Playground Fun

We are enjoying this weather lately! There is a great playground set just outside our apartment building that the kids love to play in. Michael took these fun pictures of the kids with his phone tonight. Piper has amazed me this summer! She has really come a long way since the beginning of the summer in so many areas. She loves the water now, she'll pet a few animals, and she'll swing high on a big girl swing and go down all kinds of slides! Those are huge steps for her and I'm so glad she has found joy in these fun activities! Tonight, we could tell Briggs is going to be totally opposite and without fear! Hmmmm, that worries me a bit! He was willing to leap off the slide without a second thought. Michael had to catch him!! Our new house has a neighborhood playground area similar to this and it is very close to our house! I know we will be enjoying it!

Our Little Ballerina

Piper and Koria
Piper with her ballet instructor and other dancers
Posing at home...(she's making a silly face!)
The dancers with their class assistant.
Piper is our little ballerina! She loves taking ballet class and has been doing so for a couple of months now. Of course, the day they take pictures in class would be the day she and I battled over which leotard she was going to wear and she won the battle to wear the long sleeve leotard in which the sleeves are too short on her arms! ha! Oh well! I still haven't found any tights for her to wear that are not saggy on her legs! She's given up on me finding any. At first she kept asking when am I getting tights and she hasn't asked in a while! I'm lacking in this ballet mom thing! It has been so foreign to me. I never took any kind of dance growing up! Piper's teacher has probably had a few laughs over the questions I asked in the beginning! ha! She really wants to grow her hair long so we have been working on that. She'll have a bun for ballet soon! The other day Briggs pulled her hair (which is a problem we have with him!) and through her tears she dramatically says, "Stop it Briggs. I want my hair to be long!" She is very passionate about the long hair!! Piper looks forward to class each week and does not think it lasts long enough! But, she does not want to tell us what she does during class or show us what she has learned! The moms have to sit outside in the hall during class and can look through the glass but it is a little distracting to the girls so I try not to look in there too often. They are practicing a dance to the Christmas song, "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas..." in order to prepare for a 'showing' they will have at Christmas time. I don't know if 'showing' is the correct word, but I was told it was not a recital! Ha--like I mentioned earlier, I have no idea about the dance world and I'm still learning!! I'm so glad she has the opportunity to enjoy this!

What a great day!

We got to see some special friends in Ardmore today! Piper and Claire were reunited once again and I think you can tell by the looks on their faces they had a pretty good time together!Claire's sister, Cate, enjoyed having us there too!
We also got to see our friend, Katie, briefly. Piper even saw Katie's brother and sister. She's in love with Katie's older brother! I'm sure I'll be hearing a lot of pretending the next few days and one of our pretend friends for the day will be Garrett! ha!
We also were able to see several other friends at the park to play! I visited with some of my friends as well! There was an entire list of people I wanted to see but time flies and you can't see everybody! I felt so at home being in Ardmore! Piper was on cloud 9 the entire day and Briggs just went with the flow! We'll have to visit again and stay the night!
The main purpose of going to Ardmore was to give Oscar to his new permanent family! A sweet friend from college offered to take Oscar in temporarily after I pleaded for him to go live with someone else while we were in the apartment. She and her family took great care of him! We are so appreciative! While he was staying there, a family from Ardmore decided they wanted him and we felt it was best for Oscar to go live there! He gets to live on a farm and run free with 2 other dogs. There are 7 kids to play with these dogs! It's 3 separate families that live on this farm and one of them is a vet! I received an email from the mother tonight and she said Oscar wore himself out in the barn and went straight to his crate and crashed! The children seemed so excited to get another dog. I'm excited for him to live there. I think he'll love it!!
Now, the next item on the agenda...packing up this apartment and moving into our new house!!!

Mexico 2011

For about a year now, we have been talking about taking a 30/40 trip. A trip to celebrate my 30th birthday and my sister's 40th birthday. So we've been hounding our husbands about it and they act like they don't have time or money to do that so we just kind of drop it. And, when we think it's not going to happen, these little stinkers surprise us with a trip to Cabo! It just happened to fall on the week of my sister's 40th birthday which was perfect and I guess they've been planning this for some time! Now, a little back story on this entire adventure...When they sat us down, to surprise us-they make us think we are going to Amarillo, TX for a weekend at the Best Western Spa. Pretty sure Best Western and spa don't go together and we, as in Sheryl and I, were about to freak out. The silent kind of freaking out. I thought Sheryl was going to break down and bawl at the thought of going to Amarillo. I was just dying thinking about having to stay at the Best Western! Ha! No, I'm not a hotel snob, but I do have some cleanliness standards and the last time I was around a Best Western, my standards were not met!! Anyway, the little pranksters only led us to believe that little lie for about 5 minutes before revealing the truth! Whew!It was very relaxing which was exactly what I needed!

We went to this swanky restaurant on Sheryl's actual birthday. It overlooked the Sea of Cortez and we could see the famous Cabo Rocks...Los Arcos. This was our one and only venture away from the resort. We took it real easy while we were there!
Below, is the view from dinner every night at our resort.
We didn't really play in the ocean. The tides were a bit dangerous and it was pretty rocky. The pool view was perfect for me!
It wasn't all fun and games though. Trebor and Sheryl got a little sick. Michael had something but it didn't stop him. It hit me after we got home. Poor Trebor; poor, poor Trebor. He had it bad! But, he was a good sport despite all the jokes that were made!
The night before her birthday we went to the hotel's 'upscale' restaurant. It was not that impressive but they did give her a birthday dessert. Notice they spelled her name 'Sherry', not 'Sheryl'! ha!

Los Arcos


This was the sunset by the swanky restaurant on her birthday. Beautiful!

This was our resort...the Westin, not Best Western!
See the crab!
I have no idea where the 40/50 trip will be but for our 50/60 trip we are going to Barcelona because the Sagrada Familia should be completed that year and I've been claiming that since I was 25!
I am so thankful to our husbands for surprising us! I thoroughly enjoyed it and relaxed. I even read 4 books!!! 4!! I don't get 4 read in one year usually! I did miss our kids. It was our first time to be out of the country as a mom and dad and my first time away from Briggs more than 2 nights. I knew they were in good hands though at Grammy's! She was pooped after it was all said and done though! 2 kids is a lot of work! Thank you Grammy and Papa John!!!! Piper was so thrilled to see me. She told me she loved me about 100 times over the course of 2 days and shortly after she saw me she said, 'Mommy, I love you. I love you Mommy. I forgot that I loved you!" haha! So cute. Briggs wasn't so sure what was going on but he's glad to have me back. I can tell he is very leery of me leaving again b/c when we have been around my sister or new people this week, he hasn't strayed away from me too far and he keeps a close watch on me the entire time to make sure I don't slip out! Today, at church he bawled and bawled when I left him. It was so sad b/c he never does that!

Zoo Friends

We went to the zoo last week with our friends Renna and Reagan. Their mom, Mendy, and I were roommates and friends in college...and friends in high school too but didn't know each other really well then. Anyway, we all are aware of Piper's fear of animals. But she had a HUGE breakthrough at the zoo this week!! She wanted to pet a goat and she did! She even fed the goat! Not only that, but she asked to go back and do it again and believe me, I let her! We had a fun time! This was our second time to go w/Mendy and the girls. The weather has been beautiful both times! We need to get us a zoo pass...great idea for Briggs for his birthday if anyone is wondering. Ha! Briggs didn't really care about touching the goats. See the one finger he's touching them with. Mendy had to force him to use his entire hand and he did not smile about it! I really do not blame him. Goats are gross! ha!
Piper loves the monkeys/gorillas. They are all monkeys to her! She wants to hold the baby and doesn't quite understand why we cannot! See, I'm telling you she is beginning to open up about the animals. But, she still doesn't really want to be around dogs!
At first, she was really cautious about being in with the goats. She was even telling Renna and Reagan not to do touch this and touch that until she warmed up to it all.
The OKC zoo is so nice and has improved so much over the years. You can go to a seal show, an elephant show, play on various playgrounds, see the animals, feed the giraffes, and there is a petting zoo (where the goats are) of farm animals. When I went to this zoo in college and as a kid the big animals, like the elephants, were always chained up. Now, they have a great place to roam and the animals are not as caged up. It's soooo much nicer!


And, we are still biting our nails...Any suggestions???
The girls had so much fun on the frog statues!
Reagan was loving on Briggs. Cute!

11 Months

This little guy is almost One and I'm not ready for that! Briggs is what many might call, a dream baby! Sure, we've had a few rough moments...illnesses, teething, restless nights-but, his overall attitude and joy more than makes up for that hard stuff! He is a go-with-the-flow kind of kid and I really like that! I took him to the doctor 2 weeks ago because I thought he might have an ear infection--nope! But, I did find out he weighs 25 lbs! Big kid! That is why we are moving him on up to the forward facing big boy car seat you see above. He seemed pretty excited about it too! Sister was even more excited because she is the one who is actually getting a new seat--a high back booster seat and she thinks she is B-I-G!! Briggs is eating well which I'm sure you could have guessed that. He isn't a fan of mashed potatoes and doesn't really enjoy having the same thing over and over. For example, he will not eat baked chicken for 3 meals in a row even if I change everything else up on his plate. He had kind of a scary choking spell last month so I'm still cutting everything smaller than I probably need to but it does not hurt anything to do that. He's pulling up and just barely will 'walk' while we hold both of his hands. He squeals quite loudly especially if he is excited and sees his daddy! He can say mama, but only in times of extreme distress and he says dada or didi or dahhhdi all for 'daddy' and the only other thing we can make out so far is 'hiiiiiii' which is very airy and 'hidah' which we think must be 'hi' or some other form of baby greeting in his world! He babbles a lot and he moves his tongue side to side really fast while making noise and thinks it is so funny! He has not had a hair cut yet but it's time for the back of his hair to be trimmed b/c he's growing a groovy looking rat-tail mullet thing! Briggs sleeps from about 7:30/8-7/7:30 most mornings and is about to be on whole milk! This little baby is turning into a little toddler too fast!

Our Summer in Review

This summer has been crazy, fun, busy, emotional, and full of great friends and family! We moved in July into a fully furnished apartment in Yukon after Michael started a new job with Mathena, Inc in El Reno. We are going to be moving once again at the end of September to Edmond in the Deer Creek School district where we found a house! Let the craziness continue! The apartment life is not for me! We are cramped up and I really don't know how people in London or New York City, etc. live in such small spaces with small children! Piper and Briggs are sharing a room and it hasn't been horrible but I would rather them be in their own room. Piper loves sharing a room though and I think she may have a hard time with being separated once we move again. Briggs adores her!
We have gotten to play with Lilly and Sophia a few times this summer since we live closer! We have also gotten to play with other friends here in the Metro and taken advantage of the zoo and so many other cool things a bigger city offers! That has been nice. Piper is already a mall rat! ha! And, we have seen all 3 sets of grandparents at some point this summer!

Yukon had free concerts in the park and the one cooler night this summer we went and it was so much fun! Their city park is wonderful and of course our little dancers loved listening and dancing to the music!
Our Ardmore friends, Carsyn and Connor came for a couple of visits this summer. We had a fun time with them. It was good for Piper to enjoy that familiarity!
Sophia really loves Briggs! Ha!




Piper drew on herself and it made her look like she had whiskers! Look at that sweet face!...and her tan!
And, I couldn't resist this sour face!
We are doing well despite all the adjusting! We've tried out some churches but haven't gotten connected since we'll just be moving again. I think once we move into our house and start getting involved Piper is going to do so much better. She hasn't done bad but it's been tough for her to have so much change and busyness all at once! Briggs doesn't have a clue anything is different! I did enroll Piper in a ballet class so that has been something she looks forward to every week. I'll post a picture of her soon! We love being so much closer to my sister and we see her and the kids often! Michael is loving his new job and the environment!