Quickly Becoming Toothless

So Austin has been cashing in some money from the tooth fairy recently and loving it! Out of the blue, Austin decided to loose a couple more teeth. He lost his first top tooth on June 23, hours after accidently bumping his mouth on the computer desk.

Then a week later on July 1st, we were at the softball fields when Austin comes over to tell me that he lost another tooth. And sure enough, he lost one of his bottom teeth after biting on a blow-pop. I told him he better slow down or else he won't have any teeth left to eat with. Good thing Austin is still such a cutie even with a few gaps in his smile!

10 Year Anniversary

Ten years ago on June 28, I married by best friend and it has been the best ten years!

And even though there have been ups and downs, I wouldn't change anything!!

Looking back over last 10 years, I remember:

• Living in our small 1 bedroom apartment on a small income and surviving just fine
• Playing indoor soccer together with several members of your family
• Graduating from Nursing School and moving to Stillwater so you could go to OSU
• Upgrading to a nice 3 bedroom duplex with your sister Kelsey as our roommate
• You and Kelsey finding Abby for sale at Wal-Mart and unable to resist taking her home
• Getting Brady 6 months later so Abby would have a playmate
• Playing lots of Frisbee golf together in Stillwater
• You graduating from OSU and not knowing what was in store for us next
• Becoming parents for the first time with the arrival of our baby boy Austin
• Moving to Bartlesville and living with my parents until we figured out what to do next
• The excitement of you getting a job at ConocoPhillips and buying our first home together
• Our 5 year anniversary Royal Carribean cruise to the Bahamas
• Watching Austin get bigger and adding Mikayla to our family
• Vacationing as a family to Branson, Utah, Colorado, and Disneyworld together
• Staying busy with kids, church, family, sports, etc.....and loving it all
• Most recently buying our current home and anticipating the arrival our 3rd child very soon

We had been talking about taking a big 10 year anniversary trip together for the last couple years but knowing I would be 8 months pregnant kind of pushed that on hold. So on our anniversary we ended up enjoying a dinner and movie together.......but I am determined we are still going to go on a trip together once things get settled after the addition of our new baby.

 Happy 10 year Anniversary Craig!

I love you 10 times more than the day I married you!

 

Home Sweet Home

We were super excited when we purchased our first home on April 6th, 2007.

Austin was only about 3 months old at the time. We've lived in this house for 6 years now and have loved it. Just like every home, there are things we liked about this house and things we didn't like about our house but it is all the memories that we made living here that has truly made it OUR home. We added Mikayla to our family while we lived in this house. We've watched our kids grow up from babies to toddlers to kids running and playing inside this home. We've made several improvements to this home and many of them thanks to my dad's help. We've spent countless hours playing and entertaining and loving this home of ours.

Our next door neighbors Bob and Carla

Our kids adored these neighbors. Bob would bring things back from his farm for the kids such as a deer antler and a tree fossil from the a tree that was present before the dinosaurs were on the earth. He has promised Austin that he would also bring back a snake skin when he finds one and Austin is pretty excited about that. Austin would always go to Bob to ask him questions about bugs or birds because Bob seemed to know all about those kinds of things. Bob and Carla have two cats, Buttercup and Biscuit, and everyday Kayla would go next door to see the cats. And they were so kind to let her come everyday. Bob and Carla were also so good about keeping an eye and when they saw Brady out on our front porch because he had jumped the fence (again!) they would put him back in the backyard for us. They were such great neighbors to have!!

Although we loved our home we knew that it wasn't going to be our final home for several reasons. So on April 6th, 2013 (exactly 6 yrs from the day we bought our first home) we made an offer on a new home. The above picture was taken on the last day in our home. I never got teary about moving from this home during the whole process until I walked through our empty home, alone, for the last time thinking about all the memories and good times that we've shared while living there.

But we are happy to be living in our new home. We already love the neighborhood, the sidewalks, the friendly people, the young families with lots of kids around, and the neighborhood pool.

We are excited about our new home and the memories that we will make here!

Go-Karting Fun

Weeks before reaching 75 on our scripture reading chart, the kids chose that they wanted to do Go-Karting so that is what we did. We were happy that Glen and his kids decided to join us. And since I couldn't go myself I enjoyed taking pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hurray for Go-Karting Fun!!!



We LOVE teachers!!

 

 

 Austin loved having Mrs. Garland as his Kindergarten teacher this year. He always had positive things to say about her and how nice she was. 

Without being prompted Austin wanted to write a note to give his teacher on the last day of school.

He came up with what to write all by himself....I just helped with some of the spelling.
So sweet of him.

And Kayla has loved being at "Teka's school" over that last 2 years. Here are her teachers Allison, Teka, and Mallory (left to right). At one point during the year she asked if Allison could come over to her house and play which I thought was sweet. Everytime I picked Kayla up from MDO, as we would drive away she had to unroll her window and yell out "bye" to her teachers and they would yell back "bye" to her. It became a ritual.

 

So glad my two kids had such great teachers that they have loved and that have loved them!!

May Schoolwork

Some of Kayla's drawings

(love her pictures of our family)

 Austin's pig and tiger

 Couldn't be more proud of Austin and the good student that he is at school.

 

 Given to me for Mother's Day. I had to laugh at Austin's perception that I "like to rest." Guess I have been a little more lazy being pregnant and all. But I was surprised to learn that he thought I was funny.....something that I wouldn't have thought was descriptive of me. Funny how kids see you different than you see yourself. 

 

 Love all the colorful spring trees and flowers.

 

Wayside Field Day

 Towards the end of the school year, the school had a field day with about 11 stations set up for the kids to rotate as a class through. It was fun being there to watch Austin.

 Jumping Jacks as part of the obstacle course

 Balance Beam as part of the obstacle course

 Squeezing water out of the sponge to fill up the bucket as a team

The class really enjoyed the volleyball game with the giant ball

There was some gunny sack racing

And a big game of tug-of-war with team A

vs team B

Then it was boys vs girls

The boys pulled with all their might

 But in the end couldn't hang on

And the girls won!!

(which was hilarious because the boys were pretty upset about that fact...even Austin came over to me and said "that's not fair....the girls cheated".....and I just smirked).



One of the favorite stations was the water dunk tank.

Here is Austin taking his turn at dunking Mrs. Hartsock (music teacher).

My Little Gymnastics Girl

From January through May of this year Kayla been going twice a week to gymnastics. It has been a great activity for her to do while Austin has been in school and she LOVES it.

Here she is doing a "candlestick" on the beam. She was scared to do this at first but that girl is determined to do things herself and once she mustered up some bravery and did it by herself she was super excited and proud.

 The beam was on of Kayla's favorite things to do at gymnastics. In January she would walk across the beam holding the teachers hand but only after a few times she explained to the teacher that she didn't need help anymore and could do it herself.

Kayla and her friend Emma with their medals

 Kayla also loved the long trampoline that led to the "pit." This was always the first thing they did and so it was a good incentive to use to get Kayla there on time because if we were late then she would miss the trampoline.

Doing back rolls into the pit

More backward rolls

 Kayla got really good at doing headstands/handstands also. Ever since we starting taking this class she is always flipping herself around on her head while she is on the couch.  

 More gymnastics on the beam

 Kayla receiving her trophy at the end of the class.

She was super excited about her 1st trophy and couldn't wait to show everyone.

(especially Austin who has multiple trophies from soccer)

Kayla LOVED doing gymnastics and it was fun watching her enjoyment!!