Josh and I celebrated 9 years June 4th!  We sent the kids to Duncan for the weekend and went on a double date with James and Samantha.  On the date James, Samantha, and I surprised Josh with tickets to the Justin Timberlake concert in Tulsa November 21st.  We are all four going.  Josh and James both have fall birthdays and they are both in love with Justin Timberlake so Samantha and I are doing them the favor of going so they won't look like goobers.  

The weekend of our anniversary we tried to shop for furniture to get some decorative vision for our new house.  It was fun but overwhelming.  I could definitely use some interior design advice.

Below is Mallory with Caroline Butters, her best friend.  We have gotten to spend a lot of time with the Butters this summer!

Kinley turned 5 June 26th along with Miss Betty who lives next door to our old house.  We had Miss Betty and her 90yr old mother over for dinner.  Kinley got to enjoy the family seeing Monsters U at the movie theater.  Then she had a swimming party with her friends.  Kinley is writing all her letters, reads small words that obey basic rules and counts to 50.  She is loving being at home this year but begs to do homeschool which means she wants me to do workbook pages with her and teach her to read. 

Our parents took all of us adult children and the grandchildren to Great Wolf Lodge for the weekend.  James and Tristan below obviously had a great time.  It was a fun place but all the adults decided we never had to experience it again.  I think the wave pool might have been the big ones favorite thing and the kiddie slides were the little ones favorite.

All six (just missing Ezra who was nearby in a stroller) pining away for the water park.

Kinley is so funny. She came up with the squishy face game at chick fil a one day and have everyone around laughing at her.  She came up with a new joke she likes to tell.  Why didn't the burger cross the playground? Because it's buns fell off!  But she says burger without the middle r which comes out buger.  She thinks it is hysterical.

We had a great summer bowling, swimming, and hanging out with friends.  I think we had other kids over almost every day.  James started 2nd grade at Jenks West and is riding the bus!!  I was scared at first but he loves it and it is so helpful for me and the girls not to have to get out and sit in a bunch of lines.  Our two neighbors ride the bus with him so that helps all of us feel better about it.  His one prayer the night before school was that he would make a good friend.  The first thing he said when we got in the car was "God answered my prayer! I made a friend named Ryan and it was even his idea to be friends!"

Mallory tuned 3 July 9th.  It is so sad that my baby is a kid now:(.  She is so delightful though.  Funny, sweet, talkative, creative, usually kind, and she loves me and Josh.  I can tell she'll be the one that is hardest to get to leave the nest and she will definitely take care of me and Josh when we're old.  She is going to the church in our neighborhood one day a week for preschool (so is Kinley) and is begging to ride the bus to James' school.

He turned 8 August 4th and had a laser tag party at a park.  Our neighbor Damon builds the guns and rents them out for 24 hrs so you can take them wherever you want.  The boys thought they were so big and cool.  We had dads and boys at the party and they all hid behind trees and shot each other.

We were blessed with the opportunity to keep Jason and Emily's Kate and Ezra for 11 days in August while they went to Bogota Columbia. We had the best time with them.  The picture below is when we went to the Drive in movie to see Planes.  

Kate slept in James' room and loved every minute of it.  James liked it too but he said she was "chatty". She introduced them to her imaginary friends and they were impressed with that technique of friend making.

It was so fun to have a baby again but it was so fun to give him back too :)  He is a perfect angel and adapted so well to our life.  We got attached.  We taught him a new trick which was pointing and making a shy face to whoever he wanted to get attention from.  I love that our kids have cousins and get to spend time with them. We can't wait to do it again.

 We did a little project in the kitchen

Wow, where to start!?!?  Well we moved March 27, 2013 to Jenks.  It has been amazing to see how God has led us and provided for us in spite of our humanness.  Christmas weekend Josh said "It's time to move.  Let's start looking into it."  The biggest hurdle for us was a down payment and God provided it.  The second was selling our house and we found out that we could not sell it and come out in the black so we prayed about renting and God slowly changed our hearts about it - crazy because being a land lord is something Josh said he would NEVER do.  Doesn't God love to bring about situations where we do exactly what we said we never would?!  Once we announced it was for rent we had two families interested and had to choose between them.  They were even looking at it while we were painting and dealing with a pesky skunk stinking it up!  The third big obstacle we faced was where to move.  I didn't want to live anywhere except midtown and there was no way we could afford the features we were hoping for in midtown.  Josh wanted Broken Arrow because his office is out there.  We started looking everywhere from Claremore to Glenpool.  We went in 17 houses all in Broken Arrow or Tulsa then one Friday night we saw one online in Jenks that looked pretty good so we saw it with our realtor Saturday.  God spoke to us in the 15 minutes we were at the house.  We were standing in the kitchen and in a moment we knew He was calling us to that house, to Jenks.  We made an offer Sunday, had a contract Monday and closed 6 weeks later. Our tenants moved into our old house April 1st and it was all incredible how God paved the way.  I am not accustomed to God's way ever being easy or feeling particularly "blessed" so it was an amazing experience.  Then moving weekend also blew my socks off because all of both of our families came to help us move and celebrate Easter with us in our new house.  I have to admit I was freaked out about having so many people around while we moved but man was I crazy wrong. They blessed our socks off with their selflessness and love and hard work.  They had us completely unpacked by the time they left on Sunday.  Our mothers had our kitchen in perfect shelf papered and unpacked condition in no time at all.  I can't ever express my appreciation to all of our family for loving on us so extravagantly!

The previous homeowners did an amazing job keeping everything perfect and they were excellent landscapers.  We have 3 water features and every week is bringing a new color and variety of bloom!  We are praying we can keep up with the yard??

 

Our church is launching a new campus in Jenks the first weekend of June and our dear friends the Henslee's will be moving to that campus - Derrick will be the worship pastor there.  We had purposed not to follow them to the new campus and to see where God moved us then decide where we would attend church.  Once we saw that we were moving to Jenks we heard God clearly that He wanted us involved with this new campus.  We are planning to lead a life group and are excited to see how he uses us and our home in our new community.  

The week before we moved we went camping with the Henslee's.  It was cold and rainy the whole time.  In fact the kids wanted to hike and there wasn't a break in the rain so we just hiked in the rain.  We made some great memories as usual.  In an effort to set up a "rain fly" Derrick tied a rope to his cast iron skillet and attempted to throw it over a tree limb.  He ended up breaking the handle off of his skillet.  I was hysterical to watch though!  

 Below James and Tristan are waiting for the starting whistle for the easter egg hunt.  They are getting so big and fast that we have to give all the little kids a head start.  James is doing so well in school.  His teachers say he has the best reading comprehension they've ever seen.  He has 150 or so points (his teacher awards and takes away points for good behavior) the next highest person has 60ish points.  We have found that success that is measurable is what turns his crank!  He is having his two favorite school friends over for his first slumber party next week on the last day of school.  In February he had his first overnight with one of the friends which is the first time he has ever spent the night with someone that wasn't our (Josh and I's) friend or family.  Big deal!  He and the other two boys are pretty torn up about the fact that he won't be going back to Hoover next year.  James is dealing with it pretty well though.  He and I are both anxious to get the first week or so out of the way.

 Since Christmas Mallory potty trained herself!  I told everyone that she was going to have to do it because I sure wasn't going to.  I showed her where the potty was and put her on it once or twice then left her alone.  One day she decided she wanted to wear Kinley's big girl panties.  I found myself wrestling her to the ground in tears trying to get a diaper on her and I thought "what am I doing?! Maybe she's ready??" So I let her wear panties, she never had an accident.  After two days in panties she refused to wear diapers at night also so I put her in panties and in 5 months she still has never had a night time accident (knock on wood)!  She has occasional daytime accidents but its because she chooses to put whatever she's doing over going to the potty.  It was a far cry from my potty training experience with James and I am so thankful!  We promised her a puppy when she was potty trained so we have spent the last month looking for the perfect puppy.  We think we have found the perfect breed but are having trouble finding it for a price we are willing to pay!  We (I) want a miniature golden doodle.  Which is a golden retriever toy poodle mix.  We'll see how that turns out??

 This is our beautiful cousin Kate in front of the waterfall in our new backyard.  We loved getting to see Kate and her sweet baby brother Ezra at Easter.

 James got to go to the TV station with his Tiger Cub den.  He thought it was pretty cool pretending to tell viewers about an impending tornado.

 Josh and James are big time sushi lovers.  One night at In the Raw Mallory decided to try the Hello Kitty Roll and she loved it.  I guess Kinley I will stick together with the peppered filet.

 We have a Robin's nest in one of our new Bradford Pear trees.  We saw the mom build the nest, we saw four beautiful blue eggs in the nest then we saw then the day they hatched and have documented their progress everyday.  Someday soon they will leave the nest and I think there will be tears.  A couple of weeks ago Josh found a turtle in the flower bed and we kept him for a week.  The kids named him Ted and they were so attached you would have thought I was cutting off their arms when we freed him.  Epecially Mallory, she was beside herself wanting Ted for about 30 minutes.  

Kinley is as smart and beautiful as ever.  She is reading small words and really enjoying teaching Mallory her letters.  She idolizes James and cannot wait for the summer when he doesn't have to go to school everyday. Her favorite thing to play right now is My Little Pony in her massive new closet.  Their closet is a second play room.  I love how they disappear in there together and play for hours. 

Our kids have discovered that the middle finger has a bad connotation.  One day Kinley was singing "Where is Thumbkin" and she was at the part about Tall Man and had her two middle fingers up dancing.  James informed her that sticking your middle finger up was like saying a really bad word but nobody knows what the bad word is. (funny!)  Of course Mallory was sitting right by them taking it all in.  Josh quickly intervened and tried to manage the situation but the damage was done.  Now Kinley and Mallory are obsessed with sticking their middle finger up and saying "I'm saying a bad word to you!" Today the girls and I were riding in the car and Mallory said "Mommy, look in the mirror at me." So I did and she was holding her middle finger up and said "bad word to you mommy".  Seriously, my heart broke and all the pressure of parenting caved in on me.  All I can do is keep training, praying, and rest in the truth that God loves them more than I do and has a plan for them.  I also have to laugh just to keep from crying and screaming.  Well, on that note....until next time!

Mallory's hair is so curly right now.  If there is any humidity in the air it is bouncy corkscrews.  This one on the front of her head is our favorite.

The video below is of Kinley being Miss Chin.  We stole this advent idea from my friend Natasha Perryman.  Josh started out as Mr. Chin and sang a couple of songs then Kinley wanted to give it a try. She is so silly.

Kinley is obviously the performer in our family at this point.  This video is her singing her favorite Christmas song this year. 

Our other Advent activities have been fun and the kids say doing Advent is their favorite thing about the Christmas season but they sure to give me a hard time about it.  One night we sat down to make a wreath out of the colors that represent the different parts of the Gospel, they were wild, disobedient, and completely annoyed with the idea of hearing the gospel again.  I was so sad and discouraged but I prayed out loud telling Satan to get out of our house and declared to him that I knew he didn't want my kids to know the gospel but by God's grace they were going to hear it.  They ended up listening and have been able to restate the information!  

The first weekend of November we went to a little lake outside of Tulsa so the boys could fish.  Our friend Derrick Henslee got the boys matching fishing shirts, aren't they cute and rugged?  We had a great time, we caught no fish and I knocked James and myself in the water but other than that it was nice.

James starte playing basketball at the Y two weeks ago.  He is doing really well considering he's had almost no exposure to it.  He asked me today if I would watch every game when he plays in the NBA.

Kinley dressed up at preshcool one day.  She looked so grown up.  It is breaking my heart to see her grow up.  Yesterday do she said to me "mom, you were totally incorrect.  Adult nail polish comes off just as fast as child nail polish"

Josh came home a few weeks ago wearing new glasses.  I don't have a picture of him in them yet but I wish I did because he so handsome in them.  Anyway, when Kinley saw him she said "Oh daddy! You look like a fashion star!"

We babysat the Butters youngest two children for 24 hours and while I was reading books to the older children Mallory and Caroline, both two year olds, were playing VERY quietly in James' room for about 10 minutes.  When we went to check on them this is what we found.  Look closely at their heads.  They had pumped out an exorbatent amount of baby lotion and wiped it all on the top of their heads.  When I went in it took all I had to hold in my laugh then I said "no girls" and took a few pictures.

This was the bath following the lotion incident. Caroline is teaching Mallory how to float on her back in the water.

Our home has been blessed with an Elf on the Shelf.  The children named him Nelf.  He has been a fun addition to Christmas.  So far he has made us elf sized pancakes for breakfast, brought North Pole marshmallows, hung from the ceiling fans, hid on the tree, and floated in the bath.

In October, Erin Goodrigh (James Wagner's sister), took family photos for us.  She did a wonderful job not only taking great pictures but putting up with us.  Mallory was a complete maniac.  Erin took a bag of gummy bears to bribe the kids with.  Mallory would literally smile for two seconds then demand her payment.  A funny side story...we had to climb and 8ft fence to get to the field and when Josh was going over he got his pants stuck and ripped a massive hole.  He has to work to keep his privates covered the rest of the session!

Check out Mallory's face!

The second weekend of October was the cub scout mom and me campout.  We went to Zink Ranch just outside of Tulsa for a one night campout.  This was the first time for me to meet anyone associated with  scouts.  There were at least five other boys from James' group there so I got to know them and their moms.  James got to do archery, BB guns, and leather stamping.  His favorite activity is pictured below.  He and the other boys at our campsite drug wood from all over to build this fort.  They worked really hard on it and were hilarious to watch.  The funny thing is, this activity wasn't even scheduled, they came up with it and worked together on it all on their own.  True Scouts!

 James getting ready to go off the zip line.  The boy in the blue helmet is Aiden and the other is Nevin.  I have a feeling we'll see a lot more of them.  James was pretty nervous about the zip line but he climbed to the top and went off like a pro pushing through his fear.  It has been really fun watching him become brave.  When he was two he would't even look at a worm and he didn't like to be swung around in a circle.  Now, he'll try anything.

 Our campout got really exciting around 4pm.  Thankfully we had just finished all of the activities and were going to the dining hall to wait for dinner when it started raining hard.  The next four hours proceeded with 70mph straight line winds and torrential down pours.  Most moms and sons got in their cars and left but our little group from Hoover toughed it out.  We decided it was more dangerous to drive on dark windy roads than stay put.  Around 8:30pm another mom and I went to the campsite and took up all the tents (completely soaked and disheveled) wrapped them up with all the stuff in them put them in the car and went to the dining hall to stay the night.  James and I had taken our little backpacking tent and I am proud to say it was the only one standing and our sleeping bags were the only dry ones!  I do not like camping without Josh but I was pretty proud of us for figuring it out.  The night on the concrete floor wasn't preferable and we were really sad we didn't get to sleep in the tent together but it was still fun and I don't think we'll ever forget it.

 The third weekend we headed to Beaver's Bend for our annual extended family campout.  Beaver's Bend is so beautiful and fun, we loved every minute of it.  We are thankful to report that there is nothing to report about this trip!!

 You'd never guess it is Oklahoma would you!

 Kristen McCullom (a friend from church) told me it was on her bucket list to run a 5k (3.1 miles) and asked me to run the Tulsa Run 5k with her.  Those of you who know me well know that I do NOT run.  She asked me at the end of September and the Tulsa Run was October 27th!  For some reason I knew the answer was yes.  I have been going to an intense work out class twice a week since January and I am so glad because I went for a run to see if I could even make it down the street and it felt great.  I was up to three miles after a week.  So, we did the run and finished at a pace of 10.5 min per mile.  We didn't walk at all! Now we are planning to do a 10k in March, I think we might be hooked!

 We have been taking Kinley's training wheels on and off of her bike to try to teach her to ride without them.  The last time we put them back on we had them tipping up a little too much and her bike was really wobbly.  Well she ascended the big hill on our street so she could come sailing down it as she's done 1000 times.  I of course was involved with Mallory and not paying attention to how wobbly she was.  I looked up in time to see her flying down the hill at least 10mph she hit a crack and started wobbling and before I could do anything she flipped over her handlebars and landed on her forehead.  No, she wasn't wearing a helmet, we are terrible parents.  All I know is that God was protecting her because what I saw happen does not match the wound that she has.  I knew we were going to be running to the ER.  I am so thankful it wasn't worse. She is tough as nails and only cried for a minute.  She has been bragging about it to everyone and she is loving the attention. 

I over heard her having a funny conversation with Mallory after the accident.  I had told her that it was my worst nightmare for her to fall off her bike on that hill.  I have dreaded it happening the last 5 years.  Every time any of them are coming down I have to close my eyes because I can't bear to watch. Anyway, we were at McDonald's and the kids climbed to the top of the play place and I made a big deal about how high they were and how brave they were and Kinley said "is this your worst nightmare mom?"  I said "no" and she said "it's my worst nightmare!".  You probably had to be there to think it was as funny as I did.

We had James' parent teacher conference and had our socks blown off.  Mrs. Farrell told us that in her 10+ years of teaching first grade she has never had a child that has not missed one answer in the first quarter of school.  She said not only is he intelligent and a hard worker but he has great comprehension and social skills.  She said he laughs and plays with the kids but is also very smart and attentive.  She gives the kids points for certain good behaviors and takes away points for certain bad behaviors.  James is the points leader by 15 points and looks for ways all day to get as many points as possible.  She said that she thought long and hard about what to tell us he needs to improve on and she couldn't come up with anything.  Of course we know he is great but wow, for someone outside of the family to think so was really fun.  James heard every word she said and was modest about it but I could tell it really scratched his itch to be bragged on.  We'll have to deal with the people pleasing issue down the road but for now we are enjoying his love for the "straight and narrow" and his excitement about school.

September was full of fun!

James started first grade and loves it.  It is much more self motivated and intellectually challenging so he is much more engaged than he was last year.  The teacher is giving points to each student for good behavior and hard work.  He and one other boy are jockeying for most points. I am getting to volunteer in his class again on Wednesday's and I love it. The girls started back to mother's day out and are doing great.

Mallory and Kinley are really enjoying each other.  It is so fun to watch them be sisters.  They LOVE to make each other laugh.  They also love to make each other cry but I'd say they laugh more often.  Mallory has learned to count to 10!  She knows several letters and their sounds.  She loves reading and singing.  I have been dreading the day I have three talkers and it is upon me.  She has just as much to say as the others and to prove it when the big two are talking to me at the same time she'll come up and be louder and repeat what they are saying as if she is coming up with it on her own.

Below she is helping me sew cafe curtains for our new kitchen makeover.  We painted the walls a color that was supposed to be grey but ended up more blue (it is the wall behind her in the pic) and got yellow and white chevron fabric to make curtains.  It turned out ok, not what I was going for but it's cute enough and the most important thing is it is clean and new.  No more fish oil or spaghetti hand prints on the wall!  We also painted the living room and hallway walls ceilings and trim (all the same colors they used to be).  I think I could live here forever now!  

Kinley was playing with these magnetic prince and princess one day when we got winter stickers in the make with a kids magazine subscription offer.  She was putting the winter stickers on their hands and feet and face then I walked by and saw that she took the red "yes" sticker (the only on one the page, the one used for saying yes to the subscription) and put it on the princes privates.  I mean really? ! She is the one that asked when she could get a "sepsy"ring. (Sexy ring which is the opposite of a purity ring)  Lately her ornery things have been to dig in candle wax, play with ceiling fan blades from the bunk beds, pick my gerber daisies, and dig holes in the yard.  Her sweet things have been teaching Mallory how to properly pronounce things, learn to count and say her alphabet.

Josh and I went to Lanai Hawaii Sept 10-17.  We stayed at the Four Seasons Resort.  It was AMAZING.  My favorite part and Josh's third favorite were the cabana boys that brought icy towels, fruit kebobs, salmon wraps, cool mists, and pina coladas!  We went on a 2 hour hike, snorkeled for about 30 minutes, took two sunrise walks, and did nothing the rest of the time.  Below is our view of the sunrise.

This was us at the top of the island after our hike.  We obviously didn't do the view justice but it was breathtaking.

This was the last night at the fancy dinner they have for us.

This is where we ate breakfast everyday.

We officially love Edward Jones trips!  We can't wait for many more years of free travel!

James also FINALLY (he and Josh have been looking forward to it for three years) started Cub Scouts.  This is him shooting his first BB gun and bow at the Scouting Fall Festival.  He is completely enthralled with everything scouting.  In two weeks he and I go on the Mom and Me campout.  I'll let you know how it goes without daddy.

I love Kinley's face!  We babysat Levi and Ezra for 4 days while their parents were in Dallas.  I love that we can do five to serve our friends but I love that I don't have five under 7 all the time.  You moms of many have my deepest respect!

This tickles my heart!