The Tomlinsons

Day 193 (Thursday 10-3):

When we took Kees to the library earlier in the week, I planned another time to go back and take Kora. I recruited Doug to come as well. They have a baby story time, so we went. Kees and I were a little bored, so we went out to check out books while Kora got into the leaders stuff and kept pointing at the CD player demanding more music. Glad that was on Doug's watch. :) After the story time was over, the kids played on the computers and I picked out some more books. I brought I suitcase this time cause we get LOTS of books.

Kora loved this.

He looks too big

Writing his letters at Grandma's

Oh look, we got crayons, YAY! See, I'm not the worst mother ever.

This girl loves stealing drinks

Doug's uncle, Ken and his wife, Cindy, invited us to dinner in Tulsa. They made a yummy mexican lasagna, and sweet potatoes because they know I love them. Well I think that's why they made the sweet potatoes. They made them with the steak they fed us for the dinner we ate with them before we left for Thailand back in 2010 and I kept saying how much I liked them. MMMM....sweet potatoes are so delicious. Anyway, it was great to see Doug's grandma as well, Nanny. I got to sit by her on the couch and talk. Time with family is always time well spent!

I should probably be embarrassed about swigging this straight from the carton, but I'm not. It was delicious.

We had a lengthy conversation about how this pumpkin got on top of this building.

He was excited about lots of things during our drive.

Day 194 (Friday 10-4):

Doug took this picture. It's Kora eating yogurt.

Mmmm....yogurt.

Day 195 (Saturday 10-5):
Ice cream, fliers, game day

Paden had revival starting Sunday the 6th. They had an ice cream social the first night, so our family made a big batch of chocolate ice cream. Mamaw (my dad's mom) had been in OKC all the previous week, so between regular work and driving to visit her every day, they were happy for some extra hands. I'm sure they'd say they were happy to have the grandkids "help", but I'm always feeling like any help I can provide with Mamaw or anything else is easily cancelled by the noise and mess my kids make. We always clean up (or try to), but there's lots of in between times where Gramee and Grampa's living room looks like something exploded in the toy box. I feel really bad that our chaos is imposing on other people. But this day, I think I actually was able to help a tiny bit. The kids and I ran to the store (Grampa was in his office the first half of the day getting ready for Sunday and Gramee was studying for Sunday School). We got all the ingredients for the ice cream and we took our time looking up and down the aisles, I figure the longer we're gone, the more of a break the other adults get. :) The kids had a blast. They love looking at all the toys. I was also charged with the task of buying ice from this giant ice machine thingy. I had a serious surge of panic after I put the money in the machine because I realized there was a giant hole where the ice came out and I wasn't sure if it was pre-bagged or if I was supposed to get a bag from somewhere to catch the ice. I was panicking! Thankfully, it IS pre-bagged, although it would have made a hilarious albiet embarrassing story. I guess God didn't think I needed any extra drama in my life on that day. And for that, I say "Thank you!"

New OU shirt from Gramee and Grampa

Giant bag of ice.

On our way home.

The ride was only 10 minutes, but they both fell asleep.

We finished making the ice cream, ate lunch, and then we loaded up in the van, less Gramee and Kora, to pass out fliers/invites to the revival. It was actually fun. I kind of wasn't sure what to expect, but everyone that opened their door was so friendly and Kees was talkative. It's funny because sometimes he's so shy and not wanting to look at other people, but this day, he was in charge of handing the fliers to the people, and he also took the opportunity to explain about his sister and where she was on this fine day. We had one sad moment when we walked past some crawly thing, caterpillar maybe, and I told Kees we'd look at it closer when we walked back by. In the meantime, Doug got back in the van and drove over to pick us up. Kees cried and cried. We ended driving him back over to the spot, we didn't find the SNAIL, that's what it was, but he picked up some sticks and leaves and he was satisfied with that.

Making ice cream!

Yay!

Licking the bowl

Ice and salt, it's a bit of tango.

Grampa finally came home and immediately took over. This man loves making ice cream, I think he was sad we did it, but also happy.

The food coloring pens that came with the pumpkin cookies that Gramee bought.

Who doesn't love playing with their food and then licking it!

Kora sitting on the porch. She pulled the bench cushion on top of her lap. She was watching cars drive by.

Playing in the yard with Grampa.

More eggnog, don't mind if I do.

Blocks

OU played TCU at 6. It was tight till the end, so it was fun and stressful to watch. We were glad to get a win. Kora loved when Grampa and Daddy would yell about touch downs. She started dancing and yelling with them. It was so cute.

Cookie art

They really enjoyed this!

Writing on her tray.

Sweet babies

Whoa, that's some intense drawing going on. This came off relatively well, the purple stained the tray, so I got a laundry stain stick and it wiped right off.

Day 190 (Monday 9-30):

This day Grandma Sheryl took some time off so we could hang out, mostly shopping. :) Doug's sister, Shevaun, took us to Sam's (none of us have a Sam's card). I always love looking at the stuff they have at Sam's. Kora fell in love with a giant owl. I let her carry it around, she cried when we had to put it back.

The party favors from Deanna's party were still in our van. Kees found the wand and he was turning Kora in to something...

Kiwi Berries, I didn't buy these, I wasn't feeling brave, but I wonder if they are any good. They looked like tiny mangoes.

Yep, a giant bag of Hot Tamales, Kora loves these! This is just how Grandma rolls.

Who let her out of the cart?

"Helping"

Claire found some bagels.

Giant COOKIE!

Cheese

I don't think my enthusiasm for cheese has rubbed off on Kora...yet. But give me time.

The giant owl.

Kees picked a crocodile to "babysit" for the rest of our shopping trip.

Someday, Kees will KILL me for this. In fact, even at 4, he was already upset and he's pulling these out because he did not want me taking this picture. Yep, I can't be trusted.

After we finished at Sam's, Kora needed a nap, but Grandma, Kees, and I went to the library and then Dollar Tree. I realized as we were pulling up to the library, that Kees had never been before. That makes me want to cry. I love books, I love children's books especially, and I love the library. Kees's first library trip at 4 years old is so bizarre to me. Don't get me wrong, the boy KNOWS about books, we own quite a few and he hasn't been neglected in the being read to department, but in the "going to the library" department, he's NEVER been. Momma is ready to make up for lost time, in a BIG way!

At the library!!!

Puppet thingys.

And Dollar Tree had tons of cool Halloween decorations. Kees found a cool hand pointer. And Grandma made a few fun discoveries too!

He's holding the pointer, but you can't really tell what it is.

We got back, rested a bit, then we headed out to meet some friends at a local Thai restaurant.

She's just making a few demands of her subjects, hope you're taking notes, she doesn't back down.

As much as I forget things, I have not forgotten and I'm not likely to any time soon, that Kora was a wild person at the restaurant. If you've been reading these blogs for a while, you'll remember, in Thailand, Kora was rarely expected to sit down during meal times, when we ate out. The Thai employees would just carry her around and they were ecstatic to do so. Maybe the Thai atmosphere reminded her of those days, whatever the case, I was thisclose to swearing off taking her in public for the next 2 years or so. And to top it off, the friends we were meeting at the restaurant were brand new to me, Doug had gone to school with one of them, but it's especially mortifying to be "those people" in a restaurant when you're embarrassing new people who most definitely did not sign up for this insanity. They were so nice about it, and the wife even mentioned that she would have been so sad if we hadn't brought Kora. Yeah, she said that about halfway through, I wasn't brave enough to ask her at the end of the meal if she still felt that way. Regardless, they were so nice about it and eventually one of the employees got brave enough to ask if she could hold Kora. YES PLEASE! At one point during the evening, Doug was trying to talk and Kora was being energetic and noisy. I thought I'd take both kids to the bathroom, so Doug could at least finish whatever it was he was trying to say. Well the bathroom was occupied, but I was right by the kitchen, all the ladies prepping to food were Thai, so I HAD to say hello and practice my Thai. I have so few opportunities these days, so I wanted to at least get a little bit of chatting in. It was good for my soul. It's strange, now that we're back in America, I blend in, but I still feel out of place sometimes. In that moment, I felt like I was home.

On our way out.

We're lucky I got ANY pictures on this outing. It was one of those outings that makes you question every decision you've ever made as a parent. Deep breaths Momma, it's a time and a season, enjoy the good, learn from the bad, and don't take yourself too seriously. Okay, I feel better.

Reading one of our new library books.

Wish I could remember what this was about...

Day 191 (Tuesday 10-1):

Well Grandma Sheryl's birthday is the 2nd, she had plans on her birthday, so we celebrated at Shevaun's place a day early. Shevaun cooked...amazing food. We had cake, and several of the kids played in their Halloween costumes she had bought for them. And once again, Kees collected cans for crushing. Yep, that's still happening.

When you have no "home" and you travel from place to place, somethings get misplaced, like crayons. Kees was happy to color with this pen. Yeah, I'm feeling like a terrible mother again, I'm gonna scroll up and read that pep talk again.

Yep.

But at least we have fun, right?!?

At Shevaun's place (and Tim), this is Jacob wearing a Jake hat. (From Adventure Time)

As soon as I saw them doing this, it made me think of another time they were laying in almost this exact same spot, back in 2009....

Kees and Claire! Kees was 6 months old and Claire was 17 months old. If you're a new mom, let me warn you, you might not think it will happen to you, I know I didn't, but those babies grow up so stinkin FAST!

Helping Jacob with homework, this made my teacher heart happy.

Claire

Doug making Madeline laugh.

She got big too. 15 already.

Halloween costume, I keep forgetting what he is exactly, Doug knows...

He was excited, can you tell?

Yeah, really excited!

Kora's a scary clown, sorry Kristee (and anyone else that's reading this and hates clowns)

She was happy about this hat.

She's a good witch.

Mom, did you see this?

Cheese

Grandma playing with Kora

The battle Royale

She was excited to see me.

Cousins

He's too cute to be a scary ninja.

I want to kiss those cheeks, he's annoyed by that lately...where is my baby???

Remember my kids having on one shoe each the other day and I blamed Alex, here's further proof, not to mention he owned up to it.

Weeeeeee

I need this recipe, it was good.

Roses for Grandma. I bought this weird plastic vase to put them in and there were these growing bead things in it. I'm pretty sure they killed the flowers....whoops, sorry Grandma.

Family, enjoying these times.

Kora decided to help herself to ice cream.

Then she swiped her hand across the lid and licked it. She loves ice cream.

Do you know why she loves ice cream? THAT guy!

Axe man!

Do you ever wish your pictures were video instead, this was one of those times.

This was a special full body dance for Grandma's birthday.

Kees getting cans from Uncle Tim.

Day 192 (Wednesday 10-2):

On Grandma's birthday, she was working during the daytime. I took the kids to the park for a walk, we did our regular homeschool stuff, and we had sushi for dinner. This was my first time having sushi since we've been back in America. It was so good, but I miss our sushi place in Thailand. Best sushi in the whole world and the owner/chef was so nice! If you are ever in Chiang Mai, visit Sumo Sushi for me and please say hello to the chef!!!