Running Wild

This little cowgirl can be tame or she can be wild. She is so cuddly, loves giving hugs and kisses, but loves to test the limits! The other day Brad was disciplining her and was really letting her have it. He was down on her level and talking very sternly. She kept smiling at him and saying, "Daddy, ur funny....Daddy, ur funny!" I could see the smoke coming out of his ears as I was around the corner laughing! We have known since she was a baby that she had a mind of her own. Brad always says that Paige reminds him of his little sister (a.k.a. Aunt Jamie!)

Paige is our little princess, but her crown is sometimes tarnished. That's what makes her so special. She has the best personality and makes everyone around her smile. I love my little cowgirl even when she is running wild!

Love those Baby Blues

My friend, Trisha, took these pictures while our kids were playing outside. She is an amazing photographer! She captured those sweet baby blue eyes....

Price Adjustments

Today I took the kids to the mall to get out of the house and as I walked through Sears I noticed that our new washer/dryer is now cheaper than what we paid for it. I asked about a price adjustment and sure enough they offer a 30 day guarantee on price adjustments PLUS 10% of the total adjustment. So, guess what??? We get back $457.58!!!! I just LOVE a bargain!!

I love to buy nice clothes for my kids, and I have saved a fortune by getting price adjustments. Old Navy and Gap offer a 7 day price adjustment. It used to be 14 days, but they just recently changed their policy. I'm sure many other stores do the same thing, you just have to ask!

And, of course pictures...

Eating breakfast outside on Nana's porch. What could be better than that?

Going to Nana's park!

First Communion

This weekend Jake and I attended Jack's first communion. Brad was working and Paige stayed with Nana, so I had some special time just with Jake. A first communion is a very special time in a child's life, and I was very glad to share it with our dear friends. Melody is quite the hostess and prepared a great dinner party after the ceremony!

Me and Melody
(She and John are Paige's God parents)

Our God daughter Mary Kate. Her

first communion will be in 2 years!

Jack, Mary Kate, Will, and Jake strike a pose.
(if Paige were in the picture it would be the complete crew!)

I spy...

a box full of monkeys!

Zoo fieldtrip

Today Brad, Paige, and I accompanied Jake on his preschool fieldtrip. The weather was great, all the animals were out, and the kids were really good!

Gotta love the zoo train!

Jake just had to ride the alligator, and Paige squealed when the carousel ride was over!

Jake said, "Mom, quick! Take a picture of me with this big fish!"

FYI: We bought a zoo pass while we were there, so you can expect many more zoo trips with pictures!

Daddy Time/Husband Time

Brad has a few days off this week, and it's been GREAT! We got to have a lunch date without kids today at a new steak restaurant by our house. It was yummy! Then, another miracle happened....we both got to take a nap this afternoon before picking up the kids. Oh, that was even better than lunch!

Here's a few pictures of Jake's Daddy time today...

Fishing Buddies

Reeling it in....

What a catch!

Then it was time for homework...

When Brad picked up Jake from preschool today his teacher said that he didn't want to finish filling out his 100's chart. Jake is a good student, a people pleaser, and always wants to do his best. But, I have noticed that he is also a perfectionist and gets very frustrated when he can't do something perfect. When I asked him why he didn't want to fill out his 100's chart he said, "I'm too slow." So, Brad took on the task of helping him fill it out.

And, here is the super star student with the 100's chart all filled out!

In other BIG news....

This little lady peed on the potty for the 1st time!!!

We bought her a potty seat a few weeks ago and showed her where it was in the bathroom, but never did anything else to encourage her. She has been telling us for a while now when she goes in her diaper. Every morning I wake up to, "Mommy, I pee pee diaper!" I knew the potty training was around the corner, but I wasn't quite ready. I loathe, and I mean LOATHE public bathrooms!! I am not ready to take my princess to every public potty in Tulsa, but I guess she is telling us otherwise. Is she actually potty training herself???? I have heard of this, but never believed it. Only time will tell....

Parrot Heads

Liston's + Oden's + Jimmy Buffett = Good Time!!!

Kite Flight

Jake and his classmates flew kites last week in school, and his teacher said that he was the best kite flyer in the class! So, here he is showing us his skills....

Pretty Paige in Purple

It was a nice spring day....I got camera happy! And, I had a pretty cute subject!

A day spent with girlfriends

Today was a great day! Becky came up to visit and we spent the whole day hanging out. We were without kids, which doesn't happen very often. We got pedicures, shopped the 75 % off sale at Dillard's, used our Gymbucks at Gymboree, and went to lunch at the Brook. We accomplished all this in just the morning!

Then, this afternoon I hosted a jewelry party for her at my house and more girlfriends came over. We looked at jewelry, ate cookies, and chatted while our kids ran around and played. Doesn't get much better than that!

And, because every post must have a picture....

My little cuddle bugs after bath time tonight. This is part of the nighttime routine...bath, jammies, milk, blanket/stuffed animal, cuddle on the couch while watching Noggin, and a good laugh with brother!

Scrapbooking

I have a love/hate relationship with scrapbooking. This is what scrapbooking has done to my dining room. It has completely taken over! This is what I dislike about scrapbooking....it's messy, time consuming, and very expensive. But, I LOVE the finished product! It's fun to go back and look at all the work I've done. My kids love looking at their scrapbooks too. I will be that 80 year old women in the nursing home flipping back through all of them. I like to say that these are my kid's books, but actually they are MINE! I'm not sure I can give them up!

I have thought about doing digital scrapbooks, but I'm not sure it's as personal. I have actually done one for a vacation we took last year. It turned out really cute, but I don't like it as much as I would if I had done all the work myself. Someday, digital may be the way to go for me, but for now I will cut and paste to my little heart's content.

Stickers anyone?

This little lady is obsessed with stickers! She not only loves to put them on paper, she loves to put them on her body. I have to be careful in stores because she will pull the size stickers off of clothes and stick them to herself. This must be a girl thing, because Jake has never liked stickers. He won't even take them from the sweet old people who greet you at Walmart.

Easter Egg Hunt

Due to the expected rain on Easter day we did our Easter egg hunt on Saturday with Grant.

Paige and Grant were given a head start in front of big boy Jake!

Just the one I wanted....a camo egg!

Paige didn't care about the eggs at all.

She just wanted the candy inside!

She would open the egg and then toss

it out after getting the goodies.

This is my cutie pie nephew, Grant.

Today we had lunch at Great Grandma Lois' house, and then did an inside Easter egg hunt with all the other cousins.

This is only a few of Grandma Lois' great grandkids.

Check out Paige in this picture...this is right after she threw

her basket because she didn't want to be in the picture.

Gotta love the two's! My sweet boy, Jake, sure looks cute in the back!

Jake and Great Grandma Lois.

The family Easter picture!

(Yes, I always try to color coordinate on Easter!)

Early Easter

We always go to Oklahoma City Easter weekend to celebrate with Brad's family. We have the tradition of giving the kids their Easter baskets early, so that we don't have to take all that stuff with us to OKC. Brad is moonlighting tonight, so we gave the kids their baskets last night. We got them all dressed up and ready for pictures!

And, finally their Easter picture we had taken with the bunnies.....

Paige wants to say "Happy 2nd Birthday" to her BFF, Hannah!

My New Love

Out with the OLD....

And....

In with the NEW!!!

Who could be so excited about an appliance? A person who is a little OCD about laundry. A person who got tired of finding little holes in clothes. A person who got trapped in their house several times because the washing machine spun itself into the wall during the spin cycle and someone couldn't get the door open. A person who had to dry the clothes TWICE before they would get dry. A person who actually likes doing laundry! Ok, you guessed it....the person is ME!!!!

Story Time

Today Paige met her friends, Hannah and Leah, at Pottery Barn Kids for story time. This was the first time I had taken her. I thought surely PBK would have an amazing story time! After all, they do have a high reputation and strive to be at the top of all things that involve children. Well, today they failed me!

The girl that lead story time was unprepared, rude, and didn't know how to handle children, especially my 2 year old. Paige was uninterested and I can't blame her. The girl read with a monotone voice and was fumbling around the words. She obviously hadn't read the stories before hand. She told Paige to "Sit down and listen to the story." Then she shot me a dirty look! As if I wasn't controlling my child! AS IF!!!! It probably doesn't sound that bad, but the other moms who were with me felt the same way. So, that's my rant for the day! I will try Barnes and Noble story time next week....

Here's a picture of Paige and Hannah after story time was over.

(Leah had already gone, so wasn't in the picture.)

On a good note, these two cuties got to walk around Utica Square and have lunch with their Mommies!

A Sunday Kind of Love

Since today is Palm Sunday I thought I would talk about what a Sunday means to me. The first word I think about when I hear the word "Sunday" is FAMILY. Growing up every Sunday morning was spent at Church followed by a home cooked meal. My mom always made chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn for lunch....and I mean EVERY Sunday. We would sit at the dinner table and enjoy each other's company. I would help my mom clean the kitchen, and then she would retreat to her room for a nap! (I never understood the whole-needing-a-nap thing until I became a Mommy who needed a nap.) After the afternoon nap we would usually go out to the Ranch and visit my Grandparents. I have many good memories of Sunday afternoons spent there which is a whole other post in itself.

Sundays haven't changed much in my grown up life. I get up to the sound of "Mama, Mama, Mama!" I go in and get my baby girl, and we lay on the couch together until Jake wakes up. Brad reads the Sunday paper, usually with both kids in his lap. Then off to church we go. Jake loves to go to Sunday School, and Paige is finally enjoying the church nursery. It sure makes it nice when we can actually listen to what is being preached. After church we usually go out to eat. It's just easier this way. I don't have to cook or clean up before my Sunday afternoon nap...ha,ha! After naps are over we do family things like taking the kids to the park, going to the mall, grocery shopping, or just hanging out together. Both set of grandparents live out of town or we would be spending the afternoons at their houses! Then I will make a home cooked meal for Sunday dinner. After the kids have gone to bed Brad and I usually spend the night in front of the T.V. It's Desperate Housewives and Brother's and Sister's for me, and Brad is usually watching anything and everything on ESPN.

I just love Sundays and wanted to share! When I feel beat down and think, "Well, maybe we will skip Church this week?" I remember someone telling me this. A common thing to keep people from church is the attitude of "I don't remember what the pastor says anyway once I get home." And the response is this: "You may not remember everything that you've eaten over the last week, but it's still nourishment for your body. So, even if you don't remember everything that was preached it's still nourishment for your soul."

I have always loved Reba McEntire's song, A Sunday Kind of Love. For your viewing pleasure I have linked the video. If you have about 3-4 minutes you should watch it.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/RebaMcEntire/Sunday-Kind-Of-Love--2144618

And, of course a picture of Jake and Paige

before church this morning.

I hope you all are having A Sunday Kind of Love!

Wanna bite?

Pizza is a common meal in the Liston household.

Paige gets excited everytime she knows we are having it.
She says, "Seeba!"

Just hangin' out with baby sister sharing some "Seeba!"