Epilogue: The Blizzard of '11

Figured this would be the best place to share our piece of the story of the Blizzard of 2011.  There wasn't much comfort in the fact that many other states were hit in this one.  The Tulsa area is not prepared to deal with 14-21" of snow at once!  It is now Sunday and many residential streets, including our entire subdivision, remain unplowed.  School is still cancelled for tomorrow (and I assume Tuesday), and we're expecting another 5-8" on Tuesday night into Wednesday.  Quite a bit has melted between yesterday and today's balmy temperatures in the 30s, but the slush re-freezes every night into new ruts and bumps.

I have spent the past 6 days indoors, venturing out only once to forage for food at the emptiest (in terms of food, not people!) Wal-Mart I have ever seen.  Took a pass on going to church this morning because I'm also nursing a nasty head cold.  We've had some fun:  lots of baking, crafting, playing a new board game we bought, plus plenty of other games, video games, movies, TV shows, and of course playing in the snow.  Would have done more of that but it's mostly the fluffy, powdery stuff that doesn't make good snowballs.  Work for me was closed for 3 days, and I chose to be the one to stay home on Friday.   I have to admit that I am actually looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.

Not much of a chance for things to return to normal yet, as we're expecting that second storm to hit Tuesday night.  Our poor kids are probably either going to lose their Spring Break or their first week of summer vacation to make up all of the snow days. 

But enough whining.  We have enough to eat, salaries that don't depend on getting into the office every day, a warm house and warm clothing, two vehicles that are still running at the moment, with a $12 tire patch job being the only repair we've needed so far.  That's more than many folks around us can say right now.  I pray that all of us will see the end of this mess soon!

Family Photo

Oops, forgot to include this one with my last post. Here are all four of us at the Jures' wedding, BEFORE the reception. After that the smaller ones started to get a little messier. At least I got to dance one dance with my hubby. With a hyper 4-year-old flowergirl running in circles around us. But we got to dance... and be thankful for small blessings!

Our Kids Have Many Talents!

Yes, it is two weeks before Christmas and a little late to be posting these pictures, but... nah, who needs to hear the usual excuses? We are blessed with graduate school, two full-time jobs, Cub Scouts, church, and plenty of other things to keep us busy.

Nick and Amelia have proven themselves to be especially versatile this fall. On Halloween, they were Ninja and Cowgirl; two weeks later, they were a gentleman and a lady -- ring bearer and flower girl, that is -- for Adam and Karen Jures' wedding on Nov. 15th.

We took a very crazy but worth-every-minute-of-it trip up north for the wedding, and for an early Thanksgiving dinner with both of our families, which ended up working out really well for everyone. We'll be spending a more leisurely Christmas at home this year, followed by a visit from the Clark side of the family. Happy Holidays to all!

So Long, Summer...

Labor Day weekend again... what a contrast to last year's, which we spent sleeping on the floor of our new apartment, hoping and praying that the moving truck would get here on time!

Luckily it did, and here we are a year later, wrapping up the summer with a quiet day of housecleaning (well, not too much), playing, and just the usual getting ready for the coming week. School started for Nick on Aug. 20th, and Pete started his first MBA class at OSU on the 19th, so even though it's 90 degrees outside it really does feel like the end of summer! A few recent events of note:

FISHIN' TIME: A few weekends ago we went to a church event at a lodge in Jenks, and Nick caught his first fish! It was only about a 4" bluegill, but he was very proud of himself, and now he's a true Oklahoman. I still think fishing is gross, but I have a feeling I'm going to have to get used to it.

VACATION TIME: A full week's vacation was out of the picture this year, but we did take a weekend trip to Kansas City last weekend, and it was such a wonderful break. We met up with Paul, who was on an extended road trip on his motorcycle. Pete and Paul went on a brewery tour while the kids and I checked out the interactive science museum at Union Station (way cool!), and we all went to the Royals game Saturday night. They lost to the Tigers 4-0, but we all had a great time anyway. Pictures will be forthcoming as soon as I finish off the roll of film -- I miss my digital camera! Hoping to get a new one around Christmas, maybe.

PARTY TIME: Due to our trip last weekend, we held Nick's birthday party this past Saturday at Chuck E. Cheese. Next year he will probably be "too old" for Chuck E.'s, but this year he sure had a blast. As someone who usually enjoys holding homemade birthday parties, but didn't have the time or the space needed this year, I have to admit that the Chuck E. party experience does make it a lot easier!

TIME FOR TROUBLE: And now, for the story we'll be telling for years to come:
A couple of weeks ago, part of the grassy area in front of our building, where the kids like to play, was dug up to access an underground line. They covered it back up, but of course now there's a patch of exposed dirt and rocks just calling out to be played with. Well, one day, our little angelic 3-year-old -- who likes to throw rocks and has been reminded many times of where it's appropriate to throw them and where it's not -- found a really big rock and decided to throw it. At one of the cars in the parking lot (that faces the lawn). Several times. Enough, in fact, to cause $500 worth of damage to the car's hood. Funny thing is, the owners of the car had just moved into our building a week earlier, and they have a son who is in Nick's class. I told them, welcome to the neighborhood -- and we really aren't all that bad!

How to Speak 3-year-old, continued

Sent these to a friend via e-mail the other day, then realized I really should put them up on the blog. So, here are two recent additions to Amelia's unique vocabulary:

1) lasterday: anything that happened in the past, as in, "We did that lasterday". Solves the problem of having to remember exactly when it happened!

2) tolater: anything that will happen in the future, as in, "We're gonna go tolater". Pronounced toolater, the implication is exactly that: later than I want to.

Summer, Oklahoma style

Yes, it has been too long since I posted anything here! Not surprising that one of my last posts was about finding a job. I am enjoying the job, though like most of the ones I've had, there are parts that I love, and parts that drive me nuts. Hopefully, over time, I'll be able to be a part of changing some of the things that are driving me nuts! And I'll just have to fight Pete and Nick for some computer time to whip up a post more often. Anyway...

ON FIREWORKS:
We had a great Fourth of July weekend. The biggest difference is that fireworks are legal in Oklahoma, and boy do they sell them everywhere! It's a very peculiar business -- seems like just about anyone can set up a trailer somewhere and sell fireworks. You can't find them in regular stores. In Sapulpa there is a fireworks stand that is set up in a church parking lot, and another one that claims to be fundraising for the high school. There's even one on the backroads set up in someone's yard like a lemonade stand!

We decided to stick close to home this year to see the local fireworks show in Sapulpa, and it was pretty impressive. Great location: they shot them off from the golf course, and the viewing area was a large field next to the Wal-Mart store. No trees or anything else to block your view! Next year we might venture out a little further and see one of the shows put on over the river, though Pete had a good question: Do fireworks reflect off of brown water??

As for putting on our own "show", we went to an actual fixed fireworks store and bought $10 worth of assorted sparkling, spinning, and popping things. We were able to set them off in our parking lot and had a great time. I have a feeling that next year, we'll be getting more than $10 worth...

ON THE HEAT:
Yes, it gets very hot here during the summer, duh. It has been in the 90s all weekend. Today is about the third time we've been to the pool in our apartment complex, and I think it's going to become a weekly habit now. Might as well enjoy it while we can! Amelia has a great time paddling around with one of those inflatable rings, and Nick has discovered the two favorite pool activities of 6-to-10-year-old boys: 1) cannonballs, and 2) squirting water out the space where you just lost a tooth.

Hooray for fire and water!

How to Speak 3-Year-Old

It's time for a language lesson, courtesy of Amelia, our resident developing linguist. Want to fit in with the 3-year-old crowd? Just follow these pointers!

1) Time: you really only need to understand, and use, 2 time concepts: "right now" and "again". All other words relating to time are meaningless.

2) Table Manners, #1: can't come up with the word for your favorite foods? Substitutions are always acceptable and, if you're lucky, they'll think you're just too cute. Favorite examples: "skebby" for spaghetti, "scoo-scoo" for couscous.

3) Table Manners, #2: talking about bodily functions at the table is always entertaining. For example, if your stomach just gurgled, and you're not sure what really happened but you just have to tell everyone about it, come up with a surefire attention-getter like "Mommy, my belly button farted!" (Editor's note: Yes, I swear she actually said this. Fortunately at home, with no one but me as the audience.)

4) Create Your Own Accent: if you have just moved to a new region and want to impress people with your tough city ways, but aren't sure what a Chicago accent is really supposed to sound like, make up your own grammatical peculiarity and maybe you can pass it off as an "accent". (Amelia's trick: "yours" in place of "your". As in, "Are we going in yours car?" "Is that yours book?" etc., etc. At least she doesn't say "youse" -- we wouldn't want people thinking we're from New York.)

5) Parents Are Deaf, or Maybe Just Dumb: and of course, if you don't get the answer to your question that you wanted, just keep asking... and asking... and asking... and asking. Maybe they just don't fully appreciate the importance of giving the right answer.