Memorial Weekend. 2012

Memorial Weekend... One of my favorite weekends of the summer. I didn't take as many pictures as usual. I was looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend with my family. I wasn't in the mood to lug my camera around the lake and my main goal was to have fun with my kiddos! We had delicious food, as usual. Friday night we made pizza, Saturday we had spaghetti, and then brisket, fried potatoes, and beans and cornbread, Sunday we had burgers, hotdogs, and chicken tacos, and Monday we had smoked chicken, fried squash, potatoes, and corn. And of course there wasn't a lacking for desserts...brownies, chocolate covered strawberries, cream filled strawberries, strawberry shortcake, red velvet cupcakes, and homemade ice cream was on the weekend menu. 

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All of my dad's side of the family was a the lake, as usual. Josh and Lacee returned on Sunday from their Florida vacation and joined the Wewoka Lake fun. Saturday morning, Jeb and I took an early morning run together. The breeze was cool, we had good music playing out loud on the iPhone, and the scenery was gorgeous as we ran under a canopy of shade trees. It was one of the most enjoyable things that I've done in a long time. We ran 3.5 miles in 40 minutes, which I thought was pretty good since it was only my second time to run in MONTHS! We spend the rest of the day riding on Kassidy's boat and relaxing up at the cabin. Sunday night, my mom's side of the family came out. We had dinner for Aunt Johnna's birthday and had a party to watch the Thunder vs. Spurs game. We set up a projector down on the landing and watched the "life-sized" game on a white sheet nailed to the outdoor wall. It was such a fun night! My friend Amanda came out with her two kids and we had so much fun riding the boat and hanging out. Sunday night after the game Jeb took us on a midnight boat ride. We listened to some good tunes and had a pontoon boat dance party! Jeb was the life of the party and kept saying funny things like, "sing it like you wrote it, girl!" and "they used to call me The Fox!" There was even a "phantom waverunner" that kept creeping up on our boat out of the mist!

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Jett and Reid had a blast swimming and tubing. Reid put his wakeboard on and got in the water, but it was heavy and hard for him to control. He kept thinking that he was drowning, so we decided Memorial Day weekend probably wasn't the time to learn to wakeboard. LilliAnn loved riding on the boat, but would fall asleep most of the time. She like riding the wave runner with her daddy, as did her brother who liked to drive the wave runners "so fast, mom!" The boys did some fishing and Jeb swears that the state record sized carp got off of his hook. Reid caught some crappie and had fun playing in the minnow bucket. 

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"It was THIS big!"

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 My dad sporting his new lake shorts and neon tennis shoes!

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 The wonderful woman who makes it all happen at the lake house!

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 party barge!

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 some of my very favorite people!

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The Captain of our ship!

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 the only time Brayle could get a pic with Lil!

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It was a perfect weekend (minus my little brother who is in Florida for the summer)....no sunburns, no fights, no rain...just fun + family.

dance your heart out.

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It is LilliAnn's second year of dance class! The recital is next weekend and I am praying that she stays up on stage and does her dance. She knows every move and performs it perfectly at home, but then acts  shy at dance and wants me to stand up with her. She is such the little show girl at home...always singing, dancing, and performing for us! LilliAnn loves going to dance every week and will talk about her "Miss Darana" throughout the week. Recently, we've been practicing first position and our "pretty ballet arms" while doing the "Mr. Sun" dance. 

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"Wheels on the Bus"

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Dancing her heart out!

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LilliAnn's favorite things about dance are the "color song" and "airplane song." These are both Barney songs and she loves dancing to them every week. During the airplane song they have to hold up their airplane wings and fly fast...and then slow. Lil gets so excited when the song speeds up and she gets to go "super duper fast!"

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I have promised LilliAnn a Tinkerbell toy if she stands up on the big stage and does her dance like a big girl next weekend. I am really hoping hoping all this bribing works because I can't wait to see her on stage in that adorable silver and white dance costume!

pool play.

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Now that it's summertime, we've been going over to Nana Karen and Papa Kelbo's pool almost every day. The kids absolutely LOVE to swim...especially Reid! He is such a little fish. About a month before he turned four he started swimming all over the pool without floaties or a lifejacket. He's especially good at holding his breath and diving. He can dive down 8 feet and get things off the bottom of the pool! He gets his diving talent from his father! He also loves jumping into the water while doing "cool tricks." Cannon balls, helicopter twists, and ninja kicks are a few of his favorites. LilliAnn is starting to like the water a little bit more this year. She still doesn't like wearing floaties and won't get too far into the pool unless her daddy is holding her. Her favorite thing is holding on to the side of the pool and "floating," while wearing her floatie swimsuit that Nana Karen got her in Italy. She also loves when her daddy throws her up into the air and catches her.

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Jeb is great at working with the kids on swimming technique. He is the one who taught Reid how to swim and now he's helping LilliAnn.

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silly boy in Spiderman goggles!

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such a good little swimmer!

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up, up, & away!

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Stay tuned for more summer swimming posts as we enjoy lots of lazy pool days...

Lil's words...

"Mommy, I'm gonna grow up and I'm gonna have hair."

"I wanna hear Bieber in the car."

"Mommy, I wuv you so many." (grabs my leg)... "I wuv you this much. I wuv you to the moon."

It's tee ball time!

It's that time of year...tee ball time! Jeb is coaching again, but this year we are playing in the Shawnee YMCA wee-ball league. Our team name is the Cardinals and so far it has been a great experience. Reid is much more serious about playing ball this year and really tries to do well. He hits the ball better than anyone his age that I have seen, and he's quite the little runner! He gives me a thumbs up every time he makes it to base or when I tell him to "get ready" out in the field. Baseball just might be his sport. Stay tuned for more tee ball news as the season continues...


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"No dad...I can carry it myself."

Lil's words.

"God takes care of us."
#beautifulwordsfroma2yearold

sunday fun day.

Fun at bubba's t-ball practice today!

Easter {2012}

Easter...it was just a few short weeks ago, but seems like so long ago. April is our crazy, busy month (as I've mentioned previously) and I feel like so much has happened since we celebrated this wonderful holiday. Easter Sunday was the day after LilliAnn's birthday party and the entire weekend was fast, chaotic, but oh, SO MUCH FUN! The Lord has blessed us with such wonderful family and friends to celebrate with during the Easter holiday! 

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Easter morning the kids woke up to some pretty awesome Easter baskets that the Easter bunny had left for them! Reid was super excited about his batman cup and LilliAnn was really liking all of the candy!

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 A picture of my bed head Easter bunnies in their matching, monogrammed Easter pajamas

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 It is such a blessing for a parent when siblings show this much love to each other!

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 After looking through the Easter baskets, we got all dressed up and went to church to celebrate what Easter is all about - the resurrection of Christ! He is ALIVE! This is what separates Christianity from so many other religions. The most important thing in our Christian fait is the resurrection. The teachings of Jesus are important, but their have been many teachers and prophets throughout history and they all have died - but our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, died for our sins and then AROSE from the grave to ascend back to heaven with our Father! He is living today and is the center of my life!

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 After a fantastic church service, we headed to Missy and Melvin's house for Easter lunch. 

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 Family Easter Pic

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 We brought our bunny rabbits along with us and the kids had a great time playing with them (and chasing them!). This is a picture of Reid holding Batman. He has gotten pretty attached to his rabbits. He told me today that if he could have any animal in the world for a pet that it would be his ducks and his rabbits.

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 Sissy loves the rabbits too! She gets excited when she touches them or holds them.

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 The four cousins! They love each other so much!

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 This guy has made all of my dreams come true! So blessed to be married to such a wonderful, Christian husband who is such a great father to our children! He completes me :)

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I just can't get enough of those gorgeous eyes!

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We had so much fun dying Easter eggs on Saturday night with Grayson!

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This little girl just melts my heart! 

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She was only interested in eating all the candy out of the Easter eggs.

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Two years old and she's finally starting to get some hair!

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I just love this picture of my sweet babies.

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hmmmm...just how many eggs did I find?

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priceless. timeless. PRECIOUS!

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Her eyes change colors every day...just like her mommy's!

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Easter smile!

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Lovin' her bunnies

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This is Spiderman. These rabbits have given us a run for our money! We have chased them everywhere! The kids love to let them out of their cage and then chase them around the flowerbeds. We always seem to find them, but it wears mommy out!

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This is Batman. He is much faster and harder to catch than Spiderman! He loves to hide in the shrubs and behind our neighbors flower pots on her back patio.

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Reid loves the rabbits. He drives them around in his police car and in his Gator!

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Princess driving a Gator! A country girl can survive :)

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classic Easter pictures.

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favorite.

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Cook Family Easter Egg Hunt at Mimi & Papa's Cabin

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Must.Get.Eggs.

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Checking out each other's loot!

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A golden egg! This year he liked the money more than the candy. Sissy? Not so much!

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Dora birthday tricycle from Mimi & Papa...she loves it! She can't quite pedal yet, but she's good at scootin'!

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Classic Lil...it was a looooong weekend!