And Then There Was Light...

at our home! Wow! Hurricane Ike was NOT very nice to us here in Texas!! He was Mean and Stayed alot longer than we wanted him to. He started to arrive about 9pm with his tropical Storm force winds and crazy looking sky. The sky really looked spooky. Our power surged a little after 9 pm and really went out totally a little after midnight...Much too soon for me as you know I was glued to either the net or the tv. The boys went to sleep rather early before any noisy winds came in. For most of the storm, Scott and I sat on the couch in the living room rather fearful. We all slept in the masterbedroom...we wanted the boys with us because we anticipated losing power. By far the noisiest areas in the house were the master bedroom and the living room..our back of the house windows.

To help you to understand the amount of noise that the wind made, we literally could not hear each other talking...that is how loud it was! Ike's winds were very scary..it was mostly winds til about 2:30 am when the Rain started in with the winds...it literally sounded like rocks hitting our window and Scott had to look more than once to see if anything actually hit our windows. It was sooo dark outside that it just looked black or gray...you could see absolutely NOTHING! We attempted to go to bed or lay with the boys around 4 am thinking that the worst may be over..NOPE it wasn't! In fact it got only louder that neither Scott or I slept..may have dozed off for about an hour the entire night. I kept thinking...No way! It cannot get any worse...but it always did! It was just unbelievable! The Whistling and howling of the wind was soooo scary. When I think about it or talk about it, I get goose bumps. It is something that I don't want to recall many more times. I know that it was worse here because we had the eye wall. YOU don't want to be in the eye wall! It is stronger.

About 7:30 am, the boys woke up and Noah asked us what that noise was...I told him it was a Hurricane and that is not even noisy compared to what we heard all night. I called my mom and she informed me that we were in the eye and that is why it was calmer and that we had not experienced the back of Ike yet! OMG!!! I was in disbelief that we would have to endure more hours of this...the winds just would not stop...battering and battering...I then looked out our front window and saw the neighbor's house across the street and that their roof was coming off in an area! I was so worried. I was wondering if our roof did the same thing. Scott attempted to go out there and a strong gust almost threw him into the bricks of our house! It was really scary.
So for more hours we had wind and rain, wind and rain...it maybe was finished at 3pm or later. It was really rough!

Luckily our house did NOT sustain any damage. It was a miracle. Only one of our trees was leaning a little, but we fixed it. Now for the aftermath of Ike...NO power..for how long?? It was really misrable. The only positive thing was that a cool front came through the next night that cooled us off from the Texas heat with no power. Don't get me wrong..it was HOT, but NOT as hot as it could have been. We ventured out on Sunday to see what life existed...it was really bad.. NOTHING open, NO power...it was a ghost town..flooded in our subdivision and we could only get through because we had a truck..NO cars could pass in that deep water.

We went without power for 10 days and yesterday evening...the lights came on!! OMG! I am so grateful for Electricity. I lost the stuff in my freezer and fridge. We had access to a generator only at night because Scott needed it for work, YES he went to work. We only had 2 flashlights..do you know how hard it is to sit in the dark with 2 kids, no lights, no air, No nothing! IT IS MISERABLE!!! I was trying to stay upbeat but it was very difficult..I had many mini breakdowns...Just wanting to feel normal again! The last 2 nights without elec were not as bad because my neighbor let me use her generator because she went back to Louisiana....I actually thought I was in paradise...had a window unit in my bedroom...plugged in the tv..let the kids watch a dvd! wow!!! and also one of my other friends let me borrow 2 lanterns because she had her power restored...and OMG! what a difference 2 lanterns can make in your life! I was so grateful for this. I headed to store after store looking for a darn flashlight or a lantern and I never could find anything.. the evening before our power was restored I managed to find 2 lanterns at Lowe's..they were the last 2 in the store...I love those things. they made so much light. If I had only had this from the beginning..it may not have been as bad for us.

As a result of living like that for 10 days...Last night, I slept with a flashlight and lantern next to my bed "just in case" the power happened to go out again...I have forgotten to turn on the lights and have headed back out of a dark room for a flashlight and then I think "OH we have power" and I flick the light on...Lights are the best things in the world!

Through all of this, we have actually eaten out alot when things started opening again...I mean, we had no food at home, the lines for gas were about 45 minutes long if you could find gas and the groc stores (if they were open) really had nothing but junk food left. Most of them were running on generators and did lose all of their frozen food...what a bummer since I eat alot of frozen dinners (on my diet).

Sorry but I have NO pictures to show. I really wasn't in a picture taking mood (we were in the dark), nothing was really funny and Ike is something that I really don't care to remember. There are still people without electricity.. I hope and pray that the lights come back soon for them. Noah is back at school, the groc stores are still empty, it is easier to get gas now...so life goes on and I learn that I am stronger because of this and really appreciate my electricity. Through this all, I could live without cable, internet, even AIR conditioning...I really need my lights and my phone. When you have no way to communicate with people you love, It feels lonely and scary. The main thing that I kept wanting for 10 days was to feel normal and live my normal life again..so here goes!

And please continue to pray for all along the Coast who have lost their homes to Hurricane Ike. I have recently seen the photos and I am in disbelief.

Ike is 110 mph Winds now

and is still a CAT 2...but a CAT 3 is 111 mph winds...not far off. Well NO more Sun over here...is getting darker and darker...trees are swaying...we are beginning to get Tropical Storm force winds now. A light drizzle off and on. I'm nervous. I have been doing about 3 things consistently all day: watching the news, looking at the news on the net, and washing clothes! Looks like Ike is staying on track just like NHC reported going right up our alley over here.
Galveston now has 9 feet of water on the Island. Lots of low lying areas in the Houston area have water...like Kemah and Baytown. I'm not worried about the water over here....but I am worried about the winds.

I really don't know what else to say...I feel too nervous to type :)
Please continue to pray for Houston-Galveston areas!!!

"Hurricane Ike nears Category 3 strength

The hurricane is almost as big as the state "

IKE IS GETTING CLOSER...

and I don't like it! Galveston is already flooding and waves are going over the 18 foot sea wall! The officials have said that they are afraid that Galveston will become part of the Gulf of Mexico...I am very sad and I pray that does not happen. I love Galveston. It is sooo fun to visit..and only about an hour and 15 minutes away from us...NOT too bad of a drive. Moody Gardens is sooo much fun there and we LOVE the Rainforest Cafe. We had plans to take Noah and some of his friends for his Birthday next month; Guess we should make other plans :(

The weather is still Sunny and HOT as HELL over here though..a little scary...the quiet before the storm, I guess. Looks like the forecasters are saying that Ike will be going up I-45 and OMG.. we are Right of I-45 so I guess we will get the nasty stuff. I hope the tornadoes stay away. I am praying that these houses are built better than I think they are.

I am about to get my All Weather Radio ready and my Corded phone out in case we lose power. I am also going to wash my hair to get a fresh start :) Have been washing laundry too. Noah is playing playstation and Ryan is running around.. the poor dears have NO idea what we are in for later today!

Ike has strenghtened to 105 mph winds...they say it will get stronger, but I am hoping not as we are forecast to get over 80 mph winds over here already with that forecast.

Scott has gone to find some last minute things and he says the stores are CLEARED OUT! YIKES!! I wonder how hard it will be to get restocked after the storm?
Will update later........... Send more prayers to Houston, Thanks!

Photo from Channel 11 news of Galveston waves already!

Hurricane Ike

Is on it's way to our town. We moved from a Hurricane Capital (Louisiana) to what we thought would be pretty safe...Well, This time we may not be. This is the first time that we stay 'home' for a hurricane. We have stayed for small Cat ONE or Tropical Systems when we were living in Houma...we were all boarded up and just waiting for what seemed like an eternity during the nights...Sometimes we never lost power while other times we listened to the winds howling through our Hurricane boards on our windows. I also remember on one occasion that one of our windows cracked in our house. But that's about it! And Yes I was in LA for Katrina, but we were Not affected too much plus we evacuated to Arkansas.

But today was a Hurricane Prep day for me. I nervously brought Noah to school and came home to monitor the storm on the internet from any site that I could find. I also heard on the radio that Houston was comparing this storm to Hurricane Carla. Well not being from Texas, I had no idea what that meant..so what did I do? I googled it! And wow! what I read was not very encouraging. One thing I though was a little crazy is that Hurr Carla made landfall below Galveston on Sept 11..today but in 1961! I was NOT even close to being born yet. LOL After checking that out, I headed out to Target with a list of supplies that my Mom told me to get (she is back in Lafourche parish in LA..still with NO power from Gustav)...Well, I didn't have that much luck. NO flashlights, NO lanterns, Hardly any food...and this was the trend to every store in which I called and actually went to. I guess I was too late. We are NOT boarded up. I actually have not seen anyone boarded up here. Apparently they only do that on the coast?! I dunno! I have NO idea how a storm will impact this area as I have not been here for very long and most people I ask have not really been through any bad ones...so alot of people are just thinking it is just a bad storm...Well, I don't know what to think...

But I can tell you that I am worried. I don't want to be without power with 2 small children and this Texas heat is HOTTTTTTT! The newscasters say the winds will begin tomorrow afternoon around 1 o'clock. I have tried to be prepared the most that I can, I guess. Dh says he has a generator and even a a-c window unit to run periodically...Hopefully if we lose power that we can save our fridge and freezer stuff. I think it will be a little scary tomorrow evening since it is supposed to make landfall around 2 am...and this time, NO boards to keep the scary wind out...I am wondering what it will be like...I just love how the weather channel tries to scare us though by saying, " it will come in like a thief in the night" GEEZZZZ thanks for saying that!! that makes me feel so much better...Wouldn't you have felt better by hearing that?

I may write tomorrow if we still have power and we'll see how much more nervous that I will be then..As for tonight...I am washing clothes...Just in case!



Please Pray for us...........

Towering Pegs, Oh My!

Time for Toddler Chat.
Ryan LOVES these pegs that I purchased for him. I also purchased a yellow board on which to put them on. They also came with string so that you can string them through the pegs and so on. I have not given him the strings yet. HE had a blast putting the pegs on that board, but he liked putting them on top of each other to possibly build something really tall? :) Notice that Yes his hair is wet because he got into my Moisturizer and put it in his hair, while I was washing my hair...He gets into everything! ahhhhhhhhh!


So proud of it


Reaching HIGH


He stepped on his step-stool to get higher. LOL




then he took it off of the board and things he can use it to Wack things..uhh..NOT good! He thinks it is a sword now..Boys!


And this is how proud he was of his creation


Update on Stool issues: Ryan is doing better. He went on his own yesterday afternoon without doing his potty dance...Praying that he keeps this up. He also told me that his butt was all better. LOL So he is continuing on his Miralax daily but does not need the Milk of Magnaseia anymore...I was so tired of chasing him down to give him that stuff. Is it really that bad? I never tasted it. Now it has gotten to every time he poops, he gets a 'treat'! I don't usually give him any candy...so this is hard to have to do. I ordered a potty today in hopes of one day potty training him..but for now I am satisfied if he poops in his diaper and does NOT hold it in!

Tonight is parent night at Noah's school...HOPE that all goes well.

And the Breaking of Boards were heard all through The Woodlands...

When Noah stepped up to chop 'em in half! LOL About 2 weeks ago, Noah went to a Board Breaking Class at his TKD Academy. He totally enjoyed it. He was able to break 3 boards using 3 different styles. I do not know the technical names for these (at least I don't think I do), but Noah was a STAR...He did so super good. We were all so proud of him!
Hammer Smash


Side Kick? I think...


Front kick..Notice that the board BROKE into 3 pieces!!! and went over the instructor's head! OMG! HE was the only one that did that. LOL


Noah getting his Broken board pieces (to save)!


During the regular class session, Ryan went nuts as usual and played with daddy's watch the entire time...Daddy took this picture..We were delighted to have Granny with us to see Noah..she was also proud of him!


More news from TKD, Noah has received his Red stripe this week!! I am so proud of my boy! He is doing soooo well! He hopes to earn his blue stripe before next Saturday so he can test for his Yellow belt...movin on up!!!!!!

Double the Adam=Double the Fun: The Best Friday Evening in a LONG TIME...

Scott and I were soooo fortunate to attend the Maroon 5 and Counting Crows Concert this weekend in the Woodlands! It is an outside pavillion so the Sound was Awesome! It wasn't as HOT as usual and not as humid so it was almost perfect! WE were in the 4th row from the pit so we had the BEST seats! We were so close that I almost wanted to Faint! The opening group was Augustana (but we missed them..Oh well. LOL) then the Counting Crows. Wow!!! Adam Duritz is Awesome!! He engaged the crowd..just a very nice guy, NOT to mention a wonderful voice too!! This band was one of my favs from College...sooooo loving Mister Jones and A Long December!! wow!!!!!!!!! soooo loving that!
Then came Maroon 5 and Wow!! Adam Levine puts on a GREAT show! He also engaged the crowd..I did expect them to come out in suits though, like when they perform on TV. LOL But as you can see that was not the case...I had NO idea he had an arm full of tattoos!! hmmmm.... We LOVED them...The crowd went a little crazy when they came on..It was sooooo weird to see them so close up. I totally enjoyed them! I will leave you with "Harder to Breathe"..this was their last song AFTER they came back on stage...They played for almost 2 hours! Thank YOU Maroon 5!! Love ya'll!


So After spending a total fortune on this concert...I won't put it on here...YOU might vomit. LOL We left and saw this huge truck and Scott insisted that I pose next to it. LOL HOW DO YOU GET INTO THAT THING?

American Idol Concert Rocked!

Especially David Cook! My mom and sister flew in from New Orleans to go to the concert. We brought Noah along with us since he enjoyed watching American Idol and Scott always tells him that he can be AI 17! LOL Yahhhh OK. We were very excited and Hoped to meet the idols.




The entire concert was great...I have tons of pictures (I won't put them all up here though) All of the Idols looked alot younger in person than they do on TV, except for Michael Johns. LOL Of course, David Cook was my Favorite!


After the show, we walked around the Toyota Center to see if we could catch a glimpse of where the Idols would be exiting to their buses and we found ALOT of fans waiting at a barracade to get photos or autographs of the Idols...So we waited also and My sister inched her way to the front of the barracade ( I don't know how she did this) so I followed her and eventually the woman in front of me grew tired of waiting, I guess, and gave me her front row spot! woohooo... WE were able to see all of the Idols except for David Cook of course! and Ramiele, but no one noticed that she was missing..hmmm...I wonder why???

Here are a few photos that we were ablet to get ( I have more)..And we got autographs too! We had a long fun night...but hated the next day (we were sooooo tired).

Us with Carly


Us with Brooke


Us with Michael Johns


Us with Jason Castro


Noah with Kristy (My eyes were closed..I cropped it. LOL)


And David A who was NOT allowed to take pics with fans (He apparently was ill)


It was upsetting though that we did not see DC. The one I really wanted to meet...boohooo..but

Anyway!
:)

Noah's First Day of School has passed by

Almost 2 whole weeks ago! GEEZ!! How busy can life actually get that I have to wait two weeks to blog about My precious son's first day of THIRD GRADE (sniff sniff)...HOW In the world has he gotten to be in Third Grade? Where does the time go? Noah loved his first day of school...He said that he was glad to be back to see his friends! Mommy here is NOT so glad as now I have to go back and forth to bring and pick him up from school...ahhhh the traffic, ahhhh the gas, ahhhh it messes up Ryan's naps (if he so decides to take one and if not he falls asleep during the afternoon pick-up and is ohhh soo toddler grouchy)! The first day of school was also the cleaning crew day at my house...so i was held prisoner at my friend Tracy's house (which she so graciously let Ryan and I stay there during the cleaning time)on the way home from the drop-off. I soooo long to carpool with someone to St. Edward. But as I have come to realize, Texas or at least this area is NOT predominately Catholic like it was in Louisiana...and people send their kids to public school here...WELL unless you are Catholic, I guess :)

Noah likes his teacher (so far) but he was a little upset that his best bud is not in his class this year..There are only 2 teachers for Third grade. His school is very small. I was actually shocked last night at the amount of school work that he had to do...with tests, and actual written homework...Wow! We literally did school work all afternoon up until he went to bed at 10 o'clock last night. He even missed TKD! And on that note I will say that Noah is so proud that he received his GREEN STRIPE 2 weeks ago on his belt! wooohoooo!! I believe that you have to have a green, red, and blue stripe to TEST for Yellow belt...so that is a positive step for him. Gooo NOAH!

Gustav put a hault on my organizing because my house was filled with family (evacuees) from him so I could not get anything done. Also I have been dealing with Ryan's stool withholding? problems. OMG! On a upbeat note, the Maroon 5 Concert is tonight...Looking forward to that! NOW I have to blog on that other stuff that I haven't had a chance to do....