A little of this and a little of that

One day after my last post, an EF-5 tornado ripped through Moore, where my two brothers and their families live.  For some reason that day I was perusing the online news sites while the kids played (that's usually Kip's thing to do) and I saw all of the weather warnings, specifically the school that was leveled and it's address - from what I could see it was very, very close to one of my brother's homes.

I freaked out.  I stumbled on the info immediately after it happened so I could not figure out exactly what had happened as news reports were very new and garbled.  One thing that scared me: my sister in law, Rebecca was not updating facebook as she usually did during bad weather.

After a couple of hours of waiting and freaking out, Becca's mom reported that she and Anders were okay and the relief was overwhelming.  I still didn't know what to make of the text that John sent. "We're at Brian's house.  It's gone."

It was gone.  But Brian, Becca, and Anders were alive and safe, they found each other, they had a place to go, and thanks to a great live interview on CNN, Rebecca became somewhat a household name and many of their needs have been met.  So sorry about the loss of two neighbors.   But happy for you guys.  Can't wait to see you in July.

In other, less dramatic news...it finally warmed up enough for our house to get painted! Before:

 And after.  (You can see that spring arrived between when I took that first photo and these two second ones)

 

I admit, I was surprised at first - I expected the house to be gray and blue, and it's actually kind of green and blue. But after hyperventilating for a couple of days at the large investment that didn't turn out as I expected...I think I like it.  Other people seem to think it looks nice.  I think it will grow on me.  It will have to. :)  It definitely looks better than it did before, that's for sure!

So, now that the painting is done, the ceiling is scraped (still working on re-texturing), I think the only major thing left that we want to fix on the house is replacing some of the windows.  A few have leaked and warped the window sills, and plus they are old aluminum things that amplify the heat/cold instead of keeping it out.  But maybe that will be next year, because...

It's SUMMER!  Rachel's all confused about whether it's REALLY summer because we've talked about summer "really" starting around June 20 with the solstice thing and all, but summer is NOW since we are done with school for the year, WOO HOO!  Lots of capitals in one sentence, I know.  The pool is open - we made one visit already and are waiting for the rain to pass so we can go some more.  The community pool has got to be one of the best perks about where we live - it's only 1 block away and it's FREE (well, we pay our stinking HOA every month so I guess it's not FREE in every sense of the word, but around here everyone has to pay monthly HOA. It's crazy.)

 We made or summer bucket list and the kids are excited to start crossing things off, especially things like "have a water balloon fight" and "backyard campout."  Should be fun!
 
Rachel finishes out the dance year tomorrow night with her recital.  We got her pictures back this week:

Oh, my, gosh. So cute!  I know, I am biased.  After watching costumes and pictures and recital practice, Ella thinks she wants to do dance again instead of gymnastics, but we'll all be taking a break from organized sports for the summer and then when it gets closer to the fall she can decide for sure.

We were able to go to GJ over Memorial Day weekend, which the kids loved.  We enjoyed hearing Trey speak before he left for his mission in England, and of course we fit in a lot of outdoors-y fun.  Kip was excited to take us back up on the wild horse range he spent time on as  kid with his dad.  And we saw horses!  Sometimes they like to hide.  (And thanks to William who was leaning out the window taking photos for us!)

 Oh! A blue bird!

 McKinley on our lunch break at the cabin:

 Ella, lounging in a tree like a true half-leopard should:

On our way out of the range, we were able to stop and play at the "goblins" which I guess is like a mini Goblin Valley - weird bubbly sandstone things to climb on and in.  The kids had a blast. This is Caleb (in the blue) being King of the goblin mountain for a minute. 

And...it was McKinley's 2nd birthday!  She was a little confused, surrounded by all the cousin love, for her cake and singing. :)  Plus, it was bedtime. :)

 But she did enjoy her cake and ice cream before bed!  She was exhausted, so she opened her little presents the next morning while were still in pajamas.  Thanks Aunt KayLynn and family for her Hello Kitty purse.  she loves it. :)

When we were back home we celebrated a little more with our good friends the Smiths - they are so nice to her!  Sara made a cake and McKinley demonstrated how to properly eat cake and ice cream when you're 2.

 

 Pushing her new baby in her new stroller, wearing new clothes from grandma.  Thanks everyone!

Two year old McKinley is so sweet, she gives big snugly hugs to family and will high-five just about anyone.  She is a good sleeper, a good eater, and likes playing with her sisters and their toys.  She likes babies, Barbies, ponies, books, stuffed animals ("my e-phant, my frog, my bear, my bunny"), her blankie, dancing, jumping on the trampoline, swimming, bath time, doing things by herself ("No - I do it!"), and watching movies.  She talks all the time, makes three or four word sentences like "I'm all done" or "I want some dat."  She has developed and understanding of "mine" which makes for not-fun times with Rachel as they figure out "sharing" together, but it's all part of growing up.  :D  Her hair is usually one big loopy curl in the back, which is fun.  We love her sweet personality and she makes us laugh all the time (look at the flexibility - yummy toes!)  Happy Birthday big girl!