Let it SNOW!

Outside the whole neighborhood was out- even adults to see the every 4 year Christmas snowfall- do you see it-It's that white stuff on the pavement. I decked the kids out in all of their winter stuff we bought from our visit in Utah last year and we rode bikes...in the snow.

Later, when it accumulated. Dev and his buddies made snowballs on the trampoline. I am laughing as I write this- I remember when I was little, we once had to dig a tunnel to practically get out of our door. No kidding. I am glad the kids were able to ski last year. But I tell you, when it snows in Texas- you can't beat that.

Part 2 Palooz

The whole cafeteria was filled with Silent auctions donated by our community. That was the hardest part- we sent letters but ended up going door to door. Did I say I was not doing this again next year? I made it very clear to the principal that I wanted to be a kindergarten room mom or just a Tuesday folder stuffer. Ahhh

We set up tents outside for the carnival and had tons of prizes. I think the younger ones liked this the most. Nearby we had vendor booths for pizza, hamburgers, icecream (yes, in December) and funnelcakes- my sons favorite. Other vendors sold their items and we they just paid a booth fee. We made $1,000 just off renting space alone. Glad this is all done and I can say- I did that and survived!

The Palooz is OVER!

I am so glad the the Gatorpalooza is over. This is a school fundraiser that I was in charge of and by a miracle, survived!

We had each class make a basket for the Silent Auction. We also held a live auction which made quite a bit. Someone bought a parking space for a few hundred.

The rock wall was a hit. In the background you can see silly string and confetti all over the place. I bought 1,000 cans of silly string and sold out within 1 hour. We had 4 people hired to clean all of it up. But it was worth it. It was one of the kids favorites.

I rented 5 bouncables and had wristbands so they could go as many times as they wanted during the carnival.

The Chili cook off. Ok, at first I thought- do we really need it? They talked me into it and I am glad they did. It was a success. We had judges and the kids also were able to pick a favorite.

If I were a rich man

Devins piano recital

Devins Piano recital. He played Mr. Mgill and If I were a Rich Man. He is so confident when he plays. He has the best teacher ever! Thank you Pam!

Daisy

My Little girlie dog Daisy. Isn't she just so cute?

pumpkins

After school we headed out to the pumpkin patch to pick our favorite pumpkins to carve. Taking out the "guts" of the pumpkin ended up being a mommy job. It was cool at first but after 2 handfulls, it was yuck. Braeden wanted a little smiley face and this is exactly what he got. Devin drew a brain on the top of his and then decided to give it a lobotomy, therefore, the hole in the brain. Afterward, we had the neighborhood over to have carmel apples. I tried something I saw online with mellon balling a apple then dipping it. It was a hit with the kids and of course, me too.

DisneyWorld

The kids had so much fun getting to know their cousins better, Good times. Thanks Steve and Terrie for meeting us, we had a blast!

Part of the fun was eating together. When we went to this diner, the waiter made sure that we all went in and washed our hands before we ate, then gave us the rules of the kitchen, if we put our elbows on the table, we had to wear a bib. Steve and I were the only ones who had to do this. Also, you had to eat all of your vegatables in order to get dessert. We spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to get rid of Terries beans. Allison came to the rescue with her tricks of childhood to conceal food and get away with it looking like you ate it. It was very nostalgic of my Grandmothers house and the kids ate it up!

Disneyworld

This was so funny, Braeden never wanted to meet a girl character, the cootie thing. Well, he got cornered by Sleeping Beauty and she KISSED HIM! You would have thought he died. He was so embarrased that we could not even talk to him about it for a few hours or he would stomp off and pout. Devin had a fun time dancing with Minnie mouse, he was as red as her dress! In Epcot, there were a ton of characters with no lines, so it was fun to go up and get autographs. I am glad my little boys are still little enough to like this. Devins favorite character was lilo and stitch- we had a dance party with them for Halloween. Braedens, of course, Vader. They pretty much went on all of the rides but there is one that Devin will not be wanting to go back- the tower of terror. Not so fun.

Disneyworld! We started off at the Not so Scary Halloween Party. Devin was an alien from area 51 and Braeden was a ninja- it was all about the swords for him. My brother and his family were able to meet us there and spend the week with us. Having them so far away in New York, makes it hard to get together so it was wonderful to hang out. The weather was great and the crowds were not bad. October rocks for Disney!

When we talked about Disney, it was all about meeting star wars characters for Braeden. He was in heaven watching Darth Vader in person fighting the Jedi trainers. For a while there, he lived and breathed star wars. Getting out of the gift shop was like pulling teeth. We even ended up with star wars snow globes, Mickey Jedi, you name it. We had just as much fun in that shop as we did watching the characters.

Just couldn't resist putting this up, are they not the cuttest little bugs you have seen?

Tag your it

Thanks for the tag Angie! Ok, here are the rules: Go to your pictures and go to the 6th folder. Open up the 6th picture and post it.

This is of Devin when he was 3 years old. We were living in Washington and I was about to have Braeden. Devin is wearing his pull-up(clean of course) on his head and dancing around the living room. I am sure he was singing a Barney song, since that is what he watched ALL THE TIME! I am sure now he would not admit to that. Such a cute blue eyed boy.

I tag Mindy, Jaimie and Rachael

Getting ready

Lately I have been a busy bee. This year I am Chairman of the Gatorpalooza. It is a festival for my sons school that is a huge fundraiser. I find myself asking the question, "what did you get yourself into?" and then I realize that I thrive on a challenge. This will be one of my biggest ones yet. I have wanted to post and I turn on the computer and just checking my email for this event takes up my blogging time.
I am going to Disney World in a few days and who knew you had to do some serious planning just to get everything in. Thanks to my friends who have given me great advise, I started months ago. Now I finally have my itinerary down and ready for lamination. I know my brother thinks I am nuts but he will thank me later. Right Steve? Please feel free to give me your advice on either task that I am working on, especially game booth ideas for the festival. I want this palooza to ROCK!- that just reminded me, I need to get a DJ- eek!

PMS

I am sitting here at my machine eating a giant pickle my brother from New York mailed me and a nest of crinkled dove wrappers on the desk. I noticed that my last blog had a twinge of pms in it. For all of you who experienced my "mood" yesterday, sorry, it was the lovely PMS. Now sometimes this "thing" just creeps up on me and whispers in my ear, "go to the refrigerator", "Curl up in a blanket and hide". Yesterdays little friend just took me for a ride. Don't you hate it when feel you have no control? I tell my hubby, its the day, and he instantly knows to back away slowly and reminds the kids its a lets make mom happy day and takes them out to Burger King. I did show some motherly love to my little buddy who beggged me to take him on a long bike ride. I thought the air would make me feel better. But I have to say that I never crunched over so many bumpy acorns in my life. "Isn't this fun mommy?" my little 4 year old speed demon would call back to me? "Yes, Sweetie, --chug chug---huff huff--but lets not do that hill a fifth time again ok?" I am back home, with hot pad and hubby making dinner. I guess there are perks to this nightmare they call the "visitor".

We may not have electricity but we have always had power.

At sacrament meeting this morning you could see families in jeans and yellow tee shirts with helping hand logos. We have a continual commitment to help other. The calamities came and With our name of our church on our shirt.The lord established a means so people could see that there was helping hands already in place to alleviate the suffering.. The whole meeting was in yellow with the exception of a few. Me being one- I apparently did not get the memo to come to church in jeans and a tee shirt. I felt a Little uncomfortable about that. I fell out side of the loop . It hurt a little. I have lost myself over the past few days. But I know from experience that losing yourself in service, you find yourselves.. Brett picked up our shirts and got instructions of where to go serve. He will go cut down trees and heavy lifting. I am a different circumstance with small children. Our work will have to be helping those around our neighborhood however we can. We may feel like that our efforts to help are insignificant. But the lord and those we serve, know the rue value of our efforts. My kids do want to serve. This is especially hard for me because I would love to be the one with the chainsaw and hauling large trees. Hard labor makes me happy. I am going to have to think of a way that with imaginary chain saws I can cut down some of the barriers with friends.. Haul heavy hurt feelings and place them in a pile and just leave them there. How can I make a difference? I had a sad heart at church.. I have been yearning to help- why did I feel as though I did not belong?

I am very grateful for the service we held, a few ward business and to see what needed to be done. The sacrament came and I was holding on to braed. I will make him strong and want to serve. and Dev also. President Barrow spoke- I am glad he did, I needed it . He said that many have been without electricity and still are but what we never lost was our POWER. What a strong statement. I do have power. the power to help, power from God. I need to rely on my own strengths and His power. I served 21 people dinner the other night from my ward who had their power turned on a few hours before. Having the lights come on and seeing for the first time all of the work you have to do, you just don't want to make dinner. I was that way a few days before. This makes me happy. I do have power and I pray it will shine enough for others to see.

Our closing hymn was Because I have been given much.
http://www.celestial-visions.com/wav/because.wav click
"Because I have been given much, I too must give;
Because of thy great bounty, Lord, each day I live.
I shall divide my gifts from thee, with every brother that I see
who has the need of help from me.

Because I have been sheltered , fed by thy good care
I cannot see anther's lack and I not share.
My glowing fire, my loaf of bread. My roofs safe shelter overhead.
That he too may be comforted.


Because I have been blessed by thy great love, dear Lord.
I'll share thy love again, according to Thy word.
I shall give love to those in need; I'll show that love by word and deed:
Thus shall my thanks be thanks in deed."

I had a hard time singing since my throat closed with emotion. I was filled with the spirit.
Our ward family and our family worldwide, there is a continual commitment to help others. I was clear- I knew where I needed to serve right away.

My thoughts on Ike

We are one of the very few who have a pockets of power in our neighborhood. Some have turned off again so I am going to post while I can. I thought of posting the pictures I took but then I decided you have probably seen your share of photos. I decided to list the things I liked and disliked about Ike.
My best moments of Ike
Holding my boys at night. Prayer. The quiet after the storm. Sitting on my porch and watching the children play games from my childhood. Knowing that if I lost everything except my family I would be ok. cuddling. having my hubby home from work. no conference calls. Good neighbors who pull together. Grilling. My church family. Inspired order. Loved ones voices of concern. text messaging. A breeze. deodorant. cool showers. air conditioned cars. Generator and gas. not being a pioneer in Texas. a stocked pantry. family within 1 tank of gas. insurance. spending time just looking at the sky. family. The sound of the Popsicle truck. laughing.
Things I didn't like:
Seeing my children worry. Incredibly loud wind. The unknown. opening the door to see the damage. No communication. broken generator. sleepless nights. The HEAT! sweat. humidity. no power. the heat! throwing away contents of 2 refrig and freezers. Bad news. Finding drenched squirrels clutched to the ground. debris. no flush mandate. Full to capacity sewers. Mosquitoes. fallen trees. holes in roofs. Seeing others pain. deductibles. long gas lines. not knowing when this all will end.

Ike

Target, Yes, it is open and I actually bought something here. My hubby accidentally sawed over the extention cord. oops. You see those little boxes hanging from the preparedness Aisle? well, if you are coming here to shop, you might get a keychain flashlight.

Ike

Another Aisle completely out was toilet paper. I had a thought while there. Since we probably will be sustaining hurricane force winds for 24 hours, how is my dog going to go? It is not like I can open the door and let her out. She won't even go if the sprinklers are on nearby.

I am sure you are thinking, why am I shopping, Actually, I am not that crazy, I just thought I would get some reminders of this day. The lines were out of this world.

This was the line at Home depot, JUST TO GET IN!!! I tried to pan out as far as I could, the line wrapped around the building. Police at entrance and exit. I talked to a girl who was about at the middle, she had been in that line for about 2 hours. I am so glad I am prepared. Yikes.

Ike

Last night we had a plywood block party. We cut and placed boards to the homes in the culdesac. We have such great neighbors and you certainly need them in times like these. Our little neighbor boy was supposed to have his birthday tommarow during the hurricane so we gathered together some dinner and she brought out the cake and we celebrated in the middle of the street. I don't think he will forget this birthday any time soon. During the preparations, I went and checked my email. I had to post this from Braedens soccer coach. "Im sure we are all watching Ike in the Gulf and the game has already been canceled for Sat. Im open to having practice today. I figure worst case the kids get to run around and have some fun today. Let me know if you will be at practice today...." Soccer was definitly not on the forefront of my mind. The kids did have fun running around but there were tears from some of the little ones who do not understand and are afraid. "Why are you boarding the windows?" Do you tell them that in case the wind shatters them or something could hit it? Every answer was different. Devin on the other hand had already read books on hurricanes and tornadoes and proceeded to give advice. I pulled him aside and told him that maybe that was not such a good idea. Sometimes not knowing is ok. Here is out house almost boarded. Ok, don't look at the trimming. We hope that Ike will take care of that for us :-) Some views on our street and around the community.

Almost done. Ok, don't look at the trimming. We are hoping that Ike will take care of that one :-)

some views around my culdesac

The bread aisle. You see that at the very end is food. It is all ding dongs and twinkies. So if you are not prepared, you will eat junk.