Fall Fun

Field trip to the pumpkin patch

Eli had his first ever school field trip to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard.  It was also his first bus ride and hay ride.  It was pretty cold, but we had lots of fun.

Tulsa State Fair

I hadn’t been to the fair in years, so I decided to take the kids one day with the Southwards.  It was great.  Our favorite part was the birthing center.  There were lots of newborn animals, so cute.  In the shot above, Eli is petting a wallaby in the petting zoo.

The kids play area was fun too.  Eli probably spent an hour in the Lego area.  All the kids got balloons made by the clown.

And, of course, food.  We shared a corn dog and a funnel cake.  It made me laugh because Cori couldn’t eat the corndog in front of her because it was too long.  As you can see though, she found a way.

For FHE, we raked leaves and filled this super cool pumpkin trash bag :)  The kids love it. 

And, Cori has moved up to the toddler bed now.

For fall break, we went swimming one day and went to the zoo the other day.  The weather was perfect and we ate lunch with the snow leopards.

Derek and I went to see OU thump Kansas.  I hadn’t been to a game since before I had kids and he had never been, so it was a long time coming.  We had lots of fun and it made me feel young again :)  BOOMER SOONER

Eli’s First Day of School

Eli started Pre-K on August 20th.  For now, he is going half-day Mon.-Thurs. and all day on Fri.  He is doing great and making lots of new friends.  His teacher says he is a leader and a joy to have in the classroom.  Cori misses him and is so happy when it is time to go pick him up, but we are having fun girl time.

Branson & Table Rock Lake

We singed up for a cheapo trip to Branson.  We had never been there, so we thought we would give it a try.  On the way, we stopped at Fantastic Caverns, the ride through cave.  We all enjoyed seeing the cave and we got our vacation joke about make-up being made from bat poop.

After the long car ride and the cave, the kids needed to burn off some energy, so we walked down a trail just outside the caverns.  Eli spotted this armadillo.  It ended up coming right up by us and the kids were super excited to see a “wild” animal.

I had it all planned out, so we left the cave and went to Lambert’s.  The place with the “throwed” rolls.  It was an amazing meal and lots of fun.  Cori was in heaven cause they have all you can eat fried okra.  Eli said his fried chicken was delicious, and Derek and I had super yummy smoked pork chops and lots of veggies.  And, we caught lots of rolls of course.

In Branson, we swam at our hotel, shopped, and went to see Dixie Stampede.  Derek and Eli also played dino put-put during Cori’s nap time.  Eli got a hole in one on one of the holes and then he spotted another wild animal running around near the parking lot.  We are pretty sure it was a groundhog.  It was all fun, but Branson was packed with people, which wasn’t ideal.

On our last day, we headed out to Table Rock Lake.  We saw the dam and fish hatchery, had a picnic with our Dixie Stampede leftovers, did our timeshare tour, and then went for a paddle boat ride and short swim.  Then we headed for home.

Summer Pics

We went to the zoo a lot at the beginning of the summer, before it got too hot.

We’ve been in the water a lot.  Lake, splash pad, swimming lessons, water park.  Both kids are doing very well on their swimming.

Cori is a Big Girl …..ish

As of late July, Cori has officially reached the 20 lb mark!  We are very excited.  Most kids hit 20 lbs around a year old and she is almost 2 1/2, so it is a long time coming.  In the second pic she is eating butter.  That may have helped.  The Dr. actually told me to feed her butter.  I don’t usually, but that day she just picked it up and started eating it, so I let her.  She is also potty trained now.  She has been working on it for a few months, but she hasn’t had an accident in a while, so I think she is officially trained.  She was much easier than Eli!  Mainly because she will actually tell me when she needs to go.  He still dances around the house for ten minutes.

The first pic is from when we went roller skating with the Southwards.  Cori was a natural!  She could go slowly on her own, but she was a speed demon with the walker thing to hold on to.  She loved it!

Eli’s 1st Triathlon

He loved it!  Since he crossed the finish line by himself (somewhere in the middle of the pack), he is telling everyone that he got first place in the run.

Joey & Madison’s wedding

My brother Joey married Madison on May 19th in the OKC temple.  These are a few pics I took.  Waiting for more from the bride and groom.