The Undefeated Eagles

Katie played basketball for the first time with The Dad as coach. The girls mights have been influenced a smidge in naming their team The Eagles since that is what Katie and Dad both wanted.
It was fun and funny to watch these girls play basketball (and also to watch Matt coach). Katie and Matt were both VERY in to the game! I loved every minute of it! They were undefeated (except the Y teams don't keep score, you know - everybody wins)!

We celebrated our season at Braums with medals, burgers and a surprise from the basketball coach from OC. She donated jr. Eagles basketballs to all the girls on the team! They were all super excited!! So proud of our girl and our Dad!

Ice Skating for the first time

Katie and Collin were so excited to FINALLY go ice skating for the first time. I reminded them that I did not go ice skating until I was in college so this was a BIG deal! (do you remember this Laura? Galleria? Fun times!) We waited so long to go ice skating this winter that it was on the warmish side but the kiddos did get to ice skate for FREE for getting straight A's!! They were really excited to show their report cards to the workers. And of course the mom and the dad are super proud of them!
Collin finally let go of the side and skated a bit. He LOVED every minute of ice skating! And yes, I am aware that we need to buy the boy an OC sweatshirt!!

Sweet Katie attracted the attention of one of the workers and he would hold Katie's hand and ice skate with her on the curve and then she would do the straights by herself. She had SO much fun!!

It's going in my Oklahoma Book of Fun! Four stars ****! A must do!

Zoo days in January

We have loved the warmer temperatures this winter! It feels so good to be out and about in January -just when I'm normally having a bit of cabin fever. Jackson loved going to the children's zoo and petting the farm animals. Grammy - there are 2 donkeys there and he said, "Rammy. Haw-haw barn." about 50 times!! And then he would want us to repeat it. Rammy. Haw-haw barn.
Jumpin J has to do every thing the big brother and sister do!

Katie had fun at the zoo with a friend.

Again, J has to do whatever the big kids are doing. I think it's so cute. He'll say, "Ja-sn's turn." And that will mean that no one else can be involved just him. He does have some trouble saying his name.

Hoping for more winter zoo days!

Senate Bill 1438

January 19 - Bill introduction deadline 4:00. By the grace of God....check.

Honestly, I can't tell you how this happened.

Was it my convincing emails, phone calls and "speeches" about how insurance should pay for this life-saving formula? Probably not.

Was it because a friend of mine hunted down 2 senators at her husband's work dinner and spoke to them about this bill? Probably. (By the way, she is so brave!)

Was it because a friend of mine spoke to the senator whose kids she babysits? Probably.

Was it because the epipen bill mom (who just recently became a registered lobbyist) spoke to a U.S. Representative about this bill and he applied the pressure? Probably.

Was it because the Senate staffer, the actual bill writer, (and a fellow Jazzerciser) spoke strongly about this bill to the Senator I've been working with? Probably.

Was it because I told my Bible class on Sunday that I was now aiming for Legislation Year 2013 and that it wasn't going to happen in 2012 and all those wonderful people prayed about this? Absolutely.

Oh me of little faith. Why am I shocked when I see God answer my prayers? I'm sad to say that I was SHOCKED when I got the phone call today that Senate Bill 1438 - Jackson's Bill - has been filed. Deadline met.

I am thankful. Very thankful that I have grown as a person and citizen during the last 5 months. Thankful that I have gained some very wise and insightful friends during this time. I am thankful that I recognized the gentle pushes from God to pursue this legislation. I am thankful that I have given my Moses/Esther speeches to a handful of people, so that I could eventually give the speech to myself. I am thankful for the people that love and care about my Jackson. I am thankful for the discounts I've received for the $$$ formula.

Wow. I'm going to bed tonight feeling very blessed, overwhelmed, excited and tired. :) Wow.

Bowden Family Christmas

We left just after lunch to go to Texas to see both of our families. When heading the Dallas way, we stop at this rest stop to take our kids picture with the big Texas. Jackson has definitely grown since the last time we came this way.

My parents gifted us and my sister's family with a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge for Christmas. We have no pictures at the water park because I was just lazy I guess. But it was lots of fun. Jackson went down all 3 slides in the kiddie area. And Katie rode some that she was too scared to do last year. And Collin rode them all! Yay! It was lots of fun!

The oldest 3 cousins all played MagiQuest.

MagiQuest is a scavenger hunt game played with wands that goes up and down (by staircase only, or you lose points) all 8 floors of the GWL. Collin and Grammy were paired up and Katie, Chandler, me and my sister stayed together for a bit.

Collin was able to continue his game from last Christmas at GWL. And he now is a "master magi"!!

This is the GWL made out of Legos. Legoland is nearby in Grapevine and we hope to be able to take our Lego-loving Collin there someday.

We ran into 3 families from church at GWL and 1 family from Katie's basketball team and 1 family from Collin's school.

We then headed to my parents house to celebrate Christmas. Here Matt is introducing Collin to THE CHRISTMAS STORY movie. Jackson watched a bit of it too.

Jackson enjoyed playing with his cousin Chandler's new Lego set.

Katie helped Grammy make some Christmas cookies.

Here is our almost 1 year old nephew, Grayson, opening his stocking.

Jackson also confiscated his cousin Chandler's Leap Pad.

And here is our yearly-you-better-hurry-and-get-in-your-spot timed photo.

Merry Christmas from the Bowdens/McCooks/Moirs!

Let's Explore Oklahoma: Saturdays With Santa

On a recent Saturday we all bundled up and headed to downtown OKC. The kids all got their pictures made with Santa - to go in their Santa Scrapbooks. Yep, as soon as I get caught up. In scrapbook world, I am still in 2009. Collin has asked Santa for a Harry Potter Lego set.

Katie would like Santa to bring her a Razor scooter with pink wheels.

And Jackson could care less. He just wanted the candy cane Santa was handing out.

Oh what fun!

After the photos, the kids went on a scavenger hunt with their passports to OKC. It was great fun. They had to go to 4 different stations and complete the activities to get their passport stamped. After they completed the passports they turned them in for a chance to win a bowl of candy.

After finishing up the passports we played around outdoors at the Myriad Gardens.

It was great fun! It was such a nice, relaxing Saturday.

These stepping notes were in the middle of the maze.

Have I mentioned I LOVE living in a big city? Well, I mean I like living in the suburb near a big city.

Did not make it out on the rink this day. But we plan on going to the ice skating rink here in our suburb when we return from Christmas break. I need to also mention that the events on Saturdays with Santa are FREE. This will go in my Oklahoma Travel Book in the Things to do in the month of December section. Merry Christmas blog friends.

I am an armchair lobbyist.

I met with a Senate staffer today. She writes insurance bills. She will be writing this one now that an official bill request has been put in. :)

I have cleared 2 hurdles.

1. Meet with a Senator and/or Representative. Check
2. Get a bill request. Check.

If you are following the news coverage of this story, you know that the request was only sent in because of media attention and God. It wasn't because of me and my negotiating skills or my speech on how important this bill is and how kids with severe food allergies need this coverage. God did what I thought couldn't happen and He did it through the news media.

The next hurdle is finding an author for the bill. I thought that would be Senator Jolley. It will not be. But I have 49 other Senators out there waiting to hear my speech. And I have 3 weeks to get appointments with them. Due date for the author is January 19.

And then after that there are more hurdles. By the way, I hate running. In 7th grade I ran hurdles and had a fear of tripping over the hurdle and knocking my front teeth out. I feel the same way now. I feel like I am always in fear of getting my teeth kicked in by this process and somehow I am still able to stumble over the hurdles.

Just when I ready to give up, quit, have peace with how far we came, feel like I gave it my all, etc. I find myself on the other side of that hurdle. And I'm looking at the hurdles in front of me and they seem large. Very, very large.

Bill writer is nice. And very smart on insurance law. I like her. She goes to Jazzercise. And because of that I think well, she must be normal then.

I'm seriously missing my old life. Before bills. Before meetings with Senators and Representatives. When I didn't really care or know what was going on during the legislative session. Now I cannot NOT know any more. I have become an armchair lobbyist.