Friends!!!!

Last week our friends Sarah brought her daughter Caroline over to play for the afternoon. Claire loves her little friend and I love spending time with my dear friend Sarah. This was the first time we all got together and they actually played with each other and not just beside each other which was so fun to watch. They pretended in the outdoor playhouse while the bubble machine worked overtime to entertain them but the highlight of the afternoon was the water hose. They sprayed each other in the face while trying to take drinks and they laughed so hard. It really was one of the cutest moments with a friend that Claire has had. I am so thankful and blessed to have Sarah in my life and I love that we have daughters the same age. We live about forty five minutes apart so we don't get together near as much as I would like, but the times we do share are great!

Honor

My brother Coby is getting a rare opportunity, he is getting to coach with my dad. This is a true honor. I would say that I am a little biased except that everyone who knows my dad would agree. You see my dad is possibly one of the greatest men around. While we were at his game a man came over to us and asked if we were Coach Selke's family. He then said how great he thought my dad and how impressed he is that he can correct and coach the kids without belittling them. I was proud. This is kind of a running theme in my dad's life- he respects others and they respect him. he makes the whole honor your parents thing pretty easy to do.

It was so fun to watch these two at work on the sidelines. They have so many of the same mannerisms which is funny to see. I tell you what TCA is pretty darn lucky to have two great Selke men on the sidelines, I wish they understood that.
This was a special moment after the game when my dad was praying for the team standing beside Coby and Jack. What a great example for his son and grandson.

Selke Weekend (minus 3)

What a great weekend! Friday night my dad's football team played in Irving so we all went to his game. All the kids wore their "I love Poppie" shirts (that I figured out how to make thanks to my frind Krista) and it was so cute. The TCA Stars won and the kids had so much fun running around during the game. After the game my parents spent the night at my house and Coby's family spent the night at the Powell house. We spent all day Saturday watching Jack play sports and catching up with each other and then hanging out at the Powell house for dinner. I really liked today, Sunday, because we got to just relax around my house. I got to wear pajamas almost all day which is always AWESOME!

I have to say that this weekend was not complete because Sara, Beau, and Asher were not here. I love spending time with them, they make me laugh. I missed them very much, but this was a big weekend for Beau at the camp so we understood. I love you Waters!!!!


The five grandkids after the game showing off their shirts (Skyler had changed to help tell us their big news) I love that Claire is laughing so hard, unfortunatly it is because she is pulling Jack's hair. This is the picture with the TCA "CowboyDog" (that is name that Cooper gave the mascot because the print on its vest and chaps looks like a dalmation- how cute is that) not all the kids were thrilled with the mascot, it freaked them out a little bit.
Claire Alyse had so much fun at the football game. She is perfecting her new pass, I think she could offer a few pointers to Rex Grossman (quarterback for the Chicago Bears FYI)
Claire Bear loves her Poppie. She ran up to him at halftime to show off her new shirt and for a quick photo op.

"I'm the Big Sister!"

On Friday night the Selke Family got the FANTASTIC news that there will be another addition to our clan. My brother Coby and his wife Adrielle are expecting baby #2. My niece Skyler is the one who broke the news that she is the Big Sister with her super cute shirt and she brought Amy and me a rose since we will be aunts once again. I am so happy to be getting another niece or nephew in May!

Crafty or Not So Much

Alright so I had the great idea to have a crafty day yesterday with my girl. Well, for those of you who know me, I am not the crafty one in my family and it shows. Claire had fun fingerpainting for the first time. I have to give a shout out to Color Wonder by Crayola. It is amazing that the paint only shows up on that one kind of paper. I love her first masterpiece, I hope that I can keep up with it forever!
So, Claire did an amazing job in her craft and I was inspired. I had decided to make shirts for all the cousins to wear to my dad's football game this Friday. No big deal right...all I needed was some iron on paper and a computer. I read the directions about three times so I would be sure and do everything right. They specifically stated to type the words in mirror image so when you iron them on they face the right way. I concentrated really hard on spelling Poppie (that is what his grandkids call him) backwards. I printed all six iron ons and let them dry for a while and then the moment of truth- ironing. Now the instructions said to iron in little circles for about 15-20 seconds, so I thought why not go above and beyond just to make sure everything is stuck down just right. First one accomplished, I was so proud, maybe I am turning the crafty corner...not so much. When I held it up to admire my work the Ps and E were backwards. You can only imagine my frustration. I had already printed six iron ons and of course all of them were wrong- GGGRRRRRR!
So if anyone out there knows how to type a backwards P and E in a word document let me know (preferably before Friday). I think that I will probably always be the one who likes the idea of craftiness but that is about as far as it goes. Oh well, I am good at other things right? I just cannpt put my finger on them at the moment HAHA

Fun Times in Claire Land

The last few days have been good with Claire. She has been having fun which make me have fun as well. Life is always better when your baby isn't whining! Yesterday was special because my mom surprised us and came up for lunch and a little playtime. Claire actually doesn't get to see her grandparents (on either side) all that often so when she does get some time with them it is great. Thanks mom for making the effort!

Trying It Out

Claire has not been overly interested in food lately. Quite honestly I think if she could go back to only nursing she would, but that is not an option for this mama. Anyway, I got an idea from a friend, we decided to let our dainty princess feed herself a cup of yogurt. The outcome was a little better than expected, she maybe got half of it in her mouth, the other half covered her, her highchair, and some of the floor. But hey, she had fun and wasn't signing "all done" after two bites...victory!!

A Bit of Fun

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How I Got Here

***This is very long and rather personal. I did not write it to entertain you, I wrote it because I felt like I needed to. I didn't include all the juicy details, just the basics of how my life went from crap to pretty darn good over the last 28 years.

No I am not talking about the birds and bees, I am talking about becoming the person I am today....
I was born into an amazing family. We were not perfect by any stretch, there are always issues in every family, but for the most part there is really nothing to huge to complain about. I have two Christian parents who set good examples for me from a very early age. I am not really sure when I became a Christian, I kind of just always was it seems. I have been told that I very sincerely asked Jesus into my heart before I was even in kindergarten and I very sincerely chose to get baptized not too long after that. I wish I could remember those events, but I just can't. The only thing I remember about being baptized is not being able to touch in the baptistery and the congregation laughing at something that the preacher said. So here I am a baptized Christian scooting through life in my little bubble Christian family and all is well- until around my freshman year in high school. We had moved to another small town in Texas before my eighth grade year and let's just say there wasn't the strongest faith base in this new community. My parents found a great church for us in a neighboring town, but somehow I just wasn't that into it. I liked being social and being accepted and that seemed to happen more in my little small town. I began to feel more and more like I was living my parents faith, not my own. Being a Christian was just a title and it was cool on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings for awhile but later that would even not hold my interest.

At our church I felt like nothing more than a girl that hung out in her sister's shadow a girl that had the right last name and that was the only reason I was included in the youth group. ***let me just say that my sister was and is an amazing and sincere Christian woman and she lives what she believes and I think that was the biggest reason I didn't want to be around the church...I was a hypocrite and she was the real deal ( I didn't put this all together until years later though)*** The breaking point for me with church came when I was actually at a crossroads, I could either choose a life devoted to Christ or I could choose a life devoted to the world, I talked with a leader in our youth group about some personal issues in what I thought was total confidence and the next week a total stranger came up to me and said she was praying for me, but her voice held a little too much judgment for my liking. I was devastated that someone would break my trust and go talk about me with others behind my back. I was done with the whole church thing. I would go to church on Sundays because my parents made me, but that was it. I would put all my effort into fitting in at school.

So here I am starting my freshman year in high school and pretty much all my focus was being put into boys and fitting in with the cool kids. I slowly started making poor decisions one right after another. By the end of my freshman year I had made the cheerleading squad, was a starter on the varsity basketball team, had a few boys interested in me (I would go straight from one boyfriend to the next, that is where I truly found my self worth)- I had arrived I was cool. The summer before my sophomore year began I found yet another stimulant for fun...alcohol. Our cool group of friends would go over to one of the girl's house where her parents would buy us wine coolers and we would have sleepovers and play drinking games. My parent's had no idea, I was getting better and better at deception everyday. I had cemented my place in the inner circle at school and all was well. The cycle of boys, drinking, and lying to my family continued all the way through high school. I somehow was able to justify everything I was doing because I was also trapped in the cycle of comparison. I mean I had friends who were doing much worse things than me and on occasion I would hang out with a couple of church people and I could say all the right things to sound somewhat spiritual as well. i had the double life thing down pat as long as my parents insisted on me going to church.

After high school I was able to start being totally in charge of me. I went to college for the first year and almost flunked out because my need for fun and acceptance by the cool people far outweighed the need for education. I decided to take a break from school the next year. I began drinking a lot more. I lived for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. I would go to friends houses and drink and then go to the bar and dance until one in the morning. Then I would head off to pass out somewhere usually at a friends house. This crazy cycle continued until there was a divine intervention.

My sister who I mentioned earlier had continued to live a true life of devotion to Christ and she had been asked to go with a team of missionaries to Germany to keep their kids while they went through language training. There were six little boys under the age of five and she was going to need help. She asked me to go. I went and interviewed with the group and pulled out all the tricks in my bag to make them feel like I was the best girl for the job, they knew NOTHING about the real me. I was accepted to go. One of the hardest things I had to do was raise support I had to send out a letter that made me sound like a holy roller and ask people to support me financially (basically pay for me to go on the trip) and pray for me while I was overseas. Who would I send the letters to? The guy I was dating at the time had been my boyfriend for a few years and his family knew the party girl me and right before I left his sister in law told me she thought I was full of **** and that I was a hypocrite.....and there it was plain as day, the true definition of me. Well, I went ahead and went on that trip and my life was forever changed.

The trip to Germany was great, I slowly felt my heart becoming whole again. There was no need for alcohol or boys. I was bonding like never before with my sister who was showing me (without knowing it) that being a real Christian is in the little things, the daily life. I slowly started opening up to her and I told her the truth about who I was and shockingly she didn't alienate me, she softly cried and did something I never expected, she loved me unconditionally. Our friendship began to grow deeper and deeper. She has no idea how much I was changed and learned just by spending those few months watching her. She has no idea how much her acceptance of me, even with all the trash in my life meant to me. The biggest moment on that trip came at the mouth of the river in Gimmelwald, Switzerland. We had taken a weekend trip and went on a hike that led us to the most majestic place I have ever been. I actually felt God there. The treeline broke and there was a holy silence. The wind was blowing and I had some moments alone where I truly felt something in my heart melt, the walls that I had spent the last six years building were beginning to crumble. I knew that just like my sister accepted me Jesus accepted me even with all the trash that I had filled my life with.

I would love to say that from this moment on my life was perfect, but that was not the case. I had to come back to the states, smack back into the crappy life I had created for myself and it took a few more years to get out of the crazy cycle. I would still drink on occasion, I still had to have a boyfriend to feel totally accepted; but now I had a refuge in my sister someone who knew that I wanted to be better someone who would gently encourage me to be better. I began to go to church again, not because my parents were forcing me, but because there was something there that I needed, something there that I wanted. The trash was slowly getting out of my life and being taken to the dump where it belonged.

2002 was the year that it all came together (almost four years after the Germany trip). I got out of my last destructive guy relationship and got involved in a small group from church. I was being held accountable by my sister and another friend. I was shocked that there were a handful of people out there who would truly care about me enough to ask me the hard questions and get to the core of my issues. People who would actually take time to pray for me daily. People who got me, who allowed me to be real and accepted me. The definition of the real me had changed so much. I was someone who began to want a relationship with Jesus and with good people. I wanted to be seen as someone more than a cool person, I wanted people to look at me and say that I was sincere, full of compassion, deeper than a surface Christian.

I do not dare say that I am the person I dream of being. There is so much work that still needs to be done in my life. I still have trust issues, I still have comparison issues, I still need to be more committed to reading my Bible and praying daily, I still need to become more bold in telling others about Jesus. But I have come so far from needing alcohol to fit in or finding all my self worth in a man. I actually have friends that have said that they can tell that there is something different in my life (which by the way is one of the greatest compliments). I have no desire to be a Sunday Christian. I do have the desire to be real, not holier than thou. I know that having Godly friends is a must, but I also want to invest in the lives of those that are searching just like I was. I want to be a practical witness, not super preachy. I want to be balanced.

New Hair and Claire Bear

I went back to my roots, literally, today. I am once again a total brunette which I LOVE! I have never wanted to have blonde hair or really even all the highlighted stuff. I tried it out and I think that I have decided that I am just great the way God made me. It is brown hair that makes me feel the most like me.

I also had fun with Claire Bear this afternoon. She and I are getting to be pretty good buddies, we make each other laugh a lot every day. It is nice to have somebody who really gets me (too bad she is a almost fourteen month old little human). We had fun making faces at each other and blowing kisses. Actually, she is into kissing pretty much anything she can get her lips on these days. Just a little bit ago she was in her bed and she would stand up and kiss me then kiss her blanket then kiss the aquarium toy. She made these rounds about four times before finally finding something else (besides sleeping) to entertain herself with.

Not Always As Planned

Today didn't go exactly as planned. I had made plans to have coffee with a friend and then I was off to get my hair cut and colored. I was going to get to have a mommy break for a minimum five hours and I was beyond excited about that possibility. Yesterday all the plans began to unravel; Allan called and told me that he had this big meeting come up at work and so even though today was his day off he was still going to have to go into the office for a few hours. I thought "of course the one day I was going to get a break something would come up for you". Then he said that he could be home by 9:30 and I could just move my coffee date to a little later. I was touched by his consideration, he really did want me to have a break. Before I could call my coffee friend she called me and canceled because of some medical stuff (a TOTALLY valid reason!!!). I thought "of course you had to cancel on the one day I was going to get a long break". I quickly realized how selfish I was being...I mean Allan's meeting was huge and important and I am so proud of the work he is doing for Southwest and I truly hope that my friend gets to feeling better even more than I wanted to have coffee. Well, Allan didn't get home until 10:40 and my hair appointment was at 11. His meeting ran long and I was back to my bad attitude for a little while, but about half way through my hair appointment I decided that I am a spoiled brat and I need to get over myself (again). I mean I have one of the greatest husbands of all time. He was willing to spend at least a portion of his day off being Mr. Mom and he is always gracious when I get into my "poor me" attitude. So the rest of my day got better and better even though it was not the day I thought I was going to have. When I got home Allan had put Claire down for a nap (that was a first- woohoo!) and so we folded and put away laundry, and after Claire woke up we headed out for lunch, and then we were off to the gym. I realized (again) that life is better when I am sharing it with my husband and daughter. Even though I was really looking forward to a day away, once I got over my pitty party the time I shared with Allan and Claire were better than any cup of coffee I could have had.

It Has Begun...

"I am SO excited to start fixing my body!!!!"

This is the day one shot of the new exercise me

Well last weekend Allan and I bit the bullet and joined a gym. We decided that if we are spending his hard earned money maybe we would actually workout. The gym is Lifetime Fitness and although it has only been a week I would say that it is worth every penny (if we will keep up the hard work). We also decided to do this program called Smart Start where we meet with a trainer five times and in theory he will motivate us to be as fit as we can be. I met with him today and I am so excited. His name is Casey and he is good at his job.

I was actually pleased with all the testing he did on me today. one of the tests was a body age test and I measured in at a spry 24 years old. I have been told that if I eat perfect and work out perfect (both of which will never happen) I could drop my body age all the way down to 18 years old. I said let's be realistic...I will eat better and I will try to get four hours of workout a week. Oh yeah another thing that I found comical was that in all the body fat testing the "fattest" part of my body was my tricep- HA!!!

My Little Cowgirl

Claire has been really into shoes lately and she brings me a different pair every few hours to put on her typically she has her top three: pink crocs, white pedipeds, and brown target specials. Today however she picked out her cowgirl boots. When I first put them on her she was a bit unsure of them, but I think they grew on her. I decided to pick an outfit around the boots and boy did she look cute! I have to say she only wore them for about an hour before they became too much for her and she had had enough so we moved onto the brown target specials and then the pink crocs.

This is Claire's please let me watch Wiggles pose. She runs towards the TV and then starts bouncing with her hands in the air saying "OOAAA" over and over. Today I noticed that she is trying to do some of the motions (especially the bear is now asleep song, she will clap her hands, turn around, and say shhh) and sing along in her own special way. I can't believe she is growing up so quickly. She really is getting more and more fun all the time!

I love how much she is into kissing me and blowing kisses to pretty much anyone she comes in contact with. Today we had a man here checking out our AC and Claire fell hard for him. She followed him around blowing kisses and saying hi when he was giving me the rundown on the AC she reached up for him and he held her for awhile, she was beaming. She even cried when he left, it was so funny.

Cousin Bonding

Claire is getting so cute. She seems to be growing up so fast. This last week she and Cooper really enjoyed playing together. They have always liked playing beside each other, but on the car ride Cooper started making noises just so Claire would laugh really hard. Once we got to Sara's house they played chase, hide and go seek, and had fun giving a lot of kisses. I love that she lives so close to some of her cousins. Cooper is such a good kid and I am so looking forward to the friendship that they will share.

Here I Am

I went to Oklahoma from Wednesday through Friday to help Sara move into her new home. While I was in OK Allan had a "work" trip to Padre Island for some team building. I was not the most in favor of his trip, but he actually had to go at least for part of the trip (but that is a whole different story). My sweet husband wanted to make me feel really loved before we went our seperate ways so when I woke up on Wednesday morning he had a dozen roses on the counter, each rose had a note telling me something he loved about me. There was also a card that only Allan could give, he is known for his crad giving in our families. The biggest suprise came after he had left for his trip and I was loading the car for mine. I walked into the garage and as you can see from the pictures I had quite the decorated car. I mean how sweet is he?!?!?! He absolutely could say mission accomplished, I felt loved by my hubby.

The view from the laundry room door, I was so surprised and awestruck at how much effort he put into telling me he loved me!

I was a bit embarassed by this side, but I left it on anyway, I represented RHS Class of '97 all the way to OK and back

The car rides to and from OK were long but overall good. It was nice to get some time with Amy. You would think that we get a ton of time with each other since we live twelve minutes apart, but it seems like when we are together it is at an event or there are a lot of other family members around, so getting some good one on one time was great. For the most part Cooper and Claire were really good. I officially have every Wiggles song memorized. Amy actually made a helpful discovery...if you squeeze Claire's foot when she is falling apart in her car seat she gets quite (this would have been helpful to know the last thirteen months). The foot squeeze coupled with singing "The Wheels on the Bus" can buy you a solid fifteen minutes in the car.

Cooper hanging out in the backseat

Claire Bear was entertained by blueberries, you can see the remnants on her face


Our time in OK was insane but good. Having three little ones is not ideal when trying to unpack boxes and clean up a new home, but we made the best of it. Amy, Sara, Beau, and I would take turns wrangling babies in the living room or out on the back porch while everyone else would try to get a box or two unpacked and find a place for its contents. The scenery at the camp is BEAUTIFUL, but the camp itself needs a bit of work. I think that Sara and Beau are perfect for the job. I am so proud of my brother in law for taking this chance, he is a good man and will do a fantastic job. I think that Sara is pretty much the perfect wife and support for him as well. I will miss her since the camp is much further than I had originally thought, but we will make the best of it.

Asher helping squash paper

Claire loved this walker

Cooper saying Cheeeeeese