I can't make this stuff up

That is something my brother used to say.  All the time.  Although, he typically exchanged "stuff" for a more colorful word.  And he was usually talking about bad drivers or the ridiculous laws that govern that state of Texas.  But he was so right.  I, seriously, cannot make this stuff up.  The last few days of our life have been an insane roller coaster ride.  And I want to tell you about it.  But please remember, I can't make this stuff up.  It's so crazy, it HAS to be real!

Dance recital weekend is always crazy.  It's just busy.  Last year, we had a tree limb fall at our house on Friday night while Finn was home with a baby sitter and the rest of us were holed up at the high school hiding from a tornado.  The show was finally called off, and they decided to have 2 shows on Saturday.  When we got home that night, the City utility workers told us to vacate because of the downed limb and the way the lines were we were, it created a fire danger.  Emma and Jake stayed with Nana because they were leaving for Texas Saturday morning to go see Kayleigh's recital.  The rest of us packed up for a hotel.  They cleared the tree, fixed the electrical damage and restored the power by sundown on Saturday.  I remember all this specifically.  But also, TimeHop Abe from my TimeHop App reminded me.  Everyday this week as the anniversary of these events occurred.

Fast Forward to this year.  Thursday dress rehearsal, Friday night performance, Saturday afternoon performance.  Baseball practices and games in between.  Family in and out of town.  Our dishwasher went out about 10 days ago, so we've been washing dishes by hand.  For six people.  Every night.  Oh, and I have a summer cold.  Sunday was the worst.  It is now in my chest, so I cough up a lung when I lay down.  Sunday night was bad.  Last night was worse.  I coughed my husband right out of my bed. And I have no voice.  It's tiring to talk, and when I do I sound like a tired old man. No one can hear me, let alone understand me.*sigh*

OK, all of that is normal and manageable.  It's been a mild Oklahoma May - no tornadoes, few thunderstorms,.  Drought like, even.  So, we were so glad to hear the rumble of the thunder and hear the rain late Sunday night.  But it just kept raining.  And blowing.  I'd call it a torrential downpour.  And I have a basement.  In Oklahoma.  Now, back up - we rent our residence.  Have for about 6 years now, and this is the 3rd location we've been in.  So, house related problems fall into the "SEP" category.  That's something else my brother used to say.  As in, "Someone Else's Problem." But, it's still a problem when you get up Monday morning and the bedroom at the bottom of the stairs is completely drenched.  YUP.  We assumed it was the sump pump failing - something else that happened about a year ago.  We called it in to the landlord, and then we started cleaning up the mess...

About 9am, the repair man came with the part for the dishwasher.  YAY!  He fixed it.  I can do dishes again.  GLORY!  Then we were about to ask him if he knew about the flood when he got a call from the office, telling him about our basement issues.  He went down to assess everything and came back to tell us the pump was functioning normally.  So, where'd all that water come from??? Oh yeah, the NEW CRACK IN THE BASEMENT WALL!  Are you kidding me? Can you say earthquake damage?  So, the other handy man came by shortly to wet vac what he could, and put down the floor drying fans.  Turned on the ceiling fans, and we were thinking another 24 hours would make a huge difference in the wetness in the basement.

Our day continued.  Decided Emma and Lara would sleep at Nana and Grandpa's again since those fans are loud and annoying.  Jake ended up at a friend's house for a sleepover somewhat randomly.  We put Finn to bed.  And I coughed my husband out of our bed.  But, I finally fell asleep.  At 12:23, I was startled awake by a ground shaking thud, and the sound of the power going out room by room.  The small lights from the clocks, TV, and components went out.  The fan above my head slowed.  It got really quiet.  And instantly hot!  I was up and off to find my hubby.  We ventured outside to see if it was just us or the whole area.  Just us.  With our tiny iPhone flashlights, we headed to the back yard and could see the power lines had been pulled out of our roof again.  Time to pack up the baby and find a hotel.

We were settled in and back to sleep by 2:30am.  Up at 7 to get the day going and see what we were up against.  We took Finn to Nana's, grabbed the girls to take them to camp for the day, and told Jake's host he would be there for awhile yet...  Then, we got to our house just as the tree guys were there to get the limb off the lines.  This was the first we had seen it in the daylight.  THIS LIMB WAS HUGE!!! At least 40 feet long, and about 2.5-3 feet in diameter where it broke off the tree trunk.  There are pictures below to give you an idea.  But the blessing in this is that we were incredibly lucky that there was no damage.  None to the fence on the south of our house.  Nor the long fence on the east along the alley.  And not so much as a leaf touched the garage.  AMAZING. 

The tree guys are coming back to remove the limb, and cut down the entire tree as this will just keep happening.  The electrician has been there - twice - repairing what he can with the meter and attaching the lines to the house.  Then the city can reconnect us.  Mid-morning, they told us we should be restored by this evening.  Fingers crossed.  If they get it done, I think I can save all my food.  In my 2 refrigerators... I sure hope I don 't have to start replacing food.  I just bought milk (at $4 a gallon) yesterday! I can't make this stuff up!

People keep asking me what made it fall.  I tell them, GRAVITY.  We honestly don't know,.  The tree appears healthy, but apparently it is not.  It was not struck by lightning...  Click on the photos to make them larger...

The base of the tree is just off the left edge; the guy in the light shirt on the right is near the "end" of the limb

Getting permission to cut.  You can see the power lines on the ground.

Hard to see, but you can see the pole on the house where the lines were pulled out. (Hi Pete!)

Where the limb broke off the trunk

My 6'2" husband standing next to the tree trunk

 

Me sitting on the limb about 10 feet down from the trunk...

Hello Sunshine

Moore Tornadoes.  Moore rain.  More tornadoes. More rain.  This Great State I call home has had it’s share of weather drama over the past few weeks.  But we are #oklahomastrong.  We have finally had a couple of beautiful days with bright, abundant sunshine!  We were DUE!  The Weavers even got in on the bad weather blues  last week – in the middle of dance recital!  Thursday during dress rehearsal, all the moms and dancers took cover for 30 minutes or so before resuming the run through.  The first show was scheduled for Friday night at 7.  It was postponed until 7:30 as everyone that was there – dancers, staff, spectators, and vendors – was once again shuttled to “safe” locations within the building.  Some dancers and families never showed up in the first place since there was a threat of severe weather, and some left when we were sent to take cover.  So, the show was completely cancelled and rescheduled for Saturday.  In the meantime, we had a babysitter at our house with Mr. Finn.  She called while we were sheltered at the high school to tell us the power had gone out in ½ of our house.  Come to find out, we had lost a VERY large limb on a tree in the back yard, and it had taken out the power lines that run to our house as it fell.  The power company had to shut off all our power due to the fire risk, and we ended up in a hotel for the night – checked in at 11:15 pm!  LONG night….  Then, 2 recitals the next day (the second one was missing lots of dancers, and the dancers were tired, but I am glad we got to get both shows in!).  Here are my favorite images from that very crazy, more than enough, 24 hours:

Dress Rehearsal - before taking cover

Dress Rehearsal - after taking cover and back to work

Recital - Night one "taking cover." SO BORED!

Betsey and Britt - waiting out the storm..

4 hours later - Finn in the hotel room... "I may not be able to fix storm damage, but I stayed at the Holiday Inn last night!"

Since then, we have been trying to enjoy our summer.  T-ball games!  Several have been canceled and rescheduled due to rain, but we are just a couple of weeks from the end of the season!  The rain has been a constant companion, but it comes with cooler temperatures and overcast skys, so it is a nice change for an Oklahoma summer!  The kids are adjusting to days with Nana, and I have started my summer schedule of 4 – 10 hour work days with Wednesdays off.  This past Wednesday was my first.  We did chores around the house in the morning, ate lunch, then went bowling.  We ran a couple of errands, then came home to make Jello play doughcookies.  Over all, a pretty fun day.  But, FWIW, 4 kids who are all very high energy and 3 of them are high maintenance with forceful personalities will wear ANYONE out!  KUDOS to Nana the Wonder Sitter – I don’t know how she does it!

And in Finn news…  We were trying to sleep train him, but then we had to spend a night in a hotel, and he got this silly summer cold - which put us at his specialist on Monday.  (21 pounds!  YAY!) We’ve been derailed a bit on the sleep thing…  But as soon as he is feeling better we are back at it!  he is on breathing treatments and Dimetapp 3x a day right now.  Poor Peanut! Here is a slide show chronicling the first few nights and how it all went:

By Slide.ly - SlideShow Maker

Finn’s Child Development specialist came to the house for an evaluation yesterday.  She was SO HAPPY with his progress.  He has come a long way in a few short weeks, and he warmed up to her very quickly (which is rare).  He even shared toys, pillows, and used tissues with her! LOL!  At the beginning of the appointment, I told her Finn had 5 words: No, Yes, up, down & uh-oh - in that order, all in the last 7-10 days. These 5 words he uses often and appropriately. While she was there, Finn added cup and ball. Can you say, language explosion?!? She said he is now caught up to his actual age as far as language goes! Just a few short months ago he was MONTHS behind!  And of course, since he is running and climbing like crazy, he has caught up physically, too!  Nana the wonder sitter said he used hello and bye-bye, too!  YAY for talking Finn!

Here's hoping the good news and good weather continue!  We want to go SWIMMING, but it's been too cool!  June doesn't quite feel like June... YET!  Stay tuned!

Sum- Sum- Summertime!

Here we are – 2^nd week of June and summer is well under way!  And, it has been over 2 weeks since I sat down to write and update my little corner of the world.  Can you say, BUSY?  That’s what’s been going on in the World of Weavers!  Getting out of school for the summer means getting in to a new routine and for us this year, every few days that routine changes since no one is in formal day care/day camp this summer.  It has proven to be a bit overwhelming at times, and a huge logistics puzzle that requires LOTS of communication between the four adult, car owning drivers we have in our family helping out this summer.  So thankful for my Cozi calendar to help keep it all straight and to text reminders to people!  I’ve only had a couple of meltdowns trying to make sure it is all taken care of… ;)

The past couple of weeks have seen lots of excitement and new things at our house!  The weekend after Memorial Day, we had our first “event” at our new house.  We hosted our LifeGroup in our home – kids and all!  There were 4 families there, which included 10 kids ages 10 to 6 months.  It was a loud, crazy, running around the house, up and down the stairs, chaotic mess – and we loved it!  We had ice cream floats for snacks, and it was a HUGE hit!  Followed that up with 3 intense days of dance recital, and by Monday of the following week, I was WORN OUT.  Dance recital, as always, was a blast.  Lara was in 2 dances – ballet and jazz, while Emma was in one (ballet).  They both did a GREAT job, and I know they had a wonderful time.  (If you are a die-hard dance fan, you can check out the rehearsal pieces on my youtube channel!)  They both enjoy it, and I just love seeing all the costumes, the music, the production!  *sigh* Reminds me of my dancing days years ago…

Speaking of our summer schedule, it has all of the kids involved in LOTS of things to try to keep them busy, and to try to keep my mom (Nana) sane!  We are trying to break the kids up as much as possible, so she only has all four for short periods of time.  She reminds me ALL THE TIME how old she is, and how she’s not a spring chicken anymore, and how she’s already raised her kids! LOL!  Gotta love the Grandma-isms!  But, she is doing a GREAT job – the kids are having a wonderful summer.  The girls have small rolls in an Operetta that will be performed next month, and they rehearse for that formally once a week, and then work on their parts at home as well.  This week, they are also in a morning day camp through the Sierra Nature Club – they have done this for several years now and absolutely LOVE Nature Camp!  We have Jake set up one day a week to go to a friend’s house to hang out with him and his babysitter, too.  He has had fun adventures with this so far – including a trip to the StillwaterPublic Library this week to see the Mad Scientist – which he won’t stop talking about!  It’s a great change of scenery for Jake, and I know his friend is happy having a playmate once in a while, too!  Lara has also started a dance camp this week in the evenings to hone her skills over the summer, and she is LOVING it so far!  She woke up tired and sore, so I know it was good for her!  LOL!  Add to all that T-ball games (which we have several make ups this week due to rain outs), several appointments of various types for Finn and for me (my back is acting up again), a trip to Enid to celebrate a (very) belated Mother’s Day with my mother-in-law, and we are meeting ourselves coming and going!

Coasters I made my Mother and Mother-In-Law for Mother's day.  Instructions: http://leelala.net/2011/02/diy-tile-coasters/

Did I mention I am back in the A Dee Pi saddle again, too?  Yeah, I can’t stay away too long!  Shout out to my AMAZING husband and the best Daddy in the land as he was single daddy of 4 for almost 24 hours straight as I attended back to back to back summer meetings for my position last Friday evening and almost all day Saturday!  I got the call and accepted a new position within our structure a few weeks ago, so I have a lot to learn again.  Feels good to be back on the board (well, 2 board this time, but I digress…), and back to interacting with our collegiate members.  They keep me young.  And active.  The last event I was involved with last year was Bid Day in mid-August before I was put on strict bed rest – almost a year ago now.  And our meetings this past weekend were all about finalizing plans for Spirit Week, Formal Recruitment and Bid Day.  WHEW!  I can’t wait to see how it all turns out in just a few short weeks!

And for all you Finn Fans out there, here is an update on him as well!  He is by far my smiliest baby – and it shows in all the pictures we take of him!  But, we have not gotten any real belly laughs out of him, yet.  I can’t wait to hear that sound!

But, he has allergies.  Welcome to living in Oklahoma, little buddy!  We took him to the doctor to rule out a cold or any respiratory issues, and allergies are probably what are causing his congestion.  We have added a Vicks steamer to his room (Jake’s too – he’s breathing GREAT!) at night to help with the congestion, and it seems to be working well.  The nights we (OK, *I*) forget to turn in on you can really tell it the next morning.  Despite not being able to breathe, Finn has grown like a WEED lately.  He is still in size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothing, but he suddenly looks so BIG.  His head has gotten bigger for sure – there are a couple of T-shirts that don’t have the envelope sleeves or snaps on the shoulders that are HARD to get over his noggin!  And his feet are finally growing!!!  His cute little newborn crocheted slippers he got right before Easter were big then, and they are just now getting too small.  But, the size “0” baby shoes at Target and Wal-Mart are still just huge…  I figure another 2 weeks and we’ll have to break out the 6-9 month clothing…  Along with all this growing, he is getting better at sitting unassisted (still in a “tri-pod” pose), and we know he can roll from tummy to back (although we rarely see it), so we offered him some cereal for the first time last week!  Here are some pictures/video of how that went down:

 

 

Not bad for a first try!  He’s still not an expert, and it may be a little early yet.  Our pediatrician recommended he be 6 months adjusted age (which would be July 5), but he has been very interested in watching us eat, reached for our food, and got a hold of some applesauce from Jake a few days back and was able to get that in his mouth without thrusting it out with his tongue, so we decided to try.  I also just read that the “old” school of thought was to offer rice cereal first and let them get good with that before moving on to vegetables, THEN fruit – saving meat for later - has been replaced with a more “feed them whatever, whenever” school of thought.  I’m not too sure how I feel about that! I’ve been feeding babies that way for over 10 years!  LOL!  Plus, we have this whole box of rice cereal to get through…  Anyway – we’ll stick with rice cereal once a day for now, then maybe I’ll get adventurous with some fruits and veggies (not sure in what order, though…)

Father’s day is this weekend, and I am looking forward to honoring my amazing husband and my hardworking dad.  I don’t have any cute Pinterest projects to produce for them.  My dad is next to impossible to buy for, so he will probably get cards from the kids and I.  But my husband, I have the perfect (in my mind – this has turned disastrous for me in the past.  Apparently, I am not a great gift giver when it comes to my husband) idea in mind for Britt.  I can’t wait to take the kids shopping Saturday morning (nothing like the last minute!  It’s hard for a working mom to get things done…)!  I hope he likes it!  And Honey, if you’re reading this, just fake it if not, OK?  ;)

I *LOVE* dance recital! BUT! (Warning: RANT)

Tonight was the first of 2 performances of my daughter’s dance recital.  I danced for 15 years, and I love dance recitals!  I love that one of my daughters has the bug, and I love watching her and her friends perform.  We have found a studio that is high on professionalism, care, nurturing, and of course, DANCE!  The recital is run like a fine oiled machine, and it is a pleasure to be there.  Except when rude people have no respect for the rest of the audience!  Here’s the skinny:

Rant: if you can't sit still for an hour (53 minutes to be exact) DON'T COME! And if your child can't sit still that long, hire a babysitter!  I was totally pissed when I had to allow a woman and her toddler out of my row in the middle of my daughter’s ballet number!!!

Not to mention the people just wandering around the seating area of the performance hall.  One guy who was apparently seated in the front row at some point was coming back to his seat, and he was a bigger guy, with a baseball cap on (don't get me started) and he just sauntered to his seat, climbed to the middle of the row, and took FOREVER to sit down - all while dancers were performing on stage!  Seriously, folks!  That’s just plan RUDE, disrespectful, and uncalled for!  I have not been that angry in a LONG time!  Are you KIDDING me?  I would say if you have to get out, go between songs, but that’s one of the things I LOVE about my studio’s recitals – the songs are all the same length (2.5 minutes) and there is NO BREAK between songs.  Each half of the show is between 50 and 55 minutes and there is a 15 minute intermission.  Every year.  Every time.  You can bank on it.  I LOVE THAT!

So, please don’t disrupt other people.  The  announcer at the show reminded everyone to turn off their cell phones and that flash photography was not allowed during the show before the director took the stage.  But, I guess he should add one about staying in your seat until intermission.  SHEESH!  You would think people would have enough common sense and manners to do that on their own…  But they don’t.  They don’t seem to realize that my dancer spends hours and HOURS of her time - as does the studio staff  - and I spend lots of money (lessons, shoes, fees, costumes, TIGHTS - $13 a pair for recital!) for this ONE time a year, and I hate that someone who had no manners had to ruin it for me.

I did send an email to the director when we got home tonight.  She was my first tap teacher “back in the day” and I totally respect her, so I wanted her to know what happened tonight.  Not that it will change how stupid people act sometimes, but it makes me feel better.

So, next time you are out at a public performance of ANY kind, please be respectful of the performers.  It's the right thing to do.  Thanks.