And Let There Be Light!

We finally have power! My neighbor called me this evening about 9:30 and said that the electricity is back on. Yea! Lauren is going to be so excited when I tell her in the morning. Slowly but surely, life is getting back to normal.

Lauren's Evil Bat Party

Lauren put on a dramatic performance for us while wearing a cape Mimi found that used to be Uncle Mark's and daddy's (Jason's).

Still no electricity

Lauren as "Evil Diva Kitty", Sick Justin

We are on day 11 without electricity. I sure am glad I didn't live pre-electricity. It is unfortunate for us that we are in an area that is taking a while to have electricity restored, but other than the kids really missing home and being bored without all my projects to keep me busy, I can't complain. I know that the folks working to get everything restored are working hard long hours and my prayers are with them. I think we are going to head back home and rough it for a few days with the hope that power will be on soon. Lauren goes back to school on Thursday and also back to gymnastics, so we are excited about that. Since we have been staying with Jason's mom (Mimi to the kids), she has experienced Lauren's vivid imagination. Mimi got her Halloween decorations out of the attic the other day and ever since then, Lauren has been obsessed with having a Halloween party. She has dressed up and made Halloween crafts. We even made some Halloween cupcakes. I am sure for her it will feel like Halloween will never get here.

The Aftermath of Hurricane Ike

Lauren, Justin and I slept in the closet once it started getting scary, Jason uprighting trees


A fallen pine tree that barely missed the house, The cleanup piles

Well hurricane Ike has come and gone but its destruction will definitely be felt for a long time, and for some, they will never forget it. Our prayers are with everyone who has been affected by the storm. We feel very blessed that the impact on us has been very minimal. We lost a couple of trees that fortunately missed the house, barely, and we had a little water damage. Unfortunately some of our neighbors were not spared as we were and they have trees on their homes. It is amazing how everyone pulls together to help others during times like these. Our neighbors are awesome and we even had caring, generous strangers that offered their time and effort to help in the cleanup. We are still without electricity, but we have thankfully had a place to retreat. As I said, we feel very blessed and fortunate.

Lauren Entertaining Justin

Lauren can make Justin laugh like no one else. She gets him giggling pretty good at times.

Superhero Lauren

As most of you know, Lauren has quite the imagination. These videos are just a sampling of what goes on daily around our household. The gears in her head are constantly turning and creating new stories and songs. This is why she has always been able to entertain herself. Enjoy!

School, Las Vegas, Ike and More!

Lauren's first day of school, Lauren pretending that Justin is a tiger (poor Justin!)


Justin at Popa's football game, climbing on the trampoline, "I love teething biscuits!"


On the Las Vegas Strip, Dawn and Jennifer with Elvis from Legends performance.

Life continues to stay busy and fly by. Lauren has started preschool again. She loves it and I am not going to lie, I enjoy the free time too! Justin is all over the place, crawling and pulling up, and he has even started to crawl up the stairs so it is time to get the baby gate out of the attic. He also now has 5 teeth. Football season is also in full swing so that means Aggie football games as well as Eagle football games (Popa's team). Lauren loves being the little cheerleader.

This past weekend Jason and I had a little vacation. We went to Las Vegas with our friends Terry and Jennifer and had a great time. It was my first time to leave Justin. I really missed both of the kids but I know they had a great time with Aunt April, Uncle Ronnie, Aliska, Trey, and Andrew. Lauren probably played harder than she ever has.

Right now we are focused on the news on television because we are waiting on Hurricane Ike to make its arrival. I am a little worried about the wind it is going to bring because of the trees around the house, but hopefully we will make it through the storm without much damage. Our prayers are with everyone as they ride out the storm or seek safer ground.