LOSING MY MIND...AND SARA SARA CUPCAKES

So, I'm blaming it on the kids...I've done this when renting a video before, but now I've done it selecting a restaurant!!! I'M LOSING IT!!! I suggested a restaurant tonite to my husband. We decided to get adventurous and go into the big city to a new restaurant. I had torn a couple of ads out of a magazine and one was for Adobe Grill. Sounded good, checked out the website, let's go... When we got there we realized we had eaten there maybe 10 years ago. You know, they're still in business, but if we didn't like it enough to go there more than once every 10 years, well.... Don't get me wrong, it's pretty good food. Think gourmet Mexican - not Tex-Mex. Unfortunately, our taste buds are more the latter. Anyway, the evening was saved when we took a little drive through the cool old neighborhoods of OKC and found ourselves at Sara Sara Cupcakes. I had the Key Lime. It was delicious!!!

LOVE WALKING INTO THIS KINDA MESS...

I really do! She's the artist in the family and I love it, since I am definitely a "trace and draw" kinda person! Ahhh...lazy summer days....

HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY TO MY BLOGGER INSPIRATION....

Well, I have several that inspire my blog posts, but this one in particular gives me lots of material for ranting and raving about life with teenagers! Here's my sweet baby in his earlier years! He's going on a weekend trip with Dad - something special we decided to do when our kids turned 18 - so he won't be around much today, thus, the DONUT CAKE!

FACEBOOK FRACAS....LOVE THY ENEMIES

I hate stuff like this...my son left his facebook up when I went to check the computer. No, I'm not one of his FRIENDS. We haven't forced the issue. Had I known more about it when my older two kids joined, maybe I would have. But he's got friends who will and have let me know if something's inappropriate. I've been on Facebook for almost a year now, reconnecting with high school friends and making new ones. I really enjoy it - mostly for the sharing of pictures and randomness. But tonight, I get on and see his page up, which happens occasionally. I check out camp pics, and what pops up but the chat box with a message from another boy at church which says, HOMO, and YOU EAT POO-POO. So, that's real nice. What's a mother to do? Guess we'll have the LOVE THY ENEMIES discussion again. Maybe I'll find out it was all a big joke....

I HAVE TO EAT....WHAT?

So as parents we've been pretty happy with the way our kids have eaten through the years. THEY'RE NOT PICKY EATERS. They would've starved, I suppose, if they didn't eat what's on the table. We've asked them to eat at least one bite of vegetables at dinner time, and tried not force it on them. Although my kids did recently remind me that I we sat in one restaurant for a long, long time waiting on son #1 to try a bite of my baked sweet potato and he about cried. Somehow, I've forgotten that incident...Anyway, here he is trying out Dan's homemade sushi. Can't you tell he just loves it?

BTW, maybe sushi is the wrong term. Nothing was raw.

WE CAN ALL LEARN FROM TOM....

Tom Boker passed away yesterday from a massive stroke. It wasn't a total surprise. He had had a few minor strokes the last couple of years. He was the father of Valari, a very good friend of our whole family. Our lives have been intertwined the last few years. Tom was older, past 70, but the man just kept on working, BEING GOD'S SERVANT. He regularly GREETED people at church, stationed at a particular door each week. I had heard stories of how he kept BIBLES in the trunk of his car to give to waiters, waitresses, or anyone he came in contact with. Neat, huh? Let me challenge you to buy a Bible and put it in the trunk and be ready to give it away like Tom. He called us just the other day, trying to recruit workers for Libertyfest, an event put on by our city on the 4th of July. On the day he passed, his picture was published in the Edmond Life & Leisure paper, along with several others working that event, 5 days earlier. I just love that! I HOPE I CAN BE A SERVANT LIKE THAT TILL THE DAY I DIE.

A "SPARKLING" KIND OF DAY...

and way too much material for just one blog! I'll just try to put it in a nutshell! Here I am having my "June Cleaver" moment, inspired by my friend Summer and her blog. Notice I'm washing dishes patriotically - RED gloves, BLUE & WHITE sundress! We were getting ready for our big 4th of July picnic. Later on we gather at my sister's house to celebrate 6 June/July birthdays in our family. I'm in June, and my dear husband totally shocked my with a beautiful SPARKLING bracelet that has rubies and diamonds on it!!!! He was trying to match my ring,which was given to me from my parents back in '86 when I graduated college. Nice job, Dan! We had a lot of fun watching the kids pop fireworks the rest of the evening. I think this must be my 17 yr. old's favorite holiday. Here he is sporting new headgear from one of many little parachute men exploding out of rockets!