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Monday, May 30, 2011

Happy Memorial Day

Today is the day to give thanks to our servicemen and remember all of the past sacrifices of generations of veterans.



My brother is a Retired Army Colonel.  He spent 26 years in the Army, sacrificing time with his wife and son.  He missed his son's high school graduation to serve in Iraq.  He was one of those little boys that wanted nothing more than to serve in the Army like his father did. And my brother was a terrific Army officer. 

He's now working for a civilian company and staying busy in his "retirement". 

For Memorial Day, we like to grill out and enjoy the wonderful day!  It doesn't get better than that!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Summertime, Summertime!

School is officially out for the summer!  The boys are so excited!

They ended up on such a good note with school.  They both have Mostly A's with just a few B's.  Tater Tot said he is going to have all A's with an 89% B in Reading.  Small Fry pulled his grades up after having a hard time this year to all A's and B's and I am sooo proud of him.  He worked so hard and really stuck to his work and turning in his homework.  He was really shooting for all B's but brought some of those up to a high A.  He got a 99% in Science so I told him he probably needs to be a Doctor!

I'm not working part-time anymore since my Mom's health is still not getting any better and she's falling all of the time for no real reason.  I just feel better being home to take care of my babies and my Mom.  She sacrificed and took care of me so I feel like its a honor to take care of her.  I don't want her to lose her independence but I need to stick close to home, which is only a couple of miles from her, just in case she needs me.

We don't have big plans for the summer, just hanging out and swimming in the pool. 

I'm going to try to keep the boys working on something educational at least a couple of days a week so their brains don't go to mush!

We hope to see a few Tulsa Drillers games.  They built a new stadium last year and I've still never been to a game.  Mr. H, however, sits 28 floors above the stadium about a block away so he gets to see the stadium everytime they play baseball.  That's a pretty cool thing!

Right now, I'm going to take a nap because it's the middle of the afternoon and it's summertime!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I'm an Oklahoman and Tornadoes Terrify Me!

I have to admit that the last couple of months have only served to heighten my fear of storms and tornadoes. 

You would think that being a life-long Oklahoman, I would be used to really stormy weather.  Not so!

Tornadoes are so scary to me. They are unpredictable and make me want to grab my children and hide somewhere.

Luckily, our friends have a saferoom in their garage.

Yesterday was the day that the weather guys had been warning us about for a long time.  They said it was setting up just like the Alabama tornadoes.  We got lucky though and only had winds and dark clouds.   We still went and got my Mom from her house and we all camped out at the house with the saferoom, Thank GOD!




As of last night, there is a 3 year old missing in Piedmont, Oklahoma and I'm praying they find him.  I can't even imagine the horror.  The house he was in is next to a lake and they are combing the lake looking for his body.  The heartbreak his poor family must be going through right now.

Also, Joplin, Missouri is only about 3 hours from us.  I cannot believe the damage there.   One of my husbands best friends just moved from there about 9 months ago.  We called him and he said that he knows a lot of people who have family members missing.  So sad and unimaginable.  Please pray for some peace for the people of Joplin. 

I know we live in tornado alley, but you never believe that kind of devastation can actually happen.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Poison Ivy and An AHA Moment

Last Wednesday night Small Fry came up to me and told me that he had to go to the nurse that day at school.  He lifted up his shirt and said his right side was kind of itching him.

He...had....full....blown....poison ivy! 

First of all, I couldn't believe no one at the school had called me and second of all, I couldn't believe he had waited until 9pm to let me know, silly boy!

We stayed home from school and work on Thursday and went to the doctor, where he gave us some topical steroids to apply to the rash.  I felt so bad for Small Fry because he kept getting in the shower to try and make the itching stop.  So sad. 

It's finally getting better and I let him spend the night at his friend Matthew's house for Matt's birthday.  I just talked to him and he said they had a great time.  They went to the Renaissance Fair in Muskogee, OK which is a medieval fair with jousting and fun games.  I so glad he didn't have to miss it because of the poison ivy.

It's the first time Small Fry has spent the night at someones house.  I just don't encourage it because my boys like to be at home and honestly, unless I know the parents and what goes on in their house, I don't want my boys spending the night away at a strangers house.  Luckily we live in a small town and several of the parents in town went to school with Mr. H.  He knows every member of some of the kids families.

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I have to share an AHA moment I had on Friday night. 

Some history,  I have had constant stomach problems for the last four years or so.  At the time it started, I worked an extremely stressful job as a Marketing Director for an aerial photography and mapping company.  The stress of the economy tanking on my job and working late at night everyday was killing me, literally.  Almost everyday, I would suffer from stomach pains.  Most of the time, it would feel like I had a strange trapped gas kind of feeling, with no way to relieve the pain. 

About two years ago, I went through every testing the Gastroenterologist could do without putting me to sleep and scoping me.  The tests came back and said I was perfectly healthy.  He wanted to do the next test, which was a colonoscopy and scope down my throat.  I told him I'd have to think about it because I'm a horrible chicken when it comes to medical procedures.

After that doctors visit, I decided that my health was more important than any job and the time was right to quit.  I resigned and for a year, never had a horrible stomachache, just minor ones.  I thought I probably had just had an ulcer.  I never put it together, but I also had started eating a lower amount of carbs at that time. 

Last Friday night on Twitter, I happened to notice a conversation between two bloggers about stomach issues and one of them said they had been to an endocrinologist who told her that she couldn't process refined starches and sugars and recommended a no carb then low carb diet. 

She said it had worked like a charm and she felt better than she ever had.  No IBS symptoms, no ulcer symptoms, just a normal stomach everyday, no pain.

So....I think I'm going to try the no carb induction phase and see what happens.  Two weeks isn't going to be too bad, and I might just feel better in the end.

We'll see what happens.  I really hope this provides me some relief.  And it wouldn't hurt if I lost some pounds in the process!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Tater Tot Cut His Hair

After a year of having the long shaggy hair like Justin Beiber, Tater Tot cut his hair!


Tater Tot and his two other friends, H and L, decided they were all going to cut their shaggy hair short right before school got out.  We have one more week of school so they decided today was the day. 
I think it's a great change!  He looks so handsome!




Blurry but I thought it was a cute pic of the two of us!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Baylee the Beagle's Birthday

Today is our Beagle Baylee's 6th birthday!



She is such a Beagle, never really wanting you to shower her with attention.  She kind of does her own thing and comes to you when she wants to be loved on.  She is coming around as she's aging.  She's become much more affectionate in her older age.

She was so sad when her sister Allie died that she just layed around, quit eating and her face even turned greyer. 

Now she has the new puppy Allie II and she's actually been playing and chasing with the puppy.  I even watch them play tug of war all the time. 






Her favorite spot is still the big overstuffed chair in our living room.  She loves to sit on the top of the pillow and sleep, knowing she can see everyone when she wakes up. 

She loves to watch the boys and go into their bedrooms to check out whats going on with them.

She also loves to sleep on my legs at night, right at the foot of the bed.  When it storms, she climbs up by my head and tries to sleep on top of my forehead, silly dog!

Baylee is a great dog and we are so glad she's been our little sweetie for 6 years now!

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y

Last Saturday we had our annual dinner at Miller's Amish Farm in Choteau, Oklahoma.  I love the food there.  It's an Amish family that serves dinner family style and it is the best food you will ever eat!

We had roast beef, ham, chicken and noodles, chicken and dressing, green beans, cole slaw, mashed potatoes and gravy, chocolate pie and butterscotch pecan pie.

I asked if I could take a picture and the Amish lady told me that we could take a picture of ourselves but not of them.. Interesting.
My cute sandals I wore.

Practicing with Instagram

My Momma and Tater Tot



Mr. H

The Allied Masonic Degrees group


My Momma, Tater Tot, Mr. H, My Mother-In-Law, Father-In-Law and Small Fry

My pretty MIL

My Pretty Momma

Small Fry ate so much he was falling asleep

My favorite Mason Pat

An Amish buggy

Baby piglets on the farm

Cute cow


Monday, May 16, 2011

Menu Planning Monday - May 16 - 22


Monday - corned beef sandwiches on marbled rye, pasta salad
Tuesday - salmon patties, pea salad, hushpuppies
Wednesday - flank steak, grilled squash, rice pilaf
Thursday - Out to Eat
Friday - poppyseed chicken, green salad
Saturday - grilled teriyaki chicken, butternut squash, caesar salad
Sunday - lasagna, green salad, garlic broccoli

Soccer is finally over and I have time to cook!

Friday, May 13, 2011

AMD Friday Outing

This weekend so far has been so busy...and its only Friday.  Mr. H and I had a dinner with the members of the Allied Masonic Degrees group and tickets to a play at the Tulsa Performing Arts Theater.  The play was The Gin Game. 

First, we had a dinner planned at the Blue Dome Diner at the Blue Dome District in downtown Tulsa. I'd heard of the Blue Dome Diner but had never eaten there.  I actually wasn't impressed at all.  I ordered the chicken enchiladas with tomatillo salsa.  It was bland and boring.  Everyone in the group said they had heard the Blue Dome Diner was famous for its breakfast.  Maybe we should try that before knocking it off the list of places to eat.
Downtown Tulsa

My friend Marilyn and I after the dinner

Blue Dome

Me with downtown in the background

Walking to the Tulsa PAC - it was chilly!

See my husband's office in the background?!

Walking into the Liddy Doenges theater

We ordered some White Zinfandel before the play started

The setting of the play - it was supposed to be the porch of a nursing home

Mrs and Mr. Hautemama

The play was about a man and woman at a nursing home.  It started out pretty funny, then turned dark at the end.  I'm not sure what I thought about it.  The lady sitting right in front of me was crying. She was really moved by it but I wonder if she lives in a nursing home and thats why it hit her so hard.

When we got home from the dinner and play, the boys had some friends spend the night.

I made them go to Walmart with me at 10:30 at night.  I didn't think I'd want to get up early in the morning to go so I dragged them with me.  You can tell what happens when you take 4 boys to Walmart late at night.

They go crazy in the toy aisle with nerf swords!


Tater Tot even lost his Braves baseball hat when he was in the milk section.  He thought he'd be funny and throw his hat up and catch it.  Well....when he threw it up, it curved and went onto the top of the milk coolers.  We had to get the Manager and tell him we needed his hat back.  They didn't have the lift thingie in that area so we have to wait until Saturday to get the hat back.  Ugh.  Boys are silly!

We even took pics with the Biebs!!! I love him!