June 2013

Looks like my inability to actually post things regularly means I will be writing monthly updates. That’s depressing. But oh well. Warning – this is a really long post

June brought a tornado siren, a tornado, the end of the school year, a dance recital, a room change and three weeks of camps (the tornado siren and tornado were technically the end of May, but close enough to June to count).

Tornado Siren
Rick left for the College World Series with softball on Tuesday, May 28th. We were supposed to get bad weather that night but just as Mallory’s gymnastics class was wrapping up, the sirens went off. I looked around the waiting room and no one seemed to be worried, and then I thought “oh, maybe they are just testing them” since it was 6p on the nose. But then I remember that they don’t usually test the sirens when there is already a threat of bad weather so I looked at my phone and realized I had tornado warning alerts on my screen. I then sort of went into panic mode and tried to get Mallory to hurry up out of the gym. All I wanted to do was get home; I had no idea where the tornado was but I wanted to get home. Mallory, in true Mallory fashion, was asking a BAJILLION questions about why we were in a hurry to leave gymnastics, and I was on the verge of tears (and on the verge of panic mode) to get the hell out of there. Mallory finally *got it* and started hurrying up and we raced for home. Mallory asked if we could go as fast as we wanted if there was a tornado and I told her yes. I was desperately trying to get a hold of Rick and when he finally answered, he said some of the softball people were talking about the tornado warning, etc, but that it seemed to be north of Dexter. I reminded him that the 2012 tornado was north of Dexter until it wasn’t north of Dexter. I told him I’d keep him posted and then my dad called. My mom and dad were sort of in trouble from the 2012 tornado because they didn’t call to check on us until like 9pm, so my dad called right when the sirens went off this time, and he also reported that it was going north of Dexter and I reminded him also that the 2012 tornado was north of Deter until it wasn’t north of Dexter.

Anyway, we got home, and I sent the kids to the basement. I grabbed my phone charger, pillow, sweatpants for the kids and a beer for me. I turned on the news and saw that the tornado was really north of Dexter but there was still a warning for our area so we hung out and watched the news until we got the all clear. Mallory said she thinks the tornado went away because she had her fingers crossed. I told her it wasn’t weird if it works. My reaction to sirens and severe weather is so different than how it was pre-2012. Even this past week (the last week of June), we had a couple of strong thunderstorms (no wind but lots of thunder and lightning) and every time my whole body aches because I just want to get my kids and go home and hug them both while the thunder booms outside.

Tornado
While Rick was in Oklahoma City for the World Series, they had actually had real tornados. Rick and the rest of the team spent a couple of hours in an underground parking garage while huge tornados raced across the area. The worst of it was west of downtown (I think at least 10 people died), but seeing the reports on the weather channel was terrifying. I shouldn’t have let the kids watch it but I didn’t know what else to do. I was home with them by myself, it was bedtime, Mallory already sort of knew what was going on so there was no way she would have not watched. But I was really sad when she said “I hope Daddy doesn’t get hurt or dead”. Luckily friends were checking in on me (one even offered a Xanax) and the severe weather finally ended there and Rick and all the softball girls and other teams were safe.

The End of the School Year
Mallory finished up first grade and was actually really sad about the school year ending. She said she just LOVED her teacher and didn’t want school to end. That makes a momma’s heart happy to hear. I think Mallory ended up being conflicted about what to feel – happy because it was summer vacation, and sad about missing her teacher and her friends. Mallory insisted on writing her own thank you cards for her teachers. These are all her doing, with two exceptions – I pointed out a missing “T” in Miss Himle’s note, and Mallory needed help with some filler for the librarian’s card.

Dance Recital
Mallory’s favorite day of the year was in June – dance recital day. The day she can wear makeup and not get yelled at for it. Rick & I told her that we’d give her $100 and let her wear makeup one day in June if she didn’t do dance next year. She didn’t take it. But I guess when you see her smiles throughout her dances in the video below (taken during her dress rehearsals), we sort of have to let her do dance again.

A Room Change
Carson got moved up to the last classroom at daycare – he is now a big Bumblebee. This means the next step is kindergarten in the fall of 2014. I’m not ready.

Three Weeks of Camps
We are a month in to summer #2 of Mallory’s crazy camps.

The summer started with a week of Camp Dexter (with Nathan & Addy).

Week #2 was volleyball camp and softball camp. So far this summer, these two camps have been her favorite.

Week #3 was Engineering Camp, where she was one of two girls in a totally full camp. I loved that she wanted to do it, even when she knew she wouldn’t know anyone at the camp. Every afternoon that I picked her up, she was all smiles and loves showing me everything they worked on that day. The first day they made houses out of popsicles sticks and masking tape, but hers was only two dimension because she couldn’t figure out how to make it a square. The next day she made a geodesic dome out of toothpicks and marshmallows. The third day they made a city…and her contributions were Welcome Sign for the city, and some outdoor artwork. Not really engineering contributions but important for the city nonetheless.

We are excited about our month of summer of Rick working normal hours . We have a fun vacation planned and I can’t wait!