The Effects of Hurricane Ike

And we live how many miles from Texas???











Almost 1300 miles from Houston, we got hit with unbelievable winds. My parents siding started to blow off their house. Evan was up on the roof trying to nail it down before the whole thing went. In the 90mph winds. It was crazy, but I kind of liked it. Kathryn and I even went for a short walk in the wind to look at all the "dancing trees" before the rain came. Whole trees were uprooted all over our neighborhood and through town. People were still without power today. Crazy.


If you look just above the garage toward the right side, you'll see the spot where the siding fell off. It was too windy to put that piece back on yesterday, but Evan nailed all the pieces around it down so the whole side wouldn't go.

Introducing the Redhead to the World's Favorite Sport

She didn't actually seem too excited about Uncle Andy's soccer tournament this weekend, but Annaliese certainly loved being outside. Guess who else loved it? Kathryn & Drew. Kathryn was actually a little more excited about the soccer, but not enough that she sat and actually watched it. She was too busy picking on Drew and Aunt Rachelle. Luckily she was so distracted that she missed seeing one of Andy's players fall and break her collar bone--which did nothing to convince me that soccer is the best sport for my kids.

Labor Day '08

We spent Labor Day in Michigan (as many of you know), visiting our newest niece, Meren, and hanging out in Romeo for the Peach Fest. We had a great time seeing our family and some of our friends, but Kathryn's favorite part was the fair. Here's proof:


Riding the carousel.


On the kid's train--by herself.


Taking a turn on the ferris wheel. You can't see her once she sits down, but this ride was her favorite.

Annaliese had a good time, too. No rides for her, though. She's too little.

Touch-A-Truck

Yesterday I took Kathryn & Annaliese to a Touch-A-Truck event nearby. Annaliese mostly lounged in the stroller, but Kathryn loved it. She had a free hot dog, bag of popcorn, and orange drink--which required about 5 refills. She also spent time climbing into a fire truck, ambulance, Life Flight helicopter, racing motorcycle, USMC humvee, and more. We met up with a few friends, too. The last one is my favorite. :)

Dancing Queen

Apparently, some of you were surprised by Kathryn's dancing and singing at Becky & Bill's wedding. Just to show you how Kathryn-like that really is, here she is dancing (on her own with no music) at our friends' wedding the weekend before.

Free dog, anyone?

Seriously. Henry almost died tonight. By my hand. I don't know how much more I can take. I am not a dog person, and the only reason he's still around is that Kathryn was crying about how she didn't want me to get rid of him.

Realistically, I wouldn't have actually killed him, but I might really have taken him to an animal shelter of some sort. Please. I am begging you. Take this dog. The only one who will miss him is Kathryn, and I could maybe persuade her to forget about him. (Especially if she could visit him at one of your houses periodically.)

See, you'd really be doing this for her. ;)


(And he's so cute--if you like dogs.)

Teething Time!

Annaliese's first tooth poked through yesterday. (I'd show you a picture, but she tries to take a bite out of the camera every time she sees it.) Needless to say, today was a disaster. Even more so because she was at school and they can't administer medication without a doctor's note.

After we got home, I was holding her on the couch, waiting for her to calm down, when Kathryn asked me: Did her shots make her get teeth?

I laughed for several reasons.

Thank God for Motrin.

***

Okay. I snuck a picture. (She's much more cooperative now.)

It's official...

In the month since I've last blogged, a lot has happened. The biggest of these, of course, is the fact that Rick & Tiffany got married last Saturday. Oh, yes. Both bride and groom said, "I do," although I'm fairly certain they may have both been too intoxicated to remember.

Anyway, a good time was had by all. Here are some pics so you can feel like you were there, celebrating with us. (Sorry my camera takes such fuzzy pictures.)

Exploring with Dora!

Kathryn met Dora at the zoo yesterday. She was so excited to see her... We had to wait in line for an hour and 20 minutes (40 of which Dora was on break, despite the fact that she was only there for 3 hrs total), and when it was Kathryn's turn, she refused to go up to her. In fact, she stood behind me crying that she didn't want to get close. Guess that's a two-year-old for you.







On the plus side, it turned out to be a beautiful day and I got a really good picture of some ducks.