Tweet
My friend Dana posted on facebook that she found a stray cat. I went and picked it up. She is fiesty. All kitty. She has claws and sometimes will snag ya :-) Ethan is a little afraid of getting scratched because we had a mean kitty before. :-(
Well no matter how scared Ethan is - she just lays and loves on him while he sleeps. He didn't believe me so I took pictures last night :-)
She is all black except for the tiniest tuft of hair on her belly that is pure white. :-)
PS - before Chad was born I had a kitty named Hershey. The kids always loved that and named this one Hershey also :-)
Look out for the Stars!
Tweet
I know I posted a video of the championship game earlier - but I thought these photos just HAD to be shared! :-)
Vanessa is a trooper. I mean this girl had JUST been cleared to take off her boot and she falls and breaks her thumb. 3 days later she was due to play in a soccer tournament in Broken Arrow. These girls are pretty confident and know they are little hot shots back on the home turf. But you come to a tournament and you're just never sure what the competition is going to be like. Most people don't give up a whole weekend and write out a check unless they feel like they have a shot at winning! I wish I could remember the exact scores - we played 4 games. I may be off a bit but I think the first game was 6-1, second game 6-0, and third game was 10-3. So we made it to the finals and the girls were so nervous.
We heard thru the rumor mill that the team we were playing had not lost a game in 3 years. Our team has been together over 4 years but we HAVE lost a game here and there...so we just didn't know what was about to happen. Our worries were unfounded. :-) The championship game score was 8-3! Congratulations STARS!
Rest up girls, indoor is right around the corner....and I hear we have some competition! :-)
Vanessa is a trooper. I mean this girl had JUST been cleared to take off her boot and she falls and breaks her thumb. 3 days later she was due to play in a soccer tournament in Broken Arrow. These girls are pretty confident and know they are little hot shots back on the home turf. But you come to a tournament and you're just never sure what the competition is going to be like. Most people don't give up a whole weekend and write out a check unless they feel like they have a shot at winning! I wish I could remember the exact scores - we played 4 games. I may be off a bit but I think the first game was 6-1, second game 6-0, and third game was 10-3. So we made it to the finals and the girls were so nervous.
We heard thru the rumor mill that the team we were playing had not lost a game in 3 years. Our team has been together over 4 years but we HAVE lost a game here and there...so we just didn't know what was about to happen. Our worries were unfounded. :-) The championship game score was 8-3! Congratulations STARS!
Rest up girls, indoor is right around the corner....and I hear we have some competition! :-)
Recycling Day (still)
Tweet
This is a blog I posted in 2007 on Sept. 11 - Many times I told a story about that day- especially around the anniversary - But this one is more about the facts of the day for me. What it doesn't say is that I was in my office building about 4 hours before they let us go - and then almost another 4 hours before I got to Chad. Cara and Julie had picked him from school when they closed their doors at 10am so he was safe - I just couldn't get to him. So here's my story just like 100's of thousands of people have their stories :-(
Sep 11, 2007
happy anniversary
Ok so this is it. If you are avoiding the news or television in general and you don't want to hear, read, or speak about the tragedy of 6 years ago – maybe you shouldn't read this. (plus it's super long)
I feel so lucky because my company has an on-site childcare facility that is available to it's employees for a specified number of days a year. When your childcare is closed, or your child has a dr. appt and you don't have time to ride the train home and back. Or on days when you feel like having your child close. I think its 30 days a year. Which is amazing, and I take full advantage of everyday I have available. I brought Chad with me yesterday and we went to lunch together. It was so much fun and I'm thinking about bringing him again today. But then I don't want to spoil him – ok I don't want to spoil me. And I think better of it and go ahead and drop him off at his daycare.
As I look around on the train, I notice these are not my normal commuters. I mean, I don't know most of them, but I definitely recognize people after riding the train for over a year at the same time everyday. So I look at my watch and realize I'm almost 20 minutes early today. When we got up this morning I thought I was bringing Chad with me, so I was giving us extra time, so I am ahead of schedule which is so unusual for me.
Every day that I walk in this city I love it more and more. I heard on the news the other day that 150,000 commuters go through the World Trade Center everyday. That doesn't count the employees that actually work in the seven buildings on this huge acreage. I grew up in a town of 35.000 – not a small town by Oklahoma standards. I'm horrible at math, but I think that's over 4 of my entire towns walk through this building, changing trains, or as the beginning of their daily trek or ending destinations.
The WTC is my ending destination. This morning I'm listening to Ani's live version of both hands which has an orchestral introduction and some really strong beats that I love to walk too. I notice the Children's Store is having a 'model' contest to pick a real kid for their campaign. Definitely I have to get Chad into that. I am climbing the stairs to the north east door of the WTC mall and I am walking the 5 blocks to my office. Past the trinity cemetery. Past the Wall Street Sign. Past the gym that I am a member of but have only been 3 times because I'm so intimidated by all of the Wall Street types that also frequent that gym. Past the NYC Stock Exchange. Past the corner where I saw a woman in leather beating men in suits on camera. Past the street where I saw them shooting an episode of Law and Order SVU. I am here. Living my dream. I am so fortunate and determined and full of life.
I am in my building. 85 broad street. There is a security guard but there are 100's of us in the lobby so he isn't really paying attention to me or my neighbor. I don't really think it's a problem. I couldn't even imagine that soon we would be standing in long lines surrounded by troops, with guns as large as a toddler, having our bags x-rayed and our bodies scanned. For now, I am in my building. It is approximately 8:40. I'm almost 20 minutes early today. Instead of my normal 10 minutes late.
Most of the bankers won't arrive for 30 minutes to an hour. I'm trying not to resent this because I do know they stay at work sometimes until the wee hours of the morning. The office is so quiet. I'm mostly catching up on emails and reading internet news. I hear a loud thud noise. Maybe it was an explosion? Or was that thunder? Mostly I forget about it for the next few minutes until the internet caught up.
On my screen is a news flash that a plane has hit the world trade center. I don't even know what to think or how to wrap my head around this possibility.
A banker that has a corner office and a television turns it on. We all walk to his office and see the itty bitty tiny whole in the building. Some moron with a twin engine has put a small whole in the building. I can't even see the plane. He must not have realized the building was so high – or he was trying to show off and buzz it too close.
I'm back at my desk and call my mom on her cell phone. She is driving to work and listening to Dr. Hook – so her radio isn't on.
"Hello"
"hey mom, it's me."
"oh hi! What a surprise"
"Are you still driving to work?"
"yep, whats up?"
"well I wanted to call you and let you know that I'm at the office. Some guy ran his plan into the world trade center but I'm safe."
"oh really? Well I'm glad you called. I would have been so worried"
"haha I knew you would – I'm fine"
"well have a great day – I'll email later"
"ok mom…bye"
My mom never liked that I moved here. She worries about everything. I thought it would be smart to head this panic attack with a quick call.
I'm having an urge to call my grandma too. I'm not sure why because she is probably asleep. But I call her.
"hello"
"grandma, it's sammi. I'm sorry to wake you up"
"it's ok. Is something wrong" (later I find out she was pretty upset that I called so early)
"well a plane hit the world trade center and I just wanted to tell you that I'm in my office on wall street. I'm safe and relatively far away from there"
"don't you work in the wtc?"
"no, but I do ride the train thru there every morning. So I didn't want you to worry"
"ok. I wont. I'm going back to bed"
"ok grandma, I love you"
"I love you too. Bye"
I am hanging up the phone when I feel that same thud. That same thunder like explosion. Then people start screaming. A half a dozen people are still in the office watching TV. . And almost immediately the phones start ringing off the hook. For a split second I start thinking something has happened to our own building. The chaos is a little deafening. I have four bankers and several hundred more on the floor. I am getting calls for people that I don't even work with. Family members looking for their loved ones.
I want to leave but I don't know where I'll go, the only way I know how to get home, is through WTC. But we seem to be under some kind of attack. My son is only four miles away and there is no way for me to reach him. (Looking back I should have walked a few miles uptown and crossed a bridge on foot. or hitched a ride to jersey. but i think i was in shock.)
I am sitting on a barge. It looks like they normally haul oil or something extremely dirty on this boat. I am standing with about 200 other people. We are all looking toward the sky and we are all silent. No laughter, no mindless chit chat, no anger towards strangers - and no seats. We are all just standing. And we are all filthy dirty because we just crawled across a rickety wooden ladder to get on the barge. Over water. We just stand there.
For more than three hours. It seems to be the most beautiful picturesque day. The sky is clear. Except for that one little sheet of paper floating in the sky. I wonder how in the world that got up there.
It is just swaying back and forth, a white sheet of paper. Floating in the windless sky. We are all fixated on this paper. We have no working phones. The captain of the barge has no idea when we can leave. There are no words.
As the paper gets closer we realize it's more like the size of a car door. But it is still floating like it's weightless. Back and forth - and we all watch. Then it looks a little bigger as it gets closer - like maybe it's the size of a small car...still very thin and weightless but it's pretty big.
It is so close now you can see the reflection of the water from the river in the shiny material. What in the world is it? Then all of a sudden everyone on the barge shifts, gasps and tenses up. This little tiny sheet of paper that came from no where in the sky slams into the side of a NYPD boat anchored right next to our barge. It is so big we can not see the boat because it is covered by the metal. We hear the clang and the boats rocks violently. We all lean forward collectively as a mother would reach for it's child before it falls in a creek.
No one is hurt. Not in that moment. But we all look back up to the sky to see what other mysterious objects will be escaping the clouds.
This is a blog I posted in 2007 on Sept. 11 - Many times I told a story about that day- especially around the anniversary - But this one is more about the facts of the day for me. What it doesn't say is that I was in my office building about 4 hours before they let us go - and then almost another 4 hours before I got to Chad. Cara and Julie had picked him from school when they closed their doors at 10am so he was safe - I just couldn't get to him. So here's my story just like 100's of thousands of people have their stories :-(
Sep 11, 2007
happy anniversary
Ok so this is it. If you are avoiding the news or television in general and you don't want to hear, read, or speak about the tragedy of 6 years ago – maybe you shouldn't read this. (plus it's super long)
I feel so lucky because my company has an on-site childcare facility that is available to it's employees for a specified number of days a year. When your childcare is closed, or your child has a dr. appt and you don't have time to ride the train home and back. Or on days when you feel like having your child close. I think its 30 days a year. Which is amazing, and I take full advantage of everyday I have available. I brought Chad with me yesterday and we went to lunch together. It was so much fun and I'm thinking about bringing him again today. But then I don't want to spoil him – ok I don't want to spoil me. And I think better of it and go ahead and drop him off at his daycare.
As I look around on the train, I notice these are not my normal commuters. I mean, I don't know most of them, but I definitely recognize people after riding the train for over a year at the same time everyday. So I look at my watch and realize I'm almost 20 minutes early today. When we got up this morning I thought I was bringing Chad with me, so I was giving us extra time, so I am ahead of schedule which is so unusual for me.
Every day that I walk in this city I love it more and more. I heard on the news the other day that 150,000 commuters go through the World Trade Center everyday. That doesn't count the employees that actually work in the seven buildings on this huge acreage. I grew up in a town of 35.000 – not a small town by Oklahoma standards. I'm horrible at math, but I think that's over 4 of my entire towns walk through this building, changing trains, or as the beginning of their daily trek or ending destinations.
The WTC is my ending destination. This morning I'm listening to Ani's live version of both hands which has an orchestral introduction and some really strong beats that I love to walk too. I notice the Children's Store is having a 'model' contest to pick a real kid for their campaign. Definitely I have to get Chad into that. I am climbing the stairs to the north east door of the WTC mall and I am walking the 5 blocks to my office. Past the trinity cemetery. Past the Wall Street Sign. Past the gym that I am a member of but have only been 3 times because I'm so intimidated by all of the Wall Street types that also frequent that gym. Past the NYC Stock Exchange. Past the corner where I saw a woman in leather beating men in suits on camera. Past the street where I saw them shooting an episode of Law and Order SVU. I am here. Living my dream. I am so fortunate and determined and full of life.
I am in my building. 85 broad street. There is a security guard but there are 100's of us in the lobby so he isn't really paying attention to me or my neighbor. I don't really think it's a problem. I couldn't even imagine that soon we would be standing in long lines surrounded by troops, with guns as large as a toddler, having our bags x-rayed and our bodies scanned. For now, I am in my building. It is approximately 8:40. I'm almost 20 minutes early today. Instead of my normal 10 minutes late.
Most of the bankers won't arrive for 30 minutes to an hour. I'm trying not to resent this because I do know they stay at work sometimes until the wee hours of the morning. The office is so quiet. I'm mostly catching up on emails and reading internet news. I hear a loud thud noise. Maybe it was an explosion? Or was that thunder? Mostly I forget about it for the next few minutes until the internet caught up.
On my screen is a news flash that a plane has hit the world trade center. I don't even know what to think or how to wrap my head around this possibility.
A banker that has a corner office and a television turns it on. We all walk to his office and see the itty bitty tiny whole in the building. Some moron with a twin engine has put a small whole in the building. I can't even see the plane. He must not have realized the building was so high – or he was trying to show off and buzz it too close.
I'm back at my desk and call my mom on her cell phone. She is driving to work and listening to Dr. Hook – so her radio isn't on.
"Hello"
"hey mom, it's me."
"oh hi! What a surprise"
"Are you still driving to work?"
"yep, whats up?"
"well I wanted to call you and let you know that I'm at the office. Some guy ran his plan into the world trade center but I'm safe."
"oh really? Well I'm glad you called. I would have been so worried"
"haha I knew you would – I'm fine"
"well have a great day – I'll email later"
"ok mom…bye"
My mom never liked that I moved here. She worries about everything. I thought it would be smart to head this panic attack with a quick call.
I'm having an urge to call my grandma too. I'm not sure why because she is probably asleep. But I call her.
"hello"
"grandma, it's sammi. I'm sorry to wake you up"
"it's ok. Is something wrong" (later I find out she was pretty upset that I called so early)
"well a plane hit the world trade center and I just wanted to tell you that I'm in my office on wall street. I'm safe and relatively far away from there"
"don't you work in the wtc?"
"no, but I do ride the train thru there every morning. So I didn't want you to worry"
"ok. I wont. I'm going back to bed"
"ok grandma, I love you"
"I love you too. Bye"
I am hanging up the phone when I feel that same thud. That same thunder like explosion. Then people start screaming. A half a dozen people are still in the office watching TV. . And almost immediately the phones start ringing off the hook. For a split second I start thinking something has happened to our own building. The chaos is a little deafening. I have four bankers and several hundred more on the floor. I am getting calls for people that I don't even work with. Family members looking for their loved ones.
I want to leave but I don't know where I'll go, the only way I know how to get home, is through WTC. But we seem to be under some kind of attack. My son is only four miles away and there is no way for me to reach him. (Looking back I should have walked a few miles uptown and crossed a bridge on foot. or hitched a ride to jersey. but i think i was in shock.)
I am sitting on a barge. It looks like they normally haul oil or something extremely dirty on this boat. I am standing with about 200 other people. We are all looking toward the sky and we are all silent. No laughter, no mindless chit chat, no anger towards strangers - and no seats. We are all just standing. And we are all filthy dirty because we just crawled across a rickety wooden ladder to get on the barge. Over water. We just stand there.
For more than three hours. It seems to be the most beautiful picturesque day. The sky is clear. Except for that one little sheet of paper floating in the sky. I wonder how in the world that got up there.
It is just swaying back and forth, a white sheet of paper. Floating in the windless sky. We are all fixated on this paper. We have no working phones. The captain of the barge has no idea when we can leave. There are no words.
As the paper gets closer we realize it's more like the size of a car door. But it is still floating like it's weightless. Back and forth - and we all watch. Then it looks a little bigger as it gets closer - like maybe it's the size of a small car...still very thin and weightless but it's pretty big.
It is so close now you can see the reflection of the water from the river in the shiny material. What in the world is it? Then all of a sudden everyone on the barge shifts, gasps and tenses up. This little tiny sheet of paper that came from no where in the sky slams into the side of a NYPD boat anchored right next to our barge. It is so big we can not see the boat because it is covered by the metal. We hear the clang and the boats rocks violently. We all lean forward collectively as a mother would reach for it's child before it falls in a creek.
No one is hurt. Not in that moment. But we all look back up to the sky to see what other mysterious objects will be escaping the clouds.
Recycling Day
Tweet
I'm stealing this idea from one of my favorite blogs...this is an old post of mine that many of you probably never saw - it was first posted on March 28, 2007!
I do not give my kids crack.
Monday night after church I had only fed my kids snacks. No dinner. It was almost 9 oclock and they were threatening to call DHS so I stopped at Sonic Drive In. On the way I said "is Sonic okay with everyone??" YEA!!!!!!!!!! They were all excited.
Vanessa what do you want? "Cheese Fries!!!" Being the good health conscious mom I said "you have to eat something else too....fried chicken strips or a corn dog" Then I laughed out loud because I realized the cheese fries were no better or worse than the main course!
Then I said Ethan..what do you want?? "Sonic"
I said "yeaaaa! That's where we are going! What do you want to eat???"
He said "Sonic!!!!!"
We all laughed and I said "I know honey! We all want Sonic! What do you want to eat at Sonic?"
He was a little frustrated with me. "SOOOOOONIC!!!!!!!"
I said "ok. we are going to eat at Sonic. What specific food FROM Sonic would you like me to order for you when I pull up to Sonic? Chicken or a corn dog?"
He said "Happy Birthday"
I do not give my kids crack.
Monday night after church I had only fed my kids snacks. No dinner. It was almost 9 oclock and they were threatening to call DHS so I stopped at Sonic Drive In. On the way I said "is Sonic okay with everyone??" YEA!!!!!!!!!! They were all excited.
Vanessa what do you want? "Cheese Fries!!!" Being the good health conscious mom I said "you have to eat something else too....fried chicken strips or a corn dog" Then I laughed out loud because I realized the cheese fries were no better or worse than the main course!
Then I said Ethan..what do you want?? "Sonic"
I said "yeaaaa! That's where we are going! What do you want to eat???"
He said "Sonic!!!!!"
We all laughed and I said "I know honey! We all want Sonic! What do you want to eat at Sonic?"
He was a little frustrated with me. "SOOOOOONIC!!!!!!!"
I said "ok. we are going to eat at Sonic. What specific food FROM Sonic would you like me to order for you when I pull up to Sonic? Chicken or a corn dog?"
He said "Happy Birthday"
Happy girls!
Tweet
If you are on facebook, you know Vanessa played in a tournament this weekend. Her team - the Stars have been together since they were 4 :-) They did a fantastic job at this tournament and outscored the other teams 30-7 over the course of the competition. This is a video Chad shot during the championship game. Of course Vanessa is in it a lot - but it shows how the team all works together so well. And how, even though they are "only" a rec team - they outplay outlast and outwit all of their competition :-)
There was over 20 minutes of video - so I edited it down to the times we had the ball (or took it) - if it looks like I cut it off in the middle of a play, or right before a play - i assure you I did not. :-)
There was over 20 minutes of video - so I edited it down to the times we had the ball (or took it) - if it looks like I cut it off in the middle of a play, or right before a play - i assure you I did not. :-)
Destiny
Tweet
Ethan is only 6 as of October - but I think he has a future in showbusiness :-) He loves the camera and the flip makes it super easy for him to do just about whatever he wants. Even if it means filming my minivan that we lived in all weekend because of Vanessa's soccer tournament ;-) (cover your eyes!) I think you'll also see a very proud baby brother. He sure love Chad and Vanessa!
He separated these out into three videos for your viewing pleasure. I added titles and a little bit of music - otherwise they are all his!
He separated these out into three videos for your viewing pleasure. I added titles and a little bit of music - otherwise they are all his!
Brand New
Tweet
Isn't this cute and lively and fun? It's one of bloggers free templates but I really like it! Also - at the bottom of each post is a place for you to click so you can connect it to facebook or email it - whatever you want to do! LOVES IT :-)
I hate posting without a picture. So I wanted to include a little cutie patootie. Today Vanessa's class got their class T-shirts - no I've never heard of this until we moved to Jenks - but it's a serious thing believe me :-) The teacher sent all the parents a picture. When I opened it up - I laughed out loud. I know Vanessa is tall - it's all the Fitch in her believe me..it's not Johnson trait! - but I forget just HOW tall she is :-) So adorable. Not so long ago I was laying in bed and she crawled on top of me to be my human blanket. She said, "You have no idea how much I love you" :-)
I hate posting without a picture. So I wanted to include a little cutie patootie. Today Vanessa's class got their class T-shirts - no I've never heard of this until we moved to Jenks - but it's a serious thing believe me :-) The teacher sent all the parents a picture. When I opened it up - I laughed out loud. I know Vanessa is tall - it's all the Fitch in her believe me..it's not Johnson trait! - but I forget just HOW tall she is :-) So adorable. Not so long ago I was laying in bed and she crawled on top of me to be my human blanket. She said, "You have no idea how much I love you" :-)
HELP!!!!
Tweet
Vanessa's soccer team is playing in a tournament next weekend. We are super excited for the girls and last year when we did a tournament I found this cute Star sequin t-shirts at Target. for $5! Everyone loved them and the girls looked adorable. It was so fast and easy and cheap. This season we decided to tie dye. But because a lot of the kids tie dye - I thought we should do a little something something. The verdict on the shirts is not in yet - but the socks. A disaster. What in the world. I have included 4 of the 8 pairs of socks we dyed. Notice the lack of similarity. And sometimes the lack of color! AGH!!!!
Any suggestions? Is there anyone in Tulsa that sells Tie Dye socks? (We need 8 pair!!)
Any suggestions? Is there anyone in Tulsa that sells Tie Dye socks? (We need 8 pair!!)
Pan de Muertos
Tweet
For a little extra credit in Spanish class, Chad decided to bake some bread for Day of the Dead. Ethan wanted to help, but that only last about 10 minutes ;)
Kneading the dough....
Ready to bake...
Perfect loaf!!
Kneading the dough....
Ready to bake...
Perfect loaf!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)