HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!

Isaiah turned four a week ago today and he shared a birthday party with his two cousins, Nehemiah and Noah. We had it at the park where we always have his birthday. There was confusion on the cake and at the VERY last minute Shan offered to make a train cake. WE LOVE HER! In honor of the train cake and Isaiah excitement, he decided he needed to wear his "train man" costume to the party.

How cute is he!!The park has a splash pad; however, we did NOT have swimwear with us because we were told the water would DEFINITELY NOT be ON that weekend!

Little did that idiot lady who made our reservation know b/c the water was on and apparently the 50 some people there had advanced warning. NICE! So I called as many people as I could at the last minute to tell them to bring swimsuits.

NOW where in the world were my children ~ in the creek!

Heaven forbid they join the masses of kids in the clean water on the splash pad......NO.....that would mean they would have to pass up a chance for tadpoles, frogs, crawdads, fish and other nature things like DIRT!!!

Later Zay went to the splash pad but I think he was just trying to steal a birthday kiss from Quinlynne!! (Yes Shan I stole a pic or two!!)

THE CAKE

ISN'T IT COOL!!!

WE LOVED IT!

It was really really good too!

THANK YOU SHAN ~ WE LOVE YOU!!

My Mom had been giving bad weather forecasts all week.

Wednesday she said, "You know there is a 30% chance of rain Saturday?!?"

Thursday she said, "You know there is a 40% chance of rain Saturday?!?"

Friday she said, "You know there is a 50% chance of rain tomorrow?!?!"

I said, "Ok negative Nelly that is it I am calling everyone to say if it is raining they are to come to your house...keep it up!!"

So the party started, the kids played while the adults talked then at 4 o'clock an hour into the party I notice the sky is turning black. I rounded up the kids to do cake and presents before the rain came. It got chilly, windy and started to rain. The cake was a hit!

The other birthday boys

my nephews Nehemiah and Noah

The presents were opened so quickly that I didn't even know what he got until after we were home but THANK YOU everyone!!

Apparently in a hurry to make her awesome cake, Shan was unable to go buy a birthday bag.......

Too funny!!

Now what do kids at a birthday party do in the rain?

They play in it!

At first we tried to stop them but gave up and let them play!!

My niece Majesty

We went home and made birthday pizza!

What is that you ask.....


.....homemade pizza with candles that wouldn't stay put!!

FRIDAY HIGH FIVE

Time for Friday High Five!

Come join in the fun....please!

Make a list of 5 things ~ ANY five things you want! 5 favorite things, Top 5 Vacation spots, 5 most embarrassing moments, 5 favorite pics, 5 reasons to not pick your nose......A LIST OF ANYTHING YOU WANT IT TO BE!

To see my Friday High Five posts for examples, click here!

Post about it, linking back to me (now you can copy and paste the HTML at the bottom of this post for a button!) then sign Mr. Linky!Please use the Friday High Five URL post in Mr. Linky's URL section instead of your blog URL and here is how: write the post, publish the post, go to edit posts, VIEW the High Five post, copy the URL in the address portion at the top of the screen then paste it in the URL section of Mr.Linky!!

Sounds complicated but it isn't too bad! If you need help, let me know in the comment section!

Go view all the other High Five posts and comment away!

Have fun!

First I want to apologize to last week's players! I ALWAYS READ YOUR POSTS AND APPRECIATE YOU PLAYING ALONG! I also always comment! I did read your posts; however, I had a few computer problems throughout the weekend. It kept freezing up or telling me something about some server something THEN shut down internet explorer!! Yes those are all technical terms (I am highly technical after all! lololol) so I am sorry if you don't understand! I fixed everything (I believe!) and planned to go back to comment BUT this week has been crazy with a birthday party, Ordination ceremony, Memorial Day cookout, school awards ceremonies and too many end of year school activities so needless to say I did NOT get back to comment! Sorry about this and I will get to your posts/comments this weekend I promise PLUS I have a ton of blogging to do so stay tuned!! Love ya'll!

5 great things about my day yesterday

5. I woke up and realized it was the boys' last day of school! Elijah is a BEAR to get up in the mornings......don't know where he gets it! I am so looking forward to him waking up ON HIS OWN and well I like to sleep in so this is good too!! I might change my mind about the "being home for the summer" thing so stayed tuned for many moments of me wishing he was back in school!!

4. A picnic with 500 summer crazed students.......sounds crazy but I had a blast!! More on that to come soon......

3. I took the kids home from school early then took them to the park to play until we had to pick up Tez. THEN we went home and played outside for 3.5 more hours!

2. Going through Elijah's yearbook with Elijah and Avani ~ they CRACKED ME UP! Their stories were priceless! More on this coming soon too......

#1

TODAY'S WEATHER WAS AMAZING!!!!!

WARM NOT HOT WITH A GREAT BREEZE ALL DAY LONG AND NO RAIN!!!

<center><a href="http://angeleyesadventures.blogspot.com/search/label/Friday%20High%20Five"><img alt="Angela's Adventures" src="http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r134/gigibryan/HighFive-1.jpg" /></a></center> Mr. Linky has been having issues all week so if it doesn't work leave a comment and I will visit you that way! This is the temporary widget to use...stinks I know!! OK CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW THEN A POPUP WINDOW WILL COME UP WITH THE NORMAL ENTRY FORM! Sorry for the confusion but you will have to take that up with Mr. Linky!!

DEAR.....

Dear Creator of the little rain diddy,

For decades children of all ages have been saying your little diddy ~ "Rain, rain go away come again another day!" My seven year old son who is highly afraid of storms has discovered a problem with your little diddy.

IT. DOES. NOT. WORK!

It seems that lately here in Oklahoma the skies are not listening. Now being a life long resident of the state I have learned that Oklahoma weather can change on a dime but we are stuck in a rut. The past few weeks have been constant rain and by constant I mean 20some days in a row of rain. Our yard can absorb no more water and has taken on the appearance of a swamp. Not so great for "curb appeal"! Mosquitoes love standing water and are multiplying before our eyes. My wood floors have taken on the not so fashionable Mud Paw Print look from the dogs walking in mud anytime they go outside. This Mud Paw Print look will have to remain unless I mop several times per day which is not going to happen. My children want desperately to play outside. I honestly believe they would live outside if possible. Yes, I have debated this issue and at times have thought about buying them a tent or shed to live in so I can have silence. We just want a break from the rain that lasts more than hours. We are beyond playing in the rain puddles since now our yard and streets are just one GIANT puddle.

If you have spent any length of time in Oklahoma, then you know that sunshine directly after a heavy rain although nice for a moment is not a good sign. Instead it is often a sign of tornadoes to come. My seven year old boy HATES tornadoes or even the mere thought of tornadoes. Then comes the weather man with his weather map full of red, green, black and spinning circles indicating tornadoes. I've thought about contacting him also to see if we could switch up the colors in hopes that my son will stop panicking anytime he sees RED on the map! We watch to know when to take shelter but it makes my son a wreck. The only good thing about those moments is I know he can read a map, he can locate our town and tell us if we are in the "red" zone. The bad news is he clings to me and asks about every half second if a tornado is coming. He was fine until I had to put them in the closet twice last year and now he is terrified. If you are an Oklahoman, then during the heavy storms you are doing one of three things ~ (1) taking shelter (2) watching the weatherman on TV (3) standing outside looking at the sky. YES, we stand outside observing all too often. We haven't just been getting "April Showers" in May but instead STORM after HEAVY STORM after THUNDERSTORMS after FLASH FLOODS and TORNADO watches and warnings EVERY. SINGLE. DAY!!! We are tired of it and your little diddy is not doing a thing!

Last night my seven year old and I altered your little diddy until we had it perfected then we chanted it many many times. We are hoping it will work and are letting you know about the not so minor changes so you can spread the word. It goes a little something like this:

"Rain, rain go away!
Come again another day
preferably not tomorrow, the next day or the day after that!

Not so many days in a row
our poor Daddy hates to mow!

You make our yard all muddy and wet
so bad that all dirty we get!

Tornadoes make us tend to fret
so go away, try Tibet!

We know you make the flowers grow
but all this rain just has to go!!

Sprinkles daily would be fine
but to that you are confined.

No storms, tornadoes or flash floods
if this is done we could be buds!

Daily storms are such a drag
I'm sorry we don't mean to nag.

We hope you listened to what we ask
and hope you can complete this task!"

THE END!

I know your little diddy has been a time honored tradition for many but due to the lack of response we were forced to make a few alterations and clarify our needs. I am hoping this clearer version of our expectations will take hold and the constant rain will cease. Maybe the clouds did not understand "another day" does not mean each and every single day for about a month. We hope this mends our situation here in Tornado Alley/Green Country/Oklahoma and chanted it again this morning JUST IN CASE! I am writing to let you know about the clarifications in hopes that you will spread the word. We have to admit it is long but quite catchy ~ don't you think!!

Sincerely,

Angela and Elijah

Our "little diddy" creator name shall be Waiting for Rays

(Sun rays if that needs to be cleared up too!!)

LET'S DISCUSS WHAT SUCKS!

So I feel awful and I am going to give my view on what sucks!

Being an allergy sufferer who ran out of her medicine and failed to get more because she thought "oh I'll be ok for a few days"

when a few days turned into two weeks then

BAM

stupid indecisive Oklahoma weather decides to

be hot,

be cold,

be rainy,

be hot,

be cold,

be windy,

be rainy,

throw in 10in of snow,

be hot the next day so the snow all melts,

then decide to rain,

then be chilly

be warm again,

.........play with all of the allergy suffering residents!!

WHY

didn't I go get more allergy medicine?

Since I can't sleep because of my inability to breathe, I decided to look up some things. Although I always knew Oklahoma is not a good state to live in if you are an allergy sufferer, I didn't realize how bad my state and even my CITY were for allergies. At first all I could find was statistics from 1999 saying Tulsa ranked #7 out of the 100 worst cities for spring allergy sufferers. Then I came upon 2002 statistics saying we had improved and were then ranked as #17. Whew, what an improvement! (I hope you feel the sarcasm!) Then I found horrible 2007 statistics and I wanted to pack up my family and move far far away!

In 2007, Tulsa, Oklahoma was the #1 worst city for spring allergy sufferers!

I live there!

Holy cow!

Luckily by 2008, we were way down to #19 out of 100 of the worst cities!

The AAFA (Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America) has yet to release the 2009 statistics for the 100 Worst Cities for Spring Allergy Sufferers; however, they have released the worst 5 and Tulsa is not on that list.

Whew!

Six or below is our goal!!! hahahahahaha ~ sadly that was probably only funny to me!!

Do you know how many cities there are in the US?

Wait for it.......

.....wait for it.....

That's too bad I don't either!

I bet you totally thought I had the answer!

I did try to look that up too but couldn't find it. Granted I didn't look too long since I became frustrated. They all went into how places are classified as cities, towns and counties and how different states use different methods so it is hard to get a count of actual "cities" and blah blah blah.......SEE why I didn't look too long!

The point is why as an allergy sufferer do I even live in a place that makes it onto the 100 Worst Cities for Spring Allergies list in the first place.

Hundreds of thousands of cities in this country and I pick one of the 100 worst for allergies ~ idiot I tell you and not even the bottom hundred at that!

WHY?

All because I wanted my boys to grow up near their Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins!

Or just pure insanity and fear of change!

Take your pick!

Now onto what else sucks since I just happen to be making a list.....

not breathing through your nose, the nose congestion traveling from one nostril to the other taking turns blocking one completely at all times, blowing your nose and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING EVER comes out, ear popping, throat pain but only if and when you swallow, not breathing through your mouth, gland pain, not breathing through your nose, eye pain, watering eyes, sneezing, itchy throat, headache, not breathing through your nose.................

Did I leave anything out?

Oh yes I did.......

gargling salt water *gag*gag* you can't even begin to *gag*gag* imagine how much I hate *gag*gag the taste of salt water so you know I was desperate, no sleep for days, warm cloths over your face while giving yourself a facial rub since according to the stupid liar of a nurse "it will work wonders" ~ LIAR ~, then sleeping for 15-20 minutes at a time, nasal congestion, Neil Med nasal rinse especially if you fail to read the instructions COMPLETELY before use (THIS ONE is a post all on its own!), nose spray that just drips out or runs down the back of your throat, not breathing through your nose, medicine that makes you feel like you wiped the inside of your mouth with a giant freaking cottonball and no amount of liquid seems to make this side effect go away, have I mentioned nose congestion and throat pain yet, drinking excessive amounts of liquids to cure the cotton mouth only to get up to pee every five minutes, putting a blanket on because you are freezing then fall asleep and wake up sweating, not breathing through your nose.....................

I think that might be it.......

NO WAIT you didn't really think I was done did you.......

.......Let's add ~ getting said allergy medication to be taken every 24 hrs then accidentally taking one at 5:30pm then one at 9:30pm on the same evening.

What was I to do after swallowing the second one and realizing my mistake?

It isn't like I could puke up just one of them. If I thought I had dry mouth before, then I was sadly mistaken. You would think I spent days in the freaking Sahara. I thought I was going to rig a line of tubing from the refrigerator water dispenser to my mouth or go get an IV of fluids put in! Then I laid in bed wondering since I was awake from not being able to breathe through my nose and all if I would notice side effects from taking too much medicine or if I would just die in my sleep. Those are always comforting thoughts while you are lying there going insane from not being able to breathe through your nose. Had I mentioned that yet?

Now I am done!

APRIL FOOL'S!

Crazy bloggy friends I'm not done ~ it was all true I'm just not done yet!

You know what is worse when you are feeling down with all of this??

Hmmm.......

....now let's stay on track with giving me all of your pity and not elaborate on how good my life is and I should be glad to even be breathing although not through my nose.......

.....let's pretend I am the center of attention here.......

Now what could you add to all of this to make it worse.......

Diarrhea from antibiotics and pink eye......YEP.......I am lovin' my world right now!

Now you want to know what sucks the most.......

I have pink eye in BOTH EYES on top of all the other crap!!!

Needless to say I have been looking pretty hot around here lately!

Moral to the story ~ If I want to continue to live in Oklahoma and breathe through my nose, then I should not run out of daily allergy medicine and never ever ever skip a day for any reason whatsoever.....EVER!!!

Why when I put spaces in between sections where I WANT THEM does blogger erase the spaces when I publish? It never USED to do this!!

OUR ST. PATTY'S SNOW MAN ON MARCH 28TH?!!?

Oklahoma weather is very unpredictable!

We had a couple of weeks with 70s and 80s ~ nice!

We had the hottest St. Patrick's Day in five years!

Then it got chilly.

Then it rained and stormed for days.

Then it rained some more ~ so much so that our front yard was full of small pools of water that could not be absorbed since the ground was already soaked.

The meteorologists were predicting snow for today. Hubs said, "Oh it won't happen!" It is normal for Oklahomans not to always believe their weathermen. Yesterday, it rained ALL DAY LONG!

This morning we wake up to Isaiah jumping on us saying,

"IT'S SNOWING, IT'S SNOWING!"

He has been waiting for a good snow for quite some time!

He has never built a REAL snowman!

I checked and it was snowing!

March 28th, 2009 and it is snowing in Oklahoma!

Now Oklahoma snowman-making snow is rare. We get snow, lots of sleet and tons of ice every winter but the fluffy wet snowman-making snow is rare especially enough of it! Originally our town was supposed to only get 1-3 inches and the towns north of us would get up to 10inches. By 12:30pm today, we had 6 inches of the GOOD snow in our backyard. The front yard was mainly slush since it was melting into the pools around the yard before it accumulated BUT the backyard was a big field of white.

Now I hate winter!

I hate snow!

I hate cold!

SO the plan was to bundle the boys up then go out and take pictures. This plan failed when I noticed the boys didn't have a clue what to do and that made me sad. When I was little I think we had snow more often since I remember making snowmen but nowadays we mostly get ice. SO I became the "good" Mom and joined in the fun.

WE HAD A BLAST!

Samson loved it and it made me really miss Daisy. She would have LOVED this snow. We had LOTS of snow a couple of years ago in November and she was in love with it.

The odd thing was the thunder. While we were making our snowman, it was thundering and still snowing pretty hard and fast. Don't know if I ever remember thunder during a snowstorm but this is Oklahoma! It is still snowing as I type this and I have serious cabin fever. I feel like going somewhere ~ anywhere but I don't want to get cold and wet so alas I am resorting to playing around on Picnik with my snow pics from this afternoon and blogging. I hate it when the bottom of my jeans get wet ~ weird pet peeve of mine ~ so I am staying in!

I did manage to take pictures here and there but it was hard since the snow was coming down so hard and I didn't want the camera to get too wet. This first one is my favorite!

I really liked this one too!

Every time I turned around the boys were eating snow!

I love this picture because of Zay's tongue! I think he picked up and ate more snow than he actually helped with the snowman. He was more worried about sweeping off his "cars" that he leaves outside and sweeping the porch. At one point he got very excited stating he had found a shovel. I turned to see him packing snow into the dog pooper scooper THEN I made SURE he didn't eat any of THAT snow!

We had to improvise a little. I had carrots for the nose but we couldn't find sticks for arms so he also has carrots for arms. We used quarters for his eyes and pennies for his mouth and buttons. I thought we were done when Zay said, "Momma he has to have a hat!" In the house I went to search for a hat when I found their St. Patrick's Day hats which they thought was hilarious!

Here he is in all of his glory ~ Frosty O' Cullom

Tez informed me this was his first time to ever make a snowman. From the looks of it, I totally believed him. I tried explaining a few things then gave up and just let him have fun doing it his own way.

It was funny when Isaiah said,

"Oh Tez you made a weally big Twismas tree!"

It did look like a tree.....

.....with a carrot on top but he was proud until it fell moments later!

It started to snow harder so we went inside. It is amazing how it takes forever to get them all layered and bundled then mere seconds there are wet clothes scattered everywhere after coming inside.

PHOTOSTORY FRIDAY

I haven't done Photostory Friday in awhile even with my best intentions so this week I AM DOING IT! While I had this post planned because spring is on the way, our forecast for tomorrow is snow! Seriously! Ugh.....I hate winter! Where is that stupid groundhog? Has he ever predicted an early spring? Just when the 70s and 80s were settling in, I began to wear flip flops and the boys sported their shorts....

BAM

.....days of wind, rain, cold temps and NOW snow!

Gotta love Oklahoma weather!

Welllll I was anticipating spring and getting ready to clean up the yard and prepare it for flowers in the next few weeks but now I will be behind closed doors until all remnants of winter have dissolved!!

The boys love to help with the flowers.

Isaiah has loved to water the flowers since he learned to walk.

I don't know if he justs likes getting wet......

....or drinking from the hose!!

He makes sure to get each flower!

He just loves to take care of the flowers!

Come join in on the Friday High Five fun too!

For more Photostory Friday posts, click below

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

SMALL TALK SIX!

6 things you love or hate about springtime

1. I love Daylight Savings time because I love having more daylight in the evening.
2. Planting flowers and tending to them ~ Ok I actually don't like the act of planting but I do enjoy caring for them once they are planted and watching them grow
3. I love the smell of the clean crisp air and the feeling that everything is fresh and new.
4. I love spring cleaning ~ ok wait I don't actually like the cleaning but I do enjoy the feeling once it is all done
5. I love taking the boys to the park and playing outside! They will play outside until the absolute last minute. I think they would live outside if they were allowed; therefore, I am seriously thinking about buying a large tent, putting them in then locking them out! Kidding ~ put your phone down!
6. I love opening the windows and letting the fresh air in! I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the weather is just right ~ not too hot and not too cold! There is nothing like a spring breeze!

ONLY IN OKLAHOMA!

NOTE: There is a video in this post that I cannot stop from automatically playing plus it has a commercial before the actual video and it repeats over and over! If you know how to fix this let me know or I will erase it tomorrow because it is driving me nuts! You may have to restart it when you get to it or until then be annoyed ~ sorry.

Only in Oklahoma where the winds come sweeping down the plains....

can the weather go from ICY one week..............

.........to 70° for a few days to 40° for a few more then back to the 70° with high winds and pouring rains THEN.................

{{I had a video here of the tornadoes that hit Oklahoma this past week and the damage from them however I could NOT remove the autostart feature so I deleted it!}}

Now as those families and the families in two other Oklahoma towns clean up what is left behind we are back to 70° BUT tomorrow in good old Oklahoma fashion it will be in the 40s once again! Early for a tornado and 70° weather but if you live here you know to expect the unexpected as far as weather is concerned. I have also learned after growing up here that a mobile home isn't the safest home to have when you live in tornado alley. Plus all of these weather changes wreak havoc on Oklahoma allergy sufferers, like me!

IT SNOWED.....WELL OKIE KIND OF SNOW!!

If you've read this post, then you know that Isaiah hates snow and ice; however, he has been wanting it to snow for months so he can finally build his first snowman. In fact there has been many times he made my Mom go buy carrots for a snowman nose because it looked like it might snow! I would not fall for this 3 yr old child's meteorology knowledge ;however, my Mom does each and every time ~ sucker! Well as I mentioned a few thousand times last week we had an ice storm. Schools were closed Tuesday through Thursday ~ ugh! Tuesday evening I decided to go try and find Isaiah some snow boots to help him walk around on the ice when low and behold it was snowing. Now granted it was NOT the fluffy, white, good-packin', snowman-makin' snow BUT hey it was snow.....on top of ice, sleet, more ice, even more ice then a small layer of snow, then you guessed it more ice. When we get lots of ice, the boys get confused upon seeing it because our yard will look like it has snowed but once they go out in it they quickly realize once again that Mommy was right (really I don't know why they ever even doubt me!) and they are disappointed. No such luck finding boots his size so I rushed home, ran in the house to tell the boys it was snowing. Isaiah was asleep on Daddy's lap and I said, "Zay wake up! Do you want to go play in the snow?" We had to laugh because he popped right up all wide-eyed and ready to go! I layered him like you would NOT believe. I did NOT want him to get cold while playing and refuse to go out in the ice again since it would take awhile for all of our ice to melt! Let's see he had on longjohns, sweats, Elijah's old snowsuit, a jacket, a coat, gloves, three hats and his trusty full of holes crocs that he loves (hey I warned him!)........he couldn't move BUT HEY he wouldn't freak out in the cold either!!! It was comical watching him walk like a little penguin!! Elijah bundled up but we had to use my socks since his gloves were gone...imagine that!

This was my first sight ~ Isaiah down........

which immediately reminded me of this scene from 2 yrs ago.......

after this Isaiah refused to walk OUTDOORS for two weeks until EVERY TINY REMNANT of snow was melted!! THIS YEAR, Thank God, he just popped up and said, "Don't worry Momma! I not scared of the snow NOW!" Woohoo, good for you because I can't carry you anymore AND walk on ice!

Time for Elijah's favorite ~ snow angels

I can't believe Zay actually did it ~ his very FIRST snow angel!

Then they played and played and played....

....not sure why they laid on their stomachs in it but hey........

THEY ARE HAVING FUN!

Isaiah trying to throw a snow ball at me!
I told him to eat snow and he liked it! He kept eating it until I made him stop because......

Samson got suited up to join in the fun although I am not so sure this was HIS idea of fun!

Elijah ran to the bathroom to do his normal soaking of his cold hands in water when I went in to check I found this! Elijah warming up his hands and Isaiah sitting on the counter warming up his feet! Guess his feet were plenty wet from the crocs HE wanted to wear!