Wednesday, August 30, 2017

The Sun is Still Out!

The sun is shinning!!!! 

We have taken in "refugees".  We have Shelley, her son, and her mom here.  

They are all without electricity but it's looking like they won't get water in their houses!  We will still have to wait and see, but so far so good.

It's so fun having them here! 

Last night was wonderful.  I slept all night without having to get up and run check on the water in the street, and I woke up to only 35 text messages.  
We are so, so happy! 

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

The Sun!

It rained most of the day, and then toward evening we saw it...the sun sorta-kinda peeked through the clouds!

It's the most beautiful sight I've ever seen.

If the reservoirs don't break, I think we are going to make it.

I finally feel like we've turned the corner...I think I might sleep through the night tonight!!! 


Tuesday

They say we are supposed to have an "easier" day today.
But it hasn't stopped raining.  It's raining hardish now and is super windy.

It rained all night; never stopped.

I haven't gotten out, but I did get these from a friend (I'm probably getting 200-300 texts a day.)

I have 2 routes that I can take to get to Kyle and Reed's school.

This is the closest to school.  If you know Houston, this is Chimney Rock and Memorial.

If that way is trafficy, then I can go up to Voss and turn on Beinhorn.

It looks like this.
As long as I have power I will update again today. 


Monday, August 28, 2017

Is It Still Monday?

I guess it's still Monday since I wrote it was Monday morning about 12 hours ago.  
How would we know what day it is?  Every day is the same. 24 hours of nonstop news coverage (none of good, positive, or hopeful) and nonstop rain. 


It has not stopped raining for one second today. Not. One. Second.

We are heading into our 3rd night of this and the news is saying that maybe it will stop for a little while around 6 A.M. 


It was super windy today and it knocked the power out around 11 A.M.
I pretty much lost my mind.
I was convinced we'd be without power for weeks, and wound up knocking on my neighbor's door crying about 2:00.  

Soon after the power came back on and we all lost our minds (with joy).


I feel so guilty for complaining because everyone in this city would trade places with me right this very second. I'm just so, so sad for our city. 


We are fine, our streets are draining.


They are telling us people will have water in their homes for months and FEMA will be here for years. Years. 


I don't even know how to process it. 

Monday Morning

We made it through the night!

It's super windy out right now as the Hurricane is passing back over us to go back out to the gulf.
We haven't had any wind before this, so I'm typing this fast and furious in case we lose our electricity. (If it's windy we will.)

It has never stopped raining, but our streets look good as it wasn't heavy last night.


Chloe is as over this as we are.  She is not pleased with having to go outside to potty.



Please pray that God will have mercy on Houston.  That's our only hope at this point.
-

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Sunday Night Update

So the bad news first: according to the National Weather Service the flooding is "unprecedented".
"The breadth and intensity of this rainfall are beyond anything experienced before. Catastrophic flooding is now underway and expected to continue for days."


It's rained all day, but not heavy.  We got really nervous about an hour ago when it started coming down again. I guess we weren't the only ones because both next door neighbors and our across the street neighbors all piled in to the street.


I don't know what we were all thinking, but it seemed like the thing to do. 


I was trying to show how high the water was in the middle of the street, but I guess I wound up also showing how hard the rain was coming down.


Then this is a picture I took of my boot in the water as I left our driveway.
 Those are my black shorts and then the water is at the top of my boot, which was up to my knees. 

I honestly believe if it doesn't rain hard tonight we will make it without our house flooding. I could be wrong, but that's what I'm hoping.


The pictures you are seeing on the news are the same things we are seeing because we can't leave our house. And if we could, where would we go?  Both airports are closed until Wednesday and according to the news today the "entire Houston freeway system is literally paralyzed." 


We don't have school all week, and I wouldn't be surprised if that extends into next week. 


I remember after we had Hurricane Ike and feeling like things would never go back to "normal".  I know they will, but I'm getting that feeling again.  It's a feeling that makes you just want to sit down and cry.


But we have so, so much to be thankful for.  We have electricity and no water in our house!
 Please pray for Houston that the rain will stop. 

Good News Bad News

The good news is we still have electricity and our house and street aren't flooded. 
I have promised myself I am not going to utter one complaint as long as my lights are on.


We've gotten 12.3 inches of rain in 12 hours.  (I'm looking on the internet at that total, my dad is saying The Weather Channel is saying our area has gotten 15.)


And since I love a good flourish to a story and you may not believe me, I'll quote Jason, "I've never seen rain like this."


It's still raining, but it's not just pounding us like it did all night. (Update: I waked away from writing this to talk on the phone and it's raining in sheets again.)  
We aren't getting wind and the lighting was only bad for about an hour last night. 


Our pool overflowed, but I'm embarrassed to even mention it compared to what people are going through. Just information on how much rain we've gotten.  


School is canceled at least Monday and Tuesday. Again, not going to complain.  I don't really want to leave the house. 


The bad news is that Houston is under water.  We have friends with water in their houses and have lost both cars.
The really bad news, we've got a couple more days of this. 


 If you are an out of state reader, our closest bayou  (maybe two or three miles) is "Buffalo Bayou at Voss and San Felipe", you'll probably see it on the news.


For a family update: Granny Sherry is in North Carolina visiting her friend so she is safe (and in the best place possible!), Grandpa Gary and Granny Buffie are about like us, and my parents are getting rain, but not the heavy rain like we are. 

Saturday, August 26, 2017

So Far So Good

We have electricity, which is what I care about the most.
It hasn't been windy, just lots of on and off rain.

Reed's best friend, Sean, was supposed to have his birthday party at 4:30 yesterday, but his mom just moved it up to noon since we didn't have school.


After the party we changed locations so the kids (and the moms) could keep on playing.
We got home about 10 last night.  Tons of people were out, I guess we all know we might be stuck in the house for a few days so we were getting in a last hurrah.


Friday, August 25, 2017

It's Raining

There's a hurricane that's supposed to hit Corpus Christi, but the way everyone is acting you'd think it was hitting Houston head-on.  I'm convinced that the news is just trying to get us worked up so people will watch them.


I may be eating my words later, but I expect: wind, rain, flooding, and people will drive in to the high water and drown (but what else is new in Houston?) 


I was not one of the crazies stripping the shelves of water, bread, and peanut butter.  My across the street neighbor is hollering out we're going to get 40-50 inches of rain.  Well, if that's true, we'll be in such a mess I'm not sure how an extra case of water is going to help you out.


I did pick up a lighter when I was at Walgreen's yesterday (because we didn't even have one) and I'm doing laundry and writing this blog so those will be all caught up if the electricity goes out.


So, consider myself prepared.


School was cancelled (it's literally barely a drizzle) but as long as there's electricity mine will all entertain themselves.


I'll be happy to eat crow later if I'm wrong, but I'm sticking with my prediction for now.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Chloe's First Day of School

Chloe has been extremely upset all summer since her car trips have been very limited.

She didn't get to ride on the 1st day because of my mascot duties, so she was trilled when she got to go on the 2nd day of school.


And since the broadcast team doesn't start up until the 2nd week of school, she did an absolute happy dance when she figured out  JR was going later and she was getting two rides! 


She hung her head out and soaked up that hot, humid Houston air the whole way...loving every second. 

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

No Bow No Go

The first day of school was a success. 

JR strolled in to Spring Branch Middle like he owned the place, which I guess he does since he's an 8th grader. 



Kyle and Reed were happy with their first day of 4th grade.



I even got this little nugget texted to me from one of the moms.


I made it in lots of 1st day of school pictures doing my mascot job.  
I added the giant bow and tu-tu.
(Yes, I made the bow myself.)

I wore 2 ice packs and 2 frozen wash cloths inside my suit. 


End of the first day reports:

Reed: "My teacher is awesome. She's almost as good as Ms. Badrack." (Kyle's homeroom teacher he named his hamster after and Reed's reading teacher from last year.)

Kyle: "My class has a guinea pig!" 

JR: "There weren't any fights today, unfortunately." 

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Preparation is Key

School starts tomorrow and we have been preparing these last two days with both a Texans and an Astros game. 


They are well fed 



And they shouldn't have any problems with low blood sugar.




They are also properly motivated



Especially JR

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Meet the Teacher and the Cougar

I have a new job to add to my super impressive resume.
 It looks like I'm now in charge of the mascot costume at the elementary school.


It's a pretty tough job to land...they just thought of the only person in the school that was ridiculous enough to wear it. 


I actually didn't wear it to Meet the Teacher, I had JR do it who needs service hours for National Junior Honor Society.


He put the costume on at our friend's house who lives across the street from the school. There was a heard of boys hanging out there, so they all had to take turns putting on the head.


The boys got their photo-op in early.  
And yes, my kids are wearing bathing suits to meet the teacher.  By 4th grade we aren't really that worried about making a good first impression anymore. 

It was about a million degrees with a million percent humidity yesterday.  Even with the ice pack we had down his shirt I thought he was going to faint one time. 


JR posed for lots of pictures and gave lots of hugs and high fives.


Reed lucked out in the pretty teacher department again this year.  4th year in a row.

I was busy being the "cougar handler" (I feel like I could work at a  Disney park now) so these were the only pictures I got. 

 First day is almost here.  ðŸ˜­


Thursday, August 17, 2017

Flips Before School

While JR was busy giving school tours to incoming 6th graders, we drove out to Katy to go to their trampoline park since Katy has already gone back to school.
Kyle and Reed loved that it was completely empty except for the diaper line kids.


Here are the highlights.



Tuesday, August 15, 2017

They Grow Up so Fast

You might remember at the end of the school year our next door neighbors got a new puppy.



We got to dogsit today, and Bindi (a nod to their living in Australia for 7 years) has grown up quite a bit.



But she'll never be too big for Kyle's lap.


Monday, August 14, 2017

Another Talent Show More Blonde Wigs

Like I said, the boys' talent show routine was the grand finale of the camp talent show. 

Before they left we went through lots of routine options.  
The boys finally decided they wanted to do something like their school routine, and they came up with the "mankini" idea.

Reed is on the left, Cash in the middle, Kyle on the right


These boys do love to dress in drag.



I came up with a routine to Katy Perry's California Girls, and the boys learned it so fast!
(The were faster learners and had the moves down better than the little girls I taught this spring.)




It kind of cracks me up how much Kyle is loving this performance.

And, as an added bonus, I now have their school talent show routine ready to go! 

Sunday, August 13, 2017

My Favs

Here are my favorite camp pictures.

JR didn't make many appearances in pictures since they tend to take pictures of the little kids, but he still managed to get in a few.





Reed and Cash made sure to take a picture together everyday. 





And with pictures like this, no wonder Kyle got Most Outstanding in diving.  No splash! 




Saturday, August 12, 2017

Not One of my Kids Brushed Their Hair for 2 Weeks

We picked  them up from camp today.


All the counselors oohed and ahhed over Kyle, Reed, and Cash's talent show routine (they were the grand finale).  

And supposedly JR was the hit of skit night at the older boys "camp out" with his President Trump impersonation. 


Reed earned merit club (300+ merits) , won 4th place in the long jump, and was Cabin Camper of the Week (which is a nice honor to receive).

JR earned merit club, Spartan/Athenian (I think only 3 or 4 in each age group get that, but I still don't understand what it is) and was chosen Most Improved in weight lifting.
He was too cool to have his picture made.


Kyle earned merit club, Spartan/Athenian, Letterman's Club (earning "advanced" in 8 activities) and was chosen as Most Outstanding diver.

And I'm on my 7th or 8th load of laundry (I've lost count) but I do believe the end is near. 
Obviously I win Most Outstanding in laundry. 

Friday, August 11, 2017

Quick Walk

I'm writing this post as Jason takes Chloe for a quick walk around the block because we are making the most of our last night before the kids come home.



We are headed OUT! 

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Yep, Those are Mine

The camp pictures that came out today couldn't have been more representative of my children if they'd tried.
If someone asked me to describe my kids with a picture, these would be the ones I would submit:


JR-in charge of something/probably telling somebody what to do



Reed- Being a good Ingersoll and making Daddy and Grandpa proud with his outdoorsman skills.



Kyle- Hanging out with smiling dogs

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Found These

When I was getting pictures off Jason's phone from this weekend, I found these.

Jason took Kyle and Reed down to Madagorta Bay to go fishing when I was on my girls' trip. (JR was at church camp.)









I'm not exactly sure what all they did, but I do know they stayed up late, had lots of fun, and caught fish.