You may be wondering

what we have been up to for the last week since I have posted. Rather than having nothing to report, it has actually been rather hectic around here. We have been under animal attack (details will be posted later); been back and forth to school five more times; been back and forth to church five more times; gotten two new tires on the van (ugh!); done puzzles, coloring, watercolors; gone on walks; attended a gathering of friends; ate dinner with Rob at work; done homework; practiced memory verses; played with play-doh; attended meetings; fed ducks; played with friends; and had voice lessons?!?!?



. . . among other things! :)

School Reports

Alexa-

"Kindergarten is GREAT!"
"I didn't eat very much lunch because my stomach kind of hurt."
"PE was really good." (Whew- this was hang up last year.)
"Robbie!" (in response to, "Who did you sit by at lunch?")


Robbie-

"I had an awesome day."
"I had fun seeing my friends again."
"My math looks like it is going to be challenging."
"Math." (in response to, "What was your favorite part of the day?")

Homemade Ice Cream (without a crank)

Ingredients:
2 T sugar
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 T rock salt
1 pint-size plastic zip lock bag
1 gallon-sze plastic zip lock bag
crushed ice

What To Do:
Combine sugar, half-and-half, and vanilla in the small bag; seal the bag. Fill the large bag half full with ice and add the rock salt. Put the small bag inside the large bag and seal. Shake the bag for 5-7 minutes or until the ice cream hardens. Enjoy!

Note: You can add 2 T chocolate syrup to the small bag of ingredients before shaking to make chocolate ice cream. I am sure other flavors would work just fine too. You can, of course, add toppings at the end. I recommend rinsing off the outside of the small bag before you scoop/squish the ice cream into a bowl so you don't get the salt into your ice creams.

Serving size- We made two batches to create the four servings above.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

We did it! We made it through the morning routine (including pictures, of course!) all in good spirits, with excitement, and made it to school on time.

I should clarify that by saying the school goers were excited and in good spirits. Cole had a bit of a break down this morning (unusual for him) and Rachel was a little out of sorts for a brief spell as well. I think the school morning routine was too much of a break from their summer morning routine for their comfort. Cole was also sad to leave school without Robbie in tow.

The big kids did great though and were excited. If I were to admit the full truth, I was sad to leave Robbie and Alexa behind too and got a little choked up. I know they will have a great year though, and it will be fun to hear the report at the end of the first day. It is Alexa's first year to be in school all day, so I am sure she will be exhausted!

I also should report that Rob took advantage of Coach Gundy postponing the normal 7 a.m. staff meeting this morning so that coaches and all could be home with their kids on the first day of school. It was a nice addition having him here and did make things go much smoother than our usual hustle-bustle on school mornings.

Enjoy the photos! Unfortunately Rob had to take them inside because it was raining for the third day in a row. Maybe we can get in front of the door shot after school.

We sure are proud!

Rob had the opportunity to give a tour to Boone Pickens of the new training room on Monday of this week. I don't know who all aired/published it, but the tour was covered heavily by the media. Rob said there were at least 30 cameras there, and it was crazy. Apparently the lead in to the AP article was Rob's response to BP's question, "So, do we have the best?" (or something like that . . . I guess I shouldn't use quotations because I don't know exactly what he said and I don't want to get in trouble for misquoting someone with as much money as Mr. Pickens, but anyway). Rob's response, "Absolutley!" Good job, honey!

He also got a shout out from QB Zac Robinson in his ESPN interview about an injury he has been working through when Zac something about his athletic trainer Rob Hunt doing a great job taking care of him. I didn't get to see that one, but we got a few phone calls on it. Again, honey, we sure are proud of you!

Just Like OId Times

Last Wednesday, we finished off our day

combining ingredients,




shaking in the driveway,



scooping into bowls,



and enjoying some homemade ice cream!




Okay, so maybe it wasn't quite like the old times seeing as we used plastic "Ziploc" bags and didn't have to turn a crank for hours (it only takes about five minutes of shaking to do the trick), but it was still kind of fun -and yummy- to make our own!

Video Working Now

After much delay video has been added to a previous post.

See post below or just click here:
Block Toss/Whale Attack

Remember they are laughing.......you can laugh too!!!!!

Trip to the Zoo

We moseyed down to OKC today to go to the zoo.

It was fairly hot today (92 degrees) and we weren't going to get there until 2:00 in the afternoon (the hottest part of the day), but we decided to go for it anyway.

I was hopeful that my optimistic side was not canceling out my common sense side and that our trip would not not turn into a nightmare.

Missing nap time to be at the zoo during August in Oklahoma?!
Was I crazy?!

Things started well due to the fact that Cole and Rachel both fell asleep on the way there, so they at least got a little rest. It only took 55 minutes to get from our door to the zoo parking lot, and a short 15 minutes later (after putting on shoes, hats, sunscreen and loading up the strollers) we were walking through the zoo gates for the minimal fee of only $4! Rob earned us a coupon by giving blood (Way to go, Rob!) for two free admissions, the two year olds were already free, so I only had to pay for one big kid- what a deal!

Each kid picked one animal that they wanted to be sure to see (our usual routine) and we set off to find at least those four. Of course, we see most of the animals as we wander around to get to those four; this method allows us to make sure no one is disappointed and we end up seeing a lot of animals even if we don't make it to all the exhibits.

We have been to the OKC Zoo at least three other times, but we still seem to struggle on one side where it seems like all we do is walk in circles or hit dead ends and have to turn around so we end up seeing the same things over and over. Our plan of attack for next time is to view this area of the zoo from the tram or train because it covers that section, and then walk the middle and other side of the zoo. Now that I think about it, maybe all people have this trouble and that is why the tram and train run through that section!

One disappointing thing was the elephants weren't there. Shortly after arriving, I remembered that they wouldn't be there because the last time we visited (about 15 months ago) we were told the females from this zoo were going to the Tulsa zoo to mate with their male and hopefully come home with some babies. It won't be until next spring when they return. The elephants are one of my favorites and what I would have chosen to see.

Some things we did experience include:
A couple of donkeys being walked on leashes for exercise.

A practically empty zoo; OKC schools must have been back in session because hardly anyone was there -or maybe most people were smart enough not to go in the middle of the afternoon!

An "Island Exhibit" where we got to be really close to some pink flamingos, large tortoises, and a variety of birds.

An ostrich who acted like it might attack.

Zebras who came as close as they could to the fence where we were standing --we quickly realized a zoo cart had pulled up behind us, and I think they though they might get a snack or something.

I didn't take many photos today; I mostly enjoyed my kids enjoying the animals, but I do have a few cute/interesting ones to share . . .

The overly "friendly" ostrich that made my children nervous


Cole found a new family for a while -Pinky and Jasmine, who were out walking to lose weight.


This is one of the female lions we saw up and about, but it was taken through a glass window so a bit fuzzy on her face. We managed to see the male lion get up from a rest and do a quick walk-around before settling back in for more snoozing.


One of the zebras who came up close- I didn't even zoom to get this photo!

The cute video (below) we took at the exit when we left that shows all the kids sharing what their favorite part of the visit was, but here is the list of what animal they each chose to see today--
Robbie: big cats
Alexa: giraffes
Rachel: PINK flamingos
Cole: monkeys



We had a great time; the kids did awesome and I am really glad we went!

WHO is in charge of these kids?!?!?

Actual video footage to follow- technical difficulties continue to be present.

I may have to give up on this one . . . or get Rob to give it a go. I am not sure why I can't get these two videos uploaded. Maybe it is God's intervention so no one from DFS comes to take my children away from me after they see it!

Cowboy Football

Okay, so if the promise of an All Amenities Football Weekend watching the Cowboys was NOT enough to get you excited for college football this year, maybe this will do it!



Click here to check out the information for Cowboy football games.

More Potty Training in Progress?

Cole just ran out and wanted to go pee in the potty . . . and did it! I won't get too excited that his training will go quite as quickly as Rachel's, but this is at least progress that the interest was there for one go around. So far all he has done is give me a forehead scrunched, grumpy eyes, head shake when I ask him if he wants to try.

As for Rachel, she has been in panties for a week, all the time except at night for bedtime, and has only had two accidents!

High School Mascots

I was just logging off my computer to call it a day, and a little blurb at the bottom of the page (maybe from my email?) caught my eye. It said "31 Unbelievable High School Mascots". Not only did it catch my eye, but it caught my attention as well because immediately one of the high schools in Columbia, Missouri, where we used to live came to mind. They are the Hickman Kewpies . . . you know, those naked, chubby baby dolls! It was a continual source of entertainment in my youth group as the kids from the other high schools gave the Hickman attendees a hard time.

Anyway, I couldn't resist checking the link out, and what do you know . . . HHS Kewpies were one of the ones listed! . . . as well as a school in Indiana not too far from where I grew up that we would play in some sports- Franklin Hotdogs.

Some of the entries were clever plays on words, some were just plain weird, overall it was an entertaining list. If you have a moment you should check them out; click anywhere and be taken there.

Classroom Dynamics

The kids will be back in school in about ten days. I was just looking on-line to see what the enrollment looked like for this year, and there have been some definite changes.

Some background before I continue- the kids attend a non-denominational Christian school that started up in the late 90s. When Robbie first started attending in 2006 as pre-K student, the school had grades pre-K thru 11. They graduated their first senior class of four students in 2008. This past May, they graduated their last (for the time being) senior class of four students. The school board decided to discontinue the junior/senior high portion of the school. The younger grades generally have a decent enrollment, but once the kids get to grade 8 many parents move them to the public junior high school . . . I assume mainly for the options of activities, sports, and classes. Anyway, many parents and teachers were upset about the change- some on a personal level, some on a grander scale of justice, blah, blah, blah.

As I looked at class lists, I noticed that some families are not coming back (some due to moving or financial reasons), but there are some that are not coming back out of principal as well as families that had kids in the junior/senior high as well as younger ones. There are some new families as well, but overall it looks like the numbers are down.

Back to my kids and their classes. Alexa's class looks about like I would expect it to. Her kindergarten class currently has ten kids; 5 girls, 5 boys. Robbie's class has twelve students (down from fifteen last year). Four kids left (all boys) and one new student (a girl) for a total of 9 girls and only 3 boys! Unfortunately one of the boys was his best friend; fortunately he is a ladies' man at school anyway, so he might not notice too much. I think he is most disappointed that his favorite friend from the grade ahead of him will not be back as he really enjoys playing football with him at recess.

I am sure all will be fine. It will be Alexa's first year of all day school. Robbie will be in second grade with a teacher he hasn't been around much with a new routine and expectations. It will be fun for them to get started and experience it all, but a big part of me wishes summer could just keep going and going and going!

Haircuts

Most of the members of our family are sporting new, shorter summer dos. Rob's takes the cake though as far as most different from previous style. He made the switch about three weeks ago, and I took the picture below the first night I cut it. It only took about a day and a half before my brain registered it as normal and now pictures of him with hair seem strange to me. I think it looks great, and it seems to working well for him.



As for the others:
Cole's curls have been cut off.

Alexa is sporting the chin length style, as reported back in late May/early June. She gets hers cut again tomorrow.

Rachel got a hair cut and is sporting bangs these days.

Robbie has his typical short all over summer do as well.

I am the only one whose locks are a little longer than normal right now.

Our New Little

POTTY GIRL!!!!



I have been actively potty training this week. Cole is not all that interested right now which is fine. He will get no pressure from me there, but Rachel has been doing REALLY WELL!

Day 1- Very excited about panties. Happily sat on potty. I think she may have gone once in the potty. A few accidents occurred as well.

Day 2- Still wanted to wear panties. Not as interested in sitting on potty, but was doing it. Another pee in the potty; a couple of accidents.

Day 3- Went twice in potty, kept panties dry at home, wore a pull-up out on errands and didn't keep it dry AT ALL!

Day 4- Today . . . has gone three times in potty, no accidents, all trips have been self-initiated!!

I know we aren't anywhere close to being potty trained, but I feel like her potty training is going great!

As a side note, she has stopped her morning poop in favor of taking care of it at rest time when she is wearing a diaper! I know another little girl who pretty much potty trained herself in one day that did the same thing, and three years later still takes care of her business around 2:00 every afternoon.

THREE CHEERS FOR POTTIES AND PANTIES!!



I wrote this entry on Saturday, but didn't have a good picture to include, so I delayed posting until I could take and add a newer shot. Anyway, Rachel stayed dry all morning at church on Sunday (in pull-up) as well as at home in panties. She did great on Monday and today as well . . . no accidents! Even during our party last night, she would always find me to tell me if she needed to go. I didn't think anything would be as easy as Alexa training herself in one day, but Rachel has surprised me!