Daddy Daughter Date Night

Chick Fillet had the brilliant idea of hosting a Daddy Daughter Date Night. When R.C. saw the advertisement he signed right up.

Princess had a blast. As did R.C.. Chick Fillet actually hired a limousine to bring the guests to Chick Fillet. When you signed up you were given a time for your date. If you wanted the free limo ride you had to be in the Best Buy parking lot 15 minutes before your time. (The Best Buy parking lot was across the street from Chick Fillet. The limo driver took a longer than necessary route to Chick Fillet, but it was still a short ride. We thought it was a really fun idea and nice touch to the evening.)

These pictures were taken by the photographer at the restaurant. I think they are priceless. This is definitely the first of many.

Bridge

He is 35

Husband turned 35 yesterday.

He wrote about it on his blog.

Check it out.

Bridge

Daddy's Girl

There is this little girl I know who adores her daddy.

And there is this daddy I know who adores his little girl.

Bridget

Something About My Man in a Baseball Hat.

Don't let some of these picturs fool you. Though my man may look like he is tired of me sticking my camera in his face, He is not. My man loves having his picture taken!

And I love taking it!

Bridget

My Man...

...is hot stuff!

Bridget

Oh, To Be 31 Again

Oh, to be 31 again!
That seems so long ago!
Before all those grey hairs
And wrinkles started to show!

Oh, to be 31 again!
How that was a fun time!
My spouse was still aroused
Since I was in my prime!

Oh, to be 31 again!
It seems so much has changed!
Yes, every time I come home,
My house is rearranged!

Oh, to be 31 again!
Young and full of energy!
When I could sing and dance
And not have to ice down my knee!

Oh, to be 31 again!
Now I feel so old!
I didn't think I really was
But that is what I'm told!

Oh, to be 31 again!
My kids were younger, too!
Now every time I blink
They've grown an inch or two!

Oh, to be 31 again!
I wrote this poem to say!
Don't let Bridget off the hook;
She turns 31 today!

R.C.

Happy Birthday, My Love

Hubs turned 34 yesterday.

It was a small affair.

Just us and his parents.

And a BUNCH of candles!


And he got them all in one breath.

That's my man!

Bridget

Fabulousness and Struggles

We just finished a weekend full of Christmas'. Great-Grandparents, Grandparents, extended family. It was wonderful. It was a whirl of activities. It was exhausting.

And now we're home for a few days to regroup and then do it all again.

Really, this post is just to share one fabulous piece of information and a struggle. First the fabulousness:

Remember this post? Or this one? Or this one? Or what about this one? Well, you will if you've been reading for awhile bc I wrote those back in the summer and fall of 2008! Yes, folks...2008! I have been wanting this camera for a LONG time. And I GOT IT!!!!

Hubs asked his parents, my parents, his sister and brother-in-law, and his nana to all go in together with him to buy it for me!!! I basically haven't put it down since Sunday morning when I opened it.

When he asked me what I wanted for Christmas I told him I either wanted the camera or money to save toward the camera and that was it! And he delivered!

I've already taken over 300 pictures. I'll post some soon.

Now, for the struggle:

Folks, we had to take two cars with us this weekend just to get all the stuff home! Seriously!?!

Now I have no place to store it and we still have two more Christmas' to do! Ugh. (in a good way) I was at Walmart last night buying groceries and storage bins and ran into a friend and we were talking about how we couldn't afford to store all the new toys the kids get. =)

Anwho...small struggle I know-just the one I'm in right now.

Merry Christmas!
Bridget

My Midweek Post

Well, my wife stole some thunder from me last week, but yes, I am starting my career with New York Life Insurance Company. I'm really looking forward to it, and if any of you need some life insurance, want to look into an annuity, or just want to talk about your financial future, call me. I'll be happy to visit with you!

As my wife lays on the floor after seeing that I have posted without her prompting, let me be the first to tell you what's going down with the Batcave: We have offered it to Bobo as his first solo bedroom (at least since all the siblings came along). Of course, he jumped at the opportunity to have his very own room. In fact, I think he's still up there some where. Once he comes down, we'll move things around sometime around the first of the year.

Now that my wife has slowly picked herself up off the floor, I will let her give you all the great decorating details. Until then, just think of the names of five people who you think could use some life insurance or annuities, and let me know. Together, we can make this a more financially sound and secure world. And thanks for your support!

R.C.

P.S.
My SIL is getting a new dog and needs help coming up with a name. This will be a girl dog, and she doesn't like my heartfelt suggestions of Fuzzbucket, Poopsy, Spunky, Little Miss Yipskerly, Yipsy, Tipsy, Topsy, Turvy, Comet, Cupid, Donner, or Blitzen! So, if you've got a cute, spunky name for a girl dog the size of a furball, please feel free to comment. I thank you, my wife thanks you, and my wife's sister thanks you.

I should have known better...

...than to volunteer my husband for something with out talking to him about it first.

I'm sorry that the last post of yesterday never got posted. Hubs worked late, then brought dinner home and we all sat in front of the t.v. watching "White Christmas" while we ate. After the kids were in bed, hubs and I were up talking for a while and then we went to bed.

This is horribly anti-climactic after the blog teaser I left you with yesterday but because I don't want to keep you waiting any longer here goes:

Hubs is now a New York Life Insurance Company agent! We are really excited about this new career and will fill you in on all the details soon!

Bridget

Midweek Movie Review

My wife has asked me to contribute to the blog. I have quite a bit I could talk about, but I just can't talk about it yet. So, today, I shall do a Midweek Movie Review. Here we go:

This week's movie: Star Trek (2009)

Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content.

Brief Synopsis: Writer/Director J.J. Abrams (tv's Alias, among others) beams the Star Trek franchise back to the beginning and sets his phasers to stun. As in, he stuns the audience with brilliant storytelling, subtle and not-so-subtle tributes to the original series, and flat out cool action and adventure.

The opening sequence rocks the audience to it's emotional core and pushes it to the edge of it's seat with some high drama and intense action. Then, it just gets better from there.

It seems, that in the future, Ambassador Spock doesn't quite make it in time to save the planet Romulus from destruction. A band of Romulan survivors, led by the menacing Nero, follows Spock back in time through a black hole and ends up annihilating a Federation starship helmed by George Kirk, our beloved James T. Kirk's dad, on Jim's actual day of birth. This sequence of events effectively alters the Star Trek universe as we know it, and allows Abrams to tell a new story with the same characters without completely changing everything we know. The longstanding Star Trek universe still exists, but we are now following this new set of events and new stories. (You've got to really see the movie to understand it.)

We see some scenes from both Kirk's and Spock's childhood, as each deal with his own set of circumstances. We then flash forward roughly 10 to 15 years where the original crew of the USS Enterprise meet up at Starfleet Academy. The whole thing drums up nostalgic memories for Trekkies, as the cast of this movie does well, in my opinion, in capturing the essence of the characters played by the original actors.

The main tension comes when Starfleet receives a distress call from the planet Vulcan. The young cadets are assigned to the newly built Enterprise under the helm of Captain Christopher Pike to investigate and conduct a grand rescue mission. From there, the action gets even better with hand to hand combat, space monster chase scenes, and epic space ship battles. Through it all, the new series of events have to unfold in a way, with the help of Leonard Nemoy (the original Mr. Spock), that sets our original understanding of the Star Trek universe at ease with some form of familiarity.

Overall Thoughts: This movie is extremely fun. I got a kick out of watching these old friends meet for the first time. Abrams brought some serious creativity to the sequence of meetings that, for me, stayed true to each character, as I remembered them. I know this movie was received well, both critically and popularly (is that a word?), but I don't know how the true, hardcore Trekkies would deal with their universe being altered. I think if they could keep an open mind, they would actually enjoy the movie. Also, you don't have to be a fan of the original Star Trek to really like this movie. It is a good movie.

I took my 1o year old son to see this movie in the theater back in May. He handled it well, but be advised there is a brief scene with Kirk and a green girl in their underwear. Uhuru comes in and undresses to her underwear before Kirk pops out from under the bed and Uhuru rushes him out. My kids love the explosions and lasers and sci-fi fantasy violence. There is no major cringe factor due to language for me, but there are plenty of d***s and other variations scattered throughout. I don't remember the Lord's name being taken in vain, but it doesn't mean one couldn't have slipped passed me somewhere in there.

We have a ClearPlay DVD player, if ever they will send me my replacement unit, and that would be the only way I would be really comfortable allowing my children, even my now 11 year old, to see Star Trek. Clip out that 60 to 90 second scene, and mute some of the language, and I would gladly allow my children to watch it. Over and over again. Just like I plan to.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. I have now devised my own rating system for movies and other media that I may or may not ever review:

Pre-order - worthy of putting money down in advance to secure your ownership

Immediate Buy - worthy of buying the day it comes out

Eventual Buy - worthy of owning, but it can wait a few days/weeks/or months

Five Dollar Bin - worthy of owning if you can find it for $5 or less

Acceptable Gift - worthy of owning if somebody buys the movie for you

Don't Bother - not worthy of owning - EVER

My Rating: Immediate Buy - I actually had thoughts of pre-ordering this one, but I just couldn't do it. Honestly, it would have been the first time I ever pre-ordered something. Maybe that's why I had a hard time pre-ordering it. I did, however, buy this yesterday, the first day it came out. I loved Star Trek. It is my latest favorite movie.

Tune in next week, as I review something else. Or, maybe I'll have opportunity to talk about other stuff. Or, maybe I'll give my critique on my wife's decorating. Or, maybe I wish to continue living in my house.

Later,

R.C.

You Probably Thought I was Exaggerating.

Since I posted pictures of my entry, living and dining rooms some changes have been made. I was serious, people.

Here's what happened: about a month ago, hubs and I took the two little ones to Wichita Falls while the two big ones were at a birthday party. While there we visited the lovely little store Hancocks and I found the fabric for my living room drapes. They are the perfect colors AND they were on clearance. People: I got upholstery fabric that is usually $19.99 a yard for $2.30 a yard!!! Crazy!

So anyway, once I had them sewn and hanging I knew I didn't like them with my old dining room curtains. I love my dining room curtains, but they are cotton quilting fabric that is usually $6.oo a yard and the look of them next to my new curtains was cheap. Maybe it was all in my head, but frankly, I have to live in my head so I wanted to do something about it.

When we went back to WF for the Sesame Street Live show husband graciously let me run into Hancocks again to see if they had any of the fabric left. Well, of course they didn't. Not when its on clearance for pennies.

So I figured my head was just gonna have to be unhappy for awhile.

Then, my SIL* helped me out by moving into a new house on Saturday and having her first baby on the very next Wednesday. While she was in the hospital I left my kids with my mom and went to help my MIL* and FIL* unpack my SIL's house. Because of all the dirty laundry and gazillion other things that needed to be done, MIL and I decided to take the dirty laundry to the laundromat to wash it faster.

*sister-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law

This has a point, I promise.

When we pulled up to the laundromat what did we see just a few stores down in the same shopping center? I'm sure you guessed it. Hancocks. And a big beautiful one at that. After getting the clothes into the washing machines we headed that way. And I'm sure you guessed it again, They had my fabric!!! EXCEPT: it wasn't $2.30 a yard. It was marked down to $8.50 a yard. Still a good deal but I needed 7 yards to cover both my dining and kitchen windows. 60 bucks people.

Not chump change in my world. If I spend 60 bucks on unnecessary fabric it means I DON'T spend 60 bucks on necessary things. Nope, I couldn't do it. I did, however, find some fabulous sheer fabric 1/2 off to cover my lampshades with. And my dear, sweet MIL bought it for me. Check it out.
The before:

The after:

The full monty:

Fabulous, right! I'm so pleased. And of course, in true Bridget fashion, when I'm done with these colors, the ribbon and fabric come off and my plain white lampshades are back. Yeehaw!!

So, on with my story. When I got home from my weekend away, I told hubs about finding the fabric. He then told me that while I was gone, he received his check from the school for announcing the junior high football games. And then my perfect, wonderful, handsome, funny, smart, precious husband told me to call his mother, who happened to still be at his sister's house, and ask her to go get my fabric. I couldn't be more in love.

Yesterday morning my MIL delivered my fabric to me and I sure did have those new curtains sewn and hung by the end of the day! And they look wonderful!
The before here

and the after:

Other changes were made as well. I used my handy dandy photo editing software to put pink numbers where changes were made. (Don't forget that you can click on the pitures to enlarge them.)

No. 1: New curtains.

No. 2: new fabric covering the chain for the light fixture.

No. 3: new flowers on the table

No. 4: moved china cabinet

No. 5: rearranged top of china cabinet

No. 6: new paint on walls

No. 7: replaced the decorative paper in my brown frames

I'll talk about no. 6 in a sec. First, my mom had the art teacher at her school draw these pictures of my children for us for Christmas two years ago. I love them. Sometimes I go temporarily insane and put something else in these frames, but luckily it is only temporary.

I'm one of those people that loves symmetry and balance so I love having these pictures on either side of my china cabinet. And putting the cabinet back on this wall makes the dining room feel bigger. I seriously can't remember why I didn't like it this way the first time. Must be more of that temporary insanity.

Honestly, I didn't need to put this picture in here, but oh well. I still love my tile floors.

Now about no. 6. when I originally painted my kitchen blue I told husband that it wasn't quite right and that I planned on tweaking it a bit. I lived with it for quite a few months, but this past Sunday I just got the fire in my belly to paint something. My kitchen is small and can easily be painted in a day so I got to it.

As you can see it is only slightly different. A little lighter and a little greener. (The new paint is the paint around the edges.) Now it's perfect.

And I mixed my own paint. After you amass all the paint that I have you can do that quite easily. I just bought a gallon of white satin paint and mixed in very small amounts of a color I had out in my garage. I love the way it looks after just a few swirls.

And as more proof of my sickness, Sunday was the fifth time I've painted my whole kitchen in the two years we've lived here.

I put this picture in here because I was able to take this picture without a flash and using the natural light from my window. I wanted you to get a better idea of the true color of my walls. It's light and icy and wonderful and NOT the color you see in the other pictures!!!

I've actually been making more changes in other rooms but this has gotten very long and I really need to do something else, like vaccuum my floor and brush my teeth.

Bridget

What Are The Odds?

Seriously!? The other day, Bridge and I are kicking back, enjoying a nice afternoon/evening over at a friends house, having a bottle of water (each). All of sudden, and I do mean suddenly, I look at my bottle and notice that the packaging date was my birthday! Cool! Then, for grins and giggles, I look over at my wife's bottle. HOLY DEJA VU! The date on her bottle was her birthday, too! WHAT ARE THE ODDS?!!! Don't believe me? The proof is in the pudding - or photo:

Happy Birthday Bridget!!!!!

Well, today I trade in my late 20's model wife for an early 30's model. That's right, Bridget turns the big 3-0 today! So please leave happy birthday wishes for her in the comment section. Plus, to get a feel for how I feel about my wife, check out "One Thing I Was Made For", "Love Note Day", and "29 Reasons Why I Love My Wife".

Add #30 to that list: She's 30 years old!!

Happy Birthday, Bridy Girl, I love you.

OK Senate vs. Home Schooling

A few weeks ago, in the dark of night, I heard, "You're house will be under attack." I didn't feel the need to jump out of bed swinging, but I also had no clue what it really meant. While I believe there are many aspects to that statement, I think the following can be one of them.

There are two new bills to be proposed in the OK senate on Monday, February 2. I first saw this story here. It intrigued me as I felt our home schooling rights were being stepped on a little bit. So I started doing a little research. First, I found this. I felt a little better considering the Chairman of the Senate Educational Committee, State Senator John Ford said,

“Our home school community is a vital asset to this state. The way home schooling parents currently educate their children is a process that has worked fine, and I feel it is important for them to have the freedom in determining what will best serve their children’s needs.”

So, he, at least, is opposed to these two bills. Upon further research, I discovered the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) was in action on these two bills. See here for Bill 472 and here for Bill 308.

So, how does this relate to the house under attack thing? We home school our children. My wife has prayed about it since we started having children, and we pray about it before every school year. We didn't home school Bobo or Bear until we moved to Altus. We have absolutely nothing against Altus schools, we just felt the Lord was telling us it was time to teach our children at home. Again, we pray about it before every school year, because we don't want to be disobedient to God. We will put them in the public school system as soon as God doesn't want us to home school anymore. This is the Lord's will for our life in this season, so we do it.

We believe it is a parent's right and God-given duty to teach his or her child(ren). See Proverbs 22:6 and Ephesians 6:4 among others. The fact that society has created public (and even private) school systems to teach children en mass, does not change this truth. In fact, it endangers it. Read Matthew 18:6, 7 and 14. Does a worldly school system not have the potential to put major stumbling blocks in front of our children?

Both of my parents were school teachers, and Bridget's mother still is. They taught/teach with integrity and respect for the children, their parents, and God. I have nothing against the teachers. They are doing their job. We, as parents, are doing ours. If the government feels the need to control that, then we are headed for a sad day indeed. I encourage you to pray about this issue and then act as God would direct you. We are sending an email to our state senators. Read up on it yourself, and make up your own mind. Don't just take my word for it.

Be encouraged, God is in control.
R.C.

God Is (Live)

Here it is, folks! This is the video you've all been waiting for! (well, at least a couple of you, anyway) Bridge wrote this song using the curriculum for the children's ministry at ACF. While there are some "big" words in there, Bobo and Bear do a fine job with them.

Bridge, the elder two boys, and I did this song this past Sunday (the one between my birthday on Saturday and Popeye's on Monday). The "studio version" of the song, along with the words, can be found on Sounds From the Batcave. Also, the song can be found on our MySpace music page. We had a lot of fun working on this with the boys, and we're talking about shooting an official video for it. Let us know what you think! Be encouraged!

And be sure to watch for Princess in her pink shirt. She snuck up on stage with us.=)

Sunday Delights

R.C.'s Sunday Delights for 01/11/09

1. my 33rd birthday yesterday
2. Bear's 8th birthday tomorrow
3. sleeping in on a Saturday
4. fresh, honest, real friends
5. working on music with my family

Sunday Delights, my attempt to purposefully "count my blessings" at least once a week, is seeing its final regular publishing in its current form. Thanks to all who have read and shared your blessings, and please feel free to do so one more time. I shall continue to think on what God is doing in my life, and be grateful for his presence and goodness, and I pray that you will, too.

Thanks,
R.C.

Sunday Delights

The first Sunday of the new year, and there's lots for which to be thankful! So, without further ado, my Sunday Delights:

1. New Beginnings in '09 (out with the old and in with the new - new horizons, new adventures, new discoveries, new etc.)
2. having my prayer language interpreted to answer the prayer of someone else ("Praise be to God!")
3. making progress on our information packet (check out Praise the King here)
4. helping Bobo find a Nintendo DS (praise God for pawn shops and wheelin and dealin - he was quite excited)
5. awesome friends and family with which to journey through life (so cool living next door to grandparents, having the other grandparents just an hour and half away, and having hardcore, fun-loving spiritual brothers and sisters)

Now, it's your turn! Try to think of 5 things that delight you about your life right now, and please comment on them. It helps you to "count your blessings" and it encourages those of us who read them! Thanks!

R.C.

Sunday Delights

Well, I missed last week's edition; sorry about that. Here we go for 12/28/08:

1. Christmas (favorite holiday)
2. exposing my boys to the entire Star Wars saga (they got the originals for Christmas, and loved them!)
3. Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring The Rockettes (amazing show - especially the Christmas story)
4. after Christmas sales (2 pairs of pants, baby!)
5. a wonderful weekend away with friends and no kids (thanks guys who went, and thanks grandparents for watching the kids!)

Now, come up with 5 things/events that are blessings/delights in your life. I encourage to write them in the comment section, but as long as you at least think about them, I guess that will be ok, too.

Imported "Sounds"

So, with the help of Blogger's new export/import function, I've been able to import some of my old posts from Sounds From the Batcave. If, for whatever reason, you feel so inclined, I have labeled them "R.C." We now have labels in the side bar, and you will notice that Bridget is WAAAAAAY ahead, so I'll have to tie her up or hide her computer for a few months while I catch up. Sounds From the Batcave is being renovated into a music heavy blog, while I distribute my other thoughts among a few other blogs. Look for a new one soon. Thanks for following my wife's blog, and hopefully you can tolerate my stuff.

Be encouraged.

R.C.