Caught in the Act!

This is exactly why I don't have any extra time to blog any more! Hayden is ALWAYS into something. Today I left him alone (strapped in his chair watching Lord of the Beans) for about 15 minutes while I took my shower. When I got out of the shower it was quiet (never a good sign), all except the sound of tearing paper. When I came around the corner here is what I saw. Hayden was tearing into every package that I have wrapped so far! Ugh! These packages took me so much time to wrap, and now I have to re-wrap them before the other kids realize they are missing. Not gonna happen! I have Ainsley's school party today at 1:45, cards to get in the mail (which requires waiting in the line at the post office), a trip to the bank, picture orders to deliver, and church tonight. Oh well. I have bagged them all up in black trash bags, which Hayden now thinks I am throwing them all away, and they have ended up in the back of my closet AGAIN!


Yes, Hayden, that is Mario, and no I'm not excited that you know this!


You little stinker!


Don't smile at me!


I'm glad someone thinks this is cute! Your mom doesn't agree!


The aftermath.
I know all of you are wondering if Hayden is still alive. Yes he is and no I did not spank him. I gave him a bath instead. I needed to cool off and he needed to be in a place where he couldn't destroy anything, at least for a few minutes, while I called Lisa to vent!

I have officially updated my blog, which took all of about 10 minutes, right? Well it's just enough time for Hayden to get into another mess, I'm sure. I hear the water running in the bathroom and at least 3 or 4 electric toothbrushes running! Better go! :-)

Hayden finding Luigi in himself

Happy Halloween from all of us!

Here are all of the kids in their costumes. Ainsley wore her dance costume. She was a ballerina. Katelyn was Hannah Montana's friend, Lola. And the boys were the Mario Bros., Mario and Luigi.

Mario Bros.

Carson & Hayden were the Mario Bros. for Halloween this year. These were fun costumes to make. I finished Hayden's about 10 minutes before I put it on him.

Mall Kiosk

Well, we did it! Lisa and I put together a kiosk for the month of October at the mall. We have been wanting to do this for the last few months, so it was really exciting to get it up. Lisa has started a little business called Scrappymom Creations. She does digital scrapbook layouts for people, and many other things. Check out her blog for more information. She's awesome at what she does! www.scrappymomcreations.blogspot.com
We designed the to kiosk to have her stuff on one side and mine on the other. We were assigned the area just outside of Goody's and that's where we put it all together. I went in early this morning to add some stuff and it had been moved to center court! About that time a man walked by and said that he had been instructed to move it because it was the best kiosk in the whole mall! I could have jumped up and down right there! How exciting! Needless to say, it has huge exposure where it is and we are anxiously awaiting the calls and emails for appointments and assignments. Lisa already received one email today about it! Woo hoo, Lease! Anyway... see the pictures below.

Picture Day

Today was picture day at school, and as you can probably guess, we didn't purchase any again this year. I did decide to snap their pictures really quickly before they left for school this morning. I got them at their best. Katelyn's hair is freshly curled, Carson's is perfectly spiked, Ainsley's hair is not wet on the ends from her chewing on it, and Hayden's, well.... his little curls are showing. :-) They have clean clothes and faces, which will make their Nana very happy, and they all had that fresh, good morning glow about them. Perfect opportunity for pictures. Nevermind that we were almost late for school and Carson and Ainsley both threw fits about the shoes they were wearing. Or that Katelyn and Hayden had just had a meltdown into tears minutes before. Oh, the trials of bringing up children. Every morning is pretty dramatic and they aren't always clean and smiling, but at least for this brief moment in time I got them all to smile. :-)

Our Karate Kid

Carson started karate class today at Mid-America Karate. He loved it! We are very excited for him to have his own activity that no one else in our family has done or is doing. We are really excited to see how much this helps Carson.

Fall Session with Hayden

My blog is starting to look like the Ainsley Blog. I don't meant for it to come across this way. She just has given me ample opportunities for pictures the past few weeks. I did get Hayden to sit still for a minute to try out my fall set. He did a good job being my little model. :-)

Blogging Again.... It's been a while

I have so much to add to my blog that I really don't know where to start. Life has been crazy lately. I'll start with Ainsley's 4th Birthday. She had her party with Adam at the Conoco Phillips Gymanstic Center. It was a lot of fun for both of them. On her actual birthday she received this Candy Bouquet from Meema and Papa. We still have candy in it! Thanks Meema! :-)

Ainsley's Get Well Bear

Ainsley had surgery this morning at JPMC to remove a tube that had fallen in behind her ear drum. It went really well and she was a great patient. This afternoon after her nap the doorbell rang and this sweet little bear and balloon were delivered by Haines Florist. She was so excited to get it. She named her bear Princess and of course we took a few minutes this afternoon to stop by Frank Phillips Mansion and take a few photos. Thank you Nana and Pops!

Little Dancer

Yesterday was Ainsley's first day of dance for the new year. She was so excited to go, which was a big change from last year. She has all new shoes and clothes, so we had to have a photo shoot, of course! She is really growing up. She reminds me so much of Katelyn in these pictures (maybe it's the hair).

Her class went very well. She participated the entire time and she got 2 stamps because she had her wistening eawrs (listening ears) on.

Angel kisses, spwinkles, freckles....

My, how fast summer has flown by! School starts tomorrow and I'm not sure if I'm a little sad because I'll have 3 kids old enough to be in school or if I'm overjoyed because 3 of my kids will be in school! It's a mixed bag of emotions for sure! We have had a fun summer and the "sprinkles" on Ainsley's nose prove how much time we've spent playing in the sun. We've had sunscreen on every time we've been out, but it's inevitable for all of us... those freckles will be coming eventually. We've got them on both sides of the family. :-) We affectionately call them angel kisses, but Ainsley calls hers sprinkles. She discovered her sprinkles this summer while looking at herself in the mirror. She said, "Mommy! Look at my face! I have spwinkles! He, he, he!" Even Hayden has a few (I just haven't been able to get him to hold still long enough yet to get a close-up).

Family Mission Trip: Day 3

Day 3 of our trip was the same assigment as day 2. We went to 2 more apartment complexes and had backyard Bible studies. Don bought a few balls and a large frisbee for the kids to play with, so we had more things for them to do. The big boys loved throwing the football around. The smaller kids liked the soccer balls and the frisbee. It was really hot, but the kids didn't seem to mind. Well, that is, except for my kid. :-) Katelyn complained about the heat and the bugs and her foot might be bleeding and on and on. I realized very quickly that she is quite the pampered little princess. We had a heart to heart, and then she and Daddy had another heart to heart, then she finally decided to quit complaining and join in the fun. She met a 7 year old little girl named Amber Star. She was quite the talker, so Katelyn sat and listened to her for quite a while. That's good for Katelyn... to be the one listening instead of talking. :-)

As you can tell from Carson in this picture, he was mad at me for making him sit in the shade for a few minutes. Right before this he was out in the middle of the dirt in the sun playing with beer bottle caps. You know Carson... :-)
The other kids pictured here were all enjoying the Bible study and songs.

This litle girl on the top right has those eyes that look like they have seem more in their lifetime than most adults. She was such a sweetie. She was hot and tired when I took this picture because she had been kicking a soccer ball with Ellen and the other little girls for quite a while.
The little girl with the ball walking down the sidewalk was a little apprehensive about all of us being there at first. After talking to her and looking at her ball I finally figured our her name was Marie. She brought her own ball, but she wasn't sure she wanted to play. She warmed up to us, though, and she had fun.
I had to coax Katelyn into interacting with the kids. After a little "mom/daughter talk", she decided to color with this little girl. She seemed to enjoy it after she got going.
Carson is really hot and tired and very dirty in this picture. He spent most of his time playing in the dirt. :-)
The little cutie on the bottom left came with her sister. She is so cute! I could have photographed her all day long. :-)

After our day with Mission Arlington, our group headed straight for Hurricane Harbor, which is a 47 acre water park with so many huge water slides and more! We had a great time, but our time there wasn't quite long enough for us. We didn't get to try everything before they closed, but it was a great way to cool off! Not a camera friendly environment, though, so sadly I have no pictures to share of it. :-(

After Hurricane Harbor, we went to Grapevine Mall to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. It was fun and we ate way too much! We ordered the VOLCANO dessert in honor and James and Kerri's 16th Anniversary. It was yummy! Happy 16th to the Veits! :-)

I have so many more pictures to share with you, but after our trip I am exhausted. I wanted to get a few from Day 3 on here before too many more days went by, but I will post more in the days ahead. We are safely home and we had a wonderful time. We are so glad we went, and we are planning to go again next year.

Family Mission Trip: Day 2

Today was the first "real" day of our mission trip. We made it to Mission Arlington where Miss Tilly and a group of her staff members gave us our first assignment. We were to go to a local apartment complex and basically have a backyard Bible club for them. We had a guide named Sara, who came with us. She has been interacting with these kids all summer, so they knew her and were ready to come and play. We went door to door and told every apartment that answered that we were from Mission Arlington. I wasn't sure how many kids were going to come, but it was a huge success! We played games, had a Bible story, and were able to share Jesus with them while having fun. They had lunch delivered to them around 11:00, so we helped them make their way to the lunch area and then we went and had lunch on our own.

We had 2 places to choose from for lunch, and we picked Wendy's. We had been outside in the heat all morning, so a Frosty was in order!

After lunch, our next assignment was to visit another apartment complex for another backyard Bible study. We did everything the same as before, but this time we were on our own - no guide. We knocked on several doors, where you could tell they really didn't understand a word we were saying, but they just smiled politely and nodded. I can't even imagine what that must be like. We didn't have as many kids show up to our Bible study, but the kids who did come were precious, and were excited to be there with us. We opened up with songs from our Sunday school years, and they all seemed to love that. Joe taught the Bible study, and he did a really great job. I know I'm biased, but he just has a real knack of being able to communicate with people. He did a wonderful job. :-) After the lesson we all played a game of Simon Says and then we passed out fun worksheets for the kids to color.

At both the morning and afternoon sessions, the kids were so fascinated with our digital cameras. It was so cute to see them gaze at them as if they were seeing and touching something for the very first time. For most of them, I'm sure that was true. Something that our kids are so used to seeing and touching everyday because we are fortunate enough to have them in our home.... Something that we take for granted and toss around.... Something as simple as a camera.... They found so cool and interesting.

The best part about the entire day, for me, was seeing their eyes light up when we talked to them about Jesus. Seeing the big smiles on their faces when we sang songs and praised the Lord. Seeing them hug an adult and cling to them even though they had only met 10 minutes earlier. These kids were so trusting and so open to us. I wonder what they did after we left them. Did they go back inside their apartments and show their parents the papers they had colored? Did they play outside in the heat? Did any of them get to go swimming in the swimming pool? I will always remember each of their sweet faces, and I hope we planted a seed in their lives that will someday lead them to Jesus.

There are 13 pages of pictures here. It was hard not to take so many. James took my camera during the afternoon Bible study and took many of the pictures there. With his help we captured the entire day, so now we can share these precious kids with you too. Thanks James!

After our day with Mission Arlington we finished up with swimming, then dinner at Buck & Loons, and then swimming again. It was a long, busy day, so I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed, which is why I didn't update my blog until this morning.

We are looking forward to another day of whatever God has in store for us with Mission Arlington. I will update again tonight or maybe tomorrow morning. Stay tuned...

Family Mission Trip: Day 1

Our first day of the mission trip was mostly traveling, but we had fun riding on the bus. It was a new, big adventure for the kids. Carson and Ainsley were really excited about it. We left Bartlesville around 1:00 P.M. and arrived in OKC to meet Kyle and Shannon. They took Ainsley and Hayden with them, and the rest of us headed to Arlington. We stopped again in Gainsville to have dinner at the Cracker Barrell. Katelyn and Carson got to have pancakes for dinner, so they loved it! We spent some time visiting and rocking on the front porch and then we finished up our evening traveling to Arlington. We arrived at our hotel around 9:00 P.M. and took the kids for a moonlight swim. They have had their showers and are now tucked into bed excited about tomorrow's events. I will update tomorrow with more pics and news! Stay tuned....

Let's Give Ainsley a Kiss!

During our Patriotic photo shoot Adam and Carson laid a kiss on Ainsley. I was never more glad to have my camera than that moment. The look on her face was priceless! This is the series of photos as they happened.

Just Splashin' Around!

There's not much to do around here with all the rain and high waters, so we decided to play in the puddles in front of our house. So glad to have rain boots! The first picture in this slideshow is the floodwaters at the bridge at Frank Phillips and Hensley. We used to take this bridge every day to Dewey when we lived there. There is a car in the picture that is covered up to the windshield. Poor Kiddie Park.... it will be a long time before it dries out!

Rain Boots

These rainboots were a major impulse buy that I felt really guilty for buying several months ago. I didn't know at the time that we were going to have so much rain this year. I am really glad now that I bought them, and the kids love them! Katelyn is the only one who doesn't have a pair. I haven't found any in her size yet, but I'm on the hunt for some. ;-)

Ainsley took a turn!

Ainsley was able to put on her own boots and go for a splash in the puddles outside. She had a blast!

Hayden splashin' in puddles

Hayden has been putting on Ainsley's rain boots the last few days, and I just had to get a picture of him in them. What better place than in the puddles in front of our house? I know they are pink, but he just looked so cute in them! He had a lot of fun splashing. He kept looking back at me with a look of, "Is this really okay Mom?" I never let him splash in puddles. Oh what fun!

Fishing at Honor Heights Park

Carson finally got to go fishing with Pops last night. The weather and the lighting was perfect! This was Carson's first fishing experience, and he had so much fun. He caught 5 fish total, and they threw them all back at the end of the evening.