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!

Sammy Lovins

Sammy has always been a demonstrative sweetie, but he is really going through a romantic phase recently. Tate had a period when he was "in love" with Grandma and planned to marry her, then it was on to Isabella. But Sam has only had eyes for Mama lately! He spent all day yesterday singing love songs to me ("I am in wuv with my Mama"... "she is so booootiful" etc...) and came over at least a couple of times an hour and said "I really need some hugs and kisses from you!" He told Tate and Chris, while stroking my "soft face" that he was my boyfriend and that I was his girlfriend. He asked me if I could not marry Dad but marry him instead. I thoroughly enjoyed all this romance!

Then last night, he was in my room, still singing to me while I was getting ready for bed. I was only half-listening to the lyrics to yet another future top-ten billboard chart hit when I distinctly heard "We are in wuv and we'll get together and make a baby...." I was a bit alarmed, but just figured that he wasn't paying attention and was just rambling. But then after the next chorus he repeated the rated R words again, and again. I was wondering what kind of smut TV he had been watching at Mother's Day Out (they did have a sub one day!), when I decided to ask him about what he was singing. I walked to where he was playing on the bathroom counter. He had two big flosses, and one little floss. He proudly said, "Look Mom. Here is my little floss family! They are so in wuv!"

A Great Day!

We had the BEST day yesterday!

For starters, yes, Sam is still puzzle King! Here he is dancing after an "advanced" puzzle. With no help!
We had a yummy lazy summer breakfast. The boys have taken to scooting their chairs all the way around the table so they can both sit right next to Daddy and talk.
Now, here is where it starts getting really good! Yesterday was the last day of my college summer class, the last day of the boys' once-a-week-during-the-summer-day-camp, AND the final day of Tate's week-long super intense competitive soccer camp! Whew! Lots going on! Chris picked me up for a romantic celebration lunch while the boys were bowling/painting at camp, and told me that we were getting a dog! Yeah! We've talked about it for nearly 11 years, but we finally did it! We picked the boys up from camp together and told them we had a great surprise!

We wanted a female Burnese Mountain Dog, and there was a litter Chris has been following only a couple of hours from our house!
Can you tell which one we picked?
Here is the proud papa, with his 11 week, 20 pound girl, on the way to show her off out our first outing...

Tate's final night of soccer camp! Unfortunately, she didn't feel like walking a half-mile to the fields in 100 degree heat. She laid down and wouldn't be moved. So......

Chris got to carry his big "baby" all the way, while Sam, unhappy at losing his free ride, complained.

Once I got the soccer fans set up, I tried to get as many pictures as I could of my little soccer star.
However, he is far too serious to pose for me!
He is in the white jersey with the blue socks and purple shorts on the right side of the huddle. This was during a drill.

Look at his cute "team" uniforms! His team was "Spain."
Mom, please. We are trying to get ready for the tournament.

To make a very exciting night a little shorter, Tate's team (which was co-ed mixed ages, with Tate being hands-down the smallest and least experienced) made it through the first round of the "World Cup," barely. The team never complained when Tate got the only foul (hands on a punt) or missed tackles or kicked the ball away from his own player. He cheered for everyone and never even understood the tournament brackets, even at the end. He was having the time of his life. I just prayed he wouldn't loose it for them, and not cry when they got kicked out. (There is lots of intensity in competitive soccer with kids, as we are finding out). Well, they made it through round two, beating the second placed team. Then round three! Then they were in the final World Cup! Tate was so excited! It came down to the last 45 seconds, still no score, when the big girls scored one against Brazil, for the win! It was pandemonium folks! We were jumping and screaming! Sam was so excited for 'brudder,' and I was excited for Tate to have such a great experience! I missed all the great team photos, since I was so enthusiastic, but here is one of the kids dumping water on the student "coach."

We went home exhausted, and slept hard (of course after Tate called everyone he could think of to tell them he won the world cup in soccer!).

Today... we spent all day loving on puppy. Aunt Miranda and Uncle Matt came to meet their new "niece" and kept saying how big she is... (Look at those paws!)

So Sam laid down next to her and they both stretched out.. turns out, Sam is right! He is the biggest!

This is living!!

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!

Puzzles by Sam

Sam can put jigsaw puzzles together, and likes them!

Since my two children are quite different and excel in different things, I try awfully hard not to compare. But Tate could do the whole USA puzzle when he was about 23 or 24 months old, so as month after month went by and Sam still didn't show an interest in jigsaw puzzles, I admit, I have been nail biting and "doing" puzzles on the floor in front of him more often: "Look at Mommy, Sammy! Isn't Mommy having fun!? Don't puzzles look exciting! I wonder where this piece goes? Can Sammy help Mommy?! I bet he can!!" Sam casually looks over and says, "Good job Mom. Now I am very busy driving cars so you'll have to finish all by yourself." Sigh.
But today, he got out the puzzle boxes by himself, picked out a good one, and did it, alone, over and over and over. I watched from a distance, and bit my tongue to not help. Its hard for me to believe that the whole world doesn't want my help, but Sam is living proof. He did stop for a quick picture, but besides that, he was content by himself. He even became a bit territorial when Tate or I walked by too close and tried to offer encouraging words. "I CAN DO THIS BY MYSELF!! DO NOT HELP ME!"

Great job big boy!

Proud to Be FREE

In New York harbor stands a lady,
with a torch raised to the sky.
And all who see her, know she stands for
liberty for you and I.

I'm so proud to be called an American
To be named with the brave and the free
I will honor our flag and our
trust in God, and the Statue of Liberty.

On lonely Golgotha, stood a cross,
with my Lord raised to the sky.
And all who kneel there live forever,
as all the saved can testify.

I'm so glad to be called a Christ follower,
to be named with the ransomed and whole.
As the statue liberates the citizen,
so the cross liberates the soul.

Oh, the cross is my Statue of Liberty,
it was there that my soul was set free;
Unashamed I'll proclaim that a rugged cross
is my Statue of Liberty.

-by Neil Enloe

taken from http://www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/blog.htm