How cute is he??

Spencer has his grade one school picture taken today.
I think it turned out awesome. He is just too cute!!!!

We're OK

We just got power back last night and got the computer up and running this morning. Wanted to let everyone know we are ok from IKE. No power for NINE days and 4 kids to entertain. I am exhausted. lol
I promise I will update soon. I can't get my e-mail to work so I aplogize if anyone has written to me. I think I need to blame the kids and not IKE for that though. They are worse than a hurricane.
I am behind anyway as my computer crashed before the hurricane. I still have to finish blogging my sister's visit.
Check below as I will update from where I left off and there is lots to blog about :)

OK, I am done updating below. Obviously I changed the dates as I couldn't post with no power. lol

Let there be light!!!!

Whoo hoo, we have power. The next door neighbour came over and says "things are looking brighter" with a huge smile on his face. I had no idea what he was talking about as we had the breaker off and the generator on. I was so happy!!!! Bob was just about to leave for work too so I made him hurry and turn the breaker on and make sure the fridge was plugged in the wall. Caden made me go to EVERY room to show me that the ceiling fans were on.

I will appreciate the little things a lot more now like:

- cordless phones and being able to actually get a line and talk to people when I want to

- a/c

- being able to open the fridge and look for something without freaking out that all the cool air is getting out (and not having it taped shut so the kids won't open it and stare inside for what seems like an eternity)

- the microwave

- being able to walk around at night without falling over stuff in the dark while looking for a flashlight

- turning the lights on and them actually working. (why is it that I continued to flip the switches when I entered rooms even though I knew they didn't work)

- my own bed

- my hair dryer

- peace and quiet without the ROAR of the generator

- and how could I forget.........Sponge Bob

I made the kids sleep in their own rooms tonight too. We have a waterbed (I know...the 80's called and they want their bed back lol) so it was too cold to get snuggled in to. I cranked the heat on the bed and slept on a comforter.

Its was starting to get hotter and the humidity was coming back too so the power came on in the nick of time.

The pool was still gross today so we brought out the slip and slide for the kids to cool off, they had a ball!!

Happy Anniversary

We've been married 10 years today. Of course we both totally forgot with all thats going on that today was even the day. My friend Elizabeth called and managed to get through on the cell phone and got Bob on the way to work. He called me and wished me happy anniversary and was the best for remembering UNTIL I talked my friend later and she told me he had no idea either. He just laughed when I caught him and said she had a big mouth. lol

Still no power and the lines remain loose and some with trees on them. Part of our neighbourhood got power yesterday. Its just not right!!! It wasn't so bad when no one had power, misery loves company. Now I look outside and can see the houses with power they are so close.

I worked Tuesday and Wednesday and barely made it through with my sore back. One of our critical care doctors listened to my lungs and gave me a prescription for bronchitis and pneumonia. I'm like the walking dead lol. James and Queta watched the kids for us when Bob left for work until I came home. They didn't want to come home when I went to get them as James and Queta have power. The weather has been great and no humidity.

Heres a picture of our neighbourhood park that we can walk to. We let the kids walk around and check it out. They thought it was pretty cool.

Peyton has been trying to amuse herself and is making me crazy. She is drawing dolls on paper and then cutting them out. She must have 100 of them and leaves all the scraps of tiny paper all over the floor. Cutting paper is her new favorite thing to do!!!!!! She actually is really good at it too!

Light at the end of the tunnel....kind of

Bob's parents got us a generator!!!!

James (his brother) drove to Oklahoma to get it. They also got him one and window a/c units for us both too. I can't thank them enough for being so generous!!!

He got to our house just in time for Bob to set it up before he went back to work. He is having to work 12 hour nights until further notice.

We put the a/c in the livingroom window and even had tv. Too late for most of the stuff in the freezer, but at least we could save some.

Now that Bob came home we were able to move the tree off the bbq and bring out our lawn furniture so we had something to sit on. We also cleaned a lot of our debris out of the yard.

The kids tried helping too. There is so much "stuff" at the bottom of the pool and obviously the pump won't work without electricity. We just added chlorine and the kids tried to get the leaves out. I should have thrown them in to get the debris off the bottom. Its really cold though from all the rain.

The generator is SOO noisy. I am turning it off at night so the neighbours don't come and linch us. lol

Now that the rain is gone its not too bad for sleeping, the humidity is down.

Take a hike ike

This video is about 8 am the morning AFTER the storm. Didn't sleep much last night as I was up watching the storm. The power went out about 1am so my news coverage was cut short. It went out just as the eyewall was about to make landfall in Galveston. I hated not knowing what was going on. Spencer and Peyton woke up and I let them look out the door and they were NOT impressed with rain blowing in their faces and went back to bed.

I took some videos and pictures overnight, but it was too dark and none of them turned out :(I spent the evening and even through the night talking to my family in Canada on the phone giving them a blow by blow of what was happening (no pun intended)

Around 3am our oak tree in the backyard started to fall over against the house. Its a little taller than our two story house and is only about 8 feet from the back of the house. Before anyone gets too excited, it didn't cause any damage - its not that big. You can wrap both your hands around the trunk. The branches were just pounding against the upstairs gameroom windows though and I thought of running outside and hanging on it to make it fall. Considering two things...my sore back and the fact that the screen door almost blew off when I opened the door; I decided against it. It finally fell about an hour later and did NOT break the windows. It fell ON the bbq though. We had moved it up against the house to protect it :) It didn't hurt it at all, but I can't get it off so we can grill. Good thing we have a gas stove so we can eat hot meals.It poured until almost noon and then rained on and off for the rest of the day. It was still pretty windy for most of the morning too. Once the sun came up we went outside to check out the backyard. My beautiful pecan tree had lost about half of its leaves and the ones that were left were shredded. At least its still standing though. We had some shingles on the ground, some broken palm leaves, totally destroyed banana trees, part of the fence was down and my flowers were flattened by the wind.

Other than those small things we faired really well. We let Ike (our lizard mascot) go this afternoon too. Figured he would not blow away any more now.

The kids were facsinated by the downed tree.

Caden was most concered with the fact that the pool was overflowing despite the drainage vent. It was raining faster than it could drain.

The kids biggest concern by far was that the power was out. Caden turned on EVERY light switch to show me and told me a hundred times that the ceiling fans were NOT working. The kids were going through some serious Sponge Bob withdrawal by midafternoon so we decided to go for a drive and see the neighbourhood. It was just awful what happened to some people's houses. We could not make it to Spencer's school to check it out as the road was flooded. Some of the neigbourhood parks were in bad shape too. Tons of pine trees on roofs and roads. Lots of people out in the rain with their chainsaws helping each other and trying to clear the roads too. I felt kind of dumb ooing and ahhing over my TINY bit of damage when I saw what other people were dealing with.
We did discover one of the reasons we had no power.......a pole was down and accross the road with electric wires all over the road. You could see a whole row of poles leaning way over with really loose wires on them. I guess we will have no power for a while. I wonder if sponge bob will wait for us???

It is so hot and humid today the drive with a/c was a nice break. Tonight we even sat in the car in the driveway and watched Thomas the Train on dvd and had bedtime snacks. The kids were too afraid to sleep in their rooms with no power. They were insisting that it was scary in the dark. Despite my arguments that I turn all the lights off when we go to bed anyway they insisted on staying with me. We stayed downstairs because it was cooler and I already had the air mattresses down there. I felt a little uncomfortable leaving the windows opened as it was so dark and I didn't know who (or what monster) might come in if I opened them. The kids woke up a few times crying that they were hot and sweaty. So was I!!!!!!

Bob is still at work and doesn't get to come home until tomorrow. Good thing I am not afraid of the dark. lol The phones are out too and the cell phones only work occasionally. I would love some adult company.

Luckily I have my fully charged Nintendo DS, thanks Sharon, Shawn and Kevin!!!!

Come on Ike, we're ready!!!!

Ready or not here comes IKE. Its just hours before the eyewall hits Galveston head on. Bob went to work today and is there for the duration of the storm. I am home alone with the kids and can hardly move, my back hurts so much. I hurt it again!! Doesn't take much anymore and when this mess is all over I am determined to get it fixed once and for all. We moved all our stuff from the backyard in to the garage and secured everything else. That of course didn't do my back any good.

You know how cats get all hyper before a thunderstorm? Well I swear the kids can sense the change in barometric pressure too. They have been in to EVERYTHING. They have spread almost every toy they own all over the floor for two days in a row. I am struggling to try and pick it all up and when I make them help me they lean over and grab their backs and say "ohhh my back hurts". Little smart alecs, its not working though and I made them help clean up. Luckily storms do not make me nervous (of course I have never been hit head on with a hurricane before either.)

The kids are all set up on air mattresses in the livingroom. I figured it was the best place because they say to stay on the main floor and close to a room with no windows in case of a tornado. I am just picturing all 5 of us and the dog in the downstairs half bath. lol Lets hope it doesn't come to that. They don't seem nervous at all and I am trying not to make a big deal of it.

We rescued a lizard that was in the pool this evening and brought him inside and made him our mascot. Guess what we named him..............IKE of course. lol He is in our bug catcher and should be glad to be out of the wind.

As of this morning, Ike was a Category 2 hurricane with peak winds of about 105 miles (169 kilometers) an hour. According to the news the storm is expected to bring up to 25-foot (7.6-meter) storm surges and 9-foot-deep (2.7-meter-deep) floods when it slams into the Texas coast Friday night or early Saturday morning. I guess we should have gone to Galveston to play on the beach and not put it off all summer.

I am all cozy on the couch watching the storm on tv and running outside to check it out periodically. Of course its too dark to see much. I am just hoping the power stays on, but it doesn't look good. Its getting REALLY windy out there and the gusts are so loud.

This picture is of the seawall in Galveston and was taken about 12 before the storm is due to make landfall. I would love to be one of the reporters down there getting ready for it to hit. I know I am weird, but would love to be there nonetheless.

Thats us in the middle

Here comes IKE. We are in the middle of the red area.

Its still hours away from landfall and its already causing massive flooding in Galveston and high winds there. This is one HUGE storm.

Galveston issued a mandatory evacuation as have other coastal areas.

We are staying and "hunkering" down. We are about 80 miles inland of Galveston so won't be affected by the storm surge. Bob will be working throughout the storm and I don't want to try to evacuate alone.

School has been cancelled for tomorrow and so has the daycare.

Rotten bugs

Poor little Peyton got eaten up by mosquitos at school last week. I didn't think much of it even though they were really bad bites, afterall its just a mosquito.

Well her cheek got better, but her leg continued to look bad. It started to look like cellulitis a bit so I took her to the doctor Monday to get some antibiotics. I have seen him more the last few months that I have since they were born.

Hethought it may have started as an allergic reaction. I certainly hope not!!

I am allergic to bee stings and carry an epi pen and do NOT want the kids to have the same problem. I will just have to keep a really close eye on her. The picture is three days after I started the antibiotics and steroid cream. It still feels really hard and bumpy under the skin.

Are you kidding?

Here comes IKE. A huge hurricane headed into the Gulf of Mexico.

This is one of the reasons I LOVE living in Texas.......not!!!

This is a huge storm and almost completely covers the whole Gulf.

Homework

Here's to the start of hours and hours of homework to come. Spencer had his first homework assignment today that is due back in the morning. He had to write his first and last name 5 times in his best handwriting.

He did a really good job, even though he didn't want to do it.

He is already whining about homework, I can't wait for the hours of calculus to come. At least I can help him with this!! lol

First project for grade one

Spencer had to hand in his first project for grade one. It was a poster all about him and his favorite things. He did an awesome job too.

My gorgeous girl

Peyton has been bugging me for months to get her hair cut short. I have resisted until now. I have been telling her that she won't be able to wear cute little bows and put it up like she always does.

She says she doesn't care and wants it short.

When you ask her how short, she puts her little hands up to her ears. She has been crying with huge tears running down her face EVERY morning while I try to comb out the knots, and thats with the no more tangles spray and tons of conditioner. She has such thick hair and is so tender headed it just breaks my heart.

I chickened out last time we were at the hairdresser and just got it trimmed. She has never had more than a trim.

Bob came with me and it was much more traumatic for us than for her.

She smiled the whole time and was thrilled. Sydney and Peyton came around the corner when she was done and looked shocked too.

She has been running around all night flicking her hair around. She came running to me panicked asking if her hair was still short and relieved when I told her it hadn't grown in.

I am so glad I let her cut it short. She LOVES it and couldn't be any cuter!!!!!