Exclusive

Though I wasn't too fond of this mug when I received it, the strong association it has with the giver has caused me to use it almost exclusively. I am so glad she called today.

OKC (Part 2)

On Sunday we went to the Oklahoma City Zoo. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time, but honestly, I was unimpressed. We had heard from many people what an excellent zoo it was, one of the top 10 in the US. As far as I could remember, it is the worst I've been to. That's not to say it was terrible, maybe it's just the other zoos are top 5! They did have a no smoking policy which I thought was excellent. Too bad one family just hid their cigarettes under the table.


One of the two highlights of the zoo occurred at the "Great EscApe." A group of kids was plastered to the window watching the young ape swing and play. The big ape, just trying to get his Sunday nap on got fed up and charged the window. I didn't check, but there might have been a puddle or two.
The other highlight was at the Alligator pond. Someone dropped their shoe down into the pen, and a worker went in to retrieve it. He walked right past the hissing alligator, with only a big stick, threw the shoe up to its owner, and walked back out.

On our way back to Texas we decided to stop at Turner Falls Park. Again, unimpressed. I saw adds in several magazines, and many billboards on the highway advertising a 77 foot waterfall and "one of the three geological windows into our past, including the Grand Canyon and the Black Hills of South Dakota."
It was the wimpiest park I've ever paid admission for. Thank goodness it was only the $3.50 winter rate instead of the $9.99 summer rate.



We got our money's worth by enjoying the playground with Daniel. This was his first time to swing and go down the slide. Seeing how my bottom just barely squeezed into the slide, we didn't feel the need to document that.




Such a happy boy!



This is a video of Daniel playing with Gage. Brandon and Laura used to live in our old apartment complex, but are now in OKC. We visited them Saturday evening to catch up and have dinner. The boys had fun playing together.

PS- I added to the captions on part 1 from when I originally posted, you might want to go back and get the full scoop.

OKC (Part 1)

Daniel's first museum was the Toy and Action Figure Museum.
We saw the sign for this museum from the highway; the museum is south of Oklahoma City in Paul's Valley. I've always wanted to be able to stop at unplanned roadside attractions, so this was spontaneous for us. It was $6 per person which I thought was a little high, but it was clean and well done. Tommy had fun finding the toys he and his friends has as kids. "Doh! Why did I throw that out?!"






Check out those wheels!

Daniel in the Batmobile.



Once we got into town we headed to the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. We didn't spend too much time outside because no one was dressed warm enough. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but it was very well done. I was only 11 when the bombing happened and didn't remember much so I appreciated this opportunity. If you are ever in the city, I highly recommend visiting.


The Science Museum was awesome. Tons of hands on exhibits great for us big kids too! In the weather center you could be a meteorologist, and see what the winds of a category 1 hurricane feel like.


The first day and a half was cold and wet. Fortunately not that windy.



The special exhibit was Shipwrecked, which we had to pay an additional fee for. It was nice, but I wish we'd have saved our money, it wasn't anything spectacular. And I don't think Tommy got the "Gimme your best pirate face" memo.


Arrrrgggg!!







Ahoy Matey!!


FYI- you can click on any (ok, most) of the pictures on our blog and they will get much bigger!

Homemade Pizza

We made homemade pizza a long time ago and loved it, but never got around to making it again.














After reading several other blog posts about pizza, specifically Money Saving Mom's, I thought we should give it another go.

Daniel enjoys playing on the floor while I get dinner ready, especially if I give him shiny kitchen supplies to play with.














Barbecue pizzas, the one on the right has added cheddar cheese, onions and crushed red pepper.














MSM uses all the dough for one pizza, but I split it up for two.














Daniel approved!

Theories

So far, Tommy and I have been blessed with a good baby. We have a few theories regarding this:







1) God thought this was all we could handle.


















2) We are just fantastic parents.


















3) God gave us Daniel to make other people want to have babies.












I imagine that in reality it is a mix of the three, though I have a friend who swears her current pregnancy is a result of Daniel's cuteness.

And a note to friends and family, please don't print these pictures, we ordered a TON and will be happy to send or give you some!

Animals

Daniel's first time playing with stuffed animals!







Check out his belly!






























Whatcha lookin' at?

Just in Case

Just in case you were wondering what an excellent sleeper looks like:

What I've Been Taught

I thought about titling this post What I've Learned, but when the majority of what has come out of my professors mouths is lies, I didn't want to associate that with learning per se.
I am not naive enough to have thought that I could walk into a classroom at a public university and expect to hear Biblical truths taught. I didn't even expect to hear them accurately described. But the level of lies, heresy and misinformation really has caught me off guard.
Two classes in particular make me want to pull my hair out. Introductions to Women's Studies and Sociology of the Family. (Nevermind the fact that my other two classes just covered Freud.) The fact that I feel so unprepared and ill-equipped to handle these issues had made me seriously consider homeschooling (but that's another post).

Lie #1- Religion exists to control women's sexuality; the first laws written were about controlling women and their sexuality.
Truth: Exodus 20:3"You shall have no other gods before me." The first of the 10 Commandments... this has what to do with sexuality?
Deuteronomy 22:13-30 talks some about what happens to men who violate women.
All of the laws recorded in the Bible were written because God expects his people to be holy, yes he expects even a woman's sexuality to be holy.

Lie#2- Patriarchy is all about the domination of men over women. And the Bible also demeans women.
Truth: Wisdom is referred to as she/her throughout the proverbs.
Check out Jess's post on Biblical Descriptions of Women. Several women are listed in Jesus' genealogy, and women are known for more than making babies. Debora was a judge, Ester saved her people from extermination, Lydia was a merchant; do I even need to mention Proverbs 31? Scripture has a high view of women. Sure we're capable of royally screwing up, just like men (how's that for equality?), we can be prostitutes and quarrelsome, but Jesus rescued more than one wayward woman.

There are so many more I could cover, but I'm not sure you'd read them, so we'll start with these.

Feminists struggle so hard against what they perceive as value attachments to Men and Women. I am well aware that women make $0.77 to every $1.00 that a man makes. (Or else that's just rhetoric on their agenda) But even worse is the devaluing of those women who choose to be homemakers. Ain't I a Woman?