O Christmas Tree!

We went out to dinner after we got our tree, and completely forgot about the tree on top of the car by the time we got home. Luckily we just rolled it off the side, but it was a good laugh.
Olivia slept while we picked out our tree, it had been a long day.

Sea World/Thanksgiving

We went to Sea World for Thanksgiving and had so much fun! It was a lot more crowded than we had anticipated, but we had a great time. It was nice and cool and they were doing their special Christmas shows so that was fun.

Shamu Santa!

This is Scuba Santa!

Feeding the dolphins was one of our favorite parts.

Olivia is 4!!

Olivia had a wonderful, very fun Strawberry Shortcake birthday party. She had some of her best friends here to celebrate with her, and also some of her family! We're so glad that her great grandparents could be here too, and that her Papa could pray over her 4th year.

Shadows

So I just found Benjamin in my bathroom. Olivia informed me that he was in there, but I didn’t believe her. What’s wrong with me? She’s 4 years old, does she really have a reason to lie about something like that? Where does the time go? Benjamin is roaming the house and following me room to room, Katelynn is at school, and my 4 year old is teaching me more about God.

Olivia is our affectionate child. We’ve been talking about love languages lately and it’s been easier as the kids have gotten older to figure out what really makes them feel loved. Olivia is that precious, sweet and sensitive girl who is my shadow. She’s constantly crawling in my lap, running up for hugs, clinging on for dear life, or crying because we didn’t give the “proper” goodbye that consists of more than one kiss and hug. Olivia runs through the house saying “Mommy!” whether she really needs me for something or not. And she keeps calling until she gets a response. I was realizing this morning that if I could be a little more like Olivia I would probably be better off. It’s so easy to attempt things on our own. So easy to go to the Lord in retrospect and ask Him to fix what we messed up. Oh that I would call on God every step that I take and that I would be so persistent to call until I hear an answer!

Thank you God for my shadows that teach me more about YOU!

Fall Festival

This was just too funny to pass up. Olivia was doing this game where you had to carry a balloon between your legs and go through the obstacle course. It was so priceless - Daisy duck with the balloon between her legs!

Katelynn doing a bowling game.

Our mouseketeers: Olivia as Daisy Duck, Katelynn as Minnie Mouse,

and Benjamin as Mickey Mouse.

Pumpkins!!

We went to an exotic animal farm this year that has a pumpkin patch. This is the pen with a baby deer and a baby pig in it. The kids had lots of fun and it was a beautiful day for it!

Mid - October (I'm not feeling very creative today)

My kids with their cousin, Luke.

Tim was feeling lazy and decided to let Katelynn have her "first diaper change". She was VERY excited about it and had fun doing it. It must not have been all she thought it was going to be, because she decided she didn't want to do that again!

Benjamin rolled his way under the bouncy seat and got stuck. Olivia is holding the bottom part up so we can see his face. He's getting very active.

Benjamin rolled all the way across the living room to get to this toy basket, which I didn't know he could do. I found him quite happy with himself!

Picture update

Benjamin can sit up by himself now!! He's 6 months this week - CAN'T BELIEVE IT!

The girls at the beach! (obviously not Galveston) :)

Benjamin's first haircut. His hair makes a great mohawk! We decided not to paint it blue!

Benjamin in his borrowed car! One of the girls in my mom's Bible study was so kind to let us borrow this while we were evacuated in Dallas.

Some of the neighborhood girls. The girls on each side of Katelynn are in her class at school.

The kids and Hunter. Our friends spent the night because they still didn't have power.

Ike Aftermath

Life is slowly getting back to normal in Houston. Gas is a little more plentiful (and the price is falling again), perishables are found in the grocery stores, and schools began to open this week. It's been a bit weird around here, but a relaxing week and a half off from life.(for the most part)

Being in Dallas as an evacuee, you kind of forget that things aren't normal at home. The first signs of worry were when the signs on the highway were telling me not to travel to Houston or Beaumont, for lack of fuel and food. Tim had come home the day we got electricity, which was Tuesday for us, and I was following on Thursday. Our water came on a few days prior, so we were pretty set as far as living, as long as we had enough gas to get there, and back out again if needed. We hauled fuel, food and ice in with us. Driving in to town was surreal. It was so still, dark, dead, everything a mess, and it was the middle of the day. Trees were everywhere, along with debris. Roofs and signs strewn across the road or into houses and other buildings. The power continued to flicker and the water still goes off every once in a while, long enough to scare us, and then returns. Some of the stores are still not open, some are running off of generators. Target only had half of their lights on yesterday, the camping aisle was empty, only 5 bottles of bug spray and not one case of Coke!

The really amazing thing about this whole disaster is that it's brought us all out of our houses and into the streets. We've spent more time with neighbors in the past week than we have our whole time living here, and even shared water, food, supplies, and pool water to flush the toilet! Our neighbor behind us (who I asked you to pray for earlier) came over and raked our whole front yard before we even got home! The sense of community has been amazing!

So, back to life we go. Tim started back to work today and Katelynn starts school again on Wednesday. As we go back into our daily routine that we already had, our prayer is that the sense of community will remain. It's been so refreshing to have those friendships and to have someone to walk alongside in life as neighbors. Our society is so closed to each other and this has been a natural disaster that has caused us to all come out of our shells and support and help each other when it's needed the most.

These are some pictures of our yard, the front already cleaned up by our neighbor!

This is our shed that kept the garden tools and equipment. It literally looked like someone threw a granade in the door and ran. The walls just exploded off the sides.

Our new pool!

This is looking into our back yard. If you look closely behind the tree on the left you can see our new pool!!

Ike Damage

We're still in Dallas, getting word from friends throughout the day. Our house is good. We lost the back fence and had some branches and debris in our yard. We also had some water come in our back door and got the carpet wet. We are very thankful for the minimal damage. We still have no electricity or water, so there's really no reason to return yet. Katelynn's school is cancelled through Wednesday and Tim's work through Tuesday, until further notice. We've had friends able to check the inside and outside of our house so that's been a stress saver for us. Our backyard neighbor has been giving us the daily update (sometimes hourly) on what's going on with our house and neighborhood. We thank you all for your prayers and will try to get some pictures up when we get home and have them.

Hurricane Ike

You'd think in all my years of living in Houston I'd been through a hurricane, but this is my first one to experience. We're at my parents house in Dallas, and even watching Ike from a distance here, it's a bit nerve-wracking. Some of our friends and family are still home riding it out and my thoughts and prayers are constantly with each one of them. We keep calling back to get updates and the voices on the other end of the phone continue to get less and less sure of themselves. Please keep our friends and family in your prayers. The eye of this gigantic storm is headed straight for our house. We are inland about 70 miles, so that'll give it a little time to weaken, but our main concern is the trees and wind. Our house is supposed to have sustained winds around 75 mph.

I am continually reminded of God's power during this storm. We were imagining yesterday what it would be like to see the hurricane while it's out in the ocean. Would there even be separation of sky and sea? The image that I got during that discussion was a new glimpse of God' s awesomeness for me. Someone commented how crazy it would be if the storm just fizzled away out in the Gulf. My response: "The REALLY crazy thing is that God could do that!" God is in control and we are under His protection. Glory be to God!

We'll keep you updated. Thanks for your prayers.

If you are reading this, I have one specific request to ask of you. Will you please pray for our backyard neighbor? She is a new friend to us and lost her husband at the end of July. She and her 4 year old son are home alone riding out the storm. She is trusting in Christ for the first time in her life, after her husbands death to a heart attack. Please pray for her safety and for God's comfort and protection to be surrounding her. Her name is Jennifer and her son is Jack. Thank You!

1st Day of Kindergarten

Oh my goodness! It's so hard to believe I took Katelynn to Kindergarten this morning! We are so excited for her fun year. I dropped her off with a little bit of nervousness and only a couple small tears so I was very proud of myself! Katelynn, on the other hand, wasn't the one to be worried about - she walked right in and was ready for her new adventure with Mrs. Grumbles! :) These are some cute pic's of our growing up baby!

roll over, roll over

Benjamin can roll both ways now! Our easy days of just laying him on a blanket are over! The biggest news.....it looks like a tooth is in our near future!

4 Months

This picture was just too sweet to not share! Benjamin is the sweetest baby in the world. He is so good all of the time! He has definitely found his voice and is quite the screamer now. He screams just to talk though, not necessarily to get something or to say that he's upset. He reaches for everything that's in front of him. He hit the milestone last week of rolling from his tummy to his back which was fun for us to celebrate! We are all doing great and enjoying our summer, but ready for some cooler weather of September... or October... or whenever it decides to show its face in Houston!

Friends!

I got to visit one of my friends from childhood last week!

This is us with my kids and the newest of her 4 kids!

16 Weeks

Wow - how time flies!! Benjamin has changed so much and is starting to be more active. He's holding his toys a little now and playing with the ones that we hang in front of him. He is such a smiley baby and loves to be talked to. I guess we're willing to admit that he'll be our second thumb sucker - he's an expert at getting that thing into his mouth (either one will do). The girls are so sweet with him and love to take care of him. Katelynn is a born babysitter and told me the other day, "Mom, you don't have to sit with him. I'm a really good big sister." In other words, "Go do what you were doing and don't worry about us".

Family

Tim's sister and her family made their trek across the US to visit us for 10 days - it was a special treat and we had a great time together! The kids enjoyed playing, watching movies, going to VBS, and having many nights of slumber parties! We celebrated July 4th together too, so that was fun.

Watching movies on the bed.

I had bought a tie-die kit for the kids to do and there was so much die left over that the "adults" decided to have some fun too! Here we all are in our one-of-a-kind creations!

Do hammocks have a weight limit?! or maximum occupancy?!

13 Weeks

Benjamin went swimming for the first time yesterday. He was so good and just sat back in his float the whole time. We went to Noah's Ark Play Pool in Houston and it was perfect for kids my kids age. The water is only about 10 inches deep and it has a big Noah's Ark in it with water that sprays from the animals and some slides. It is a ministry of First United Methodist Church in Houston and we all had a blast!

12 Weeks

11 Weeks

Isn't this just the cutest baby you've ever seen?!

Benjamin's not a huge fan of the Bumbo seat yet. I'm sure he'll love it in about a month when his neck is a little stronger to hold his head straight. He's such a wonderful baby! We're so thankful for his 9 hours of sleep at night and his wonderful disposition. Thumb vs. pacifier is still a toss up, but both will do for now! Benjamin doesn't ever fuss unless he's hungry, tired or needs a clean diaper. He has developed a sweet affection for Katelynn. She doesn't have to do anything but walk up to get a smile that goes ear to ear! We love you so much Benjamin!