Birthday Party At Two Years Old

Today's guest blogger is my baby girl to describe her birthday:

My daddy (the skinny guy) and Big 8 (the big guy) getting things ready for my party.

My daddy got me the most balloons I have ever seen, I gave him a kiss but I am not letting go of the balloons.

Daddy has no idea what balloons mean to me.

Friends and family showed up to show how much they loved me.  It made my special day very special.

That's right, sunshine and rain at the same time.  But that doesn't change plans for a barbque.

So what do  you do at a two year old's birthday party?  You play in puddles, you eat Reese's Peanubutter Cups your uncle gives you and you get down to the music with your balloons.

So many people showed up it was the best party ever . . . even if I have only had one other.

At one point all the excitement go to be too much, fortunately, I had good friends to comfort me.

This was my cake.  Big 8 made sure it was just what I wanted.

I found out that icing is messy, I wasn't real happy about that.  I tried to bite the candle, wax isn't that good.  But really I wanted that Spongebob, he's cool.

I knew exactly what to do with that candle.  I was a little confused as to why everyone was clapping when I blew it out.  Then daddy cut me the biggest piece of cake I have ever seen.

Article about new species found in Borneo

The following pictures are from an AP article about new species found in Borneo.  I am not sure I could deal with this bug.  It is the first time I have had that kind of reaction from looking at a picture of a bug.

I can see why they might not have found this guy earlier, I mean, he does kind of look like a rock in the mud.

Where'd who go?

You know how sometimes when you are the mom of a toddler, you swear there are somethings that you are looking for that had to have grown legs and walked away?

We spent a few minutes Saturday on campus.  With girls you have to start early . . . 

Getting them used to the idea that they can go to college . . . .

Because it's kind of a big deal . . .

And apparently not far enough in the future.  Is she really only sixteen years from this?

This is the first scrape from falling down that turned into a scab.  She is doing with it what most kids do, picking it out of existence.

And because it was the first part of her they let me see . . . baby feet.

Easter Sunday

Among the waves of home cooking and hoards of children under the age 3, I saw family we haven't seen in far too long.  One girl I had never met expressed that all she needed to know is that I was family and that was good enough for her.

Granny Bowen and Xyla

It's been a Happy Easter.  We woke up late and were not able to make it to church with Granny Bowen and Papa John.  We were still able to make it to a later service at our own church.  Xyla spotted Elmo out of the corner of her eye and hollered after him down the hall at the church before I had even registered that something red had flashed on the other end of the building.  I told her I didn't know if it was Elmo but we could go check it out.  She started off down the hall, a true blessing since it takes us about a thousand years to get her off the stairs near the door where we come in.  That is where you have probably see us before.  Walking against the crowd up and down, and up and down, and up and down the stairs.  She learned to climb the stairs there and is almost tall enough to have a solid solo grip on the rail so she can help herself.

Trying on bracelets.

She actually let Elmo touch her hand.  I was surprised because she usually gets really antsy when anything dressed in a fur suit gets within ten feet of us.  If that gives you an idea of how much she likes Elmo.  I am sure things wouldn't have went near as well if that was a bunny suit.  It's nice to know Elmo is saved.

During the service the song "Watch The Lamb" by Ray Boltz weighed heavily in my mind.  My brother used to sing that song and reduce the room to tears.  Sometimes I wonder if anyone else has ever heard it.  If you decide to search it please keep your tissues handy.  I am not an emotional person, really but this one gets me right around the part of the roman soldier.

The Bowen side of the family.

Since Xyla is starting her new daycare today and they will be going swimming this summer I decided to stop and see if any stores had cute baby swim suits out this year.  So far I am not impressed.  I think she will love the pool.  We picked up Xyla's daddy and and headed out to the I240 end of Midwest City to get lost and then found at the home of family we haven't seen in too, too long.  We were there for a long time.  It felt easy though.  Warm smiles, genuine hugs and many ears for the listening.  Family.

He says "no" and "open" and I am sure he thinks "Happy Easter" in your general direction.

On the grill to escape the noise?  Possibly but it's good barbque.

Told  you.  Starting from the top left that'd be homemade mac 'n' cheese, 

from scratch green beans, 12 hour pot roast, chicken spaghetti 

and in the middle there is sweet potatoes.  We eat like kings.

But chaos is exhausting.  We probably should have left sooner.  On the way home my eyes were tired, tired in a way they haven't been since college (the first time, not this time)

One weekend I was going home after a particularly long week of class/work/class/work/work/class etc.  About three weeks worth of that with no breaks.  I left tired beyond belief thinking I could drink some coffee and be ok for the hour and a half it took to get to my mom's place from school.  About a half hour into the drive I couldn't hold my eyes open.  I literally tried to hold them open alternatingly in two minute intervals.  Coffee was not working.  Did you know there is a tired that even coffee won't help?  I knew I was in trouble but I knew I couldn't stop.  So I prayed.  "Lord, I have to get home, I need to get there safely, please send something that will keep me awake until I get there safe.  I don't think I will make it if you don't."

This is how I know God hears me when I pray.  No sooner did the thoughts leave my grasp and I hit . . . a skunk.  If there is anything that will keep you awake for an hour it is the smell of a skunk in your vents.  I made it home.  I told my mom briefly what happened.  We comisserated over the skunk event that shaped my Jr. High years and I went to bed.  The next morning we went to the store and my mom said that she didn't smell skunk at all.  As a matter of fact neither did I.  It's not something that just "goes away".

On my travel back to school I specifically looked for the roadkill that would represent the sacrifice made so that I could be safe and it wasn't there.  In case you are thinking this was just a case of cleaned up roadside beast - let me remind you this was the weekend and Idaho is not known for being swift on the clean up process.

Sometimes I don't even have to ask God for help because He just knows I need it.  Last night for instance, the right songs came on the radio and there was the most amazing light show via lightening storm that coordinated with the music perfectly and the combination of the two kept me quite alert all the way to Stillwater.  This may be the only time you hear me say this so please listen closely:  "Thank God that Oklahoma is flat and praise him for skunks and lightening." 

She is napping so I, naturally, am thinking about what all I need to do this week.  I have to scan and file photos that I have been putting off for a year.  (That's right, a  year, don't judge me.)  I have to write one of two papers that will be term papers, although the first one is required in draft form only.  The other will be a bit more involved.  I will have to annotate that one.  I hate annotating about as much as plaigerism so what am I to do?  

Next week is Easter Sunday.  In one month to the day is Xyla's birthday.  She will be two.  

Yet all I can think about is home.  I have two more pay periods before I have enough leave saved to take a break.  My mom might come down for a couple of days, maybe with my grandmother.  I really wish my family got to be a bigger part of my daughter's life.  I know they do too.

Right now I am grateful that I get to roll and play with my baby as I watch her grow, and grow and grow.  I measured her yesterday and she is 34 inches.  I measured her two weeks ago at 33.  She snuck it in there.  She is sleeping in her own bed most of the time.  She is about half potty trained.  She draws what looks like words rather than pictures of things or shapes.  She has pretty much all of her baby teeth.  I love to see her smile and she smiles a lot.  She can recognize and verbalize a variety of colors and objects.  She can and does clearly tell me "yesh" she wants some thing or "noooo" she doesn't.  She is really good at taking medicine when she needs to.  I wish she didn't need to.  She takes books to bed with her.  I found her in her room reading a book of nursery rhymes yesterday.  She has recently discovered a love for Winnie the Pooh, whom she calls "poop".  'Tigger' and 'sticker sound an aweful lot alike but I can usually tell which she means.  

I think it is safe to say we are improving communication almost daily.  I am excited that I will soon be reporting the precoucious things she will come up with.  She has quite the imagination.  She still hasn't really "connected" with any specific thing.  One day she will be best friend with 'poop', then she'll take up with her pen and notebook, the following day she'll want to take her plastic chair everywhere she goes.

I really can't wait to find out what God has in store for the two of us.

Welcome to the NRCS

Have I mentioned that I am loving my job?  It affords me the ability to exercise my talents.

This gentleman was helping monitor a prescribed burn on the Otoe Missouri tribal complex water treatment pond.  In case you think otherwise, that is smoke blowing across the water.  Later in the day I shot video of the prescribed burn that I was actually there to shoot.  Since the Otoe police chief and his crew were going to help on the other fire too I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to use the still camera.

I was really excited when I got this shot.  Most of the others in this sequence weren't framed right or were a little too blurry to turn out this nice.  Prescribed fire, which begins with a fire plan, if you hold to the best practices model you will be able to increase the health of your vegetation and not be at great risk of having the fire run wild.  Prescribed fire is good for controlling certain vegetative diseases, eastern red cedar, and makes it less likely that your property will suffer damage in the event of a wild fire. Prescribed burns reduce fuel loads and increase the population of native grasses that are usually choked out by commercial grasses and agricultural crops.  These burns also return valuable nutrients to the ground.  I think the best thing I heard all day was one of the helpers as he was starting a back fire with a drip torch he said, "I get to start a fire on someone else's property in front of the police chief and the fire chief and I am not going to get into trouble.  This is the best job ever."  Of course I think he is wrong, I think I have the best job ever.

Biggest day of my life.

Today is easily the biggest day of my life.  I didn't even see it coming but it can't be denied.  Single most important significant thing I have ever heard, I heard today.  You'll have to wait just a minute while I lead into this.

You see she usually only makes it to the shelf near the sink when she climbs on stuff in the bathroom.  I don't mind leaving her there to walk out of the room for a second because if she has trouble getting down she calls to me.  I had gone into her room for just a second when I came back around the corner I saw her standing in the sink holding the jar of liquid soap and dispensing it into her hand.  I did what any mother would do.  .  . I turned the water on for her.  She wants clean hands, I will let her do what she has to do.  I ducked into the living room to pick up the camera I wanted to document this just for the fun of it.  When I returned she had abandoned the soap and was making faces into the mirror.  They told me she does this at school and it is fun to watch.  It will serve her well if she decides to take up acting.  Then she started to go through all the little bottles of shampoo, listerine, nail polish that I keep "out of reach" beside the sink.  I suppose I'll be moving those now.  She lost interest in that and did what any nearly-two would do . . . she washed her feet.

Later, after she dumped an entire cup of pop corn on the floor, unloaded all of her unused diapers out of their plastic bag, insisted on watching Winnie the Pooh for the second time and played in the general area where the dog resides . . . we were playing as I was catching up with my mom on face book.  I was typing and she grabbed my face . . . she said, "why-woah-yuuu".

Best day of my life.  Biggest day of my life.  My baby loves me.  And she can tell me.