Gift Ideas

I am so excited to think that in 3 weeks Jeff will be graduating from law school! It has been a great 3 years in Oklahoma & we look forward to more wonderful years in Oklahoma, just without the schooling! YIPEE!! So with this upcoming event comes the need to buy a gift, not just any gift though... a wonderful, thoughtful, useful, gift that a wife would get for her husband to show how proud she is of his hard work & determination. I am wanting to spend a larger sum of money, as I want it to be a fabulous gift! I have a couple of different ideas floating around in that empty space above, but I thought I'd ask for some suggestions. So let me have 'em!!

Privacy was Irritating...

So I am going back to public!! I hate finding a long lost someone on someone else's blog & clicking with excitement, just to find that their blog is private. I feel a little hypocritical being irritated with their choice in remaining private. And can I tell you how lame it is to find out someone has a blog & I get excited & say we need to get eachothers addresses, just to quickly add that I'll need their e-mail so I can invite them? LAME-O, who do I think I am?? I'm a stay-at-home mom who lives in Oklahoma for cryin' out loud! I don't really think there are that many people read this thing, so who I'm I trying to hide from? Heck, my own mom doesn't read my blog!! So check it out people... I've got nothing to hide, we are back for your blogging pleasure!

Why Didn't I Think of that...

Life has been keeping me away from one of my true joys... stalking! Blog stalking! So today naptime was spent with my feet up, catching up, & it feels great!! It's fun catching up on everyone, seeing cute pics of kids, getting in some good laughs, etc.

There was one post that topped them all, of the 50+ I've read (okay, you caught me, perhaps I did a little more skimming & scanning & not as much reading)my friend,Tib topped the charts. It was herbrainwashing post. You really must read it!

I too want to teach my kids manners, & about a year ago Hannah would respond to a yes or no question with a sound similar to a grunt. In an effort to change this we started pushing her to say "Please" & "Thank You", so when asked if she wanted something & she replied with one of her grunts we would ask "Yes Please, or No Thank You?" This helped & we also pushed good manners by saying it first at the appropriate time in a way that encouraged her to repeat it. I still encourage & reming her by saying:
"Ask nicely"
"How do we ask?"
"What do you say?"

Now I am wondering why I stopped there, & why I didn't think to push it farther!?! Tib had it right by going the extra step. Do you think it's too late! I just worry that Hannah will remember that I taught her to say it (taught, force, whatever) because her memory is so much better at 3.

Is it really brainwashing? It seems more like an affirmation, positive thinking. They'll most likely come to the conclusion that you're the best mom ever at some point in their lives... sadly they'll most likely be married with kids by then. Smart thinking Tib!

Birthday Weekend Wrap-Up

I love the birthday weekend. Saturday morning we got up & got going early so we could make it downtown to watch my brother, Travis, cross the finish line in the Salt Lake 1/2 Marathon. Then we had to rush over to my aunt's for my sister, Harmony's, bridal shower.

We came back to the house so the kids could take a nap & I saw the lovely flowers that Jeff sent me. Later that the whole family (minus Jeff) went to Spaghetti Mama's for dinner. Then Harmony & I took a load of stuff over to her new apartment.

Today was a lazy day. Me & the kids all hae colds, so we stayed home from church. Tonight was Sunday dinner with the family. We had a great rib dinner & a yummy chocolate birthday cake.

*Pictures to come later.

Happy Birthday

In the off chance you're reading this today, I was the first to say happy birthday, Megan.

Salt Lake City, Here We Come

Tomorrow morning the kids & I catch an early flight to Salt Lake City. We will be there for 3 weeks. Jeff will join us for a few days for my sister's wedding. Hannah & I are very excited about our trip. It will be fun to see everyone & to help out with all the final wedding details with my sister. I'll try to keep things updated as much as possible.

Honesty Pays Off

I recently went to Babies R Us to purchase diapers for Milo. I had a balance on a gift card & decided to look around & found him some clothes. Hannah still had money left on pre-paid visa card from her birthday (thank you Mimaw!) & she picked out a lovely princess movie she wanted.

Between 2 kids that were melting down, & the confusion of paying (Hannah's gift card, the Babies R Us card & my credit card), I didn't really pay much attention to the grand total, I just listened to what amount was left for me to pay. A couple of days later I was finally got around to looking at my receipt & realized the total was much cheaper than I thought (I just assumed I'd had more on my gift card,) but come to find out I was not charged for the $40 box of diapers!!

All week I've been meaning to go down there & it just wasn't happening... but with the fact that I am leaving town for 3 weeks first thing in the morning, I decided to call the store. I'll admit that in the back of my mind I'd hoped that I wouldn't be charged for the diapers, so I was a little bummed when the employee told me that she would get the paperwork & do the sale over the phone. Despite the fact that I didn't score any free diapers, I did feel good knowing I did the right thing!

Easter!

Here are some pictures of Hannah hunting Easter eggs, which we're just now getting around to posting. Please note her fashion sense.

She loved her princess scooter! She also got a lovely pair of blue plastic Cinderella heels, which will get lots of use!

We had Easter dinner at the Mendenhall's, along with the Francis', & the Christensen's. Lots of great friends & yummy food. We failed to bring the camera.

The Artistic Milo

Megan took these fantastic pictures of "The Tank."

The Redbud

Well, she completed the challenge. 6 miles is some feat! Here's the pics to prove it:

**I did it & my goal was to cross the finish line on my own 2 legs. My time was 1:15:47 at a 12:12 mph pace. Being it was my frist race I wasn't up to setting a really high goal. I just wanted to run & enjoy it. Despite the fact that in the 2nd half I was wishing I signed up for the 5K, I did enjoy the race. I would like to do another 10K in the future & still hope to do a 1/2 marathon this year.

There were 2 factors that I struggled with,first was taking time off of running when I decided to not do the 1/2 marathon & hadn't committed to the 10K. It took me an additional week to get back into the groove, so there was 2 weeks of lost time, so I wasn't able to get as high of mileage as I would have planned.

Second, an afternoon run. I am a morning runner, that is how I prefer it & my runs first thing in the morning are always a lot better than any evening run I've done. The race was a 2 PM start & that is a time I've never run. So that was hard, even if it was just a mental thing, I struggled with that & the fact that it the temperature was in the 70's. But all in all, it feels good to say I did it, & that's all I really wanted out of it! -megan

Among the fields of . . .

One week ago, we got a wild hair for some artistic shots. We ventured over near Lake Hefner and took pictures of Hannah running, laying, jumping [add your own adjective], in this giant field of flowers (most likely weeds). We had a lot of fun, and some great allergies on Monday!

It's running day

Today is the Redbug Classic. Megan's running the 10k portion, that's a lot of running. We'll be there to cheer her at then end of the race.