Sand and Sun

Saturday was Abigail's softball team, the Pink Crush's final game of the season, a make-up game from earlier in the season. Despite Abs being in Oklahoma, Jon as Assistant Coach attended the final game. Following the game, the team concluded the season with a celebration at Life's a Beach. Most of the girls will still be eligible for 8U in Fall ball.

Trip to Broken Arrow

Abigail and I made a quick trip up to Oklahoma for Candy Man's funeral. We were able to visit Pawpa & Mimi, my mom & Mr. Bob, and Granny & Donnie. Despite the circumstances, it was a good visit and we were able to see lots of friends and family. One of the neatest blessings was since it was Candy Man's funeral, a lot of Frankie's friends came in with their spouses, children etc. Lots of hugs!

Pretty in Pink

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Tonight Abs had her final ball game. I of course took my new camera, and now have more photos of this one game than the entire season! Abs played catcher for two innings and then short stop the last two. She had two at bats, one double and a single. She had a fantastic out backing up third base. The photo of her with the serious look, holding her batting helmet, is her 'game face.' Brother always has a game face photo, so this is hers! Oh, yes they lost, but worse than that, someone forgot snacks!

Movie Day

Tuesday, Jon took the day off to play with us. We spent the morning doing little projects like changing out light fixtures, installing new toilet paper holders, all those riveting projects that go along with being a responsible homeowner. . . blah! After lunch we went to the $1 theater for 1/2 price Tuesdays, and saw Horton Hears a Who! It was very cute. Since Horton was Abigail's choice but the big kids wanted to see the new Indiana Jones movie, we then went over to Studio Movie Grill and enjoyed dinner and the latest archaeological adventures of Professor Jones in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It had a couple of freaky parts for Abigail, but she seemed to enjoy snuggling on Dad's lap!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day, the day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. While in Tulsa, Jon & the kids visited the Floral Haven and saw his dad’s flag. They also visited Granddaddy, and Janice dad, Wallace’s plots. We have always enjoyed taking the children out to Floral Haven over Memorial Day weekend for their Decoration Day ceremonies. May God bless our men and women in service and the families who love them. You are our heroes! This is my Grandaddy on his ship in the Philippines.

Kirkwood Visit

The kids enjoyed a football game at Granny & Donnie's home. Apparently, Abigail & Jess got in a little javelin toss. Then, there were breaks on the front porch blowing bubbles! Uncle Bob flew up from Houston, and the boys drove in from Pryor. Oh, and today is our anniversary! 18 years of wedded bliss! Jon brought roses and a card, and then handed me my new camera, again!

I love you, Jon!

BJ's Graduation

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Can you believe it, BJ graduated! Wow, do I feel old! Jon & I were there the night he was born in Claremore, OK. Hopefully he's off to play a little college ball! Best Wishes honey, we're so proud of you!!
Uncle Jon & Aunt Lisa

18 years of Wedded Bliss

Tonight Jon surprised me with my anniversary gift, a Canon Powershot. Our actual anniversary isn't until Sunday, but with BJ's graduation this weekend he wanted me to have it early. The perfect 'mom' gift complete with optic zoom, image stabilizer, face recognition, 9 mega pixels and lots more tech-no-geek options!!!! Isn't he sweet!

Take Me Out to the Ballpark

Yet another night of baseball games and softball practice. Again that means Mom goes with Caleb and Dad goes with Abigail (he's her coach). Fortunately, it doesn't happen too often but every now and then! Here's a quick photo I shot before we all headed off different directions!

Hawaiian Falls Home School Day

We love home schooling!!! Sunday the kids did their school work so that on Monday we could go to Hawaiian Falls Home School Day. We had a wonderful time. The kids went down every slide including the Maui Express, Monsoon, Typhoon, Cyclone, the Honolulu Lulu, the Waikiki Wipeout and the Hawaiian Halfpipe!

The Waikiki Wipeout was a 65-foot high free fall body slide that takes riders through a tunnel and over the edge, Abigail was the first to go down it! We even did the Hawaiian Halfpipe, a two-person over-the-edge inner-tube-ride that propels you straight-up, then backwards from a 40-foot drop!

Most of them they went down multiple times! We also spent alot of time in the wave pool, Breaker Bay. It was perfect for body surfing, inner tubing, swimming, and cooling off, at least that's what the sign said!

Home School Picnic

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Our annual home school group's picnic was this weekend. The children enjoyed track and field games. Abigail took first place in the long jump for her age division. Caleb & Abigail both walked away with a handful of ribbons. The children also participated in Kids Biz, where each youth runs their own both and they sell their wares. Abigail melted crayons into shapes and sold them. Caleb ran a bean bag toss. Frankie enjoyed dog-sitting Padme' & Sweetums. We finished up with a lovely picnic dinner. There were approximately 200 home schoolers.

Spring Cleaning

With the school year winding down, we took a little time on Tuesday to get some spring cleaning done. The girls and I cleaned the windows, inside and out. Padme' enjoyed the hosing down of the outside windows.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a lovely day. Beautiful hand made cards, Home Depot projects, church classroom color pages and more! Sunday afternoon they all did lawn work with Dad, while I finished up the VBS scripts. Caleb mowed while the girls weeded in the vegetable garden and Jon trimmed!

Saturday Ball Games

Caleb had a ball game last night and Abigail had a ball game this afternoon. Her Pink Crush team played against the Blue Crush team. The Blue Crush as alot of her old team mates from last years. The girls enjoyed a very close game. This is a great shot, Jon took while coaching 1st base, of Abigail at bat.

Arlington Book Fair

This weekend was the Arlington Book Fair. Imagine 132 vendors over 48,600 square feet all trying to sell you their curriculum! On top of that, there's 38,500 square feet broken up into conference and lecture rooms! And they still had vendors lined up in the hallways! A little overwhelming to new homeschoolers but nirvana to us veterans! Oh the books, books, books, MP3 files, CDs, DVD, computer programs, hard drives, and video professors! Donna & Richard joined Caleb and I on our quest for the ultimate 3rd & 6th grade curriculum. Caleb met Ms. Vick who was his 2nd grade Heritage Studies & Math teacher for his Bob Jones satellite classes.

Flowers & Friends

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Ms. Carina taught our class this month about flowers! We learned about the parts of a flower through creative crafts including painting flower pots and making flowers out of vegetables. We also weeded two of the flower beds that line the entry to the church building. We filled one bed with beautiful perennials!

Scarborough Renaissance Festival

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We joined Ian and Seth and their parents on a day of mirth, music & merriment at the Scarborough Renaissance Festival! It was the perfect foggy, rainy, medieval day! Frankie, enjoyed the monster museum. Caleb loved the bungee jumping, or knight training! The turkey legs were Abigail's favorite. We all loved the jousting, and weapons demonstrations. There was so much to do. The best part was sharing it with our friends!

Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo! We had a little celebration, nothing big, just some enchiladas, chips & salsa, etc. The children ran around and played!

Dwight David Eisenhower's Home

Following morning services, we drove to Denison, Texas to see the birthplace of Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was very nice, they had a video that gave military history for President Eisenhower to his success at Normandy, then to his presidency. Several historical societies have worked together to re-store and maintain the home. Very cool! Granny said when Jon's dad was stationed in Colorado, Eisenhower came to town to dedicate the new military school, which is now the Air Force Academy. She said they sat on their front porch and waved as he went by in the parade!

Big Kids

Granny & Jess came down for the weekend. It was the only weekend for the next month or so that Jess didn't have a baseball game. The kids enjoyed playing in the backyard and we went to the park to play catch. Also there was alot of PlayStation time involved! Some where in there we got to visit with Granny!

The Big Game

Caleb had a huge game against the Red Sox, unfortunately, they lost 11-6. The boys are playing well, and certainly have the potential to win. Silly mistakes led to the loss. Caleb got hit in the head with a wild pitch, so he walked to first base. His second at bat he struck out and I won't bring up his error count, it wasn't pretty!

Ducks with Grout, will hang!

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Love the title, I crack myself up! OK, so today we grouted the mosaic pieces we made on Tuesday. The children selected a grayish-blue grout for their projects. It matches the blue wall they will hang on. I went with a sandy tan color for the cross I made. This was very messy, but super easy. Jon's teasing me that know that I know how to grout, their are bath room tiles waiting for me. . . as if!