Lessons learned

5 in 5

It is my goal this week to post 5 days IN A ROW! It is a lofty ambition... I know.... but I'm going to give it the ole college try.

"So with the Hurricane and all"....seems like most conversations around here start this way or with this phrase "When did you get power" Then you both have to figure out how many days each person was without..... The person with the most days without gets the pity look and you move on......

but moving on.... Now that we've all showered, changed clothes and put away the generators most people are looking back and finding the silver lining from the storm. Our silver lining comes from a lot of time spent with the kids and the lessons they learned.

Here is the short list:

Lesson #1 Trent can now tie his shoes independently. David spent some undivided time helping him master the art.

Lesson #2 Kaylee learned how to make doubles in crocheting.... She can turn and come back also. Granny would have been so proud. We uttered that statement more than a few times.

Lesson #3 Zane can also crochet doubles and can make a granny square with little assitance.

Lesson #4 Trent learned to chain.... His new shoe tying success spured him on to try other string related projects.

Lesson #5 I have almost finished Ty's quilt. I took all the necessary fabric, borrowed a sewing machine from Jerilyn and as soon as it was lights out I started sewing. It will only take a little more and I"ll have it complete. (Hopefully I'll get to it before the next Hurricane)

Lesson #6 Miracles do happen and a two car garage can actually hold 2 cars.

Lesson #7 All No-Carb diets are OFF and bread is the mainstay of Hurricane victims

Lesson #8 The Ice-Cream Man makes rounds in-between curfew hours.(Sonic however DOES abide by curfew hours) Nana was outside when the truck pulled up and this was her view. She called inside for me to come out and see this. Look at all those bare-feet under the van.

Lesson #9 Ty can sleep anywhere

Before and After

Over on Boomama's blog she's hosting a little Before and After Party. Since we have had our share(and then some) of Before and After's this year I thought I'd join in. So hear are just a few of our renovations. I hope that I won't be participating in any more of these for many more years to come....It feels good to feel done with this house project.

Kitchen Before
Kitchen After Den Before
Den After
Outside Before Outside After
Landing Before


Landing After

Go Tigers!

Since Hubby doesn't get much "face" time on the blog I thought I'd share this post with you guys. And because it's pretty funny also. Go Tigers!

http://thedavis4.blogspot.com/2008/09/glutton-for-punishment.html

I Got the POWAH !!

Sunday night my cell phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID and thought, no it can't be,
it can't really be my neighbor saying that

YES INDEED THE POWER IS BACK ON!

So with a skip in our step and a song in our heart we headed back to town to begin the "back to normal" clean-up. We were surprised to find our sweet friends had come over and cleaned up our deck and back yard. Now that's friendship people.....

This morning I went to pick up a few groceries at our local Wal-Mart only to find them still working on generator power. Which means they still don't have dairy, frozen, and meat items. It was eerie walking through a half dark store. It seemed a little like what I imagine it will be like after the rapture. I got my stuff and got out ASAP!

We had a brief period today of panic as we lost power for about 15 minutes. There was a look of panic in all our eyes. Thankfully, it only lasted a short time.

School starts back Thursday and life will be somewhat back to normal. Unfortunately for so many it will be months, years and maybe never before life will be normal again.

Ike's smallest victims

Apparently no one's home is safe. Not even little baby squirrels. Saturday after the storm David was cleaning the driveway and came across two little squirrels. One had not survived the drop from his nest above but this little guy was struggling and shivering.
So we brought him in and warmed him up. Then we began the every 3 hour feedings. (OK I began the every 3 hour feedings) Apparently I am the only one who can control the syringe of milk so that he doesn't choke. Or so all the kids have convinced me.
He sleeps through the night. Probably because he heard me refuse to do midnight feedings. I'm all for nature but that is the extent of my re-hab capabilities.

I thought we should name him Ike. But the kids decided on Skipper instead.
We brought Skipper with us to Nana and Paw Paw's. He still has not opened his eyes but can some how figure out how to get out of his box. Only when he's hungry. Sometimes he sneaks out and we don't notice until someone goes to check on him. So we have our own version of Where's Waldo going .....several times a day.

Skipper's future home is NOT in our neighborhood. As soon as we get back to town we will stop at the ASPCA and unite with other squirrel victims. I think he will have his own POD there. (That's hurricane lingo for Point of Distribution)

Actually the Houston Chronicle had a story about 200 baby squirrels already being rescued from people around the area. So really what is 201. I read on the internet that's it's not a good idea for just one to try to adjust to the outside world. Plus I'm not spending money on a cage and I'm not comfortable with my forage teaching skills.

Interesting Pictures

Here is a link to a web-site that has some really interesting IKE pictures. Many of these are in my area and then the rest are downtown.

www.twilightimaging.net

Safe and Sound

We made it all safely through the hurricane. After living my whole life on the Gulf coast I had never lived through a hurricane. Please Note!!! It's not something I am proud of. Other than the city of Galveston the other surrounding cities were told Not to evacuate, unless you had special needs or lived in a mobile home. So we did what we were asked to do. As did most everyone in the city.

And just for a little perspective, here's what the street looked like just a few hours before. That's my house on the right at the second white mailbox.
We lost power about 10:30 p.m. and as of now (Monday) we are still without power. It was a wild night and was very scary at times. We all tried to sleep but we took turns getting up and walking outside just to see if we could tell what was going on. Make no mistake we only went as far as the little front porch. At some point I could tell my next door neighbor had a tree down. My eyes noticed a tree going horizontal, I just couldn't tell where it started or stopped.
This is the house directly across the street from us. It probably got the worst damage of the 12 houses on our street. When the rain subsided on Saturday we walked the neighborhood to assess the damage. Here are a few of the things we saw.


We have now evacuated to Nana and Paw Paw's house. They have power and A/C. The kids don't have school until at least Thursday. I personally think the area won't have power until at least Friday. While we were at home we felt totally cut off from the outside world. Even with a radio it was hard to get information. But now that we're here we have been able to watch the news and see just how wide spread the devastation is.
Even though this has been a very big inconvenience we are very grateful to not have suffered any true damage.

Hurricane IKE

Well it looks like we may be the "evacuees" this time. No seriously, the local authorities are saying stay home and shelter in place. We are going to stay here and pray for the best. We are far enough inland that I don't think we will have many problems. The only thing that concerns me are all the trees around. We do live in a city nicknamed "The Livable Forest"

The gas stations have lines wrapped around the corners and the grocery stores have empty shelves. This morning when I was taking Mia to preschool you could just feel the nervous energy in the traffic. (And man was there traffic) Usually, by 9:00 most of the commuters are gone and it's just us stay at home moms on the road. But today everyone was out and about.

David is prime-ing the generator and we are stocking up on water, Just in case......


and I'm considering a new shoe purchase...

but I'm not sure I have the outfit to go with it......

And finally here's a little top 10 list to take us into the weekend.

Top Ten Reasons Hurricane Season is Like Christmas

10. Decorating the house (boarding up windows).

9. Dragging out boxes that haven't been used since last season (campinggear, flashlights).

8. Last minute shopping in crowded stores.

7. Regular TV shows pre-empted for "specials".

6. Family coming to stay with you.

5. Family and friends from out-of-state calling.

4. Buying food you don't normally buy ... and in large quantities.

3. Days off from work.

2. Candles. and . . . .

1. And the number one reason Hurricane Season is like Christmas . . . At some point you know you're going to have a tree in your house!

I'll update again as soon as we can. You know along with the deep freezer the computer will be the second most important appliance to plug into the generator.

Scenes from a Hurricane Evacuation

As many of you know most of our family is from Louisiana.

North, South, East and West.....We don't discriminate

With the approaching Hurricane Gustav all of our family was sent to safer ground. So, Brady, Chris, Tyler, Bryce and Jen all made their way west. It took Tyler 7 hours to travel what normally would have been 3.5 hours. He said at one point it took them 1 hour to go 2 miles!!!!

Fortunatley everyone was able to return home to unharmed homes just a few days later. The hurricane chose not to go toward their hometown.





Rocket even had a little company for a few minutes a day. Lucy Bell didn't seem to mind the size of her 4 legged companion. However, Copper the other Yorkie chose to stay safe in the A/C.



While some of the boys chose to play pool and other games Bryce mastered his texting skills.

Brady and Chris ran the tables most of the day and night. I should have paid more attention because their skills far exceed mine. (Well any skills would far exceed mine)
We got everyone in on a little "Pit" action. This is a very old game that we have recently discovered. You can have up to 8 players at once and the more people.......the louder and the more fun. So beware if you come over you may have to play a round with us.
The Plasma cars were a big hit with all the "kids" Even Libby joined in the fun when she came by to visit Chris.
The kids didn't mind giving up their beds. In fact they tried to keep sleeping here in our room after the Gustav evacuees left. I got a small taste of what it may be like when all our kids are grown and come home for a visit. It was quite different to cook for 12 and clean up for 12 but it sure was fun. Zane, Kaylee, Trent, Mia and Ty sure enjoyed getting to see their cousins for more than a few hours at Christmas and Thanksgiving.

An added perk was always having enough people to get a good game of Mario Kart going......

Look Who's Swimming?

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It's hard to believe just 3 years ago Mia would scream bloody-murder any time she was even near the water. Including just walking into the bathroom. She's really come a long way! Ty took his floaties off and started swimming back and forth. Peer pressure it can be a powerful thing. Mia had to safe face so she started doing it as well.
It looks like Bear Branch may have two new swimmers next year!

Go 'Stros

Earlier this month The Odoms called to invite us for a fun day with the Astros (and the Odoms of course) It was faith and family night at the Astros game and the more we talked about it, the more plans we made. The game started at 6:00 But the Faith and Family portion started at 3:00ish and we would definitley need lunch before that. James made reservations downtown at the original Ninfas restaurant. This was the first Ninfa's restaurant in the Houston area before it became popular and turned into a chain. The Mexican food was great! The chips and queso, even better. As you can see Tate is really enjoying his beans and rice. I'm glad no one took a picture of me with my plate. It would have been embarassing.

Now this is a site to behold......Just Dads and Kids..... where are the moms? (Well someone has to take the pictures)
We're a little embarassed to admit that we've lived here 7 years and this is our first game as a family. David took Zane once a few years ago. But they sat so high,(in the cheap seats) that Zane asked David why the players were as big as ants?

Part of the Faith and Family night was a testimony by Lance Berkman and then a small concert but none other than our favorite artist SCC. (Steven Curtis Chapman) He talked a lot about the loss of Maria. One of the most profound statements I heard him say was that "he knows less now about God and his ways. But the things about God he does know he is more certain of them than ever"
He sang several of our favorite songs and at one point Trent told us that Mia and I were on the Jumbotron. Of course by the time he told me, we were off.

Mia loved making goofy faces to get baby Abby to laugh.
The night wasn't all fun and games. At one point the parents did some negotiating and we arranged the future marriages of Tate and Mia. We all agree.... I'm sure Tate and Mia will one day also.

Giveaway

Want to win a beautiful new bag? Check out this site for a chance to win!

http://www.ourfamilyjournal.com/2008/08/welcome-to-uptown.html

The Blog owner is fundraising for plane tickets to China to bring her little boy home soon!