tulsa.

Where to start. So much to catch up on! Our trip to Tulsa was a great little getaway and maybe a place we will need to explore another time! We left around noon on Saturday and once there we headed straight to the Oklahoma Aquarium! I didn't even know this existed but I'm really happy one of my husbands co-workers told us about it! Damien was in heaven as he was able to get up close to sting rays, otters, beavers, turtles, fish of all sorts, sharks, and a few really cool coral reefs. It took less than two hours to soak it all in and we made it through without Damien jumping in with the turtles or throwing something at the beavers. He liked the turtles the most, which surprised me, because let's be honest with ourselves-- turtles are super lame. I think it was the fact that he was able to be so close to them that made it so much more exciting. The otter could have been named Damien with how ridiculously full of energy it was. In fact, if Damien was animal, it would most definitely be an otter!

We only had one serious moment of Damien not listening which is remarkable! Damien is fearless and doesn't understand the concept of 'stranger danger.' He doesn't give one rip. He is the most outgoing kid I know and doesn't look back for mom or dad-- which keeps me in constant fear but also means I'm basically on my game-- like all the time ;). He ran from us while trying to strap him into his straight jacket, or coat, which is what most people call them. Fortunately the elderly man who was working the information desk had cookies and kept Damien occupied until I made it clear across the aquarium to the desk. Why am I not a toothpick? This kid keeps me running all day long. HA! That my friends is a topic for another day.

Overall the aquarium was pretty cool and definitely worth the trip to Tulsa!          

    

JJ then had a whole evening planned with meetings, dinner, and networking at the Hard Rock and the boys and I stayed cooped up in the hotel room. 

*hotel selfie*

AWESOME. Torture. Sigh. This was not a highlight so we shall just skip over that. Sunday morning was a lazy one and we made our way to the noon mass at the cathedral. GORGEOUS! It was a great homily on marriage and even though the highlight of the weekend is OBVIOUSLY seeing Jesus, it was also fun watching Damien make laps around the whole congregation during the consecration. Yaaaa.......

Picture this. JJ holding Owen and Damien coloring peacefully in the pew. Next thing I know, he is making his way down the empty pew and looking back at me sheepishly as he does so. I give him the stern look of "dont you dare if you want to live another year," as he genuflects and RUNS down the aisle to the back of the church. Obviously I wasn't about to chase my child around so I swiftly genuflected and made my way to the back of the church. Damien is now going in and out of pews looking back at me smiling as if this is some kind of chase game. He then sprints down the side of the church and right into the pew of an elderly couple who are obviously enjoying every minute of this. The man picked up Damien as I made my way to fetch him and kindly said to Damien, "Don't make your mommas life any harder young man." I thanked them for corralling him before he could make his way up to the alter and we headed to the back for a litttttllleee talking to.

We made it through the rest of mass peacefully and afterwards several older couples came up to me telling me what joy Damien had brought them and how he at least genuflected as he ran out of the pew. To be completely honest I wasn't really that mortified. I mean, it is bound to happen at some point! The kid is only two and has the attention span of two VERY brief seconds. So as we headed out of the church and took Damien to apologize to the priest for running around the church, the priest shook Damiens hand and said, "I always laugh to myself when I see a child do something like that. What can you do? I always recite the scripture verse where Harod is talking about killing all of the youth under two." Uh, I'm sorry what? I kid you not. I wasn't really sure what he meant by all of that, considering he was clearly not annoyed but yet made some kind of weird priest scripture joke that I really didn't get about the mass killing of young toddler boys.

Ah well, we headed home and both boys napped the entire ride home which was AWESOME. It is less than a two hour trip to Tulsa so it really was a fun trip considering it can be done during nap time. I need to look up some fun places to visit and maybe we will make another trip when JJ doesn't have to be gone the whole evening. All in all it was a great time and we are so blessed that he even has these little events to go to. It gives us a chance to get out but not break the bank while doing it!

weekend recap

WARNING: photo overload.

 I would love for this post to be full of exciting adventures and fun activities that we as a family did this weekend, but instead it will be a little less exciting than that.

I might as well get the obvious out of the way-- it was SUPER BOWL WEEKEND!

Blah.

It was probably the most pathetic show I have ever seen. The Seahawks destroyed the Broncos and since my husbands team was not in the superbowl this year it was pretty laid back. 

Now for a little back-tracking!

Friday seemed like an extra long day because JJ had a few case add ons and did not get home until around 8. We then made a fast trip to target and before I knew it the boys were asleep and Edmund, Jjs younger brother, was headed over to spend the night. We stayed up way too late and unfortunately for JJ he was called in to an early case about 7am and wasn't home until 1pm. Damien on the other hand was ESTATIC to find a guest in the house when he woke up and Edmund was a great help watching the boys while I got a bit of cleaning done. 

After Edmund left the boys played trains and Damien practiced his dribbling with the new basketball he got from JJ. I received a gift too! Flowers! That really added a nice burst of color to our kiten table. 

A quick lunch of my new favorite soup-- or bisque I should say-- and then we headed to confession and mass before having my brother and sister in law, Jon and Rita, and our goddaughter Colette over for a spontaneous dinner of potato soup. Soup twice in one day is not the norm around here- but I would probably eat my new favorite bisque every day if it wasn't so darn pricey! 

Saturday evening was an early one for us since we had stayed up much too late the previous night. The whole family was asleep by 10pm and Sunday morning was a snowy one. Damien finally got his wish- a snowball fight! 

After a breakfast with our shades on (Damien wore his sunglasses), we went out to get the boys a haircut at Sportsclips. Owen and I waited in the car so that Owen wasn't tempted to get down onto the floor filled with other humans hair and it's safe to say Damien thinks he is the coolest kid on the planet getting his hair cut like a big kid. 

 

I think y'all know the rest. Super Bowl time. Jon and Rita had a great BBQ party which was a lot more fun than the game. It's always a great time hanging out with family and friends so I guess the Super Bowl wasn't too much of a bust. 

It was a pretty good weekend overall, even if we didn't explore a crazy beautiful forest or find a super quirky thrift store- which is what it seems like the rest of the world does on weekends. 

recap

As it is Monday, I thought I would do a little recap of my weekend. 

Saturday I hosted a small baby shower brunch for my dear friend, Braden, as she is expecting her second this next month and it's a girl! She has the most adorable son ever but I thought it would be fun to do something a little girly! It was a small shower, only about eight of us, and we did a 'brunch' with mimosas, a waffle bar, yogurt parfaits, and egg quichès which were delicious! 

     waffle bar and mimosas not pictured

After the party had gone we spent the day with Braden, her husband David and son Eli while enjoying BBQ from a small joint about 5 miles north of our house. It was an afternoon well spent in the company of great friends. 

Sunday we did not quite make it to the morning mass (Ahem! That never happens ...hehe ) after I had spent the evening cleaning up the house, mopping and getting my house back in order while JJ played the 'jumping game' -something that involves being thrown on the bed- with the boys. 

Instead we had a chocolate chip pancake feast and used the gorgeous afternoon to sand down an old dresser I am converting into a TVconsole. We also planted 'gofer food' as Damien called it (which is simply gopher bait)- hopefully we will get one of those little buggers. We then went to the 5:30 pm mass and ended our weekend with dinner out and promptly headed home to put the scootchies to bed, which did not go as smoothly as anticipated. Ah, the joys of parenting. 

All in all it was beautiful weekend filled with friends and glorious weather which we enjoyed every minute of!