Half Marathon

Well I ran 13.1 miles. Not fast. Nike won't be calling. But I did it! Everyone is already asking when I'll do the full marathon. I guess whenever I can figure out how to get all those hours of practice to work WITH my family. They are totally supportive, but it is just too much time away from them. I am not giving up, but I'd rather wait until they are on their own or have them run with me. I can only have them around for so long, and its already going way too fast (unlike my mile time!). My brother also ran his first marathon today. He did incredible, and BOTH of us reached our goals! Yes!! I guess I need to find another high energy burning hobby that we can do with the boys. Any suggestions?

My Mom Got Married!

We are so exhausted after the eventful week, I'll have to post pictures later after I have time to look at all 5 million of them. But Mom did get married in a fabulous (and short!) ceremony! We had a great party afterwards. Here is one quick picture from the rehersal dinner of Sam (3) and his cousin (Becky's 5 year old), Mike. (I know, I am such a mom posting pictures of my kid even though it was someone else's wedding) Some people like to label Sam's signature ears "Elf Ears," but as long as you know they are from CHRIS' side of the family!! The kids had such a great time celebrating!

Top Ten Reasons to Attend an Oklahoma Family Reunion

10. Free swimming
9. Catch up on gossip (“Did she have
plastic surgery? He is living with whom?”)
8. Free fishing
7. Kids get to meet new cousins: first, fourth, sixth, whatever
6. Possible business connection (“So you are telling me that if I call this 1-800 number, I can make 25K a month while watching TV all day?”)
5. Free FOOD that we don’t
have to cook or clean up after!!
4. Aunt Linda is always giving away cute
clothes/shoes. Hang around…
3. If you come and act stupid, I’ll write about
you on my blog!
2. Rumors of the Amish guy coming and bringing ice cream!

and for the number one reason to go to your local family reunion....
1. If you are single, what better place to hook up?! You already know
everything about the family!

My mother's father's side of the family (which, because of so many sisters in one family marrying brothers in another family, ends up being my whole entire family, and most of north-east Oklahoma) had a family reunion this past weekend... here are some fun re-caps:

We did meet lots of new cousins. I realized my boys only knew their first cousins. They played hard all day with many many more second and third cousins!

Tate with second cousins (below) Tyler and Chase
The Amish people did come to make homemade ice cream. Although, I don't know what kind of Amish people Aunt Linda rounded up that used a motor instead of hand cranking it. I may have to report them to the "Better Amish Business Bureau of Cheating" for using a rigged-up Honda motor. They also accepted a ride in her mini-van instead of leaving at day break to pull the horse and buggy. I am pretty sure they will go to Amish hell now. But, they may be forgiven if God tries the ice cream. That was the creamiest, richest ice cream I have ever had.

(above) the evidence I am using for Amish blackmail

(above) expaining to the kids how it works

Aunt Linda explaining to Zach (second cousin), Tate and Sam how they used to do it at their house, growing up. She seemed to believe that since she was one of the littlest, she had to sit on top of the ice cream maker, while my mom (one of the biggest) cranked it. My mom confided to me that she actually made Linda sit on top of it to keep her from running all over the place and getting into trouble!!

Tate and Sam enjoying the yummy ice cream!

My dear sweet little brother and brother-in-law took an opportunity to toss me into the pool. (the picture below is me with Micah; notice he is counting with his fingers above my head. They were plotting this!)

As I was screaming for help from my giant husband, he said, rather weakly, "now, you guys better put my wife down..."

And they said, "OK!!" and into the deep end I went. The pic below is Micah and Matt, with Tate looking on. Tate got revenge for me by throwing ice cold water on Uncle Matt. Thanks, Tate!

No one seems to care that I had spent 45 minutes in Stage that morning trying on shorts and sun glasses while my husband and boys waited in the car so I could look nice and cute for the reunion. (sniff sniff) My brand new clothes are now officially not brand new! And do I even need to mention how many hours of velcro rollers it took for me to get my thin hair poofy enough to make an apperance in the July humidity!? That's what I get for vanity. I did manage to hurl the new sunglasses into the grass as I was soaring through the air. but.... the pool felt great!

The food was awesome. Very Oklahoma-ish. We (meaning an uncle) catered from Charlie's Chicken, a local chain, and the Rib Crib. This is Dennis and Chris (Chrissy in the back ground)

Here are some real conversations from my cousins at the reunion that might make you smile:

my first cousin: "I hate going to Wal-Mart, too. All the people exercising just get in my way."
me: "Excuse me? I had no idea people went to Wal-Mart to exercise??"
first cousin: "Oh yeah. There isn't anywhere else to go in our town. And the funny thing is that they drive around 30 minutes to get the best parking spot by the front door."

my first cousin's fiance: "Yeah, our wedding is scheduled the first day of rifle season. My dad's side of the family is pretty upset about that. They don't want to miss out." (she thinks this is pretty funny!)

me: "So, its sure nice to meet one of my great uncles. What do you do, anyway?"
great uncle...?? Bob? maybe:"Me? Oh, the lawn mostly. Yep, thats about it. I like doing the lawn."

me: "Wow. You have a blog site, too? That is great. I love to blog."
another first cousin: "Yeah, but no one in the family knows..." (This person's blog address will be kept a secret for his/her blogging protection!)

an aunt: "So, how many times did you get lost before you made it here?"

a thrid cousin, once removed: "Now, I know you are one of Carol Sue's daughters, but which one are you?" me: "The best one."

my mom's fiance: "Can you believe these roads out here! I got run off the road three times trying to make it to her house!"

a cousin: "So..... why don't any of her sisters come to family stuff?" another cousin: "Well.... no one really remembers. They are real real mad about something, though. Huh... I wonder what it was?"

I didn't get many pictures, because I was so busy talking and having a great time! If I didn't mention you, I just ran out of room!

My motto is, never miss out on a chance to get to know your family, and always
kiss and make up if you get mad. Life is too short! Our family isn't perfect,
and even though we had a great time together, there were lots of people who
didn't come. Some were working or on vacation, but some just didn't feel welcome
to come, I'm afriad. We miss them. I think God misses people who don't feel
welcome in His family either. We usually don't mean for it to turn out
that way, but family rarely goes accoring to plan. If you have rifts in your
relationships, make it right. Your kids like knowing there is a big family
backing you up. And they already know good and well your aren't perfect, so you
don't have to pretend.

The good-bye sign at the end of the gravel drive; it was great to see everyone! See you next time!

Country Livin'

Since we chose to live quite a ways out of "town," the gas prices (yawn) have made us do a few things differently, like revive the old Honda and drive it instead of the huge full-size truck - we probably should be doing that anyway. But we have not considered moving closer. We love it! This is what we see as we turn our corner on the morning commute. (Don't tell me you can't see them, I didn't even come to a complete stop, just snapped a quick pic.) The same deer are around at dusk as well. We've also had foxes, racoons, ground hogs, and all manner of wild birds in our yard. We're gettin pretty good at bird calls and learning their manners as we watch them month after month.

HOWEVER, this is what we see IN THE MORNING IN MY BEDROOM before I leave for my morning commute. Mr. Lizard decided it was too hot to sleep outside, so he crawled in under my bedroom door. We have discussed the rainy-day worm invasion (see April post of "Worm Rescue"), but I really don't have that same special spot in my heart for lizards. Luckily, Tate is a fast catch and we relocated him quickly outside. I really need to seal that door up (meaning Chris).

And here we are with neighbor friends (12 miles away neighbors but that is close enough out here). Sam and friend taking a drive in the John Deere for fun. Yes, it was fun.

Tate and his buddy showing off the muscles. They are both about to turn 7 and they feel like men. Tate is in grey. Arrrrg!!
Finally, Sam Story:

The boys and I drove to church Wednesday night (we left my heathen husband at home taking a nap) and Sam fell asleep on the long, green, hilly drive. We got there a little after dinner had already started and it was raining. I had set my hair in curlers but since we are new at this church, I didnt' think I should walk IN with the curlers. Plus Tate told me not to. So I tried to reach around and shake Sam's knee to wake him up, but he was out cold. Tate jumped out and was running for the door, so I had to get out and stand in the rain, ruining my nice, poofy hair to unbuckle Sam and carry him in. Before his eyes were open, he lifted up his little index finger and pumped his thumb, and whispered: "pshew, pshew. gotcha." Then he fell back asleep. I was shot by my sleeping warrior! I laughed so hard I forgot all about my gorgeous hair, now stuck to my face. I love boys!

Are we Red-Necks?

Question: After all my formal education, am I a red-neck?

Fact: We have a beautiful Koi pond (currently koi-less) that Sammy likes to go out and pee in.

Fact: Two weeks ago at Tate's soccer game, Sam had to pee.... so he just stood up, yanked down his pants and peed onto the field. (I pretended I didn't know him)

Fact: Yesterday while I was work, Chris decided to go to Super Wal-Mart and have the oil changed in his HUGE truck and pick up some groceries. (That in itself may be evidence enough!) He asked me to just meet him there when I got off work at 3pm. When they came out to my car Sam had PAJAMAS on -- yes, the same ones I had put him in the night before. He was also wearing a rain coat and rain boots (it was blindingly sunny), and his Dad's oversized Fire Fighter hat, matching Dad's. They had Happy Meal faces, complete with ketchup stains, little toys, and french-fry breath. Chris, first of all, was taken aback by this new information: "Wat?...Doesn't he get himself dressed?.... No?.... Oh.... Well, you really can't tell. I thought they were clothes." I should also mention that they had fresh flowers for Mama and so I didn't think twice... until today...

I have to know, are we red-necks? If so, should I be concerned?

Sam caught in the act.

Lego Builders

They have already played around ten hours this week of legos at the new (okay, Goodwill) lego table. It doubles as our new coffee table, which we have needed to buy forever. They were just so cute I couldn't help but take some pictures.

They are showing me all of their new inventions.

They wouldn't be still anymore so I had to sneak pictures from the upstairs landing.

Contemplating the new "army base" architecture.

Later, when I was actually trying to work, I heard screams of rage and anger. I reprimanded Sam for yelling in the house, and he cried, "But MOOOOOOOOOMMMMM.... I HAD to squ-eem at bw-udder! He sent a kamikaze fighter pilot over and attacked my base, de-stw-oying it!" Ohhh.... of course.