My Hoot Owls

So, Kelly's Korner is hosting a "show us your collection" bloghop this week!! I have started collecting hoot owls...I know, it's a weird thing to collect but here is why.....My Daddy could hoot like an owl (it was a down deep in his throat hoot that I've never been able to duplicate, HA!!). When he'd be out hunting with his nephews, he'd start hooting and they would find their way to him. When my son just started crawling and walking and would try to get into things, my Daddy would hoot and Tyler would stop what he was doing and haul butt to get to his "Boppa". When Daddy would come to visit us, instead of knocking on the door, he'd go to the window and hoot!!! Tyler's face would LIGHT UP and he'd go running to the door (he knew who would be on the other side waiting for him!!). May will be 9 years since Daddy died and he has sent us several "signs" via owls since his passing. I know not everyone believes in that and to be honest with you, I don't know if I would believe in it if I hadn't experienced it for myself several times!! The first of these signs came just a few weeks after he had died. We were sitting in my living room and heard an owl hooting right outside (we had NEVER heard one before this day and never did again after that!!). My mom heard one on Thanksgiving one year (Thanksgiving was our BIG, special holiday spent with my Daddy's side of the family). A screech owl even dive bombed my sweet husband one night while he was out testing with some co-workers....they all cracked up but Kirby about had a heart attack. Kirby came home telling me and I was about to pee my pants laughing.....Daddy was SUCH a prankster in life and I'm glad that is being carried on, LOL!!!! The most recent sign was on my son's 10th birthday. Kirby was driving him to school and they saw an owl. It brought a huge smile to Tyler's face, knowing that his beloved Poppa was thinking of him on his big day. Now, here are a few of my favorite owls.

This one opens up and we keep spare change in him!


These are some of my bigger owls.





And here are some of the smaller ones. Some have been purchased at Indian Reservations in New Mexico, some have been given to me as gifts and several I have purchased myself (and although Kirby teases me that instead of being the crazy cat lady that I am going to be the crazy owl lady, it's the one thing he NEVER gets mad at me for buying!!!).


And here are 3 of my favorites....the lime green one, I bought at Hotel Albuquerque wile attending our neighbors wedding. My Momma bought me the small jeweled one and I just bought the large jeweled one last week. They both open up which I think is so cool!!!




So, there you have it. My owls and why I collect them!!!

What we've been up too....

I know, I know....it's been WAY to long. I should probably give up on this blogging thing since I'm SO not good at it!! First of all, my home computer quit just before Thanksgiving. ALL.MY.PICTURES.....GONE!!! I have to take it to a computer store and see if they can get the pics off of it for me. Then, I need to figure something else out in case this ever happens to me again. But the GREAT news is.....I WON an HP Touchsmart from blogher!!!!! I never win ANYTHING but of all the things I could have won, I can't tell you how happy I am that THIS is what it was!!!



On to other things.....we had a GREAT Thanksgiving (my sister and her family decided to come at the last minute and it was awesome having family here.)and Christmas. Kirby even put Charley's trampoline together in the great Oklahoma Blizzard of 2009(that almost kept us from making it home for Christmas!!). The day before Christmas Eve, we went to Pauls Valley with Kirby. He had to go down for work and the hotel had an indoor pool and we thought it would be fun to let the kids swim. They DID have fun swimming but the next day (Christmas Eve), I looked out the window and saw the nasty weather and told Kirby that we better get going. It took us 3 hours to drive 71 miles. As soon as we got inside and settled, we saw that they had closed all the interstates in OK....we BARELY made it home!!!! Kirby was determined that Charley would have her trampoline on Christmas morning.....and here it is!!!



He was out in the dark, freezing cold and blowing snow putting this together BY HIMSELF!! He said that he just kept telling himself that my Daddy would have done the same thing and it felt like he had Daddy out there helping him!! And, he's right....Daddy would have done that for any one of his grandkids!!! I think Kirby earned the Daddy of the Year award for it!!! Tyler has been busy playing basketball, riding bulls and giving his teachers a hard time.....yes, I said riding bulls!!! I NEVER thought I'd let my kid do it but he wanted to try so bad!! I was so, so, so proud of him for it!!! He has rode twice and says he wants to ride again but he has had games on the bullriding nights. Maybe this summer he can make some more!! Here is a pic of my Coca-Cola cowboy and some videos of him riding!!!



And because I think this one is just so dang cute!! The 2 little ones rode sheep and the 2 big ones rode bulls. They are all cousins and Jimmy Joe (the one in yellow) is 8th in the world in junior steer riding!!



The video's won't process so I'll try to figure something else out. He got stomped when he fell off the 2nd one. It tore his jeans and got the back of his hand and the back of his thigh. He had a pretty nasty cut and bruise on his leg!! Charley even did the mutton bustin' but she has decided that she is DONE riding "sheet" and that she'll just chase them from now on!!!The two older kids also have turned another year older since my last post...where does the time go?!? For months, Charley would tell anyone that listened that she wanted a picture of herself on her cake!! A few day before her birthday, she changed her mind though. She decided that she wanted "a pink cake with purple frosting, pink polka dots, a red smiley face, flowers, blueberries, strawberries and a train" on it. Thank goodness for my husbands creativity and steady hand!! I think it turned out great and Charley said, "Nank you Daddy....it's just perfect."



We let the professionals decorate Tyler's cake...he wanted bullriding on his!!!



Here's a couple of funny stories.....Charley is having a hard time with remembering to flush the toilet. This is especially gross when she poops. So the other day, Tyler had a friend over and he goes in the bathroom. I hear "Grooooosssss" and knew what had happened. So I tell Charley that the next time she poops and doesn't flush that I am going to spank her and that is gross and she had better start flushing. She immediately starts crying and says....."But, I was saving Tyler a surprise."!!! Yep, I couldn't hold it in, I laughed out loud!!! Then the other day I was doing an exercise video that has A LOT of up and down in it. I had gotten down on the floor and then it was time to get back up and it was taking me a little bit. Charley looks at me and says, "Up, Momma. Get back up." Well, shoot sister....give me a minute I just got down here!!! Ohhh...and we can't forget the day that she comes to me and says, "Momma, I put Ruby to bed so we can have some peace and quiet."

Here is what Ruby has been up to:




CLIMBING!!! This one just may be the death of me!!!

Now, after the LONGEST post ever....I think I'm done for now!!!

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Halloween Costumes!

Here are some of my favorite costumes from years past....well, the ones I have pictures of anyway! Thanks to Kelly for hosting this!!

This is from a "Halloween parade" that Tyler had at his school one year. They were asked to come as a character from a storybook so Kirby got to work and MADE this for him!! Good thing he can create all these ideas that I have floating around in my head!!





That year, Charley was a little Indian girl....those were my moccasins from when I was little!




And these are from last year. Tyler was a vampire, Charley was a spider princess and Ruby was barely 24 hours old!! Once again, my husband gets all the credit for Tyler's makeup. I think he did a GREAT job!!!






This years costumes will be posted at a later date....Halloween isn't until tomorrow and I'm busy celebrating my big 1 year old today!!! Can't wait to check everyone else's costumes out to get some great ideas for next year!!

Fall

I haven't participated in a "show us your life blog" from Kelly's Korner (I FINALLY figured out how to add the link....don't I feel goofy now, lol!!!)in a while but I LOVE fall time!! I wish I had more decorations but this is it for now!! Nothing fancy but I like it!

This is walking up to our house. There is a story behind the rock in the picture. My daddy came carrying that home one day and said to my mom, "Linda, look at this rock. It looks just like a boot!" And he proudly propped it up beside their house. We laughed and laughed at him about this. Well, my mom moved from that house in Tx to NM (where we were living at time). It always bothered me that we left the rock behind. A few years later we moved to Ok and one of our visits back to Tx, I made Kirby stop and the old house to see if the rock was still there. It was, so I knock on the door and explained to this lady that my parents use to live there and asked if I could have that rock. She said sure but was looking at me like I was a crazy lady the whole time!!!! If no one was home, I was still going to get that rock. It isn't stealing if it was your's in the first place, right?!?! HAHAHA!!!


This is a shot of the ghosts that the kids made yesterday. Charley was SO proud of them that she just HAD to be in the picture with them. And no, she doesn't match but she dressed herself, lol!!


This is a shot of the mantel....my favorite!!! It was Kirby's idea to put the pumpkins on the candle holder (isn't he so creative?). I loved the idea and think it looks great but it will be even cuter when we get them carved. We better hurry up, huh?!?


That's it folk....my fall decorations!! Quick update on what we've been up too:
Charley had her first mini dance recitial (I'll post a video and some pics soon).
Tyler scored his first baskets this season
Kirby and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary
Tyler and Charley both had strep
2 weeks after strep, Tyler had H1N1 and missed a week of school
I made homemade pumpkin puree and roasted pumpkin seeds for the first time
I'm off to make some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins...YUMMY!!!

My son thinks he is sooo funny!

So, Tyler has really been on a roll lately. He is in this OBNOXIOUS almost 10 year old phase and I really hope he outgrows it soon or I'm afraid that one of us isn't going to make it, lol!! The other day we pull into a cafe on Route 66 named "Gar Wooly's Food and Fun". There is a team of high school softball girls gathered around outside. Kirby asks, "What is the name of this place?" So I repeat it and about that time, Tyler says, "Looks like I'm gonna be havin' some fun" as he is checkin' out all the girls!!!! Then the next day we were on our way home and I announce that the entire day has been devoted to the kids, from a basketball game to a princess tea party and that when we get home they are going to get on jammies, watch some toons and NOT GET UP cause mom and dad are gonna have some momma and daddy time. To which Tyler responds: "Sooo, what are you gonna name your next baby?" Yea...he's a real character, that kid! Charley is typical Charley....always making us laugh. As I'm brushing my teeth this morning, Charley tells me...."The girr on t.v. says you're pose to turn the water off when you brush your teef or you will waste water. Turn off the water, Mom." Nothing like being lectured by your 3 year old first thing in the morning!!! I can't wait to see what Miss Ruby's personality will be like! And, I'd just like to say that I am quite proud of myself....I've been trying lots of new recipes lately. All 3 dishes I made tonite were new and let me just say.....DELISH!! We had grilled balsamic chicken, chili-garlic roasted broccoli and individual scalloped potatoes!! They will all be new favorites in our house! Tomorrow I'm trying a baked frito pie!! Well...I'm going to hop in the shower and I'm pretty sure I hear the sounds of my darling hubby cleaning up the kitchen, doesn't get any better than that!!!

Is it really the end of August, ALREADY?!?

So, I'm not as good at this blogging thing as I hoped to be! I was hoping to use this as a way to document the funny things that my kids do and say but I can never seem to find the time to get it done!!! This will be a bunch of rambling but this is what we have been up to since my last post:

I'm still in a funk and find myself missing Daddy more than ever. Why has this been such a hard year?!?

We moved into a different house. Been here just over a month and still have not unpacked everything or managed to get stuff hung on the walls. We have been really busy though and hardly home since we moved. Kirby has been having to work out of town (in Texas) A LOT. He has been gone one to two nights a week (sometimes more) every week for the past nine weeks. We have gone with him some so that has been nice. We went to Arbuckle Wilderness during one of these trips. It was just me and the kids in my car....what was I thinking?!? As we were driving into the gates, some ducks got in front of the car and WOULD NOT MOVE, this should have been my first hint that going in my car was not a great idea!!! Ruby was in her seat, rear facing of course and I let Charley out of her seat and up in the front seat with Tyler so she could feed the animals also. She was all good until the camels tried comming into the car with us. She FREAKED out. I swear she was trying to climb onto my head to get away from them. In the process of climbing up me she managed to turn the volume up on the radio, turn it to static, make my windsheild wipers go on high and hit the hazards button. All the while screaming, "ROLL UP THE NINDOWS, ROLL UP THE NINDOWS"!!! So, I am trying to turn all my controls off, get the windows up, tell her that she is ok while I am laughing so hard I am about to pee my pants!!! Tyler and I laughed until our belly's hurt!! Oh....and while all this was going on the camel made its way to Ruby's window and SHE starts screaming!! We ended the excursion with the "girappes" and Charley LOVED them. So all in all, I'd say Arbuckle Wilderness was a success!!! Also during one of these trips the two big kids got to go stay a couple of nights with Kirby's mom. I think they had a good time. Tyler got to meet a Superbowl winner and try on his Superbowl ring, they went to "the beach" at Granbury Lake and went to the Ommi Theater. While they were with Grammy, I was at the Youth Bullriders World Finals where my 11 year old cousin was riding in the junior steer division. He ended up placing 8th in the world!!! During the finals, he was carried out of the areana on a streatcher but thankfully he was fine. Tyler has started 4th grade and I think we got a good teacher!! He is also playing in his first ever competitive basketball league. I don't know who is more excited....him or us!!! Charley has started a combo gymnastics/ballet class and she thinks she is HOT stuff!! Well, that is about it in a nutshell. I'll close with a funny Charley story.

She was swinging between the couch and loveseat and I told her to stop that she might hurt her legs, or bottom or head, to which she responded "and you'll have to go to the doctor and get a new Charley?"