A Date with Ben

Ben recently requested to start going on dates with us. He can't fathom why Mom and Dad would want to go anywhere without him. So we planned a special date at Incredible Pizza this week (our first visit ever) while E was with Grandma and Grandpa. We all chowed down on the buffet and then hit the game area. Ben played a few games where you could earn tickets, but mostly wanted to drive. He drove a car, motorcycle, jet ski and snowmobile on different games. He was pretty pleased! He also earned enough tickets for an army man, ball and airplane to take home. Now the question is "when will we go again?"

Philbrook Family Fun Day

We met up with some special friends last weekend and tried something new. Our families are getting to the point where we can actually go out and do "bigger kid" things so we are determined to do as much of that as we can this summer. We went to Philbrook with the kids for the first time. They did way better than anticipated and seemed to have a great time. We spent about half the time inside and half the time enjoying the beautiful grounds. Then we headed to Brookside for lunch. We discovered that our kids love Brookside By Day and we all ended up enjoying brunch instead of lunch. We are hopeful this is a sign of things to come and that our family can enjoy more adventures like this!

Swimming Classes

Swimming classes are over for now, but we earned a few ribbons that we can enjoy over the summer.

Ben "did not cry for 3 weeks", "blows bubbles" and "participates in games and songs". He can "retrieve objects in waist deep water", "climb out of the pool alone", and do a "10 sec supported back float".

We plan to enjoy some outside swimming this summer and start lessons back up in the fall.

Mother's Day

The kids had worked hard making awesome creations in their classes this year. Elizabeth actually had three projects. Mom felt so special and loved each creation! The inside of Ben’s card had an extra special treat. He had filled in some blanks about Mom that were quite enjoyable. The highlights went from "My Mom sometimes helps Dad cook." to "My favorite thing about my Mom is doing tricks."

Before all of this though, Ben had a surprise planned of his own. He woke Mom up with an empty bucket in his hands. He said, “Do you know what this is? I wrapped up a bunch of kisses for you!” And he proceeded to love on Mom and totally start the day off right!

We also all went to church that morning, out to eat lunch at Pei Wei (where the kids were complimented on their behavior and good eating!), back home for a rest, out to the backyard to finish the raised bed garden and then out to eat frozen yogurt for a special snack.

It was such a nice day with two great kiddos!!

BBQ, Blues and Build-a-Bear

Elizabeth was blessed with a day catered just to her this weekend. It hadn’t been planned by Mom and Dad that way, but ended up working out really well since Ben had gotten a special day earlier in the week. On Saturday after Ben’s swim lesson we headed out to visit Papa and have a belated egg hunt at his place. She enjoyed that pretty well and was stoked with the M&Ms of course.

From there we headed to the Bixby BBQ and Blues Festival. We had never been before but thought it might be fun for the kids. Mom was pleased to find a roasted potato for lunch and Dad and the kids each got Taster’s Kits where they could wander to each of the BBQ competitors’ booths to sample what they entered to the competition. Ben was lukewarm on the whole experience. He was hot (as was Mom) and wanted water, but wasn’t interested in the meats. We finally got him to try the booths that had “hot dog” aka sausages and ended up eating enough to call it lunch. E on the other hand was in heaven. She devoured each booth’s sampling and couldn’t wait for more. We think she even out-ate Dad as she kept taking from his plate too. We would stop in a shady spot to eat between booth stops and she would jam to the country and blues music and shovel BBQ into her mouth. It was hysterical. She will definitely be back next year and we will be bringing the video camera!

After nap we headed to Build-a-Bear to reward Ellie with her animal for being “pacifier free”. She chose a fluffy dog and named her “Woof Woof”. She is creative like her Mom! The dog got a skirt and panties and is quite the hit. We had done the same thing for Ben a couple of years ago and we did not get him anything at this visit since it wasn’t his special achievement this time. He was so eager to help Elizabeth and did such a great job. The BAB employees seemed surprised that we were so cruel to make him come along, but were impressed with his behavior and rewarded him with BAB stickers. Pretty cool, Brother!

It did help that we headed to Target afterwards with the kids’ Easter money to spend. Ben got a cool car set and Elizabeth ended up with a baby bathtub set. A fun family day!

First School Field Trip

Ben’s class got to go on their very first field trip the first week of May. It was a trip to the zoo with 15 four year olds! Mom was lucky enough to get to attend. Ben was so excited about this day – he had been talking about it for at least a couple of weeks beforehand. Ben thought he would ride with Mom on the way there, but then quickly changed his mind to ride in the church van with the rest of the class. He actually changed his mind several times that morning as it was just such an exciting and overwhelming day. The number of parents that went allowed for each adult to only have one or two kids so Ben and Mom enjoyed most of the day with special one on one time. We headed straight to the elephants first and enjoyed some monkeys on the way. The kids really wanted to do the petting zoo and enjoyed combing several of the sheep and goats. The Rainforest building was a huge hit and then we took a break for lunch. It was hysterical to watch the kids interact and show off what they had brought to eat. Ben sat with two little girls and was of course the first one done after he scarfed his food down. This left plenty of time to play with sticks and run around before we headed to the next stop. After lunch we went to the penguins and spent quite a while there. It was Ben’s favorite and all of the kids enjoyed peeking in all of the different window areas to see what they were up to. We saw the snow leopard, lions, bears and the giraffe after that as we headed toward the train to ride back to the main gate. We were all tired and headed out around 1:30 to get some rest time. It ended up to be a great afternoon with a few small errands, a trip to the icecream store and a trip to the library. What a fun day off!

Dallas Trip

Aunt Sarah and Uncle Dusty are expecting Baby Brynna soon. We headed down for Sarah’s shower so we could get in one last visit before our new cousin/niece arrived. Ben is so in love with Brynna already. He hugged Sarah’s belly probably a hundred times over the weekend. He kept coming by for “just one more”. Elizabeth didn’t warm up quite as quickly, but enjoyed playing hide and seek from afar with various family members and Maddox the kitty. It was a really great visit and we look forward to going back soon and meeting Brynna for the first time!!

Beautiful decorations!

E entertained herself with a happy meal hat and a movie on the way home.


Ben was exhausted after missing naps all weekend.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was rainy, but that didn’t stop the Easter Bunny from hiding eggs around our house. The kids enjoyed an early morning egg hunt and found some special treats in their baskets as well. The church hunt got moved indoors as well, but the kids didn’t mind. With all of the activities earlier in the week for Easter, we were able to take it easy on Sunday afternoon and enjoy some down time on a rainy day. It was pretty great!

Coweta Eggstravaganza

Grandma Lyn and Grandpa David hosted an egg hunt for the kids the Saturday before Easter. The kids had a great time searching for eggs, playing with friends and family, going on walks, making crafts and decorating cookies. Here are a few of the highlights (from the iphone which seems to be usual these days). :)