...but I forgot to blog about it. Part 2

Just in time for the World Cup, I'd like to take you all back the Winter Olympic games.  Quite the fun time in the Cox house. Even now, Gavin will occasionally ask if we can turn on the "bolympics".  My kids enjoyed nearly every watchable moment of the Olympic games from the opening ceremonies to Evgeni Plushenko's historic acquiescence of what was to be his gold metal skate.  All of these moments were watched and felt by Mr. Gavin Cox.  We had some pretty precious moments...and I can only tell you that I am counting down the days until the summer Bolympics.

Most of  our dinner times were stationed in front of the TV.  This isn't  common in the Cox house since we TRY to have dinner around the table- one of the only "normal" things that we do.  We break our rule occasionally and felt that the Winter games were a great opportunity to do this.

When Gavin wasn't strapped to his high chair, he was down on the floor, participating in whatever sport it was that we were watching. 

This is Gavin and Harper actively participating in the opening ceremonies.  

And this is Gavin "cross country skiing".  If you can't tell, he is using our dissembled alphabet puzzle from the last picture- the T and the P make excellent ski poles, if you don't mind an extreme "hunch" position.

They also both passionately participated in men's, women's and pairs figure skating.

 One of our more interactive moments was Gavin reenacting when Evgeni Plushenko bowed out of his final Olympic skate after a fall that resulted in a back injury.  Gavin would- very mime-like, since the television coverage of it had muted sound while the commentators said what was going on- act like he was going to do a big jump, then with much aplomb would fall onto his back.  He'd then come over to Matthew and I on the couch and show us his lower back. With head hanging low, he'd join us on the couch and tell us that he could no longer skate.  It was quite the dramatic occasion...and took place almost every night for a week following the actual event.

I also quite enjoyed the night that we were watching pairs skating.  Gavin and Harper and I were dancing in the living room while the couples skated.  Gavin said with the most convicted and excited voice you can imagine- "Hey Mom!  Get onto my shoulders!".  Sweet boy.  I love that he so vividly expected that this was a likely scenario!   

Gavin and Harper both wholeheartedly participated in the skeleton event, while I watched on and cried in a combination of their cuteness along with the victory of Noelle Pikus Pace. 

 Probably the gold medal winning moment of the 2014 Olympics was an A-shift Saturday for Matthew (meaning he worked all day) that coincided with the tail end of a mommy bout with the flu and walking pneumonia.  Kiss of death.  We had a stroke of genius though when my little brother Connor came over and decided to create our own Olympic games.

I carefully handcrafted skis with cardboard and duct tape and provided ski poles out of dowel rods (we only have one P and one T- clearly, that would not suffice a 3 person race).

 Throw in a mountain made of pillows and couch cushions and you have quite an exciting evening.  

We had a blast!  Uncle Connor was quite the excellent ski coach and the materials were used for both down hill events as well as cross country/ hall way races.  

The fun extended into the next day and a few days thereafter.  

  So many priceless moments!  

Our competitive spirit was stimulated again a few weeks later with March Madness.  As you know from previous posts, this is a highly anticipated in the Cox, Jeffers, et al household.  This year, we decided that both kids were old enough to participate in the bracketology.

Both parents employed different bracket picking tactics dependent on the child's developmental aptitude for picking the best winner:

Gavin was able to decide based on the best candidate between two name choices

while Harper picked by selecting the ranking with their division.  

All in all, it was highly competitive and ridiculously fun; however our efforts did not prove very fruitful for either of the kids.  I believe that Harper is probably the only person in the world to pick two 11 seeded teams to go head to head and Gavin decided to pick a winner based on the team's ability to have a name that rhymes with good friends.  "Hey Mom!  Duke rhymes with Luke!"   In a typical year, this would have been fine, but a team whose name's rhymes with Flercer quickly upset the Luke/Duke naming strategy.

  

Our little slice of the world is fast paced, unpredictable but filled with lots of love, window watching, cooking events and cuddling.  

All of our days aren't perfect.  These are truly some of our high light moments.  We have many that we'd gladly leave on the cutting room floor...except for that life doesn't have edits. 

It just has love and now and doing the most with the time that we have.

PS: I'd be remiss not to mention that ONCE I was able to french braid Harper's hair.  It has never happened before and, so far, has yet to happen again; however it was a one time immortalized moment that I can now put on my mom resume.  

Boom.

..but I forgot to blog about it.

I completely love looking back at my old posts and being reminded about something that the kids have done or said that I've totally forgotten about.  In the day to day, I kind of feel like I'll never forget this stuff, but I totally do.  I looked back over several pictures recently and realized that I have a bunch of memories making their way to the back of my brain, where they will inevitably fall out, as the word peacock recently did.  So in the interest of putting things back into my brain, the following recitation of currently coherent memories:

Gavin LOVES picking out his clothes.  Oh my.  We have had days where the boy will change his clothes 5 times, just because!  His FAVORITE is to pick out his jammies.  I don't think we will ever see the day again where he will wear one complete jammie set.  I love to see his combinations and I mostly love to see how excited he is when he feels that he put together a winning combination.  

This is pretty much the normal reaction:

Some of his other more fashionable ensembles are:

A puffy jacket with gray sweat pants

Shorts, cowboy boots and a chefs hat,

(Side note- yes, that is Harper wearing socks with sandals.  Her own idea.)

A vintage pilot hat and fire boots,

And last, but not least, knightly head gear.  

It is not uncommon to need to leave the house with a hat- not always a knight helmet, but this is a good example.  This pic was taken in my rear view mirror, looking back at Sir Gavin.   

Disclaimer: The car was in park.

Gavin is also known for making my heart melt.  He knows just how to do it.  One of my favs, that will always make me smile was his prayer one night at dinner: 

"...and dear God, thank you for making my mommy pretty."  Swoon.  

Harper Harper Harper.  

That girl.  She is a somewhat prickly ball of reserved spunkiness.  She is quiet and shy and clingy, but man, once that girl gets going, she's a firecracker!  Oh how I love my little fire cracker! 

In the last few weeks, Gavin has nicknamed her Sparky.  I don't know that he quite yet gets the concept of imagery, but he pretty much nailed that one unknowingly.

  

     

If I had to conjure up Harper-like thoughts with limited word pictures, I would say a cheesy grin with two hair sprouts.   

        

                                                        

Harper loves to "rall" or draw and enjoys shouting the letters T, S and O, while we write them with enthusiasm on a chalk board.  

Don't judge.  That's how we roll.  

Lately, her new favorite phrase is "Okay, yeah, I know dat!"  She says it to everything.  

Me: Harper!  Can you come put on your shoes? 

H: Okay, yeah, I know dat!

Me: Harper, we're going to get in the car. 

H: Okay, yeah, I know dat!

Gavin recently asked her "stop saying that" cause she says is "over and over again".  I tried to remind him that he might say some things over and over again too.  

I have also been reminded that "poop" "toot" and "potty" are not just words that boys find humorous.  The girl cracks up at bathroom humor.  

And she loves to dance.  One of our spring time strokes of genius was finding out that our kids love "Guthwie Gween" (or Guthrie Green) which is an outdoor, live music park in Tulsa.  

Don't even ask about this picture.  It just plain cracks me up.  Harper making a mean face, with Matthew coaching Gavin, who is wearing a Army hat and carrying chop sticks, as he prepares to plummet down our couch cushions. With a pile of laundry in the back drop.  It has something do with the Olympics, which I hope to share about later, but the photo out of context made me SALTS (Google it.  It's a real thing.) 

A fun random memory from earlier this year was a somewhat formal, family Oscar party that we attended on the same night as a snow storm.  This is how we compromised: 

The last story of previously unblogged recollection was our childrens' wedding debut.  Gavin and Harper were the "wedding" children and Matthew's brother Benjamin's wedding to Amelia in March.  They were sweet to include the kids, which was quite a risky move.  3 and not yet 2. Ermergershk.  Talk about mommy panic attack.  We tried to mitigate some wedding day stress with LOTS of practicing in our entry way.  Lots.  Here were a few of our practice sessions: 

Yes- Gavin is wearing a swimming outfit, complete with goggles along with his dress jacket...and his sleeping pillow.  

I initially tried to hum in our practice sessions, just to make the point that there would be music that they'd be walking to.  Gavin took it very literally and decided that part of the ring bearer gig was to hum while you walk.  I loved it, and if the crowd were quiet enough on wedding day, you'd have heard the quiet humming a the cutest ring bearer that ever was.  

Here's how we actually did on wedding day. After much ado and unbearable waiting on the part of the ring bearer, their big moment finally came.  

Gavin sauntered and hummed down the aisle like a pro, being the gregarious ham that he is.  

Harper meandered down the aisle, somewhat like an Asian sightseer perusing with great thought the Empire State Building.  She looked from side to side and was soaking up the faces in the crowd.  

By the very end of the aisle, she had just about decided that she might be amused at what she was currently doing when she, quite literally, ran into the photographer.  Her bubble of amusement was burst and she gave him the most sincere look of disgust I've ever seen a small child muster and raced back up the aisle.  

Mommy and Harper spent the rest of the ceremony in the back of the venue where Harper became very chatty and we had to excuse ourselves to the restroom.  It was time well spent and overall a completely lovely day.  

The Girl Who Never Wanted To Be a Fire Figher's Wife

There once was a little girl named Jor…Suzie.  Suzie dreamed of all the things a little girl dreamed for- a handsome prince of a husband, a couple of children who are an ideal combination of sweet and creative orneriness and prompt obedience (but each at just the appropriate time), and a dog…okay, maybe not a dog- throw in an extra kid to replace the dog and call it good.  But a key theme throughout the dream is safety.  Safe.  To be safe, sound and secure.  Suzie didn’t dream dangerous dreams.  In fact, Suzie might be described as a relatively low risk type of person.  Suzie might recall even saying once “I could never marry a police officer, a fire fighter or a military person- those jobs would be just too scary.” But God had a different plan for Jor..er Suzie…

I mean Jordan.

Okay.  I give up.  This story isn’t about Suzie.  I’m Suzie…metaphorically.  I was trying to throw you off by saying Suzie…but I meant me.  Shocker.

Okay- so fast forward all the years and today I’m a Fire Fighters’ wife.  A very proud Fire Fighters wife, I might add.  I love my handsome fire fighter and don’t mind the mornings that he comes home smelling like charcoal (even though they are outnumbered by the mornings he comes home smelling like sweaty man).  I love when he occasionally brings home a newspaper article with his picture or a story about his bravery.  I love taking Gavin and Harper to the station to see the fire trucks and both adore and hate that Gavin can now step into his daddy’s bunker gear with a little more fit then he used to.  I love that I can say my husband has delivered a baby, has saved a family’s home and has maybe even rescued a cat from a tree once.

But being a Fire Fighter’s wife wasn’t ever on my list of things to do.  It’s not safe…for a variety of reasons. Partially, because I’m a “people” person and when my main person isn’t around..which is more than a third of my life, I’m not quite as good at being me.  Partially, because so many of our moments-including Christmases, holidays, birthdays and nothing-special-but-just-sweet-moments are spent without our 4^th family member, which can be both bittersweet, painful and just down right lonely.  Partially, because the thing I used to fear most about a job was losing it, but now a very real worst fear about my husband’s job is losing him.  And partially, because I’m low-risk, high anxiety and like to have my ducks in a row.

There are a number of jobs that I would have been perfectly happy with my husband being;

Doctor, dietician, lawyer,

Butcher, baker or candlestick maker,

Claims adjuster, chiropractor, Contortionist

Food critic, Blacksmith, welder, reporter

Pastor, pilot, traveling magician, writer, or professional kite flyer...

But never on the radar was Fire Fighter.

And for a portion of this past year, I set my sights on the idea that 2013 might be the last year that we lived our life as a Fire Fighter family.  And because my husband loves me as selflessly as he does, he started envisioning his life this way as well.  And I checked the days off of my calendar…

Until one day, God told us no.  It wasn’t that there wasn’t an opportunity.  There was.  A great opportunity.  It wasn’t even that my heart changed.  It did not.  But God worked in both of our hearts a realization of something that would have brought me to a puddle of tears if it had been spoken in other parts of this year.  God was able to make clear to both of us this passion that Matthew has for his profession.  His calling.  Somewhere in my quest for “safe” I’d forgotten the thing that Matthew says he loves most about his job- he says “I know I’m going to meet someone on what is probably the worst day of their life and I get to help them through it.”  I forgot that sitting at a job that you hate…or even that you like just fine but aren’t called to, can be one of the most unfulfilling feelings in the world.  I forgot that the cushiest corner office is not safer then being in God’s will.  I forgot that God went with Daniel into the furnace, Moses into the sea, David to face a violent giant…surely He can be with my family in our day-to-day.

On my toughest Fire Fighter wife days, this light weight wife has been tempted with the thought “I never signed up for this!”  I wanted a husband who would be home at 6:05 for dinner every night, who I wouldn’t have to count in thirds on the calendar to see if he’ll be able to accompany me to a wedding or a holiday...or a Saturday, and who I didn’t have to end my days with our “good night” phone call being ended by the tones of another fire call ringing out- try going to sleep after that!  But God reminded me gently and lovingly that I didn’t make a vow to a non- Fire Fighter- I made a vow to Matthew- who was at that day and time a blank slate. Conveniently for me, “for better and for worse” also covers neurotic wives who may or may not call the firefighter dispatch line with a disguised voice and fake accent asking how “all of the fires and fire men are doing” when her husband hasn’t called back by 2 am…

Who would have ever picked their obstacle?  Who would have picked cancer or infertility or job loss or a number of things- most of which my little upset bubble cannot even compare with?  And those mornings when I’m mumbling under my breath, running late with a baby on my hip and sweat running down my back, I can at least rest in knowing I have a husband that loves me and loves us and is working very hard for his family. 

So in this year of contentment that God has given the Cox Family, my husband will keep living his passion and doing the job that God has called him to for this season of life…and I will put on my big girl panties and know that while I didn’t ever intentionally pick this for my own life…God picked me for this.  And that His grace is sufficient for me.