Haylie's Garden: Update!

I keep forgetting to post pictures of Haylie's garden!! She is doing such a good job with it (sarcasm).  If it were left up to her, everything would be dead, so let's give credit where credit is due.  Thank you Justin for keeping our daughter's garden alive. 

The white cross looks like something might have died and that's where we gave it a proper burial, but Justin made that for her the eve of Easter to signify Jesus on the cross.  Our cat is still alive and well.

Funnies

I had just given Haylie some grape juice when she said, "Mom, Jesus died on the cross and then he bleed grape juice."  I'm guessing she and daddy had a conversation about communion one Sunday and that's the connection she made because otherwise, I have no idea where this came from!

We were driving the other day and Haylie said, "Mom, when I get old enough to drive, I'm going to sit in your seat and you can sit in my carseat, ok Mom?"  Oh honey.  Mom definitely won't fit in that! And wait, why are you fast forwarding 13 years?!

Speaking of driving, Haylie is obsessed with traffic lights.  She wants to know if we are going to have an arrow or a circle, which lane we are in and what color will be next.  She gets out of sorts if we are in "the wrong lane" according to her and whichever light she chose in that moment.  It's exhausting to drive with her.

If you do something for her - like get her some water - she'll say, No Mom! It's MY day!!

Can't forget about Jace-Jace.  He is better with pictures.

All I can say is he is a MESS!!!  But in so many good ways.  He loves to climb on Haylie.  Literally.   Yesterday she was sitting in a laundry basket and he just wanted to sit on her lap and lounge back on her.  It was hysterical - to me.  Not to her.  Or sitting in this pink chair, he has to be on her or beside her.  Just somewhere in close proximity...bothering her...because he's the little brother and he can.

Haircut!

I had been debating about getting Haylie's hair cut for awhile now. It was SUPER long and although it was really pretty (IMHO), I felt like it was also getting out of control.  We were a few inches short of being able to donate, but I guess I wasn't ready for Haylie to have that short of hair yet.  

So, I called my sister up who dabbles in cutting hair and let her have at it one night after church!  These photos aren't great quality and she's wearing a brown shirt so it blends in.  Clearly, I wasn't thinking about the before and after photos!

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I don't feel like she aged 5 years with this haircut, which I'm glad about. I think if we did a bob it would have and I'm not ready for that yet!  If you ask Haylie, she will tell you her hair is already growing back but that she got it cut for SUMMER TIME!!  (She might yell that last part, too.)

I think she likes it!

Pool days

It was actually a TRUE SUMMER day in Oklahoma - no storms in sight, no cold temperatures and sunshine all day.  It was beautiful.  My kids decided to power nap today and not give me much of a break.  So it was a great pool afternoon.  I got this for $10 and I'm going to say it was worth every.single.penny. Even if I almost passed out blowing it up by myself.  (The foot pump wasn't working!) 

 These kids were happy for hours!!  

By the way, we cut Haylie's hair.  My sister did it for us and cut about 5-6" off!!

It's a win win when my kids actually play together. No screaming, pulling of hair or getting upset for no reason.

I do love this picture because it looks like he is punching her in the face.  He is not.

And of course we have to end the day by face planting in the mud. I love this chunky muddy boy.

So thankful for summer time, sunshine and baby pools to keep everyone happy!

Things Other than Tornadoes

While the tornadoes have been a pretty big attention grabber lately, we've also had some other fun things going on.  

Last day of Sonshine School!!  Have they changed any?

                        September                                                   May                            

Jace got his first haircut...and by haircut it was basically shortening up some longer hair around his ears.  Which he loved, of course.

Justin and I ran in a 5K together...and no, we aren't paid by Alder Fine Homes for our free advertising...

We had a front landscape overhaul.  Thanks to everyone on FB for reaffirming my thoughts on ripping these out.

BEFORE

 AFTER

They look adorable in front of one of our duplexes.  Hopefully they live with the butchering they got when we pulled them out.

And we got to spend a fun weekend with our MO cousins!

Plans Change

This past weekend, we had plans to go on a family trip to Tulsa, but that all changed when the tornado blew through parts of Oklahoma.  My in-laws called and asked if they could come down to help with relief efforts instead of going to the lake like they had planned.  I was floored by their thoughfulness and putting their plans on the backburner for the people of Oklahoma.  Since they were coming into town, I decided to cancel our trip to Tulsa as well and spend those days with them since we don't get to see them often!

Friday we went to Bethel Acres to help a family clean up.  The lady who lived there was 78 years old and was saved by being in her basement.  She had a 2-1/2 story home and a shop/barn on her 5 acres of land.  This is all that is left.  A big pile of wood, concrete blocks and broken belongings.

It's amazing what can happen during tornadoes.

 Debris everywhere.  Tree limbs down.  Nothing left.

We worked for hours going through her belongings to see if there was anything to salvage and most of the guys got crazy with their chainsaws and cleaned up a lot of the wood/trees on the property.  Everyone was busy the whole time.

My favorite part though was that of all the places hit, of all the towns we could have gone to, we pulled up and saw my cousins from Kingfisher there helping.  How random that we could do this together without planning it one bit?  God works in mysterious ways!

We got to help people who needed us to come help.  I am grateful for everyone who is coming from near and far to help with the clean up efforts. It's going to be a long time before things are completely done, but hopefully we got to help in a small way.

It just keeps raining

Today I had the opportunity to go down to Moore, Oklahoma where yesterday it was hit by an F5 tornado.  We live about 25 miles north of the community and were fortunate to not be hit. The devastation that you see on TV is heart-wrenching and you just feel so helpless, even if you go and help with some sort of disaster relief.  Since my kids had their last day of Sonshine School today, I met up with my dad and brother-in-law down in Moore to help, to just DO something.

On my way down I-35, I suddenly came to a halt with all the traffic - I was behind a fleet of porta potties. I was trying to get to any open exit and finally did.  I met my dad and BIL at the Fresh Start Community Church.

Once I joined up with them, we grabbed trash bags and started picking up debris. I saw shingles, baby diapers, half pieces of photos, yearbook photos, doll clothing, pieces of business cards, magazines, greeting cards, insulation, wood splinters, sun glasses...you name it, we probably saw a piece of it along the road and grass.  And that's the hard part - everything is in tiny pieces.  People's lives are in tiny, tiny pieces. And we weren't even at the hardest hit area.

We filled up about two trash bags between the three of us before another huge storm started rolling in. This whole week has a prediction of more storms...likely strong and/or severe.  This picture below is the Moore water tower with the big storm clouds rolling in and then going north back on I-35.

All I want to do is watch TV to see updated news and stories of the people who survived this.  I want to go down and help for longer than I did.  I feel kind of stuck with having to continue normal life with my wonderful family when so many people are suffering.

If you would like to help out in ANY way, you can go HERE and see what our church is collecting and doing.  You can also donate there if you are out of town.  If you need a more detailed list of things to donate, just leave me a comment and I'll get you one.

Prayers for this whole community are much appreciated.  I know there are lots of questions with no answers, people are searching for loved ones and exhaustion is taking over everyone who is down there working.