Saturday, September 27, 2008

Our new addition

We took the plnge into new "car" ownership today. Meet our new Saturn Outlook:
It's a seven passenger cross-over, so no more cramped trips to Dallas or borrowing/renting a car to go on vacation
One downside - look at how much garage it takes up! Especially after only having parked sedans in here, this is a little mind blowing.
And the bittersweet, this is the one time that the new Outlook was parked next to my old Saturn, Ruby.
Ruby went home with a new owner today. My best friend, Stina bought her to replace the Ford Explorer that was flooded during Ike (it was parked in Galveston while she was on a cruise). We were talking today and she remembers when I first brought Ruby to Nacogdoches after my parents gave her to me in Dallas. Sniff. That was 10 years and 133,000+ mile ago!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Congrats on 3 years

To Aunt, Katy & Uncle Derrick

Love, Rob, Heather, Kat & Laney

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

We don't like Ike!

First off, we're fine! We came through great. Our God is an Awesome God! We got our trees trimmed by our friendly neighborhood hurricane, but he was kind enough not to provide us with a sky light or anything similar.

Rob & I stayed up until midnight/1 AM listening to the wind howl and then proceeded to sleep through the rest of the storm. We lost the power sometime after that. When we surveyed the damage on Saturday morning after the winds & rain died down, we had a bunch of downed limbs & tons of leaves, but that was it. We also have a tiny bit of roof damage near our chimney.

The neighborhood came through okay - we lost a lot of fences, had a several LARGE trees come up at the roots, but only one hit a house. We also got to keep our land telephone lines until sometime Sunday afternoon. The folks who live on the neighborhood perimeter got power back Sunday night, those of us on the inside got power back on Monday afternoon. We got the phones back late Monday & never lost our water.

We likened it to camping in the house. We ate off the Coleman propane stove. Had limited light at night. Listened to other people's generators run all night long. Didn't shower for several days at a time.

Unfortunately, friends and family didn't fair so well. No one was hurt, but we know lots of folks who still don't have power. We know a few who had trees fall into their homes or vehicles. We also have friends whose homes and cars were flooded.

You become very thankful for the large things - a whole house, no injuries and for the small things - the folks who got power first & took your frozen foods to keep them frozen.

Life is slowly returning to normal on our side of town, the grocery stores & gas stations are opening. More & more stop lights are working. Each day more people get their power back. Rob went back to work Tuesday, I went back today. School should start again Monday. Hurricane season ends November 1. I can't wait.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Don't Panic

We interrupted this day of rememberance to invite a cat 3 or 4 hurricane to town.
I want to paint this in LARGE FRIENDLY LETTERS on the plywood currently covering my windows.






Hurricane Ike is pointed at our neck of the woods. We're well out of the storm surge and miles from the coast, so we decided to stay put. We're still facing massive winds and the other side effects.


Rob & I (mostly Rob) boarded up our windows with the nifty pre-cut boards & clips that he & my dad prepared last year. We've got canned goods, a bath tub full of water, a freezer full of Ziploc containers full of water, batteries and a bedroom full of the outdoor toys (lest they become projectiles).


I won't kid you, I'm nervous. Especially about how Elena & Rory are going to handle this. One of my co-worker's parents weathered Dolly & told me not so nice stories about it today. But I still think we made the right decision. I am watching the news and the routes out of town are packed & they haven't started the contra-flow yet. There's a gas shortage as well. Further, I think I'd rather be here in the place we're all comfortable with our stuff & if we have electricity, our movies & computers, etc. than on the road for hours & hours trying to get to Dallas (or Valdosta - we really appreciate the offer, Katy) The weatherman I like keeps saying "run from the water, hide from the wind". Here's hoping . . .


Keep us in your thoughts & prayers blogger buddies.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

2 Year Old Portraits

Our two-year old portraits from JC Penny's.




Overall, they did a great job again, especially since Laney did not want to smile or cooperate a few times. But their new digital system means they want to make you lots of Portrait Creations to view. Yeah, they're pretty & all, but I rarely buy them as I am there with a coupon for $4 sheets and they cost $15-25 a sheet. And I get left with a rambunctious toddler to entertain for the 20 minutes they spend putting them together. Think they'll listen at Christmas if I tell them to skip it?

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Homecoming '08

The Mums: The one on the left came from her date to the dance (read: his mom) and I made the one on the right. That was an adventure, I didn't have a clue - I only had one mum in highschool and I really didn't even want that one.
Here she is all ready for the dance. I promised her I would not post the picture with the B-O-Y on the blog (also didn't get permission).
Poor kid - she was so nervous - that her dad and I were gonna do something to embarass her! This was her first date where she was picked up at the house (by him & his dad) and we all had a case of nerves.

Friday, September 5, 2008

In 4 part harmony

Happy Anniversary to you!
Happy Anniversary to you!
Happy Anniversary Mike & Tara!
Happy Anniversary to you!

Love you,
Rob, Heather, Kathryn & Elena

Monday, September 1, 2008

She's Two!

My baby, urm, big girl turned 2 on Saturday!
We spent the morning at The Children's museum. I took a ton of pictures, although my camera decided to become sensitive to certain types of light suddenly, so not as many as I'd like. This one actually came off Rob's phone. She's making animal tracks in the sand outside.
Here she is playing drums in the Mexico section.
We had lunch in the park and I took a chance to get a good picture of her shirt.
After we came home, we opened her presents. The most popular present - her Cinderella camera. It doesn't actually take photos, it just flashes and says things like "You're as pretty as a princess", but she's still having a blast.
And last night our big girl did her first night without a binky. She cried for 45 minutes (with a Daddy break in the middle) but eventually went to sleep. Tonight she did better. Wish us luck.