We enjoyed another night out, in different ways.  The girls got to go spend Saturday night at their Nana’s.  They had fun playing, coloring a cardboard playhouse (and playing in it), jumping on the trampoline & spending time with their Nana, Peepa & Aunt Ashley.  Their step-cousins even came over for a bit to play with them, while they were there.  In the meantime, Jeremy & I went & bought Katrina’s Birthday gifts, then had another date – our 3rd in a month’s time, this is like a record for us, ha-ha!  We enjoyed a nice dinner at The Bistro restaurant, then went on a walk out at the Riverwalk in Jenks.  For those who are unfamiliar, it is a shopping area with restaurants that have lots of outdoor seating & such.  There is also an outdoor amphitheater, some fountains & an indoor movie theater.  It’s located just on the west side of the Arkansas River.  There is a lovely view & it is particularly nice around sunset.  Once the sun went down, we caught a movie, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”.  Although it was a kind of funny, good romantic comedy, we could have done without the vulgarity & brief nudity – just a warning for any who might be interested in seeing it.  We got the girls the next day & although Kat didn’t seem to want to go home, Alyssa was being quite the fuss-budget.  Both of them fell asleep on the drive back to our house & once they woke up, were acting like themselves again, though.  All in all, we each had a great “weekend getaway” from what we usually do, but we’re glad to be back together again, of course!  🙂

Our hometown experiences the strangest weather ever!  It’s not always bad, but it doesn’t always make sense…  The entire state of Oklahoma is said to be in a “non-flood zone”, at least when you’re purchasing real estate.  However, this past week, we got some crazy, heavy rain that actually washed out a few roads, nearby!  Things were fine in & around our neighborhood.  However, they closed the public schools in our city on Thursday, mainly because people wouldn’t be able to get to the high school very easily.  This still meant that Katrina, being only in Kindergarten, got an extra day off!  She enjoyed staying home with us, even though at this age, she still loves going to school & actually seemed to kind of miss it.  The rain cleared up & the major puddles & things were mostly gone by Friday, so they were back in session, again.  The only bad thing was that it added another day to the end of their school calendar year, so instead of their last day being on a Friday, it will now be the following Monday, which will be different, but we’re sure Kat won’t mind going the “extra” day, at least!  😉

We had a fun Friday night, doing different things, this time around.  Jeremy & I went out on a date – we ate dinner at a local Italian restaurant called Napoli’s & then he took me to a Christian Rock concert we’d been looking forward to: Aaron Shust & Brandon Heath.  While we were out, some good friends from our Journey Group came over & watched Katrina & Alyssa for us.  The girls had a blast & so did our friends, the Bests.  They all played together, not only with Aly’s toys, but Kat “taught” them how to play our Nintendo Wii, as well!  😉  Jeremy & I had a delicious meal, followed by good, live music & some time out, to just be “a couple” for a bit.  The girls were sound asleep when we got home.  It was sweet.  It’s the little things like that which help us to reflect upon & realize that we are so grateful for all the great blessings, fun times & good friends God has placed in our lives!

We had a semi-uneventful week.  However, it seems like our house (well, particularly our yard) had some great stuff happen to it!  Let me go back & remind those that may not have heard about it, back in December, there was a large ice storm that rolled through our area & not only did it knock out electricity to several homes, but many people had tree branches break & fall – after the storm was over, it almost looked like a “war zone” in some neighborhoods, including ours.  We had 2, huge, mature Bradford Pear trees in our back yard, near our fence line.  Both had been through a bit of damage previously, due to high winds & things, but this time, each fell completely, thankfully inward, toward each other, into our yard, so they didn’t really damage anything else.  We were waiting until the weather got nicer to have anything done about it, as the damage this time was so extensive, there was no way of cleaning it up, ourselves.  Well, one of the guys that takes care of our lawn called & was asking about mowing & I explained the situation to him.  He said that he could clear it out for us & he gave us a great estimate on the work, too.  So, thankfully, we now have a backyard!  We realized there was a bit of fence damage, after the trees were removed (you couldn’t tell before that), but we’ll get that taken care of soon, too, I’m sure…

Now, to explain further about the ice storm: since the damage to trees was severe in most neighborhoods around here, the city issued notices that they would be sending work crews to clear up all the debris.  There were guidelines, of course, such as your limbs had to be no longer than 4 feet each in length & to set them in a pile, by the curb.  Since this was a free service, we opted to just have our friend who does our mowing set the branches from the backyard by the curb in our front yard, rather than having to haul them off, himself.  This worked out well, but it looked rather funny for a few days: we had a *huge* pile of tree branches, covering the length of the sidewalk, in front of our yard that was also approximately 3 – 4 feet tall!  Thankfully, it was only a few days later that the city crew came out & cleared up our debris.  So, we now have a sidewalk, as well!  Although, there is a little bit of excess – mainly small twigs & old leaves.  I guess we’ll have to sweep that off, ourselves…  😉

This week was an eventful one for us!  Katrina was out of school for Spring Break, so we went out & enjoyed some activities together.  On Tuesday night, it was really rainy.  We didn’t want to be stuck in the house, so we went to our local bowling alley!  It was the first time Kat had ever bowled, unless you count video games on our Nintendo Wii!  😉  We showed her how to hold the ball, but we let her “granny bowl”, using both hands to roll the ball out from between her feet.  She liked that, but they also had a little “cheat ramp” that kids can use, there.  She *really* liked using that to roll the ball down – made it go a lot faster than when she would push it from the floor!  Alyssa had a great time watching & giggling, too!  I won’t say what our scores were, because even though we had the gutter bumpers turned on, neither Jeremy nor I did *that* great… but, it was still a fun time!

On two of the days, the girls’ Grandma Linda & Grandpa Ken watched them overnight for us.  They had a lot of fun over there – Katrina got to sleep in a new, purple tent & sleeping bag & Aly got to play with a new push-toy, just for her.  Kat blew bubbles on the porch with her Grandma, while Alyssa watched from inside, with her Grandpa holding her by the window.  While they were over there, Jeremy & I decided to go out & do something we hadn’t in quite some time – play golf!  It was a beautiful day for it.  However, after only 9 holes, we called it quits.  Neither one of us is that great a golfer, but again, we still enjoy it.  It’s a good thing we stopped when we did, though, because we were both sore the next day!  We picked the girls up from their Grandparents’ house, came home & decorated Easter eggs that evening.  The next morning, the girls got some nice surprises in their baskets.  Katrina was excited over her chocolate bunny & Aly seems to really love her plush one.  We all dressed up nicely for church & took some photos, which I will have to share at a later time.  After a lovely worship service, we came home, changed into more casual clothes & went out to the girls’ Peepa & Nana’s house for lunch & hunting more Easter eggs (the plastic kind).  A cool surprise was that their Nana & Peepa had bought six little ducklings!  All the kids thought they were really neat – well, so did we, to be completely honest!  ?  But, we were glad they didn’t try to give any to us… since they live out in the country, anyway, they will probably raise them ‘til they are grown, then let them go.  But, the rest of us *did* get to name them all: Daffy, Donald, Daisy, Huey, Dewey & Louie.

There were a couple of fun holidays for us, this week.  One, we kinda’ made up & the other was a more traditional one.  On Saturday, we decided to take the girls out to see the new movie, based on Dr. Suess’ book, “Horton Hears a Who”.  It was extremely cute!  Prior to going to the theater though, we went to our local IHOP restaurant, because they were (and still are) promoting the movie with special kids’ meals.  Katrina got the “Who-cakes”, a stack of pancakes in which they got progressively smaller, toward the top (the very top one was a “silver dollar” pancake) & were covered in a pink & blue syrup & had a lollipop sticking out of the top.  It was such a cute idea!  She wasn’t able to eat the entire thing, but she did a great job, for her & so, she got to eat the lollipop when she was done.  In light of doing these things, we said we had a very “Who Day”!  It was a good day for all of us!

Then, on St. Patrick’s Day, we all remembered to wear our green.  Kat & her Mommy even had matching socks that read, “Irish Girl” on them, since we do have some Irish genes, on that side of the family.  Katrina wanted to go to a store that was nothing but green things, but instead we wound up at Toys R Us.  Hey, at least they have *some* green in their logo, right?  🙂

This week has been strange.  I’m referring to the weather, of course.  We had another one of those, “one day it snows, the next, it’s in the high 60 degrees” kind of weeks.  It’s not like we haven’t come to expect this, living in Oklahoma most of our lives.  However, it would be nice if our sinuses would learn to deal with it better.  It seems like at least 3 out of 4 of us have had to deal with something – runny noses, cough, drainage leading to dry/sore throat(s), etc.  Thankfully, Alyssa is too young for it to affect her too much, just yet.  And, the rest of us are actually doing better, now.  But, it sure has been annoying.  We are ready for Spring to be here, for good, at last!!!

Beyond the minor setbacks of not feeling well, physically, I must share that we have felt truly blessed, lately, though.  Things just seem to be working out well, at every turn.  God has just shown us His love in practical ways & we are so grateful to Him for the many blessings He bestows upon us.  We hope that we may always turn around & share His love & be blessings to those around us, as well!  🙂

We had a nice week, so far.  Jeremy made it back from his trip just fine, although his flights were once again delayed by a few hours.  “Us girls” got to the airport just as he had finished getting his bag off the conveyor & was coming outside to meet us, anyway.  Once we got home, we celebrated his happy return with a “cookie party” – somewhat Katrina’s idea, somewhat my own.  We ate the cookies we had made the night before, then played “Hungry, Hungry Hippo” (Kat’s favorite game right now).  It was fun!  We’re all so glad that he’s home!

On Friday, we went out to dinner at one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Zio’s.  It was great, but we once again ordered more than we could eat in one sitting.  So, we had leftovers for the next couple of days to share.  Then, on Saturday, the weather was so beautiful, we went to a park with a *huge* playground in Owasso, OK.  The place is called “Funtastic Island” & it was nice for all of us, to get out in the sunshine.  The girls had a blast, of course.  Katrina usually climbs all over everything, which she did a lot of this time, too, but her favorite item (the one she kept returning to) was the merry-go-round.  She even tried to help some of the bigger kids turn it, at one point!  Alyssa enjoyed just “walking” – holding onto our fingers & dragging us around the place.  At one point, I was able to get her to go up some ramps, to where a small slide was & we slid down.  Her Daddy took her on slides a couple of times, too.  We also swung her on the baby swings, which she just *adored*!  We’ll have to go back again, once the weather gets nice, for good – c’mon, Spring, we’re ready!!!  🙂

We had an interesting week, especially the end of it, this time around.  Jeremy made plans to go to an “affiliate summit”, which is basically a big convention of people who make money on the Internet in a similar way to how our business does.  It was hard explaining to Katrina why Daddy had to go on a trip out of state, but we had also made plans for her Grandma Linda to come stay with us & that made it a bit easier on her.  On Sunday, when we dropped him off at the airport, it seemed difficult to say, “Goodbye”.  He has been on business trips in the past, ones that have lasted a longer duration, but for some reason, we all felt like this was a bigger deal – probably just because he hadn’t been on one for a couple of years & the girls are older now & Kat actually realized what was going on, this time around.  To top things off, the poor guy’s flight got delayed by a couple of hours, but “us girls” had already left the airport, to get Grandma & go back to our house.

Jeremy made it in late that evening, though & everything was going like clockwork, here.  The girls had fun playing with their Grandma & Alyssa even did a bit more walking.  She would take a couple of steps from being on her Mommy’s lap on the floor, to Grandma Linda, who was sitting on the couch & she’d giggle the whole time!  That was exciting!  Jeremy called every so often & we’d fill him in on what was going on.  He also sent us pictures each night, which I would share with Kat, while she sat on my lap at the computer desk.  We did a little running around on Monday, going to a couple of craft stores & out to dinner that evening with Grandma.  Today, we stayed at home.  My Mom & I made pages for her scrapbooks while Katrina was at school & Aly was napping.  I had a nice time, just chatting & enjoying our mutual hobby together.  I’m so thankful she agreed to come help me watch these 2 cuties!  Tonight, we are going to make cookies, in preparation for Jeremy’s return.  (We might eat a couple with Grandma, too, but I don’t think he will mind).  His plane is scheduled to get back in town tomorrow, around 1:30 p.m.  We are all looking forward to his happy return!  🙂

We had a busy, yet fun week, this time around!  Tuesday, we had a couple of friends from our church Journey Group over to hang out.  We had a great time with them!  Then, of course Wednesday was Jeremy’s Birthday.  But, since we had already celebrated on the previous Friday night, we didn’t really do anything that day.  He had a bowling league game to attend & Katrina had her Journey Group for Kids at our church, that night, anyway.  So, I just made one of his favorite meals for dinner, before we separated for the evening.  Kat did make her Daddy an extra Birthday card, though, in the shape of a trophy (with my help), since he had said before that he’d never won one, in the past & he got to be “surprised” with it, when he got home.  Thursday was Valentine’s Day & although we had a nice day, we kept it kinda’ “low-key”, too…

Jeremy & I exchanged gifts & cards with each other that morning.  I got a bouquet of pink & purple flowers (mostly roses & lilies) & he got his favorite chocolate-covered pretzels, in a big, vase-shaped plastic tube with a red lid.  Yeah, it sounds kinda’ funny, but I think they are made especially for this time of year, because that’s the only time I can find them!  Anyway, Katrina was pumped for school that morning, because she knew they were gonna have a party & she went to class equipped with the Valentine cards she’d filled out for her classmates.  When it was almost time for her to come home, we set the girls’ presents from us out, for them to find.  Kat got a purple stuffed hippo holding a box of conversation hearts & also some Dora & Spongebob chocolate hearts.  Alyssa got a pink stuffed hedgehog holding a heart that says, “Hug Me” & a tin of Elmo cookies.  The girls gave me some chocolates (that their Daddy helped them pick out) & a card, as well.  Katrina then gave us the Valentine cards she’d made for each of us “in secret”, including finally letting us all see the cute, heart picture she’d drawn on her easel the week before.  She had a Girl Scout meeting that evening, so instead of all of us going out to dinner, we had take out from our favorite Italian restaurant, Carrabba’s.  It was really good & filling.  The entire day was pretty sweet!