Spring Break

Well, since I was sick for the first 3 days of Spring Break, today, Thursday, we will start our festivities. On Saturday I asked everyone what they want to do. Here are the answers...Matt - play golf with Collin, Collin - go to Pops, we missed $2 burger Tuesday, but we are still going!, Katie - go to McDonald's to play on the playground, and Me - well I started and finished 4 books while I was sick, so now I will finish painting the playroom, hang curtains in kids bedroom, paint toybox, move desk to playroom, move bookshelf to kids bedroom, and hem curtains for living room. I don't think I'm getting all that done in 2 days. Plus, we will have 2 friends over for dinner (on two separate days), attend a "End of Winter" Party and still fit in the above fun stuff. Yea for Spring Break and wellness.

Collin's Open House

Collin attends the largest elementary school in Edmond. There are 850 kids that attend Charles Haskell Elementary. The thought of sending him here really did scare me. I considered 1) moving, 2) sending him to OCA, 3) homeschooling, 4) holding him back a year or 5) let him attend. But he LOVES his class and his school and his teacher and so do I. I'm so glad I didn't let my fears hold him back. Here he is in the yellow station for Buddy Reading.
The Red Station for Handwriting. There was a game here at the handwriting station during Open House.

Collin and his friend Lily. They have known each other since they were infants, been in SSS together since Mrs. Joni and Mrs. Tamika days and now they are in Kindergarten together.

Mrs. Bigelow and Collin. Mrs. Bigelow was Haskell's Teacher of the Year last year and I think she is wonderful. She is so patient and calm with 24 5 year olds. And she has taught them so much stuff.

Mrs. Bigelow advised that sometime in May we should come eat breakfast in the cafeteria so Collin could practice going through the line. (Kindergarten in Edmond is still 1/2 day so they eat lunch at home.) When Collin heard this announcement it meant that we should eat breakfast there the next day. So Friday morning, Katie, Collin and I feasted on pancakes and syrup and juice. My opinion was that the breakfast was not great. Collin loved the pancakes and Katie thought the apple juice (her favorite) was icky. You know what...it really was icky. I think we will just keep eating breakfast at home and pack his lunch next year.

Two movies banned from our household

Back in October we traveled to New Mexico for a history conference. We let the kids watch a few movies in the car and one was my old fave...The Parent Trap (the Hayley Mills version). Innocent, sweet, great family movie-ok, it is about divorce, broken homes and lies, but I thought it was a super movie when I was young. Well, my sweet boy learned how to "submarine" people from that movie. When we returned home, he waited until Katie was asleep at naptime and outlined her body in toothpaste on her bed and then proceeded to cut the backs off all of Katie's Madame Alexander Wizard of Oz dolls (the McDonald's versions, but still!) Yep, that's all in the movie.

Most recently, we took the Muppet Movie with us to go to Texas. Again, I think, a great, innocent, and sweet movie. Well, there is a line in the movie in which Kermit the Frog says "Read my lips: alligator." Well, Collin thought that line was hilarious and yeah, it's funny. UNTIL I hear him answer his Uncle Colt's question: "Read my lips: ______". I don't know what he said after "read my lips" but I was horrified!

We've had discussions about the submarining of people on Parent Trap and now the phrase "Read My Lips" from the Muppet Movie. But these discussions just seem to bring about laughter from both kids and I apparently am not getting the message across. So, I've decided, just today...no more Parent Trap and no more Muppet Movie.

My Valentines

Matt and I took our sweet valentines to OC's Valentine Caberet on Friday night. The show was directed by our friend Chad Anderson. It was a great show. Our preachers daughter was in the show along with one of our girls going to Vienna with us. (I think that is not a complete sentence, oh well...)
Collin and Katie are refusing to give each other a hug.

During intermission Katie and I got out of our chairs for a bit. When returning to our chairs, she yanked her hand from mine, zipped down the aisle (while I was blocked by other adults walking back to their seats) and ran up on stage. The audience loved it and I was horrified. Not because Katie was on stage, because she IS really cute. But she didn't obey me and get OFF the stage. So I had to go up there and get her! Very fun. So after the show, we let our kiddos get up on stage and sing "Many Colors" - a song about Joseph's colorful coat.

Oh yeah, our other valentines...Mack and Swirl...aren't they cute?

Vienna Assignment #1 and #2

Vienna Assignment #1: Eat at an ethnic restaurant (not mexican or italian).Our group of 24 went to Zorba's, a Greek restaurant in Oklahoma City. We had a great time talking about the fun stuff we would see on our big adventure and feeling very brave about what we ordered. The food here is excellent by the way. The first picture is what I ordered. I don't remember what it was called, but it is essentially a pizza thing with chicken and artichokes on it.
Here is Katie's ethnic order of corn dog and french fries.

And here is Collin's chicken nuggets and french fries, again, very ethnic. If the kids meals are anything like European food we might be ok, otherwise we might come back very skinny.

And finally, Matt's order of Gyro - we think it was lamb and bread. We went here on January 19, so you can tell that I've already forgotten exactly what we had. This is why I MUST blog on the day it happens!!

Vienna Assignment #2: Go to campground near Stillwater and bond with the college kids.

We left town yesterday and headed to Saint Grove Campground outside of Stillwater. All of our OC kids, along with our 2 ACU girls and 1 Cascade guy made the trip. We were also there with the kids going on PacRim in the Fall and Vienna in the Fall and Turkey this summer. We had a great time with the college kids but my only regret was sleeping on the bottom bunk with both Katie and Collin for 4 hours before passing off Katie to Matt's bunk bed. Next time...pack 4 sets of twin sheets. No pictures to show of this trip. While Matt was in meetings with the college kids, Collin, Katie and I explored the campground. We found a lake, some horses, and 2 playgrounds. We also spent some time in our room playing battleship, connect 4 and jumprope. We are excited about starting the planning part of our trip. Still don't have any definite dates, but tentatively set to leave on May 19. I hope we can wait a week so Collin can finish most of Kindergarten, I can finish all of Sonshine School and Matt can finish his Maymester class.

Mack and Swirl

Since June of 2008, Collin has been praying for a dog, specifically a Saint Bernard. This fall, Matt and Collin began reading Where the Red Fern Grows. Collin loved the book. I didn't want any part of reading the book. I read it once when I was 10 and that was good enough for me. So for Christmas, Collin asked Santa Clause for a Saint Bernard. And...well...um...Santa brought 2 dogs, a brother and a sister, just like in the book. Collin thought he would name them Old Dan and Little Ann just like in the book and he wants to carve their initials in our tree in the backyard, just like in the book. We have not taken a knife to the tree yet.
But they are named Mack and Swirl. Mack is the brother. He is bigger and calmer. Swirl is the sister and her fur is super soft. She is very independent and she plays a little rough with Mack. We think their personalities are a little like Collin and Katie. Today I bought the dogs a heat lamp to keep them warm on our frigid Oklahoma nights. However, before spending their first night with the lamp, they chewed through the cord!!! Thought that would make you laugh Serena and Momma and Daddy!!

Mack and Swirl are not very good picture takers. They will never look into the camera and hold still. And forget about getting pictures of Collin, Katie, Mack and Swirl together. Hasn't happened yet. Now you have met the new additions to our family. And by the way, they are really mutts with some Saint Bernard in them, but we call them Saint Bernards.

New York City - Day 6

We worshipped with the Manhattan Church of Christ this morning. Burton Coffman, uncle of our great friend David Coffman, started this congregation. So we were really excited to go here today. I was also thrilled, yes thrilled, to see Lester Holt of the Today Show at church this morning. I was stalking, no waiting, to meet him after services but HELIO swept in front of him to meet us and Lester walked on by. Alas...I did not get to meet Lester Holt.We did however run into Bailey and Joyce McBride at church today. They are members of our congregation in Edmond and he also teaches at OC with Matt. They were in town to see the Van Goghs at the MoMA. We were so surprised to see them but what fun it was.
Matt is attending one last session while I blog in the hotel lobby. We are then heading to the airport to fly back to Lubbock and drive to Post to pick up our kiddos. Then tomorrow we will head back to OKC and our real life. Thanks for following us on our fantastic trip.