Lost and Found

Well, just because I bragged last week that James was done with the blankie...

That's right.  He found it!  After weeks of it being lost James suddenly remembered that he had stuffed it to the very back behind his bed.  Drat.

Charlie Pierce.  Kyrie O'Connor.  Mo Rocca.  Do any of these names seem familiar?  How about  Peter Sagal?  Or Carl Kasell?

These are the people with whom we spent Thursday evening as we watched the recording of this weeks "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!"

You may find it ultra nerdy that we got tickets for an NPR show... but it was so much fun!  We were grateful that neither Carl nor Peter (yes, we're on first name basis now) were on vacation.  I was especially excited that Mo Rocca was there--pink pants and all.  He's one of our favorite panelists... so funny.  Even their celebrity guest, Delmar Smith, was hilarious.

Waiting for the show to begin...

I'm so glad that Rich got us tickets for my birthday!  It was great to see all the behind the scenes stuff... and it will be interesting to see what got cut out.  My greatest hope is that they somehow managed to capture Rich's laugh... I'll have to listen to the podcast and see!  You should go download it too!

The whole evening was perfect... even if we got drenched in the rain on the way back to the car. 

And then there was one...

... in diapers.  {And the crowd goes wild!}

NO PICTURES!

Wow... it has been a rough week.  I don't remember William being this hard to potty train.  And really... James wasn't hard.  He just had more accidents than I expected.  To be honest it's partly my fault.  I thought to myself, "He's doing great!  I'll just hop on the computer for just a second."  Next thing I know it's been several minutes and in that time there was an accident.  Oops.


Thursday I was getting ready to put Alexander down for a nap when James had an accident.  I started running water for the tub while I cleaned up the puddle on the kitchen floor.  In the meantime, Alexander got a little neglected and decided to have some fun of his own.

It seems that he wanted to have a bath as well.  Great.  The older boys thought this was hilarious and Alex couldn't seem to understand why I was upset.

Friday, Saturday and today were completely accident free!  James has been to run errands, to the State Fair, and to church all without accidents.  He really is doing awesome.


In other James related news: a few weeks ago he lost his blanket.  I'm sure it's somewhere in the house.  No one has been able to find it yet.  He was a little sad but he still had a few strands of it that he would carry around.  I noticed that the only time he sucked his thumb was when he was holding those little strings.  So I decided to "lose" those as well.  That, and the fact that he would wake up in the middle of the night wanting his strings.  It was impossible to find them in the dark and we'd had enough of it!  He still asks for those silly strings every night but he is doing great without them.

It seems that James is turning into a big kid now.

Quick Trip to Tulsa

A few weekends ago we headed down to Tulsa to spend time with Bob's family.  William had been having a hard time going to school and going to visit the cousins was incentive enough to get his body to class every day.

The boys were so excited to be staying in a hotel.  Staying in a hotel when you're a kid is just about the best thing ever.  For the entire next week they kept telling us that they wanted to go stay in a hotel again.  We had fun jumping on the beds, exploring the hotel, and swimming.

The next day we had a blast hanging out at Bob and Daniela's.  {Thanks for having us!}  The kids all play so nicely together... it's wonderful!

One big reason we went down there was so that Daniela {my sister-in-law} could "practice" taking pictures.  I've been wanting family pictures done for a while... so it worked perfectly.  The boys were less than cooperative but she did awesome.  I can't even decide which ones to frame!!!

  The entire right side of James is wet in this picture... he got into a fountain!  Oops!

She also got some good individual shots... but none of James!  I guess he kept making crazy faces!  

We had such a fun weekend!  We'll have to do it again soon.

And seriously... which ones should I frame!?

twenty-nine years

Me... on my 29th birthday (picture by William)

Yesterday morning {while Rich was at the OU game} the boys and I walked "downtown" to watch a parade.  They claim that it's for Founder's Day... but since it falls on my birthday weekend every year I secretly think it's for me.  The boys did surprisingly well on the walk over there.

Right as we got there we saw a helicopter fly right over us... and it just got better.  The boys couldn't believe all the candy they got!  I think they loved the horses the most.  Alex waved to everyone passing by... it's his new trick.

Afterward, we checked out all the happenings downtown and even won a few books at the library's booth.  And we always run into friends at town gatherings which is fun. 

On the way home, James got a little too tired to walk and decided he should hop in with Alex.  Neither of them seemed to mind so we complied to William's request to go the long way home.

Later in the day we headed to the school playground.  Apparently the kids can't go down the slide at school or play on some of the monkey bars.  William was really bummed about it {he claimed that he hated school because of it} so I promised we would go on the weekend when no one could stop us from sliding.  That seemed to cure his "I-hate-school" attitude.  We called some friends to meet us up there and the boys all had a blast playing together.

Friday night Rich surprised me with dinner and "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" tickets for next week {they are coming to OKC!}  Maybe we're big nerds... but we're really excited!!

I've actually been dreading this birthday.  Maybe even more than 30.  I don't even know why... because it's my last year as a 20-something?  because it's the only year that my sisters and I will all be 20 together?  because it just seems so much older than 28?  I can't tell you.  But it can't be all that bad because my mom is still 29 :)  And if the rest of the year can be as good as my birthday it's going to be a great one...

Everything is more fun with Dad

Rich ended his 5+ years of employment on August 31 and didn't start his new employment until September 7th... so we had a week to play with him!  Everything is always more fun with Rich around.

It was still really hot so Rich pulled out the slip 'n slide (that I got for about $3 a few summers back!)  This is the first year that the boys have really understood how it works.  James loved being out there and couldn't wait for William to come home from school everyday to play with him.

Friday was a school holiday so we used a free zoo pass that was about to expire and took a family trip to the zoo.  It was perfect weather for the zoo and we had a blast!  We showed Rich around the children's zoo.  Alex loved the little goats!

The black bears loved the attention they got and kept coming up to the window.

The tiger was also content to sit where we could see him.  Once when we visited the zoo the tiger kept roaring at William.  Now everytime we go he tries to get the tigers to roar by roaring himself.

Rich actually had to stop by work in the afternoon... so he hung out with us until lunchtime.  After lunch we went to visit the gorillas.  The boys were enthralled because two of the gorillas kept fighting each other.... and then the orangatan was showing off pretty hard.

We also stopped by the new butterfly exhibit.  The boys loved seeing the different types of butterflies fluttering around.

When Rich got home that day we decided to take the boys to eat.  We've never taken all three to eat and didn't know what we were getting ourselves into.  Actually, we thought it might end in disaster.  Surprisingly though the boys did extremely well!  It was quite an unexpected surprise.

We are so glad that we got a chance to play with Rich before his new job began... and especially grateful for his new employment.

Singing in the Shower

James loves to take showers.  On Saturday he was in the shower singing and talking to himself... I couldn't help but smile.

Alaska: Days 23 (again) - 25... the final days

Saturday, August 7

Okay, so I left a few things out from our last Saturday.  Before we went downtown we {Mom, Amy, Rachelle, and I} headed to the farmer's market.  It was a first for Rachelle so Mom treated us again to a cinnamon roll.  Mmmm... I could use one right now!  Since the sun was out we decided to take the kids over to Kincaid Park again. 

Mom wanted a picture of all the grand kids in their Alaska hats... and it was an adventure trying to get them to all look decent in the same picture!

But we finally got one!

Sunday, August 8


William enjoyed going to Grandma's primary class while we were in Alaska and having Olivia in his class for a few weeks.  James was such a good helper with Ethan in nursery.  It's fun to have cousins close in age!

My parents also celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary while we were there!  They are such an example to their children!

Later that evening, when the kids were tucked into bed, Gordon came over with a game and homemade whole wheat cinnamon rolls.  We had a fun time playing and talking and eating those delicious rolls.  (Rachelle, if you read this I still really want that recipe!)


Monday, August 9

I spent most of the day packing and getting everything ready for our trip home... but the sun did come out so William, James, Olivia, and a little neighbor boy went outside to play kickball in the cul-de-sac.

That evening we headed to the airport.  We were so sad to leave!  We miss Grandma and Grandpa (and Rachelle and Jacob)... but we missed Rich too.  Traveling alone with all three boys wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Again everyone--passengers and flight attendants alike--was beyond nice and helpful!

Eventually James and Alexander fell asleep (after some screaming and crying) and after the movie {Diary of a Wimpy Kid} William feel asleep as well.  We were delayed a little on our first flight and had to race to our gate in Houston to make it... but we did!  The second flight was easy cheesy... everyone was super excited to be home and see Rich.  {Although I about melted when I stepped outside here!  It was so hot!!!}  We are so glad that we were able to make it out to Alaska... next time we'll have to check out what wintertime is like!

Alaska: Day 23... Downtown

Saturday, August 7

While in Alaska I ate all kinds of food that I normally don't: salmon, halibut, moose, buffalo.  I decided that I needed to add one more animal to that list: reindeer.  Whenever we were downtown we saw reindeer sausage stands so on Saturday Rachelle, Amy, and I headed downtown to try them out.  Before we found a stand, we ran into a bunch of other fun stuff.  There was an energy fair, a unique Alaskan gift shop, and an Irish Music Festival.

Finally we made it to a reindeer stand.

And, shhh, don't tell Santa... but reindeer is delicious.

After those yummy (but spicey!) dogs, we decided to head to the outdoor market.  But first a quick photo op.

Aaah.  We finally made it. 

There was quite a variety there.  T-shirts, handmade goods, produce, entertainment...  One of the first things we found were furs.

Amy quickly informed us that if she lived in Alaska she would wear real furs all the time.

We also saw a man who ran the first Iditarod!  Pretty neat!

After looking around at everything we skipped over to the mall and then tried to beat the rain back to our car.  I was freezing because I didn't follow the rule in Alaska: always bring a jacket just in case.

Coming up: final days

Alaska: Misc.

This list is really for myself.... stuff that happened in Alaska that I don't want to forget:

Olivia and James fought to say the prayers every time they needed to be said.  Usually we ended up with two prayers.

Amy and I took Jacob shopping with us a few times.  Mostly he just wanted us to leave him to browse the toy section.

Eating mom's lettuce.  I never knew that fresh lettuce could make such a difference!  I want to plant my own now.

Mom and I {sometimes along with Rachelle, Amy, or Dad} watched the Love Comes Softly series.  Now I want to go read the books!

We played games and had ice cream every night.

An introduction to Phineas and Ferb

LOTS of Scooby-doo

Before Olivia came we had to get our fill of peanut "infected" stuff... nuts, peanut butter cookies, Ghirardelli chocolate chips, etc.

Alexander loved to watch the washing machine.

He also loved climbing the stairs.  He refused to go down them backward and did fine until the very last night that we were there... and he tumbled down the entire thing!  {At the beginning of the trip James did sommersaults down it!  Yikes!}

Every time we got into Mom's car someone would text her and have the "sync lady" {who somehow came to be known as Elga P. Flarb} read the message.  It was hilarious... and the kids loved to shout "read message" and then hear Elga say their names {ie: Are Olivia, William and James ready for an exciting adventure?}

Jacob was always trying to "boop" us on the nose.

Rich lost his job. {Don't worry... he got a new, better one}

Mom always had fun crafts to do with the kids.  They loved it!

egg carton dragons

jelly fish... after seeing the real jelly fish at the museum!

Dad told the boys a story about how they rode Bevo... and then later gave them a Bevo picture of their very own.  After that, James wanted a story every night about how he rode a animal... I believe mom told him one about riding a moose.  {He still wants stories about riding a moose}

Rachelle read stories at night.

The last Sunday we were there Dad showed them his coconut and told them how we made rafts with them in Florida.  They were riveted.  I don't think that Jacob had heard any of the stories either.  Then they put them in the sink to see them float.

I found about a million pictures of Rachelle with the grandkids.  These are some of my favorite.  She is just too fun.

Jacob always is pulling for another neice... but really I think he just likes the babies.  And they love him!  Alexander loves his Uncle Jacob and gave him big hugs!

Coming up: downtown adventures!