It passed! After watching/listening to all things Ike for several days before the storm, I'm glad to say it's now over. Gratefully for us nothing of consequence happened: a tree down in the back yard (it fell opposite the house), parts of the fence are down, we discoved some roof leaks, and we'll be out of electricity for two to six more days.
We spent most of yesterday cleaning up fallen branches and taking the plywood off the windows.
We kept the kids up late the night of the storm hoping they would wear themselves by the time it hit. It worked. Somehow that high winds (which worried me) didn't disturb their slumber. We tucked them safely in the hallway in the middle of the house and when they awoke the worst was over and when they woke up they just went into the boys' room to play Legos like any other day.
The water we were storing in the tub wasn't needed for drinking or washing (we didn't lose water service) so we used it instead to cool off at the end of the day...a little too cold for my taste but after working outside and being even hotter in the house, it was welcomed.
To help us sleep through the night we had spray bottles by the bed.
We're now at a friend's enjoying all the luxuries of modern life: TV, DVDs, an oven, lights, and AC. That equals happy children. Oh and undergarments and towels will be clean and dry soon. That equals happy husband.
We now have an empty fridge and my friend has a full one. It was time to clean it outways.
Our little family's life will be back to normal soon (school should start Wednesday), but for many here that were hit harder it will be a long time and there will be lots of service opportunity. Wer are so grateful to have been protected and prayed for.

Isaac's garden finally produced! (Small bowl usedf intentionally to made product appear larger.) Leah made some killer pico de gallo yesterday using a couple to add some TX heat. I don't know any other seven year olds making it; must be a testiment she belongs to me.

... to let you know what's going on down here as we get ready for tropical strom Ike. Our county (Fort Bend) is not under mandatory evacuation, in fact, no one I know in this area is leaving. They've been evacutating areas close to Galveston, which is already experiencing some flooding. We've moved everything from outside into the garage (or garbage can!) and Paul is just now finishing boarding up the last window: cave dwellers! It should hit Galveston sometime in the middle of the night and they're saying we could experience hurricane winds (75-100mph) for up to six hours. After bathing everyone tonight we'll clean out the tub and fill it with water; just in case the water shuts down it'll be nice to be able to flush the toilet, wash, etc. We're expecting the electricity to go off, we just don't know how long and are hoping it won't be days and days; it heats up pretty quickly down here without A/C. We're just hoping for the best for everyone down here and are really glad we don't live in an area that is expected to flood (I keep telling our neighbors that because they don't know how to swim and are in a state of panic).

Isaac's trying to finish his Wolf for Scouts before his birthday at the end of the month so last night he was in charge of dinner. His menu was corndogs, mac 'n' cheese, and carrots (only because I told him "no" to chip and beans as the main course, although that's what I had after they were all in bed...and no popcorn party for dinner, either). Everyone had one cold corn dog (he had two hot ones), noodles with butter (he made Leah happy by adding the cheese to her bowl only), and part of the requirement was doing the dishes as well. And Elizabeth sucked ranch off her token carrot during the meal. She may have eaten it later, I don't know.

We went to the doctor yesterday and now have a date for Leah's second eye surgery, which will be the day before halloween. I see a pirate costume in her near future, not a ballerina as she sees. Actually it probably wouldn't bother her. It was several months after her surgery in May that she told me some of her friends called her a monster. Her self-esteem is sky-high and just thought it was funny. She was actually more self concious during her swim meets doing the back stroke because the rope kept getting in her way. Since watching the Olympics she has daily practiced splits, handstands and the like. So much so, that Elizabeth has caught on and does the splits as soon as she spots anyone with camera in hand.

Benjamin has had two severe eczema breakouts in the last two months. He's had oral steroids twice and it has helped, but I had to change health plans in order to get him into a dermatologist before January! After he bathes he lays down on a blanket in front of the tv while I massage the cream into his skin. Can you believe he complains about it? I guess he doesn't care that others pay for a service like that.

Elizabeth is a treasure: happy and helpful. She inherited Grandma Hogan's pick-up-all-the-time-gene; a couple of nights ago I watched her: First she came to me and took my spoon away (luckily she didn't see me eating mint choco ice cream off it first) and put it in the kitchen. Then she came back in the living room and picked up Isaac's clothes he'd been wearing before bed and delivered them to the laundry. Next she gathered the wipes, a diaper, and the changing pad and brought it to Paul. She laid out the pad and positioned herself on it to be changed. Still not talking much, she let Paul finish the job before reaching out her hand and commanding, "Uh, uh." He gave her the diaper and she disposed of it properly. Then she came back for the wipes and pad and put them back on the shelf. Okay, she's not perfect, she did get into my make-up the other night when we both thought she was asleep. And she loves to find markers (green is her color of choice). However, as soon as she's done she leads me to the sink to be cleaned up.

Paul finished his internship and is back in school and teaching. We found out he worked for the wrong company, however, when someone at school told him her company gave all the interns laptops at the end of the summer. Thanks for telling me. I just got an email from him with a clue as to what a different company gave him today at an interview: "it has to do not with you but with "i" and when you see it you'll want to do a shuffle."

Having the three oldest in school is a big change from our summer days. I miss waking up each day and choosing together what we'll do (somedays it's just stay home and play with dad's shaving cream or read books for the locals store's reading club), but it is nice to not feel behind on everything (we all now have clean underwear...no picture, just believe me). And little Elizabeth keeps me busy, I mean company, when she's not sleeping.

Back to School

After the kids' waiting and counting down the days, school day finally came. Benjamin has the much-coveted Mrs. Nickles for kinder, Leah is in Mr. Purcell's class, and Isaac was placed with Mr. Nguyen, who has some elaborate money system that Isaac can't wait to take advantage of. Benjamin, who was more excited that anyone because it's his first year to stay all day, fell asleep twice and started tearing up on the way home because he was so pooped. Luckily Isaac still dreams of eating school breakfast so we use that as incentive for, oh, whatever it is we want him to do. And Elizabeth is not too excited about having mom as her only prospect for a playmate all day.

Tomorrow's Breakfast Menu: Cold Cereal

I wanted to try getting the kids to eat something other than cold cereal for breakfast so last night at the store I bought bacon and eggs and even had white bread (which is at the top of Leah's birthday list). Well, Isaac left early for school breakfast, Leah shared her bacon with Benjamin (which at first I thought was nice, until I realized she was just trying to get rid of it), and Benjamin choked down the bacon and pawned his toast off to the baby(it's still in tact, sitting on the counter). In the end all anyone wanted was orange juice and seconds of it, please (except Benjamin who didn't want it because he knew it was the vehicle for his eczema medicine). And did I mention the bowl of oatmeal which Leah made that is keeping the toast company on the counter? Next to the pan full of bacon? Cheerio.

So Far Away From Me

Paul has been gone to NM for over a week now. From very first day he was gone Isaac kept asking when he'll be home. Although he knows exactly when his dad is coming home, it's his way of saying that he misses him. He's the one who waits up for his calls at night and answers the phone on the first ring. The first night Paul was gone he slept with the phone next to his ear and when I woke him up for school the next morning the first thing he said is, "Dad didn't call!" Leah misses him, too. For about five days she has somehow kept her tooth from falling out of her face so Paul can pull it out on his return. Too late, though, it finally lost its grip and fell out today. (Leah made note there was no blood...I wonder why!) Benjamin has stepped up to the task of killing cockroaches (or at least removel). One night we had one on the wall and it took me three times to successfully target it with Paul's heavy-soled shoe. After knocking it on its back Benjamin took hold of the shop-vac before it had a chance to regain its bearings and... vromp... it travelled through the long hose (I'm guessing it's still alive because the following day we fed it Cherrios, crusty bread and Smarties, the usual reinforcement from Richard, the speech therapist, as we vacuumed out the van.)
I've always felt there are so many invisible jobs that I do as a mother. Now I've realized that there are just as many (well, some, anyways) that Paul does: pest control (see above), plunging the toilet, watering the garden, dumping the enlarged dog food that Elizabeth plops in thTutti Frutti's water to name a few. The garden is the one that's so hard for me. I've never been good at gardening; our children are the only things I've kept alive. So four days into his trip when he asked me how the garden was doing I panicked. It hadn't even crossed my mind. Luckily I could say that it had rained some and then I promptly checked outside for signs of life. Three nights later I did the exact opposite and flooded the thing. Aaarrgg.

Davis Family

So we've climbed aboard the bandwagon of bloggers. My friend keeps bugging me to get one started so...