Secret Garden Fun

Friday morning the boys got their pictures taken in their matching Easter outfits. I think it went alright, but is always exhausting. After lunch with Mom I realized that if I wanted to see The Secret Garden, at the Myriad Garden, we would have to go after nap time since I would be at work all weekend. The Secret Garden sadly only was set up for about two weeks. I really didn't have the energy for another outing, but  I personally wanted to see it before it was taken down. I wasn't sure if the boys would enjoy it, but also was trying to seize the moment and enjoy the unseasonably cool temperatures and lack of wind we were having. It was absolutely beautiful and I wasn't even being blown away!

 

I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun we had once we were there. I only paid for two hours of parking, thinking there was no way we would stay that long, but ended up having to leave because our time was almost up. The gardens were lots of fun, even though Zane had no clue about The Secret Garden the book. But he liked finding all the key things and bird things. There were lots of fun hiding places, things to climb on, games to play, and so much to explore. I didn't bring a stroller so there was lots of running after boys,  who seemed to only want to run in opposite directions. 

 

 

 Zane was very concerned that he only had one paddle and wasn't going to be able to "get away from the pirates."

 

After briefly running through the garden we changed into swim suits and enjoyed our first trip to the Thunder Pad, though there was quite a bit of time in the Thunder Pad when nothing was happening and Zane's utter lack of attention span struggled with it. Rowan got to walk around in the puddles without getting splashed though. Ro did get his little toes in the water a few times which is great progress from his first, terrifying, experience with the sprinklers. After cooling off we changed back into play clothes for more garden time and then we read some books before we headed out for ice cream. 

 

 For some reason Rowan does much better holding Zane's hand and walking than mine, very strange, but adorable.

 Zane loved all of it!

 Still not really sure about it, but doing better.

 Lots of this, sitting and waiting for the water to come on.

It is his type of fun, week day, outing that really makes me miss my  nurse friends in St. Louis. The great thing about having friends who are nurses is that they don't work five days a week which means that some one was usually up for going with us on our funtivities. This was win win because I got to see my friends and enjoy their company, but also they helped me wrangle my children and haul all my stuff. I really wished some of our buddies could have enjoyed all the Garden fun with us on Friday. 

 

 The picture below is by far my favorite picture of the day. Rowan sat on this bench, laid back on the pillows, while Zane and I read "Gingerbread Pirates" which turned out to be a very cute book.

Ten On Tuesday

1. We spent Saturday work at Mom's house in the crazy, stupid wind. Have I mention how much I hate it. It makes me go a little crazy. I've also found that when it is terribly loud and windy outside I cannot handle it being loud at all inside. This comes as a struggle with my son whose baseline noise level is terribly loud. We did get a lot of work done and the kids had a great time together doing all sorts of farm things. I got to visit with my siblings, my mother, and my beloved Grandfather who sadly is looking older every time I see him. To be fair he is almost I think 88, so actually old, but still kind of sad.
 I was securely on the working crew this time so didn't get any shot of the progress, but it is coming along nicely.

2. We were the first to arrive Saturday morning, because we get up at 6am, so we did some sprinkler playing before naps and before the work began.

Here is my artsy photo of an iris, with Zane playing in the sprinklers behind it. I think I will entitle it, "A snapshot of May."

 This is Zane inside of a red bud tree. I feel like there is a similar picture of me in a tree looking over my shoulder like this, I could be wrong. Either way he is starting to look more like me these days.

3. It wasn't all work and no play though. We did make homemade ice cream and there was some lounging around to be done too. Rowan and Able maxed and relaxed together for awhile, which was very cute.

4. Yesterday we were suppose to get the boys pictures taken but it was drizzly and cold so they are now rescheduled for Friday. Their theme randomly turned out to be very patriotic. I was not motivated to find Zane a nice shirt so bought the only one that wasn't neon colors at the store closest to me. It was Navy, red, and white. Rowan has tons of options to choose from, since the 12 to 24 month bin of clothes is strangely large. So maybe we will send out Fourth of July cards or something. I think Rowan is wearing the same red shirt Everett wore in his one year pictures but the matching overalls swallowed Rowan alive.

5. Since we couldn't get our pictures taken we went to Bounce and Craze instead. The last time we went we had the run of the place, not a single other child there, it was wonderful. Today there were probably fifteen to twenty kids. Zane loved it, but Rowan, turns out, is terribly mean and was not being nice to children of all ages. He tried to tackle people, took everyone's toys, and tried to poke one little guy in the eye multiple times. This isn't good, I'm slightly concerned. 

6. At our house the garden is coming along slowly. I'm unsure if anything will come up, but we planted some seeds in the ground in our backyard. That night was a huge thunderstorm with strong, windy rain, that might have washed them all away. We shall see. We also planted flowers and flower seeds along the front of the house, some of which we have noticed coming up. Zane is watching our "smerments" very closely, to see what comes up. We have carrots and beets both up in our clear plastic bottles inside too, so lots to keep track of here.

 Here is Rowan in the famous monkey tank top romper, worn by all the boys in the family. It is pretty roomy on him, but just as adorable. He was doing some digging and having a ball at it.

 

 Meanwhile, Zane was singing one of his impromptu gospel songs that he made up. They are usually about "Genius" and the sky and the world and love, you know classic gospel themes.

 

 7. My Mother's Day was good, if uneventful really, which is fine. We cleaned our house, talked yet again about our plan for the St. Louis house (there isn't one and it's depressing, scary, and sad). I tried to nap but couldn't do to a random sinus headache, probably from all the allergens blowing around outside. Then we had everyone over for a Frito Chilli pie and cupcake dinner. Mom stayed at the farm to rest but we ate our frito chilli pies in her honor. The kids ran through sprinklers, hit each other with noodles, and watered our plants. Good times!

8. Speaking of allergens I did go to the doctor, got a steroid shot, another round of antibiotics, and a referral to the asthma/allergy specialist. I am hoping they have a miracle drug of some sort that can help me not always have this sinus/lung gunk. We shall see. I'm anxiously awaiting my referral letter so I can schedule my appointment, sure to be months from now. But it's a step in the right direction, I hope.

9. I know everyone is wondering how our first day with the fish went. Well things went well. Everyone is still alive, though we thought Turbo had gone, well Turbo. After a thorough investigation this evening Zach did locate him in a cave and he is apparently doing fine. Per Zane "all da fish are bigger except the shark (Turbo)" who I'm sure he couldn't find. Zane did get to feed them because "they berry hungry" which I think was the highlight of his day.

10.  Rowan is back to teething and wanting to be up all night. Last night he was awake from 11:30 until 2am when I finally busted out the Benadryl. Not quite sure why I waited so long on that, but at one point I came out and Rowan was sitting at the table, eating a peanut butter sandwich, giggling, and having the time of his life. He is a crazy person and fully medicated first thing this morning. I cannot handle, as I am sure Zach can't either, working on three hours sleep. Wish us luck for tonight!

First Pet

I don't remember my first pet because there were always animals around. All sorts of fun things, roaming free, on the farm. However, raising children in the city is a whole different ballgame. Even if we did own a house having a dog in the city is high maintenance. I am not prepared to pick up dog poop and basically take on another child, at this point. Not yet.... possibly never. But after Zane saw the dogs at the adopt a dog place at the pet store I felt bad that he hasn't had a pet. So we went for the safest, easiest pet possible, fish! Zach and I had fish for years, but retired our awesome fish tank shortly after Zane was born and the tragic boiling event of 2010 happen. Just another terrible thing that happened that year. Technically Zane did have fish as pets when he was born, but he doesn't remember it.

We started this fish project a couple weeks ago but had to build a new stand for our tank, had to wait to get some of daddy's tools from Grandma's house, and also had to wait for Daddy to feel better since he has been sick for awhile now. Finally, everything was finished, painted, and filled with water yesterday. Today was the day we were finally getting fish!! The wait had been killing Zane, but he patiently waited through each hurtle we had to overcome. Today his crippling ADD was out of control, unable to handle the few hours that were left between him and his FISH!!!!

 We spent a lot of time talking about the difference between our fish tank and the ocean. The ocean is salty, so some fish can't live in our fish tank. "Why the ocean spicy Mamma?" Turns out I really don't know why the ocean is salty, but as my father would always say, "Why isn't a scientific question." We also discussed that sometimes fish die and that it's ok, we just get a different fish, no big deal. We went over the rules of the tank, no hitting it, no putting things in it, no feeding the fish without an adult. Zane took all our conversations in and repeated all the rules to daddy this evening so I think some of it might have sunk it. And of course we had to watch Finding Nemo this afternoon to get in the fish mood!

Finally around four thirty we got the call from Daddy that he was on his way to the fish store. I didn't think I was going to be able to keep Zane in his car seat, the excitement was through the roof. The fish shop had lots of selection and lots of costumers, so we had quite a bit of time to wander through the fish and make our selection. We ended with a red tailed shark, a big gold fish with the pretty squishy tale, a big white gold fish, and an angel fish. All these are pretty docile fish, the shark might chase the others when he gets bigger, but we were told he isn't aggressive.  I think Zane was the most excited about the plastic bags, "like the one in Nemo that Darla had." "But we not shake it or they die." Right!

How adorable is this picture??

When we got home there was the terribly long wait until we could actually let them out into the water. Keep in mind this wait was approximately twenty minutes, but felt like an eternity for Zane.  Rowan and Zane both loved watching the fish swim, even though they all stayed pretty well hidden this evening. I'm afraid the fish might have a terribly stressful life. And now, what you have all been waiting for, the names of the four newest members of The Korenak Family. Here we go. We went with a Wreck It Ralph theme, per Zane's request. The big white gold fish is Ralph, the Angel fish Felix, the pretty gold fish is Venelope, and the red tailed shark is obviously Turbo! How fun! Hopefully the water warms up and they start swimming around so we can see them more and of course I hope they survive for a little bit.

 Rowan loved hitting his head against it, not great for the fish buddy!

 Zane checked on the fish frequently this evening to see if they had gone to sleep yet.

 So proud of his new pets!

Oh the Joys of Motherhood

Usually when I say "Oh the joys of motherhood" it is in a highly sarcastic tone following something like, "last night my son threw up on me five times, then I got to throw up all night tonight, oh the joys of motherhood." Or maybe, "my almost four year old still doesn't sleep on night long consistently, oh the joys of motherhood." Or "I only got four hours of sleep last night, oh the joys of motherhood." Or "my pants still don't fit, oh the joys of motherhood." And on and on following the not so pleasant parts of the joyous job that's called being a mom.

There is no way to spin it, at times it is a rough, dirty, heart breaking job, motherhood. It's exhausting, stressful, and there is no handbook or set of rules that will guarantee that you are successful at it. But at the same time it is the biggest blessing in my life. It makes me happier than anything else on earth and it is the most important thing I will ever do. So today, on Mother's Day, I thought I would record a short list of the actual, true joys of Motherhood. Here goes...

- Getting Rowan out of his bed in the morning and after naps. Seeing his little sleepy face light up when I walk in the room, "ah mamma."

- Hearing my kids say mamma for the first time

-Singing them to sleep

-Sleeping babies on my chest

- When Ro sees me and runs over to give me a hug. Nothing better than the look on either boys face when they see me when I get home from work. They light up pure joy, "Mamma!!!" Then run in for hugs. There is no purer love than that. So priceless.

-Listening to Zane's stories, elaborate plans, and tales from his day. I love having conversations with him and answer his gazillon questions, even when it gets exhausting at times. We spend a lot of time discussing our days plans and Zane adding ideas into the mix of what we should do.

-Bedtime routine: There are days that this is a struggle, unfortunately tonight being one of those nights, with people crying, throwing fits, and getting sent to bed early. These nights hurt my heart because I miss my absolute favorite time of day, cuddles before bed. Zane still will sit on my lap and sing songs, tell stories, and talk about the plans for the next day. He will still rest his head on my shoulder and snuggle for as long as I let him. His brother not so much, but I do love the short snuggles with Ro and his blanket before he points to his bed.

-Normal days at home: Days when we have no plans, no errands to run, no laundry to do, nothing to accomplish. These are the best days. These are what get me through the 12 hours days when I barely see them at all. We just get to be with each other, playing made up games, learning things, playing outside, doing projects, and having time for cuddles and love all around. Days when I have things to accomplish and am rushed end with me feeingl like I've missed so much.

-Seeing ourselves in our kids. I love how much Rowan looks like Zach and I have started to see a lot of me in Zane. I love that they are the best of both of us, made into their own little person.

-Watching them learn: Zane is to the point where he is learning all sorts of academic things now, like numbers, letters, and letter sounds. I love watching him think and want to learn more. I love knowing that because of me he now knows and can recognize all his letters and knows the sounds most of them make. But it is equally as fun to watch Rowan learn things like how doors work, how to take things in and out of buckets, trying to put his shoes on, how to climb up and down stairs, and all sorts of other more general life things.

-Seeing them sleep: Every night I go and check on the boys before I go to bed. It is a wonderful moment to see them peacefully sleeping, after a crazy busy, loud, exhausting day. To see them laying still reminds me of how little they are and I usually watch them sleep for a moment, soaking them in. They both always have their blankets, cuddled tight, never in the same place where I left them when I put them down. I love to see who Zane is cuddling, usually Mooly, and he is always in some crazy position, like he went a hundred miles an hour until he finally just passed out.

-Seeing them love their daddy: Both boys adore their dad and I love watching them together, working, playing, wrestling, hugging, and loving. Rowan is quite a daddy's boy and Zane's favorite thing to do is help daddy work. Zach is an amazing father and I couldn't ask for a better partner in parenting.

-Seeing them play and love my family: Zane adores his Grandma and needs to see her often. They are the best of friends and Zane can't wait until her next visit and we call her often just to check in. Zane also loves all his Aunts, Uncles, and cousins and asks to see them all the time. This is why we moved back, so they can have this experience and I love watching my boys with them.

- Being able to fix anything: This comes with a lot of pressure. Anytime one of them is crying I know, with all certainty, even before I know what is wrong, that I can fix it. Usually I can fix it with something as easy as a kiss, a cuddle, and some mommy love. This is great power that I know want always come so easily. But for now I cherish the easy fixes!

These are just a few of the joys of motherhood. I could go on and on, Ro's backward walk, his little hand grasping for "more," Zane's super hero dances, Zane's concerts (usually in our bathroom for some reason), Ro's love of his big belly, Rowan's baby kisses, Zane's hug and cuddles in the morning before work, singing in the car, outdoor snack time, park time, walks, playing restaurant, cooking, dance parties, and all the wonderful times I am blessed with as a mom.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone who knows all the joys and struggles that make you a mom! Especially to my own mother who has been such a wonderful mother and Grandmother! I love you mom!

Ten On Tuesday

1. Let's see what the news is from here. I'm terribly sick again, not shocking. I'm pretty sure I need a lung transplant. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow where I'll be asking for a referral to a pulmonologist who will be breaking the news to me that I have some sort of terminal lung disease causing me to have this terrible cough ALL THE TIME! Can you tell I've rocked over and am losing my mind. I can't get anything done, I can't exercise, I can't enjoy my kids, I can't sleep, I just am trying to survive all the time and I'm exhausted and tired of this situation. Ok off my soap box, but seriously this is stupid.

2. Friday Zane and I made salt dough snakes, which was tons of fun to do. With the added bonus that now we have about ten snakes we can paint. Maggie and Zane painted some Friday evening during their play date, but we still have a few left for when we need a funtivity to do. They do seem to break much easier than I thought, which I guess is fine since we really didn't need to keep forever. I also made one, super cute penguin, that I am very proud of.

3. It's that time of month again when our big Amazon box arrives. This month it instantly became a rocket ship. Zane decorated it, drew some windows on it, and spent most of Friday morning either playing in it, flying it around the house or trying to get his brother to stay in it. Hours of entertainment, followed by Rowan setting up shop it in while Zane was napping. There is literally no better toy than a cardboard box.

4. Big news from the Korenak house is that we are getting fish again! Zane desperately wants a pet, really a dog, after visiting the adopt a dog place outside the pet store. But we are in no place to have a dog, so we are busting out our huge, awesome fish tank and giving the fish another go. Zach and Zane are currently in the process of building it a new stand, since the last one broke in transit. Once the stand is finished we will pick out some fish and hopefully they will survive for awhile. The boys loved the fish tank at the doctor's office last week and I think it should be fine as long as all the fish don't die immediately.

5. It has been crazy stupid hot here the past few days, which has reminded me, yet again, how much I miss our basement. The beauty of the basement is that not only is it a huge space for kids to run around in while inside, it is also a very cool (literally and figuratively) place to play in the summer. So far Rowan's room (smallest in the house) appears to be the coolest place is our current house. Yesterday, when the boys both got stir crazy in the afternoon, I busted out the sprinklers so Zane could run outside for a little bit. Rowan hated it, even after I dawned my bathing suit (horror show) and tried to run with him.

 Zane, running full force, two pool noodles (aka swords) in hand, while Zane rocks it on the sidelines with his huge gut! Pretty much sums up their personalities.

 

6. Speaking of Rowan's personality, turns out he has a pretty strong mean streak and Zane is starting to get a huge dose of his own medicine. Sunday Rowan bit Zane, hard, on his beloved stripe. Zane pouted on the couch for a long time, completely appalled that Rowan would be mean to him. Because Zane has been nothing but loving to Ro his whole life, FALSE! Now Rowan tries to tackle him every chance he gets, he is hitting him, throwing stuff at him, and constantly trying to bite people. This led to me jokingly telling Rowan he was going to have to go to time out and he proceeded to toddle over to the wall and sit down. If that tells you how often big brother has to go to time out. Since then he has been back to timeout a few times for throwing things at Zane's face and hitting people continually. I'm not sure why he is so mean, but I'm guessing it might have something to do with his brother trying to kill him his whole life. Suffice it to say I need a referee shirt, as that is all I do now and I'm guessing all I will be doing for the next decade of so. 

To look at him you would think he is sweetness and light.

But he really loves to hit people in the face and jump on them. The life of boy I guess.

7. I'm struggling to come up with mother's day present ideas. How do you say thank you to the person who gave you life? Also, I am uninspired (see illness above), but would love some good mother's day present ideas. Or if the mother's in our life have requests now would be the time to shout those out!

8. Zane has been doing particularly well this past week or so and I feel like I should brag on him, since I always talk about our struggles. He has been such a good brother, doing much better trying to play with Rowan and keeping him entertained while I do things like mop the floor. His screaming crying fits are few and far between and we have been working a lot on talking to mommy and daddy instead of running to his room crying. I see improvements and am hopeful we have turned a corner. He is working on his numbers and what sounds the letters make now and loves to play all sorts of games. Currently his favorite is he picks a number flashcard and then has to build a Lego tower with that many blocks. Here is my big boy, never a dull moment in this house. 

This game involved picking a number card and a picture card and then finding that many things. i.e. three hats!

 And this was the outfit Zane was wearing when I got home from work the other day. Going to daycare remains a huge stress in his life, though I know he has fun there. It breaks my heart, but such is life. He is doing better with not coming into our room three times a night, the night before I have to work. It only took a couple mornings of loosing cartoon privileges to figure out he needed to stay asleep. Poor baby!

9. I'm hoping to get the boys pictures taken on Monday. We shall see if this really happens, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I have yet to get Rowan's one year pictures done and have successfully put it off long enough that I can do Zane's four year pictures at the same time. Close enough, right??

10. I'm excited it's May, my birthday month. And really praying for a calm tornado season here in the Sooner state. I'm scared of what we would do, since we don't have shelter. On days when they know that it is going to be a bad storm day I will go to Abbey's, but if something just pops up I guess we will be in the bath tub with our helmets on and a mattress over our heads. That is not ok (no pun intended). We have to sell our stupid house so we can buy a new one and put a storm shelter in stat. No word on the STL house. We "staged it" so now there is all new furniture and stuff in it so it looks perfect, or so they say. We shall see how that goes. I have signed on for another three months of my contract at the hospital. So much for my dreams of not having to work full time.

And that's the Korenak update! Happy Early Mother's Day to all the mother's out there.

Little Dudes Dash 2014

Today was finally race day. We hadn't really trained a lot, but there had been a lot of build up for Zane's first big race. I got my recurrent respiratory junk, coughing, sinus pain, and pressure again on Friday so I woke up feeling less than enthused about our race, but I knew I had to power on since Zane was so excited. And I mean we already had the matching t-shirts so I couldn't bale now.

 Here I am with my Supermen, ready to go!

Today's Oklahoma weather was less than ideal for running with a one and three year old. Actually a new record high was set today, 96 degrees, shattering the old record from 1955 of 93 degrees. Of course there was a solid thirty to forty mile an hour wind which umm... helped??? We brought lots of water and sunscreen, dawned our Superman shirts and capes, and we were ready to role. There was so "warm up time" inside the Devon Boathouse, which is on the scenic Oklahoma river. I hear this is where the Olympic rowers and kayakers (is that a word?) train. I loved watching the kids twirl in their capes. Everyone was very pumped up and full of energy until we headed out into the heat and wind, then we loss some steam.

Brendan opted to wear his number on his back and no cape. He came in with the best time by far so maybe he was onto something.

 Here we are, Korenak Family, Team Superman!!!

 Maggie had a twirly cape and sparkly skirt, that is the best of both worlds.

 Lots of fun!

There was quite a long walk to the starting line and a lot of congestion at the start. I think Zane was slightly overwhelmed by the crowds, but once it thinned out we got some solid running in at the start before I think he had a borderline heat stroke. He kept trying to run, with burst of full out sprints, but then, Zane, who can never sit still or stop running, told me he couldn't run. So we took some breaks in the shade, drank some water, and had a short ride on daddy's shoulders, before finishing strong and running across the finish line! He got his medal from an OKC Baron's Cheerleader and was over the moon proud of himself. We were so proud of him too. He finished the whole thing even though it was stupidly hot. He kept trying to run, even though I could tell he was tired and hot. It was even better that he got to share the fun with his best buddies, cousins Maggie and Brendan.

Hydrating, pre-race!

 And we're off!

 Play break in some trees.

 A little ride on Daddy's shoulders. Even Superman needs a ride sometimes.

 This is how Ro experienced the race, laid back, maxing and relaxing.

 We had to loose the capes for our big finish.

 Getting his medal.

 So proud of his medal

 All the runners with their medals and very red faces.

 

 Love that Brendan rocked the Cardinals hat for the race.

 Team Korenaks

Team Richards

After the big event we all were in desperate need of some ice cream. Then off to the spice shop to show off their medals to Grandma!

 It was lots of fun, though I don't know it was the best thing to do for my lungs. I'm feeling pretty terrible this evening, but I knew that was going to happen. I'm glad Zane had such a good time and that he got to run with his cousins. Next year we should possible train a little bit more. Congrats to the Little Dudes and our Princess for a successful Princess Run and Little Dude Dash 2014!