Carnival continued

Okay, as promised, I have more Carnival pics to share! I would load the video of Jackie's game but blogger will still not let me do it. Sorry, you will just have to wait on that! I promise, I am trying!!!

Back to the Carnival. Michael was called back into work and so was about an hour late to all the fun. Before he got there this is how my night was going..."Wait boys!"

Here they are waiting for a game:Gabriel playing a version of skee ball, my fav!:Kaden got a fish from the balloon/auctioneering clown. Luke and Gabriel got swords.

And my gorgeous sweet girl was nothing but perfect the whole time! She was wearing her new Princess Ariel shirt from her Daddy and because of it's color poor Josie was called a boy ALL NIGHT LONG! Gracious, I guess we will have to wait for her hair to come in! Isn't she sweet?!

Oh yes, Uncle Thaddeus--Luke reminded me, we also went to the book fair that night and bought a Speed Racer book so we will be all ready for your movie!

Jackie's TV Debut

OHMIGOODNESS! How fun is this?! We watched our Aunt Jackie on TV this morning and it was awesome! She was wonderful :) She won her game and got a fancy IPOD. Way to go Jackie! We must have watched it 15 times now. The boys kept saying "One more time, Mom!" Kaden always says "She won AGAIN!" They are SO excited, probably almost as excited as Jackie was! Here are some fun fun pics for those of you who missed her:
Our girl after she made it on stage, doesn't she look beautiful?! :)
A winning Jackie:
The boys cheering for their Aunt:
Here is a shot of Jackie's winning score and notice that GORGEOUS engagement ring (okay, so you really can't see the ring that well, but you can see it's there and I know she will like this picture!!!)Here is Jackie in the audience with Ellen dancing by (Jackie is in the lower right corner in yellow :) They were dancing to Justin Timberlake--Jackie's fav--how much more perfect could it be?!?!

I have a video of the game Jackie played but blogger is not letting me post it. I'm frustrated, I want all you that missed it to be able to watch...hopefully soon it will be on here! I know that you liked the pics though!! :) It was awesome to see you on TV Jackie!!!

WATCH your TV!

My almost sis-in-law Jackie is going to be on the Ellen DeGeneres Show on Monday!!! Yes, that is right. Jackie will be on at the beginning of the show, she will play a game (and she will *win*). Jackie is wearing yellow. So be on the lookout!

I'm SO excited. I record Ellen everyday as does Jackie. I cannot believe she made it up there! Too fun! Way to go Jackie!

Here is one of my most recent pic of Jackie from Christmas for those of you who don't know her. Aren't they beautiful girls??!! :)

Yeah, Thad looks alright too...

Congrats to him, they had the premiere of Speed Racer tonight! As I was hanging up the phone with them this afternoon they were heading out of the car to walk the red carpet! Quite a different life they lead. :) We're so proud of you Thaddeus!

In Her Face

Last night was Luke's school Carnival. We had SO much fun there. It was a very good end to a very long day, a long week for that matter! As usual I took a ton of photos and I am going to split them up for you guys. I will cover the best and last part first. Luke's teacher was one of four teachers that 'volunteered' to have pies thrown in their face. All week that is all Luke could talk about. He was so excited. I knew it was going to cost money, I figured some bucks for a pie, not too shabby. Little did I know that it was an auction type situation! When the 6 'gourmet' cookies went for $45, I thought we were in big trouble. Michael (and his completely competitive spirit) said that if we bid on it, he would not be outdone AND that we needed to do if for Luke. (What's with men?!) So fortunately for us, Luke's teacher was the first one to be 'auctioned' off and we got her for a mere $65! (It goes to a good cause, right? I am on the PTA board there, I know exactly where the money goes...) Luke was thrilled, you can imagine. Here is how it went down:

This is when we first showed up at the Carnival, she was happy to see us all then :)

For sale:

Luke waiting patiently:

In her face:

Adorable shot!!!!

Here's Luke talking with "Chester" the auctioneer:

Luke will be talking about this for days and days I am sure. It was already after 8:30 when this happened so we came home to put the kiddos to bed. As we were walking to the van, I heard through the cafeteria doors that teacher #3 was up to $170!!!!! Yikes! Like I said, we were fortunate she went first! :)

More pics to come soon. We had a blast! There is no school today so we have a time to recoup from our crazy week...

Tigers Baseball

Luke had a game Monday night and did really well again. This boy LOVES baseball. He is already doing the "bottom of the ninth, two outs, full count" daydream. It's so exciting! Luke goes to the library at school and gets baseball books. He bought a Albert Pujols/Alex Rodriguez and 2008 baseball guide at his school book fair. He'll sit and watch Cardinal games with me. He knows the line-up better then I do. My only complaint is that (right now) he is one of those "hit a home-run" fans. He wants everyone to hit a home run because, in his words "That is better." I keep telling him that base hits are awesome and they score runs too. Luke says "Yeah, but home runs are better!" I am working on him. And the all important use TWO hands when catching a fly ball! Here are a couple of short videos from his last game, hitting and then scoring:

The next Johnny Bench:

Johnny Bench (my Mom's fav) was an amazing defensive catcher that hit 389 home runs throughout his career. Not too shabby. Kaden has decided to follow in his footsteps. Enjoy!

Pardon the Mom yelling...I couldn't contain myself. Kaden was SO proud of himself. "I got the out Mom, I got the out!" He sure LOVES playing t-ball, can't you tell?!

Extra Birthday!

Josie's birthday celebration has been extended! She received some presents in the mail from her 'Aunt Backy' and Aunt Belva.

On the Saturday of our 80's party (Awesome!) Becks stuff came for my sweet girl. Kelly and her boyfriend Michael had stopped over for a visit, and while Kaden and Luke were occupying poor sweet Michael, Gabriel was free to help Josie with her gifts.

Thanks for the books Becky, they are adorable. We have read them quite a few times already!

Then Josie got a package from her Florida family. Luke was the big helper this time. Thanks for the book, it's too cute! Josie loves the mirror!! Aren't these pics too cute?! (especially the middle one!)

Still having a hard time believing my sweet angel is one...(still haven't heard from the Sooner Start people about her evaluation but the girl is pulling up to her knees and half the time is crawling on her knees now, so that is good :) I have actually stood her up next to the table and she does a great job. It scares her a little bit but I don't ever really let go of her. We are getting there!)

Dino Day

Kaden studied dinosaurs at school this past week. At dinner we talk about what the boys learned that day at school. Kaden was telling his Daddy that triceratops was his favorite dinosaur. (K's teacher told me that he was one of the the few who could actually name different dinosaurs. She said usually the kids know more then she does!) All this Jurassic Park talk reminded Michael that he has always wanted to take the kids down to (dreaded/awful---BOO ou) Norman to the Natural History Museum. So that's what we did on Saturday. We had lots of fun and the kids liked looking at the dinosaurs. That thing is HU-MONGO!!!!

Kaden found his triceratops (while that is not exactly what it is, it's pretty darn close and he was very excited!!!) What a cute pic, huh?!This pic is for my darling brother who used to call me "thunder thighs", yes, one of my very fun nicknames while growing up... Here we are next to a thigh bone!Cool bones:Here are the boys with another mammoth. (yes, Josie was there but she didn't make it into any of the pics--I know, I am terrible!!!!)They have a very cool "discovery room" which is very hands-on and fun. And while there was no sand in the box, the boys had a great time finding these fossils:

After our fun afternoon we went to Red Robin for dinner. YUM!!! Good Day!

Becoming Well Read

I love to read. I read very quickly. I breeze through novel after novel. At some point this spring break I realized that I should put my 'talent' to good use and start educating myself more. I told myself from now on I would read a biography/autobiography for every one of my fictions. I don't really know what started this desire but learning more and expanding your mind is not a bad thing. I don't like history much, my brother takes the cake there. He knows just about everything there is to know. He has a crazy library filled with all sorts of nonfiction. I am impressed by that. Now, I realize I will never be like Thaddeus in that way, but maybe after this I can hold some deep discussions with him. I know that he will be recommending some books to me. The best part of this new goal is that I can choose who/what I want to read about. Just so happened Luke was studying the coins at school and did a project of my first read. Can you guess who I am reading about?!

Yep. I am reading "His Excellency" about George Washington. WOW! It's quite interesting. I realized that I cannot read biographies as fast as novels. At least not this guy because of his post-doctoral language he uses throughout. Every 5 pages or so there is a word I cannot even pronounce let alone understand. Good thing I am a context reader so I can basically figure out what he means...I'll have to check with Thad when I am done :)

***Next up is the novel "Atonement" and my next biography is about William Wilberforce, the Parliamentarian who spent his life abolishing slave trade in England. He was the subject of the wonderful movie "Amazing Grace" from last year. I'm excited :) I'll keep you posted. Maybe one key fact from each of my books.

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About Josie now. Since you have not seen any pics of Josie walking, there are only a few things you can conclude:

1--this is my 4th child and it's just not that exciting anymore

2---I am just a slacker parent

3---I am a bad blogger

4---she isn't walking yet

The correct answer would be 4. Josie is not walking yet. Not only is she not walking, she is not standing. Not pulling up. Nothing. Our pediatrician has put a referral into Sooner Start, a great program they have here in OK where they come to your house to work with your kiddos. Josie will get an evaluation soon. I am still waiting for a call from them. I'll keep you posted on my sweet girl too :)

Kaden's mask

My sweet Kaden. Last Thursday I took Kaden and Josie into the doc, Josie for her well-baby 1 year appointment and Kaden because he had a cough. This cough was waking him up at night. It was a dry cough, and there were no other symptoms. I figured since I was going to the doc I would get Kaden checked out. Our doctor (that I LOVE remember) listened to Kaden for all of 2 seconds and said that he was breathing on only 25% of what he should be. Instantaneously I felt just terrible. Kaden had an albuterol treatment, a chest x-ray, and then another breathing treatment. We have NEVER had any kind of breathing issues with our kiddos. In fact, that is one thing Michael and I are always so thankful of, is that there is no asthma or anything like that in our family. The doctor gave us a Nebulizer to come home with and a prescription for a steroid. I held on fine while at the doctors office but you can believe I cried all the way home! I felt like such a terrible Mom for not bringing him earlier, for not realizing that he was as sick as he was. We are now done with the nebulizer and have just one more day of his steroid. I am thankful, I hated seeing him with that mask on. Nurse Dana called it his "Darth Vader mask" (does she know this family or what?). So Kaden calls it that as well. "I don't want to be Darth Vader again." he would say. Bless his lungs...

On a brighter note...Kaden was chosen to bring Corduroy the bear home this past weekend from school. (It's not really a Corduroy but what can you do?!) He was SUPER excited. There is a little book to write in, recording what he did while staying with you. Here is a fun pic I took of Kaden and his bear. Just look at that gorgeous smile:
We kept Kaden home from his t-ball game on Monday night because of his wheezing issues and so Michael and I took the kiddos to see "Horton Hears a Who". We had a great time and the kids loved it. I love making memories like this one, the whole family together and laughing...it was wonderful!

It was, like, totally awesome!

On Saturday night we had an 80's party! And it was RAD~~~yeah, I said it, it was radical dude. We invited a whole bunch of military folk over for some good times and those good times were had. We said that 80's dress was required and we got some good ones. We spent the evening laughing and (your probably guessed it if you have seen this blog before) playing Rock Band together. I don't know why we always end up doing that but hey, it's fun, why should I complain?! The all-girl band was pretty impressive, check out our outfits:
And the best part was that we were playing "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. Quite hilarious if you ask me. Jessica on the drums, Jessica on lead guitar, and Michelle singing. We were good!
We had quite the celebrity list there. Slash stopped by to rock with us (doesn't he look great?!):

I had to get my pic with him, that is for sure. Rocky joined us:Check it out, even down to the correct Rocky shoes. Sweet! We had Jim McMahon and a student from the Cobra Kai dojo (if you don't know what I am talking about then you would have been WAY behind the power curve at our 80s party!)

We had the kiddos in our bedroom with a sitter and they did a great job all night long! Towards the end of the night when people were leaving a couple of the boys came out to play, their instruments weren't hooked up but they were jammin' and SO proud of themselves! It was too cute!Such a fun night, thanks to everyone for coming over! It was, like, totally awesome! (just so you know, I found all of my outfit between Target, Wal-Mart, and Kohl's. Are the 80's clothes coming back???)

For Uncle Thaddeus

Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer, GO! For those of you that don't know, that summer blockbuster (my prediction) is what movie my bro is currently working out there in Hollywood. Just like when Herbie came out, there is merchandise for my kiddos! Now I personally think that we should be receiving from free stuff from 'ol Uncle Thad but alas we have to resort to buying in the stores... I got a t-shirt and some of the speed racer cars for my kiddos to play with. Hopefully the movie will end up being G or at least an easy PG so that I can take some boys to it! I couldn't get the great picture of my kids but these turned out pretty cute. Note sweet Josie's face in them, at first she is somewhat scared:
And then she is like, "What ARE you doing?":"Are you crazy?! Is that your problem?" (calling all movie buffs---anyone know this line?!)

Smile Gabriel!

I had some pics of Gabriel taken on Saturday too. Luke and Kaden have their school shots so they didn't need anymore right now. Gabriel was really good, very sweet to the photographer but didn't really want to smile. He was in these adorable Spider-man overalls but we didn't get a good shot of him in them. Bummer. Here he is being all cute:
And here he is being kind of a stink. I bought this picture for his Uncle Thaddeus and Aunt Jackie, I figured they would appreciate it most :)What a face! Love you Gabes.