Throwback Thursday: Wedding Addition

So after the evening I had here on day two of single parenting I had a bit of writers block when it came to birthday musings about Zane. So instead I went with a throwback Thursday thanks to the CD of our wedding photos that arrived today. Yes, it took almost seven years but I finally have my wedding photos on a CD and uploaded to the internet. Hooray! Here is proof that there was a time when I was skinny, tan, and gorgeous. Looking at these it seems like a lifetime ago. Turns out we were crazy young.

 Here I was, a blushing bride, of only twenty three years. 

Here are my girls, from the bottom left, my Matron of Honor and sister Abbey, who was barely pregnant with my now six year old nephew Brendan at the time. My best friend from fifth grade, Emily Davis, now Hester, who has two boys of her own now. Julie Albright one of my two six foot tall roommates from OU, lots of fun memories with those two from our house in Norman. Then Anna Tooman, now Gentry, my other six foot tall roommate from OU, now the Godmother to Zane, love her! And last but not least my Maid of Honor Jessica Lehman, now Campbell, who is about to welcome her first child, August, into the world next week. Couldn't have asked to be surrounded by more love or better friends.

And here are the men. I won't go through their storied histories, but I do love this shot. The back story to this shot is that it was August in Oklahoma, which means it was literally 107 degrees outside, so they were loving the full tuxedos. 

This is my favorite shot of my mom and I from that day. It was in the room where I was getting ready with my bridesmaids and cousins. This was when I was most emotional, missing my Grandmother, who had passed away the October before we got married. I had a locket with her picture on it around my bouquet and was wearing the pearls she gave all the Granddaughters on their sixteenth birthdays. The wound from her unexpected passing was still fresh and we were all missing her dearly that day.

 I remember thinking that my dad was going to be a basket case at my wedding. My dad was a very emotional, adoring father, who, lets be honest, cried a lot. However, he didn't cry at all on my wedding day. He was full of happiness that I was marrying such a great man. When I asked him later how he didn't cry he said he had been crying for months in preparation so that he could have it all out, and be happy on my big day. He had a few requirement for the day; he wouldn't be wearing a tuxedo (that would have just been weird), he wore his new cowboy boots with his suit (which I'm pretty sure he never wore again), he wanted to be the communion minister, and there would be no dancing. I was fine with whatever he wanted. Love him, and miss him so much.

 This wasn't the actual kiss from the ceremony, but I like it better than the ceremony kiss. The wedding was over and we were finally going to be able to see each other everyday. For me that was what it was all about. I didn't want a big wedding or a big party I just wanted to get to see him everyday!

 I find it funny that we went against the norm and had the guys wear actual ties because bow ties were so lame. Now Zach and Able pretty much exclusively wear bow ties. 

This picture, though not great (I really don't need to see the candles lady), is striking in that so many people that are near and dear to us now are missing. There weren't any grandkids yet (well technically Brendan is there) and that is what everything revolves around now. None of us kids lived in Oklahoma anymore, all spread out doing our own thing, only coming back together for special occasions. I was so excited to get to be away like Abbey and Able. Now everyone but me is back home and Dad is gone. Oh how he would have loved to see all the grandkids running up and down his beloved huge porch in the rain. 

Anyway that is through back Thursday. It was a wonderful day. I wasn't stressed in the least. I knew I was marrying a "gem of a guy" to quote my father. I couldn't wait to be a family with him and now we have our own little family and have been to hell and back together. I know I probably have said it before here, but the line that I remember from our wedding was when the priest said, "if you knew know all that you would have to go through together in your marriage, now, you would run away." I don't think I would have run away, but I would never have believed it. I also remember saying I would except children lovingly from God, and in that moment wondering what our children would be like. I'm so glad I finally have a copy of all these pictures, what a treasure. 

 And here is the Korenak crew almost seven years later. We are so blessed!

Birthday Week: The Year In Pictures

Next Wednesday our little baby Zane will turn three. He will be the first to tell you that he isn't a baby. He is quick to correct me when I call him baby or my baby, with a "I not a baby mamma, I a big boy." This has been a mantra of our house for the past few months, "your a big boy you can ____" i.e. pee in the potty, sleep through the night without crying, get in your car seat, put your shoes on, get dressed, and the list goes on and on. He continually lists all sorts of things that Rowan can't due because he is a baby not a big boy. Looking at the past year in pictures I see his baby face disappearing and his little boy face setting in. It is bitter sweet. I love see him grow up and I'm so proud of how he has handled this past year full of change, but I miss his little baby face too. So here goes, Zane's third year in pictures.

June 19th, 2012

July 2012

August 2012

September 2012

October 2012

November 2012

December 2012, at his post binki fairy party.

January 2013, preparing for baby brother's arrival.

February 2013, officially a big brother

March 2013

April 2013

May 2013, fully potty trained at his potty party!

June 2013

He went from a little boy with a pacifier to a big boy, no pacifier, sleeping all night (most nights), fully potty trained, and talking up a storm all in the span of a year. What a great year it has been!

Ten On Tuesday

1. Saturday was a gorgeous day here in the STL. We played outside in the morning then went to the Farmer's Market in the afternoon. We got all sorts of delicious treats, topped off with the first snow cone of the season. Then headed home for some running through the sprinklers. It was the perfect summer day with highs in the seventies. If only all summer could be that way.

In the morning we learned the words to the Sesame Street song after Zane asked to learn a "sunny day" song.

Check out this kids abs, I need to get me some of those.

2. Saturday evening we grilled chicken with one of our new Savory Spices, Gold Coast Tropical Poultry Rub, it quickly became one of our absolute favorites. Quite possibly the best chicken we have ever made, paired with cream peas and potatoes and we were in heaven. Here is Zane helping in the kitchen, looking like quite the big boy with his new hair cut. No pricey electronics were broken with this hair cut, so it was success. To get some delicious Savory Spices for your summer grilling check them out here then give the Savory Spice Shop of OKC a call and they will mail all your spices to you! The phone number of the OKC shop is (405) 525-9119.

3. Rowan continues to work hard on his rolling back and forth. He is has mastered this skill, but still isn't a fan of being on his stomach for too long. He now consistently sleeps on his stomach, per his doing, which makes me a little nervous, but if he can get there himself I guess it's safe. He has taken to sleeping in really late in the morning, which I fine, but still gets up in the night so not super helpful. It also means he isn't really interested in napping for any useful period of time during the day, not a good sign of things to come. Here is Zane giving a crawling workshop to Ro, adorable, but no need to crawl yet.

4. Also, new this week with Rowan he has taken to actually playing with/holding some little toys. For some reason this makes him seem so much bigger. I love watching the wheels turning in his little head as he works so hard at purposeful movement. He can get his hands in his mouth and find his toes without a problem, but doing things like reaching for his toy and grabbing it, takes lots and lots of concentration, but he gets it. You can see those synapses forming everyday.

 A toy and the toes all at once, that advanced.

Not a great photo, but soo cute!

5. We finally got the boys pictures taken this evening. We had to post pone twice for various illnesses, in turn pushing it off just long enough for STL summer to set in. The photo shoot went as well as any photo shoot, with two kids, in 95 degree temps, with approximately 100% humidity, can go. In good news it was very quick, not a lot of different set ups, but I'm sure we got some smiley pictures of everyone before we got completely soaked in sweat. Here is Zane in his "Uncle Able" shirt. He has been excited about wearing it for weeks and he looked very dapper indeed.

6. Zach is heading off on another desert adventure for work and will not be back until late Thursday night. I am exhausted already. The heat and humidity has set in so back to indoor activities. I think we will spend tomorrow cooking fun things for the Wamser family. I am going to meet baby Ruth Thursday, I can't wait!!!

7. Birthday party planning is complete with the final plan being a BBQ Sunday afternoon with the Wamser clan and whoever else would like to join in on some Spiderman fun. The presents have been ordered and the amazon boxes are beginning to arrive. One of Zane's favorite activities is opening our amazon boxes and now he can't do that. It's devastating to him and he doesn't care that he will be getting the presents on his birthday. The suspense is killing him. Stay tuned for a hilarious three year old interview coming up during birthday week here on the blog.

8. Random funny story of the day. On the way inside from grocery shopping this morning, Zane refused to come in the door, which I was holding open with Rowan's car seat and a hand full of bags. While getting in trouble for not listening he said, "It okay mamma, we all on the same team." Funny in hind sight, not funny in the moment as he continued to play in the bushes. I love the random things that come out of his mouth these days.

9. Some how weeks have passed since I have done anything in the realm of trying to loose weight. This is what always happens, I get sick, then we go on a trip, and the next thing you know three weeks have passed and I'm fully out of shape again and discouraged. I am in the fat and discouraged state currently. This weekends post baby clothes shopping trip didn't help this at all. It was terrible, as always, with my body taking on a whole new terribly flabby shape. Trying to find motivation, but struggling. I'm sure I will have loads of time for exercise during the rest of this week while single parenting. Sigh....

10. Lastly I would like to wish a happy first birthday to my littlest nephew, Everett. Tomorrow he turns one and is the cutest little guy you have ever seen. I love his chubby little feet and melt your heart smile. He had some amazingly adorable one year photos taken that I can't wait to get up in my house. Hope you have a wonderful first bday, we love you so much.

I love these photos of Everett and Rowan from when the Richard's visited in March. Everett looks so much older than Rowan here, but I know in the long run they will be best friends and basically the same age. I also love how perfectly gentle Everett was with Rowan, adorable!!!

I also want to send birthday wishes out to all the June birthdays, Jen J. (Zane's bday buddy), Kyser, Levi, Clara, and an early welcome to the world to Jess' baby girl August scheduled to arrive June 18th. That is great week to be born, can't wait to meet her, hang in there friend, it's almost over!

Farm Camp Day Four: Tee-Pees and Fire Trucks

The final day of farm camp brought visitors to the farm. Great Grandpa Dotter and Aunt Anna both came over to join in the celebrations. Aunt Anna had another run in with bad weather the night before after having riding out the F5 tornado that hit the Moore medical complex. She was in desperate need of holding a baby and playing with some adorable kids. This was Rowan's first time meeting Aunt Anna and Great Grandpa, I'm pretty sure they both fell in love very quickly. Rowan makes the fourteenth great grandchild on the Dotter   side of the family, which means there are now as many great grand children as there are grandchildren, how fun!

It was beautiful outside, though still pretty wet, so a few of our previously planned activities didn't happen, such as the creek walk and Mr. Risen's farm, both too muddy after all the rain. I'm not complaining it just is slightly mind blowing that it was super wet and borderline chilly the first week of June in OK. After naps all around it was time to build our own tee-pees. I had found this tutorial on pinterest, but was envisioning them being about four feet tall. Mom got bigger garden stakes which made wonderfully big tee-pees, perfect for reading and playing inside. There were only two tee-pees, which was plenty, but of course arguments ensued over which tee-pee was whose, see terribly exhausted children. I loved them and want one in our backyard. I could see Zach trying to engineer a bigger, better, more permanent tee-pee for us, but this kind will do just fine! Great summer fun!

Before supper we loaded the kids up and went to the Douglas fire house for a tour courtesy of Scott and Emily Moody. Emily H.and Kyser met us there for some fun as well. Yes, both of my Emily friends were there, which made the planning for this event very confusing, but I love them both! I couldn't believe how many boys there were there. There were seven boys with four more smaller boys at home from this crew. Maggie held her own, per usual, as the only girl. The boys got to climb in and on all the trucks and try on all the fireman equipment. I could tell Zane was completely beat when, after about twenty minutes, he said he wanted to go home and laid his sleepy head on my shoulder. Farm camp really takes it out of you. Many thanks to Scotty and Emily for opening up the fire house to us. We all thoroughly enjoyed it!! I should have brought Rowan so Emily could have met him, but by that point in the week my brain wasn't working at all, sorry Emily. Here is hoping Gina has a girl to start evening out those numbers!

There were lots of melt downs and crying in the evening with everyone needing sleep desperately. We had a delicious pork tenderloin and potato dinner with Grandpa and Anna before they headed home. Then the kids made smores with Uncle Brent before everyone fell into a tired pile. Bath time at farm camp has become quite the chore with five kids to bath, all in different phases of bath time, except Maggie and Zane who are quite the pair. I know Rowan and Everett will be just as close soon, though they seem hugely different in age currently.

Sunday morning mom headed to OKC to work in the shop while we played around the farm and tried to clean up the destruction we had caused during our stay. And so ended another successful year of farm camp.  Thankfully Zach, Able, and Kari all added extra hands this year, which were desperately needed. The added babies needed people to watch and hold them, people to fetch sippy cups and snacks, dry off kids from bath time, and over see outdoor time. No way could mom and I have done it alone. Next year Mr. Everett and possibly Ro will be able to take part in the fun! We can't wait!

Ten On Tuesday

1. The boys both did well on our flights, but with much less sleeping than I had hoped. Rowan was having none of cuddling on our way home, standing up in my lap the whole time. He kept his knees locked even while he dozed off for a little bit, as if to say "I'm not cuddling you, I'm standing up." Zane played the iPad the entire way home and loved the whole airplane experience. He did yell "we're going down" as we landed, which probably wasn't the best choice of words. Also, randomly yelled "fire" which he does from time to time when playing Fireman Sam, again not a great choice of words on the airplane.

Here is Rowan on his first flight, wide awake, taking it all in!

Daddy and brother on the other hand snoozed the whole way there.

 Toddler cave, key to airport success with a three year old.

2. Rowan is growing up too fast. He is now in the phase where every time you set him down he rolls over on his belly and is immediately miserable. He has figured out how to get his other arm out from under him and even pulls both arms up under his belly and scoots around (being mobile at all is really not optimal). He gets himself off his gym with his scooting and rolling and hates his life the whole time he is on his stomach. However he refuses to stay on his back. I have seen him roll back to his back from his stomach, but he doesn't do this very often. This means I have to rescue him, but really this is a lose lose situation. He hates being cuddled, can't stay on his back, and is offended by his bouncy chairs. So funny, but gets frustrating quickly. He also has found his hands and feet and mastered sucking his tiny tiny thumb, which is by far the cutest thing I have ever seen.

This is his most frequent position as of late; on his belly, crammed up against the side of his gym, half off the mat.

 Not a great picture from my phone, but you get the effect of his adorable thumb sucking. I should really get my good camera out of the suit case.

But don't worry still a very happy, adorable, tiny boy!

3. We are getting our house pulled back together after being gone for a few days. This process is exhausting. I clean all day, unpack, put away, and it is still a mess at the end of it. I am so glad I had yesterday and today off before heading back to work tomorrow. This is a much better set up than flying back one day then going to work early the next morning. I'm way to old for that :)

4. For those of you who scrapbook or use to scrapbook and have supplies you don't use anymore my sister has teamed with a local scrapbooking store in OKC to collect scrapbooking supplies to donate to the victims of the May tornadoes in Oklahoma. All the supplies collected will be distributed to victims of the tornadoes in hopes of helping them heal through the therapy that is creating and recording memories. This would be a great time to go through all your scrapbooking stuff and donate the stuff you don't use anymore or is no longer your style. Follow the link to my sister's blog for more information on how to donate to this great cause. http://athomewiththerichardsfamily.blogspot.com/2013/06/healing-scraps-for-oklahoma.html

5. The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous the past couple days with highs in the low seventies, no much humidity, and a wonderfully cool breeze. I am loving playing outside without having a heat stroke. Yesterday the boys and I took a walk around the neighborhood and finally figured out how to get into the little park with only having to mildly trespass in someone's yard. There are swings and slides and it is within walking distance of our house. Surely the nice people whose house is in front of it won't mind us walking through their back yard just a little to get there.

Zach and Rowan hanging at a park in OKC before our flight home. I can't believe these overalls fit him. Zane wore them when he was about a month old. Rowan remains a tiny little guy.

 Zane enjoying perfect park weather in OKC.

 Zane learning how to swing himself in our new found neighborhood park.

6. Our family photos have been moved to Thursday, but I have found adorable outfits for both boys so we are ready to go. Not the exact same outfit, but everyone will match and hopefully get some good brother pictures. In the mean time here is the brother picture from this morning when Zane wanted to hold Ro. He still is working on being gentle and not getting in Rowan's face, but I think getting a little better. For some reason Rowan looks really fat in this picture, but don't let it fool you, he isn't chubby at all.

7. Zane has officially decided that he wants a Spider Man birthday party. I offered everything, fire trucks, Toy Story, Pirates, you name it, but he has decided on Spider Man. I'm making a spiderweb cake with a Spider Man candle and that's as far as the planning has gone. We are planning on a lunch bday party here the Sunday after his birthday and hoping to take him to his first movie that Saturday, the new Monsters movie. We shall see how that goes. He is very excited about his birthday "coming up." I can't believe he is going to be three, time is flying by.

8. Zane and I have been talking a lot about mountains since we got home. We are preparing for the Dotter reunion in the mountains. When we said good bye to everyone in OK they told him they would "see him in the Mountains." Cue Zane asking "what is a mountain mamma?" and "what do mountains eat?" Turns out mountains are hard to describe to a three year old. But never fear Amazon is here. Today we received our C is for Centennial book that shows mountains and all sorts of other fun Colorado things that he can look forward to seeing on our mountain get away. I might be trying to psych myself up for this event as well. I'm currently thinking it might be the most stressful vaca ever.

9. Today, while trying to find a cute shirt for Zane, we went to Wal-Mart to spend a gift card I had. Of course there were no pollo shirts there but there was this awesome horse ride which made it all worth while. The ride was set to the Bonanza theme. Zane loved it! Best fifty cents I ever spent.

 Look at that perfect horse riding posture. 

10. Last, but not least, the honey suckle plant on the fence in our backyard is in full bloom, giving our patio a wonderful sweet smell. I love the smell of honey suckle and if I was planning on living in this house forever I would plant it along all of our fence. Mom has it growing on the end of her big porch as well, it's the perfect smell of summer!! Here is Zane in front of our beautiful patch of honey suckle. 

And that is the weekly round up from the STL. Have a great week!

Farm Camp Day Three: Horse Ride, Turtle Rock Farm, and Rain

I had the goal to blog all of farm camp while it was happening this year since last year I didn't blog any of it and so wish I had a recap of what had happened. However, the terribly slow loading speed for pictures put a damper on this. So now I am determined to get all the days recapped this week before I forget anything. On that note here is what happened on day three of farm camp 2013.

Day three everyone begins to be slightly exhausted, the kids power through this, up to a point, and the adults begin to drag just a bit. There are more fits and whining, purely from exhaustion. The day started bright and early with us heading north to the Blackwell/Ponca City area to see horses and take a ride on a wagon at Kari's mom and step father's farm. I thought there might be a small little horse ride, pet some horses, and go on to our next stop. Turns out we had a much bigger day ahead of us they we knew. The adventure began with Zane getting his first wasp bite, which he handled like a trooper. Then they got out the big horses and wagon for the event and took us on an hour and a half wagon ride around the country roads of Northern Oklahoma. The weather was beautiful, with a nice cool breeze, so our ride was absolutely beautiful. Zane fell asleep for half of it, but was awake for the llama farm we passed, running down a dirt road with Uncle Able, and the highlight of the trip, stopping on an over pass over I-35 to try to get the trucks passing below to honk at us. Now that is a once in a life time experience for you! Thanks so much to Ron and Mary who made it all possible and provided us all with snacks and drinks for our ride. We had a wonderful time!!

After our wagon ride we ate a picnic and headed to Turtle Rock Farm, owned by a friend of my mom's. There we got to go inside a real life Tipi. With the muggy weather I felt like I might suffocate inside so we didn't play long in it, but it was a great set up for the smaller Tipi's we were making the next day. There were also goats, alpaca's, chickens, a worm farm, hay bales, a house made of hay and mud, and a deaf dog, whom Zane absolutely loved. The highlight of this portion of the trip, for me at least, was when Able was attached by Mr. Darcy, a male alpaca who apparently gets very territorial when other males are around. It started as a love relationship, but ended with Able getting chest bumped by an alpaca, hysterical.

After this farm visit we were all completely over heated and exhausted. I felt sure that after cooling down with some ice cream the kids would fall asleep immediately getting a wonderful hour long nap in on the way home. I was wrong, which made for a long night. Zach and Rowan had stayed home during this trip so Zach could take work calls. I'm so glad Rowan wasn't along for all this crazy hot fun. The evening brought more severe weather to the state which meant hours of watching Gary and the storm chasers, a very Oklahoma experience. Abbey, Brent, and Everett arrived to join in on the fun. We sat on the front porch and watched the rain, making up a new dance and song "Put your hand in the rain, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot" very adorable and fun. After the huge rain Maggie and Zane jumped and ran through mud puddles a la my childhood. We never had to go to your tornado safe place, but we were prepared had Gary told us to take our tornado precautions.

Farm Camp Day Two: Enid Adventure, Swimming, and Chicken Chasing

Day two started off with a trip to the bridge to check on the creek. The big creek was up after the night's rain. As a child going to the bridges is great fun, peering over the edge and through the holes in the side of the railing, throwing things down into the water roaring below you. As a parent it is a terribly stressful activity. I am constantly picturing what would happen if Zane fell into the water. I would jump in after him and we would never been seen again. Terrible images I know, but ever present until we are safely back in the yard. Everyone wore water shoes or rain boots because it was terribly muddy, in Oklahoma, believe it or not. The kids even needed long pants this morning, so strange, but we aren't complaining.

After this I went inside on Rowan duty, he is working on his rolling and talking, but I was over seeing nap time while the big kids went on a chicken chase, through the tall grasses, while holding flags. I hear this was a beautiful scene, but the camera was inside with me, so we recreated it later in the day for these wonderful pictures. Zane win's the chicken herding prize. He managed to get the chicken he was chasing back in the chicken house, very impressive. Zach was put on swing duty, with a tire swing and a new baby swing both needing to be hung. The sky was clouding up again so we headed to Enid for an adventure at Leonardo's.

The adventure consisted of Leonardo's which was underwhelming to say the least last year, but must be under new management because it is all cleaned up with new exhibits, a building area, and much more pulled together. I take back my tacky comments, it is good for a fun afternoon when you need an inside activity. The castle outside is still great fun, but another parenting nightmare. It is three stories tall, with multiple entrances and exits, slides, and all sorts of nooks and crannies where little ones can hide or get lost. Luckily this year Zach was there to run and climb with the kids. Zane wins the bravery prize, sliding down the curvy three story slide, which Daddy deamed "kind of scary," without any fear. On the flip side of that Brendan and Maggie showed great intelligence by not going down it because, "it was too dark in there."

We tried having our picnic at the castle, but after my failed attempt at getting drinks, (how can places not accept credit/debit cards in 2013???), we packed up and headed to the park for our picnic. By this point the weather had turned boarder line chilly, good thing we had the kids change out of long pants so they wouldn't be hot our adventure. You can't win with the weather there. The wind blows 30-40 miles an hour all the time. I know it did this when I lived here, but I didn't know any different. Now it kind of makes me batty. Your teeth feel dirty at the end of the day and your head feels like it might explode from being wiped around all day!!!!

After our grand adventure ALL the kids napped, well not Ro he napped during the Enid fun. Mid nap time we were learned of possible tornadoes headed our way. Time to pack a tornado bag, just in case, first for from camp. No tornadoes, but lots of radar watching during the rest of the afternoon. After naps it was time to bust out the swimming pool and fill it with fridges water. Able arrived for pool time fun. I think the kids were boarder line hypothermic by the time this was over. The evening was full of outdoor fun, playing with Uncle Able, and visiting with the Hester's who had come over for dinner.  I wrote most of this post on this actual day, but the ungodly slow picture loading pushed me over the edge, so I decided to wait until I was back in high speed internet land before posting. There are way to many good ones, so I made a movie, which usually doesn't work, so hopefully you can actually see it.