New Normal

We've officially been in Oklahoma for a week now, staying with the inlaws until our house sells, and although they've been nothing but nice in welcoming us to their home and making us feel comfortable, there's just so much privacy and control you can exercise while living under someone else's roof. I'm sure it's not a walk in the park for them either, having given up their right to peace and quiet while living with three small boys, but they've been really gracious and accomodating, and we are extremely grateful.

Still, moving is terrible. I had forgotten--mostly because the last time I did it I didn't even change school districts, and now we're in a whole different state. Sure, it's a state we are both familiar with, having visited for holiays and such, but living is a whole different kettle of fish from visiting. The grocery store is laid out all wrong. The streets are in the wrong places. There isn't any shade, or sidewalks, or frozen yogurt stores. July in Oklahoma is like July in Death Valley, without the charming name. There's no Starbucks for like, 8 miles from where we are living. Everything in Oklahoma City is so big and in your face, but at the same time it's all spread out, so you have to drive a long way to get to all the big in your face stuff. Nearby the new (temporary) address we have tag agents and nail salons, neither of which I need at the moment, but no really useful stuff like an Applebees or a Longhorn or a Cold Stone. (They think Braum's counts. It does not. At all.) I guess my old town was small, but it felt right sized. Not so big that you get lost and not so small that you didn't have options. And it had trees. Tall mature ones, with shade. I'm just saying.

But I'm coping. I'm finding I can walk indoors at the City Center, which is a membership based work out place, library and swimming pool complex not far from my inlaws house, and half an hour away there's an IMAX theater, so we were able to show the boys Toy Story 3 in really really really big 3D. And there will be other things, special unique things, as time goes on that will endear me to my new home.

It's not a bad place.

It's a very nice place actually.

I guess change is hard on everyone.

Rookie Blue

Monte was upstairs watching "Cops" on the Tivo while giving Peyton and Stephen a bath. He went to get them out of the tub when his cell phone rang. Drying off two little wet boys takes all available focus so Monte let it go to voicemail. After he got the two monkeys dry and in PJs, he decided to check his messages.

The missed call was from the Columbia Police Department.

That got his attention.

It said "We have a message from one of your employees. He fears for your safety. Please call us at . . . " blah blah blah. So Monte calls back and assures the CPD that we are not in danger and are in fact freshly washed and in PJs, and then works with the officer to reconstruct whatever unfolded that got us here.

Apparently, before getting in the bath, Peyton played with Monte's iPhone and inadvertently called one of the IT guys at his work. Because nobody was actually talking to the IT guy, all he heard was "GET DOWN ON THE GROUND! GET DOWN ON THE GROUND" and then several beeping noises. What he thought he was hearing was some sort of terrible home invasion or something. What he didn't know was he was actually listening to Monte watch a policeman from "Cops" chase a perp, followed by the sound of fast forwarding through commercials. After Monte called his friend back, the guy said "I should have recognized the beeps. They're Tivo beeps."

Between my mom last summer and Monte's friend at work, the cops are starting to put a mark by our name that reads, "I know we're supposed to follow up, but somehow I know this is going to end up on somebody's blog."

Teepee Hee Hee

Mason and Stephen went to my parents farm for a few days, because my mom has been wanting to build a teepee with them. Stephen's been pretty excited about it but we've had to wait for one or two days without rain to be able to get to the soggy farmland where the small trees are, to be able to cut the poles.

During the planning stages for the teepee, mom had this conversation with the boys:

GRANDMA: Okay, so all we need to do is go over to the Shepherd place and then Grandpa can use the chain saw to cut the little trees that we'll use for poles, and then we'll bring them back here and we can put the teepee together.
MASON: What is the Shepherd Place? Is it a store?
GRANDMA: (laughing) No, the Shepherd Place isn't a store. The old indians didn't go to the store when they needed to cut poles for their teepees, did they?
MASON: Well, did they use chain saws to cut the poles?

She could almost see him getting smarter than her right before her eyes.

They also used tarps instead of buffalo hides, so the most authentic thing about the whole process was the part where my boys got really muddy and then washed some of the mud off in the creek which probably just made them muddy and wet.

School's (almost) Out

The boys are so ready for school to be out, and oddly enough, I am too. Ready for summer outings and trips to the zoo. (Probably because I've forgotten how much luggage and bother they require.)