everything. It was amazing!

Two buddies.

 

We had a wonderful time with family who all were so gracious and welcoming.  We definitely need to visit more often.