2012 so far... Part 2

On APRIL 29th, Ms. Addi Jo turned 1! We threw her a beautiful birthday party if I must say so myself. She took some of her first steps during her birthday party. Within just a day or so of turning 1, she was officially walking. By the time she turned one, Addi could say several words including Mama, Dada and Bubba.

Below are a few pics of her fancy birthday party...

The set up in the kitchen...

The beautiful cake...

The pink candy buffet...

Me helping Addi open presents...

Me and Addi showing everyone how well she walks!

Addi and her daddy...

Addi digging into her cake...

We all had such a wonderful time at Addi's party. It's so great to watch this beautiful girl grow up!



2012 So Far...

Thanksgiving is coming up next week and I realized that I haven't posted to this blog all year! I suppose that is because our lives have been so busy in 2012. A little bit about what all has gone on...

In late FEBRUARY, Lucas and I contacted Jennifer Henning about selling our house. Jennifer came over to look at the house and give advice. Much to my surprise, Jen was on board with listing the house and listing it RIGHT AWAY! Within a week, Jen had came over taken pictures and had our home on the market. I was very settled with the idea because I honestly thought it would take at least a couple of months before the house sold. Well, I was WRONG! The house sold in 4 days!! We had no idea where we were going to move and would be homeless as of April 13th! Aaahh!!

Lucas and I planned to move into a neighborhood at SW 134th and May called Legacy. A builder we really liked had a spec home for sale in the neighborhood that I had my eye on for a few months. We immediately put an offer on the house. We put in a full price offer, so we fully expected to get the house and to be moving to our dream home. I'll never forget the morning that Jen called and said the builder did NOT accept our offer as they had another offer come in the same day and they went with it! I couldn't believe it! How could we lose our house??!!

We knew we'd have to find a house within just a week or so, if we wanted to close the same day that our house we lived in closed. We took the day off work and dedicated an entire day to house hunting. I'd done quite a bit of house hunting online and had little to no luck finding anything on the southside of OKC. We spent the morning going through the Legacy and Williamson Farms. We went back through the house we'd made an offer on, this time with our agent, Jen. Jen, was not a fan of the house. She pointed out some things in it that were builders grade. She really helped me to realize that not getting that house was a blessing. We found a home in Williamson Farms that we really liked. We spent an hour going through it and taking pictures. The builder was there and I think he thought he had the house sold to us. Heck, I thought he had the house sold to us. However, I had already agreed to go and look in the Mustang area with Lucas after lunch.

To be honest, I never really thought we'd move to Mustang. But, Lucas wanted to move to Mustang so I agreed to go and look. What's the harm in looking, right? We looked through probably 5 or 6 neighborhoods in Mustang before I was completely sure that we were moving to that house in Williamson Farms. Then Jen called another builder in Mustang. She spoke with the owner's wife and asked her if they had any homes in the Mustang area that were the size and price we were looking for. She said no they didn't, but that her personal home met our specifications. She'd only lived there 6 months and was already needing to move. She said the house wasn't officially listed yet, but that we were welcome to come and look. Jen hung up the phone not really expecting us to be interested. I told her we'd go ahead and go look at it. I wasn't really thinking it would be what we wanted, but you never know. Long story short, we got there and we LOVED the house. We made an offer on it that evening and we had a signed contract by the next morning!! The owner was very nice and let us move in a week before closing. We moved in April 6th and closed on both houses on April 13th.

Now that we live in Mustang, I cannot imagine living southside. Cade absolutely loves his school and all his new friends. A family of 4 moved in about 3 months after we did. They have a little boy, Baylor, who is the same age as Cade. Cade and Baylor are inseperable now. I just love that Cade has a friend so close by. There are a couple of other families in the area with little girls about Addi's age. The girls aren't old enough to play together yet, but I'm sure when the time comes - she'll have plenty of friends in the area too!

As many of you know, I'd been trying to get a job working at Tinker for a couple of years. I'd gone to school and gotten my degree, thinking it would help open that door for me. However, I was 2 years out of school and Tinker still had not called. Well, in the midst of all this house stuff, I got a call from Tinker to come for an interview. The job I was interviewing for was on the Palace ACQUIRE program. To be honest, I would've accepted any office type job I could've gotten at Tinker. The Palace ACQUIRE program was a dream job though. Long story short, I went for the interview and within a week or so got word that they had selected me! I was beyond THRILLED! All that hard work and money spent on going to school had finally paid off!

The only bad news in it all was that they wanted me to start on APRIL 23rd. I was closing on my house on April 13th and I couldn't give 2 weeks notice until after closing! This really put me in a bad position to give my boss only 1 weeks notice that I was leaving my job after 7 years. It was tough quitting a job that I really liked and leaving a company that had treated me so well for so long. However, I knew this was the best decision for me and for my family.

I've now been at Tinker for a little over 6 months. The opportunities that exist at Tinker are above and beyond anything I've ever experienced in my career. For the first time since I was in high school, I honestly feel like my career is in my own hands. I can make of it whatever I want. If I want to work hard and further my education, the sky is the limit. I can't tell you how great that feels.



Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011

2011 was Addi’s first Christmas. It was a little different from Cade’s first Christmas because Addi was 7 months old whereas Cade was only 2 months old for his. Addi was interested in opening presents – even though she was more interested in eating the paper than playing with the toys inside.

Lucas and I were off work from the 21st through 26th, so we were able to spend almost a whole week with the kids. It was so nice to have all that family time together – even though we were super busy getting ready for Christmas.

Cade was very sick on Wednesday the 21st with a high fever. I took him to the doctor and found out he had a severe sinus infection from the cold he had 3 weeks prior.

View of the Room from the Door

Baseball Glove and Sports Themed Hangar

New Full Sized Sleigh Bed and Pottery Barn Kids Bedding

Football Decor

Basketball Decor

Multi Sports Wall

Baseball Wall

Closeup of Curious George Sheets

Cade’s big gift from me and Lucas was new furniture, bedding and decorations for his room. Lucas painted Cade’s room on Tuesday, his furniture was delivered on Wednesday and we went and picked out décor for the walls on Wednesday. He didn’t get his bedding until Christmas day as it was wrapped and under the tree.

On Thursday, I took the kids to see Santa. It was nice because North Pole City was so busy, they had to just take down my name and cell phone number and called me with a time to bring the kids in. Cade told Santa he wanted a Nintendo 3DS and a bazooka. He told me earlier he was going to ask for an iPad and a 3DS – so I was glad he didn’t ask for the iPad. Especially since I already had the 3DS purchased. The bazooka on the other hand was just a random toy he saw at Walmart earlier that day. I told him I wasn’t going to buy it, but now that he’d asked Santa for it – I had to go back to Walmart to get it! Cade gave Santa’s Addi’s wish list on her behalf which included a walker. I think their Santa picture turned out very cute. I was glad that Addi didn’t cry!

Addi was feeling ill on Friday and running a fever. I took her to the doctor and found out she had double ear infections. So now, I had two sick kids at Christmas time – and I wasn’t feeling too great myself! Later in the evening, Lucas and I dropped the kids at my mom’s and went to Quail Springs to buy Lucas the shoes I’d promised as his Christmas gift. He got 2 pair of Cole Hahn’s that he loves. He especially loves the lace up black ones. 

We also had dinner at Cafe 7 and then went to Sun & Ski Sports so I could get the Tom’s I’ve been wanting. Yay! Friday the 23rd was my Annie’s 74th birthday. We had planned to have a small party for her, but with so many of us sick, it just didn’t work out. Lucas and I did however make it up to see her later that evening. She was in a very good mood and seemed happy to see us. Although, I’m not exactly sure if she knew who we were. Nonetheless, it was nice to visit and get some hugs and kisses.

Saturday was Christmas Eve. I had a few errands to run that day. (Walmart, Hobby Lobby, the Farmer’s Market, the usual Christmas errands) I enjoyed taking Cade with me to the Market. Cade had been there before but I guess he didn’t remember. On the way, I told him where we were going and explained that it was the store that his uncle Victor used to own. I told him that I used to spend a lot of time there when I was a girl, but that uncle Victor sold the store about 10 years ago before he was born. When we got there he enjoyed checking the place out and meeting Chris (the man who worked for my uncle for years and then later bought the store from him.) I think Chris also enjoyed seeing my kids. While we were there, we picked up a gynormous fruit basket that I ordered for the Garrett’s and we of course picked up some peanuts. Yum!

On Christmas Eve night, we went to the Garrett’s house to bake cookies for Santa. By this time, I was feeling awful. I provided all the necessary ingredients that I bought at Walmart earlier that day. However, Shecoeta baked the cookies. I sat on the couch the whole time feeling like poo!! Nana also made some icing and the kids decorated sugar cookies for Santa. We got a fun picture of Madi and Addi. Madi put Christmas bulbs in her ears for a funny picture. Addi got a hold of the bulbs and starting tugging on Madi’s ears. So funny.
                           Before                                                             After

We got home late Christmas Eve night. We rushed to read a Christmas story and got Cade to bed. We made sure to put out the cookies and milk.  Lucas found the Santa plate and I pulled out the traditional OU glass.  (I've always told Cade that we put Santa's milk in an OU glass, so that Santa will know he's in the Sooner State.)  Cade fell asleep fairly easily considering how excited he was. As soon as Cade was asleep, Lucas put out the Santa gifts and took a few bites of the cookies while I baked cheesecakes.

Addi

So many of my recent posts have focused on Cade.  I wanted to share a few quick things about Addi.  She is 7 months old now and growing like a weed!  She sits up, she rolls, she laughs and babbles a lot.  She absolutely adores her brother.  It's so fun to watch her watch him when he walks into a room.  It's like she sits on the edge of her seat hoping he'll look her way.  So cute.  I just know these two will be lifelong friends. 

Below is a video Lucas took with his iPhone of Addi jumping in her exercauser.  I wish it was better quality, but it's still so cute:

Cade's First Year of Wrestling

Anyone who knows Lucas very well, knows that his passion in life is wrestling.  He has spent much of his time since he was a young boy on a wrestling mat.  From the minute we found out the baby I was carrying was a boy, I've imagined what it would be like for my husband to watch his son wrestle.  Now that Cade is five years old, he's ready.

Cade's first wrestling practice was Nov 1st.  He's now been wrestling a little over a month with the Matrix Grappling Club of Mustang.  Lucas wanted to wrestle with Matrix because he knew a couple of the coaches and because Bodie planned to put Carter and Grady in wrestling there.  Lucas signed up to coach the boys too.

Cade's first tournament was an Open Tournament in Newcastle on Nov. 12th.  He'd been wrestling all of 12 days (4 practices).  His first match wasn't much of a match.  The kid he wrestled had clearly done this before.  His second match was more exciting.  He didn't win, but he did well enough to learn something and get some experience under his belt.  I must say even though he didn't win, I was proud of him beyond belief.  He went out there fought and worked hard.



Our next tournament was a week later in Tuttle at the Battle for the Buckle. He didn't do as well in this tournament, but he did learn some more and got some more experience.

We skipped the next weekend because it was Thanksgiving and the only tournament around was an Open Tournament (we'd decided we wanted to do more Novice).

Last weekend we went to Midwest City for the Lil Bomber Tournament.  Cade got his first win!!  In his first match he pinned his opponent in the third period.  When you watch the video you'll hear the excitement in my voice.  It was so thrilling to see my kid get a victory that he worked so hard for and deserved!  You must watch the video below all the way to the very end.  Watching Lucas' and Cade's reactions and watching them hug and soak in the victory is a moment I was always be grateful to have recorded.



Here is a video of Carter's very first wrestling match.



Here is a video of one of Grady's matches from the same tournament.



Yesterday Cade wrestled in Del City's Novice Tournament.  He did well in his first match.  I actually thought he won the match.  However, as you'll see on the video, the girls at the table did a poor job of notifying the ref that time had expired.  Cade pinned the opponent, but it didn't count because time expired.  :(

Family Pics

Jessica Smoot has taken our pictures twice this year (well kind of three times).  She came out when Addi was 15 days old and took pics of her Cade.  She came back a month later and took pics of all four of us.  We loved the pictures so much, that we decided to use her again for Cade's 5 year old / Addi's 6 month old pics.  Below is a sampling of the pictures from May and June, 2011.  The indoor ones were done at our house when Addi was 15 days old.  The outdoor ones were done about a month later when Addi was 5 weeks, Cade was 4 years, I was 29 and Lucas was 31.  I can't wait to shoot with her again when Addi turns 1!

Below are pics from our shoot in Oct 2011. 

Cade was 5, Addi 6 months (almost), me 29 (almost 30), Lucas 31.