Happy Halloween!!!

This year I actually got to go over to Grandma Ida's house to see all of the cousins in their adorable costumes!!! The last time I did this, I am afraid to say, Ana was probably only 4 years old????

We had a crazy time at the house as usual!!! It never ceases to amaze me how we can all fit inside Gran I's house at one time and not be crawling on top of each other! But I guess it goes to show that just like your heart grows to love each and every child in your life, your house will grow as well to accommodate them!!! Ethan agreed to come over and meet the rest of my "family" since hadn't met anyone other than Tom, Ronda, Blake and Ana. I honestly don't think that he knew what he was getting himself into when he agreed to come over!!!

The Hankins-Sutton clan on great Gran's swing!!!! This is an annual tradition to take a picture on the swing on Halloween for Uncle (well I call him Uncle at least, they call him Papa) Jim.

Even Uncle Jim got into the spirit of the holiday and had Kimbo paint his hair orange too!!!!

Cousins Luke and Lauren looking so sweet and cute! Luke was Indiana Jones (so fitting for him!) and Lauren was a fairy pumpkin (very fitting for her!!!)

Lauren by herself...

Luke by himself... with Lauren dancing in the background...

After we left Gran I's house we met up with my nieces!!! Syrina decided to NOT dress up this year, apparently at 14 she feels like she is "too old" to dress up...

Kenzie Ann as a cute witch...

Me as a black cat with pink stripes in my hair and the "teenager" so cleverly dressed up...

Me and the girls... gotta love the look on Kenzie's face!!!!

She is looking MUCH happier now!!!

Who ME????

We had the cutest trick-or-treater ever come over, but she wasn't big enough to enjoy the candy so we just held her instead... Olivia was a cute pumpkin, her mommy Whitney was a jack-o-lantern and her daddy was a pumpkin patch!!!!

Here is the Serio family.. See the adorable lil' pumpkin that came to Trick-Or-Treat with us???

Deep in the HEART of Texas...

Hello from Texas! Here are a few of the pictures that were taken this past weekend of me and lil' guy Ty... I had a blast down here these past few days... He is quite a character... all full of smiles and giggles... has found his feet and wants to show them to everyone!!! He is so sweet, as most babies are known to be. I have totally enjoyed him these past 2 days!! I am going to be so sad when I come home to Tulsa and don't get to see him for a few more months!!!

Tyler was flirting with his wonderful auntie Tracey! Look at that cute smile!!! He is so playful and silly!

So sweet sleeping in his swing. Children are so angelic when they sleep!

On other news, I went to the school that I first taught and saw a few of my students today. It was great to see my kids and see the progress that they have made!!!!

Frustrations

It feels like no matter what we do, it turns out to be not enough or we should have done something different in the past... Case in point... the divorce... We had a sneaking suspicion that my ex-sis-in-law had her boyfriend living at the house with her, however, we couldn't prove it, and she denied it when questioned about it so there was nothing we could have done... so when my brother filed to get more time with the girls, we did everything we needed to do to prove that this FELON (explain more later) was living in the house AGAINST the divorce decree that specifically states that NO MALE WILL LIVE IN THE HOUSE WITHOUT BEING MARRIED or something along those lines... so we are basically told that we have to deal with it and move on, prove it later... yet today, later, we are told that we knew about it from the get go and that since we had known from the get go nothing had changed... and we didn't do more then to change the situation...

There is more but I won't go into it now. I have some information from my parents but I am sure that I will get more in the days to come. It is just frustrating to know that my precious nieces are living with a known FELON in their house, and that his TEENAGE son is sharing a room with my little niece when he stays over... that the FELON is consistently drinking in front of the girls and is not putting forth his best effort to show the girls how to be the best that you can be. It is frustrating to know that every chance that they have, their OTHER grandparents are degrading us to the girls and trying to convince the girls that we are not their family and other lies. We know this because my little niece has told us as much, she can't keep anything from us (wow she really does take after me!)... it is hard to sit back and watch knowing that these precious children deserve better and that they could get better... if the lawyers would just do what they are supposed to do when they are supposed to do it...

Please keep my family in your prayers. My brother is pretty hurt by this ruling, he was really hoping for a better outcome, at least joint-parenting with 50-50 custody... instead of Friday after school until school on Monday morning on his weekends... this is a blow to him right now... but there are still things that we CAN do to make life better for these two angels and to help them to be better people.

Has it REALLY been 10 years?

Can it be that we have really been away from the HIVE for 10 years???? It seems like just yesterday we were roaming the halls of the delapitated Booker T... not a care in the world... definitely not caring that we couldn't drink the water from the fountains cause it wasn't clean... or that the walls in the foreign language hall were slowly moving toward the English wing...

We were HOPING for 50 classmates attending the reunion... I don't think that we ever DREAMED we would have 100 classmates register and attend the banquet!!!!

Here we are back at the HIVE for our 10 year reunion weekend festivities!!! As stressful as all the planning was... I definitely would be on the committee again!!!

All the Hornets at our Meet & Greet Registration Reception... we are all standing around the school seal in the front hall of the main building... otherwise known as being in the "Historic Building" to the current students! We had about 40 people turn out for the registration and tour of the NEW building...

The committee goofin around before the classmates appeared to register!

Me and Shanista... my "sista" and my saving grace during all the planning!

Some of the girls at Jewel on Friday night... we had a good turnout for our happy hour event on Friday night... about 70 people showed up at the Jewel to drink, dance and catch up!

Me and Val... one of my best girls even after 10 years!! My how time has flown by...

David and me... to think we were in the first grade together at Owen Elementary... and now look at us... :)

Me and Ethan!!! Aren't we a cute couple!!!

The ladies of 1998!!!

Me and Val at the end of the night...


The reunion was a success... the technical difficulties that we experiences didn't phase the rest of the reunion attendees... praise be for that! We did have some minor issues that we didn't expect pop up... but just like planning any event, such as a wedding or reunion, there is bound to have something happen... I must admit that my heart fell out of my chest when I clicked on the slideshow and nothing showed up but red X for all of my pictures! Luckily, I had my laptop with me and Ethan got that set up for me while we took our class picture!!!

HORNETS oh HORNETS...

We LOVE you so.... This weekend is my 10 year reunion from Booker T!!! I can't believe (well, yes, I actually can...) that we graduated 10 years ago! It doesn't seem like it was that long ago... but then again... they say that time flies when you are having fun!

I will post pictures of THEN and NOW after the reunion is over!

Where in the world is Tracey...

So I have received a few emails, some texts, a curious comment on myspace or two all to the point of: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN???? I haven't seen you...

WELL.... I can answer with one word... just which should I choose... I could go with...

WORK... SCHOOL... HADES... INSANE... NUTS... Arkansas... BUSY... BABYSITTING... WORK... CLAREMORE... CLASSROOM... oh and school...

Yeah, school started much to my chagrin... and I have been busy! As many of you may know, in the middle of July I started babysitting for a local company called SEEKING SITTERS... I thought that this would be a good way to make some extra money (we all know that teachers need it!!!) and keep myself occupied while E is studying or working when school starts back for him... I know... I babysit for some of the MOST FANTABULOUS families already... BUT...

Last week alone (our first two days back with students, plus two days in the building...) I babysat for 18 hours... this week I have already sat for 12... with 4 more on Sunday!! I think I am nuts...

BUT... on the flip side of this crazy, hectic schedule I have thrown myself into... I am practicing my teaching skills OUTSIDE of being a speech pathologist... and practicing all sorts of patience with one little guy that I have been sitting... AND... I am saving money to go BACK to Germany in March to see my oldest and greatest friend, Jeremy!!!!

CRISIS...

I love starting my morning off with a little crisis... always a good way to start the day...

Background information: Last night my best friend Z sends me a text saying that he is going to be working on his race car if I wanted to come over and help him out with some of the basic things I could. So I change clothes and head out to his house about 10:00 in the evening. I was starting to go a little stir crazy mainly because I had been inside ALL day long with the exception of driving to and from my babysitting job. Once at Z's house I actually did help him with his race car... I finally found a comfy place laying down out in his garage on the four wheeler and I fell asleep only to leave myself defenseless against the ravaging mosquitos we have here in Tulsa...

Fast-forward now to this morning (well later this morning... it was kinda late when I came in "last night")... I get up, get dressed and get my stuff together to head over to watch my lil' Ana... only to not be able to find my keys... I search all over my apartment, I retrace my steps... I call Ana's mom to tell her I am goin to be late because I can't find my keys. I continue to look all over, I even called my own mom to see where she would hide if she were my keys! I looked EVERYWHERE! I mean literally, EVERYWHERE! I looked in my washer and dryer (who knows it was late when I came in, I could have checked for clothes in there), the fridge and freezer (I do remember getting a drink), the trash, under the bed, IN the bed to no avail. Lucky for me, Ana was able to go over to her grandpa's house for the morning... but goodness gracious!

I finally found my keys, after an hour of searching. Any ideas as to where??? In the bag that I was carrying that had stuff in it for the day for an arts and crafts idea!!!

Happy Independence Day!

This is a day to reflect on HOW our country became the free and right-giving country that we are today... We should thank each and every person that we know that is in the military now and in the past.

An awesome pic of Ol' Glory taken on July 4, 2006

Fireworks



I hope that everyone has a wonderful and safew Fourth of July weekend! Enjoy all the fun, sun, bbq and firework displays!!!

Monster Cookies and Pizza

I am not sure whether or not I have made an entry for our adventure in making monster cookies and pizza from scratch... if I have... ignore the commentary and enjoy the pictures...

Syrina measuring out ingredients for the cookies.

Ethan helping Syrina get just the right amount of peanut butter.

Group effort to mix the batter...

Ethan directing the mixing of the batter...

Now to add the oats...

Mixing the oats... by hand...

Looks like fun!!!!

Hand shot!!!

Kenzie's messy hands...

Misti's hands...

Syrina showing off her hands...

Kenzie's mix... reese's and hershey's kissables

Misti showing off her mix of snickers and dark chocolate M&M's

Syrina's mix of butterfingers & M&Ms

The cookies ended up being wonderful! We learned some good lessons about baking with candy bars as well!!! We must thank Ethan's mom for sharing her recipe with her sons... and Ethan for sharing the recipe with us! As well as making cookies, we also made pizza dough from scratch and even made our own pizzas! The evening was a lot of fun! The girls and I are looking for another fun weekend that includes a slumber party like this one!

Spring Pictures

Last weekend we gathered as a family at Woodward Park to take some springtime family photos. We were not at a shortage for cameras... we had a total of 5 digital cameras and my manual camera on hand. I think we got a few good shots to go into the memory books and that are worthy of sharing with my family and friends that read my blog!

More Spring Pictures...

Even more spring pictures from Woodward Park...

Even more Spring Pictures with my girls

Here are more pictures f rom last weekends photoshoot at the park with all of the girls!

So wonderful..

I have so many wonderful things in my life to be thankful for... for starters...

I am thankful for my family. My parents are my best friends in many ways. I am blessed to have such a good relationship with both of my parents. I had a wonderfully close relationship with my grandmother, who left us in 2006 to be our guardian angel in heaven. My nieces are the light of my life, and I truly do live for them and their activities!!!

I am thankful for my friends. I have so many friends that have been around for so long that they feel like family. There are the Sutton/Hankins/Marf/Blakemore families that have so graciously adopted me and consider me to be one of them in their family. They have allowed me to watch their children and watch them grow into wonderful children. Then there are my friends from school... Sasha, Val, Crys, Ana... these girls have been there for me through it all... boyfriends... crushes... not so stellar grades (anything less than a 100)... and life...

For everyone in my life. THANK YOU for everything that you give me. I know that it is too easy to forget to show your appreciation to the ones that you around the most and that you tend to take for granted. I love you all very much and I appreciate everything that you do for me.

Tomorrow... tomorrow... I'll love ya tomorrow...

Last night Ethan and I took Syrina and McKenzie to the PAC to see the musical ANNIE. It was a very special evening for me, and a tradition that I wanted to share with my nieces.

Let me start off by saying that the evening was special for me because I wanted to share the love of the theater experience with my nieces in the same way that my grandma had shared these experiences with me. It was always a big night when my grandma and I went to see a play, even if the play was at the high school! I can remember getting dressed up to go to the old Tulsa Little Theater to see different plays when I was Kenzie's age and younger.

Annie is my favorite of all plays. When I was about 6 my grandma bought me a red wig, made me a red dress like Annie's, bought me a little Annie doll, and even let me play with her dog Rocky (who looked a lot like Sandy!) She and I went to the Little Theater to see Annie, as well as to several other productions of the play. We found the album to the play at a garage sale and of course we bought it! To foster my love for the play even more, grandma bought me the VHS tape of the play as well...

So of course, when I saw that Annie was going to be in town this month, I knew that I HAD to take my nieces to the play. If not for my love of the play, for the memory of my grandma. I bought tickets for the 4 of us, and then off we went to buy dresses for the girls for the event!!!

Pictures coming soon...