Story Book Parade October 1-7

I really don't like getting behind on my blogging  because I know my days were packed with things, but I think back and look at the calendar and I can't remember what I did.  But just know that we are always running from one thing to another.

We watched conference on Sunday.  The kids do really well with conference bingo in the morning and then we do snacks for the second session.  They have gotten a lot better at listening.

In between sessions we discovered a snake in our backyard eating a frog.  We kept an eye on it and it sounded so sad to hear the poor frog croak as he slowly got swallowed.  The extra sad part is that the snake's eyes were too big for its mouth, the frog ended up being too big for it to swallow.  We found the frog in the yard - Doug took care of it.  

We also rode our bikes to the park, it was so hot!  We didn't stay long but had fun. 

I guess it happens to all parents, but I really thought we had escaped this experience.  None of our children have ever written on walls etc, but this is what we found after conference was over.  At first I thought it had rubbed off of Kaylee's bingo card because I knew she would never color on the couch intentionally.  But then as we continued to look we saw that she had colored in multiple spots.  Doug was able to get it out ok, but Kaylee had some sad consequences for the week and we hope that she learned her lesson.  

This week I took cookies into the elementary school for the teachers, helped some friends and continued to work out in the morning. I had book group on Wednesday - we read Irena's Children.  It's about the heroic story of the people who resisted the evil of WWII in Poland.  It was definitely a sad book, but it's good for us to remember and realize the strength of the human spirit.

Wednesday was walk/ride to school day.  The kids were all sooo excited.  They ask to ride all the time, but the logistics make it so that it's just easier for us mom's to carpool.  We had a fun ride this day though and it wasn't too hot in the afternoon which was nice.

The girls had their friend Hannah over to play - they had been looking forward to it for weeks.  They had a blast and got very creative.

 I went with Tyler to interview a veteran in our ward.  They had to do a project on someone who served in a branch of the military.  This brother worked with the army for his whole career.  It was interesting to hear his story.

Friday was the Story Book Parade.  Instead of having the kids wear their costumes to school they have them dress up like a character of a book.  A lot of times we try to make their Halloween costumes work for both events and find a book to match.  But this year I wanted to let the kids pick a favorite book and see what we could come up with.  Jenna was Pete the Cat, Kaylee was the Tooth Fairy, and Chris was Shark, from Shark Vs. Train.  They had a lot of fun.  I helped at the library after the parade and helped put books away.  It is fun to help in the library.  I see lots of book that I want to read or get for the kids.

 Saturdays are busy with basketball and football. This was Tyler's first game.  I got to watch the first half before I took Damon to soccer.  We could tell that this was going to be a learning year for Tyler's team.  They are very inexperienced and about half of them and not very athletic.  They lost by quite a bit and Tyler was a very poor loser - crying hysterically.  We had a good talk and told him that we would not sign him up for sports if he couldn't handle the outcomes of his games.  He has done better since.

Busy Weeks - no time for pictures Sept 17-30

Well, looking at my photos for this month made me realize that I need to take more pictures of when we are doing everyday stuff.  There isn't much to post for these two weeks.  We have been busy with normal life.

I've been busy with visiting teaching, helping at the school library, going to institute, cleaning, attending a meeting for cub scout day camp, more helping at the school, and making lots of food to keep my family and neighbors fed.  

Damon finally had a Court of Honor.  He received his Rifle Shooting, Archaeology, Chess, Archery, Citizenship in the Nation, Citizenship in the World, Environmental Science, and First Aid merit badges.  He also earned his Second Class rank.  We are in the process of working on the three merit badges that require 3 months of charting.  Damon doesn't love scouts, but he is doing ok with it.  His life is just getting so busy and it's hard to fit it all in.  He got accepted to be in the First Lego League at school so he stays after school two days for that.  He is also going early to school for Chess club once or twice a week.  I'm glad he is getting involved with some extra curricular activities. I went to his school's open house this week and it was good to meet his teachers and get a feel for what he has been doing at school.  

Tyler had a Pack meeting and earned a few adventures as well.  They didn't communicate well and Doug and I didn't realize it was a pack meeting - so we missed that one.  Whoops. 

I had GNO at my house on the 20th.  We had a recipe exchange, but really we just visited and tried some yummy food.  

Doug is good to spend some time with the kids one-on-one.  They love this time with their daddy.  This time Kaylee built a big block tower. 

Friday the 22nd was a great evening.  We went outside with all of the neighbors and enjoyed the somewhat cooler weather.  The kids played 4 square, soccer, and football.  They also rode their bikes around.  All the parents grabbed their camp chairs and we visited.  The younger ones found some sidewalk chalk and decorated our sidewalk and road.  Everyone had a great time.  

Jenna and Kaylee like to play pretend.  Many times it is making forts or making beds for their stuffed animals. 

I do need to say that USU football beat BYU on Friday the 29th.  We don't have the channel to watch, but Doug kept checking the score online.  Go Aggies!

Saturday the 30th was the first day for soccer for Damon.  He had a great game.  He scored a goal and saved a goal being goalie.  He was awarded the MVP for the game.  

Doug has started coaching Tyler's basketball team.  They have had one practice and games will start this coming Saturday.  Damon's and Tyler's games are at the same time most weeks, so I'll get to sweat outside in the heat with Damon while Doug gets to be inside in the gym with Tyler.  :) 

Conference weekend was great.  It was our communities yard sale in the morning.  The boys tried to sell some of their LEGO sets.  No one wanted to pay the prices they were asking.  We'll see if we can sell them on eBay.  I sold some extra presents that I had bought and then changed my mind- so that was good.  I made some muffins and sold 18.  

We listened to both sessions pretty well.  The kids were good to play quietly, coloring or playing with the magnatiles.  I had a lot of dishes to do after all the baking I had been doing.  

Damon was pretty excited to go to the priesthood session with Doug.  They went to Whataburger afterwards with some other guys from the ward.  It was a good experience for him. 

 Right now life seems so full of normal things that I don't have time to do the extra things that I would like to do.  I was hoping that I could get to them with all the kids in school now.  But it still takes time to go to the grocery store, do laundry, clean, and make dinner.  Sigh, oh well, we will get done what we can.  Right now the extra things that I am doing is getting ready for Halloween - Damon wanted to do a Ghostbusters theme - so get ready to see some awesome looking proton packs. :)

New job! Sept 10 - 16

Sunday - We only had sacrament meeting again, but this time it was just our ward.  They don't let us know with much notice so it's been hard knowing whether to prepare a lesson or not.  I keep starting and then not having to finish.  Doug went to help again, so we just played at home.  This weekend our stake's efforts traveled to a city called Beaumont.  It is about 1 1/2 hours east of us.  They got a lot of rain as the storm moved that way.  The whole city was under water it seemed.  

The boys had a moment of actually getting along while looking at a Minecraft book.

 The girls spent a lot of time crafting, they made some cute crowns and then gave them to our friends down the street.

I helped with the Just Serve organization today a little bit by picking up a volunteer from the airport.  I took the kids with me so they weren't left at home for too long.  It was interesting to learn about this women, she worked at Delta and had some time off so she decided to come and help for awhile.  A bunch of volunteers were camping at a members house and that's where she was going.  I dropped her off at the house and she was good to go.  We had heard that they were bringing in portable showers and port-a-potties.  There have been hundreds of people coming from all over to come and help and on the weekends thousands have come from nearby stakes.

On our way back from the airport we stopped by a park.

Monday - The start of the first full week of school for the kids.  They have only had partial weeks up to this point - crazy.  Doug and I dropped off the van to get a belt replaced.  I did laundry and normal household chores.  

Tuesday - I went out to lunch with a friend.  I was quite disappointed with my meal - they wrote down the wrong entree and didn't really do anything to fix it.  But the company was good.  Then I went home to start on dinner.  I was bringing dinner for a family that had flooded in our ward, so that took up the rest of the afternoon.  I made chicken enchiladas, bread-sticks, corn, salad, rice, watermelon, and a bundt cake.  

That evening I went to the Cox Back to School night and listened to Tyler's teachers talk about their classes.  I am glad that Tyler has all of the same teachers that Damon had.  They still seem like great teachers.  Damon and Tyler finally had a scout night - they had been canceled for awhile.

We were going to go to a One Republic concert this night, but with the school night and scouts we figured it would be too hard to juggle everything.  It was the perfect evening though, I wished we could have gone.  I had a friend who went who said it was a great concert.

Wednesday - I helped at a baby shower in the morning.  I was in charge of bringing some things to dip in chocolate fondue.  I made a pound cake and peanut butter balls.  I also brought some pretzels, marshmallows, and strawberries.  The shower went well with lots of friends and lots of cute clothes and gifts.  

Doug started his new job with Unimin.  It is located up in the Woodlands, which is about the same distance as Halliburton, but in the other direction.  The one downside with this location is there will be more traffic.  There are many traffic lights and not a very direct route home.  Doug will have to figure out the best way home and I'm sure that it may be different each day.  

Thursday - I had institute again.  I had the hardest time staying awake.  I get up early on Thursdays to lift weights with some friends so I had been up since 5:00 and then when you sit still for 1 1/2 hours it's really hard not to close your eyes.  I stopped by the store on the way home and had a quick lunch.  I put some pork chops in the crock pot - trying out a new recipe- then went to the school to help in the library again.  This time it would be for when Chris would be there.  He was excited to see me too.  As a side note, the pork chops were ok, but not my favorite - probably won't make them again. I went to bed at 9:30 I was so tired. 

Friday - yay we made it through the school week.  In the morning I watched a baby and toddler of a friend who was getting her house worked on due to the flood.  I got some reading done in the afternoon.  My book is due and I'm trying to finish it by Tuesday.  After school the girls invited a friend over.  They had been asking all week.  So they had a little tea party snack with him (Eli).  They put marshmallows on pretzels and pretended to roast them over a pretzel fire.  

Doug's first three days seemed to go fine.  He didn't really do any real work yet, just mostly getting to know people and get a feel for the company.  We still are working on getting our health insurance started and all of that fun stuff.  

Saturday - We did our chores, had lunch and then went to Splashtown.  It was actually a little bit cold.  The water was pretty chilly and it wasn't the hottest day.  But we still had a fun time.  Kaylee fell off of her mat on one of the rides and after that I basically held her until it was time to go.  We ended by surfing - Damon and Doug are getting better.

We picked up the van on the way home - this time we had to take it in for a recall.

During the week we looked at a piano and a couch I had seen for sell online, but both of them were a little more worn than what I had been hoping.  I really would love a newer piano - I'll have to keep looking.

Doug and I have been watching a few shows at night when we have a chance.  We have started The Crown and Saturday we watched a new Sherlock Holmes episode.

Back to School Sept 2-9

Saturday we needed a break from the craziness of Harvey.  I took the kids and we went to the library.  We timed it right to take a ride on the Trolley.  Doug took a break from mucking and got some things done at home and took a nap. :)

 Story time still happens before bed.  The girls often now will read to me.

Sunday we only had sacrament meeting again.  It was a combined meeting with all 4 wards that meet in our building.  We left early so that Damon could be there to help get things ready for the sacrament.  They brought in a second table and used some plates to make sure that there was enough to pass around.  It went pretty smoothly and didn't take too long.  There were about 600+ people in attendance (our average ward numbers are around 250).  The work crews left right after the sacrament meeting.  Doug went again and helped out the people living a bit south of here.

Monday Doug helped on houses again.  We didn't do too much at home, played some board games and went swimming at our neighbors pool.  I was glad they had invited us, our pool was still closed from the hurricane.  It didn't really feel like a holiday.  It's these small holidays that make me wish I was closer to family.  The bigger ones like Christmas are special enough to do on your own, but the small ones it would be nice to get together and just have an excuse to visit and have a BBQ.

Tuesday the kids went back to school.  It was a rough start - it felt like starting school all over again since they had had 10 days of break.  But by the end of the week, they were getting back into things.

Wednesday we let the kids ride bikes after dinner.  3 out of the 4 that went out crashed.  Jenna and Kaylee's were minor, but Tyler was trying to ride without hands and took a tumble over the front of his bike.  He got this nice scratch on his tummy and a good cut on his knee.

I had book group and enjoyed getting a sense of normalcy to our lives.  We talked about A Wrinkle in Time.

 Thursday I started Institute.  We are studying the Book of Mormon this year.  Doug dropped me off and then had some errands to do.  He is almost ready to start his new job.  He was going to start this week, but then they said he needed to do some stuff for HR so he will start next week.

Doug picked me up and we went out for lunch.  We stopped by Best Buy to look at laptops.  Then we went over to Home Depot and Lowe's to get Doug more equipped for mucking out homes.  He got some cool tools and I think that will count for his birthday this year. :)

Friday I went at helped at the library at the elementary school.  I was able to see Jenna and Kaylee when they came to the library.  They were excited to see me.  I'm glad that I can go and help at the school more now.  

Jenna was chosen to be the first student to bring home Mr. Bee from her class.  She read to him and played him some music.  We took some pictures and she wrote about it in a class journal.  Then on Monday she told the class about it.  She was super excited to be the first one and she really believed that Mr. Bee could talk to her teacher and that Mr. Bee was the one that had picked her to go home with.  I had Mr. Bee whisper in my ear and she believed that he was really talking to me too.  It was pretty cute.  I told her that I had learned how to speak 'bee' in college and that you had to be older to understand 'bee.'  Damon and Tyler understood and played along.  It was pretty fun.  

In the evening we had game night.  We played a new game called Fable fruit.  It was a cute game.  We didn't stay too long, everyone needed to get ready to for another long weekend of service.  We stayed up late getting Doug ready to go - loading up the truck and getting all of his tools ready.

Doug helped again Saturday and Sunday.  We did our jobs and stayed home on Saturday.  We had checked out Ghostbusters from the library last week and we finished watching that (just the boys).  Damon now wants to dress up like Ghostbusters for Halloween.  I was a little nervous to let them watch, and there were a few swear words - it had been so long since I'd seen it - but I think they didn't understand them for the most part.  I think they liked it. They go around singing the song.  

Hurricane Harvey! August 27- Sept 1

Sunday: more rain and Spring Creek's levels kept rising.  At first the ward was just going to have sacrament meeting but then the stake president said to just cancel church to be safe.  Some of the roads were getting covered and he didn't want people driving through water.  We discovered a couple of leaks in our roof and Doug and I spent most of the day working on taking care of those.  Doug shimmied back in the corner of the attic to hang a bucket to catch one leak and the other one we wrapped a towel around the 2 x 4 to absorb the water as it seeped down.  It worked well and we didn't have any damage inside.  There was a tornado warning at one point during the day so we all played a game in our bedroom closet.  We lost power for a couple hours but it wasn't too bad since it came back on in time for dinner.

Rainfall count: 8.75 during the day  (total of 24.5 inches in 2 days)

Monday: we prepared more and put all of our furniture upstairs or on cans.  We emptied all the bottom shelves and cupboards.  It made me realize again how much stuff we have.  Then we just waited for the water to rise.  Doug rode his bike to help neighbors put their furniture upstairs.   We visited friends down the street and in just the hour that I was there the water rose considerably.  We were all getting stir crazy at this point and I was glad to get out of the house for a minute.  The kids had been fighting a lot and we were all feeling stressed. The power went out at 5:00 pm right as I was making dinner.  We had potatoes and pork on the stove since we still could use our gas.  I wondered if this would be our last real meal for awhile.  Doug hooked up the generator around 6:00 and we turned on the fridge, freezer, and some floor lamps.  The kids had fun with their lanterns and thought it was cool to brush their teeth in the dark.  Once the kids were in bed Doug and I worked on the house more.  We also went out to the garage to put the bikes up and the others things that were on the ground.  Doug and I stayed up until 3:00 watching the water.  Doug was prepared to dig a trench in the backyard - but we didn't since we realized that it wouldn't really help.  The water was in the corner of our backyard and above the curb on our driveway when we went to bed.  My anxiety kicked in and I couldn't really go to bed.  I think I slept for about 2 hours.  I would peek out the window and see if the water in the back had gotten any closer.  (we had marked the water level with sprinklers) The water in the front was just a river.  I was glad that it was moving, to me that meant that it was draining somewhere.  If it got backed up and started pooling then I knew we would be in trouble.  Our neighbors were awake too.  We would go talk with them in their garage.  They were drinking and getting a bit drunk. They talked about tubing down the river in the street. :)  The power came around midnight and that helped a lot.  I was so grateful to have air conditioning and be able to see better. This is a map of one of the flood plains.  We are barely blue in the bottom of that dip of dry ground- so I was getting nervous that we would flood.  I think this is the 1000 year flood plain.

Rain count: about 5 more inches, total now around 30 inches

 This is the retention pond by our house, it got even higher than this during Monday night.

 Good use of our food storage!

 This is our street that turned into a river, you can see our truck in the distance.

Tuesday: I was so grateful to see that the water had gone down.  Spring Creek had crested during the night at 111.43 inches above sea level (it had gotten to 108 last year when it flooded).   Doug and I went out in the morning and took some pictures.

Standing at the bottom of our driveway:

Looking down our street to the little circle at the end. 

Looking down the next street at our mailbox. The water flowed through the greenspace that was behind our house from here. 

The little ditch that leads to the next street - this is where all of the water in front of our house was flowing out.  It was well-designed and made to flow to the creeks. 

The storm drains were full and bubbling out of the holes. 

I didn't get a picture in the dark, but the water in our back yard was a lot higher than this.  You can see the one sprinkler marking the high point on the right.  There was another sprinkler marking the left side that was closer to the house.  We just found that we have a low spot in the yard, but it never got super close.  

A tree fell down by the mailbox. 

 We went out with the kids later and the water had gone down even further. And this ditch was dry by the next day, Wednesday.

It looks like a road, but it's water. 

This area by our friends really pooled up.  Cars couldn't get through. 

Damon and Doug walked on to a house in the ward that flooded.  They had to walk over a mile in high water.  They helped fix their A/C unit.

We did a lot of communicating on Facebook and email to check on neighbors and ward members.  6 families in our ward had water in their homes.  Some were worse than others.  One home was a single story so they didn't have anywhere to put their stuff - it was all ruined.  So sad.

We found out that the temple flooded as well.  I liked how one sister put it.  It was Heavenly Father's way of saying: "Look my house flooded too, we will all get through this together."

My other project for the day was cleaning out my wheat mill.  I had pulled it out before the storm to grind some wheat to be ready and discovered lots of little bugs.  We put the whole thing in the freezer to kill them.  I brushed it out and cleaned it the best I could.   If we eat a few ground up dead bugs in our bread I guess we will live.

The relief we felt this day was so good.  I knew that we were going to be ok.  We all wished that it would stop raining but the creek was going down and we had stayed dry.  Damon went to our neighbors to play and we had their girls over to play.  Tyler and Chris went to a different friends' house to play.  I think we all needed some social time.  The girls had fun playing Just Dance with their friends.

We tried to stay busy at home after playing with friends-  The boys made more Minecraft swords and Chris made a spear.

These are some other pictures I got from FB.  This is Spring Creek that went over it's banks.  This is an intersection that I drive on almost daily.  

 I think this is the Grand Parkway with the feeder road next to it flooded.

 Another look at the creek.

Rain count: we only got 3 more inches on Tuesday, bringing our grand total to 33 inches in 5 days. 

At first school was canceled through Tuesday, but then they extended it through to Sept 4, starting the Tuesday after Labor Day.  6 days of school missed.  I think they don't have to make them up because it was due to a natural disaster.  

Wednesday: Doug and Damon went to go help with houses again.  Damon came home at lunch.  I made bread and cookies and we delivered them to the helpers and some of the families in the ward who were flooded.  I stopped by one mom and took her baby for awhile so she could get her floors and studs bleached.  We went to the park, the one nice thing about the storm was the cooler temperature.  It was so nice to be outside and not be sweating to death. 

Thursday I watched the 3 boys of this same mom so she could keep cleaning.  I was very grateful to have a quiet house when bedtime came.  8 crazy kids in a house all day long was pretty loud.  We tried to get out some fun toys to keep everyone happy.  We got out the Marble Works to help entertain the younger kids, but it was the older ones who got competitive with it.  Doug was mucking out houses again.

Before the boys came over I ran to the store real quick, it was my first time back after the storm.  I was curious what it was going to be like.  It wasn't as bad as I thought.  No produce, meat, or eggs. But they had bread and some milk.  Other areas in the store were hit or miss.  Pasta, green beans, and chips were sparse.  The store said they would be receiving trucks that day so I think they got stocked again pretty quickly.  

Friday the stake asked for the men to take a break so they wouldn't hurt themselves.  They were all working so hard.  So the women had a chance to take a turn.  I went and helped bleach floors and studs in  two homes.  Doug actually was supervising the YM/YW so he worked again, the stinker. Then he went out again in the afternoon - he's such a good worker.  Damon watched the rest of the crew at home in the morning.  I had set up a playdate for the girls so he wouldn't have to watch everyone - but I had miscommunicated via text so they didn't have their playdate until later.  Oh well. I was pretty tired and stressed out this day and probably took it out on the family.  This hurricane business is pretty crazy.  

By Saturday the homes in our ward were basically done - waiting for contractors and stuff.  So now the ward made up crews to go help other areas in the stake and nearby neighborhoods.  Doug really took the day off and stayed home doing projects around the house.  He mowed our yard and the yard of a newly widowed mother in the ward.  He still worked hard, just not by mucking houses.

I took the kids to the library in the afternoon and we even took a ride on the trolley.  It was good to get out and do something normal.  It seemed weird though and I felt a bit guilty doing something fun when I knew so many other people were in such need.  We have donated clothing, money and supported the local school with their charity drives.  Doug is mucking out homes and I am helping with kids or cleaning.  We are trying to help as much as we can.  I am so grateful though that as the end of the day, our house is fine and our lives are basically normal.  So so grateful that we didn't flood.  It was a very very very long week! And the the FB posts about nobody in Texas knowing what day it is, was so true.