For a long time now you have been hearing me talk about our vacation to Destin. It is finally ALMOST here. I can not wait. We leave in one week. My list of things to pack and take, not take, put away, get finished, go grab, get fixed, and borrow is getting extremely long. That's okay though, I am totally not complaining. My biggest fear is how the boys will do in the car for 14 hours. I am not too worried about Will. Owen is another worry all together. The boy can barely make it to Norman (2 hours) without needing to get out of his car seat PRONTO! This is why Steven and I are going to sacrifice sleep for sanity. Night road trip it is to make it to Florida. Hopefully the boys will be asleep 8 or so out of the 14-15 hours. That would be awesome!
You have also heard me talk about my diet and plan to get
into a bikini by our
vacation. I am not a huge fan of posting pictures
of me in a bikini (and you won't see a ton on the beach either) but
since you have been following my blog for months now and reading about
my plan, I figured I owed you one. Heidi Klum took one of herself this
last weekend too. She is my inspiration. I'll let you decide which one
I am:) Not too hard. I'm the really white one!
She's a supermodel, I am not. Please don't hate!! Florida bound in ONE WEEK!
This fourth of July Owen was scared. Totally freaked out and wanted nothing to do with fireworks or outside festivities. I remember when Will was like that too. I think it was the summer he was 2 1/2. Then he was totally fine and has loved them ever since. Owen will hopefully be fine next year because I had to drive him to my parents house and hang out there for many hours just so he could avoid our neighborhood. When I say war zone, I am totally NOT blowing it out of proportion (pun intended). There is completely no reason to leave our neighborhood on the fourth. Every street is trying to outdo the other streets and every house has something going on it seems in front or back. It's pretty cool for the kids and I hope Owen will get to enjoy it next year.
Before the parties this year the boys (and I mean Will and Steven) wanted to check out there fireworks collection. Here the boys were making piles of all the cool things they were going to blow up later that night. What was Owen's reaction in his own house where NOTHING was going to be lit? I'll show you. Yep, not a fan!
Good thing I took my "baby" to his
Nini and Pappy's
house. He had much more fun there and being able to have all of Nini's
time and energy since he was the only grandchild there. He wanted to go
outside and play for a bit before all the fireworks started, but that
didn't last long. Not 10 seconds after he was laughing and smiling and
talking to me, fireworks went off and we made our way inside. We got a
few good shots though to document this fourth for him before it got "too
scawrey".
Happy fourth of July to everyone!
Today Will decided on his date with Momma to go to the Tulsa Zoo. Good thing, because I had 2 free admission tickets for him and his best buddy Mason thanks to the summer reading program from the library. Oh, 
the boys were so stoked to be at the zoo. Can't you tell from this picture? I know they look THRILLED but it was actually because the sun was in their eyes and they could hardly look at the camera. You can really tell their little personalities and watch them come out when you see the first exhibit we walked up to. The chimp's. Crazy monkey's...just like these two. Here you will notice them attempting their monkey interpretations.
Next, it was on to the sea lion show. This is new to the zoo and both boys were super pumped about sitting in sun/shade, not a breeze in sight, and crowded to the gills to watch a 14 minute sea lion show. Yes, I was excited too. Can't you tell? They enjoyed it and I guess that's all that matters. No sea lion show would be 
complete without breaking into our lunches (it was only 10:45am) to snack while watching the 14 minute show. I looked around and a TON of mom's were doing this, so I thought "What the heck. Let's do a mini lunch before lunch. What can it hurt?" After the uber awesome sea lion show we moved on to the
train ride. This is where they get ya folks. Be prepared. Both boys
were free to get in, I was $8, and then tickets for train/horse ride
thingy that I can't ride because it makes me want to puke was another
$12. More than my admission! Craziness. I didn't want to walk the mile
back up to the front of the zoo in 100 degrees so my brilliant idea to
splurge on the train tickets paid off:)
We finished the day like any other patron at the zoo (who doesn't care about germs) by invading the petting zoo area. This even grosses me out some and that takes quite a bit to do. Thankfully, they have a hand washing station right outside of the goat/donkey/rabbit area. They also have this cool buggy thing. If you look closely Will is clutching some imaginary reigns and "driving" him and Mason out of the petting zoo. Don't ask me what Mason is doing. I have not a clue....
Last special treat on this Monday Date Day was a trip to Cherry Berry after 
dinner with Momma, Daddy, and brother. Will ate all of his creation. Disgusting creation in my book of watermelon ice cream, cherries, mango bead balls, sour worms, marshmellows, and caramel sauce. Doesn't sound too appealing to me, but he ate it all. Healthy...not so much. Hope he lives to see another Monday Date Day while eating such trash!
Hope everyone had just as awesome as a Monday as Mason, Will, and his Momma!
Emma is four! Yes, folks even though she can still wear an 18-24 month outfit...the girl is four! Crazy how time flies.
Emma loves rainbows and Barbies. What girl 
doesn't, right? So to have the best birthday possible she wanted a rainbow party. Alright. We all were instructed to dress in a solid color shirt the color of the rainbow. If you look closely (please do not look at how pissed my boys look...they didn't want to get out of the pool), you will notice that we did a good job representing all the colors. ROYGBIV is in full effect and every color is present! Emma had a special rainbow dress made for her just for this occasion!
Apparently, even though God gave me only males to raise as a Momma I can still purchase good female gifts. My mermaid/Barbie/change color in the water doll went over very well. She loved it!
Will and Pappy were sporting their button up Polo's as well tonight. Let me get this straight...I do NOT like this look of buttons all the way up to his neck. This was Pappy's idea and Pappy's doing. I got a kick out of it and snapped a picture of the Nerdy Look from WP and Pappy. Please don't ask me what Will is doing/talking/saying/goofing off about. I have no clue.
Happy birthday to Emma JoElle Franco. Four years old already. I think
MAYBE I have gotten a handful of hugs, even fewer kisses, and even fewer conversations out of this little girl. She is a shy one. Verrrryyyy much so. She is sure sweet though and I love her even though for half of her life she called me Nini instead of Jackie. I know we look alike, but come on, 2 years of it? I've heard it my whole life!
I love you Emma!!!
Today is Monday so that meant another date day with my oldest son. This boy melts my heart. He is such a lover and such an incredible, obedient child. He is going to make a lady very happy one day:) I can't wait to see who God has picked out for him. Right after we took the library book picture he crawled up in his booster seat, buckled himself, got his own snack (yes, 5 1/2 year old's are easy and I LOVE this stage), and said to me, "Momma, I love you." Just for no reason at all. Oh my!
He earned his reward today for completing the 
summer reading program at the library. His reward for completing it was this measly looking, rather small (in my opinion) stuffed bat with wings. Hey, he loves it but glad I wasn't earning that thing. Pretty lame in my opinion! Could the child look at the camera all day? No, always looking somewhere else. Above you will see I got a good butt shot of the bat. To the side I got a great one eyed shot of the bat and and still a child that was not looking at the camera.
First up was a trip to Merritt's Bakery for his free cookie. He decided on M&M. He ate 1/2 of it and said he was full. Oh, my Will. Never the large eater.
Later in the day after I drug him around for more errands I stopped at Krispy Kreme to get Owen his free doughnut (from the reading program). Even though brother was at school today Will wanted to make sure he still got his freebies and "awesome" bat. He is always caring about his brother. Will got a shot at one more attempt to look at the camera on his last photo op of date day with Momma. What da ya know...he NAILED it!
Just FYI...the bat was not asked by me to be in every shot. But, alas, the bat made it into every shot today. When asked what his bat's name was going to be, Will answered, "Will". Awesome. He is so very creative:)
Not many things can get me out of bed on a Saturday morning at 6am (besides Owen). This run can and will do that every year it comes to Tulsa. It was so much fun, and although I am not a walker there were a lot of walkers there and participating in this run for those of you who are afraid you wouldn't be able to run 3.1 miles. We started off the morning bright and clean (see side picture). I think we underestimated the number of people that were going to be at this run though. We wanted to go off first in line to beat the heat and crowds.
That DID NOT work out. We got in line and this is what I saw before me. 
Thousands, literally, thousands of people in line set to go off before us. Oops. I will change that next year for sure! The problem with this is you are stuck, jammed, crammed pack with other runners for about 45 minutes before we could even take off. No water. No air. Sun already turning you into a dehydrated hot mess before you even take off. Don't let me turn you off on this run, just get there super early and creep your way to the front. That's what I'll be doing next year:)
Talk about a blast though. This run was a 5K. So, every kilometer they threw a different color onto you. 5 colors in all by the time you finished the 3 miles. This color went everywhere. In your bra, in your socks, on your shoes, on your teeth, under your fingernails. Seriously, by the end I looked like I was leaning towards the African American race. Remember the Friends episode where Ross uses the teeth whitener too much and his teeth glow in the dark. That's what I was reminded of when I took this picture of me after the race.
I told you this stuff went everywhere. Seeing it in person is really the only way to get the full effect. You will have to run/walk this event next year!!!
Remember that bright clean picture we took of ourselves before the run? Look at the after pictures!
When powder paint and color is flying through the air (see below picture) like you see here, how can you not get a little dirty?
Thank you everyone that ran with me and made today extra special. A big 
shout out to a long time friend, Jennifer Hatch, who also ran the Color Run today as her first ever 5K. I am super proud of her and I bet she had just as much fun as I did!!!!
vacation. I am not a huge fan of posting pictures
of me in a bikini (and you won't see a ton on the beach either) but
since you have been following my blog for months now and reading about
my plan, I figured I owed you one. Heidi Klum took one of herself this
last weekend too. She is my inspiration. I'll let you decide which one
I am:) Not too hard. I'm the really white one! 
Nini and Pappy's
house. He had much more fun there and being able to have all of Nini's
time and energy since he was the only grandchild there. He wanted to go
outside and play for a bit before all the fireworks started, but that
didn't last long. Not 10 seconds after he was laughing and smiling and
talking to me, fireworks went off and we made our way inside. We got a
few good shots though to document this fourth for him before it got "too
scawrey". 
the boys were so stoked to be at the zoo. Can't you tell from this picture? I know they look THRILLED but it was actually because the sun was in their eyes and they could hardly look at the camera. You can really tell their little personalities and watch them come out when you see the first exhibit we walked up to. The chimp's. Crazy monkey's...just like these two. Here you will notice them attempting their monkey interpretations.
complete without breaking into our lunches (it was only 10:45am) to snack while watching the 14 minute show. I looked around and a TON of mom's were doing this, so I thought "What the heck. Let's do a mini lunch before lunch. What can it hurt?" After the uber awesome sea lion show we moved on to the
train ride. This is where they get ya folks. Be prepared. Both boys
were free to get in, I was $8, and then tickets for train/horse ride
thingy that I can't ride because it makes me want to puke was another
$12. More than my admission! Craziness. I didn't want to walk the mile
back up to the front of the zoo in 100 degrees so my brilliant idea to
splurge on the train tickets paid off:)
dinner with Momma, Daddy, and brother. Will ate all of his creation. Disgusting creation in my book of watermelon ice cream, cherries, mango bead balls, sour worms, marshmellows, and caramel sauce. Doesn't sound too appealing to me, but he ate it all. Healthy...not so much. Hope he lives to see another Monday Date Day while eating such trash!
doesn't, right? So to have the best birthday possible she wanted a rainbow party. Alright. We all were instructed to dress in a solid color shirt the color of the rainbow. If you look closely (please do not look at how pissed my boys look...they didn't want to get out of the pool), you will notice that we did a good job representing all the colors. ROYGBIV is in full effect and every color is present! Emma had a special rainbow dress made for her just for this occasion! 
MAYBE I have gotten a handful of hugs, even fewer kisses, and even fewer conversations out of this little girl. She is a shy one. Verrrryyyy much so. She is sure sweet though and I love her even though for half of her life she called me Nini instead of Jackie. I know we look alike, but come on, 2 years of it? I've heard it my whole life! 
really ride a ton of things and roam around without me watching their every step for fear that I would lose them. Seriously, some rides they got to ride 3-4 times which NEVER normally happens. Also, if you steer clear of the left side of the park, the right side is shaded for most of the time so it's not too bad. Then once all the right sides rides are complete, you can move to the left side and the shade is finally beginning to work it's way over. Just a hint to all parents out there thinking about going to the KP anytime soon.
huge Monster drink before trekking through the KP, so she wasn't as happy about the park as Steven and I were:) She still loves to come and watch her two favorite "nephews" playing at the KP. I am sure she was the one that got Steven and Will to take this picture in the submarine. If you know Kasey at all, you know that no matter where you are, if there is one of those silly "stick your head in a hole" picture set up's...YOU WILL BE TAKING A PICTURE!
Owen riding the Pirate
Boat ride. He loves that thing. His favorite ride in the whole
place! I love this picture of me and my hubby. I think it is one of
the best ones we have taken in a long while. 
summer reading program at the library. His reward for completing it was this measly looking, rather small (in my opinion) stuffed bat with wings. Hey, he loves it but glad I wasn't earning that thing. Pretty lame in my opinion! Could the child look at the camera all day? No, always looking somewhere else. Above you will see I got a good butt shot of the bat. To the side I got a great one eyed shot of the bat and and still a child that was not looking at the camera. 
Later in the day after I drug him around for more errands I stopped at Krispy Kreme to get Owen his free doughnut (from the reading program). Even though brother was at school today Will wanted to make sure he still got his freebies and "awesome" bat. He is always caring about his brother. Will got a shot at one more attempt to look at the camera on his last photo op of date day with Momma. What da ya know...he NAILED it!
Thousands, literally, thousands of people in line set to go off before us. Oops. I will change that next year for sure! The problem with this is you are stuck, jammed, crammed pack with other runners for about 45 minutes before we could even take off. No water. No air. Sun already turning you into a dehydrated hot mess before you even take off. Don't let me turn you off on this run, just get there super early and creep your way to the front. That's what I'll be doing next year:) 
shout out to a long time friend, Jennifer Hatch, who also ran the Color Run today as her first ever 5K. I am super proud of her and I bet she had just as much fun as I did!!!!
