What we've been up to...October

This post may be long or it may be short. Depends on how quickly I get frustrated with Blogger. I need to find a new way to upload my photos.

Anyway, here's a short synopsis of what we've been up to the last three months.

We went camping for the first time as a family. We both like camping but we've never gone in all our years of marriage. Well, Chris goes all the time with scouts but we've never taken the kiddos. I brought the camera. I  also forgot to take pics until we got home. This is Chase's dirty hand as he is konked out in his car seat. We had excellent food from the dutch oven, had a campfire, did a service project in the morning and got really, really, really dirty. Did I mention we camped within OKC limits just about a mile from the amusement park? Kinda funny. But that's where the service project was so that's what we did.

We got sick. Like, I don't think I've ever puked that much in my life, sick. It started with Chase and moved on to Mommy and Daddy. Kate avoided it somehow. Chris will kill me for posting this pic but it documents about a week of our lives. On the good side though, I finally lost the 5 pounds I've been trying to lose for about 21 months now. :) (I think I gained it all back at Christmas, but that's another story)

Kate's been doing a preschool/playgroup with some friends. She absolutely loves it and Chase loves it when it's at our house because he gets to play too. From the left: Jasmine, Hannah, Kate, Addie, Drew, and Chase.

Just before Halloween we went to Chester's Party Barn. It was a bit warmer than last year but not much. We still had tons of fun though. If you're ever in the Edmond area around Halloween, I definately suggest this.

Kate watching the Pumpkin Chunkin at Chester's.

Ward Halloween Party. Gotta love the cheesy (and messy) smiles.

 We totally forgot all about carving pumpkins this year and I felt really bad so on Halloween morning I let the kids paint their pumpkins. Chase had a bit too much fun.

You know, I've tried spiking Chase's hair with gel before and it just goes flat after about 10 minutes. Maybe he was on to something here...

Kate was very meticulious in her painting and only managed to get one hand dirty. That's the difference between my kids. One's cautious and one's...not.

 Me and Chase hanging out at the park while Kate was at preschool. I love my time with my little man. He's getting so big so fast.

Ok, I have tons more pictures but that takes you up to November at least. I've got to go get something accomplished before naptime is over. Hopefully I'll get around to posting some more in the next few days.

New Kitchen!

Now don't get too excited. I'm not talking about my kitchen. I'm talking about Kate's birthday present. She's 3 now (I can't believe how big my baby girl is getting!) I saw a play kitchen that a friend made her daughters and got inspired to make on of my own. Well, not my own, but Kate's own. Seriously, I think I'm more excited about it than Kate is. Maybe.

Anyway, some friends of ours gave us an old bookshelf that they inherited from their office. Here is what it looked like:

So Chris brought it home for me and then I stared at it for like a week. I was all excited to do it but when I looked at this I really didn't know where to begin. It was like having severe writer's block. So I called Holly and told her what I was doing and said I needed help. She's seriously one of the most creative people I know and she got me all pumped up with different ideas and resources. Now that my creativity block was over I grabbed Chris, told him to get a saw and headed to the garage.

We chopped off the left hand side and about 6 inches off the bottom of the right side to lower it to Kate's size. Next we cut the left side in half and turned it on its side to be the fridge. Somewhere I have in between pictures of it but it really just looks like a pile of wood (which it was) and I'm sure you've seen a pile of wood before so I'll spare you. :) The scariest part of this whole project was doing all the cutting (and not just because I'm afraid of cutting my toes off). I was so worried I'd get it all cut up and then wish I hadn't. My advice if you're planning on doing this: just take a deep breath and do it.

The next week or so was full of more cutting, sanding, nailing, drilling, painting, sewing, more painting, shopping for knobs, hardware and accessories. Of course, Kate decided she didn't need to nap in these two weeks so I had to do it when either Aunt Stacey could babysit or after the kids went to bed. I messed up a few times and about gave up a few more times but I stuck with it and I'm so glad I did. It turned out GREAT!! I absolutely love it. It's not 100% finished. The fridge doors aren't cut straight so I need to fix them a bit but the kids don't seem to mind.

Here's the finished product:

Happy cooking to you!!

Washington

May also brought us to Washington! This trip was LONG overdue. The last time I saw any of my family was  in August. It was probably the longest stretch I've ever gone without seeing them. When we moved to Oklahoma I made Chris promise me I could go home whenever I wanted. He's done a really good job keeping that promise but between his job and school we didn't have any time off. Anyway...to the pictures!

This was the first night at Mom's house with all the cousins together. There was a mattress pulled out in this bedroom and Kate and Hayden started jumping on it. We all told them they couldn't jump on the bed. After I put the bed away Kate asked if they could jump on the blanket. So they did. For like 20 minutes. It was hilarious! Laughing and screaming and playing. I loved it. Chase missed out on all the action but he was happily engaged with his dinner so he didn't feel too bad.

I love how Cindy is pinning Cayla's head down in this pic. They were sooo hyper.

Kate really took a liking to Hayleigh. Hayleigh drew a picture for Kate and she carried it around for like 2 weeks after we got home saying, "Hayleigh made it for me!"

So, Mom always says how Cayla's smile can light up a room so I devoted much of my time on this trip attempting to capture it. This is not it...

I'm telling you, Kate LOVED playing with the cousins. This is my mom's backyard. On the lake. Sigh. It's so beautiful. If you know anyone looking for lakefront property in Central Washington, let me know. She's selling soon!!

One of my good friends always makes a trip out to see us when we are in the area. Thanks Eliza! It's so nice to see their family and visit for a while. This is little Weston. I think he and Chase are like a week apart.

And this is all of us. Facing the sun. The kids aren't looking. Seriously, we took like 20 pictures and NONE of the kids are looking in ANY of them! (Now that I see how we're all squinting I can't really blame them though.)

Kate made a new best friend. My sister Kim was very patient with Kate following her around all the time. Kim did Kate's hair so beautifully, don't you think?

My cousin has a cute little dog that Kate just adored. She let Kate take the leash and walk around with him. Kate thought she was pretty cool stuff. She was on cloud 9 until she tried to snap his head off by dragging him around. And that was the end of that.

And this is Jake. He's the cutest, most serious little man I've ever met but I did manage to catch a little smile.

This is definately not the smile that lights up the room. This is more like, Chrissy, get that camera out of my face!

All the cousins and my gorgeous sister.

My aunt and her grand daughters, Hannah (the infant) and Kaelee (the toddler).

Kaelee has the hugest, most gorgeous eyes ever. So cute!!

Kate thinking she's big stuff playing frisbee with the big kids.

And the biggest kid of all is my husband. :) Konnor is pretty close to passing him up though

Proof that I was actually there!

I think she needs a grandbaby, don't you?

Yeah, so for any of you Okies that try to tell me that Oklahoma is flat and brown. I tell you, you haven't seen flat and brown until you've been to central Washington. Here's proof. This is the most scenic view around ML.

Nothing like sharing some ice cream with Daddy. I just remembered that we snuck this out of the freezer. I don't know if Aunt Paula knows we stole this but she does now! :)

Yeah!! I finally got it!!

Roasting her first marshmallow!! It was the most perfectly roasted marshmallow you ever did see.

Did she eat it?

Nope.

The kids had so much fun they were plum worn out. So were Mommy and Daddy. We just don't have the luxury of falling asleep wherever/whenever we want to.

It was a fantastic trip. We love seeing family and we miss everyone!! Until next time...

May

I feel like I blinked and May was gone. I have no idea what we did. I had to flip through all my pictures to jog my memory. Here's a few highlights.

Chris finally bought his dream bow. It's the Bowtech Admiral, if you care to know. ;) He's gotten pretty good at it. This is a picture just after he shot from 50 yards (which is pretty far in bow hunting standards). There's three arrows in the block but you can only really see two. That's because he almost got a "robin hood." Which means he almost shot so perfectly that he split one in two. I'm glad he didn't cause that means we would have had to buy another arrow. He's a happy camper though and he's already plotting for next hunting season. Be thankful you're not a deer living in Oklahoma.

We started a new tradition: Family Cookie Night! Well, we liked it so much we're gonna make it a tradition. It was way too late but the kids (and Mommy and Daddy) had fun.

We spent a ton of time at the park. Not so much anymore since it's so stinking hot outside. But we had a pretty good run of it for a while.

I love this picture of Chase. He always wrinkles up his nose and it's so cute!

What is it with men and anything with moters or wheels? Chase LOVED this truck at a park in Norman.

I love Kate's cheesy grin and dirty feet in this one. What a mess!

A friend and I went to the rose gardens to take some pictures. It had been raining for like a week straight but we decided to go anyway. It was a lot of fun. Here's my favorite from the trip.

We also went to Washington!! Yeah!!

I'm sorting through pics from that trip and I'll be posting them soon so stay tuned!