30 Days of Being Thankful- Day 4

It's Sunday, which means my hubby and I are watching DVR'd TV shows, and eating popcorn after the kids go to bed, so I figure I'd go ahead and post in between shows.  Today, I'm thankful for my family.  And I'm not just talkin' 'bout my immediate "man clan," but all of them, including the extended ones I never see.  We celebrated the October and November birthdays in our family tonight, and I just love being with my siblings and their families.  It's great to see all of the kids playing and I enjoy laughing and chatting with my big brother and sister.  We celebrated 4 birthdays tonight, and we were also lucky enough to have a few of my cousins and my uncle come over.  I am incredibly blessed to have been born into a family that so strongly believes in the meaning of family.  I witnessed that meaning of family this August when my Dad invited all of the Frick family members that could come to my parents home for a reunion.  I had the chance to meet my Dad's cousins and their children.  I have to say, not only am I related to a bunch of really beautiful people, but it was kind of neat to see so many of us that were "cut from the same cloth."  I celebrate being a member of the Frick family, and I love them all, each and every one!

I'm cutting it short tonight, but I did want to make a disclaimer that I am not putting any of these posts in order of importance, just the particular way I feel that day.  If I would have made this post earlier in the day, I would have said how thankful I am for pumpkin flavored donuts, pizza rolls, Funyuns, and my favorite drink that the Astronauts took to the moon, Tang.  And yes, to answer the question you are already forming in your mind, I eat my feelings.  Today was a rough day, but that's a post for another day...

30 Days of Being Thankful- Day 3

It's late, I'm tired, and for very good reason.  We had nothing really going on today, but we worked our tails off! And today, I am thankful for Todd.  This morning, he took my Suburban to have the oil changed, got his car tags, and brought home donuts.  I did some mending, and decided to clean my car out. While I was cleaning out my car, Todd helped direct the older boys on sweeping out the garage and organized the garage shelving unit.  Then, a little later, we loaded up the kids and grabbed a quick bite and headed off to do our shopping at Sam's.  We all worked to get everything put away, and while I Todd was getting the boys bathed, I did laundry, vacuumed, mopped, cleaned the kitchen, and made up the twins' cribs.  And even now, Todd and I are sitting here watching "Real Sports," I just keep thinking how great he is. 

I have been madly in love with my husband since we were 19, and I am so happy and blessed that I am married to him.  He really is my best friend, and I couldn't imagine my world without him.  I know it sounds really corny, but he completes me.  Where I lack, he picks up the slack.  Todd is the best person you want working beside you, and even though it seems like we can read each other's minds, we are still quite opposite.  He's an amazing Father to our sons, and a really great role model for them.  When the boys don't listen to me, he often champions me in my cause and he can often be heard saying, "Listen to your Mother!" I just can't say enough about how much I love him and just how much he means to me.  When we crawl into bed at night, I say, "I'm so lucky to have you," to which Todd replies, "Yes you are." And for that, I am so lucky to be sealed to him for time and all eternity. 

30 Days of Being Thankful- Day 2

Alright, I wrote a novel last night, so I'll try to keep this one brief.  Today, I'm thankful for my home.  In a few months, my family will have lived in this house (well, owned it) for 20 years.  I'll never forget the night we moved in; my brother, cousin Kyle and I stayed over night BY OUR SELVES while my parents finished packing and cleaning the rent house we were living in.  I was dropped off after a dance (yeah, 12 years old and a middle school dance in the early nineties...good times...), and the 3 of us set up the 2 upstairs bedrooms and bonus area.  We had pizza, soda in a cooler, paper towels, and toilet paper.  This was WAY before cell phones, so if anything happened, we couldn't call anyone.  The boys set up John's room, and played Nintendo way into the night.  I hunkered down and put my room together, and that is where it all started.  I lived here until I got married, then moved into an apartment with Todd, and then we bought a house for our 1 year anniversary.  My parents lived here until 2003, and tried to sell the house, but ended up renting it out for a year.  They approached us about buying the house when Chase was nearly a year old, and we have been here for 7 years now.  It's fun that the boys share my old room, and my older brother's room, and that they've been able to create memories where I had so many.  We have finally started to do some updates, because let's face it, the house is 20 years old! It still functions wonderfully, but things are starting to wear out and 1992 called and wanted it's style back.  While we were gone this Summer, Todd took down the ivy wallpaper in the breakfast nook, which made a HUGE difference, and we had new carpet put in the downstairs (we're going to wait to put nice carpet upstairs until the boys get a little older!) And a few months back we replaced the siding on the house- it's made a huge difference to the look of the house and it's so much warmer/cooler inside! I do have a big list of things I'd like to do to the house before I start back to work when the twins start school (1 1/2 years away...I'm not counting or anything...), but every day I think about how blessed and thankful I am to have not just a house, but a home.  We have a sign that hangs in said breakfast nook that read "Houses are made of bricks and beams, Homes are made of love and dreams," and I really do feel that way about our home.  It may not be brand new or design worthy, but it's comfortable and it's ours, and I love it.

See you all tomorrow!

30 Days of Being Thankful- Day 1

Hey Friends! So, I know I haven't posted in a while, and I know I need to post about the trip to Aspen Grove and the start of the school year, but I have been waiting for November for a long time.  Over the years I've had several friends post what they were thankful for on their blogs, and soon I had more friends posting what they were thankful for on Facebook.  Remember when I did my week long posting challenge back in May? Well, I figured I would post all month long in November to celebrate what I was thankful for.

 Today, I am thankful for my big heart.  2 days ago we had a Mommy cat and her 6 kittens show up at our house.  They were all very slim, but very sweet and friendly.  Todd pulled in the driveway, and they came running up into the garage. So, being the kind people we are, I asked Todd to get out an old dog kennel and I fixed it up for the little family.  We put out milk and water, and they drank until their little bellies were full.  Todd made some phone calls, but no animal shelters were accepting cats at the time. I emailed the head of the Home Owners Association, but no one responded to my email asking if anyone was missing them.  I think the cat's owner just dumped them in our neighborhood expecting someone to take them in.  We would let them out to run around and eat, and my boys just fell in love with each and every one of them. The twins were so good about picking them up, and even the Mommy let Parker carry her around. We kept them in the kennel in our garage that night, and we had almost all of our neighbors on our street come by to visit them the next day.  I gave them the only "cat food" we had around the house- milk and tuna fish... I know, a stereo-type.  We let them out several times during the day and you could see some of their personalities start to emerge, and the Momma cat was so sweet and easy going.  By late afternoon, my boys had given them names- Fluffy (dark gray and fluffy, hence the name), Tigger (orange with stripes and very aggressive), Sweet Pea (light orange with stripes and very cuddly), Shadow (dark gray with stripes, and he liked to sneak up on me and climb up my back), Mittens (fluffy white and gray with white around his feet), and Jinxy (light gray with stripes).  Last night we finally began calling the Mommy cat "Penny," because honestly it just fit her.  This morning before school, a neighbor brought over some cat food, and they all loved it.  Over a 2 day period you could tell the cats were getting bigger, and even though it was a bit of an adjustment, I got used to getting them in and out and changing out the bedding in the kennel.  As much as it pained me to tell our kids they couldn't keep them, I knew we needed to get them to a shelter to try and get them adopted to a good home.  So, we packed them up and took them to a shelter.  We told Parker that we were taking the kitties home and he said, "No, MY home!" He and Chase cried at the shelter, but I tried to explain that when you take in a pet you have to be responsible and take care of that pet, which means having them spayed or neutered so they can't have babies the owner isn't willing to take care of.  I guess, in short, I'm thankful I grew up loving animals.  I couldn't turn away what I described to my best friend as "a single Mom with 6 newborn babies.

There it is- my first post of the month.  I P-R-O-M-I-S-E to post every day and update our what's been going on with up since the last post. Later, friends!

ARIZONA TRIP HIGHLIGHTS! Part 2

Ready for more pictures, everyone? Here we go!

 This is Chase and Gunnar at a totally awesome place in Mesa called Pipe Organ Pizza.  There is a MASSIVE pipe organ on the lower level, and they have really amazing artists come in and play.  But it's so much more than just listening to music, it's a show! They have lights that come on with different tunes, and certain areas of the organ are highlighted for specific bits in songs as well.  Our guy played "Under the Sea" from "The Little Mermaid", and bubbles floated down from the rafters as the song played! And then he did a "Star Wars" medley and it was awesome!

 The twins liked the show, but they enjoyed the pizza more than anything.  Yeah, our group put down 2 large pizzas in no time flat!

 This is Parker, me (with no makeup!) and Gunnar at Pipe Organ Pizza.

 Ah....these little angels are Abbie and Baylie (don't get me lyin' as to which one is which!) My friend Windy and her family live in Queen Creek, which isn't too far from Mesa, and every time we come to town we try to get together.  Her girls are actually fraternal twins, but they look more alike than my identical twins!

 Mason wasn't too interested in the girls (you can see his face in the previous picture that he wasn't thrilled to be taking the picture!) However, Parker kept feeding them pringles and seemed genuinely interested in being around them while they were there.  Perhaps there could be a double wedding in the distant future? I honestly hope so! Those girls are so adorable, and we'd be so lucky to have in-laws like Dan and Windy!

Now most of the McKnights know what it means to get together with the family- food, and May I! May I is a card game that my husband's uncle came up with using Rook cards.  It's complicated at first, but once you have a few years of experience (or a good set of written instructions) it becomes very fun! Parker decided he was going to play with Aunt Carrie, and she was nice enough to let him hold a few of her cards during this game. 

So, after 2 full weeks of playing, swimming, and watching movies (Seth and Carrie went with our boys and our nieces to see "Brave" in the theater!), we headed out for Utah.  My mother-in-law drove my Suburban, I rode shotgun, and my brother-in-law, Seth, rode in the back with the boys.  We drove up to St. George, Utah, and drove around to see the sights before heading to their house there.  It was a brief stay, because we were up early the next day, and we drove into Provo.  We drove around Orem/Provo and then headed up to Aspen Grove.  It was a quick drive up the canyon, and a few minutes around the mountain from Sundance.  When we got there, it was cold and raining, but it warmed up quickly and quit raining, and then we started unpacking at our HUGE family cabin.  I'll leave it there for today, and post about Aspen Grove, Chase's birthday, and our adventures in Salt Lake City tomorrow!

ARIZONA TRIP HIGHLIGHTS! Part 1

 So Todd will probably murder me for putting this picture on here, but here he is in the pool with Mason.

 This is Todd's sister with Parker, and Chase and Gunnar (wearing a shark fin swim jacket!)

 And what kind of trip to Arizona would it be if we didn't have In-N-Out? It honestly seems to be the only thing we can agree on when we're out there.  The boys didn't want McDonald's or Chik-Fil-A, only burgers from In-N-Out! I thought the hats would be a fun touch for photos!

 Chase and Gunnar wore their hats for a long time, and they always eat really well when we have I-N-O, but I think they enjoy the fact that they get to have a drink that isn't kid sized! Coca-Cola for everyone!

 My Sister-in-law made shirts for her family before the big reunion, so we decided to make some Sharpie Marker tie-dyed shirts.  You use regular Sharpie markers on a plain white t-shirt, then use a medicine dropper filled with rubbing alcohol to made the pattern "bleed" out.  Here is a picture of the twins coloring their shirts.  They did such a great job!

 This is me making my shirt.  I tried to use pretty, vibrant colors and make it look like a tie-dyed shirt I would have purchased.  I LOVE tie-dye (at one point in high school, I had a different tie-dye shirt for every day of the school week!)

 And here is the finished product! Too bad they faded really bad after their first wash.  I looked it up on Pinterest the next day, and we forgot a step- we didn't "heat set" the shirts after we finished with the rubbing alcohol. 

And here is a picture of all 4 boys on the couch. (L-R) Gunnar, Chase, Parker, and Mason.

SUMMER VACATION!

Hi ho, there, I'm back! I decided it was finally time to update the blog and let everyone know how our Summer went!  So after we finished up with T-ball, and school had ended, we had a bit of a break.  For 2 whole weeks we didn't have anything to do, and it was great! We slept in every day, and just bummed around.  Then, we started swim lessons for the older boys.  

 Chase was the only one in his group, maybe because he was more advanced, but he became a much more confident swimmer, that's for sure.

  Gunnar was in a group of about 5 or 6, and even though he swam without a life jacket or floaties, he still didn't feel quite as confident as Chase did.  They had swim lessons 4 days a week for 2 weeks, and I'm certain we'll do lessons for the twins next Summer as well!

 And of course, the Twins were jealous that they couldn't get in the pool when their big brothers were swimming.  I kept promising them that they would learn soon enough, and that we would get to play in Grandma's pool when we got to Arizona.

Here are the little ones in the fridge!  They have become so independent, and have taken to getting out their own snacks when I don't act quickly enough.  They loved having all of the delicious Summer fruit around the house, like strawberries, nectarines, and peaches.  They have also become big fans of cheese, and grapes! Parker broke my Pampered Chef Mix-N-Stir pitcher (just look on the top shelf, see it? We LOVE those pitchers!), because he thinks he is strong enough to get it out of the fridge on his own, and he dropped it while it was full. 

So there are a few quick pics before we head off to ARIZONA! We had our last swim lesson the morning that we left, and let me tell ya, it was a really busy day!

ARIZONA

This was a trip that our boys had been looking forward to all year long! We had planned to have a McKnight family reunion at Aspen Grove in Utah the first week of July, and we had already planned to spend some time with Todd's parents in Arizona, so we came up with the idea that Todd would drive the family out and I would stay with the 4 boys for 2 weeks before our Aspen Grove trip.  The drive was really quite pleasant this time around, probably because we didn't have to stop too much, and our dog wasn't with us this trip.  The only bad part was that the kids never napped in the 2 days we drove out from Tulsa.  We left home a little after one o'clock, and it was the first time we had left so early in the day.  We made it to Albuquerque, New Mexico by 10:30 at night when we stopped for the night.  We stayed in a nice hotel, had a good night's rest, and complimentary breakfast the next morning.  We noticed that my car was starting to have some transmission issues (shifting improperly) and told Todd's parents that we might have to have it serviced while we were in town.  Well, things got worse with the car, but we were still managing to make pretty good time driving.  We were just outside of Mesa when the Suburban decided it wouldn't go any faster than 40 miles an hour.  So, we called in the reinforcements, and Todd's parents were there in no time flat with 2 cars to unload all of our luggage and kids.  Mason and Parker started bawling, because they had no idea what was going on, their Daddy wasn't getting in the car with us, and they hadn't napped in 2 days.  We got to the house, everyone unloaded pretty quickly, and we were settled for the next two weeks!

I'll start a new post that is all pictures, so I won't mess up how this one looks.  Enjoy!