Off to Oklahoma...

We drove 6 hours the first day on our trip and made it to Northern Oklahoma. I can't remember the town we stayed in. We stayed in a Super 8 Hotel. It had been recently been remodeled so I thought it was very nice. My sister is used to staying in hotels that you enter from the inside and that are much pricier, due to safety concerns. So she was laughing on her way inside because she just couldn't believe that she was about to pay to spend the night in this place. It was quite funny.

I've learned that my sister has become quite the safety concerned person...she used to get tickets for speeding about as often as people wash their hair...now she drives the speed limit, to about 3 miles per hour over it. She stays in nice hotels....and she passed the state sign, because it was too close to the road and was in a weeded area. Too unsafe. And last but certainly not least....She will NOT let me drive. She will talk about being tired...her arms hurting, being sleepy, being tired of driving...each time I will offer to drive...and she politely declines. It has gotten to be a joke between us. If you get sick, can I drive? NO. If you have an allergic reaction, may I drive? NO If you pass out can I drive? Well...you can drive us safely to the side of the road and then call 911 for them to come pick me up. Same answer for if she has a seizure. So...no driving for Judy. She says that she just knows I would end up in Hawaii...Its all quite funny.


Oklahoma is absolutely beautiful. Lots of slight rolling hills...very prairie like, and VERY clean. Everyone has seemed very nice and of course, the girls think it is the coolest thing that they are in their first NEW state! I told them that if we finish the trip as planned, they will have gone to more states than I have in 35 years of life.

Our Laura Ingalls Wilder Vacation

So our plan is to go to many of Laura Ingalls Wilder homesites and also just visit a few interesting places that we will pass along the way. We plan on going to Kansas, which is where the "prarie" was. Then to Mansfield, Missouri. Burr Oak, Iowa, Pepin, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and De Smet, South Dekota. We really don't know if we will be gone 20 days or just 3 due to the kids not being able to handle the long road trip or someone getting car sick.

Getting ready for our vacation...

So that we didn't have to eat out for every single meal on our 3 week long vacation...I chose to make a few things....Wow...lots of work. I've made 24 servings of my white bean chicken chili and another 15 servings of 10 bean sausage soup. The girls helped me bake 7 dozen no bake cookies and then came the packing.

Since we were going to be 6 in a mini-van....even a spacious mini-van, we had to really limit what we took. Something that made this a little difficult was that we would be in weather that would be in the 90s and weather in the 40s. So we decided on 3 short sets and 1 pair of blue jeans that they could wear over again 2 long sleeve tops and a waterproof coat. This meant we would have to wash clothes every few days...so I cheapy me, thought of filling up a water bottle with laundry detergent :-)

Each child was able to pack a small "carry on" filled with coloring books, colors, Leapster with cartridges, cards, etc. Then they chose a movie "portfolio" and filled it with 100 movies for their movie viewing pleasure. My awesome sister just bought 4 new headrests for her van that have individual TV screens in them. The front 2 can watch one movie, while the back 2 can watch something different, or they can all watch the same one! Pretty nifty, huh? She also bought a canvas car top that will hold our luggage!

It took DAYS to really sort everything, cook everything and then pack everything. It kinda blew my mind just how much thinking it took to prepare for a trip like this....but we didn't want to forget anything! It all ended up being a very tight....but perfect fit!

My Birthday Presents

I turned 36 this past month. My mom always asks me what I want for my birthday and after thinking about it...I asked her to help me make my girls some pioneer dresses (think Little House on the Prairie) so that they could wear them on our trip. I bought the material, patterns, etc. and then cut it all out for her and she put it all together. They came out looking so darn cute! Both the girls loved it and its one of my favorite birthday presents ever. It gave me and the girls a great memory and something we can use now for playing dress up...and then when they get to small, we can fold them up and put it in our "remember when" box. I'm so blessed that God gave me my mommy and only dream and hope that my girls feel the same way about me when they are 36!

Happy Birthday...From a Terrible Mom

Can I just say that sometimes I feel like deserve to be punished for my mother sins? Kaytlynn's birthday is in August. Delaney's is in January. They both JUST celebrated their birthdays...on my birthday this year. That's right...May 29th. Kaytlynn's birthday party continued to be postponed because my mom had to work, or my sister's kids were sick, or my dad had to work, or I had tutoring. Sometimes its very hard to get everyone in the family down to Houston on the same weekend. Well, before you know it...its Christmas! We planned on Delaney's to be in January but bad weather occurred. Then the kids got sick, then the gymnastics place she wanted it at was booked for a month...then TAKS season came. I must say, both children were as patient as Job and to make it up to Kaytlynn, I promised her a 24 hour sleep over with whoever she wanted! She was all over that. Delaney got an extra hour at the gym and we all settled on May 29th...not on my birthday on purpose...its just how it all came together. So on May 27th, my sister and her children came into town. On May 28th we started the party at 6:00...We had Kayla Green (my boss's daughter), Brenna Fricks (church friend), Lianna and Whitley Hunt (school friends) Jacob, Emily and Grace Nevin over for the fun. We let them make crafts and play on their new swing set their Daddy put together (with the help of my dad) and then we had hot dogs and moved on to cake. We opened presents and then the girls did more crafts and got into the finger nail polish. By abouta 9:15 Liana and Whitley went home and the rest stayed for movie and snack time. I think the snack time part was their favorite. We had 5 or more types of cola, candy, trail mix, etc. and let the girls just have carte blanche. They were COMPLETELY into this! By 12:30 they were all asleep on the living room floor. May 29th...they were up by 8:30 and ready for their breakfast of homemade waffles. My parents arrived EARLY that morning and everyone just did their own thing until 3:00 when we took all the girls to the Gymnasium...which is where Delaney's party began. They ran and jumped around like wild Indians for 2 hours, then we had snacks cake and presents. Thankfully, my children were very happy with their parties but I must say...I hope and will do my very best to ensure this never happens again. Its one of the many reasons I will be very happy to be working less this coming school year.

Crafts...

My girls love doing crafts, whether it requires, fabric, glue, foam, stickers, colors, beads or paint. And the great thing is that I enjoy doing it with them. It has to be quick for Delaney to like it as much but its fun when you find something that you all like to do together.

Kaytlynn's slumber party was coming up back in May and she wanted a "snow" party. I found these adorable head bopper head bands. So we put them together, so that they could use them as the birthday party hats.

2010 Tomatoes

Todd planted 8 tomato plants with the girls this year and to spice things up, he also added banana peppers.