A Fun Day

This pic is from the day last week when we had a full house. We were dogsitting Scooby. And I was watching a friend's little girl because I was "helping" her parents while they were sick with the stomach flu. It was a great day. Sariah and her friend went to Sam's with me, and when we got home we went out in the backyard and played with the dogs. It was total chaos with babies and doggies running all over the place. Elisabeth and I thought it was great fun.

{Never you mind that we later lost the dog and probably gave the little girl the flu. That's entirely beside the point.}

Recorder Concert

Every year in Norman, 4th graders learn how to play the recorder. At Elisabeth's school the fabulous music teachers (I know that I've said that before, but they really are amazing) put on a great show. They teach the kids 50s songs. This year, their program was about surfing. All the kids had to wear beach clothes. Haha, that's really funny. It sounded like a really great idea when it was spring-y outside and warm ... until the day of the concert, when it was like 35 degrees outside.

Yes, the thought of going to a 4th grade recorder concert sounds a little ... ahem ... scary. However, a lot of it was singing, and they did the wave, too. And Mr. L had them doing 3-part harmony! It sounded awesome! I couldn't even play harmony in the marching band in the 11th grade (that was the year I played the tenor sax, which always does harmony).

They were sooooo amazing that I knew all of the songs they were playing without the program ... which was good, because I was out in the hallway with Sariah, who was screeching at the top of her lungs and dancing!

Big Brothers

Sometimes there's no one else to have fun with like your big brother!

I Don't Even Know What to Title This

Friday the 13th

I've never actually believed in bad luck on Friday the 13th. My birthday's on the 13th, and Friday birthdays are always the best. Not that this Friday the 13th was my birthday.... Well, you get the idea, anyway.

This year, I think I can be a believer in 13th bad luck.

First, I took Sariah to the pediatrician bright and early in the morning, because she'd been running a 102-degree fever 2 nights in a row, with no other symptoms. I had this big freak-out session on Thursday, worrying that her tick bite a week and a half ago had caused her to get Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which starts with the sudden onset of fever.

She doesn't have RMSF.

Silly me.

No, she has the flu, like the influenza flu. The kind they swab your nose for (that was fun, especially after they'd swabbed her throat for strep). The kind you get an annual shot for (which she did indeed get this year, incidentally, and fat lot of good that did!). She'll be contagious for 5-10 days. Somebody else in the family will probably get it, too. At least one somebody else. Which leads to....

Second, we were supposed to go to Kansas this weekend to see my parents' new house. Ok, well, we weren't really going to see my parents. Apparently, we were going so that we could ride my cousins' horses. At least, that's what my girls informed me when we had to tell them that we couldn't go infect Grammy and Papa with the flu. So, no trip to Kansas.

And third, we lost the dog we were dogsitting. Rex opened the gate, and Scooby ran out, and "it was nobody's fault, Mom, really!" (except that the perpetrator was standing there with the gate wide open). The good news was that we found him on his very own doorstop a few hours later (although some of the children were still weeping and wailing). The bad news was Scooby's family got stranded with car trouble on their trip, and couldn't get home to take Scooby back, and so we spent the evening worrying about losing their mutt again. How could we have possibly lost their dog after 3 days? The first day, yeah. I guess we got complacent. Or our 6-year-old wanted to see how fast Scooby could run. Whatever.

So, by the end of Friday the 13th, our kids were really admiring us. We cancelled their spring break vacation and we lost Scooby and refused to keep looking for him all over Norman. Hence, the Kid's Choice Parents-of-the-Year Award that we earned ourselves yesterday.

Yeah, I'm a believer.

Habits

Yesterday's picture was a month old. I'd been meaning to post it and hadn't done so yet. The Queen of the Paci is still pacifier-less, 3 weeks pacifier-less. Rock on! She usually only cries for 5 minutes or less when we put her down for naps or bedtime. But I do now have mother guilt because we discovered last week that she's cutting molars and her mouth really does hurt ... if I were a nice mom, I would have waited until afterward, right?

Oh wait, I'm not the nice mom. In fact, I think Bob and I are up for the Kids' Choice Parents-of-the-Year Award this weekend. Why, yes, that is sarcasm you detect; however did you know? But that's an entire other post....

I guess the next habit we'll have to tackle is the wearing of the glasses all the time.

Even More Time Out

** See also this post and this post. :)

At the Park

We had a tour of realtors at our house a few weeks ago, so we had to find something to do with ourselves. We took Sariah and Junebug to the park to kill some time. They played hard, and we all enjoyed the spring "breeze" and the nice weather.

Don't be deceived by this picture of techno dad. He did not merely stand around holding the dog's leash, checking his email. He walked the whole park several times over with boy dog and daughter. I love that man! It gave me a chance to stand around taking pictures and doing nothing at all. It was great!

Why Fathers Rock

Dads are always there when you need them, like when you're coming apart at the seams ... er, shoelaces.
They're most amazing when you're scared and you have something important to do, like cross a bridge. Dad's right there behind you with his hand stretched out to catch you if you stumble...

... and then, somehow, someway, he's waiting for you at the end of the bridge to hold out his hands and give you something strong and sure to reach for.
When I saw these, I thought about what a great dad Bob is, how much he loves his little ones. I thought about how I've always counted on my dad for these things. And I thought about how Heavenly Father is somehow always right there to catch me when I think I'm going to fall, how He ties up my shoelaces for me regularly, and how He always manages to be on both ends of the bridge with His hands stretched out.

It's Spring!

NOT!

My eunomous bushes are really taking off this year.And look at my day lilies! They might actually bloom before June.

Buds on my redbud tree!!!

My little hostas deciding it's warm enough to reappear.

My sweet gum tree is ready to burst into leaf.

My neighbor's redbud tree is way further along than my own. It's gorgeous!

My carolina jasmine vine--I didn't even know it had started blooming.

It's a good thing that the jasmine will bloom again.
Because this is the weather forecast.

Seriously? Winter mix?
Oh wait! Silly me! We live in Oklahoma after all.
When we know for sure what season it is,
we won't know what to do with ourselves.

@!#$@%!$@#*@^!%@#@#!@%!!!

I don't think I've outgrown my klutzy phase yet. But I have a really cool camera/phone, so I can document every stumble ... er, step of the way, and I can call the wrecker, too!

Mother Moments

Humor is the most essential character trait you need for parenting. Okay, well, it's the one that *I* need the most. Without humor, I would probably sit down and cry and never stop. Some days are like that. Okay ... well, when you're a mom, most days are like that.

That is the reason why it would be really easy for me to say that pictures like this are my favorites because the treasured son or daughter is asleep, quiet, immobile, and not pulling on any of my clothing or bodily appendages.

Or it would be very easy for me to point out that I should be more careful since Sariah clearly follows my example. This is exactly the way she sleeps in bed with me.

I don't really like to wax poetic or "all emotional," as Caleb would say, because humor is just more comfortable for most people.

But really, pictures like this are my favorites because Sariah's innate sweetness and goodness just take my breath away. Just seeing her like this reminds me--in the space of a heartbeat--of all the reasons that I'm a mother, and how blessed I am to be a part of these sweet little spirits' lives. It keeps me humble and grateful and joyful.

A Watched Pot Never ... Blooms?

I remember now why I like spring (until I crash, anyway). I wait and wait and wait for things to start blooming and budding and growing and greening. And the more I wait, the longer it takes. And then one day, you look and the daffodils are in full swing, and the Bradford pears looks like popcorn trees, and you can see purple on the redbud trees. And everything is gorgeous.

And then my throat starts itching, my nose starts running, and my freaky weird reverse seasonal affective disorder kicks in, and I get extremely cranky.

I love spring!

Meditations by Sariah

~But, Mom, you SAID my baby needed a bath. I don't understand what the big deal is. I used the only water I could find! And why the heck do you have to mop the bathroom again now? It's just toilet water!~

P.S.

You'll notice that I actually put the right links in for my post about Bob from February. Scroll down if you want to see a real animal. {wink}

Monkeying Around

Sariah and I went to Oklahoma City Zoo on Friday with April and Lydia. Hannah came, too, because they sent her home from school with some weird rash thing on her face that we never actually figured out what it was (and that you can't actually see in this picture). Can I just mention that she was not the only school-aged child I saw at the zoo? I find it really hard to believe that so many families in Oklahoma home school. But who wouldn't have wanted to be at the zoo on Friday? It was perfect zoo weather!

I wonder how long the zoo has had these statues all over the place? The kids love them. We have pictures of our kids on the zoo statues since Hannah's very first trip to the zoo. I'm feeling really nostalgic, so I might have to find them, scan them, and post them. (Yeah, keep on wishing!) This time around, Hannah wanted to climb the gorillas just to see if she could finally get up to the top all by herself.She can.

Meanwhile, Sariah was quite taken with the tiger. That was good, since the real tigers were all snoozing, and if the statue made her happy, well alright then. She still doesn't share very well. First, she allowed Lydia on.
Then Sariah wouldn't let Lydia touch her. And she was quite pleased with herself over that.

And then she just sort of took over.
And just for good measure....
But that's okay, because Lydia posed beautifully for me for pictures. Too bad I didn't notice the trash can in the picture until just now.


Sariah walked a bunch of the zoo, insistent that she hold nobody's hand, quite independently (shocking of Sariah, I know!). She should have been exhausted. But strangely, I don't think she was. You'd think after 5 kids, including SuperRex, I would understand that when kids should be exhausted, they never are. They save exhaustion for your ... ahem, convenience. Thoughtful little devils, aren't they?

I just took this picture because when I was in the 2nd grade, I did a report about the okapi (I still have no idea how to pronounce it, even though the zoo has a sign and everything). I'd never heard of one before. And I still wouldn't have ... except that the OKC Zoo actually has them. So of course, they are one of my favorite parts of the zoo!

And that, my friends, was the first zoo expedition of the year.

That's My Man!

Ok, let's try this post again.

My man has been working really hard around here so that we can sell our house. He'd painted, repaired, sanded, built, cleaned, scrubbed ... you name it, he's done it. He's been a really good sport about it. He's put in mounds and mounds of effort, and I can't even describe how much I appreciate him.


But as always, when you live in a zoo, try not to provoke the specimens. They usually take matters into their own hands.

Winter Weather Day

I did take pictures when it snowed ... oops! I mean iced here a few weeks ago. I just have taken my time getting them posted.

It truly was bright enough for sunglasses.

Sariah really wasn't too sure about this. She wanted to touch it. But not.

So the neighborhood girls chauffeured her all over and kept her happy and entertained.

These are 3 of the best Sariah-sitters on earth!

Fixed

I think the picture links are fixed now. Sorry!

R&R

Have you ever noticed that sometimes it's really hard to find a comfortable position?


That's why when you find something that works for you, you have to go with it!