More fun times with toys after Christmas...

Big boy Will on the new slide...and all on his own. He had a little difficulty getting his legs around to go down the right way. However, he also learned how to push his big sister Kate down the slide too!



Will loves the car too.



More fun on the slide...


And, again....more fun on the slide.

This tunnel ROCKS!

The tunnel was a very cool gift. It came from my mom, but I had the joy of picking them out for Christmas. I loved it. I think it's maybe 10 feet long, and that's a lot of fun for inside rainy days in Texas.

Here's Will peeking out of the mesh window. I think this might be his favorite part...from the inside or the outside.



There's Kate, my camera happy, smiling bouncing ball of joy!



Kate (screaming) I see you Aunt Emmy. And so does Will.



Take a picture Aunt Emmy, Kate wants to see it too.



They play so well together. Ahh, it's so fun.

Elmo, Ramps Around Garage, and Leap Frog Drum

Will is a sweet boy, and he loves his Elmo's.
Hi Aunt Emmy. Look at my Ramps Around garage. It's soooo fun!
I can even play with it all by myself! I'm soooo big!
Check out this drum Kate, it's GREAT. Now we have two drums to play with. A new band.

Table and Chairs

The kids love their new chairs and table set from Christmas. What a fun time!

Watching Saturday morning cartoons with Aunt Emmy. Daddy was fixing pancakes on his new griddle at this time too! Everybody was happy!
More fun with chairs...
Will likes to climb on them more than anything...from the chair to the table...from the chair to the couch...from the couch to the table...etc...I think you get my point.

Ice Storm of 2007

ICE STORM of 2007

The weather started on Friday about mid-day when I was out and about working like normal. Here are some of the highlights:

• Driving back from Prague, Oklahoma on I-44 I had to stop 3 times to simply scrape off the ice from the windshield wipers. Along with everyone else. It was insane. I'm thankful I had the SUV that day. It also took me much longer than normal to make the short trek back to Tulsa.
  
• Ilze and Taylor were out of school early due to the weather and I met them at the Goat Barn. We went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Apparently everyone else and their dog, their cat, and their aunt were at the store. We waited in line for over 30 minutes. Two lines of solid people from the front to the back of the store. All we bought was some junk food, but the ingredients to make salsa....and boy was it tasty. The best I've made yet.
  
• We picked up a friend of Taylor's and then a friend of Ilze's came over and spent the night. Me, in charge of four 15 year olds for the night. Late night. Fun games. Laughing all night. Lots of food. Good times.
  
• With the continuing sleet and ice, we were stuck in the house until Sunday, and I was stuck until Monday. Dad and Gayle arrived back on Saturday night from their cruise, but I was stuck there two additional days due to the weather.
  
• We were thankful that the worst of it hit the south and east of Tulsa. We never lost power. We were simply stuck together for a lot of family time. Thank goodness for good television and internet service!

Hoping that your 2007 is off to a great start!

Fun times...

It has been awhile since I posted much of anything on the page, so I'm going to sum up a few things from the last month or so.

I just returned home from taking care of my little brother and sister, both 15 years old, as well as a Junior Hockey player who is 18 and is housing with my Dad and Gayle. Now, this was a challenging week, but I survived. However, I was stuck there two extra days with the ice storm of 2007. Here are some highlights of the week:

• Assisting my little sister in the attempt of cornering her billy goat, Romeo, in order to practice walking him for the FFA show planned for Saturday. Now, imagine the following set up: A small area of a gated fence, approximately 7 feet by 7 feet, with a small goat house in the middle. Ilze is on one side and I am on the other, attempting to catch the goat to put on it's halter. Now, Ilze is a small 15 year old. She's not quite 5 feet tall and not more than maybe 90 pounds. She was able to get the goat, stradle it and tie the halter on. But then, the goat wouldn't move with the halter and lead rope on. Now, I was standing in the middle of this all, laughing histerically, harder than I have in a long time. It was fun. That goat does not like her. She knows it though, so it's okay. She's good with them though. Her first show was cancelled due to the weather.
  
• Fixing dinner in a different kitchen, with a new oven, and minimal directions. Now, there are bound to be some bad things. For instance, crescent roll weinies, also known as pigs in a blanket, that were undercooked. Burning of chicken. Not so done mashed potatoes. Etc. By the end of the week I managed to do okay, and I made some darn good SALSA! YUMMY!
• I attempted to make some basic rolls for the kids in the morning, got up early and baked them before they came downstairs. All to find out that one of the two didn't like anything other than traditional cinnamon rolls. That meant the orange rolls and caramel rolls were a no. However, they were GREAT. I ate them the next few mornings for breakfast.
  

Overall, I survived and got some really cool stuff from Dad and Gayle. They were on a cruise in the middle of the Caribbean in the nice hot weather when the Ice Storm of 2007 hit Oklahoma.

See next post for details.

Wally and Zoe's Christmas Celebration...

How cool is this? A tennis ball rawhide bone! I love it.

My new little fish toy..too bad Wally destroyed it within the first hour!

Zoe on the Christmas present, playing with the ribbons and lights!

Zoe loves ribbon. LOVES it.

Wally with his Christmas collar on...what a good boy!

Christmas at Mimi's House

Christmas afternoon and evening with Mimi and Aunt Emmy.
Last round of presents...but it was oh so fun!

Kate exploring her new cash register. It zaps, rings, and has a credit card machine!

Aw...Will is sooooo tired.

Wait, he loves his new tunnel. What a fun thing for a rainy day. Or snow. Or ice.

Check out my new apron and hat...Aunt Emmy rocks!

See, I can pose too. Aren't I cute? My Aunt Emmy sure thinks so!

Christmas at Grammy & Grandpa's House

Christmas morning was spent with Grammy and Granpa. Kate and Will had a lot of fun, opening many presents. Lots of fun things!

Will checking out his new table and chair set.





Kate feeding her new Itty Bitty Baby, Emma.





Will is easily entertained by the Christmas decorations, a little more than his stocking.





Silly Aunt Emmy and Kate. Kate loves pictures. She takes after her Aunt Emmy.





Peek-A-Boo...I see you!

Merry Christmas, with love...

Merry Christmas, with love.

Zoe, Emily, and Wally send greetings to you all.

Memory Lane...

Traditions. My little brother has always enjoyed being a little brother of a OSU Cowboy. He loves OSU, as I have trained him well. I would sneak him in with me to games while I was here and we always had a great time. Since I graduated, I've made it a tradition to take him to a OSU Basketball game every year after his birthday, which is in November. Today we ventured over to Stillwater after a 1 1/2 hour trip due to the foot of snow and packed ice, but we made it. We at at Joseppi's because we knew Joe's would be too crowded. It was good. Plus, we got our annual cup! Then we went to the game. The Cowboys played Pepperdine and it was a good game. They won. It was well worth it! Here are some pictures of the event!




Who Cares? Tradition to hold newspaper before the names are called out for the opposing team!




Gallagher-Iba Arena...oh to miss the good old GIA. But all the seats are wonderful!



Scoreboard. We won 90-74.




Only in Stillwater...a snowman built in the back of a truck!




Check this out... the snowman in the back of the truck driving around town! FUNNY!

Midwest Blizzard of 2006

It's been quite the two days, you see...we were in a blizzard warning yesterday throughout last night and into today. It started on Wednesday evening with sleeting freezing nasty ice pellets all afternoon into the evening, just getting the blizzard started with an inch or two of ice. It did the ice thing all the way through Wednesday night and into Thursday.

I woke up Thursday and realized it wasn't too bad, and that I had plenty of work to be done. I got ready and left the house at 8:30. It took me the first 45 minutes to 1)get into my car 2)warm up my car and 3)scrape off all the ice of my car. It took me the next 45 minutes to arrive to work, normally taking 25 minutes. It wasn't too bad, but then I pulled into the parking lot and realized that no one was there. Well, comparably. There were two cars. I went in and was shocked to find out that NO ONE came to work. Nobody called to see what I was going to do, and I didn't bother to call them. I figured we'd all just go in late. Apparently I didn't get the email in time about taking enforced leave or sick leave if the weather was bad. I sat down and started to get some stuff done, but since my desk sits right by the little window, I heard the ice just nailing the window with every millisecond....and I didn't last long. I decided it was better to get home than to be stuck in the Health Department of a rural county in Oklahoma. I trekked on home and enjoyed the afternoon off of work.

I woke up today, Friday, to a foot of snow on the ground. I wasn't about to go out today. I stayed in and soaked up the winter blizzard. They even shut down all the interstates and turnpikes out of Tulsa...no one was going anywhere. Apparently they might have shut down some state offices as well as the federal courthouses, etc. All the schools were closed, libraries, etc. It was a big time blizzard last night. I decided to watch the Today show, drink hot chocolate with a peppermint mocha creamer added to it, soaked up the sunlight, and relaxed. However, it wasn't too long when Wally told me he needed outside. It wasn't too bad. It was sunshiney and nice outside. Hence, we decided to take a long walk. We went to the park and played in the full area of solid snow. So, I took the pictures of course to document our adventure.

Enjoy!







Look at me.. Wally jumps two front feet and two back feet...like he's a rocking horse. It was cute.





Wally loves to eat snow...this time it was out of my hand!




Wally sat down and watched the neighbors shovel their driveway!



A crappy picture of me, but it was fun. I just threw on clothes and winterwear...not much to it!



Running as fast as I can through the SNOW!!!!

First Birthday Bash

Happy 1st Birthday John William!!!

He loved the little TMX Elmo. Granted, the adults appeared to get as much laughter from the creature as the kids did. It was quite entertaining, I tell ya. It's worth the $$$. Even though I could have sold it for a lot more $$$ than I bought it with, I still love my nephew more than anything and wouldn't sell it just to make money. I'm glad I didn't. He loved it. See, you can tell below.....

Yummy...I think I like this frosting. Not so sure about the cake part.
Merritt's Bakery...that place ROCKS!






Riding the birthday horse, going to town! See, the horse was celebrating as well!





This picture wins the prize. I think he's the MOST adorable little boy EVER!!!

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Happy Birthday to me.....

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I will be 28 years old. It's funny how time flies, life happens, and expectations are either met or unmet. Do you remember those questions in deep discussions that went something like "Where do you see yourself in 3,5, & 10 years?" I remember those questions, and I remember my answers. I, too, had expectations about life and what would be my path of direction. I thought that I would for sure be married by 25, living with my husband and starting to have a family by 28, with the first of many kids by the time I turned 30. I thought that I would live in the country, work in the city, or even stay at home and be a wife and a mom. As I approach the big day tomorrow, I think of what was lost, gained, and how things turned out the way God wanted them, rather than the way I thought I should live my life. I don't regret a single thing about my life, well...there might be a few, but overall I've been pleasantly happy with the way things have happened. So, here's a list of the things that I've done with some of my years of life, and for these I am thankful.

• Found someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with....
• Realized that I wasn't supposed to be with them..and thankfully made the decision prior to a wedding....
• Explored different sides of careers with a great history to help decide the future...
• Lived on my own in Buffalo, NY with total and complete strangers...
• One of whom became one of my closest friends ever....
• Worked at a wonderful agency and still keep in touch with good friends from there...
• May eventually work my way back to that place....
• Enjoyed singleness...and all it's advantages....
• Missed being with someone who loved me...but knows what is important in a relationship and has set higher standards due to experiences...
• Became the Aunt Emily I've longed to be...and what a GREAT experience it's been....
  
• Learned what it meant to truly love those that are family...
• Applied to the Peace Corps...was denied the Peace Corps...and realized there's something greater out there for me...
• Lived being a big sister, and hopefully a good one...
• Adopted my dog and my cat, oh whom both are my life...
• Above all things, I've realized that God is in control, and I do have good things and multiple blessings in my life.
  

So, I'm turning 28 tomorrow, and I can't wait to spend 28 more years and see where I'm at when I turn 56. I hope dreams are met and new ones are dreamt.

Also, for my day, I took the day off of work and spent the day pampering myself. I had a full hour massage...and I'm still sore. I had a manicure and a pedicure...and my feet look great! It's been a great day, and it's not even my birthday yet!

Much love,
Emily