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? 

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!

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!