Camping Trip!

Last weekend we took the big boys (mom kept Christian) and met up with the Searcy's and Stephenson's for a MEGA FUN camping trip! It was seriously a blast!!!  We got there Friday and stayed two nights... It was wonderful!!!!!  Good food, good fun, good company - all in the presence of nature - the way life is supposed to be... without anything digital all weekend.  It was so peaceful and relaxing... We're ready for round 2!
One thing that was so so precious was how the 3 yr olds - Ethan, Jasper and Lily Kate all played together as a group and then the big boys - Jackson, Jonah and Cole all played together... And everyone got along!  No fighting, no time-outs, so arguing.. Just happy, imaginative, peaceful play outside!  It was perfect.
Jenny and I combined took nearly 800 pictures, so I'm just putting on a "few" on here.  :)

The first night was a bit cold... We layered Ethan in thermals and PJ's over that, inside a sleeping bag with a blanket and a half on top.  He slept like a rock.  No problems.  Jackson had his PJ's on, sleeping bag and blanket and he was super cold.  So the thermals are a must for our next trip.  The second night was much warmer and I took this pic of them sleeping even after everyone was awake and talking outside the tent... Jackson slept in both mornings. Another thing I want to remember is to put our tent farther away from the campfire.  The way the wind was angled, the smoke shot right toward our tent and Ryan had it vented so the tent got a little smokey...and I think that may have caused Jackson's allergy attack.  He coughed nearly all night the first night til around 230am-300am, and we gave him some zyrtec and his puffer.  Then, he was able to go to sleep.  That was also probably around the time the fire burned out... so not sure which was contributing to that. His eyes were pretty puffy the whole weekend cuz he's allergic to grass (go figure - another thing he gets from my brother.)  But he didn't seem to mind that at all and had a great time regardless....

The first night was just us and the Searcy's - We started a little later than planned - around 600p and the kids didn't go to bed til after 930p!!  It was just "anything goes" and it was awesome!

 

 

Fishing!!!

 

Until next time!

Little coney!

I'm embarrassed to admit that although my boys have had much, much ice cream in their lives, they recently had their first ice cream CONES... 2 weeks ago to be exact.  They think it's the greatest thing they've ever had and I didn't even have time to get a pic of them with their cones before they had chomped up half of it...

Needless to say, we've had cones 3 times since then!

Three's Company!

They love taking a bath together... These goofballs keep me on my toes, that's for sure! 

What's not to love about these sweet little smiles?

Morning Prayer...

My sweet sweet Jackson...

I got a text from Jackson's teacher that Jackson would be saying the morning prayer at chapel on Wednesday.  So I asked Jackson and he told me he volunteered to do it.  I thought that was the sweetest thing... and Ryan and I decided we wanted to go. Chapel is something they do every Wednesday and usually parents do not attend, but I knew they were welcome.  The evening before, and the morning of, I kept trying to get Jackson to tell me what he would say during his prayer but he didn't want to rehearse anything - he just wanted to do it "my way."  He said "mom!! I don't want to PRACTICE praying!  i'll just pray when I get there."  So I didn't push him... I must admit I was pretty nervous!  After the pledges, it was his turn to pray... And his prayer went like this:

"Dear God, please make sure that we have a good day.  Thank you for all these people in this room.  And thank you for all the classrooms.  And thank you - the best thank you of all is for Jesus.  In your name we pray, Amen."

Melted my heart.  

And thank you Jesus for my sweet Jackson. Amen.

Little Mall-Park Fun...

 The little playground at the mall is really cute... and I like that the ground is such that C can crawl around on it...  They loved playing in this tiny playground while I waited on the theater to open... I was able to snap a few cute pics of these cuties!

RIO2!

On Saturday, we continued our family fun weekend and met up with the Searcy's and watched Rio2!  That movie did not disappoint... so cute!  Afterward, we went to Mellow Mushroom and got lucky enough to be seated near the chalkboard so the kids could draw.. and I was able to snap this quick pic of Ethan and LK!  Love these friends - kids AND adults!!!

Tulsa Zoo!

Ryan was off work for Good Friday, and Jackson was out of school - so we decided to go to the Tulsa Zoo for the day!  It was so fun!!!  We are a zoo family... We've been to a LOT of zoos and often... Usually several times a year.. because we all enjoy it equally.  Christian was a champ at the zoo too!  I must admit that the LR zoo and the Tulsa zoo aren't exactly "impressive" zoos, but we had fun regardless!!

The boys went "gem digging" and found some awesome gem/rocks in the sand!  They loved this!

My handsome boys!

Happy Easter!

For Easter Sunday, we went to church and after church we headed to Ponca to have a family dinner... It was so much fun and so nice to see family on this very special day!  It's always wonderful to spend time with my beautiful grandma too! It's so breathtaking out there - a perfect place to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord!

 4 Generations!

Shining Star....

My Ethan got another award at school. His sweet teacher does an "award" for each quarter for each student
individually - which I think is precious.  I saw it in his backpack and he knew exactly what his award was for - "Listening at Story Time."  This actually doesn't surprise me at all since this little boy is such a bookworm.  He could sit and listen to books being read to him - all day long.  I think I'm going to explore some library reading programs for him for this summer/fall.  He has always been a good story time listener.  Sweet Ethan...

it's no joke...

I was in the kitchen, boys were playing outside... I looked outside to check on them and I see this.  

Awh... life with boys is always fun.

Spaghetti Face!

Been waiting a long time to see this!  How cute is he!?

one step at a time...

Christian is still sick.  Fever from Wed to Saturday. We ended up taking him to the doc on Friday morning and his ears were red, throat was red, but doc thinks he has a virus.  Anyway, his fever remained until yesterday morning... and since yesterday morning, he's been fever free.  (YAY for that!)... He's still super fussy but eating a little better... In fact, we learned he REALLY likes pizza and so we've been able to get some of that down him, as well as my special smoothies.... (banana, blueberries, strawberries, yogurt and whatever fruit I have around) - and as long as it's super cold, he will drink it.  He's still wanting to be held nonstop and sleeping quite a bit, but I think we're on the road to recovery.  Feels like he's been sick nonstop since his ear infection a month ago... Tis the season... :/

One thing he did as well is HE TOOK HIS FIRST STEP!!  YES!  He walked from Ryan over to me - it was one little tiny step, but he was SO proud of himself... It was adorable!  I always say..."one step at a time..."