Summa Summa Tiiiiiime

Well, clearly we are loving this summer and spending more time outdoors than at the computer to blog! 

Last weekend, my little man became a road trip pro. 

We drove six hours northeast to Grand Lake 'O the Cherokees in the most NE corner of Oklahoma.  Ya'll.... I had no idea how beautiful this part of the country is!  There are these steep rock cliffs that drop down to the water.  Soooo pretty!

We met my sister in law and her family, and my "cousin in law"(???? is that a real thing, my husband's cousin?)  and his family.  In all, there were six kiddos including Luke and I must say, they all had a blast and got along so well!

I've decided Luke was born to be a lake rat.

He even went on the jet ski with daddy...SLOWLY since mama was standing on the dock ready to jump in to save my baby!

And for those of you who frequent the lake regularly, if you haven't invested in a Lily Pad (and it IS an investment), you need to do so...like, now.  Luke had a blast running up and down this thing and it let me sort of relax a little bit.

 I mean, between the lily pad, and a life jacket and six adults watching him, I decided my nugget was safe.

We had so much fun that we want to make it an annual or monthly thing!   Thanks to my sister-in-law for the invite, the delicious meals and the hospitality... it was a much needed family vacation! 


Until next time, Grand Lake! 

Dodged a Bullet...

For a week or so we've been a little worried.  See, my handsome husband might, maybe sometimes talk like the military man that he was once was...aka swear like a Coast Guard sailor.  Well, seemed like our little parrot had picked up a naughty word.  One of the classics.  Anyone ever heard a nearly two year old say "shit"?  Funny the first time.  The second, third, fiftith time not so cute.  
We really were starting to think we had corrupted our son's (already lagging) language.  I mean, he can barely say "mama" ("ma") and "dada" ("da") but this was clear as a bell.  I fully expected a call from daycare every day.   

Until this morning, I was getting him dressed and he kinda freaked.  Pulled on his collar and said shit over and over. 

Ohhhhhh.  SHIRT, honey. You want your shirt off?

Get your head out of the gutter, mama.  Geez.

Videos of "the Bull"

This child!!!!  He's such a rough and tumble boy.  I'll let these speak for themselves since I really don't have any excuse. 

Yep, that's the body slam he mastered last week.  Makes this redneck heart swell with pride!  Ok, not really, but it's pretty funny.  He even does sound effects --- hahaha!

And please tell me someone else has a nearly two year old that has started headbutting?   <crickets, crickets>   No?  Just me?  Hmmmm...  Where does he get this stuff?!?!?!?!

Honestly though, he's just like his daddy...  on the exterior so tough (and a little rough around the edges) but underneath all that, he has the sweetest heart and is surprisingly sensitive.  Last night, he started whining so I pretended to cry.  He sat down next to me and just patted my leg.  Tough and sweet I tell ya, winning combo!

Well, well, well...

Long time no blog... Sorry 'boutcha.  Didn't mean to leave you hanging. 
Liars...  I know you didn't notice!   :)
Things have been a smidge hectic lately, but I've accepted that's just life.  BUT - I think I got in my ten acts of kindness, but lets list them out and see, shall we? 

1.  Left a bag of candy and a "have a great day" note on a co-worker's desk.  Just because.
2.  Sent a thinking of you note to a friend I've really missed but lost touch with lately.
3.  Helped a woman with a screaming child like mine to load her boxes from Costco.
4.  Left a note for the next person at Avis that got "my car"---  "Careful!  There were ants in here but I think I got them" with my can of ant killer just in case.  (Maybe not so nice if I freaked them out!?!?)
5.  Let a uniformed soldier take my place in the front of the line at security at LAX.
6.  Shared my umbrella to get someone to their car in the rain.
7.  Gave a snack size bag of chips and a bottle of water to the airport valet.

Surely I'm nice enough that I've done more than this but I'm really struggling.... maybe I'm just so "naturally" nice that I don't take notice of them...errrrr something.  UGH, well, I've got a little over a week to finish off strong!  Taking suggestions since clearly, I'm just not that nice of a person! 

Other than that, we've moved to the new house:


I'll give a tour of the inside soon...
but let's just say if I didn't have to move for forty years, it'd be too soon!!!!
Lots of landscaping is planned as the flower beds are pretty wimpy but we'll get it looking good in no time!




Played at the park with cousins:

Played in the baby pool and the neighborhood pool:




Clearly this is the baby pool in the backyard, but he LOVES the neighborhood pool!



Done lots and lots of breathing treatments:

Which means lots and lots of Thomas Videos... and somehow my almost two year old found a Snoop Dog/Thomas the Train remix.  Who makes this junk?  Anyways,  I'll forfeit my mother of the year award pride and share this video.  But please don't judge (or at least judge silently and don't leave any nasty comments!).  Yes, there are moving boxes in the back.  No, we don't make our bed when we are recovering from moving the day before every day.  We've joked about how someday our kids are going to be so embarrassed when their friends get in the car and we are "so embarrassing!" and play rap or whatever like we're cool.  Apparently, if this is any indication, we were way wrong.

I'm so tempted to delete this.  Does everyone hate the way they sound on video?  I hope that's not what my friends have to hear all the time.  Holy annoying.

I made a new wreath for our new front door.  Feeling crafty lately!

And after missing a week of "school" due to illness, Luke has learned all kinds of new, "great" tricks. And by cool tricks, we're talking a body slam.  I know, I know... we probably shouldn't allow it, but it's so funny how hard he works to throw all 22 pounds of himself on you. 

***I have video but just can't handle how annoying I sound. Maybe I can be quiet enough tonight to get a new one and add it in :)

I know this video is dark, but the intent was to be "calming down" before bed.  Instead, Luke decided the other night,  he'd rather play right up until the last minute and then he says when it's over.  From here, he just walked into his room and stood next to his rocking chair waiting for me to come in there!  Such a big boy these days!

 

I can't believe it's June already.... I feel a bit like we're driving through the mountains.  At 100mph.  Blindfolded... but so far we're all in one piece so... BRING IT ON!

Sending Love...

Wow, what an amazing Mother's Day.  I really felt beyond blessed this year to have a healthy little boy that made me a mama, and a husband that worked so hard to make it a special weekend, let alone day.

And that got me thinking...  (I know, I shouldn't start thinking...that's when things get wild around here...)

As blessed as I was feeling, who out there was having a rotten day because it's Mother's Day?  Those wishing desparately to have a baby in their life.  Trying and hoping and hanging onto the thought of becoming a mama.  Or those that are single mamas, and don't have a husband to coordinate for the littles.  Or, God bless them, those that have lost their spouses and are facing this holiday alone. 

How did I get so lucky?  What makes me any different?  And it hit me.  Nothing makes me different.  No one is protected from this crazy life.  And, as brutal as that is, something about it made me feel a little more connected to this little world we live in.  And I want to do something about it.  Do something to make it a better place to live. 

SO, if you had a tough day yesterday, know that you were on my mind.  I'm sending love your way and thanking you for all your hard work, whether you are a mother in the traditional sense or not.  We can all make it a better place to live.

In honor of all those that maybe wished it wasn't Mother's Day yesterday, I'm going to focus on doing ten acts of kindness over the next month or so.  It's not a lot.  And it's not flashy.  But it's a start. 

Happy Mother's Day.  Or Non-Mother's Day.  Whatever it is you're into.  You. Are. Loved.

Our New Normal

I think it's safe to say, chaos is my "new normal".  Maybe not new...For as long as I can remember my dad has always told me that I was the most organized person he's ever met that can exist in a constant state of drama.  Well, not one to disappoint let me completely oversimplify a couple things.

1.  Our house is on the market.  And twice the sale has fallen through.  So there's been a bit of uncertainty around if we were moving.  If so, when, where... all that fun.

2.  Luke's babysitter had to give notice.  He's moved from personalized, one on one, in home care to an in-home daycare with five other kids.  No comment on how this is going other than to say it's rotten.  And totally not for wimps.  (Or maybe we are the wimps and that's why it's hard?  I digress... but let's just say he's thrown himself down on the ground kicking, screaming and spitting the past two drop offs.)
3.  An offer was accepted on our house and the closing is scheduled for June 3.  That means we are moving out May 24.  Fortunately, we found a house in the same neighborhood, have scheduled to transfer utilities, all that good stuff... and it's completely a done deal as of yesterday.


So, you can imagine my tremendous sense of relief when we knew as of last night that we had a place to move, it's still in the same neighborhood, not going to completely bankrupt us, signed, funded all that.  I literally walked in the door last night feeling like a huge load had been lifted.

And then I hear dripping.  It wasn't raining (outside).  A pipe in the attic had backed up and was leaking through our ceiling, down the blinds and dripping onto the window seat.


So, yep chaos.  It's the new normal....  Instead of buying packing tape and throwing our belongings haphazardly into boxes tonight, this mama is headed to happy hour with some girls at work. 

Have a lovely day!  Bring your rain boots (and packing tape.  and a bottle of wine) if you plan on dropping by my house this weekend!



And to add some sweetness to all this sass....

Hitting Target like a ladies man

Eating dirt, no big deal...



Deciding that clothes are overrated, clearly...



Makin it rain

Mobile naps, a way of life when you're showing your house!

Hijacking a friends truck since toys are put away at home

Daddy's in charge of teaching all the really important stuff....like riding a scooter!

Easter Pics

Easter was so fun this year to see Luke pick up on the idea behind the Easter egg hunt.  He (of course) had a Thomas the Train easter basket...his obsession with Thomas has gone from average to full throttle and we live and breathe Thomas (or Tah!) from the time he wakes up until he goes to bed!

Off to hunt for eggs... with Thomas in hand

Not too sure about these confetti eggs...  Where's the candy!?!?!?

  

Must find more eggs!

Nope, this one doesn't have candy either! 

This one looks like a keeper!

Ditched the basket for better agility!

When it was all said and done, the Easter Bunny brought confetti eggs, blow-up swords, candy, dollar bills, a monster truck (toy, duh)  and beef jerky (for daddy).  Happy Easter!



Note the fancy folding chairs!  We had fun with Nana, Poppa, Cousins, Aunts and Uncles so it was a full house!



After lunch the "big kids" (errrrr, grown ups, whatever!) played whiffle ball in the driveway.  My sister-in-law totally sacrificied her body to keep one from going in the street.  And because we are so sensitive, we couldn't stop laughing long enough to find out if she was okay.  Poor thing!

After that, I held Luke on lock down to avoid him getting nailed!

It was a long day but we were still sad to go!  See you next year, Easter Bunny!