Omaha

This week Ginger and I (with our kids) drove to Omaha to visit an old college roommate. We had never been to Omaha before and we were pleasantly surprised. It was such a fun place. 

Our first stop was the zoo. It was awesome. I have been to lots of zoos but this is probably one of the best. The indoor exhibits were phenomenal. We spent 5 hours there and didn't see nearly everything. Unfortunately Caleb started feeling sick while at the zoo and the rest of the trip kind of went downhill from there.

The next day we went to the most amazing pumpkin patch. It was full of carnival games, haunted houses, pumpkins, racing pigs and so much more. The down side was I had been up puking all night, the night before and was still sick. So chasing 3 kids around was exhausting and hard. But we had a good time anyways. That night Ethan got sick and was up all night puking. Luckily we drove home the next day and nobody puked the entire drive. 

Overall it was a good trip and fun to see an old college friend and her family.

Blessed

When I look at this picture I can't help but think of how blessed we are.

Ethan turns 3

September 18th Ethan turned 3. It's a tradition in our house to celebrate with donuts for breakfast. I let Caleb stay home from school and we headed out for donuts, then out to the children's museum and finally home for a few naps before Ethan's party.

He was set on having superman cupcakes at chuckie cheese. I am not a huge fan of the place but I figured since it was his birthday we should probably go where he wants. A good friend made him some cupcakes and we invited a small amount of people and took our celebration to chuckie cheese. It was fun and easy so I really can't complain and mostly for one day I had a really really happy Ethan. 

We love this boy so much. He is feisty, smart, witty, sarcastic and certainly a button pusher. But he is also affectionate, loving and my biggest cuddler. He has so much of his Dad's personality and I pray we can channel that into great things in his future. 

Bartlesville kiddie park

A few weeks ago we took the kids to a kiddie park in the neighboring town of Bartlesville. We all had such a great time. It's a small little park with rides geared for children 8 and younger. Not only was it clean and fun, it was cheap cheap cheap. The boys and Molly spent 2 1/2 hours riding rides and we spent $10. It's closed now but we will be back next summer for sure.

Childhood home

My childhood home has been sold and I couldn't be happier. I have a lot of great memories in this house but I'm happy to see a new family moving in. Over the last 8 months we have been living in this house with my dad, helping him fix it up while our house was being built. When we moved in the house was in need of some updating, we ended up painting every room inside and the exterior, replacing all the carpet and putting in laminate and tile, installing several new fans and light fixtures, replacing all the faucets and fixing/replacing several other things. We spent way to much time cleaning out 30 years of stuff and sorting through lots of junk. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the transformation but these few after pictures are all I have.

Miss Molly

This girl is such a lounger. I constantly find her hanging out on my bed, on the couch or just laying on the floor. We love her such a ridiculous amount though, and couldn't imagine a life without her.

Branson

We recently took a trip to Branson with Nathan's parents. They flew into Tulsa and then we all drove to Branson to spend a few days there and then drove to west plains to visit Nathan's grandparents and aunt and uncle. We had such a great time. 

Unfortunately these pictures upload backwards.

  We ended in west plains where we took the boys to see a movie and went out to lunch. The rest of the time was spent hanging out and playing with animals and in the golf cart. With so many dogs and cats running around both boys were pretty happy.

Before we left Branson to head to west plains we stopped at the outlet mall and chik fil a. 

Our the second day we went to the water park. It was the perfect little size and had two little kid areas. We had a great time until it started raining and they shut the park down. 

The first day we went to the Dixie stampede. It was a dinner and show event. Surprisingly the boys were engaged the entire time and loved it. Molly did great most of the time. Overall we enjoyed it and our glad we went.

In Branson we stayed at some really great condos courtesy of Nathan's parents. It was so nice to have so much space. We also loved and spent a lot of time at the pool. 

We spent the morning at the fish hatchery. The kids enjoyed feeding the fish and walking around. It was pretty hot so we limited our time there.

On our way to Branson we stopped for lunch and Molly fell out of the car. It was pretty traumatizing and I felt terrible because I obviously wasn't watching her. Luckily she healed pretty quickly.

On our way to Branson we stopped in Gentry, Arkansas at a wildlife safari. We had never been so we didn't know exactly what to expect but it was perfect. We were able to pet and feed lots of different animals in the petting area. Then we drove through the second section where they kept the bigger animals. 

Overall it was a great trip and we really enjoyed the break from life.