The musings of a conservative Christian family - Neil, Katie, Brooklynn and Baby Twa

9 Week Old Baby Joins Fetus-Club

We had a great 1st check up and ultra sound this past Wednesday. Baby Twa is just around 9 weeks, growing strong and healthy with a heart beat of 162 bpm. That means all good, so I’m told. I’m not the Doc, I just follow along with what the tell me, most of the time.

More »

It’s a birthday party!

Hi all,

You’re cordially invited to the party of the year. Yes, it’s that time already. Miss Brooklynn is turning one (1) on the 23rd! We are having a little shindig on the Saturday the 20th and you are invited to come. Bring your family as there were will be an Elmo theme, complete with a Elmo cup cake, cake made of 24 different cup cakes.

The party starts around 1PM and there will be food for those who show up a little earlier. Hot dogs and hamburgers. Yum! Come and go as you please. The cake will be cut probably around 130 if you are around. Otherwise, I suppose we’ll let you have some anyway just for coming.

Let us know if you have any questions! We look forward to seeing you all there!

Where: Our House (email me for directions and or address for Google)

Time: June 20th, Noon till the last partier leaves

RSVP: We would GREATLY appreciate you emailing us so we know how many dogs and burgers to fire up.

The Twa’s

Run forest run!

I registered this morning for my first 5k in 2009. It’s the BoomTown days 5k / Half Marathon in Joplin, Missouri. I’m looking forward to it because it is going to be my training run for the Fleet Feet Firecracker run on July 4th, the first 5k I every did last year in Tulsa.

More »

These teeth were made for walking

Brooklynn has broken another tooth finally. She now has two little teeth on her bottom jaw. It’s kind of funny to look at. Kids without teeth or spaces I think are funny. I know that’s how God made them, but it’s just cute and funny.

She hasn’t had too hard of a time breaking them in. At least not yet. She has been fussy and woke up at 3AM once in the past couple of weeks but that is nothing. I’ve heard worse stories.

She walked for the first time on her own last week. 10 big steps from Daddy to Aunt Laura. She was fixated on the TV as she took one step at a time and balanced herself. Apparently the TV took her mind off the walking and she just toddled over to Laura. She’s not walked that far again since, but it’s only a matter of time.

Do The Right Thing, Boycott Jon & Katie Plus 8, We Are

Katie and I have watched a few episodes of this show, and since we’re pretty much off television now, I find it very disturbing what is being revealed about the show now that their marriage is coming to and end. It appeared harmless and somewhat down to Earth, but when you take off the cloud of ignorance, the truth is really kind of scary. There are no values, no accountability and sadly no one to defend the poor children. I’m thinking someone needs to remove those children from this situation.

More »

Happy Birthday Blog!

Today is the 3 year anniversary of this blog. It was first launched on May 22, 2006 from Castle Rock, Colorado. 3 YEARS!. Wow, it seems like it was only yesterday that we gave birth to this little blog. Now, after 3 years, it’s still a little blog, it doesn’t make us any money but we sure are proud of how it has grown, the number of people who have enjoyed reading about our crazy Oklahoma life and my conservative opinions which I flap in the wind like a worn out old flag.

Here is the first post for those of you who didn’t have a chance to read it: http://www.neilandkatie.com/blog/2006/05/22/hello-everyone/

As you can see, the writing was intense, engaging and all that you have come to expect from great writing. *cough*.

Things have gotten more interesting since I posted that first message. Therefore, I decided to put together some highlights from 2006 until today. Here goes, deep breath:

• We lived in Kansas City
• We moved to Castle Rock, Colorado
• We loved Colorado but couldn’t find work after 8 months
• Katie found work at SouthCrest Hospital after a weekend trip to visit family in Tulsa and it only took her 2 hours
• We moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma land of Sooners and opportunity, plus it was cheaper than Oregon
• I was working for IBM and traveling ever week to places I cannot even pronounce
• We lived in an apartment off 71st st
• Katie tried hospice nursing, and almost had a nervous breakdown, she discovered home health nursing, sissy nursing, and feel in love. She drove her car into the ground.
• We separated apartments and lived alone for 3 months when we realized living together was bad (See BibleGateway.com for more detailed explanation in Matthew and for religious epiphany)
• We got married (See BibleGateway.com for parental praise and admiration)
• We moved in together….again….to an apartment off 71st st (71st was the center of our world apparently)
• IBM and I parted ways (see Dictionary.com for explanation of the word institution and insanity)
• ICON was birthed from the ashes of my former employment; starting doing business with IBM
• We bought a house in Broken Arrow and moved in after 5 months of building/construction
• We found out we were pregnant 8 months post marriage; dreams of travel and lavish lifestyle replaced with nausea and receipts from Babies-R-Us
• We sold the house after finding out some children are as expensive as a monthly payment on a 2009 Porsche Cayenne
• We moved to Miami, OK and into a log house, yes, real logs and are so country now we hear a twang when we walk
• We found out we are pregnant again (See WebMD.com where I figured out how it happens, also reference section on vasectomy which I learned is the cure to pregnancy)
• That about sums it up

Sure there is a lot in between all of that, but it was a highlights reel. If you want, read all the posts for details including pictures and witty banter.

In case you didn’t notice, we changed the name of the blog. It can’t remain the same if we are to add a new member to the family. It took hours of family deliberation and much discussion to come up with the new name, but as head of the house hold I ultimately had the final say. Therefore we went with Katie’s recommendation.

Who knows where the next 3 years will go with this. I will probably starting add ads in order to pay for the onslaught of diapers coming our way. Plus, my children will need some sort of education and I should probably plan for that at some point. I’m also guessing with the new Baby Twa on the way, this thing will never die as Grandparents cry the “more pictures” mantra together. Imagine 4 grown adults sitting aroud a drum all beating it with sticks and chanting “pictures, Pictures PICTURES!”. Now imagine that drum is really me. See what I mean?

Ok, I wasn’t expecting that

I pulled open the Oksportsandfitness.com website where there is an event calendar for runs. I was looking for the next 5k opportunity and one that was a few weeks out as I am not prepared yet. I saw a “Trail of Tears” run in Depew, OK and I thought, that sounds interesting. What I discovered kind of shocked me.

More »

Where’s Mommy’s Tiger?

Katie has figured out that Brooklynn will growl like a tiger when she asks the question, “Where’s Mommy’s Tiger?” As you can see from the video, she’ll do it with anyone. We’re working on other sounds including, pig, cow, dog and cat. So far, tiger is the only one she wants to mimic. I think it’s a sign, like a Chinese Zodiac Tiger fortune cookie or something. Good luck will abound on those who mimic a tiger.

"Born leader" is the key word for the Tigers. They are always in the lead and are most likely the ones to cry out "Let’s Go"! Noble and Fearless, Tigers are respected for their courage, even from those working against them.

Death of a lawnmower

I guess I didn’t expect it to happen so soon after just getting it running but the rider lawn mower died today.

Not a death in the traditional sense more in the sense that while trying to take it from Reverse into 1st I ripped off the gear shifter.

I was staring to mow out along the side of the house when I got stuck in the corner between the house and a large tree.. As some, if not most, of you already know my rider has had only 1st through 5th and no reverse since I got it fired up 2 weeks ago. I managed last weekend to mow the entire lawn in 2nd gear, no reverse.

Well that changed this morning as for some unknown reason I could suddenly shift it into reverse. It happened as the skies parted and the clouds rolled away and a voice bellowed ‘holy freakin ship high in transport! I realized immediately that it was me yelling not God which was somewhat disappointing as He could have just spoken the rider alive again if he wanted.

Anyway, it had never gone into reverse before. Now I was SO eager to tackle the whole yard with ease I took off quick as I could. I noticed immediately that the gear shifter seemed rather lose, much more so than before. As I reached the side of the shop to head out into the front yard I pushed on the clutch to gear down. Big mistake. Snap! The whole shifter popped off the transmission and was laying their in my hands. I couldn’t believe it. I cried out to the skies ‘why?! If almost as by a miracle I released the clutch hoping I could at least finish part of the lawn without shifting but to my astonishment the rider had shed its shifter in reverse. Reverse?! How could this happen. I was jolted backwards in surprise as I immediately began heading backwards and not forwards! This was a great surprise. It was one of those moments where you think the car is rolling but then you realize it is actually the car next to you. Freaky.

Obviously I could not continue to mow over a acre of land in reverse so I limped around in a circle and drove backwards to the shop where my poor fixer upper is now stuck in reverse. That was humiliating.

Strangely enough I had come to a place where I didn’t miss going in reverse. Now I think I will miss going forward even more.

Storms and bad photography

Image via Wikipedia

It’s that time of the season here in Oklahoma, Tornado season. We waited through a huge thunderstorm last night that was spawning Tornados all around us. I tried to capture some of the awesomeness but alas my awesomeness failed me once again.

More »