Just some things...

I'm kind of sleepy and I don't really feel up to writing anything that requires great thought, so here are just some random things from this week.

• Tonight my mom made her manicotti.  It is amazing and takes me right back to childhood.  I now just have to convince her to give up the recipe.  She keeps that one under lock and key:) 

• Rosie has fallen out of her bed almost every night since we've been gone.  How/when does your body learn to stay put in a bed?  She also fell down the stairs!  It was the most terrifying thing ever, but she's a-okay...whew! 

The stairs she fell down :(

• Been thinking and praying for all of those affected by Hurricane Sandy.  The pictures from the aftermath have been nuts! 

• We are now a 100% "Apple" family.  I love apple products.  We have an iMac, a Macbook, an ipad, 2 ipods, 3 shuffles (including the one I lost) and Mark has an iphone.  I just couldn't give up my android phone.  The "Swype" texting feature on android phones is the best thing that ever happened to me.  (If you have it, you know what I mean.)  Anyway, I knew that I was not as cool as everyone else, and I had learned to accept it.  Then, we had a bit of a "Gift of the Magi" type thing happen.  Stephen had decided to surprise my dad with an Iphone 5 for his birthday and, coincidentally, my dad decided to get himself an iphone 5 for his birthday.  I guess it's not really a "Gift of the Magi" type thing, but, close enough.  Long story short, there was an extra iphone floating around and I ended up buying it.  I like it and all, but I'm definitely mourning the loss of swype in my life.  If you have it, don't take it for granted.  It could be taken from you in an instant.  

• Yesterday at Target, Monroe saw a box with a pumpkin on it.  She brought it over to me, and said, "Mommy, I want to buy this for you."  (She knows I love pumpkins.)  It was a box of Kraft mac and cheese, but I thought it was so sweet and thoughtful.  

• The girls are going to be honey bees for Halloween.  I tried their costumes on them last night and they were beyond excited. 

• Mark flies in tomorrow (as long as his flight doesn't get cancelled)!  I can't wait to see him.  Did I mention it is his birthday?!!!  Both him and my dad share a birthday, so we are going to party pretty hardy tomorrow.  

• Tomorrow I'm getting my teeth cleaned.  For some reason, I always get nervous when it's that time.  I guess it's kind of like when you clean before the cleaning lady comes because I've been brushing and flossing like crazy! 

• Kiki is becoming a big girl right before my eyes.  Anything that Rosie does, Kiki has to do.  If I curl Rosie's hair, Kiki crawls up into the chair and waits for me to curl hers.  If I put lip gloss on Rosie, Kiki begs until I put it on her.  It's pretty hilarious.  She's also trying out some new words and has started hugging, which hadn't been her thing.  I'm really enjoying it all.  My favorite new thing she's trying out is her praying.  She folds her hands and starts babbling away.  It's precious.

A few pictures from this week...

Wigging Out

Little known fact, my Mom taught high school drama for years and has a whole closet devoted just to costumes.  Are you looking for a sombrero or a police hat?  What about a feather boa or a clown suit?Well, you've come to the right place.  We had so much fun scrounging through it the other night.  The wigs were definitely the best part.

The closet.  It's filled to the brim! 

I wish I could have gotten a good picture of her.  She looked HILARIOUS, but she does not like wigs. 

We, on the other hand, LOVE WIGS! 

If you ever wondered what I would look like as a Golden Girl, your dreams have come true.  

Cousins are forever

Yesterday, we met Tami and Kamryn at Starbucks and then walked over to Kamryn's school playground to play for a bit.  The girls hadn't seen each other in forever, so they had so much fun getting reacquainted.  I loved watching them play.  

Alumni Weekend

So, I need to backtrack a little.  I never got a chance to blog about the first few days we spent in Oklahoma, before we headed to KC.  We had been wanting to take this trip for quite some time, so when Mark was asked to speak for the Tulsa Adventist Academy Alumni weekend, we knew we had to do it.  It had been too long since we had been home for an extended amount of time.  We arrived in Tulsa on Friday afternoon.  The girls were beyond excited to see Nana and Papa and I think the feeling was pretty mutual.  Mark needed to finish up his sermon, so we just stuck at home that evening and Dad brought us in some vegeburgers and fries from Freddy's.  We love Freddy's.  I somehow got roped into doing the children's story for church at the last minute, so I worked on that, as well.  Stephen and Michelle came over and we just spent some quality family time.  It was wonderful.

On Saturday, we headed to church.  It was a little weird being back, but it was so nice to see everyone. Mark did an awesome job.  I was so proud of him!  I tried to discreetly take a picture of him while he was preaching and this was what I came up with.  Yes, I'm very talented:).

We visited my Mumsie in the afternoon and then went to the church bonfire/hayride.  It was something we always enjoyed when we lived in Tulsa, so it was fun to be back.  They added roasted corn on the cob this year, and that was a wonderful addition.  Kiki and Rosie devoured 1 1/2 ears each.  They also had root beer for the first time and you can consider them fans.   My friend Allison, made the drive up for the weekend, so that was a real treat.  My parents took the girls back home to put them to bed after the hayride so Mark, Allison, John (Allison's cousin and a former student), Stephen, Michelle and I went to our old favorite, IHOP, for waffles and wonderful conversation.  It felt good to laugh really hard.

 Mark took a few pics on his phone of Rosie trying root beer.  

Somehow, this kid got a hold of a bottle!  It was empty, except for a few drops, but she sure loved those drops.  

I brought my camera to take tons of pictures of all of our former students and I only got one picture with one of my old coworkers.  Typical me:(

I did steal one picture off of facebook that one of my students Paige posted from the hayride.  I just love that girl and couldn't be prouder of the young woman she's grown into.  

KC Wrap-up

The rest of our visit in KC was wonderful.  On Tuesday, Mom and Dad took the girls ALL day, so Mark and I could have some kid-free time.  It was so nice.  We went shopping, and shopping, and then we did a little more shopping.  We actually hit three different mall areas!  Carlos, Andrea and Avie met us for part of the time, so that made it extra fun.  We ate at Cheesecake Factory, so that was just icing on the cake.

On Wednesday, we all took the girls to Cabellas to look at the animals.  It was a lovely day, so we grilled and played outside for awhile.  Here are a few pictures from our Cabella's excursion...

Kiki thought this was pretty amazing

Rosie, loving on Memaw

Kiki was pretty intrigued by it all.

Trying to climb in for a closer look. 

So good hanging out with Grandma.  

Kiki loved the deer! 

Rosie wasn't as impressed.

Love this one!

And this one!

She saw this shark and said, "I miss Mitchell!"

Shark Talk 

My girls are close.   

Fish peeping 

So proud of herself. 

Early Thursday morning, Mark flew home to North Carolina and we hit the road back to Oklahoma.  We were so glad to get the chance to spend some time there.  We are already looking forward to our next visit!   

Farm Visit

Today was so fun!  Mark's parents took us to Deanna Farmstead.  It's the most incredible place.  They have so many great activities for kids.  They have a ton of animals, a little school house, you can ride horses, feed goats, go fishing...you name it, they've got it.  The girls had a blast.  They loved it when Avie joined in the fun later in the afternoon.  True to form, I took way too many pictures.

The girls with Memaw and Papa

Enjoying some quality time

 I was pretty impressed with her smiley face!  

 Panning for gold

 See Rosie in action:) 

Kiki LOVED the goats

Rosie meet Rosie

 My babies

This was a hard task for Kiki, as she was fighting the goat for some of that milk.  

Those goats are greedy!

 Tractor Races!  Kiki won by a hair.

Tractor Time

Family Picture Take 1 

 Take 2

Take 3 

 Butterfly 

Glad you're here, Avie! 

Avie and her daddy

The girls 

I think this is so sweet! 

Someone's getting sleepy.

This is up there with one of my favorite pictures of all time.  I asked Mark to take a picture of me and my sweet girls.  This is what we got:)  

The Motts 

Avie Baby 

Eating Rocks

The guys 

Mark tried to get Avie to warm up to him...

I think it went pretty well.

I had to throw one flower picture in for good measure.  

They may fight, but they've got each other's back no matter what.

While we were at the farm, grandma was busy making us an amazing lunch.  She prepared her famous Potato Pie and I can assure you, it didn't disappoint.  So good!  Thank you, grandma!

The girls are having a hard time getting used to sleeping in the same room.  They would much rather play, scream, laugh, jump, etc.  It's been a bit aggravating, especially since they are SO TIRED.  Hopefully, the novelty will start to wear off soon.  They are wearing this momma kind of thin!