Watching Gustav in Burleson, Tx

I'm sitting here watching Gustav on the weather channel at Courtni's sister, Danni's house! Johnathan and James are still at the house boarding up! Here are a couple of pictures of the kids playing outside at Danni's house. Of course, Jadie found the water hose!

Mandatory Evacuation

They have called for a voluntary evacuation at noon today. Tomorrow they are calling for a mandatory evacuation tomorrow at 6am.

Do We Stay or Do We Go?!

We are watching Gustav very closely, especially since the models have now placed it closer to us!!! So our dilema... We had a cabin at the beach with many other families for the weekend. So do we go there and risk not being able to get back home. (We can't get our money back.) Or do we stay here, board up and evacuate! If so where do we go? Then we also have to allow ourselves time to go out to the property and "try" to clean up out there! My fears have been growing each day as they change Gustaf's path closer to us!

A Day of Packing

I'm spending most of this morning packing our stuff up, here at mom's. From here we are headed home. When we get there we will spend the rest of the day shopping and packing for our weekend at the beach! We are watching Gustav closely and hoping it doesn't turn our way! We have had quite a few of these storms pass in our direction ... Hurricane Lilly a couple of years back, Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Umberto, and Tropical Storm Edourd.

Chick Fil A with Stefany

Mom and I drove out to Stefany's in Summerwood so the girls could play with Carey and Richard Glyn. We wound up meeting them at Chick Fil A! That sure brought back memories!!! I can remember when I first took Ashlyn with Stedany to a Chick Fil A...she had just learned to walk! After playing we went back to Stefany's house. Richard Glyn received one of those large inflatable bouncers for his birthday...they had a blast jumping on that. Jadie at first wanted nothing to do with it. Mean mom took her shoes off and threw them inside (of course I waited for everyone to get off of it.) Well as I predicted Jadie went in to retrieve her shoes! She got in there grabbed them and then realized that she was supposed to be afraid so she laid her head down and cried. Ashlyn immediately got in and started bouncing and it took jadie a few minutes of crying to realize it wasn't that bad, in fact she was having fun!

Playing with the Make-Up and Nail Polish

Look at Those Lips!

Mama's House

The girls and I packed up and headed to Mom's. When Ryley and Brenlee got finished with school they came over. They had a great time playing! They get along so well together. I hope they still enjoy each others company when they are older. I lived a thousand miles away from my cousins...I'm glad we live close so they can build acrelationship with them! Tomorrow we are driving to see Ashlyn's Best Friend, Carey. I'm looking forward to catching up with Stefany.

Bear's Wedding Day

Saturday, Grandma W. And Jenn drove in to watch Ashlyn and Jadyn for us, while John and I went to Jared's wedding in Houston. It was neat to watch Jared, aka, Bear, get married. Johnathan and I had a really good time and enjoyed the night out. Thank you Patti and Jenn for babysitting.

After Many Days of Rain

After many, many, many (4 to be exact) days of rain...They are Installing the Shingles!

Here is my Entry Way Arch

Jadie's Shoe Obsession

As many of you know, Jadyn has a "thing" for shoes. It doesn't really matter whose shoes they are. She just always gravitates towards them. Over the past week though, this "thing" has developed into something so much more. Since Friday, (when we went to Kemah) I have been putting a pair of light pink crocs (shoes) on her. (Before I would just let her go barefoot, knowing I wasn't going to let her walk around.) Anyway, the last couple of times we have given her a bath it has been major drama because the shoes have to come off. She even insists on going to bed with them on her feet. Of course I can't let her do that as they are really a little too small for her feet. Last night I had to hide her shoe bin, because she kept standing up in her crib, and reaching for her shoes, (the bin sits on her changing table shelf.) Today, I let her play with all of her shoes. She just dragged them around and tried to get me to put them on her. I never did, therefore, we avoided the bathtime drama. Tomorrow I have some errands to run, and the shoes will have to go on. (Of course a pair that fits her better.) So we will see what she does then! Here she is wearing her new bright pink crocs, and lugging around her sisters shoes.

Jadyn's 15 Month Appointment

After her initial 15 month appointment was postponed due to an ear infection, we finally got a clean bill of health to have her vaccines.

Jadie measured 32 inches, which places her in the 87th percentile for height.

Jadie weighed 22 pounds, which places her in the 33rd percentile for weight.

Jadie's head measured 18 inches, which places her in the 41st percentile for head circumference.

Over all, Dr. Prause said she looks good. He asked if she was talking. I told him the few words she is saying, and he didn't seem concerned that she wasn't speaking more.

He did seem a little concerned about her weight. (Since there is such a large difference in the percentages.) He suggested vitamins and to try a product similar to pediasure. I'm sure I will head to the store as soon as the rain stops here.

She received two vaccines today, a third was out of stock. She will have to come back at 18 months to get her Hep A. Jadie is getting ready to start MDO and I hope her not having that won't be an issue at the church.

Aquarium

Friday morning, we took the girls to the Aquarium at Kemah. The weather was pretty rough while we were driving, but seemed to lift off as we pulled in to park. The girls loved watching the fish at the aquarium. We sat right next to one of the tanks. We even happened to be there during feeding time!

Jadie didn't want to get back in her chair after she got down to see them feed the fish.

After lunch, we headed to pet the stingrays. Ashlyn wanted to feed them, but refused to touch them.

Then it was off to the rides and games. Ashlyn and I both got wristbands. (Allowed me and her to ride any ride all day long.) There were about 5 rides Ashlyn met the criteria to ride on. She loved the "Drop One". She went twice on it.

The only ride Jadyn could do was the carousel. The first time, I put her in my lap and we sat on a horse. She didn't enjoy herself! So the next time, I sat with her in a sleigh on the carousel. She enjoyed it much more.

After we left Kemah, we headed to see the grandparents. We first stopped at MaMaw and PawPaw's. Since we were so close to Grma and Grpa H. we stopped by for a few minutes too. After leaving there, we made a quick trip to Grma and Grpa W. There we bathed the girls and Patti had made dinner. Everyone munched a little and we got back in the car to head home. It was a long fun filled day. Needless to say the girls were wiped out and fell asleep before we made it back on the highway.

Johnathan said Ashlyn cried when he got her out of the car, saying that she wanted to go back.

Our Beautiful Blue Eyed Angels!

My Kitchen and Hallway Arches are Finished

Chad (the framer) finished the arch above the stove. He also finished the hallway arches. I think it adds alot more than I could have ever imagined.

He also proposed putting another arch between the foyer (12ft ceilings) and the living room (10ft ceilings) to help with the transition between the two rooms. I wasn't sure at first, however, after going out there today...I think it will look great!

The painters were out today, and said they should be done tonight. It looks good, from what I can tell. It's still hard for me to visualize the whole process. I can't wait until they install the brick. (I don't know the time line for that, I just know that we were waiting for the painters to finish first.)

The shingles are supposed to arrive tomorrow morning and be installed Wednesday! I'm thinking it is going to take more than one day...but those guys surprise me with how fast they can accomplish something!

R.G. turns TWO

We left Thursday night to head to my mom's. We stayed the night there and headed down to Houston the next morning for a special day for Ashlyn. We went to Chuckie Cheese.

After Chuckie Cheese we headed back to my mom's to pick up Jadie and then went to Mike and Laura's. We stayed the night with them Friday and Saturday night.

Saturday morning, our family headed to Kids in Action for Richard Glyn's Birthday party. Everyone had a great time!

After his party, John headed back to Beaumont to get ready for a fishing trip. While, I took the girls back to Mike and Laura's for a nap. After their nap, Jadie and I piled in the car to take pictures of Richard Glyn at a local park. You can see a few of them under "More Pictures".

Sunday morning we woke up and drove to my mom's for the night. Ashlyn was so excited that she was able to meet Pistol Pete (Ryley's new donkey). Our original plan was to stay until my mom had her next round of chemo, which would be Tuesday morning, however, due to house items that needed to be taken care of, we headed home Monday morning.

Tropical Storm Edouard

TS Edouard wasn't as bad as it could have been. We were out at the property Sunday evening meeting with the low voltage guy when a big bad storm rolled through. It was over quick but twice as powerful as Edouard was this morning.

The storm Sunday evening blew over all the port-o-potties (except ours!) while we were out at the property. It truly was a scary thing being in that house. (That house is full of loose nails all over the floor. There are also lots of loose boards with nails sticking out. I was sure the wind, being as powerful as it was, that we were going to have a few of those take off!)

We did lose quite a bit of felt paper from Sunday's storm. Chad (our framer) went out Monday morning to secure everything in preparation for Edouard, (including replacing the felt, and reinforcing the old felt with more nails. He even boarded up two of the window holes where the windows haven't been installed. He also placed a board across the front doors so that they wouldn't be blown in.

We went out there today to see how the house did. It looks pretty good according to Johnathan. (I stayed in the car with the girls.)

I saw a couple of places where the felt paper had been ripped off again. Other than that...everything seems fine.

Johnathan said my "arches" in the kitchen and living room are complete. I am excited about getting out there and seeing them!

My Beautiful Mama

My Mom and Dad came today to get their Jadie and Ashlyn fix. Ashlyn had a great time showing Grandma and Grandpa their new bedroom at the new house. We then headed to a hamburger joint for lunch. We chose a place that hardly ever has anyone there...and well...to our luck...it was packed!

After lunch, we headed back to our house where the girls played dress up. Shortly after arriving home, Grandma and Grandpa had to drive back home. It was a good visit. We will be heading to their house in 5 days to stay with them a couple of days.