Weekend in Peoria

I took a break from wife-ing and mommy-ing this weekend and flew to Peoria to see my sister Miley and her family (hubby Eric and kiddos Avery and Hudson)!

Reading books on the floor in the sunshine on my first day there. My sister has done such a wonderful job of reading to her babies... they both LOVE books. 

Avery and Aunt Becca making silly faces. We probably took 15 pictures just like this. 

We went to a nearby park for some chilly play time.

Their darling house with my sista's landscape prowess in all its glory. That girl can landscape.

On Saturday we went to the gym in the morning, then after Eric came home from a ministry trip, Miles and I headed out to shop (skinny jeans and boots for her, two tops from Old Navy for me), then to dinner at One World (yummy) where one of the funniest things EVER happened to me. I won't say what and where... just trust me that it was funny. After dinner we created monstrous, delicious, fattening, glorious frozen yogurt sundaes at a darling little shop, then we rented a movie and stayed up too late. Just what these sisters needed!

Pictures in the back yard after church on Sunday.

Such a gorgeous family!!!

Notice our glam poses. I talked Miley into it, and she looks awesome, no?! I was actually hiding my digital camera behind my back, hence the reason I look a little 'special.'

Workin' on his laptop like Daddy. Oh, that boy is so darn cute! He was very leery of me on my first day there, but day two and three we were famous together!

Monday was a really rough day for me... emotionally I was sad and missing my sister, and I felt completely behind all day long. Miley emailed and said she had been glum all day, too. That tells me right there that sisters aren't supposed to live far away from each other, missing out on daily life, not getting to share the simple and silly things in person. *sniff sniff* Don't get me started or I'll be depressed all day! :(

Potters, thank you for opening your home to me all weekend. Love you all!

Her first fly

I know, I know. This is disgusting. But around here, disgusting is often a big part of everyday life! So here is my firstborn, captured for all eternity with her first dead fly. That girl has been begging me to let her use the fly swatter when she sees a winged nemesis flying around. So yesterday I let her. And I kid you not, she dropped that thing on her first attempt. It was awesome!

One of these days I will teach her the skills of a true fly killer. I pride myself on killing them with my bare hand (always washing afterwards, of course), and it never ceases to amaze my husband. He always remarks that it looks virtually impossible to actually kill them by the velocity of my hand speed. I tell him it's in the technique. I remember my brother doing the same thing growing up, and I think his strategy was catching them from behind or something. We lived in the country... there wasn't much else to do!

The tummy virus that kept on giving

Last Sunday we were scheduled to have our family pictures taken after naptime. As I'm putting the finishing touches on my makeup, Jason rushes into the bathroom, shuts the door to the toilet, and that's when the fun began. We both assumed maybe it was a mild case of food poisoning from Schlotzsky's, but six days later, I'm quite aware that it was viral. Needless to say, the pictures will have to be rescheduled.

Jax was the next to contract the bug. Monday night he threw up in bed, and he had the runs until yesterday. Emerson and I fared the best out of everyone... we merely had queasiness and a lack of appetite. Hayden, poor baby, had diarrhea almost as long as Jax did. She is sick and tired of having her diaper changed. Yesterday I stopped counting at 13 diapers. And that was by 1 p.m. She made it very apparent when the burst of gooey was about to hit because she'd scream "Diaper! Diaper!" and do some quick high knees.

Tonight we ate dinner at Pa-Pa and Grandma's house, and I watched a bit of the OU game before bringing the kiddos home for bed. While getting Jax all tucked in, he began to reflect a bit on the noxious chemical warfare that has been emanating from his rear all day. He said, "Mommy, I have toot bith-neth." I asked him what toot business was, and he said, "It's when you have more than two toot-th in a day."

I'm going to retire to the living room in a bit and light a candle to combat Jax's leftover toot business.

Church in the morning (I'm teaching some new songs to the elementary kids for the Christmas program), park playdate after naps with good friends (the playdate is with friends, not the naps), and 80-degree weather in mid-October. Gotta love it!

Fall is speeding by

I looked at our October calendar at the beginning of the month and almost gasped. You know how you schedule things but don't really look at the whole month at one time? Well, that's obviously what I did somewhere near the end of September. I'm having a hard time believing it's October 16th already.

Last week we went with Emerson's Pre-K class to Carmichael's pumpkin patch. I was so glad Jason came along... and obviously the girls were, too. I am so thankful that my kiddos have a daddy who loves to spend as much time with them as he can. 

Emerson has finally settled into her "role" in Pre-K. There for the first month or so, she thought her role was to be in charge, to be disobedient at times, and to make her momma about lose her mind. To say she is strong-willed is an understatement. We've definitely discovered that free time and/or boredom for her = shenanigans on her part. We have been blessed with two teachers who understand this about her and make time to positively reinforce her good behavior and help her make good choices. We love our preschool!

Here she is with "M." This is their second year in class together... she always comes home with funny stories about him.

And yet another friend, Mr. "P." He caught her eye at meet-the-teacher, and she couldn't stop talking about him.

I love this picture of Hayden, even though it's too bright, or overexposed, or whatever the photographic term would be.

I'm gettin' some good Hot Sauce lovin' in this pic. Notice the little piece of gum in her mouth. When her brother and sister get a piece of gum, I'll give her a pencil eraser-sized piece, and that child will chew it for hours without swallowing it. Cracks me up.

Notice the well-behaved, quiet children, and my firstborn putting on her own Off-Broadway production in the back row. Marches to her own beat, that one. And do I ever love her for it.

Wonderful Weekend

So Jason was out of town from Wednesday through Sunday. It was a regular flight to Green Bay to see clients up there and help his team of agents. I have yet to make the trip with him, but I think I'm going to try and sneak away this spring sometime. On Saturday night he attended a charity event at Lambeau Field! I was way jealous.

The munchkins and I kept busy with our normal routine of preschool, the gym, and home time, plus we had friends over for dinner the night J left. On Friday we had a wonderful time at the park. Reason #1 it was wonderful? No one was there except for us. That is more than likely attributed to the fact that it was 47 degrees outside and late on a Friday afternoon, but this momma needed to get some fresh air.

Wait up, guys!

Happy, silly, and cold...

Here's what they look like while saying 'cheeeeeese.' Hayden is intense, Emerson has a look of pity/condescension/constipation, and Jax looks a wee bit special needs. Just callin' it like I see it.

Hayden was bound and determined to go down every single slide her brother and sister did. And she did it. With no fear. And no assistance. You can see the crazed look in her eye in this picture.

I did it!

Saturday morning I had every intention to get to the grocery store, but it didn't happen, so we went to the gym instead. After naps, Pa-Pa and Grandma came and picked up the kids for an overnight stay! I got to go to my friend Heather's wedding without having to rush back to relieve a babysitter. It was wonderful! Of course I was bummed that my husband was out of town, because before I realized the conflict in the schedule for the weekend, I was planning on us getting a hotel room for the night and making a date weekend out of it. Bummer!

Heather's wedding was fantastic! Held at Tulsa Country Club, the ceremony was on the course with the downtown skyline as the backdrop. Yes, we froze our buns off, but Steve (who also married us 10 years ago) kept it short and sweet. Her bridesmaids were wearing strapless knee-length dresses, and I'm pretty sure the temp was right around 45 degrees. Brrrr! The reception was wonderful, the food/cake/drinks were amazing, and I had such a great night catching up with old friends.

Here's the gorgeous bride and myself (again, making a conscious choice to do the hand-on-the-hip stance, secretly wondering if she's doing it too, which she's not... and now I'm laughing because I'm wearing sleeves so it doesn't even make a difference that I'm doing the hand-on-the-hip thing). It's pretty incredible that we as women can have full-on internal conflict with ourselves in the short time it takes to have our picture taken, no?

Heather, you were radiant, my dear! And so was your cleavage! Those of us with cleavage that 'left the building' after children were living vicariously through you all night. :) On a serious note, we are thrilled for you and Kyle. Here's to many more dinners together, both with and without the boys.

Luscious Locks

Jason and I are in constant awe of Hayden's hair. Compared to the little teeny bit of hair that Emerson had at this age, Hot Sauce has a long flowing mane. And it's got some serious body. She wakes up in the morning and looks like she's just been to the salon where she got an amazing blowout.

I just want to freeze her right now at this stage! I'll always remember this great head of hair. And those curls. I'm so curious to see whether she'll stay this blonde. Oh and just look at that little chubby neck. So bite-able! She does a deep, truck driver, belly laugh when I ticklekiss her under her chin. And yes, ticklekiss is one word in our house.

Happy Friday! We are finally getting cool weather in Tulsa, and we're heading to the park after nap time to take full advantage of it.