The Cheezy-est!!

One of the memories I will cherish forever are the times I spent with my Grandparents. Both my Dad's parents and my Mom's. As a child, I would get to spend the night with them every once-in-a-while, and it was always so much fun! I remember a few of my favorite things about spending the night with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Louise:
~ sitting next to her in her sewing room watching her whip something up for me or my favorite doll, Kristen. In no time she would grab some scrap pieces of fabric and make my doll a lacy dress, complete with a matching bonnet. Maybe a pair of pajamas and a blankie. One night we made fabric photo album covers. Another time mop dolls. Throw pillows for my bed, sheets and blankets for my baby doll cribs. If I dreamed it, she could make it.
~ I remember the first time I ever watched a Miss America pageant... it was with my Grandma and girl cousins.
~ spending time playing in her beautiful backyard, especially the overgrown secret spot in the back corner.
~ sitting and talking about Cabbage Patch Kids or my sticker collection, or whatever it was I was collecting or interested in at the time. She always loved to listen and seemed just as excited about it all as I was.
~ sleeping in her dreamy guest bedroom, with the overhead light dimmed all the way down. I thought that light dimmer was the coolest thing! And her guest bed was the most comfy ~and beautiful~ bed you could imagine! Grandpa would always come in to tuck me in... his button up shirt unbuttoned, white t-shirt showing, no glasses on. I don't know why that has always stuck with me. He would tighten the sheets and get the covers just so.
~but BEST of all ~ BEST of ALL!! Was Grandma's grilled cheese sandwiches. It doesn't matter who, how, what, when, where, etc. etc. etc. NO ONE can make a grilled cheese taste as good as my Grandma can Every time I have ever grilled a cheese sandwich for my kids, I always tell them about my Grandma's grilled cheeses and how they are the BEST ever!

So... now that my kids are old enough that they will remember it... I invited us over to Grandma's house for lunch. Grilled cheese lunch. It was a precious time spent together. Grandpa and I helped Grandma make her famous sandwiches. The kids now know, first hand, what I'm bragging about. They loved... I loved...

It was a yummo lunch. Complete with Grandpa pulling out a book full of copies of family wills written back in the late 1500's, and Grandma pulling out a few photo albums. Ahhh, life is good when you have your Grandma and Grandpa around










And here is a picture of the sewing room in which we spent many hours together




And one of the mop dolls we made. Still hangs on the wall.



And THIS is the amazing guest bed I was talking about~ see what I mean! Isn't it dreamy!?!? Absolutely beautiful. And everything seen here was handmade by Grandma, of course.



And here they are... saying "so long" in they way they always have. Watching and waving from the porch until we are out of sight.

Ree ~ P.W.

I am soooo not admitting to the fact that I am a Pioneer Woman groupie. It would hurt my pride too much. But if I were to admit it.... nah.... I'll just say this instead: I love the Pioneer Woman. I mean, I love her blog! I love her blog. She is so funny, an amazing cook, photographer, momma, and she even home schools her 4 kids. Lives on a huge ranch in Oklahoma, not too far from Tulsa. In a lot of ways she is so similar to what I remember of my own Momma and our life growing up.

This Pioneer Woman is another lady in my little list that makes me proud to be an Okie Momma!

Check it out at www.thepioneerwoman.com. She not only has thousands and thousands of blog followers and fans, she just released a cookbook. And her first stop on the book-signing tour was Tulsa! Eeek! Guess what girl had to get a group of friends together for a Girls Night Out on Tuesday!?!?! Meeee! Oh my goodness... it was so much fun. And we barely got a cookbook for her to sign. We got there an hour early, but so did a bunch of other gals. By the time my friends and I purchased our cookbooks, there were only about 30 left.

She is lovely. Humble. Down to earth. Beautiful. Real. And a great cook! Tonight I used her homemade pizza crust recipe for our family pizza/Survivor night. Tomorrow I'm making her Penne A La Betsy (pasta, shrimp, tomato sauce, heavy cream, butter). Okay... so I love the book. Love that I got to meet her and hear her speak. Love that I was able to get her signature in my cookbook.
But might not love the fact that I'll need to start back on an exercise regimen if I'm gonna use her beautiful new cookbook to feed my family.

The only "personal question" that she didn't answer from the audience is how much butter she goes through in a week. Ha!

Bryson Pulled His 1st Tooth!

I swear!!! Just wiggled his teeth not more than a month ago, and none of his teeth were even loose! But tonight, with the help of a sour dough roll from Panera Bread Co. (yeah... that explains it... I know) (it probably wasn't even loose at all), he lost his first tooth.

He took a bite out of that crusty roll... you know... that kind of boyish-preditorial sort of bite... like a dinosaur or a tiger would tear away at something tough they were trying to devour...
Yeah, it was that kind of bite. And it almost popped his tooth totally out. He chewed, swallowed, looked at me, and said "Mommy, I think my tooth is loose!?!?"

Bryson wiggled it. Alan and I both wiggled it too. That little tooth was hanging by a thread. We told him that when we got home, he could pull it. Needless to say... he was hurrying us along in our own devouring of soups and crusty sour dough rolls. He was very excited to pull his first tooth!

And he did! On his own! It took him a few minutes, but he got it out. He asked me if the tooth fairy could leave him $5 instead of only $1. I told him "No!" and then tucked him in bed! Hee Hee... nice try buddy! Maybe that's what you were after all along! And I thought it was about the tooth.

"And I will l-i-v-e e-t-e-r-n-a-l-l-y!"

Selah made one of the most important decisions for her life today. She was baptized by her Daddy and her Unkie James. In Papa's pond. And there was much rejoicing!!! (yeah!)

This summer at camp she spent an evening talking to James about baptism. I sat back and watched them sitting... in the dark... on the tennis courts. I was praying for her. I love that girl! She is such a neat kid.... I know we all think that about our kids.... but really. She is special!
Alan and I have also been able to spend time talking with her and explaining what it means to decide and choose to be a Christian. To live her life for the Lord. That night at camp she told James that she was going to keep thinking about it and would let us know when she was ready. She is only 7 years old (which, to be honest, I have always thought was too young of an age to grasp that kind of commitment). But she really does "get it". She is a pretty serious kid, very analytical and thorough in her decision making. She is wise for her age, and is such a good-hearted little girl! [Almost] always striving to do what is right. She understands it, and she thinks quite a lot about God and Christianity.

On Thursday evening she said "Mommy... I want to get baptized tomorrow."
We talked about it a little more, and she said she "wanted to get baptized in Papa's pond because it would be unique." Friday would have been much too cold, so we waited until Saturday. Grandparents were there, and Aunt Lydia too. The water was cold, but she only smiled the whole time. Never complained... even after the fact. She was very happy! And of course so was I!
My Dad had a heater running in the bathroom in the house, and the bath water was already ready and warm too. As I was helping her take her bath she said to me "I'm so glad I did it here! It's special, plus I would have been embarrassed in front of all those people at church."
She also asked me if I thought Grandma Vicki was watching and was happy. I told her that I'm quite sure Grandma was dancing and singing with the angels in heaven!

It was very special! I'm so proud of her!

Kid Cam

Every once in a while, when I download pics from my camera, I get a few surprise pics. The kids will notice the camera sitting on the desk... and you know how kid fingers are! They see... they touchy-touchy! And I'm cool with that... they need to have the opportunity to create and be artistic ~ with a camera.

Well... maybe not so much "art"... since I do limit the distance of the camera cord. But hey... at least they are learning.


Yes, he was taking these pics of himself with the camera upside down... thought that was pretty cool!



Charis taking a picture of Selah... can you tell what she's doing? Playing poker with the family, but leaving her cards face down so noone can see them. She's looking up at her cards from the bottom side of the table. Inventive, eh?





Can you guess? The work of Charis. It's the front load washer spinning a load of clothes. Hmmmmmm. Okay... whatever...




Yeah... I don't know... but it's fun. Must've been Bryce at it again...



Charis in on the action... in her own way. Bryce and Selah shootin' hoops.



Heeey... who snapped this one???? Bryce... lil' booger.



And the infamous self portrait. Nothing amazing or creative ~ except those 2 PEOPLE smiling there!!!



And one more of these because I think it's so hilarious! So beware!!! Be on the lookout!!! You never know when some little someone might snap your picture when you least expecting it.

Only The First Time...

Charis. Love. A boy. Kiss. White Dress. Flowers. Marriage. Bliss.

She's so interested in this thing called "Luv"

Not in a crazy grown-up weird way. In a healthy way, actually. She adores the bride in the white dress. She pays attention to people holding hands and kissing. She wants to know about getting married, and staying married. It has been a great opportunity to teach her, guide her, and answer some questions for her. We don't tease her about it, and we don't make a big deal about it. It's cute. She's soakin' it all in.


She was so excited to be a flower girl in Tyler and Tara's wedding. I've known Tyler since he was 4. His family is very special to me. Selah was his sister's flower girl, and Charis got to be his flower girl. She was so excited to wear that pretty white gown, and walk down that isle! And she did great.




Tara looked beautiful! Like a Barbie doll. I pray the best for her and Tyler as they start this crazy fun thing called 'life' together.



The ring bearer was adorable. And he was quite smitten with Charis. Oh my goodness, it was the cutest thing to watch. And she knew it... and liked it... but played the roll of a girl... she didn't let him in on it.

They played and goofed off together and had a great time. At the reception, Cyrus came over to our table, walked up to Charis, and said "I am only gonna come over here and ask you this one time, but do you wanna dance with me?" (okay... it was seriously, the CUTEST thing I have ever witnessed! He was like a little man!! I would have danced with him! He was nervous, but confident, and very serious!)
She told him "no." and continued to play with her bag of candy corn. He walked away. I looked at Alan with droopy eyes... he just gave a smirky nod, as if to say "that's right! go away, boy!"
Poor little guy. I felt so bad for him. His parents told us that he kept asking to come over, so they finally let him come ask her to dance. They were laughing and apologizing at the same time. It was so sweet and innocent, but so cute! And Charis was such "the girl!" Playin' hard-to-get. Okay. I know... they're 4 years old! It was innocent and sweet.

I can just close my eyes and see that girl in 20 years... this was only the first time she'll be dressed in a white gown... under the twinkly lights... 'cept she'll say "yes" to that boy when he asks her to dance.

Someone please pass me the remote control. I need to press pause. It's going by way too fast.

ps. I would like to add that my husband... her Daddy... eventually "felt" for the boy too. While people were dancing, Cyrus came over to Charis again... (I was standing by his Dad at the time, and his Dad whispered "don't break his heart again!") (and we laughed... watched... and waited)... he asked Charis to dance one more time... and lo-and-behold!!! HER DADDY held all their hands for a group dance. If he ever denies it ~which he already is~ I have proof. ;-)

Pumpkin Patch with Kiddos

Today we had play date at the Owasso Pumpkin Patch with some good friends! The kids frolicked (uh... am I getting old or what?!?!? I don't think I've EVER used that word before now) in the pumpkin patch, had fun running through the maze, pushed each other in the wheel barrow, and even spent time plucking "sea weed" from the nearby pond. My favorite parts... Selah finding a tiny pumpkin and pretending she was eating a "pumpkin muffin".... and Bryson dribbling his soccer ball through all the pumpkins. Oh... and of course... the cute pics of my boo-tiful babies!

Happy Fall Y'all! It is here!

I Heart Being A Mommy!!!

I really do! It's the sweetest thing ever. And speaking of sweets.... that runs a close 2nd. I heart sweets too! :-)