Skiing fun

These are pictures of us skiing - not the kind you'd expect this time of year - but Jason's are SO funny that I really felt the urge to post them for everyone to see. Granted, he hasn't had a lot of skiing practice but still these are very animated shots. Do check out his expression in the first one. This was from a summer trip to the lake with some friends.

"Oh crud. What was I thinking!!!"

"Not so good. I will NOT let go...Ker-plop!"

yes, I did get out of the wake... eventually! TA DA!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!

(ps - this color is very similar to what I painted our master bath over the weekend!)

Why was the napkin folded?

Why Did Jesus Fold the Napkin?
Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection? I never noticed this.... The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed overthe face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.

Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, 'They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where they have put him!' Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying to the side.

Was that important? Absolutely! Is it really significant? Yes!

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished. Now if the master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, 'I'm done'. But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because.......... The folded napkin meant, 'I'm coming back!'

HE is Coming Back!!

High Flying Time

There's our tiny plane. Seriously, smaller than our minivan!

Last night was a fun adventure - one of those "don't pass this up because you'll regret it if you do" sort of moments. After some encouragement from Jason, I agreed to join two friends on a flight around this area to look at Christmas lights. Commercial airlines are rather "old hat" with me (not that I travel that much anymore but they don't bother me). However, a little 4-person plane in the dark was intimidating. It was extremely chilly and windy but we did get to see some great Christmas lights and even were able to see my house from the air!

Great experience. The boys waited in the airport for us and even bundled up to come outside to watch us taxi in. Glad I did it. One really cute part of the whole experience was Kyle - he was SOOOO sweet with me when I got off the plane. I received a lot of kisses from him and hugs in the next 10 minutes. Kind of like he was worried I was gone and then so relieved I was back. For the next nearly 2 hours, we heard in his "quiet" voice with his slight, "thinking" scowl - "Mama. Airbane. Sky. Up. Ride. Airbane. Mama. Ride. Airbane." So we knew he definitely was taking it all in.

Thanks, Julie, for organizing and Laura, for going!

We did follow it up with Mexican food, which in my opinion, makes everything more fun!

________________________________________________________

May each of you have a very Merry Christmas, full of a lot of fun and laughter!

Christmas Activities

Our family has had a nice week of Christmas activities. Jason and I had our staff Christmas party for our staff and their spouses last weekend. It was fun! Then, we all decorated our first gingerbread house with GG and Bubba when they were up in Stillwater visiting (and closing on lot!) this weekend. None of us had ever made one before (we just got the kit from Walmart) and I do think that Jason had the most fun of anyone.

Yesterday, we hosted about 30 of our friends for a Christmas party. It was chaos but it was very nice. Below is a picture of a few of my friends - Arica (and daughter), Kristy (and daughter), me (no daughter) and Darlene (and daughter (ps - she's moving to Denver in about 3 weeks - bummer)). nice backdrop of our microwave.

Can you believe that Santa Claus actually knew that such a great group of kids were getting together and decided to travel all the way from the North Pole just to come to our party?!?! AMAZING! He was a hit and we only had 2 kids that cried when we tried to get them on his lap :) These are our playgroup friends from Thursday mornings (a few are in school now (including Grant) so it's not usually this many). Plus, we had a few families that were unable to attend. We had a few crafts to make, a cookie-decorating station and a lot of food. Thanks, Kristy for your help in hostessing!

Here's Grant with our gingerbread house. He's procrastinating going to bed and making us laugh by sticking toothpicks in his mouth and laughing very loudly. Of course, he did get to stay up a little late! :)

We are now finished with our "obligations" for the holidays and hope to do very little other than laugh and enjoy the season together. Much love to all!

Do-Overs With God

- This is a serious, religious post. No funny kid stories included -

Tuesday nights at 6:30. It's been a routine now for nearly a year, with some weekly exceptions. Sharla, Angie, Laura, Julie and me. What a great bonding time. We have had two different Bible studies - one was more interactive and discussion-oriented, and our recent one was very in-depth with the Bible. This last week was thought-provoking and I want to share what I take from Beth Moore's lesson, though it's not nearly as good, powerful, or clear as she presents, but it's a shot.

Every life on earth will be full of sin. What we choose to do about that sin and how we choose to live our lives is all based on personal decisions, moral compasses, and also those with whom we surround ourselves.

Grace is such a common word but do we really know it and feel it? I believe this concept is one of the basic views of a Christian life. After our sin, we have two options: continue to repeat the sin knowing in our gut that the decisions are wrong, or we can learn from it and not do it again. It's sin versus repeated sin. They are different. And although I've heard the expression "sin is sin is sin" - what's the difference between sin? You can fall into an area of sin and turn from it towards God, or do the opposite. Keep heaping it. What's the difference? That's where grace comes in because not a single one of us can earn our salvation because we all miss the mark - He gives us the grace. There is a difference in behavior and I do think you can choose different paths afterwards, one of which pleases God. Grace is the peace you feel when you correct your sin because you know that God is working in your heart.

That leads me to "do-overs." You've had sin. I've sinned. And we know it's wrong. It is over, and later you think "man, if I could just have a do-over then it would be different." God doesn't let us rewind time and live that situation over the right way because he wants us to learn from it. He wants us to learn from our indulgences, our careless words, and our actions. God will teach us. His teaching is providing a "do over" from God. He gives us similar situations where we can choose NOT to sin again. That's our do-over. I've had do-overs - sometimes I have followed the Godly path and there are times where I have continued to sin. I know that I have had a few do-overs with some of you, and some of you I wish I could have one.

My heart feels different depending on my reaction to the situation.

If you have regrets about past behavior, which I surely do and imagine you do, too - talk to God about it. Perhaps he'll remind you of all the times He provided another opportunity and because of all you have learned, he'll show you the do-over and how you chose right.

Exodus 20:20 "He tests us to keep us from sinning" - when we blow it, you can bet He'll test us. Be prepared for your "do-over." Get ready for victory when you do it right!

When you reflect on your life, I hope you'll find many do-overs that you are happy with.

We can find in Psalm 19 that the Lord is pure and he'll lead us in paths of righteousness, just as He did for David. Our current Bible study has been about the life of King David and his many adventures. We've learned a lot. The main stories and lessons have been in I and II Samuel, if you want to study. God will reward us for keeping his word and will keep us out of more trouble. Thank heavens that there aren't more times we have strayed left and that we don't have more do-overs.

Imagine the peace that will fill your heart when you choose the path of correcting sin, accepting God's eternal grace and knowing you are forgiven. I hope to one day be able to fully experience that feeling. I have a lot of work to go, both in actions and learning about Him.

Thanks to my Tuesday night girls and for an incredible year, full of a lot of laughs and tears, and for challenging and loving me. Love you guys and am so blessed to have each of you in my life forever.

Also, to my readers, do you have a good suggestion for another study for our group to do after Christmas? This one needs to be more discussion/group-focused. We would love ideas!!

Kenneth Leon

Today is a special day for my Hefner family...

Happy Birthday, Ken! We will always love you so...

You were one of the best grandfathers EVER. I know I was so blessed to have you in my life for so long, and to have you at my wedding, even twirling Granny on the dance floor. It's still so vivid in my mind. Thanks for the wagon rides, paddle boat memories, Carpenter's Children, sugar cookies, wonderful Christmas memories, and providing for and caring for such an amazing group of five children. May we always try to honor your memory. I can't think of a better person to derive Kyle's name from than yours.

I love you and can't wait to hug you again!

Last few weeks in photo review

Seriously, I own one item of clothing this color. So does Mom. It never fails - whether we're hanging out at a house or going to a game or to dinner, we typically dress similarly. This was one such instance. They pulled in our driveway and I rolled my eyes! Guess it's a 'Great Minds Think Alike' situation! :)

Santa 2008 at Northpark Mall - love this Santa!

Christmas Card photo 2008

Grant's first letter to Santa - it's mailed!

It's December?

Normally, I will update our site when there is a something pertinent to write about or if I have something to share... not today! I have fun pictures on my camera that I could post but then again, they are still on my camera and I don't feel like uploading now.

We have so many reasons to be thankful. At our home, we do tend to stress - but it really is about stuff that doesn't matter!! We have love, health and a TON of laughter. What could be better? THANKSGIVING for all of our blessings.

Basically, I'm just saying HEY to my friends and family that joyfully (!!!) check this site, if there are any of you!

We had a nice Thanksgiving. Our time with our extended family in Tyler, Texas, at my aunt/uncle's was great. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting our cousins. Jason did get sick all day on Thanksgiving and then passed it along to Grant for Friday morning and our drive back. As always, love my time with my parents and Wes/Anne. After leaving there, we went to Vanoss and left the kiddos for a few nights so we could enjoy Bedlam and perhaps allow Santa to finish shopping (Thankfully, he did finish! YEA!). Our home is cozily decorated and the outside lights are going to be finalized tomorrow night (or Wednesday!).

I did forget to tell a Kyle story - he bit a hole in his tongue on Tuesday! A literal hole. About the size of a pencil eraser. It took three paper towels for me to sop up the blood to see if it was a tooth, tongue, gum, lip, etc.... we made a quick trip to Daddy's office and he said there wasn't a need for a stitch. What a great education he received in school as it has healed in six days! :)

As my Christmas music is playing on Sirius in our room, our lights and garland are in our living room, and we baked sugar cookies today, I am in the mood for Christmas!

What are your favorite things about this season? Family? Foods? Decorations? Smells? Also, any neat traditions you have with your family and/or kids that you want to share (you can email if you don't want to comment!).

24 Days and Counting....

Eggcellent Mess

It was an eggcellent mess. Gotta say there's nothing better to cap off a morning full of gross diapers, four loads of laundry, snotty noses, answering phone calls, work needing to be done but not being able to get to it than the most lovely mess Kyle created for me this morning. I had been out of the kitchen no more than 90 seconds and I heard Grant say "uh oh, Kyle. That's a bad no-no. You need to go to time-out" (hmmm, wonder who he listens to all day long!).

Let the pictures speak for themselves.

That would be 12 jumbo eggs. Lovingly taken out of the refrigerator shelf. And the pictures don't capture the amount of yolk and egg whites that are scattered (much less egg shell crumbs!) across the floor. I am very thankful that I deferred my upset attitude towards him until I ran to get a few pictures to capture the moment. So, not only was mopping the kitchen floor yesterday fun, but it was fun to do again today after about 10 paper towels to sop up the ick.

Kids. Truly, a joy. Jason and I are so blessed.

Early Bird Gets the...Bug!

The Christmas bug, that is. On my last trip to the neighborhood Wallyworld, I had just started selecting my produce when I heard faint music playing in the background... It was holiday tunes! Not only was it holiday music, the song playing was religious and about Christmas. My heart was very happy and I found myself humming and singing to Kyle on the bread aisle and near the yogurts. Sometimes an occasional skip or little dance was included. I'm sure the security cameras captured us, and if they were bored in the security room, at least got a chuckle from us!

I'm a sucker for Christmas. Not so much the present-side, but the decorations, baking, smells, fellowship with distant family and variety of activities. So, yes, I am three weeks early to be putting my background as Christmas ornaments and playing Bing Crosby and Diana Krall, but here it is - at least I'm smiling when I sign in to my blog!

My house is decorated for Thanksgiving and I am usually one to roll my eyes when the candy aisle is full of red and green candies when I try to buy something for Halloween - not to mention Hobby Lobby's early jump on things.

Let's not forget to celebrate the fall and turkey day but...

Merry Early Christmas!

When Money Matters

It's a pretty known fact that I am what could be considered a Numbers Nerd. If there are numbers involved, I enjoy it. My favorite subjects were math and physics, the best part of any of my jobs has been the math portion, including the bookkeeping for the pharmacy and now for our office. Therefore, it only makes sense that I love this product! It's Quicken Online and is a FREE tool to help track spending, create a family budget, create categories and view transactions. To get started, all you need is your bank account information (you can also manage investments, multiple accounts, etc - we just do our main checking through this program). The program is FUN for me to do but it is good for Jason, who is not a math-nut, to review our finances (when I show him!) for his awareness.

If you don't have a process of tracking your spending or watching a budget, if needed, I strongly suggest it! Let me know if you have questions.

One of those weeks...

Quick recap of our past 5 days -

• Our 15 month old refrigerator quit sealing shut. Two repairmen have not been able to fix it. It is 3 months out of warranty.
• Our 4 year old "quiet series" dishwasher has developed a piercing screak and shrill during loads and stinks so incredibly bad when you open it.
• Our 4-5 year old dryer gets way hot very quickly and then shuts down. The soonest that repairman (of course, the fridge man can't fix the dryer) can come out is next Friday, making it two weeks w/o a dryer.
• Some kids stole our PUMPKINS! We had 4 different "scenes" in our yard and they got all but our front porch. The kicker is that we heard car doors shut and a car take off - thought it was the teens next door - apparently not!
• Speaking of laundry and dryer - Grant did decide to wet his bed two nights ago, making it a long day of drying sheets and a queen quilt w/o a dryer - lots of hanging in the garage.

Good Luck to Big Kyle today as he is "Locked Up" for MDA!

New Do

Mr. Toe-head has a little less hair than a few days ago. It may be white, but Kyle's hair was getting scraggly. I think I should have been a hairdresser because I really do enjoy cutting all 3 of my guy's hair (who can really mess up on Jason's anyways?!?! just kidding, honey - I love you!).

Kyle sat perfectly still and actually giggled a lot. Crazy me let him hold the mini-razor that zoomed through Grant's hair a few months ago leaving a stripe - it was centimeters from happening again! We did have to do this while Grant was at school; otherwise, they would have been wrestling amidst the electric clippers.

The back looks better - less fuzz. You can't tell a bit on top since it's soooo light. What a trooper!

Before After

Halloween and HOOPla

Top Five List from the Last Two Weeks:
5. My first attempt at making a Halloween costume is complete (whew!)

4. Clint was able to carve his first pumpkin with us on our driveway

3. OSU shoots off a new basketball era.

2. NoBama becomes the newest US President-Elect

1. Trick-or-Treating with these two little boys becomes the highlight for us. They were so polite and even tried to go into every house we visited to stay longer! Kyle kept his cowboy hat on the entire time!

Giddy-up Cowboy

Avery, Kyle and Grant
(out of order) week of Halloween - Carving pumpkins with friends

He SNUCK this while driving home from visiting Brett and Gabi. CAUGHT!

It's been a fun few weeks. We've had Halloween and we've, as in OSU fans, hopefully just had the first of many, many basketball wins under our new coach, Travis Ford. Our family, thanks to the Halls and Metcalfs, were all able to go last night. The crowd wasn't great but it was fun to see the speed and intensity change from the last few years. It was good ball, and I was actually paying more attention to it than to fellow crowd members! :) The floor is new, too - thankful it was the option with both Pete and Eddie's names - as seen below (I obviously JUST missed the shot with Pistol Pete facing us and talking to the boys).

Pictures from Austin

At the game

Alumni Association gathering on Sixth Street (early on!)

At dinner on Friday

Close...But No Cigar!

WE CHEERED LOUD! And, boy, was it fun! :) Jason and I headed to Austin on Friday morning for the OSU versus Texas football game. We went with some friends from dental school, Bryan and Erin, and had a great time. We made it in really good time (thanks to smooth traffic and slight lead in the foot) and went to Hula Hut on Lake Austin for dinner. Palm trees in October are a nice sight! The food was great - and frozen margaritas! Off to the infamous Sixth Street to meet up with other Poke fans that ventured south at the Blind Pig Pub, and it really was impressive how many people showed up by the night's end (which for us was pretty early!). After heading to our AWESOME hotel, we took advantage of playing Nintendo Wii in the lobby. It was my first time and I had a lot of fun bowling. Baseball and Tennis weren't so hot... but it was fun.

Saturday was a lot of hanging out with fellow fans, and then walking to the game. What a huge stadium! Our team tried really hard. You can always say "if this or that would have, should have, could have..." yes, we could have pulled out a win, but we did play them tough - and down to the last play AT HOME! Way to go, Cowboys! I have to give it to the Texas fans that I have only heard negative about - really only one drunk student yelled negative things at us - everyone else was either quiet or had nice comments to say about our team. Good hosts, to us anyways (I know OU and A&M fans would probably disagree). Did you hear it was the largest crowd EVER in Texas history to watch any kind of football game? Yes, it was VERY loud, but the OSU fans did hold our own.

Should I mention that Mr. Lead Foot got a ticket on the way home going 80 (which was actually lucky! ha). It was Bryan, not Jason.

Now it's off to unpacking and doing laundry and paying bills - wow, reality check. Thanks to GG and Bubba for watching the kiddos so we could have our first "us" weekend in four and a half years (aka since kids).

We met Mr. Mason (otherwise "Little Mason" around our house as Grant's best friend is named Mason - he's "Big Mason") before leaving Edmond as they were in town - cutie pie!

Hope everyone has a great Halloween week! Wags the Dog and Cowboy are looking forward to Friday's events!

High Chair, Bye Chair!

First off, look how much they have changed?!?! Time is flying, friends - live it fully!

Back to my point...Does this officially mean that I am no longer a mom to a baby? Has it really been three and a half years that this "lovely" piece of furniture has graced my kitchen? It now has a new home in our attic (until perhaps the local consignment sale in the spring). Kyle had officially outgrown it as apparent by the tugging of his body every time we tried to get him out. It's a bittersweet event that I gave no thought to before taking it to the garage - had the new booster chair, put it together, and voila! We are now lucky to be able to have people over and 6 dine around our kitchen table together. But, it does mean the boys have grown... and they are a preschooler and a toddler!

Homecoming Celebrations

OSU Homecoming is a blast! We have had the best weekend catching up with college friends and simply celebrating everything orange and black. Our family met Jason's former roommate, Seth, and his wife, Darci, for lunch on Friday and realized it had been FOUR years since we've all been together. We can't wait to meet their new addition sometime this winter! Next up, was my college friend from the first day until the end - Erryn, as we lived together at least 2 of our 4 years in Stillwater. Her family came and hung out at our home until we all went to dinner and then to the Walkarounds on campus. It was a lot of fun to see the four kids playing together - especially the older two as Grant has already asked if Brinley can come back and play. They have grown so fast and I just had a great time playing with Mr. Chunkers, Calin, as he is a bald, "big" guy like Kyle was...lots of fun! Still, I think Erryn and I should still be living in 223 Drummond and going on coke dates! :) Fun times fly by... Saturday was game day. We started off by going on campus and taking the boys to the 'walk' before the game. We had never done that and it really was neat. Kyle had a lot of people ooohhing and gooing over him. What a charmer.

Homecoming week at OSU is unbelievable. It is close to my heart, maybe more than a lot of others, because of my time spent on the executive team and on steering; plus, anyone from the Greek system appreciates the effort of the home decorations, signs, football frenzy, etc. It's been truly fun to share some of these events with my boys - not that Kyle will remember, but Grant was really in to the house decs and the campus stuff this year.

Time Killer

It's a fun way to kill some time! click here for some Halloween bowling!

The Ultimate Gift

It's a rare time when I have the ability to sit down for 2 hours and do one of my favorite things - read! I was fortunate enough last weekend to have two little kids who both decided to take two hour naps at the same time, and I was able to crack open a book that has been collecting some dust in our bookshelves. It was a great, quick read, and I wanted to share a little bit about it and recommend it for you, too! If you live close, I'll even let you borrow it! :)

The book is called The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall. It's a story about family, love, money and the true gifts in the world. Without ruining it, a young 24 year old learns through a series of "tests" the value of life's blessings... granted to him by his great-uncle's will, while the rest of his family received millions of dollars. He doesn't. He has to work for it, and ends up learning and having so much more.

The gifts include the following: value of honest work, gift of money, true friends, learning, problems, family, laughter, dreams, giving, gratitude, a day, and of love.

It's an easy read and it does make you think about how you live your life. I'm normally a fan of romances (go Danielle Steele and Nora Roberts!) and love recommendations, too. Do you have any?

Also, let's see... a recap of us this week. Busy work week. Preschool Open House. Haley's joint birthday party. Tried a few new recipes for dinners - nothing too exciting. Jason attended a friend's funeral. Texas beat OU. OSU is currently holding a small 3 point lead over Missouri (note: Jason is glued to it and I'm at the computer. Big shocker. It always makes for a happier Sunday if the Cowboys win, in his eyes!). Playgroup and a few long walks for me. We're on Mucinex trying to get rid of the crud. Planted 3 trees in our backyard. Had some friends over and made homemade Halloween sugar cookies. Relaxed at Kristy's while - gasp - the kids played nicely.

I'll try to do some various stuff on this site and not only just update on the kids (but that sure is the best for a proud mom!). Love to you all - thanks for checking this out.

Pumpkin Patch Party

What a blast! We went on Saturday morning to the Grider pumpkin patch just south of town; it was super! My parents were in town for the OSU game and so they joined us (in future blogs, they are GG and Bubba). We went last year and the field last year was covered with bugs proving to not be fun. However, they replanted in a different field. I wish I had a video camera to record Jason - in his element! We only wanted about 7-8 pumpkins... we ended up with more than 20 because he kept wandering off and cutting them off of the vines. Grant and Kyle were both in to it and each picked out their very own special pumpkin. Our arms were scraped up but it was a great time.

We ended the day at the Oklahoma State football game where we beat Texas A&M quite handily. What a blast! We were even able to catch up with some college friends we hadn't seen in quite a while at tailgates and then during the game (was there even a 2nd half, Casey and Becky?!)

And on this special day one year ago, Wes and Anne were married! Happy Anniversary!

And We're Off!

Let's just start the first blog post by saying "WHAT AM I DOING!?" I never imagined that our family would have one of these, but truthfully, I have had a blast looking at my friends' sites and seeing their updates. I guess it is kind of taking over on mass emails (sorry, that won't happen with us - we love email too much!). I decided to finally give it a try last week after talking to one of my dearest friends who encouraged me. So, here we are...

It's safe to assume that I, Stacy, will be posting the majority of our entries, but Jason may add some words here and there (if OSU goes 9-3 over my 7-5 bet then I'm sure he'll let the world know!).

We hope to update this enough so you can know what is going on in our lives and see some of the funny things the boys do, but not count on it as our communication tool. Lots of love to each of you.

And, I also want to welcome Mr. Mason Hunter to our world! Congratulations, Emily and Hunter! We love you guys and can't wait to meet your little man. :)