Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

I never seem to be able to get out a Christmas card and a letter, so I guess this is just as good as any! We have a had a very BUSY year to say the least, but feel abundantly blessed by a loving Heavenly Father who watches over us in every aspect of life. I will try my best to update everyone on our past year of life.

PJ:
PJ graduated from college! After a hard few years of traveling to Stillwater EVERY day I have a husband again! We are so very proud of him! He has also been rallying a group together for a steel bridge competition after his concrete canoe competition this past spring. He continues to spend his free time on nerdy websites that teach him about completely RANDOM projects and ideas! BUT, he also has a LOVE for cooking. He has discovered the PERFECT chocolate chip cookie AND looks forward to having time to experiment with dinner at least once a week. (Wish us luck!) The best news (and one of our MANY blessings) is that PJ got a JOB! In TULSA! On a BRIDGE design team! He has even received his official business cards! I am very proud of him!

Rachel:
I continue teaching 1st grade, dance, and the CTR 6 class at church. I just can't seem to get away from little kids! I really love all my jobs and the children. It is so neat to see them grow and progress! AND of course, I have the best job of all: a MOTHER to my little girls! I will tell you all about them in a minute. I've had some fun this year: making duct tape wallets (got my picture in the Tulsa World), staying home this summer with the girls ( we stayed very BUSY!), bought a house! (more to come later), and even learned how to knit (thank you nifty knitter!). Overall, I am a very busy mommy, wife, teacher, dance instructor, and woman!

Janie:
Well, Miss Janie is blossoming into quite the ALL STAR! This summer at swim lessons she moved up almost two levels! She is a little fish out in the water! She LOVES dance! She is quite the performer and has such a wonderful memory to remember ALL of her many dances! During her tap number this summer she fell on her face, but kept on dancing to the end, tears and all! THEN, this past Friday we had our first Christams show and she didn't look at her teacher once! She definately has talent! She started Pre-K this year and LOVES school! She is a good helper to her teachers AND loves being around new friends. She has taken quite the LOVE to reading and is now reading me simple bedtime stories. She is also excited to be starting piano lessons next month! She absolutely LOVES the piano and she makes such pretty music just diddle-daddlling around on it. I look forward to seeing her progress in that talent as well. She also has a LOVE of ART! She has enjoyed visiting the Tulsa Philbrook museum on family days to create and learn new artistic talents. She loves to draw, color, paint, cut, and create at home as well! She is quite the budding artist! Goodness, dance, music, and art talents.... look out Julliard! Overall, Janie is a wonderful daughter, big sister, and friend. She is a great example to all those around her and always tries to choose the right. We love her very much!

Audrey:
Audrey is a whirlwind of curiosity and JOY! She is always on the go trying to keep up with big sister (and surpass her at times). Audrey is turning into quite the chatter box and keeps us laughing! She too, is dancing of course and seems to enjoy it. She had her first recital this past summer and did a great job! She has even started tap and LOVES it. I don't always think she is keeping up w/the other girls... she is a good 1 year older than everyone AND up to 3 years younger than some! BUT she continues to tell me that it is her FAVORITE! She did a tap dance at the Christmas show and had fun as well, but still needed to look at mommy in wings to do the dance. Audrey seems to be constantly on the GO! She will pause and take time for coloring, reading, and movies. She LOVES to climb and keeps us on our toes. She also seems to be a bit of a tough and tumble kind of girl and rarely gets upset by a bump or a bruise, but if sister takes something, or accidentally hurts her, the DRAMA comes out! She is such a drama queen some days, which usually just cracks me up!She is starting to learn her boundaries, but they must be BLACK and WHITE... she WILL test the limits. However, she is turning into quite the little princess. She loves playing dress up, singing, and dancing with her sister. AND she loves to snuggle up first thing in the morning! (anything so she doesn't have to get up) She is quite the night owl like her daddy. She also got her first "Big Girl" haircut. It is very fitting for her "on the go" personality. Overall, Audrey is a DELIGHT and a JOY to have in our family and keeps us moving! I look forward to being a part of her life as she unfolds and discovers the wonderful world around her!

A few memories from this past year:
* My grandmother Ruggles passed away this summer leaving a wonderful legacy behind her. She is greatly missed, but we all know she is doing cartwheels in heaven and planting a beautiful garden! During that time I was able to reunite w/all my cousins and their little ones as well. It was a joyous sight at which grandma would have loved!

*We bought a HOUSE! So the Saturday after PJ was offered a job... I put money down a house w/out him seeing it! He liked it, we signed a contract, got financing, and a month later we were closing! AND then moving! It all happened so fast! It truly was a blessing!

Well, I'm sure I have taken enough of your time. Thank you for letting me indulge on the story of our life this past year. I hope the year has brought you some warm memories and blessings as well. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Fall Happenings....

Things might get busy here before too long. SO, I thought I should at least post some pictures.



Halloween Pics: Fairies from Tinker Bell




OSU Homecoming Walk About

Audrey's Birthday

Happy 3rd Birthday Audrey!
We celebrated w/a Cinderella/Dancing Party at the dance studio. We dressed up, danced, ate, opened presents, got goodies from the pinata. Everyone had fun! See my FB for more pictures!

A special thanks to my mom who provided the bday decor and Carrie for making the beautiful bday banner to go along w/our themed party!

1st Day of School

Blah!

I am feeling particularly blue today, but at least it isn't black... Audrey has raccoon eyes and greasy hair! (she snuck into my bathroom) I wish this grieving process would be over so I can feel like an upbeat mom again... and keep them engaged in fun activities so these things don't happen (twice) in a day. And did I mention... they didn't nap today?! AND I'm trying to get things organized for school to start?! I want this last week of summer to be extra fun.... maybe after some good rest tonight.

Saturday Seven

Inspired by Jen's blog, here are seven things I really liked about this week:

(I hope this helps w/the grieving process.)

1. Laughing w/my grandmother Ruggles last Saturday morning.
   
2. Playing a beautiful arrangement of My Heavenly Father Loves Me and How Great Thou Art at my grandmother Ruggles funeral.
   
3. Eight girl cousins sitting on the couch in a row captivated by "Beauty and the Beast."
4. Being a part of a wonderful legacy... 6 children of my grandmother/19 grandkids/ and 19 great grandchildren... which almost all were in attendance this week!
   
5. Having a picnic at Osage Hills.
   
6. Housing family... it was such a blessing to have them stay here.
   
7. Watching the great grandkids play on the red bud tree that stands over Grandma's grave.... I know she would have been smiling and laughing.

"TuTu" Much Summer FuN!

I am so HAPPY that it is summer! I truly enjoy being a "Mommy" full time! We have so much fun together! We are still just as busy but its being together that really counts! PJ is even home a day or two during the week which makes family time even more FUN! Here is a list of things that have happened since school has been out:

1. CF walk for one of my students
2. 25th anniversary party for my aunt and uncle
3. ABC Learning Time ( I am such a teacher!)
4. Cleaned out the Garage!
5. Sidewalk Chalk Art as a family!
6. Janie started swim lessons
7. Audrey is allergic to Mosquitoes
8. Decorating the girls room
9. The dishes get done every day!
10. Dance Classes are done and New classes have begun (Dance Aerobics is going to kick my butt!)
11. Dance Recital (see videos in previous blog)
12. Went to the community pool as a family
13. Library Reading Program
14. Story Time
15. TuTu Dance Parties (Carrie inspired me to make some!)
16. Splash Park and Picnics
17. I'm learning how to make new meals!
18. The House is CLEAN!
19. FHE is a regular weekly occurrence!
20. Teaching Janie how to read and Audrey how to use the potty!

I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store for us!

Dance Recital

Hello Everyone! I know it has been a very long while since I have posted. SORRY! However, I just had to share some pictures and videos of the girls at their dance recital last night. They did a wonderful job!
Audrey was a little pro even though it was her first time dancing on stage. She was right at home! She even helped her friend next to her wake up (they were pretending to be asleep) so she could dance too! I think she had WAY too much fun!
Janie did and amazing job of performing all four of her dances! Yes, I said 4! She came to every class I taught and did a great job on each dance. She was definitely born for the stage! She even kept dancing while she was crying (She bumped her head on the stage at the end of one of her dances... but she kept on dancing!)
I am a proud MOMMY today! My girls did awesome and had FUN! I'm proud of the rest of my classes too.... they all knew what they were doing! (That's saying a lot for working with little ones! )

Enjoy the pictures and videos!











































To see the videos just click on the pictures below.



Audrey's Baby Ballet

From summer 2009

Janie's Cheer Bear

From summer 2009

Janie's Tumbling

From summer 2009

Janie's Tap

From summer 2009

Janie's Ballet

From summer 2009

Spring OR Winter?

Well, you saw the photos from last week. Beautiful weather! (shorts, skirts, etc... only the occasional jacket weather on the weekend.) BUT a week later.... this is what we get in wonderful Oklahoma! You never can get bored! :)

Spring Break in Pictures....

A trip to Stillwater/ A day at the OKC Zoo/ A picnic at the park/ Easter Dress Pics

Ice, Ice Baby

Well, Monday afternoon Oklahoma was hit by yet another ice storm. Lucky for us though, this winter's ice storms haven't put us out of power... just out of schools for days at a time. We have been out school 3 days again! We are going to be in school till mid summer at this rate! I was beginning to wonder if Tulsa can get any snow OR if all we are ever going to get is ICE from now on. Well, Tuesday it sleeted and rained ice ALL day long! Which the sleet left us a little powder on top of the layer of ice. Hey, I live in Oklahoma, I'll take what I can get! I mean, if it's going to be this cold and we are forced to be stuck at home... we might as well be able to enjoy it a little... right?
I have been enjoying my time with the girls and getting things done around the house. AND even the universities have been closed the past two days so PJ has been home as well. It has been a nice break.
Below are pictures from our little adventure outside: