Spring Break '08

The first half of Spring Break has now past. We took an Antrikin family trip to Branson, MO. Of course an Antrikin family vacation means we didn't plan it out weeks ahead of time like most. We made the reservations Wednesday afternoon and left Saturday morning. For my family that was a well planned out vacation. We stayed in a four bed four bath condo on beautiful Tablerock Lake. It was very nice and very new so there were only a few families there. We saw three shows that were all good, went to Ripley's Museum, rode go-carts, and swam. We also ate some great food! It was a great get away and started out our Spring Break perfectly. This picture is the view from our condo. It was a beautiful view of Tablerock Lake.

Inspired

Two weeks ago today my family lost a precious member, my Grandma Kelley. I have sat down several times to write this in honor of her but just can't find the words that accurately describe what a great woman she was and what great times our family had with her.

She was a wonderful Christian woman who has made quite an impact on my daily life. I have so many precious memories as a child with her, but the lessons she has taught me as an adult inspire me to be all I can as a Christian first, then a wife and mother. I cherish all the time I got to spend with her over the past several years. Her teaching me to sew and cook some of her favorite meals. I loved to watch her with my kids. She just adored the great grand kids and just lit up when I would bring them over to see her. I will never forget how she would sing to them as she rocked them so lovingly to sleep.

Above all my Grandma Kelley was a servant. I remember her taking pies to the nursing home every month for pie day, and fixing meals for the sick. She was even fixing meals for people when she could barely walk. She would fix it and have me deliver it to the families. Even when she was really ill I don't remember a time that she didn't ask how Jon and I were feeling and all of Jon's family. Even the Monday before she past away on Friday she asked if Jon's sisters had had their babies and how they were doing. She was always serving and thinking of others.

She also taught me to take time to laugh. She had such a wonderful sense of humor. She was always telling stories and laughing even when she didn't feel well. Sometimes she would get to laughing so hard she couldn't finish the story.

I feel so blessed to have such a great woman in my life for as long as I did. I hope I will always remember the great woman she was and always strive to be like her.

No More "B"

Joel is officially off the binki! He has been binki free for six days now. I broke Jennah at two, but for some reason I let Joel have his longer. He was completely potty trained by two so I guess I thought since he potty trained early he could have his "B" longer. He has done very well and only asks for it at night for about five minutes then he is okay. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. My baby is getting so big!

Missing Our Microwave?

Jennah has been sad the last week or so. She came home from school last week crying and saying she wanted to go back to Pre-K with Mrs. Lindsay. Mrs. Lindsay was a wonderful teacher with many years experience teaching. Jennah's teacher this year is very young and doesn't have near as much passion for teaching. At the end of the school year last year Mrs. Lindsay put together a year book of Jennah's class. I didn't tell her about it. I thought I would save it for a day when she was missing Ft. Gibson and surprise her with it. So I gave it to her and she loved it. She spent all evening looking at it and talking about all her old friends. I thought this was the end of it until Sunday night when she asked me if I missed our old house. I told her I do sometimes, then I reminded her how much closer we are now to all our family and how much more we get to see Jonathan. Then last night in the car she told me she missed our old microwave in Ft. Gibson. I thought maybe I misunderstood her so I asked again. Yes, she misses our old microwave the numbers on it were bigger and it was lower where she could see in it. She wasn't being silly she was serious. I feel bad for her. We are getting a new microwave here so I think I will take her with us to help pick one out. Maybe that will make her feel better. Crazy girl!

I've been tagged by Jeny! I think I will do five random and/or weird facts about myself. These are things I try my hardest to hide, but it felt kind of good to get them out in the open.

1. I cry almost everytime I get my hair cut.

2. I hate to hear people play with change in their pockets especially in church.

3. When walking down the sidewalk I can't keep from counting my steps and NEVER step on the cracks!

4. I have been known to go out in public with only one eyebrow plucked (when you don't have time, you don't have time). To my defense, the one that didn't get plucked was covered by my bangs. For some reason I tell myself that makes it okay.

5. I don't like going to movie theaters all I think about is all the germs, the different smells, smacking of popcorn, loud talkers and the list goes on. Poor Jonathan going to movies is one of his favorite things.

I tag: Jenny, Amy, Shelly, Lita, Crystal, Jenny C., Annie, and Brittany (sorry I don't know how to link)

The Rules: Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. Share 5 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog. or Share the 5 top places on your “want to see or want to see again” list. or Share 5 things you never pictured being in your future when your were 25 years old. Tag a minimum of 5, maximum of 10 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. The tagees have a choice of which they want to do.

Creativity

Can you tell what this is? A butterfly! Jacksen is always easy to please when it comes to birthday cakes. Jennah on the other hand is not so easy. The last few years on the kids birthdays I have made their cakes instead of buying them. At first it was just to save money and then I realized how much fun it was trying something new. This year the kids were old enough to help make their own cakes and what a good time that was. I think we will have to make it a yearly tradition.

This is my latest diaper cake. It was the hardest one yet. I had never attempted a sports themed diaper cake. I think it turned out well.

Is It Spring Yet?

I am so ready for Spring! Jacksen, Joel, and I have been sick for the past six days, and today after school Jennah started running a fever. I am getting so tired of being sick. Moms aren't supposed to get sick especially SIX DAYS and counting. I finally went to the Dr. yesterday evening to see what was wrong with me. My blood pressure was high 153/101. They did a strep test and mono test and both came back negative so they said it was just a virus. They told me I needed to watch my blood pressure, but it may just be because I am sick. I am so frustrated there are so many things I need to be doing besides sitting and being sick.

We finally got three estimates for the house so now we will have to wait for approval from the insurance and we can get started. Now I can pick the new ceiling fan and paint color. I can't believe how long it has taken.

This picture is from last spring at the Azalea Festival in Muskogee. I was wanting a spring picture to put me in a good mood. This one did the trick. The kids look so little in this picture, they have grown so much since then.

Jonathan has had a lot going on at work and with his health lately, so in the evenings and on the weekends we have been just stay home and taking it easy. Seems to be the best medicine for my "old" husband. It has been kind of nice though. I never though I would be able to be content staying at home all the time, but I have gotten use to it. The kids like it too.

Big Six Year Old

Jennah turned six years old on Sunday. We always celebrate her birthday with Jacksen's on the 1st. It works out well for us but one of these years she is going to want her own party. We always like to do something special for her around her birthday too. Jonathan sent her flowers at school on Friday. She adores flowers like her mom. Jonathan has sent her flowers every year for her birthday since she turned two. I always thought it was really sweet. I heard a famous basketball player say once on Oprah that he always sends his daughters flowers so when they get older they won't fall in love with the first guy that brings them flowers. I thought that was smart thinking.

This weekend we took the kids to Build a Bear Workshop. They all got gift certificates for Christmas and were all going crazy wanting to use them. We let Jennah pick where we ate lunch. She decide to eat at the mall. Jennah and Jacksen thought it was so neat that they got to eat where ever they wanted without us all deciding as a family. Jon and I thought it was so funny. We couldn't believe they thought that was such a big deal. I guess we need to take them out more often. Build a Bear was so much fun. The kids had such a good time. I am going to get a picture of each of them with their creations. We spent about an hour putting them together. They stuffed, washed, brushed, and dressed their new animals. They were so proud of them. It was kind of expensive, but it was well worth the money for once a year or so.

Eight Years Old

Our little Millennium New Years baby turned eight years old this year. He is growing up so fast. He is now known as Jack and not Jacksen and is quite the OSU fan. He loves to tease his Daddy about OU. I am so proud of the big boy he has become. He is such a blessing to us.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Annual Family Picture

Here is our annual church directory picture. I think it turned out okay. Very similar to last years picture.

Injury

One hour after the power came on we were running around the house celebrating the return of light, heat, and tv. I had Jonathan help me move the two mattresses to our room and Joel's room and was making some progress on getting the house back in order and Jacksen was chasing Joel into our bedroom and Joel jumped onto a pile of pillows at the bottom of my bed and his little head completely missed the pillows and hit the corner of our wood bed frame. He immediately started screaming and blood was pouring everywhere. So I called his dr. of coarse they were closed for the day so I called the insurance to see what they wanted me to do. They told us to take him to the er. The RN on the phone was in California so he had no idea what all was going on here. I informed him that hospitals here were without power and they were telling people to not go unless it was life or death injury. With no help from the insurance I decided to just take him to an urgent care facility where they super glued his head back together. He did amazingly well. Before gluing it the dr opened the wound to see how deep it was and it was a half inch deep. Jonathan and I both about got sick.

He is fine today just has a headache. Jennah is also sick today. She started running a fever about 102 yesterday afternoon and has a bad cough. What a week!

Thank God for Electric

Okay maybe I need to be thanking God for natural gas rather than electric. Without natural gas I don't think our family would have survived at home the 81 hours we were without power. So much happened in that forever long three and a half days I feel the need to give a play by play.

12:45 am After a very relaxing Sunday of napping, stocking the kitchen (we knew the weather was going to get bad and wanted to prepare), and cooking soup and baking homemade pecan sticky buns it seemed like this was going to be a great little vacation from all the craziness of this time of year. Like I wrote before I had taken a long nap and stayed up vegging in front of the tv until 12:30. I finally got sleepy enough to go to bed. Fifteen minutes later the electric went off. I woke Jonathan and we decided to go ahead and move the two queen size mattresses to the small living room where the gas log fireplace is. After getting the kids tucked into their new sleeping arrangements we decided we better shower now so we would have hot water. Finally at 2:00am we were asleep.

Powerless at 4:15 am I get a call on my cell phone. Who could be calling at this time? It was my new neighbor and cousin Jenny. She had slipped on the ice while getting firewood and hurt her hip. Jonathan and I ran to her house to see if we could help. As we got to Jenny's the neighbors on the other side of Jenny were pulling a tree off three of their cars. Jenny said Alan (her husband who was working) was on his way to get her to take her to the hospital. I completely flashed back to five years ago when I broke my tailbone on the ice. We were now in charge of Riley. I decided to stay there with her until she woke and then take her to our house.

Powerless at 4:45 am The next hour was spent walking from window to window every time I heard a tree fall which was pretty constant.

Powerless at 5:45 am Riley wakes up. I called Jonathan to help me get over to our house with Riley. Then I changed her and fed her a bottle in the dark trying not to wake all three of our kids that were sleeping 5 feet away.

Powerless at 6:45 am Riley finally goes back to sleep so I lay down and try to sleep again. 10 minutes later Jenny calls and they are heading home. She has bruised her hip. They will shower and be over to get Riley.

Powerless at 7:00 am I decide to outside and survey all the damage. It was crazy. I have never seen anything like this. We had three neighbors taking pictures of the damage at our house.

Powerless at 8:00 am I head back inside to find all three of the kids are up and wondering why we are all sleeping in the small living room. They are also telling us to try again to turn the lights on. I wish it was that simple.

Powerless at 8:45 am We discover we have a gas hot water tank! Yeah! We have hot water.

Powerless at 9:00 am Alan picks up Riley and Jonathan leaves for work.

Powerless at 9:15 am What am I going to do with three kids in one 250 sqft. room with no electric on 2 hours of sleep?

Powerless at 11:30 am We made it to lunch time. I heated up soup for Jonathan and I on the gas log fireplace and the kids roasted hot dogs on the fire. Not Bad!

Powerless at 1:00 pm This is where the real fun begins. I walked through the big living room to get something from the kitchen and water started pouring out of the ceiling fan WHAT! Luckily my parents had just come over to see the damage for themselves. My dad helped me find where it was coming from while my mom stayed with the kids.

Powerless at 1:05 pm Jonathan called right before his meeting with the CEO of the bank to make sure we were okay here at home. I told him what had happened and he rushed home just in time to crawl through a small hole into the attic that I was dreading climbing into. The rest of the afternoon was spent temporarily stopping the leak with lots of buckets. Until the ice on the roof melted this was all we could do. I think we ended up dumping about 10 gallons of water that afternoon. Thank God we stayed at home and discovered the leak. There could have been much more damage.

Powerless at 8:00 pm Not much to do after dark with no electric I went to sleep. Jonathan and the kids played a game of chess and checkers then went to sleep about 8:30.

31 hours w/o power We had a good nights sleep and woke up thinking today was going to go much better than the day before only to find multiple leaks in an area about 10ft by 6ft. Pure panic set in!

37 hours w/o power It is as good as it is going to get. We sealed the hole made by a 2 inch in diameter branch that was sticking in the roof about 2 feet!

44 hours w/o power We had just settled into bed for the night and heard a crashing sound so we ran into the living room to discover the ceiling has caved in. We suspected this would happen and bought a tarp and had it down in preparation for this. Only thing we didn't prepare for was that upon collapsing the soaked drywall and insulation would swing out and hit our entertainment center that we had pulled out of the way. Not much damage was done though. We will just need to clean it up a little.

This was most of the branches and trees after cleanup.

After Tuesday nights collapse nothing really big happened. Wednesday we mainly tried to clean up as much as we could without power. Then Thursday morning at 10:00 the power came back on! YEAH!

Getting Crafty

This time of the year I start getting cabin fever and want to start all kinds of projects. When I say projects I don't mean organizing the closets or alphabetizing the pantry (although Jon wishes that were the case). I mean craft projects. I wanted to make all new ornaments for the tree this year but couldn't decide on what colors to use so I am going to think about it all year and try it next year. So I settled on decorating a wreath. I bought the wreath pre-lit and added all the berries, pine cones, and ribbon. I think it turned out really nice and much cheaper than purchasing one already decorated. Next up sewing curtains for the billiardless billiards room as Jonathan calls it.

Classy Christmas Party

Last Saturday night Jonathan had his annual work Christmas party. As I do every year I stressed about what to wear. The invitation said cocktail attire. I so I shopped for a week straight and thought I had something that would work only to decide Friday evening the outfit would not work. So now I have about a hundred dollars worth of clothes and shoes to take back. Saturday at about noon I left to try to find something for the party that started at 6:30. I finally had something. I normally wear jeans and t-shirts so I had a hard time finding something that I thought was "cocktail attire". I guess my definition of cocktail attire was different than the others at the party. What most the ladies were wearing to me qualified as semi-formal. I was just about the only one wearing color. I decided I didn't care and was going to enjoy the evening away from the kids.

The party was at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. Sounds pretty classy right? Wrong! The entertainment for the evening was what they called Little E. Jonathan and I were unaware of who exactly Little E was. He was a little person dressed as Elvis. I don't know why everyone thought it was so funny. There was nothing funny about it to us. It was just weird. Then after Little E moved his lips to two Elvis songs he went to greet people and have his picture made with everyone. Seriously! It was the strangest thing. I am surprised Jonathan even let me blog about it as embarrassing as it was. Oh well. He did win a $50 gift card so I guess it was worth it.

I didn't get a picture of us together this year. Jennah said we looked good. She is our little fashion coach. She is always ready to tell me if my outfit looks good or not. She said we looked like one of the couples on Dancing with the Stars. I think that's a good thing.

Quick Update

We have been so busy lately. Last weekend we drove to outside of Norman for Cooper's birthday party and stayed the night at Jenny and Brian's house. Jonathan also went to a homecoming breakfast at OC. Then we had to rush back for Jonathan to teach Bible class Sunday morning.

Jacksen started getting sick the end of last week. By Sunday night he was really feeling bad. So at 8:30 Monday I called to make him an appointment. The dr. couldn't see him until Tuesday morning. He has strep throat. Hopefully he will be feeling better by tomorrow. On Friday he is having a Grandparents Tea at school so he needs to be better by then.

Friday afternoon we are leaving for Dallas. Jonathan has a work thing there. So we are staying Friday and Saturday night. Then we are rushing back Sunday morning to fix a dish for our family's Thanksgiving dinner at 1:30.

These are just some random pictures I have taken over the past couple of months. Joel with Gravy, Jacksen on his new motorcycle, and Jennah striking a pose (as usual).

This years Halloween activities started on Sunday the 28th and didn't end until Saturday Nov. 3rd. I guess you could say we went Church hopping this year. Sunday Oct. 28th we started at Park Plaza's Fall Party and Trunk of Treats. Then Wednesday the kids both had their school parties Jennah's at 1:45 and Jack's at 2:05. Yes, that is Elvis at Jack's school party (CRAZY PARENTS). Then I checked the kids out early and we went to Aunt Rachel's last college soccer game at 4:00 in Claremore. After that we rushed back home and got the kids in their costumes and headed for Aunt Amy's Church Carnival (thanks for inviting us Amy!). This one was great because it was inside so we didn't have to keep as close of an eye on the kids. Then after leaving that we had to visit both sets of Grandparents and Great Papa and Nana Ila. Finally on Saturday we went with Grandma Janet and Papa Joe's Church Hayride and they kept seven of the nine grand kids! Jonathan and I cut out early to have an evening to ourselves. I feel so bad because I didn't get any pictures of the kids in their costumes. Jack was a motorcycle rider, Jennah was a ballerina, and Joel was a cowboy. Another year of improvising and using what we had around the house; I am proud to say we spent zero dollars on costumes! My kids are so easy.

I am so ready for the holidays this year. I already have a detailed Christmas shopping list and can't wait to start shopping and decorating the house.

This is a picture of what we will be consumed with for the next couple of months. Leaves everywhere! The kids had a great time jumping in them. Leaf raking is also a great punishment for disobeying children.

Lake Murray

This weekend was our annual reunion with Jonathan's family to Lake Murray. This year we were smart and got a cabin instead of tent camping. It wasn't much nicer than the tent we had last year but it was much warmer. Just like every year the kids played way to hard and I ate way too many smores. Nothing really exciting happened just typical family reunion stuff. Just wanted to update.

Acrostics Poem

Last night I was invited to play Bunko with some of the girls from our Bible class. Jonathan has always been great about keeping the kids when I have something like this to do. Last night I had dinner ready and homework finished when he got home so at least he wouldn't have to deal with that on top of keeping all three of them. After finishing up dinner and having an hour long discussion with Jennah about being truthful (a story for another time) it was time for bed.

Jonathan said they were all in bed and Jack got up and told him that he had to get his Grandparents Day projects finished by Tuesday or he would not be able to play on recess. Jonathan went ahead and let him do it thinking I had forgotten about it or something. The project isn't due until the 22nd, but I guess as incentive to get it back earlier she made them miss recess until they returned it. He had to interview one Grandparent and write an acrostics poem for a Grandparent. We had talked Sunday about who he wanted to do each of the projects with. Nana for the interview and Grandma Janet for the acrostics poem. Jack told Jonathan what our plans were and they were off.

The interview turned out great; the acrostics poem on the other hand not so great. I looked at it when I got home last night and laughed until I was crying. Jonathan and Jack are not the most creative people in the world let me show you what they came up with.

Great
Ready
Always nice
Nice
Delightful
Misses
Always ready

Joyous
Always good
Neat
Ever loving
Tries to help

I really appreciate all that Jonathan does, and I am definitely not super creative but poems are just not a strength of his. I was able to help Jack change some of the poem and it turned out okay.

Powdered Sugar

My wonderful husband has taken it upon himself to fix a good breakfast for the kids every morning. His mom fixed a warm breakfast for him every morning and he wants our kids to have the same. Jonathan doesn't remember much growing up but he does remember breakfast. This particular morning he made french toast. After the kids went to school I went to make Joel's bed and noticed my little sidekick wasn't there and I couldn't hear him. I started running through the house yelling for him. This is how I found him. It is amazing what all they can get into in such a small amount of time. Joel loves french toast especially the powdered sugar that goes on top.

Diaper Cake

This is my most recent diaper cake. The couple doesn't know if they are having a boy or girl. Jonathan said it looked like it was for a girl. I used yellow and orange that isn't too girly is it? I think I would like to start selling these diaper cakes. I have looked online and they aren't really big in this area and I really enjoy making them. I just really fear rejection and don't know if I could really do it. Just thinking out loud. Thanks for listening.

Dry Gulch U.S.A.

This weekend we went to our first Family Retreat with Park Plaza Church. It was at Dry Gulch. I had been there a long time ago to ride the Christmas Train. It is the neatest place. The entire grounds were set in the 1880's, even our apartment. We stayed in the Wells Fargo building. The kids thought it was pretty cool. Of course Joel's favorite part was the train. He didn't want to ride it but loved looking at it. Jack and Jennah got to

know some of the other kids their age. We also got to know many different people. We were so worn out when we got home. It was definitely worth the exhaustion. I hope we can make this a family tradition.

Here are a couple pictures from our vacation this summer.

I'm Back!

Finally I think we waited so long I don't really feel as if I need the internet like I use to. I can actually look up numbers in the phone book rather than online. I can go more than 24 hours with out knowing what Jenny, Amy, Shelly, Lita and a few other friends in Ft. Gibson and Edmond are up to. I am sure though in a matter of a week or so I will be back to the obsessive behavior I had before.

I don't really know where to begin. I am now sending Jacksen and Jennah on the bus every morning and they also ride it home everyday! The bus comes right to our house and our addition is the last stop before the school in the morning and the first stop in the afternoons. The age of kids on the school bus goes to third grade. So I don't have to worry about the kids getting bullied. They love riding the bus, and it has made it so nice for me now that I am watching my cousin's baby Riley Paige. Who is quite a handful! Joel is doing very well with her. He just smiles at her and brings her paci to her any time she cries.

Joel is now diaper free! He has had one accident in the past two and a half weeks. So nice! We haven't tackled the paci yet.

Jacksen is now going by Jack. There was another Jackson in his class so he had to go by Jacksen H. that really bothered him so he is now Jack. I almost didn't name him Jacksen because I was afraid people would call him Jack, but I guess it is his name now and not my decision. It really doesn't bother me now like it did back then.

Jack and Jennah have already had a stomach bug and missed school so we are off to a great start! Oh well!