Ten on Tuesday

I arrived at my blog this evening after more than two weeks to discover it is still on day 1 of vacation that happened about three weeks ago.  Hmmm. In good news, I blogged one day of our vacation already! (Which for those long timers you know sometimes thins get missed altogether).  In less good news, that means I haven't done the other days or much that has happened since then. Ok..... Did I mention we've been moving?  Anyway, this week in ten on Tuesday is below.4

1) B had a migraine possibly caused by or combined with a virus yesterday. He had had a headache for portions of the prior 3 days, but yesterday was substantially worse.  We visited the Doctor and then proceeded to throw all kinds of meds at him to try and break the headache.  We also tried to keep it quiet and dark so he could sleep..... His sister is not good at quiet, and he wanted me nearby, which was trick as I had an irresistible computer on my lap that was distracting.  I was already envisioning brain surgery logistics when my amazing boy woke up the next day as his cheerful energetic self.  It remains completely unclear what happened, if it will happen again, etc... We are watching carefully and keeping the doctor updated. PS. I love my pediatrician.  He called and emailed with me throughout the hard day that was yesterday and then called again today with apologies that it took so long.  He is a great fit for me and our family.  Hooray!

2.  Each kid now has a chart to keep track of progress towards their individual goals.  The charts are coupled with some ambiguous prizes (Yes, I am bad at goal setting.. oops?) E's chart is for potty training, B's is for acts of kindness, M's is for cleaning her room before bed daily.  Everyone is doing pretty well at the close of day 2.  E's having some trouble with the more difficult aspects of his chart (#2) but doing much better in general. He is currently getting caramel kisses and ninja turtle stickers as rewards, which is pretty motivational!

3.  Brent is leading the GE Foundation's Oklahoma STEM Science Academy (I think there is a better title, but you get the drift).  He has been working on this and the partner camp next week all year.  I think it is going to be great for the school and he is certainly learning a lot. I wish he could be here more to work on projects as I attempt to pull the house together, but I get what is happening, have no expectations of him being around until August, and am mostly trying to do and prep the projects as I can for his small windows of time or  August.  Also, since buying this house there has yet to be a full weekend day that we have been here together or even in the metro area all day.... SO that could be part of the problem.  Everything we've done on the weekends has been lovely though - we spent one day celebrating Serenity's birthday in Tulsa, one day playing at the lake, 1.5 days at the farm playing with cousins, cats, grandma, and the tree house, and some time with GW folks in the city, plus some weekend time at work for Brent. It has been good, but still, tricky.

4.  B is signed up for fall baseball with his team from the last two seasons.  He seems enthusiastic and I actually like the fall season  lot more even though it is busy, it should take quite a few less weeks and hopefully in good weather.

5.  I am increasingly wishing I knew more about carpentry or that my dad was around (OK I always wish that).  Neither Brent and I entered this marriage with much carpentry know-how but now, more than ever, have a lot of things that need building.  We also have almost no tools.  Happily, my brother and brother-in-law do have tools and know-how, but have very little time.  Audra and I are thinking of just teaching ourselves via pinterest.  I'm sure that will work, especially while watching five kids under 8, right?

6.  The great window covering debacle mentioned previously is almost resolved.  The last window coverings have been ordered.  Of course some of these with curtains may later require blinds and vice versa, but in a world with broken AC we just need them covered.  OH wait, I forgot to mention the no AC for the last week or for another week to go.  It is pretty bad and really frustrating, but sometime around the 29th I should have an almost new, almost free AC unit.  Right now, after a rainy day, two new fans (courtesy of insurance) and the upstairs unit running nonstop it is down to 76 and I'm feeling a little chilly, actually. We're adapting, but do get 500% more things done towards actually unpacking and setting up house when it isn't over 80 degrees inside.

7.  I've also managed to pick out bar stools, put out poison for slugs, hang some things on the wall (with help from Audra & Brent), mulch a couple areas in the front yard, organize all the kid craft stuff, buy tons of supplies for other projects, unpack boxes, do my day job, etc. . . today so feeling quite accomplished. Also, possibly had too much caffeine.

8.  My college room mate and friend of 18 years now, Mary, and her husband Andy welcomed their second son - Oscar Gabriel Moran yesterday.  E and I are going to o visit in a few weeks to play with the big brother and help everyone out. I'm really excited about this visit. I had hoped to go when Isaac was born, but was 8 months pregnant so that didn't work out. 

9.  I love our new house.  I really do. There are upteen problems, things to fix, things to improve, etc...(Ok,  think closer to 50), and it is hard, expensive work so far, but at the end of the day I feel really lucky to live here. I hope we can turn it in to something relaxing and wonderful (before we completely run out of money). It is a great adventure and we do have lots of time to make it work.

10.  Lady M resumes French lessons tomorrow per her request. I think it is time as she needs that one on one time and to focus on something for a bit that gets her thinking again.  That said, she requested math to do on Friday and then blazed through all the multitude of sheets I had printed.  Not all of them completely followed the directions, but she seemed to enjoy it.  She has also been making crafts daily for everyone as more craft supplies emerge.  Today, she was on a bracelet making tear so we all had multiple bracelets in the afternoon.  She also created her first crudité platter from her fancy nancy tea party book and would really like to cook more with me, but the blazing heat and my need to work have been getting in the way.  Hopefully we can get that moving again soon.  Historically, M has been our greatest challenge, but she has largely come round the curve and has been a big help and a delight.  I love to see her grow, learn, and share her excitement about so many things. I also love that she spent part of the morning dancing in the rain in our new big front yard.  SO cool.

Ten on Tuesday

E feeding the fish and learning about water lillies

Painting Pumpkins

B helping in the midst of Grandma's garden in the fall.

Lady M helping with fall chores

1.  While I was in DC, the kids went to fall Farm Camp for a couple days.  This is the first time since we've moved to OK that fall break has coincided with my DC trip.  I have to say, I don't think anyone minded as they had two fun full days with Grandma and one of the days also features the Korenak Boys and Uncle Able -- You can read the stories here and here as I missed out on the fun!

2.  I made it safely home to a busy Saturday.  Brent went to the foodball game with his Dadd.  B had a birthday party with friends and had to find new long pants for fall.  We all needed groceries.  I spent the evening enjoying the OKC Ballet's production of Cinderella.  It was so very beautifully done. I think it was my favorite production of theirs ever.  I'm so excited about the coming season with this beautiful beginning. It was the largest selling ballet performance (other than the Nutcracker) ever in Oklahoma, which I think is also a great testament to the growth and beauty of the company in recent years.

3.  On Sunday, we went to Pumpkinville (which is getting its own post), but the other big story was the family October Halloween party at the Korenak casa.  Everyone had on costumes, at least briefly, and it was lots of delicious fun.  It was great to carve pumpkins as a group, even if a bit crazy with so many kids wandering through the mix. Grandma's birthday present was a Hammock and very popular with every one. (You can read much more about the party on Audra's blog). 

4.  Monday, randomly, was still fall break and just not well planned at all.  I'll admit this was news to me as I knew the littles were off-school, but thought B was going for some reason.  I also didn't really check my calendar before Brent left for work and discovered I had four hours straight of meetings.  Right.  So before work we were "beary workers" and cleaned the kids rooms, straightened the house, vaccuumed, etc... I also packed them lunches and stashed them in the fridge for later.  Then the calls began.  They had some electronics time, then B supervised lunch.  Then some playtime of various kinds, E's nap, etc... We did manage to end in style with---

Traditional climbing the lion statue picture + real smile!

Watching Alligator feeding time!

Baby Rupert!

5.  Zoo Trip!! We really haven't been to the zoo much this year and I did hesitate as I bought my membership, but when we do go we love it.  Our schedules just don't work as well as they once did.  This was my first time going with Audra and her boys so it was extra awesome.  My favorite parts were getting to meet Rupert the baby Rhino and riding the carousel.  (My least favorite part was thinking I'd lost my car key and searching for it for 10 minutes... found it, it  a very safe place.  Of course).

6.  Today, went pretty much equally poorly as far as timing of work/life balance.  Some of it just makes no sense like driving ages across Edmond to take M to the park, only to discover that she has no interest in playing there without her brothers.  (This was to the great chagrin of a 3yo girl who desperately wanted to play with her).  We did rally with a picnic in the backyard, during which M learned to love Brie :)  I, meanwhile, got to work later into the afternoon, run at the gym, and work later in to the night.... of course.

7.  Home improvement update!! One of our big annoying long term issues has been the fact that the door of our mail box broke off ummmm let's say a year ago.  Yes, I know we're horrible home owners.  All the solutions we found seemed to require rebricking the mailbox or somehow chiseling the box out or other things that cost around $400. Enter Bayshore Mailbox Door Replacement (no this isn't sponsored, I'm just sharing this awesome solution). Just over 5 minutes and $50 late voila!  Yes, I'm easily excited.

8.  Baseball season is over and we asked B to pick his next activity.  To my 100% surprise, he chose Spanish and is diving head in asking for any and all the Spanish I know.  Keep in mind, I've studied years of French since I last studied any Spanish so this is rough.  Also, M is learning French still so they both want everything in both languages.  It is SO reminiscent of in college when I took French and Spanish the same semester, the classes met consecutive hours in adjoining rooms.  It seemed insane at the time, but apparently it was preparing me for this.  It would just be awesome if they could maintain this enthusiasm long enough to learn something.  Attention span for activities in the long term is not their Hallmark, but here's hoping.  Diner time, meanwhile, is a cacophony of languages and looking words up.  E, meanwhile, wants to sing the (English) abc song for his bedtime song, and then immediately asks for it in French. It is adorable and all just a riot. Brent is specializing in catching me when I have sentences with mixes of both languages in them.  He speaks neither, but is fairly good at spotting when I accidentally blend things, which is very helpful.

9. E is currently loving superheros.  He knows almost nothing about them other than that they are there to save the day.  He adores his super hero shirts though and will immediately show them to anyone.  He does not always correctly identify who he is wearing, but is always saving the day. (No, I think he has no clue what that might entail).

10.  Halloween adventures this week with B's school carnival on Friday, Myriad Gardens Monster Mash on Saturday, and then school and family parties the following week.  So far, the kids are going as Batman (E), Pumpkin (M), and Bobba Fett (B), but I wouldn't be surprised if at least M rotates through costumes during the week.  For the recent Halloween party, I went as Elsa and Brent went as a scarecrow --- our costumes were, of course, designed by M.

Ten on Wednesday

1.  Hello from DC!  Yesterday was my big commute here, a bit of work, dinner with a friend, and then a run through one of my favorite cities. I love seeing the White House, Washington Monument, Corcoran, and 1/2 a dozen other amazing sights while only running 3 miles.  It is amazing and I miss it sometimes when jogging in circles in my neighborhood...

2.  Week in the life is coming up soon! I think it begins Oct. 26th.  In the meantime, I'm trying to remind myself to document daily ordinary moments more and this is one.  Note the mess, puzzls, costumes, jackets, etc.... This quickly devolved when E became pretty destructive with M's puzzling attempts, but cute for a moment.

3.  I love, love this image and this guy. I was watching the gymnastics world championships coverage on TV on Sunday.  He was (ostensibly) reading about Jellyfish.  One or more of those things made him very sleep. 

4.  This guy continues to have adventures while his siblings are in Sunday School.  He is growing more adventurous with the church grounds and explored/rock climbed in the "forest" just off the terrace where Brent and I have coffee.  He had quite a wonderful time!

5.  My "Project Home" appears to be returning.  I "may" finally rehang the gallery wall in the entry.  This weekend I took inventory of the frames I need, repainted 7 of them to work with the new wall color, and began locating updated pictures.  I plan to use quite a few updated images from Able & Kari's wedding when they are available, but may go ahead and hang up the frames while I have some momentum. I also (finally) think we may have a fix for our missing mailbox door.  I'll let you know if it works.

6.  Recently there have been several rainy days, but when it isn't raining M&E are enjoying short neighborhood walks and hiding in our neighbor's willow tree.

7.  B had his final game of the season last night (which I missed, sad).  Luckily, the Korenaks, Grandma, Grammie & Granddaddy, Daddy, M, & E were there for the fun. I hear he even got to briefly play third base.  Baseball was definitely a successful adventure and he is looking forward to trying it again in the spring.

8. We also had B's parent-teacher conference this week.  As expected, he is doing amazingly well and has handwriting problems.  So it goes.  Grammie & Granddaddy also visited him at school this week for Grandparents Book Lunch and bought MANY books for all the kids so everyone is feeling very happy and full of new adventures just now.

9.  M continues to do well with her on/off school cycle. I think the French is progressing and I hear her speaking it more and responding to things I ask more easily.  Yesterday, she spent the day with Aunt Audra, Zane, and Ro having Science Museum, craft, and other fun adventure.  I hear it was a grand success and there may have been some confusion about if M & Zane are twins :)

10.  Mr. E had kind of a rough week in spots.  He was a little sick going in to last weekend and we were forced to snuggle for hours :)  He is feeling better and having a few more little fits of late.  These mostly revolve around his desire to have a costume on at all times and my occasionally taking them off for things like school, church, playing in sand, dinner, etc... I know, I'm so mean.  I think I'm vaguely better at taking these in stride than I was when B was at this age, btu know there is more to come.


I'm excited for a great few more days in DC and then home for ballet, birthdays, pumpkin fun, and lots more Halloween celebrations.  Thanks again to all the many hands, hearts, and helpers who assist our family while I am gone.  We love you and appreciate you so much!

Ten on Wednesday

 1.  Baseball season continues and with it a lot of backyard practice.  Earlier this week, the littles set up a concession stand/restaurant in the far corner (safe area) of the yard and provided treats to all the attendees.  Very entrepreneurial.  Also, in a miracle for days.  They picked up every piece when they were done and promptly brought them inside!

 2.  M's fun year continues with more hair experiments, more french lessons, and more reading with Daddy.  Of the three, the hair is probably having the most success, but everyone learned their colors in French last week.  This week, we're learning letter "A" words, which is quite a bit trickier, and reinforcing last week's color lessons.

3.  You didn't think I'd leave out the post- curler photos, did you? Here she is all her curly glory.  The front (small) curles stayed rather well, but the back side needs more work + products next time.  

4.  A picture of me! Red letter day-- mostly, I just love that I randomly came up with this side-braid/bun one day last week. The above is after my run, which it gloriously survived.  I loved it!

OKC MOA - Looking up and drawing the glass ceiling

Boats full of glass

 Yes, it is true, we finally took the littles to the OKC MOA.  B has been a couple times now, but I hadn't been brave enough for the glass + a 2 yo.  He did fine, of course.

Another picture of me? Wow.  Meanwhile, cool light art.

 5.  I positively adore that our kids' immediate reaction to art museums is to feverishly begin drawing whatever they see.  It is a compulsion that makes seeing more than a few rooms a bit tricky, but is simultaneously wonderful.  We checked out the little kid art backpack so there was plenty of paper and colored pencils to go around and they just drew everything.  I have a large collection of small drawings that I can't quite part with yet.  I love how they experience and enjoy art and am promising myself to include art museum excursions in our adventures more often.

 6.  Lady M planned Uncle Zach a book-themed birthday party for this weekend.  She put great thought and detail into the plan and ensured that we fully executed it.  My favorites were her insisting on doing the writing on his book cake herself and the glorious streamer tree in the back yard. (You can read more about the party here).

 7.  The Able & Kari Wedding is only 17 days away. Preparations at our house are lagging far behind the always organized Korenak casa.  That said, E's suit arrived.  It is fair to say he doesn't like it, but is also completely adorable.  Next up, Grandma may need to take in his pants a little bit...

 8.  Yesterday, we went to the Neighborhod Night Out.  It had been billed as having a pretzel and a snow cone truck, but one broke down and the other was disappointing.  It was also really hot and we were rushing the whole time to also make it to baseball on time.  The games were pretty fun though :)

Just before the neighborhood adventure I'd had the pleasure of an hour or so spent with my dear friend Mary who is grieving for her Grandma.  She is amazing and I feel so luck to share life's journey with her in the midst of all the crazy, it was especially wonderful.

 9.  This guy likes to hang out and watch the clock in the mornings to make sure he leaves for the bus on time.... The upside is that we get extra morning talking time, which I adore.  He's a cool cat. In the evenings, if he doesn't have baseball he has been running down the street to a friend's house.  I'm happy for him, but kinda missing him too so the morning chats are especially good.

10.  Today, E, M, & I went on a walk/run down the block in the cool afternoon just before the rain while B was at his friend's house.  M can run pretty much the whole way, but E needs to stop and rest a little or walk and investigate before his next sprint.  It was lovely and we made it home just before the sprinkles started.


PS.  Saturday is the OKC Spice Shop's 2nd Anniversary Celebration and Pie Contest.  If you are entering a pie bring it by 11:30 or just drop by anytime during the day to enjoy free pie, punch, and spice shop fun as we celebrate a wonderful year together!

Ten on Tuesday

1.  You may recall Ms. M has had a very hard time settling on what sort of extra curricular activity she wanted to try for the fall.  One day this weekend she said she wanted french lessons and we immediately emailed her best buddy Kyle's mom and set them up.  She was so excited this morning that she could barely stand the wait.  She colored this picture for Ms. Elke for her first day of class.  It was just the two of them (which I would never have done if Elke wasn't a friend of ours).  I am told it went well and they worked on colors.  The result is that everyone is learning more french.  When I know a phrase in both languages I say it in both (well, often at least).  I ask them how they are in French in the morning and M and I identify what color things are in French too.  That said, she sometimes disagrees with me and we have to resort to google.  Oh, and mom, remember how they keep making us learn the word for shark in duolingo... that came up today.  Crazy. 

 2.  I did get to have dinner with Able and Kari during the soft opening of the new Tuckers near my house.  It was SO good.  I love the burgers, but it is really the shakes that are just essentially phenomenal.  Having it nearby is going to be way too tempting.

3.  Our Labor Day weekend plan was, as it is most years, to go to Dallas to visit Brent's sister and her family.  This year was to be special as we were going to meet Grayson, our newest nephew.  Sadly, Jamie was too sick for it to be a good idea for us to visit.  So we reworked our weekend and had lots of fun, but really missed this guy.  Brent went to the football game Saturday evening with his Dad so he did get a bit of family time as well as some OU time :)

 4.  Then the Palfreymans invited us to a small end of summer fun afternoon.  We played at the splash pad, watched Lady and the Tramp, had dinner together, and then celebrated/mourned as they announced they are moving to Florida.... I am not good at change, but you knew that.

 5.  We're trying to experiment more with Lady M's hair this week. We haven't tried anything crazy, but are trying to have more fun with it than just her usual headbands.  This braid was very fun and she added lots of bows so it would be extra fancy.  She then informed me that my attire was not fancy enough for the farmer's market so I put on a dress too and braided my hair.  She provided a bow for my braid as well that was happily a bit more subtle than hers.

 6.  Lady M has been in crafting mode. I love how she dives right in to whatever supplies are around and makes something beautiful and happy. We had a great time crafting together and I love to see what she creates.

7.  Able & Kari gave us the treat of a date night while they watched our kids. Friday evening's adventure was the OU Women's Gymnastics 2014 National Championship Banquet.  There was good food and lots of fun things for a gymnastics nerd like me. I think Brent has slightly less fun, but was an excellent sport and asked good questions.  He was maybe a little surprised at the random stuff I knew.  We sat just next to Jake and Kyla Dalton which was kinda neat.  (Yes, for those keeping track Brent went to Norman three days in a row, and again twice today.  He is a bit tired of that drive). 

8.  We needed a small, but necessary project for a very lazy Monday.  The easiest on the list was switching E in to a "bigger boy" bed by taking off the front of the crib.  There is actually a small rail along most of the side, but this photo was mid construction.  I was pretty sad to let go this last baby phase, but E loves it.  Recently, he has been attempting to climb out when we're playing so it seemed like it was time before our little tumbler hurt himself.  Have I mentioned he spends large portions of the day doing somersaults and being upside down on the couch?  I have? OK, but seriously, it is a big portion of his life right now. 

9.  Not quite as much about B this week, it seems.  He got 100% on his first spelling test. (Yes, I've already scrapbooked it).  He is still loving baseball and practicing most days.  He is nervous about the team's first game on Thursday, which is apparently against a talented opponent (team got maybe 2nd in the spring season?)  We got the season schedule today and it is going to be crazy.  There are games two nights a week most weeks and often not starting until 7 or later.  The better news is that the season ends by Oct. 14.  Overall, there are about the same number of games as in soccer season, just crammed in to a shorter span. All this is good and bad and we'll just see.  I'll be gone for a few of the games, which is sad.  We are all excited for it to just start! (He has been practicing 3+ hours with his team a week for a couple weeks).

10.  Exercising still happens every day.  Most days I still don't want to.  I'm not really sure it makes much of a difference, but sometimes I think it does.  It is nice that even though I'm running less I'm usually able to run more easily due to all the cross-training (or so I'm telling myself).  I continue to mix up the rotation a lot to keep things interesting.  Most weeks include 2 yoga sessions, 2 runs, 2 strength days ( abs, arms, and feet work).  The seventh day varies.  Today it was a zumba video, but sometimes it is Tae Bo, stationary bike or something else.  If I miss a running day I add another cardio day, etc.  I try to keep the cardio days around 3 per week.  I am still shooting for 10K steps a day too and most days I make it, but wasn't quite as successful over the holiday weekend.


The coming week includes: B's first baseball game, M's 2nd French lesson, Baseball practice, Sunday School & Church, Zach's Birthday party at our house, a visit from Grandma, school, and probably lots of other fun stuff!