ROAD TRIP!

The girls and I head to Texas tomorrow, Tuesday for our summer road trip. We will stop at the American Girl Store in Dallas and spend the night at the Westin Galleria! Then Wed-Fri we are off to visit Auntie Im in Houston (not Kansas). Then we head to Boerne for a super slumber party. We will arrive in San Antonio Saturday and begin our world wind tour of family, friends, Dr.'s and Dentists as well as celebration of birthday and end of school!

Can't wait to see you all!!!

The San Antonio Spurs ROCK!!!

Need I say more!

Nothing beats family!

It is Monday, I am a little Blue today......after such a wonderful weekend......

My Mom and Sister arrived mid-day Thursday and we spent the weekend together catching up and having fun.

Friday we went for an EARLY MOTHERS DAY PEDICURE! It was a lot of fun to sit, with our feet in the water, being pampered and laughing. We then took them to the Tulsa Riverwalk for dinner to enjoy an evening stroll and yummy pizza.

Saturday was an adventure to the soccer fields to see Addison and the "Strikers" try to end their season with a victory, to no avail. It was a beautiful sunny day. We returned to just enjoy the sunshine and visit more.

Saturday evening, Ma & Aunt Cindy were kind enough to keep the girls overnight while Kipper and I went to the McBirney Mansion http://mcbirneymansion.com/ to celebrate our 11th Anniversary. It was a beautiful bed and breakfast overlooking the Arkansas River. It was a wonderful and relaxing experience. We walked the grounds, lounged in the garden, played Scrabble in front of the fire and fell asleep watching our San Antonio Spurs.....darn they lost! It was a romantic and relaxing time for us. (Thanks Mother & Cindy)

Sunday, we returned after breakfast to take in the Philbrook Museum and Gardens. http://www.philbrook.org/The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, it was just perfect. What a beautiful place. We returned to spend the afternoon on the patio watching the girls play and snacking and visiting and soaking up the sun. The day ended with a trip to Chelsea Pond and a marshmallow roast.

So, as the title of this entry indicates, I enjoyed my family so very much this weekend. I am truly blessed. I have two beautiful daughters, a loving husband and a Mom and Sister like no others. Nothing beats family!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to OHIO

After only 3 ½ months in Tulsa, Kipper has been offered a HUGE promotion. The title of the job is "Divisional Vice President and Senior Counsel"...sounds impressive if you ask me!! The Company is with Mid-Continent’s parent company, Great American Insurance Company.

The catch...the job is for Great American’s home office, located in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is a huge career deal and promotion for Kipper -- Great American is a fortune 500 company and had $4 billion dollars in premium last year, where Mid-Continent is a great successful company, it was just over $300 million in premium last year.

So obviously it is a MUCH bigger role with a MUCH bigger company.

Perks are good..... big raise and increased benefits are certainly great things, the much more important is that this is a long term position with excellent opportunity for growth and advancement.

In this new position, Kipper will be responsible for the creation and growth of a Claims Counsel office within the Great American organization. He will be responsible for growing the Claims Counsel office to appropriately serve the needs of the 25 or so different business units. Of course, this means nothing to Mommy extraordinaire, but it does sound impressive to me, right!!!!

So he told me this part, actually he typed this part....."the position with Great American, he will be primarily responsible for proving legal analysis, advice, and counsel with respect to insurance coverage issues as well as bad faith issues facing the various business units. He will also oversee the coverage lawsuits involving Great American pending in jurisdictions across the country. The policies written by the various business units are also extremely diverse, from things as common as construction related policies, legal professional liability policies, trucking related policies, and worker’s compensation insurance, to things like insurance for social workers, equine mortality policies (think race horses), crop insurance, executive liability policies. Kipper says the work will be diverse, challenging, and interesting. " I really do not know what all that means!!!!!!

SOOOOOOO....after a few tears and "NO I WON'T MOVE AGAIN PERIOD" this morning, the girls are excited already. Talking about the snow and Zoo and Ohio River and living near where Gigi grew up and Granddad went to college!!! It is all good, they are excited and ready to go. Really! It was so much easier this time.

I am flying up tomorrow till Tuesday to spend two days with two Realtors looking at schools and homes in N. Kentucky and Cincinnati. When I return, we will decide what area we wish to pursue and look in more. I will continue to search the Internet for every little detail on the schools. I feel confident we will find a great school in a great community that will not be an hour for Kipper to drive each day.

So, even though the prospects of packing and moving again are daunting and not something I look forward to, the prospects of a much brighter future and career for us all are far more promising! I am excited for Kipper but even more importantly, I AM SO VERY PROUD OF HIM.....he has done a great job in his career. He is a great lawyer, a smart guy and will make Great American so very proud to have him on their team. I am sure proud to have him on my team!

Pray for us.....that we make this a smooth transition, with few hoops and hurdles to jump through and over. Pray for the girls, that they find new friends as easily as in Tulsa.

We will see you all in San Antonio as planned....we are looking foreword to the visits. Hopefully a few of you will plan a trip to Ohio someday.....like you have Tulsa....we will miss you all.