On Sunday, after school let out for Thanksgiving holiday, Nathan, the boys, Nathan's parents, and I headed to Dallas (well actually Grapevine) to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge for a couple of days. That is a fabulous place and a wonderful deal if you are military. We got our rooms for about 1/2 price! It was a great little get-away and I hope we can make it a yearly tradition for as long as we are here. On Sunday, my mother-in-law, Jeanie turned 68. We had a little birthday celebration.

I wish I had gotten more photos of the actual lodge, but I did get a few of the waterpark area. This huge bucket fills with over 1,000 gallons of water and the dumps it out every few minutes! The kids loved to be under it when it emptied! I'll admit...I did too!

We had such a fun time on the slides. It's great because our whole family (the 4 of us) could ride on a tube altogether. It sure helped Jonathan not to be scared.

I totally recommend this place, even if you aren't military. It's a fabulous little get-away and worth the price for sure. For more info, you can go here: http://www.greatwolf.com/

Dixie Corn Maze/Farm

Last weekend, Seth was invited to his buddy Hayden's birthday party at the Dixie Corn Maze/Farm. Seth had so much fun!

This guy is reassuring Seth that he'll be ok on that swing. Even my child with no fear factor was a little apprehensive about doing this!

But he did it! And then did it again and again and again...

Jumping on the bouncy with his friends.

Seth with Hayden and Jaret. They have become great friends and are all in Mrs. Everage's 1st Grade Class this year. Seth and Jaret were together last year for Kindergarten.

It would be neat to measure each year to see how much they grow.

1st 9 Weeks Honor Roll Assembly

I'm so proud of my boys!

Seth made all A's and one B!

And Jonathan made Straight As!! He worked so hard!

Jonathan was awarded "Terrific Kid" for Miss Bailey's 3rd grade class. He and Megan Backofen were chosen this 9 weeks. This is a real honor because only 6 kids are chosen all year...and Jonathan was first! (sorry picture below is so blury!)

Today I'm Thankful For...

My salvation in Jesus Christ
My godly, sweet husband
My healthy, smart, beautiful kids
My warm, nice home
The men and women who serve in the military and protect my freedom
The plumber who is here fixing my fireplace insert :)
Thanksgiving food that I get to have next week
My amazing friends scattered all over this world
My job...even though I don't work all that much and surely don't make much, I'm thankful for it and for the opportunity it provides me to serve those precious children and most importantly, to God
This new asthma medication that is helping Seth tremendously

What are YOU thankful for today?

Oklahoma/Kansas State Game

On Saturday, October 31st, Nathan and I went to Norman to watch Oklahoma play Kansas State. It was a fabulous time and Oklahoma won 42-30. I'm so glad that Nate and I love Sooner football...it's something fun that we can do together! We stayed in a beautiful hotel, the Sheraton of Midwest City and went to a few of our favorite OKC hangouts while we were there that weekend. We also did alot of Christmas shopping at our favorite mall, Penn Square. We ate at The Cheesecake Factory, Panera Bread, Taco Cabana, and of course Braum's. Each time I go back there, I miss it more and more.

And yes, it was Halloween. We hated to go on Halloween, but Jonathan and Seth had a great time with their Ne-Ne and Pa-Pa in Texarkana going to a Fall Festival and of course Trick or Treating.

I converted this Texas Aggie fan to a Sooner fan long ago... actually I like the Aggies too, they just come a distant second to my Sooners.

We walked in with the band. I love the band, especially the "PRIDE OF OKLAHOMA"! There's nothing like hearing "Boomer Sooner" or "OKLAHOMA" being heard in person in that setting. Love College Football!

It was such a beautiful, fall day for football. The leaves were gorgeous and as always, the campus was beautiful. :)

Prior to the game, OU's coach, Bob Stoops and KSU's coach, Bill Snyder talked. Stoops is one of Snyder's proteges. He was one of Snyder's assistants at Kansas State back in the day.

Of course we were so sad about Sam Bradford having a season ending injury and that we wouldn't be seeing him play, but we really enjoyed seeing Freshman QB Landry Jones lead the team. He's got to mature some, but he's going to be a great leader and I'm glad he's getting all this experience. Landry Jones was the #3 player in the nation when he was a high school senior and I'm glad OU was able to recruit him. He could've played anywhere.

Jason White's Heisman trophy statue that's outside the stadium.

Billy Sims is from Hooks, Texas close to where we are from. He won the Heisman there at OU in 1978. He's so obnoxious, but back in the day, the boy could play some football. Neat thing too. My mother in law and father in law taught school in Hooks. My father in law actually taught with Billy's wife and my mother in law taught their daughters.

Hopefully next year, we can all go to a game together. Jonathan and Seth are getting to the age where they love Sooner football just as much and I know they'd have a great time. Maybe we'll get to go to the Red River Shootout and hopefully beat those shorthorns finally!

Pumpkin Light Night

On October 28th, Stockwell Place Elementary held it's annual "Pumpkin Light Night". Each class does a big class display and then students may decorate individual pumpkins that line the school walkway. It's a big event every year! This year, we had to move it up one night because of the extreme amount of rain that was forecasted. Good thing they did too because we had awful flooding and tornadoes that next day!

Seth's pumpkin for his class display. He did it by himself, even the stuffing. I just helped put the clothes on.

Seth in front of his class display.

Seth's class display, "Hillbilly "Manner"/Mrs. Everage's Polite Pumpkins. Seth's manner he chose was "Yes Ma'am".

Jonathan's class display was "Bailey's BOO-F-Os". I was so proud of his class...unlike most of the displays, his class did their whole display, with minimal help from parents, by themselves. I think that's so important.

Jonathan in front of his class display.

Jonathan's pumpkin that he decorated in class.

So cute! All the pumpkins really glowed when it got dark.

Jonathan's grade performing a song.

And Seth's grade about to perform their song.

This was one of my favorite displays. So cute!

Seth Had to Go to the Hospital! (catching up post)

On Sunday evening, August 22nd, Seth was having a horrible time breathing. He has asthma and he was wheezing uncontrollably. I'd never seen him so bad. I pulled up his shirt and you could certainly tell his breathing was labored...you could see his ribs when he he breathed in. Anyway, we went right to the ER at Schumpert. They have an excellent Pediatric ER there since Sutton Children's Hospital is there. I can't say enough good about that place. If you ever need to take your child the ER, definitely go there. Anyway, so we get there and the triage nurse, checked his pulse oxygen level and it was dangerously low. He went right into a room and I really became scared! Even after a couple of breathing treatments and an IV full of steriods, they still couldn't get his pulse ox to a normal level and the wheezing wouldn't stop. So at 1 AM, that next morning, they admitted him to the hospital. Seth was on constant IV steriods and round the clock breathing treatments. He stayed in the hospital until that Wednesday and thank the Lord, he was finally breathing normal again by that time. I didn't have my camera until Nathan brought it to me the next day so I don't have any ER pictures to share.

The first full day in the hospital. Poor Seth felt horrible, but he did get bored. I was a mean mom and wouldn't let him play in the playroom (H1N1 flu season was just beginning). Thank goodness for his Nintendo DS.

Even with not being able to breath well and feeling pretty bad, Seth was in such good spirits. I felt so bad for him and helpless during that time.

Wednesday morning, August 25th. The Pediatrician came to say Seth could go home so the nurse came and removed his IV! He was so glad to have that out! Oh and I have to say, Seth did better than his momma when it came to getting an IV! I hate those!

After we got home and when AJ got home, he brought Seth his favorite treat, cotton candy! Seth was so happy! He loves his friend, AJ and that was so nice!

It's so scary to have a child with asthma. This experience was definitely a wake-up call for me. Seth was diagnosed with asthma last year, but never had a real all out attack. We were able to control his wheezing with an albuterol inhaler. Now we have a nebulizer machine (thank the Lord!) and have to use it occasionally. He's also on Singulair as a preventative and also has a new rescue inhaler, Flovent.

If you have asthma or have a loved one with the disease, what type of treatments are used?

Seth's Broken Bones/Cast (catching up post)

In mid-August, Seth was running from the dog in the house and he banged his left hand into the trim on our wall. He was screaming and crying so I knew it really hurt, but I was very surprised when we went to the Dr the next day and she said he had broken a bone in his hand and two fingers! Seth got to pick a green cast, his favorite color!

Catching Up

I promise I'm going to get better about posting here. I know Facebook has taken me away from my blog and I hate it. I use this blog as a tool when I scrapbook. It helps me go back and look at the details when I'm ready to scrap that event, etc. So if you could care less about these next couple of catch up posts, I'm sorry...just skip. More good, recent stuff to come!

Cheese Pie

This is a super easy and yummy appetizer!

Cheese Pie

1 egg beaten
1 cup milk
3/4 cup flour
1 cup diced Muenster cheese

Mix first 3 ingredients, add cheese and place in a 9 inch pie plate. Bake for 30 minutes at 450.

Wilton Halloween Pan

First, I'm sorry that I don't update my blog very often. It seems since school started, not much has happened. Well not much worth mentioning here or taking pictures of really. I did come across this pan found on a blog. I love it! Part of the reason I don't roll out dough and use cookie cutters is because I'm horrible at it! I always get it a wierd thickness, either too thick or too thin and then because I use so much flour, they taste bad. I also hate transferring the cookies from whatever surface onto the cookie sheet. Well this pan solves my problem! I hope they come out with a Christmas one as well. I'm hoping they have it at Michael's...I can use my coupon that I got in the paper this week.