Thursday, Thursday- hello beautiful!

{PopPop's letter}

Good morning folks! Well my girls slept till 8:30 this morning and went to bed on time (-ish) so a big WAHOO from Waco! I went to bed early & woke up and read a little from Dracula. It's an interesting book & it's starting to pick up the pace a bit. It's written in letter/diary entries/newpaper article form. Very clever. Anyhow, I'm not quite half way through- so I have a long way to go, but when I am finished I will have finished a classic!

So Happy Birthday to my sister, Leah!

This morning is normally my trip to the grocery store, but since we'll be in separate places tonight and then scattered for the weekend...I'm not really sure I want to! I think I'll wait till Monday.

Since my Mom is missing the girls and may not get to come up on Friday, I thought I would post a few pictures that I took at pre-school yesterday. We are doing a weekly scrapbook for the kids, here is Ava's picture of the week. What a poser! She put her hand up like that when I asked her to smile for the picture.Those are suppose to be family trees...the idea was cute even if the trees are unrecognizable. :) It's easy to find Ava's...look under the pink mailbox. It's the tree that is completely covered in leaves...okay, the one in the middle of the ones that have covered up the "bark" of the tree.Cuddling Mom's card... Opening Heather's letter...We watched Jana's little boy this week, my girls are SO little mommies.

Hurricane Season

Well we hold the unenviable prize in our family for having been through a hurricane. Having been through the unexpected craziness of a hurricane, let me say a few things to expect. Hopefully you all have the food, batteries, water that you might need. Batteries are the main thing we didn't have enough of- this is for the flashlights, mainly. There were many camping supplies that came in handy as well- lanterns for one. Don't expect there to be much food available in grocery stores either- panic makes people buy in large quantities.

As far as dealing with evacuees- expect the worst. :) Well if things are better than the worst, and you'll be delighted! People in this state of panic show their true colors. We were amazed at the members of our church who came totally unprepared (with nothing but the shirts on their backs) and expected to be waited on during their "mini-vacation". On the other hand, you see some really incredible people step up & take on the leadership roles. Amazingly those were also the people that had come prepared- 72 hour kits, air matrices and all. I remember most, though, the fear that people felt- not knowing what was happening to their homes, and hoping that all of their loved ones made it safely to shelter. And I will never forget the face of the man whom we had to turn away when our shelter became too full.

I will say that having been through this experience- I learned a lot about myself and the kind of fiber I was made up of as well. It was frightening to be in my home with my tiny daughter and husband hunkered down in our downstairs closet as we listened to the winds and the moaning trees. But we will never forget the moment when we stepped outside after it all passed to see the debris everywhere, several houses with trees in them, and our house unharmed. We knew the Lord had his hand in it all, because soon after we ended up putting our house on the market & moving to Waco. How much of a headache that would have been! And what a blessing.

Here are some pictures that I was showing Ava yesterday as I talked to her about the hurricane she lived through in Nacogdoches.
Toby wouldn't stay inside- he insisted, rather, on running around the house over and over again.

So to my family, our door is open. I can't guarantee Waco won't be hit by outlying tornadoes or heavy rain, but I do think it's safer here! So come on up, okay?

Catch-up

The rest of August & September in a nut shell...

August 28




I know I'll laugh someday but for now I'm still upset. :( Ava's hair will cover up all of the layers easier, but I don't know what they'll do for Sydnee...I hope they can work wonders at the Hair Cut place...

later that day...
Well I think I learned somethings about myself today- not all that I liked. Parenting is so hard. I have moments when I just feel completely undone. I think that's normal. I behaved badly today & I hope my kids will forgive & forget it someday. I am not sure I've ever been more mad, and yet I wasn't void of reason. There was a little voice telling me all along that I just needed to calm down. I'm still a bit frazzled but, maybe tomorrow will be better. Anyhow, here are the after-we-went-to-the-haircut-place-shots. And FYI, they are losing a bunch of their toys to Goodwill, but they are most upset that they don't get to see family today for the birthday party. I am too. Ava's haircut is a little weird, but I can style it fine. Sydnee's is actually cute but hard to photo. I will say this- I'm going to have to dig a hole in the backyard for my scissors. The problem is, is that these girls are clever, and when something is out of their reach- they just go find something to help them reach. So maybe a combination lock...that's an idea. Ah, toddlers...

and I still love them b/c there are moments like this:

Sept 3
It's Ava's first day of preschool so we are getting ready for that- I'll post pictures & such later! Yeah for fun big steps! In the meanwhile, here's some fun shots:


and more stuff-

It went well, I am excited her Ava to start. I think she will really enjoy it, I only wish she wasn't the only girl. But hey- she can hold her own. It will be interesting for me to have to interact with a room full of boys as well. Anyhow, here are a few pictures.

Ava in her new outfit going to pre-school. Sydnee also- not to be left out! All of the moms came for the first time... Sydnee really wanted to be a part of everything, I wish she had something like this too, but I think we'll go to story time (which is at the same time) instead...

Last Todd played his first volleyball game of his season as well- and won! Todd sacrifices like crazy for his family, and never gets to do anything fun for himself- so when someone asked if he would join a YMCA team, we jumped on it. So he played his first game last night & had a blast. He told me he wasn't sure if he was more excited to spend time with people outside of church activities or to be playing volleyball again. I'm really happy for him. I hope we can go cheer on "Crusher"- his nickname. :)

Speaking of spending money... I was so excited when I came home from the store yesterday, and this may totally bore all of you but- but I'm getting better at saving money. I had my menu planned out for the week, with my grocery list, & Internet coupons all worked out. I checked the HEB specials and adjusted. In addition to the meals, I also needed diapers, punch for a baby shower last night, the brie dish + ingredients, and 2 baby shower gifts. I got them all for $120! Wahoo! I saved over $20 in coupons/value deals, and we have plenty of food to eat. Our HEB has a clothing section, so I found 1 cute outfit for $3! The other was $6, I added some little boy soap that I had a 2-for-1 coupon- and voila, they each get an outfit and some baby bath stuff. Anyhow, I'm determined to be this cost conscience for the rest of my life. It doesn't take a lot of effort, and the savings as substantial!

And that's it in a nut shell. enjoy.