In Like a Lion

This was the scene on our trampoline last Tuesday, during spring break:

This is our trampoline today, one week later:
Last night we were on our way home from karate when I got a call from our neighbor who said "Angie, I just wanted to let you know that your trampoline is in our tree." The wind had blown the trampoline over the fence and landed it in a tree. Our sweet neighbors did not want it to break free and continue blowing down the block so they got it out of the tree and took it apart before we could make it home.

Poor Preston is quite upset. The trampoline is his favorite and he had just gotten it at Christmas. He uses it everyday and all morning kept telling me how sad he is that it is ruined.

I was up most of the night because of the thunder, wind, hail, and water draining from the gutter outside my window. Luckily the kids slept through most of it. The power went out and was off for a few hours. Madyson slept through all of the storm but woke up because the dvd player made a noise when the power came back on, go figure!

Then this morning I went to take the trash cans out, which were blown over, and found Austin's new basketball hoop blown over, in the middle of the driveway and all bent up.

We have never really had many problems with the weather, but this year the wonderful weather has claimed our roof, trampoline, fence, and basketball goal. Spring this year has definetly come in like a lion.

St. Patrick's Day 14 Years Ago

Fourteen years ago today was the best St. Patrick's Day ever. That's the day Trent proposed and put a ring on my finger. I of course had an idea it was coming but didn't know exactly when. We went out to lunch that day and I kind of had a feeling it might be it. I was kind of waiting for the waiter to bring something special. Nothing happened. As the afternoon went on I kept waiting, Trent kept getting strange phone calls but nothing happened. Then we drove up the South Fork Canyon and I thought maybe he's just going to do it now in the car, but still nothing. We got to the canyon went for a walk through some kind of tall reeds. I thought that was going to be it, but still nothing. I finally decided that I was jumping the gun and let myself relax. We continued walking around the park when I saw a rainbow over in the trees next to a picnic table. I thought a school had been doing some kind of project for St. Patrick's day and we decided to go look at it. We walked across a bridge to the rainbow and sat down. Then Trent got up and totally shocked me. He began singing a song that he had written to the tune from Somewhere Over The Rainbow, and at the end of the song was Angie will you be my wife. I was speechless. Then he told me to go look at the rainbow. We walked over and at the end of the rainbow was a pot of gold with a ring in it. He took it out, got down on one knee, and asked if I would marry him and gave me the ring. I was beyond excited and of course said yes!!!

I was pretty impressed that he had put so much thought and effort into his proposal and never imagined it would be so creative and unique. I later found out that the calls he had been getting were from his parents because they were waiting for the jeweler to finish the ring. Once it was finished they hurried to the canyon and set everything up. They were even hiding in the bushes during the entire thing. Trent had also tracked down my dad, who was on a business trip, the night before and asked him for permission to marry me.

St. Patrick's day may just be a fun holiday for most but for me it is one of the most special days of the year!

The Wax Museum

Madyson's class did biography reports and to present their reports they had a "wax museum." All of the kids dressed up as their person and had to give a speech about their life. The students families and the other classes in the school got to visit the "wax museum." Each wax figure had a cup in front of them and when we dropped a penny in the cup they came alive and told their story. Being the baseball lover that she is, Madyson chose Nolan Ryan. She did a great job of memorizing her speech and had a lot of fun delivering it to all the people that visited.

It's all about the hair

One of these days Brayden is going to figure out the difference between lotion and hair gel. I don't know what it is with this kid but every time he gets a hold of lotion it goes straight in his hair. I guess his hair will be well moisturized!

Hats

There is just something about little boys in hats that is so dang cute!

Opera Time

The Tulsa Opera visited the kids school last week and performed Hansel & Gretel. They asked the music teacher to put together a chorus to sing with them and both Austin & Madyson were chosen. They practiced for about a month and got to perform with them at the school. It was a great experience for them and they had lots of fun! Because of the lighting the pictures didn't turn out great but the did let us video tape the performance. Austin is the second one in on the back row

Madyson is second to left on the front row

Tooth #2

Preston is so excited to have lost tooth #2 and this time I didn't lose the picture! He was brushing his teeth when he came out with a big grin on his face and a tooth in his hand. Good thing he didn't swallow it.

Harley Man

Brayden has figured out how to steer his Harley. We used to put him on the grass and he would drive around in circles. The other day it clicked with him and he figured out how to control the steering. He was one happy boy! Any time we go outside out comes the motorcycle. He drives all over our yard and the neighbors. We have been trying to teach him to stay out of the street but every once in a while he tries to make a break for it to see if he can out run us.

Gettin Good

Last summer the kids tried their cousins Ripsticks and we ended up with road rash, bruised bodies and cuts and scrapes. I vowed we would not buy them their own. Christmas rolled around and I told them to mark them off their lists. I thought they had forgotten about them but then our friends offered theirs to them because they were tired of the injuries. I begrudgingly agreed to let them bring them home but told them that as soon as they got hurt or complained they would disappear.

I have to say I am very impressed. The first few days there were quite a few falls but they have become pros. They love those things. They ride them to friends houses, set up obstacle courses and zip around the driveway on them. I am still amazed at how they do it!

Arrow Of Light

Austin worked right up to the last minute but finished his Arrow of Light on his birthday. Last week they had the Arrow of Light award ceremony. We had it at the lake and got lucky that it was a beautiful night. There was a burn ban so we had to skip the fire but they roasted marshmallows over camp stoves.

Tech Babies

I'm not sure what they were playing but it must have been one interesting game!

Brayden won't watch TV but for some reason he is mesmerized by Wonder Pets on the computer