Wordless Wednesday--Dream Come True

For this preschool paleontologist, it was a dream come true.

For more Wordless Wednesday, go over to the RHOK or 5Minutes4Mom.

Perfect Pairings--1 Timothy, 4: 7-8

I know Perfect Pairings are done on Sundays, but I'm all wonky this week, so you're getting mine on a Tuesday. It never hurts to read scripture on another day other than Sunday.

Train yourself in godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. -- 1 Timothy 4: 7-8

This is a photo of me and kiddos before I left to go do the Komen run this past weekend. I feel it's important to keep yourself physically fit, but it's more important to be spiritually fit. (Doesn't Katie looked super thrilled to be having her picture taken. I'm lookin' pretty smokin' hot, too, huh? NOT!).

McLinky Monday--What's Buggin' Ya?

I had so much fun McLinkin' it up last week, that I thought I'd give it another go 'round this week, too. Plus, I don't have another post ready at this time. And actually this week's question comes at an interesting time as I've been pretty darn tempted to give up blogging lately due to some blogs that aren't truthful. So, before I get into that, here's the question that was posed this week:

What is your Pet Peeve?

First let's start with an IRL pet peeve of mine. This totally chaps me every time time I see it...people who throw cigarette butts out their car windows. UGH--I hate that! Keep your nasty habit to yourself and in your own personal space and don't go junkin' up mine (and the rest of the world's) with your disgusting, stinky, grossness. Plus, it's not safe...you could start fires. So, if you are a smoker and are reading this...keep your stink to yourself. Thankyouverymuch.

I have other IRL pet peeves, but that one is always at the top of my list.

Now, onto my virtual pet peeve. The people who blog and are honest. I'm not talking about those crazies out there who blog with blatant lies. Those people are usually caught pretty quickly and called out on it. I'm talking about the ones who don't reveal the whole truth or are very vague about things or really over exaggerate things. In other words, these people are NOT keepin' it real. Listen...we all have made mistakes in our lives, none of us are perfect moms, etc. Just be real about it. I think it all ties back into that "perfectness" that Dawns Diversions blogged about a while ago. Trying to portray that you live (or have always lived) the perfect life. No one does. So let's just be who we are...the real who we are. There's nothing worse than meeting a fellow blogger IRL or hearing a story or something about another blogger, and you end up saying, "Huh? Really? That's not what he/she said and/or acted like on their blog."

So, let's keep the blog-o-sphere a peaceful, truthful place where when we read blogs we know that what we're reading is right on. And I promise that this is going to be the last time I write about this (I hope).

Love ya all! And don't throw your cigs out of the car window.

McLinky Monday--What do you do?

As I sit here watching the season premier of Dancing with the Stars (YAHOOEEEEE!!!), I was trying to think what in the world to post about--big time writer's block. So I hopped on over the the RHOK to see what the McLinky was about. It looked pretty easy, so today, I'm McLinkin' it up. Check out the RHOK to see others.

The question is "if you asked your child what your job is, what would they say?"

So I just asked my 5 year old and 7 year old and both of them said, "you don't have a job, you just hang out at home." (I'm a stay-at-home mom, though 'stay-at-home' isn't quite the right term). Yeah, thanks. So I tried again..."when mommy worked at St. John what did I do." My 5 year old said, "I don't know, maybe rode on the elevator and looked at your computer." Well, it's been over a year since I quit my job so to a 3/4 year old, that's about right.

Katie, on the other hand said, "I know! You worked on your computer and you put those commercials on TV and sometimes in magazines." Right on, smart girl. "OH! And you did great, big parties with Jupiter jumps and pizza." Yes, she's right. But to interpret what she's saying, let me tell you what my job was. I did marketing/PR/advertising for nearly 10 years for St. John. I did an array things during my tenure there (which I loved my job, by the way, but I wanted to stay home...it's a long story what finally got me to the point of finally quitting). Anyway...it was a great job where I was out in the community, knew 'people' in the community, rubbed elbows and became friends with folks in the media, etc., etc.

Oh, and I planned some great parties for 25 people and 10,000 people (yes, THAT many people--crazy, I know). Don't let the secret get out that I'm a former event planner, there are several organizations and my kiddos school that might take advantage of my inability to say no.

There you go...a very disorganized and botched post (sorry, my mind wasn't totally here, like I said, DWTS...I'm a little distracted).

Gotta go.

Singing Zombies

If you live in Tulsa, surely, SURELY you've seen this. If you don't live in Tulsa, let me introduce you to one of our best billboards.

I don't know, but every time I drive by this I just snicker...giggle...laugh out loud at it.

I really, really love musicals (just ask my poor husband and kiddos who have to listen to me sing show tunes all the time), so this has got to be a great show! Never mind the chainsaws and blood, it's got SINGING ZOMBIES!

Zombies!

Blood!

Chainsaw!

SINGING!!

Must be Halloween season in Oklahoma.

OH--and what really makes it even funnier is that there is a church billboard right under it! We're in the Bible belt you know--church on every corner. Maybe the nice folks at City Church could say a little prayer for those singing zombies-I think they got a sidetracked (on Broadway) on their way to heaven.

Firsts

It's tough being the youngest of 3. Just ask my Josie. That poor girl get lugged along to Girl Scouts, Tae Kwon Do, choir, dance...and she just goes along with it. It's hard when mommy is taking pictures of big sissy's first day of school and big brother's first day of preschool. She never gets a first. Or at least not for awhile.

Until today.

We decided that Josie needed something that was her special thing. So we enrolled her in Baby Big Girl Ballet ("I NOT a baby!"). Today was her first class.

And it was the most adorable thing I've ever seen.

Katie took ballet at this age (still takes it), but when we first enrolled her, it just didn't seem like ballet would be a good match for our dinosaur-loving, tiger-growling, big brother-wrestling little girl. Boy was I wrong. I loved seeing her being so in control and standing quietly and listening and being all girly (I think she liked being girly). Best of all, I loved that she knew that this activity was all hers, not something she's doing because she's being dragged there because of an older sibling.

I loved seeing this new side of my little firecracker!

Adrienne in Morocco

(I did not take that photo, I don't know who did or I'd give them credit. But it wasn't me).

I thought I'd share a blog that you, my blog readers, might want to follow or just check out every now and then. My cousin, Adrienne, is leaving tomorrow for a 2 year stint in the Peace Corp. She's been assigned (or whatever the Peace Corp lingo is) to Morocco. Pretty sure she won't be hanging out in Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart or glamorously riding camels across the desert. I'm not really sure what she'll be doing, but I'm certain it won't be watching college football in the fall or hanging out at the country club pool in the summer.

Her blog is over there on my Blog Roll, but here's the address: http://adrienneinmorocco.blogspot.com. Please check in with her every now and then. If you leave her a comment--which I hope you will, to help keep her from getting lonely and in touch with 'our' world--tell her how you found her so she knows where you're coming from.

Her adventures should be interesting to read for the next two years.

Love ya, Adrienne! I'll be thinking about you and praying for you!

Here's a pic of her with my kiddos last fall.

Famous?

Everyone knows I love me some Starbucks. I tried to give it up several months ago, but it just didn't work. It's not the caffeine I'm after, it's that shot of sweetness to get me started. So today after the awesome St. Mary pep rally (which was totally adorable, I might add), Josie and Patrick and I stopped by the 'Bucks to load ourselves up with sugary, chocolaty goodness. The kids were so good at the pep rally that I felt they needed to be rewarded with their favorite pumpkin bread and juice (and me too, I used my best behavior and didn't revert to my old cheerleader ways and start cheering and doing herkies and toe touches and cartwheels and what not...oh but did I ever want to).

ANYWAYS...I'm making a super short story kinda loooooooooong. So...the Starbucks guy asked me my name and I told him. We loaded up in the car and headed home. When we got home, about 30 minutes later I got a good giggle.

Look what he wrote on my cup for my name...

Hee hee

I'm famous!

And the Starbucks guy has a funny sense of humor. :)

Snakey Snacks

If you are ever on a road trip.

And you're just bored out of your mind.

And your mom and dad won't stop so you can get snacks.

Try eating a snake.

It'll help pass the time.

And take the edge off your hunger.

Only in Oklahoma #2--ALREADY!

Remember a couple days ago when I told you I'm going to start posting some "Only in Oklahoma" stuff. Well...my well state-mates are making this so easy for me! Some of my "OIO" post will be pics I snap when I see the bizzaro going on around me, but I'm a news junkie, so I often run across an article or news story that just makes me shake my head and say, "Only in Oklahoma."

This one come from our local CBS affiliate, KOTV's, website. I can proudly say, "THIS DID NOT HAPPEN IN MY CITY!" But OIO isn't "Only in Tulsa", it's "Only in Oklahoma."

So here ya go...enjoy the ridiculous, the insane...the Oklahomans.

Keep it classy, Oklahoma!

Oklahoma City Mom Crashes Birthday Party, Urges Daughter to Punch Girl in the Face

News9.com

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City Police arrested a woman and her 9-year-old daughter after the pair crashed a birthday party and the mother urged her daughter to punch the birthday girl in the face.

Police say 33-year-old Gina Hinkle and her daughter were not invited to the Saturday birthday party for the 12-year-old girl. The victim's parents said Hinkle stormed into their northwest Oklahoma City home and began yelling at another child who was a friend of both Hinkle's daughter and the birthday girl.

Witnesses said Hinkle was apparently upset because the girl had decided to attend the party, even though Hinkle's daughter hadn't been invited. When the victim's parents told Hinkle to leave, Hinkle refused and yelled at her own daughter to "stand up for yourself and do something."

Witnesses said that's when Hinkle's daughter punched the birthday girl in the eye.

Hinkle and her daughter then left the party, and the victim's parents called police. Hinkle was arrested at her house in the 4200 block of N. Pennsylvania Avenue. She's been charged with burglary and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Hinkle's 9-year-old daughter was cited for assault and battery and released to a relative.

The victim had some bruising and swelling around her eye, but was not seriously hurt.

The victims told police they had a history of problems with Hinkle. They said they even moved to a different neighborhood to get away from Hinkle.

Skywatch Friday--Day on the Beach

I promise, this is the last beach sky pic I'm doing for Skywatch Friday.

This is during the day--a thunderstorm off in the distance. The cool thing that is not captured in this photo, is that this storm produced a water spout about 15-20 minutes later. I wasn't moving towards us, so all we did is watch and continue to work on our tans (which have since faded).

A New Blog to Follow

I added a new blog that I've been following for awhile over on my "Favs" list. I hope you'll take a minute to stop by and read it. It's called Kicking Out Cancer. This is a blog about the Teacher Aide in my daughter's first grade class and her battle with cancer. She's an integral part of the classroom and loved by the students.

Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with breast cancer about 3 months ago, or so. She was in the classroom on registration day with a cute, stylin' hat on and a smile on her face. It was my daughter's first time meeting Mrs. Pense and Katie just fell in love with her and was so excited that she was going to be part of the teaching team in her class. Sadly, Mrs. Pense hasn't been well and hasn't been able to be at school. We pray for her each day for God's perfect healing.

I hope that you will pray for her, too.