pioneer woman

I did something so ridiculous last night. You’ve probably noticed below that I have a link to the Pioneer Woman’s blog. My friend Carrie pointed me in her direction a while back and now I’m hooked! I love looking at her photography, her children and her food! I also love reading her hilarious stories! She’s just a top blogger in my book. Well, she’s written a cookbook that just came out this week! She’s doing a book signing tour and her second stop was Oklahoma City last night at Full Circle Bookstore! My friend Liz really wanted to go with me but in the end, couldn’t go so my sister-in-law, Jackie, was going to go with me…she ended up not being able to come either! I decided that it was worth going alone, just to get the opportunity to meet Ree (AKA Pioneer Woman), snap a quick picture and get her to sign my copy of the book. Well, about 800 people had the same idea that I did! I arrived at 6:40 and did not leave until midnight…yes, MIDNIGHT!!!

I made great friends while standing in line for 5 hours! My main circle of new friends included:

• Blythe had her 5 year-old daughter, Beatrice, there with her. Beatrice had a pink carnation to give “Miss Pioneer Woman” when they got to meet her. Poor little thing didn’t last very long so her daddy came to pick her up. She did get escorted to the front of the line my Marlboro Man himself so she could give her flower to Ree though!

• Jessica from Tuttle was there getting a book signed for her mom’s birthday as a surprise! What a great daughter! She has a two year old little girl named Landry. She's darling (I saw pics)!

• Bob stood in line the whole time with us to get the book signed for his daughter who lives in Florida. His daughter, Mary, went to 3rd grade with Ann Marie (Ree) and he had some funny stories to keep us entertained.

• Courtney was in town for a wedding and was just going to run by to get her copy signed. Five hours later, she left a happy customer!

Everyone had their own story about why there were there and where they came from. It was so interesting and fun getting to meet such great people. To pass the time, many read the cookbook cover to cover, but I was ravenous because I didn’t eat dinner, so looking at the beautiful and yummy pictures were just too painful for me! I know standing in line that long is an insane thing to do, but I reached a point in the evening, where I had been there SO long, I wasn’t about to leave without talking to PW! As we inched closer and closer we all got so excited. In the end, I got to meet Ree and she is even more beautiful in person and equally as personable! I had such a great time chatting with her for a few minutes while she signed my book. Her family was also just delightful! The kiddos were there and were so well behaved!

Liz even emailed me a pic of herself and Ree and I took a picture with her! By midnight I didn’t care how much of a dork I looked like...oh what a night!

Here's Marlboro Man and two of her punks! I didn't get a pic of the two boys, but Bryce was sweet enough to sign my book!




I had a blast! Thanks PW and line buddies for such a great time!

one month and still singing!

On my birthday (September 29th) as part of my gift, Scott had this balloon and a bouquet of flowers delivered to my office. The flowers are long gone, but the balloon is still, amazingly, flying high in our kitchen! This balloon is not just any balloon though...it sings Happy Birthday! Addi love for us to tap it and then we all dance around the kitchen. I really can't believe it still has air in it! I'd say Scott got his money out of this birthday gift!!





Thanks babe for the gift that keeps on giving!

dress rehearsal

We had a dress rehearsal for Halloween tonight! Here's a sneak peek! Can you guess what she is??



Also, MiMi and PaPa sent a Halloween surprise in the mail! Oh boy!!!



We're ready for Halloween now!

lulu treasure

LuLu has stayed at home with Addi the past two days and they've had all kinds of fun! Look at the treasure they found on their walk!! It's now safely hanging on our refrigerator so we can walk by and touch it! Thanks LuLu for coming to Norman to play with Addi!!

what a difference a year makes...

Addison was not born with her hemangioma on her right eye. It popped up when she was about 2 week old..we thought it was a scratch in the beginning. As first time parents, it really freaked us out. We just hated that our precious little baby girl had such a strange thing growing on her face...why couldn't it be on her back I always wondered! Well, as promised by her pediatrician and the pediatric opthamologist that we saw, it has started to fade and shrink on it's own. Once I got used to looking at it, I couldn't imagine her without it. It really struck me the other day how much it's changed in even the last month or so. Thankfully, Addi's was just a cosmetic blemish that caused no pain or discomfort and did not obstruct her vision. I really was a pessimist last year at this time and worried that it would grow to take over half her face! It stayed small though and now is fading to a tiny little speck. I'm not sad to see it go, but it was such a cute little mark that only our Addi had. I really think by Christmas it will be 100% gone for good and only something we remember from pictures.

At it's "peak"...


About a month ago...


Bye-bye hemangioma!

Her cheeks have gotten smaller too...hehehe!