faith of a child

Many of you know that I teach 4 and 5 year olds at Mom's Day Out at our church. Yesterday after one of the students mom dropped her off she told me a story about her daughter. She said that her daughter would randomly come up to her and ask if daddy was stronger than Jesus. Another time she would ask if mommy was stronger than Jesus. She would even flex her muscles and ask if He was that strong. After her mommy said He was, she would flex for a longer period of time to see if He was stronger than that. Then, one night at bedtime her daughter said, "Mommy, I thought of something that Jesus wasn't strong enough to do." Her mom asked what it was and she said, "He wasn't strong enough to pull the nails out." Wow.... That mom took the teachable moment and explained to her daughter that He was strong enough, but he chose not to because He came on this earth to die for you and me. I love that story and am amazed at the thought process of a 4 year old.

lucky 7

Reid is 7 months old today! He is really gotten to be such a sweet and content little boy. He still has that toothless grin that I love, but it really won't be long. I can feel 2 bumps on his bottom gums. Reid also does this goofy grin that I love...it's like he's sucking in his bottom lip when he smiles. It is too cute when he does it. Reid is also really getting around well. He gets up on his hand and knees (or hands and feet) and rocks back and forth. He tries crawling, but he doesn't move his hands yet. Poor guy just does a face plant every time! Reid does do the army crawl well, though. He is also sitting up well now. Reid loves playing with his toys and is really starting to explore so much more now that he is more mobile. Reid also made it through his first hurricane and ended up getting extra time with Matt since he was unable to go to work all last week. I can tell that they both enjoyed it so much! It won't be long before my sweet momma's boy becomes a daddy's boy.

a little bit of this and that

Here is just a little of this and that from the last week:

We met Tosha, Madison and Zach at Chick-fil-A during their time with no power. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the playground. Zach was so excited to be up in the big kids part! He was banging on the plastic and smashing his face up against it like we would be able to see him better if he did. Tosha and I were rolling laughing.

After lunch Tosha came to the house to do some laundry and Zach had fun playing outside. He is such a photogenic little boy!
Last Friday Matt and I were out running errands and we stopped in at the new Learning Express near our house. It was the grand opening and Elmo was there! Cade liked him from a distance. He even got brave at one point and gave him a high five, but that was as close as he would get. Elmo leaned down and played trains with Cade for a bit and he thought that was the greatest thing.
This is my latest project that I did.
Several of my friends are still without power, including my parents. I drove by today to check on things and at the entrance of several of my friends neighborhood is this sign.

(It says Centerpoint please help).

I feel so sorry for them. There are quite a few trees down on power lines and it doesn't look like any repairs have been started. It's hot and I know they are burning up....

the shirt says it all

I don't know about you, but I have been watching news coverage of Ike since the power came back on. That is pretty much all that is on TV anyway. Well, today was my favorite story so far. The reporter found a lady, Frankie, sitting in her car at a gas station with her family. The car was off and all the windows were down so you could see all her children. Frankie said that she needed gas and had needed it since before the storm hit. She said that she would stand in line for gas and then get frustrated and go back home. She had now waited too long and her car died. She was at a gas station with no gas so she was waiting for a tow truck driver. She explained how she was a Katrina refugee and was just trying to make it everyday. My favorite part was her shirt. It said. "Stupidity is not a crime, you're FREE to leave". Need I say more???

pictures of Ike cleanup

So, like I said before, we were very fortunate during Ike. Our house was unharmed. Here are a few pictures from our clean-up.

This picture doesn't look too bad, but there was actually quite a bit of debris in our yard.

This was too cute not to post!
Cade was a big help during clean-up. He loved to scoop the leaves in the bag....

and sweep...
and rake! (check out the neighbors tree across the street...it's twisted!)

We decided to go to my parents house to check up on them since their cell phones weren't working and also to help them clean up. Here are 2 pictures that we took of our neighborhood on our way out.

Those are flag poles across the way

Gordons....that is your house on the other side of that 2 story one. Your old fence was fine.

Cade was a big help at Mimi and Pa's house, too. He liked wearing Matt's work gloves.

Dad in full clean up mode...

Tessa and Taleigh, be VERY glad that you didn't have to clean up the pool today!

And, just for fun, here are 2 bonus pictures for you. Reid is really getting around. I walked out of the room today and this is where he was when I came back (check out the tongue sticking out!)

Ike

Well, we made it through! Ike is gone and we are still standing. We were extremely fortunate not to have any damage. Several of my neighbors lost trees, shingles and have water damage in their homes. We are also fortunate that our power came back on yesterday at 2:15pm, exactly 12 hours after it went off. I have tried calling everyone I know to let them know to come over, but cell phone service is pretty much down. I can get through to my sister, Tosha, every once in awhile. I was able to talk to my parents yesterday morning, but haven't been able to reach them since. As far as I know my parents escaped without damage and my grandmothers house had a big tree down and quite a few limbs in the yard, but everything missed her house. As I watch all the news coverage I feel a bit guilty as I sit here in my cool house watching TV. There are so many people without power. We are going out today to visit my parents and take them some ice. I am hoping that I will be able to drive by some friends houses to let them know they can come over. I took some pictures that I will upload later for you to see. Until then, if you know of anyone that needs help please let me know!

my little surfer boys

I couldn't pass up this picture opportunity.....

your trash....my treasure

So, last weekend my mom, Tosha and I had a fun girls night out. We went to the Cheesecake Factory in the Woodlands for a quiet dinner with no screaming and no little mouths to feed but our own. It was wonderful. The food was good, too. We got some yummy corn cake appetizer thing and this chicken dish that was awesome. Of course we topped it off with cheesecake and just about rolled ourselves out the door. I had left my car at my mom's so I visited for awhile before heading home. While there I checked craigslist and noticed a little tykes sand and water table for $25. I jumped right on it and e-mailed the lady. It was in perfect condition and still had the cover and umbrella! I was pumped! When I left, my mom took her trash out to the curb and mentioned that the neighbors had toys in the trash again. I say again because they have thrown out a little tykes shopping cart before. Of course I made Matt dig it out. So, no Matt around this time so I had to do the trash diving myself. I backed the car up and got out only to find a perfectly good fisher price bounce and spin zebra and a little tykes slide! The zebra still had the batteries, too! I was so pumped! I called my mom to brag about my finds and I think she was a bit embarrassed. I wasn't discreet at all! So, I went home and Matt was happy that I found such great things, but his first question was where are we going to put it? I didn't quite think about that....I was just excited that I found perfectly good toys in the trash! I took the zebra inside and wiped it down with my Clorox wipes so it would be all ready for Cade on Saturday morning. I regretted my decision when I awoke to such bouncing, musical racket. It was ok, though, because I was still on a high because of my wonderful finds. I ended up getting an e-mail from the lady about the sand table and I was the first one to reply so I ended up getting the table!!! I went and picked it up later that day and bought sand on my way home. So, I had a pretty successful weekend, but for some reason I really want to drive around and dig in peoples trash! Who knows what I will find next!

fun times

Last weekend when the weather was absolutely gorgeous Alan, Jennifer, Maci and Payton came over for a little backyard barbecue. I pulled out the pool and all our backyard toys and the kids had a blast. We even decided to pull out the card table and eat outside because it was just too pretty not to. Yes, there were a few swarms of those pesky love bugs, but we didn't let them ruin our fun times.

the pool was very cold, but the kids didn't seem to mind.

Reid was talking quite a bit, can you tell?Payton and her sweet little attitude!
enjoying the outdoors
Jennifer and Payton

The kids were doing a little gardening for me...

he's big enough for that?!?

The other day I passed Reid in the hallway during church in the bye bye buggy (the big 6 seater stroller). He looked so cute, but I was shocked. I just couldn't believe my baby was big enough for that! Then the other day we were outside and Cade was playing with his little push car. I started to tell Matt that we could probably put it away for awhile and then I realized that Reid could use it now! I put him in the car and he loved it.

Only a few days after that I was putting Reid down on the floor on his tummy and he went right on his hands and knees!! He doesn't do anything but look around for a bit before he lays flat. It is just so cute to see him up looking around.

Reid also started Mom's Day Out this past week. Since I teach up in the 4 year old room I get to check in on him and he has been a happy camper so far. I just can't believe my little baby is getting so big!

fun in the sun!

Wow....life has been pretty hectic around here with the start of Mom's Day Out. Can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged. I know you've been wondering what in the world has been going on with the Powells!!!
Last weekend we went to my parents house to go swimming. I realized that we haven't done that near enough this summer and it won't be long before we won't be able to. Reid was sleeping inside and Matt and I had fun with Cade. For some reason, Cade spends the majority of his time out of the pool. He loves throwing all of Coppers (my parents dog) balls in the pool. I take that back, he likes throwing everything in the pool. I have no idea why. I guess he really likes throwing things in general. I guess it's just a boy thing. Here are a few pictures of the fun....

you can never have too many life-saving devices! :) Cade couldn't even sit up with all that garb on!
The ghetto version of a pool slide!
Cade had fun with it!