Tulsa Time

We've had lots of Tulsa time lately.  Last weekend, we took the bus to Tulsa to celebrate Coco's birthday!

Coco looks like she's getting younger!  We were so happy to celebrate her.  She's so generous and always giving giving giving...it was lovely to show her how much she means to us.  WE LOVE COCO!

Uncle Tony and Luc...poor Dan was sick and couldn't attend

We went to a hibachi restaurant, which was super duper cool for the girls!

Syd was pretty happy with the fried rice ;)

After a very long night of very little sleep in the bus (which is not the norm), we had an early start at IHOP.  Syd serenaded the breakfast crowd with Old McDonald.

Then...off to Mimi and Pa's to celebrate Thanskgiving!

Millie decided she loves "carrot pie" (aka carrot cake)

Cousin time!  Millie loved playing with Lauren, Oliver, and Victoria!

Syd loves Mimi

Great turnout!

The girls also love Dina, of course!

So happy to see Lacy <3

Next up, we went to Papa's house on actual Thanksgiving day.  He went all out with the ham and turkey...it was quite the feast!

I fit in some brother FaceTime...it was snowing in CO and he was outside grilling his turkey!

What a wonderful celebration to remind us of all we have to be thankful for!

love our little family

Dad & KK selfies...it's our thing

The countdown to Santa is on!  It's now 26 days...Jasper and Juniper should be showing up soon!

The Girls...Lately

The girls have been busy lately...and growing like mad.  I suppose we make amazon babies.  Syd turned 2 1/2 on Nov. 16th, so we measured her and she is right around Millie's height at that age.  Both are going to be tall!  Millie likes to tell everyone that Syd is 2 1/2. ;)

I went out of town a couple of weekends ago, and JKK took the girls on an adventure!  He was brave to take them to the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge (I'm always scared a tiger is going to get loose).  They love the playground more than looking at the big cats...hope that changes some day.

Syd on her half birthday!

Pre-holiday hair cuts: Millie has fun...

...Syd does not.

Enjoying the last of the "warm" weather

School morning pics...I love Syd's new hair cut!

Still loving gymnastics and her cartwheel is getting so much better!  She's really working hard, and she can also do a back bend!

Impressed with stories about Princess Leia.  She likes to hear about people being brave.  And fighting bad guys. ;)

Brown day at school

I've started Mommy & Millie time every afternoon, which has been super duper awesome!  I give her 30 minutes to do what she wants with me, so we play games or do puzzles or paint.  It's been so good for us!

They love each other (and the trampoline park).

We are so lucky.  They play so well together and entertain each other.  Millie is a great big sister, always watching out for Syd.  She makes me so proud.

Millie wanted her picture with these big eyes.  She is getting so grown up.  She said she wants to be a teacher some day so that she can put kids on yellow light or red light (Miss Lea's class discipline policy is a stoplight).  She seems very interested in cooking and baking; I need to be better about letting her help.  She loves to chew gum and can chew the same piece for an hour.  She says the funniest stuff.  On our way home from the trampoline park, she saw a black and white duck in a puddle, but she was certain it was a skunk.  She said "skunks fart.  that's why they're stinky...right?  they fart, right?".  I was dying laughing and just said yes. ;)

Facebook told me I posted this pic 4 years ago.  Awwwww, Millie's only 4 months old and got her first pair of shoes.  Sorry, Millie, I should've put a headband on you.

HUGE NEWS: Syd wants to wear big girl panties!  We've been reading books about potty training and talking about it quite a bit.  Syd often asks to wear big girl panties, so two days ago I finally gave in.  Potty training is officially under way, and she's doing great!  I bought her a lot of new panties, but I misjudged the size of that booty...none of them fit, so she's been wearing Millie's.  Ha!

Yesterday, since it's been so rainy, we had to get out of the house.  Nana and I took the girls to the movies!  This is only Millie's second time and it was Syd's first!  We saw the Peanuts movie, which was super cute.  We had plenty of popcorn and treats (the girls first time to have Sprite!).   I never would've done this while Millie was potty training, but Syd is so excited about wearing big girl panties that she's doing really well!  She didn't have any accidents during the movie.  At one point, I asked her if she needed to go potty and she jumped up and said "yeth!".  Then she tooted each time she took a step down the movie aisle stairs.  I was cracking up by the time we hit the bottom and sprinted to the bathroom.  She made it!  She makes us laugh a million times a day.

Syd loves to sing.  She sings Old McDonald at the top of her lungs all day long.  She's also pretty good at Jingle Bells.  She loves her dolly and blankie...still has pacis during nap time and night time.  She loves to eat most everything, except her vegetables.  She loves books and enjoys reading to herself.  I especially love my Tuesdays alone with her when we get to see the fish at the library.  She's still my baby. <3

Update: school pics came in...always good stuff

Goodbye, Beansie

Last Tuesday, we had to say goodbye to our Greenlee, aka Beansie, aka Beans Louise.  She was almost 12 years old and not feeling very good these days.  The pressure on her back from only having one hind leg caused her pain, and her anxiety was through the roof when we would leave the house.  She was a sweet, funny girl.  I'm so grateful to her for never biting my kids and for always protecting our home fiercely.  I hope she is finally at peace with her sister, Shandi again, and maybe even Buddy too.

March 2004: Mom and I found Greenlee and her sister, Shandi, abandoned in the middle of a Sand Springs neighborhood street.

JKK and I took them in...silly, rambunctious puppies

June 2006: the accident.  The shot heard 'round the world.  Shandi lost her life and Beansie lost her leg, thanks to that crazy Oklahoma redneck with a shotgun.  Truly it was a blessing in disguise.  Beansie came indoors and became such a beloved family member.  She never acted like she was aware she had lost a leg; she still ran faster than imaginable.  Buddy was able to get the upper hand quickly, so he still ruled the roost and she was just happy to be near us.

We moved to Arkansas later that summer and it was almost 5 years before Millie came...so Beansie and Buddy were treated like our babies for quite awhile.

December 2010:  we told them they were going to have a sibling.  Nobody was excited.

Beansie took it all in stride.  She didn't love when the babies cried, but she still actively participated in our lives.

loved to eat snow

loved sunbeams

let Buddy have the cooleroo

Remember that (first) time she ate a bag of chocolate?!  

always close

Second kid was added to the mix!

always poked on and tail pulled...

quite the nervous nelly, especially with fireworks and thunderstorms

professional photobomber

classy even when hissed at...

such a good girl

always down for some wrestling

good company

Love you, Beansie.  Goodbye, old friend.