Thankful for Family Time

We are so thankful that we got to spend Thanksgiving with Max and Caster. Of course 4.5 days went by WAY too fast, but we enjoyed every second we had with them. We are also very thankful that even though this was sort of a last minute trip, Ryan and I were both able to be off work the entire time the boys were here (thank you Renzi and Trent!). We also squeezed in Christmas while they were here so that they could open presents from us with us, instead of just sending them in the mail. It is amazing how fast they can open gifts! We spent Thanksgiving Day over at Bob and Cindy’s house, most of Cindy’s family was in town.

Of course, it was hard to see the boys go. As of now, it looks like we won’t see them again until June…that is so far away.

Caster, Silas and Max

Happy Birthday Caster!

Happy 8^th Birthday Caster! I wish we were with you to celebrate today (and hope your gifts get there on time....we mailed them almost 3 weeks ago).

Picture by Lindsay

Every summer we have a mock birthday for the boys. We have Max’s as soon as they get here (because his birthday is May 10^th) and Caster’s right before they leave. It is not the same as the real thing, but we make it work.

Labor Day Weekend

We spent Labor Day weekend in Collinsville, OK at the Oliver's house. It was a weekend full of back porch football watching, yard golf, real golf, boating at Skaitook lake, etc. Great times were had by all (except the OU football watching part, sad day).

Jeff and Shiloh are going to have a baby, yay! We decided to make baby Oliver some stylish onesies for when he gets here next April.

Jeff loves squirrels
The Oliver's love beards.

Logo of the guy's golf league (yes they have a logo)

Cornelius the Dancing Chicken, so the baby has something to wear to Oktoberfest

Uncle Ryan

mmmm....Bacon (notice the bacon slices on the sleeves).

You say it's your birthday, It's my birthday too, yeah

August is the birthday month for us! Both Ryan and I have birthdays in August as well as a lot of our close friends. Needless to say we’ve enjoyed lots of great dinners this month.

We were so happy that Max and Caster were in town for Ryan’s 31st birthday. We went to Musashis for dinner (we did the same last year for Ryan’s birthday, I am hoping it becomes a tradition because it is so good, and the boys love it). They had to leave the next day, but it made for a really fun evening out for their last night in Oklahoma.

Kathy, Layni and Amber took me to get manis & pedis for my birthday, complete with champagne and snacks. It was so fun, thanks girls, you are the best!

Amber, Autumn, me and Layni at Iguana for my 30th birthday dinner. I wish I had taken a picture with everyone there or at least have let the guys jump in.

Jackson Stone turns 2 on Monday. He had his birthday party this weekend, man, does Jackson know how to throw a party! Here is Jackson, Lee Anne and his cake.

Well it wasn't Isaiah's birthday, but he was smiling so I had to take a picture. I am so glad he is feeling better. That is his girlfriend Sidney with him, they like to go to birthday parties together.

Girls Lake Weekend

So back in February or March, Lee Anne e-mailed the girls and asked if there was a weekend that we could all get together for a girl’s weekend. With weddings, families and everything else it took us over 6 months to plan something, August 15 it would be. Lee Anne and Renzi have a lake house at Grand and she invited us up there. Jackie flew in from D.C. and Emily Sue flew in from Austin, it was so much fun to have everyone together, it had been so long! We had a great weekend away from our fellas (and kids if applicable).
It was a full weekend of talking, drinking, dancing, boating (once we figured out how to work the boat) eating and lots of laughing!

Emily Sue, Amanda, Lee Anne, Jackie, Sara, Angela

The Summer in Pictures and Videos

We had so much fun with Max and Caster this summer. We were so lucky to have two extra weeks with them this summer, but their entire eight week stay went by WAY too fast, for all of us. It gets harder and harder to say goodbye each time. In January they will move from England to their next location, we are very anxious to find out where they will be living for the next few years. Fingers and toes are crossed that they live somewhere close and that we can see them much more often!!!

Here is a link to most of the pictures from this summer: Pictures
We also uploaded videos that we took this summer. You will probably not find them as funny as we do (just being honest). Videos

From the airport waiting to get on the plane.

Layni left the boys a note on the fridge...

Football & Ice Skating

Ryan is a huge Liverpool fan, but loves English Football in general. We found out that the World Football Challenge: Chelsea FC vs. Club America was going to be at the new Cowboys stadium in Dallas. We thought it would be fun to take the boys to Dallas for the weekend and go to the match and to Six Flags.

The stadium was amazing, mostly because of the massive screens/scoreboards they have. We had such a great time at the match. Caster yelled (and I mean yelled) “go Chelsea” the entire time, which was funny because the majority of people there were Club America (a Mexican team) fans.

Fun in the Hotel Room

It ended up raining on the day we were suppose to go to Six Flags. Instead, we made a trip to the Galleria so that the boys could ice skate, it wasn't Six Flags, but it was still a lot of fun.

Yo MTV Raps

Family Time

We have had a busy week or two. On the 11th, Katy and Corey got married in Norman. We followed up the wedding with a quick lunch at Bisonwiches (yum) and were able to go by and see Amanda and meet Baby Chloe…although the boys were more excited to meet her dog. We went to see Harry Potter on opening night with Bob and Cindy, Layni and Zach, we loved it. This past Friday night Scott proposed to Autumn…she said yes!
Sara’s family came into town over the weekend and we were able to spend lots of time with them (mostly over meals, of course) and sadly we only remembered to take pictures during the toast to Scott and Autumn. We swam some more… big surprise. On Sunday, we drove with Eric to Broken Arrow to visit Ryan’s grandparents before they move to El Campo, TX. Yesterday Ryan and the boys went to White Water for the day, they had a blast. Trying to cram an entire year into 8 weeks keeps us busy, but we are loving every second we get with Max and Caster.

The champagne toast to Scott and Autumn (the boys got to participate with a Fresca toast)

Didn't make it all the way through "Horton Hears a Who"

Maxin' and relaxin'

A little water basketball action

Visiting Nanny and Grampa

Homer's hair...one week in.

Fireworks, bacon, Homer, blue teeth and more swimming

We spent the 4^th of July over at the Feeback’s for a cookout. After the cookout (and about an hour of Caster wrestling their bulldog, Winston) we headed over to watch fireworks. We thought we’d outsmart everyone and watch from a parking lot across from UCO. We’ll the joke was on us, it took us 40 minutes to get out of the parking lot. The boys didn’t make it too far without falling asleep while we were trying to get out of the parking lot.

Walkers out.

Ryan taught Max how to make bacon and eggs…a very important skill for being a Walker boy. Max did a great job making his first bacon and egg breakfast.

The dogs were waiting patiently for some bacon to fall on the floor.

We've had a Chia Homer in a box for a long time (I am not sure why we have it)...well, he finaly made it out of the box. We'll keep you updated of how he's growing.

We weren’t sure how well the boys were really brushing their teeth. We found this mouthwash that turns their teeth blue and you brush it off…great invention, now we know they’ve really got clean teeth.

And more swimming...