Okay...

...so I was reading all my friends wonderful blogs and it inspired to at least acknowledge that I still have a blog. Not a very often updated one but a blog nonetheless. :) So here goes!

We had a great Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's with Stacy and Marcy's families, Uncle Rod & Aunt Sandy and our good friends from Oklahoma, Jonny & Amanda. Yes, it was a houseful and at times, WAY TOO MANY people and their issues but overall, I had a great time! Chris shot a great buck on the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week but wasn't able to find it before we left for home on Saturday. A farmer did find it that Monday so yes...my husband is pretty pumped and I am wondering how we are going to afford another taxidermy bill. I forgot the battery charger for my camera at home and the battery was pretty much dead so I don't have any pictures from the week...a new camera is on my Christmas wish list!

The house has now been transformed into a Christmas wonderland...well, almost. I need to finish going through the tubs so that Chris can put them back out in the shed. The kids did the decorating of the Christmas tree this year *almost* all by themselves and it looks a lot better than I thought it would. I guess I have trained them right! ;)

The final countdown has begun and the pace has picked up considerably as I am trying to keep everyone heading in the right direction with the goal being a peaceful and treasured Christmas season with friends and family. I keep reminding myself to keep Christ as the center of our celebrations and to teach my kids the same. God has been so good to us this year and I can't wait to see what 2010 holds for us! *Well, I do know one thing good happening in 2010...Chris and I were able to order a new sofa and loveseat from our local furniture store (owned by a church member) and they will be here sometime in February!!! I am so excited!

No State Fair this year

...but Tulsa has a fair next week that is smaller and some people that I have talked to say it is nicer. Sounds good to me! It actually worked out well since Chris ended up with a migraine that afternoon and it was tough enough having all three kids Friday night at Isaac's baseball games. Isaac was very happy that they won both games that night and he has started HITTING the ball!!! Wahoo! He did strike out twice but I told him that I was proud of him for at least trying to hit the ball. He did get a couple good hits but they both went foul, Isaac said it still felt good to make contact. Sure proud of my boy!

I also found out that our good attitudes toward Isaac not always getting to play has been noticed. A friend from church said that she overhead someone talking about how the Friends Church pastor and his wife never complain about how much Isaac gets to play or not play. Praise the Lord!!! Living out our Christianity through our actions not just our words!

Oklahoma State Fair

The boys don't have school tomorrow so I am thinking about taking them to the Oklahoma State Fair BUT Chris has to work so I would be taking them all by myself! Hence, the still thinking part. I am not sure I am up for the task of keeping track of three of them or for that matter, keeping UP with them. Emma doesn't want to be in the stroller that much anymore and Ian has a tendency to think it's funny to find some little place to hide from me, not cool. A friend of mine and her friend are going tomorrow but I don't want to trouble them with watching my kids. I have wanted to take the boys for years but the last time I went was the Kansas State Fair when Isaac was an only child! Maybe I need to talk Chris into taking the day off...probably not going to happen. I'll let you know if we go, probably not tomorrow since Isaac does have a double header baseball game tomorrow night and yes, that does factor into the decision too. Ugh!

Isaac's 9th birthday

I know it's been almost a month but, as the saying goes, better late than never!!! My oldest, Isaac, turned nine last month and I still can't believe how grown up he is getting. Everyday, I seem to catch myself watching him and noticing how mature he is getting. Only one more year till he reaches the two digit birthday. Here are some pics from a small party we had for him at home. He had his friend from church, Adam, over and then also our neighbors, Madison (Isaac's age but he says she is NOT his girlfriend) and Dalton (Ian's age and a great friend). It also worked out for our friends, Geron and Lorrie, to come out for the day and of course, Jonny and Amanda came for the fun too.
My parents, Chris and I bought Isaac a new bike for his birthday and he was especially excited that it had pegs on both front and back wheels, guess he is thinking about tricks after watching X Games this summer! I'm not sure I am ready for that!

Proof that Isaac does practice

Thought this was sweet of Emma and Isaac while he was practicing piano. Love those little toes! Don't know how much practicing he got in since sis was "helping" but he is so patient with her.

Knot Just Tutus

I encourage everyone with a little girl or anyone who knows a little girl to check out my best friend's new blog, http://knotjusttutus.blogspot.com. Becky creates some of the most adorable tutus, tutu dresses, hats, headbands and baby blankets for the sweet little girls in our lives. :) Becky's inspiration comes from her own two sweet daughters and in an effort to stay home with her girls, she has quit her job of about 18 years to pursue this full time. If you live in NW Washington you can check out her creations first hand at Sprouts Consignment in Mount Vernon and soon at Lil Bitz Consignment in Sedro Woolley. I am so proud of my dear friend for pursuing her dream!

Boring post of life

Just letting you know that I am still here, just haven't had the motivation to write anything lately. I have Colorado vacation pictures to share when I have more time, gotta run and make dinner before Isaac's baseball practice tonight! Be back again soon...well, at least sooner than last time! :)

VBS went great even though we had several days over 100 and everything was outside. I had to get creative in what I wore under my robe to try and stay cool. There were a couple nights that we had storms and I remember waking up during the night, praying we wouldn't have too much to repair come morning! Stacy Godfrey and I were the Toga Shopkeepers and we had a ton of fun helping the kids try on tunics, wigs, armor and head pieces from the Roman days. Stacy would then take their picture in front of a beautiful backdrop that we "helped" paint. The week after VBS was busy for Chris with the wedding of Kyle and Rachel Williams on Friday night. After the stressful week, we both were ready for a trip to Haviland the next week to visit family and for Chris to attend Ministry Conference at Barclay College. The kids and I had so much fun hanging out at Mom and Dad's with Marcy, Stacy and their families and Chris got in his time with the little nieces and nephews on his breaks from the conference. We also visited with Chris' cousin Jennifer Lee and her family, who have recently moved to Haviland to work at Barclay College. The kids had so much fun together it was hard to end our time with them. Chris managed to find time to go deer hunting with my Dad, too. Dad had been given five damage permits from a farmer and the boys were very happy to fill them! Chris shot a doe the first morning out and then Dad and a college student from Barclay took three more does in the next two days.

Saturday night was the Chandler Rodeo and we were very excited to get to go this year! Last year at this time we were working on packing up our house in Rose Hill and moving to Chandler. Can you believe that is has been a year already!? The rodeo was great but the heat made holding a squirmy two year old very exhausting. We were sitting on the top row of the grandstands and I didn't want her falling through so she sat on my lap most of the time. Chris finally took Emma home after she got her fill of the horses and calves and she started saying by the end, "comes next one" as she waited for the next calf to come running out of the gate. The boys had a blast and Isaac even went out and tried to catch a calf with a ribbon on it's tail. He was fast but didn't get a ribbon. Ian hung out down by the fence the whole night and only once did I have to yell at them to get back from the fence when a very unfriendly bull came charging past. He had already seriously injured the bull rider and then tried to gore the pickup horse with his horn, knocking the cowboy to the ground and chasing him up the fence in front of us. It was pretty scary and it took them forever to get the crazy bull out of the arena!

Another scary moment happened during the barrel racing. A six year old girl came out of the gate and her horse took off too fast for her. She was bouncing all around in the saddle and was about thrown from the horse but she finally got control of the horse at the opposite end of the arena and was able come back and run the barrels. When the announcer said that her THREE year old sister was coming out next, you could hear people in the stands groaning but she was on a nice calm horse that trotted around all the barrels and then easily galloped to the finish. It was pretty cute but everyone was nervous after what happened with her sister.

Whoa!!!

It's been awhile! I guess I haven't felt like writing much lately although there has been lots to write about! I don't think we have ever had such a busy summer with Isaac's baseball keeping us busy all through June and July has started off with a bang. The end of June and beginning of July found the three kids and I in Haviland for a week to welcome my sister Marcy, Josh, Audrey and Ethan Bunce to Kansas from Oregon. Josh is going to be the Youth Ministry professor at Barclay College and I am so excited to have them closer for visiting! We did have some excitement on the trip home with the Expedition overheating just thirty minutes from home. Having the windows down and the heater blasting on a 100 degree day was not the greatest with three kiddos who were already really tired of being in the car for five hours!

Fourth of July found us at Joe and Nancy Brown's for lunch and swimming and then back to the house to regroup for the church party at Mike and Sena Pribble's house out on Bell Cow Lake that evening. We did have to duck for cover for a little bit as a thunderstorm passed by and we were all surprised when the "big" fireworks over the lake started at 8:15pm. Guess they were tired of getting rained on. It was still pretty with the storm clouds behind the show but they did have competition from God's fireworks, there was some impressive lightening going on!

The Sunday after the fourth was busy with us all setting up for VBS in Rome! With two days down already, it is going great from what I can tell from the Toga shop. We are getting a little rain today but hopefully it will be done before tonight so that we can continue showing kids God's love as we have Rome setup outside! Chris did have to go and take down our backdrop for taking the kids pictures once they are dressed up in the latest Roman fashions.

School will be here before I know it as we have a extremely full schedule for the rest of the summer. Two more week long vacations and Isaac is going to start playing fall baseball the end of this month. I will try to keep you all updated a little better but no promises! Hope you all are having a great summer!

Maria Chapman

I was reading Mary Beth Chapman's blog this morning as today is the one year anniversary of the terrible accident that took little Maria's life. There have definitely been unbelievably miserable days in this last year and there will be more in the future for the Chapman family but I was so blessed to read how God has been healing and using them all during this time. Here is the link to her blog, http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/marybeth/ and I am sure you will be blessed too!

An Anteater???

Ian just asked if we could have an Anteater pet since we have a bunch of little ants coming in now that it is spring/summer. Hmmmm, I don't think we would fixing the problem, just creating another one. Hahaha!

Straw or glasses???

Thanks to all our relatives and friends that I sent postcards out to this past week, Isaac got a pair of glasses that really are a straw. (Don't worry, if you didn't get a postcard from my boys this year, you probably will next year! I try to spread the love. Hahaha!) The juice travels all around the eyes and over the ears and into the mouth. I don't really expect any of you to order magazines, Isaac just wanted the glasses and he got them just for returning the booklet filled out, I don't think he will get any further prizes for any orders. Of course, Emma and Ian had to try them on too and we had to take pictures! I just don't know how I am going to clean this things out! Great fun though!

Last Minute Trip to Happiland

Yesterday about 11am, Isaac's baseball coach called and let us know that they had cancelled both Isaac's game last night and the Chandler tournament this weekend because it would have looked more like water polo than baseball! Sooooo, in un-Stanfield fashion (my husband thrives on sticking to the plan), we packed up the kiddos and the turkey hunting gear and headed out yesterday afternoon for Haviland! YAY!!! Chris was going to be missing board meetings at Barclay College because of Isaac's games this weekend so there were lots of reasons to come this weekend!

Our friend, Paul, was able to come with us last minute too. Actually we rode here in his truck since the brakes on my expedition are making that nasty grinding sound that says they want to be replaced. I woke up this morning (early!) to the sound of turkey calls, thanks Dad, and found the "boys" all out on the front porch admiring Paul's turkey. Nothing like getting the job done and FAST! I think I saw him buying another turkey tag this morning! :)

Now I am hanging out at the house with my kiddos waiting for everyone to come home for lunch. Chris is attending board meetings this morning, Mom is working, Dad and Paul are running errands and Stacy and family will be here soon (hopefully) to help with lunch prep. I can't wait for this summer when I can add Marcy and Josh to that list of activities!!!! Josh has accepted the Youth Ministry Professor position here at Barclay College and they will get here sometime the first of July! I can't hardly wait!

Well, I'd better get started on lunch! God Bless!

Oklahoma Aquarium

Ian is home sick today from church so I thought I would take this time in between cleaning out his puke bowl to upload pics from Isaac's field trip on Friday to the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks, OK. IT WAS AMAZING! We really had a great time. The best part of it was all the touching exhibits...sting rays, sharks, starfish, clams and shark eggs.

We also listened to a talk about turtles and then got to pet Harry, the box turtle and a Frog Eyed Gecko (I don't remember his name). My camera battery was having issues so I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked and since the battery was dying, I had a hard time getting the right setting for the glass of the exhibits. Here's the kids (four of them are our church kids) under the shark tank. It was really cool when the sharks would swim over the top and we could see all their teeth! Isaac is in the middle.

This is Isaac and his classmate, Austin, checking out the sting rays. We all got to pet the sting rays and little sharks in this tank later when they had someone on staff there to make sure we kept all 10 fingers but that was after my camera battery died so I took a couple pics with my phone. Maybe someday I will figure out how to get them onto the computer! :)

Isaac and Austin were waiting to check out the shark eggs. They didn't look anything like what I thought an egg should look like. Let's just say, I would want to be laying these eggs! I wish I had a good picture of them for you.

Isaac and Adam really liked this big fish above Isaac's head. It looked like it had lipstick on but we couldn't ever get a very good picture of it. I was just glad to get this picture since my battery had already died and then decided to come back to life for 5 minutes. I told you it was having issues!

I can't wait until Isaac and I get the chance to take the rest of the family to the aquarium! It was a blast even though it was pretty expensive to get in. Well worth it though! More field trip pictures to come, Ian and I go to the Oklahoma City Zoo tomorrow, well...as long as he isn't still sick!

The swing set is done!

It's official!!! The swing set is done and the kids are loving it! We have spent two whole afternoons out there and it is always a battle to get Emma to come inside! Daddy bought her a baby swing and yesterday she wanted to be pushed in it so long that she almost fell asleep in it. Haha! Chris did a great job on the swing set and I am very proud of him completing it all by himself. He worked on it several different days because he didn't really have one whole day to devote to it, like the directions suggested. The kids have never had something like this for the backyard and I know they are going to get a lot of use out of it this summer! It has a glider swing, regular swing, baby swing (we bought the baby swing at Wally World), climbing wall, slide and a picnic table. The boys already have plans of eating dinner out at the picnic table sometime soon!

Happy Easter!

Even though it is a rainy day outside (much needed around here) we have had a great Easter! We enjoyed a great Easter dinner at a friend's house and the kiddos made the best of the egg hunt inside. Best part of all, my LORD IS RISEN!!!

Matching Aprons

A dear lady at our church surprised Emma and I with adorable Mother/Daughter aprons earlier this week. She makes aprons and purses to sell at craft shows here in town. Emma loved hers so much that she wore it all day long, even to take brother to school and while she took her nap. It's not a great picture of me but Emmie is pretty cute, if I do say so myself! And yes...she is standing on my glass coffee table but JUST this once! Hahaha!

Wildfires

We have had incredible winds today and this afternoon many wildfires have started up in our area. There are a couple just south of town and a really large one just about 10 miles to the west of us, in Wellston. Chris saw a huge home engulfed in flames just off the turnpike on his way home from Oklahoma City this evening. I think there is a fire north of us also so I am feeling a little surrounded. Every time I have gone outside today, I can smell the smoke in the air and see the plumes off to the south and west. This isn't like in western Kansas when farmers are burning there fields off. Somehow knowing that these fires are out of control and that people's homes are going up in flames, makes me just a little more nervous. They are reporting on the news that they will most likely declare a State of Emergency and they are guessing at least 100 homes have burned so far. Oh yeah...we are also under a tornado watch until 9pm tonight. Great. We won't be able to see the tornado coming through all the wildfire smoke!!! Please pray for Oklahoma tonight and tomorrow!

Sickly

I haven't been feeling the greatest since Sunday, I think it's just a cold but I feel so run down and wiped out. I haven't had any energy the last few days but lay awake forever at night trying to fall asleep (NOT normal for me at all, just ask my husband!). This is not a great week to get sick but I am slowly starting to feel better so here's praying that I am well by this weekend for Easter activities!

Emma has developed diarrhea the last two days and I am beginning to think she has ear infections again, the only sign she usually shows is yucky diapers! I wish she would have some other symptoms so that her ears wouldn't get so bad to cause diarrhea. She doesn't even seem to care about the nasty diapers but she likes having baths more often. She came into the bathroom this morning asking for a bath and was quite disappointed when I said no.

The swing set arrived last week and has been in various stages of assembly ever since then. The package says it takes a whole day to assemble and since my husband doesn't have a entire day to work on it, I am praying for the kids sake, and my husbands, that it is completed before winter sets in.

Okay, I don't even have the energy to type so I am quiting for now!

Sorry it's been so long.

Life has kicked into high speed with both boys playing baseball this spring so I feel like I am on the go a lot. Yesterday, I picked up the boys from school, Ian had his first practice from four to five, then I baked cookies for our College and Career small group last night, then Isaac had a scrimmage in Davenport at 6:15. I think we got home about 8:30 and barely got home before a thunderstorm started.

Ian did great at baseball practice and it was so cute to see him running the bases, at least he ran straight towards them and didn't forget to touch all the bases. I can't say the same for everyone else, hee hee! He learned how to throw overhand and hit a base hit on his second try with the tee, the first swing was foul.

Isaac had his first scrimmage with his Chandler Lions Pee Wee I team last night in Davenport. Isaac told me on the way home that the other team was an older team and if that's the truth, our boys did fairly well against them. Isaac struck out at his one time at bat (we didn't do innings, just went through the entire lineup of each team) and was one of five boys, including the coach's son, that didn't get to play on the field. He was bummed about not getting to play on the field but I am sure he will get a chance. It got cold quick as the evening wore on and of course, I didn't dress either of the boys warm enough. I finally went and got Isaac's uniform out of the car and he put the shirt on top of his t-shirt. He said he was so cold that it made it hard for him to hit. I think both he and I realized last night that baseball in Chandler is A LOT more serious than in Rose Hill. Kids were stealing bases and making big plays and I remember feeling really nervous for Isaac after watching the other team's pitcher warm up!!! Chris and I were also able to purchase shirts with Isaac's number and our last name on them. I just pray that we haven't gotten ourselves into something that is going to be more than we can handle. We have been told by other parents that there will be some games on Sundays, I haven't had the chance to tell coach that Isaac won't be there for those games. Here is Isaac in his uniform!

Flowers!

When we first moved here into the parsonage I was enjoying all the beautiful flowers that the former pastor had planted but soon enough, I realized that I was now responsible for them and let's face it. I didn't do a very good job. They quickly became overcome with grass and weeds and I dreaded getting out there and getting it back in shape. Well, the time has come that I can't ignore them any longer, Chris is building me a deck out back and right on top of most of the flowers!

Soooooo, today I invited some ladies from church that actually know what they are doing when it comes to plants and had them help dig up plants. Some we transplanted in the yard and the others that I couldn't find a spot for I sent home with the gals. I still have about 2 and a half wheel barrow loads of iris that I am going to plant along the back fence or give away, so if you are close enough and want some, come on over! I have no idea what color they are as the were already spent by the time we moved here in July so it will be a surprise once they bloom.

It feels great to get all of that accomplished and very exciting to think about having my new deck done. We found out last night that someone we know, knows someone else with a nice deck that they want to get rid of for free. We will find out more on Monday, like size and condition, but I am very excited about the possibility of having the money that we would have used to buy the lumber for the deck to use instead on deck furniture! Yay!

Home Sweet Home

Ian, Emma and I had a great time at my Mom and Dad's this past weekend! I don't think we hardly had a moment to sit and relax, there were just so many fun things to do. Ian went out with Poppa kayaking twice and the second time, we had a whole crew of family and friends out there! The kayaks were definitely a hit with the kiddos and the adults had quite the time keeping track of who's turn it was to go out and making sure no one fell in.

I was also able to help my Mom get the Canteen ready for all the groups coming into Greensburg for Spring Break. I wasn't able to actually go around and help pass out the snacks but I enjoyed helping Mom figure out the route to all 23 locations and making sure everything was loaded and secure in the Canteen.

The trip home went pretty well considering it was just me with two little ones. I stopped and got Ian a slushy in Pratt and while we were in Wichita, I asked Ian if wanted to get some lunch or just get home. I was shocked when he said to keep going!!! I guess I shouldn't have been since I had told him that morning that our new Wii was at the house, he was in a little bit of a hurry! I did have snacks along so we made it home in good time!

I was also a little anxious to get home and see my new wood floors!!! They are beautiful and when I find my SD card, I will take a picture and post it. Emma has done well adjusting to the slick surface and only tried to do the splits once. The boys love going sliding everywhere on it and I love how it makes the room seem bigger. Well, better run, I need to show the boys who is boss on Mario Cart! Hee hee!

More family

We had a great time with Chris' parents last weekend and after just a few days at home, Ian, Emma and I are now at my parents house in Haviland for a few days. The boys, Chris and Isaac, are at home pulling up carpeting and laying wood laminate while we are gone. I thought it would be better with us out of the way, including my comments on how I think it should be done! Hee hee! I can't wait to get home and see the finished product even though I am not looking forward to putting everything back in it's place. (Gave me flashbacks of moving just seven short months before!) I will be sure to post pictures, when I can find my SD card for my camera. Hmmmm.

On separate note, this is Spring Break! Why is it stinking freezing outside then????? I was not surprised to see most people heading south with their car top carriers this afternoon on our way north. The only reason I was headed to the north pole was to see family, I sure love my family, especially since my sister made caramel corn tonight! YAY! Sorry babe, I will try and bring some home with me...really, I will! :D Well, okay...maybe not. But I thought about it, does that count???

Chris parents are coming!

We are very excited to have Chris' parents coming for a long weekend visit tonight and they are flying into the OKC airport so the boys are excited about getting to check out the airport. I remember the good ole days when you could be in the terminal and watch your loved ones plane land and taxi to the gate, miss that. I do appreciate the safety measures though.

We are planning on meeting up with our friends, Geron and Lorrie, from the city for dinner after we pick up Chris' parents. Chris and Geron have been friends since they were in junior high and Chris performed their wedding one year ago on Chris' birthday. Another bonus of moving to Oklahoma, we are only 45 minutes away from them now.

Tomorrow we are headed back to the city to do some shopping and to check out the OKC bombing memorial. I have been there before a long time ago but I am looking forward to visiting it again. I am pretty sure we are headed to Bass Pro Shops for shopping, another benefit of living down here, and I am hoping for a stop at DSW Shoes. I also found out yesterday that car seats have an expiration date!!!! Did you know that??? Now I know that you are not supposed to buy a car seat from a garage sale because you don't know if it has been in a car accident or not but I had no idea that you are supposed to replace a car seat after five years. Something about the plastic becoming brittle with age and breaking during a car accident. The car seat Emma is using is well past the expiration date, it was bought for us to replace the car seat Isaac was sitting in during Chris and Isaac's severe car accident that happened seven years ago this April. I think a stop at Babies R Us is in order for tomorrow too. I just got a coupon in the mail yesterday for 15% off the total purchase! Thank you Lord! I had been wanting to get a new car seat for Emma anyway, something a little more girly but I didn't have a good reason, until now!

Gotta run and do some more house cleaning!

Bible Study

I have been very blessed to be a part of a weekly women's bible study at the Baptist Church for the past couple of months. We just finished a study on David by Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer and Kay Arthur and today was our first day of study on the book of Esther with Beth Moore. I have never been a part of a women's bible study before, I know...shocker...since I have been a pastor's wife for almost eleven years now. We never had one at our former church and this may sound strange, but I have always been a little afraid of joining one at another church, something about meeting new people. Hahaha. Good thing God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called! Praise Jesus!

So, I have started talking to a few ladies at our church about starting a bible study because I figure there are others like me out there in my church family. I have no idea how it's going to work but God has a plan and I am just saying, YES!

Hmmmm...

Things have been humming right along since my last post with nothing too crazy happening. (Worth posting about anyway.) For the next two months, I will be singing on the worship team each Sunday morning, which means I have to pretend to like a microphone in front of my face! Last minute, I was needed to sing this last Sunday and I was so nervous that my hands were sweating and I had trouble holding onto the silly microphone! I did really enjoy it but I hope it gets easier the more I do it!

Isaac is officially signed up for baseball again this year and in a couple weeks it will be Ian's turn to get him signed up for his first year of teeball. I am sure it is going to get interesting trying to balance both boys playing this year but we are excited for both of them.

This weekend, Marcy, Josh and Audrey are flying to Kansas for a quick visit before they head to Josh's parents house. We are going to make a fast two day trip of our own to Haviland so we can see them too! It seems like forever since Emma and I flew out to Oregon last May to visit them and the girls had so much fun together then, I am sure they are going to be happy to see each other again!

Well, Chris is home and it's time to finish cleaning the house for small group tonight. I also need to make the coffee cake so I don't have anybody mad at me! It's a weekly request!

Update

Well, the second tornado in southern Oklahoma ended up being much more devastating than I realized last night when I made my previous post. It turned out to be a very large half mile wide tornado that ripped through a small town called Lone Grove. I have seen different numbers here on the internet but at least 8, possibly as many as 15, people were killed during the storm and as many as 30 people are still not accounted for. I will post more as I can. Please be praying for these people!

Is this February or May?

We had some excitement today here in Oklahoma and it's usually the kind of excitement we see in the warmer months of April and May. An F3 tornado hit Edmond, a suburb on the north end of OKC! One of the weather guys got great footage of the tornado and fortunately there was only one report of injury from the storm. There was another large tornado in southern Oklahoma but I haven't heard any damage reports from it yet. We have had unbelievably nice weather (70's) the last several days and I even shut off the heater last Friday and have had the windows open, so I shouldn't be surprised that severe thunderstorms are in the forecast. It just seems so weird! We have been told that winter is basically over the first of March so I guess we really are in the South now! The front has passed us so there isn't much threat for the rest of the night, good news for Chris and I since Ian always comes into our bedroom to sleep when it is storming out. The house could be picked up and slammed back down and Isaac wouldn't wake up!

I'm not doing very good at this...

I don't know why I am not very good at keeping up with this thing. It's not like I don't have a ton of crazy things going on in this house everyday that I could be writing about!!! Just this last Sunday, Isaac went to a friend's house for the afternoon and so I asked some friends of ours if Ian could hang out with them so that I wouldn't have to take home a whining, unhappy five year old. They were very happy to, thankfully, and Ian had a blast helping feed their cows.

Chuck later told me that after the time with Ian, he knew exactly who's son he was. Oh no, what did Ian do now??? Well, apparently, Ian "saw" a pheasant while they were driving to the barn. (There really aren't many, if any, pheasants in this part of the state but Chuck decided to play along.) Ian stated that he wanted to catch it and when Chuck asked him what he was going to do with it when he caught it, (I can just imagine Chuck and Ian racing across the field after this invisible bird), Ian replied...hahaha, oh my..."I'm going to stab it!" Hmmmm, I wonder where he learned that from???

Two "Ice" days

We ended up with a couple inches of mostly ice and a little snow on top after it all started Monday afternoon. Isaac and Ian went out several times on Tuesday to sled down a little bitty hill in our front yard but it was so cold that they didn't stay out very long. Today was much better weather so I even let Emma go out this afternoon to ride with the boys on one of Chris' decoy sleds. She loved it and of course, she threw a fit when I brought her back inside. The boys just now walked in the door, they went with some friends of ours out to their families land and got to ride on the four wheeler and be towed on the sled. Lots of stories about face planting into the snow! :) Poor kids, this is probably all the snow that we are going to get down here in the south.

What a beautiful day!

I feel like I could be wearing shorts today! It is supposed to be in the 70's so I got out and planted some bulbs in the front garden that I had bought from Isaac's school fundraiser in the fall. I know, I should have planted them in the fall but I never got around to it. I still want to get some houseplants re potted and I think I will try to tackle them after I get back from picking up the boys from school. We did spend some time at the city bike/walking trail yesterday and it felt so good to get outside and get some exercise. Emma rode part of the way in the stroller but wanted to get out and walk too so that was the end of my exercise since she wanted to stop and check everything out along the way! The weather is not going to last long since the high for Sunday is supposed to be 32 degrees so I might take the kids to the park again this afternoon, who needs to re pot plants anyway!? :)

Uggghhhh...

As I sit here looking at a beautiful sunset, I wish the day had started as lovely as it is ending. I came home last night from a great girl's day out with girlfriend's from church and before long Isaac was throwing up. I was hoping it was going to be that simple, just one child sick but about 4:30am I was disappointed. I found Ian in the bathroom, emptying his stomach. I got him set up with a bowl of his own and headed back to bed, knowing that it might not be for long. I had a terrible time getting back to sleep as Chris was sleeping very restlessly and maybe about an hour later, he was up and visiting the toilet himself. The rest of the morning was spent in and out of bed, checking on all my pukers. I caught Chris at one point trying to get dressed for church and quickly let him know that he wasn't going to be going anywhere!!! I admire the dedication but I am sure no know would admire his germs if he did go to church! Isaac was feeling much better this morning and Ian only threw up a few more times before proclaiming that he "was all better"! It always amazes me how well kids bounce back from things like this! Chris is finally feeling like he will live through the day this evening and I am making homemade chicken noodle soup, that's what every good mommy makes for her sick little ones, isn't it??? :) Emma and I have seemed to miss out on all the fun but she did manage to find something to entertain herself with this afternoon. :)

Praying that you all are well and praying that we are all well soon too!

She's here!!!

Hallie Marie Frazier was born this morning to my sister, Stacy and her hubby, Jeremie, at 9:25am!!! What a wonderful thing to be able to announce, a new niece! Stacy had a very short labor and Hallie was born just 10 minutes after Jeremie and Stacy arrived at the hospital in Pratt and we are all thankful for the Lord's favor as Hallie had the cord wrapped around both her neck and torso and there was a knot in it. A long labor could have been very dangerous. Stacy sounded great on the phone this morning, nothing like she had just had a baby! It has been very hard to be so far away and not being able to see her right away but we do plan to get to Haviland the last weekend of January, even though I am sure she will have changed so much by then! I will post pictures when I get some!

Sick

I love owning a dog but I don't like having to pay a lot of money to keep them healthy very well. Our yellow lab that we have had for almost 2 years now is a great dog and Chris has trained him very well to be his hunting partner but we have been having problems with his ears. It seems that he keeps getting a type of yeast infection in them and sparing you all the gory details, he shakes his head a lot and breaks blood vessels in his ear. It has turned out to cost quite a bit for the vet to drain his ear and today was Gunner's second round. Poor dog. My husband isn't feeling too great about it either since it both cost us a lot of money that we just don't have and Gunner is done hunting for the rest of the season because of his ear. Poor Chris. Hahaha! The vet said something about changing Gunner's food so hopefully this will help!

Chris is feeling normal again after his nasty time with the flu. I have been sick too but differently, two weeks ago, my right lymph node in my throat swelled up so bad that it became very difficult to swallow. I thought it was getting better and then this weekend (why does it always happen on the weekend?) it got so bad that the Tylenol wasn't helping and I would double over in pain every time that I had to swallow. I'm not talking about swallowing food or drink, just swallowing. Something that we all take for granted until we can't do it anymore! I somehow made it to the doctor on Monday and he gave me an antibiotic to take for 10 days and today I have been finding relief finally. At least the strep test came negative so I don't have to worry about that but this sure hasn't been fun. The good thing in all this, my kid's haven't gotten sick at all!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord!

Home again.

Yes, we made it all the way to Colorado and home again! Chris got the flu just before we left and so I got to drive all 12 hours to Colorado Springs Chris groaning and moaning in the passenger seat. Emma didn't travel very well either but Isaac was awesome and tried really hard to keep her happy. She only slept for about 15 minutes when we were an hour away from Chris' parents house!!! Not a day that I would like to repeat! We had a great time with Chris' family and Brody's baby dedication on Sunday will always be a priceless memory for Chris and I. The cousins got along great and Emma got to learn how to go up and down stairs, with only one tumble down the half flight of stairs. She did a lot better on the trip home and it was nice to only have a six and half hour drive to my Mom and Dad's in Haviland the first day. We did Christmas that night with Stacy, Jeremie, Jace, Mom and Dad. It felt really, really good to finally get home again the next day but it is taking me forever to get the house back into shape! I misplaced my camera most of the time while we were in CO so I don't have many pictures but I will try to get them posted soon! Need to do some house cleaning first!