More Summer Storms

We've had several storms the past two weeks.  At night the lightning has been incredible - every few seconds for an hour or more and touching down all around us.  It was kind of wonderful all of us snuggled up together watching late into the night.

During the day its even crazier.  Kyla, Seth and I (among plenty of other moms and kids) hid out under the playground equipment at the park for what we hoped would be a few minutes until the storm passed.  Soon it felt like a fire hose was pelting us from the side and all the paths out of the park were covered in muddy rivers. We decided to make a run for it.  Seth was amazing - water dripping off his little face and he just smiled his little heart out.  Kyla was wrapped in his soaking wet blanket and freezing and did I mention it had been so sunny moments earlier that I left my car windows all the way down.  Our neighbor lent us his shop vac to help get all the water out.

A few days later our friends came over to play with bubbles and sidewalk chalk.  Another storm appeared out of nowhere. 

 Kyla for the first time willingly wore her raincoat.  I think it was purely due to the fact she was the only one who had one.

 And as fast as it came, it was gone again.

 It left puddles.  (Do you see our pretty "yard")  

The kiddos had a blast sprinting up the driveway to collect rocks.

 Then they rushed back down to splash them into the puddles.

 A thrilling afternoon.

 We love you summer storms!

When the Kids are in Bed.

All day every day I dream about all the accomplishments I will achieve as soon as the kids are sleeping.  And every night they sleep, at least part of the night, and I am too tired to accomplish.  I used to be such a night owl, but now I work best in the a.m.  The kids are happier, I am slightly rested, and I go to town on cleaning my house.  I'm always thinking if I can just get that out of the way, I can get everything else done.  One of these days...

But in the mean time...

 It might not be folded...

 

... But at least it is was clean.

Tornado in Rangely

Okay, this one's been in drafts since a week ago Tuesday - waiting for pictures.  Sorry, you're not gettin' any today, but let's still be friends.  Back to the post...

(Tornado in Rangely)

It sure felt like one.  We were innocently playing a horrible game of volleyball at the church when we were saved from the misery by a power outage.  The wind was out of control and I thought Kyla might blow away while we were getting to the car.  As soon as we buckled in and closed the doors... all was calm, all was bright.

I wish I had pictures of the damage.  Not one, but two areas of the road were blocked by fallen trees and a car port had fallen in on a cute little yellow VW Bug.  Shame!  Part of the roof of the college dorms was ripped off, and our brand new grill cover is blew by.  I'm sure it ended up in Nebraska or someplace far far away.  When I got up to the mesa I asked some neighbors if there was power.  Negative.

Kyla was so proud to have "fire" in the house when we lit our oil lamps.  We played with flashlights and lit a few candles, and prayed the power would come back before the house got too hot inside.  We were without power until about 11:30, about three hours.  It was a crazy fun night and a nice reminder how much I love, and am grateful for electricity.

Winners

Kyle told me one day recently that he didn't want Kyla to think its okay to lose.  "I don't want to have a loser for a kid!"  

I replied with such arguments as "Okay, but she can't win everything...It builds character to lose occasionally...We don't want a sore loser either...and so on"  This fell on deaf ears.

The next day Kyle played a softball game.  To salvage a little bit of his pride I'll simply say that they only played four innings, then he came home to drown his sorrows in a bucket of ice cream.  

 The next game was a bit better. They lost 5-24. Still ouch.

  Next game 18-25ish.  

 

Tonight 9-14.  

Its killing him to lose, but I am laughing my head off.  They are getting progressively better, and maybe improvement is more important than winning all the time.  I'll let you ask him.

B-Team Rejects

We attended our first Independence Day party of 2011.  Kyle helped fry a ton of Fry Bread and we had Navajo tacos. Yum!  Thanks Nielson fam for having us over! 

We were treated to a special performance by B-team Rejects. 
They were awesome and I have had Weezer covers running through my mind all night. 
The Kerksieck's brought a candy bomb, yes that thing shot candy way up in the air.  Believe me I've got a bruise from where the lollipop landed on my leg. 

 The kids had a great time gathering the candy, forget the pinata! 
Kyla has no trouble finding little boyfriends. 
She had never before met the boy on the right.  Oh my... She was holding his hand and leaning on his shoulder, and when I asked her new friend's name, she said. "My boy."  Yes she referred to him as "my boy" all night.  It was quite a hug she gave him when he left.  Kyle quickly stepped in and told her she can't hug boys anymore.  Now she is going to have a complex.  She was bummed we wouldn't let her hold a "sparkelly" but really she took it in stride.  We all had a great time! 

Jinx

The thought:
Seth is doing so well!  He hasn't been crying much at all today, and he's had great naps.
= an hour's worth of crying at least, and a close to midnight bedtime.

The thought:
I'm so grateful they sprayed for mosquitoes, finally!
 = more mosquito bites.

The thought:
 Kyla hasn't had an accident in a long time.
 = (at the risk of sharing too much,) Kyla screaming for me from the slide at the park.  I ran over with Seth in the Bjorn.  "Mommy I pee peed! *sob*"  Oh boy, now what!  First, I yelled to the boys at the top "Don't come down the slide!" to which Kyla proudly added (tears suddenly vanished) "I pee peed!"  I grabbed Seth's blanket and some wet wipes and thank goodness I had an extra pair of panties.  Stripped her down right there, then we wiped down the slide together, oh yes she had to help, you better believe it, and remember Seth was also right there in the Bjorn.   

It could have been way worse.
That was my thought as I left, so... oh no, who knows what's in store now!