Varnum Whippet fun run II

So we have decided we (Misti, Patience, Payton and I) would participate in the fun run this year, when I mentioned it to Daddy he decided he would also join us.  Then he invited Ray to join us.  I think they were under the impression it was a cancer walk.  That was last weeks walk.  Okay now that I have you up to speed, We all met up at the school this morning at 830 am and visited with friends for a bit then we got to load the bus to go to the starting line, there were enough of us that they had to take on group and then come back for the rest of us.  Payton was pretty excited about all this as he would be able to ride the school bus for the first time ever!  When we got on he asked me to sit with him he also wanted to sit in the back.  ( We were the trouble makers in the back of the bus is what I told everyone.)  So we got to the starting point and Payton got in his stroller and away we went.  It was very nice walking together and visiting.  We took turns pushing the stroller and before we knew it we were at the first drink stop.  Then we got to the next stop and I saw a deer on the dirt road north of the intersection.  It was just so nice.  I walked slower this week than I had last week but it was still a good workout.  When we got back to the school they cheered as each person crossed the line then they started out announcing the winners from each age group.  They had 3 medals for each group.  Daddy and Ray did not stay for the medals as they had chores to do.  Well when they got to the over 60 group, they announced the winner then when they said and second place goes to....Ray Griffin Sr.  Well I went up and accepted the medal for him and told them I would see that he got it.  He was pretty surprised when we got to his house and presented him with his medal.

Nancy Horn, Donna Quinalty, Nancy Johnson, Payton,Myself<Patience,Misti

Before the Walk.




Daddy pushing Payton James and Me.  Nancy Johnson coming up on the side,if you look you can see Ray in the background



Daddy got his picture on facebook from the 5k this is the winning 12 and under group.

From there we headed to Shawnee for Patience's soccer game, I did not know if she would be able to complete it on top of the 5k but she sure did.  When we got home after lunch Patience is the only one who did not nap.  I just wish I had a bit of her energy.  She could leave the energizer bunny in the dust.

Saturday, Sunday. September 17,18

So we got to Broken Arrow last night and had a wonderful dinner with Laurie and Tom of pizza! The kids love pizza, Nicole was able to make it down about an hour after we did, we had fun visiting.

So Saturday morning we got up and got ready to head downtown for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure cancer 5k.  This is something I have wanted to do for years and never had the opportunity to do so.  I was so pleased when Laurie said she was doing this again this year, when she did the 5 k last year I was not in shape to join.  So we met Laurie's friend Christina and her daughter, at the starting area, it was full of people ready to take off.  They had set it up this year to where they would release groups every 15 minutes instead of releasing every walker at the same time and having to large of a group heading out all at once like they had in the past.  So we did not know how soon we would meet up with 'christina so we planned to go with the second group.  After the first group took off we saw Christina and her daughter standing across the street so we decided to leave at the back of the first group.  All I can say is Wow the emotions were so close to the surface with seeing all these people walking with names pinned to their backs as for who the were supporting.  And there were people dressed all in pink some just had pink wigs on others had pink tutus on it was so nice.  There were groups of cheerleaders from the different schools standing along the route cheering us all on.

  I started off walking with Laurie and co. then little by little I broke away from them at first Tom called to me to see if I was going to start running and I told him no I was just lost in thought.  Then I picked up my pace and kept looking for openings so I could go just a little faster and a little faster, I would see someone up in front a bit and the next thing I knew I was passing them then the next.  I was not running mind you, just walking fast.  As I walked I thought about my dear friend Nancy, about another friend Connie, and about Marlene, then I kept feeling Boy right there with me telling me to keep on and don't slow down, it would all be OK.  I had a slight fear of getting hurt by doing this but I came out of the walk feeling better than I have in a long time. It was so nice to get lost among a bunch of people and to have no expectations on myself, I was able to think some things thru and decided I was not ready to give up and get all my teeth pulled out, I will take this one tooth at a time and see how that goes.  In the back of my mind I wondered what to do when it was over as I could not call Boy and give him my time as I had done with all my other 5ks I have done before.  So when I finished I just look toward the sky and told him it was about 40 minutes.  I then called Misti to check in as Patience   was up when we left but all others were sleeping and she said she would wake Misti up in a few minutes. When Laurie and Co got to the finish we took a few pictures.

 Then we got in the car to head to the house to get the others as we had a Greek fest to go to next.

So when we got to the Greek fest we ran into Cristina and Elizabeth again and were able to have our meal with them, such nice people.  So after you pay to enter the festival you get in line for the food and you are given a list of everything they have with a short description and the price, you fill this checklist out as you walk in line so when it is your turn to order you know what you want and it all goes smoothly. You approach the counter you hand them your list they tell you your total and hand you your food (think soup Nazi) (JOKING), we then sat down and had a great time, Misti was worried the kids would not care for the food but they were great to try everything and liked most of it.  I saw they had a green bean dish on the menu that is cooked in tomato sauce with onions and I thought it sounded good but I was the only one with this thought, so I ordered a bowl and let every one try it they were all surprised how much they did like it.  Payton was so cute, he took a bean out of the bowl with his fingers and took a bite, he then said he did not like it, so he put the rest in him mouth and then grabbed the fork and picked up the bowl and went to town on the beans.  I also got a chicken dish with rice pilaf and the kids really liked  that.  Misti got a potato dish that was great, it had oregano and lemon flavor and was great.  So when we got done we left the food tent and walked over to the bakery to try some sweets they we wonderful also, the first ones we tried were honey pops think a little light doughnut hole rolled in warm honey sprinkled with powder sugar that had been mixed with cinnamon.  Yes that good!  Then I went into the gift shop area  I was looking for cookbooks but they had sold out the first day. :(  So then I went back over to the bakery part where everyone else was still at and got an assorted box that had baklava and a couple of other treats in it.  After this we headed back to the car and we to Laurie and Toms to get naps.  After naps Laurie and I ran to the store for dinner items and we were also making friendship bread, Laurie made vanilla and I made orange cranberry, the both turned out very good.  I got to bring a bag of starter home and am looking forward to making different flavors.

Misti and Kris had tickets for the OSU/Tulsa football game so they headed out while we were making dinner.  We had chili dogs for dinner,the kids were able to play in the back yard while we got this done. The weather was so nice we were able to open the door and windows for a bit.  After dinner we hung out in the living room visiting and the kids played, as it got closer to bedtime the weather started to get bad, we had hail, thunder and lightning.  The football game was postponed from 9 pm kickoff to 1145 pm kickoff.  Misti and Kris did not make it home till 445 this morning.  Payton and Patience were ready to be up a 7 am.

We headed home about 9 this morning then after lunch we all took good naps.  Poor Laurie had to work today, I hope she was able to get an early night.  We all had such a great time at Laurie and Tom's house!

A couple of funnies that I would like to share:

When Patience had her birthday party, she got a mirror to hang in her room as she likes to talk to herself in the mirror, well the one we got her is a princess mirror that tells you how wonderful your are and such.  Misti said, as Patience was admiring herself in it, " Great just what she needs something to make her head even bigger!"  Patience all of a sudden grabs her head and said" no its not it is still the same"  Payton then pipes in " I want my head bigger too"

When Brandy and her girls got to the house Mattison was so surprised to see me with my new" do" that she could not stop laughing at it, I told her mom who was very embarrassed not to be she was just expressing her true feelings and that was fine.  She later apologized and I told her not to worry about it.  I just love the truth and innocence of the younger children.

There were a couple more on the way home from Broken Arrow today but right now I can not remember them I am hoping Misti will.

Friday Sept 16

So today I got up and got ready for work, I would just be there for a couple of hours till breakfast was over and then I was going to the dentist to get a cavity filled before we head to visit Laurie and Tom for the weekend.  So I get to the dentist my appt is for 845, it is now 930 and I am just getting called back after doing quite a bit of paperwork.  So they took lots of pictures and the it was time to let the dentist give me a once over, I told her I was only interested in getting the one that was bothering me fixed today.  So after my examine she told me that everyone of my teeth have an issue, all of my bottom ones are loose since I have weakened bones and so much bacteria in my mouth.  So the cheapest thing to do will be to get all of my teeth pulled and get two full plates.  I will go in on the 19th of October and they will pull all of them then they will also have my plates there so I can put them in immediately and then I will have at least two follow up appts to make sure everything is working fine.

My head has been full of this all day and I have not been able to think about much else.  I did get back to work in time to mark lunch, so that was good but I did not get much else done.  So after work I went home packed my bag and waited a few minutes for Misti and kids to get there and then we got the house work done that was needing to be done and then we loaded up the durango and headed east to Henriette and from there we went north to Broken Arrow, I was wanting to try out that route.  Laurie and Tom had some pizza  waiting for us for dinner.  We had a very nice visit, Nicole got to Laurie and Toms about an hour after we did.  Patience and Payton had a very nice time playing with everyone and then it was bed time. 

In the morning Laurie, Tom and I are going to do the Susan G Komen 5K in Tulsa, I am so excited.  Will check in and let you all know how this comes out.

Wednesday Sept 14

OK so let me start with yesterday, I was at work with all these plans to get this and that finished and I was going to have my desk all neat and stuff before I went home as I was only going to be there half a day today.  We I had a sub come in and ask about what day she was needed back and I saw the workshop I was suppose to go to today was actually yesterday.  I ran across the hall to the other secretary and told her if I left right then I could make it to Norman just as it started.  Call on another coworker to come mark high school lunch so I could hit the road, asked mom if she could be Austins ride home as I would not be back in time, found Austin and told him Aunt Bernie would take him home after school and I would see him Wed. morning.  So I jumped in my car and away I went praying I would not get behind a farmer and for the police to be otherwise occupied.  God listened and got me there with 3 minutes to spare.

So the workshop was not the most stimulating as it was over civil rights in the school, I almost fell asleep a couple of times.  I have gone to it  a few times already but have to attend so many a year.  I signed up for it not paying enough attention on the whats or the whens just the wheres, I would much rather drive to Norman than the capital.  After the workshop was done (2 hours of credit for taking it) I decided to run by Borders to see if they were still open as I had seen the ones that were still open had their stuff at 90 per cent off.  When I pulled in I saw they were closed so I went on to Barnes and Noble as I was now wanting to go book shopping.  Went there and found five books I could not live with out.  Then it was time to drive home.  By the time I got home I had such a headache from being so tense driving to Norman and back.

I snuck into the house and went straight to my room to lie down.  Patience came in there after a few minutes and was surprised to see me, she asked" when did you get home?"  I told her I had a headache so she got into bed and laid down by me to offer comfort. After a bit little mister came down the hall and asked the same thing, then he also climbed into bed.  Misti was the next one to come down the hall she then asked when did you come home but she did not get in bed, when Patience told her about my headache she told them to leave me alone. 

So today when I got off work we headed back to Norman to meet up with Brandy and girls as we had planned to do this when I thought my workshop was on Wednesday, since it was not Misti and kids were able to go with and join us for dinner.  We had Chinese the when we were done we went to Braums for dessert since the kids were wanting ice cream and I know they all love Braums.  We left there after and headed back home this being 8pm and a school night.  While I was driving I started asking Patience some math questions since a little bit earlier she had told Payton she was very good at math.  Guess what she is!  This child has the concept of multiplying down pat.  We started off with 4x4 and she knew the answer so we kept going 3x3, 2x3, 2x4, 3x4 and she was telling us the answer, then we went on to addition and then subtraction, I don't know who has been teaching her but she is good, the only one she did not know was , 2 bananas plus 3 apples, plus 1 orange when I asked her this one she said uh and I told her the answer is a fruit salad.  Ha Ha.  So tonight when we got home from Norman there was no headache just smiles..

Monday sept 12

Ok so here is what I am thinking , I may go to a weekly blog, I am running out of things to talk about and then I feel guilty when I dont blog.  I will try to do a weekly post and then if anything out of the norm happens I will blog about it when I am able. 

Sat, Sun. Sept 10,11

So it has been a very busy weekend here.  Got up yesterday morning and hit the ground running to help Misti get last minute things done for Patience's 6th birthday party.  We had a good turn out and alot of fun.  The girls and Payton seemed to really enjoy each other, Zoe was able to come with her mom Ladonna.  Zoe is still a little unsure of the others and stood by her mom instead of playing.  After the party the kids got on the tramp, Zoe seemed to unwind then and they all had fun.  We kept saying we should have put them on the tramp first before the party started.  ha ha. 

Boys Mom was able to come to the party, she seems to be doing well, I think this was the most relaxed I have seen her in a long time.  She stayed the night and got to spend a little extra time with the kids and played legos with them.  When it was time for her to go home today the both told her goodbye.  I was suprised, as normally Payton does not talk to very many people.

So this morning when we got up we had coffee and visited at the table then after Mom left to head back to Yukon, Payton and  I took Nicole to Cheoctah to meet up with Robert and Brittany.   We meet up at McDonalds and had lunch, Payton seemed nervous he kept looking at Britt and saying " Hello", then he would just smile really big.  After we ate we went next door to Wal Mart and did a little window shopping for Legos that Payton might like for his birthday.  I was amazed with how many kits they now have in the stores.  Both Patience and Payton seem to love legos, I was telling Patience last night about how when she was smaller she would play with her Pappy and if he left an opening she would get upset and have him fill it in.  She would think it was broken and he would try to leave one just to see if she would spot it.  So many of the kids in our family have liked playing with blocks and they seem to last forever.

This is our first week of fantasy football and I did not do as well as I had hoped but there is nowhere but up to go next week.

Tonight Patience went to church with me then we went to WalMart to get some lunch things for this week and on to Taco Bell to grab her dinner.  Paytonand Misti went to watch Kris bowl so I thought they would prob. eat there.  Called Misti as we got to Taco Bell and she said they were heading home also so could I grab Payton a taco also.  Time to head to bed and get some rest for the week ahead.

Friday September 9

Well I sure did not want to get out of bed this morning.  I heard my alarm go off from my phone, then I went back to sleep till I heard Misti wake Patience up for school.  I then got up and got ready to go in, even though I had taken the day off they were having a Grandparents breakfast at school today and I had told Patience that I would go. We had a very good time and some wonderful food.  Besides having the long johns that we get every Friday the teacher also had a fruit salad plus a breakfast casserole that was great.  Misti and Payton were able to stay and enjoy it with us.  After we ate the kindergarten students got up and sang some songs to us it was very touching.

When we left the school we ran to town to get some last minute birthday party things.  Nicole had stayed at the house instead of going with us so she could rest.  She seems to be doing OK on her recovery from getting her 4 wisdom teeth pulled. 
We worked on the house most of the day getting it ready for the party, I hope she has a blast.  I know Payton and I had lots of fun cleaning up some of the toys that were needing to be rinsed off due to sitting in boxes for a while.  So then after having all that fun it was nap time for the little man.  Just before he awoke it was time for Misti to go after Patience, I went into the room to lay down so I would hear him if he woke up before Misti returned.  I no more than layed down and he woke up and told me it was time for me to get up from my nap.   
Later we got rounded up to go meet Brandy at Golden Corral for dinner, I wanted to get Janet some dinner before I headed to Shawnee, I told Misti to go on and I would meet up with them there.  As I was driving to town I decided to run by the bank to get some cash, since there was quite a line at the ATM I decided to just go to the drive up window.  I wrote a check to myself and thought OK, then when it was my turn the fool asked if I wanted to cask or deposit the check!  I do not know how much long I will stay with this bank as every time I go there they seem to have a problem figuring out what account is mine.  I have been asked more than once when I am depositing a check what account i want it deposited into and I tell them my checking then they want to know what one, I just have one.  So then I go on to Sonic and get the food, drive on towards Janet's and my radio keeps going off,  I start to have a pretty good pity party going and I pull into her drive and see a momma deer and her fawn standing half way down the drive eating grass.  Well that just made me smile cause Boy and I always shared deer stories with each other, like when we would see one in an unexpected place or such.  It just lighten my mood right up, I knew he was there with me and I was not alone on our anniversary after all.

We had a very good time at dinner, they have just gotten a cotton candy machine today so they were really pushing it to the kids that if you eat all you can have some.  I think everyone ate their fill then a little more.  After Brandy and I ran to Kmart for a few things and Misti, Cole and kids came home.  When I got home a bit later I helped clean up some more then it was bedtime for the little ones.  Misti took Payton to bed and I took Patience.  I was informed that her dream of being a rock star was never going to happen.
You see I was told to be a good rock star you must be raised on a farm, you must have straight hair and you must have an older brother.  Now according to Patience , even though she has the skills she will never be on the Internet now, cause she just cant do it with out the farm.