Happy fathers day Monty!!!

We love you!!!

Amazing Banana Bread

This is my grandma's recipe. She was great about adding little extras to really finish off a great recipe and really making it her own. This is a family ALL TIME favorite. Our youth had a bake sale last week to help raise money for them to go to church camp and I made some of this bread to sell. My whole family was upset that they had to smell it baking but did not get to eat any of it so I thought I better make some more.

1/2 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 c sugar

3 smashed very ripe bananas

1 tsp baking soda

2 c flour

1/4 c chopped pecans

1/4c chocolate chips

1/4c maraschino cherries

cream shortening egg and sugar then add banana mix well add soda and flour mix well add nuts cherries and chocolate. pour into greased loaf pans. bake at 350* for 1 hour

I used 5 mini loaf pans and they were done in about 45 minutes

This stuff is soooo good that I will have trouble keeping it around very long.

Babies Babies everywhere!!

watching a little tv

My home contains 2 little mamas and umpteen babies. The girls started playing house several years ago and have never stopped. Keslee ALWAYS has at least one child with her at all times. Whether we are going to the store, the library or church, she has to bring a baby and a purse full of baby doll essentials. In the car the baby is seated in the seat(preferably the booster seat since we have 2 in the van and the girls don't always use them) with a seatbelt on. At church a blanket is laid out on the pew and the baby is set up on the blanket so she will not miss any of the preachin. My girlses families have been growing by leaps and bounds and now Keslee has 9 kids and Kalysa has 3. Keslee's babies range in age from 4 years old to 1 month (could you imagine having 9 kids under 5!?!) Two of Kalysa's babies were born yesterday but believe it or not they are not twins. Today I was given specific intructions for when I babysit-3 of the babies have ear problems so there is a tool(little toy gun) I have to put in their ears to squirt the medicine each night, the tiny babies are all on shots for I don't know what, and one of the babies has had botox shots and is in a cast. Here are a few photos from the day.

taking a nap on the floor

getting the newborn into the stroller(complete with folded blanket for protecting his head)

the make shift baby bed

20 years later I started learning

This past weekend we went to my husband's 20 year class reunion. TWENTY YEARS, YALL!!! When I was in high school, 20 years was like the most farthest away not even comprehendable time period there could ever be. Now I can't believe I can talk to someone and say "You remember back 20 years ago when we....". At graduation I felt like I had MADE IT! It was the greatest accomplishment ever. I knew that later in life more would come- like a family and jobs and such-but I could not imagine anything feeling as big as graduating did. Now I see what a baby I was at that time. How could I have felt sooo grown up yet knew NOTHING? I am not even close to being the same person I was that day I walked across a stage to get my diploma. I am nothing like I thought I wanted to be. My hopes and dreams at that time have not had much to do with who I have become. I know Monty would say the same thing. Our life is not what either of us would have expected it to be 20 years ago.
Monty graduated with about 22 people in his class from a small Oklahoma town so of course he knew everyone in his class-even in the entire school. These were the people he grew up with. The people that shared in most of his childhood experiences. He was very excited to see what everyone was up to. He had a great time listening to everyone's stories and the kids had a blast running around the elementary school that daddy went to. Little did I know that God was planning on using a 20 year class reunion to teach me a few things. When we went to the reunion I was expecting to see a different person in my husband. I thought that getting him around the people he has known most all his life would suddenly bring out the extrovert that I have always dreamed was living inside this quiet unassuming man. Well guess what folks-he is who he is and I love him for that. We are two totally different people and so often I get frustrated because my husband does not see things the way I do. I try so often to make him more like me instead of appreciate the differences we have. That is something I, with the Lord's help, have REALLY been trying to work on for the past few years and I thought I had come pretty far. Going to this reunion showed me that I have not done so great. I still have some crazy expectation that deep down he really is like me and can't get it through my thick skull that different doesn't always mean better. I am still secretly waiting for something to trigger a realization in Monty and witness the emergence of a louder more dominant personality. The Lord has shown me the truth again and I pray that this time I will listen better. I must cherish these qualities in my husband-the fact that he never wants to be in the spotlight which in turn means we will never have to fight for it; that he is content with his life the way it is so I never have to worry about him making unexpected changes that disrupt the family; even though we don't have a whirlwind lifestyle he loves me enough to walk to the store is a snow storm to buy a bag of ice because I hate to drink Dr. Pepper with no ice; his humble spirit ensures our home is not ruled by arrogance and tyranny; knowing that when I have a bad day and the dishes aren't done and you can't walk though he living room and there is no supper cooking doesn't make him upset but instead sympathetic to my trials. If I were ever able to change this man, I would loose the best things about him. God knows what we need even when we don't and he certainly knew when he brought Monty and I together. Thank you Lord for showing me once again what it is you have given me. Thank you for My Husband!

To kiss a boy...

What happens when you try to get two little sisters to kiss one big brother on each cheek? Especially when you are in public?! Oh yea, and you also want to get a picture of it?!!!?



NOPE!!! NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!! AND JUST FOR EVEN MENTIONING IT, DON'T THINK YOUR GONNA GET ANOTHER SMILE OUT OF HIM!

Good thing this was the last picture we took in our family picture session and I have to say it is my absolute favorite! It so captures the feelings of an 11 year old boy surrounded by 2 sweet and loving sisters that were(and always are) more than happy to plant a big smooch on their brother for the camera.

My girls are just NOT normal!!!

Besides some serious hockey players, do you know anyone that has knocked out any of their teeth? I grew up with a sister and 2 brothers and we had our crazy childhood moments with bicycle wrecks, wrestling matches, jumping off various things(porches, backs of trucks, fences, hay stacks, homemade bike ramps etc.). We all played backyard football and baseball, you know the kind with NO RULES. We even played baseball using a metal bat and a flat basketball a few times-ok, that one did result in 7 stitches above my right eye-boy those bats really ricochet fast off basketballs, trust me!! My point it that we were typical rowdy, rough and tumble kids that took too many risks and sometimes felt invincible but not one of us ever had a tooth knocked out. I had stitches twice-once during the baseball game and once at girl scout camp when I was helping move a large sheet of tin so the younger girls did not get hurt on it-go figure. I broke my ankle my sophomore year of college on some ice and my brother broke his ankle during a high school football game but never did we knock out teeth. My little brother Chris even got hit by a car once but he kept all his teeth. I remember one girl I went to school with getting a tooth knocked out. We had an all night lock-in at the skating rink with girl scouts or church one and there was a collision between a couple of girls and a tooth came out then. I have always thought of knocking out teeth as an exception and not the rule of a normal childhood. Well apparently my girls are not normal!

Not too long ago, I told you about our trip to the ER when Kalysa knocked out her front tooth in a skateboard incident. I alluded to the fact that Keslee had only lost one tooth to date and it was also knocked out. Hers happened when she was about 2 years old. Jacinta (my sister) was playing with the cutest little 2 year old and was having her jump off the cedar chest/coffee table into her arms. Keslee was having a grand ole time until Jacinta missed or dropped or something and Keslee hit her mouth right on the wooden handle to the recliner. Her tooth (bottom left side) was knocked out and hanging by a string. I rushed home (I had been at work, Monty called me) and then rushed her to the dentist where they put the tooth back in hoping that it would tighten up and come out again a few years later. Well that did not happen-she was TWO-it ended up falling back out that night and so she has had a hole there for 5 years still waiting on the permanent tooth. Luckily it is on the side and not the front so most people never notice and it has never bothered her. She now has her first official loose tooth now-and it is loose naturally:).
Well, a few days ago, Keslee and Kalysa were playing cowgirls and riding stick horses all around the house. Since we do not officially have any stick horses, they made their own with golf clubs tied to a belt for the reins. We have a few golf clubs that the kids are allowed to play with and then we have daddy's clubs. They know which ones they can play with-although I don't have a clue-so I assumed they had "their" clubs. Apparently I was wrong and when daddy saw what was transpiring he told them to put his clubs up instantly. Knowing that they were in trouble, they were both quick to obey. Kalysa had ahold of the reins and as she tried to hurriedly dismount her stead, the head of that horse/club swung up and popped her in the mouth effectively knocking out her bottom front tooth. I have mentioned before that we are not a family of early tooth losers. I did not loose my first tooth until I was seven and Kenyon was the same way. Keslee just turned 7 in April and now has her first loose tooth. Kalysa has never mentioned a tooth feeling loose or hurting when she eats an apple of anything so I never considered checking hers. When I first looked in her mouth to check out the damage, I thought that she had knocked her tooth back because there was a tooth there but upon closer inspection I noticed that the tooth was quiet a bit larger than any of her baby teeth-By George-her permanent tooth was already taking it's place. That baby tooth was ready to come out anyway and a new tooth was well on it way into that space! It was a relief to know that she was not gonna be toothless (at least in one hole) for a year or more waiting on the arrival of a tooth that was not prepared to appear yet but I really would like her to try the normal way from now on. You know...discover a loose tooth...feel so grown up because your baby teeth are ready to come out...spend days wiggling it with your fingers...finally it is loose enough that you constantly wiggle it with your tongue... finally it is just hanging on by a string but still be terrified to just pull it....daddy threaten to yank it the rest of the way out...scream and cry with dread...have dad come at ya with the pliers...not open her mouth around dad at all for fear he will grab...to finally feel something floating around in your mouth and discover that the last tiny string finally broke and freed you tooth. Yeah! Why can't my girls do something like that like us normal people?

My First Homeschool Graduate!!

I am so happy to announce that we have officially graduated our first homeschool graduate!! Kenyon and Keslee were both in public school during kindergarten and they had a whole graduation ceremony. We have their graduation pictures hanging in our hallway. One of the girls from our church is now a homeschool high school graduate and she is really interested in photography. She got a job at the Target portrait studio and gave us a coupon to come in and have her take our pictures to help her with her training. We still have Keslee's cap from her graduation and the church has blue baptism robes so we took the opportunity to get Kalysa's graduation pictures done and complete our hall wall art.

She was soooo proud-she even wore her cap to church on Sunday night!

We've made it this far!! Only 3 more graduations to go!