Ten on Wednesday

 1.  Big week for B - First Reconciliation!  I was pleasantly surprised at how well the retreat was done.  It was about 2 hours, but no given activity was more than 20 minutes.  First, a small group worship service, then four rotating "flocks." We made a candle, did a craft that went with a story, and then a bit of role play, before our group finally went to Reconciliation. Total time for the Sacrament was about 2 minutes, but he seemed please. I mostly just enjoyed getting to spend all morning together.

 2.  Next up was a "Nerf Wars" birthday party. To accomplish the quick shift from church to birthday party he ended up with a new outfit and new Nerf gun.  Of course it didn't quite work as planned, but he had a good time with his new friends from Cross Timbers. (During all this Brent took M to French and then he, M, and E went to her friend Paisley's bday party and on a mini-grocery outing).

3. Saturday evening was breakfast for dinner (and the beginning of a week of random dinners as we haven't done a full on meal plan/shopping combo for ....some time?).  M jumped right in and was a big helper making this healthier take on scones.

4. This was Monday morning And right here is probably where things began to fall off the rockers.  B is having his usual November horrible asthma.  Which, as always, was followed by insanity caused by steroids.  This year, for extra stress, we paired it with a discovery of a problem at school.  So yeah, lunacy.  By today, we'd talked with the with the Doctor and taken him off all the steroids and on to just double inhalers.  He is remarkably nicer, calmer, and more fun to be around.  And not coughing too much either.

5.  M tried out a new Girl Scout troop this week. The good news is it is much smaller, less chaotic, and seems to be a bit less intense, while still doing all the basic girl scout things.  It is, however, at 3:20, which technically is before her school day ends... but missing 45 min of Kindergarten a month "might" be ok? It is also at the same school where I have to be every day at 3:15 to pick up E so quite convenient and she has a friend in the troop.  So, I think we'll stick with it for at least this year.  Not as convenient as if it was at Cross Timbers, but I'm not willing to start my own troop. 

6. Tuesday, I needed to go for a walk and I thought it might help the general "mood." It was a very lovely walk.  Our neighborhood is being gorgeous for fall.  That said, when we made it to the playground there were less trees and we realized the wind was making it too cold for our apparel.  We were certainly at the park for less time than we spenting walking to and from, but it is all about the journey, right?

7.  Also, see that little guy in the picture above.  That 3 yo is my sweet baby E and I cannot get enough of him.  He is so loving, huggable, and totally my partner in whatever the day needs.  He is finally fully potty trained (during the day), speaking long sentences, dressing himself, and full of awesome.  I want to freeze time and will miss this moment so as he'll be as big as those two ahead of him any day.  For now, he still holds my hand happily when we walk and tells me he loves me all the time.  {melt}

8.  I curled my hair! This may be newsworthy as it happens probably less than once a year.  We curled M's hair for photos and I was at a loss for what to do with mine so we curled it too and then decided to throw away the hot rollers (they were ummm nearly 20 years old and falling apart).  Then I had to test the new ones (and calm down from B's tear-filled homework Tuesday).  So, two days of curls in one week!  Also, tired, stressed, and trying to let it go by.

9.  We have recently been doing some leaf jumping with our big leaf piles in the front yard. It is so fun and everyone loves it.  Sadly, everyone is pretty allergic to it too so there has been a lot of sneezing and some rashes.  We did take photos in the leaves at the end of our session with Heather this weekend so maybe we'll have some fun leaf pictures to go with our sneezes. M spends, by far, the most amount of time playing in the leaves and I'm so glad she enjoys it.

10.  Last Friday was dress as your future career day in M's class.  We talked about a few options, but settled on Artist - In case you can't see, her outfit includes, sparkly french beret, classic striped french artist shirt, book about Monet, Skirt with birds wearing berets and a pocket that holds her paint brushes and watercolors.  Tres chic!  There is also a paintbrush behind her ear. She loved making the outfit and definitely rocked it.

So that's that - a busy week and the start of many more, but I feel like we're making progress on it being a better week at the end than the beginning. 

Ten on ..... Wednesday (Take 2)

I started this last Thursday, but only got to four before I had to work some more... here it goes again.

1. My work is very intense right now.  The hours are long, the stress is high, and we're all doing things that are fairly new to us.  I'm very conscious of my tendency to love the adrenaline of these situations, but that I eventually tip off a too much stress cliff historically.  I'm actively managing that this time and took 15 minutes yesterday to read email and rest in the hammock, because why not? Working from home has its advantages and if my job is borrowing time from every direction I'll just borrow some too :)

2.  I may have mentioned in September that we ordered a table and benches from the local craftsman Wobbly Knob -- It arrived and I love it.  We are using it frequently and I look at it and smile from the office.  It is a subtle reminder that this work makes cool things like this table and house possible as well as being fascinating.  I think the table will get lots of use for years to come. I especially love that it was made here in OK, just for us!

3.  There continues to be massive amounts of neighborhood playtime outdoors and I love it. This day, it was light saber and sword battles.  There is some crying, but mostly lots of talking, fun, and imagination. 

4. I took a break from being a university administrator to "pretend" to be a university administrator on Monday for OSSM's mock college interview night. It was pretty fun and I got to catch up with an old friend from OU.  Mostly I got to listen to Brent's students tell me how much they love him and how awesome he is, which is always good.  (Big thanks to Brent's parents for picking up E on Monday and staying with the bigs while Brent and I switch places at OSSM).

5.  On Friday evening, M and I had girl's night with Ashtyn and her mom.  We made magic meringue mushrooms for Ashtyn's party and had fun playing and chatting together.  The girls don't see each other as much anymore but still have a great time together.  They will soon be in the same girl scout troop for added fun. 

6.  Lady M has taken to wearing her Great Grandmother's pin on fancy occasions.  Yes, the fancy occasion here is French class, but you get the drift.  She tells everyone about it and this costume jewelry is definitely well loved by the younger Jewel. 

7.  On Saturday, M & I went to Alescia's party (daughter of M's french teacher) and then on Sunday we went to Ashtyn's Enchanged Wonderland party featuring all sorts of awesome, extreme animals. M loved petting them and actually did better at the parties than usual, which is amazing considering she knew only a couple kids at each one. This weekend, Brent will be braving the 6yo birthday party scene while I take B to Reconciliation.  I think we're both happy with that arrangement. 

8. Working crazy amounts always brings extra mommy guilt, right? So on the days when there have been some breaks in the action I'm trying to be very present and engaged.  On Friday, that meant taking E to the park for the 30 minutes or so we have before his big siblings come home.  He climbed all the way up the rocket ship at the park near his school while I stood by flabbergasted that he is so very big now. He wanted to be caught every time down the slide. I happily obliged and took a big ball of a hug for each trip.  He is awesome and so very sweet. 

9. Sunday, after church, sunday school, birthday party, and a run for me (to save sanity and counter act way too much sugar), we had a hot dog roast in the Korenak's fire pit.  It was great fun and so nice to not have to cook dinner when I was way too full already.  The kids are really in to playing football and tackle when at the Korenak casa, so there were some tears, but in general they, and we, had a great time.

10. We've been doing a fair amount of outside work on the house in the last few days.  We've planted nearly 200 bulbs ( 1/2 Dotter iris, followed by tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths).  In planting the bulbs, we found some already tucked in so either my mom has made me a secret gift or this house has some spring surprises in store for us!  We've also added another six bags of mulch, planted an oak tree (and staked it), sucked up the first layer of leaves (and used it as mulch), taken down the hammock, sprayed the pansies frequently with Siracha to dissuade the deer,  brought most of the back yard toys in for cooler weather, and bought bird seed to share when it is a bit cooler.  It feels like progress and yet like there is much more to do! I do very much love fall in the new neighborhood. 

PS B had his school program last week as well, but all the photos are on the "real" camera so we'll try to give that fun event its own post. 

Pumpkinville 2015

The Myriad Gardens' Pumpkinville is one of my very favorite fall traditions.  We visited twice this year, both times with the Korenaks.  The first time was the last day of fall break and the second was during the Monster Bash party.  

Each year the set up is a bit different, but it always features 100s of pumpkins, yard games, crafts, and awesome decorations throughout.  Here they are making witches' soup, I believe. 

I snuck this picture of B and really love it. 

Then E requested his picture as well :)

All 5 kids holding still for one moment!

Ro is too cute and very good at having his photo taken. 

Zane is playing us a tune!

Three cute kids!

M wore her new, special head band earned for being on extra good behavior and being an wonderful helper in all reports from while I was gone to DC. 

 M loves to spin on these every time we come to the Children's Garden 

 On Saturday, we went to Monster Bash.  Again this year Brent was at an OU football game, but we persevered. I had tickets to the ballet immediately thereafter and thankfully the Korenaks took our kids home for us!

 The candy craft was quite delicious!

 Our little witch - Lady M wore this same costume to every single Halloween opportunity this year, which was definitely a first.  It is a really cool costme!

 E was a dragon and loved hanging out with his buddy Ro the tiger.

B made an awesome ninja.  The sword was essential to this cool look. It did break later in the weekend, but thankfully Uncle Zach was able to repair it!

 All three kids - ready for Halloween fun!

 The boys ate the results of their candy crafting right away.

I was a little surprised how much our kids adored bingo.  They played for a very long time and had to be lured away by other attractins (ok, candy).  We really should play bingo more often!

I love the Myriad Gardens and getting to play in the Gardens with our kids surrounded by pumpkins and beautiful creations.  We will certainly be back for Pumpkinville 2016!

Fall Farm Camp

 For the second year, my trip to DC has coincided with EPS fall break. Luckily, Grandma has turned this tricky childcare situation in to fall farm camp.  It is awesome.  The first day, they hung out a bit in the city, went to the candy shop, and had lunch with Uncle Able to celebrate Grandma's birthday followed by a drive up to the farm and a stop at the Waukomis playground.

 I think this photo is from Day 2. hr  I totally love this picture, wreath, and girl.  It was one of their projects at camp before I returned.

 The first day of farm camp was just our kids, but on day two the Korenak boys and their mom joined the fun..  Everyone luckily found and wore their farm camp shirts from summer farm camp.

Everyone helped Grandma harvest the bird house gourds.  A couple days later Brent and Zach strung them up in the rafters of the garage to dry for later craft projects.

There was also some fishing. 

 After a busy day, they attempted a slumber party int he treehouse, but eventually moved it inside.

 More adorable small boy fun -- this time jumping in the leaves!

 Uncle Zach installed a new awesome swing.

After Daze in the Maze, Brent & Zach installed this new climbing wall feature for the tree house. 

In which they use cute grins to distract us from the fact that they don't eat much of their dinner. 

The first day we were there featured an awesome bondfire and smore's!

\

 Day four (for kids, 2 for me) featured painting bird houses.  B was quite meticulous.

 Uncle Able & Aunt Kari arrived for Day 4 and took everyone on tractor rides!

 As B is now 8, he got to try driving the tractor for the first time.  It is fascinating (and sort of terrifying) to think that age 8 each of my siblings and I began driving the tractor in the field raking hay. So weird.

 The kids spent lots of time digging in the big dirt pile and found five hibernating frogs!

Lots of of other things happened like planting bulbs, eating candy corn, swinging, singing, napping, playing in the treehouse, etc... but there are a few of the highlights of an awesome fall farm camp!  Thanks so much to my mom and Audra who put an amazing amount of effort in to this and do so well with our kids when I'm away.