Kitties!

 So....we had kitten for 3 days. It was a super rainy day and we found 1 kitten soaking wet in our backyard. Ran out and rescued the little guy. The kids were beyond words excited! Then Brody looked into the backyard again and yelled, "Holy Moly! There's another kitty!" Oh no! Yep, there was another furry critter needing to be rescued!

 Some friends gave us food and these kitties were loved on until we found a good home for them.

 Loved on, abused a lot (same thing!), our kiddos LOVED having them in the house!

This missy, especially! She loved the gray kitty! They were found snuggling a lot! We were sad to send them away, but we just aren't in a place to keep animals right now. 

They went to an awesome home which we are actually kitty sitting for them this weekend :)

Happy Birthday Aubrie!

Our Aubrie Marie is 3!! I say it every time....BUT...where has the time gone??!!!

 Aubrie's bday was a family day. Low key but fun! Cinnamon rolls in the morning, out for dinner and birthday brownie sundaes for dessert :)

 Birthday party was at the Splash Pad. Super great and low key! Key word....low key!

 I think our Aubs really enjoyed her party! She was so cute playing with her friends :)

 Almost the whole crew :)

Lots of running, splashing around, laughing and snacking with some awesome friends :) Happy Birthday Miss Aubrie Marie! We love you so much!

Road trip out West!

Our family vacation turned out to be a trip out west! We left Bartlesville and drove through the night to Albuquerque.  Stayed the night with my aunt and uncle in New Mexico and then kept driving till we arrived in California. 2 LONG days of driving, but we made it! It was our yearly Memorial Day trip with our friends.

Our group! It's so fun to see how much we grow each year!

Then headed to the desert! Joshua Tree National Park in the Mojave Desert. Camping in the desert is CRAZY!!! We will probably never do it again, but it was by far our most favorite destination.

Sand EVERYWHERE! No shade ANYWHERE! Kids had to wear mandatory hats anytime outside. We even had to go into town the afternoon in order to get shade. Crazy! But goodness, the stars at night were incredible because we were out in the middle of no where!

So now I'm learning these pics are so out of order! Our last stop was in Durango, Colorado. We LOVE Durango! Stayed at an awesome KOA Campground that was super kid friendly! Here the kiddos are mining for gems :)

After the desert we went to Sedona, Arizona. Beautiful place for some awesome hikes.

This was at my Aunts in New Mexico. She spoiled us big time!

Spent the afternoon at the Science Museum! The kids loved it!

LOVE this pic! It's true life when you travel thousands of miles with 3 kids. Look at the disaster in the van!

Back at the ocean :)

All the kiddos :)

I mentioned how great our campsite was in Durango. They had a duck race for the kids! Brody ended up winning!

And...they even had an outdoor restaurant we went to each morning for pancakes :)

Our absolute favorite activity....riding bikes through Durango! Such an awesome day!

Of course, when momma wants a super cute kiddo pic...I get this! Real life!

Our last night was a beautiful hotel stay in Amarillo, TX. Its great to live in your camper for a week....but it's SUPER great to stay in a hotel also ;) 

What an awesome trip! 2 weeks, over 3,000 miles, and 6 states....we have a pretty cool family :)

 Easter snuck up on us so quickly! I absolutely hate that it does that! I LOVE Easter. I love celebrating New life in Christ, it's so exciting! But...year after year, I feel like I drop the ball! Lets see.....how did we celebrate....We read from the actual Bible every night that week (no little kids devotional Bible), Easter Egg hunt at Church and Easter Morning we made Resurrection Rolls (crescent rolls wrapped around a marshmallow and then baked) Yummy!! The only thing I got pics of was the Easter Egg hunt, huuummm......

 Our attempt at an all kid pic ;)

 We choose pictures now days based on if Mike and I look good ;) Is there any hope for this family of 5 to take a decent looking picture?!

 For Christmas I got Mike tickets to the Thunder/Spurs Game. We like both teams but he LOVES the Spurs! The game was last week. I then surprised him for his bday this month with staying the night in OKC after the game! Wow, was we surprised!! We had a blast! A full 24 hours with NO kids! :)

 We are done with any type of surgeries from here on out! I can only pray, right!? This time it was Parker's turn. He needed to get a clogged tear duct unclogged. Turns out he had an actual membrane grown over the duct, so there was no way it would have resolved on it's own. The night before Brody specifically prayed that Parker would be "brave and strong". Oh my word, melt my heart!

Quick surgery, sad little boy. It was awful when I got to see him. He was still coming out of the anesthesia so of course he looked like my Parker. But his breathing, his whimpering, the look he gave me, NOTHING was my Parker! I kept telling the nurse that I knew he was fine, but this wasn't my boy at all. I kinda felt like he didn't recognize me :( Then after about 15 minutes he just snapped and was my Parks man again. PHEW!! I felt so bad for him. He's doing great now! Gunky eye is gone, he's just fighting like 3 more wicked teeth and that's making him miserable!

SNOW!

We've had snow twice this last month! Kinda sad, we don't have sleds and my kids have no clue what to do in it. Aubs only lasts about 5 minutes before she's "too cold" and Brody could stay outside all day :) It is fun to be able to use our winter gear more than once ;)

The Parks dude hasn't ventured out in the snow yet. He's been fighting ear infection after infection and some mean teeth have been trying to poke through. So....rough life for the baby :( BUT........in between round of antibiotics and feeling better he's mastered walking!!! He has the Frankenstein arms and the wobble down pretty well :) Brod and Aubs get SO excited when they see him on the prowl :)

 

Surgery for Aubs

 Totally forgot to post anything about surgery day! Back in January Miss Aubrie Marie needed to have her adenoids out and tubes round 2 back in :( December she had her regular 6 month check up with the ENT and a year and half after first round of tubes her first ear infection popped up. After 2 rounds of antibiotics the ENT decided her adenoids needed to come out. How this surgery was going to be different then what she had when she only got tubes, is first is what at the hospital and second she was going to be put asleep (like breathing tube and all!). She was the cutest little patient as we got up super early in the morning, dressed her in jammies and her robe.

 As soon as the nurse brought her crayons, she was set! We sat in that chair together and colored, sang songs and snuggled. She was then given some loopy meds :) Oh my!! We have some great videos of how SILLY she became. Mike and I were rolling! Then the most un-natural moment came when I had to put my pretty little girl on the stretcher, kiss her, and watch her be rolled down the hallway. Of course I cried my eyes out!

 Surgery went well. A little longer in recovery then expected due to my drama queen holding her breath and turning blue not once but TWICE! HA! That's my Aubrie for you ;)

 Once we got home, it was tons of watching Doc McStuffins, drinking apple juice and eating jello :) Toward end of the evening she was feeling better and even felt like being the Doc herself and gave Mike a checkup ;)

Our sweet girl made a full recovery in about a week! Praise the Lord! All in time now for Parker to get tubes and unclog a tear duct next month :( Go figure.....my breastfed, pureed food, non smoking kiddos and the ones needing the most help lately!

Parker Michael is 1!!!!

Our sweet baby is 1!!! How can that be!? We had such a fun time celebrating our laid back kid :) And....this was the first 1st bday party of any of my children I wasn't sick for (morning sickness!!)! Kinda nice :)

We had a few families over for lunch. Pulled pork sandwiches, chips, fruit and cake. It was 70 degrees outside and the kids played in the backyard most of the time!

Parks really wanted nothing to do with his cake. He was in disbelief that we were really letting him make a mess. I guess he doesn't enjoy being a mess because he did not enjoy having frosting on his fingers ;) Aubrie got a bit impatient....so....dove right in to his cake to show him how it was done! :)

Thats what big sisters are for!! He watched Aubs and then dove right in himself :)

Pure chaos opening gifts! Parker is smack in the middle of all that mess! ;) Each friend who brought a gift thought it was their job to open it also, ha! So sweet!

Hey! Look at that! It's a half smile from our thrilled birthday boy! Such a fun party! He had so much cake he truly had a sugar high! I felt like we drugged him actually. He was giggly, smiley and just "whatever guys" HA!!! And really no afternoon nap because of it ;)

Had to include this picture. This is BY FAR my ABSOLUTE favorite picture! I love every smile of 3 children! Especially the smile of my 1 year old! I promise he is a happy baby, and when he smiles he melts your heart! :)