Arcadia Adventure

Our children's ministry has organized some fun events called Monday's in the Metro this summer. We've had lots of fun already around the metro at places and/or events we wouldn't have otherwise ran across. This past Monday we went down old route 66 to Arcadia to the historic  Red Round Barn (realized once we were there I had been to an event there before during college), then we went to Pops for lunch. (Thanks Katie for the great picture of the day! Yours were better than mine so I decided to steal them for this post.)

 

I  heard this week that a new Gallup poll indicates as much as 70% of Americans hate or strongly dislike their job. Then this week I met Mr. Sam. He has lived his whole life in this area, was part of the group that helped restore this historic barn and now runs the gift ship and gives a mini tour and history lesson on the barn and the surrounding areas. I am not sure if he even gets paid for this job but boy is he excited and proud to do what he does. He is 87 years young and his passion and energy was moving to me. I feel blessed to be returning next month to work I love. I know the kind of boss I work for maybe a rare breed in the level of support, kindness and motivation I feel from getting to work under that kind of leadership which also lends to me loving my job. I feel like the stat above may indicate even more about the discontentness of our society despite much of our wealth comparative to the rest of the world. On the other hand I know many in this country do what they need to do to provide for their families and haven't had the kind of opportunities I've had of education and professional development that has allowed me to easily pursue my passion and interests. Either way, I still feel Mr. Sam is a great life lesson and example for us for a wise truth that I hope to instill in our children: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord..." Thanks Mr. Sam, with the deepest sincerity it truly was a pleasure meeting you.

and lastely just keeping it real. Adventures with 3 year olds aren't always sunshine and rainbows. Pretty sure I am on the other end of the death look but I don't recall why. She was actually really pleasant most of the day but I kind of love this captured in photo it such an authentic part of the here and now with this season of life:

 

 

Happy mid week! 

Rhett's 1st and 2nd month recap.

Today our boy is 8 weeks old! Its so amazing how he fits right in this space in our family we didn't even know was his all along but its so natural and perfect to have him here. These months have had so many my-heart-is-full moments. Even just riding around town with me and them, I look in the rear view mirror and marvel that there are two of them.

 

He's favorites right now are ceiling fans, mirrors and car rides. Currently his changing station is on my dresser in our room and he loves to gaze in the mirror. For the most part he is so content the majority of the time. His laid back temperment has made me braver in our outings and we are really having a pretty fun summer getting out and about.

 

He sleeps in the basinet in our room still. Sleeping patterns are that he goes down around 11:00 most nights, eats around 3 or 4 and then again at 6 or 7. He usually goes back to sleep between feedings. If he has trouble going back to sleep, holding him and bouncing on the exercise ball usually does the trick fairly quickly most nights.

He out grew his newborn clothes after the first month and is now wearing 3 month clothes.
 



This is my favorite picture from these months, this was a Saturday morning that Ryan was letting me sleep in, I found them like this when I got up and around.

 



Of course our favorite milestone from this month, sweet sweet smiles!
 

In some ways it feels like he's been with us forever and in other ways it's so hard to believe two months have already passed. Each day feels like we keep falling in love with him in new ways. So grateful for the blessing of watching this little guy grow!

Busy Bag Party!

Our children's ministry hosted a busy bag party on Monday. It was targeted for kids under four and we each made a busy bag (Busy bags have homemade activities that keep little minds or hands busy) that we duplicated to have enough for each family and then we swapped bags. Since I don't sew, my crafting medium that I have found success with is simple shapes that involve hot glue or modge podge. So I came across this No-Sew Felt Fish busy bag activity that I felt (pun intended) was within my crafting capabilities and what do you know multiple trips to the store, a few burnt fingers and hours of work later we completed our bags to bring to the swap. I really am glad we did it despite it being a bit more involved then I first thought and even more glad they turned out how I wanted them. The best part was while we had a small group of us, we had two visitors from the community attend the get together and they seemed to have a good time.

 

 

All our supplies

Our finished product!

Ava was pretty concerned about giving away our fish that we worked so hard on to our friends but pretty sure she will be happy with the stash we got to take home. I plan to keep most of them put up till our road trip to Houston next month to keep them new and novel. 



 

Lake Hefner was on our way home so we stopped of there for a picnic lunch and flower pickin'. Have I mentioned yet that I heart summer! I love that my maternity will last through most of it so I can soak up these days with them. Summer 2013 will always have a special place in my heart.

 



A little newborn comparison

Courtney Waugh has done both the kids newborn pics. I love her work, thought it would be fun to do a little comparison. These were taken when during their first week each:

 

 

Ava

Rhett



Ava

Rhett

 

 

Think they might be related?

 



Summer Fun - Oklahoma Style

 

We enjoyed our first real summer weekend, no severe weather, lots of sunshine and lots of fun. We headed to Broken Arrow for part of the weekend and made a side trip to Bartlesville Oklahoma to the Kiddie Park there. Ava had so much fun on her first carnival rides. This is a third generation tradition. Ryan's mom went when they were a dime a ride, They were a quarter a ride when we were kids and now they are 50 cents to a dollar a ride. Several I wondered if she'd be fearful of them once they got going but she loved every one we tried, so her father's girl on this front.

 

 

We really went home to hear Rich preach Sunday since he and Ronda are stateside. We had fun showing off Rhett at church to our friends and family there and getting to see them.

 

 After Church we headed over to Bass Pro where they were having some free kids activities, including fishing. Ava caught her first fish! 

Sunday night we met up with our Second Sunday dinner crew at twilight summer concert series downtown OKC. Its always fun to get together with these forever friends. I kind of love this picture,  both our kids being loved on, good conversation, a summer setting, its pretty perfect. This series features different local artists all summer long. There was talk of the recent storms and song dedications to the survivors, my favorite was the final song was a rendition of "I will survive" which prompted a large gathering of a group doing the electric slide and the rest of us clapping and bobbing our heads. It was comical but it was also community - a great summer night.

 



 

 

We packed alot in but glad to welcome back this most wonderful of time of the year!

A good time.

Last weekend Uncle Matt and Aunt Lori came to visit and meet Rhett. We enjoyed just hanging out with family and taking it easy at the house. It was a good time!

Bonding time with Uncle Matt

Ava-age 3  Adley- almost 1!

Aunt Lori snuggles

The hair cut heard around the world...

Okay the title may be a little dramatic and I am in a different place with it all now then when it first went down but for sure want to document this event in our little world this spring.

Ava's main adjustment with the addition of baby brother has been in the form of mischievous shenanigans. When I'm feeding brother Ava used this time of new found freedom to get into all sorts of things. These have included "cleaning her furniture" by pouring cups of water over the top of them, sharpie marker on her play room furniture, an entire roll of toilet paper in the toilet and the biggest of all, her first hair cut(s).

Ava was playing in her play room upstairs, which had not yet been a problem, she came down to show me something else, I saw her coming down the stairs and it took me a minute to realize what was off, I immediately become tearful, I could not stop crying, I end up calling Ryan and of course my first words since this was the first he had ever received a sobbing phone call from me was "we are okay but Ava cut her hair a lot and I can't quit crying".  Ryan of course was the soft voice of calm assurance and sanity. We texted him a picture and planned to met at the kids hair cut place that afternoon. Their expertise in handling these situations was much appreciated, the final product of course is cute on her and I think we've all recovered since then.

I've reflected a lot on this uncharacteristic response from myself, as I feel I am usually calm, level headed and it takes a lot to work me up into that kind of emotional response. I've decided one part of this equation I am sure was hormones/sleep deprivation but they other was change overload. I have a love/hate relationship with change. Even good change brings loss of different kinds and adjusting to new challenges. This was a culminating moment for me of feeling like I can't be there and juggle it all in the way I could before. Some days with two seem so very manageable and then there are moments when it is so very overwhelming. I am still finding my footing and learning this new role in mom of two. A technique I love to use with clients is the best friend approach. What would you tell your best friend about this situation and find ways to embrace that message to yourself. This is especially helpful in the motherhood department as we can be so hard on ourselves for ways we feel we are falling short.

We've been shenanigan free for a couple weeks now. Ava asks me many days when will her hair be long again? Her little bob makes hair washing and brushing a breeze and is of course cool for summer. I said goodbye literally to a little more to the baby part of my little girl as those baby hairs fell to the the floor. It wasn't the most graceful goodbye on my part but hey we mom's are people too.The last few weeks of storms and continued trauma in communities in our area gave renewed perspective on many things for me and one of those in even this smallest of ways was to reinforce what I was trying embrace but hadn't fully yet... it is just hair. What a blessing it is to get to say many hellos and goodbyes as we reach new stages on this parenthood journey. How easy it is to take that for granted.  I've been so thankful many times in the past two weeks to kiss the top of that little bobed head thats safely by my side. I pray I can live with a grateful heart for the daily blessing of getting to be their mom - shenanigans and all.