Monday, June 30, 2008

NG

AKA, Nate Grant, Nugget, or just Nathan
He was probably the most cooperative out of all the kids about having his picture made. He even came up with ideas as to where to pose. I think the first one is my favorite. It shows off his cuteness combined with mischievousness quite well.




Sunday, June 29, 2008

Wacky

Wacky was Alyssa's name for Zac when he was born and it has stuck. Hopefully he'll outgrow it at some point in time, but for now he's Wacky Zacky at our house. He decided he wanted highlights before he went to the beach this week, and because I'm a cool mom, I said, 'sure, I'll do it for you.' Unfortunately, I'm also a cautious mom and was afraid of going too light. So we put medium blond color on dark brown hair and he ended up with reddish gold highlights. I assured him after a week at the beach, they would get lighter. If not, hair experiment number 2 will be occurring in my kitchen next week. I'll be sure to post after photos. I actually took 'during' photos of the last highlight experiment, but I had to promise on my honor as a mother not to put them on the blog. I feel quite sure it will turn up at a later, more embarrassing time, like a graduation or engagement party.


Kitty

Katie is called Kitty at home most of the time. She forbids us to call her that in public, but likes it at home. I don't understand the rules of nicknames; I just try to obey them. And since I'm sitting in my living room at the moment, I figure it's still okay to call her 'Kitty'.
I didn't get quite as many shots of my Kitty at the park. I was having some lighting issues combined with an obstinate piece of hair that would fly up anytime the wind would blow, which if you've ever lived in Oklahoma, you know that's all the time.




Consider these Kate's before pictures; she gets her braces on tomorrow!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Oklahoma's Next Top Model

Just kidding! We took a few 'posey' shots at the park....



but Alyssa and I tend to like the more natural, artsy shots...



But, because she is her father's daughter and everything is about having fun, I ended up with the titanic shot...

She was even saying,"I feel like I can fly Jack" while I took the picture.
and this one which I have no explanation for...

Friday, June 27, 2008

A gift for myself

I wanted to buy something for myself that would be like a gift from my dad. And while I've had lots of ideas floating around in my head for the past 5 months, I've been having an internal debate over what exactly that gift or gifts would be. Purchasing a desk was no-brainer since I didn't have one and needed one desperately. It also fit into the category of something I would have a very long time, would be part of my daily life, and not consumable which were my self-imposed requirements for the gift. I was having a hard time committing to anything else because, by nature, I am not a high dollar shopper and I don't like to spend large amounts of money on any one thing. Give me a Target clearance rack and I'm happy!

I finally decided to purchase a digital SLR camera. Partly because I've never been happy with the quality of photographs I get from a point and shoot and I regret the day I sold my Canon Rebel, even if it wasn't digital. If you were ever around my dad, you know he was a picture fanatic. Not that he ever had any high quality equipment, but he loved to snap pictures of everything and anyone, no matter how unflattering you might look at the moment. You can't imagine the volume of pictures I sorted through after the funeral. Just for fun, here's one I found that he took when he came to see me the first time at college. I always liked it when family came to see me or Kevin at school. That meant we could eat something other than the cafeteria food or Taco Tico.

The quality is not great, but what did you expect from a scan of a Polaroid? I'd give anything to have my long, thick hair back; and yes, I really was that skinny. I ate like a horse and never could get over 95 pounds. Trust me, there is no chance that I will ever get back into my wedding dress.

Anyway, I thought it appropriate to feed my love of photography with a new camera from my dad in an indirect sort of way. I got a Nikon D40 with 2 lenses and have had tons of fun playing with it. I tortured the children at the park this week since all the pictures I have of them are at least 4 years old. I can do all kinds of cool stuff, most of which I haven't figured out yet, but I love the ability to change a picture to black and white or sepia, in camera. Here's one of my favorite shots:

It was purely accidental; I was just snapping away in the park and caught Kate on the tire swing. I'm not sure what it is exactly about the picture that makes me love it--the innocence or the abstract lines. I just do. Keep checking back throughout the week and I'll share more of my first adventures with my new camera.

Mission trips update

Kevin and his team have made it back to the states. They're in AZ till tomorrow. We've had a week's worth of a daily conversation that went something like this:
K: Everything okay there?
Me: Yep, everything okay there?
K: Yep, okay I gotta go, this is costing a fortune.
I was finally able to have an actual conversation with him this afternoon. They were able to lead 48 people to Christ during the week. Woo Hoo! I didn't get much more detail than that, but that was the most important detail. He did say something about a gunfight at 3. I thought gunfights always happened at high noon. They're tacking on a little wild west fun onto the end of their trip and will be traveling home tomorrow afternoon/evening.
Our Cambodia team is also traveling today/tomorrow. Their return trip takes 27 hours. With Kevin out of the office, I haven't been privy to updates this week but as of last Sunday they had 300 salvations and had baptized many of them in the river. Pray for safe travel for both teams and for the 136 youth, including Alyssa and Zac, plus sponsors who will be leaving for Panama City Beach tomorrow evening.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Happenings

Still in the midst of our crazy summer, here's what's going on this week. I don't want you to take any free time you might have in your own life for granted. Appreciate every minute of it, for my sake, because I may never have free time again, ever.
Sun am--before the sun is up, we'll take Kevin to the airport for a mission trip to Sonora, Mexico. He's taking a team of 21 people to do VBS and street evangelism along with encouraging the pastor of the church plant there.
Next Sat at 7p.m.--Alyssa and Zac leave for youth camp in Panama City. I'm feeling a little ripped off since I never got to go to youth camp at the beach. I didn't even see a beach till my honeymoon. Okay there was the time when I was three, but that doesn't count since I don't remember it. But I'm not bitter about it, not even a tiny bit.
Next Sat at 10p.m.--Kevin gets back from Mexico, missing Alyssa and Zac by 3 hours. So, they'll go 2 weeks without seeing him.
Sandwiched in between is a lot of laundry, working and taxiing to football and dance. Now, go be a couch potato and be proud of yourself!

Friday, June 20, 2008

She's home!

We got to the airport early just in case Alyssa's flight was early, but that meant there was lots of waiting...

and playing on the escalators...

and waiting...

till finally we saw her plane taxi to the gate...

and there she is! Wearing a shirt we've never seen before, because when you spend a week with Caitlin and Sarah-beth, there's lots of shopping involved. Ahhhh, Can you here my sigh of relief resonate throughout the world wide web?

Texas Babes

I realize I've been home for a whole week and still haven't posted Texas pictures. Being out of town for 3 days really made everything else in my life pile up so the slackinoff time has been very limited. We went to Texas for Alyssa's dance competition but that's not what we took pictures of...

because no trip would be complete without seeing the babies. Look at that face! Can you blame us?

This was Alyssa's first time to meet David.

Anna's definitely of the new generation. She wants to "see" the picture after each flash of light and click of the camera, even if it's on a phone. Too cute!

And just for Kevin...

we took a picture of the new Cowboy's stadium.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Almost Perfect

We have officially survived the final dance competition of the season. Only another parent who has sat through hours and hours of dances and awards shows can truly share my joy. Alyssa did well on her solo and received a gold, the same award she got at regionals. Liz joined us last night to see Alyssa dance and we snuck away for a bit and went to Jason's Deli for dinner.

There are so many reasons I love Liz and have given her no choice about keeping us forever. Technically, she is my former stepsister through my dad's third marriage, but we've just adopted her as a sister/aunt and don't really care about any actual blood or legal connections. Liz is from Arkansas and has lived where I've lived and unless you've experienced South Ark., there's no way you can understand it. We can tell stories about people named 'Shotgun' and not question if that's their real name. (We also know people named Gun, Skeeter and Rugrat and 2 of those are girls!)Last night's story revolved around a homemade boat dock that then became a boat because Shotgun attached a Johnson motor to the back of it and some stair rails to the side for safety. I don't question these stories because I'm from there and I know what these people are capable of. I was laughing so hard my chicken panini almost flew half chewed across the table, but thankfully I was able to keep my food under control. I won't even tell you the part about the rope being tied to her toe while she floated on a raft so the river current wouldn't carry her away because you might start questioning my integrity.

Now, lest you think Liz is a country redneck, think again. She is a classy career woman who lives in Frisco and has an admirable shoe collection. How the two of us turned out to be city-loving, fashion conscious girls, I don't know. But we also share something else which is super special to me. She is one of the few people on this earth who knew my dad well, knew what it was like to live with him on a daily basis, and loved him anyway. I can talk to her about my dad, his good and bad points, and she knows exactly how I feel.

Okay, enough mushy stuff. I'm reveling in my almost perfect night. I've handed Alyssa off to the family she's staying with for the next week so I'm in my hotel room all alone--do you realize how rare that is for me?--to be alone? I have exclusive use of the laptop without Alyssa standing over my shoulder waiting for me to be done, and I just finished reading the latest chapter of "Black heels to tractor wheels" over on Pioneer Woman's site.I also have take out from La Madeleine, one of my favorite restaurants ever. Although I am plagued by why the caesar salad doesn't taste as good if I get it to go. Why does it taste different if I mix the dressing in myself? Must be one of the mysteries of life I'll never know the answer to. Now, the only thing to make this night better would be something decent to watch on tv. I miss my DVR.

More actual news and pictures from our trip coming soon.....

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Parental Paranoia brought to you by Southwest Airlines

Alyssa and I leave bright and early tomorrow morning for DFW. She'll be dancing in a national dance competition Wed. and Thurs. and possibly Sat. I have big plans that involve IKEA, La Madeleine, and Sam Moon, for another cute purse of course. We'll also get to see Aunt Liz and hopefully a few other precious friends we've missed in the past year. I promise to take my camera and document it all and bore you later with the details.

Alyssa has big plans to spend time with her best friends, Caitlyn and Sara-beth, that have now evolved into Kevin and I agreeing to allow her to take her first flight alone. I'll be leaving her in Dallas so she can spend a week with them and fly back the next week---ALONE. And while I am normal nervous about this arrangement right now because the decision was just birthed an hour ago; I feel quite sure I will be in a panicked state of paranoia by next Friday and someone better find me an oxygen tank while she is actually in the air.

I went on my first flight ever, alone, when I was 16 to see my best friend. She spent every summer with her dad in Cleveland. I saved all my babysitting money to buy my own ticket, just like Alyssa. Many times I wondered what in the world my mother was thinking to agree to such a plan and now I find myself in her shoes, wondering why in the world I agreed to such a plan. Yet I know that she's a responsible girl and will be fine and this is one of many times I'll have to let her grow up some, but is it okay if I'm not jumping for joy at this milestone in her life? I think I'm entitled to some worrying and pacing and ranting and hand wringing and ......

Sunday, June 8, 2008

I've been tagged

Natalie has tagged me with a meme. I'm not even sure what the word means. If you want to know what it means in Turkish, click on Natalie's name and she'll tell you. But, trust me, it's not information for the prim and proper.

The rules are I'm supposed to divulge 5 quirky things about me that you probably don't know. I'm also supposed to post a current picture of myself but I don't think I have one. I'll have to work on that for later. Now which 5 of the many quirky things shall I share........

1. I don't like ice. If I make myself a drink, I will put no more than 3 pieces of ice in the glass. If more than that gets distributed by the ice dispenser, I will remove the extra pieces. If a drink is already cold, I won't use ice at all.

2. I don't like ketchup out of a bottle. I only like it out of the little restaurant packets. This is probably related to the not liking cold stuff thing, but since it's my blog I can make it a separate quirk if I want to.

3. I have lists for everything. I have a chart for which chores the kids are supposed to do on which days. I keep an ongoing grocery list at all times. Lists of things to do, lists of books to read, and on and on. And currently, a list of all the wonderful things I want to do in NYC on my vacation. I also make to do lists and even if I've already done the task, I'll write it on the list anyway just to have the satisfaction of marking it off.

4. Kevin says I cough 3 times every night before I get into bed. I have never noticed this about myself, but I'll definitely be paying more attention tonight. Of course, now that I know about this quirk, I probably won't do it anymore and will have therefore eliminated the quirk.

5. I only sleep in pajamas, never a gown. I don't know why but I can't sleep if I wear a gown. And the pants of the pajamas have to come past my knees so no shorts either. I have no explanation. I just know that's the way I'm wired.

Okay, since none of my friends, besides Natalie, have blogs, I'm going to ask my faithful readers Catherine, Kether, both Amys, and Gretchen (and anyone else who feels provoked) to leave at least two quirky things about themselves in the comments.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Cellular stress, part 2

I have been inundated with incorrect phone calls--everything from confirming dr. appt's to wanting to set up my a/c maintenance,and no one will answer my calls because they don't know it's me. I sent everyone my new number but apparently they didn't go to the trouble to program it into their phones. So I call, leave a voice mail, then they call me back after they think to check their voice mail. Really annoying, but not as annoying as this conversation today:
Me: Hello
girl: Is this Susan?
Me: No, you have the wrong number.
girl: Are you sure?
Me: Yes, I know what my name is and it is not Susan.
girl: Well, the last time I called this number there was a Susan there. This is very suspicious.
Me: I've only had this phone number for 2 weeks and I can promise you I am not Susan.

Then I hung up because I did not see the point in continuing the conversation. See? That almost anxiety attack in the Sprint store was sooo justified. By the way, if you get a call from a 918 area code and don't know who it is, just answer the freakin' phone; it's probably me!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Read this and Feel better about your life

Could someone please let me know when the lazy days of summer start? We are in the midst of one of our busiest weeks, although there were several vying for the title. Just to make you feel better about your life, I'm going to tell you about my day. Today:
8:20 leave for VBS--Alyssa and I help with registration, Kevin and Zac are working with 5th grade, and Katie and Nate are VBSers
9:15 leave the church with just Alyssa since she has to be at her dance studio to help teach a Disney Princess camp where today she impressed the 4 yr. olds with her coloring skills
9:30-12 I waste time in Walgreens and Walmart so I don't have to make another round trip to the studio in an effort to save gas but the cookies I bought at Walmart probably used up any savings gained
12:30 we all meet back up at home for lunch
2:10 leave to take Alyssa back to the dance studio where she'll stay till 5 practicing for nationals next week and take Zac to the orthodontist for a checkup. Depending on how quickly we get done at the ortho, 3 kids and I might go to the pool for a bit since I need to feel like I'm getting $220 worth of swimming and tanning out of the pool passes I bought last week.
5:30 Kevin will get Alyssa from dance, we'll come home from the pool, I'll cook dinner, and everyone will start taking turns in the one working shower we have at the moment.
And tomorrow, we'll do it all again except we'll have to add in me being at work for 8 hours to the craziness. Now don't you feel better about your life? No need to thank me.