Gotta Love My Girls!!

Both of these things really happened to me this week...

Three days ago, Grace is in my bathroom talking to me while I was putting on my make-up and she says, "Momma, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Do you think I'm going to be something when I grow up...or am I going to be like you?"

What??! I look at her and laugh.

Then she realizes how that sounded and says, "I mean you used to be something."

Oh, that's much better! And this is the one of my 3 who probably appreciates me the most right now! Yikes!

Then today I went to pick up my new glasses and took the girls in with me. Emma was looking at the round mirror on the table that flips over and is magnified on one side. After she finished putting on her lip gloss and singing to herself, she said, "Here Momma, you look in it."

I did and it definitely magnifies everything. "Wow! It really makes my face look big!"

Grace chimes in, "It makes it look kind of wrinkly."

And Emma quickly corrects her, "But Grace, it is all wrinkly!"

I just had to laugh again...at least this time they were right!

Way to Go Angie!!!

Angie did it and we are so proud of her! She ran in the Houston Marathon this morning - her first one - and she did great! She ran the whole way and finished strong. I met Kyle and the kids downtown to cheer her on. Some of Kyle's friends came out to support her, too, and we had the best time. Here are a few pictures of her during and after the race.

Mile 20 - We got to run with her for a little bit. From the left is Adrian, Joshua (the son of one of Kyle's friends), Kayla (in blue shirt), Kyle with Kade on his shoulders, me and Angie


Angie and me at Mile 20!

Kyle and Adrian waiting for Angie to come by at Mile 24. That's Kade waiting, too. The funky wig was used so Angie would be able to spot our group as she was going by.

Angie slowing down to hug Adrian.


A big hug from Kayla!

All smiles at Mile 24!!

A big kiss from Kyle after the race!!

Admiring the medal Angie got for finishing the marathon.

You did great Angie! What an accomplishment - we are so proud of you!!!

Snow...in Houston!!

I had to share a couple of the pictures we took yesterday - when it actually snowed in Houston! This was not the typical Houston barely-there flurries that were last seen here 4 years ago. This was a good, wet snow with huge snowflakes that came down for hours and actually covered the ground and tops of bushes. We were even able to make a small snowman and had some friends who made a huge one!

The kids had a blast playing in it and trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues. And I think Uncle Kyle had just as much fun as they did when they all jumped on the trampoline and had a snowball fight.

One of the things the kids say they miss about Amarillo is having snow around Christmas, so this was an unexpected and fun treat!

This is our house as covered in snow as it will probably ever be.

Pike, Grace and Emma enjoying the big flakes!

Pike, Kayla and Grace on the trampoline. Adrian is actually on there too - he's hidden behind Grace.


This is our little snowman we made with a carrot nose and M&M's for eyes.

Our friends made a big snowman! This is Craig, one of Pike's friends, with his mom Adriana, one of my friends. They made it as a surprise for Christina whose birthday was the next day. Adriana said some UPS delivery drivers were coming through their street and stopped to take pictures with him!

All the kids got to bed late, but it was worth it!

Happy Birthday Grace!!

Today Grace turned 9 - WOW!

This is for the birthday girl or, as her dad would say, his Princess:

My Dear Sweet Grace,

I love that I have always been able to call you my "Saving Grace". Your sweet spirit, kindness and helpfulness have blessed me more than you know!

I love how much you love your family. And how you think about your brother and sister when you're at a birthday party on your own - and you always bring them back a small prize or share your goody bag.

I love the way you are always wanting to play family games of any kind - board games, card games, dinner table games and car games. The "Two Truths and a Lie" game is a dinnertime favorite - and a great way to find out about everyone's day.

I love the way you use the phrase "for no odd reason" all the time for no odd reason!

I love how you have grown in your faith and have a real sense of who God is, how big He is and how much He really loves you. When you were 4 I was putting you to bed and you looked up at me and said, "You're the bestest mommy in the whole world." And I said, "Well, you're the bestest Grace in the whole world." And you quickly said, "Oh, no, Mommy, God's Grace is."

I love how you have wisdom beyond your years and can see God in so many things, like the time you were playing your DS at night in the back of the car and said, "Did you know this light from the DS is just like Jesus? Everything else is dark, but He is a bright light that we need to focus on to see what we're doing." Such wisdom from such a young girl!

I love to listen to your heartfelt prayers every night and imagine what a prayer warrior you will be.

I love how you started kindergarten full of excitement and came home after the first week so frustrated that the other kids wouldn't sit still and listen all day. You threw up your hands and said, "Don't these kids know they're in kindergarten!"

I love that you love to learn and that learning comes easy for you, but I really love that you are still a humble person who knows you've been given a gift - and that everyone is gifted in some way. You told your 1st grade teacher that you didn't want to move from sitting next to a boy who was autistic, because you liked helping him; and his mother was so grateful for your friendship to him.

I love the way you can't say the word "approximately" and the sound of your laughter when you try!

I love how you sit back and take in a new situation carefully, but you are so spontaneous and silly at home and with good friends.

I love the way you enjoy to make lists, organize and label everything - especially when we make a big breakfast on Saturday morning (one of your very favorite things to do) and you set up everything buffet-style and number and label each spot - #1 plates, #2 silverware, #3 napkins, #4 eggs - and you make sure we all go in order.

I love how affectionate you are and how your hugs last a long time. Sometimes I take the time to slow down and allow you to let go first - and those are the longest, best hugs ever!

You are an amazing child of God and you are such a blessing to our family. You said tonight that the present Daddy and I got you was the best gift you've ever been given and I left your room thinking, "Oh, sweet girl, you are the best gift that we've ever been given."

Happy Birthday...I love you dearly!!

Cupcake Boycott

Grace and Emma's elementary school had its Fall Festival this past weekend. The PTO does a silent auction (as well as several smaller fundraisers) in conjuction with the Festival. Because of Ike, we had to cut back on our auction items and we had very little time to get everything ready. We were also doing a pumpkin decorating auction, selling snow cones and a giant cookie cake. It was a busy time!

Did I mention that I'm the president of the PTO? Important to know for later...

One of the games at the Festival was a cupcake walk and the school was having a contest to see which class could bring in the most cupcakes. I got the notes that were sent home and just threw them away. Emma never mentioned it, but Grace would ask about it.

The day before the Festival, I had my parent conference with Grace's teacher.

During the conference, we start talking about the Festival coming up and how much fun it will be. I see some cupcakes sitting on her back counter and mention that it looks like they did pretty good collecting cupcakes for the contest.

She said they did fairly good, and had a funny story about that.
Uh-oh!

The day before she asked her class if anyone else had cupcakes to turn in and Grace raised her hand.

"My mom said she does enough for this school already and she is not going to send in cupcakes."

Yep, that's what I said...word for word...

He Called You a...What??!?

As most parents, we really try to curb name-calling between the kids. When they were younger, anything that ended in 'head' was outlawed...and we're just talking about things like 'stinkyhead' and 'dumbhead' - it never got much worse than that. I even called Grace a 'sleepyhead' one morning and she burst into tears.

Which leads me to the latest episode of name-calling. As the kids have gotten older, their techniques to put each other down are more sophisticated. Add Pike to that equation and you have trouble! But, I actually had to laugh (behind closed doors) about this one...and I apologize in advance if anyone is offended.

I was cooking dinner while Pike and Grace were in the front room playing. I could tell there was some sort of disagreement, but it didn't sound too bad, so I waited to see how they would handle it. I remember Grace wanting Pike to give her something, but she didn't want to do anything in return (as I found out later, this was a very important part to the disagreement).

They continued to discuss their opposing points of view when Grace bursts into tears (yes, this happens alot) and comes running into the kitchen. I was trying to get her to calm down enough to find out what happened when Pike walks in the room.

"Pike, what happened? Do you know why Grace is crying?"

"She wanted me to give her one of my (insert anything here...I can't remember what it was) just because I have more."

"O.K.?"

"I just shook my head and said..."

Then Grace blurts out, "He called me a Democrat!!"

And then I heard myself say, very seriously, "Pike, do not call your sister a Democrat...that is not a nice thing to say." :) And, yes, we made him apologize.

Hurricane Ike

I can't tell you how many times I've started this post over, because I felt like it was getting way too long and didn't want to bore you to pieces...but I finally realized this is a record of what happened for me and my family, and I am a very detailed person by nature, so - fair warning - this is going to be long!

We knew there was a possibility that we would get some sort of fall-out from Hurricane Ike, but early in the week, it didn't look like it would be too bad. My friend, LaDonna, who had already planned a trip, flew into town on Wednesday, Sept. 10th. I'm sure I encouraged her and said something like "Oh...we'll get some rain, but that's about it", and our biggest concern was losing power on Saturday and not getting to watch college football! Honestly...that was the biggest concern for us - even into Saturday! I guess that's why we've been friends for 35 years - we have our priorities in order!! :) She came in with her daughter, Alexia, who was turning 5 on Friday, Sept. 12th...and the adventure began.

As we looked at the hurricane tracker throughout Thursday, Ike turned just enough and was headed right for us. At one point, I saw a projection of where the eye would come inland and it was going right over our house - and it was big! Mandatory evacuations were given on Thursday (which did not include us) and the roads were packed heading north. Stores and gas stations were so crowded - I really have never seen anything like it. I had almost a full tank of gas, but Jeff made me sit in a line (about 8 cars long at every pump) and top of my tank. Later, I would be grateful. We started getting messages from the schools that they were all closing on Friday and Jeff didn't have to go into work on Friday. The strangest part was that Thursday was a beautiful day - sunny, not too hot - really nice. It was hard to imagine in less than 24 hours, we would be in the middle of a hurricane!

We spent the day Friday getting as prepared as we could...which included taking the girls to get pedicures for Alexia's birthday! Regardless of what was coming, we all had sparkling toes! :)

Alexia, Grace and Emma

Sparkling Toes!!

I had already stocked up on food and water, so I did all of my laundry - just in case we didn't have power for a few days. We heard that our area lost power for 3 days after Rita, so I wanted to be ready. (Little did I know how not ready I would be!) We also moved all the outside stuff into the garage...the grill, patio furniture, the trampoline...we took away all the potential projectiles!

We spent most of Friday evening watching the news and we knew it would start to get bad for us around 9:30, so we got the kids to bed at a good time with the hope they would sleep through everything. The wind started blowing hard right around 9:30 and then the rain came in sheets, but we didn't lose power until 12:30 in the morning. We were able to stay up and watch the news and stay as updated as we could.

On a side note, LaDonna and I were checking out FoxNews online and found that video clip of Geraldo getting knocked off his feet by the waves in Galveston. If you haven't seen that clip, watch it here. It is hilarious! We probably watched that thing 20 times and laughed until we cried every single time! I think it was the highlight of the night!

OK - back to the story - Ike went over us at a category 2 and we did get a break from the wind when the eye went over us around 5:00 in the morning. Jeff went out in the eye and he said it was beyond eerie - completely still - no wind, no rain, no clouds, no sound and completely dark. Then around 7:00 a.m. the second wave started. And, yes, all of our kids slept through the whole thing!

Saturday we went out to assess damage and, thankfully, ours was minimal. My sister's fence was blown down and our neighbor across the street had a 60 ft. pine tree fall in their yard and it just knicked the corner of their garage and fell across their driveway and into the backyard. We were able to drive around a little bit and see the remnants. I was amazed at the huge trees that were either snapped in two or completely uprooted. Trees, limbs, fences, debris and power lines were strewn everywhere. These pictures are from Kyle:

A neighbor's yard

This is usually a 4 lane road right by Angie's house.

This is the main entrance to Summerwood. By comparing the tree to the man in the yellow jacket, you can see how big it was. He's standing in front of the top of it and those branches are from the trunk that's laying across the road. It knocked down power lines with it. This road was actually closed for over a week.

This is my neighbor's garage that was knicked by their tree.

Grace, Pike and Adrian playing on Angie's back fence that was blown down.

Phone lines were down and cell phones didn't work, so we went and checked on friends and had some come and check on us. One of our friends had an extra generator and that ended up being the biggest blessing to our family!

When we got the generator set up - we were able to save our refrigerated food, run a few fans and - get this - watch TV - yes, our satellite TV was working! The hardest part was finding gas to run the generator. All the gas stations ran out of gas on Friday before the hurricane hit and, even when trucks came to deliver gas, there was no power to run the pumps. We would hear through word of mouth where there was a station that had both gas and a generator to run the pumps. Jeff sat in a line for over 6 hours one day and they ran out of gas right before he got there. We were planning strategies with our neighbor on the best way to get gas, and we shared and borrowed. It was crazy! That was the part I was not prepared for...I knew we would lose power, but I didn't think about the widespread ramifications - everything was shut down. There was no gas, no grocery stores, no Wal-mart, no Sonic, no restaurants. Our oven and microwave didn't work, so we grilled and grilled and grilled...and ate alot of sandwiches.

LaDonna was supposed to fly out on Monday and her flight was cancelled. She ended up getting to leave on Tuesday. I always hate to have friends leave, but I didn't want her to stay under these circumstances. I have to say that I am glad we experienced it together - one more thing to add to our list! :)

The next few days were almost all the same...a lot of cleaning up with neighbors, trying to find gas, checking on friends and trying to keep the kids entertained with no school.

We did get a change when Kyle and Angie decided to take a camping trip and took all 3 of my kids with them. They are amazing...2 adults, 6 kids and 1 large dog camping for an undetermined number of days! They loaded up bikes, old clothes and mosquito spray, and headed out on Wednesday. They ended up in Bastrop, which is outside of Austin, and had a blast.











I ended up driving to get the girls on Friday and we went to Austin and stayed in a hotel. Jeff and I had 2 tickets to the UT/Rice game and decided that I would take Grace before everything happened. We went ahead and kept our plans to go to the game. Jeff drove to Austin on Saturday to get Emma...and Grace and I headed to campus to walk around and go to the game. We had a blast! She loves her football and baseball...so we stayed the whole time and yelled and sang fight songs and saw the tower light up orange. We stayed in Austin overnight and headed back to Houston on Sunday. Pike stayed with Kyle and Angie to camp through the weekend.








When we all got back on Sunday, we had been without power for 8 days and heard it might be Thursday before we got it back. Apparently our subdivision had extensive electrical damage. We were so thankful to have a generator and a little bit of power - even though we couldn't run the A/C, stove or microwave. I was able to vacuum a few times and run the washer. The biggest inconvience was hand-washing dishes everyday and hanging out clothes to dry on a makeshift clothesline. It brought back memories of helping my mom and grandma do the same things, so we really didn't have it too bad.

We finally got power back on Wednesday night - 12 days after Ike hit, and my sister had to wait until Saturday. The rest of the subdivision and the school were up and running on Sunday, so the kids were able to go back to school on Monday. They missed 2 weeks of school and we just found out that they don't have to make it up. The district got a waiver from the state for the days missed. I was glad to hear that...I would hate if they had to be in school until the middle of June!

That's enough for now...I have some things that I learned during the past few weeks, but those can wait for another time. If you're still with me, check back and I'll make sure the next post is more of a short story than a novel! :)