Lukey Pooky

I love this guy. I love being the mom of 2!

Bowling

The other day we went bowling. G had just seen a Curious George cartoon about it and boy was he excited! We could hardly keep him off the lanes. I'm sure he carried his ball around more than actually bowling. And son-of-a-gun, he got a score as good as mine! And I was trying! Of course he had the help of a ramp, but still....

Aren't those shoes so cute! That's the only time I'd say that.

Waiting for his ball to come back.

Our fan section.

Politics?

Forgive me for talking about politics. I usually like to keep this kind of stuff out of my blog, but this is bugging me.

Everything I hear in the news is about debt. I don't understand it all. Do I even want to? It might make me angry. But I should because it is my government.

When I hear people say "Tax the rich" that makes me mad. Not only may we find ourselves in a higher tax bracket soon, so it affects us personally, but it doesn't seem fair. And I thought that before I met Tristan. Just because someone makes more money doesn't mean they should have more taken. Some people may fall into money, but I'm sure many of them worked hard to get where they are at! Not only that, but why not have a set percentage. 10% is the same for the rich as well as the poor. It's fair. Does that make sense?

And just to finish off, why do we even have 2 parties? For awhile I've thought that we should do what's best for our country. Forget the elephant, forget the donkey. We are so busy looking at who the idea is coming from that we are overlooking the idea itself. Vote for the best person, vote for the laws that will help the country the most.

Maybe I'm wrong, but these seem pretty obvious to me.

Off my soapbox now.

Heat Wave

I got this info from this website:
You probably won't read all of it, but it's hot. It's REALLY hot. And there has been no relief. We can't even get in the pools because they are basically large hot tubs.


Single Day Records

Record high OKC temperature
Record: 113 degrees - August 11, 1936.

Top 5 highest maximum temperatures in 2011:
110 degrees on July 9. (tied for 3rd in history)
108 degrees on July 7.
107 degrees on July 27.
4 days at 105 degrees: July 5, 10, 24, 31.


Record warmest low OKC temperature:
Record: 83 degrees - July 25, 1934; August 1, 1934; August 12 & 13, 1936.

Top 5 highest low temperatures in 2011:
81 degrees on July 10.
80 degrees on July 7.
80 degrees on June 27.
80 degrees on July 27.
5 days at 79 degrees: June 17, 18, 26; July 16, 18.


Daily record high temperatures set in 2011:
June 17 - 103
June 18 - 104
June 19 - 101
June 27 - 103
June 30 - 102
July 7 - 108
July 9 - 110
July 10 - 105
July 27 - 107


Daily record max low temperatures set in 2011:
June 17 - 79
June 18 - 79
June 27 - 80
July 27 - 80


Record average high temperature in summer (Jun-Aug) - 96.2 degrees in 1998.
Average high temperature in summer 2011 (Jun - present) - 99.9 degrees.

Average temperature for hottest summer (Jun-Aug) - 85.9 degrees in 1934 and 1980.
Average temperature in summer 2011 (Jun - present) - 86.7 degrees.
Average first 90 degree day - May 6 (This year was April 3).
Average first 100 degree day - July 9 (This year was June 14).


Streaks

Consecutive 100 degree days
Record: 22 days - August 4-26, 1936.

Longest streaks in 2011:
13 days - June 29-July 11 (8th longest in history.)
6 days - July 26-present
6 days - July 13-18
5 days - June 23-27
4 days - July 21-24

Consecutive 90 degree days:
Record: 71 days - June 23-Sept 1, 1980
2011: 61 days so far. (2nd most in history. Must extend through August 10 to tie record.)

Consecutive days above average high temperature:
Record: unknown at this time.
2011: 66 days so far.

100 degree days in calendar year:
Record: 50 days in 1980.
2011: 38 days so far. (tied for 6th most in history.)

90 degree days in calendar year:
Record: 113 days in 1998.
2011: 71 days so far.

Tristan's Graduation

Let me not forget the biggest event of the summer next to our little Luke. Tristan graduated! (And I missed it...forever I'll remind Gideon of his ill-timed tantrum. I still can't talk about it without somewhat fuming.)

But it was a good day and I am so proud of him and all his hard work!

At dinner the night before with friends Topher and Jon

Gideon's entertainment until the markers found their way to the chairs.

Just after the ceremony with Ryan

Being hooded

Tristan with his parents

July Fourth in Moberly, MO

We spent the holiday in Missouri. I think we're crazy to get in the car after a long trip to Utah, but it was so fun! We stopped in Tulsa at the aquarium on the way. Awesome!

Checking out the jellies!

Feeding the stingrays

And a shark tank!

Wrestling in the grass and swinging in the trees

"Look Mom! A rock!" Uh, no...that's goose....oh, never mind. Let's go sterilize you.

Waiting for fireworks. Cheese!!

Best picture ever!! I can't look at this without laughing. Luke loved the fireworks. ;)

We seriously need a bigger car.

We Went to Utah

Where Gideon played freely outside in the cool weather.

Where we blessed Luke.

Where we had dinner at the cabin.

In the Mountains

Where Tristan cut his knee up.

Where Luke got to snuggle with the family.

Where Gideon picked his first flower for me.

It. Is. Hot.

Sorry. No pictures. I figured the camera would melt if I took it outside.

I feel like the witch in the Hansel and Gretel story when I put my kids in the car. "Get in the hot oven kiddos. Time to cook you!"

Yesterdays high: 109... in the shade... humidity not taken into account.

Going Private

Hey Everyone,

I'm making the blog private by the end of July. Send me your address if you want to be added to the viewer list. :)

A Look Back

Blogging has seriously lacked recently, and for good reason. I've got 2 cute boys to cuddle. I've got lots of pictures of Luke that already seem outdated; they grow so fast!

Grandma got to come visit!

She brought a gift from her and Grandpa. A firetruck that has lights and sirens and blows bubbles...heaven for G! We've already gone through plenty of batteries!!

First smile caught on camera! What a goofy little grin!

Wondering what's going on after a bath.

Sleeping like a baby. Cute boy. Wish this would happen for longer spurts during the night. But I'll take what I can get.

Grinning in his sleep...what a goober! This picture cracks me up!!!

Gideon "helping" with the dishes. I'm not sure which was cleaner or dirtier when he was done.

L.'s first bath. Not a fan at first, but now he loves it! Sometimes G. even joins him, until he gets too rough.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Once upon a time Goldilocks (whose hair was not so much gold as it was dirty dishwater blonde, some may even call it light brown) was looking for a bear to cuddle.

This bear was usually gone at work.

This bear was too energetic.

This bear was juuuuuuust right!

And they lived happily ever after.

Tristan's Top Ten

So there are a couple of things that get me pretty grumpy and some just happen to be happening in Oklahoma right now.  I know I am stealing this from David Letterman but it works.  I also know that most people do 10 things I love about a subject and I believe I have even done one of those about Oklahoma, but right now it's time to do the opposite.  So here are the top ten reasons I hate Oklahoma.

The Wind.  It never stops blowing.......ever.  It blows hot in the summer and freezing in the winter and in reality you just want it to stop either way.  It blows shingles off roofs, limbs off trees and people's car doors into my car door in parking lots (and no one ever leaves notes).  They say the reason OK is so windy is because Texas sucks and Kansas blows, however I think the real answer is that even the air doesn't like to stay here for very long.

The Heat.  Two words for you -- heat index.  We hit 90+ in Feb and right now it's 110 with no changes on the horizon.  Now I realize that some people prefer the heat just like I prefer the cold however when you walk outside and you legitimately think there is a chance that you might see Satan himself sunbathing in your front yard you have to agree its getting a little ridiculous.

The Drought.  Another two words for you -- dust bowl.  When I was forced to read The Grapes of Wrath in high school little did I know that it was actually foreshadowing my future.  Since last November we are currently 24 in. below normal precipitation levels. Everything is yellow and dying. So you factor in numbers 1& 2 and you have a recipe for a classic novel that English teachers will force students to read for generations.

The Flatness.  I am tired of having the tallest thing I see on a daily basis be the overpass to the freeway (or if you drive a little south the pile of garbage at the city dump).  Either way if you added a couple of mountains here or there it would help.

The Allergies.  I have always had allergies wherever I have lived so that's nothing new.  However,  when you have allergies so bad that you can be on every medication on the market to prevent them and still have no relief is.  If I was the drug company that owned any of the major allergy medications I would set up bulk warehouse stores all over the state.  Then again... maybe they already did that which would explain why OK has such a high number of meth labs........... coincidence? 

The  Cold.  I know some of you may be saying, "Wait, you said you like the cold."  I do and that is not what I'm referring to.  What I am referring to is when you check the weather on the way out the door and see that it is currently 40 degrees, you think, "Hey, that's not so bad." But then because of #1 it's 20 below and by the time you make the walk from your car into school you have frostbite on your face, ears, hands, lungs and you teeth are all chipped from the chattering.  

The Red Clay.  I hope that the OK school districts don't charge their students for this in art class because all they need to do is take a shovel with them out to recess and they can get all the clay they want.  All in all its pretty amazing stuff.  It shifts so much with its wet and dry cycles that it can literally split a house in two and it is so such a powerful dye that it will turn even the most stain resistant floors and furniture to a nice burnt orange..........we just hope that earthy colors come back into to style before our house collapses.

The Weather.  Whether it be tornadoes, ice storms, heat waves or hail stones OK weather is truly like a box of chocolates..............you never know what you're going to get.  And we have seen it all.  We have had our roof and cars destroyed by pool ball sized hail.  Trees felled by wind, lightning, and inch thick ice sheets.  Cars blown off the road by tornadoes and alarms set off by thunder.  Snow storms that close down the state for a week and snow drifts taller than houses.  I don't know why any weatherman would ever want to come here to work when you are guaranteed to be wrong all the time.

The On & Off Ramps.   I can just see the people who designed the OK freeway system in a room and one of them saying, "I have a great idea.... let's have all the off ramps also serve as on ramps!" "Yea, yea. And we can have it only be 100 yds. long to save space!"  There must have been a bunch of monkeys in there to think that that was a good idea.  Because instead of being efficient and space saving everybody ends up having to slow down or stop completely, then stare blankly at the person trying to do the opposite thing they are until someone finally decides to try and either exit or get on and has to floor the gas pedal to get back up to freeway speeds.  Yup here's your sign...............

The Bugs-- I know I come from the mountains and so I am not used to many bugs. But there are daddy long legs that need knee braces because their legs are so long for crying out loud.  Not to mention the crickets, cockroaches, poisonous spiders, swarms of mosquitoes, and let's not forget the cicadas that keep you up at night for 2 months out of the year.

A grumpy old man

Meet Luke

Friday the 13th is considered to be one of the unluckiest days of the year. It was pretty lucky for us! With Luke one of the top names we wanted for our boy, I was sold when we discovered it comes from "Luck." Luke surprised us 2.5 weeks early. Poor Gideon was waiting for me to get ready to take him to the zoo. I'll make it up to him here in a few weeks.
Here's our lucky boy, Luke. He's sweet and tiny and cute as can be! I am loving cuddling him, and I'm just about to leave the hospital and can't wait. I miss my other boys so much!!! And I swear my tailbone is bruised from this awful hospital bed.
Everything went very well...here's to little sleep for the next while!