31 on the 31st!!!

Yep that is right. I will be celebrating once a life time birthday (like you every get to have any other kind). This time my age will directly correspond with the date of my birth. So I will the 31 on Jan 31st.
As my Dad says you really need to thank your parents on your birthday, because with out them you wouldn't have a birthday at all. So THANK YOU Mom and Dad, and in turn Grandma and Grandad, Nana (and Papa) because without any of you doing what you did (don't want to think about that part) I would not have a birthday to celebrate tomorrow! We will (if all goes as planned) start with breakfast with my parents. Then an evening of fun with the Jess and the Potato Queen at our house!

And another note. Happy Birthday to my Dad!! Today is his birthday! (and he thanks his parents too). You are a great father and grandfather, and we love you!!
PS.. I saw you on your motorcycle today and waved HI, but you must not have seen me.....or maybe it is better that you don't wave and keep your hand in the bike.....yep that is a better idea! To see last years post to my Dad go HERE.

Wordful Wed.....Ice, Ice, Baby

This weeks theme on my blog seems to be the ice/snow storm that we seem to be having right now . So here are some more pictures of the ice and snow. 

This is the grass.....

The neighbors trampolene, COVERED in ice (please excuse the camera cord in the second picture)

Our tree limbs are covered in ice. Thick ice. I was actually surprised that they weren't breaking, these are relatively new trees.

Our poor bushes, they aren't that old. Every bit of them is coated in ice. 

So tomorrow is likely to be another snow day for most, but not for me. I have to go into work. Part of my job is to recon the payroll files, send them to the bank and then pay all of our payroll taxes to the government. We get paid on Thurs, which means the files need to be sent tomorrow. So I will be heading out in the morning to make sure our paychecks are in the bank when they are suppose to be.  

To see more got to Seven Clown Circus and visit Angie!

It's raining....ICE

That's right we have more ice. Now in the form of sleet. If you turn on the TV all you can watch on ABC, NBC, and CBS, are the local weather guys talking about the ice. Here is the backyard it is a little deceptive, it looks like snow, but they are really small pieces of ice. 

See not snow, little balls of ice, under that is the layer of ice. It makes it super slick outside. 

It does make things pretty outside, as long as you don't have to be outside. Jay's work truck is out in the street, it isn't going anywhere today!

This was this morning you can see the balls of ice falling. The wind is also blowing, so it stings a little when one hits you.  (am I back in Chicago?)

This is going to be my view of the snow for the rest of the day. Looking from the inside out! We are staying inside watching movies, playing games and cooking a homemade pizza!

Word of the day.......ICE

That's right folks ICE. It is what is right now covering the grass, trees, cars, houses, and the roads. 

It took me about 1.5 hours to get home today, it usually takes me 30 min. We got out of work early, but not as early as I would have liked to. I think I asked what time can we go home more than my boss wanted to hear. Finally daycare called and said they were closing and would more than likely be closed tomorrow. That was my ticket home! Almost all of us got to go home, except poor Jess  she had to be there till the courier came, why I don't know. (but I won't get into that too much, it is a touchy subject with Jess right now)   

I got down to my car (after sliding all over the parking lot) only to find I had about 1/4 of an inch of ice encapsulating my car. I can tell you it honestly took me about 30 minutes to finally get the ice thin enough to get it to scrap off my car. I had called up to my co-workers to tell them about the ice, and about 4 of them came down and started their cars. The scariest part was getting the kids out of the car when we got home and getting them into the house. I took very small steps, as the driveway was a complete sheet of ice. 

So all said and done we are all home, except for my poor Dad who had to take the kiddos home on the school bus. He probably won't be home for another hour my mother estimates.  Wait he is home..mom called Dad is home safe and sound! 

Hopefully this time the power stays on, my parents has already gone out once. 

Tomorrow we will all be snuggled down inside (yep.....already told work I would NOT be there tomorrow). Jay's work is on lock down sue to the roads so we get a treat of having him home tomorrow too!  

My new favorite thing.

This is my new favorite thing.........My GE Convection/Toaster Oven!

I love it I have used it all weekend. I cooked veggies, the kids chicken nuggets, toasted hamburger buns, bascially if I cooked it this weekend I used this! It came with a lot of accessories, a pan, a broiling pan, racks, all of which I have used!

Thank you to my Grandparents for giving it to me for Christmas! 

Want to win this.........

this is the beautiful bracelet that Angie at Seven Clown Circus is having a giveaway for. Go check her blog out to see how to win!!

Wordful Wed.......

Look Mom I dressed myself....notice the lime green headband, blue shirt, pink pants...

and not to be left out, the Halloween socks!!
Visit Angie for more.....

Barack O-mama???

Conversation I just had with Breanna:

ME: Breanna today was a big day, we got a new President, do you know what his name is?

Breanna:  SANTA!!! (VERY exited)

ME:  No not Santa, his name is Barack Obama. He is our new President.

Breanna: Barack O-mama?

ME: Not Barack O-mama, Barack Obama.

Breanna : Santa and Barack O-mama will bring me presents?

ME: (at this point realizing it might not make sense to a 3 year old) No Breanna not present, he is the President. 

Breanna: ok mommy.

I can say that I did stop what I was doing today and watched the Inauguration. It was special, (of course I think that they are all special). This one may be more special than others. I can say that I was more surprised that there weren't more people in my office watching. I think there were about 8 of us out of 50 or so watching! I don't think it matters who you voted for at this point, but I did think that there would be more people watching. I enjoyed watching it. I grew up listening to Aretha so I loved getting to hear her sing. I thought that Pres. Obama's speech was wonderful, moving, strait forward, and had a great sense of pulling together as a nation. 

I can say I DID vote for Pres Bush both times that he ran. Deep down he is just a country boy from Texas. I even watched his homecoming in Texas. Midland to be exact. Quite close to my old stomping grounds, and home to some VERY dear friends. There was lots of country music and fans there. 

That in the afternoon my mood turned a little somber. If you know me you know that I have a special place in my heart for the Kennedy's. Maybe it is because my mother and her side of the family is from the Boston area. My mom grew up in the John/Bobby Kennedy era. Something about that family has always fascinated me. I have read books, been to the Kennedy Museum, seen the Kennedy Compound, been to Deeley Plaza, and the 6th Floor Museum.  basically if it is Kennedy I have read, researched it, watched it. My heart sank a bit while listening to NPR's coverage they broke in to say that Sen Teddy Kennedy had collapsed and had been taken by ambulance to the hospital.  Since then I have found out that it was a seizure. He is expected to stay in the hospital, but will be released. According to CNN John Kerry said "He has his Irish up," Kerry said. "Ted Kennedy is going to be back in the Senate fighting for the things he cares about."

Get well Mr. Kennedy!

Fun, fun, fun!!!!

This weekend we had a birthday to go to. It happened to be where Breanna takes gymnastics at. They have a playzone that they rent out for birthday parties. Breanna's teacher Miss Brandee was also there working while we were at the party. They had a great time playing with everyone, and getting to play in the playzone!

Here we are in the car getting ready to p-a-r-t-y!!

We went upstairs before the party started to get ready, and set our stuff down.

Then it was off to the playzone, as you can see the kids had a great time and since they are familiar with the place they jumped right into running around and doing their favorite things.

JJ has always loved the ball pit!

After 45 minutes of playing we went back upstairs for cake, ice cream and the opening of all of the birthday presents.

All of the kiddos together! Most of these kids belong to my co-workers. Between birthday parties, softball games, and work get togethers these kids have been around each other for awhile!

Then it was back downstairs to play (ie...run off the sugar they just ate). They got 45 more minutes to run. This time the kids found some balloons. They had a blast carrying them around.

My First Blog Award.....

I got my first official blog award. I received it from Julia at Our Simple Life. Very sweet. You made my  day Julia, thank you!

Here is the meaning of the award:

It is the Friendship Award which means:

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

So here goes I pass the award onto:

Jess at Det, Jess, and all the rest

Potato.....that's right the Potato Queen

Stephanie at The Journey to Maya Grace

Nichole at Learning to Love Dallas  (she is the reason I started a blog in the first place)

Ellen and Sharon at Two Friends' Tales and Travels

Sandy......who doesn't love Momisodes.....PS.... look she is finally back to blogging!!  Yeah!

Heather at HZIINC  (Heather, Zoie, Indie)

and Angie at Seven Clown Circus

Thank you ladies for writing blogs that I love to read!!

Oklahoma Firefighter Museum

While my family was all in town for Thanksgiving we decided to go to the Oklahoma  Firefighter museum. Frank is a firefighter, and my grandparents had family and friends that were firefighters. I didn't know this was in OKC, but it was VERY interesting find. This is the outside of the actual museum. 

This is the display case in the lobby, it had memorabilia from the Oklahoma Bombing, and 9/11.

The inside of one of the rooms in the museum, they have a lot of old firetrucks. They have the oldest one in Oklahoma. 

This is the one of the walls of patches. There are 3 and they are HUGE and filled with different badges.

Frank managed to find one badge that looked a bit familiar to him. 

Old, firetruck tires

This is the first Fire Station in Oklahoma. It was in Ft Supply, it is from 1869.

Some old helmets.

These are real horses that pulled that fire truck.

An old engine, I thought that it was pretty.

This is the clock tower on the walk over to the Fallen Firefighter Memorial. 

Here is the memorial statue, and the pictures that follow are that of the actual memorial walls. It was very beautiful, and a wonderful tribute to the men who have given their lives saving others. 

If you ever have a free day I suggest going and seeing it. There are handheld devices that you will be given to walk around the museum and you enter in the number on the exhibit and it will give you the history behind what you are looking at.