Thankfulness Blog

Today I am thankful for old friendships that do not die simply because you are in a different season of life. Enough said!

Thankfulness Blog - Week #3

Today, I am thankful for my parents. I have the best parents in the world. They have never let me down and are my biggest supporters, encouragers, and friends. Not everyone has a great relationship with their parents. I am thankful for two loving parents who love me no matter what. I have been blessed with two super role models of success in their careers, in their families, and in their church. Thankful for you on this day Mom and Dad!

30 Days of Thankfulness - my girls!

Today, I am thankful for my girlfriends. I have a core group of girls who are some of my best friends. We pick up right where we left off. When life happens and you need someone to lean on, these are my go to gals. I love them so much and I am thankful that God has put these godly women in my life. Seasons come and seasons go, friends come in and out of your life. But these girls are lifetime friends. Amy, Steph, Mags, Aimee, Rach, and Nee Nee - love you girls so much and wouldn't trade the world for you! Thanks for your friendship!!!!

30 Days of Thankfulness Blog - Freedom

Today I am thankful for my freedom, specifically I am thankful for all of those who have served in the military to assure my freedoms in this great country. I am thankful for those who served the ultimate price of their lives and for those who have come back wounded with memories we will never understand. I am thankful for my Grandpa who was a life-long soldier and for my Dad who served in the Air Force. I am thankful for the rights that I may take forgranted each day that was bought at a price.

30 Days of Thankfulness

Today, as I was driving to work with my boys, we began talking about the beautiful trees that are changing colors. We pointed out the yellow ones, the gold ones, the orange ones, the brown ones, and the red ones. Jack asked me why trees change colors. Caleb shouted out before I could answer, "So God can teach you your colors!". Great response K-man. Yes, today I am thankful for the beautiful masterpiece God has put in front of us to live in - the world. Do you take the time to notice? Thank you Lord, that you reminded me of your greatness through the observations of my children! :)

Thankfulness Blog Week #2

I am thankful for my children. They light up my world around me and make me feel young. I hope that one day they will remember their childhood and think we did an ok job. It is a huge undertaking to guide and teach children to become good human beings. I am thankful that they remind me to laugh when I have had a hard day. I am thankful that they remind me that you are only young once, so you better embrace it. I am thankful that they love me and I am thankful that God entrusted those little guys to my care here on earth. I love my sweet boys and am so thankful that they made me a mom!

Thankfulness blog

Today, I am thankful for my family. I am thankful that I have a loving family that supports each other no matter what. I am thankful that as the stress of the holidays approach, my stress relates to how I am going to fit everyone in and not how am I going to get along with someone. I am blessed with wonderful in-laws who love me and accept me. Not everyone can say the same. I am thankful for a family who loves each other.

30 Days of Thankfulness #2

Today, I am thankful for my campus community - my job. Today, OSU-OKC will remember our President, Dr. Jerry Carroll who passed away last week of cancer. Our campus will miss him greatly. But as we reflect, and begin this time of transition, I am thankful for the community that we are. It' not going to be easy - it will definitely be painful. However, God placed each of us on this campus at this time to make a difference. I am thankful that I work at a wonderful place where the goal is to make a difference in someone's life - from the top down.

30 Days of Thankfulness

So, I was challenged by a fellow classmate to join him in blogging 30 days of Thankfulness. It seems like a great idea. However, I am late. Oh well...better late than never.

Today I am thankful that my husband and I can provide for my family. I joined some fellow colleagues at the Hope Luncheon at the Regional Food Bank. It was a very powerful experience. I have never been hungry. I mean the true hunger where your belly hurts so bad you cry. Sure, I have had to fast for medical procedures like getting my wisdom teeth out and it wasn't fun. But, I knew that as soon as I could eat, there would be food available. This is not everyone's reality - and I am talking right here in Oklahoma! Not in Africa or some other far away country - right here! I am thankful that my children do not have to worry about only getting one meal a day or maybe no food at all. I am thankful that I don't have to worry about my one year old failing to thrive because he is starving to death. I am thankful that God opened my eyes to the needs of people right here in my community! And, I am thankful that He touched my heart to try and make a difference. Yes, I am thankful Lord, for the blessing of the life that has been chosen for me.

Catchin' up

Well, well, well...It's April! Can't believe it!

Lots of stuff goin' on in the Casa de Pendleton. Kman is now 7!!! I. Know. Un-be-lieve-able! He is very proud of 7 and it is now his new "favorite"number. I am beginning to see a trend of a new number after every birthday. Speaking of Kman...Wy-Boy thinks his big brother is hilarious. Nobody makes that kiddo laugh like his big brother. I am talking big 'ol belly laughs...the kind that makes you start to giggle and laugh too. In bigger news, K-man made the decision to ask Jesus into his heart. He prayed the prayer with Daddy and then promptly stated, "I ain't goin' to hell!" I am so proud of him as he continues to grow. I love, love, love hearing his sweet little voice praising the Lord. It makes my heart smile! *sigh*

J-Dub is a riot people. He is also onery as sin and can take his big brother out. (Mostly because K-man knows he will be in trouble if he retaliates!) Last night I was reading the book "I'll love you forever!" because that's what Mom's do...we read the book 100 times, even though they could read it to us by memory. At the end of the story, a sweet little two year old voice said, "Mama, I love you forever." Ahhhh...my heart melts....*sigh*

Wy-Boy is sitting up all by himself. He will sit in his exocsaucer or in the floor and play. That is, until he no longer wants to be by himself...then I sit in the floor with him while he plays. The sweetest look is when I come by and his little blue eyes light up and he raises his arms up waiting for me to pick him up. Makes this Mama's day....*sigh*.

God continues to bless me each day with these little men. Thank you for sharing them with me God!

A little of this and a little of that...

I can't believe Wy-boy has cut a tooth! I am going to try and get a picture of it, but so far, it has been near impossible! We have had so much snowy and icy weather here. It has been unbelievable. You would think we lived further north or something! Right now, big huge snowflakes are falling and the ground is covered. I hope it doesn't start getting slick!

The boys are doing awesome and are continuing to keep us busy. Wy-Boy has mastered rolling over and also has a peculiar little way of pushing his legs underneath him to scoot across the floor. You can see he is figuring things out and I know it is only a matter of time before he is truly mobile. K-man is busy with school and is almost finished with his 22 lists of sight words! Thank goodness! He is reading very well and I am so proud of him! J-Dub is a mess! We still are working on potty training, though I must admit, I need to be more diligent. He still doesn't tell me all the time when he has to potty. Frustrating!! He is a joy and I love it when he says..."Mama, u pwetty!" Awwwww... :)

We are looking forward to spring and all the fun times that are around the corner. I will post pics soon!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We welcome you 2010!

So far, it's been bitterly cold and several of the gifts from Santa are sitting in the garage because it is just too darn cold to do anything outside! We still have a good amount of snow in our front yard from the "Blizzard 2009" escapade on Christmas Eve. I have never seen horizontal snow, but I did on that day. Alot of it! It changed all of our plans, but I was thankful for my boys and a warm house to cuddle in for the night.

My stinky boys are doing great. K-man is attempting to get back into the swing of school even though it was cancelled today due to power outages. J-Dub is an onery little thing. It is hard not to laugh when he sasses, but we are making him mind and attempting to teach him respect. Potty training has its moments. Still not there, but getting closer. I. Hate. Poopy. Diapers. No kidding, especially from him! :) My little Wy-Wy is growing like a weed. He weighs 15 lbs and has started eating rice cereal. I know this will make him a chunky monkey! Smiles all the time and melts my heart...he sho' does! AND...he gave me an early Christmas present of sleeping through the night!!! Makes a world of difference people!

I am enjoying not having any class assignments to turn in or papers to write or sitting through a lecture. Ahhh...bliss. However, I do believe that I will be applying for a doctorate program this spring with the hopes to begin my coursework in the fall. Who knows, one day you may be addressing me by Dr. Pendleton. I will accept Doc....

Other than that, we are trying very hard to eat healthy and somewhere in there start a workout routine. I have no choice if I want to keep up with these stinky boys! :)

Rites of passage

Yes I'm back after a few months of rest! Our new little Wy-boy made it here in September. He is precious and my labor was uneventful. No kidding...two hours from the doctor's appointment we had the newest member of the Stinky Boys Club. Two pushes people!!!

We have seen some interesting moments this fall with the kiddos. K-man learned how to ride his bike and this week he has learned his 120th sight word. He is reading up a storm and does a great job sounding out words. He is a great big brother to J-Dub and keeps him occupied, even if the fussing drives us crazy at times.

J-Dub is a riot! He is onery for sure. His latest and greatest is being able to chew gum for at least thirty minutes without swallowing it. We have started potty training. Ugh! Not quite as successful to this point, but he is still pretty young. He has his moments, but he is so darn cute you can't help but smile. Elvis lived this Halloween through this little guy.

Wy-boy is growing, growing, growing and giving lots of smiles and coos to his Mama and Daddy. He weighs over 12 lbs now! WOW!!!! We only get up once at night and that makes Mama pretty happy. It sho does!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We are thankful for our family, for our freedom, and for the blessings the Lord has given us!

Swim lessons video....

I finally have included video of K-man at swim lessons. It was amazing how everything changed this summer for him with swimming. We had "Meet the Teacher" night tonight and his 1st grade teacher is Ms. Suffield. I think he is going to have a great year. It is hard to believe that he starts first grade on Thursday. He is not a baby anymore. The boys are doing great in their bunk beds. And, they really are enjoying playing with each other. Not sure how Wy-boy will get along with all the noise, but I guess he will manage. Not much longer....

It's Official....

I finished my last class last night!!!! WOO HOO!!!!

I am an official graduate of Oklahoma State University and have my Masters of Science in Educational Leadership Studies with a higher education emphasis! Woo...that's a mouthful.

Guess what this means???? I am officially going to start "reading for fun" again! Any suggestions on where I should start??? I don't think I know what I am going to do with myself over the next year....oh yeah....I am having a baby here in about six to seven weeks! Shah....no problem! The way I look at it is I have a year to clear my brain before the doctorate cohort starts in Fall 2010! Baby Shmaby...I'm superwoman!

PS Thank you to my wonderful husband, parents, and sister who supported me through this endeavor including: keeping the kids while I was in class, taking the kids away so I could work, holding down the homefires while I worked with group projects, etc. You get the picture. Couldn't have done it without 'em. Thanks family. I. Love. You.

PSS Thanks Jana for always letting me call you after class and chat while I drove home!!! Love you the most! :)

Summer 09

Summer tuition for camp....$500

Swim lessons....$25

Swim shirt.....$10

Your 6 year old finally jumping in with eyes open and swimming under water....PRICELESS!!!!

FINALLY!!!! K-man is loving to swim! Hopefully, I can get pics and video this weekend!

Peace out!

The Great Adventure Begins - K-man and J-Dub get bunk beds!

Yes. People. Your prayers were answered!

The bunk beds were constructed this weekend, the room was thoroughly rearranged and cleaned out, and the official beginning of what I have termed as "The Great Adventure" has begun. It began a little shaky in the construction department...

When Daddy and Papa started pulling all the pieces out to construct the beds, one of the headboards was broken. Never fear...Mama's here! I loaded it up and back to Mathis Brothers aka "Matches Brothers" as K-man likes to call it to replace the broken piece. Once I returned (with Sonic drinks for my men), the bottom bed was finished and Daddy had just about lost his patience of keeping the excited duo OUT of the room. Now Mama was home to put these excited lads to work. What better way than to use the new Spiderman sheets!

As Daddy and Papa continued their quest for the ultimate bunk bed building, the boys and I took out their new sheets and boy were they cool! Then, we put them in the washer because they were very stiff!!! ( I don't think K-man understood why we had to wash these, but he should be happy his Mama was raised right!!). Finally, I called my sister and she whisked the boys away for a playdate at Aunt Staci's while Mama and Mamaw did some major cleaning aka Operation Toy Sweep. We made it through the boys room and cleaned out J-Dub's old closet to get ready for Wy-boys new nursery. Of course, we did not complete our task in the nursery. But it is started and is a work in progress.

We picked the boys up from Aunt Staci's around 6:00 and K-man shot to his "new" room!!! This was the best bed/fort/clubhouse ever! And let me just tell you, J-Dub has no problem with that ladder. His favorite words right now is..."I climb." They spent the rest of the evening playing in their room. Here. is. the. good. part.

9:00pm Read books to the boys in the bottom bunk, pray, kisses, turn the light out, cross our fingers, and wait...

9:15pm Giggles abound while two little boys who play all day together discover the fine art of sharing a room, and we wait...

9:17pm K-man begins to get sleepy, J-Dub keeps saying, "Night Bubba!" and then proceeds to get out of bed (for the first time). Here we go.... Daddy puts J-Dub back in bed and comes back to the living room laughing. K-man tells his Daddy, "Dad, J-Dub keeps talking to me and making noises while I am trying to fall asleep." Eric tells him just to ignore him.

9:20pm We hear the pitter patter of little feet, Daddy looks at their doorway to see two bright blue eyes and a giant smile in the doorway of their room. Daddy gets up and J-Dub shoots back to bed!

9:30 K-man calls for Mama. I go in and he says J-Dubs crying. I sit by him on his bed and tell him it is time for night night. He rolls over and ten minutes later I am back in the living room watching t.v. with the hubby with two sleeping boys in their new bunkbeds!

1:30 am K-man is whimpering...he has to go to the bathroom and can't get down because we put up the ladder to keep J-Dub where he was supposed to be. I connect the ladder, help him down and check on little guy. He is not in his bed. I ask K-man where is Bubba. He tells me he went in the living room. I go in the living room and he is groggy with this fingers in this mouth. Pick him up, put him back to bed, all is well.

6:30am (No typo here!) I awake to a LOUD whisper..."Daddy, I am awake (because that's how it works you see....they go to Daddy's side of the bed! :) ) I open my eyes to Daddy's giggle of K-man and just a little lower right beside him....J-Dub. Now, Mama is smart...I told K-man to go turn on the t.v. and push 172 for Disney. That only lasted five minutes because I forgot to make the stinking chocolate milk!!! :)

Night #2
8:30 Read books, pray, kisses, yada yada yada, lights out

9:00 J-Dub falls asleep.

6:30am I wake the boys up to start the day.

Not bad for transition....

July 4th...

We had a relaxing 4th of July weekend! K-man spent the night with his cousin, Code-man, and J-Dub had a chance to visit for a little while. Little guy is still too little to get to spend the night at Aunt B's. He felt better after we told him we were going to get ice cream though.
Me: "J-Dub we are going to get ice cream. Just you....Bubba doesn't get to go."
J-Dub with fists pumped in the air and a sly grin, "YES!" Too funny that kid!

Nesting is upon us. I have officially decided it is time to get the house ready much to Eric's dismay. The honeydo lists hits the fridge tonite! :)

Too Good Not to Share

WARNING: If you're squimish about stories about poop...stop reading...but do note, it's not a graphic story.

Eric and the boys (aka Stinky Boys Club) met my father-in-law on Tuesday night to take their Grampa out for dinner for a belated Father's Day Celebration. Of course, in true K-man fashion, as soon as the dinner had been served, K-man had to go to the bathroom. (This is Eric's responsibility since society seems to think only Women's Bathroom can have changing stations, the tradeoff is once they are potty-trained, Eric takes them! See how that works.... :) ). Anyway...

Once they get into the bathroom, Eric asks K-man if he has to pee or poop. Of course, K-man has to poop. Eric said we were in there forever, I mean a looooonnngg time. Eric told K-man,

"K-man, you have to hurry. We haven't even been able to see Grampa very long cause we are in here. You need to do a "speedpoop"!" (I don't know...that's what he said.)

K-man looked at his Daddy and in his most serious voice said,

"Daddy, that's not my superpower! That's not the kind of superhero I am!" Eric threw his head back and laughed. K-man bathroom stories....always good for a good laugh. Happy weekend!

Caught you!

J-Dub wants to be just like his brother. This includes every activity that K-man does, J-Dub is fast on his heels. Currently, K-man is into writing stories and drawing pictures. Great for the mind and the creativity. One problem...K-man forgets to put up his markers and the attached photo is the result! J-Dub draws all over himself and in this case made the water grey when we washed off the "washable markers".

We will be moving little brother into big brother's room soon. First, we have to shift and remove all the stuff (to keep this g-rated!) that has accumulated in big brother's room over the years. K-man is pretty pumped about sleeping in the top bunk of the bunk beds. We shall see how this all goes. Pray for us people, bars are nice to keep J-Dub where he is supposed to be in the middle of the night. I am sure we will hear the pitter patter of little feet out of bed quite frequently.

I have made it through the dreaded intercession class! Thank goodness. It about killed us (collectively, the entire class). I have never been so glad to have something finished in my life. I am in the last 8 week stretch and then I will have completed all my coursework. Pray for me to make it through July 31st!!!!

We visited Aunt Jana in Dallas. It was too much fun! She took us swimming at her workout pool and a great dinner at Uncle Julios! Yummy! Their new house is awesome and the boys enjoyed playing football in the backyard (with their Dallas Cowboy footballs!). It is H-O-T, hot here! Swimming pools are in the future. Stay cool!