things...

Have you played this game?  The game of things = HILARIOUS!!

We bought the game at Wal-Mart over Christmas break, and it was well worth the $20 that we spent.  We have had so many laughs from this game!  We've played it with several different groups, and it's all fun.  Whether you play it with kids or adults, you're going to laugh; however, certain groups are funnier than others.  Last night was one of the most hilarious times we played it.  We definitely had uncontrollable laughter!  In case you haven't played...you pick a card from the stack and read it out loud.  It will say something like...things you shouldn't do naked, or things that make you jump, or things you shouldn't title a children's book.  Each person will answer it on a slip of paper and give it to the reader to read them all aloud.  Everyone takes their turns guessing who wrote each response.  Eric, Jerad's friend from high school, came over with his fiance Elise, and we played things with them and Jerad's brother Nick and his wife Cara.  Eric and Elise had never played the game, so when the responses were read the first time around, we had to pause the game for five minutes while he tried to control his laughter.  The card was things you shouldn't do on the beach.  One of the responses was poop and cover it up like a cat.  We've found that when you can't come up with an answer, poop almost always works.  Anyway, we had an incredible time visiting, eating, laughing, and playing games.  I'm glad everyone got to come over!

happy birthday to my baby boy

Seven years?  Has it really been seven years?  Today my baby boy turns seven years old.  I can't believe how fast time goes by.  Seven years ago, I was lying in the hospital bed, waiting to see if they were going to send me home (again) or take him by c-section.  I had been in the hospital three weeks prior with high blood pressure, but instead of taking him then, they sent me home to be on bed rest.  I went in the Tuesday after Memorial Day to be admitted in the hospital and put on pitocin.  After a day on it, and nothing happening, they took me off of it for the night and started it back in the morning.  Gina and Roxey were great to keep me company, waxing my legs since I hadn't been able to reach them to shave them in quite some time, and painting my toenails, all while laughing hysterically.  Contractions on pitocin?  Nope, not me.  The nurse called the doctor to say that it wasn't working.  I was giddy as a schoolgirl, as she put it, when I should have been in pain.  The doctor came in shortly after five to tell me that the baby just wasn't ready yet.  As you can imagine, I was ready.  I told him that I wasn't leaving the hospital without a baby and that I'd steal one from the nursery but would rather have my own.  He smiled and told me that c-section was the only option since nothing was happening naturally.  I told him to do it, then broke down in tears.  I had never had a surgery of any sort.  The only time a needle had been in me was from a shot, the time I had sewn through my finger with the sewing machine, and when they sewed me up after a dog bite.  I had never been cut open intentionally.  I was afraid that I was going to die on the table.  I had no idea what to expect.  I really never read anything about the c-section in the birthing books because that wasn't in my plan.  I had my first son naturally without any pain medication, and had the same plans for Brickman.  Little did I know that he would weigh over thirteen pounds at birth.  13 pounds 8.6 ounces to be exact.  It never would have worked to have him naturally.  He got lots of attention from everyone in the hospital.  He was four ounces shy of the hospital record.  We had random people stopping by our room to see the "big baby."  He was quite the spectacle.  Jerad's grandma loved to tell people that in the nursery, there was small (a little premie), medium (an average baby weighing 7-8 lbs), large (a ten pound baby from a girl who was in our birthing class), and supersize (Brickman).  He looked exactly like my husband, minus the goatee.  My big baby has turned into a big boy.


We celebrated his birthday on Wednesday with a shared Shrek Forever After movie party at the local theater. Brickman and his cousin Hadley are near birthday buddies, being 364 days apart.  They shared a party three years ago when Shrek the Third came out...or as Hadley called it, Shrek da turd.  She was turning three and her speech hadn't fully developed yet.  It was great to spend time with friends and family practically the entire day.  Today, being Brickman's birthday, we haven't done a lot to celebrate, but he's called it a fantastic day.  I love it that he's easily pleased.  Because it's his birthday, Braylon has been especially nice to him.  I wish that they always treated each other with such respect.  


He still has his gifts to open this evening.  He and Braylon went to Bible School at the Wesleyan church. I'm hoping that he'll settle on something simple for supper since he picked out lunch today.  He really wanted steak or ribs, but that's more of Jerad's specialty, and he hasn't made it home yet.  He told me earlier that he really wanted to come home and everyone to jump out from hiding places and yell surprise.  I think it's a bit too late for a surprise party at this point.  Maybe another year.

Happy Birthday, Hadley and Brickman!

winding down the school year

Where did the year go?  I took the boys to school this morning and realized that there's only two weeks left.  It's crazy how quickly this year has gone.  It seems with the end of the school year, tons of things are happening.  Last week, Braylon's class had a parent appreciation program.  Each parent was given an appreciation certificate and each student received an individualized award.  He got the "future scientist" award.  His teacher likes to give everyone an award since they don't all get one in the big awards assembly.  Braylon has had the same teacher for the past two years because he participated in a looping program.  It's going to be difficult for him to leave her and move on.  The next day was the science fair, which he really procrastinated on.  However, he finished it, and did a good job.  The boys had Friday off of school since it was a built in snow day that wasn't used.  They took me to buy my mother's day gift.  I wanted a new pair of shoes, so they got me a pair of shape-ups.  I love them, so far!

Saturday was Jerad's sister Lisa's graduation from college.  

       

Here she is with her brothers, Jerad and Nick...

And with the parents...

And with the sister-in-law...

And with the nephews.

She'll be moving to New York in the fall (or as Brickman calls it, Younork).  I'm so proud of her for following her dreams.  When Jerad and I first started dating, Lisa was in the eighth grade.  That makes me feel so old!  I guess it has been nine years since I graduated college.  Wow!  I was just talking to a friend on Saturday about how quickly time goes, and I don't feel as old as I actually am.  Does anyone else feel that way?  I still feel like I'm 24.  When I talk to college kids, I don't think about how much older I am than them.  I feel like I'm just a couple of years older, when in reality, it's like 10.  I guess that it's better to feel younger than I am than older.  

catching up on the last little bit...

Oh, my!  It's been a while, hasn't it?  So much has happened over the last month and a half, but yet, I can't seem to think what all I did!


Let's see...I went to Vegas!  What a trip!  I had a great time with girlfriends at Arbonne's National Training Celebration.  The company celebrated their 30th anniversary, so they went all out.  It was amazing!

This is me with two of my upline VPs.  Love them!  BTW...you don't have to be blond and beautiful to be a VP.  It just so happens that these two are!

We got new baby chicks.  I do believe my husband is turning into my dad.  He seems to love his chickens more and more everyday.  Since the older ones are now laying eggs, he thought it was time to get a new set.  We've started free ranging the birds, so we've got chickens (and turkeys) all over the place.  Jerad loves it.  He thinks it makes our place look like a real farm.  Acres of wheat surrounding us and the farm equipment in the front yard doesn't make us look like a real farm.  It's chickens that make us that way.  Hmmm....

We had a great Easter with family.  The boys had multiple egg hunts throughout the weekend and got to play with cousins.  The sisters sang at a sunrise service, and it was a beautiful day!

It's been a while since we've had a picture with all of the cousins.  They're all growing up so fast!  Half of them are "too old" to hunt eggs anymore.  One is married.  One is in college.  Two are in high school.  One is in middle school.  The rest are stair-stepped in elementary.  Where has the time gone!?

I was in a play at the college.  It's been eight years since I've performed onstage, but they were in a bind, so I stepped up to take the part.  I wasn't sure if I could do it, but it was so much fun!  I even got a nomination for an award.  Of course, I wasn't actually eligible for it because I am no longer a college student, but the respondent (judge) didn't know that.  It made me feel pretty good.  It was great to revisit the college days, but I was glad to get back to reality.

Here we are...the Blue-Haired Belles.

Here we are without old-age make-up!

Since then, we've had cousins spend the night, a nephew with a birthday party, lots of proms (Jerad DJing), a girls night, and so much more!  It's been busy around here.  I don't think it's going to slow down this month between end of school year festivities, work picking up on the farm, and getting lots of Arbonne parties booked.  It's a good thing!

I'm getting excited for summer.  The boys will be out of school in just a few weeks, and then it will be Brickman's birthday.  Then Nescatunga, then Miss Oklahoma, then church camp, then a Manager's Retreat, then fourth of July, then Bible School.  Oh, my goodness!  I don't think I'll be taking a break anytime soon!