New Vocabulary

During the storm, we were kind of laughing about some of the media's favorite storm "terms" that they totally overused. Two of our favorites are:

• inundate
• sustained

We were lucky that our house was not inundated with water, however, our roof sustained damage when sustained winds inundated the Houston area on Sept. 13.

Taite & Paige have also learned new words that were not part of their vocabulary before this storm.

• Taite's most used word: generator :), also "debris" and "chainsaw"
• Paige's word: hurr-game

Taite also loves this phrase: "Hurricane Ike, take a hike."

Then, Paige runs around saying, "Ike, Ike, Ike"

Oh, the things that keep us amused these days. One day soon, things will be back to "normal" and we'll say we're 'bored' with the same ol', same ol'.

Just had to share....

It's a Girl!

We have anxiously been awaiting the arrival of our next-door-neighbor's new baby. Mark & Mitzi moved to Friendswood last spring from New Jersey. Little did they know, a few months later, they'd be evacuating and living through their first big hurricane...only a week before Mitzi's scheduled c-section! Their baby will hear LOTS of stories!!

They did not know the sex of the baby before she was born. I got a call from Mark about 8:30 Friday morning announcing the birth of their healthy baby girl. Everything went just as it was scheduled and Mitzi and baby are doing great.

Grace Mae

7 lbs. 0 oz.

18"

We were able to go over to the hospital to meet Grace yesterday. She's a quiet, content baby. Very cute! Taite was SO excited that there's another girl on the street!

Congrats to Mark & Mitzi!

After Ike

I've sent plenty of emails about us 'evacuating', cleaning up, etc. So, I won't re-write all of that here (what, Jen not repeating herself a millionth time? - amazing!)

I just wanted to share one thing about my personal experience with the storm and my blog seemed to be an appropriate place:

I have always been a big believer of "things happening for a reason" and good things happen during bad situations. We are living this perfect example. I have already told many of you, but I have to say it again, the way our neighbors have come together during all of this has been awesome. During clean-up, everyone walked from house to house helping drag limbs, raking, helping with chainsaw "safety", etc. No one had to ask for help, we all just did it for each other. Lewis went out of town and my neighbor from across the street called to make sure we were okay & let me know that he was keeping an eye on the house for us while Lewis was gone. Lots of little things. It's just been awesome. It has also been a great lesson for our kids about community and "citizenship" and literally "loving your neighbor". Really cool.

Things are still 'weird' around here, for a lack of a better word. I will not feel back to 'normal' until we're back into our regular routine of school, work, etc. Of course, I like routine, & this is very OFF routine. At the same time, it's been okay. We're all doing fine. We're happy & healthy and that's the most important thing.

Paige Starts School

Paige started Mother's Day Out last Friday. The night before, she got to go see her classroom and meet her teachers. She was SO excited when she saw all of the fun stuff in her classroom. Friday morning, she, surprisingly posed for pictures with her backpack (which is almost as big as her) and her lunch box. When I took her to school, she eagerly walked into class & got busy playing at a sand table.

Even though she had such a good first day of school, we weren't sure how she'd do on day two. But, again, she walked right in and got busy playing. When I went to pick her up, one of her teachers told me that she had a really great day. She said that Paige enjoyed everything from playing with the group, playing by herself, walking (well!) in the hallway to another classroom, arts & crafts, and singing & dancing. Sounds like it's going to be a fun year for her! We're glad that she's off to a good start.

Here's an attempt at uploading a little video clip from the 1st day of school:

Paige Turns 2!

Paige turned 2 on September 1 (Labor Day). We had her birthday party at home a couple of days prior. She enjoyed her "Sesame Street" theme, jumping on the moon bounce, playing with friends, opening gifts, and eating CAKE! In the weeks prior to her birthday, we'd ask her, what do you want for your birthday and she'd say, "cake". She definitely enjoyed the cake at her party!

We also took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese on the 1st to celebrate Paige's 'real' birthday. Paige enjoyed that.

I took Paige to her 2 year check up last week, too. She had to get one shot (she was not happy about that). The good news was that her height & weight are right on track. It's always crazy to see that big dip she had a year ago when she was so sick & fell off the growth chart. Now, she is in the 40th percentile for weight (25 1/2 lbs.) and 70th for height (34 1/2"). She is exactly opposite of Taite at this age. Kind of interesting.

Taite Starts Kindergarten

Taite started kindergarten 2 weeks ago. She is really enjoying school. Unfortunately, she has been sick with a stomach bug this week & is at home for the second day in a row because of it. She should be okay to go back tomorrow.

I got to go to "Parent Orientation" last night & learn about classroom procedures and general information about what Taite is learning in class. Her teacher, Mrs. Vermeer seems really great and I think it is going to be a great year.

Getting Started!

I've read a few family & friend's blogs and I thought it might be fun to start one myself, as much as I enjoy being at the computer. I'd like to include pictures and 'stories' about what's going on with us. So, we'll see how this goes.