WIN!

Our plans this summer were to take one day of the week and tour Oklahoma. For the first month of our summer vacation we have failed at our planning but last week we headed out to the Oklhoma City Zoo on our combined day off and this week we headed out to the Bass Pro Shop in Broken Arrow and then off to find The Peach Barn located in Porter, OK.

J had the GPS going on his new phone, but as soon as we pulled off the expressway onto the rural roads his phone died. We knew the barn was located at the corner of HWY 51 and HWY 69 and that we were somewhere to the southwest of that. We followed signs to a Lindsay Orchard, hoping that would lead us to The Peach Barn. Instead it put us on a dirt road in the middle of who-knows-where.

We followed our sense of direction thinking we were going north, praying that eventually we would run into HWY 51, it had to be 4 miles north of us. After driving down a one-lane dirt road thankful that it was a bright sunny day and not night time, we finally saw some hope in our future. There was a road ahead of us that there were many cars driving on. This had to be HWY 51. Well it wasn't HWY 51 but it WAS HWY 69. WIN!

We drove it north to HWY 51 and there was the Peach Barn. WIN AGAIN!

We toured the small building filling our small basket with some goodies and then I saw the sign "Cash or Checks only" REALLY? You have got to be kidding me! Being a server I SHOULD have more cash on me but I had just made a deposit the other day. I had $7 on me. We bought 1/3 of our goodies and then headed into the small town of Porter, Ok to search for an ATM. Their bank did not have one. We checked out their only gas station. I sent J in to look. He came out with....... MONEY! WIN US A THIRD TIME! We drove back to the Peach Barn to buy the rest of our goodies and headed back to Tulsa.

Finally Five

M just turned five. My little independent baby girl is turning into a little woman.
She had a makeshift, thrown together haphazardly, birthday celebration. Four days before her birthday her little brother came down with Rubella. He had to be quarantined, therefor we couldn't have anyone over for a party and we couldn't go out like we had planned.
I took M out for breakfast on her birthday at Mimi's Cafe and they gave us this slice of birthday cake. We came home after breakfast and picked L up. Then the girls and I went to a places called "Kuts for Kids". M got her hair cut by this really cool man who then braided her hair into a heart shape. After her hair cut and braiding M went out with her daddy for lunch and shopping at a $1 Jewelry store. She came home and opened some gifts and blew out the candles on her Mimi's cake. It was a really simple birthday, nothing like what we would have had if little N had not been sick. I learned that when life gives you lemons make some lemonade and that is what we did.

Turning Four

L's birthday was on the 19th. Because of my husband being out of town until Saturday we decided to postpone the birthday party celebration until Sunday. I think it worked out great because L had a week worth of special activities and with being the middle child, she was in need of some special attention.

The Monday before her birthday her father took her out to eat for lunch and then to a movie. She was also able to open one of her presents(a Tinkerbell tea set) on her birthday day, which she played with extensively for a couple days before her Grandma M gave her a baby doll that was played with for the next couple days.

We celebrated her birthday with a party on Sunday. We picked up an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins and some $5 pizzas from Little Caesars. K and her three children came over and my parents had come down from Michigan. It was a great, low key, party.
I love this time of year. For the next three weeks both girls will be four, they are my little Irish twins.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

To Assume

Taking care of three kiddos is not a piece of cake. But when I am out shopping with them, strangers feel the need to say, "Wow, you must have your hands full!". I have a list of sarcastic responses that are dying to flow smoothly from my mouth that sadly never do.
The other day this lady felt the need to tell me
"I remember that stage of life- You might not know that this is the best time of your life, your children are blessings"
Really lady? I don't know you. You really have to nerve to tell me that I don't know how good my life is? You don't know anything about me and you are
#1-Telling me my hands are full and
#2 Telling me that I am most likely not appreciating the blessings that I have been given
Ok, maybe I am getting offended too easily, I'm sure the lady meant to be nice about it. To save a young mom from not appreciating her children and regretting it later. I know I look at least 4 years younger than I do, making me a teenage mother in the eyes of many.
I hope and pray that I am never like that. That I never assume in my old age that I know and understand what a younger mom might be going through. That I know how she feels because she must be feeling the same way I did when I was her age. I hope that I ask questions. Find out about her and how she feels, before assuming. Because we all know that to assume only makes an ass out of u and me.

A Bigger Bed?

I guess you say I stand on the fence when it comes to co-sleeping or sharing your bedroom with your children. I have known those who would never let their children sleep in their bed or on their floor and also those who willing share their bed with their children and have a toddler bed in their room for their child to sleep on.
We have a very comfortable queen size bed. Comfortable until you throw a large one year old and a three year old in it with you and then it is quite cozy-is that the right word? Cozy, sometimes, if I am too asleep to notice the children who have climbed into the bed. Then I wake up, sore, and unable to stretch my legs because a child is sleeping across them.
What is the solution? A king size bed maybe? But then when there are more children and we find ourselves with three or four children climbing in to sleep with us, well I not be just as sore and unable to stretch my legs because of the children that are sleeping on them?
Kick them out? Create rules and regulations regarding bedtime and sleeping in our bed? This seems cruel and unnecessary to me.
I love snuggling with my babies in the morning. Even when they decided to sleep with their stinky diaper butts in my face or across my legs so I can't sleep well.
I also love having space to myself to stretch out.
So, someday we will buy a bigger bed.

Back Seat Drivers

On the way to visit my best friend, K, for a much needed talk/play-date I missed the turn onto I-75 and decided to take the road that runs parallel to the highway instead of turning around to get back on. My girls, who can now recognize land marks and know that we always take the highway to get to K's house, were taken aback by my choice to take the unfamiliar road.
"Mom, I think you need to turn around. This is not the right way."
"Mom, it's taking a long time to get to K's house. I think you should go back" They cried, every two minutes or so.
"Do you really think I don't know where I'm going?" I told them.
Obviously they thought I had no sense of direction whatsoever.
As I was turned onto K's street they grew quiet and when I turned into her driveway I said "Do you think I need to turn around now"
"No, I think this looks like her house" They said soberly.
"So, do you know think I know where I am going?"
"Yes"

Lessons learned:
Don't drive on unfamiliar roads to familiar places unless you are prepared to defend your choice of course with your children.
Mom always knows where she is going

The Best Mother's Day

My Mother's Day started off at 5:00a.m., not because any of my children woke me up but because I had to be at work at 6:30a.m. I didn't mind working on Mother's Day. I actually don't mind working any of the holidays. The money is 100% worth it. I was at work from 6:30-3:30.
When I arrived home I was welcomed at the door by my two little girls yelling "Happy Mother's Day!" at the top of their lungs. Right away they started telling me to come into the living room and to "close my eyes". I did what I was told. Taped to the top of our entertainment center were three signs declaring "Happy Mother's Day". Above those were a piggy bank in the shape of a fish, a digital picture frame and a Starbucks gift card. The frame was scrolling through pictures of my children and I and pictures of the children holding the "Happy Mother's Day" signs. I also learned that I had a ice cream pie in the freezer.
My husband then cooked me up some food and told me a little about their day. I knew that they had to go into at least two stores.(a fact that was confirmed later). So on top of going shopping for all my gifts they had put away all the laundry, fixed a problem we were having with our television, wrote "Happy Mother's Day" signs, took pictures of the children with the signs, transferred the pictures to the frame, and reloaded my Starbucks gift card. Whew! All in less than 9 hours( I am pretty sure they all didn't jump out of bed when I left for work at 6:00a.m.) I am utterly in awe.
I then threw in a movie to watch otherwise I am sure I would have passed out. I was so exhausted from working. Jake volunteered to go out and get me a Dark Cherry Frappuccino from Starbucks. While he was gone we ate some of the pie.
Then, only a few minutes after he arrived home, I received a text message from K asking if we wanted to bring the children over so that we could go out. My response: "Are you serious?" It was 8:00p.m., the girls were in their p.j.s already, I was about ready to put them all in bed. But I have learned to never, ever, pass up a free date. So we found a movie to go to, dropped the children off and went out. We saw the movie "Babies" so very cute!
That was the end to my Mother's Day, which was the best Mother's Day I have had.