Ready, Set, Blog!!

Alright Mom....I've changed the blog background now start blogging!!!!!!

San Antonio

Okay this is actually Kylee writing this post because a certain someone hasn't posted in awhile. I know she has done things and gone places but for some reason she doesn't think to let us bloggers know about it.
They came to San Antonio for Halloween weekend. We had a great time with them and hope they had fun too! They got to go to Gatorfest (the kids school carnival), Connor's football game, and of course the trick-or-treating. They were good sports and even brought costumes to dress up with the kids.
They sort of got a taste of what will come this next semester. Hope they are ready!
This is the only picture I am posting because the same certain someone mentioned above can be picky about what pictures she posts (she doesn't like herself in the pictures)!!!!! love you mom

Trippin' to Omaha

We finally went to visit Danen and Michele! We never made it to Illinois where they lived the first year of their marriage, they kept coming here instead! In June they moved to Omaha so we headed back to Nebraska to hang out and see their brand spankin' new house! It was so much fun!! They are happy as two bugs in a rug ( where DID that saying come from?) and their house is just wonderful! We helped them do some things around the house--a little decorating for me---a little ceiling fan, towel bar hanging for Dave, and then treated ourselves to the Henry Doorly Zoo which is the best zoo I have ever been too! We went to Lincoln one day to eat at a favorite OLD restaurant called Lee's Chicken( I swear it has not changed AT ALL in 40 years--) and have ice cream at our favorite ice cream parlor in the world---Ivana Cone! We hauled 4--hard frozen quarts of cinnamon ice cream back to Omaha and ate it til we thought we'd explode! It was great! ha! We headed home on Sunday but not before we loaded up some fresh picked corn, tomatoes, cherries,and homemade fruit pies made at the orchard the fruit was picked in! Yummo! I love Nebraska. I don't want to live there again------but I do love hangin' out there once in awhile!

Girls Day Out!

Robbie Vaclaw, Cindy Wasemiller and I have been friends for 25 years! All of my Bartlesville memories are tied to these two women. We have 16 kids between us---Robbie having half of them!! We fell into each others lives as naturally as our kids fell into each others lives----instantly drawn to each other, knowing at once we would be the best of friends and always in each others lives! We've gone from preschool to being grandparents and our memories just keep racking up! Sadly, I think we see each other less now, when we're really suppose to have "all this free time" than we did when all our kids were little! Cindy took charge this week ( which is SO unlike her--ha-ha!) and decided we needed a "Girls Day Out"! We have talked about all the cute little towns around B'Ville and how we only drive thru them on the way to someplace else and never really get to stop and see all those cute little shops and home town restaurants we pass by, so we decided to head to Pawhuska and check it out! We had SO MUCH FUN!! We found some really cute little shops, bought new wallets, candles, stuff for grandkids and a few things for ourselves! Pawhuska has a Catholic church that is kinda famous for it's beautiful stained glass windows! We stopped at the rectory to inquire about seeing inside since the doors to the church were locked and were given the KEY to the church and told to just bring it back when we were done! This is typical life in small town Oklahoma and it's what I treaure more than anything about living here! It was so beautiful inside---- really, really beautiful ! It is a church primarily attended by Osage Indians and their beautiful influence is everywhere combined with an alter that looks like it could have come from Rome. I could have stayed there for hours and just sat in the peace and beauty of it. I will always remember it. I know there are far more elaborate churches in the world ---but for me---this church was perfect.
Thanks Robbie and Cindy, my homies, my peeps, my sistas, my besties-----I love you guys!

Miss'Em Already

Summer is winding down and our last bunch of little ones have headed home! It's always sad to see them leave---so much energy leaves this house when there are no little ones running around! This house----has been full of energy since 1980! Kids, dogs, friends and family and been concentrated here for the last 5 weeks and hopefully the walls have just soaked it all in so we will get a slow "ooze" out til they're ALL back together again-- maybe at Thanksgiving---hopefully at Christmas! Derek just needs to be here as well----we ALWAYS miss him! In the meantime, we'll have to settle for occasional weekend visits and even tho I want ALL of them---I'll settle for whoever we can get! ha! Hopefully Rick will separate from the Air Force next spring and they'll find a job in Tulsa or OKC/Norman area! ( I think I'll start setting up interviews for him in those areas! ha!) Maybe if we had just had a 6th child---that child would have been the one to stay in B'Ville--- have a bunch of kids and live close by so it wouldn't always have to be all or nothing. Maybe we should have been like the Duggars and just kept having kids til the baby factory shut down! Naw-----I would have liked to have had ONE more-----not 14 more!! I'm sentimental ---I'm not CRAZY!!! For now I'll just look forward to dinner out and a movie with my main squeeze Dave! I'm pretty sure he's still around-----I haven't seen much of him for --oh--like the last 4 or 5 weeks----I do recall a lot of noise at about 5:10 everyday complete with loud laughter, chasing, a lot of floor wrestling and kids squealing-----that HAD to be him!!

The Kriwiel Weekend

Last weekend all the Kriwiel women came to B'Ville for our annual "weekend" together! It is just so much fun!! Ed Kriwiel was Dave's high school football coach. He was one of the most wonderful men to ever walk the earth as far as we're concerned. He and his wife Mary had 9 kids, 5 of whom were in our wedding--- 7 girls and 2 boys! Mary is sort of like a best friend/mother/sister/role model for me. I love her to pieces! The kids I used to babysit are now my friends and we have such a blast together! Our kids now know all of them and our grandkids, know their grandkids so when we get together----the laughter begins! This year, Mary and the 7 girls came as well as Mike's wife Diane and we all went to see Wicked. We talk,eat, laugh, talk, eat, laugh, talk-----well, you get the picture. I was so happy that Kylee was here to be part of the Kriwiel weekend this year! She loved getting to know everyone better! We sort of copied Oprah's "Favorite Things List" and did a Favorite Things gift bag for everyone. Hope they like all the things as much as we do! Already looking forward to next year!

Cousin Camp

Since all the little cousins were going to be in B'Ville at the same time this summer we decided to have "Cousin Camp". It was a 3 day camp-- a really HOT--like triple digit HOT 3 day camp, complete with t-shirts, a flag to raise on the big flag pole, games, crafts, swimming, adventures, field trips, fun food, and a lot of laughter, all ending with an awards ceremony complete with ribbons and fireworks. We were suppose to spend the last night sleeping in the big tent but a nasty thunderstorm kept everyone in the house. Maybe next year! The kids made treasure boxes that held all the other craft project "treasures" they made during camp and the food and snacks were all a little bit special too! It was just so much fun and I could NOT have done it without the help of Kylee, Michelle and Monica even tho Monica had to work for Dave most of the week. They were AWESOME!! The kids are still talking about it so I know we made a memory and that's all I wanted----a sweet memory of going to "camp" with each other!