Disney on Ice: Worlds of Fantasy...OMG.

On a whim, we decided to take the girls to Disney on Ice. They LOVED it. LOVED IT. Seriously. Even Alivia who in her 18+ months has NEVER made it through a church service managed to stay completely still for the entire show. Now I am not proposing that Disney on Ice and church are comparable but that child does not want for entertainment on a sunday morning either.

So we got there and found our seats which were fantastic and the girls were super excited. Abbey even wore her traffic cone.

Here we all are.

And here is aaron and his new bff.
We had a blast and I highly recommend it.

What we've been up to the last few months...

The other day Ainsley stopped in the middle of playing, looked at me and said, "Mom, when are we ever going to do something fun?" Let me just show you what we had been doing prior to this question...





As if I make them slave around the house all day. None the less, I made it my personal mission to find something else "fun" for us to do.

We have been sort of planning a camping trip and I thought it might be fun to camp in the back yard just to see how things went. And I'm not gonna lie, it was a test for Alivia which she failed miserably. She will not be camping with us.Here is aaron setting up the tent. We got in it at about 10 pm and we were back inside by 6 am. Thank you alivia. We really do love her, she just doesn't like to sleep as much as the rest of us.

I'll try to post later this week with some more pictures and maybe some video. Love, Aud :)

Hilarious

Beaver's Bend

A few weeks ago, while aaron was in Houston, the family got together and went to Beavers Bend. We have gone there for as long as I can remember for family reunions, spring break, fall break, you name it. We would use any excuse to go. So, it was a lot of fun to go with the girls and show them all the places and things me and my sisters thought were so fun when we were younger. And between you and me, I'm really trying hard to "country-fy" my children. My parents got a great cabin so we were all able to stay in the same place. It was wonderful place although it did me no favors in my mission to country-fy. Here are some pictures of the trip...
Here we are, majorly overexposed and packed into the minivan like sardines. Mom and me were determined to get everything in one car.The cabin.


This is the morning after we got to the cabin. We went out to look around and stopped for a sit at the fire pit. This is classic Ainsley. Look at the amount of flesh she has in those hands. I really did not mean to capture this moment. Saving my baby's cheeks does take priority of a picture.


These are pictures of steph and her man scott fishing for crawdads. They found one. I'm sure steph will be thrilled that i posted this pic but they are just so cute i couldn't resist :)

Here we are at our nightly campfire. It was only about 110 degrees outside, but the girls were excited about it anyway. They got really good at roasting marshmallows.

This is after beth and nathan got there. The girls were very excited to see them :)

Here is alivia thinking about sticking her feet in the freezing cold water.


This is abbey in the freezing cold water. (I'm trying to be informative yet to the point. I mean this has definate clay family vacation "boring slide show" potential. Hang in there...i could have posted more ;) )

We ate breakfast on the balcony every morning. So nice. Here is Scott holding alivia while she pretends she is shy. We all know she is not. And a picture of Alivia with what i am guessing is 2 powdered donuts crammed in her mouth. That's just how she rolls.

And the girls dancing with paper plates on their heads. I will never understand why we buy expensive toys.

We had a blast and I'm so grateful we had the chance to do this!

Love, Audrey

July 4th take 2...

As I live and breathe, someone in our neighborhood just shot off some fireworks, on July 22. Clutch. That just really gets me in the mood to write about our holiday in Durant. Like I said we had a great time with our family. I just love them. We always have the best time and we always laugh. Unfortunately most of my cousins were in town because their sweet granny passed away and the funeral was that weekend. I just have the best memories of my Aunt Beverly's mom and dad. It was always such a treat to get to go spend the night at their house with my cousins. Praise God that death is not final!

We didn't have a huge 4th of July party. Alivia was already in bed, so my mom stayed home with her. My dad and me took the girls to his office so we could watch fireworks from the parking lot. The idea was to be as far away from the noise as possible yet still be able to see the show. Because you see, loud noises are just one of the many things on a long list of fears for these girls.

1. Bugs of all kinds (if it even resembles a bug, but is not, say a small dark rock, it will evoke screaming, crying, and climbing up the nearest pair of adult legs)
2. Snakes (and by snakes i mean the dried up worms that you see on the street after a good rainand then a hot day)
3. Frogs (and by frogs i mean frogs)
4. Shots (of course)
5. Timon and Pumba crying at the end of "can you feel the love tonight"
6. King Triton yelling at Ariel
7. Blood
8. Washing their hair
9. Brocolli

And after today I know that they also fear my new electric drill.

So here are some pictures of us at our firework stakeout...
We had a blast. The girls were all dressed up, of course. Great weather, great fireworks. Before the fireworks, we swam. We swam a lot that week. My mom wanted me to get the girls some goggles so i scored some at walgreens that had ariel and flounder on them. The girls loved them. Abbey called them her "gobbles". She loved them so much that she even wore her "gobbles" out of the pool...And here is one tired girl...
Love ya'll, Aud :)

Next up...July 4th in Durant!

We spent the Fourth in Durant this summer. We had the best time seeing family, swimming, and (my new hobby) buying other people's junk. There is a great new store in Durant called Bremer's Variety Depot. And they are not kidding. They have all kinds of cool stuff. I went at least three times that week looking for things to fill the shelves of my new kitchen. I found some great stuff but here is my favorite thing that happened in Bremer's. My sister Beth and i were browsing and I spotted what I thought was a type of comb. Let me back up a little. Does this bring back memories for anyone else?



Beth I know you feel me. Steph, I think you managed to escape this although you did fall victim to the bowl cut for a little longer than us. Spending the day a Irma Lee and Ike's house, handing Irma Lee perm papers so we could get our perm on. Anywho, someone told my mom that we needed a certain type of comb to care for our lovely fried locks lest they snap off and fall on the floor. So she introduced us to the "rake comb" which you may know as this little number...
and we used that rake like it was our job. (Our looked slightly different. It was the same shape but metal and the handle was what I now know to be a material called bakelite.) And we called it "The Rake". I'm sure it still echos through the halls of 111. "I CAN'T FIND THE RAKE! I'VE GOT THE MOUSSE, THE RAVE, AND THE SUPER SKINNY CURLING IRON, BUT I NEED THE RAKE! MOM, DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE RAKE IS?! I can hardly stop myself. I mean, my hair routine deserves it own website. The crispy bangs, the srunching, and crimping, the frito chip perm smell in my hair, to perm the bangs or not to perm the bangs, I could go on and on. But, the show must go on.

So there we are a Bremer's, browsing, and I spot "the rake". I yell to Beth, because she is 10 or 15 feet away and also I am super excited, "Oh my gosh Beth! It's a rake!" And then I proceed to comb my hair and reminisce about all the great times we had right there in the store. Sophisticated, I know. About this time I start to wonder what a hair comb is doing in a booth full of kitchen items and I think Beth smelled somethin fishy too because she goes, "What does the tag say it is?" I check and it says "SPONGE CAKE CUTTER WITH BAKELITE HANDLE". I feel embarrassed for about half a second that I was just combing my hair (quite loudly) with kitchen utensil in the middle of the store. Then I get over it and decide somebody's got some 'splainin' to do. My mom still swears it was a hair comb but I searched google images and the ONLY rake i found that looked like our rake was this one...
loving life right in the middle of a sponge cake.

I know this has nothing to do with the title, I got a little side tracked.

Audrey :)

It's 7 o'clock in the evening and I just brushed my teeth for the first time today...

I really feel like that may explain my absence from the ol' blog. I mean, if you know me at all you know I'm not a hygiene freak ( I even had to look that word up to spell it correctly), but I do like to give my teeth a good once over in the morning for the sake of those I might encounter during the day. You know, the walmart check out lady with the bright red hair and latex gloves (or man who loves to make jokes the entire time I am checking out), the ups/fedex/usps delivery person, or one of the many "evangelists" who roam my neighborhood, and of course my family :).

All of that to say, that unfortunately, "blogging" has taken a back seat around here. You've probably noticed that I even deleted my face book account -GASP!!- It was a major news source for me and I was very sad to see it go. In fact, if I had been on facebook I can guarantee you that I would have been the one to inform my husband that his Beloved Michael Jackson had passed away instead of him finding out from a youth group member via text (which I might add he didn't even believe. I had to say, "Give me that phone. I will find the truth!") However, even if I hadn't initiated my own investigation, the 25 text messages saying "sorry for your loss" in the next two hours might have tipped him off.

So face book is gone and blogging is neglected because we have been BUSY! But we have been having fun. This will be an attempt to catch you up and show you some pictures of what we have been up to. I have no idea how this will take shape. Maybe one massive post that you will have to print off, bind, and read like a book. Or maybe I'll do a bunch of short ones...I'll just wing it...I'm crazy like that.

I think I'll start pre-traveling. And I'm just going to skip over the "aren't my kids so cute" pictures and go straight to the "they are so much like their dad" pictures. ;)




Here is Ainsley washing the bricks with her clothes.


Here is Alivia helping remove tile from the kitchen wall.




Here is Ainsley drinking her milk and holding her nose. She has been doing this for the last 6 weeks and that is not an exaggeration. I made the fatal mistake of buying the target brand milk instead of Borden milk from walmart one time when I was in a hurry. Ainsley swore it tasted like "Abbey's milk" which is soy milk which has never gotten within 5 feet of Ainsley's apparently extremely refined palate. So being the fabulous mom I am, I told her to hold her nose and she wouldn't taste anything. So she did. And when that girl finds a good thing she does not let it go. She has continued to hold her nose when drinking milk despite the fact that I have long since replace the target brand with borden and even showed her the jug. Does this remind anyone of the glove? Here is that story...Ainsley was at granna and granpas and fell. She swore she had a scratch on her hand and at that point in time she DID NOT want to see the boo boo. We could not see it, but she was so convinced it was there that she put her hand behind her back and left it there....for three days. She ate with it behind her back, she bathed with it behind her back, she tried to get dressed with it behind her back, you get the picture. So I had another one of my brilliant ideas. I really was concerned she was going to fall and smash her face in with out that hand to catch herself. So I told her to wear a mitten so she could still use her hand but not have to see the "boo boo". Apparently she loved that idea almost as much as holding her nose because we had a child who wore one fuzzy pink mitten for about a month in the middle of the summer. She even slept in it. Ok, I've got to get one of abbey girl in here.
Well, this is Alivia, not Abbey. But I do have some great ones of abbey for a later post. Alivia loves to put things on her head and try to walk. Here she is with the library book bag on her head about to walk into the island.

Well, I think I'm going to move on to another post. By the way, see that craziness going on in the kitchen? I'll do a before and after post when it's done. It looks TOTALLY different!

Love you all, Aud :)

Not my best idea ever...Thankyou God for sharpees (This post was not edited so please accept my apologies)

The other day I was a target and decided to get the girls swimsuits. I had a few of the girls with me so I couldn't linger and really think about styles and sizes like i like to do. So, hoping to keep it simple, I quickly decided I would get the girls the exact same swimsuit. I was hoping to avoid the "but I want one like abbey's" or "but, I wanted a pink one too" business. Because you know how it is. Just when you think you've got your kids and their preferences figured out they change them.

So anyway, I buy three of the exact same swimsuit in three different sizes and take them home.
We finally decide it is time to go play in the water so I go to get the swimsuits out and start taking off the price tags. Enter brilliant idea #2 - I think to my self, "Self, you just know that Ainsley is going to say that the tag on the inside is scratchy so lets just go ahead and cut that out. While your at it just cut everybody's tags out so you don't have to run back inside for the scissors when abbey decides that hers is scratchy too."

I was so proud of myself until we decided to play in the water again. The swimsuits were in various stages of dirty clothes basket, dryer, and floor. So I grab a swim suit off of the floor, look at it and think "these all look just alike. I'm going to have to look at the tag to see whose it is...OH WAIT...I cut all those out. OK, well I just find them all and compare them." So I proceed with this plan but can only find two. I put the bigger one on ainsley and the smaller one on abbey. Later I found the third one and discover that Ainsley has on abbey's and abbey has on alivia's. I thought they seemed a little snug.

Next summer=3 different swimsuits and they can wear it or go naked.

Love, Aud :)

By the way, can I get a shout out for our white trash swimming pool? Anybody? Holla.

Why Not?

Last Wednesday was just one of those days. You know those days I'm talking about right? Like when you load the kids up in the car and go to sonic just so you can be off your feet for half a second and those precious angels are tied down, er, I mean buckled safely in their car seats and therefore unable to wreak havoc. And just when you think, ahhh, and take a deep breath, you realize that someone has dropped their orange slush in the car and the bottom has busted open. Which results in you running across the sonic parking lot to the trash can in your bare feet with sticky orange slush making tracks down your arm. And of course you have nothing to clean it up with so you head home where you proceed to spill a red slush on the only untouched part of the floorboard. You feel me?

Apparently the memory of that sonic trip had faded enough that when "one of those days" rolled around again last wednesday, I decided once again that an outing was just what the dr. ordered. So for whatever reason we decided to try a place here in tulsa called Kupcakz. We walked in and I just knew that the girls would want this....



I mean it's pink and sparkly. Nuff said.

But instead they ordred this....




Go figure.

So anyway, we get our cupcakes and sit down and start eating. We were just finishing up when the lady came out and asked how we liked our cupcakes. They were delicious and I said as much. Then she noticed that my precious angels had just licked the frosting off and said "Did you know we sell frosting shots? It's a shot glass full of frosting. That way you don't have to buy the whole cupcake."

Well, several things immediatly crossed my mind. First, I was slightly appalled because what would "they" think if "they" knew that I fed my children a shot glass full of frosting?! That quickly gave way to "These people are genius. Where have they been all my life?" I bet that the Kupcakz people would give me permission to give this to abbey for dinner...





You have no idea how much food and elbow grease would be saved if I could do that. Unfortunately, it's against "the rules." Because "they" say that I need to feed my children a healthy balanced diet with lots of veggies. And "they" say to keep offering them to your children even if they continually gag at the mere smell of broccoli (not even kidding). So, I will continue to do what "they" say but every once in a while you can bet we will be found at Kupcakz where "they" have no say and frosting shots are not only allowed but recommended.

Check-up, Garage Sale, and My Most Recent Investment

****This is the second of two posts tonight. I wrote one back in april and just got around to finishing it up and posting it. So scroll down to April 21st for the other one.*****

Hello! So it's been too long again. Things are staying busy around here and I don't get to do this nearly as often as I would like to. I don't really have anything major to blog about but since it's been so long I have a lot of little tid bits you might find interesting or entertaining :).

Alivia had her 15 month checkup today. It went great. She is tall and skinny and can only say three (well 2 for certain) words. Dr. Freed assured me this was normal considering she has two older sisters who are more than happy to speak for her. Here she is at fifteen months. It is possible that I might have given her an oreo to eat while we drove home from the grocery store. Or it is possible that she chose to eat dirt that I was using to fill in holes in the back yard. Or it's possible that both of those things happened within about an hour of each other and I can't remember which event the picture is from.

Speaking of the store. Whenever i can I go to Reasor's because they have the carts with the cars on the front that the kids can get in and drive. It really is a hysterical scene. The girls LOVE to do this. (And what mother doesn't love pushing around what is basically a stretch limo with a squeaky wheel and a bumper sticker that says "this vehicle makes wide turns". Can I get an Amen moms?) So we have been to Reasor's twice in the last 4 days. And both times the same man has talked to the girls while I am checking out. He always says "What are you boys doing?!" And Ainsley and Abbey both look out at him from inside their plastic grocery cart car and do not say a word. Not one. Just staring. Finally, at dinner tonight Ainsley says, "Mom, I think if we were boys that man would have called us girls."

We participated in our neighborhood garage sale this last weekend. I loved it. I love having garage sales. I hate going to them. It just feels sooooo good to get rid of all that stuff. At some point during the day someone in the family tried to sell Alivia for a dollar. Fortunately, we did not have any takers. I think they could tell by looking at her what a little toot she is.

And with the proceeds from the garage sale I am getting this.

(Just the blue stuff. Not the yellowy stuff and for sure not the swans.) I am absolutely thrilled about it. I have been searching high and low for a duvet cover that is pretty, yet not to pretty for a man to sleep under..."in", yet not so "in" that it will be out in a month...not floral, and not crazy hurt you eyes pattern---(I am sitting here with ains while she watches a movie...she just asked me what a gentleman was. I said "a man who is nice".(That's right. Just call me Audrey Webster) She said "daddy is a gentleman". I just want to squeeze her sometimes.)---anyway, I think you get my drift about the duvet cover.

Please keep comments to yourself unless they are along the lines of "Oh my goodness. That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It is classic, timeless, you will love it forever, and it will make aaron feel like a man...kind of. Well, Audrey, it's for sure more manly than that green and pink, flowery, ruffley garden mess you make that poor fellow sleep under right now." Seriously. I've already bought it. And I spent A LOT of money on it. I don't need seeds of doubt. Feel free to copy and paste that quote in your comments.

Finally, we have had two days in a row of great weather. Tonight after dinner the girls got to run around in the yard and play. They had a blast. Here are some pictures of their rosy cheeks :).

Love, Aud :)

Lists

This morning while Aaron was making breakfast Ainsley asked me if she could write with a marker. I gave it to her along with the pad that I used to use for my grocery list. I say "used to" because it kept mysteriously disappearing from it's spot on the fridge with all the items listed on it that i needed to get at Wal-mart (which the girls call Mal-Mart). Now I stick a piece of masking tape onto the counter and make my list on there. Aaron laughs at me but hey, it works.

So Ainsley gets this pad and starts to dictate a grocery list to Aaron. Here it is:

carrots
ice cream
cupcakes
diapers
fish

Now the girl is really not to far off the mark i'm afraid. However, the last item stumped me. I was thinking She wants to eat fish?! How exciting! I mean it's not really my thing but it's sooo healthy! Unfortunately, she went on to explain that what she meant was a pet fish. In keeping with the list theme, I think I'll have her start one titled

Things to do when I no longer live with my parents

1. Get a pet fish

I don't know why this idea is so repulsive to me. I mean we have a 120 pound lab who lives in our house. I am no stranger to the "pleasures" of pet ownership.

You know, now that I think about it, she already has one list going...

Events happening way in the future that i will not participate in:

1. High school
2. Get Baptized

That's right. She told me that she does not want to go to high school. And being the fabulous parent that I am I told her that she didn't have to. I'm really counting on the fact that she is going to forget about that by the time high school rolls around.

And as far as getting baptized...that one is her choice. It's not looking good though. I mean I will consider it progress if we can just witness a baptism from the audience without having a panic attack. I know the Lord will work it out ;).

No title comes to mind that is appropriate.

I just had the following conversation with Ainsley:

Ainsley: Mom, what do you have on your boobies?

(I am wearing a red v-neck t-shirt)

Me: I have a bra on my boobies...why?

Ainsley: Well, there wasn't a big bump there so I didn't know.

Me: Well, unfortunately mommy doesn't have very big boobies.

Ainsley: When will you get your big boobies?

Me: I probably won't get big boobies Ains. God made me just like this.

Ainsley: Ok

And somewhat related, I have heartd Ainsley and Abbey both refer to this article of clothing as "the purple boobies".

Innocent Bystander

So, I just love it when I hear a lesson or read a book or go to bible study and think, "wow, that was a great lesson, but it doesn't really apply to me. I mean, i just really don't have trouble with that." What should immediately follow that thought is "WARNING! WARNING! REVELATION FROM THE LORD HEADED YOUR WAY O SMUG ONE!"

Some of the most recent talks given that I didn't think I really needed to hear were dealing with (all on different occasions) anger, being a servant, and being in a certain place for a certain purpose that God has in mind for you. I can't remember the last time i was angry. I mean aaron and i have "discussions", but we don't yell and i never feel angry. Frustrated, yes. Angry, no. And the being a servant thing...i'm a mother of three small children, enough said. Just kidding, but really, I have always been way on board with the fact that following Jesus means it's just not about me. And the last lesson, about God's timing and purpose for us was from the esther study i am in. You know the story...she is in a royal position so that she can save her people.

So, how you ask, did the Lord reveal to me that maybe i did need a little help in these areas? I'm so glad you asked. :)

God has placed a girl in my life who does not have much going for her at all . I do not even know the extent of the abuse and neglect that may have happened in her life, but it shows from her extremely poor emotional state to her extremely poor hygiene. God has blessed me with the opportunity to spend a lot of time with her just hanging out and talking. I have really gotten to know her well and I have actually started to be there for her not out of "christian duty" or whatever but because I love her. At least I thought I did. But it wasn't the kind of love God calls us to. Because she called me the other day and said she needed a place to stay for one night while her parents were out of town. And my gut reaction was (ugh, i'm so ashamed of this) a little bit repulsed at the idea of it because of reasons previously mentioned. So I said something about talking to aaron and getting back to her.

So, today she calls asking for the answer because tomorrow night is the night. She sounds pretty desperate. She had plans to stay with a friend and now the friend is saying she can't spend tomorrow night with her. So she has no where to go. And I start to get Mad. Fuming. Why is she all of a sudden my responsibility?! Why did her parents leave town without making sure she had a reliable place to stay?! I am feeling totally taken advantage of here! I mean, what if we had been out of town? What then? Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me. Ok, fine. But, I really don't want to be a doormat here! I feel like there is some dishonesty and carelessness happening here and i don't want to be an enabler! This has to stop somewhere right? That is not for you to decide. ok. But, Lord, it's just not convenient for me right now. I never said it would be.

So, I am getting ready to make a bed for someone who I'm not sure is coming because now I can't get a hold of her. But I have been very humbled today and taught a mighty fine lesson about how to love people. Because i imagine that most times in the presence of our Holy Lord i am a clingy, weepy, dysfunctional, stinky mess. And He never turns me away.

So what does the title have to do with anything? Well, unfortunately, there was one from my rage session today. And of course it was the one I love the most. This all took place in the kitchen which Aaron had just finished cleaning. And i went to throw something in the trash which resides in the pantry. Not my first choice but when you have a dog that likes to eat ANYTHING that's where it has to go. So I open the door to toss the trash and the smell of burrito just about knocks me over. Remember, I am already on the warpath. I look and sitting on top of it are cold, stinky burritos from lunch. So now I'm mad because he didn't take out the nasty trash. We have enough smell issues in our house (2 in diapers and a dog) without adding burritos to the mix. I proceed to do what any good wife would do. I sigh as loud as I can without passing out and then do everything I can to make noise while changing the trash bag so he will ask me what's wrong so I can then say , "nothing". Hon, I know we've already worked this out, but sorry again for taking it out on you and thank you for cleaning the kitchen, and for playing with the girls while i worked, and for being the best dad and husband. :)