Clark Family

Our Visitors

2011-07-26T20:20:00.000-05:00

Still playing catch up on everything I've missed blogging about. Today it's the out of towners we've had visit us these past few months.

My BFF (and maid of honor) Christy came all the way from Boston...(technically she didn't come to see me...she came for a wedding of another friend of ours) but I tried to spend as much time with her as I could...I only get to see her about once a year. Not. Enough.

Wade's buddy, Levi, brought his family from Kansas City for their Spring Break. Wade and Levi are practically the same person in different packages. Such a beautiful family. We always have such a great time with them.

The kids are drawn to Levi...we have another couch but everyone wants to squeeze in by Mr. Levi!

Wade's parents got to come spend a weekend with us. We squeezed A LOT into the weekend.

They were able to catch both Cade and Brooke's soccer games, attend J.P.'s birthday party, and help Wade build a new outdoor playhouse for the kids! Phew!

My brother Heath brought his family up for a quick visit. We were able to get all but 2 of the grandchildren with Grampa.

Wade's sister Katie brought her family from Tulsa too. We didn't slow down much while they were here. The Science Center, the New Melle Festival, Cade's baseball game...another fun filled weekend.

Our last visitors just left this week. My friend Liz brought her 4 kids and one of their friends for a few days. 9 kids! Squeezed in the Science Center, the Arch, the Zoo...and even an ER visit. Did I mention 9 kids? I watched them one morning/afternoon while Liz had a deposition in STL. That was interesting...with that many different little people it was hard to find something to please everyone. Liz and I wore ourselves out trying to keep up with them while we were out. Next time we agreed to do an adults only night! With wine. Lots of wine.

I didn't manage to get pictures of all our visitors...I've been slacking a bit I guess. My very-pregnant friend Jessica came to visit too, and I didn't manage to get any pictures. However, she's driving up again tomorrow, with her newest baby (and her other 3) so hope to get some then!

Sports, sports and more sports...

2011-07-25T15:23:00.000-05:00

A big reason I havent had time to blog? Sports. This is Wade's thing. He's an athlete, he loves sports. We both want the kids to be active and love whatever it is they choose to do. Figuring out what activity that is...well, we haven't gotten there yet. Wade wants the kids in as many sports as they want to take at any given time. I think they should get 1 sport per season. So far, he has won this disagreement. We juggled 6 sports schdules for a few months, the 3 oldest were in 2 sports each, which made it very difficult with Wade's travel schedule...but Grampa was there to "pinch hit" for him. We have games and practice most every night of the week, sometimes back to back practices and sometimes double booked...but we survived. Here's a few pics of the kids...

RILEY -- (gymnastics, tumbling, and basketball)

Basketball, she loved!

Her basketball coach says she is the most "aggressive" on the team (which is a good thing in basketball)...she wasnt afraid to steal the ball. She really loved playing too. She was one of 2 girls on her team (9 boys).

We had to give up gymnastics when basketball started, so she was just in tumbling and basketball. Tumbling has really been good for her. When she started she could do an ok cartwheel. Now she does a perfect one handed cartwheel, a roundoff, and a back handspring. Currently working on the roundoff backhandspring.

BROOKE -- (soccer and gymnastics)

Brooke was a VERY good soccer star too. She loved getting out there. She hustled after the ball. Probably the best player on her team.

Brooke averaged 2 goals per game!

Brooke LOVES "gee-nastics"

CADE -- (soccer, spring baseball (coach pitch) and summer baseball)

Cade liked soccer in the beginning, but he tuckered out by the end and was ready to move on to baseball.

Baseball is more his speed. Not as much running...he can goof off while on the bench and make his friends laugh.

Cade has to slide home every time...even if the ball is no where close to him.

Someday J.P., someday it will be your turn.

Cade and Wade...

I love his face in this one. I know there's a lot of baseball pics, but I had to include it too!

The Holidays I missed...

2011-07-16T00:20:00.002-05:00

Holiday Catch Up. Thought I'd send a photo or two of all the holidays I've missed in my blog absence.

St. Patty's Day. Dog Town. Micki and Trey. Micki and I have been friends for 25 years now. How is that possible? I just turned 25 this year ;)

*In Wade's defense, that is not his Bret Michaels hat)...he'd want me to let you know that.

In St. Louis, this IS a holiday...Opening Day. Busch Stadium.

My friend Mandy has season tickets and asked us to go. It was really phenomenal...I've never been to an opening day. Fly-bys, bald eagles, hall of famers, the Clydesdale's...it was a production. Happy we got to experience it with my other life-long friend, Mandy (again 25 years). Mandy, Micki, and I have all been friends since 4th grade. That's the grade Riley is going into this year. Really hope she chooses her friends well. I know I'm so happy to still have them in my life, we've been through a lot together.

Riley's 9th Birthday!!!

And her birthday sleepover...

One of my favorite moments from the sleepover (which thankfully had very little drama). 12 little girls all dancing to the Wii. We only have 4 controllers but still had a dozen little dancers. The video is the best, but it's hard to see. You'll have to take my word for it.

April Fool's Day
A tradition from my mom...check out the kids dishes/utensils. They LOVED this. Each with a different color milk. My dad still holds the record for best April Fool's joke...not sure that will ever be topped. Wilson's know what it is, and we'll leave it at that.

Easter

Egg Coloring...

I hosted Easter dinner at my house which was the 1st time I'd ever made a ham. My kids all looked so beautiful before we left for church, but I didn't get a picture until the end of the night. JP was exhausted and not in the mood to take pictures, so this will have to do as our Easter pic this year.

JP turned 2! But he didn't know what to do...

Luckily he has a few veterans to show him the ropes.

Why do we buy him presents anyway...this box was his favorite thing to play with.

Mother's Day!

This year the best present my kids gave me was a nap!

Memorial Day

We had a stellar Memorial Day. We had a little family baseball game, took the kids fishing, swam at our pool, and grilled a feast (salmon with a jalapeno/fruit salsa, kabobs, grilled pineapple...)

Grillmaster Wade...

Fathers Day (x3)
Celebrated thrice with the 3 greatest father's I know

Papa Pec

Grampa Top Gun

and Wonderful Wade

And the Mack Daddy of all...My very favorite holiday...Independence Day!

I just LOVE everything about the 4th.

Sunny weather, tank tops, flip flops, fireworks, cook-outs, swimming, friends/family, parades, the kids excitement...all to celebrate the greatest country in the world!

My friend Sherri snapped this picture. It wasn't intentional, but love that our house is in the background behind us.

More to catch up on later...

One last attempt...

2011-07-14T13:44:00.000-05:00

Funny how in my last entry it was snowing and now we're in 100+ degrees weather. At the end of the day, I have neither the time nor the energy for this blog.
I know I've lost all my friends that used to comment regularly. However, I'm going to try one last time...and if my busy life keeps me from getting to it, I'm going to have to abandon it all together. It's had a good run...5 years this October. But now I have 4 children and a traveling husband and it takes all my energy to just keep it together here. I haven't scrapbooked in over 15 months (last crop was Nat'l Scrapbook Day 2010), haven't picked up my guitar in a year, and have only read about 8 books since we moved last July (before the move I averaged 2-3 per month).
So I'm in a movement to get back to the things I love outside of being a mommy. (Things above mentioned being at the top of my list). But also keeping a journal of what we do, day in and day out (my online scrapbook). I enjoy being able to go back and read things I've forgotten about AND I love reading my friends and family blogs. It makes me feel like I know what's going on in everyone's world when you dont have the time to talk regularly.
A week from today it will be a year since our world was flip-flopped (our move from Tulsa to STL). No more excuses, we're settled in, we've made new friends...time to poop or get off the pot (as the sages say). So here it is. One final attempt to keep this blog going...if anyone out there is still with me.

February 2011 in Pictures

2011-03-20T22:36:00.000-05:00

Started February off with a snow day...

And they kept coming...feel like the kids are going to go to school all summer.

Here's a sampling of our snow days.

(Cant really tell from this picture, but I built 2 forts for the kids)...they used it for snowball wars.

Superbowl. For the first year in many we didn't host a Superbowl party. It was WEIRD. Quiet. We actually got to watch the game...(well Wade watched the game, I watched the commercials). The favorite...no question...

Probably watched it 20 times. Think we loved it so much because we live it. No doubt about it, we're a Star Wars family, everyone in this house loves Star Wars...see below.

The Hulk vs Vader. JP screaming in the back...normal night in our house.

Goodbye...

You will not be missed.

Like I said in my last post, I had Lasik. There was pain...mostly just the first day. Nice doctor gave me a Valium after surgery so I'd sleep through most of it. Worst part...a week of ripping off the tape on my protective eye sheilds each morning...AND scrubbing my face of all the sticky residue. Best part...HAD to stay in dark bedroom with eyes closed for the afternoon/evening of my surgery (Ahhh...quiet....something I NEVER get). Riley was so sweet. She desperately wanted to cook me breakfast in bed the day after AND it had to be pancakes and chai tea latte...really sweet thought. Loved every bit of it...until I had to get up and clean up the kitchen...from my breakfast and theirs. C'est la vie...my siesta didn't last long.

Riley has such a big heart. I love that she thought to do that AND she was so adamant with Wade on what she wanted to make and wanted to do it all herself, with no help from the him or the kids.

Before Valentines Day, Cade got off the bus with 6 green hearts he made in class. He had 6 different sizes starting with a tiny one for JP and a they went up from there. That night after we did homework, ate dinner, took Riley to tumbling, put all the kids through the bath, Wade and I exhausted, walked into our room to find this and I just melted. What a sweet kid.

Brooke keeps spilling at the kitchen table so we decided to put her in the high chair...JP didn't like it one bit. He'd scream at her and push her across the floor trying to get her out. The rest of us laughing hysterically. Poor kid...it was just SO hilarious we couldn't help it.

One more note about Cade. The boy is neat. He keeps a VERY clean room. Even filling out his valentines. He separated them by color and stacked them into neat piles as he filled them out. I used to be like that. Before I had FOUR children I was uber organized. I've laxed a bit on that the last couple of years...now a days I'm just trying to stay afloat.

Valentine Parties. Very. Big. Deal. Valentines parties might be a bigger deal than Christmas parties.

Mondays we have gymnastics so we had to eat a late Valentine dinner. Tonight we had fondue. Such a great dinner with all sorts of fresh vegetables, a couple fruits, chicken and bread. Dessert was chocolate covered strawberries. Very Valentin-ey!

Typical meal time...Sampson knows the best seat in the house for getting fed.

Helping me unload the dishwasher. This one doesn't take after his brother in the "neatness" category.

The best birthday gift. Wade and the kids detailed my car for me. The windexed windows, vacuumed mats, and cleared out all the toys. A much needed bath for the old silver bullet. Perfect, perfect gift...

that AND having the 4 best kids on the planet!

Saturday night, family movie night.

Riley began basketball at the end of the month and loves it! She's out there with all boys (one other girl on her team of 11). She hustles, she's energetic, this may be a really good match for her.

Hope to catch up with March before April hits...stay tuned.

A Month in Pictures

2011-03-07T20:31:00.000-06:00

I feel like all my posts the last 6 months or so are all "re-cap" posts that are weeks (or months) behind. At this point blogging is very low on my priority list. But, I do get to it when I can. So for those friends/family that are still with me, here's what we were up to in January...yes I realize it's March...such is my life right now.

January 1st starts out the same way every year, with our annual New Years picture. Each year I get a shot of the kids holding their New Years Day sign as a way to document how much they've grown in a year. This is our 8th annual picture...it all started back in the day with Riley on her 1st New Years...

Fast forward 8 years and 3 kids later...

Pretty impossible to get all 4 looking and smiling at the camera. Settled for 3 out of 4.

All. Day. Long.

This is what he does. All day. Empties drawers, makes messes, all the while looking adorable. He's got me trained. And he knows it.

We took a road trip to Columbus, Ohio to visit my brother Todd's family. The kids had some extra days off around Martin Luther King Day and Lori was throwing him a big 40th Birthday Bash so we felt like all the stars were aligned. We were so happy we got to be a part of his birthday.

Todd, Lori, and 2 adorable nephews Aiden and Garrett...

Wade was traveling (shocking, I know!) So the kids and I loaded up and I drove up by my lonesome. He met up with us there. I'm so glad we went, we had such a great time and the kids all really got along and loved hanging out together.

That's Cade holding up his tooth, which he lost while we were there!Jack-o-lantern smile

Looks like Garrett's wondering why big brother is loving on someone besides him!

Most Unusual (this is for any Wilson's reading this). There are now 2 of these huge crosses on the trip...
Brooke caught a glimpse and yelled, "OH MY GOSH. JESUS HAS GOT TO BE THERE". It was so cute.

We drove to Indianapolis on Sunday night so that we wouldn't be driving all day on Monday. Such a good call. We got back just after noon and had the rest of the day to "chill-ax" (as the young-ones say now).

JP thought the sleep number adjuster was a phone.

My view from the driver's seat... I love this view. My heart feels this way sometimes. Full and crowded and happy and just about max-ed out...about to overflow. Really, REALLY love my family.

Snow days were abundant in January (and February for that matter).

We've had so many stinking snow days it's unreal, kinda feel like the kids might be going to school all summer. However, we had a lot of fun. It usually snows once a year in Tulsa...and when it snows it might be 70 the next day and melt it all, so you got to get out in it while it's there.

We're still under the mindset and we took FULL advantage.

JP's Very 1st Sled Ride

Pretty sure we were on our sleds everyday we could. Plus snow forts, snow angels, snowman building...you know all the favorites. And we went through a few gallons of hot chocolate and a little of Wade's favorite...hot vanilla.

I love Riley in this picture, she's testing out her snowboarding skills. Riley's name means brave and valiant...does she ever live up to that. I caught her one day "body sledding" down the back stairs of our deck. She was trying to get Cade to go down, but he wasn't about to go there. She did manage to talk Brooke into it though.

This is my all-time favorite snow picture. Not that it's a great photograph but my heart hurt for JP that he was stuck inside when his siblings were out building snowmen. We spent some time outside earlier in the morning and he just got so cold I had to bring him in. Some day J.P. Some day it will be your turn to stay out until your feet turn purple. Until then watch and learn, these kids play hard!

2 of our little neighbor girls came over for some hot chocolate after playing outside. The girls were so giddy, I just wish I could bottle up the joy sometimes.

It's not always sunshine and roses. With the fun, comes the clean up. Blah. Every single door in my house looks like this. Kids come in they peel off shoes, coats, bibs, and anything that is cold or wet. Somehow a sippy cup got tossed in there too.

In closing, a couple other random photos:

Brooke's favorite condiment on hot dogs? Peanut Butter. Don't ask us how that started, we don't have a clue...but she LOVES it.

Sometimes I wonder if Wade has a little "hair envy". He likes to do this to the kids hair after they get out of the bath. This picture is noteworthy because it may be the last picture of me in my specs. I'm not usually photographed in my glasses...don't really wear them much, but it's required for the 2 weeks prior to Lasik, which I had in February. Went from 20/100 to 20/25 in one day. Sweet!

Blech...

2011-03-01T22:38:00.000-06:00

Not doing so well on the bi-monthly blogging, am I?
Hubs has been traveling a bunch. Exhausted at the end of the day.
Have a free minute now and all I can think about is sleep.
Maybe I'll try tomorrow...

Wrapping up 2010

2011-01-21T17:40:00.000-06:00

I know it may seem like I've fallen off the earth sometimes, but with a busy family of 6, we have no choice but to maintain a constant state of organized chaos. Although I have great aspirations to maintain by blog more frequently it is quickly falling down my priority list. Unfortunately.

But I want to do what I can, when I can.

I find it ironic that my last post was about Cade cutting his own hair which we haven't had any of the kids do. Now we've had 2 kids join the "self-haircut" club...more on that in a later post. In the interest of catching up with myself, I'm going to try to wrap up 2010 in one single post. So grab a cup of coffee and hunker down. This might take a while...I will do my best to keep it brief.

In the final weeks of the year, we had Wade's parents visit from Tulsa, JP got his first haircut, Wade had a birthday,we hosted our 1st 'Cousin Camp' sleepover, Cade and Riley had their school Christmas parties, a 5 day visit to Tulsa, and one fabulous Christmas celebration for our ~~little~~ big family.

Here is the last 2 weeks of the year documented in pictures:

JP in desperate need of a haircut.

This one was hard. My baby. I have always had a hard time cutting the kids hair. At the time of JP's haircut, Brooke still had never had a haircut except for the bangs. He is (and has often) been mistaken for a girl. But a man at Walmart called him a princess and I figured we'd better git r' done. Cade's first haircut was on Wade's birthday when he was 15 months old, so I decided to keep the tradition alive and do it on Wade's birthday - JP was 19 months.

Side note: it snowed on his birthday and so I went the day after--but close enough.

It wasn't pretty

but what a difference...

Wade's folks came to visit. His parents both turned 60 this year and we gave him tickets to see a Rams game here in StL. Rams lost, but they still had a great time at the game.

Wade had a birthday...

Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

(I just LOVE this photo)

and the boys in it.

We hosted our 1st "Cousin Camp" where we had our local nieces over for a sleepover. It was so much fun. Everyone got to make their own gingerbread house for our Gingerbread Village.

We watched movies, played the wii, took the spotlight out to the woods and saw deer.

This video is great. The girls were all playing Just Dance on the Wii. I love it for so many reasons.

Brooke shaking her toosh and not at all on the beat
Kelsey having a hard time keeping up, but trying her best
Cade being all big brother-y. I had this amplified by 3 growing up. Just being a pest so she'd mess up. Really reminds me of my childhood.
Wade conducting business in the background...he's such a hard working man...always one hand on the pulse, even on his vacation. He worked 1/2 the days he "supposedly" took off.

Back to our sleepover..we decorated Christmas cookies, made snowflake candy necklaces and drank hot chocolate.

Just had a really fun time doing lots of Christmas-y stuff. Plus it gave their mom and dad a chance to go to dinner and finish Christmas shopping. Grammy came out to help with the cookies and the gingerbread houses because basically I wanted the kids to learn from the best. And mom is definitely the best cook I know.

Along with the good, sometimes comes the bad. I got my long-awaited kitchen table and chairs...which Brooke promptly autographed.

Riley and Cade had their school holiday parties. The nice thing about our new school is that they split the Christmas parties up between 2 days. We lucked out into different days. Usually I'm running back and forth from one class to the next which is really difficult, really loved being able to focus on one class at a time with all the crafts we had lined up. This was the big hit of the kindergarten class...build your own coffee can snowman.

Riley's favorite was making her own reindeer food. Oats and sprinkles (so that it will glitter in the moonlight).

We Clarks had a fabulous Christmas. Everyone got the top thing on their list.

Whoa...that's a lot of stockings.

So many blessings this year, we're so grateful for all of them.

Left for Tulsa the day after Christmas.

Always good to spend time with family, but we were able to see a few friends too.

There's never enough time to see everyone, but we were able to see a few old neighbors and as luck would have it, I was able to join my old book club for their Dec meeting and it was SO good to see all of them for so many different reasons. Really a remarkable group of ladies, and a great support system for each other as they are all in different stages of life.

And no trip to Tulsa at Christmas time would be complete without a trip to Rhema. A favorite holiday tradition.

So that's it. 2010. Whew. Sorry for lengthy entry, but I use this blog to help me remember events when it comes to scrapbooking. Hoping to be more regular in my updates in 2011. Realistically I'm aiming for twice a month.

Had a really eventful year this past year, loved most parts of it, and we're just enjoying the ride.

Boys are a Mess

2010-12-17T20:25:00.000-06:00

Well, it was bound to happen.
I've heard stories from other moms.
I've never dealt with it.

Until now.

Unfortunately...it probably wont be my last.

Cade's "Self Haircut"

I probably overreacted a bit when I saw him. But when I first saw him I flipped a little bit...and accused Wade of giving doing it. Wade looks at me like I'm loony toons and says, "Really? You think I did THAT?" After realizing it's not that big a deal. I grabbed my camera, then promptly gave him a summer haircut.

So Wade travels. A LOT. Many times my kids think this is a good time to get sick. This particular night JP probably had an hour and a half of sleep. Total. That's being generous. He would not let me hold him. He didn't want me to put him down.

After an hour of screaming in my arms, I took him to bed with me.

Where he screamed another 30 minutes.

So I took him up to his crib,

and let him scream for almost another hour.

Went to get him again,

cause I guess I'd rather him scream with me than without me.

And repeat that cycle...many times.

Well I get the kids off to school and this is what greets me. He'd pooped his pants so I changed him in the middle of the night--so he has mismatched pants. Pulled one sock off. Crazy Einstein hair, drool stained shirt. BUT. Happy as a clam...

No signs of the miserable night before.

Wait. Here's a glimpse of the little boy I knew that night with his stinker scowl face...

Stinkers that they are, I wouldn't trade them for anything. They make my heart smile.
AND..my life is never dull. Case in point...I'm pretty sure this isn't how I left the bathroom.

I'm just a LITTLE behind.

2010-12-07T22:04:00.000-06:00

So it's December and I'm blogging about October...sheesh. But this was such a fun trip I wanted to capture it so when I get around to scrapbooking it, I will remember it.
First time ever. Tulsa vs. Notre Dame.

No question that we'd be going. Football is Wade's passion and Notre Dame is legendary in football circles. Wade has ALWAYS wanted to see a game there.
We stayed in Chicago Friday night. TU hosted an Alumni party at the House of Blues. Lots of fun. Saw a full moon for a while that night (walking in front of me)...thanks JJ. Had a blast with some dear friends. Wade's friends were there, my friends were there, a bit of family....it was a great mix. Even met up with a few friends from the area that weren't headed to the game. We rented some vans to take our group to South Bend Saturday ...in our little group we had 19 of us! Then we met up with some different friends that were tailgating in different areas. As my friend Jennifer would say...it was EPIC! Wonderful trip, lots of memories. Loved hanging out with the old crew...

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Friday afternoon at Navy Pier with some of DDD Sorority sisters.
(2 of them live in St. Louis, sad that we had to go to Chicago to see each other).

2 peas in a pod. I'm convinced these 2 are the same person in different bodies.

okykpogkjihyotjiwpkequharthrjurgjiyjskirygtkogrokjdyuokrwikjyiojkreiowajrgtkizt0oprgt

(stepped away and 'someone' got a hold of my computer).

Some of Wade's best friends...

Me and the Hubs at House of Blues

Delta Delta Delta, can I help ya, help ya, help ya.

Clarissa. Levi's wife. Really an amazing gal. Neonatal nurse in KC. No wonder we get along so well...we're married to the same person.

We had family there too (no kids, just adults). Katie and Wesley.

This is who Wade becomes around these guys.

They never have ANY fun at all ;)

My girls. We gotta stay friends cause we all know WAY too much about each other.
Katie, who lives in Chicago, saw me walking down the street, jumped out of her cab and ran to catch up. She met up with us at HOB later. Ginny who came in from DC for the game. Love that girl! Wish I got more time with them.

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA

This is the chapel the players attend Mass. After, they parade across campus to the stadium. Everyone lines the trail as they make their journey. Makes me want to watch Rudy just thinking about it. Notre Dame has a majesty about it. From the Golden Dome to the Touchdown Jesus. There's a lot of tradition and history. Beautiful campus and everyone was so friendly. A student had been killed there a few days before we arrived. He was recording practice for the team and high winds knocked down the tower he was on. They had a moving tribute for him pre-game.

Our good friends...the Gillens

Really an unbelievable finish. 28-27 (Tulsa Wins!)

Final play of the game...we intercept it in the end zone. Again...epic.

Had to get a picture of the scoreboard next to "Touchdown Jesus"

After: You would have thought we just won the National Championship. Everyone was jumping up and down high fiving everyone around them. Going crazy. It was wild. So. Fun.

Proud Former Lettermen---pretty sure each of them would give up a limb to have a chance to play down there with the boys.

Of course got to get the fam in again. Pec, Wade and Wesley...Joyous after that victory.

Had major plans to drive back and party all night in Chicago...however the 2 hour ride from South Bend to Chicago sobered us all up. Instead we got a table for 19 ate deep dish Chicago pizza, celebrated our victory, and all called it a night. And what a night it was!

Bucket List, one more check off the list...

Fall Holiday...

2010-11-17T20:22:00.001-06:00

Halloween Festivities.

Wade and I went to Chicago (another entry yet to come...) and we got back to St. Louis the afternoon of Halloween. We hadn't yet carved our pumpkins so we put off the unpacking and did what needed done. Pumpkins carved and pumpkin seeds roasted....check.

This year Riley did hers entirely on her own. She drew out her design, she gutted, she carved...

Well, she did get a little help. JP was very helpful in helping her make a big mess.

Sampson to the rescue. God love that dog. He cleaned up anything he could get to...

Costume changes and trick-or-treating...check.

Annual "dressed up" kids picture...not so check.

This is the best I could get...JP was uber cooperative, as you can tell.

Once again we celebrated the Wilson Christmas early, to ensure all of us could be there. We took the kids to the Transportation Museum which we was fun for all ages. The picture I took of the group of kids isn't very good...but I like this one below...love that you can see the boys exploring up ahead of the group.

This. This is my favorite picture from the whole darn weekend. These 2 really got to spend some good bonding time. The girls usually dominate in these get-togethers so I really loved that everyone had a friend to buddy up with and no one got left out. These two were like peas and carrots (name that movie...)

Meet my nieces and nephews...

That's Aiden rocking out to the Dora guitar.

Garrett is the elusive picture subject. He's hard to capture. He was enthralled with playing here so I did get a sweet picture of him playing.

Kate' and Kelsey opening their Christmas gifts. Love the excitement on Kate's face!

Miss Violet...the youngest of the group...isn't she just adorable?

Grant. This one might be our performer...he was cracking us up at dinner (video).

This still makes me smile...love how he was so happy to entertain us.

Love watching the dynamics of different families and the similarities/differences. For the most part all the kids got along really great. Sure there were a few disagreements, but all in all, they got along, they respected each other, and they truly enjoyed being together.

I really have loved watching my brothers turn into fathers and am so happy for the families they've all created. I know I say this a lot, but I feel so truly blessed!

Lil' Punkin'

2010-11-15T16:29:00.000-06:00

In the interest of simplifying my life I wanted to try to get caught up here on the blog. So here's a real quick synopsis of our pumpkin patch outings. Hopefully it will jog my memory when it comes time to scrapbook it. We had three trips to the pumpkin patch this year. One with Cade's class, one with Brooke's, and one as a family.

JP was really ready to get out at this point and get his own pumpkin. Which we let him do...

Of the different places we tried, this was our favorite. They had a playground, bouncy, hay mazes, and lots of other fun things for everyone. The kids had a blast (literally). This is them doing the "Pumpkin Chuk'in" where they blast a little pumpkin at a target...

My Lil' Punkins...

Really enjoyed this pumpkin patch. Got some local goodies...honey, relish, and watermelon rind jelly...which none of us had ever had, so we just had to try! It's umm...interesting.

Went to Grants Farm for their special Halloween night with one of my oldest friends. We all had a really great time. Here's a pic of each kid...JP didn't cooperate but here's the other 3.

Paparazzi

2010-11-09T20:51:00.008-06:00

Paparazzi Mom.
Lots of pictures that I just haven't had the time to post, but love them for different reasons. Thought I'd throw a few out tonight. Have some adventures to post next time (Halloween, Pumpkin Patch, Holiday Get-Togethers, Vacations, etc...)

But I'm falling way behind and just wanted to post a few.

This is what happens when you have siblings to pester you.

Brooke! Get out of my picture.

Cade!!! GET OUT OF MY PICTURE!

OK Mom...take my picture...just me please! Hurry!

How we spent every Saturday, every Thursday, and a few Sundays for the last 3 months.
(side note: JP was WAY under dressed this particular day...can you tell by his "I'm freezing" face?) We bundled him up with a blanket, but he wanted his arms free to snack.

The little one adores the big one.

This picture is from Brooke's birthday back in August, but I just really love it.
(Brooke, cousin Kelsey-3 weeks her junior, and Grampa)

Wade and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. We got all dolled up and went downtown to have dinner at the top of the Millennium Hotel. It has a restaurant at the top that rotates in a complete circle so you see the entire city. It was wonderful. Really enjoyed being with Wade (AND) not having to cut up anyone's food, while actually sitting down for an entire meal and getting to eat it while its still warm. Had a picture of us, but frankly I look terrible and I control the blog...so no one will ever see it!

Big Pimpin' JP

One of my favorite pictures of Riley. She's really a beautiful little girl inside and out. Oh sure she's giving me gray hair and major paybacks for how I treated my mom...but I love her "to the moon...and back".

Go Cards!

Cade lost his first tooth, followed shortly by his second tooth. Third is now wiggly.

Just love this pic of Brooke.

I mean seriously... he could talk me into anything.

Twice the Tulsa

2010-10-09T15:29:00.004-05:00

About a month after we moved in, our Tulsa family came to visit. We jam-packed the weekend full of activities, but we had 5 Birthdays (Aug 22, 23, 28, 31, Sept 1) that we had to celebrate too. We had a joint celebration for everyone...here's a pic of all the birthday girls and boys.

But it was Wade's mom's 60th and she deserved something just for her - so we took her to a local winery for a sunset dinner. The weather was great and it was a really beautiful night.

We took everyone down to St. Charles one night to walk Main Street and listen to a band down on the riverfront. We picked to go on an 80's band night and the kids danced their little hearts out...

It's pretty dark, but Riley is the one spazzing out in the middle, Brooke is the little one in there. I have other videos with more of this, but Riley dances so much like Wade in this one. I had to put it out here ;)

We stopped in for some appetizers and local brew at our hometown micro-brewery and the boys had themselves some locally made root beer.
Of course we did a ton of other things, the zoo (which was my favorite)...It's pretty hard to beat the STL zoo. It had this hippo that was putting on a show for everyone...cant even describe it but it was really amazing, and I've never seen a better penguin exhibit anywhere. One penguin decided to interact with Cade, then totally drenched him. Walking in Brooke mentioned that it "smelled like crab legs" and Cade kinda smelled like that the rest of the day. We did the Arch, lunch on the Landing, had a picnic lunch at Forest Park...
Really great weekend.

2 Weeks later we drove down to Tulsa for the TU season opener, which we won!
We usually tailgate with the TU Letterman (all Wade's old buddies) but Wade's best friend (who owns the spot) decided that'd be a good day to have a baby so little Reese was born a few weeks early...pretty nice of him to have the baby while we were there so we could meet her in her first 24 hours of life.

She really was a beautiful baby. Dark hair, big cheeks, so precious. Nothing gives you baby fever more than holding a precious newborn that sleeps like an angel. We're so excited for their new beautiful little family.

All in all had a great couple of Tulsa weekends.

Decade Celebration

2010-10-07T19:16:00.008-05:00

1 Dog + 2 Cities + 3 Houses + 4 Kids = 10 Years of Wedded Bliss

In the year 2000....

In the year 2010...

And I'd do it all again... Love you Schmoopie ;)

Cade turns SIX!

2010-09-16T10:40:00.009-05:00

Cade also had a big birthday and turned the big six-er! He's officially using 2 hands to tell how old he is now. He had a great day, brought a special treat for everyone in his class to share and came off the bus wearing a crown and a huge smile. He picked his birthday dinner (pancakes...yes, pancakes for dinner).

Here's a little video showing his big present.

The thing he (and his jealous sister Riley) were most excited about was that it has a kickstand. Neither one of them have kickstands on their current bikes. So funny what kids pick up on.

The kids loved Brooke's panda bear cake so much, Cade asked if I would make him one too. I used red velvet cake on the inside so when you cut into him he looked like he was full of blood (the kids LOVED that).

Cade got 3 different little celebrations too. One on his actual birthday, one with the Wilsons and one when the Clarks came to visit. Cade is an awful peeker... this set of presents were from his Wilson celebration and he knew all but one of these presents below before he actually opened them. It didn't make him any less excited, he is a very happy boy and was very grateful for everything he got. But he is a little stinker.

Riley promised for weeks to Cade that she'd get him a Khun Zhu. He had gotten a track to race on from his cousins so he was SO excited when he got the toy that could "battle" Riley's Zhu Zhu pet. I love their faces here...pure joy!

I love this little boy, love his spirit. He has always been such a happy, fun-loving kid.

Love that I get to be his mom, but I do wish he wasn't growing up so fast.

Brooke's Birthday

2010-09-07T20:11:00.006-05:00

Brooke is 4!

I've got a girly-girl here. Every morning, she dresses herself in the "pwettiest" dress she can find in her closet and her "gwood" church shoes. She loves to have her hair and nails done. Loves to put on lip gloss and play tea party. She is such a beautie, such a doll and I can't get enough. This one has such a helpful spirit. She'd rather be in the kitchen Saturday morning being "a cooker", than out in the living room watching cartoons with her brothers and sister.

She (and Cade both) got 3 different celebrations. The 1st on their actual birthday, the 2nd with their Wilson family, and a 3rd with their Clark family (more on that later).

With their cousins Kate' and Kelsey

One very happy little girl.

Brooke really LOVED her birthday cake. She couldn't keep her eyes off it. And of course, she had to help make him.

The cake is a bit of a tradition. I had this cake when I was 3...

I asked my mom to make the same cake for Riley when she turned 3.

Now we missed Brooke's 3rd bithday, but as is my life lately, I'm playing catch-up in all areas. So here's Brooke one year off. With her pink panda bear cake that the all us girls have had.

(Had a problem with keeping little hands off the cake before I could frost it, so unfortunately he suffered a broken leg). But he underwent surgery and as a result all our teeth are going to rot out due to the massive quantities of frosting we tried to repair him with.

But a good day was had by all. Each time...

Big Day(s)

2010-09-02T14:10:00.003-05:00

We've had some big days the last couple of weeks.

Bigger than this...

Parking my car in the garage for the first time.

Two Birthdays...Brooke turned 4 and Cade turned 6. Will try to download pics tonight and try to post a new entry.

Running behind and in circles, but hoping to update more regularly.

New School Year at a New School

2010-08-19T10:38:00.004-05:00

Kids went back to school this week. We were all VERY ready for the school year to begin. For one, the kids just need to meet some new kids, make some new friends. But we thrive on routine in this house and with the new move, we needed some sort of order in the house.

Brand New Shiny Kindergartner.

So happy to be going to school, riding the school bus, and making new friends. Of course he's had 2 years of Pre-K under his belt. He'll be one of the oldest in his class since we decided to hold him out a year. Loved every bit of school. Favorite part of school: recess.

Big Exciting 3rd Grader. This one is most looking forward to learning to write cursive. (Although she's been "writing" cursive for a year now in her own way). A little upset that she cant wear flip flops to school, but school policy for PE and recess. Had a great first day, met another little girl at the bus stop who is her new best friend....also a 3rd grader, also named Riley!

Think it's going to be a good year!

The Final Days in Tulsa

2010-08-17T14:13:00.014-05:00

“What I’ve experienced is that I can’t know the future. I can’t know if anything that I do will change what happens tomorrow. I can’t know with certainty, but what I do know is if I do nothing, nothing will change.” —James Orbinski (1960-); Former President Of Doctors Without Borders

Where to begin?
Big Summer for us Clarks. Haven't had time to document half of what I wanted but here's a start. Of course lots of big changes...

Of course, the biggest change is our move from Tulsa to St. Louis.

I thought I'd put a few pictures out of our last few weeks in Tulsa. Maybe when I have time to scrapbook again, this can help me remember the final weeks so I can document it all. Our social calendar was booked solid (at times overlapping) for the last 3 weeks.
We had several different send-offs. After as many years as we've been there, we have lots of different groups of friends and family to say goodbye to.

My farewell DDD Dinner Club. The girls loaded me up with a ton of Tulsa gear for our new place, including the "I Heart Tulsa" shirt I'm wearing. REALLY gonna miss these gals and our "Girls Night Outs". I just wish I would have thought to grab a group picture.

Wade and some of our oldest TU friends

I've been a part of the most fabulous book club for the last couple of years. Our group sponsored the 50th Anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird event at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa, just before we left.

Saw Eclipse (back to back nights on opening weekend with one of my besties...Jennifer). Saw it one night with our men, then next night with another girlfriend of ours. Loved it both times. Would have gone back for a third if we just had the time. Jen snuck some wine into the theater, which we drank from sippy cups. We may both be moms now, but we still have some crazy fun nights together, just like back in the day. We stayed out way too late that night, really felt it the next morning.

Nicole and I met the day before school started when our oldest were entering kindergarten. We live close enough that we share a bus stop and for 3 years we've been watching out for each others kids. Lucky for us our husbands really get along too (they even got matching "his and his" handguns together). This night we went to the gun range and out for margaritas at one of our favorite places.

I've been taking guitar lessons for the past few months and Mary and I gave an impromptu John Denver performance, there's even a video floating around on-line. Mary is a fabulous teacher, we're hoping to continue via skype once we get settled. The stars were aligned just right...Brad had 2 guitars, the girls were goading us into playing, and the wine was plentiful.

(My book club...like English Class, but with wine) (a few not pictured)

Squeaked in a whirlwind trip to Columbus, OH for a family reunion. Got to spend a few nights with my brother Todd and his family.

Me with my nephews. Garrett did NOT want to be held, but Aiden couldn't have been more loving. He and JP got along like peas and carrots.

Our final morning in Tulsa, we had a donut feast with our family before taking off on for the next chapter in our story.

No one I'd rather be on this journey with.

“There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” —Nelson Mandela (1918-); Former President Of South Africa

Splash Pad

2010-07-01T13:05:00.004-05:00

Just one of our favorite summertime spots.
Our splashpad.

(That's Cade getting soaked)

Riley's about to get it...

(Riley)

Beach Beauty

I just love being their mom. They make everything more fun.

Back from camp and all grown up

2010-06-22T10:02:00.006-05:00

Got Riley back from camp safe and sound. She had a BLAST. They swam (lake and pool), rode wave runners, and canoed/kayaked. She rode go-karts, bumper cars, rode horses and a jillion other activities.
After hearing about everything they packed in for those 5 days I asked her, "well, did you get homesick at all, do you know what that means...did you miss home?" Not a second passed and she says, "No. Didn't think about you at all." Then she follows it up with..."I was just too busy." Well good, I'm glad for that. (Then she spent the next 2 days being super snuggly).
My girl is fearless and independent, from day one she came out of the womb holding her head up. I'm really grateful that she's that way, she's not going to let anyone walk all over her.
I do wonder what the world holds for her...that is, if it survives beyond Dec. 21, 2012 ;)

Living in Fast Forward

2010-06-11T21:11:00.010-05:00

Literally feel like we've had the fast forward button stuck down lately.

Today we put Riley on a bus to attend our Church Camp for 5 days/4 nights.

I know she's going to have a blast and she's had no fear or concerns about camp at all. The girl is fearless...her name means brave/valiant and she certainly lives up to it. I held it together til we got back in the car to drive away. Had to drive back to get one last goodbye in. I'm still getting weepy just writing this...what is wrong with me?

Yesterday wrapped up a very LOOOONG t-ball schedule. Everytime we think we're done, another tournament pops up.

Cade has had a very decorated season. Everyone gets a trophy just for participating. We won first place in our league, so each kid won a medal. Because we won our league tournament we got asked to play in the all-city tournament which we got 2nd place last night (another bigger trophy) and a patch in recognition. Sheesh. We're going to have to build a room just to hold all the kid's awards.

School ended a few weeks ago, here are most of the kids from our bus stop (minus a few). Really gonna miss this.

Sometimes my bus stop moms are the only adults I get to talk to during the day (twice a day at that). We all watch out for the others and will grab the kids off the bus and stay with them til their mom can get to them. Plus the kids look out for each other. Whether it's bullies or falling asleep on the bus they all stand up for each other and make sure the bus doesn't leave without everyone on or off.

We've managed to squeeze in a little summer fun. Kinda feel bad for the kids that get to the park after us...there's no swings left when the Clarks are at the park. J.P. LOVES the swing! What he does not love - is to be held still, now that he's mobile. Totally love his "other" dimpled cheeks. Why is this so delicious on him but not so much on a mom of 4 kids? Speedy (our turtle for a day). The kids and I found him during our early morning bike ride and brought him home. We thought about keeping him. But I found him out of the basket, upside down at one point during the day...and I figured if he doesn't want to live with us so much that he's trying to commit suicide we should probably set him free.

The kids and I went to St. Louis for 10 days. We were there mainly to house hunt, but we got a little friend and family time in too! We got to meet our newest niece Violet (who is just precious)...I'm not sure I heard her cry at all. I had planned my 15 year reunion over that trip and that was an absolute blast. Much (MUCH) better turn out than I even expected! Although I think us girls decided we like calling it the '3rd Anniversary of our 5 year reunion', better.

Of course it's not summer without a little mischief. I included pictures of all the other little ones so I figured I'd share my sweet little angel Brooke. How could this one ever get in trouble? Hmmm... This is what my lovely angel of a child, Brooke, did to my mom's back door. She threw a rock and busted out the glass. In her defense, she wasn't trying to hit the glass...she was trying to hit her brother.

2010-05-12T22:02:00.003-05:00

Busy Busy. That's my life. This spring we've had games almost every night of the week, sometimes 2 games a night (which gets tricky getting each kid to their field, when dad is traveling 1/2 the time). But the kids have really had a good time which makes it worth it. Riley really has grown so much this season, she's fielding well and she's probably the best hitter on her team.

Her favorite position is pitcher (even though the coach pitches...the girls hit the ball to her a lot and she runs it in to get them out). She's really a good little ball player, she got a double just last night.

It's Cade's 2nd season with t-ball and he's a little...well, he's less focused. He really enjoys being out there, getting dirty, and messing around with all his buds. Sometimes you find him doing this, on base...playing in the dirt or he'll be sitting down in the outfield (well...in his defense, it can get boring out there).

Cade is one of 5 Cade/Caden's on his team. It's a bit ridiculous. Coach asked him if he had a nickname and Cade told Coach he could call him Donkey Kong. (He often refers to himself as Donkey Kong. Funny side story: when I had him come to sign my mom's Mother's Day card, he gets up to the card, grabs the pen, looks at me and says, "How do you spell Donkey Kong".) Silly Boy. Aren't they cute?

From Zero to One, in a Flash

2010-04-28T22:03:00.003-05:00

My baby is ONE. I've had a hard day today. Maybe because my cousin Roxanne lost her youngest son yesterday, and I keep thinking that would be my J.P. It's just so heart wrenching. I pray I never have to know that heartache. Sure makes you evaluate your life and remember that this is really the only moment you have for sure, we tend to forget that in the daily grind of life. I know that I'm not having anymore babies and there is nothing I can do to stop J.P. from growing up. From here on out he's a toddler not a baby and there's no going back. So, I have hugged and loved all over him today-which he loves...but, he reaches the point where he just wants me to put him down so he can MOVE...(I could see him thinking, "Enough already Mom!")
I just love him so much. He is so unbelievably happy. All the time. We are so blessed.
His face here is just saying, "Ummm...what is that? Hey guys, a little help here?" And his brother and sisters were happy to oblige. Next year he'll be doing it himself...but this year he's got some people to show him the ropes.

His favorite dinner for his birthday...Hot dogs and apples.

Followed by a little mischief after dessert.

Happy Birthday my love.

Such a big boy!

2010-04-27T20:58:00.003-05:00

This boy is one amazing little dude. Cade took his training wheels off yesterday and almost immediately took off on his own.

He's a natural. I'm so proud of him, what an awesome kid! (Had to brag on him a bit...he is so happy with himself). As far as he's concerned this is the best day of his life!

My prince...

2010-04-13T15:13:00.003-05:00

I'm wondering how long it will take him to figure out I put this pic out on the blog. I literally have hundreds of these pictures in the 13 years we've been a couple.

Wade loves to jump in random pictures. During this one, I was taking pictures of the house to put on our "for sale" flyer and Wade jumped in. Once, Annette was telling me how she was searching through her pictures and came across a pic of someone's bare hiney...guess who?

I tell Riley all the time..."Riley, marry someone who makes you laugh"....because when you don't like them very much that can go a LONG way.

But I do like him. Very much.

Today anyway. ;)

JP is Walking...and other tidbits of life

2010-03-27T20:03:00.012-05:00

So this video only shows a couple of steps but he can do 3-4 as of tonight.

We live a crazy life, anyone who knows us knows that. Here is a couple of snapshots of what we've been up to since I last updated.

We've had the snowy-est winter in Tulsa in the 15 years I've lived here and we've taken advantage of it...

Cade getting air-born on a little ramp Wade built in the snow...I love this picture cause Cade's face shows pure joy.

The kids built a fort in the snow. When this melted it looked like 4 snowman in the yard guarding the house...it was funny.

As the kid's homeroom mom I planned a couple of Valentines parties.

Think Cade can get any more sprinkles on his cookie?

During a whirlwind trip to St. Louis, my brother and sister-in-law invited us to ride on a float with them in the Mardi Gras parade...which was so crazy...but fun. The float theme was hoosiers on a float trip (hence the sweet handlebar moustache for Wade).

We went to our 1st basketball game as a family...all of us. Where the kids did remarkably well. Sometimes they surprise me and I realize I might be doing something right as a mom. ;)

Papa celebrated his 60th birthday with a big bash.I celebrated my 25th (again) birthday with my favorite 4 munchkins.We celebrated the normal everyday moments in life.

My GirlsMy Boys

Took to the kids to the circus with their cousins (which was also my 1st circus). This was really cool. We really enjoyed it. They had white tigers, bears that rode bicycles, all the normal circus-y stuff...but the trapeze artist had me coming out of my seat thinking my kids were going to be scarred by some tragedy...they were a-mazing.One of Wade's best friends got married. Wade got congratulated by the bartender (thinking he was the groom). I don't understand it but these 2 always get confused for each other...they always have. Beautiful wedding though. Beautiful couple. Lots of fun.
I've got so many others, but I'll leave it at that. We've got lots on our plate the next couple of weeks. We're putting our house on the market and looking for a new house. I'm worried about how to keep the house "show-ready" with 4 kids, but my sister-in-law Lori gave me some really good tips and she's a semi-pro at it. We're also planning our 1st Slumber Party (No Boys Allowed) for Riley's upcoming 8th birthday. And softball/t-ball games start this week.

ps. Got a new niece this week. My brother Heath had a little girl (Violet)! Which evens out the nephew/niece count on the Wilson side of the family.

Life and Times of the Clark 4

2010-01-22T12:04:00.006-06:00

It's been a little while, so I thought I'd update everyone on the life and times of my favorite 4 little people. So here it is...a snapshot into each one's life as we begin 2010.

Riley is a couple months away from being 8 years old. She's got a personality the size of Texas....there's no denying that. She is full of sass and spunk...an emotional child with major ups and major downs. She has such a kind heart, and is very helpful with the baby. She's currently involved in gymnastics and just signed up for spring softball (she's graduated from T-ball!). This year she has really grown into a smart little thing. She is reading above her level and loves the "Junie B. Jones" series of books. She wants to learn to play the piano and loves to write (everywhere...her diary, "short stories", and on furniture and toys in her room). She even writes notes to us instead of asking us, for example: "Can we have Broccoli Cheese Soup for Dinner? Circle Yes or No". She's very creative and recently started scrapbooking and every free moment she gets she asks, "Mom, can we scrapbook?"...if only we could.

Caden is 5 (and a half). He is full of life and is so full of joy. Cade's eyes sparkle when he smiles...they have since he was a baby. He is VERY into video games. Unfortunately he has a mom that doesnt allow him to play much. Cade is involved in gymnastics and just signed up for spring T-ball. He knows math-small addition and subtraction problems, how to write his name and every character in Star Wars. Cade doesn't much like to color, but he is very active. He loves to play dress-up (boy stuff...storm troopers, indians, buzz lightyear, the hulk, etc...). He loves to ride his bike, play tag, and build things with legos and tinker toys. He is extremely generous for his age and shares very well. Every time he is offered a treat (like a sucker or sticker) he always asks if he can get another one for his sisters. He keeps his room very neat and I hardly ever have to ask him to pick it up (which I can't say for his sisters).

Brooke is 3 (and a half). She is our little angel and is so happy to have her older siblings...she loves to play whatever they tell her too. Cade and Riley argue over what to play but she isn't picky - she's just so happy to play. She has the sweetest disposition. She loves to have books read to her and freely gives out hugs and kisses. Favorite activities are playing with play-doh, coloring--a.k.a. scribbling, and cooking in her pretend kitchen. She knows all her letters, but she is still in a diaper at night. She shares a room with her sister and they sometimes have trouble going to sleep at night because of all the giggling and twittering. She is currently involved in gymnastics and speech therapy. She still is hard to understand to anyone beyond mom and dad.

J.P. is nearly 9 months old. I say that with a grimace cause I can't believe it! He is starting to scale furniture. He's been pulling up for a while, but now he's scooching down the tables, sofas, etc. He's really into Cheerios, pacifiers, and exersaucers. J.P. has 2 teeth and the MOST infectious smile...it's the dimples. He truly is the happiest baby. He wakes every morning around 5 o'clock which is tough (even for an early riser). As I curse all the way to his bedroom - when he sees me he breaks out in the biggest grin and then all is right with the world.

I'm convinced I could have 4 more and they'd all be as different as my current 4. (I'm not going to test that theory, but I'm sure it's true).

So Easy...

2010-01-07T16:26:00.004-06:00

It just keeps getting easier for our kids.

In my dad's day he had to walk to school, up hill...both ways. In the snow. With tattered shoes cause he only had that one pair (that his brother passed down and he already used up all the "good" sole).

I had to walk to school (up hill...just one way).

School has been cancelled for my kids today and tomorrow because it's TOO COLD. Not because of snow or ice (which we haven't had since Christmas Eve) but because it's in the single digits in the morning (this morning at bus stop time it was 12).
All the area schools feel it's too cold for the kids to wait for the bus. Are you kidding me? C'mon. I remember freezing in winter before school...that's part of growing up. Wonder what my friends up North think about that one.
It has been a tough week to get them re-adjusted to our routine after being out for Christmas Break. Now we just have to do it all over again next week.

My friend Nicole sent me this a few days ago and it made me laugh (the Atari part especially)...thought it was pretty relevant today.

*******THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!! ********
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning, uphill both ways, barefoot, through year 'round blizzards carrying their younger siblings on their backs to their one-room schoolhouse where they maintained a Straight-A average despite their full-time after-school job at the local textile mill where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their family from starving to death!

Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen!
Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take, like, a week to get there!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our butts! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3' s or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone. Cause - that's how we rolled, dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either!
When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up
and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'.
Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... forever! And you could never win.
The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!
Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get up and walk over to the TV to change the channel! NO REMOTES!!!
There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!
And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or before!

Wrapping Up Christmas

2009-12-27T16:20:00.007-06:00

It's a Wonderful Life...

Some of our Christmas Traditions:

Making Christmas Cookies (Heath...notice the rolling board!)

Licking the beater...a personal favorite.

Going to see Santa

Building our Gingerbread House (aka Clark Cottage)

The lights at Rhema

Setting out cookies for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph

Hanging the stockings

Christmas Morning...pure joy at getting the perfect gift.

The Blizzard of '09

Christmas Eve it dumped about 8 inches on us.

The kids have had a blast with it.

Sledding!

J.P. in the snow.

J.P. and Riley are the only ones that have had a White Christmas!

A Christmas Wedding, last night a good friend of ours got married.

It's been a great year and we're looking forward to the new one!

Long time coming

2009-12-21T16:08:00.001-06:00

Wow, I will post before Christmas...cant believe it's been this long.

Halloween/Fall Festival

2009-11-10T06:51:00.011-06:00

Our little goblins...

Their costumes:
Tinkerbell, Captain Rex, Pinkalicious, and the Frog Prince.

Halloween was way too busy for us this year. Because some genius decided to schedule Homecoming on Halloween we had a lot of friends that didn't come back. But, Ginny and Ryan were there and it was so nice to be able to catch up with them. Can't believe we graduated 10 years ago!

We started tailgating at 10 and didn't slow down until 10 that night. . We left the game early because we had a full night ahead of us...2 Halloween parties and Trick-or-Treating.

Sunday after Halloween was our church's Fall Festival...which was so much fun. Great weather, great food, lots of stuff for the kids.

The Clark's at Dry Gulch, USA!

This was a bouncy that tethered you to the end and you had to race the person next to you to get the bean bag.

This next picture makes me laugh every time...that's Riley on the left...she was racing Cade. She tried to go to far. Ha!

Brooke got in on the bouncy fun...

Pony Rides!

Enjoying the fire pit!

Cade and Riley "jousting"...tell me a anyone that wouldn't want to take their sibling on!

The kids loved the corn dogs!

Brooke would have stayed on this the whole time and been just as happy.

We've had pretty good weather here. Last week it was in the 80's a couple of days (in November!) The "ding-ding" man was out after school...only in Oklahoma (and maybe Texas).

Solid Foods, Here I Come...

2009-10-28T13:33:00.003-05:00

Guess who turns the big 6 months old today...

How I Woke Up This Morning

2009-10-23T09:11:00.004-05:00

True Story:

My sweet sweet Brooke came in early this morning and climbed into bed with me. She snuggles up to me, gets her face right next to mine so that we're nose to nose. She puts her little hands on each side of my face and says, "I lub you mommy", then promptly sneezed in my face.

Stay-cation

2009-10-20T22:42:00.006-05:00

Normally Wade and I love to travel, even if it's just a short weekend road trip. So when the kids had a few days off of school for Fall Break we had planned a little get-away to Hot Springs, AR.

We were out of town the weekend before. The day we returned Wade turned around and left for Denver. He got back late Wednesday night and we were supposed to leave Thursday morning after a few doctor appointments. We decided that morning to forgo the trip and have a "stay-cation" right here in T-town. I'm so glad we did, we really had a great time.

We saw a couple of movies: ''Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs'' AND ''Where the Wild Things Are". J.P's first movies...he did so good, what a champ!

We had donuts 3 mornings in a row...checking out some new places we've never been.

We set up the tent in the living room and we played lots of games (Brooke killed everyone at Bingo).

We played Memory in the dark (lights off) but the kids had their spelunking headlamps on.

Here's a pic with the flash on...don't let the flash fool you...it was as dark as the top picture the whole time. The kids thought this was THE coolest.

We had some really fun dinners...one night we just had popcorn and cake, another we went to Shogun (a Japanese Steakhouse that prepares everything right at your table).

The kids favorite part? Not the show, the huge flames, the flaming/smoking onion volcano...but the ice cream that topped off the meal. Gotta love kids!

We all loved staying in town and "chill-axin". But life does return to normal and Wade is traveling again for work this week. (Don't feel too bad for him working so hard, he's in Mexico this time, the turd, I'm just a little jealous.)

Little Updates

2009-10-07T21:55:00.005-05:00

It's been a while since I put out an update so I just wanted to put out a few pics of what we've been up to here in T-Town.

The girls at the Tulsa State Fair

Cutie Patootie

J.P.'s 1st TU game (good luck charm...we won 56-3)

Half time we went into the Letterman's Association Suite at the TU game.

Sending out love to the Golden Hurricane!

Love these dimples!

Hug or Headlock?

Race for the Cure

Catching all 4 in one spot, not as easy as it looks.

Loving our crazy life...

It's over

2009-09-04T13:12:00.004-05:00

Sorry all you moms out there.

Cutest Baby in the World contest is over. We have a clear winner....

Not that I'm biased or anything...

A Week of Birthdays

2009-09-02T22:35:00.005-05:00

Our lives have revolved around birthday parties for the last 2 weeks. Celebrating birthdays the final week in August through the 1st of September - Brooke, Cade, Wade's sister Katie, our nephew Clark, Wade's mom and my brother Heath (although he's not in T-town.) We also celebrated Wade's aunt and Step-Grandpa this week even though they have early Sept. bdays. My oldest brother and my in-laws both have anniversaries that week too. Phew. There's so much activity we've always condensed our kids birthdays together, but this was the final joint party for them.

Brooke turned 3, and wanted a "peh heh" party (Princess. All things princess for this one).

Cade turned 5! His passion is all things Star Wars.

A closer look at their cakes which reflect their biggest interest at the moment...

Next year they will each get their own day. Not that they care...as long as they have cake and presents...they're happy.

1st Day of School

2009-08-13T15:30:00.007-05:00

Kids went back to school yesterday (woo hoo!)

Riley's now a big 2nd grader!

Cade is going to do the Pre-K program (again). Because of his birthday he should start Kindergarten this year but we are going to wait to start him until next year... so he'll be the oldest in his class now. I take him at 1 and he comes home on the bus at 4. During which time Brooke naps so I have really good mommy and J.P time.

Here's all the bus stop kids...

Don't know who is happier, the kids or the moms?
(Hint...It's the moms. We we're so giddy we practically all skipped to the bus stop!)

I didn't have the problems I had last year letting them go...guess I have my hands full at home. I was super excited to see them come home though. I asked Cade what special treat he wanted after school and he told me, "potato chip cookies" Potato chip cookies? he meant chocolate chip cookies. And they were waiting for him when they got home.

Video Link

2009-08-05T18:33:00.001-05:00

I just tried to watch Cade's video and it looks way too dark on my screen. I hope you are able to see it.

Adorable little ones...

2009-08-05T16:49:00.007-05:00

The 3 oldest were all in Wade's cousin's wedding this past weekend.
They were all so adorable and actually behaved themselves exceptionally well!

Riley was a Jr. Bridesmaid

Brooke the flower girl, and Cade the ring bearer.

J.P. went too...

Of course, the kids favorite part was the dancing. Check out this video of Cade. We may have to rename him J.B. (for Mr. James Brown)...Would that be confusing? JP and JB?

ps. I don't know what happened to the audio but you can see why he was the star of the dance floor.

The whole family...how lucky am I?

Through the Eyes of a Child

2009-07-30T12:20:00.002-05:00

This morning I had the TV on and someone was promoting the new movie "Funny People". Adam Sandler is in it and the kids recently watched his movie Bedtime Stories and so Riley asked if we could go see the movie.
I said, "No, you can't see it because it's an R movie...that means its only for adults"
She said, "Is it because they use potty language?"
I nodded and said "yep"
She said, " So they say like 'shut up' and 'suck' and 'stupid'?"
Made me smile, how innocent she is...

Our 4th Celebration

2009-07-16T14:54:00.003-05:00

Below is a snapshot of what our 4th looked like this year.

One of our family traditions is that we go blackberry picking every year...not necessarily on the 4th, but because of the OK weather this season a lot of crops didn't make it (and if they did they were delayed in producing fruit). This year we woke up early on the 4th to go picking and got just over 2 lbs before the skies opened up and drenched us in the fields. The rains (unfortunately) didn't let up and our neighborhood parade got cancelled. The kids were pretty disappointed as we had already decorated our wagon, scooters and bikes. But the weather eventually let up and by afternoon we were poolside. Wade grilled delicious ribs and we had plenty of yummy sides. For dessert? Our flag cake (see slide show), *fresh* blackberry pie, and homemade ice cream. It was such a great day. I LOVE the 4th...the weather, the kids excitement with the fireworks, the food, and just hanging out with family and friends without the pressure of gifts and travel.
What a blessed life we live...reminds me of a quote by Erma Bombeck: "You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence...with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness."

No Job Like It

2009-07-13T12:43:00.001-05:00

Father's Day at the Lake

2009-07-10T12:33:00.005-05:00

This was definitely among the best Father's days we've had. We decided to spend the day at the lake and although it was hot (when isn't it hot in Oklahoma) we had a blast.

We did a little bit of everything...fishing,

swimming,

tubing... (this is Riley and Cade)

We were so worried about how J.P. was going to do...but he was a champ. He loved the boat.

Brooke, Riley, Clark, and Cade lovin' the water...

Now I desperately want a boat. *hint hint Wade...next Mother's Day ;)

2 Month Check-Up

2009-07-09T13:34:00.003-05:00

We had our 2 month checkup last week and what a boy we have.

He weighed in at 14.25 lbs (which is in the 96%tile) and was 24.25 inches long (90%tile)

He is a HUGE baby. Very unlike our other babies. There's no worrying if he is getting enough to eat.

I finally rejoined the living these last 2 weeks.

Rejoined my monthly DDD Alumni dinner. This was really the first night I had without J.P. Mixed emotions...was really good to get away, but felt like no one can really take care of him like I can. Wade is a good daddy, but 4 under 7 is a lot for anyone to take on.

Finally made it back to Book Club...Wanna have a baby? Join our book club...we're pretty fertile. Charlie is next to J.P...he is a month younger. Harper is next to him and she is a month older. Kay is newly pregnant and we're not sure what she's having yet.

Natalie came in town and we all wanted to meet little Emma, so Jennifer hosted a mini Tri Delt playdate at her house. I'm sure I provided some good birth control for some of them. Of this group only Adriane has 2. Ashley has 1 (and one on the way), the other 3 have only one so far, (2 have none). My crew may have scared them off from wanting more. It was a lot of fun to get the little ones together. Times sure have changed. Can't believe I graduated college 10 years ago. I'm officially old.

Got some great pictures from Father's Day at the Lake and the 4th. Will try to update again soon.

Been there...there now...(again)

2009-07-01T14:59:00.004-05:00

How do they know just what you need to keep going?

Some pics of the new guy

2009-06-19T17:00:00.003-05:00

I have a ridiculous amount of pictures. I need to go through them, but thought I'd put a few out. JP getting bigger--he is a chub...I've already given up carrying him in the baby carrier...

Dreaming of scoring some touchdowns like daddy

A little too small for the jogging stroller...

We've gotten a few smiles from him

"I wuv KP"

(Brooke cant say her J's so she calls him KP)--she is totally in love with him...she stares at him like this all the time.

Welcome J.P.

2009-05-20T10:35:00.006-05:00

Here's our newest little dude...

He's 3 weeks old and just lost his umbilical cord stump a couple days ago.

I forget how exhausting it is to have a newborn...the sleepless nights are not as easy as they used to be, probably because I still have to get up and get kids out the door and on the bus. But I know it will pass...

This is JP throwing his 'west side' gang signs...

JP had his first playdate. This is Harper, she's a month older than him...look at the cougar trying to grab his hand...robbing the cradle, literally.

I have lots of photos to upload on the computer, but haven't had a lot of time to do that, so this will have to do for now. Enjoy.

Hoppy Easter

2009-04-16T04:05:00.002-05:00

Had a really nice Easter. The kids did the usual...colored eggs, neighborhood egg hunt, scavenger hunt for baskets. Tried to cut back on the candy this year seeing as mom has a hard time keeping her hands off it, but couldn't help buying some of the faves. I love these munchkins (4 legged one included).

Our Final Vacation as a Family of 5...

2009-04-05T20:15:00.006-05:00

3 Weeks ago was Spring Break. We wanted to do one last trip as our little family of 5 but because I'm so far along I had to stay close. So we decided to spend a couple days in "the City" (a.k.a. Oklahoma City) and then on down to Dallas for a few days. We jam-packed the trip but we all had a lot of fun. The kids favorite part were the pool in the hotels...go figure (we could have checked into a Super 8 here in Tulsa and saved some moolah).
But we really had a lot of fun. Thought I'd share a few pictures of our trip.

OKC:

We visited the OKC Memorial. Incidentally the 14th anniversary of the attack is about 2 weeks away, it happened the year I moved to Tulsa. All the little details of the site are fascinating.

The chairs are in 9 rows (for the 9 floors of the building). They have a chair for each victim. The 2nd floor was where the day care was so the 2nd row has the smaller chairs for the children killed. Most of the chairs are in the middle of the "field" to indicate where most of the deaths happened (where the bomb went off). 5 chairs are on the outer edge of the "field" to indicate the victims that were killed in the street (and one rescue worker). A part of the original building remains and all the survivor names are etched in the stone there. There are a lot more symbolic little touches throughout.

Wade and the kids in front of the reflection pool and survivor tree.

Other highlights of OKC were meeting up with Jody (a dear friend from college) and his wife Kelly. Spent some time in Bricktown and took the kids on this 3-D dragon roller coaster ride (which they loved, but it was pretty, oh...whats the word...lame. ) And we went to the Omniplex, a children's museum. Let's not forget the pool in the hotel...the kids fave.

Dallas:

Didn't really have a chance to catch our breath here. Had a little playdate with Holly (one of my DDD sisters and old roommates), went to the Ft. Worth Zoo with the Chadwicks (on the day that the rest of Dallas decided to go too). Met up with Jarrod and Brody and met Jarrod's fiance. Had dinner on St. Patty's day with Randy. Of course we had to stop at the outlet malls on the way back to Tulsa, although it's not really fun to shop when you can't try things on, but we got the kids some great things and lots of new stuff at the Banana outlet for Wade. I did buy a BCBG dress for $19 (originally $109)...sorry you cant pass up a price like that. Someday I'll be able to fit in it.

The zoo had the funniest little kangaroo (Shaina and I called him the "playboy kangaroo"...it's almost like he was "posing" for the crowd.

That's our spring break in pictures. Saw lots of friends, had lots of fun, and am glad we had a few days to recover in Tulsa before returning to the real world.

Spring Snow

2009-03-30T14:45:00.005-05:00

Somebody forgot to tell the weather here in Tulsa that it's nearly April.
It's spring, that means tornado season, but we got this freak snow system on Saturday. It doesn't snow much in Tulsa and if it does you better get out in it because it will be gone the next day. There are no traces of snow today, being as it's 70 degrees, but Saturday we got about 6 inches here in Tulsa.

I thought it would be fun to get out and build a snowman, but it turns out that I can't really bend over that well being 8 months pregnant. But we managed to put together a pretty good Frosty.

Today's Pregnancy Tip

2009-03-25T17:55:00.002-05:00

Pregnancy survival skill: How to get out of a soft chair
Put your feet flat on the floor and bend from the hips.
Push on the armrests with your hands!
Use your stomach muscles.
If upward motion is still elusive, pick up your magazine and yell for more mint-chip ice cream. (Standing up is totally overrated anyway.)

A Sweet Day

2009-02-27T10:56:00.011-06:00

Krispy Kreme Field Trip

Cade had a field trip with his preschool class to Krispy Kreme yesterday. Probably the best field trip of the season... I still remember my field trip to the "Twinkie" factory in grade school.

They showed us how the "powder" becomes dough, how the different donuts are formed, how to "fill" a jelly filled.

They can make 270 dozen donuts an hour.

Cade's favorite part was checking out the glaze waterfall.

The highlight was that each kid got to "make" their own donut.
Cade got more sprinkles on his donut than any other kid.

Cade with a pre-cooked donut hole.

There's this kid Jaden in his class. Jaden is one of those 'know it all' kids who tattles on everyone and always has to one-up everyone. He CAN be very sweet, but he chooses not too be most of the time. On the bus ride, he turned around and this was part of our conversation...

Jaden: "Cade brought a gun to school today...a squirt gun, he showed it to me".

Me: "He did?"

Jaden: "I have a gun too"

Me: "Wow, well Cade really only has pretend guns"

Jaden: "Mine are real"

Me: "Really, aren't you too young to have a real gun"

Jaden: "I have a shotgun and a pistol...they're real"

Me: "Yes, you said that" (remembering I add...) "Cade has a nerf gun too, do you know what that is?"

Jaden: "Yeah, I have ten!"

Of course you do...I just had to laugh. Funny kid. I wonder what my kids say sometimes when I'm not around to hear them.

Cade's teacher told me a sweet story. They were explaining to their kids that their parents could go on the trip and they could either meet them at Krispy Kreme or that they could pay $1.00 and ride the bus with the school. He said, "my mommy can get some money out of my 'piddy bank' cause my mommy ran out of money".

Such a "sweet" kid!

A little Funny

2009-02-25T08:53:00.005-06:00

I get this weekly email that updates me on how the baby is growing and developing each week and at the end of it was this little "Question & Answer" segment on Childbirth class---it made me laugh and I thought I'd share a portion of it.

Q: Will keeping a hand in a bucket of ice during class really approximate labor pain?
A: Yes, more or less — just imagine the ice is the polar ice cap and you're slowly being crushed under it while somebody jabs an icicle in your spine.

Q: Will there be men in the class who snicker every time the instructor says the word "vagina"?
A: Yes.

Q: Will my husband be one of them?
A: Probably.

Victory

2009-02-24T20:44:00.003-06:00

We had a huge victory in our house this past week.
Brooke has been sick with the Rotavirus (which is a nasty vomitty, diarrhea-y high fever illness). She was so dehydrated they sent us to the hospital to get some IV fluids in her. We were there most the afternoon and night. She's doing much better now...but the huge feat was that no one else got it! Usually this house is sick for 2 weeks with one kid passing it to the next and this time no one else has gotten it!
I was talking to my brother tonight and he mentioned how impressive that was considering how "VomitFest '08" wickedly spread through multiple families and spanned 4 states.

Also I have a new nephew...my brother Heath just had his first! Which, according to Riley now makes him an adult (she doesn't think you are an adult unless you have kids). He's a cutie. Makes our total 4 nephews and 2 nieces.

Catching up on 08...moving on to 09

2009-01-30T14:28:00.011-06:00

Ok, I get it...I'm a bad blogger.

It's been a month and a half since my last post. I guess since my dad is back from Afghanistan I dont feel the sense of urgency I had before. But for the other 2 people who read this here are the highlights since my last update...

Christmas Train! Had to get a few of the pics out there because in re-reading my last post, I said I would...

NYC has the Rockefeller Christmas Tree...Tulsa has Rhema Bible College. A 'must' Tulsa tradition for any family at Christmas time.

Christmas was good. I was actually sad when Winter Break was over. I didn't want the kids to go back to school. Of course Wade was home for 2 weeks and we had so much fun doing silly family stuff. If you ask the kids their favorite part of Christmas Break they wont say Christmas...we let them stay up as late as they wanted one night and watched movies, ate popcorn, made cookies...no one told them what time they had to go to bed. Brooke and I were the 1st ones gone (12:30)....Riley and Cade followed soon after. Wade put us all to bed. Riley was so mad when she woke up. She had wanted to make it ALL night. This picture to the left is Christmas (mid-morning) with my kiddos and our nephew Clark at their grandparents house.

Wade and I were in charge of the meat this year and made my mom's famous Prime Rib. It was delish. I made twice-baked potatos and a 'Legal Seafood' seafood casserole, homemade rolls (Carol's recipe...is there any other?) and this "Snowman Cake". It would have been much easier to just have the dinner at our house, but there's something about going to Grandma's house for Christmas dinner...so we schlepped it all over there. The snowman cake was made out of oreos and chocolate pudding...it was out of a kid's cookbook...but it was actually pretty good. It's hard to go wrong with Oreo's in anything.

One of my oldest friends (23 years now) got married...perhaps the most fabulous wedding we've ever been too...it was unbelievable. It made me want to do it all over (of course with Wade again!) And Mandy looked gorgeous. She went all out and it was just the most amazing reception. Here's a pic of us...me in my big fat prego dress... Wish I had a better picture but like I tell Riley 'you get what you get, and you dont throw a fit'.

Here is a group of us preggo's from Natalie's shower, lined up in order of our due date. I've got the 2nd to last due date and somehow I look like the biggest one out there.
It's funny when I was pregnant 7 1/2 years ago with my 1st I didnt have any (Tulsa) friends with kids. Now that I'm pregnant with my last everyone is pregnant...it goes way beyond this pic...Riley is going to be able to babysit for all their kids.

Happening times at Clark Central

2008-12-16T21:34:00.007-06:00

Just thought I'd update you a little bit since I last updated the blog.

Here is our Thanksgiving Family picture...

The 2 youngest had their school Christmas program which was Adorable!

Brooke looked like a little angel up there. And Cade...well, Cade could definitely make us some money on America's Funniest Videos. If I can figure out how to get a snippet of the video camera on here I'll put on a video of one of his songs. The entire first song he spent digging his underwear out (but he went at it from the front, through the legs, squat style...and he was right in front of his class so it was super obvious.)

And the rest of the songs he just did his own thing...wonder where he gets his "mad conductor" skills.

Mimi and Papa with their granddaughters...

Last week was Party Week. I had parties 6 of the 7 days. Book Club, Tri-Delts, the Scrapbook Crew, and last year's "Kindergarten Home Room Moms"...including Miss Baker (teacher) who left early and a couple of moms "drunk dialed" at 11-ish (I had already gone home by that point...thank goodness I wasn't a part of that...but it was funny hearing the "after" stories). Wade's birthday was Friday so we had the family over for dinner and Saturday we did the 'Friend' dinner out. It was a busy week, but lots of fun...but all good things must come to an end.

We've had some nasty weather in Tulsa and the kids have been out of school for 2 days now, and we just got word that they are out tomorrow too. Ugh! It's ice, not snow...so they can't even build snowmen or go sledding or any fun "snow day" stuff.

We've had lots of medical issues with our Riley and MANY tests lately. She's had pneumonia twice since mid-November and a sinus infection...puked at school last Friday. Her recent Cystic Fibrosis test just came back negative (big sigh of relief there). My high school friends and I just lost a friend to that in October...he was 30 and that was a "long" life according to doctors. She's had an upper GI and asthma test this month (both normal) and been through allergy testing...poor thing. I guess all the "normal" results are good, but we'd like some sort of answer to what's going on. She did lose another tooth this weekend and the tooth fairy forgot to come (in my defense, I did not know...I was at a Christmas party and Wade forgot to tell me when I got home...but she has her money now so all is well in Riley world).

Here's a pic of one activity that kept us busy today...

I have cute pictures from Christmas Train but I'll put those up a different day.

I'm off to bed...

Losing It

2008-12-05T15:55:00.003-06:00

My kids have finally done me in. I'm seriously losing it...
For example, today I found a full loaf of bread in the trash (still in it's package) and the lettuce (that should be in the fridge) on the bottom shelf of the pantry by the coffee maker. I used the lettuce at lunch today, so it's only been there a couple of hours, but seriously...
Losing it...

The Final 5

2008-12-02T16:17:00.005-06:00

#26 Friends. We had some friends over for dinner during the holiday and it was just nice to catch up face to face. Email has made it so easy to keep in touch...but there's nothing like hanging out with good friends.

#27 Thanksgiving...and maternity pants that expand with your high pile of mashed potatoes.

#28 Black Friday (and a husband that wants his "toys" and picks up some things for me so I don't have to face the madness)

#29 Digital Cameras - I've always been a mad photo taker. Now I don't have to waste time (and money) with those rolls of film/developing and wondering if I got one where people aren't blinking. But, I am glad that they weren't really around in college...I can't imagine the blackmail some of my friends would have.

#30 Our Church. The best church in Tulsa, best church ever. Even with Wade away hunting for the weekend I was able to get all the kids fed, dressed, and there early so I could volunteer before the service.

25 (the last birthday...right Micki?)

2008-11-25T19:48:00.002-06:00

#25
Free Haircuts.
I have a friend that works for Marilyn Ihloff (a nice swanky salon here in T-town), and she tells me that they are looking for "secret shoppers" that are willing to fill out an on-line survey afterwards and in turn they get their hair services for free. She set me up and today I had my first one. It saved me 50 bucks, I only had to pay the tip. If only they would do it for mani/pedi's too! Thanks Cat!

Took the weekend off

2008-11-24T13:28:00.004-06:00

I took the weekend off, but I'm back with my grateful list of the days I missed...

#22

TU Football! We had our last home game on Saturday. We spent the first half in the stands (amongst the common people). We spent the 2nd half in the Letterman's Suite--the perks of being a "jersey chaser" in college and marrying my catch :). It got pretty chilly when the sun went down so it was nice to be indoors with free food/drink (even if I couldn't partake in the drink part).

Nice pic huh? This is from my phone...we laughed forever about this. Wade doesn't like the pic I have on Facebook of us, so DeSpain said we should switch it out with this...2 blobs. BTW...we won 56-7.

#23

Family Movie Night---This time it was Kung Fu Panda, which Wade may have liked more than the kids. Seriously...he laughed more than the kids did.

#24

Amazon.com

I've had to order a lot on-line lately...gifts, books, etc for different things. They make everything very easy. I had free 2 day shipping and for a month (nice!) and I had to make a return and they made that super easy...even provided a postage paid return label so I don't have to pay to ship it back.

The first 20's

2008-11-21T18:32:00.002-06:00

#20

The little "treasures" you run across with kids in the house...

This is Elasti-Girl from the Incredibles---not quite sure how she got stuck in the mixer...
This is from earlier this year, but Riley used to "hide" flowers from outside all around the house for me to find.

#21

Getting to be a kid again, with your kids.

We made this "Fruit Gobbler" turkey after school this week. We've eaten all his "feathers" (which are just grapes and cheese), but we all had a good time making him-even Brooke got in on it. I think we ate more than we put on him...nobody ate a good dinner that night. But that's ok...there are worse things.

2008-11-19T22:05:00.000-06:00

#19
70 degree days in November.

18

2008-11-18T20:41:00.000-06:00

#18
My Laptop and Wireless Internet.
The ability to be anywhere in my house and get on-line.

Seventeen

2008-11-17T19:58:00.001-06:00

#17 The Library
I like it as much as the kids do.
What I didn't know until a year or two ago was that you can get DVD's, we just got the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special, but they have "big people" movies too.
I get all my book club books, some of which I'm glad I didn't buy (Moab is my Washpot--all-time worst book ever, group consensus).
If I didn't have the kids I could spend hours there. The children do not have that attention span, but they do love to go.

Sweet Sixteen

2008-11-16T20:34:00.002-06:00

Kids that say the sweetest things.

Tonight I was combing Cade's hair.
He looks at me with his little sparkly eyes and says, "Mommy, I love you".
To which I said, "Cade, I love you too"
And then Cade said, "Mommy, I love you more than MOVIES!"
Wow. That's a lot!

Half way through the month!

2008-11-15T19:01:00.001-06:00

#15 - All the laundry in my house done. And put away.

2 for the price one

2008-11-14T18:16:00.002-06:00

So I didn't get my "thankful" blog out yesterday because all afternoon and evening I was sick on the couch...but when you're sick there's still things to be grateful for.
#13...the couch potato in me is grateful for my DVR. Wade and I were late in coming to the DVR craze, but can't imagine going back. It's so nice to rewind and pause live TV because with kids you often have someone talking over what you want to hear or you can pause TV while you bathe and put kids to bed...come out and not miss a moment...love it!
#14...my neighbors--with some of our house under the weather - my bus stop moms have helped get the kids on the bus for me and brought over dinner tonight. Wade's mom (also a neighbor) also brought over dinner last night and fed the kids.

Twelve

2008-11-12T21:49:00.002-06:00

#12--My Book Club.
One of my dearest friends got me involved in this book club and I just really love getting back into reading. My first degree in college was going to be in English Literature...until I realized they probably weren't going to pay me to read all day. So I had to make a change. Bummer. Not that I get paid for my current job either.
We've recently celebrated our 1 year anniversary and I've read so many things I wouldn't have touched otherwise. Tonight's discussion was about Bel Canto...a pretty good read. Jen mentioned that on my blog bio - somewhere I wrote that I don't get to read books and that I needed to change that - I do read about 2 books a month...so I will update the blog here soon. You just have to make time for it...now I need to make time for cleaning my house. Yuck!
So thank you Jennifer for getting me back into it....I'm thankful for you too!

Playing Catch Up

2008-11-11T19:04:00.012-06:00

So we made it back from our crazy trip to St. Louis.

We left Tulsa on Wed. after Wade got home from work and got in town LATE. Thursday Wade had a business downtown that morning - but didn't get home until 4 that afternoon, so the day was shot, but we went to Rich n Charlies (my fave) for dinner.
Friday we took the "train" (really the Metro Link) to Union Station and on down to the Arch with the kids and bummed around a little. Friday all my brothers were arriving in town and we had dinner at mom's and celebrated Lori (my sis-in-law's) b-day.
Saturday the boys went skeet shooting (which took entirely too long) as Lori and I were waiting to go to Archivers (scrapbook store) for their Holiday Extravaganza, which we thoroughly enjoyed...once we got there. That night was Christmas at Chad's house (we moved Christmas up because Heath and Pearl are expecting and can't travel in December).
Sunday we had a baby shower for them.
To all my friends from STL that didn't know I was coming, or that I was in town, I'm sorry...this was a jammed packed family weekend and I knew it'd be hard to see you, I didn't see anyone...Next time, I promise.

During ALL of this we had "Vomit-Fest 2008" going on. It started Friday with Riley (middle of the night...real pleasant, she made it to the toilet all but one time).
Saturday belonged to Cade (this was the most brutal...he just had to keep running to the bathroom, it was so incredibly sad). I continued into the night and on Sunday. We almost had to take him to the ER, we were worried about him getting dehydrated...he was such a champ though and all but once made it to the bathroom or into a bucket.
Monday was the drive back and everyone did great. That night and this morning was Brooke's turn. My kids also managed to get my niece, my brother, and my nephew sick, so far...but there seems to be more casualties every day.

Which leaves me with catching up on my gratitude journaling:
#6 - So grateful to be done Christmas shopping for one side of our family. It was a bit hard getting into the spirit of Christmas...but we had a great night and we all enjoyed seeing the kids excited about their gifts...that's the best part of the holiday for me...watching the kids get excited about everything.

Cousins

#7 - Grateful that 2 of my 3 children know the sensation of throwing up and can make it to the toilet or bucket next to their bed

Before Vomit-Fest Began, down on the Arch grounds

#8 - No cleaning puke out of the van, or having to smell it for the 6 hour ride home. Seriously this was the BEST thing about Vomit-Fest '08
#9 - My favorite person...my hubby, who was up with me during each puke session and helped clean up the kids, while I cleaned the bedding and changed their sheets---we make a good team.
#10 - Home Sweet Home....how good it is to be home.
#11 - Veteran's Day...I come from a military family, so I understand some of the sacrifices they make to serve this country. Our Veterans made it possible for us to keep our freedoms. It's like that old quote that says, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" Case in point...(Dad you will like this one...we all know what you think of air traffic controllers...this just proves your point)

As a mom, I got a giggle out of this. Riley had a Veteran's Day assembly at school today and this was the little song her class sang. If you're wondering what Cade is up to, he is saying "Cheese" nearly every time you see him (funny if you can hear him over Brooke). You may need to turn off the song playing on the blog (mom and dad...you can do that by scrolling to the bottom and click on the stop or pause the song in the box). She also sang kinda quiet so you may need to turn up your computer volume.

Happy Veteran's Day everyone!

Temporary Pause

2008-11-06T20:25:00.001-06:00

Had to travel this weekend.
Will resume list next week...

Fifth on the List

2008-11-05T15:15:00.006-06:00

#5 - Caramel Apple Spice from Starbucks.

I don't drink coffee, but love Starbucks for their Apple Cider this time of year. It's THE best!

Seriously, one try and you'll be addicted.

#4 on the Gratitude List

2008-11-04T20:09:00.004-06:00

This is a gimme today...

I think we all take for granted the country live in, in the famous words of Tim Russert, "what a country". I liked him so much, I miss him, especially tonight.

#4 -- I exercised my right to vote...waited an hour and 15 minutes. Some of that time is because the vote counting machine broke down and we had to wait for it to get fixed, but our polling place was the social place to be. We probably ran into a dozen people we knew, it was fun.

#3

2008-11-03T21:11:00.003-06:00

#3 Bunco Night
Once a month my neighbors meet at the clubhouse for Bunco and it's just really nice to have a night off...but what I like most is to talk to big people. When your home with little ones all day you can go a little loopy. Tonight was extra good because I won (well I tied with Dee so we split the pot) but I still walked out with some extra cash in my pocket. But I'm still a Wilson and I don't like losing, so more than winning the cash I like the bragging rights as Bunco Champion.

Gratitude #2

2008-11-02T12:44:00.002-06:00

2. Fall Daylight Savings Time. I volunteer at our church on Sunday so instead of leaving at 7:45 this morning, I got to leave at 7:45 (really 8:45 body clock time).

Gratitude...

2008-11-01T21:35:00.005-05:00

We're trying to teach the kids a little about gratitude. They (as I imagine most kids ) have A LOT and take it for granted. So for about a week, each night at dinner we all tell at least 2 things that happened that day that we are thankful for. We've been doing that about a week now and the kids come up with some pretty nice things (and sometimes really funny).
Since November is all about Thanksgiving, I thought I'd try to update my blog each day with something I'm grateful for.

1. Today I filled up my car, gas in Tulsa is $1.95/gallon. Not only is gas low everywhere, but Tulsa often has the lowest in the country...gotta love that!

The Summer I never got around to blogging...

2008-10-15T18:13:00.008-05:00

Fix yourself a snack, kick back and make yourself comfortable, this could take a while...

Here is a bit of our summer in pictures...I'll try to keep the captions brief. We really had a busy summer. 2 trips (Our couple get away to New York and our family Mid-Country vacation-St. Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus and back)...but beyond that - we did lots around T-town. Here's a sampling of our summer.

Weddings galore, here is the whole Clark family at one.

Me and my BFF Christy at another

Riley and Cade were enrolled in the summer reading program at the library and earned free tickets to a Drillers game (Tulsa's baseball team) for reading all their books. It was "Bison" night so all the kids got a little stuffed Bison(see Cade's hand) --which beside the food, may have been the highlight of the game. I'm thinking "Bison Night" might be an "only in Oklahoma" thing.

Huge milestone: Riley learned to ride her bike (sans training wheels).

My garden was pretty pathetic this year. As you can see from the size of my produce here. Then again, I think it takes a lot of talent to get a carrot and a watermelon the same exact size. Seriously...you try it. We did get a few tomatos and zucchinis but nothing like years past.

Brooke cannot be contained. She will not stay in her crib - so we have to shut her door to keep her in her room. When we check on her, this is what we find.

4th of July -- Brooke LOVED the fireworks, she'd just clap and clap after each one

We LIVE at the pool in the summer. Cade took one on one lessons this year and was out of his vest, holding his breath, and swimming under water by the end of summer.

Another pool pic, because these two are just too darn cute.

Normal spaghetti night... I really love that my kids can eat themselves and I don't have to feed them anymore, but sometimes it's just almost not worth it.

We took full advantage of our splash park too. It's funny, the most patience my kids have ever shown is waiting for these buckets to fill up before they tip over on them.

Father's Day at the Lake.

Brooke was content to just play in the mud.

Riley "caught" a dragonfly!

Fathers Day at GreenLeaf State Park.

Cade trying to catch a fish with his Spiderman fishing pole. Didn't catch any fish, but we saw a ton of baby turtles.

Remember what I said about the kids trying to feed themselves...yeah, same thing.

There's a Blue Bell Ice Cream Plant just a couple miles from our house. Every year they have their "Taste of Summer" and have tours, tons of free samples, and lots of activities for the kids. Here are Riley and Cade "milking" a fake cow.

An annual Clark tradition, blackberry picking.

This year we got nearly 6 pounds (not including what we put in our bellies while we were picking...which probably equaled what we put in our buckets). With our bounty I made 5 pies, 9 jars of jelly, and we gave 3 pints to neighbors. Next year we're gonna do raspberries too! You might be able to roll us to the pool next summer.

NO more pictures mommarazzi.

Cade taking after Uncle Heath with his hurdling...

Cade turned 4!Blowing out his candles!

Brooke turned 2!

Blowing out her candles!

The mark of a good party...crashing on the tile. I think my husband did this a few times after parties in college, it must run in the family...

this was actually for our nephew Clark's 1st birthday, but you can see all the kids had as much fun as the birthday boy

We camped in our backyard a couple times this summer. The first time we did it a storm blew in around 2 or 3. None of us slept very soundly so when the wind was practically blowing us into the neighbors yard Wade and I decided we better move everyone in. Good thing we did, a massive storm blew in moments after we all got in.

Reading stories by flashlight (well LED "puck" lights) courtesy of mom.

Cade and Riley both loved their goggles this summer and I just thought Cade looked so stinkin' cute that I had to include this picture.

Just one of those days

2008-09-26T16:31:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was one of those days that just went completely different that I thought when we woke up. My dad is in town a couple of days and this was his last full day with us. (He left before noon this morning).

Riley had coughed a lot the night before so I thought I'd run her to the doctor. I had a doctor appointment in the morning and right after mine I ran her to hers. Turns out she has pneumonia. Riley just kinda gets sick easier than most people, she gets a little tiny virus and it just takes over her body. So they wanted us to go directly to the hospital to get IV antibiotics...they needed to aggressively attack it. But first, I had to get Cade to pre-school. So I ran home, picked him up, ran him to school, and let dad stay behind and put Brooke down for her nap. I took Riley up to the hospital we got the IV (torture), spent a couple of hours getting the drip and doing some other tests...they left it in so if she had to go back today they wouldn't have to re-poke her. On the way home, I got rammed (from behind) at a red light by a lady who "speak-y no englisse" and had to wait for an interpreter to get there...I mean it was just an awful day. Today at the doctor they said she was doing better and could switch to oral antibiotics, breathing treatments, mucinex and Robitussin...sheesh. They have scheduled an upper GI for her on Monday. Poor thing. She refers to this incident as her "surgery" and her IV (that is all wrapped up so it doesn't come out) as "her cast".

Missing Mike

2008-09-07T16:09:00.014-05:00

If only we could all just blog about sunshine and roses, but unfortunately life doesn't work that way.

Into each life, a little rain must fall...and we've had a downpour for the last 2 weeks.
Most everyone that reads this already knows, but Wade's brother passed away 2 Saturday's ago.

It has been the hardest thing Wade and I have ever been through.

We still don't have any answers to why this has happened, the medical examiner said it could take up to 12 weeks to get all the reports back. We did have a very nice service for him with a packed church which just shows how many people he touched.

We've had so much support from all over. Our neighbors have been AMAZING, from bringing food, to watching kids, and beyond. All my 'bus stop moms' even came to the "viewing" we had the night before the funeral. I called my mom at 3:30 on Monday and asked her if she could get on a plane that night at 8:30. She did, and took care of the kids, got them to school and gymnastics, tried to give them attention and keep things as normal as possible for them while the world was turned upside down for us. She even did 6 loads of laundry for me. Thanks Mom!

We've been trying to get back to everyday life, but it's a struggle.

Wade spoke at the funeral and had the greatest line in his eulogy--"Everyone has one of those friends they know they can call at any hour to come and bail them out of jail. Mike was NOT one of those friends. Mike was the kind of friend sitting in the cell right next to you, saying, "Boy, wasn't that fun".

That truly captures Mike.

Our kids will no doubt miss "fun Uncle Mike",

but there's no doubt that he'll live on in the countless stories we'll be sure to tell them.

Heee's Back!

2008-08-22T00:54:00.003-05:00

If you haven't heard, my Jason is coming back to be the next Bachelor! Woo hoo!

TU friends...doesn't he remind you a little bit of McCord? Wade thinks I'm crazy when I say that, but he does to me (somewhat). Maybe that's why I like him so much, cause he reminds me of McCord and he was so much fun to hang with.

I just adore this guy, I can't wait to watch.

Summer is Over, schmover.

2008-08-20T14:32:00.003-05:00

So it's official. Our summer has come to an end.
Riley and Cade have been in school for a whole week now.
Riley - a super excited 1st grader
and Caden started the Pre-K program.

The 1st week Riley rode the bus to school and I dropped Cade off after lunch (he only goes for 2 and 1/2 hours)

then I picked both kids up in the afternoon.
That quickly changed...the line to pick up kids is absoultely outrageous. There's 1000 children in the school (and growing). I sat for over an hour each day waiting to pick them up. Mommy and Brooke are just not that patient to do that every day. Hence we now have 2 bus riders. I really struggled with the decision. Cade is still 3 (at least for one more week)...who lets a 3 year old ride the bus with 5th graders??? But Riley is on the bus as well as several friends from our neighborhood (mostly younger ages). There are 9 kids at our bus stop alone (4 of those who were in our weekly playgroup and he knows very well.) Monday was the first day he rode the bus. I was crazy psycho mom and drove up to the school and hid (so he couldn't see me) to make sure he got on the right bus. I had a teacher come up and ask me to leave (I channeled my George Bush Sr.) "Sorry, not gonna do it". He got on the right bus and I booked it home so I could get this shot.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. We've got birthday parties this weekend for Brooke and Cade. But I have lots of pictures I want to put up of some of the fun things that have kept us busy this summer. I can't believe how fast it went...

Slideshow mentioned below

2008-07-31T17:21:00.004-05:00

If you're having trouble seeing the slideshow at the bottom of the last post you can either click "view all images" or refresh your page and scroll down right away to watch. After it scrolls through them it stops and since I wrote a novel you wont be able to see them if you've read through the text.
Sorry

O State Travelers

2008-07-31T14:45:00.019-05:00

From one O-State to another

OKLAHOMA to OHIO
10 days +
5 states +
1 minivan =
2,183 miles driven (and we'd do it again, it was that great a trip!)

This was our family vacation this year. We decided we'd make the drive and have us a 10 day, mid country, Griswald family journey. My big Wilson family reunion was in Ohio at the end of July, but it all started the weekend before with a friend's wedding in St. Charles....

Here's some of the highlights:
Stop 1 - St. Louis (4 days)

Six Flags (serious fun...not just for the kids but the adults). We went with Chad, Annette, and Kate' so we all got to go on some "big kid" rides too. We had a blast!

Jennifer's wedding (and celebrating with good friends)

Catching up with Christine, Micki, Derek, Christy and Mandy. Wish there was more time for me to see everyone else but sadly theres just never enough time. And of course spending time with Family, that always comes first.

Stop 2 - Indianapolis (2 days) And home to the most expensive gas along the way (4.18/gallon)

Indy Motor Speedway -- We took a lap around the track, and one little boy I know was in race car heaven!

Indianapolis Zoo. This zoo was incredible, probably one of the best zoo's I've ever been too...better than San Diego. It has a combined aquarium so they had this dolphin show (smaller scale, but similar to what you see at Sea World). The kids got to pet sharks! We took a train, rode a roller coaster, played in the splash park, fed giraffes... There was a butterfly house with hundreds of butterflies and the kids favorite part...playing with the walrus. This walrus would look through the glass at the kids and do whatever they did. So if Riley leaned to the left, he would lean with her, he'd play peek-a-boo with them. So cool!

The Children's Museum (the biggest Children's museum in the world). And really the reason we decided to drive rather than fly...we knew the kids needed to check this place out. We knew it was gonna be cool when you see the entrance...

Stop 3 - Columbus (3.5 days)

Meeting my newest nephew Garrett! Isn't he a doll?
Cosi- We worried that it might be too similar to the Children's Museum in Indy, but they both had very different things. It couldn't have worked out better. A "must-visit" for kids in Columbus.
Cookout at Todd and Lori's House -

Hanging out with my dad and brothers's families before the massive family reunion. We had great food, great weather and we all had a ton of fun.

One of the greatest things is that all the cousins are all close in age.

Riley has Kate' who is 3 months younger.

Brooke has Kelsey who is 3 weeks younger.

Cade has Aiden who is 1 year younger (but were the only boys until Garrett). Seriously, these 2 are going to be lady-killers. Aren't they the cutest little ones ever sporting Grandpa's soccer jerseys from Italy.

Now Heath and Pearl will have their little one soon which will be about 8 mo. younger than Garrett...so everyone has a buddy. I have a jillion cousins, but all alot older than me. I love that they all have each other.

Family Reunion- This is just from my Grandma and Grandpa down. I couldn't tell you how many people we had there, well over 100 (pretty good considering it stems from just 2), but we have the smallest of the families (16 and a half) but we're still cranking them out. And no we're not Catholic.

Stop 4 - STL (overnight Sunday)

Stop 5 - Tulsa (.5 days - Monday) (the longest part of the journey)

HOME!!! There's truly no place like home! And home to the cheapest gas on the trip (3.82/gallon).

I had a ton of pictures I wanted to share, but I know they are a lot more exciting to me than all of you, but here are a few other fun ones in case you wanted to see just a few more.

Better off...

2008-07-08T15:41:00.003-05:00

Ok, so Jason was too good for DeAnna anyway.

*And thats all I have to say about that (Forrest Gump)

My Bachelorette Prediction

2008-07-07T17:29:00.005-05:00

I'm a Bachelorette watcher (yes, I admit it) and I'm making my prediction...
Jason, Jason, Jason.

From the very first episode he has been my fave, Wade can back me up on that. Of course, Graham was my 2nd favorite so since he's out - the choice is easy. Poor Wade got a bit sucked into watching it with me this season. We have very few shows that we watch together (in fact I can only think of one) but Wade knew one of the bachelors from this season (Twilley) and so he got roped into watching him act like a goof. Once Twilley was gone Wade could care less about any of it, so I'll be watching alone. But this house is rooting for Jason tonight!

I Heart NY

2008-06-21T21:53:00.017-05:00

We're back from the Big Apple and finally settled back into our normal routine.
We had an unbelievable trip. More than ANY other city there are SO many things to do and see, and we did everything and more than we had planned to do. I won't bore you with the details of all we did (you name it, we did it) but I've included a slide show (at the end) if you have the time and want to see a few pics. But I'll share with you a few favorites...

Top 10 things to do in NYC... (in no particular order)

1. St. Patrick's Cathedral -- We really love our church, but the architecture here was gorgeous. Our church is absolutely industrial next to this church.

2. Rockefeller Center (Top of the Rock) -- Best Views of NYC. Better views that the Empire State Building.

3. Staten Island Ferry -- the cheapskate in me loved this...it's a free ferry ride to Staten Island and it goes right past the Statue of Liberty. They don't let you up inside anymore so this is the best way to see/get pictures of Lady Liberty (A bonus was we got to see THE most flamboyant (and scary looking) trans-sexuals on the planet).

4. Apartment roof tops -- We met a buddy of Wade's the first night at his apartment. He took us up to the rooftop and showed us how they have a common area or people can get their own private area and can have gardens, or sunbathe, or whatever...some of the private ones were pretty cool.

5. Central Park -- this park is MASSIVE. Truly one of the best things in NYC. (Don't try to see it all in one day)

6. Grand Central Station -- I loved it here. Of course as soon as we entered the main lobby we both remembered the scene in Madagascar where the animals that escaped from the zoo are caught. Funny that's what we recognized.

7. China Town (Canal Street) -- Where I met and brought home many friends (Coach, Gucci, Prada, etc...I'm not sure if they are knock-offs or stolen--but the quality is amazingly good if they are knock-offs).

8. Fifth Avenue was pretty great too. Here I am (purchase in hand) at THE Saks on Fifth Ave.

9. The Today Show -- I love Matt Lauer (seriously... I love him). We didn't spend a lot of time there but here are Ann, Al and some other fill-in anchor, so I did get a picture of a quasi-celebrity. I also saw Lou Gossett Jr. --is he still considered a celebrity? He is in my favorite movie of all time (An Officer and a Gentleman), so I say he still counts.

10. St. Paul's Chapel and Cemetery. Possibly my favorite. We stumbled onto this place on our way down to Battery Park. This chapel was built in 1766. President George Washington was one of the worshippers at St. Paul's. It's directly across the street from what was the WTC. Cool story, this little chapel survived the collapse of the WTC without even a broken window. One sycamore tree that was destroyed by debris on 9/11 fell and didn't disturb a single headstone in the cemetery (there definitely was a higher force protecting this little place). Here's a great little article on it if you care to see how special this little place was http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_28_118/ai_79514972

This doesn't even touch all the other things we did in NYC. I literally got blisters on the bottom of my feet from all the walking and sight-seeing we did.

5 things I learned in NYC

Subways are the best way to get around the city (and yes there are rats, I've got pictures for proof).
DO NOT go to NY during the Pueroto Rican Day Parade...trust me on this...80,000 participants, 2 million in attendance. It was craziness, seriously. This parade lasted HOURS...seriously how many cars/floats can you see before they all look the same. It was 98 degree too, never thought it'd be hotter in NY than in Tulsa. We didnt watch, but we could not avoid them.
People there love Giuliani and credit him with all things good in NYC.
One too many sushi, make me want to barf-y. (For Wade change sushi to mackerel sashimi for same statement).
Old mixes with new like no other place I've ever been (check out this pic...the skyscrapers built up around this little building)

The one thing I feel like we could have skipped was Ground Zero -- Nothing to see, then again...maybe that's the point.

The only thing I would have liked to have done and didn't, was catch a show, everything else was a bigger priority to me...but I did go see a movie in Times Square by myself ($13.00). Wade had to go to the Webby Awards for a work thing so I went to see Made of Honor (my kind of movie). I'm not sad about missing a show cause we're going to see Phantom of the Opera in a couple weeks...doesn't get much better than that (unless you're going to see Les Mis...can't decide which one is my favorite, it depends on which one I've seen last).

Here's the slideshow.

And I'll try to get better about posting so I don't have to write a novel each time.