Visiting Oklahoma

     We recently took a trip to Oklahoma to see my Granny (GiGi as Rylan says) and Papa (and Great Papa as Rylan says). It was a wonderful few days there, and we had a lot of much needed help. My Granny tried to tell us that Reesey was rotten because she never wanted to be put down. However, my Granny was the one holding her all the time. That is when she wasn't fighting my Momma for her. My Momma met us there so that she too could get her some Reesey and Rylan love.

     Rylan was a bit of a challenge. I am wondering if he is just now realizing that Reesey is here to stay, or if he is just entering into a difficult stage, was it that he was out of his element, or could it be that we haven't been disciplining him correctly before? Whatever the case; we are now trying to spend more one on one time with him, take deep breathes and pray for this phase, and we are trying new tactics in the disciplining department. I thought about not discussing our challenge with Rylan right now, but then decided against it. I recently read an article in Redbook (great source I know), but it talked about all those bloggers and facebook moms who make everything seem so perfect in their postings. I decided I didn't want to be one of those Momma's. Most of the time I am, but this is real and I know that I am not the only Momma who goes through difficult days and phases. Okay, enough said about that, lets get back to our Oklahoma trip and the good things that came from it. But just know you may see some more of me "being real."

     Oklahoma was great because we ate so much I need to diet, the kids were great in the car there and back (plus it was a nice time for Mommy and Tia to have sister bonding), we got to see lots of family, we got lots of help, and we got to relax and enjoy some green acres for a while (apparently they have gotten more rain than we have). I will explain the rest of trip in pictures.

I have never seen my Papa so sweet with a baby. He would take Reese, hold her, talk to her and rock her. It was the cutest thing. My Granny, Kyra and I all watched him from the kitchen as he rocked and talked to her. One moment I will forever embed in my memory.

Another sweet moment was seeing Rylan carry book after book for Great Papa (as he calls him) to read to him. I remember my Papa reading to me when I was little. Now seeing him read to my children is just sweetness.

GiGi and Great Papa have a whirlpool tube. GiGi said "Let Ry take a bath in it", so we did. Can you imagine that just one sqiurt of baby shampoo can do this. Rylan loved it, he took a 20 minute bath with no toys just a cup and bubbles.

One afternoon after nap we loaded up and headed out to my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Tony's land. They have 100's acres of beautiful land and they run cattle on it. It was fun for us to go and see the cows and feeding time. Momma, Granny, and Aunt Debbie watched Reesey while the rest of us played outside during feeding time. Rylan loved the 100's of cows. We got to help feed them grain and then hay.

The fun part was that the hay feeding was on four-wheelers. Rylan rode with my Uncle Tony and got to feed the cows right out of his hand, he loved this, and he still mimicks the way they licked his little hand.

After we fed the cows their hay Uncle Tony let Rylan steer the four-wheeler back to the barn, that really got him excited. This was his first ride on a four-wheeler.

This is just a picture of my babies playing together one night before bedtime at GiGi and Great Papa's. It was a nice trip and we look forward to seeing even more of our family when we go back at the beginning of March. My cousin Kallie is getting married then and Rylan is the ring bearer.