Saturday, March 31, 2018

March Round-Up!

March is over, and we are officially a quarter of the way through the year . . . whaaaat?!? So here are some of the day-to-day things we were up to this month . . .

One Friday evening at the beginning of the month, Chris realized he had forgotten some paperwork at the office that he needed. After a dinner at home, we loaded everyone up and took a trip to downtown Tulsa for Chris to grab what he needed. Since we were downtown, we stopped by Hurt's Donuts for a little late evening snack. The kids thought this was AMAZING. We just never do things like this . . . especially late in the evening. We had a blast blaring 90s music on the way there and back, and kids were fascinated with the "big city" at night. What can I say . . . they are obviously pretty sheltered, haha!

The weather this month has been beautiful, and we've been spending many afternoons and evenings outside. It's been a while since the kids have been able to play in their playhouse, and they missed it!

Of course, I never know what I may find them doing if I leave them unsupervised for even a minute. Notice the water hose is threaded through the table . . . 

Even Daddy got in on the outside play time a few evenings after work!

One Saturday, Daddy went to help our friends do some work on their house. The weather was gorgeous, so I decided to take the kiddos to the park for the morning. A few kids that Bri and Bren go to school with were there, too, and my kids loved playing with them. Somehow, Bren talked Brody (a 4th grader) into pushing him on this swing!

Two little girls from Brianna's class were there, and they loved playing with Brooke and Brecklyn. Almost all the girls that Bri goes to school with adore her little sisters!

Brecklyn, Skylar, Hadley, Brooke, and Brianna

One Friday night, the weather was so nice we decided to break in the fire pit for the season. The kids weren't excited or anything, lol.

At the end of last summer, we went fishing in our neighborhood pond, and everyone reeled in a fish but Brecklyn. Rest assured, she has not forgotten this! She was beyond thrilled when we went fishing a few weeks ago, and SHE reeled in a fish!


Lego Club was fun this month, and Brecklyn not only built her own creation but shared about it in front of the other kids!

There have been a few nights this month that Daddy had to be gone on a business trip. He used to travel all the time with his job, but in more recent years it is pretty rare for him to be gone all night. The kids absolutely hate it when he's gone (especially Brianna . . . she cries and cries), so I try to make it a little special for them. One evening when he was gone, we went to Whataburger for dinner. This helped the kids be distracted from Daddy not being home, and I didn't have to cook. Win-win!

The next morning, Daddy wanted to see the kids before school, so I snapped this pic for him as we were walking out the door to drop the big kids off.

Brecklyn, Brooke, Brenson, Brianna

For the most part, we do great while Daddy is gone, but other times Brooke really struggles (and really, this isn't just when Daddy is gone . . . ). I went into the twins' bedroom after they had been in there playing one day and found this:

HOW and WHY?!? Brooke is still my girl that will find mischief if there is mischief to be found!

But then she'll give me the sweetest snuggles in the world to make up for it 💓.

I think I write this all the time, but I just love watching the dynamic between Brooke and Brecklyn. Twins are SO MUCH FUN! I absolutely love being a twin mom!

Brecklyn doing Brooke's make-up

Brooke doing Brecklyn's make-up

The Friday before Spring Break was a special day for Brianna as she received her FIFTY mile running medal at school! We are so proud of this girl and her hard work! (Her hair was curly in preparation for the Cinderella ballet that evening).

She has been diligent about running this year, and she says that next year she wants to earn her 100 mile medal!

In the photo below, you can see her name and Brenson's name on the list of running medal earners.

Brooke, Brianna, Brecklyn

A few weeks ago, Brianna's bible class got together and made origami flowers to give to our church members. The flowers were so cute and were a big hit with those who received them. Brianna shared with her teacher about this activity, and her teacher asked Bri to teach the class to make the flowers. Bri was happy to oblige, and her teacher sent me these pics of her teaching everyone.


Earlier this week, our town had a very scary incident that affected our schools. On Tuesday, March 27th, a bomb threat was made to our schools, and every school in town was evacuated. As a parent, it the THE WORST feeling in the world to receive word of an incident like this. I typically stay very calm in high stress situations, but even I had to take a few minutes to get my head right and calm upon hearing the news. We received a phone call, then a text message about the situation. Below is the message that we received:

Upon receiving the news, it was hard for me to decide what to do. I didn't know if I should go immediately to the evacuation place or if it would be better to wait a while. After texting with another mom who went immediately to the evac place upon receiving the message, I decided to wait a bit. She said it was a madhouse with parents and the kids weren't even there yet.

It was pouring rain this day, and we (the twins and I) ended up being stuck in traffic because of all the parents trying to get to the evac place. There were also several fender-benders in the traffic because emotions were high and apparently brain power was low :-). Then, we had to park at a different site and walk in the rain through a muddy soccer field to the evac site. Brooke fell in the mud twice, until a nice lady offered to carry her for me so I could carry Brecklyn. When we got in the building, the crowd was restless and crazy. There were two schools evacuated to this site, and parents were losing their minds. I get that it was a high stress situation . . . I wanted my kids right that second too, but people acting crazy WAS NOT helping!
 

After getting there, we had to wait a good 45 minutes before ANY kids were released. Then, we had to wait in line to get our kids. I was so proud of Brooke and Brecklyn and how they behaved. It was in the middle of nap time, crowded, hot, and crazy, but they did amazing. There were lots of younger siblings there completely melting down. And, lots of school kids were also crying and freaking out as they were released to their parents. My heart BROKE for these kids. The kids hadn't been told what was going on . . . only that they were being transported to a different building to be picked up so their little imaginations were running wild. AND - by the time they were released to parents it was about 1:30pm and they had all missed lunch! We got Brianna and Brenson at about 2:00pm, trudged back to our van in the rain and mud, and went straight home to get food. They had tons of questions that I did my best to answer simply, but it was a ROUGH day! Thankfully, though, the bomb threat was fake. It was made by a lady in her 50s who claimed she wanted to "test police response" *rolling eyes*. Everyone was able to return to school the next day, and of course many of the kids had a lot to say about what had happened. Rumors were flying! I gave my kids very specific instructions to not talk about it because running mouths are never helpful in a situation like this!

Just a few days later, the girls woke up feeling really bad with a nasty cough. I took them to our pediatrician (the cough always scares me because of our history with pneumonia), and they looked so pitiful in their little masks :-(. They just had a virus.

Brooke, Brecklyn

They hate going to see Dr. F, but they love to play doctor at home!

The day I had to take the girls to Dr. F's office was the same day that Brenson and Brianna had their spring parties. Since the twins were sick, I had to miss the parties, but I did get this cute photo of Brenson. Love my sweet little bunny boy!

I don't know if I'd say March came in like a lion and out like a lamb for us, but we're still thankful for every day and looking forward to SPRING!



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