Babies, Birthdays, and Music

It's true. I've been slacking in my duties as family chronicler. Since I turned up pregnant again about 7 weeks ago, I find myself with zero energy and not the slightest ability to remember anything. So, this post is to catch up on some recent events that I not only failed to blog about, but also failed to take a single photograph of. In order of occurrence:

1. Baby Will: We were blessed with the opportunity to babysit my friend Lori's baby, Will on the 11th of November. He was an absolute joy! I loved every minute of holding him, playing with him, singing to him, and feeding him! The girls were totally absorbed with playing peek-a-boo and talking to him in the high squeaky falsetto voices that grownups think babies love.

2. KICK Choir rehearsal: Saturday morning, the 12th, Danya went to her 3 hour dress rehearsal at the church.

3. Alex's birthday: Gloria and I attended her friend Alex's 4th birthday party at Pizza Hut while Danya was at her rehearsal. She gave him a basketball and wanted to know when we could go to his house to play with it. While we were there I got to hold Alex's new baby sister, Katie. She is my friend Stephanie's 4th child and first daughter. She was so sweet! I was ecstatic when I managed to get her to stop fussing, suck on my pinkie, and fall asleep in my arms. I felt like I'd accomplished something huge, lol!

4. KICK Choir Performance: Danya's choir performed Sunday night at our church. She did a great job! She sang loudly and smiled, which at the age of 5 is tough to do. I was so proud of her! She made it through the whole performance without getting too nervous. She was like a little mother hen making the other kids near her stand up and behave.

I'm going to try to catch up on last week's events just as soon as I download the digital camera. But it's almost midnight now, I'm pregnant, and if I stay up any longer I'll start feeling hungry and pukey again, so that's it for tonight.

A New Path

We've discovered a new favorite location for family bike rides! The park where Danya won the costume contest has a great biking trail. Daniel and I knew this, because a year or two ago on our anniversary we rode our bikes all around it. At that time, though, it was still under construction so the trails were incomplete and we got very very muddy.

Daniel recently managed to fit all 4 of our bikes into the van, after removing the back seat, so now we can take our bikes anywhere!


The girls love this bike trail because:
1. There is no danger of cars.
2. They get to choose which paths and turns to take.
3. It's completely smooth, no potholes or speed bumps.

We've had so much fun riding here in the past few weeks on warmer days. There are gentle hills along the path that the girls love to ride down yelling, "Wheeee!" We pretend to race each other, but "somehow" the girls always win, lol. On the first day here Danya missed a turn and Daniel and I thought she was going to roll into the lake. Luckily, she just scared herself and a few ducks. We're hoping to get the Millers to ride out here with us on the next warm day!

Laundry and Learning

Laundry, laundry everywhere! My darling husband, upon realizing that the overwhelming amount of laundry that had taken over our home was stressing me out, agreed to a trip to the local laundry mat. So we loaded up the van with SEVEN, yes seven, loads of laundry and spent a few hours tackling the mountain of clothing.

The girls and I rode our bikes to the laundry mat, while Daniel packed his in the van with the laundry. While the clothes washed we got our homeschooling done. As part of "Plant Week" Daniel and the girls went outside and dug up weeds and other green leafy things. Then the girls identified the different parts of the plants. We also learned that only green leaves make food. So all the pretty colored Fall leaves are actually dying off and not creating food anymore.

Then we took a family bike ride to a local convenience store to get cash and a bottle of water. The girls each got a free sucker from the nice clerk. Then we folded all the laundry, packed it back up, and headed home. All in all, it was a really fun experience and a relief to have all the laundry done at once and not have to spend the entire day working on it.

Being Neighborly

After the zoo, we went out that night with our neighbors, Shane and Missy. This was our first ever double date, and we had a really good time! We met at Applebee's after Shane got off work. I can't even remember what we talked about. I just remember laughing alot.

One funny thing, or not depending on your viewpoint, was that 3 of us ordered steaks, and they were all cooked wrong. We wound up passing them around the table until everyone had one they were happy with, and they remade Missy's entirely. For a minute it felt like we'd all gotten caught in the middle of a 3 stooges bit.

Daniel and I have been making an effort to spend some time hanging out with other couples and I'm really enjoying it. As you can imagine, being a SAHM and a homeschooler, alot of my days and conversation revolve around my kids, so it's really nice to get a chance to discuss grown up subjects and not have to explain everything I say to a Kindergarten level. Shane and Missy both have a great sense of humor and are just alot of fun to be around. We've got to plan another date night together soon!

Leafing Through the Zoo

We went to the Tulsa Zoo with our homeschooling friends, the Millers. Our girls and theirs were sooo excited! It was a perfect fall day, just warm enough to enjoy running through the deep piles of leaves without needing jackets. The girls covered each other in leaves and threw them into the air to watch them tumble back down.

We took family photos while we were there. Betsy took this one on the left. You can tell we didn't plan for pictures since our shirts don't match, but I still love this photo. We spent a majority of our time having lunch there, playing in the leaves, and letting the kids run around on the playground.

One particularly amazing moment was when we heard the loud coughing roar of the lion and realized that it was actually the lioness! We also saw the tigers rough housing. I got a short video clip of them both on their hind legs batting at each other with their front paws! We had such a great time! We'll definitely have to go again with the Millers. Maybe during the zoo's Christmas display in December.

Liliana May!

My best friend, Glenda, has a new baby girl! I got to see her for the first time recently and she is soooo beautiful. She has the most gorgeous chocolate brown eyes and full head of hair! She was so alert, looking all around and trying to understand her strange new world. Danya and Gloria talked in silly little voices and made faces at her trying to get her to smile at them. They also had a blast playing with Liliana's two big brothers outside. They played on the toys and the neighbor's swingset, and even tried to dig a hole in the garden all the way to the other side of the world! I really enjoyed having a chance to catch up with Glenda. We don't get to see each other much since we live 3 hours apart. We even got to see her husband, Eric, briefly when he stopped home to pick up some paperwork. Eric and Glenda's family is growing so quickly!

Family Birthday Party

Gloria celebrated her birthday with family members in OKC at Chuck E. Cheese. Thanks to my sister, Toni, (pictured at left) my brothers and sister were able to come to the party. She called everyone and made sure they were coming. I got to meet my new baby niece, Riley, and Toni's fiancee, Clayton. The picture on the left is of Gloria with her aunt Toni and uncle Shane. Daniel's sister, Robin, and her family arrived later in the evening, so Gloria got to play with 9 cousins in all! She had a great time! We could hardly get her to leave. The only down side was that somehow we forgot to let Gloria use the tickets she won to pick out a prize at the counter. So, we'll have to plan another trip, I guess! I was also sad to learn that my little brother, Ricky, has joined the Army National Guard and will be leaving for basic training soon. But I'm proud of him for supporting our country!