Post Ike

As soon as we woke up this morning, Dave was ready to go.  I'm telling you, this boy does not sit well.  He went to get breakfast tacos at his favorite place, Taco Cabana, at 6:00 a.m. and then he started getting ready for his trip back to Beaumont!  He went shopping for gas tanks, coolers, food, car phone charger and other survival items.  My cousin Adin and Adin's friend Brent, were kind enough to take Dave back to Beaumont.  It took them approximately 7 hours to get there, but thank God, they got there safely.  

We are so thankful to God that our house made it!  It also looks like the practice didn't receive a lot of damage either.  Of course, we will know more as the days go by.  

No pictures yet, but don't worry, as soon as I get my hands on some, I'll make sure and post them.

On another note...

While Dave was getting ready to go to Beaumont, Kim, Adin's wife, called me and invited us over to swim. We all had such a wonderful time!  We ate, swam, ate, jumped, ate, played and ate some more.  What a great day we had.   

Baking Cookies

Playing Wii

Ashlyn and Natalia working on a 500 piece puzzle

Running away from Ike!

Enough is enough. I was going a little crazy not knowing what we were going to do. Didn't know if we were going to stay or if we were going to evacuate to Dallas or San Antonio. We definitely didn't want to get stuck in traffic like we did three years ago, so we were a little reluctant to just pack up and go to San Antonio. Finally, on Thursday after having an "emergency planning meeting" (just an excuse to meet and have good food for lunch at Pho's Vietnamese Restaurant), sitting in Dave's office while he did a root canal, and then having a "follow up emergency meeting" (another excuse for some more good food and good company), we decided that we would evacuate to San Antonio at 4:30 a.m. the next morning. We tried to convince Matt to go to San Antonio with us, but he would have nothing to do with the idea. He decided to stay!

We left Beaumont on Friday at about 6:30 a.m. It was a great trip. No traffic at all. As soon as we got to SA, we dropped off the kids at my parents house. Dave and I escaped and had a quiet lunch at Freebirds! Oh, it was so nice. Although, Matt (kind of) ruined our day because we could not stop thinking, praying and talking about him. We constantly checked on him. Poor guy, he was probably sick and tired (that was for you, Elizabeth) of us calling and texting him, but we couldn't help it. We were too worried about him. Dave and Matt probably stopped texting at 11:30 p.m. or so and then Matt called at 5:00 a.m. the next day. Boy, were we glad to hear from him again. ~We are so thankful to God for keeping Matt safe! I'm telling you, next time, we are NOT leaving him there. No way!

Tracking Hurricane Ike

Dave and Natalia have been tracking hurricane Ike on a daily basis.  Natalia has been listening to us mention that we might be evacuating to Dallas.  After seeing where the hurricane is going, she asked (with a heavy East Texas accent), "Daddy, why are we going to Dallas?!"

Fashion Statement

Are you serious?  At only 4 years old, Carson has a very strong opinion on what he is NOT going to wear.  And he is definitely NOT wearing these shorts. 

I was wondering what the big deal was.  So, finally I got it out of him.  He said, "I just don't like the stripes!"  He reminds me of someone I know...could that be his daddy????

So, back to Children's Place I go.  I guess I can get him yet another pair of khaki shorts.

Little Freckle!

I don't know if you can really see the little freckle on Luke's arm, 

but this little freckle drives him crazy.  He tries to wipe it off constantly.  

I Hate The Dentist, but I Love Dave

Oh, how we dread this time of the year, when we have to get our teeth cleaned.  I know Dave hates it as much as we do.  We keep being reminded by him and his staff that we are the worst patients ever.  Hey, maybe it's because we can!!!  :0) I mean, what is he going to do???  Send us to another dentist???  

After Carson and Luke's first day of school, we walked across the street to get our teeth cleaned. It just seemed like the perfect opportunity and we were due for a cleaning, so why not.

Carson was the lucky one to go first.  Dave tried every trick in the book.  He even threatened Carson by telling him that he was going to call Dr. XXXX  and ask him to see Carson, if he didn't cooperate.  Yea, that didn't work.  As a matter of fact, the only thing that worked was me sitting down, making him sit on my lap and holding his arms down so that Daddy could "tickle and count his teeth", as Dave calls it.  Thank God he doesn't have any cavities.  I don't know what we would do.....

Okay then, one down, two more to go.  Next, was Luke's turn.  He thought the little mirror was fun, but that was about it.  As soon as Dave tried to sit Luke down in that ugly blue chair, he got right up.  So, there I was again, sitting in that chair with Luke on my lap.  ~No cavities either!  Yay!!!

I did a little better than they did.  Sorry, no pictures of me in the chair though :(

Normally, Natalia always has a hard time when her brothers get to do something while she is at school.  Hmm, I wonder why she didn't mention anything this time?

Off to School They Go

Carson and Luke were so excited to go to school today.  Luke kept talking about how he was going to go to school and that I was not going to stay there.  He was perfectly fine with that. They were so excited about their backpack and their lunch box too.  

After we dropped Natalia off, we went to David's office to say hello.  Good thing Daddy was able to walk them to school.  He had taken time off to do this on Tuesday, but since school was canceled due to the hurricane, he wasn't able to clear his schedule today too.  But it all worked out and he was able to take the boys to school on their first day.

I can't believe my baby, Luke, he was humming a little song while he walked in front of us towards his classroom.   Once at the door, he turned around to say bye.  He walked right into his classroom and immediately started to play. No crying, no clinginess....nothing.  Just a kiss, a hug and a bye-bye.

As expected, Carson also just walked into his classroom after giving us a kiss and a hug.  He is just such a big boy.   

Oh wait, where are the pictures of my kids and I?????  How does this always happen?