Ten on Tuesday

1. IRSP at OSSM is in full swing.  For the home front perspective this largely means Brent goes in to work a little later ans stays late into the evening, almost always missing bedtime.  Very long days.  In good news, we're already at the half-way point and so far faring much better than last year.

2. OKC had BIG flooding issues yesterday.  When Brent attempted to leave for work he discovered that all the neighborhood trashcans were floating away.  He drove around for two hours and came home.  It was a weird day, but lovely to have him here to watch the kids and hang out.  He eventually went in to work about 4:30 to do IRSP things, but almost like an extra long weekend. As to the flooding, we and our families all came through fine and the waters have largely receded.  I think the total was about 10 inches of rain in just a few hours.

3. After Maggie's baptism party last week, my Mom gave me such a sweet, emotional present for her from my grandpa.  You can read some of the story here.  Mostly, it means that Tracie, Mom and I had ourselves a little cry about how much we still miss my Grandma and so wish she could have met Ms. Maggie.  It was such a sweet, emotional way to end the celebrations.  Thank you so much Grandpa.  I don't know if you can imagine how much that meant to me.

4. We had a lovely summer evening today.  B and I made these Strawberries and Dumplings. We didn't have cream, but ice cream worked well.  It was delicious.  Next up, we cooked a few beets from our garden that were fabulous.  As all three of us were messy by then, we went outside and played in the yard for awhile including pulling weeds in the garden, watering the flowers (yes, per the above this was unnecessary, but B insisted.   He even brought water out from inside in small cups to fill his watering can- very resourceful).  M tried to eat the sidewalk chalk so we demoed how it should be used.  Then she tried to eat dirt (Again) so we headed off into the grass for a little T-ball followed by sprinkler time and laying in the grass.  We had a great time and still managed to get everyone bathed, dressed and in bed on time!

5. Did I mention the massive turtle we found in our driveway a week or so ago? This probably should have warned us that floods were coming.  He was quite a specimen. He tried to snap Brent by throwing his head backwards as he tried to remove him.  He seems to have left us, but did make for a very exciting morning.

6. As, I think, every one knows.  Brent got me an  Apple Ipad for our anniversary.  It is quite the family favorite just now.  Clearly not something we "need" but very enjoyable.  Today, for instance, B used it to play Superwhy games and I used it when making the Strawberry dumplings without having to print out the recipe.  There is, of course, lots of email and Facebook checking too along with book time, tunes and more.  Much fun!

7. Baby Lady, as mentioned previously, had a big fever over the weekend.  She seems to have recovered, but then today was covered all over in this funny red rash.  We're told it is a delayed reaction from her body to the rash, but is not contagious or worrisome assuming it goes away in three days.  Here's hoping!

8.  You remember last year's blog post from this week "A Boy and his Duck," right?  Last week during our farm visit B reprised his duck fun just a little bit.  Here he is taking his duck for another walk.  I loved it.  He has a similar toy  Pull-Along Zebra at home now that Uncle Able has named "Keith" that was a gift from my friend Heather.  Keith is doing a good sub when the duck isn't around, but I think Uncle Able might like Keith more than B.  Hard to say.

9. Happy Birthday to tomorrow's birthday girl Jamie!  We hope you have a wonderful birthday!

10.  My sister, meanwhile, is now on maternity leave as her body just won't take 12 hour shifts any longer.  Here's hoping baby Zane comes soon. You're Mama's ready, little guy!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!