Pump It Up

The four of us went to a party at a local place where everything is inflatable. We had a blast. The best part is that adults can do everything, too. Here is Tate going down the big slide.

Here are the boys trying to knock each other over with big soft sticks. Chris and I took turns, too. I think it was good for the marriage to just whack each other as hard as we could for a while.

This is Chris and his fire fighter buddies going down the slide at the same time. They sprayed silicon on it to make it slicker. When Tate and I would go down together, we went so fast we were flying off of the end and onto the floor. It was right up our alley!

Dad trying to bounce Tate and Sam high into the air!

And here are the boys. They are getting so big!

Boys in Spring

Just a quick catch-up on normal life here: Home schooling! We finished first grade with a bang! Tate is actually probably a good way into second grade, but I decided to just double-check what we had left, and we were already done! Yippie! Here is Tate enjoying some SECOND grade history outside. And I do mean enjoying. This kid is a sponge for information.

Sam has taken to eating his spagetthi the way Chris and I both do: with two hands, a spoon and fork and lots of slurping. We thought this was normal, but we've gotten comments that not everyone else in the world shovels it in this way bent over the table. Oh well, we like it. Yes, we still eat this meal at least once a week.

Sam is big enough now to explore and hunt on his own outside, which he does everyday. And this is his self-declared "uniform" for his "job," as he calls it: firefighter coat and boots, with Tate's old blue backpack and a blue scarf grandma Carol made Tate years ago. He pushes his dump truck and collects thing, usually at least one small animal. He insists on eating most of his meals outside as well. Sometimes we join him, sometimes we just wave from the dining room.

And yes, more bathroom pictures, since this is where all the action around here really is: Who can sword fight the best with pee? They were really on their way to the shower, they don't just run around like that (very often)!

Worm Rescue

Imagine waking up before dawn, swinging your feet over the bed to get up for a shower, and noticing that your lush, new, tan-colored carpet seems to be moving a little. And feels not very... carpety. But maybe a little slimy. Yep. After five inches of rain in six hours, we had the invasion of the worms.

Luckily, Tate was sleeping next to me (Chris was at the station), so I woke him up and told him to help me get the worms safely to the worm box. (Yes, we have a worm box. It was actually purchased AS a worm box and given to me as a gift. Not a joke gift, but a gift-gift. I like worms. I don't know why. But lucky for these particular flooded-out-of-dirt-and-home-worms, they picked a house to invade with a worm lover, ready to rescue with a worm box, already soiled.)

As we got all the obvious ones into the box, we realized they were coming in the cracks in the doors faster than we could catch them. So I opened the dining room sliding glass door, and five more fell into my hair and on my gown and arms from the cracks on top. Nice.

Tate took this job very seriously. He wouldn't even stop to smile for the camera, and I think he may have even been a bit disgusted that I was stopping on the mission for a photo-shoot. The worms were running out of moisture by the second, and we were at 39 rescued and counting.

Once Sammy woke up, we had stopped counting. They both found several more, and I left them to move furniture and finish the job. We found about six the next morning, and several each morning for a while after. Hopefully we WON'T find any dead and dried out under the beds later this summer! We love living in nature!

Tornado Alley

It is tornado season here on the plains. Last night we knew severe weather was coming, but it was still a shock at 2AM when we woke up to the thunder shaking the house. We checked the radar on my computer (no TV here) and basically the rotation (there was already a tornado warning) was about a half-mile from our home. Very exciting stuff.

The boys came bursting into the closet with me ready for the worst. Sam was upset that we weren't serving chocolate milk at our "picnic" on the floor, and Tate reminded me -- AGAIN -- that we have chosen of our own free will to live in notorious "Tornado Alley." He announced -- again -- that he will be moving a.s.a.p. to a safer part of the country, but that we are welcome to visit anytime.

After seeing that pouting for chocolate milk was getting him nowhere, Sam curled up under my "spring skirts" section and promptly fell asleep. Tate then continued his lecture on severe weather and complained that he could barely hear the computer's warnings over the ridiculously loud hail pounding the ceiling. We turned it up. After a while, the radio switched to the storm chasers' reports: "Live from highway 75, we are driving north and can see the wall cloud descending....." This was more than my rational son could bear. "OH! So now they are driving INTO the tornado's path. Brilliant! This is so ridiculous. WHY oh WHY do we live here?!" Of course as you have guessed, no tornadoes touched down anywhere, or I certainly wouldn't be making light of it. Tate protested our love of Spring storms by not participating in hail-collecting, lightning-watching, or carpet-sopping-up (little leaks in the roof). I think we'll try to help him sleep through the next tornado warning.

Are we Red-Necks?

Question: After all my formal education, am I a red-neck?

Fact: We have a beautiful Koi pond (currently koi-less) that Sammy likes to go out and pee in.

Fact: Two weeks ago at Tate's soccer game, Sam had to pee.... so he just stood up, yanked down his pants and peed onto the field. (I pretended I didn't know him)

Fact: Yesterday while I was work, Chris decided to go to Super Wal-Mart and have the oil changed in his HUGE truck and pick up some groceries. (That in itself may be evidence enough!) He asked me to just meet him there when I got off work at 3pm. When they came out to my car Sam had PAJAMAS on -- yes, the same ones I had put him in the night before. He was also wearing a rain coat and rain boots (it was blindingly sunny), and his Dad's oversized Fire Fighter hat, matching Dad's. They had Happy Meal faces, complete with ketchup stains, little toys, and french-fry breath. Chris, first of all, was taken aback by this new information: "Wat?...Doesn't he get himself dressed?.... No?.... Oh.... Well, you really can't tell. I thought they were clothes." I should also mention that they had fresh flowers for Mama and so I didn't think twice... until today...

I have to know, are we red-necks? If so, should I be concerned?

Sam caught in the act.

Lego Builders

They have already played around ten hours this week of legos at the new (okay, Goodwill) lego table. It doubles as our new coffee table, which we have needed to buy forever. They were just so cute I couldn't help but take some pictures.

They are showing me all of their new inventions.

They wouldn't be still anymore so I had to sneak pictures from the upstairs landing.

Contemplating the new "army base" architecture.

Later, when I was actually trying to work, I heard screams of rage and anger. I reprimanded Sam for yelling in the house, and he cried, "But MOOOOOOOOOMMMMM.... I HAD to squ-eem at bw-udder! He sent a kamikaze fighter pilot over and attacked my base, de-stw-oying it!" Ohhh.... of course.

Tate's trip to the State Capitol

I had the opportunity last week to take Tate - along with some college students I teach English to - to visit the OK State Capitol for International Student Day. I took him for purely educational purposes, but we ended up having a great time, and of course, with Tate's you-never-know-what-he-will-say-but-you-had-better-be-ready mouth, lots of interesting discussions! Tate took this beautiful shot of the State Capitol.

This is our whole group from Tulsa Community College International Association. We took a charter bus and Tate soooo enjoyed it. We are middle row far right, behind the man on the ground with the blue shirt.

Tate with a fellow-OBU grad, Mr. Shane Jett, OK State Representative. He was nice enough to pose for a picture. Tate was impressed I knew someone "kinda like the President," as he said.

Well we sat in on a session in the house, led by Rep. Shane Jett (above). It was great, but I noticed Tate was counting ceiling tiles during some of it. They eventually started announcing students by country (over 400 internaional students) in alphabetical order. Tate had comments for several countries that I mustn't post here in public. Needless to say, we are seriously thinking of curtailing his CNNWorldHeadlineNews intake! He stood up and proudly waved and cheered when they called out "Thailand!" even though his four-month stay may not count for everyone, he is so proud to have been born there.

Tate with some of my students from Mexico, El Salvador, and Syria.

There were many dances and songs. Tate liked the Chinese dancers and was brave enough to get a picture with a dancer. We had an international buffet for lunch which I took full advantage of. I miss my years with an Indian cook and a Thai cook! Tate made good friends with the Papa John's Pizza guy. He said he is an international traveler but what's wrong with good pizza?

He kept referring to the Governor as "The President" so I took him to see the actual door with the title: "G-O-V-E-R-N-O-R." I think he believed me after this. So then he went looking for the "Vice-Governor's" door. Good luck.

It wouldn't be Oklahoma without the WIIIIIIIND! Tate and I on our way to catch the bus home.

Tate teaching the international students how to play tic-tac-toe on the bus. You wouldn't think it, but they had never heard of this game. This is one of my students from Bangladesh. Once he could beat Tate, Tate found someone else to play!

The bus ride home was my favorite part. Tate had warmed up to everyone and the students had noticed a free English-practice partner was ready and willing! He interviewed seven or eight students and tried to learn a little phrase from each language. He wasn't sure about the Syrians... it sounds too much like Assyria, which we just studied in classic history. They had very brutal war tactics (3000 years ago) and Tate wanted to be sure they weren't the same guys. They assured him that they are very different now and even have cars and electricity. He also had a funny reaction to the Japanese student. When he asked her where she was from, she naturally said, "Japan." He wouldn't even talk to her after that. He just looked at me like, "Can you believe her?" I realized that he was thinking of the zillion WWII documentaries (produced in the 1950s) that he watches over and over (he is quite the WWII Pacific battle expert). I was terrified he was going to start lecturing her on the atrocities of Pearl Harbor, but he just turned around in his seat and ignored her. Time to renew relations with the Japanese, Tate!

His favorite people were the young, pretty Asian ladies right behind us. One was from Vietnam and is a very outgoing person. She flirted with Tate and another student even teased her that she should go ahead and ask him for his number. Tate overheard and said eagerly, "Do you want my number?" She just stared at him as he got up, looked up on the top of his seat and read out his bus seat number: "13A and B." He smiled and her and they are now friends for life. The other lady is a Thai, and so right away Tate felt that they were kindred spirits. He talked to her about Thai food and showed off all six words of Thai that he can say! He asked the Latin American about soccer tips (this is his first season), the Middle Easterners about weather and life in the dessert, and played my student from Bangladesh in tic-tac-toe and Hangman. Never mind that their English skills are intermediate. He played round after round of Hangman and had the time of his life! I hope we will be able to take more trips with the international students in the future! (permission granted to post these photographs)