2017/09/27

Summer fun

Here are a few pictures through the summer of activities and fun we had.  This really is such a special time in life as a family and as hectic and frustrating as it can be it is just so enjoyable.

Picking blackberries
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Riding bikes
(Denver got rid of training wheels this summer at 3 years old).
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Trampoline jumping
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Water fun
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Firework watching
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Getting dirty
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And resting
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Summer 2017 —�-

2017/07/12

Year 5 of Dance

Annie tapped her way out of her 5th year of dance this spring.  How it is even possible we are five years in to this I have no idea but you can tell she's an old pro when you watch her perform.
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She did an outstanding job & we continually see all her hard work pay off at the end of each year.
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OKC Memorial Marathon

Philip started training in October for the OKC Memorial Marathon
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After 6 months of hard work him & 4 of his buddies (to cheer him on) headed down to OKC at 4 AM on race day
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He finished well!
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With a little help from these cuties 
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It was a bucket list accomplishment we were all so proud to see him complete.

Patient Lily

Lily got tubes at the end of March to beat our battle with ear infections.

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Babies in hospital gowns are a mixture of cuteness & sadness because who wants a baby to be sick? No one!

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She did great though & as I type this 3 1/2 months later we still have tubes in place & no ear infection!

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Sweet baby girl rested up & was back to her normal happy self a couple hours later.

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2017/04/30

Easter 2017

Easter fun started early for Denver due to the fact that he's basically living the dream. This is simply because he goes to school for 3 hours twice a week, who wouldn't want that cake schedule?  Anyhow, since this was the case they celebrated the Thursday before with a chapel service & an egg hunt.
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Philip went out & watched the hunt & said Denver was quite the little hunter when it came to finding brightly colored eggs stuffed with candy.
As you can see below his best buddy Mosi obviously also found Easter activities to be a good time.
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As a family we started Easter weekend by heading out to Sayre for some of the hometown alumni festivities. We enjoyed the parade & running into some familiar faces.
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Afterwards we went back to the 3G Ranch to dye eggs. Lucky for us Papa & Nana have hens who are good layers so we had plenty of eggs.
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The kids hid & hunted the eggs until they were cracked & falling apart, they then enjoyed hurling them into the field & watching the colorful shells break apart.
We ate a yummy Easter supper together & then the kiddos left their baskets out for the Easter bunny to hop in & fill them overnight.
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Sadly that lame picture is the only still pic I got from Easter morning. I did video some of the kids going through their baskets before Lily woke up. I put those on my YouTube channel so if YouTube is still a thing when my kids are going back through these blog posts of your mother's fond memories of raising you guys then go there now & watch Denver's excited exclamation of every discovery in his basket. 
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(Random pic of kids with Easter Bunny at the Home & Garden Show a couple of weeks before).

Sadly I did not get a picture of everyone in their Easter finery but rest assured everyone looked so cute & sweet.
We left Sayre & stopped in Yukon for Easter church services & then headed out to Blanchard where we enjoyed a fun egg hunt & fantastic meal with the Kouba side of the family. Having a baby limits the ability to get pictures so once again I missed out there but a good time was had by all.
Our final Easter agenda item was the neighborhood egg hunt.
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We really are blessed to live in a great neighborhood that is a small community within itself full of sweet neighbors & great families to spend time with.
It was a nice few days that resulted in plenty of fun & moments with those we enjoy the most.

2017/03/30

Spring Break 2017

This winter has not really been much of a winter at all.  It hasn't really gotten very cold & we've had very little snow & ice.

That doesn't mean we weren't ready for spring break though. I took off the first 3 days of the week.  Which meant Jenny & I were back at finding day trips to occupy 5 kids under the age of 7.  Day 1 we decided to take the kids to Pawhuska to the Pioneer Woman's Mercantile.

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We naively thought we would get there, meander through the store, run up to the bakery/deli & grab some food & head on our merry way.
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Shows what we know - we got there & it was a 1 1/2 hour wait to get in the store & a 4 hour wait for the restaraunt.  On top of that the Oklahoma weather had decided to dress up as winter that day so it was blowing cold.  We'd come so far though so we decided we'd take turns waiting in line while the other one stayed in the car with the kids.

Thus a little over an hour and half & about 40 petty small child arguments in the car later we made it to the door.

Yay! Until we get inside & realize it's another hour wait to get into the deli/bakery & then come to the knowledge that we have brought 3 antsy children & 2 babies into a crowded store full of breakables.
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We meandered around for a little while & knew there was no way we'd be able to wait to go up to the bakery/deli with our crew so we loaded everyone up in the car & pulled into Sonic before we ventured home.
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Spring break activities also included sleepovers.
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First night at Nenny's.
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It's hard to be the babies and get left out of the big kid activities
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If it's any consolation Nenny used the kids to help clean the next morning so it wasn't ALL fun & games ;)
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Night 2 was at our house & by this time you'd hope exhaustion was setting in & we'd have early bedtime but you'd be wrong.
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It was after 11 before every one was down for the night & everyone was up for the next day's fun by 7.
Day 2 took us to the zoo.
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While we have had an unseasonably warm winter per the norm for spring break it was cold the first few days. Of course this just so happened to be the days I took off to be with the kids. Hence the winter coats & hats for everyone on zoo day.
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Apparently this girl wasn't a fan of the hippos or maybe it was just being inside the muggy pachyderm exhibit.  There also is a strong possibility that this is her true feelings when her mom tells her "you're having fun!"
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This guy was loving every minute of it and the girls really seemed to enjoy themselves too.
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The little girls were fascinated by the seals.
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They could have stood & watched this one swim past them for hours. Until Emmie remembered her job of guarding the snack bag.
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Speaking of jobs this guy apparently felt like it was his job to get a picture with every animal statue he found.
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By mid-afternoon we had lots of complaints of tired feet & only a small wagon to pull a couple of our crew in at a time so we packed up & headed home.
Wednesday we stayed at home and enjoyed not having to follow any type of schedule.  In all honesty this is probably an accurate description of that day.
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Yeah I try to be that laid-back-cool-as-a-cucumber-mom but unfortunately that is not me.  

Thursday the kids spent the day at Nenny's where they were able to create their own parade.
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Life on easy street
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A day at Nenny's is always enjoyed by all
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Friday was my half day and another day of play & celebrating the fact no school lunch had to be scrounged together.
As is generally the case Spring Break was a good time & made us all so ready for the relaxed pace of summer.

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