Memorial Day

 Tonight we went to Mom and Dad's (aka...Nini and Pappy's) house.  Everyone was there to eat, play, and celebrate Memorial Day.  The kids swam, played in the hose, ate, got in arguments, made up and played all night.  Just put that on repeat about 10 times and that was their entire 6 hours at Nini's house:) 

Memorial Day and Summer mean watermelon.  Thankfully Angela brought some of the delicious fruit over and the kids tore it up.  Owen did eat some watermelon over bugs and dirt.  That's always a good thing when he decides to eat real food too!  Drinking is Owen's favorite past time though.  Thankfully, this one was just good ole' Dr. Pepper and not a cold one.  There were not any of those around tonight, otherwise, that is where you could have found my O Man. He loves him some Bud Light Lime....oh boy!

Kasey came over after work and ate and hung out with us for a few hours.  It's always good to see family even if it is just for a little bit.  We took a few snapshots outside while the kids were fighting playing.

Happy Memorial Day everyone.  Remember to thank someone in the military for their service or past service.  Thank you Jesus that we live in America and that you veterans for all your sacrifices for me and my family!

 

First Summer Kiddie Park Trip

Friday night was Kiddie Park night.  The first time we will go this season.  The boys were so excited waiting ALLLLL day for the park to open.  To kill time Will decided he wanted to play games on my phone.  My phone was charging.  He didn't care.  He just crawled up and settled himself nicely into the sink so he could still play my phone charging in the outlet.  The fact that he is nearing 6 years old and still fits into a sink rather comfortably kind of worries me...but seriously, look at this face (a.k.a. "Will Smirk")  It just melts my heart every time:)












Owen wanted no part of the roller coaster this year.  Last year he rode it, this year he avoided it.  Knowing his Aunt GiGi and Nini's fear of coasters, I decided not to push it and let him smile and laugh from afar.  Will talked about holding his arms up and screaming all day.  He rode twice.  Once in light and once in dark.  Those are the exact words Will used telling me about his coaster experience last night.

 Of course, Owen had fun last night too.  His experience of fun is much different than brother's.  He likes to hop/jump/scoot/run/scanter/frolic/skip/hopscotch/bolt around the park all night all WHILE eating popcorn or cotton candy and holding a bottle of water.  Yes, he will sneak a few rides in (see below picture) but mostly he wanted to observe and run around like crazy.  He decided on the car below, as you can see, because it was Thomas the Train.  That's the only reason why he even wanted to do that ride.  He just goes for the opportunity to have 2 1/2 hours of pure cardio.  He's like Nini.....












While at the Kiddie Park we ran into 2 other couples from Broken Arrow that we are friends with.  One of the couples was Jennifer and Judd and their 3 daughters: Sophie, Piper, and Riley.  Will got to ride the airplanes with his friend Sophie.  He was so excited to see her last night!

 We all had a great time on our first trip this season to the Kiddie Park.  We didn't even get home from all of our fun until 11:15, the boys didn't fall asleep until 11:30PM and Owen was up and ready for the day today at 5:52am.


 Mom...if you are reading this....this is why I put Owen to bed at 7:45-8 every night.  It truly DOESN'T matter what time this child goes to bed.  He will still be up with the roosters and sometimes before.  Might as well but the kid to bed at 7:45pm.  Please don't ask again:)......

Happy Summer 2012!!!!

Will's A Graduate

He did it ladies and gentlemen.  He graduated Pre-K!  Since Broken Arrow Public Schools do not do a Kindergarten graduation this was it for me.  It might seem silly to have a graduation for preschool but not to me.  This was a big step and a huge accomplishment for Will and I couldn't be more proud!

His teacher, Mrs. Snow, was and is one of the most amazing teachers I have ever been around.  Being a former teacher, this is saying a lot.  I wanted Will's first experience in school to be out of this world.  Something that he wanted to get up and do every morning.  Something that he didn't fear.  Something that pushed him outside his comfort zone a little but yet didn't bring sadness to him.  Something where he could go and learn and form relationships with those around him.  Mrs. Snow's class provided all the above things and more.  Thank you so much for the difference you made in little Will's life this year!

Thankfully, he also got to go to school with his best buddy Mason.  Mason and Will are two peas in a pod and have so much fun together.  Mason was in tears on the last day of school and his Mom said to him, "but Mason, now we can go to the pool all the time." He said something to the effect of, "but Mom, I love school just as much as the pool!"  That is something to be said about Pre-K and Mrs. Snow.  No more carpooling for a few months and I will miss seeing Mason's sweet face in the backseat!

We took about three different family shots of the event.  Either Owen was poking his nose, or poking his eye out, or Will wasn't looking or closing his eyes.  This was the best one I could come up with.  It will have to due until the boys realize how important family pictures are to their Momma:)

After graduation Will was told he could go somewhere for dessert to celebrate a finished Pre-K year.  He picked Cherry Berry.  Not totally shocked there!  We drove over and let the boys eat and play outside.  While playing Will found a bush with some flowers on it.  Sorry, Steven told me what they were called and I have since totally forgotten.  Will gave me the flower, I actually thought it was pretty (probably because it wasn't a weed) and put it in my hair.  Will loved that he made me so happy and I loved to see the joy on his face when he said, "Momma....you're pretty."  Melt this Momma's heart!  I love my "big boy!" Happy Graduation Will Parker!

Will's First Flight

This last weekend Will and I flew to Kentucky to see my friend Andrea.  Andrea has a son that is almost Will's age too so we thought since they haven't seen each other since Will was 6 months old we would let them play.  The second Gavin found Will at baggage claim they were already talking like best friends:)  So sweet! 

Will wasn't scared of the airplane at all.  We haven't really had a lot of (okay any) opportunities to take either boy on an airplane yet. Until Saturday.  Boy, was he excited!  He had a countdown for this trip hanging on our fridge for 16 days before we even left Oklahoma!  A major part of the airplane that he thought was super cool was the fact that it was blue.  Well, I say blue/purple but Will only saw blue.

There were two flights to KY and two flights back to OK and Will had to grab a window seat each time.  His favorite past time as climbing and descending were counting swimming pools.  He originally said he wanted to do trees, but once he realized how many of those there were, he quickly found something else to count:)

Once the flight attendant figured out this was Will's first flight she went all out, and I mean ALL OUT, of her way to make sure Will had a lot of great memories from this trip.  Big shout out to Southwest Airlines.  They really are awesome and amp up the customer service points in my book.  She made him a crown out of bags of peanuts and toothpicks.  She allowed him to enter the cockpit after landing and meet the pilot.  The pilot let Will "fly" the airplane and hold the controllers and push buttons.  I couldn't take too many pictures.  This was awesome!

Once he got off his first flight and finally made it to "TenTucky" he and Gavin and Sabrina played for 4 days.  Yes, there were fights.  Yes, there were tears.  Yes, there were tired kids.  They had such a blast though!  Once they all got too tired and just needed some down time....this is where you could find them.....

Electronics.  What I find so funny in this picture is that they are all sharing each others electronics.  Gavin is playing Will's DS, Sabrina is playing Gavin's DS, and Will is playing Andrea's phone.  Cute! 

We had an excellent time in Kentucky and an awesome experience with Southwest.  Thank you to everyone who helped make this weekend possible for both of us!

Half Way There

If you follow my blog you will know that I have set a goal for myself that included diet, exercise, and some really hard work.  My goal was simple (not really)...to lose weight and to wear a bikini by the middle of July when we go to Florida. Today was half way.  Today was 8 weeks.  Today I stepped on the scale and I have lost 10 pounds.

 I know this doesn't seem like much to some people, but for me it was very monumental.  To hit the double digits just made me feel like my work was paying off. A small section of my brain can now wrap its head around doubling that number for another 8 weeks.  That was my original goal and I think I can make it. 

Maybe in another 8 weeks I will have people giving me these kinds of 10's when they see me walk by:)

A Weekend Full of Activities

Happy Mother's Day to all those Mom's out there!  I hope everyone had a great time with their Mom's, kids, families, etc.  I was able to see BOTH of my mom's this weekend since the Kueny's were able to come into town.  It's always great when we get to see both sets of families on holidays and special occasions!  Tonight we went to dinner with mom and dad at a Chicago Pizza Place.  It was good and filled with wayyyy too many carbs that I am sure Sean T. will work out of my tomorrow during my INSANITY work out:)  I grabbed the boys to pose with me for a Mother's Day shot.  Of course, never can I get both of them to look at the camera at the same time so I will have to do with 1 out of 2 following through.

Yesterday I completed my second run of the Summer.  Last night I ran the Full Moon Run.  This run has been in Tulsa for 25 years.  There were over 2,000 runners for the 3.1 mile run.  I was able to finish the run in 28.19 minutes which was my best 5K time ever!  For those of you that care, that is a 9 min 9 sec mile.  I know some of you might think that is slow, but my goal was to finish the 5K in under 30 minutes.  For me, that is a feat.  I run, but not too quickly:)  A big shout out to my running partners, Amanda and Erica, for running with me!  Both of them...BOTH of them just had a baby in February and were running with me in 5K's not 3 months later.