Oklahoma Red Dirt

Uncle John came to visit this weekend to see the kids and catch up with some friends. He came over on Saturday morning after helping Aunt Barbara pack up for her move to Georgia. Steven was very excited to see him and was thrilled to have another person to "play with me." (Currently his favorite command.)

In the afternoon the adults went to the Royals game while the kids were treated to a babysitter for a few hours. When we got back home, we went outside for a little while to play. That was when Uncle John brought out the red dirt. I guess when Tommy and John were talking about his visit, John asked if there was anything Steven would like since he was bringing a birthday gift for Lyla. Tommy jokingly (or maybe he was serious, I wouldn't doubt it) said that Steven would be happy with a shovel full of red dirt. Well, Tommy was right.

He played with that red dirt all evening and we had to go outside at ten til seven the next morning to continue playing with the red dirt.



Why do we spend money at stores?

A day at the Park

Spring Sing

Steven enjoys preschool but not enough to perform. His preschool held their Spring Sing and Graduation tonight for the children who are going off to kindergarten next year. Steven's teacher is Miss Elizabeth and his class was slated to sing Baa Baa Black Sheep and Dios Si Senor.


It was Steven's class' turn and all the children filed up to the front to line up for their song. Steven took off for the side of the sanctuary. Miss Elizabeth chased him and he dodge her and ran back to me. I tried to coax him up to the front but he wasn't going to have anything to do with it. Oh, well, maybe next year!

After the program the school hosted an ice cream social for the children. Steven and his friends Brendan and Annie thoroughly enjoyed the ice cream sundaes.

Mother's Day at the Zoo

Since it was Mother's Day I got to pick the destination on our outing to the zoo. This time I decided that even though the kangaroos are my favorite, we should give the Gorillas a try. I'm not sure if I am to happy that I picked the Gorillas because they weren't too nice to us. Lyla's frightful look is because the Gorilla had just thrown a stick at us. He was lazily eating leaves off a stick and while I turned away for a second he decided to hurl the stick at us. It landed right next to us on the viewing deck - another two feet to the right and he would have given Lyla another black eye!

Thank goodness they were giving moms free ice cream to diminish the impact of the Gorilla stick toss. One of Tommy's fellow docents-in-training took this photo of our family. It was a great day to be a Mom!

She's a bruiser

My baby girl has officially had her first black eye! This picture is pre-bruising but she did get a little black and blue as the scrape started to disappear.

I was taking the kids somewhere - I can't remember anymore, the trauma was so impactful - and I didn't have enough hands to contain everyone and everything while trying to lock the front door. It seemed like a mere second after I let Lyla and Steven walk out the door onto the front porch that I was flying over to the steps trying to catch her from falling. She face planted on the first step right as I caught her. It really wasn't too bad, she barely cried but I felt like a terrible mom.

It's 2am

"Mommy?" I hear a small voice calling from the room next door. "I want funny snacks. Mommy? Funny snacks?" Pause. "I want funny snacks, Mommy?"

For those not familiar, funny snacks are fruit snacks. Those little gummy snacks that kids love.

Needless to say, I didn't get out of bed to bring him any funny snacks at 2am.

Stories from the visit to Minnesota

Saturday morning we went to Quarry Hill Nature Center for an hour or so. Steven had fun looking at all the turtles and fish. Lyla enjoyed the tactile table and watching the animals, too. We walked around outside for a bit and let Lyla roam in the grass.

When we got home we had an early lunch and Steven took a nap. Lori got to finishing sewing Eleanor's dress and we all just hung out for awhile. Steven came down with a fever just before mass. I was a little nervous about taking him but I really didn't want to miss Eleanor's big day so I gave him some tylenol and crossed my fingers.

We loaded everyone up and headed out to Holy Spirit. Lyla fell asleep in the car and Zack helped me get her in the stroller and into church - still asleep! She slept until the Gospel and at that point Steven got really restless, too. Lori's church has a HUGE gathering space just outside the sanctuary. A blessing and a curse. It was a blessing to have a place to go so that my loud kids did not disturb everyone but it was a curse to have a race track available to him. I swear that he took about 10 laps at full speed and then he found the table full of big, cardboard blocks and started kicking them. That resulted in a time out in the corner. The tylenol had definitely kicked in.

After mass we went back to the house for an excellent dinner - kudos to Scott. Me and the kids were the first ones to leave church and I told Scott that I would start the water to boil when we got inside. Well, it turns out that we were actually the last ones to get into the house. Why am I surprised by that?

Dinner was funny. Lee and Gail, Scott's parents, came over and Steven was chatty with them. He called Lee papa and Gail grandma all through dinner and just wanted their undivided attention. He put on quite a show. All while Lyla sat in the high chair behind me (there wasn't room at the table) and chowed down on her pasta.

That night was pretty tough for Steven - he had the night sweats and I think a bad dream, probably from the fever. I wasn't looking forward to the ride home. We left at about 9:30am and the kids fell asleep before we even left the neighborhood. I made it all the way to Iowa without stopping, so I decided to take them for a picnic at a pretty nice rest area with a visitor center. Steven was very excited for the picnic but not really interested in eating. Lyla was a hoot - she would toddle around on the sidewalk but didn't want to even touch the grass. It was great, an automatic fence!


After about an hour we loaded back in the car and headed for Ames to meet Uncle Dave. He was in Ames to start his new job so we were able to see the model and lot where they will build. The basement of the house is awesome! I can't wait to visit and camp out there!

The whole time we were in the house Steven was whining and his fever was coming back. I had to cut the tour shorter than I wanted to get him back in the car. When I put him down I saw some blisters in his mouth and had a momentary freak out. Dave was the calming, experienced parent. Suggested some illness and told me to call Tracy, who also reinforced that he was going to be okay and that I was going to be okay.

Poor little guy, he was just miserable the rest of the way home. He slept on and off, cried more than I care to remember, and just generally was sad. Turns out he has hand, foot and mouth disease - not really a disease but a virus.

All in all the trip was, well, an experience. I knew from the start that it was going to be tough on such a long drive with the two of them. Now that Lyla is mobile it is definitely harder to keep them corralled but I wouldn't trade my time with those two for anything in this world.

Eleanor's First Communion

It was so nice to be with my neice on her First Communion. She looked wonderful in the dress that her mom made her and I think she really liked the prayer box charm bracelet that I brought for her.