Big Fat Update

Considering it's been four months since my last entry, you have probably assumed we're either dead, too busy, or just bad bloggers. Well two out of three ain't bad. Soooo much has happened in our lives in the past few months. As you may remember, we sold our home in OKC in September and moved to a house on my boss's land in the country. Other than a couple ticks and a 58" snake, we've managed to avoid run-ins with the critters.

In mid February I decided to leave my job after 5 1/2 years with nothing but God's peace ahead of me. My last day with Aduddell was February 28 and I spent the next two weeks polishing up my resume and meeting with anyone who would give me a few minutes. After a couple weeks we found a house we both loved and it hit us, "No job... no house." But God had a plan. After seeing the house for the first time we went to Panera for lunch. As we ate and talked about how to buy the house, I got a text message from a guy wanting to talk to me about coming to work for him... cool part is, he had no idea I had quit my job.

So we bought the house!!! We closed April 23 and have had workers in it for a week. We are so excited and plan to start moving our stuff by Tuesday. We'll post before and after pics once we move in.

God certainly made a way for us where there seemed to be no way. But all of that pails in comparison to our excitement for our little girl coming a 3 weeks! We are so blessed to have Crew and have no words for the thrill it will be to add another part to our family. God has a plan, and it is good.

Christmas Beard

I know I'm not alone when it comes to being lazy around the holidays. I eat whatever I want, don't exercise... or more accurately, continue to not exercise, and I don't shave for a couple weeks. When the new year rolls around I feel like a tub of goo and look like a fat Jesus.
This year I went to my stylist (of course I have a stylist) and after looking through her magazine of styles, I asked her to give me The American Chopper:

Me with an American Chopper look is only gonna get me beat up. So I asked her to give me the 1970s Frat Guy.
I wasn't convinced I could pull it off so I asked her to give me The Father In Law.
And then just for fun, I asked her to give The Beastie Boys Sabotage Video Guy.
OK, I really don't have a stylist. And if you thought I did, you might get your tail whipped by American Chopper Dagen. I shaved it all of and grew my beard back so look for more fun with facial hair later this month.

Sunset Beach

I can't remember such great weather in November. We're trying to make the most of it by getting outside in the evenings and weekends. Across the pond from our house is a large pavilion with a small man-made beach. Crew's new favorite activity is playing in the sand and destroying all the sand castles I build. His preferred methods of destruction are to either shave off sections with a plastic shovel or stomp across them a la Godzilla.

The pavilion is a great place to spend a mild November evening enjoying the laughter of a child, the tranquility of the water, and every once in a while, running in terror from the spider that lives there. That thing is huge! It's multi-colored and the size of my face! I've been told they are great to have on your home cause they eat a lot of bugs. Whatever, they're creepy.

This is a picture of our house across the pond from the pavilion.

Life on the Farm

Click here for some pics of our place.

There are a few pictures of Crew's first fishing experience courtesy of Jerry McCurry (another ranch resident and all around good guy). Jerry caught a perch and offered it to Crew to touch. He poked it with his finger and, in a way eerily similar to his mother, ran off in disgust. He loved watching it though.

Crew is also up for riding anything with an engine. The first time I mowed he rode along for half an hour and when I tried to take him inside he freaked out. So I kept him with me... for another hour and a half! He loves riding the Kubota and the little kiddo 4 wheelers with me. He really has no fear when it comes to loud things.

Others pics are from this past weekend when Deren and his family came out to visit and sleep over. We had a great time with them as always.

Long Overdue Post

Well we've been on the ranch for a little over a month now and have learned lots about the country and have a new appreciation for life in the city. The fact that we refer to going to Edmond as making "a trip to town" is funny to us. I feel I have to say it with an accent. "Well sweetheart, I's gonna make a trip to town to buy supplies... you need sump'n?"

The drive to and from town is starting to wear on us, though once we're home it's cozy and feels like it fits. Crew has mothers-day-out Mondays and Wednesdays so Michelle comes into town to pick him up and then we usually are in town Saturdays for errands and Sundays for church.

The house is great, the land is quiet and relaxing... but we're ready to move back to town. We originally planned to live on the ranch for up to a year but know now God designed us to live in town. I mean, can you imagine living in the country with a 2-year-old and a new baby? Oh wait, did I mention we're pregnant? WOO HOO!!!

So Long Edgemere

We officially sold our house in Edgemere this past Thursday. We were so ready to move until the last week when it really hit us that we were selling our first home and it would no longer be ours. It was a great house and over the 3 1/2 years we lived there it became more a part of our family than a place we lived.

As for the new place, we've moved to a 220 acre ranch 20 minutes east of Edmond on Route 66. The house is awesome and we're learning a lot about life in the country. We'll post some pictures this week and the stories are already racking up.

The Lawn Crew

Crew loves mowing the lawn... with his bubble mower. So funny how kids pick up stuff from watching their parents. Crew loves following me as I mow the yard and mimics anything I do. He even pretends to adjust the blade height at each wheel when I go from the front to back yard.

Generic Update

The Boyd's are trying to find a house. We've spent countless hours online and walking through stranger's homes searching for our next place. Michelle found one I didn't like, and I found one she didn't like, and then we found about 20 or so we both didn't like. As our Sept. 17 closing approaches, we are considering making a temporary move to my boss' horse ranch northeast of Edmond. There is a great house overlooking the property we may rent until we find something we like. That said, we will count on our friends to visit us in the country for some BBQs and horseback riding to help it feel like home. We will keep you posted.

On another front, Crew has turned from baby to little boy seemingly overnight. He has such a great personality and is a typical friendly little Boyd grand kid. Crew follows me around with his Bubble Mower when I mow the yard. I love this picture of him, he looks like a guy who takes lawncare seriously. Can't wait til he's pushing the real thing around while I'm inside taking a nap.

He loves all his cousins but Brody pays the most attention to him so he really likes following him around.

Yadda, yadda, yadda, we sold our house!

Yes, it's true... we sold our house... and we're not quite sure how it happened. I'll try to explain Ferris Bueller style: A girl Michelle knows Facebooked her about a friend of hers looking for a house in our neighborhood and had their realtor contact us about whether we would or would not be interested in showing our house. The Facebook friend's friends and their realtor saw our house a couple days later and we accepted their offer a couple days after that. Still with me?

Anyway, we close mid-September and have no idea where we're moving to. Michelle found a house she liked but I didn't, and I found a house I liked but she didn't. And that's where we are.

We already miss our house. It is our first home and we have a ton of great memories in it. Moving will be difficult, but we're excited about finding a new place. We'll keep you posted.

Busted

Crew loves to get books and games off the shelf. He usually flips through the books and opens the games to peak inside the box but rarely takes stuff out. Michelle busted him trying to play Taboo in the living room. Guess he got bored after emptying the contents of his toy basket. Rufus even got in the action and gnawed on one of Crew's toys.

Mrs. Fix-It

I should preface this story by saying I do not have Michelle's permission to share it... although that has never seemed to stop me before. I consider the phrase "don't tell anyone" to sometimes mean "wait a week, then tell everyone."
I was at work when I received a text from Michelle saying the toilet in the guest bath would not flush. I called her back and asked her to check to see if the chain had come loose. She removed the lid and saw the chain. "Oh, I see it. It fell down to the bottom of the tank," she said.
I told her to reach in the tank, grab the chain, and reattach it to the handle. She seemed hesitant and so I reassured her the water in the tank was clean and she responded, "Well, I'm not going to just stick my hand in there."
"Why not," I asked.
"Cause I'll get electrocuted."
There was a brief pause at that point as I thought I had misunderstood.
"How?" I asked.
Michelle was instantly frustrated, "I don't know, okay? I'm not a plumber! I don't know about how toilets work!"
I'm happy to report that after a brief explanation of the physics behind the modern toilet, Michelle overcame her fear of toilet bowls and reattached the chain. I'm so proud.

Crew Gives Mommy The Bird

Michelle and Crew house sat for Griz and Gramz in Bartlesville a couples weekends ago while they visited Derek in Hawaii. She took Rufus along cause he loves playing with Maggie and Gabby, the family basset hounds. The bassets, like most pets, have their quirks, and Maggie's is bringing random things indoors that most definitely should stay outside.
Crew loves the bassets. More specifically, Crew loves when the bassets bark and fight. He'll poke at them and when they nip, he laughs... hysterically. He's getting pretty quick and can be next to you one second and in the other room interrupting the dog's naps the next.
Sunday evening Michelle was in the living room and Crew ran into the kitchen around the corner to play with/torment the dogs. Michelle heard growling followed by laughter indicating at least Crew was not getting into anything. He came walking around the corner and Michelle noticed something in his hands. She assumed it was a toy he had snatched from one of the dogs and started to walk toward him to make sure he didn't put it in his mouth.
As she approached him, Crew dropped a bloody, half living bird to the ground. To put it mildly, freaked out... remember, she's alone and 2 hours away from her bug killing, poop cleaning, dead bird handling husband.
Michelle called me in a panic asking what she should do. I told her to get the bird out of the house so the dogs wouldn't mess with it and take Crew to the emergency room. I realize at this point in the story some of you more seasoned parents are laughing since one of your kids as recently as yesterday probably ingested a couple pounds of dirt and crickets and followed it up with a half bottle of Windex from under the sink and you're thinking a dead bird is no big deal, but this is our first kid and I thought a trip to the ER couldn't hurt... so stop the judging.
Using a magazine and a dust pan, Michelle scooped the bird up and tossed it out front. As she was heading to the Jane Phillips ER, I called my dad (aka Griz) in Hawaii. "You sent her where? She'll be there all night. Tell her to go to minor emergency over by the house."
I call Michelle back, "Leave the hospital and got to the minor emergency."
She replies, "The nurse already came out and told me to just go home and brush his teeth real well and give him a bath with a real good soap. What the heck is good soap?
I answer, "I don't know, we can mix all the soap in the house together and try to make some kind of super soap."
Dad rings in, "Tell Michelle to just go home and give him a good bath and brush his teeth."
I answer, "Where was that answer 15 mins ago?"

It all ended up fine. Crew's feathers are coming in nicely and my parent's now have 4.5 gallons of 'good soap' if anyone needs it.

Festival Arts

We had so much fun at the festival Wednesday that we went back Thursday with Meredith and Kayt. Kayt is just about the cutest little girl ever and she and Crew get along swimmingly. The food at Festival Arts is AWESOME! Wednesday we had hot dogs and a cinnamon roll. Michelle ate a couple bites of the roll which obligated me to finish it. I felt like a tub of goo the rest of the night. Thursday we got crazy and split a chicken sandwich, empanada, and sweet potato fries. Oh yeah, the art was cool too.

Crew loved playing around the Ribbon Monster. It was basically some tubes sticking out of the ground that kids tied ribbons to. It really was cool.

Vocabulary Update

Crew has been an active baby talker for several months. He always has something to say though we don't always know what it is. Over the past couple weeks he has started using real words. He gets real excited when he learns a new word and we hear it over and over until he learns a new one. Here is a list of all words he knows:

Hi
Bye
Mommy
Daddy
Dog
Duck
Book
Mooo
Me
Ball
Thank You
No no
That
There

Grover

Crew got a Grover from Gramz and they have become best buds. Crew drags him by his foot and tosses him around. He'll see Grover from across the room and charge toward him with open arms and give him a giant hug. It's pretty awesome.

New Favorite Video

We can't stop watching this video.



We visited Grandpa Wally in Arkansas last weekend and then got to play with Harper Hammack in OKC when we got back.

Great Wolf Lodge

This past weekend my family spent the weekend at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX. It was AWESOME! It is a huge hotel with restaurants, games, a huge indoor waterpark, and themed rooms. It is designed for kids, but the adults had just as much fun. We got to visit Tom and Cindy Clark for a couple nights before checking in, and Cindy earned a 5 Star babysitter rating for watching Crew.

Crew had a blast in the beach pool. He's been walking for over a week and wasn't phased when walking through the water.

CREW IS WALKING!!!

Last night Crew took his first steps! Then he took his second steps! Then he walked all over the house! It was very exciting and we did get most of it on video. I'll post some clips as soon as I get time.

Crew's 1st Birthday

We celebrated Crew's birthday at Gymboree. We had a great time hanging out with friends and watching all the kiddos play. Crew dug into his cake like a champ and made us pay for it later by staying up an hour later than usual.