In May 2008 . . .

I took pictures of my girls in our favorite picture spot (our front porch provides the best light in our current home but makes for rather boring photos). I think I took this picture because it was one of the first times I was able (with some work) to get Brooke's hair into a ponytail.


Brookie had to clean up after her party in the bathroom. Ever heard the saying, "You start out laughing and end up crying"?


Our cub scout den did a park clean up at Douglas park. A car stereo is quite a find; this was one of the few times that Jack was excited for me to take his picture!


We took pictures of the line of trees down the middle of our lot on Hickory.


Claire graduated from kindergarten (white t-shirts and jeans were her required outfit for the day)


The line of trees down the middle of our lot on Hickory were removed..


We said good-bye to the "lovies" that Jack had slept with since he was about 6 months old.


Brookie celebrated her 2nd birthday -- she was trying so hard to resist the temptation to scoop icing off of the cake. You'll have to read the post from her birthday to see how she did.


Neena (Sonja's mom) came to celebrate Brookie's birthday with her; at that time, Brooke had just learned how to say "Neena" and so we were so thrilled for Neena to get to hear her say it in person.

In June 2008 . . .

Brookie posed in her swimming suit on the day we went swimming for the first time in the summer of 08. When you are two years old, a flat chest and round tummy are adorable!


Claire posed in her new swim suit.


Mr. Universe (lol!) posed in his swim trunks.


Jack got his first pair of eyeglasses. The poor boy's vision was 20/100 and he could not see the board at school.


Jack actually shot a balloon with a bow and arrow at Camp McClintock! Those glasses must be working!


Jack had his first mud bath. You may have to click on this actual photo in order to see just how much mud he had on him. This was out at summer camp when the firemen came and turned the hose on the boys. Muddy Mayhem ensued.


Brooke got her first stitches (3) and I had my first experience having to hold a child while the child is getting stitches (and not numb). Hope neither of us has to go through that again! And it is like that spot on her head is a magnet; if she hits her head, that is the spot that gets it. Because of that, she still has a knot on that place and it is now 5 months later.


We celebrated Claire's sixth birthday.


We took her and her best friend to Build-A-Bear workshop. Big brother decided at the last minute that he was not "too old" to build a bear after all.


We collected wildflowers for our homemade flower presses. This spot was only about two minutes from our home.


There was some progress on the lot.

In July 2008 . . .

We played and relaxed in Neena's Pool.


The children ate gourmet ice cream in their jammies. (Claire with David's adopted sister, Lily in Dallas.)


We took "glamour shots" of the girls in Dallas with their new matching dresses.


We rode a real trolley to the Dallas Hard Rock Cafe (only to find out that it closed a few months prior to our visit). Brookie STILL talks about the "Cholley".


The girls dug for dinosaur bones at the Children's Science museum.


The girls were serenaded by Prince Charming. (L to R: Jasmine, Claire, Lily, Brooke with Prince Charming in the back.)


We ate at the Dallas House of Blues (since the Hard Rock was closed). I had, as my regular blog readers will know, tortilla soup, that was okay but it came with this awesome Honey Rosemary cornbread that I absolutely loved. (Here we are with David's parents and their two daughters.)


We went to Six Flags over Texas (I don't know what we were thinking by doing that in July!) and Jack rode his first real roller coaster, Claire had fun buying candy and desserts, and Brookie had the best time playing in the water misters that are provided to cool people off. Here they are riding the same carousel that I had my picture taken on when I was around 6. My sister told me I was on a replica Martha Washington's horse and I believed her.


We got to hang with my sister N's family. It is amazing to me how much all of the kids look like each other. I especially think N's daughter (sitting between Claire and Brooke) looks very similar to Brooke (minus the goose egg on her forehead). Here they are taking a "goofy" picture.


We watched the progress of the framers for our house.



The kids goofed around with their Uncle Scott (my brother in from Colorado). L to R: Claire, Scott, Abby (my sister Dawn's daughter) and Jack.


We were amazed at the progress of the framers in just one month.



Claire lost her first tooth.

In August 2008 . . .

We had some fun in the sun in Independence, Kansas at the water park (sure would be nice to have one in Bartlesville!)



Claire and Brooke drew pictures with sidewalk chalk on the wet sidewalk during a warm summer rain. Claire's kindergarten teacher had shared about doing this when she was a girl and so the moment we had rain with no lightning, Claire was ready to go!


Jack joined Claire and Brooke to play in the rain on one of the last days of summer vacation.



We had a quick photo op with Mr. Copeland, the principal of Jane Phillips Elementary; it was the first day of 3rd grade for Jack and the first day of 1st grade for Claire.


The children looked for fossils in the gravel at the construction site -- and actually found several!!

In September 2008 . . .

Brookie got her first "tair-tut" [hair cut].


Brookie had school picture day at her Mother's Day Out program and she got to wear a special dress from Aunt Raima and Cousin Glory.


We said good-bye to my Grandpa Donnelley.


We got closer to moving day.


David took a rare picture of me that I don't hate. However, if you enlarge the picture, you can see that I have lipstick on my teeth. Typical. :)

In October 2008 . . .

Claire tried to kiss Brooke while Brooke was trying to blow Claire a kiss.


Jack worked on his family tree for scouts.


We camped out at Osage Hills.


Claire and Brooke posed with some of our future neighbors for a political ad to protest a jail being placed in a neighborhood full of children. You can see the ad at www.neighborsforjustice.com.


Princess Leia and Yoda made a couple of appearances, but Luke Skywalker was home sick in bed.

In November 2008 . . .

Our family participated in our first real picket line to protest the county jail. The picket line made the front page of the paper.


I captured one of those "Peter Pan" moments of childhood. When we go to Lowe's, Brooke says, "See Kissmis?" [Can we look at the Christmas decorations?] Here she is looking at animated stuffed animals that sing "Baby It's Cold Outside". Can't you see the look of wonder in her eyes? I have a picture very similar to this of Jack looking at the moon.


We celebrated Jack's 9th birthday with an Ipod Birthday party at The Rock. Jack saved his money to buy an iPod, but had none left over to put songs on it. So we asked everyone to give him a buck (in essence buy a song from iTunes) and a recommendation for a song that they thought Jack would like. It was so much fun going through the suggestions: they ranged from "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" by Relient K to "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple.


Jack (guitar shirt) with friends near the skate ramps at The Rock.


The party at the eating area at The Rock. We invited 35 kids and had about 14. It would have been fun either way, but 14 was much easier to manage than 35!

We moved! Here are the kids eating the first meal I made with my new appliances (bacon and eggs) at our new bar!

My Year in Six Words

I heard about a book where people (famous and obscure) wrote their memoirs in 6 words. The book was called Not exactly what I was planning. I would like to invite you to do something a bit easier: write about your year (2008) in 6 words. You can leave it here as a comment or you can email me (Sonjasett@sbcglobal.net) and I will include all the responses in a blog post at some point in January.

Here is My Year in Six Words:

Protested Jail. Built House. Loved Neighbors.

Forgot to Tag Someone

Oops! I forgot to tag someone: I tag Kylie and Ruth and Nat.

Tagged! Seven Random Things

1. I met David in a History of Science class at OU. On the first day of the Spring semester, our professor “randomly” threw us into a discussion group together that we were in for the rest of the semester. We did not have a our first real date until that summer.

2. I almost died from Legionnaire’s disease when I was in 7th grade.

3. I listen to NPR almost every day.

4. I have never colored my hair. (we'll see what happens when I go gray)

5. I am a tortilla soup connoisseur -- #1 best on my list: On The Border’s tortilla soup (really fresh, topped with slivers of avocado and it heats up well the next day). The worst I have ever had: Garfield’s (it was gross with what seemed like congealed fat globs floating in it).

6. As a child, I pulled weeds in our garden until my hands bled. (My kids have it so easy!)

7. In an Emerging Leaders class at TU, I discovered through a personality profile that I find a great deal of satisfaction from influencing/persuading people. For those of you who know me, you know this can be a good thing, but it can also be an annoying thing!

Election Thoughts

I was so surprised by my mixed emotions last night when they announced that Obama had won the election. On the one hand, I felt sad and disappointed. I was a McCain supporter and I have real concerns now about future Supreme Court appointees and what it means for unborn babies in this country (among other serious concerns). On the other hand, I was proud of our country because we seem to be traveling away from our racist past. Honestly, I was moved by the emotional response of the African-Americans in the audience in Chicago; I was happy for them. Now it is time for us as Christians to pray for Obama . . .

Locally, I was THRILLED to see that the citizens of Bartlesville said "no" to funding the jail. Thank you to everyone who voted against the jail! Just want everyone to know that the fight to keep the jail out of our neighborhood is still not over. Most of us expect that the county will create a so-called "new and improved" plan and still try to build it at the same residential site. So we need prayer and for any supporters who feel led to please donate to the legal fund. Lawyers charge by the hour and it ain't cheap! Go to www.neighborsforjustice.com for more information.

You know you're getting old . . .

Wouldn't you know that the one year I decide to do a theme for Halloween costumes, Jack was still too sick to be Luke Skywalker on Friday? Princess Leia and Yoda had to go without him again like they did on Monday at the school's Fall Festival. It was a bummer on so many different levels. (A tangent: I tried to get Brookie to say, "Yoda, I am", but all she could do was "I, Oda" [I'm Yoda])

Speaking of the Fall Festival, Claire said that all of the adults knew who she was, but none of the children did. And, even when she told them she was Princess Leia, they did not know who Princess Leia was. What's the world coming to when kids don't know who Princess Leia is? It made me feel ancient.

Actually, that did not make me feel as old as this next example. One day I was telling my kids about how when I was a kid, often on Friday afternoons my whole elementary school would watch films in the auditorium. My kids looked at me and said, "Films?" They had no idea what I was talking about. No. Idea.

So, if you know who Princess Leia is and have ever watched films at school, you are . . . OLD. If you know who Messy Marvin is, if you ever wore parachute pants and danced to Footloose, if you spent Saturdays at roller rinks skating to Another One Bites The Dust, if you know what a "couples skate" is, if you ever had an Izod shirt that you wore with the collar flipped up, if you can sing the Big Mac song (2 All Beef Patties Special Sauce Lettuce Cheese Pickles Onions on a Sesame Seed Bun), if you have ever shopped at a TG&Y, if you know who Hurdle the Attack Turtle was (had to live in Ardmore for that one), if you had a stereo with a record player and tape cassette player, if you remember getting your first CD, if you remember the first VCR your family bought, if you remember when chewing gum was a major offense in school, if you know who Smurfette was (LAH-LAH-la-la-la-LAH . . .), if you ever watched Hee Haw, if you ever cried when you watched E.T. in a movie theater, if you remember what it means to "get licks" at school (when all teachers had paddles and used them), if you remember when they still had "Christmas" parties at school (instead of Winter parties), if you know what a WalkMan is, if you ever wore Jams and O.P. shirts, if you ever called flip-flops, "thongs", if you know what a typewriter is, if you remember when the "PG-13" rating was introduced, if you know who the" stay-puft" marshmallow man is, if you know "We Are The World" by heart (there's a choice we're making, we're saving our own lives, it's true we make a brighter day, just you and me), if you ever wanted suspenders like Mork's, if you know who the Karate Kid is, if you remember when pagers were a big deal (Beepers, baby), if the Beastie Boys ever helped you "fight for your right to paaarrrrr-teh", if you remember when they made after-school specials about mono, if you know what an after-school special is, if you remember when kids played with Rubix Cubes (sp?) at recess, if you remember when it was cool to have a mullet, if you can do the moonwalk, the Bobby Brown, and the Roger Rabbit, if you remember when the word "text" was usually used as a noun (not a verb), if you remember the original, "Help, I've Fallen and I can't get up" commercial, if you ever wondered who shot J.R., if you remember when floppy disks were the size of a sandwich (come to think of it, do floppy disks even exist anymore?), if you remember Air-Jordans, if you ever had a collection of twist-a-beads, if you remember where you were when the Challenger blew up (Mrs. Piersons science class), if you ever used "Stiff Stuff" to achieve great bangs, if you ever listened to Prince and thought 1999 was a long time away . . .

okay, if you understood most of that paragraph then you are definitely OLD.