some more of the kiddos...

 

 

 

 

So I am adding these through the picture program Picasa 3 (super GREAT) by the way, and apparently it doesn't add all of them- maybe it's me. But anyway, it's great because you select the pics, click Blogger at the bottom, and BAM! they're uploaded...Super Fast! I'm loving this...

Riley and Cole

 

 

 

 

thanking our lucky stars...

Last night as we were coming home from a friend's house, we realized how many around us still don't have power. Ours was returned to us Monday afternoon, after finishing our yard work. We were standing outside talking to the neighbor and the A/C kicked on. Our poor neighbors across the street still don't have it- along with the rest of the neighborhood. As we drove in last night towards our house, every street is pitch black- so unusual not to be able to see anything. The only ones that have power in our neighborhood is our side of the street, the side behind ours (but not that entire street) and the street perpendicular to ours- that's it. So we apparently must all be on the same transformer because when ours goes out, so does theirs. And I'm sure all those who live around us are becoming more and more impatient as they see our houses all lit up. I know I would be on my last nerve if I was one of them.

My poor in-laws still dont have power OR water. They have neither. The county keeps coming by to bring them water. Centerpoint tells them they may have power by late Monday, MAYBE, and as for water, who knows.

My zipcode, 77070, apparently got hit pretty hard and therefore, is the reason most of us still dont have power- many of the surrounding neighborhoods don't either. Centerpoint's schedule they posted online says that our zipcode should be restored after 9/22. That's after people...and the rumor is next Thursday or Friday!! So as I get to sleep in cool air and wash my clothes and take hot showers, I am so thankful that we have power- especially with Cole and Riley. Otherwise, we may very well still be camped out at my mom's house in Katy.

In the meantime, I think I need to walk across the street and offer up our washing machine and dryer- I am starting to feel a little guilty for having these necessities, while these people with kids are sleeping with windows open and running generators. I can only imagine how expensive that is getting.

IKE made us say "yikes!!"

Well, we survived IKE- we lost our pwer very early on, before the storm even started at 9 PM Friday night. I had just gotten into the shower because I had a sneaking feeling the lights would be going out soon. Sure enough, as I was shaving my legs, it goes black in the whole house.

So I manage to get out ok, and get myself together. Brian and I knew it was only a matter of time until it went out, we just didn't think it would go that fast. We had planned to ride out the storm at our house, but then decided it was going to get way too hot with two little ones, so we packed our million and one things for the kids and headed to Neika's to ride it out. Probably a good decision, since she didn't lose power until 5 AM. We of course didn't sleep, but the kids slept right through it!

It started getting really bad about 3 AM when trees started crashing all around the house. An hour later, Brian's truck was the victim of IKE. The damage is better than we thought, but the tree (pics below), smashed his left side and shattered the windshield. I think I was more upset about it than he was- he was very calm and said, " It's just a truck. It can be fixed." Yes, he's right but when you see a huge part of a pine tree sitting on top of a truck we just bought in June, your gut sinks.

So IKE just got uglier, but overall, the damage to our house was nothing in comparison to the rest in the neighborhood. We got power back last night after we spent all day cleaning the yard. :>)




This was one of the trees at Neika's house that got hit hard...about 3 AM, we heard a loud crack and then heard a tree crashing down. We ran to the back door to see and noticed this one, it split to the right first and landed on the tree to the right of it, but blocked the back door.


These are some of the other trees from Neika's that got hit hard...their yard was completely flooded. If you look at the swingset in one of the pictures, you can see the water level is just below the swing.



This is just one of the many houses in our neighborhood that lost very mature trees. Our house went untouched, like a bubble was around it, and we are thanking our lucky stars...all over our neighborhood, people lost their trees and had them laying on top of their houses and cars. We couldn't believe that all we had was a leaning fence and a dirty pool. Thank you Jesus!

Inks Lake- Labor Day weekend...

We decided to get out of town for a couple days over the holiday weekend and really enjoyed some family time in the Hill Country...it is so peaceful when we visit that is truly a mini-vacation. You sit on the back porch at Gram's house, drinking your coffee, watching the deer come to feed as the hummingbirds fly all around. You can shop at all the little shops in Marble Falls and Burnet, visit Inks Lake State park and have some fun on the lake- all within 10 minutes of Gram or Dana's house. Next visit I would really LOVE to check out Longhorn Caverns. Oh, and on the way home..be sure to make a pit-stop at the famous Elgin Smokehouse for the best smoked pork steaks ever! Did I mention how much I love Texas?

Brian's aunt, Dana, lives in Marble Falls- their house is on the Llano River so when you walk down the slope in the backyard, it goes right to the river. Riley LOVED the river- standing in the water, you could see the fish swimming right by your feet! I LOVE these of my Roo bug.













My handsome hubby- a great pic with the grandparents! I have learned the way to get a great smile from brian is to catch him off guard and make him laugh when you snap the picture!



Blayke and Cole- these are the newest of the great grandchildren in the family- counting the 2 babies currently on the way, I think there are 13?!


These are the deer that come to feed in Brian's grandparents backyard- every morning and every night!



Enjoying the Jet ski...