2019 in a teeny tiny peanut shell

Can you believe it's been over a year since I've blogged last?  Anyone still out there?  (ECHOOOOOOOOO-OOOOO-OOOO)

The past year has been a whirlwind of....well...madness.  I finally packed up my 'teaching trunk' for good and I'm a better person for it.  It was hard to say goodbye but the future is BRIGHT, ya'll.  Let me tell you!

I'm still a Realtor for an ah-mazing real estate company local to Tulsa.  Real estate is like a roller coaster.  You love it and there's parts that make you go WHEEEE! and parts that make you turn green.  Mostly WHEEEE's though...  It also keeps me out of driving a minivan because let's be honest, I'm not about that life. 

If you had told me I'd find an amazing job which I LOVED in payroll and HR that I'm decently good at I'd laugh at you.  So I guess I'm laughing.  One of my dearest friends from high school (how was that SIXTEEN years ago?!  OY!) got me talking to the right people and now I'm surrounded by happiness, laughs, payroll and a job where I can snuggle Elmo -- yes he's still alive by the literal Grace of God-- every. day.  I'm telling ya'll, life is GOOD.

Elmo is still around.  He turns 18 in February.  He is on thyroid medicine and has a nasty, gross tumor under his chin but he's still eating and going potty outside so he's still kickin.  The newest change for him is that he loves his pet taxi we bought him.  It's like his play fort.  Turns out we shoulda bought him one years ago.  Who knew?  Every night after he eats he jumps up over Ruger's crate and climbs 'in bed'.  Bless him.

Our Bass Babes are doing well.  They are both in 2nd grade and in the same. class.  (Yup, I'm THAT mom this year but don't worry, their teacher is pretty much amazing and perfect and patient and has a sense of humor so we're blessed).  Bee has struggled this year more than I've liked and it's a hard pill to swallow.  Sometimes a mama has to watch her baby bird fail a few times for them to learn and oh my lanta it's GUT WRENCHING.  Turtle is adjusting well but this poor boy needs to branch out socially!  He is so shy just like his daddy!

I'm still cooking and eating and doing all the things in the kitchen.  One struggle I have experienced this year is having my right thyroid removed and dealing with (minor) weight gain since my VSG in 2017.  I'm blessed to be able to not have to take any thyroid medication and I am still looking good but I know I can't eat graham crackers and icing as a snack anymore- HA!

I have lots of new ideas and themes and things to write about!  I can't wait to share it with yall!  PLEASE PLEASE let me know if you want me to share anything?

Husby made dinner and I'm taking COMPLETE advantage of the fact.  He's been on a roll lately.

Bee is screaming in the hallway because her younger brother DROPPED her in the hallway from a botched piggy back ride.  Can I hide in the bathroom?!





peace.  love.  i hate daylight savings.
-Summer

Pizza! Pizza!

Poptarts. Pizza. My rambunctious Bass Babes are quite particular in certain things. It is definitely safe to say that my 1 1/2 yr old is as much of a foodie as I am. He eats sushi and edamame for crying out loud. 

Our newest obsession? Pizza. Any way, shape, or form. If Turtle sees it on a billboard whilst car riding he screams bloody murder until he is konked out or sees a bus. (God help us, busses are also a big deal....)

One night I toiled and slaved away over a twenty minute dinner-shocking I know- and we sat down to eat. My husband said, 'Bubba, do you want pizza?'  And that was it. I had a flailing, screaming, MAD toddler on my hands that wanted nothing to do with the dinner I presented him on a plastic, toddler sized platter. He refused to eat because it was not pizza. And he wouldn't eat anything else we had at home. He loves pizza just that much. 

Bubba doesn't care how steaming hot the pizza is. He doesn't care if there are gross veggies on it. He doesn't even require ranch dip. The kid simply wants crust and cheese with tangy marinara.  

A sweet friend took us out for lunch a few weeks ago. I had to order two kids pizzas (6 slices each, mind you), and both of my children scarfed the entirety of pizzas in less than 15 minutes. Like a hyena on a wildabeast.  Not my proudest mommy moment. 

I suppose I should be grateful. Three months ago the obsession was poptarts. He had it bad for poptarts. 

One time, on the way to church, I had to pull over to the nearest gas staton to buy the boy a poptart because we didn't have time to eat one before leaving the house. He was shaking he was so distraught. Then as soon as the sweet pastry was in his grasp he LITERALLY KISSED IT before demolishing it.  

I wonder what the new food craving will be soon. Hopefully not steak and potatoes. Or lobster bisque. Or baked Alaska....

What are you craving?

XOXO Summer

Friday Five-Food Crawl

You know you have a true friend when they will share good with you in the back of a minivan with four small children.

Today Bestie Super Mom (Super for short)  and I introduced our poor children the art of being a foodie. Mind you one child will choose carrots and peas over junk food and cake, another child (mine, ironically) is only really interested in something worthy of being dipped in ranch THEN ketchup.

Here' goes!

1.  ITR (In the Raw) food truck was FAB!  Bestie Super got California Rolls and I ordered NY Rolls.  We concluded the difference was hers were crab, my NY rolls were shrimp.  And something in the NY was almost sweet.  Bestie Super's California Rolls were perfectly savory and just the right amount of 'seafood'.  Could. Not. Get. Enough.  Even Turtle had a few!  (Bee just decided to 'dip' herself in the soy sauce...Sigh...

ITR

Explaining Sushi...they were not thrilled!

2.  The Bone Pile Food Truck.  Oh my word!  Ya'll hold onto your bar stools!  We discovered bacon tacos served with fresh lettuce, pico de gallo, guac and a spicy mayo.  Let me first say this.  I HATE mayo but this stuff was so good and not quite fire burning that it really made the tacos.  Life changing.  Must have more.  I talked to the sweet people in the truck (I practically climbed in myself to eat more bacon....luckily I'm short and those trucks are tall...) and they told me they were in the process of opening a restaurant but for now you can find them on Facebook and their awesome food truck is in Owasso.  Clearly I will be making some road trips in the near future.

Bacon Tacos, Ya'll!

3.  Bestie Super also ordered a cheeseburger which was divine!  The kiddos helped her devour it, I stole a few bites!  And their fries?  Wowza!  They are super crispy yet thick and the spice they put on them hits the spot.  Salty with a kick.

4.  Momma, this will make you smile.  My minivan.  Spring is a tad moody here in these parts, and it was chilly.  Too cold to just plop down on some grass nonchalantly with a bacon taco.  We literally shoved strollers to front seats and blanketed the back of my van and had a lil picnic.  The kids were a tad spastic until we fed them and then we former teachers had quite a feeling of success when they sat quietly.  For three minutes.  HA!

Most angelic, sweet girl!  Miss A!

Mr. Personality!  Gotta love Mr. G!

Sushi?!

G and Bee were a bit more excited about their first food crawl!  (See the soy sauce on her skirt?!)

Thank you sweet stranger who took this.  Bestie Super was getting our food!

Sweet Babes

5.  Good friends.  The past three weeks have been quite challenging for me and Bestie Super really helped me get out of my funk and embrace life's changes.  And she ate bacon with me.  That enhances any relationship as far as I'm concerned.

Love. Her.

Food crawl = Food coma

Happy Weekend, Ya'll!
XOXO Summer

Colors of the Rainbow

It's all fun and games til someone sharts.  (Sharts, you ask? Urban Dictionary it...)

Let me preface with several things.

1.  Our children are the same size...literally.  So to save time and sanity, we bathe them together.  They love it.  And they have fun.  Hey, I'm all about efficiency.

2.  Bestie Houston bought us these super amazing bath water color drops.  We use them all the time.  They dye the bath water fun colors!

3.  The baby, our 10 month old Turtle is way beyond 'baby food' and will only eat what Big Sis eats.  And when I say he eats, what I really mean is he shovels his food like a bear preparing for winter.  Little man may only have 7 teeth but he sure gets the job done!

This being said, we fully expected him to gobble down his chili smothered baked potato last night.
And left over chili for lunch today.  And milk.  Oodles of milk in his sippy cup.  Oh and pepper steak for tonight's dinner.  With cabbage.  Get my drift?  The boy has fiber and lactose in his system.  Lethal combo.

Fast forward to tonight.  I'm giving both babies their baths together as always.  Everyone is happy and laughing.  I turn around for seven seconds to grab the shampoo.  And I notice the bathwater is colored. Did we put a color thingy in the water?   Both babies are splashing around and having so much fun!  But how did the water get so green?  OMG.  GAG.  Turtle's face seems more relaxed than normal.  Pure relief...in the tub!

This was literally 2 minutes before the 'incident'.  

I thought Mom Life couldn't get grosser when I was nursing and woke up to find my nursing pad had leaked. Or the first time I changed Turtle's circumcision dressings.  Or when Bee blew a raspberry in my face with a mouth full of tilapia.  Or we found a 'mystery' bottle under the changing table when we moved a few months ago (who knew formula could grow such...fuzzy mold?!)  But today changed everything.  I hope to God I never ever ever have to clean out a tub of floaty POO again in my life.  (And bless Husby's heart, ya'll KNOW he can't do it...then I'd be cleaning up poo and man vomit.  Double gag.)

Ya'll hungry now?  I'm still swallowing back bile.  And I haven't even eaten yet...  Two showers (babes of course) and some crushed up pepto bismol later, we sit anticipating bed time in T-minus 15 minutes.  Ah mommy life...

Bleaching every tub toy known to man,
XOXO Summer

Friday Five!

Ya'll watchin the weather?  I knew things were about to get serious when Husby told me to 'put on pants'...(At home I opt for maximum comfort...and I get hot flashes..a lot...TMI?  Sorry...)

Whilst watching KOTV Ch. 6, I am sending so many prayers, hoping and praying people stay safe and sound! 

Here's my Friday Five list!  (I have seriously not had a single day to just sit at home and have a normal routine since school let out 2 weeks ago...until today!)

1.  For Memorial Day weekend, I trekked down to my roots in Stillwater.  My parents took it upon themselves to sing chidlren's songs at the TOP of their lungs to my poor Loves...Can you tell how excited they are?  HAHAHA!

2. Sweet Bestie Anne had her Miss Paisley oh so long ago and I have been itchin to get my hands on her!  But with colds, surgeries, school, and moving to a new town, getting to Stillwater has been impossible.  ANYWAY, Paisley is a tiny, perfect, precious ball of cuddlyness and I am completely obsessed with her.  Bee learned what 'being gentle' means...picking up her brother by his FACE is her new hobby...we were cautious with her!


Sweet LOVES!


I wanted to snuggle her allllllll day!  I am so proud of Anne and so in love with Paisley!!!!!!


Turtle and Paisley!

3. I never pack toys when I go to my parents because Momma saved all of mine and Sidder's from our childhood...ironically 98% of these toys are...Barbies...

I don't know if Turtle is a ladies' man or expressing his feminine side during nap time...  either way it makes me swoon!

4.  We had a BLAST making these shirts with our cousins and their super grown up kids!  (I say that because they are so well mannered and even though they are still in grade school, they are taller than me...)  My kids didn't get dirty in the process...but I had to throw away my shirt, attempt to wipe off permanent paint from my pants, pick blue specks out of my hair, and there is still red on my hands...I look sort of creepy if you stare at my fingernails...


5.  Debbie Diller.  Need I say more?  For those of you who don't know who she is, let me tell ya!  I idolize her.  In every way.  She pioneered small groups in classrooms and has successfully published over 7 books and has retired from teaching to teach teachers how to integrate literacy and math and ohmiword is that a run on sentence??  I have seen her speak 4 times, I have my picture with her, and I have had her personally autograph all of the books she has written....we are friends on Facebook...I follow her blog, and after yesterday, I can tell you where she SHOPS for clothes.  (My best teacher friend Teresa joked that my next encounter with her might lead to a restraining order...HA!)  She is just such an awesome person who really motivates me to be a better teacher.  And she has ah-mazing ideas!

Here she is drinking water...She bought that cute little orange print top at J. Crew!


Me and Teresa waiting for her Literacy seminar to start.  I almost wet my pants.  No lie.

And I shall leave you with this picture, dearest Friends.  Sweet Turtle posing with nerdy glasses.  Melt my heart!


Ya'll don't forget to DUCK and COVER!
XOXO Summer

Ramblings

Ramblings!  Ready?  GO:

.

This wanker.  Who posts random weird crap on a nice car???  My favorite is the bottom one:" WWJD?  Not tail gate."  Ironically his top speed in his COROLLA was a whopping 9 MPH and tailgating isn't the word I would describe my reaction to being stuck behind this creep...more like bumper punching...

Had meetings at school this week so our ah-mazing 2nd momma baby sitter, Jessi, had the kiddos.  I told Turtle to SMILE! and this is what I got.  SWOON!


Husby has been busting his behind helping our good friends build a retaining wall in their back yard.  Bless his heart he wore a white undershirt and forgot sunscreen...needless to say he has quite a redneck tan line.  THEN, the next day he didn't wear a shirt at all and attempted to put on sunscreen by himself....let's just say it looks like a blind, armless, stoned armadillo applied SPF 50 to his back...hysterical!  I told him to be positive, at least only 1/3 of his back will avoid skin cancer....


You know you've hit 'Hollywood' when small town Moore and Shawnee make the Today show.  Al Roker was some what amusing to me, trying to stumble thru rubble and act like he knew how Oklahoman's handle twisters.  Dude, Toby Keith said it best.  "We've been hit before.  This one was just a bad one.  We will be ok."


Look close.  That's right.  I'm walking a weenie dog..and a cat.  I was taking Bentley for a walk (over a mile trek!).  I was 1/4 into our little adventure when I heard an Elmo sneeze (bless his heart, he has allergies...Husby tells me he is allergic to himself...)  Elmo literally followed right beside me and the dog for the whole mile.  It's safe to say our neighbors officially think I'm nuts.


Saw this at Mardels yesterday.  I ordered it on Amazon.  Pretty sure several people have bets on how long it actually will take for me to learn to 'think first and then speak'.



Yesterday evening was spent lounging in the sun with my sweet neighbor and her kiddos.  She has three boys (OMG!) and they ah-dore Bee!  The oldest carries her around and is her body guard.  Here he is taking her for a spin on his bike trike thing?!  (Apparently I really need to clue in on boy's toys...Turtle just plays with Bee's dolls and necklaces....uh oh...)  Anyways he let Bee steer the bike for a while and she was on cloud 9!


Turtle giving Cadillac a snuggle :)


Peanut butter is gross when it covers 94% of one's body.  Trust me, I will most definitely think twice before giving Bee a banana and peanut butter for dessert again!


Bestie Houston sent me this tonight.  No words.  I lie.  Maybe 2.  Pure elation.

Sorry for the absenteeism in the past few days.  Life has been cah-raaaazy round these parts.  I promise to try harder!

XOXO Summer

Funny Bunny

I apologize for the absence of a post lately. I'm not gonna lie, I had zero pain which is rare these days, so I have cleaned like a mad woman til I was near exhaustion. I have learned if I don't eat, my gall bladder doesn't feel like its going to spontaneously combust. My surgery is next week.... PRAISE THE LORD!

I digress. One of our first grade teachers kindly volunteered her her hubby to dress like the Easter Bunny and take pictures with all of the little ones at school. Naturally I jumped at the chance to document torturing my own personal children with oddly dressed strangers. Ha! So I had my sitter bring up Bee and Turtle... Yay for the Easter Bunny!

Is it ok that I am slightly obsessed with my children?

xoxo

Summer

Friday Five

It's not Friday you say? Well school is out tomorrow, so I'm basking in the glory of my Spring Break starting in T-minus 2 hours and forty five minutes!

Here are my favorite things this week:

1.  All things puppy.  This little friend's name is...you guessed it, Tiny!  A fellow teacher was doing a math lesson on comparisons...

Here's the other friend...his poor mommy was shot by some evil man and he was rescued!  I obviously melted like butter when I saw him...Praise Jesus for two crazy kids at home, I had enough sense in me to not take him!  HA!

2.  Chocolate cupcake flavored pudding?  YES.  (Thank you Ms. Mansker for being my pudding...model...).

3.  Grumpy Cat Poppie.  My father in law is one of the funniest people I know.  This picture says so much about him in so many ways.  Bahahahahaha!

4.  Baby feet.  Turtle is growing so fast.  This was this morning, he did not want to come out of the covers of our bed.  Don't you just want to eat those toesies up?  No?  Well he likes it if you act like you're going to chomp them right down!


5.  This stuff is so delish!  Philosophy products are pricey but perfection in a bottle!  How many p words can I fit in that sentence?  Goodness!  I digress.  If I wasn't so scared to stroll into Ulta I'd have some in my half packed bathroom right now!

Happy Friday Thursday!  Tomorrow we will be packing and organizing like mad!

xoxo Summer

Tulsa Home and Garden Show

It's that time of year again! Oklahoma weather is gettin crazy and the annual Tulsa Home and Garden Show is upon us!! Despite the 90% chance of strong thunderstorms and hail, I dragged a not so willing Husby and two strollers full of sleepy kiddos to the Expo Center.

Scary skies!

So excited!

Every aisle looked like this! CRAZY!

Parking was a nightmare. It was a sea of cars, I felt like a midget at a car dealership trying to navigate thru it.

Getting frustrated...

Once inside, the highlight was listening to Bee yell at people from her stroller. Thinking back, I should have taught her to Moo so she would get people out of our way...



Husby did see an OU pool table but there is no way that little purchase is going to happen... He will need a bigger man cave!



It was neat to see all of the vendors and their displays. (Someone pouted because he didn't get any free stuff...It wasn't the children either...). The garden displays were also pretty. All in all it was ok. Not ah-mazing.

Not so amused Turtle

Do I dare tell you about how I almost peed my pants? Twice? Thank you big inflatable man from a cable company jumping out in front of me. Pretty sure my not so quiet reaction embarrassed my husband...for the year... And also, thank you darling, unattended kid who popped their balloon right next to me. That was even more pleasant. Did I mention the Expo Center echoes??

A great big thank you to our amazing friend, Krista for the tickets!!! We love you!

xoxo Summer

Bye, Golden Driller!  See ya next year!