My last baby is getting big.

Annie is 8 months old today. Man, where does the time go? It makes me sad to think my last baby is getting big. It is the end of the tiny new born stage. No more tiny baby stuff for us (well, that is our plan at least, we are complete...no more babies here). We are selling her infant swing, which makes me sad.  Annie has been the most content of all my children. She is a very happy, laid back little girl. Don't get me wrong, she makes it a point to be heard when she needs something, but most of the time she just sits and plays. She loves to babble and squeal. She is starting to put words with objects. When she wants me she will say "mum mum". It melts my heart everytime she does it. She even has "da da" down. One day when M was at work I said "where's da da?", she looked over at his guitar and tilted her head as if she were looking for him and looked back at me and said "da". It is moments like these that I never want to forget. Her favorite thing to do is eat (just like her "mum mum"). She loves to feed herself crackers and cereal she even says "ma" when she wants more. I haven't found anything she doesn't like except baby food green beans, but who likes those anyway? Also, she is a very good sleeper. She goes down so easy. When it is time for nap, I'll take her to her crib or pack n play, lay her down and that's it. It makes me sad to see her growing so fast, but I am looking forward to the next phase too.

The story of ME

Here in St. Louis a common question among the population is "What high school did you go to?" I'm not sure why this, of all questions to ask, is the biggest, but it is. I have lived here almost twelve years now, and I can't tell you how many times I've been asked that question. WHY? I don't get it, but anyway... The conversation usually comes to a screeching halt when I answer Holdenville High School. I get some of the funniest looks and then I follow up with "you have never heard of it...it is a small rural town in southern Oklahoma."  Then there it is, the "ah ha" expression on their face that usually leaves me grinning inside. After that takes place one of two things happen. A) They either nod their head and the conversation is done or B) they continue with further questions about Oklahoma (although, I have had a couple of instances where they actually knew where I was talking about, and that just creeped me out.) Anyway...If B happens I usually give them a brief "in a nut shell" version of my story. BUT for those of you who don't know and are curious...here is the longer version of ME.
I spent most of my childhood in a small southern Oklahoma town called Holdenville...population 4,732 (according to the 2000 census). Holdenville is one of those town where everyone know everyone else, and when someone is in trouble the whole town talks about it. Everywhere you go, someone waves a "Oklahoma howdy." It really makes one feel welcome. Some of the features of Holdenville include a WalMart with a McDonalds (yes that is a big thing to those of us who live(d) there), a Sonic drive in, and if memory serves me right, there used to be a Subway located inside of a Citgo gas station. BUT in this little town it really isn't all about the retail chains it is about all the Mom and Pop stores. I must give a shout out to David's mini market, which was the hang out spot at lunch time for high school students...they have the best cheese balls and burritos with garlic dressing. YUM! Ok....back to the subject. Holdenville is a big part of me. It is what made me who I am today. Growing up it was just my mom and I living in a small house in Holdenville. She worked as a waitress at one of the local restaurants. We never had much money, but managed to survive on what little we had. I went through grade school, middle school, and high school in the same town and my graduating class was roughly 72 people. I wasn't in the most popular clique in school, but I was ok with that because the friends I had were genuine friends, most of which I still speak with today. I wasn't really the partier and those parties I did go to I mostly just sat and laughed at others "enjoying" themselves a little too much. I wasn't much of a trouble maker, and just enjoyed Friday nights dragging main street with my girls and looping through Sonic repetitively. We did this for hours in my beat up 1989 Ford Tempo. Every once in a while, we'd get bored with looping through Sonic and go on down to WalMart to turn around and make the loop again. It was not super exciting, but we had fun doing it. I was very involved in my highschool honor choir. We were called Limited Edition, and we did very well in competitions. I was not athletic or a cheerleader or even a band geek, I was simply a singer, and still am today. Growing up, I was very involved in church (I still am today). I attended a small church called First Church of God. I sang on the praise team, was a part of the youth and eventually met my husband to be there, but I will save that story for another blog. Believe me, it is a good one so you may want to read it after I post it.  Even though I do not live in my comfy hometown of Holdenville Oklahoma, I still love to visit. It brings back so many memories. I do miss the quiet small town, but am really enjoying the suburban life. There is sooo much more I could put, but this is a blog not a book. As with any family situation, there were happy times, and there were sad times, but all in all everything we go through in life makes us who we are. I am just fortunate to have turned out the way I am. I wouldn't change the story of ME for anything. I have learned so much in my thirt...(cough cough) thirty years on this earth. I thank God for getting me this far in life, and I am excited to see what the future holds. He has blessed me with three wonderful children and an excellent husband. I couldn't of had these things without God and the life's experiences I've been through. So now you know the story of ME! What you see is what you get!

Playing the "Jesus" card.

My kids never cease to amaze me(especially my middle child). I know it is normal to have those days when you are ready to pull your hair out because the children are at each throats. Or those days when not matter where you are in the house, you can still hear them screaming at each other. Or, my all time favorite, when they follow you from room to room arguing and hitting one another just to see how you will respond. Yeah...you know what I'm talking about. Well the flip side to all of those crazy times is worth waiting for. I know I am doing right when my kids play the "Jesus" card. Amelia is notorious for this. I shared a story a few posts back about the people who crucified Jesus being on the naughty list, well she has come up with yet another one. This weekend Amelia was talking to M about a birthday party she had been invited to. She wanted to take a toy to the party and asked her daddy if it was OK. He told her that it would be a good idea to leave the toy home because there would be alot of fun things to at the party(I'm paraphrasing a little). She then responded saying "but, I want to take it so I can share it. Isn't that what Jesus wants me to do? Share?" Cracked me up when I heard this. She often plays the "Jesus" card when she wants to do something because she thinks that if she "name drops" it will get her what she wants. Needless to say, we laughed, but NO she didn't get to take the toy. It is times like these that make up for the not so fun times.

Christm...I mean, Kwanzaa???

Today my kids made my heart smile (as they often do). I was in the bedroom listening to them as they played nicely together (without arguing...which very rarely happens) so needless to say, I was enjoying what I heard. They were playing "church". Caleb was Pastor J, and Amelia was herself. Caleb says "Ok, kids, come on up, it's time for the children's message." Amelia sits down in front of him and Caleb says " Ok...are you all excited for Christm....wait, I mean,  are you all excited for Kwanzaa?" At this point, I was hysterically laughing while trying to listen to where he was going with his children's message. He continues in saying "yes it is Kwanzaa, and when you go downstairs you will learn more...let us pray. Dear Jesus, Thank you for the day, thank you for the food, and thank you for church today. It's Chrismas and Kwanzaa.  Amen." We, obviously, celebrate Christ's birthday in our house, but somewhere along the way, he has picked up celebrating Kwanzaa. So to all of you, we wish you a Merry CHRISTmas, and a Happy Kwanzaa!

Annabella 6 months

Annabella is 6 months old now. My time flies. At her 6 month appointment she weighed 17 lbs. 5 oz. and is 28 inches long. She has already started eating baby food, and fruit puffs, drinking from a cup, waving, saying da-da, ma-ma, ba-ba, la-la, and is rolling all over the place. She is also trying to sit up, but if she gets distracted she topples over like a broken Weeble. She has such an easy going personality and loves to smile, laugh, and squeal. I must say, she is a super easy baby...so far! She is my sweet little Annie Boo Boo.

She is such a big girl now!

From the mind of a four year old.

Today, while watching the cartoon "Dora Saves Christmas", Amelia realized that Santa has a naughty and nice list.  We have never really gone over this concept with the kids because we want their main focus to be on the fact that it is Jesus' birthday, and not on Santa bringing gifts. YES, we do the Santa thing, but our main emphasis is on Jesus. Anyway, she started asking questions about Santa's naughty list and how he knows who's naughty and nice.  I explained the concept and wanted to throw in that Jesus sees the things we do as well, and he is more important because he died for our sins. After explaining this to her, she then told me that the people who killed Jesus should be on Santa's naughty list because they were mean and shouldn't have killed him. WOW! To have the mind of a four year old. I mean, what does one say after that? 

A song about Thanksgiving 2010 (sung to the tune of "Twelve Days of Christmas.")

For our Thanksgiving vacation, my family gave to me.... 12 pounds of turkey...
11 hours of Satellite radio
10 pottybreaks
9 plus hours of driving
8 furry bison
7 stops at Braum's
6 cheeseballs in Holdenville


5 German Chocolate Milkshaaaaakes!!!


4 nights at Nanny's
3 ball games
2 arguing siblings
AND A child throwing up in the car.....