Ten on Tuesday - Easter Weekend Edition

 1. As usual, we spent a lovely Easter weekend at the farm.  We all dressed up for Easter vigil Mass and the cousin picture is awesome.  I think E and RO are the cutest.

 

 

2.  Getting a picture of our kids was a little less successful and involved some tackling, but we managed it.  

 3.  M had some rough moments over the weekend including a big bloody nose during mass and a black eye on Sunday, but definitely was an enthusiastic participant in everything from naps to planting and Easter egg hunts.

 3.  B did a great job as the big kid and did not pick up any of the "easy" eggs at the Easter egg hunt.  In part because we actually went to creation story practice this year he got to bring in lots of the cooler items, including tadpoles that we brought along for the adventure.  Still prone to crazy eyes in pictures.

 4.  E was not in to pictures, but was completely adorable and moved easily between Aunts, Uncles, parents and Grandma during mass and the festivities.  I am suspicious that some people in Bison may think that he and Ro are Audra and Zach's twin boys.  They are very cute together.

 5.  B went with super cheese face here? No clue.  Otherwise, it worked out pretty well this time.

 6.  Yes, I did crop a child out of this photo.  We didn't get much sleep as E was a noisy, needy companion, but did have a great time watching our kids and nephews play and enjoy Easter together.

 7.  Otherwise, Easter was a lot of chasing each other,

 baskets of goodies,

 So many sweet treats and chocolate bunnies,

 lots of cousin time,

 Fun exploring the farm,

 coffee outside by the fire,

and snuggling,

 8.  There was also, of course, an epic Easter egg hunt on a chilly, windy day.

 and more candy.

 and more coffee by the fire.

 9.  There was also an awesome treasure hunt.  I helped B and E who had written riddle clues.  They took a bit longer than team Z&M, but had a great time.

10.  We ended the celebrations with smashing cascaroes and getting confetti everywhere.  In the middle there somewhere was an incredibly awesome fish fry that we have to make a tradition. I also got to go for a run in the country with Zach, Able, and Kari on a very windy day.  It was hard to run in to the wind, but great to do it together. 


This week is all about packing and more packing here. .... this whole moving craziness is moving right along.  Thanks especially to the Korenaks for all their help!

Ten on Tuesday

1.  First up - Happy Birthday to our oldest nephew, John, whose 7th Birthday is today!  We love him so much and loved getting to spend some of the weekend with him and his family.  Happy birthday also today to Aunt Suzi -- the chef of the Rouse family!  (Our family has tons of birthdays from Jan 20-March 9 so several birthday buddies). 

Photo credit goes to State Senator David Holt

 2.  We also celebrated George Washington's 283rd Birthday on Friday evening at Dust Bowl with the GW Oklahoma Alumni network (these are the kids of the alumni, obviously).  It was probably our best GW alumni event so far.  We had lots of fun, food, and great conversations.  All of the alumni present are lawyers which probably helps us find things to talk about rather easily :)

 3.  Then, after attempting and failing to go to sleep early, Brent and I woke the kids up just before 5am on Saturday for the drive to TX.  We banned electronics, books, and really anything for the first two hours in hope they would go back to sleep.  I even played their lullabye CD.  I think they got some sleep, but not enough.  Come 7am, E got to have some video for the first time and was very confused that it wasn't a touch screen. We dropped Brent off at a summer camp fair by 8:30am and were off to visit the Joneses.

 4. I really like looking down from the second story at Jamie's house.  It is beautiful and this little guy is so very curious.  He had an awesome time with his cousins and all the toys, but had to be banned from the kids sleeping room for keeping everyone awake way past bedtime (we did return him to his air mattress after he fell asleep in our bed).

 5. I had no idea we were going to John's basketball game while we were there, but it was great fun.  It was pretty fancy as grade school games go complete with a run in through a tunnel into a mostly dark gym when their name was called with pulsing music in the background!  John played a great game and the other kids behaved pretty well as spectators!

 6.  After lunch, M & B went to John's birthday party at the climbing gym.  E took a nap in the car while I went to pick up Brent and then we met them there.  Climbing was kind of hard for the kids, but they gave it a try and seemed to have a good time anyway.

 7.  This guy ate his Italian Ice in tiny bites like this for about 45 minutes.........

 8.  We made it back the next day in time for Ro's 2nd birthday party.  It was a woof woof themed party and full of fun, big dogs and little dogs, black and white dogs, etc.... It was also nice to see my siblings who I have seen very little this month!

9.  Monday, everyone went to school and then an unexpected amount of snow arrived.  These two loved playing in it and helped me clear off the driveway.  B joined them when he came home and they all rejoiced about having a snow day today.

10.  For the first time in this training cycle I missed a run --- shocking I know given how busy and exhausting my weekend was.  I was back on schedule today, but it is shocking how much I do feel it when there is a gap in my training.  Sigh.  It is going OK.  As usual, running is a largely psychological game for me.  That said, last Thursday's run was totally awesome so there will be good days.

This weekend I am celebrating my birthday with family and friends.  Thanks to all you readers who follow our journey and encourage us in this crazy life.  Love you!

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.