Fiona had her nails did....
Tristan's dad (aka Poppa) took all 6 of his grand kids out) so we got to have a date.
Thank goodness for our dads :)
We bought a cool old, dirty, worn out work table for my craftiness.
We visited the "junk lady" on 11th (she deals furniture not drugs)!!!
We waited 20 minutes in line at the car wash and laughed out loud with the stereo cranked up.
We went grocery shopping and held hands and then went home.
We welcomed our babies back, threw them in the tub and put them in bed.
We ate chocolate and popcorn and watched Henry Poole Is Here and I cried. It was great...a good lesson on faith.
It was good to have my best friend today...we're good together.

Rent it, watch it, like it.

The Powers of 10

I was pretty surprised when I ran across this video! It's really cool and my kids LOVE it! Check it out :)

It happened...

SNOW! And sledding and wet snow boots by the back door and rosy cheeks and hot cocoa. Oh, and some snotty noses, but it was worth it.

Yuck!

We're iced in...well kind of. Why oh why do we only get ice in Oklahoma? All I'm asking is for a day of snow with lots of sledding, rosey cheeks, snow boots by the back door and lots of hot cocoa. But NOOOOO...we get icky, slushy, slippery, ICE/Sleet. Fortunately it was nothing like last year with over 100 thousand out of power, cable and phone service. That was a bad bad year for most Tulsan's and in fear of that many of us prepared for ruin ;) We bought a generator, just in case, which will promptly go back to the depot and stocked up on batteries. Yesterday we locked ourselves in the playroom and our creative juices started flowing. I get so into "creative time". The kids love it, but last only a shoort time before they are finished and ready to move on t bigger and better things like the fort we made out of B's bunk beds. Those extra batteries and flash lights came in handy after all. Then last night we were graced with the presence of 3 hungry teenagers bored out of their minds! After winding the kids up and eating, 2 went home and we kept one. They can come in handy after all :) What's planned for today you say? Well, it's a toss up between shopping or laundry? Hmmm.....

Riverfield Rocked the Cain's...

with the help of my amazingly talented dad, sister and brother. This was several months ago, but I was attempting editing videos. This was my first attempt EVER so please keep that in mind ;) I figured I have lots of time on my hands right now. Oh, did I not mention? My back is out again! That's what I get for sleeping on an air mattress and lifting heavy things while organizing...just please let me be OK by tomorrow :) Amanda, I have high hopes for the aquarium tomorrow...Cindy, mom's night out is still on and Josh and Leecy, I'm craving Jamaican food! Peace :)

carrie+ella+emily

equals a photo shoot with friends :)

Doo Doo Cookies anyone?

I know, I know...sounds discusting, right? Well...I'm not quite sure who coined that title in my family, but it wasn't me :) I just know that that's what they called em' when I was little. I think they are also know as "no bake cookies". Granny made some this weekend when we visited and they were soooo good! YUM!




Granny's "No Bake" Cookies

2 cups sugar
1 stick oleo
¼ cup cocoa
½ cup milk ¼ cup white karo syrup

3 cups 1 minute oats
½ cup peanut butter
½ tsp. vanilla

Boil about 3 minutes.

Stir in next ingredients.

Drop (no pun intended) by spoonfuls onto wax paper.

Homeschool sweet homeschool.

This has been an interesting few weeks for us. During the holiday break from school we decided to home school B. The transition has been remarkably easy and we are so glad that we made the decision. The how's and why's will come in another post, BUT I will say that we as a family love every minute of it. Our lives, especially the kids are so much more enriched. I must admit, I was a little nervous and thought well...I guess everyone will think of us a bible beating prairie people family (which we're not...we're so cool ;), but then I thought "who cares?". I'm almost 30 years old (man that's hard to say) and it's time to start enjoying and living life without any further consideration of what someone might think. Besides, I want our children to be able to be strong and be able to make decisions based on "their" morals, beliefs and values, not what other say or think. So Tristan and I have to be "the" example for them :) So far so good, right? Well...some days I want to yank my hair out in fistfuls, but I know it's worth it ;)

Today we talked abut Martin Luterh King and what an impact he had and how wonderful he was and Bella said "yeah...he was a good King!" She has Kings on the brain lately b/c last night we studied about the Tower of Babel and how King Nimrod was a bad man. It's fun incorporating bible study in our day b/c I feel like I am learning right along with them! We talked about how God scrambled the languages b/c of Nimrod building the Tower and that's why we have so many different languages in the world. The kids enjoyed commenting on the story.

This was Bella's copy work for Monday.



Jude pays attention sometimes.



With all this fun school stuff I have been in a mad cleaning out mode. The simpler the better in my opinion. In an effort to simplify my life I have made a bigger mess. So, if my lack of blogging has bothered you, please understand ;) Oh, and did I mention I am revamping my photography logo, which changes EVERYTHING?! Just another mission to simplify.

Wee wee

Things to post later...I just had to share this :)


Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

You know you've been together forever when...

I am laying on the couch, laptop and all, checking my e-mails while Tristan is in the other room (10 feet away) on his laptop checking his e-mails. I am forwarding him e-mails and we are talking about them, laughing about them, just content to hear each others voice :) Now that's love...either that or in need of a date :)

Goodbye to a man's best friend.

An Ode To Claudia (from Eric)







Today our good friend Eric had to put his dog Claudia down. Let me just say that she was an amazing dog. You know "they" say a dog is a man's best friend and in this case that was so. Not only to Eric, but to our family as well. She was Fiona's adopted mama and her best friend. She will truly be missed. We have spent this evening in tears, but that just shows how she touched our lives. To Eric, we are deeply sorry for your loss and we love ya :) ((HUGS))

A Day of Play.

We missed these monkeys so we finally had a day to play :) Bella and MacKenzie have been the best of friends since babyhood, less than a month old actually.







Now, 6 years later...



And in between all that growing, 2 more monkeys joined the circus to make it complete (that is on our end anyways ;)

Finished!

So this past 4 day weekend we installed our new hardwood floors and I am happy to say that tonight they are complete! It's been a hard couple of days, but it was worth every moment. I have to commend our extremely resilient kids who were such troops throughout the whole process. I actually laid the floors too which was kind of empowering. Today I took a break and Mr. Vaught had a helper and I took the kids for a bike ride and some much needed outdoor/quality time. Bella spent Friday night with our friends Jeremy and Lacy. They adopted kids for the weekend and had a snow party at their house. They were so brave-8 girls! Isabella had so much fun and didn't want to come home, but who could blame her? Home was saw dust haven! We have everything somewhat put together with the exception of the white paint that will go on our walls, a new dining set, new pillows and new curtains as well as a rug. But I am just SOOOOO glad the floors are finuto :) Thanks Mr. Vaught for your diligence and hardwork...love you :)

Pre-Wood Floors


Lacy's adorable snowflakes for the party.