And The "Made My Day" Award Goes To.....

WOW! I've been given this award by TWO fabulous friends, Kuckie (over at "A Simpler Life") and Teresa (aka: Logzie; who now has a private blog), and I am truly honored! Of course, Kuckie and Logzie are wonderful wives and moms and are on my "favorite list" of blogs that I'm addicted to reading.
Kuckie and I have the exact same leather couch (Great minds do think alike after all! haha) and she is living in my dream home: a log home, on acreage! That is our future goal, to someday have our own log home, so she is my go-to-gal for questions about log home living. :) She is a wife, and mother of two. She has a daughter who loves animals! She literally is always finding a new critter to adopt, and isn't the least bit afraid to pick up toads or anything else she finds. Kuckie also has an adorable little boy, who is sooo cute, and loves to help her cook! (reminds me of my own boys!) We have a lot in common. Oh and she is into healthy foods and always has great recipe ideas! (Yea!!! I just wish she lived closer so I could sample some of these amazing foods that she posts pictures of!)
Teresa (aka: Logzie) is a fellow Okie, but has moved up north. She is the most hilarious woman ever! I swear this girl should be writing comedy, just based off of her own everyday life. She is always getting into some kind of crazy predicament and knows just how to tell the story, to have everyone laughing out loud! She is a wife, and mother of three: a son and two girls. They are so smart, and absolutely adorable. She definitely has her hands full with juggling everyday life/chores (but this is where she gets some of her best/funniest stories!), and she places her faith in God and always makes it through with flying colors. She has also become a very dear friend through e-mail. When I was going through appraisal school, she would pray with me before my tests, and encouraged me every step of the way. I don't know what I'd do without ya girlfriend! :)

Thank you girls! You're both amazing women, and I'm honored to call you friends.

Now I want to pass on this Award to another fellow blogger who makes my day, everyday! And the "Made My Day" Award goes to........

Keepin Up with the Joneses: Jen over at Keepin Up with the Joneses has been making my day for years! Jen and I worked together about 10 years ago, and quickly became best friends. We would meet at the local gym and workout together before work, we also worked at the same bank, and then we would usually try to have lunch together or hang out together any chance we got. We were like long lost sisters or something, Absolutely inseparable! Good thing our husbands got along too! haha They basically didn't have a choice! :) So after I moved away, Jen and I kept in contact through letters and phone calls. We have made an effort to always stay in touch, and she is actually the one who talked me into starting a blog, so that we could keep in touch easier. See, it's all her fault! haha Plus Jen is the absolute sweetest friend I've ever had. I can be having a horrible day, and then WHAM I get a hilarious Card in the mail from Jen. I can't count the number of times she has surprised me with a card, letter, gift, phone call, text or something! She is always surprising me and making my day. I just hope that I can someday repay her for everything she has done for me, and for the blessing of her friendship. Anyway, go check out her blog. She is the most down-to-earth, honest, country girl you'll ever know..haha Love ya Jen!!!! :)
Or check out her other Blog at: P90XJourney Her and her handsome hubby are losing weight together. She has come a long way! I'm so proud of her!!!! Way to go Jen!!!!

There are so many wonderful blogs out there. I wish I had time to talk about each one of my favorites, but I have two sleepy boys here who are begging me to read them some stories. So, just look over on the side, to see ALL of my favorite blogs. Just BEWARE...once you start reading them, you'll be addicted to! :)

Afternoon on the Lake

We decided to take the boys and the boat to the lake yesterday afternoon. We had to go by the store first, and buy them a tube. They were super excited!
Here is my "cool dude" on the way...I was trying to keep this sleepy-head awake! haha

Daddy was our "driver/mechanic" for the day. We got there, and got the boat/trailer in the water, and the boat wouldn't start. So Stephen had to do some mechanic work on it. Finally he got it running. Whew! I was really getting worried. But I shouldn't have been, because he's good at stuff like that! :) Since he's the only one who knows how to drive the boat, he was our driver all day. He drove the boat, pulling the boys in the tube, while I watched them and told him when they were ready to stop (which was basically never! haha). Levi and Seth rode together, and then Levi rode by himself, and then I rode with Seth while Levi was the look-out. The new tube is really big, and was a lot of fun! Then after they were finally done for a little bit, we stopped and dropped anchor and swam for awhile.

Here are the boys tubing.

Look Mom, No hands! :)

We stopped to swim, and turned the tube over and tied it to the boat, so the boys could jump off of it into the water.

Here is Seth..he was a little scared, so Daddy had to hold him hand when he would jump in (I was in the water to catch him).


Levi was having a lot fun, and thought it would be ever more fun to see Mommy do it! haha Talk about hard to get balanced on that thing, and then jump in! haha It was a lot of fun though! :)

Here is our future navy seal! haha :) He loves to swim! When he's swimming in our pool he doesn't even need his life jacket anymore. He swims like a little fish, and spends most of his time swimming underwater with his goggles on. He LOVES swimming!

After all of this fun, Stephen hooked up the ski rope and let me water ski for awhile. I forgot how much fun that is, and a great workout! Poor Stephen didn't even get in the water all day...he spent all of his time working on different things on the boat...or driving us around. Guess I'm going to have to learn how to drive the boat, so he can have some fun to. But his back was sunburned from working outside the day before, so he didn't want to be in the sun with a life jacket on anyway. Needless to say, we all had a fun afternoon, and really enjoyed the afternoon out at the lake. :)

Levi, day after the Rodeo

Of course after being at the Rodeo, both boys played with their ropes all day the next day. They even talked their Daddy into getting down his old 'kid saddle' out of the attic, and putting it on their roping bull, so they could pretend to ride. They played "cowboys" all day!

Rodeo!

We decided to take the boys for a night out, to the Rodeo! Boy, were they excited! Levi was right in his element! haha :) Just look at the smile on this face.

While waiting for the Rodeo to start, we decided to take the boys down for a Pony Ride. Talk about making Levi's whole night. He was on Cloud Nine!

The boys loved watching the cowboys ride the bulls. Seth even told me that night before bed "Mommy, when I grow up, I was to be in the Rodeo and ride bulls!" haha He's about a mean as a bull, so I imagine he could take them on! haha :)

The boys were glued!

The cowboys were playing "Cowboy Poker". The boys thought this was funny!

Look at this excited little face...the constant smile on his face was worth every penny! :)

The boys really got a kick out of this Rodeo Clown. :)

Hair

Ok, I couldn't stand my roots anymore....
My husband actually noticed and said "you need to get your hair done", then a friend of mine said something about my roots also...so I thought "fine, ok, ok, I'll go get my hair done" hahaaa..
I had my stylist put in highlights and lowlights to match my natural color. I think it turned out good, and it toned down my overall blonde color (at the ends). Then I had her trim my ends and shape my cut a little, since it has grown so much since I had it cut back in March. I love it..to bad it doesn't just stay this way forever! hahaa :)

Boys & Mud.....

Ok, being the "girl" that I am....when the boys asked me "Mom, it quit raining, can we go outside and play now?" I said "ok, just make sure to wear your old shoes". I'm thinking they may go out there and make mud pies or build mud castles....but never in my wildest dreams did I think this is what they meant......

Boys think so much differently than girls.....they were literally out there wrestling in the mud. Yuk!!! I sprayed them off with the water hose, much to their delight....then I made them come inside and immediately put their clothes in the wash and threw them in the shower.

They sure had fun though, and I got my appraisal finished, so I guess that's all that really matters. When I went to check on them, and was greeted with this image, I cracked up laughing and immediately grabbed my camera...guess it's true...Boys will be Boys! haha :)

Cowboys & Indians

Our boys LOVE old westerns! Especially old Audie Murphy or John Wayne Westerns...we like most of them to, because they are clean and we don't have to worry about the boys hearing bad language or seeing something they shouldn't. Anyway, because of their love for westerns, they love to play Cowboys & Indians. So they were playing outside yesterday and came running to me with a stick and a rock, and said "Mom, we found Arrow Heads, and some spears to tie them to!" I didn't have any leather strips to tie them on with, so I improvised and taped them on with packing tape! haha Of course I had to give them rules about what they could and couldn't do with these new spears.... haha

Here they are...they don't have a horse so they were pretending their 4-wheeler was their horse and they were the Indians. haha






Here is a close up of their spears. Hey it kept them entertained so that I could finish the appraisal I was working on. haha :)

Happy Father's Day!

The boys couldn't wait, so they gave Daddy his Father's Day gifts on Friday morning. He loved them, even though they were just basic necessities like socks, house shoes, etc. But hey, he needed them! So he was thankful. :)
Then Daddy got called into work on Saturday morning, and I had 3 appraisals to do that morning also. So I dropped the kids off at his work on my way to my first appt. They played computer games at his desk, and watched Saturday morning cartoons, and then on of the people Daddy works with, brought them each a happy meal for lunch, so they had a good time. I finished up about the same time Stephen finished up. So we came home, let the kids jump in the pool, and we relaxed the rest of the evening.
Sunday I made us eggs, turkey bacon, and toast for breakfast. Then we got ready for Church. After church we went out for lunch. Then we went to a new Sporting Good store that just opened and bought Daddy some new Running Shoes! :) After all of this, we came home and I called my Daddy to wish him a Happy Father's day. Then we all jumped in the pool. We had a wonderful, relaxing evening.
Happy Fathers Day Daddy, Papa, and Papaw!!!! We Love You!!!

Summer Break...break; break for who?!

With Summer here, the boys are keeping me BUSY! haha
On Sunday Levi graduated at church from one "Kids Church" for ages 3-Kindergarten, up to the next level for 1st-6th grades. I couldn't believe he is old enough to be in a different class from his brother again, and was actually worried about how Seth would take it. He did good though. It will be good for him I think. Anyway, Levi got to walk across the stage back there, and they awarded him with a Completion Certificate and also a Real Kid-Bible. It is really great! He was so excited!
Then this week has been a roller coaster. My hubby has been working lots of Over Time this week, and I'm trying to keep the boys busy and out of trouble. We've been to the library, movie rental store, shopping, doing crafts, swimming, watching movies, playing games, coloring, etc etc etc. I'm ready for a break! haha (Which hopefully I will get on Saturday when I go do more appraisals.)
Speaking of appraisals, last Saturday I did 3 appraisals all within just a few miles of each other. Woo-Hoo! It was perfect and great for the gas mileage! haha It took me half of the day, but it was Great and I loved it! I wrote up my reports and got them sent to Ken this week. He proofed them and sent me any corrections. Well, the last one I turned in, he only changed 1 tiny thing! that was it!!! That was my BEST one EVER! Since I'm still learning there are usually a page full of corrections, but they have been getting better and better each time...and this one was the closest to perfect that I've gotten so far! I was Ecstatic!!!! Woo-Hoo!!!!! So I'm looking forward to doing some more this Saturday, and getting a break from my very energetic boys! haha :)
Anyway, I just wanted ya'll to know we are all alive and well, just very busy with summer being here. I'll update when I can.
Later! :)

Kindergarten Graduation!

I took Levi to school, since I had to get there early to help finish setting things up in the gym. Here is his picture. He was all dressed up, and looking adorable and so grown up!




Here is Levi marching into the gym with his class. He was trying very hard not to smile! haha



See Levi there, in the shirt/tie? He has his tongue shoved in his cheek, trying not to smile. They sang two songs for us, and then the school principal said a few words. The she called each student's name, and they marched past the school superintendent and got to shake his hand when he handed them their diploma (well, actually just a rolled up piece of colored paper that looked like a diploma).





Going to the back of the gym, where they got the present from their teachers, along with cupcakes and juice. He didn't eat his cupcake because he said "I didn't want it because it was chocolate." haha :) (we're not chocolate lovers around here). They did this while the parents sat and watched a picture video of the kindergarten year. It was very cute!






Here is our row of family. Stephen's parent's and sister came down for the day. My parents came to the graduation but mom had to get to a business meeting, and my dad had to get back home to get things prepared for the Wednesday night church service. Levi came to show us all of his goodies.



Here is Levi with his Most FAVORITE teacher! He didn't want school to be over, because he said he wanted to stay in her class forever! :) After this, we went down to his classroom and got his REAL diploma and his kindergarten report card.




I took Levi's picture with Nana and Papa before they had to leave.



When we got home, I got lunch started, and Levi opened his presents. We got him some books to read this summer, and also a Jumpstart 1st Grade Computer game.



Granny and Papaw got him a TY Bear that has a backpack on and it has "school rocks" written on it's feet. They also got him this awesome Graduation Picture Frame.



They of course just had to get Seth something too...couldn't leave little brother out! haha So Seth got a TY Bear also. It is so soft! He loves it, and even slept with it! I don't think it has left his side yet!


After all of this, we had lunch and relaxed/visited/played with the boys. It was a wonderful day!

school is almost out!

Today was Levi's last full day of Kindergarten. Tomorrow he only goes for half a day, and then Wednesday he goes for Kindergarten graduation and as soon as it's over he gets to come home with us. He is so excited! He had a great day today, and as soon as I picked him up, he talked my ear off the whole way home! haha (don't know who he gets that from...shhhh...don't ask Stephen or he will tell you Levi gets it from me... haha)
Anyway, he is really excited about being out of school for the whole summer. He can't wait for graduation to get here. I'll be sure to take pictures to share with you. I can't believe my firstborn is about to graduate from Kindergarten. It seems like yesterday when I was enrolling him, and so worried about if he would be able to keep up since he turned 5 the week before kindergarten started. But alas, here we are...at the end of the school year, and he has done GREAT! His teacher told me that he is right on track, and is a great reader/speller and is really really great at math! I'm astounded that he can read and write, plus tell time, add/subtract, count to 100+, etc. He has grown and matured so much this year. I'm so proud of him!!!! Way to go Levi!!!!