In other news....

Kellyn is now 5 months! While I still need to take her "official" 5 month picture, here she is today.



She's about got this sitting up thing figured out.



She is still the happiest baby ever....even though her mom still has a broken foot!



She is doing "plank pose" here. Otherwise known as I will not sleep until I can crawl!



My Aunt took this pic of us at my
Cousins rehearsal dinner. Kellyn looks a little scared, I on the other hand look decent which rarely happens. Which makes this pic blog worthy! I shall update for Maddie soon. Maybe I'll document her daily outfit for a day....which will be only 1,000 pictures!

....HOoooooME.......

(Sang to Phillip Phillips' song "Home", if you watched the Olympics you heard it!)
So we are all back in Newkirk! I got my cast off and now I'm in a lovely boot. So the walking is better and the pain isn't bad so it appears that I am home free. So for the next 3 weeks I'll be sporting the lovely boot, as long as I can convince Maddie to not step on the top of my foot (which is of course where it is broken) we are good to go. So I'm getting all our laundry caught up and slowly organizing the house again since we've been gone for so long. Except for the week Cooper was here with his Dad. He actually wanted to come back to school last week instead of miss a week. Which is great, he loves school, he loves his teacher, everything is "well, Mrs. Vap said this....she said do it that way..." We are so happy he likes her.
So during the day it's just me and the girls. Back in July I had some changes in my job situation, so I haven't been working for now. (Hopefully that won't last much longer) But since I didn't take a maternity leave it's been nice to just be with my kids. Yes, I am worried about money, possibly having to go work in an office, but God has always provided us with bigger and better things, so I've put my trust entirely in him. It's also given me time to refocus and think about building my photography business here in Newkirk. Of course my broken foot has slowed that down a bit, as it's slowed everything down, but I've got my cousin's wedding Saturday (back in Edmond), so right now I'm just thankful I can walk without assistance! It's the little things people!
I have to give a huge shout out to my parents for their loving help over the last 3 weeks, I was spoiled with this....

and

almost everyday. It's hard to accept so much help, for me it is. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it really is difficult. But I know I'll never be able to repay them for all the support and help over the past few weeks, with all the crazy stuff in our life going on. I'm sure Jeremy and I don't realize the magnitude of their support, but it was so unselfish and loving. I know I'm one lucky girl. So mostly the lesson here is if you're a mom and going to break a bone, do it during the Olympics so there is plenty of good TV to watch all day long and just pack up and live at your parents house....kidding about the last part, totally serious about the first part! So for now, back to real life!

First Day of School

Well it took a village, but we got Cooper to school for the first day today. A lovely girl drove the kids and I to Newkirk last night, spent the night with us, then drove the girls and I back to my parents house. Cooper is staying with his Dad to go to school tomorrow. So he had a successful first day! He went home with another teacher to play with her kids today while the boys had practice. This was our conversation:
Me: "Cooper did you have fun at school?"
Cooper: "Yes!"
Me: "Were you good?"
Cooper: "Yes!"
Me: "Did you potty?"
Cooper: "Yes! I'm at Grady and Garner's house."
Me: "Do you want me to let you go so you can play?"
Cooper: "YES! Bye Mom."
So there you have it, everything went well, there were no tears, except for Maddie who took her Bitty Baby Backpack with her to drop him off, and cried when Jeremy carried her out of the school back to the car. So she'll learn what to do without Cooper eventually.
I have to give a shout out to my Aunt Mary Ann who sewed this awesome nap mat for Cooper from this pattern....he loves it!

Can't stop me.....

Even with a broken foot I managed to still take this pic of the great grands on the beach....my mom and I made the shirts for them before we left, unfortunately David, Leslie, and Charlie couldn't make it to the beach, so Charlie is missing, but there's always next year!

I may or may not have cut and pasted a few faces.....but for 8 kids 4 and under, it wasn't bad. I'll have to share the out takes, otherwise known as why my older 2 children can't keep their hands down! I also with the help of my Dad managed to take Alicia and Reid's engagment pics. I'm photographing their wedding in December and and I am so excited! They are a beautiful couple! They got engaged on the beach earlier this summer, so it was perfect!

I was hungry.....

So after watching the 3 hour bachelorette finale Jeremy and I decided to go to the "food house" to get a snack.....which is why the view of the beach now looks like this...




I missed the last step, didn't do a good job of breaking my fall and now I've got this beauty of a splint, crutches, and an appointment with an ortho surgeon on Monday. Let's say July has been a bad month for me. The good news is I'm still alive, still at the beach, and I will get better eventually. Lesson learned: Don't eat after 8 like they say!

Travel Bags....

I know, I'm that blogger that hasn't blogged in forever. But I've had a lot going on, and I'm starting to get my bearings again! We are headed out tomorrow on the family trek to Destin, FL, and since the kids will probably choose to ride with my parents I didn't want them to have to listen to 100 rounds of Spring is Here on their current favorite video I put together some other options. We'll find out tomorrow how they go over! Here is is in photos!

 Their travel bags, Cooper's is green cause it's is favorite color, Maddie's is pink cause she's a girl...

So in this magic bags are puzzles with magnets, dry erase markers, twist up crayons, stickers, a lap dry erase board, and a few coloring books, and the binder!

 The binder contains different games, mazes, hidden pictures, and letter tracing, with a map of where we are going.

 The idea for the puzzles is I've glued magnets to the back and they'll stick to this pizza tray so they should stay together!

They can earn "car bucks" for good behavior and trade them in for one of these surprises on the way. Guess I'll have to stock up on the way back!

Just about all my printables came from this site, and the whole thing probably cost me about $25, besides the printing and the sheet protectors my mom already had. Oh they can use the dry erase markers on the sheet protectors for endless amounts of fun! Hopefully this will keep them well occupied until we get to Florida!

just keep running.....

This is how I feel when I get on the scale. Although I'm in no way the shape I was in say pre-Cooper, I figure if I keep working I'll get there. This morning I went running with my new friend here in town, or I tried to keep up with her. She kicked my booty, but I'll get there.

Oh well at least this is true:

I know I slowed her down big time, but I also think it's good for me to run with her, I am way more likely to push myself to keep up with her then say the hubs, cause let's be realistic, I'll never be fast enough for him! So in 2 weeks I'll do the Color Me Rad run, mostly just for fun and to see what it's all about, luckily people go in waves, and it's not timed, so surely I won't come in dead last, and that's always my goal beside finishing, is not coming in dead last.....