Pumpkin Patch!

On Sunday, the family got together out at the Pumpkin Patch for pictures, pony rides, camel rides and the petting zoo! Beautiful weather too!

Cousin J and Little Man

Climbing around the pumpkin mountain!

Yee Haw!

Camel!

Feeding the baby goats with Grandma M and Aunt P.

And Even More Picture Catch Up!

We celebrated Grandma M's Birthday last month!

Don, Grandma M, cousin J and Little Man.

Let Grandma blow out her candle!

Even More Picture Catch Up!

When we moved back to Oklahoma back in July, I thought about all the wildlife we would miss seeing in our yard & neighborhood.

Last week I had noticed that the birds, blue-jays in particular, seemed really agitated but I thought maybe there was a cat roaming around. Then when I got home from the grocery store, a squirrel was on a branch over our driveway, barking up a storm. Strange.

Well! The other day, my mom and I were in our front yard chatting and I noticed something that looked like fuzz blowing around. We grabbed one and saw that it was a feather. Mom said maybe the birds were molting or something. Then we saw that it was falling from the magnolia tree so I walked over and looked up...and this is what I saw!

A Sharp Shinned Hawk with what looked like a smaller bird.

He gave me his profile. :)

Beautiful bird but his yellow eyes, sharp beak & talons kinda freaked me out. He was pretty close!

I don't mind if he hunts bluejays (they're noisy and mean) but he better leave my dove and bunnies alone!

More Picture Catch Up!

Last month we celebrating GiGi's 79th Birthday! I forgot to take my camera (I know....what is wrong with me!) so I took some with my phone but only 2 of them turned out well enough to post.

This picture cracks me up!

This is my mom. She ordered a taco salad and when they brought it out,

it seriously was a salad in a GIANT taco shell.

Love her reaction! hee hee

Grandma M with cousin J and Little Man.

LM loves showing his cousin how to play the Nintendo DS.

Picture Catch Up!

Last month we had everyone over for brunch to celebrate Grandparents Day!

Little Man with cousin "J" and Grandma "M".

"J" and Little Man playing in the sun-room.

Aunt P, Grandma M, D and The Husb (standing).

Cousin J (bottom left), Great Grandpa Y, GiGi,

Grandma A (purple shirt), Aunt R (standing), Grandpa A and Little Man.

Partners...

Recently, I was relaxing at the coffee shop, reading the Sept/Oct issue of Oklahoma Sports & Fitness waiting for the Fleet Feet store to open, and I came across a great article entitled, "The Race Before Us - By Your Side, In Your Face".

The author wrote about how great it is to have a training partner and how "it can enhance your rate of progress" because "their own determination and hard work pushes you to work harder yourself".

It caught my attention because I've started running again (after taking 5 years off) and hope to participate in the 2011 Tulsa Run. And it got me thinking about the 2 different running partners I've had.

Me & A" before the 2003 Tulsa Run

Back in 2003 I was running with my friend "A". We were a great team! She started the races out fast so I'd get her to slow down so she wouldn't burn out before the end and she'd drag my butt along faster at the end when my knee was acting up. We trained early in the mornings, chatting the whole time...wonderful way to start the day. We were supposed to do the Tulsa Zoo Run 10k together but I was sidelined with plantar fasciitis, but I was there cheering her on and she had a great race! And finally we ran the Tulsa Run 15k and the Jenks Half Marathon together. She could have had a better time on the Half Marathon by leaving me behind but she wanted to finish together.

Me & "M-K" (red shirts) in the

2006 Aramco Houston Half Marathon

In 2005, after our family moved to TX, I was eager to get running again but didn't know anyone. I heard about Houston/USA Fit which is a program that organized training runs for the upcoming Houston Marathon & Half Marathon so I joined up. First day of training, they divided us up into pace groups. And that is how I met "M-K"! She was loud & outgoing and fun to run with. I swear, all the talking and laughing we did really helped us strengthen our breathing/running. We trained almost every night after work and every Saturday morning with the Fit group. We developed lots of friendships with other ladies in our pace group and learned some valuable tips from "Coach" and other veteran runners. We completed 2006 Aramco Houston Half Marathon and the 2006 ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run 10k together.

There is nothing like having a partner (whether its a spouse, workout/running partner or significant other) to push you to do your best (in anything) and to celebrate with when they reach their personal goals.

Short Convo w/Little Man:

Today when I picked Little Man up from school, I noticed that he had a sticker on his shirt.

He then asked me, "Did you see my sticker?! It says Super Star Kid!"

Me: "I saw that! That is great! What did you do to get that?"

LM: "I got it because I'm awesome!" (big grin)

Yes son, you are awesome! :D

Conversation with Little Man:

I was walking Little Man home from school today when I noticed a little girl ahead of us walking by herself. She seemed a little young to be walking home by herself and I expressed this concern to LM.

Little Man: I think she's my age.

Me: I don't think so but maybe she's in Kindergarten or first grade.

Little Man: I could walk home by myself.

Me: Someday maybe.

Little Man: I'm bigger than you think I am.

Me: Really?

Little Man: Yeah! I'm at least 7 inches!

Me: Hmmmm. (trying not to laugh) I think it's going to be a while before I let you walk home without me.

Little Man: (hearing music playing) Ice Cream truck! We need to get some popsicles!

So that effectively ended the conversation. :)

First Day of Pre-K!

Today was Little Man's first day of Pre-K! Very exciting!

When we lived in TX, he attended a Mother's Day Out program 3 days a week and loved learning new things and interacting with his classmates. Now that we're in OK and I'm going back to school, we enrolled him for Public Pre-K which is Mon-Fri, from 7:35am-2:40pm.

I was worried that this might be too much time in school until the last week before school started when he declared, everyday, that he was bored and would rather go visit Grandma or hang out in the childcare area at our YMCA. :)

We were all excited about Pre-K so we invited the Grandparents/Great Grandparents over for breakfast and to see him off/walk him to school. It's great that we live so close to family now!

First thing this morning Little Man says, "My tummy hurts, I can't go to school today". And I'm thinking. Wow! A little early in life to get this started! So I tell him, "Well, I guess all your Grandparents don't need to come over and have chocolate chip muffins with you and walk you to school". Took him 2 seconds to ponder this and he was up out of bed and getting ready for the day.

Grandma and Grandpa A, Grandma M and Great-Grandma Y or "GiGi" all showed up for cinnamon rolls and muffins, pictures and the walk to school...good thing we live so close!

We're so blessed to live close to family and be able to share special occasions like this.

Grandpa A, GiGi, Grandma M, Grandma A and Little Man up front.

Grandpa A, Little Man (taking pics) & Grandma M walking to school.

Little Man went right for the Lego table.

So proud of our Little Man! He walked right in, said hi to his teacher and started playing with his classmates after a quick good-bye kiss from Mommy.

Can't wait to hear how his day went!

Happy Back to School Everyone!

Brief update

I'll post pics from Little Man's first day of school later in the week.

For some reason the pre-schoolers start on Wednesday. I know! Doesn't make sense to me either. :)

Updated the music playlist with some of our new favorite songs.

The Husband's 20 yr High School Reunion

The Husband's (a.k.a - M.O.T.H. /master of the house) 20 year High School Reunion was this past weekend and we had fun! I remember purchasing the tickets and immediately doing the mental countdown..."I have this many weeks to workout/get my hair color touched up/figure out what to wear"....blah blah blah. But since purchasing those tickets, we moved to a new state and all that stuff wasn't even in the back of my mind...until 1 week before the event. GAH! I hadn't been working out! I haven't found a new colorist for my hair! And I have no idea what to wear!

When I asked M.O.T.H what he was wearing, he replied, "I don't know, I'll figure it out that day." WHAT?! But I shouldn't have been surprised, he doesn't stress about stuff like that. So I rush to the mall (which also happened to be day one of the TAX FREE WEEKEND craziness - I know, what was I thinking?!) the day before the event, looking in every store for an outfit but not really knowing what I wanted to wear, what other people are going to wear, etc. Eventually I make it back home to start figuring out what shoes to wear with the dress, how to do the hair..blah, blah, blah. SO the day of the event, M.O.T.H. is getting ready and pulls out jeans and a button down shirt and announces, "I ready!" Seriously?! So I say, to heck with it, throw on my jeans, wedge sandals and a cute top and call it good! I don't know why I was stressing out over this thing! It wasn't my reunion!

So we get there, have a drink or 2 or 3 and watch "the show". The ladies looked great, although a few seemed uncomfortable in the dresses & high heels they chose to wear. And the guys were all slapping each other on the backs and telling stories, "Remember when you..." followed by rowdy laughter and more slaps on the back. :) M.O.T.H. actually remembered a few people and it was nice to see them catch up.

My 25 year High School Reunion is next year (I know! I can't possibly be THAT old! :D ) and I'm really looking forward to it! With the help of Facebook, I've kept in touch with close friends and have become better acquainted with others. It should prove to be the most laid back reunion we've had so far....and I might just wear jeans and rubber flip flops! :D

Hope everyone is having a great summer!