A dragon, a princess and a lot of rain...

After being water logged in the house all day we had exhausted our normal activities and had to bust out the princess castle tent. Knowing my children have a flair for drama, costumes were a must and the "mini fairytale" that followed...well just watch. There are 3 videos but I will only make you watch one...

Never fear...in videos 2 and 3 the princess slays the dragon herself (once with her wand- wackt to the face, and once with a sword- kind of...) And everyone lived happily ever after!

Vacation Pics (finally)

I know, we went on vacation the first week of July and I am just getting the pics up..better late than never, right? The whole family went to Cabo San Lucas for a few days and loved every minute of it! The kids LOVED swimming and eating all day- who doesn't?! Brayden would live on the beach if he could, Kennedy on the other hand is a pool kind of gal. She performed for a big crowd singing and dancing) on stage 2 ngihts with Brayden coaching her from the side of the stage. He was Mr Dare devil trying to crash the waves. We found Kennedy's inner diva (you will see in the sunglass picture) and Brayden's ability to SOAR through the air above the pool (good thing Papaw, dad and Uncle Dusty like to play catch!) Needless to say, we are ready to go back!

Other updates:
We are trying to sell our house and move north. We are tired of the OKC-Edmond commute... so say a little prayer for that. Brayden started tee ball this week. His first game is Thursday. This should be entertainment at its finest! I know I am proud mama, but he hhas a pretty good little swing! OC is back in action so Chance has been running like crazy. He started the MBA program this summer and is teaching an adjunct class as well. Sonshine School kicks off Tuesday so we are about to get back into some kind of routine. My youngest cousin plays football for Pitt State in Kansas so we are trekking that way several weekends to watch him play (GO GORILLAS!) I have started the quest for Halloween costumes...last year she was a fairy and he was a pirate so I want to branch out alittle this year. Let me know if you see something cute. My website is finally finished and ready to go! Thanks to everyone who has been checking it out. I have added a few Halloween items and I am starting on Christmas very soon. And just in case you are a bargain hunter...the Pass It On consignment sale is this weekend (www.passitonkids.com.) I think that gets us up to speed!

WAY BEHIND (and my new website)

SO, when I started this little "blogging venture" I thought it would be a great way to show off our bambinos and stay caught up with everyone else...what I found out was- life happens. As you can see my weekly/monthly blogging has quickly gone to a post every 3 months!

We have made a lot of trips to the zoo, Omniplex and to Uncle Dusty's pool, not to mention the blow up monster pool in our backyard. Of course that all takes place in between the torrential rain!! We also took a family vacation to Cabo San Lucas earlier this month with my parents, grandma and brother-FUN! (pictures to follow in the next blog.)

My parents and grandmother have successfully made the move to Edmond and we are about to put our house on the market so we don't have to make the big commute everyday into Edmond. In the middle of all of that I have opened my own online boutique featuring custom artwork and accessories for kids. www.doodledesignshop.com It is still under construction but if you visit you will see a few of my designs and can quickly access my Etsy store (which is filling in while I work on the website.) If the link works...you can see some of the listings I have on Etsy from the blog...or check out my etsy store directly at http://doodledesigns.etsy.com.

There will be a TON of pictures and video in my next post (that was your warning!!)

Brayden turns 4!!!!

Ahoy there matey- Pirate Parties ahead!

May 5th our little guy turned 4! Where does the time go? Of course we had to drag the birthday festivities out for several weeks, having several parties and a LOT of pirate cookies...AARRGGHH! (My first attempt at actual cookie decoration I might add...)

We moved his parties (we had a family cook out and our first "kid" party) back a week beacuse of rain. But we had to do something on his actual birthday so we got up and opened presents, ate pirate birthday cookies and then partied at Incredible Pizza with Papaw and Lainey. Pirate cookies again on Tuesday when we celebrated at Sonshine School....

Birthday Act II- Kid party!! The next Saturday we invited a few kids from school to a Pirate Party in our backyard. Of course I went overboard and planned "centers" (the teacher comes out in me too often), had a mini lunch and more pirate cookies. Brayden insisted on wearing his Pirate costume from halloween but had the typical birthday breakdown during the party. Uncle Dusty bought him the enormous pool/waterpark and some kiddos stayed after for the grand opening swim...it was a big hit! THANKS Uncle Dusty!!

That evening the family came over for a cookout...more food and more presents. It was a great (and exhausting) day. In a blink of an eye my little guy went from a pacifier baby to PIRATE! Enjoy every minute...they pass too quickly!

Caching up....

Hippity Hoppity...a little late!

Well, I am a little behind on my blogging so here is a recap of the past few weeks...

This was the first year that both kids dyed Easter eggs. They LOVED it but they also prefered to use thier hands instead of spoons to fish out the eggs from the dye. Needless to say Kennedy's hands, feet and legs were stained for a day or two. Did I mention she only liked the red dye? She also tried to eat an egg or two... As you remember Easter was frigid but we had fully intended on going to the church egg hunt. The kiddos opted for a swim in Dusty's pool (heated luckily) instead so we just hunted eggs at his house after the swim. That was enough for them.
OTHER VANOVER HAPPENINGS- We are loving spending more time outside and at the zoo. We have started the total yard makeover so the kids have spent a lot of time in the mud lately. Chance laid sod in the backyard, aka the dirt farm, which has been a great change for us. He also has been replacing the siding on the back of the house and dad is helping him build a deck. In the midst of the construction Brayden stepped on a nail- it went straight through his croc. He was very brave (only crawling around when he thought it would pull the needed sympathy) and has healed nicely...no doctor visit needed.

We had a milestone at our house last week. With 2 toddlers we became very lax with the kiddos getting in our bed in the middle of the night. Since everyone is so big we were too crowded and with a little positive reinforcement Brayden now sleeps in his bed all night. Who knew that the incentive of getting WHACK-A-MOLE after 5 consecutive nights was so powerful (so if you have an overwhleming urge to get in a game of whack-a-mole come on over!)

I think that about covers it for now../next up- Brayden turns 4!!!

Lake Tahoe Family Excursion

As most of you know we headed to Lake Tahoe last week with the entire family (cousins and all) totalling about 16 people! We are so blessed to have the family we do. The entire trip went very smoothly, everyone enjoyed the weekend. The kiddos held up very well considering the time change, family overload and lack of adequate naps.

We went sledding, checked out Reno, Donnar's Pass (yes the cannibal adventure site), boated around Lake Tahoe and took in a little tourist action at Heavenly. I will keep the details to that and let the pictures tell the rest. To say the least it was BEAUTIFUL! (We are still going through vacation detox though...) Thanks for keeping us in your prayers as we traveled!

Here it goes....

I just thought I was technologically savvy until I was informed that "everyone" had a mysapce page and a blog but me! So in an attempt to stay savvy here is my newest way to show off our little darlings!

Let me catch you up to speed on the Vanover House....
In January I started teaching at Sonshine School where the kids go on Tuesday and Thursdays. I love it! I get to be with wonderful people and see my kids grow in different ways. Lainey and Papaw have baby goats so we trek to "the farm" often to check on them. The past few weeks we have made a lot of new friends by having playdates with some of my college girlfriends and thier kiddos. Since spring has been peeking out lately, we have spent A LOT of time outside terrorizing insects and playing in the dirt and at the zoo. And lastly, we are embarking on a family vacation, I mean the entire family-cousins and all, to see my aunt & uncle at Lake Tahoe this week. Say a little prayer for the pilot of that plane!!

That about sums it up, but just in case here are a few pictures to fill in the gaps.....

Spring Pictures