Sooner Magic

The weekend of April 15-16, we loaded up in D-dad's motor home and took the kids to Norman for Scott's annual alumni weekend for former athletes.  It is always a fun weekend for us and especially for Scott because he gets to talk about the old days with all of his buddies that he played with a new friends who played in previous and later years.  As always, Nana and Papaw were along for the ride with us and so graciously volunteered to watch the kids while Scott and I went to all the events.  The weekend always kicks off with a golf tournament, so Nana and I decided to take the kids to the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History while Scott was off playing golf.  It was a big hit with all of us!

Later that night, there was a dinner reception at the football stadium for everyone who was in for the reunion.

Us with Joe Washington, who is now the head of the O Club and a really nice guy. 

Barry Switzer was there too, but Scott threatened to break my camera if I even acted like I was going to go over and ask him to take a picture.  I have a little history of just walking up to celebrities and asking them to take pictures with me and/or my kids:)  For some reason, he thinks it's embarrassing.  I have no idea why:

 

I actually embarrassed myself a bit on this one with Boz.  I went up and asked him to take a picture with my son and then Scott comes walking up and it turned out that they were friends!  I felt really awkward about that!  But I got my cute picture anyway:)

Back to this year...... 

One of my personal faves.  It is so neat to me that my boys will get to grow up feeling like they are a part of OU and getting to do such cool things like go down on the field with their daddy. 

Aiden and Roy Williams.  I have to say that he is such a nice guy.  He and Scott were catching up while Aiden watched patiently.  He scooped Aiden up and gave him lots of attention; asking him what he wanted to be when he grows up and if he was going to play football at OU.  Aiden loved it!

It was such a fun weekend, as always and we can't wait to go back next year!

much love,

Gina

Miller at 12 Months

I know most of you are probably wanting a post with pictures of the new house.....but I am too much of a perfectionist and I want to wait until the house is done to post pictures.  We are getting close to being done, but are still in the phase where there is a new mess for every old mess that I unpack and organize.  It won't be too much longer, I promise!

So, for now I am going to show you some adorable pictures that Carissa took of Miller last month.  We didn't get as many great pictures as she would normally get because it was cold and windy and he was SUPER cranky.  But I think you'll agree that this first amazing picture is really all I need:

Let me just say that I am a picture nut.....If I could hang family photos on every wall in my house, I probably would.  I just love seeing pictures that remind me of a special event, moment or place and I hate to put them away in a closet.  So, when Aiden was born, we hired a wonderful photographer to take his picture every three months.  She is so talented and we have a little over a hundred pictures of Aiden from birth to 18 months.  That was when Ashley had her fourth(!) baby and decided to retire from photography.  Then we hired my amazing friend Quincie to take Aiden's two year pictures.  She is amazingly talented also!  That fall, Carissa decided to open her photography business.  Who can turn down family discount photography?!?!  Not this penny pincher!  So, Carissa has captured all of our family pictures since then and I am so grateful for it.  She is crazy talented and has given me some breathtaking pictures of my family.  She is so good at what she does, she has even done several segments on The News on 6.  I am so proud of her and so lucky to have her to capture my babies. 

Now, about a year ago, I convinced my husband to buy me a very expensive camera so I could start taking family pictures myself.  Then came baby #2......and there went my photography aspirations.  But, after looking at my book of Aiden's one year pictures that has over 100 pictures in it, I fast forwarded to a day when Miller would ask me why his only had about 40 in it.  And I decided to break out my camera and give it a try in my back yard at our old house.  Once again, he must have known I was wanting to take his picture because he turned into Mr. Crankypants.  But I did get a few good ones.  Not great, but OK.  I'm really hoping I can find time to take some photography classes in the near future so maybe I can improve my skills:) 

This last one was the shot I really wanted.  I already have a frame for it.  Look at those sweet little faces.  Love them!  I plan on going back to the location we took his first set of pictures in and getting him all dressed up again and attempting to practice some more.  Hopefully I will get to it SOON!

much love,

Gina

Birthday Blessings

One of the reason's April is a busy month for us is birthdays.  We have 3 in our immediate family: mine, Miller's and my mother-in-law, Dian's.  It's the month of cake!  I had a wonderful birthday this year.  It started with a family lunch complete with my mom's famous Italian Coconut Cream cake and having these sweet boys serenade me with "Happy Birthday"  I am so blessed to have such an amazing family.  Between my brother and I, we have five of the most precious, smart and talented kids on this Earth and I just love every minute I get to spend with them.  Here are my nephew, Easton, and Aiden singing to me:

I finished the day with a fabulous dinner with some of my friends.  I am so blessed to have some of the best friends a girl could hope for.  They have celebrated with me during happy times and helped me through some of the worst times of my life.  I am so grateful to God, my husband and my daddy for making it possible for me to move back to Tulsa four years ago.  It has been the gift that keeps on giving!  We had sushi at In the Raw and watched the sun set.  It was the perfect evening.

Next up was sweet little Miller's 1st birthday party.  What a fun day!  I decided to keep it relatively low key this year because of our crazy April schedule.  We had so much fun throwing him a jungle themed party. 

the birthday boy playing with his Nana (Scott's mom):

His new chair from Grammy J (my mom):

So excited for the cake!

Daddy had been in California all week and had flown back late on the night before the party.  All the excitement did him in and he fell asleep on the porch sitting straight up in his chair!

Birthday kisses for Grammy J:)  What a sweet boy!

All of the craziness that has been going on this month has got me thinking about what is important in life.  The most important things to me are God, my family and my friends but it seems like lately life has gotten in the way of these things being able to be a priority.  My goal for May is to change that.  Even if we aren't fully unpacked until winter, that's going to have to be just fine.  During the packing process, I have packed up everything that isn't vital to our everyday life and I've been amazed at what few things I really need versus how many things I actually have.  I'm thinking I need to just unpack the stuff that we really need and not worry about the rest.  Life would be so much simpler without so many "things" that don't really matter.

much love,

Gina

Soccer Fun!

Aiden started his first sport this year and we decided with all of his energy, it should be soccer.  I was more than a little anxious about how all this would go, but so far it has been a wonderful experience.  From the time Aiden was a baby, we could see that he was going to be a kid who loved sports.  He loves being outside, has TONS of energy and he has amazing hand-eye coordination.  Scott decided he wanted to be one of the coaches for the team and he has done such a wonderful job in leading and encouraging these kids.  His first game was April 2nd and he has taken to it like a duck to water.   

Miller came to cheer Aiden on....

  Daddy giving him some encouragement.....

When he scored this goal, he did a victory dance!  I have no idea where he gets it from:)

I can already see that he is going to be an athlete like his daddy.  And I'm going to love every minute of watching whatever it is that he loves to do. 

much love,

Gina

The Tooth Fairy and Pirates

A few weeks ago, Aiden had to have a tooth removed that had been damaged when he fell and hit it.  I was a nervous wreck about it but it had to be done.  So, I did what all mothers do when they are afraid.....I sucked it up and pretended I wasn't.  I was so nervous about him being given sedating medication, about what would happen during the procedure and about what he would feel like when he had a big hole in the front of his mouth where no other kid his age did.  As you can see, my fears were only for me.  Everything went well and he is happy as can be to show you his missing tooth. 

Putting his tooth in the box for his first Tooth Fairy visit:

I didn't get any pictures of his Tooth Fairy loot (let's just say she was feeling quite generous) becuase he was so excited to see what she left him that he woke up really early and I wasn't awake enough to realize I needed to grab my camera. 

As luck would have it, Aiden had a pirates and princesses themed birthday party to go to just two days after the procedure.  He was REALLY in character with a missing front tooth!

  

He was SO excited to go to this party.  I found him a pirate costume online and he asked every day if it was here yet.  We got a Backyardigans Pirates DVD and he has run around the house for weeks before and after the party saying "ARRRR Matey!" 

I was so worried that other kids would ask about his tooth and make him feel self-conscious about it or tease him about it.  But that was just my adult way of looking at it.  It has been weeks now and no one has said a word to him about it.  And if they did, I'm pretty sure he'd just show it to them and give them an "ARRRR!"  I need to  keep reminding myself that things are almost never as bad as I build them up to be in my mind.  One of many life lessons I'm still trying to learn.

much love,

Gina

If You Need Me, Look Under a Pile of Boxes

I just might be the worst blogger in the world!  I don't believe in excuses.....but I do believe there are reasons:)  And here are mine:

And.....

Oh my, oh my.....We are moving in ELEVEN days!  We were about to put our house on the market, but hadn't yet because I was terrified of how hard it was going to be to keep clean with two little ones following behind me making a mess all day.  Then one day, I was driving around with my mom and found a house that we loved.  We told them it would be a while because we had to sell our house.  They came and looked at our house and loved it and decided to buy our house!  I have to say that I know there was a special angel watching out for us on this one because a situation like this NEVER happens.  It especially never happens to me.  So, here we are moving during what is our very busiest month of every year.  CRAZY!  Here's a list of just some of the things we have going on this month:

Aiden started soccer and Scott is one of the coaches.

Aiden had oral surgery to remove a damaged tooth.

Inspections/plumbers/electricians

The valet wrecked my car and it's been in the shop for a week

2 concerts at the BOK Center

My birthday

Miller's birthday and party

Scott's OU athlete alumni weekend--including him playing in a flag football game!

Scott's mom's birthday

Our 10th Anniversary

PACKING WITH TWO CHILDREN

And last, but not least.....Scott's job has had him traveling for 14 days already the past 4 weeks!

It's been a whirlwind to say the least, but we are on the downhill slide I think.  It's been busy, but it has also been a lot of fun.  I have 600+ pictures for the month of April alone to prove it:).  I am going to keep trying to blog whenever I can.  I hope you'll be patient with me!

much love,

Gina