OK, so clearly I did not do better...

My last post was OVER a year ago... oops! Looks like life in the Wolfenden house got a little busy last year!

I have been reading my friend Morgan's blog (she really keeps up with it) and she has inspired me to start writing again. I don't know if anyone will really read (except my Dad) but I will still write.

I won't try to recap the last year but I will post some photo's and start with what is going on now with our family!

(I'm not sure why the previous text is underlined but I cannot fix it!!)


Smith, Drake, Bickford, White and Wolfenden Ride 2010!


Ross and I turned 30 this year!!


My boys in Colorado last summer. So excited to see snow in July... we hate snow now!!



Ross and I went to Vancouver last April... Ross was in heaven with all the smoked fish.


Drake graduated from Kindergarten May 2010.


Mason's 4th birthday at the Jump Zone...



I am going to do better!!! I promise!

I totally stink at keeping this thing updated!!!

Okay so I admit it, I am not a good blogger!!! I love to read other peoples' but I stink at keeping mine updated!

So here is a quick synopsis of the past 2 months...

Thanksgiving was great, Christmas was better and we all had a great New Years!!!

Now on to the present...

Drake and Mason are back at school after 3 weeks off, 2 for Christmas and one for snow!! Ross and I are back at work too.

Ross will be defending his Ph.D. dissertation on Friday and then he will officially be Dr. Ross Wolfenden.

That is about it for now... I will try to do better!

Halloween pictures

Drake "The Werewolf," Mason "The Vampire" and Ross "The (you fill in the blank)" He was called a swamp monster, Chewbacca, and several other things I can't remember.


The pumpkin Ross and Drake carved... Ross added the gross stuff coming out it's mouth.


Drake "The Werewolf"


Mason "The Campfire" (Really a Vampire but when he said it, it sounded like Campfire. It took me forever to figure out what he wanted).

We all had a great night!

Tom Turkey

Drake had a school project this past week where we had to disguise Tom Turkey so he would not be eaten for Thanksgiving dinner and write a story about the disguise and Tom. Below is the story Drake wrote for the project. I wrote it down as fast as I could. He was talking so fast!!! He wrote the whole story.

Tom “The Chick-fil-A Cow” Turkey

One day before Thanksgiving, Tom Turkey was out in the wild. A hunter came by and said “Hey there’s a turkey.” Tom Turkey ran as fast as he could to the costume store. The last costume they had was a Chick-fil-A Cow costume that said “Eat Mor Chikin” so Tom bought the costume. Then Tom Turkey went back to the woods. The hunter saw him and asked if he had seen Tom Turkey and Tom said “That way!”
But then when the hunter got home he realized Tom Turkey was dressed up as the Chick-fil-A Cow. So he went back to the woods and found Tom Turkey. But went the hunter found Tom, Tom said he was Tom the Chick-fil-A Cow not Tom Turkey. Tom suggested the hunter eat chicken for Thanksgiving instead of turkey. Then Tom took the hunter to Chick-fil-A for dinner. The hunter’s wife was getting worried because he had been gone so long, but then she went to Chick-fil-A for dinner and found him. They both thanked Tom for dinner and went home and went to bed.
The next morning was Thanksgiving Day, the hunter got up and hurried to get dressed and went back to the woods to find Tom. He invited Tom to his house to have Thanksgiving dinner. The End!

Hide and Seek and other kinds of trickery!!

Mason has taken to hiding things... mainly his shoes!! Although he does like to hide himself on occasion. A couple of weeks ago his shoes were lost, not just one pair all of them. We looked for days for them. I was doing laundry and remembered seeing a sock on the edge of under our bed. When I went to retrieve the sock there were all of Mason's shoes under our bed. He said "How did they get there?" Um you put them there!!! Monday morning we could not find his school shoes... so he had to wear a different pair that are usually for church... my kids tend to get dirty and destroy clothing and shoes so some clothes and shoes are church clothes and shoes so at least they look decent on Sundays!!! So he wore the church shoes. This morning we all searched for the bouncy ball shoes (that is what Mas calls them). We looked and looked but no shoes. Finally Mason and Drake were behind the couch and Mason said there were no shoes so I asked Drake to look too. And there they were the bouncy ball shoes!! Mason was staring right at them... he said I was just tricking you!! Ross did not think it was a funny trick!!

Mason and I have decided that we do not like the "new" moody Drake, we like the "old" nice Drake. Mason thinks the "new" Drake needs more spankings!! I think so too!! But I know we have to take the old Drake when we can get him and try to mold the new Drake in to a nice and respectful little boy! We are still working on that last part.

Halloween is coming up so Sunday afternoon I took the boys to look around at some costumes. Drake wants to be something really scary. He has in mind what that is but we could not find it at any of the stores we went to. He did like a werewolf costume but the mask had been ripped off so I am still looking for that one. We thought Mason was going to be Spiderman because he has that costume but he has changed his mind several times. Last week he wanted to be a Tootsie Roll. Then on Sunday when I asked him he said he wanted to be a "campfire" I did not know what he meant... then Drake said no he said VAMPIRE!!! It sounded just like "Campfire" So funny!! So I asked Mas if he wanted to get some sharp teeth (we were in the car so I was looking in the rear view mirror for his response) his raised up as far as he could in his seat and showed all his teeth and said he thought his teeth were sharp enough!!!

We are going to Sheridan this weekend and are going to go to the Pumpkin Patch with Melissa, Lane and my Mom. Last year we had a great time hopefully the same this year. Maybe Uncle Jared and Daddy will come too. Drake hopes so because my rule is they can only get a pumpkin they can carry... last year they got Uncle J to help them so they could get giant pumpkins!!

Last week I went to Florida with in-laws and girlfriends, Valorie and Tiana, Rowan, Taylor, Ashely, DeLana, Lisa, Heather, Cash, Melissa, and Lane. We all had a great time at the beach in Destin. All the little boys were great, it was a prefect age to take them on the girls vacation they were so cute. I can't wait until next year!!

Today is our first Parent-Teacher Conference wish us luck!! And Friday is our first field trip we are going to the Pumpkin Patch in Pea Ridge.

Funny how you plans don't really matter...

Just a quick up date on the last week.

Last week was pretty uneventful for the most part. Just the normal stuff... school, work, church, gym, repeat. I did get to workout with Heather for the first time after Cash. We had a nice light leg workout and some cardio, maybe we will again tonight?!?!

On Friday the boys and I headed down to Sheridan to visit my parents. Ross stayed in Fayetteville to finish up writing his dissertation. I had planned to take the boys to the Grant County Fair and Rodeo and hang out with my sisters and the rest of the family. We were going to celebrate all of the September and October birthdays in our family (Papa, Uncle Bill, Samantha, Tim, and Patricia) on Saturday afternoon. These were MY plans.

When the boys and I got to Russellville they were hungry so we stopped and got something to eat, just before my mom had called to ask us what time we would be home. We had not been back on the road for long when she called again but this time from her cell phone. She told me that they were taking my Grandma to the hospital and they were going to meet the ambulance at Crossroads. That was all she said. So I finally got a hold of Melissa and she told me Grandma was having chest pains and probable a heart attack. So I put the pedal to the metal and headed to Baptist. I almost beat the ambulance there but I got held up in some traffic in Little Rock. We spent most of the night in the ER and ICU. She did have a heart attack but they did not find any major blockage so that was good news. However the doctor did perforate a small artery during the arteriogram so she had to stay in ICU for a few days to make sure the artery healed properly. She is doing great now and is at home.

It is amazing how quickly YOUR plans can change. God has a plan for everyone and every moment and we need to remember that we are not in control!

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us this weekend and continue to pray for my Grandma during her recovery.

Drake and Mason did get to go to the fair but it was on Sunday to help me and my Dad take down the chicken pens. They had a great time helping and watching the rides pull away to go to the next fair.

Also over the past week I have realized how much like my Dad I am. I went to the PTO meeting this past week and I love being involved in everything they do. Also I do not like the boys to ride carnival rides because they are DANGEROUS!! They are pulled on trucks from town to town that can't be safe, Dad never wanted us to ride them when we were little. And I hate it when Mason plays with his gum!!!

I signed up for another round of spinning classes. When I told the guy at the HYPER I wanted to take the Tuesday, Thursday and Friday classes he looked at me like I was CRAZY!! He said really all three days, Yep all three. It is so fun and great cardio. All you folks that are at the UofA should check it out.

Finally a NEW post

Ok so apparently people are checking this blog and are upset that I have not posted anything in a REALLY LONG time!! So I will try to bring everyone (Heather, Jeremy, Melissa...) up to speed.

The last post is from June so I will start there.

In June... Drake finished up T-Ball. He had a great time and thinks he wants to play again next year (Ross is not so sure) we will see how that goes. Also in June we hosted Backyard Bible club at our house, think VBS but in a neighborhood instead of Church. It went well, did not have as many kids as we thought but still had a good time worshiping. I am sure we did more stuff but that was a long time ago!

July was full of fun stuff. We went to the Springdale Rodeo. Drake and Mason had a blast and we even got to see an old friend of mine, Justin Koon, ride a bull. Drake was very impressed that I knew a bullrider. The week of the 4th we had our annual Smith-Drake-Wolfenden-Bickford-White family vacation in Branson. On Friday night Melissa, Jared, Lane and the Wolfenden's stayed at the Cove Inn (do not stay there) it was terrible. At about 3 am we were all woken up by the song Baller Shot Caller, you remember the one. There was not even a phone in the room to call the front desk, like there would have been someone there. I thought Melissa was going to break down their door. Jared went next door and I guess they were a little intimidated by a 7 foot dude so they immediately said "the music is too loud isn't it" Needless to say we checked out early and changed hotels the next night. We had a great time. On Saturday night we all watched the fireworks and then on Sunday we went out on the boat for most of the day and tubed. Lane had his first tub ride and then went to sleep. Drake loved the boat but Mason refused to get on it so he stayed at the condo with Mom and Dad and swam. Tim showed us his mad tubing skills and Jared held on way longer that he should have!!
Also in July Dad retired from the Navy. We had a nice ceremony and a great time. The cake was very good, you all know the cake is the reason I go to weddings, showers and other types of ceremonies!!
Ross and I went to Raleigh, NC for out annual Poultry Science Conference. We had a great time and ate some really good BBQ. We were able to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones.

In August some big changes happened in our house. I was able to take off the first 3 weeks of August to stay home with Drake and Mason. We spent a lot of time at the pool with Heather and Cooper. Mason is learning to swim and will be a pro by next summer. Drake and Mason spent a good bit of time with their grandparents during this time so I had time to relax!! Drake started kindergarten and is having a great time. Mason started school at Mrs. Becky's and is loving it. They both have adjusted very well to the changes. Drake has homework a few times a week and wonders why I can't just do it for him since I get to stay up later that he does!

September has been pretty full too. I went to Beijing for a few days at the beginning of September. It was a quick trip so I did not get to do very much sight seeing so hopefully I will have a chance to go back. My Mom came and stayed with Ross and the boys while I was gone. I think she ate breakfast and lunch with Drake everyday at school he really loved that. On Friday after I got back I went to have lunch with him. We had rectangular cheese pizza (it was exactly like the cheese pizza I had when I was in school) mixed fruit and chocolate chip cookies! I complemented the lunch ladies on the cookies so I got 2... Johnnie was eating with Kamree that day too and he was upset that he only got 1 cookie, he said that he would remember to tell the lunch ladies what "Tall drinks of water" they were next time!!! Heather had the baby that Friday too. Cash is here and healthy. He has a head full of black hair and his momma's mouth!! We are glad that he and Heather are doing great and are going to be able to go to Florida in a couple of weeks for girls vacation week!!
We tailgated this past weekend with Ross' buddies Adam, Jeremy and Melissa and Chris and lil Chris, from High School and AGR days. We grilled some bison burgers and they were huge and awesome, thanks Melissa!! We had a great time despite the weather and losing the game. By the way the Hogs need a kicker and a defense if anyone is interested!! Ross thinks he has 2 years of eligibility left and he might walk on...

I think that brings me back up to the present and I will try my best to keep this updated with funny stories and other stuff that is going on at the Wolfenden's.

Now for the latest Drake and Mason story...
So last weekend we spent most of the day inside because of the weather. So everyone was tired of everyone else so the boys were playing in Drake's room. Drake comes out with his box of Knex (think legos but smaller pieces and a lot of them in a small storage box) and says Mason peed in the box... Ross and I just look at each other like WHAT? You have got to be kidding me. So he comes into the living room and gives me the box. I asked Mason why did you do that and he says that Drake told him it was a toilet. So I spanked both of them and sent them to their rooms. Still Ross and I could not believe that this just happened... Welcome to my life with the boys!!!!