Summer Sweetness

Mrs. Mother Nature wasn’t showing us any summer lovin’—the soil was cracking and the grass broke off to the touch and …the heat? The heat was simply unreal. Walking barefoot was nearly impossible without going, ouch, ouch, ouch with every step. But, as the old saying goes, “good things come to those who wait” proved to be true. We got our storm, baby!

Ron and I watched as the clouds swelled into heavy clusters of gray fluff and lightening zigzagged with quick vertical flashes of light. There was no doubt that she was a showstopper, leaving us oohing and ahhing when the loud bursts of thunder boomed and crackled around us. We’ve been waiting a long time for an earth pounding showdown such as this.

Don’t you just love the smell of a good storm? Relief never smelled so sweet…or clean!

 

We may or may not have performed a rain dance earlier this week. I’ll never tell.

Before the rain quenched the grounds, making the rain/sun ratio a little more balanced –and I say “little” very loosely— we made the most out of our summer heat…

{Ice Pops}

These mini rainbow pops have become a staple in our freezer. Seriously, we can rarely endure an afternoon without opening these bad boys.

“You can’t beat the heat without a cold sweet.” I just made that up. Funny, no?

Err, moving on…

{Watermelon}

Need I say more? Hellllooo, water?

If you look up “summer” in the dictionary, you’ll find the word “watermelon”. They go hand in hand, like peanut butter and jelly. Salt and pepper. Macaroni noodles and cheese.

…You get my drift.

Our house is fully stocked with watermelon if anyone wants to come over for a slice or four…just putting it out there.

{Mud Baths and Sprinklers}

Remember when you were young and thought adding water to dirt to make mud was the greatest thing ever? Well, I do! And apparently so does Wills.

He’s practicing his Jackson Pollack moves.

When mud runs its course, there’s nothing like a little sprinkler action to cleanse and hydrate sweet baby skin.

{Home Comforts}

We’ve had many days were it topped out at 112 and that didn’t even include the heat index. This goes without saying that ice pops, watermelon, and sprinklers couldn’t bring us relief. We huddle indoors, and that’s ok with us. It’s good to be huddled around the comforts of home. And although I haven’t quite accepted Oklahoma as my home, I’m working hard to move in that direction.

Lately I’ve been sewing curtains and throw pillows, organizing, and brainstorming décor ideas. It’s starting to come together. Starting to feel like home.

More photos to come.

And last, but not least, a Panda Party! That's right, my girl throws down shindigs for even the tiniest of folk, which includes but not limited to Panda Bears. Mrs. Pandy to be exact--Krysta wanted to make sure I got her name right for my blog.

Anyhow, we lived it up and all got sugar highs --including Pandy-- in the middle of the afternoon, on a Wednesday. We party hard over here!

So if you’d please excuse me, tomorrow is a BIG DAY for my girl. She’s starting THIRD grade. I’ll say that again, THIRD grade! I know, gasp!

And you can bet your hiney there will be photos!

Until tomorrow, big smiles from OKC!

Em

Honey for Honeybees

It’s hot--reaching well into the triple digits. Farm crops are drying out, cattle are dying, and no amount of water will keep my flower beds hydrated. Everyone is praying to God for relief.

This heat puts a huge damper on our summer outings, so we make the most out of our early mornings and late afternoons, which leaves our mid-days for hibernating indoors in an Alaskan Grizzly Bear fashion…with the AC on full blast.

The light blue sky dims his lights to the perfect shade of tangerine orange and pillow fluffed clouds lazily draw back their curtains into long thin spaghetti-like horizontal lines, all in efforts to join forces in making way for the golden light rays to spotlight the string quartet of strumming crickets and the tis-tis-tis-tiiiiiiiiiiising beat of water sprinklers. It’s a Summer Musical Production and we have front row seats.

I love this time of day. The evening light shines down coating everything it touches with a golden glow, like a pot of honey. And when there’s honey, honeybees aren’t far behind. My little honeybees are equally attracted to the golden light, as I am. As soon as I see wisps of the sun shining through the windows, we drop everything we’re doing --dishes, laundry, picking up toys, and vacuuming cracker crumbs-- to bask under its glow.

Sometimes we hang out in the front yard with sidewalk chalk and sprinklers. Sometimes we head over to the right-beside-our-house park. But on the really good evenings, we trek a mile to the “big” park, where there’s a zip-line for my girl and several twisty slides for my boy --which by the way, he thinks he’s ready for, but ends up tumbling down head first.

We stay until our water bottles are empty and the outlines of my honeybee’s features form into silhouettes.

The quartet lingers on its final musical note, and the curtains are drawing to a close as the sun slides into a slumber through the blackened outlined trees. The show has dramatically come to an end, like two symbols thrusting together.

It’s a thing of beauty, and it is good with my soul.

“When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.” Gandhi

Until tomorrows musical…

I’m off to finish sewing curtains for our living room. Possible tutorial in a future blog post?

Now this is sweeter than any pot of honey

Em

PS I realize that some of you guys have asked me a few questions—I promise I haven’t forgotten! AND thank you all who have left us wonderful words of wisdom and best wishes…we truly appreciate it!

New Routines

For days I’ve been starring at a slowly blinking cursor on my computer screen trying to form letters into words, words into sentences…then hitting the backspace key. I can’t seem to find the right words that describes our life as of late. Chaotic, frenzy, and overwhelming are all in the front row, but then there are the moments that aren’t so chaotic, moments of calm and ease that are pocketed between unpacking moving boxes, 3am baby wake-up calls, and temper tantrums that I’m striving to embrace.

 little dude got a busted lip by wiping out on the sidewalk

Growing up, we moved around a lot. I remember packing everything into ABC Store boxes and turning around to quickly unpack within a matter of days in a new home, a new bedroom. My mom would instinctively know where everything went –the couch goes here, the dining table there, dishes in this cabinet, etc- and like clockwork, we were settled in. Things seemed to run much smoother. Perhaps it’s the kid in me that doesn’t remember the stress of reestablishing ourselves in a new neighborhood or the financial aspect of relocating or the aching muscles from lifting furniture and 50lb boxes. But the adult me has seen, understood, and experienced every bump on the road over the past few weeks. This move has been hands-down the toughest transition I’ve ever experienced in my life. There have been more than a few times where I found myself in a puddle of tears, thinking how this move was a huge mistake and praying to God for a re-do button.

Well I didn’t get a re-do button, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it appears promising. Things are slowly coming into shape and day by day we’re establishing new routines and settling into our nest and overcoming our Alison’s Relocations Disaster.

And when the chaos thins out, I regroup by digging deep into my pocket of pulling out a sliver of calm and adding water. Water can make almost anything better -an overheated car, a dying plant, a fish out of his bowl, a parched marathon runner- it also fixes my soul. It gives me a sense of clarity and renewal, and I can see that water is naturally engrained in my children as well. I love that. Whenever they get out of hand, we drop everything. I clap my hands and say, “Alright kids. Bathing suits. Outside. Now.”

I just love his faces. Wills seems to come alive whenever he’s around a body of water--big or small. His laughs and happy squeals are endless.

Sprinklers on the other hand, not so much --very very unhappy squeals.

Wills has always been Mr. Independent, strong willed, and headstrong, but lately he has climbed to a whole new level. His confidence and bravery is much bigger than his little body can hold. He’s rolling with the big kids, climbing the playground equipment as high as he can go, and attempting to keep up with their running pace --which is extremely comical watching him run as his diaper butt twists from side to side.

This is a common scene at our house --Krysta directing Wills, and Wills obviously isn’t appreciative of her assistance. This is usually followed by Wills letting out a loud piercing shriek, followed by me saying, “Krysta, let him go”. Sometimes we live on broken records.

One of our new routines is going to the park at dusk. If we’re lucky it would have cooled down to say 97*? Anything under 100* is a breath of fresh air. Hot. Hot. Hot.

And when I’m not pulling Wills down from high playground equipment, I’m pulling my other two babies out of trees. Ron wanted to show Krysta how he used to climb a tree as a kid. He made his way up, twisting and turning around branches until the tree limbs became too thin to proceed any higher. When his inner 8 year old was satisfied, he looked down and proudly said, “Look Krysta, this is how you climb trees!”  Only one problem --he couldn’t remember how to get back down. Minor setback, minor setback.

As much as we’re digging running around under the summer sun in triple temp digits and getting stuck in trees, sometimes it’s nice to have an indoor tea party. You know, with AC. Krysta decks hers out--a white ball gown, a porcelain tea set given to her from her Nana, a tea pot filled to the rim with water and tiny saucers piled high with trail mix. My girl lives it up.

As days turn into weeks, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. After all is said and done and we’re settled into a new rhythm of life, the anxiety and distress will taper off, and the moment I’ve been waiting for will come -the moment that makes all of the stress worthwhile- the moment of “awe” where everything falls into place and the weight is lifted from my shoulders, and I can just be.

On a side note: we've been having some pretty wicked skies! (currently obsessed with clouds and light)

Until next time, happy midweek!

Em

Boom

Life has yet to slowdown. Stacked brown boxes fill our home from wall to wall and random furniture pieces are strewn throughout the halls still in search for the appropriate spot. We’re slowly settling into a new routine and unpacking our household goods and years of memories, but not without a few tears—tears from damaged furniture, broken china dishes, damaged paintings, but mostly because $260+ was stolen out of Krysta’s piggy bank. Seriously, what type of grown man steals from a child by smashing a piggy bank into dozens of pieces, then playing it off by wrapping the broken pieces in packing paper? He wasn’t very smart because he forgot the cork at the bottom on the box, which makes it extremely obvious what happened. My heart aches for my daughter, as she has been saving her money for a VERY longtime. This whole moving situation disgusts me.

Note: For my milie friends in Alaska or moving to Alaska, do yourself a favor and avoid hiring Alison’s Relocation's INC. It’ll save you a lot of heartache. Email me if you want the specifics on our experience, as this was just the tip of the iceberg.
 

Moving on to happier moments….

Independence Day!

Monday we set everything aside and celebrated our country’s birthday.

It was a day to honor all of our men and woman who defend our country on a daily basis, and to give our respects to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the name of freedom throughout past wars. And so to honor our military and country, we pulled out our American traditions of barbeques, sparklers, fireworks, and of course decking out in red, white, and blue.

If there is one statement that sums up what this country means to me, it is this:

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."
~Ronald Reagan

Earlier this week while we were sitting in the Chick-fil-a drive-thru, when Krysta asked why we moved to Oklahoma. As I searched for words for her 8 year old mind to understand, it came down to this…

Daddy’s job is on a 12-18 month deployment cycle, where as the other base is every year, so daddy would be home more often for birthdays and holidays, and he may even be home for the firsts—first words, first day of school, first soccer goal.

I could see her face shift into sadness as the wheels in her head started spinning, trying to digest what life would be like without daddy home.

I continued the conversation very light heatedly with--daddy’s been gone 6 times and we had lots of fun hanging out together and visiting Nana and Mimi and the beach and we did just fine while he was away and daddy’s keeping our country safe and it’s going to be many months until he has to leave again and…

She nodded her head in understanding, but I could see little tear puddles forming at the bottom of her eyelids.

Explaining wartime and what it means to protect our freedom to a child is a lot harder than it looks. I’m terrified that my choice of words and the actions we take before and during deployments would harm her mentally. There is no amount of self-help books and counseling that will stop the inevitable… daddy will one day deployment again and it will take the strength of God to pull us through.

Fourth of July night we packed into the car and drove the college to watch the firework show.

Boom. Boom. Pop. Fizzle. Pow. Bam. Bursts of color exploding throughout the sky, one after the other.

Did anyone else have Toby Keith’s, Courtesy of the red, white, and blue playing in your head as the fireworks lit up the sky? Or Martina McBride’s, Independence Day? Or even the Star Spangled Banner? I did, and it was awesome.

Happy Birthday America!