I've been tagged

Stephanie Green has “tagged” me with this and I have learned that you always oblige a pregnant woman……..you never know what a hormonal woman may do if you don’t make her happy!!!!!!!

5 Things in my Freezer:

bacon

waffles (regular eggos and the “wheat free”variety!)

chicken

ground beef

ice

5 Things in my Closet:

clothes

shoes (lots and lots…..I think they multiply too Steph!)

a sewing machine

bed linnens

3 magazine holders containing papers I have accumulated and need to organize in notebooks, one for recipes, one for home decorating ideas and one of scrapbooking ideas (It’s a start anyway!)

5 Things in my Car:

3 carseats (does that count as one or three things?)

various CDs

scratched up sunglasses

an “emergency” roll of paper towels

my Curves name tag

5 Things in my Diaper Bag:

a diaper

a box of wipes

a cell phone

a flourless peanut butter cookie

a brown wallet that is falling apart and needs desparately to be replaced!

5 Things in my Purse:

(Didn’t I just answer this one?)

So everybody………enjoy!

Love ya Steph!

Curves

Neal and I have decided that I should work a few nights a week again. So a couple of weeks ago, I went to the Curves here in Norman. Unfortunately they were not hiring. So, I drove up the road about 10 miles to a town called Moore and popped in at the Curves there. They lady was thrilled that I was interested in working there and that I had experience at Curves before and I was hired the next day. During the summer, my work schedule will be sporadic, but I should have a normal schedule when school starts at the end of August.

This Curves is much smaller than the one I worked at in Lubbock. It has half the members and 9 out of 13 machines. It is only 2 years old and the manager is fairly new. She has already questioned me a lot on how we did things in Lubbock and I am hoping to help her grow this club. She was glad that I have taught the nutrition class before and will probably have me teach the one in the fall. She has also given me free range of the "boards". These are dry erase boards on the walls around the club used to market products, let people know of the specials, and write out inspirational thoughts and thought provoking trivia. They really can be revenue promoting tools and I plan to use them to their best advantage.

I have to admit, that although it is not ideal that I have a part-time job, I enjoy working at Curves. It is a great, encouraging environment for women. All the employees here are Christians. Most of the members are Christians. Also, it is a chance for me to meet other ladies in the community and have some adult time. In addition, I get to work out for free! Neal also enjoys the time he spends with the kids while I work. This is time he would normally spend working.

I am thankful for this opportunity here and am looking forward to another fun year working at Curves.

OK

Yes, I am finally posting something......hey, give me a break, we MOVED to a new state!

The move went relatively well. After packing up the house in Lubbock, Neal and Bruce drove the U-hauls and unloaded everthing here in Norman. Unfortunaltely the people that we are renting the house from did not pack up their belongings, so my mom and I had to do that before unpacking our stuff! However, it only took about 4 days to get this place looking like home and starting the settling in process.

We have visited many of the parks around town and have enjoyed this nice historic neighborhood via walks and bike rides. We like it here.

Last week we took a quick trip down to SA visiting for 3 days with the Judisch family and 3 days with the Hawthorn family. To all our friends out there who did not know we were in town, SORRY! We knew that we would not have time to see anyone but family, and hope to catch you all next time around. It was one of those really quick, "I guess we will go now" kind of trips with not a lot of time to prepare.........

All in all we are doing well and I hope to keep everyone better informed as we settle in here in Oklahoma!


Here are some swimming pictures, we did a LOT of that last week!


Aidan loves the water and worked on perfecting his belly flop in Gran's pool.




Bathing beauty........



Evelyn is sure not to drown!

Our New Home

Our overnight stay in Norman was successful and a fun time for Neal and me to get away. My parents came up to stay with the kids, and we drove to Norman early Saturday morning, went rental property hunting and stayed in a bed and breakfast overnight dining in a local Italian hot spot, Othello's, and enjoying apple enchiladas for breakfast Sunday morning. (For those of you wondering about apple enchiladas, they are flour tortillas filled with baked cinnamon and brown sugared apples and cream cheese, baked until crispy with whipped cream on top, yummy!)

We have decided to rent a beautiful 1938 craftsman home which belongs to a professor in the history department who is going to be on sabbatical for the next year (perfect!). It is more room than we know what to do with, but it will be a blessing to stretch out a bit. It is a five minute walk to the university and the next door neighbor is also a professor in the philosophy department. There is even a detached study in the backyard!

Easter pics and NEWS!

As promised, here are a few Easter pictures!

Painting eggs.......


















Hunting for eggs......

Being forced to wear cute matching outfits and taking pictures infront of the church.......

So the NEWS is that Neal was offered a job with the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK! It is another one year visiting post, but we are excited about the opportunity and the provision! We are going up next week to find a place to live and will be moving at the end of June!

Birthdays

Aidan celebrated his 4th birthday on March 10th! Evelyn celebrated her 2nd birthday March 13th! We decided that we would take the kids to McDonald's for their birthday dinner and then come back home for cake and presents.

Here are some pictures of that day:

McDonald's FUN!














Little Cake Eaters (Gluten and Casien free of course!)















Madeline helped her birthday siblings as they opened gifts!












Evelyn loves her new puppy, thank you Aunt Janelle and Uncle Collin!














For the first time EVER, Aidan was excited about opening his new presents. He even said, "COOL" about the clothes!

This is NOT a "look-a-like"

Yes, what you are starring at IS a picture of me, cheek to cheek with Richard Simmons. There was a health fair here on Saturday that I worked at for Curves and he was the "guest of honor". For those who are wondering, he is as zany in person as he is on TV and he is 57. He came by our booth to give hugs, kisses, autographs and take pictures.
The picture below is me with one of my co-workers, Gayla. She is a really sweet lady and has been a joy to work with!
























In other news...there is none! We are still working on the job situation for next year. Neal did hear back from the schools he interviewed with in December. Long story short, it appears that he is too white and too male. It may also be a problem that he looks too smart on paper! Anyway, he is applying for more academic jobs as well as some government things. We will see!