Bridal Shower Favors

It was a little on the frustrating side trying to figure out what to make for a favor for Kris's bridal shower. It just seemed like we couldn't find anything that would work. We scoured Pinterest for ideas and still kept coming up short. Can you imagine, not being able to find an idea on Pinterest? Gasp! Finally, as we neared the eleventh hour, we finally stumbled upon the perfect favor! Cheesecake in a jar! What could be better!

Thankfully I have a super, crafty friend that allowed Mom and I to come over and use her tools to make so tags for our jars! I don't know what I would do without my crafty friend! Thank you, Deborah! You're the best!




This is as far as we could get on the jars at my house. Mom filled them with cheesecake at her house just before the shower.


I think they turned out SUPER cute!

I was really sad to not be able to be at Kris's shower, but I was thrilled to be a part of it by making favors!

Mom/Grammy Comes to Visit!

While Jon has been away in South America (I know, sad, huh?), Mom came to visit. It was nice to have someone to talk to and hang out with while the kids were back at school or in bed for the night. We kept very busy!

A random buffalo in Bartlesville.
One of these days I am going to make a picture of something using pictures of these buffaloes!

You got it, dinner at Frank & Lola's is a must!


Like any other time my Mom comes, there was shopping involved! For one, Mom ALWAYS finds the best deals! Two, we have a wedding (my sister, Kris's) to go to and this is the best time to find a good deal on a new outfit!
Ben and Luke aren't much into shopping. Ben spent a lot of time helping out with Luke. Luke spent a lot of time on my iPod. I'm not sure how we ever survived without the iPod!!


Luke thought this table was the perfect place to take a little rest.

You could tell little Lucas was wore out from our day of shopping. As soon as he walked in the door he hit the couch!

Even Elvis made an appearance!

And we played LOTS of rummy!



Yes...even I had to try out the Elvis glasses...

Normally when we go out for ice cream we go to Jared's. It's actually custard, but you know what I mean. Sadly, Jared's has been closed due to broken equipment. :( We made the best out of the sad situation and headed to Braum's. It was SUPER! And cheap! (Jared's is a little on the pricey side.)

This was Luke's first attempt at an ice cream cone. It was hilarious! We all enjoyed watching Luke eat his ice cream! He just enjoyed eating it! :)


Time to play outside :)



Abby got a hold of the camera.

Time to play at the park.








Mom and I talked to Kris earlier in the week about her bridal shower and found out that nobody was doing a favor for the guests. Kris asked if we could come up with something. You betcha! It took almost the entire week to come up with something, but we finally figured it out!
Cheesecakes in a jar!
Well, Mom and I made the jars and then the day before the shower Mom will fill them with the cheesecake. I think they turned out adorable!!

One more shopping trip! Luke was a super shopper! (Thank you, Lord!) You just wouldn't even believe the deals we got! Here's one short (well, I'll try to keep it short...) little story about one of our super, fabulous deals.

I saw this purse back in June. It was on a 50% off rack, plus there was supposed to be some other % off of the sale price. I scanned the tag to see what the price would be. It scanned for $118.00. Not. on. sale. I about cried. It's not very often that I find a purse that I like. I didn't just like this one. I fell in love with it! I was very sad to leave the store without it.

Fast forward about two months. Mom got an e-mail from Dillards saying that all clearance items were an extra 40% off. Great! We knew we had to go check things out. When we walked into the store we noticed signs that only said 30% off. Hmmm... Mom and I questioned one of the employees and found out that this Dillards was the ONLY ONE doing extra 30% off. WHAT?! The employee lady said that they would give us the 40% since we had the e-mail with us, but also showed them that the website said 40% off as well. Great! Well, it ended up that they gave us the 40% off, but then when Mom scanned her card, it took off the extra 30% off too!! NO WAY!! It all sounded too good to be true! We showed the lady (who turned out to be a store manager) what had happened. (Had to have a clear conscience!) She said, "Consider it your lucky day! We did what we were told to do. What the computer does after that is out of our control." YES!!! Back to shopping!

I was looking around the purse department and found the purse that I had fallen in love with two months back. They had ONE. I told Mom we had to give it another try and see what happened. It was originally $118.00. It was 30% off, plus an extra 40% off. Good so far. Mom scanned her card again and it took off the extra 30% off AGAIN! I ended up getting that purse for $34!!! Again, there were tears in my eyes! I got the purse that I had wanted SO bad! I guess patience pays off! I think the Lord really wanted me to have that super adorable purse! THANK YOU, LORD!!

Luke had seen so much of us girls trying on shoes that he had to give this cheetah print pair a try. He's so funny!

See, what would we do without this modern technology???

This is a story for another blog post, but Abby and Grammy stayed home together on Wednesday night and Grammy taught Abby how to sew. So neat!

We had a fun time while Mom/Grammy was here! It made the first week of Jon being gone go by much faster!

First Day of School ~ 20011-12

It's here! The first day of school!

Ben and Abby were very excited for the first day of school. I think they got bored due to the fact that the insane heat kept us in the house the majority of the summer. It's always nice when they actually look forward to going to school. They actually got up quickly, without too much prodding! (I'm sure that will change once the new-ness of school wears off...)

Ben ~ First day of 8th grade.

Abby ~ First day of 6th grade. (Middle school!!)

Luke had to make sure he got all of his hugs and kisses in before the big kids left for school. Ben had to make it quick so that none of the other kids walking to the bus stop would see him with his family outside!

And then they're off!Yes, they walked together! I think Abby even talked to Ben on the way to the bus stop. Abby mentioned that Ben was even going to let her sit with him on the bus! Gasp!

Both kids had a great first day! They were anxious to tell me all about their teachers, classes, friends, the bus...so full of information! (They were also surprised to find that Grammy was here when they got home from school! :)) This is going to be a great year!

End of Summer...

Backpacks are packed. Lockers are stocked. Cookies are baked. Kids are sleeping soundly (finally!). I guess that means it's official...Summer break is over. How can that be?! It seems like just last week that we were all excited about the last day of school. How does time fly by so fast? I have two kiddos that, as of tomorrow, are both in middle school! Seriously?! I can't have two middle school aged kids! That means I'm getting old! Right?

Ben and Abby are both very excited about the first day of school. Ben feels like, as an eighth grader, he is king of the school. This is his third year at Madison Middle School. He has endured being the "newbie" as well as being stuck in the middle. This is it, his last year of middle school. Sigh. (We won't even go into what that means about next year! We have to make it through eighth grade! No rush!) I am glad that Ben is feeling confident this year. Sixth and seventh grade both started out with some fear. Not this year. :) He is confident and that, as far as I'm concerned, is a great way to start!

Abby is the "newbie" at Madison this year. Her first year of middle school! We have had fun going school supply shopping and decorating her locker. She got some cute new clothes. She got her hair cut and it makes her look so much more grown up. We've been to the school three times to make sure she remembers her locker number and combination and that she can get into her locker without any problems. We have also walked through her class schedule several times to make sure she knows where each of her classes are. We went today and she told me as we were walking out that she feels confident about her locker (Weren't we all a bit nervous about our first locker?!). Yay! That was great to hear! I know Abby will be a little bit nervous about her first day of middle school, but I know it will be great!

I am happy that Ben and Abby will be riding the bus together and will be in the same building. For some reason, there's just something comforting to me in that. I think Abby is glad to know that Ben will be there too. Ben, on the other hand, isn't too thrilled! One of the first things he told Abby is, "There are going to be some rules!" Ha ha ha!! He, basically, doesn't want anyone to know that he has a sister in the building. Please tell me this is normal! She is not allowed to call out to him, run up to him and hug him, wave real big and smile at him... Please! Abby just laughs it off and says she's going to do all of those things! As much as Ben acts like he's not thrilled about Abby being at his school, I know that he will be the first one to be there if anything were to happen or anyone would ever do anything to Abby! He's a good big brother that way!

I am praying for a good school year for Ben and Abby. I am praying that they will make new friends and good choices. I am praying that they will remember who they are and who lives in them. I am praying for their teachers. I have always said that I wouldn't request specific teachers for my kids because I believe that the Lord places them in the classrooms and with the teachers that he wants them to be in. Everything for a reason. I pray that their teachers will be kind, patient, wise, understanding, helpful, fair.

The summer has flown by and as ready as I am for Ben and Abby to go to school, there is always that piece of my mama heart that worries about them. I know they will do great and they will have fun, but, yes, there will be tears. Yes, still, this many years later! I am happy and excited for them! It sure is going to be quiet around here having two less kids around all day long. Luke isn't going to know what to think when they are gone again all day long! He sure will be happy when he sees them after school!

So, here we go, let the school year begin!

Lake Time!

We are so happy that the heat has broke and we can spend time outside again! We opted to head to the lake on Sunday evening. I was a little bit apprehensive about the water temperature. Last time we were there, the water was HOT! This time it was great! It was GORGEOUS evening!!

Ben and Abby each brought a friend along.