COOL is the Word

To COOL for school

So I am all better now.  I am still getting up super early and I should be used to it, but I fight it every morning, maybe I should just let go of the thought that I might sleep in.  The problem with this is I am optimistic and I always have hope.  Our summer is moving along just great and of course we are still getting hit with crazy temperatures of 106.  I will never complain again when it gets into the 90's because really, is this that hot?!  This summer we have enjoyed lots of different activities and thanks to some special friends my girl has gotten to go swimming.  I have decided that I don't really need to go to great lengths to entertain my kids, so far we have enjoyed the splash pad, created our own water park in the back yard, joined the summer kids bowling club (free bowling), water balloons, renting movies, late night walks followed up with some fun with the water hose and of course playing in a dark room with a flashlight is always fun.

 




Freezing water for some outside ice play to stay COOL

 

He knows how to stay COOL

We have also discovered the joys of freezing things.  Our most recent project is freezing water in different shaped containers and then taking them outside and stack them to create different shapes before they melt.  I don't know if this will be a winner or not but it sounded like a COOL idea.  The only other thing that I would like to try this summer since the temps. are so hot is baking some cookies in the car.  My friend Kenna did this last year and I don't think it was this hot.  It would be something to try and to say we did it would be COOL.  No we haven't gone to any museums or big water parks this year and I think it is all good.  I take that back my brother took my girl to the History Museum in Norman, OK and we love him for that.  We started something new this week.  We started going to one of our local parks after we drop sister off for her babysitting job and we walk then play.  This park makes me feel like I am in a different town and maybe that is because it is so nice and peaceful or it could just be because we never go to this park and it is the prettiest park in Owasso.  The creeks are all dried up right now and you can be sure to see turtles  poking their heads out of the water in the big pond along with some ducks.  I love that we are not the only ones enjoying the morning air.  We saw a couple on their bikes and some joggers.  After we take our morning walk through the lovely maze of trees we end with some fun on the playground.  This is my boys favorite part of the day.  The only way I could get him to head to the car was to let him walk, which he thought was just great.  He is getting more and more independent.  He wants to walk by himself, usually I have to hold his hand to keep him close.  I still have to do this but if the situation is right I can set him loose to be free of his momma.  That is what any parent wants for their kids.  To raise them to be independent adults and that is the same for us.  Yes we are taking baby steps in that direction with our boy but we are moving in that direction just like everyone else.  I love giving him freedom in hallways, parks and the arcade at the bowling alley.  Freedom for my girl is different right now she is getting older and able to do more things for herself and she is babysitting so little by little she is moving forward to that freedom that I will not be ready for.  I think it is funny how I  want them to be independent but at the same time it scares me and I want to pull them in closer.   So I have gotten carried away thinking about all the COOL things going on in my life that I have started to ramble.  So keep having COOL thoughts and hoping for COOLER temps.

Always making sure I am still following him

Coming Up Roses



Me loving my girl






Squeezing my boy

So far I have painted a rosey picture of our life here at the Lane household, but we are only human and sometimes we get grouchy and tired and need a break from each other.  Yes I am including myself when I say we and I might really be talking about myself here.  My boy has been getting up anywhere between 4:45 and 6:00  for two weeks now and I think today was the day when I just needed a lot of alone time. By the time 4:00 rolled around today I was pretty much done and I still had at least 5 hours before my oldest went to bed.  Suddenly when I get to this kind of tired I don't really even want to be touched; simple questions feel like I have just been asked to clean the house and put together a meal for the entire neighborhood and then come up with entertainment for them.  The only thing that can fix something like this is alone time, it is as simple as that.  Alone time for me includes me doing pretty much whatever I want and really a whole lot of nothing when it comes right down to it.   I find myself telling everyone near me that I am tired and grouchy and I find myself repeating this a lot.  I say it so much that my girl nicknames me grouchy pants, but tonight she made a funny and called me grouchy shorts.  Yes I am tired but I haven't completely lost my sense of humor.  But I want it to be known that I am tired and grouchy so that nothing will be expected of me, nothing like finding that lost item that I have never seen but I should know where it is.  So here I am staying up just so I can enjoy some alone time.  I am not the only one in the family that requires alone time, my girl and my boy both require it.  My girl during band camp would go to her room and eat her snacks for lunch just so she could have a moment of silence before the next activity and E he is notorious for wanting to be left alone.  This week though is different he has joined me in the kitchen and wants me to sit at the table while he eats, or just be in the same room he is in.  There was a time in his life that we longed for this kind of interaction from him.  We used to have to get right in front of him and hope for eye contact, but not anymore.  He is a budding little social butterfly in training.  So today I am tired but tomorrow is a new day and I will be all better and ready to squeeze my girl until she screams that she needs to get away and I will gladly make another pizza for my boy from scratch and watch him eat it with such pleasure.  So when everything is coming up roses here at our house, just know that we are not perfect.     

Where's the Water

I know all my posts lately have been about the heat and this one is no different, sorry.  I just feel like my brain doesn't quite work the same in this heat.  We are looking for cool things to eat, you know like salads and sandwiches and maybe some lemons if you like.  I put these lemons in the freezer because Better Homes and Gardens told me to.  You can put them in your drinks.  My girl prefered to just eat them as is, frozen.  Oh and I would think that orange and lime slices would be fun and colorful to add to your summer drink.  I am afraid we are going to be left to freezing our food to get some sort of relief from the heat because our days of enjoying playing in the water after the sun goes down are almost over due to water rationing in our near future.  It did sprinkle on me today and honestly it was a major tease.  I couldn't decide if I was happy to see it or just feeling a little sorted because it left me wanting to see a down pour while I was driving.  I hate driving in a down pour, but today I would have taken it.   Our neighbor he is obsessed with watering his yard.  He watered it all day yesterday and really he watered it so much most of it ended up down the sidewalk.  My girl was having a fit about all the water that was being wasted.  My boy decided that his yard shouldn't be the only thing to enjoy all that water he was using so he went and stood in front of his sprinkler trying to cool off while I was loading the car to go somewhere.  Yes we are all HOT!!!  If I didn't think that he might have been watching I might have stood in front of it myself.  I hope my post about the heat doesn't make you hot and I hope you are having a happy Friday!!!     

Fun Time For Me Please

Tongue Tattoos!!

Friends since birth!!!

Quiktrip was so kind to give us these awesome tongue tattoos!!

I love it when she smiles!!!

My girl has been home from band camp now for five days and she has already been to a birthday party, where she got to go ice skating for the first time, had a friend sleep over, bowling (of course with friends) and now she is swimming at a friends house.  If you were to ask her what summer is all about she would gladly tell you having fun and playing with friends.  Camps are not allowed to be scheduled and this summer we have managed to squeeze a lot of fun in with a little responsibilty.  I mean hey who can argue with fun in the summer, but this summer she has a babysitting job and is enjoying all that comes with having a job...money.  She didn't spend it at first and now she understands the true meaning of a job and its rewards.  I think that it must be wonderful to have cash and no financial burdens leaving her free to use it all for pleasure.  I can just see her at a counter with a clerk asking her what would she like and of course her response would be fun time for me please!!  Ok, ok, I know money in hand there should be some kind of lesson being taught; so does saving your money for something big and then spending it all on that one thing, does that count as a lesson?  I sure hope so.   But really she has been very responsible with her money and even putting some of it in savings.  She is her dad's daughter that is for sure.  Summer is almost over and I can't really say that she has missed out on much, I have truly tried to serve up a whole lot of fun time and we will continue our fun time into the fall when we can actually be outside without feeling like we are going to melt.  So go my dear friends and find yourself some fun times!!!

Nothing but love!!

Savvy

A couple of years ago me and my girl joined a mom and daughter book club.  I learned far more than I imagined I would from this little group.  For one my girl was not afraid to speak in front of a group and give her opinion on what she read and second I found that the reading selection was awesome and not just for kids.  One book in particular stands out because of the message that was received by me after I read it.  Savvy by Ingrid Law is based on a family that possesses magical abilities, a "savvy" and each members savvy is different and to be discovered by each member when the time is right.  I am not talking about super powers we are talking savvy here.  For example one member had the ability to always create the perfect pie, and one of the brothers could create hurricanes when upset.  I know what my savvy is and I haven't quite figured out how my savvy works in my favor.  I have the ability to make electronic devices and common household items stop working.  It could be something as simple as the DVD won't play, or the TV won't turn on and then there is the phone it just won't work.  Denis hears this from me all the time and his savvy is repairing everything that doesn't work for me.  He can come home and turn the TV on and it works.  He has a special savvy that we are grateful for here at our house because things just don't work at our house all the time.  We try and joke about it by saying don't touch anything today or did your mom touch...Denis shows patience when it comes to "stuff" not working.  I truly find it frustrating and a huge inconvenience.  We might go a whole day without the TV or the phone and then Denis comes home and turns it on.  Denis has gotten me a couple of electronic devices and one of them is an iPad and let me tell you what I am so nervous about the safety of this iPad and worried that my savvy might decide to kick in one day when I am using it.  So how do I make the most of my savvy?  Not sure.  What is your savvy?  It could be you are good at reading people, running late, coloring pictures...whatever your savvy is make it work for you.

Some Like It Hot

 The temperatures here in Oklahoma have been staying around 104 and for this family that is just to hot.  I had a dear friend, who is no longer with us, she loved the heat and everything about summer, sitting by the pool, the hot sun and her roses.  I always think of her and wonder if 104 would be to hot for her.   These hot temperatures leave me looking for cool things to do, sure you have seen pictures of the kids playing in the water but I am sitting in the shade and hiding from the sun.  The sun makes me worry for my white skin and did I put enough sun screen on me and the kids.  Recently I took my boy to the bowling ally since this is a nice cool place to be. I wasn't sure if I would be chasing my boy up and down the lanes but he knew what he was there to do and he was excited.  They provided us with the lightest balls they had and set us up for some serious bowling.  E has always loved anything that involves a ball.  He is good at basketball and he has an arm like you wouldn't believe and bowling was no different, he loved it.  He had his technique like all professional bowlers do.  He brought the ball up and released it in the way that only he can and then the waiting came and this I do believe was one of his favorite things to do, he loved watching his ball roll down the lane and he had to get down and low just like you see them do on TV except a little lower than that, we are talking low to the ground low.  What made E different from all other bowlers is that he wasn't concerned with how many pens he hit and to be honest I have no idea what his score was.  Bowling is definitely going to be one of our hang outs for the rest of the summer along with Blockbusters.  While others are basking in the sun we will be hiding in the shade and waiting, just waiting patiently for the nice cool  breezes of fall to arrive and until then you know where we will be. 

This One Time At Band Camp...

My friend Alana reminded me of this funny quote from American Pie and I had to use it.  How is this relevant to anything I have to say, well my girl went to her very first, week long, overnight band camp.  Sure summer camps are what parents sign their kids up to do for the summer, but our summers have always been about doing a whole lot of whatever we want with no schedule attached to that summer.  Band camp for us was more of a commitment to our school program and I am hoping it turns into something that she will totally enjoy and want to do again.  So we spent last week packing and making sure she had everything she needed and I am still concerned she will not have enough food to put in her belly. 

I Like You, I Love You

My grandparents have been married for 65 years.  I told you lots of celebrating going on in the family right now and this is definitely something that shouldn't be over-looked.  I know they have had their ups and downs but who doesn't, it is how you handle those ups and downs and everything in between that matter.  They have a saying hanging in their house and I think of them every time I see it because it is so true.  It states "All because two people feel in love"  I am sure you have heard this before, but it is true they started something a long time ago because my grandpa couldn't take his eyes off of my grandma, it happens that way, love at first sight.  So all because they feel in love they have a family that loves them very much.  My grandpa still flirts with my grandma and she shyly brushes him off and they still hold hands.  How do they keep the love going after all these years?  I say they truly like each other.  Yes I said like.  They respect each other as individuals and treat each other that way.  They like the person they are and what they stand for.  I hope this makes since.  They found each other over 65 years ago, thank goodness for that, and they are still making each other happy after all these years.  So my wish for you is I hope you find that one that  you like and end up loving them for 65+ years.   Happy Anniversary to my sweet grandparents!!

What Do You Say To Another Birthday





My bro

Lots of celebrating going on in my family right now. My brother celebrated his birthday last Saturday and my sister is celebrating hers today. My sibs never celebrate together and they do their big celebrating with friends. I missed out on family dinners this year due to work and other family obligations. So where am I taking this, well I miss when we were young and we were always together celebrating birthdays. Honestly I can't remember specifics but I do remember always celebrating at our family reunion we had in July. I loved this being with everyone celebrating birthdays...it just doesn't get any better than that. We are older now and we make sure we call each other but honestly this day doesn't mean anything less than it did when we were young. We are celebrating life and I love a good get together with family and friends. I know we can't always make this happen and they don't need me to make their day special but I am celebrating my brother and sister this month. I miss seeing them and wish they could just come over for dinner just because. So what do you say to another birthday? I say let's celebrate it and I love you both!

My sis

Pocket Full of Brave

I don't know about you but I don't always feel like I have all the strength it takes to get me to some of the places I need to go.  I like to feel like I can reach into my pocket and pull out a whole lot of bravery and strength and then share this with my children.  I put my brave face on and just go for whatever it is that has to be done.  Today my boy had to give a little blood and this was not his first time, in fact I can't tell you how many times he has had this done.  Unfortunately this doesn't make it any easier.  I am not one of those moms that sugar coats all the bad stuff for my kids; I like for them to know what they have coming...no surprises.  So on our way over I am preparing him for what lies ahead.  I tell him we are going in and he will get poked in the arm.  I keep it simple until we are in the chair with the nurse and then I tell him this poke will not feel good but you will be fine, we are going to be brave together.  For some strange reason he sits still and screams threw the whole process, thank goodness for the sitting still part.  When it is all over they wrap his arm up in blue gauze as if it where some kind of present to be opened later and then enjoyed.  My boy hated this as much as he hated the poke in the arm, in fact he wasn't going to leave until they unwrapped his arm.  We left crying and passing everyone waiting for their turn to get poked and then wrapped like a present.  I know I am not the only mom that has ever said this, but I wish I could just take the pain so my kids don't feel it.  When I have to have blood drawn I never look, but when E was having his drawn I totally watched so I could make sure the whole process went as planned.  He was so brave today and I think he would have been without the extra brave I gave him from my pocket.  His sister says that he is so brave and she is always so proud of him.  So here is to having all kinds of bravery and strength stored in our pockets because we don't always feel brave and that is OK.  

Wow 20 Years

It is hard to believe that this much time has past since we walked down the aisle together.  We celebrated 20 years on June 8th.  We heard congrats and you have accomplished something a lot of people don't do and wow 20 years.  I know 20 years is an amazing number and celebrating 20 years is exactly what I expected to be doing when I said I do!!  I remember the very first time I saw Denis.  I remember that he was wearing a blue and white shirt and he had a blue McDonald's baseball cap on.  I remember almost every detail of that day.  I have been told that we remember certain events that happen to us because we get a rush of adrenaline when it happens, I remember that day, that is all I am saying.  Denis has always made me feel like I am the only one he sees, it might be because I am always by his side and he has no choice, I don't know but either way he makes me feel special still after 20 years.  Some of our most memorable moments together do not include some exotic place or some expensive piece of jewelry, to be honest I love the moments when we decide to order pizza and eat a whole bunch together, or we make a meal together after the kids go to bed.  We celebrate each other everyday and here's to the next 20+ years.  I can't wait to see where things take us.  20 years...wow 20 years!!!



Who's Making That Mess

We have recently re-discovered something that could very well go extinct because of our advancements in technology.  We are loving Blockbuster!!!  They are just like Red Box but better. Most movies are .99 and the rest are 1.99.  You can go in and look and touch all the movies and if you want to keep it another day it is .99.  We spend most of our time in the .99 section because that is where you will find all the Dora Explorer DVDs .  They have the biggest selection ever!!!  My boy likes to pull down a handful at a time and spread them out so he can look them over.  Yes it looks like a mess but I promise it is no mess it is a very specific process that needs to happen in order for a selection to be made.  When he has looked over all of them and sometimes it takes a couple of times looking, he signs and says YES!!!  Blockbuster is a good place for us to go because generally we are the only ones in the store allowing us to go threw this process without getting in the way of other lookers.  Sister has even taken a love for bringing home a few movies to watch. I know some of you might consider going and renting movies a thing of the past but it doesn't have to be.  We haven't done it in a long time because we use and love Netflix but scanning the movies on the TV or computer doesn't get my boy out in public interacting with others, so thank you Blockbuster for not asking who is making that mess and yes we will be back tomorrow.



Let the process begin



I think we might have found the one









Independence Day and Me ma's Birthday!!!



Every 4th of July Me ma, Denis's grandma, used to joke that everyone was celebrating her birthday and how  wonderful to be able to always celebrate with fireworks!!!  She would be happy to know that everyone is still celebrating her birthday. ;-)  Happy Birthday!!!