Tate's trip to the State Capitol

I had the opportunity last week to take Tate - along with some college students I teach English to - to visit the OK State Capitol for International Student Day. I took him for purely educational purposes, but we ended up having a great time, and of course, with Tate's you-never-know-what-he-will-say-but-you-had-better-be-ready mouth, lots of interesting discussions! Tate took this beautiful shot of the State Capitol.

This is our whole group from Tulsa Community College International Association. We took a charter bus and Tate soooo enjoyed it. We are middle row far right, behind the man on the ground with the blue shirt.

Tate with a fellow-OBU grad, Mr. Shane Jett, OK State Representative. He was nice enough to pose for a picture. Tate was impressed I knew someone "kinda like the President," as he said.

Well we sat in on a session in the house, led by Rep. Shane Jett (above). It was great, but I noticed Tate was counting ceiling tiles during some of it. They eventually started announcing students by country (over 400 internaional students) in alphabetical order. Tate had comments for several countries that I mustn't post here in public. Needless to say, we are seriously thinking of curtailing his CNNWorldHeadlineNews intake! He stood up and proudly waved and cheered when they called out "Thailand!" even though his four-month stay may not count for everyone, he is so proud to have been born there.

Tate with some of my students from Mexico, El Salvador, and Syria.

There were many dances and songs. Tate liked the Chinese dancers and was brave enough to get a picture with a dancer. We had an international buffet for lunch which I took full advantage of. I miss my years with an Indian cook and a Thai cook! Tate made good friends with the Papa John's Pizza guy. He said he is an international traveler but what's wrong with good pizza?

He kept referring to the Governor as "The President" so I took him to see the actual door with the title: "G-O-V-E-R-N-O-R." I think he believed me after this. So then he went looking for the "Vice-Governor's" door. Good luck.

It wouldn't be Oklahoma without the WIIIIIIIND! Tate and I on our way to catch the bus home.

Tate teaching the international students how to play tic-tac-toe on the bus. You wouldn't think it, but they had never heard of this game. This is one of my students from Bangladesh. Once he could beat Tate, Tate found someone else to play!

The bus ride home was my favorite part. Tate had warmed up to everyone and the students had noticed a free English-practice partner was ready and willing! He interviewed seven or eight students and tried to learn a little phrase from each language. He wasn't sure about the Syrians... it sounds too much like Assyria, which we just studied in classic history. They had very brutal war tactics (3000 years ago) and Tate wanted to be sure they weren't the same guys. They assured him that they are very different now and even have cars and electricity. He also had a funny reaction to the Japanese student. When he asked her where she was from, she naturally said, "Japan." He wouldn't even talk to her after that. He just looked at me like, "Can you believe her?" I realized that he was thinking of the zillion WWII documentaries (produced in the 1950s) that he watches over and over (he is quite the WWII Pacific battle expert). I was terrified he was going to start lecturing her on the atrocities of Pearl Harbor, but he just turned around in his seat and ignored her. Time to renew relations with the Japanese, Tate!

His favorite people were the young, pretty Asian ladies right behind us. One was from Vietnam and is a very outgoing person. She flirted with Tate and another student even teased her that she should go ahead and ask him for his number. Tate overheard and said eagerly, "Do you want my number?" She just stared at him as he got up, looked up on the top of his seat and read out his bus seat number: "13A and B." He smiled and her and they are now friends for life. The other lady is a Thai, and so right away Tate felt that they were kindred spirits. He talked to her about Thai food and showed off all six words of Thai that he can say! He asked the Latin American about soccer tips (this is his first season), the Middle Easterners about weather and life in the dessert, and played my student from Bangladesh in tic-tac-toe and Hangman. Never mind that their English skills are intermediate. He played round after round of Hangman and had the time of his life! I hope we will be able to take more trips with the international students in the future! (permission granted to post these photographs)

Cousins at the Park

We went to the local park with the cousins after school one windy March afternoon.

You will notice Sammy and Nathan are not in the group picture. We tried to get the big kids to hold the baby, but every time we got set up, either Tate or Mike had run off. Oh well. Five out of seven isn't bad! Sam fell asleep in Aunt Becky's car, and Nathan donated his baby stroller for BIG cousin Sam to snooze in. He slept over an hour like this, with kids screaming all around.

Here is Nathan, not too sure about Lacey holding him and spinning at the same time!

Easter Egg Hunting!

We are very lucky that we got to have an Easter celebration at our home! The trees were cleaned up enough, YAY! And Aunt Miranda and Uncle Matt even came from Branson! YAY again!

The party started when we had a fun visit from cousin Edward. He lives in Kansas so we were very glad he could come by to have the first Easter Egg hunt on his way home.

Oops, we lost Sam.....

Now enough pictures! Let's get the race is on!

Edward counting eggs after round one....

Sam looking high and low...
Tate doesn't seem to mind that Edward has never had an Easter egg hunt before. He is out for blood! errr, uhh, I mean celebrating Easter.

I think there was some fuzzy math going on... Sammy insisted he had twelve hundred eggs... but we only actually saw six or seven.
Edward is focused and going for the win on round two!
Tate won every "tournament" (as he called the egg hunts) decisively. He was thrilled! Bye Edward, its a long drive to Kansas....

Now time for MORE family!

Little man (Becky's) can sit up now with Aunt Miranda!

WHO does baby love? Aunt Katie!

All the cousins came for lunch! Grandma Carol made food and managed to not be in any pictures. But here are the kids enjoying her cooking.

And here is the Easter Egg Hunt with the neighborhood! We had twelve kids in our yard doing several rounds of egg hunts. It was very fun for Tate and Sam

Happy Easter! Jesus is Alive!

Art Weekend

Well I did decorate and paint the dining room (Be patient and wait for the pictures of it finished!), and the boys couldn't stand not getting to paint, too. So I took them to the craft store and bought brushes, paint, and lots and things to paint. We did the Easter egg thing at the same time. Some of the eggs got painted, but as Tate says you peel it off anyway. The first thing they successfully did was paint little cars and trains that I bought to see if they could pass the "don't get paint everywhere and pay attention while you paint" test. They passed!

Next we moved onto three dozen eggs. But we quickly realized eggs are brighter if you let them soak for 30 minutes at at time. So there wasn't much to it. Sam did get a little into it, but honestly when there were so many other big things to paint, the little eggs just weren't exciting. Here he is telling me his hand is blue. I insisted on at least one photo for documentation.

Now we are onto mom's old bar stools. I fixed them (they were beat up after 15 years) and let the boys paint them.

And now for the dining room cabinet! We did it! The boys enjoyed it and then gave up when it started turning into work. But I was proud of how careful they tried to be.

And here it is finished!

March Happenings

We have been busy bees at home this month getting ready for Spring, which arrived today! Yippie! Here is what we are up to...
First of all, school is always in session at our house, between Chris studying for medical classes, my college essays or tests to grade, and Tate's 1st grade. Sometimes, the two-year-old can't quite keep up. Sam made a bed on the kitchen floor waiting on big brother to finish up math. He fell asleep before Tate got it done.

Here is what else Tate is doing, Lego building with detailed instructions! We've been very proud of all his hard work! Here is the tank all finished!

Close up of the tank (yes, it took all day. No, of course we don't play with it.)

And here is our house. Yes, it looks sort of plain. Even boring. What you DO NOT see are the six trees down in the yard! Yeah! You can SEE the yard! We (as in Chris and the boys) have spent every day off for two months clearing the debris from the massive ice storm. And now we can see the house again! We are so excited! Thanks, boys! (And notice my garage door works again! Yes! I love Chris' new job, he is home fixing up all sorts of things!)


Tate and I are getting into trail running/biking. So Tate had to face his fears and learn to ride the BIG bike with gears, so that he can steer properly going down steep trails. He has worked on it, and now he can do it! He is giving me a demo of driving around and through the tulips without running over any! Sammy followed on his trike and it didn't go so well (no pictures of mommy sad about the flowers!)

And this picture I caught while the boys were down with colds. We almost made it through the season without any illnesses, quite a feat! But we all finally succumbed to a little bit of sickness. The boys, done playing outside, tired of reading, just laid down together quietly and watched the birds outside. I caught them resting and got a picture before they noticed me.


I am painting inside and even (hard swallow) going to decorate my home. I know, why start now? Germaine's room-mate's couch from the 80s and brown paint have worked all these years! I will take pictures when its done and you can tell me what you think of the colors. Or you can just tell me you like it, even better!

So.. where is yours?

small child: "Mom, look how big my pee pee is getting! It is weeeeally BIG!"

Me: "Yes, that is fantastic! I am so glad you are growing so big."

small child: "Mom, how big is yours?"

Me: ..........

small child: "Mom, let me see it." tugging at my pants

Me: nervous laughter "No, its kinda cold today, I'll just leave my pants on."

small child: "Mom, do you have a pee pee?.... Mom? Do you?"

Mom: "Well, actually, I don't. Remember, mommy is a girl. God made me different."

small child: Stunned silence.

Me: .....

small child: Gaping mouth.

Me: little smile

small child: Disbelieving stare. "OH MY! HOLY COWS! WHAT IN AMEWICA!!?? (instead of "what in the world" like you are probably familiar with) Running away from me, "BWWOTHER!! MOMMY DOESN'T HAVE A PEE PEE!"

Me: Left alone...wondering for the very first time if I am indeed missing something? I need a daughter for sure.

Pillaging the Fridge

The only reason I was able to get this shot is because the camera was setting on the breakfast bar. I have seen him do similar things before (koolaid pitcher, bites out of the cheese chunk, etc...) but never the whole gallon of milk at once. His face was covered in chocolate from squirting the Hershey's syrup straight into his chubby little face. I believe in "open" kitchen policy, but I guess I need to teach him to pour the milk into a cup!