Snow for Jacob's party - Crazy!

We had Jacob's party on Saturday. We also had about 7 inches of snow. It was insane! I'm used to having to consider the possibility of rain for Jacob's and Caleb's parties but I've never considered the possibility of snow. Our family members didn't get to come to the party because of the nasty weather. Jacob still got to have his friends come over though and we had a lot of fun. The party had a Knights theme so we had jousting, a Three Musketeers game, a knighting ceremony and a battle with a fierce dragon. It would have been nice to do the games outside but we made it work and the boys had a lot of fun. Jacob's soccer team was supposed to have a tournament this weekend but it got cancelled. Sunday got much warmer (60 degrees) so most of the snow is gone now. Jacob is looking forward to trying out his new skateboarding ramp today (with helmet and padding on of course). Hopefully we won't end up with any broken bones.

Seven inches of snow at the end of March - Crazy!

The king (Caleb) performed the knighting ceremony. My friend, Beth, made the robe for me.

The new knights fought the fierce dragon.

Jacob's knight party was a lot of fun!

Trip to Atlanta

We had a great time in Atlanta. We hadn't seen my brother and his family since last June - way too long. They have a different Spring Break so we took our kids out of school on Friday and they took their kids out of school on Monday. Unfortunately it rained pretty much the whole time we were there and my sister-in-law wasn't feeling well. In spite of that, we still had a great time. The boys were so excited about seeing their cousins! We went swimming at an indoor swimming pool one day and we went to a couple of malls. The boys were especially excited about going to the Lego Store. They also enjoyed playing video games with their cousins. They have Guitar Hero World Tour (my brother's Christmas present). Caleb really enjoyed it since it has drums and a guitar. It also comes with a microphone and my brother talked me into doing the singing part. It was pretty fun! My brother is really good at the guitar and drums. He can even do some of the songs on the expert level. It's always sad to say goodbye to them but this time we won't have to wait as long to see them again so that made it a little easier to say goodbye.

Guitar Hero - World Tour

Almost everyone gets in on the fun.

Joshua and Micah try to figure out some optical illusions.

The kids have all grown a lot since we last lined them up and took a picture.

Channel 8 Tour

Jacob loved trying on the OU football helmet. He also tried on an OSU one and a TU one.

Having fun with the green screen.

Getting an autographed picture from Frank Mitchell.

All around the official news desk.

Learning about what a meteorologist does.

Jacob's den got to take a tour of Channel 8. Frank Mitchell took the boys on a tour and then we got to watch them do the 6:00 news. I think the parents enjoyed it as much, if not more, than the kids. The boys enjoyed it but it was kind of hard for them to be quiet and sit still for 30 minutes. Those of us parents that were there were pretty nervous during the taping of the news. Amazingly, the boys were very quiet. This is quite an accomplishment for a group of 6 and 7 year old boys who are full of energy. Jacob got a couple of autographed pictures which he thought was really cool. The sports guy let the boys try on OU, OSU, and TU football helmets. They were very excited about that. The helmets looked huge on their little heads.

Royalty in our family

The whole royal court

My handsome little guy

Megan & Tyler

Megan & Jacob

Jacob was tuckered out on the way home.

Last night our niece, Megan, was crowned Homecoming Queen. She is a senior at Cherryvale HS. Jacob and I left after school yesterday to go see her. First we got to watch her play basketball. She did great - scoring over 20 points. She wanted Jacob to carry her crown so he got to get dressed up and carry the crown on a pillow. It was very exciting when they announced that Megan had been chosen to be the queen. Jacob also got to see his grandparents, his uncle, his great-aunt and his other cousin, Tyler. The boys absolutely adore their cousins! Megan and Tyler make me feel really old. Tyler was our ringbearer and now he is a junior in college. Megan was only a baby when we got married. They grow up so fast! Be looking for a blog soon about how fast my boys are growing up.

Another Ice Storm

My snowboarding boys

Joshua didn't want to try snowboarding.

It seems like these ice storms are becoming a yearly tradition here in Tulsa. It's a tradition that I don't really care for too much. This time we actually had one in December and now one in January also. So, the schools have used all of their snow days already. Starting tomorrow Union will have to make up the days - probably at the end of the school year. Kenneth got to be home with us part of Monday and all day yesterday. That was nice! He went back to work today. The boys are starting to get bored and they're fighting more since they're tired of each other. Needless to say, I'm ready for them to go back to school. They should be able to go back on Friday. We decided to try out some sledding today. We needed to get out of the house for a little while. I wasn't sure if it would be too icy or not. Since Joshua's sledding accident a couple of years ago, I am a little more nervous about taking them sledding - especially when Kenneth can't go with us. It was more slick than last year when we went sledding. We went pretty fast. Caleb and Jacob tried out our new snowboard but it was hard to do because it was too icy. Pure snow would have worked better. They had fun though and it was good to be outside for a little while. Amazingly, it didn't even seem too terribly cold.

Back in the Fast Lane

Joshua's team is the Yellow Jackets.

Jacob's team is the Scarlet Knights.

I love how they pray before every game!

Tongue sticking out - the face of concentration.

I haven't been on here in quite a while. We had a nice Christmas. Got to spend time with family which we always enjoy. Kenneth got to be home a lot which was great. Things were really in slow gear for a couple of weeks - which is wierd for us. Caleb got to spend a week in Missouri with his friend Kyle. He loved that! I don't think they did a whole lot but he's at the age where he would rather do nothing with a friend than be home with his family. He is definitely turning into a teenager (don't know how that is possible). Things definitely picked up speed this last week. Caleb got through his week of finals. He did really well - 96 was his lowest grade. We have also been busy with basketball and scouts. Joshua and Jacob had their first basketball games yesterday. Jacob stole the ball and made a basket. Joshua got really close to making a basket twice. It's a lot of fun to watch them play! I ended up having strep throat this last week which wasn't fun but I survived. I'm thankful that we didn't all end up sick. Kenneth is really busy at work right now so we haven't seen him much the last few days. I'm ready for him to be done but I'm so thankful that he only has one week of busyness versus three months. We are so happy that he will be home more this winter/spring. His new job is such a blessing!

Twister Fun

Beth and Kelli

Kenneth, Brian and Joel

The guys lasted a long time - except Lane

Great pose from the boys - Cole and our boys

Lane & Kelli dressed in Twister colors

Saturday night was so much fun. We had friends over for dinner. Great food, great conversation, lots of laughter! Our friends were inspired by one of my previous blogs and decided that we should play twister. The men went first. They lasted a long time. I was impressed. I got lots of amusing pictures. The women went next. We didn't last nearly as long. The kids wanted to get in on the fun. Caleb had a definite advantage with his long legs and long arms. We ended the night by playing Catch Phrase. It's a fun game - especially when Kelli is playing. She really gets into it and is very animated. One of the things I am most thankful for during this holiday season is our wonderful friends. Love you guys! Looking forward to many more nights of living, loving and laughing together.