Hurricane Ike

Well things are starting to get a little more back to normal for us.

Hurricane Ike was an eventful time for us. Paul was suppossed to work in Dallas the week that the hurricane hit, so he had a hotel where we could have went and missed all the action. But you know us, action lovers. So we stayed here. We had everything that we could think of prepared. Now we would put it to the test. (It was so nice not to have to run around in the crazy crowds of people before and after the storm.)

The night before the storm the kids and I enjoyed playing in the nice breeze at the park. (Most of the neighbors had the same idea, so we enjoyed playing with everyone at the park!)

Paul and I stayed up all night that the hurricane came. Paul was pretty calm about everything, while I kept looking out the windows at the neighbors trees bending, and bending, and bending in the wind.

We were one of the very fortunate and lucky ones, whose power didn't go out until 6:30 that morning, and we didn't have any trees fall on our house or in our yard.

As soon as daylight broke, Paul was all about going out in the truck to check things out - even though the hurricane was still here. I kept him in as long as I could. Then he took a walk around the block in the pouring blowing rain. He came back with the report of the fallen trees in people's houses and debri all over. Once the rain stopped blowing we ventured out to see the damages. We couldn't drive down many of the streets because they were blocked by fallen trees. We saw trees and debris all over and felt very lucky and blessed to not have any trees in our house. It was much more damaging that we expected it to be.

Paul spent the next week helping get trees out of friends, neighbors, and ward members houses. I kept the kids entertained and cleaned up the debris from our house. Paul was nice enough to watch the kids one morning, so I could go help clean up with the church parking lot.

We were told we would not have power for 2 to 3 weeks. We were again blessed and were only without power for 5 days, and most of those 5 days we had great weather. Some of The Woodlands is still without power, and I feel so bad for the people on the coast. There are still many stores in The Woodlands without frozen food sections, gas stations with no gas, and stores that are closed because they still don't have power. Everyone's front yard has a pile of trees and limbs next to it. It will be a while before we are competely back to normal.

The kids actually loved it. They had fun walking in the rain.

Hannah & Jacob's favorite part was using the flashlights at night like we were camping. One night we had some neighbors over and cooked smores over a camp fire.   Our kids love camp fires!  The kids used their sugar energy to run around in the dark and dance in the back of Paul's truck.  It was the last night of fun without electricity.

We were very blessed during the entire event, and we now have a better understanding of the phrase "if you are prepared, ye shall not fear."

This Year's First Day of School

Hannah was very excited for her first day of "real" pre-school this year.  Last year I did a co-op preschool with some other moms.  So Hannah was excited to go into a real school.  She was disappointed that there was no bus ride involved.

Yes, I let Hannah pick out her own outfit.  She is a very picky dresser, and as long as it is modest and appropriate for the event - I let it go....

Hannah gave me a giant hug goodbye at her classroom door and never looked back.  When I picked her up she came running and gave me another giant hug and said she had a great time.  She is loving preschool.  

I am very excited to have one on one time with Jacob.  We have practiced his shapes, which I was pleasantly surprised he was already able to recognize some of them along with being able get half of his colors right.  I enjoy having the one on one time to teach him.  We also have practiced walking in the store and not wandering off.  He is so fast that once he gets away he is long gone.
We are having a good time, just hanging out at the house, having play dates, and making it back to the parks.  We are sad that the pools are closed, but we are looking forward to the weather getting cooler someday.  

My children have been enjoying the artistic sides of themselves.  Hannah and Jacob like to sing "Do, Re, Me" from the Sound of Music while standing on top of our living room table. I enjoy a daily concert.  Recently Hannah found my lipstick and autographed beautiful letter H's all over my bathroom floor and bathtub.  Then she proceeded to dip her hands in mud and make cute little hand prints all over the glass sliding door.   I almost ran out and told her to stop, but I thought of all those silly poems that say one day you will miss the little hand prints.  So I just stepped back and admired them.  Man I love being a mom!