Weekend Roundup

A few highlights of our weekend:

• Okay, so technically Thursday was not part of our weekend, but it was still pretty awesome. We managed to snag 4 free tickets to see George Strait and Martina McBride in concert at the BOK center. (Thanks VetTix!!!!) Mike watched the kids while Tim and I joined Bre and Jake in a row that was extremely close to the top and more than a little frightening for anyone *ahem, ME* that has a fear of heights and falling. Still, it was a great show with some great friends. 

AHHHHHH!!

We had a great time, even thought I was terrified!

• Saturday we headed up to Independence, Kansas, to celebrate Lulu's birthday. (Lulu is Connie's mom, Grace.) We had some yummy cake, cracked up at the kids, and had a great time with family and friends. 

He wanted to wear his "tag" for Lulu. (aka: tie)

Great grandkids!

I still can't believe she's 70 years old!

The family.

Grandkids!

•  Sunday was a day of shopping. I'm not always the happiest shopper, but we managed to have fun even when the kiddos lost interest and started acting like we were shocking them with cattle prods. They both found some new tennis shoes, Brenden's light up of course and Lauren's are pink, and we bought a new lawn mower. 

Tada!

Beep beep!

Not exactly the most exciting of weekends. It wasn't filled with gourmet meals, exotic locales, or luxurious accommodations, but it was filled with a ton of love and two of the best entertainers I know. I wouldn't change it for anything.

Never a dull moment. 

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday

Tim's mom, Connie.

Lauren looks NOTHING like me. She is totally her grandma Connie's twin. :)

For my Valentine's

Not nothing

without you

but not the same.

Not nothing

without you

but perhaps less.

 

Not nothing

but less

and less.

Perhaps not nothing

without you

but not much more.

~ Erich Fried

I would not be complete with you. I LOVE YOU Tim, Brenden and Lauren!

-insert snarky comments about Monday here-

Oh yes, Tim and I had a bad case of the Monday's yesterday. It didn't start out too awful. Both kids slept great (ooooh, just jinxed myself huh?) and they were super excited about the snow, which didn't cause Tim any problems on the way to work. Everything was going swimmingly until about 11 am when I decided to take the kids outside to play for a bit.

Just before they wandered. 

We doubled up on all of our layers, grabbed hats and gloves and went outside to check out the very white and very cold stuff. The dogs also needed to go outside so I let them follow us out the door. We don't have a fence yet (that will be remedied, hopefully, by the end of this week) and while I was putting Lauren into her swing the dogs rounded the corner of the house and were gone. I didn't think they could have gone far so we walked around the neighborhood but we never saw them. I loaded the kids up in the car and drove around for almost an hour before heading back home.

Tim decided to leave work to come help me look. We were both really worried since the weather was so cold and dreary. While he was driving around his car decided it was a good time to just stop working. He messed with the spark plugs, glared at the gas gauge, then he walked home and called to see if his dad would tow him to a gas station. (It's a natural gas car so he had to go to a special place to fill up.) Filling up helped and he was able to get it to a mechanic.

Meanwhile, I was sitting at home alternating between posting pictures of the dogs on Craigslist, whining on Facebook, and standing at the back door yelling for them. Not exactly the best way to find them, but I had no way of leaving the house while the kids were napping.

Around 4 pm I received a call from a very nice man that had found Riley. I thought he was just across 111th in the closest neighborhood but I was way off. They didn't just get out of the main gate, they actually crossed highway 75. I'm still shocked that they didn't get hit by a car. He had also seen Romeo but unfortunately Romeo ran off. I drove around for another hour yelling out the window while Riley rested in the backseat with our two happy kids.

"A" is our house. "B" is where they ended up. The yellow  line in the middle is a VERY busy 4 lane highway.

(During this Brenden starting singing, "Roooo-meo, where are you? We have to bring you ho-ome." to the tune of Scooby Do. Sad. Cute. Heartbreaking.)

Eventually I had to get Tim from work, which just made feel even worse. It was getting darker and colder and the thought of Romeo having to spend all night outside made me tear up. We decided to grab some food and then continue looking for him and while I was driving back the same family called me again to tell me that Romeo had showed up on their porch.

They were so extremely nice and we were all so completely grateful. Such an awful day ended on such a good note. Everyone is at home, both cars work, and at the moment we're all pretty healthy. *knocking on wood*

And you better believe we're sending them a big old thank you card. The kids even drew them some pictures. Thank goodness for kind people.

The kids Thank Yous!

A piece of happy in an otherwise icky Monday...

These two make my heart happy.

Weekend Roundup

The weekend really started for us (minus Tim who was on a trip for the Army to beautiful Ft. Leonard Wood, MI *sarcam*) when we pulled into the driveway of Mike and Connie's house on Friday afternoon. I immediately relaxed on the couch while the kids proceeded to run their grandparents ragged. Thank you so much Mike and Connie for the ability to rest and actually heal! I didn't get much downtime after my surgery on Tuesday.

Some highlights of the weekend:

• Friday we had dinner at Tomates Calientes in Skiatook which was really yummy! Lauren, even without a nap, had an awesome time waving at everyone and destroying her plate of rice. Brenden was the complete opposite and complained that his back was hurting, which is Brenden-speak for "I don't like my burrito." We had a long talk about that later.
  
  
• Saturday the kids joined grandma and grandpa for some birthday party shopping for Lulu and were, of course, spoiled by trips to Burger King and a camping supply store. Brenden very happily showed off his Spiderman life jacket and binoculars and Lauren is still crazy excited about her reindeer slippers.

The King and Queen!

• Saturday was also the day that I headed up to Arkansas City with my mom to celebrate my cousin Traver's little boy Brogan being born. I also got to meet Brandi, Brogan's mom, for the first time and let me tell you, she is so sweet and friendly but I absolutely hate her because you'd never know she had a baby, especially not two weeks ago! ;) (No I don't really hate her, she's awesome.) I got in some serious baby time with adorable little Brogan, had some time to chat with my cousins Delayna and Rebecca, and even stopped by to see my grandma Warehime on the way home. It was a great Saturday. 

Very proud great aunt!

So little!

Brandi is in the pink. Do you see what I mean?! :)

• Sunday night after we picked up Tim and Jake we headed over to Jake and Bre's house to meet her fabulous family. We ate some crazy good chicken sandwiches, some fantastic dessert, and enjoyed just hanging out with her mom, sisters and sister-in-law. We are so lucky to know such great people.
  
  
• brenden <----- Brenden wanted to contribute to this post. :) He loves typing his name.
  
  
• One night, Mike and Brenden were being silly with some stickers. Mike would pretend to put a sticker on Brenden's head and then "push" it out somewhere else, like his ear or nose. Brenden, of course, thought it was hilarious and giggled uncontrollably every time a sticker popped out of the place he had chosen. At one point, he got a funny grin on his face, turned around, pulled down his pants and said, "Grandpa, push it out my booty!" Oh my gosh, it was hilarious! Of course, we had to have a talk about keeping his pants on in public. His college years should be veerrrryyy interesting! 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Mini Me

We've all heard the warnings about how our children repeat everything they see or hear. That's the main reason we started the "Swear Jar" when Brenden was still a baby, which went into his piggy bank and is still accumulating. (It's also why you'll hear me say "Poop!" if I stub my toe or slam my finger in a door.) I never realized that there was a good side to this as well.

I know Brenden has said and done things that I do that are funny. Just last night we were watching Kung Fu Panda, not sure where this new fascination came from, and there was a small crocodile marching around. He exclaimed, "Oh! Look at the cute little crocodile!" Yes, that definitely came from me.

It's become even more obvious with Lauren that they will do anything I do, bad and good, and lately it has been a lot of the latter. She likes to feed her babies and push them around in the little plastic car or her grocery cart. She tries to change their diapers, wash their hands, and once, even tried to wash her Boots "hair" by dunking his head in the toilet. (Boots is Dora's friend that is a monkey for those who are lucky enough not to know who I'm talking about.) My favorite by far is when one of her stuffed animals or babies falls down, either from being thrown by her brother or falling off of the couch where she has placed them, she immediately picks them up, cradles them, and asks, "What happened?" It is the most adorable, sweetest thing.

Sorry it's so long and for the loud background noises. I never know when she's going to do something adorable. :)

So many parts of parenting are difficult, draining, and downright make-you-want-to-pull-your-hair-out insane. Seeing these little things and realizing that, at least sometimes, I'm doing something right makes the rest of the day a little more manageable.