Hurricane Harvey

As I sit here writing this, I have such mixed emotions. Feeling so blessed, however guilty at the same time. Hurricane Harvey made land fall Friday night and has been reeking havoc on our area every since. The floods that our area sustained in both 2015 and 2016 did not compare to the devastation that Harvey is causing - and sadly too many of our students, friends and church family have been affected. Our neighborhood historically has remained an island amidst the flooding and this time proved the same. As of yesterday, our neighborhood has had 25"of rain, and it rained through out the night and is still raining as I type this. However, our neighborhood retention pond has done its job and has kept up with the rain and kept us dry. Neighborhoods less than a mile from us have not been as lucky and many do not have flood insurance as we are not in flood plains.

The neighborhood retention pond

The H-E-B parking lot which is right
across from our neighborhood

Yesterday Shane went out to a local church to see what he could do to help. He ended up at an Exxon station very close to my school where people where being dropped off after they were rescued in boats. When he arrived there, he heard a woman yelling his name, and it was the assistant principal from his school who had been waiting there for about 30 minutes after having been rescued. She apparently had been taken out by canoe at 1:00am in the morning and taken to a two story home, who also had flooding, however was able to stay upstairs with 15 other people until a boat came and took them out. She was so happy to see Shane. He called me close to noon and I went and picked her, her one back pack and one garbage bag which had a small suitcase in it, up. She was wet, cold and had not eaten since 12:00 pm the previous day. She stayed with us last night until a friend could make his way to us today to take her to her daughter's house. She is just one of many that have and are going through the same thing. I am a firm believer that God places people in places at certain times, and this was no exception. She was there, waiting for no one, just glad to not be in her previous situation and finally a familiar face showed up. Tears.

Please pray for our area as the devastation is unreal. Many, including Shane, are out doing what they can to rescue people from their flooded homes in order to get them to safety. At this time, we have no idea when school will resume in our area as no one knows of the actual destruction it has caused to the schools. It will take months, if not longer, for people to rebuild not only their homes, but their lives.

First Day of School

The day has finally arrived where both of my boys are now in elementary school. Camden is in second grade and Casen is in Kindergarten. It will be a change in routine for us, as now Shane will be the one who carries them both to and from school.

With the Cy-Fair schools not having their kids start until next week, I could have gone today to walk my kids into school on their first day. Honestly, I would have loved more than anything to do that, however due to how Casen has been recently with having huge meltdowns anytime he does anything new, I decided it best that I not be there since I seem to only make things worse for him. It hurts my heart that I did not experience walking in on their first day with them, but I really wanted Casen's first day to start off on the right foot. Hard decision, but I was hoping it was the right one. Luckily, Camden understood my decision.

Shane was able to walk both boys to class. First stop was Casen's room. Casen was the first one to his class. Don't you know, he walked right in, listened to where Mrs. Prince told him to put his belongings, and did not shed one tear. DARN IT!!!!! Does that mean I could have gone and he would not have had a meltdown???? I guess we will never know . . . now I question my decision. Camden did awesome, as usual - love him!! I can only hope that I will have the opportunity to walk them into school on their first day sometime in the future.

When the boys got home from school and I asked how their first day was, they both replied simultaneously "Awesome!!!" Yay!! Camden even said that when his teacher was telling the class about everything they were going to do this year, it all sounded so fun and he was so excited about the school year. If the first day was an indicator of how the rest of the year will be, I think it is going to be a great year!

Summer Fun Odds and Ends

Summer is coming to an end, and while everyone in our house seems ready to get back in the groove of things, we are definitely going to miss some of the luxuries being home and having fun.

Since slime was the big thing at the end of last school year, the boys wanted to make some slime. They each picked their color and away we went . . .

Camden mixing up his slime

Casen pouring his ingredients

Camden picked teal

Casen picked yellow

In the spring when we attended the Tomball Fine Arts Showcase where Camden's art was displayed, we saw that some schools did their own version of Chihuly art. Camden loved it and wanted to do it at home, so we did just that!

Evaluating his coloring

Ready for the oven

Finished products

Some of Camden's closest friends all got together for some bowling fun. I hate to say this, but this is the first time the boys have been bowling in an actual bowling ally. Needless to say they thought it was great fun!

The mom's had fun catching up too

And, what would a summer be without a lot of swimming. My boys love to swim and have a great time while at the pool - and suffice it to say that it helps burn off some of their energy. :)

At our neighborhood pool

They had fun swimming at a different pool that had a fun slide for Casen's friends birthday party.

One of Shane's coworkers had a going back to school swim party. I will tell you, I should have taken actual pictures of this whole back yard. I could have lived there - it was so beautiful.

And what summer wouldn't be complete without going to the movies. They saw several movies this summer, but I believe this is the only one I got a picture of.

Of course, it is our tradition to have ice cream after our dental exams. They both had great check ups, so what better reward than ice cream!

One other thing we did was paint the boys room and let them 'make' their rooms however they wanted. They each were allowed to pick the color of pain they wanted. Casen did not care of the color, he just wanted a baseball room, while Camden, on the other hand, was very particular about his color and the fact that he wanted a soccer themed room. We are still in the process of some of the finishing touches in each of their rooms (since I am having a hard time finding curtains that I think will look good with Camden's color choice).

Camden's before

Camden's after - he LOVES the blue he picked out.

Casen's before

Casen's after

Mollie has been working at becoming part of our family - Zach took a little convincing, but I think he finally realizes she is here to stay. 

Fun with Nana and Poppa

Shane and I had to head back to work this week, so while we were away preparing for the upcoming school year, Nana and Poppa kept the boys and had some fun with them.

We met Nana and Poppa Ron in Baytown to hand off the boys on Sunday. Their first stop on the way to their house in Lumberton was Dunkin Donuts for some donut holes. Yummy!!!

While they were visiting they did lots of fun things. The first thing they did was they became Junior Rangers at the Big Thicket National Preserve. And as luck would have it, they each got to pick out a stuffed animal who is now proudly displaying their Junior Ranger badge.

Their stuffed animals wearing their badges.

They also visited the Children's Museum as well as the Beaumont Art Museum.

The boys got to enjoy some yummy ice cream as well. 

They had some good southern cooking when Uncle Ira cooked them a good supper.


And of course they did lots of swimming in Nana and Poppa Ron's pool.

Tomorrow, Shane will be meeting them in Baytown to pick them up so that we can take the boys to meet their teachers for their upcoming school year. I know they had a great time, however expect them to be super tired from all the fun!