59 Hours Too Many

My friend Beth sent me this meme. Sums up my feelings and emotional state quite nicely.

We woke up last Monday morning to an awfully chilly house. Ollie is a super light sleeper and gave us the blow by blow of power outages during the night based on when his clock was on or off and I realized we hadn’t had constant power since 1 or 2 am. (I think it went off for good at 3 am.) I started bossing the boys around and told them to put on more layers immediately and they scoffed at me and told me I was over reacting. In turn this heightened my panic and mama-bear-ness. “I said go put on another pair of socks!” I yelled. “You cannot wear shorts right now!” They skulked off and obliged. My best guess was that we were not going to have heat for a good long bit; possibly not until Tuesday. Jon’s best guess was that power would be restored later that morning (that’s what our energy provider said on their website). At one point I really thought I was going to lose it when Ollie said, “Isn’t this cool? Mom and Dad are super stressed out and it’s cool to hear them talk about making plans and stuff!!” Ollie was sent to his room for 30 minutes for his safety and my sanity.

Legos with Noey. I bought those gloves for someone for Christmas and then decided to keep them. (Not sorry.)

Around 1 or 2 in the afternoon when our house was a brisk 58 degrees we decided to take up our friend’s offer to come and rescue us. (Around this time Ollie said, "I feel like our house is getting colder." Oye. Duh. "That's because our house is getting colder and will continue to get colder." Ollie, "oh.") They had a four wheel drive truck, plus power and water, and lived close by. We threw some groceries and pillows together, got the puppies, left the faucets trickling and headed out the door. 

Everyone was in a super good mood to start with. Kids played switch, grownups talked, layers were shed as we were in a balmy 70 degree house once again. 

After being there about 2 hours everything suddenly shut off. I have no idea why this hadn’t crossed my mind, but I was so taken aback by our rescue house losing power! We were all hoping we were apart of the rolling blackouts and that power would be back on in 45 minutes. After 2 hours it was apparent that rolling blackouts were wishful thinking. We decided to go ahead and sleep there though, as the temp in the house was so much higher to start the night than our house. 

Spoons, Life, Twister, and a talent show were on the agenda for No Power: Day 2. 

We started texting around to other folks on day 2 to make a game plan for the night, as now we realized we were in this for another 24 hours at least. A friend could tell by using the thermometer app on his phone for the church offices that they still had electricity, so we made a game plan to head there next. Jon and our friend Joe went back to our house to grab more blankets and food from the pantry and Jon said the house was now 48 degrees. Brrrr! Joe took our family over to the church where we had electricity! Whoop! But..... water lines were frozen. Ugh! 

Our friends came over for dinner with us, but decided they were on team water and went back to their house for the night. We were definitely on team electricity and opted to sleep on the church office couches for the night. (Super good news side note: our friends power was restored that night, so they woke up cozy PLUS had working bathrooms.) There was freezing rain that night as well as no sun the next day, so we planned on staying put. Later that afternoon Jon saw someone post on our neighborhood facebook group that they had electricity again, and it was soon confirmed by other neighbors! Faithful Joe and his truck picked us up yet again and brought us home. We had a warming up house AND water! We got home around 4 pm on Wednesday and we figured our house had been without electricity for just over 60 hours, which seemed like 59 hours too many. Meanwhile Texas was breaking every record in the book and had below freezing temps for 6 days in a row. 

All told, school has been disrupted for SEVEN days (not including weekends), and Jon took hazard leave for the week as the road he drives to the office wasn't even open until Saturday. Neighbors have been filling up buckets of water from us so they can flush their toilets and we still have a boil order in effect. Crazy. The boys went back to school today; I said no thank you to an offer to sub today and attempted the grocery store yet again. When covid first hit and I saw an aisle or two empty at the store it was super weird. Well, now imagine that, only it's about 10 aisles completely empty. Even weirder. 

Of course it was 73 on Sunday, so we are back to a normal Texas spring. 

Save us some bananas and bread, please! 

 

 

Hearty-Farty

 Happy Valentine's Day!

We are bundled up inside watching Gnomeo and Juliet on this bizarre snow day/v-day. The Austin area is supposedly going to break records today and tomorrow for record lows and record low highs. I let out the puppies this morning and promptly slipped on my ass. Just like the movies, where my feet slipped out in front of me, as if there was a banana peel in my imaginary cartoon. Ouch. And brrrrrrr.

Ollie is super fun to share holidays with. He loves to celebrate anything (me too!). He cooked dinner for us last night and had so much fun with it, he decided he would always cook valentine eve dinner and put it in his calendar. That kid. He was also snooping around in my room looking for valentine day goodies and talking about the toothbrushes, shirts, water bottles, and lunch boxes of years past. Jon is trying to trick him, telling him he is confused with Easter, so I'm waiting to put out the valentine goodies when he least expects it. 

Since everything is cancelled and everyone is stuck at home, we decided to make sure everything we eat today is red or in a heart shape and fill our day with movies, wii, and games. I made some sugary monkey bread type biscuits for breakfast and Ollie asked if he could bring some to his best bud, Avery, who lives across the street. (We just got Ollie's covid test back-negative.) Ollie was dancing around to prove that he would not slip like me and totally wiped out. Twice. Jon had a good belly laugh watching him out the window. 

Nolan has been darling because I told him I get to kiss him as many times as I want because it's Valentine's Day. He actually seems pleased to be pulled into the festivities and has let me get him at least 30 times so far today. 

Oh, and I almost forgot! My all time favorite valentine made me keto brownies! I thought it was super awesome. 

Games!

Nolan made a valentine for "my girlfriend, Payton" and then wrote out Daxton's name and mine. True love!

Seth's Valentine- Luna!

You are never going to believe this, but I was skunked during cribbage. (Almost twice! Sheesh.)

This v-day post was a draft in-waiting on blogger, I just needed to come back and push publish. Good thing I already wrote it because the day after Valentine's turned out to be a total disaster as we woke up with no power. You may have to wait a good bit before I feel the need to re-cap it, but we are now safe back at home. We also heard that the number of Texans without power has gone from over 4 million down to 400,000. Praying for those families that are still waiting. 

A Weekend of Poor Performing Football and Bad News

Ollie had his first two flag football games this Saturday, and the poor Bears were majorly trounced. The mercy rule was applied in the first game to end things extremely early. 

Later on Saturday evening, Jon got a call from the coach that one of our fellow Bears tested positive for Covid. Wah, wah! Apparently one of the families went out for ice cream after the games and their kiddo said he couldn't taste the ice cream. They immediately took him to get a rapid test; no surprise that he was positive. Ollie was around this kid for 2.5-3 hours outside with no masks. Ollie can get tested on Friday and starts virtual school today for at least 14 days. This particular football season is only for the month of February; those two games may be the only for his season as a Bear. 

The good news is that the games were held at a high school, family and fans were not allowed on the field. Jon and I wore masks the entire time so Ollie was the only one with first-hand exposure. Nolan and Seth are both at school today, but that will obviously change if Ollie does test positive. Seth's school is having their first day of in-person in two weeks as they had to change to virtual because they didn't have enough subs to cover the classes of teachers in quarantine. Blessedly, they let the special ed kids continue on campus, so Seth didn't have to stay at home. I was super glad they gave us the option. But it is just a sign of the times. These home-virtual stretches have got to be so hard on families and is so disruptive to the kids. One kindergarten class at Ray had the entire class quarantine, the they got to come back for one day, then had another kiddo test positive, so they are all back at home again. They were all so disappointed!  

On Sunday we were all pretty excited to celebrate the Superbowl. We had invited a family over, but cancelled those plans after Ollie's exposure, so we had an absolute ton of food. (But to be honest, even with extra people, we still would have had an absolute ton of food.) 

Pre-game Chiefs Jenga

Look at all that red!

And one for only the people wearing number 15. 

We had fun cooking together and naming all of our goodies. We ended up with Kelce Sticks, Honey Badger Jalapeño Poppers, Butker’s Kickin’ Chicken Dip, A Chiefs Cake, Cheetah Chocolate Chip Cookies, Coach Reid’s Chicken Strips w/ Sackin’ Sauce, Guaca-Mahomes-le, Clyde’s Kabobs, Frank's Fruit Salad, and Sammy’s 7-Layer Dip. We were only missing Pringle’s Pringles. 

And of course the Chiefs lost, and in fact didn't even get a single touchdown. The mood in our house gradually went downhill over the course of the evening. We will just have to hang our hat on last years title. 

Ok, now for some uplifting news. Just look at how cute these puppies are!

                                                

At My Grandma’s House (and other life updates)

Hello and a very happy weekend to you; thanks! 

Did I ever mention that I received a new phone for Christmas? It’s lovely. Small children no longer ask intrusive questions about why my phone is so small. Despite this phone/camera update, I find myself taking less pictures than ever, so I’m gonna just have to jot a few sentences down. (Related aside- why do I take less pictures? Because everything that happens now has already happened 15+ times before (kid in sports uniform for instance)? Or maybe because Nolan has reached the irksome age of wanting to play on my phone/take 18 selfies every time he seems me pull it out? Hard to say.) 

We’ve been attending a new church (Redeemer Round Rock) and have decided to take the plunge and become members. This feels 100% right and scary at the same time. Truth be told, I mostly like to keep new people at arms length. If you are in our family or if I’ve known you forever, please have conversations with me that include way too many TMI tidbits; that’s my jam. But I can’t pretend to appreciate small talk. And I’ve got a solid five amazing friends. How many does a girl need?? (My sister-in-law (enneagram 7) is now rolling her eyes, while another sister-in-law (5) is nodding without realizing it. Or perhaps thinking, ‘sheesh! Five friends?? One is plenty!’)

I digress. We have enjoyed the preaching, both convicting and encouraging. We have met people easily that we have quickly clicked with ( even me. Ha.) It is also a fairly young and small church. The children’s and youth area leaves room for growth, which is again wonderful and terrifying. I’m glad to be able to jump straight in and serve, but realize input from parents will be even more crucial than at a big ol church. 

Our block-away neighbors also happen to attend this church and we have begun getting together with them once every week or every other week. They are a yoooooung family. Husband, wife, and 1 year old; narry a wrinkle on the combined faces. I loved being in this position as a young newlywed. It was such a joy and learning experience to be invited into homes of families that were a stage or two ahead of us in life. (The Caire family comes easily to mind.) I’m glad for our neighbors, but man oh man, it makes me feel my age. (Related side note: Jon recently told me that Nolan is closer to college age than I am. I can’t even. Bizarre.)  They were over last night and their daughter was picking up everything from the coffee table and carrying the items to people in the room. She picked up my sudoku book and brought it to her mom, who laughed and said something funny about sudokus. Then the little girl opened the book and the mom realized that many of the pages had been completed and back-pedaled a little. Now dear reader, you have to understand that virtually nothing embarrasses me, but I believe at that moment I blushed. Why yes, new young friend. You can call me granny and sit next to me while I work on my puzzles. 

School continues to go well for the boys. Ollie talks about how he likes it better than Waters, which of course makes my mama heart so happy. It seems like Seth is learning entirely new content, which lights him up (Cold War, elements and minerals). He always has enjoyed learning, if not the work that often accompanies it. It’s time to look at electives and sign up for 7th grade classes as well as decide on if he wants to try out a sport. The kids aren’t allowed to play sports in 6th, which seems wise to get acclimated to middle school before adding sports. Seth says he wants to try football and I have very negative feelings about this. Between injuries, his hot temper, and my precieved lack of interest, it doesn’t seem like the best choice. Is he actually interested or does he just want to play because Ollie loves it? I can count on one hand the amount of times he has gone out to play football with neighborhood kids, but is this because he is uninterested or because of his social and emotional delays? Thoughts welcome. 

Seth is really proud of himself for how well he is handling middle school, and Jon and I completely feel the same way. He continues to receive specialized support but has a daily excell spreadsheet that all 8 of his teachers have to sign in on and they continue to write the kindest and most encouraging things about him. Seth really does try so hard, he’s a pretty determined kiddo. 

Ollie has a neighborhood crew that he plays with daily and is starting to noticeably pull away from us. There are days when I only see him for a couple hours because of school, then him out playing at the park, and his spending more time alone in his room. (You have no idea how I long for Seth to get to this stage. Oye.) It does make the time we spend together sweeter, he’s a pretty affectionate and helpful kiddo. 

He also has a big head but not sure what to do about that. Pray for humility perhaps? He gets plenty of affirmation from school in terms of awards and grades, not to mention interest from girls that he handles by giving a major cold shoulder. Just yesterday when I was subbing a girl came up to me and said, “um, for some reason Jazmine wanted me to tell you that she has a big crush on Ollie.” I laughed and said, “who wouldn’t?” Honesty, this is not a girl that I would have had on my “she’s got a crush on Ollie” list either. I have witnessed first hand (on two different occasions) neighborhood girls chatting happily with him over the course of few days, only to see them sit a little closer and then he responds by completely ignoring them for the following month. Does this merit a conversation with him? Probably not now. But maybe that’s something parents have to teach kids. How to let the opposite sex down kindly. Can’t say Jon or I have any experience in this department. 

Here’s one more cute story about Ollie. The teachers at school have an awards program every 9 weeks. In addition to awards given by classroom teachers, the specialist teachers (music, pe, art) get to hand out one award for the entire grade level that has excelled in their area. They can’t all pick the same kid though, they are required to spread the love. The first time, he received the award for music and a few days later the pe coach came and told me how disappointed she was that she couldn’t pick him. The second time around, he received the pe award and the art teacher told me a week later that she was bummed that she couldn’t give her award to him. No wonder he has a big head. Pray for him to have the grace to handle it well. 

Nolan is still the peachy cutie pie he has always been. I have given up that he will ever sleep in his bed all night, though. He prefers sleeping on the floor, usually on his nap mat (which he calls his flat bed) and often changes positions and rooms serveral times a night. A typical night: Jon or I read him some books, put him to bed. 7:40 pm he is asleep in his bed. Jon and I go to bed around 10 pm and check on everyone; Nolan is asleep on his nap mat, laying on the floor in the upstairs hallway. The puppies whine at 5:30 am to be let out and Nolan is asleep on his nap mat in the downstairs living room. I go back to bed and get up at 6:20 am and Nolan is asleep on his nap mat on the floor right by Jon’s side of the bed. I wish I was exaggerating. The silver lining is that he doesn’t wake us up all that much. Kids diagnosed with adhd often have sleep disturbances like this, which makes me wonder if Nolan has a diagnosis in his future. He doesn’t have an over abundance of the other symptoms though, so who knows. 

He has also turned into quite the tall tale teller. I kinda wonder if this stems from being the youngest and listening to his brothers tell us stories about their days. You always know Nolan is in story telling mode when you hear about his grandma. “Once I rode a donkey. At my grandma’s house when I was a baby.” “I’ve seen that before. Yeah, I saw a king on a camel at my grandma’s house.” “That’s not that big. My grandma is bigger. She’s bigger than this whole house.” “I play football. Yeah, I play with Odell Beckham Jr. We play at my grandma’s house.” The phrase “my grandma’s house” is turning into code for “I think that’s a lie”. If you ask Nolan about his real  Grandma or Mimi, he says, “ nooooo... not that grandma, my other grandma!” He keeps us on our toes and continues to crack us up daily. 

Whew! And that is quite the update! I probably just doubled the word count on the ol blog.

Alright, now I’m off to pet my puppies. (They are all sleepy and sore from their 12 week shots this morning), then I’m gonna prep some jalapeño poppers for the super bowl. Go chiefs!