Confused!

The WEIRDEST thing happened to me yesterday! I was looking for dental floss. Yes, that's weird, but it gets weirder! I was upstairs in Kyndal's bathroom looking and when I turned around there was Spike laying in the middle of Kyndal's bed!! Spike has been MIA for about three months. I just stood there and stared! No words would come out of my mouth .. I was confused! I was really trying to make sure it wasn't just Clifford and I was seeing things. But, no, it was Spike! I said, "Spike .. what are you doing?" I petted him, and he was as chubby and healthy as he's ever been .. not a scratch on him. I thought, "Oh my gosh, has he been trapped in this house somewhere?" But he was so healthy and calm that I discounted that. Then I remembered that Eli and I had left the laundry room door to our garage open for a while so he must have come in then! He went downstairs and was kind of frantically running around like he was scared. I know what you're thinking ... Yes, it really was Spike, not a stray! I have a picture to prove it!



He went to the doors meowing so I just let him out. He stood on the back porch for a while and Clifford walked out and licked his face. Then Spike was gone and I haven't seen him again. He is apparently being taken care of, quite well, by someone else. I guess we'll just love on him when he shows up every few months. It was the most surreal feeling, though, like I was seeing a ghost.

The Best

I think this may go down as being the best week of weather I've ever seen in Owasso! From today until next week it is supposed to be sunny, high of 81 - 83, nice south wind of about 10 miles per hour. WOW!!! I think we'll go to the zoo on Sunday!

My mom, sister and Rylee were down last night to see Kyndal cheer in Owasso's game against Union. Owasso beat 'em .. GO RAMS!! It was a really great game! Afterward Krissi did my hair for me. I think this may be the best color and cut I have ever had! I love it! She does such a great job, even from my kitchen! She's been working for a salon in Overland Park, Kansas, for the past year or more. Because of internal problems at the salon she decided to "go out on her own", renting a booth from another girl she knows. She already has a week full of new and old clients. I don't doubt for a second that she'll make tons of money and be very successful! Judge for yourself!



Kyndal got her cell phone back today from her 2-week grounding. She's not allowed to text for another two weeks, but at least she can touch her best friend now! She is also reporting a boyfriend! Dawson has actually had kindof a tough week at school, with some experiences with a bully and other acceptance issues. I hate that for him! Eli is having a great week! On Monday when we rounded the corner in the drop off line, he saw Mr. Clark and Mrs. Garrett (two of his teachers from last year) there to do monitoring of "their kids". Eli was SO excited to see them!! Brynne had another fabulous day at King's Kids yesterday. I just think everyday is going to be awesome for her!

Olympics -- Owasso style

Friday evening we just hung out at home. With two grounded teens, what else can you do? Dawson got into some "trouble" at school so I had to ground him from Braden's Friday night. To him, that's as bad as losing your cell phone for a month!

Saturday we all went to church to participate in the Xtreme Times Olympics. We paired up our youth family groups for 10 "athletic" events. Most of the teams had made t-shirts and/or flags, wore crazy clothes and most painted each other's faces with "war paint." We started at noon and ended at 5:00 p.m. Most of the events were outside. Hurricane Ike hit us at about 2:00, so all of the kids were soaked! As you can imagine, they insisted on keeping the events outside instead of moving them inside. It was fun, though! Rick and I judged events, Eli and Brynne just hung out at the youth building, and Kyndal and Dawson participated in the games (although not too thrilled about it.) Kyndal is too cool to play games (she thinks) and Dawson is too self-conscious to play games. Dawson said he was miserable, yet having a good time .. whatever that means! When we got home we dried off and chilled out. The kids all went upstairs for the majority of the evening and Rick and I watched the movie, "Dan in Real Life". That's a really great movie, if you haven't seen it.

Yesterday was church and when we got home Kyndal, Brynne and I went grocery shopping. Rick and Eli mowed the yard. Dawson went to Braden's (finally!)

It was a good weekend.

Hives!!

Eli woke up yesterday morning with a couple of "rash" spots on his face. With his sensitive skin I didn't really think anything of it. At 2:45 yesterday afternoon the school called and said he had a rash all down his back and stomach. When I got there he was covered. I had to make a doctor's appointment to show that he was not contagious before I could bring him back to school. It looked really bad! The doctor said it was just a viral form of hives caused by who-knows-what. He's itchy, but not contagious. It looked really bad this morning, but with some Benadryl it seems to have calmed down a bit.

Kyndal cheered at two games this week. It was fun to watch her. She is still grounded from her phone, so that's a bummer for her, but she's taking it well so no real problems. Progress reports come out for both Kyndal and Dawson today and according to Parent Portal they have all A's and B's. That's a great start! Their low grades are typical for them ... Math for Dawson and Reading for Kyndal.

Brynne had another successful week at King's Kids Preschool! She was given the first "award" of the year for being a good helper during clean up time. They learned about friends this week and made a friendship mix for snack yesterday. The friend she always talks about playing with is "Taylor" .. and she was quick to correct me that "Taylor" is a "him". Their favorite thing to play with is the cars. I know that shocks you all!

We were going to go to the zoo last night for member night, but it was pouring all day yesterday so we skipped it. I was bummed, though, because we could have ridden the train and carousel for free and they had behind-the-scenes talks with the bears, elephants and giraffes. The kids would have really enjoyed it. It was a "rain or shine" event, so we just plain missed it this year. Oh well!

Tomorrow Rick, Kyndal, Dawson and I are participating in our youth group's Xtreme Times Olympics all day. It should be entertaining!

Nothing New

You know, the fact that I have NOTHING to blog about is EXCITING! Do you know what that means? It means the busyness and crazyness of summer and the beginning of school is over! It means that I have achieved what I love so much .. the HUMDRUM of life! Everyday is pretty much the same (or at least every week) for now! On Mondays and Wednesdays we have the twins. On Monday nights Dawson has scouts. On Mondays and/or Tuesday nights Kyndal has games to cheer at. On Tuesdays and Thursdays Brynne has school. On Wednesday nights we have church. On Thursday nights .. pretty much nothing. And then even the last several weekends have been pretty uneventful! Now, all of that is soon to change with birthdays coming up and Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc. (my FAVORITE season of the year). But for now, in my opinion, no news is good news! It's the calm before the storm! Eveybody take a cleansing deep breath with me .. aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Car Game

I seriously wish I would have been recording Eli when Rick got home from work yesterday! He was told that if he was a "big boy" going to school on Thursday and Friday that Rick would buy him the racecar game he wanted for his xbox. As soon as Rick got home he started kindof jumping up and down and running in place (so excited!) saying, "Did you get my game, did you get my game?" Rick handed it to him and he just hugged him and me and said, "Thank you, daddy! Thank you for getting my game, daddy! Thank you for my game, mommy!" He was ecstatic! Then he looked at Rick and said, "That's what I've been working for." It was so sweet! And, for him to acknowledge, at age 4, that he had worked for something and been rewarded, was a big deal to me! It was awesome!

Whew!!!

This week has been a busy one! I'm working part-time for JBF now, so I've been so busy with that during the day! I've had a hard time keeping my housework up, which has driven me crazy! Just that and keeping the girls one day this week and church on Wednesday and cheerleading practices after school and sports physicals and eye appointments and dentist appointments and two different preschools and detentions and attitudes and groundings from cell phones, etc., etc., etc., I'M WIPED OUT!! Whew!! Kyndal and Dawson went for their annual trip to the Concordia fair. We're home just taking a deep breath this weekend after a crazy week. I'm looking forward to finishing a book and watching my dvr'd shows. I really hope to not leave the house until church on Sunday.

Eli has started this "crying" business when I leave him at school. Rick told him if he could be a "big boy" yesterday and today that he could get the xbox racing game that he wants. He did it!! Rick just got home so he'll get his game in a minute! Brynne wore a shirt the second day of school that said, "Preschool Rocks" in pink rhinestones. That pretty much sums up how her week went.

"E" is for "Elephant" and "EEEKKKK" ... I overslept!!

Today was "E" day for the girls. We made shapes Elephants and they used bisquits to make elephant heads. We sprinkled on sugar and cinnamon for a nice afternoon snack!

"E" also stands for "EEEEEKKKK!!!!!" This morning I woke up and saw a "light on" in the living room. I thought, "Why is that light on?" Then I realized it was light coming in through the living room windows. My next thought was, "It's not light outside at 6:15 a.m., when I get up and get the kids up!!" Then it hit me .. Oh no!! I've overslept!!! K and D get up at 6:15 to get ready for school and catch the bus at 7:15. It was currently 7:28 a.m. Ooops! They were 30 minutes late for school.

In the last month I have received a "brace face" and "four eyes" into my family. Dawson went to the eye doctor yesterday and it was determined that he is far-sighted and needs reading glasses. He really does see blurry up close .. he wasn't kidding all these months!! He picked out a nice pair of wire-rimmed glasses and a bonus pair of black ones. He looks cool. We pick them up sometime tonight. There will be pictures. The eye doctor told him he should get straight A's now. I'm looking forward to that!!

Brynne's First Day of Preschool

There were tears, then sniffles, then weeping, then sobbing ... then Brynne told me to buck up and quit embarrassing her so she could go to school!!! Actually, I didn't cry! How could I be upset when she was so happy??? She was adorable and so grown up and so excited! She walked right into her class, let me take her picture by her cubby, and walked to a table to do puzzles. She didn't even know (or care) that I left. I know she'll do great. The weird part is being here in the house with just Eli. We haven't done this since he was 19 months old. It's strange! And he's in his room playing his xbox like it's any other day. It's just peaceful!



We actually have a busy day ahead! I'm going to try to do some laundry and then pre-prepare dinner so it ready this evening when everybody gets home. Dawson has an eye appointment in Tulsa at 5:00 so by the time we get back we'll all be hungry and I don't want to have to make dinner then. I'm hoping to go scrapbook for about an hour or so between taking Eli to school and picking up Brynne. We'll see how that works out!

Labor Day Weekend

Well, this weekend was mostly filled with LABOR!! Rick worked endless hours in the yard, even with a fever on Saturday! I do think he sweated it out, though! He got a new riding lawnmower (way overdue) and that cut his yardwork to at least half!!! He burned limbs, cut logs, moved rocks, mowed, trimmed, etc.! I mostly did laundry! Kyndal and Dawson had a fun weekend at the lake with their dad.

On Sunday we went to church and attended our all-church picnic afterwards. They had pony rides and inflatables for the kids. It was really hot, but our two just played and played and played! They loved the ponies! The rest of the day involved more yard work and laundry. Brynne and Eli played in their little pool in the backyard and I just sat on my porch swing and read a book and enjoyed them! As I watched and listened to the pool party next door, I felt such immense blessings in my life to be enjoying my children and home. I was so thankful to be on this side of the fence .. for so many reasons.




Yesterday we didn't do a whole lot. Well, Rick did, you know, more yard work. I pretty much hung out in the house with the kids and planned our vacation for next summer. We are planning to go with the Thomasons on a camping trip through the Black Hills of South Dakota and to Yellowstone. We think the trip will be worthy of movie rights by the time we are done. But we are SO EXCITED! I have had so much fun planning! I imagine it will be one of "those" vacations the kids talk about way into adulthood. With me and Stephanie on a week-long trip in campers, how could it not be??? Dawson just cannot wait to do something so cool with Lauren!

Brynne starts preschool today! I just heard her door open so I'd better go see her! It's 7:20 a.m. right now. There will be pictures of the first day, you can be sure!