Kids’ Night at Bass Pro

The Bass Pro Shop near our house has free Kids’ Nights on Tuesdays from 6-8 pm.  We decided to try it out last week and had a great time!

We got to watch them feed the fish…

Eat popcorn and make a craft…

Go home with a new backpack…

And get way too close for comfort to the geese outside.

Afterward, we went to Steak and Shake for the first time as a family.

Reuben was most excited about his strawberry shake.  (Please explain to me why all stickers must go straight on his forehead.  Sigh…)

And this sweet girl was just happy to be alive and along for the ride!

If you’re in the Broken Arrow area and don’t have any plans, you should try it out tonight!

Drillers Game

Nick’s company has a suite at the Tulsa Drillers stadium and we were awarded some tickets to last night’s game.  Nick and I aren’t big fans of baseball, but Reuben loves it so we jumped at the chance to go.  We had a WONDERFUL time.  The new stadium is beautiful, the weather was perfect, the suite was really nice, and the entire staff was so friendly.  Honestly, I didn’t watch more than five minutes of the game, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Gabriella LOVED the backpack carrier.  It was perfect for her because she could relax and snuggle her blankie while we roamed around the stadium.

The playground area was a great place for Reuben to burn off some energy before heading to our seats.  As you can tell, we’ve entered the band-aid obsession phase.

Checking out the players during warm-up…

We had a great view of downtown from our seats.

This was my gorgeous view during the game

After several innings, Daddy and Reuben went for a walk and came back with ice cream.  What fun is a sporting event without junk food and/or sweets?!?

Gabriella snuggled right in and fell asleep on Mommy.  I just love my cuddly baby.

We had an extra ticket so Uncle Chris joined us.  It’s always nice having him around.  We enjoy his company and he’s an extra set of hands!  Look at these handsome, confident men adorned with two precious kids

Thunder Up!

On Monday afternoon, right after the kids went down for a nap, Nick called from work to tell me a lady from his work had offered him 2 free tickets to the OKC Thunder game that night.  She and her husband are season ticket holders and were unable to go that night so she gave us the tickets for free.  We tossed around a couple scenarios and decided it would be fun (and risky) to go with both kids.  Reuben is a huge Thunder fan.  His Uncle Chris gave him a Thunder hat for his birthday and we found him some Thunder basketball shorts at Wal-Mart.  His preference would be to wear both everyday.  So, I got busy packing our survival bags and as soon as Nick got home from work, we hit the road to OKC.

Nick has been to a few games before so he knew exactly where to park and how to get us to our seats.  We were in the nosebleed…one row down from the very top row in the whole stadium…but we were just excited to be there.  This blurry picture was the best we could do…

The Thunder didn’t win and really didn’t play as well as we’re used to seeing them play, but the fans are amazing!  The atmosphere of a Thunder game is definitely exciting and non-stop.  There was always something happening.  Reuben was a little nervous about all the noise at first, but he warmed up and was yelling, “Go Thunder!” “Thunder Up!” “Go defense!” by the second quarter.

I couldn’t believe that my 3 year old, busy boy sat as still as he did during the game.  He was really fascinated with and entertained by everything going on.

Gabriella had so much fun, she wore herself out and fell asleep on Daddy’s lap.  Nick did a great job keeping her ears covered so she could sleep despite all the screaming and cheering.

I’m typically not a very spontaneous person.  I don’t know if you’ve learned this about me yet, but I really like a plan.  However, it’s spontaneous nights like these that remind me to embrace and live in the moment even if it’s not according to my plan.  We had a great night of quality family time with lots of smiles, laughs, and special memories made.

Fun at the Zoo

We purchased a membership to the zoo this year so we decided that Saturday would be a perfect day to use it.  Reuben LOVES the zoo.  Each time he goes, he talks about the animals he saw for weeks afterward.  Saturday was perfect weather…overcast, breezy, and cool.  We were there for 3 hours!  That’s a new record for us.  I loved the quality family time, on a relaxed schedule, with no interruptions, and totally focused on our kids.

Reuben and I were waiting for the elephants.  He yelled, “Come here elephants!” as loud as he could and was pleasantly surprised when they came walking out of the building shortly after.

We shared a little smooch while we waited

And…I rode a camel with Reuben.  Reuben wanted to ride it so badly and Nick graciously offered for me to be the lucky one to ride it with him.  I’m pretty sure I held on tighter than Reuben did.

Thumbs up for me being a camel riding mother of the year.

The new sea lion exhibit just opened so we made sure to be at the show.  The new exhibit was beautiful, but the sea lions seemed a little tired to us.  It was still fun nonetheless!

Here’s Dorsey doing what she does best…perching herself on the rock in the middle of the water.  When we walked by later, she was laying on the rock on her back snoozing away.

Reuben’s been on a bit of a “Rio” kick lately (we found the BluRay/DVD combo on sale for $10 at Sam’s), so he was pretty excited about seeing “Blue.”

Reuben’s definitely a lot more courageous than he used to be when it comes to petting the goats.  This thrills me.

Checking out some brand new baby goats!

My little monkey

Gabriella really enjoyed her second visit to the zoo.  She loved riding along in the stroller with the breeze blowing through her hair.

Our family of four + a dude in camo.

A Little Leap Year Fun

My friend, Vivi had a wonderful idea to take pictures of our kids on Wednesday night at church to document this stage of life for our kids on this special day since it won’t happen again for 4 years. We are in such a fun (and very tiring!) season of life. Can’t wait to look back four years from now and see how the kids have changed.

I have to explain Reuben’s because what I wrote seems a little harsh. Reuben is a very sensitive little guy and would be happiest if he had mine or Nick’s undivided attention 24/7. We had had a rough morning that day trying to get out the door to meet our friends for story time. Reuben was right under my feet while I was rushing around and I stopped, looked at him, and said, “Please give Mommy some space!” Well, at lunch, Reuben decided to tell Joleen all about what happened that morning. Lovely. He summed his story up with, “I need to give Mommy some space.” Ha!

Madelyn and Isaiah didn’t make it to church that night so their mommies took these pictures at home…

And…as always, the group pic was hilarious and chaotic.

The big boys decided they needed a turn in the bumbo seats to end the night

Party at Little Gym

On Friday night, we went to Isaiah’s 3rd birthday party at The Little Gym.  The kids had a GREAT time!  Reuben had a nasty virus that lingered for over a week so we were really excited for this opportunity to play outside of the four walls of our home.  We were very impressed with the staff at Little Gym!  They did a great job decorating, coordinating, and keeping the party moving.  It was really fun!  I can’t believe that we’ll be celebrating Reuben’s 3rd birthday one month from today!

Quality Family Time at the Zoo

Once we finally brought Gabriella home from the hospital, we were excited to start creating fun memories as a family of four.  People always say you are more laid back with the second child.  This is definitely true!  I would have never taken Reuben as a 2-week-old to the zoo! But, life must go on when you have a busy 2.5 year old around!  We took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and enjoyed a fun morning at the Tulsa Zoo.

Trying out our new double stroller!

We turned the corner and much to our surprise this HUGE bear was taking a nap right there by the glass.  It kinda freaked me out!

Taking a ride on the train with my 2-week-old baby.  Still can’t believe I was brave enough to do that!

The two amazing men in my life.  Gosh, I love them so!

Choo! Choo!

Checking out the apes.  They were CRAZY that day!

Moooo!

Pumpkin Patch

Yep, you read that right.  We’re taking a trip all the way back to mid-October for this blog.  (My OCD won’t let me just leave the blog behind.  There are few more of these oldie-but-goodies coming up this week.) While Gabriella was still in the NICU, Nick and Reuben joined my family on a trip to the pumpkin patch.  It was so hard for me to miss out on this adventure, but I’m thankful that Nick and Reuben were able to go.  Nick did a great job taking pictures to document the trip for me.  I’m looking forward to taking both of my kids next year!

Truckin’ along with the cutest little passenger!

Reuben loves his PaPa!

A little overboard with the CHEESE face.

My parents make such wonderful grandparents. I love seeing the way they interact with their grandkids.

Surveying the goods

Again with the CHEESE face…

Reuben started treating the pumpkin patch like a gym.  First, he kicked the pumpkins like they were soccer balls…

…then he started hurdling them.

I love his carefree spirit and his zest for life!

My niece, Brynlee, was the cutest little pumpkin in the patch!

A Blessed AfFAIR

I’d like to take this moment to personally thank anyone who prayed for me to make it to the fair this year.  I made it!  Not without some drama, though!  I intentionally scheduled our 36 week checkup visit for the afternoon of the fair so I could walk in, get a great report about our baby girl, and go to the fair guilt free.  Well, our baby girl does look great, but she’s a little too eager to make her entrance into the world.  Our doctor basically said if I’d like to make it another week then I should go on bed rest.  Well, based on our experience with Reuben, we definitely want to make it as long as possible to give Gabriella the best chance of avoiding a stay in the NICU. So, we decided the fair could be my one last hoorah before being banned to my bed for the next week.  I swallowed my pride and rode around in a wheelchair at the fair.  I figured my embarrassment and lack of control was a small price to pay in order to enjoy a night with our friends.

We usually hit up the petting zoo first.  I volunteered for guard duty of all the strollers while everyone went in with the kids.  Vivi was gracious and stayed with me.  Nick did a great job taking some pictures for me to get a glimpse of Reuben’s fun with the animals.

Group shot with some of the best friends anyone could ask or hope for!

My loves

This is me indulging in fried butter.  It was DELICIOUS.  Let me describe it for you…small balls of butter rolled in cinnamon and sugar, dipped in pancake batter, deep fried, and dusted with powdered sugar.  When you bite into the ball, the butter has melted completely into the batter.  It tastes like the center bite of a stack of pancakes that has had the butter resting on top.  SOOO good.

On our way out of the fair, we stopped in this pavilion for one last look at some horses.  I love this pic of the kids and their daddies!

This man was so nice to let them pet and talk to his horse, Harley.  Reuben was SCARED of the horses last year, so I was happy to see him getting that close to the horse!

Quality Time with Brynlee Anne

Over the past few weeks, we’ve had some special time with Brynlee Anne.  I absolutely LOVE being an aunt.  I’m very grateful for our ever expanding family, and how involved we get to be in each other’s lives.

While we were in Gulf Shores, I bought Brynlee a “My Aunt is the Best” onesie.  Rachel dressed her in it when we got together at my parents’ house for breakfast a few weeks ago.  Doesn’t she look precious?!?

Rachel was a single mom for a week while Chad was at Super Summer (church camp in Ok), so I volunteered to keep Brynlee for a morning so Rachel could have some time to herself.  Reuben had some jealousy issues, but I’m happy to report that everyone survived!

I was shopping at Target yesterday and just HAD to get her this adorable outfit.  Reuben and I made a special stop by Rachel’s house just so I could see Brynlee in this outfit ASAP.  Even cuter than I imagined!!!