Well, we're back from Mom's. She lives in the Black Hills of Oklahoma - Rich Mountain actually. I know, if you've been to or live in Colorado then no one has mountains but Colorado; but for Oklahoma, these are mountains. Anyway, she lives in a little town called Heavener, population about 3500 +/-, and actually 12 miles into the mountains but with a Heavener address. Seriously - you can even find it on a map. This town is about 18 or so miles from Poteau, OK. Again, seriously. For those of you not familiar with this small area of Oklahoma - she is about 45 miles from Mena, Arkansas, one way and Fort Smith, Arkansas, the other. Well they're not straight lines one way or the other - there's a whole lot of curving and twisting to get those 45 miles either way. Anyway, since she actually lives 12 miles from the actual "town" - along with dozens and dozens of chicken houses - she only has access to dish network and absolutely NO INTERNET services. We were there a week and half and Kodi and I thought we were going to go into email/internet withdrawals. We even made her take us (well I actually drove but we needed her card) to the library one day so we could check email. Pathetic, I know. Here's the thing with me. I hate the phone. I'm not great in public - mostly because I usually end up being the loudest one in the room, which I really hate. But on the email and internet it doesn't matter how loud or annoying I am because no one HAS to read what I say. If I'm on the phone, they have to listen. If I'm in the room, they have to listen or at least pretend to. The point is, I think I live my life on the stupid computer. I told my mom now that I can check my voice mail from the email I don't ever need to leave the computer again! Well, maybe once in a while.

Anyway, we had a good time. The girls and I like to visit with Mom and she plays games with us. Our favorites are: Rummikub, Skip-Bo, Phase 10, and Give Me 5. When the kids aren't arguing we could play for hours. Mom lives alone though and she's always busy. Getting her to sit down is like telling a rabid dog not to foam at the mouth. I know I'm lazy but when I'm there I feel extremely lazy. She's just always busy. And she always says what a mess her house is and it's practically spotless. Please, let my house be that messy sometime. My husband would think I was extremely ill if he came home to a near spotless house. She felt bad because she only home-cooked a couple of meals for us. The rest of the time we had sandwiches or fruit or whatever. No problem for us, that's what we always do. I don't think I've planned a meal in months or even years maybe. Of course she spoils us rotten while we're there. She cooks the day before we leave and then sends leftovers home with us - broccoli/rice casserole, home-made sour dough rolls, ham ball, peanut butter balls, sometimes even an angel food cake. She gives the kids about $10 or $15 to spend while we're there. Her main shopping is the Super Wal-Mart in Poteau. Someone told my husband it used to be the Piggly Wiggly years ago before Wal-Mart came to town. There is a home town grocery store in Heavener but even with the price of gas it's cheaper to go 18 miles to Poteau. Anyway, we only went to Poteau once and that was for groceries when we first got there. We only went into Heavener twice - library/dollar store/goodwill on Thursday and church on Sunday. It was so hot and humid. My mother is on limited budget so she doesn't run the A/C unless she's absolutely dying - not to mention she thinks 85 degrees is on the cool side. :) I think she ran the A/C twice while we were there. When I say run it, I mean she left it on for somewhere between 20 minutes and an hour to cool the house down and then turned it off again. Thank God for ceiling fans. It was actually the humidity that killed me. When I got out of the shower - and they were pretty cool too - by the time I dried off I felt like I needed another shower.

I've already said I'm lazy and I know it. My mom agrees I think. I don't sleep well at night. Some nights when everyone thinks I'm asleep, I'm really just lying there. Because of that, I love to take naps whenever I get the chance. It doesn't really matter if I get a nap or not, I still don't sleep. In fact, sometimes I actually sleep better on the nights I've had a nap than on the ones where I skip it and make myself stay awake. Of course sometimes even my naps are half spent lying awake and thinking. I think my mom thinks I'm terrible for as much as I "sleep". If I lay down for a couple of hours she thinks I should be doing something. Actually, I just think she feels like she shouldn't nap because she should be doing something. Anyway, I always feel bad and try not to take naps when I'm there but I usually end up lying down for a little while anyway. Last week with the humidity and heat, I don't think I did anything at all. Played games with the kids and mom; helped mom hang up an American flag on her front porch; tried to keep my room fairly tidy - she hates messy rooms/unmade beds; tried not to be too lazy but I don't think it worked. I'm sure I drive her nuts and we're really loud when we're there. I always love seeing her but then I'm ready to be in my own house by the time we leave. I'm sure she's ready for her privacy to be returned. Yep, couldn't wait to finally have my computer time back. Now, I've been home a day and I already miss her. Even if she thinks I shouldn't nap. :)

Deklan only had 3 accidents - Yea!! Mom has a little plastic swimming pool that she picked up a few years ago for $5 or $10 when they were on sale. She put that in her front yard and let the kids run the hose in it. Deklan and Hayleigh loved it - Deklan more so though. He spent at least an hour everyday outside playing in the water. Usually more than an hour. The pool has a little slide and he'd climb up there and get on his knees and slide into the water. He thought it was great and had so much fun. We live in an apartment... I wonder how they'd feel about a kiddie pool?

Now my week has just begun. Today, I need to get the girls' extra bed cleaned off for company; need to get the van cleaned out after our trip; I would like to get my nails done; need to get a few groceries; need to straighten the house; need to pay bills. Because tomorrow our summer continues... I'm meeting a friend of mine from Colorado in Hays to pick up her daughters (14 and 9) to come stay a month with us. We'll be home all week next week. But then on the 13th we go back to Mom's for a few days because we need to be in Oklahoma on Sunday anyway for camp and mom hasn't seen these girls in nearly 6 years (they're almost like another set of grandkids to mom). We go to mom's on Friday, Sunday we go to Bartlesville (a couple hours from Mom) to drop Kodi at GS camp, all but Kodi go back to mom's until Wednesday at which time we will go pick Kodi up from GS camp and head home. The following Sunday we'll go to Garden City for another 3-day GS camp (each of my girls gets a 1/2-day day camp at the Lee Richardson zoo - I love that zoo. The other two girls and Deklan are just along for the ride so we'll get passes to the local swimming pool and do some stuff for them too. When we leave the zoo camp on the 25th, we'll be headed to Colorado. Visit with the in laws and friends, drop the two girls off with their mother, and spend a few weeks just hanging out. Once we come home from there, we are NOT leaving again. School starts a couple of weeks after that in early August so we'll need to rest and get ready for school anyway. Not to mention cramming in quite a few doctor's/dentist/opthamology appointments into the middle of the "at home" time. Not to mention trying to build my AVON business too.

Anyway, that's an update to what's been happening and will be happening in case you don't see me on here for awhile.

Hope you all have a great summer!