Bricktown

We decided to get out of the house and enjoy the weather so Sunday we went down to Bricktown to eat at our favorite pizza place and feed the ducks on the riverwalk. Miles enjoyed feeding the ducks, but also ate some of the duck bread himself. Miles wanted to ride the boats and since we had never done the tour we gave it a try. I thought it was an enjoyable experience, but Miles thought it was a little long. On the boat ride we saw some precious baby ducks just days old and we had to wait for them to swim out of the way. They never were on the right side for me to get a picture, but Miles got a look at one. After that we headed over to the OKC Memorial and had a look around. Miles enjoyed the chalk area although he did keep pointing out that their chalk "wasn't very good." Sometimes I forget how nice our downtown is. It was a very nice family outing.

Garden Update

Every single time we walk out the back door Miles says, "wanna go check on my garden?" He loves the garden! He loves looking at the plants and always asks me to name them. He loves moving my plant labels so now that the seeds have sprouted I'm not 100% sure what's what. He also loves playing in the dirt and he especially likes watering which always turns into a mess. Well, the work is paying off because things are growing! So far we have only one tomato in progress and it's getting a lot of love from Miles. It's time for the other plants to start producing before Miles loves that lone tomato to death. I hope it ripens before Miles decides to pick it.

Kid Lottery

Sometimes I feel like I won the kid lottery. I know, I know. I shouldn't brag or I should knock on wood before my luck changes, but two is my favorite age so far. I say that with every age as Miles progresses so maybe Miles is just an awesome kid. He's sometimes stubborn and moody, but most often he's funny and cuddly. He has a mischievous giggle that alerts me when he is up to no good. Poor kid always gives himself away. He has chubby feet that are somewhere between baby & boy. I love to hear those feet pattering down the hall and I love that he runs almost all the time just because he can. He has a sweet little button nose that crinkles when he does his exaggerated smile meant to help him get his way. He is polite (we don't teach him, he just is). He says please and thank you without prompts and he throws out random I love yous. Those are the best! He's very entertaining. Every single day he makes me laugh.

While the normal stubbornness and boundary testing that comes with two can be taxing I ultimately want Miles to be the kind of person that doesn't mind questioning authority and is comfortable sticking up for himself so I have to say, in that context I don't mind the occasional defiant act because it's part of that process. Plus, he's good 98% of the time.

Last night Casey was saying that he loved how no matter where you looked in our house you could tell that little guys lived there. It's true they have invaded all our space. There is no adult space. The kids have both bathrooms, all three bedrooms, the living room, etc. I think all we have left is the office which also houses the cat toilet. We both agreed that we like it that way. Because it kind of encompasses our all or nothing approach to parenting. We love being with our kids. We don't lament the fact that we hardly ever have real dates and the idea that kids suck all your money has never even occurred to us. We are a family now and we firmly believe when it comes to kids it's a 110% or nothing. What could be more important?

Some Okie Excitement

Monday we were under a tornado watch. We were dismissed from work a few minutes early so that we would all have time to get home safely before the nasty stuff hit. When I walked outside I could tell it was bad. It was much warmer than it had been earlier that day and the winds were really picking up. The sky also had that yellowish hue that makes all the greenery really vibrant. I called Casey to make sure he was watching the news and he told me the sirens were going off at home and he had the kids in the closet.

I didn't know if I should stay in Norman or hurry home, but I couldn't let my kids get blown away without me so I started home. When I got home I could see that Casey had emptied our coat closet to make a safe room and had taken all the extra pillows and a comforter from the linen closet. The kids had a little cushioned cave in there. Emmett had fallen asleep during the hideout so Casey left him in the closet. Miles was riding horseback on the weather radio and was thoroughly enjoying the chaos. It's not that I was surprised to see Casey taking such good care of the boys, but he rarely gets serious about storms. Having kids makes everyone a little more cautious I guess.

We spent the rest of the evening trying to keep up with the weather while Miles kept shouting, "I don't wanna watch the news." He was so hyper. I tried to calm him down by asking him to do some deep breathing with me. That backfired when he decided his deep breaths could be a tornado. He went around the living room blowing and waving his arms. He made quite a mess and after a couple of time outs we decided to get him down for the night.

Mother's Day Weekend

This week we made a stepping stone for my mom's Mother's Day. She loves to garden so we thought it was an appropriate gift. Miles helped and the fun he had with the rocks made up for the irritation he had over getting his foot dirty. I'm happy with the end product.



Casey worked all weekend, but he made sure to squeeze in plenty of Mother's Day surprises for me. When I came home from work on Friday Miles met me at the door with flowers. Actually he was in the middle of a diaper change when I pulled up so he was in a tizzy and was running to get his flowers when I walked in. He stopped as he was running by to shout out, "we got flowers" as he did a little overexcited jig. When he came back with the flowers he was beaming as he wished me a "happy mudder's day." He picked the bouquet out on his own and he did a pretty good job. I love hydrangeas. He's a little too young for homemade cards, but Casey helped him.

Sunday morning Casey really surprised me with a Sony Bloggie. It's the cutest little flip camcorder. It's tiny and super simple to use. I always say that I need to take more videos of the kids so I thought it was a very meaningful gift and it was totally unexpected.