The snow that shut down Oklahoma

Here are photos of our terrible snow and ice storm. You can read some of the local coverage here. Our readers from the colder places of the country are probably going to laugh at us! We were lucky to not get socked like other parts of the country and hope that all is working out well for those who may not have power...

Anyway, the girls' school got canceled and they got to play, so all was happy in the Shea house.

We saw them travel to the south pole and become "penguins," made a trip to the north pole -- as "penguins" to see some Polar Bears, and helped Phil shovel the driveway and walks. It's amazing the amount of play they can get in for not seeing much snow. The girls did their playing and their work and got nice rewarding cups of hot chocolate to finish the day.

When I grow up...

Dora (on TV) asked the girls today what they want to be when they grow up. Here were their responses:

Claire: Cowgirl! Or maybe a police.

Maddie: Doc-kor! (that's Maddie-speak for doctor).

Then Claire asked me, "Mama, what do you want to be when... when... well, when you're done doing what you're doing?"

After my day today, getting ready for a dinner get-together (grocery shopping with 2 kids, organizing while they dis-organize, tidying while they untidy, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, dusting, cleaning both bathrooms, folding laundry, and regular mom-duties like keeping the kids from beating each other) I think I'd like to be retired when I'm done doing what I'm doing!

The gamer

Our little 4 year-old has already started down the path toward becoming a gamer. She'd play Leapster all day long if we let her (which we don't, and this is a major bone of contention for her), and Christmas brought a few more game-type toys. Surely she's learning important things like hand-eye coordination from this, right?

Happy Birthday Phil

Phil had his 33rd birthday! It was a pretty low-key celebration, but the girls did get together and make a delicious choco-strawberry cake with homemade buttercream frosting!

That was the highlight of the big 33!

Gramma and Pawpaw

Right after Christmas this year my parents hopped into their minivan and drove all the way down here to see us. Well, OK, it was probably mostly to see their rapidly-growing grandkids. Anyway, we had a wonderful, relaxing visit. Gramma and Pawpaw brought a gingerbread house to work on with the girls and Gramma helped them each string a necklace and bracelet to wear. It was so nice having them here - we sure do miss them when they have to head back home! My uncle Brian and his family drove up from Dallas for an afternoon too, so we got to see lots of family! Here are a few highlights from the week (clickable for more):

Oh give me a home...

...where the buffalo roam...



On my parents' last full day here when we decided to be a little adventurous so we all loaded into their minivan and checked out the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. It's only about a half hour from our house but we had never gone to see it.

It was really neat (for Altus, anyway). We were lucky enough to spot some roaming longhorn cattle, ducks, a skunk, buffalo (bison?), and a bunch of prairie dogs. We climbed a mountain (OK, we drove to the top and then stepped up three steps to the viewing platform). We ate longhorn burgers at the historic Meers Store and Restaurant. And we saw the Holy City of Lawton, which was a highlight for the girls because they thought the buildings were all castles.

Anyway, we sure had fun with Gramma and Pawpaw and we miss them now that they had to go back to Illinois. We'll see them next month, though, along with Grammy and Grampy, in Puerto Vallarta!

The Christmas Update

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We're going green this year and saving the paper of a Christmas letter. If you've been keeping up to date with our blogging, this is short and sweet.

We still live in and enjoy Oklahoma and all its sights and adventures. We've had power outages and weather scares. But have made lots of new friends, visited old and made the most of our little house.

The kiddos continue to grow, Maddie goes to Mother's Day Out once a week and looks up to her big sister, Claire who enjoys twice a week pre-school, horse lessons and dance once a week.

Phil keeps flying and working too long, but his commute is 5 minutes--that's not too bad. Katie loves being a Mom and decided it was time to build the brood some more!

We hope everyone has a very safe and happy holiday season and happy returns for 2009!

Santa was here!

Here's what our morning looked like until the batteries died on the camera!

The girls made a good haul, Santa must have heard their requests and Claire got her "Pee-Pee in the Potty Baby" and Maddie an enormous bin of Play-Doh and accessories.

Dance Class

This was from a few days ago. Maddie got to learn along with Claire's class before the Christmas break. This was her 2nd time dancing with the girls. If you've got 3 minutes, it's worth the watch! Claire's been doing some instruction at home, we think.

Number 3

Sooo...

I can't think of any clever or witty way to break this news so I'll just be out with it: WE'RE PREGNANT! Baby Number Three should be joining us sometime in mid- to late-July (July 17th is the technical due date). It's still very early, but any and all prayers are good so we thought we'd put the news out there. :)

We haven't told the girls yet because the nine-month countdown seems a little long for them. Or, at least, it's a long time for us to have to explain that no, the baby is not here yet. They will be excited, though, to know that one of their cribs is going to be in use again.

I've been feeling a bit sick with this one, so the blog has been suffering from a lack of attention (along with the girls, the cleanliness of my house, the quality and amount of food cooked by me, etc). Please bear with us! My next priorities are Christmas shopping and Christmas cards. Then hopefully things will start to settle down here and this baby will stop making me feel so yucky!

Altus Christmas spirit

We haven't been to see the Altus Christmas lights yet this year, but we've definitely begun to experience Christmas. The girls found their stockings filled on Dec. 6 (St Nicholas Day) and found some neat surprises in them (Maddie's favorite: an apple; Claire's favorite: books sent from Gramma). Later that morning we took the girls to see Santa at Phil's squadron's Christmas party. That evening Phil and I went to the grown-up's Christmas party and the girls got to play with a babysitter. Lots of fun, but we didn't take any pictures of us (of course).

Then this morning we packed up the family and headed downtown for the Altus Christmas parade. It was a beautiful day and there was quite a crowd. Claire and Maddie managed to score some candy, see a marching band, lots of floats, and some horses. And, of course, what's a Christmas parade without Santa? He brought up the end of the parade, riding high on a fire truck.

Click on any of the photos to see a few more!

Whew! Almost makes up for the lack of shopping around here...

Our big girls got big beds

We ordered Claire a REAL bed (twin-size) a few weeks ago. She had finally grown too big for her crib-turned-toddler-bed. During our quest to find her a bed, we decided to buy bunk beds that can also function as twin beds. This will (hopefully) maximize our options in whatever other crazy-small houses the Air Force deems perfect for us. So that means that Maddie got a new bed too. Rather than store her nice, new bed in the yucky garage, we decided to just take the plunge and put her in her big bed too. They've both done really well in their big beds, so I guess they're big girls now. The poor cribs are up in the attic for now...