Frontier City

The fam just arriving at Frontier City. It was crazy hot and muggy so please excuse the excessive sweating---I mean, glistening.

On of about only 3 rides Boston could do.

The girls on the log ride. They LOVED it!

It rained for about 30 minutes so we took a dinner break. I was shocked at just how gross the food area was. Even so, we ate some chicken strips and burgers.

After the rain the girls rode this and got to spinning really fast. I was sick just watching (my motion sickness you know!).

They had several of these little houses and the kids loved them. They probably could have played in them the entire time and been perfectly happy.

The kiddie roller coaster was a HUGE hit. Jorge rode it with them the first time to see how rough it was. Look at his face posing for me!

If you can make this next picture bigger you should. Check out Ava and Stella's face. It describes their reactions perfectly. Ava was terrified (but still rode 3 or 4 times). Stella was completely thrilled and loved it. She rode at least 6 times in a row!

Stella on a lone trip.

Poor Boston spent a lot of time in the stroller. At Disney World he rode everything Stella could so this was very different for us.

Jorge and Stella on the log ride. Ava paid a quarter to squirt them and was laughing hysterically!

OK, this was by far the scariest ride for me and I didn't even ride! I can NOT believe that Ava and Stella were tall enough to ride this grown up roller coaster. Stella rode twice, Ava once.

Here is what it looks like.

On the ferris wheel. Or as Stella calls it, the "rolley".

This was another pretty intense ride that I was shocked Ava and Stella rode. Jorge had a good time doing some "grown up" rides!

Cale's bday and taking kids to Bricktown

My in-laws were so nice to let us use their pool for my nephew's (Cale) birthday party. It was so fun. I'm not used to being around so many 10-12 yr old boys and how crazy they are in the pool. There were flips of all kinds...I was so nervous! Here is Cale in the red shorts.


I made them pose for this picture. I think they are all on the same baseball team too. They will love this when they are graduating!

I made Cale an OU/baseball cake. The party was a huge hit with hot dogs, swimming, and cake and presents. The only downer was towards the end of the party. One of the little boys slipped getting out of the pool and chipped about 6 teeth, including half of his front two teeth! I felt so bad for him! However a week later my big brother informed me that his parents said he was fine. In fact, he apparently likes his "new" teeth much better than his old ones. He says they aren't so big--how funny!

Ava and Stella got to have their friend Samantha over one day this summer. They enjoyed dressing up and playing Pretty Pretty Princess.

Jorge and I decided to take the kids to Bricktown one day. We had a lot of fun riding the boat on the canal, going to Bass Pro Shop to look at the fish tank, and eating at the Marble Slab for ice cream. Here we are on the boat.

Stella said the boat ride was her favorite part of the day, Ava said it was her worst part. Go figure.

Ava was fascinated with the giant stuffed bear at Bass Pro. They didn't really get into the fish tank though. After this, Ava said loudly to Jorge, "Daddy, let's go look at the GUNS now!"

Last day of summer "school. Ava and her best bud Madison, Stella and her friend Riley.

Boston in his room at cdo.

Hello, Strangers!

Wow, I have been so slack in getting on here! Ever since being introduced to Facebook I have been spending less and less time reading and posting blogs. Sorry out there! I'm going to try to keep up though.

Today I had fun getting to go to my dad's house for my nephew's birthday lunch. We had a lot of fun. My dad asked Stella how much she loved him and she answered, "64!" He said "really?" and she said "no, I mean 67!" She is a strange little gal!

Also Ava told me that for her birthday she wants a Segway. So if I come into an extra $5,000 I know how she would have me spend it. She has been riding them at the Science Museum.

Little Boston has become such a screamer and it is driving me crazy. I am hoping it is a phase because it is NOT pretty. However I am looking for a pterodactyl costume for Halloween for him since that is what he sounds like when he screams.

More later!

Where does milk come from?...

I had a fun conversation with Ava today in the car. It went like this:

Me: Ava, do you know where milk comes from?
Ava: Cows.
Me: And where does ketchup come from?
Ava: Tomatoes.
Me: Where does cheese come from?
Ava: (Long pause) Orange juice.
Me: And where does bread come from?
Ava: Factories.
Me: And do you know what ice cream is made of?
Ava: Ice.
Me: Yes, what else?
Ava: Sugar.
Me: Yes and what else?
Ava: Sprinkles. (pause) Is the moon made of cheese?
Me: No, who told you that?
Ava: Daddy.

Summer Fun (so far)

The girls making a fort in the living room with all of their blankets. They had fun and even tolerated Boston messing it up.


Jorge and I went to the drive in movies. We took the truck and put an inflatable mattress in the bed of the truck. Then we take blankets, pillows, ice chest of food, and a radio and just enjoy the evening. They show new releases so we watched 2 movies that night and then went home at about 1:30 in the morning.

AJ's party. Here are Stella, Ava, Ellarie and another of Ellarie's friends getting ready to swim.

Same day but later was Samuel's party at the bowling alley. All of the kids had a great time. Here is Ava and Sam.

And Stella and Eli.

Ellarie and Araeyah.

The baby boys, Boston, Atticus, and Benjamin.

Jeremy was the brave dad helping the kids bowl.

Ava making a moustache.

Breaking out the slip and slide for the 1st time this summer. Ava got it right away, Stella mostly just ran down the whole thing and then might accidentally fall and slide.

Boston's new 'do.

VBS was a busy week and we all enjoyed it. Thursday night was parents night and the kids always put on a little musical/skit show. Ava is front row, 3rd from the left.

Here is the whole group of kids.

After the kids performed there was a ventriloquist. Ava thought he was hysterical and laughed her head off the whole time.

My cousin Landon is getting married in July and we had a family wedding shower for him and his fiance Jennifer. They are both so sweet and we are happy for them.

On the way home from the shower Boston was enjoying one of his socks. For quite a while now he has chosen socks as his "lovey". He only likes his socks not anyone else's and he likes to rub them on his nose and around his mouth. He particularly likes them right after they have come off his feet. Weird, I know.

Then last weekend Jorge's nephew got married in McAlester. I realized later that I didn't get any pics ofthe bride and groom but the photographer took lots of pics and we will get some I'm sure.

This is Jorge's brother Jeff and his wife LeAnne and one of their daughters Ashley w/ our 3 kids. They live in North Carolina so we are always happy to see them when they come to OK.

Isn't Jorge a handsome man! Can you tell how excited he was to be at the wedding? Just kidding, we all really did have a great time. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was fun too.

The next few days the kids got to spend time with Rebecca and Ashley before they went back to NC. Most of that time was spent in the pool.

Ava has been doing really well this summer. I have taken her to the deep end many times and had her swim from the center of the pool to the edge. Once I even talked her into jumping into the deep end and swimming to me on the other side. I was so proud of her for doing that because she is actually very afraid of the deep end (even though she can swim now!). Silly girl.

Stella is not near as scared of the water. She loves going down the slide.

This last week after watching her cousins jump off the diving board she finally decided to try. I didn't' really think she would but she hopped on there and jumped right in. It is now her favorite thing to do in the pool.

Also last week I took the kids to meet up with my friend Guyla at the Jump Zone. I think they had more fun on the swing sets in there than the inflatables! Here are the kids with Caleb.

And this is the picture Ava took. Notice the sock in Boston's hand.

To top off last week we went to the Melting Pot with our friend's the Smiths. We each have 3 kids so finding a sitter for both of us on the same night and also a night Jorge was off work was challenging...it took almost a month to work it out. But we had a really good time and enjoyed our 3+ hour meal. It is a really fun place to eat--I highly recommend it! Heather and I are accountability partners and we try to meet up for cokes once a week to catch up. It was nice to include the guys for once!

5, 3, and 1

Each year we get the kids pictures taken on/near their birthday. I may have posted Ava's pics but I know I didn't do Stella and Boston. Here are just a few of each kid.

Ava 5 years old (3/10/04)

Stella 3 years old (4/13/06):

Yes, that is Bubby in every picture. We figured we may only have a few more years left with him and wanted to include him in the pics. He is practically family now! Stella still cannot go to bed with out him although she doesn't carry him around during the day as much anymore.

Boston 1 year old (3/17/08):

Ava's dance recital

Ava was so excited for her 1st dance recital. She was a pixie. Here she is trying on her costume before we get ready to go to the theater.

The under 7 kids sat with their families during the 1st part of the show to watch the older girls dance. She loved it and said later that she wants to be the best dancer ever just like the big girls. As for Stella, let's just say I'm glad we brought the leapster. No really she did pretty good too but was a little antsy.

Before the show really starts they have the oldest girls on stage w/ a few bars and Miss Marjorie comes out and has them warm up in front of everyone while she explains what they are doing. Even with the littlest dancers she uses all the ballet terms so Ava comes home saying stuff that I have no idea what she is talking about! 'Arabesque' and "Plie" I know, but 'Pas de chat' and 'Rond de jambe' I have no idea! So watching them warm up was very interesting.

At the first intermission we got her all ready and sent her backstage with the big girls. They take care of the little ones (let them color, have apples and juice, etc.) after they dance while they wait for the next intermission.

(I tried to upload the video of her dance here but after 30 minutes of waiting I give up!)

After the dance Miss Marjorie gives each dancer a rose and they curtsy/bow to each other. Minus the rose, that is also how they end each class. Ava is the far right. After the little kids danced, the oldest ones came back and did a mini ballet about 15-20 minutes. It was very good.

Stella sat with my Mom, Grandpa and Grandma during the 2nd part of the recital. They had to sit in the back so my Grandpa wouldn't have to use the stairs so Stella had more room to move w/out bothering anyone. They all brought Ava flowers so Stella is giving them a look over first.

Julie was so sweet to come to Ava's recital! She is such a good friend and is wonderful w/ our kids. Ava was excited to see her. Actually Ava is excited to perform, period! She loves being on stage/attention. This is after the show.

Ava finally got her flowers. She was about as excited about that as she was anything!

My dad and step mom also came but Ava didn't see them until it was in the same room as the cake and punch. Guess what won? So I didn't get a pic with them but they came and brought Ava some flowers as well. Here are the girls eating some cake. Ava said this was her cake face.

Ava had a big cheering section! Her Grandma Judy came too. Here they are at the reception.

Here is her teacher, Marjorie Kovich. She is a former ballerina and continues to choreograph for the Norman Ballet and other things. She is a very good teacher, stern but kind. Ava really enjoys her.

Can't wait till next year. Stella will be taking as well. That ought to be interesting! :-)