Thomas the Choo Choo

For Sloan's birthday, Debbie gave him tickets to ride the "Thomas the Tank Engine" train in OKC. He had so much fun! He bounced in the bounce house, watched cartoons about train safety, got a train tatoo, played with train sets, and rode the train. It was a delightful date with my little man!

Tribute to Tony

Tony was admitted to the hospital on August 15th because he was throwing up blood and his blood sugar was 850. He was in a coma and looked terrible! He came out of the coma and started to regain his strength. He was released from the hospital on Aug. 20 to come and stay with us.

Hospice came out and set up a bed for him and brought everything we would need to care for him. He was in such bad shape when he arrived that we were worried about how we would manage. Thankfully, Christine came out and helped us for the first couple of weeks. Tony regained his strength quickly and everyday made huge improvements.

Tony was able to reduce his insluin and walk easily without assistance. He enjoyed spending time with the kids and reading the Word. During his last days he spent a lot of time talking with Charles and the hospice chaplain, Nancy, about eternity with Jesus. He was becoming more and more secure of his salvation. It was awesome!

On Oct. 15, Tony woke up throwing up blood again. It was fall break so Ashley was staying with us to play with the kids. She helped take care of the kids while I panicked. Big Joe and Alex came out to sit with Tony and the nurse. Tony decided it was time to go to the Clare House. He wanted to die with dignity.

That evening after Charles came home, Tony went on to be with the Lord. Although the past couple of months have been the most difficult of our lives, we miss Tony. He became a part of our everyday lives and we have been forever changed by his influence.

He went on to be with the Lord on the 15th of October. We sure do miss him!

Family Reunion

This weekend the Langford clan met in Springdale, AR for a family reunion. It was so fun to spend the day with a lot of folks I hadn't seen in quite some time. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful extended family. It is always a joy to get together and enjoy everyone's company!

The reunion was held at the Jones Center in Springdale. The have an indoor ice rink, pool & basketball courts. It was a beautiful facility. After spending the morning with the family, we headed over to the pool. It had a huge water slide that was at least 2 stories high. The kids LOVED it! It was a great set up and we really enjoyed it.

Yesterday evening we headed in to our hotel. Daddy booked us some nice suites at the Holiday Inn. The bathrooms had juccuzzi tubs. Nothing like a juccuzzi to make a great bubble bath! All three kids got in and had a ball. I'm glad I didn't have to pay the water bill. I think they took 3 baths during our 1 night stay. :-)

This morning we went to church in Rogers and then drove back home. Great weekend!

New Pics of the Kids

I took the kids in for their pictures this morning at Sears. They did such a good job. It amazes me how quickly they grow. This morning the kids and I sat down and looked at some pictures from about a year ago. They ahve changed so much! I am blown away by the difference a year makes.

Kids are Getting BIG!

I can't believe how much my babies have grown! I took them in to Sears this morning for their pictures. They did a great job! Both sat where they were supposed to and gave their best smiles. I was looking a pictures from last summer earlier this morning. They have changed so much. Time sure flies when you are having fun.

Free & Cheap Stuff

I'm loving this free stuff we are getting out here! I took Jaden in to see a pediatrician yesterday for a physical and to get her shots. It cost $0.00! Today she went to see the dentist and got her teeth cleaned for $0.00! Too cool! The Claremore Indian Hospital is the closest hospital to our house and it is totally free for Charles and the kiddos. I wish I had an indian card. Too bad we didn't realize the benefits before we paid $2500 out of pocket for Jaden's eye surgery. They would have referred us out and let us use the doctor we wanted but we wouldn't have had to pay for it. Oh, well. Live and learn!

Another cool deal is that we get a great deal on our phone line. Because of Charles' indian card, we were able to get a $23 credit each month on our phone so it costs us $2.75 a month! The DSL is only $19.99 a month, so it's keeping the costs down. I wonder if they have a deal for cell phones...

Well, today I'm going to cut coupons and clean out my coupon organizer. I need to check online and see what kind of freebies I can get. I love freebies. :-)

Garden Has Been Planted!

Yesterday was a full day of garden work. I went to the feed store and got 2 bales of straw and 2 bags of potting soil. The potting soil was a rip off! I had more than enough straw, but we were in need of more soil. Charles and I headed to Claremore and got a truck load (1/2 a yard) for $20. We also bought the supplies for the trellis at Lowes. We got 4 stakes and 2 wire dealies that they use for concrete. It looks like it will be a nice, strong trellis for the beans to grow up.

So, we came home and filled up the boxes with straw and soil, put up the trellises and put the grid on. I then transplanted some of my green beans. They did well over night, so I planted some more of them this morning. This afternoon I went out and planted lots of seeds. The fall garden will have green beans, lettuce (several varieties), spinach, raddishes, broccoli, snap peas, okra, bell peppers, and pak choi. Hopefully all of them will take!

Garden Boxes Are Full!

Yesterday Charles and Joe helped me finish my garden boxes. We filled them full of ash, straw and a horse manure/sandy loam mix. Hopefully it won't be too potent for the little plants. Now I need to come up with a planting plan. We put a trellis on each side of the large box. I plan to use the smaller box for herbs.

I planted some green bean sprouts that I started indoors last weekend. They seemed to do well last night. Hopefully they will continue to flourish. This weekend was a good time to plant since we had a cold front. (Highs are in the 90s instead of 100s this weekend).

Mel's Mix or Lasagna?

I've been pricing out how much it will cost to fill my garden boxes with Mel's mix: 1/3 Compost, 1/3 Peat Moss & 1/3 Vermiculite. That stuff ain't cheap! The peat moss is running 12.97 for 3.8 cubic feet. I can't even find vermiculite. The closest I can get is Perlite for 3.97 for 8 quart bags. It's going to cost a fortune to get 40 cubic feet worth of the goods. However, once it is in there, all I have to do is add home made compost from then on.

The other option is filling the box lasagna style. What I would need to do is put down a layer of wet newspaper on the bottom, then a layer of hay, a layer of manure, another layer of hay, another layer of manure, and then top off the top with compost. Oh, and then some sort of mulch on top. Sure is a lot cheaper that way, but I'm not sure if it will work as well. I think I'm going to try it out. It is just for a fall garden so I don't have a whole lot to lose.

It's nice being able to contribute in some way while staying at home with the kids. Poor Charles works his tail off while I'm out on playdates. I feel bad about it. Now I can feel like I'm giving something back.

I'm definitely going with a square foot garden. Here are some links I found to direct me on my path towards this decision:

www.squarefootgardening.com - by Mel Bartholomew, the father of square foot gardening. Lots of helpful hints here.
www.timssquarefootgarden.com - good helpful hints.
www.mysquarefootgarden.net - on lady's blog about her square foot garden. She has a TON of info in there.
www.smithfamilygarden.wordpress.com - they have some great videos on the science of composting. Good stuff.
www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com - shows how to do the "lasagna" style garden. Also has good info about companion gardening.

Yep, It's Ringworm

I'm thankful that a spider hasn't made Jaden his main course. Those little spots looked terrible! I was about to call an exterminator out. Yesterday I put some clear nail polish on her little "boo boos" just in case it was ringworm. The sores were red around the outside rim and scabby on the inside. Now, the scabs are gone and there is just a red ring. She looks much better! It's amazing what a difference there is in just 1 day! Praise God!

On another note, poor Sloan stepped on a nail this morning. I was scooping up ash from the burn pile to add to the compost pile and Sloan decided to join me. He found a nail while walking through the pile. Poor little guy is hobbling along now. Good thing he is current on his shots.

Boxes Made for the Garden

Things are coming along for the fall garden. I made the boxes for the garden yesterday. I feel quite accomplished. While Charles took Tony back to town, I got all the tools I needed out and drug those heavy boards out to the garden area and made my boxes. All in 104 degree heat! Kudos to me. :-)

What is on Jaden!?

So these little bumps started out looking like mosquito bites. Actually, I still wonder if they are. They would show up after we had been outside for a while in the evenings. Now she has craters all over her little legs and one on her wrist. I have been researching all day only to find not much. Some spider bites look similar. Some ringworm looks similar. And one girl had a bad reaction to flea bites that left her looking strangly similar to Jaden. Humph.

Trip to Austin

We had a wonderful time last weekend in Austin. We drove down to Austin on Thursday, July 2nd. 8 hours is quite a drive with 2 kids and 2 dogs. When we made it to Round Rock, Jaden said that the car sounded like a helicopter. We pulled over to see what was going on. There was a huge bubble in the back left tire. We made our way to Chuy's were Chalres changed the tire while I picked up dinner. Yum! Unfortuneately, the back door handle of the van broke so he had quite a challenge getting the tire changed. You have to lower the tire from inside the back. Grrr. Anyway, we made it and had a blast.

Mom, Dad, Nathan, Debbie, Jeremy and Sage joined us later on Thursday evening. We got settled that evening. I had to go to Walmart to get groceries and clothes for the kids. I left their suitcase at the house! It was a good excuse to pick up some really cute things for the kiddos.

Friday morning Mom, Debbie, Sage and I went to Ikea. It was great timing to pick up some things to organize the house. They were having a great sale on some of the things we were looking for. Nice.

Friday evening Uncle Steve came over and we went across the lake to eat dinner. While we waited for a table, the kids fed some huge catfish that we swimming by the dock. Charles decided to go noodling and pulled out a big one with his hands! It was quite impressive. Some guy kicked the fish back in the water before I could dig out my camera. I would have loved to have a picture of that!

Saturday we spent the afternoon out on the lake. That evening Uncle Steve came back with Chris and Ted and their families. The kids had a great time playing (and getting into everything) while we all caught up with each other. After dinner we took the boat out on the lake to watch the firework show. Charles and the kids watched it from the water.

Sunday morning the rest of the family packed up and headed back to Tulsa. Charles, the kids and I all stayed one extra night. We had a quite evening out on the lake and then did our chores and headed back in Monday.

It was a great vacation at the perfect time. We had spend the first part of the week moving into the house and we were ready for some R & R.

New Home...New Life

Life has changed a lot in the past few months. In March we moved from Cape Coral to Tulsa. We stayed at my mom's house for a couple of weeks before we got an apartment. We stayed at the apartment for three months before we were able to move into our house. The house is finally now livable. Charles has worked like a mad man to get this house ready. It's good to be in our own place now.

I have a lot of goals for the next few weeks. I want to finish getting the house unpacked and finished. Everyday something new gets accomplished. I now have the washer and dryer hooked up and internet service. Next I'd like to get the icemaker in the fridge working. (I'm thrilled to have the fridge inside now!) We also need to finish up the trim and touch up painting.