Ten on Wednesday

1.  Today I had outpatient surgery and my first full anesthesia experience.  All went well and I am fine.  We're actively trying to stay ahead of my pain and I'm glad I have a couple days off work to really rest before reentering the fray.  Thanks to all of you who sent supportive emails, texts, and phone calls.  Big thanks to my siblings and their spouses for the help with the kids and the scones today.

=== as a result I am lazy/tire so there will be limited photos today.

2. Yesterday we flew kites for the first time at the new house.  To my tremendous surprise, the kids made it work even with all the trees.  I think you can see the video here: Fly a Kite Video

------ This is as far as I got, two weeks ago, before I realized that sitting up for more than 15 minutes the day of surgery was a bad decision.... then two weeks passed.

3. Good news! Surgery recovery went well.  Taking a full three days to rest was a great decision.  I restarted exercise on the following Monday and am now on day 10 of 30 day Yoga Camp (via utube).  This does mean double run/yoga days at least twice a week as the race is coming up very soon... eeek.

4. B's first communion is this weekend.  It has been a long time and a lot of learning in coming.  I am glad they  are doing a thorough job teaching them about it.  We're having a party afterwards at our house complete with some of his friends from his old school, special cookies form his Godmother, and pork made by Uncle Able.  Should be fun!

5. This weekend, we made a last minute trip to the OU Red/White game. It went pretty well.  It was very clear that E is not ready for a real football game.  Everyone else did pretty well and enjoyed wandering campus a bit.  We had awesome Rusty's frozen custard afterwards too.

6.  On Friday, M, E, & I spent the duration of B's tennis lesson playing at Hafer Park.  This is becoming a bit of a Friday afternoon routine and the weather was lovely.  Can you believe this big boy can pull himself up like this repeatedly and easily? So big!

7. Thursday, Brent, Able, Kari, Tracie, Nikki, and I joined about 445 of OKC's coolest people for the Starlight Super.  Able, of course, knew everyone and Tracie knew the people he didn't.  This is one of those moments when I realize that thanks to telecommuting, living in north Edmond, etc... means I don't know anyone and that is kind of sad.  I then retreated to my forest home and am happily loving it here.  In other news, the food was delicious, the company wonderful, and the setting pretty magical.  I would definitely do it again!  (This was a fundraiser for downtown OKC and featured 5 courses of food from OKC restaurants and local wine pairings.  The dessert from Guernsey Park was definitely my favorite!)

8.  Due to his baseball team not reforming this spring, B is not playing baseball.  He has been to see Zane's team play a few times lately and I think there is some wistfulness there.  We will see if he starts again, but both boys are currently loving playing in the front yard til then.  Playing baseball with beginner tennis balls is greatly improving the safety and fun.

9.  Meanwhile Spring at the new house is completely beautiful.  I love it.  This was taken a week or two ago and it is already different and fully leafed out, but the flowers continue.  My iris haven't bloomed yet, but I'm watching them daily. Running in the neighborhood is awesome too.  M went with me last night and commented on how beautiful it was.

10. Also, there was Easter!  We spent part of Saturday with the Rouse/Richards crew and part at the farm where we made it through Easter Vigil mass in Bison and the Easter bunny found us too.  Maybe more pictures of that to come? 

An unexpected gift

For my birthday this year, M & Brent teamed up for a magical, perfect, and thoroughly unexpected gift for my birthday - gold, glittery heels.  It was a gift I'd never dream to ask of, but that made me furiously happy.**

Today, I, to my great surprise, received another such gift.  It was, perhaps even more unexpected as it is not my birthday at all.  In reality, I knew there was a "planting party" tentatively schedule for today under the planning hand of my mother and my daughter.  It was so much more magical than I had hoped and I wasn't even really part of it other than to drop by occasionally and beam.

First, Grandma and M went off to shop for fall flowers for my gardens on an unexpectedly cool, beautiful, early fall day.  They bought tons.  I never buy enough for them to be properly visible, but they bought dozens and dozens, multiple flats of multicolor pansies, at least a dozen mums, including a crimson and cream trio for near the door, least there be any confusion about our allegiances.  They also bought those other things we always need and can never find --- gardening gloves, extra trowels, and some good dirt.

Then, they set to work with B & E to begin the transformation.  Everyone dug in and little E sported a cowboy hat and batman shirt, the perfect outfit for the day.  They made quick progress as I mostly watched from my work desk.  A bit later, Audra, Zane, and Ro arrived for more helping hands, more bicycle riding, more picnics, and more fun.

 E & Ro sat on the curb and chatted.  Zane recycled all the empty pots.  The yard has much more color and life.  Our family roots are planted just a bit more firmly.

Yes, there was a minor bike crash for B, but that is pretty much daily and he had his very own professional RN on hand to assist. The gardens are beautiful and the house feels a tiny step more ours.  I felt special, loved, and so blessed to be surrounded by such happy, wonderful people.  Thank you.












** Yes, I'm reading the bloggess' book the moment it is released, but that's another story. 

Family Vacation 2015: DC Days 4 & 5

 So what we're calling the 4th day of the vacation actually fell on the 4th of July, which is a very exciting time to be in DC.  (Although, in fairness, most of the locals leave and tourists take the city for a big, high security celebration on the mall).  We knew our kids would be getting tired at this point and had zero ambitious to take them to the National Mall.  We had planned to go to a smaller local festival, which rained out.  Instead, we took them to the National Cathedral, which was beautiful as always.

The Cathedral sustained damage in a 2011 earthquake so various sections were under construction.

 When we arrived there was an organ concert going on.  We listened to it mostly from below in the gift shop and through the catacombs and small chapels underground.  I really wanted the kids to see the inside of the cathedral, but clearly they were going to need to run before the concert ended so we went back outside to look around on a surprisingly cool day, with the rain largely at bay. (Note, I forgot to get M a patriot dress.  Heather had gotten Cleo a dress for the occasion that Cleo decided not to wear and M promptly put on.  They were deep in to sharing clothes at this point and everyone was happy).

 To my great delight, the bishop's garden was open. I don't think it was in the past and I adored it. If you know about how I travel, you know that it always involves a garden, and this trip had been lacking one.  This garden was just right for our crew. It had lots of little secret places, interesting plants that were often edible, and all sorts of paths to discover.

 We bought a few gifts in the gift shop, which B graciously carried.  He picked out a gargoyle for his bookshelf, which was extra sweet as Aunt Audra & Uncle Zach bought him a stuffed gargoyle at that same gift shop when they visited and he was only 1!

 M & Cleo

 Lilly!

Yes, despite lack of photo evidence I was on the trip too!

 Rest/Snack time with amazing views.

Love this smile :)

 My mother and this gardener would definitely get along.

 Everyone knew it was our last real day together and seemed more willing to have photos.  M & Cleo requested and posed for this one in particular.

 We spent a few minutes inside after the choir concert exploring

People were getting pretty worn out so we stopped for lunch at Noodles & Co and drove some more through always scenic Georgetown before making our way home for naps.  The rule in our house is that every single person is required to nap on the fourth of July as we'll all be up so late.  I think almost everyone failed at doing that.  Meanwhile, our hosts were sleeping soundly upstairs.  Finally, we made a break for the car to go get one more scoop from Dairy Godmother.  The moment we left it started to down pour, then moved right on to torrential rains.  We continued, undeterred, and got completely soaking wet walking across the street and down two store fronts from our car.  The custard, sorbet, and posicle were all delicious and totally worth being sopping wet.  Of course the rain cleared not long after and we enjoyed a grilled supper with our hosts before heading to the fireworks. 

 Our kids really like watching fireworks out of the back of the car.  This is our third year so now it is a tradition.  This time, we watched from the top of a parking garage at National Airport.  We arrived early to get a good spot and worried about all the clouds hanging in the air.

 Everyone was too full of excitement to just hang out so we went down in to the terminal to wander around and get a treat.

Yes, we'd already had custard, but clearly still room for frozen yogurt.  It is a national holiday, after all. 

The kids all played, ran, danced and made up games.  It is great to have memories of them here as I come through this airport on every trip. 

 Then we headed back to the car and broke out the glow sticks - much silliness ensued.

 M as "Bo on the GO" (A cartoon character)

 Yes, they watched from the top of the car this year too.  The low hanging clouds did impede the view a bit and all the smoke hung in the wet air.  It was still a great show.

And that was that.  We hopped in the car for a fairly quick ride home and finished packing our bags.  

Day 4 - Family Notes:

M- Dairy Godmother ice cream and new coloring book, watching fireworks

B - ice cream at the airport and watching fireworks

E- seeing airplanes (at the airport),  garden,  yummy ice cream & Popsicle

Brent - fireworks & blackberry blueberry cobbler

Abbey - bishop's garden & driving up Wisconsin Avenue (in Georgetown)- fireworks fun

 Day 5: - Heading Home

 The next morning, we headed right back to the airport, dropped off the rental car and checked bags, and began the trek home.  (In fairness this technically is a six day trip as they traveled a day to get to me, but you get the gist).

 They make a great travel crew. I was truly impressed at how well they did.  They took care of their own stuff, did what they were told, played together, were quiet on the plane, and did almost zero whining.  They hadn't charged the ipad since the trip out (!) so had about 6 minutes of electronics in the roughly 8 hours of total transit time home. And they didn't need it.  They were awesome. I am definitely going more places with this crew.

Finally we were back in hot Oklahoma and our next adventure of living in our new home began.  It was a great trip and I feel so amazed that we really pulled it off with all the other things going on and all the stress and logistics heaped on our family this summer.  The kids impressed me so much and I truly had a great time on vacation.  Staying with friends helped tremendously, but I think our kids are pretty amazing too, which was the best.  Hooray for great family fun and more adventures to come!

Keeping it Real - Bed Shuffle

Parenting moves in phases, everyone says it, right? The problems we have just now are much different than the problems we had 8 years ago with a poorly sleeping baby. (Just one baby then :))

Our situation is, in complete fairness, pretty awesome, but that doesn't mean there aren't perplexing, humorous, grating challenges. Here is the latest in keeping it real parenthood at our house.

We moved just a few days shy of a month ago to a much bigger house that features, effectively, one more bedroom than the old one.  After some discussion, it was decided by all parties that the boys would share a room and M would get a room of her own.  Not only that, they all agreed that she would get the biggest of the upstairs bedrooms complete with the window seat of her dreams.



Night 1 for the kids sleeping in the new house I was in DC.  Not ideal.  Brent and I had set up and made all the beds the night before (after Able & Kari had moved them in earlier in the day).  M's room was lovely and full of her special decorations.  Everyone was sleeping in the identical bed they had used in the prior house, just in different rooms.  Brent sent me a picture of the set ups.

M's Room - day 1

Boys' Room - day 

The pictures was mostly to highlight M's decorations and impeccable organization and the boys room with stuff dumped on the floor. Just a few minutes later, he sent me another picture entitled "Guess what lasted about 5 minutes."

M was too lonely and worried to sleep alone and had apparently insisted on being moved in with her brothers and they and Brent decided it was for the best for now.  So they slept like that before the trip and for a week or so afterward, but it was cramped and M & B were starting to pick at each other again.  I ordered her an amazing double day bed with a trundle underneath that she selected herself.  It is sturdy and should last forever.  It arrived a day early and with some help from Uncle Able & Aunt Audra to get the mattress there we were all set.

We disassembled E's crib the same day.  He had been falling out since we took the front off of it and was barely fitting in it at age 3 with a dozen animals and large pillows he "had" to sleep with.  We bought M new sheets and a blanket and she happily moved in with not too many issues.

E spent the first night in his new bed trying hard not to go to sleep under the "Captain America" quilt his great-grandmother sewed in 1976 (Probably with zero thoughts of Captain America in mind).  It was a struggle and he ran down the hall and down the stairs a lot.  He also "may" have fallen out the first night as Brent found him under his bed in the morning with a scratch on his face.

Since then, the struggle has been pretty real with E.  Out of the maybe week or so he has been in his new bed only two nights do I recall him going easily to bed and nap times have only worked easily maybe 1/2 the time.  He comes to the railings upstairs and needs to "see" us or sleep with us or something.  He runs up and down the halls and bothers his brother and sister.  He plays with random things, and sneaks up on Brent and I wherever we may be.  Tonight, after being sent back to bed several times he somehow shut his finger in the door to M's bedroom. I'm sure it hurt tremendously, but I "might" not have been as kind and gentle as I would have had there not been many rounds of shenanigans before this.  So far, no consequences for his behavior seem to curtail it or really bother him much.  Le sigh.

If you are doing the math so far, you realize we now have a guest bedroom.  We do! Hooray! It is officially dubbed "Grandma's room," but she graciously allows other guests to stay there should they materialize.  This week it has been a flex bedroom space. E has slept there a time or two when avoiding a crying or distracting E.  M slept there after an "accident" one night.  B slept there when he had his migraines and needed a quite space away from other people.  It isn't that dark with yellow curtains, but it is fairly secluded.  The sheets are also washed way more often than anywhere else in our house.  It actually is working well, but definitely part of the "bed shuffle" that is currently happening.  A few times people have just slept in their designated beds with little drama, but so far, that is the exception, not the rule.

Brent and I, for the record, have slept in our own bed every night we've been home even when it was silly hot from AC failure.  Not sure that makes sense either, but it feels comforting to be in one's own bed.  Here's hoping the kids figure that out soon.

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 Wednesday

1. We are moving in 8 days.  We made small steps closer today as the repairs list came back to them and is "maybe" OK.  Good lawyering says it commits them to fixing the termite issue.  Realistic buyer suspects they are bad at drafting. We're going to lock it down, but are fixing or giving us money for all the other items.

2.  With that in mind, we have only packed items in the garage basically since April.... perhaps we should start, but we mostly only left things we are using so it is hard to pack them far in advance because we are mostly using these thing daily.

3.  All of the kids are sad about moving.  B is the saddest and emo/clingy way more than usual.  Not to mention that he actually walked directly into the exterior of our brick house today while playing marco polo with the babysitter.  PS that game is somewhat safer in water or open spaces than next to our house.  He needed alone time after that and has a big goose egg on his forehead and skinned knees.

4.  In one of my more substantial parenting fails, I thought Frozen dance camp was tomorrow and, in fact, it was today.  MUCH devastation with that news.  We're trying to get her reschedule to August or to the more generic "choose your princess" camp tomorrow. We bought a leotard today that is beautiful, but now she is upset because if she takes tomorrow's class she won't have a costume (it is a costumed class) and all hers are in storage.  Her life is hard. I suspect we will think of something tomorrow. (Updated - Dance Unlimited graciously switched her to the Princess Choice camp today where kids come as whatever princess they choose for free!  SO awesome. We picked up a Sophia Magician's Robe along the way and she was ready to go! Hooray!)

5. Swimming lessons are going rather well at the Y.  B is doing amazingly well and I get to exercise during his class.  He is a little stressed out about how we will meet up after, but otherwise content.  M's class is probably a bit hard for her, but also what she needs.  She is sticking with it, working hard, and getting better every day.  Very encouraging.

6.  Last week, M did the Disney Mini-Musical Camp.  It was awesome.  They had five songs with motions and did very well with them. I think she enjoyed it and did well with the performance at the end. I have a couple videos that I'll try to share here separately.

7. It seems increasingly insane that we are leaving for DC for nearly a week just days after we move.  It is happening though. I think it will be a good trip, but hard to focus with all the other things happening just now. Lots of things are shifting in my office too so it feels like one more instability. I keep thinking that come November this is all going to great.

8. Tomorrow is the last day of IRSP for Brent.  In the prior six years, him being gone has taken over our June and seemed to be the craziest thing.  This year, it really wasn't much of a disruption compared to every single other thing happening.  This is probably good as he has two more weeks of camp in July, which is a first.  Here's hoping that goes smoothly too.

9.  E has decided to switch his nap schedule to 2:20pm.  This is not ideal as it means he is mostly sleeping when the babysitter is here and mostly not when she's not... Best laid plans.  Speaking of which the babysitter is taking off to London for two weeks unexpectedly.  Luckily, I'm not working much during that time due to the move and trip, and have found someone to fill in for the missing days, but seriously????

10.  Baseball season is over for the spring it ended with an in-field home run in the last game of the season--the only one Brent missed :(  It was a rainy day, but a good end to the season and the team won!  I've enjoyed baseball evenings more than predicted.  I sort of hope we get to do it again.  I think we will, but we shall see.

Ten on Thursday

1.  So, we sold our house, or at least we believe we have.  There are still inspections and all the things that lead up to a closing process.  We also think we've picked out a house, but similar caveats apply. (Aside, there is a street in our town called Caveat Drive with lots of houses for sale.  We sort of think it would have been appropriate to end up there...)

2. Something keeps going wrong with our current house nearly every week.  It either doesn't want us to leave or is a sign it is going to all fall apart soon or something.  First, small things like the toilet lever and a series of other things leading up to the garage door spring breaking today ($180).  Seriously.... sigh.

3. The new house, of course, has issues.  It is completely beautiful inside, but has a wide variety of issues in the backyard.  We may yet back out and go another way.  Also, it is expensive and spending this much money freaks me out.  In concept, we should be able to afford it, but in practice, yeah, freaking out.

 4.  The day we put the offer on this house we had a long-scheduled photo session right afterwards.  I'll probably sprinkle the photos in to posts for awhile, but I've added several favorites here today.  I love Heather and she photographs us so well, in part because we are so comfortable with her.

 5.  M took a picture in this exact pose exactly 3 years ago.  The look in her eyes was, ummm, not the same.   My how she's grown. This summer she is taking swimming lessons & (for half the summer) french lessons as well as attending one day of dance camp and one week of Disney Musical Theater Camp.

6.  I could not be happier to have a picture of B with his real smile.  Love this  one. This summer he is learning to type, reading, taking swimming & spanish lessons, and maybe learning a little programming.

 7.  Serious face, curious, and silly - ours all three.

8.  This is a classic expression of his and the first in a serious right after this of all his favorite faces.  Glad she got them all :)  This summer he "might" start swimming lessons, but is mostly working on potty training, playing with his little guys, and snuggling his mom.

9.  Today, we embarked on some summer fun.  It began with buying rainboots because the rain seems here to stay (or maybe this will end the cycle? ) It ended with ice cream at Roxy's new ice cream store.  We've loved the truck forever, but are so excited to always be able to find them now!

10.  In between, we enjoyed our picnic at the Myriad Gardens, got wet in the Thunder fountain, and climbed and played all over the children's garden.  We will be back next week for Charlotte's Web in the gardens (We're just about finished with the book and next week the garden will be transformed in to scenes from the book!!)  Next time, we're bringing swimming suits for sure!  I so want summer to be more about hanging out in the gardens and less about stress, moving, money, stuff, logistics, things breaking, people being sick, mud, and all the things that have been the focus this week.  Tomorrow begins farm camp and hopefully some less stressful times!