College Station

Yesterday, we made the trek up to College Station to meet with Kaylee's birth mother and birth father. We met at Post Oak Mall which has a rather nice playscape for the kids to run around on. Kiera and Kaylee seemed particularly happy.



The girls spent most of the morning running with Kayee's half-sister Haylee.



Kiera had a special message for everyone.



We ate lunch at the mall with everyone, and we proceeded to do some shopping in College Station. Until Houston is full up and running with power again, it behooves us to try and shop in other places. The first week after Ike hit Houston/Galveston was interesting to say the least around here.

We went shopping on Tuesday. We traveled to Sealy to the local Super Wal-Mart, and we were very fortunate to get milk and eggs. There were NO canned goods to speak of. The bread was WIPED OUT. There was absolutely NO rice on the shelves. Toilet paper and paper towels were GONE. The store looked like they hadn't received a shipment of groceries for ages.

Of course, it was Ike evacuees stocking up before trying to head home. It was virtuall impossible to buy these things in Houston because of lack of power. Hope they were able to get what they needed and when they returned, I hope they found their homes in decent to good shape.

Life will be extremely busy for us in the next month or so. As reported in the previous blog, Dawna's grandmother is definitely going down hill. She has multiple tumors in her brain, and they are giving her radiation treatments to keep swelling down, ease pain, and prevent a stroke. The docs are giving her a month. We will probably be making several trips between here and San Antonio to get in as much time as possible.

Dallas Wins! (Except, I didn't get to see the end.)

Last night, we had church council meeting. It finished up at about 8:15, and I headed home to watch my beloved Dallas Cowboys take on the Philadelphia Eagles (how those fans and that team come from a city that literally is translated "brotherly love" from Greek is beyond me.).

Anyhow, I walk in the door, and my wife greets me with the words, "The're kicking butt and doing great. If you start watching and they start doing bad, you'd better leave."

And what happens? Within minutes, Tony Romo throws an interception. A pass interference penalty on Anthony Henry, and Eagle's score. I remain in the living room watching. Eagles kick off. Cowboys muff the kickoff and end up on the five yard line. False start. Romo fumbles in the end zone. Eagles touch down.

This isn't looking good. I tell the girls its time for bed, and I head out of the room. While helping them brush their teeth, I hear that Dallas has the ball. As the girls are making their way to their room, I walk back in the living room, and Dallas has scored (my presence excepted).

Tuck the girls in, and head back in. Eagles score a touchdown. Take the garbage outside (I'm not watching), Cowboys kick a field goal.

The coincidences were a little much. I did get to see Marion Barber's great touchdown catch, but Philly scored again. It was too much for me. I went to take a shower.

Dawna comes in later and informs me Dallas scored a touch down and is finally ahead. I finish showering and decide that I'm better off staying away so that the 'Boys would win.

Dawna calls a couple of seconds later, "Might as well come back in. They're screwing up without you."

I walk in and see that the Cowboys had failed to convert a third down. The Eagles had the ball, and the 'Boys kept them to a third and one. Westbrook takes the hand off, tackled for a two yard gain, and a FIFTEEN YARD FACEMASK PENALTY. Are you kidding me?

I leave the room for good. I hear Dawna cheering as in the next series, Dallas' defense holds, sacking Donovan McNabb two times to end the last drive and run out the clock.

I sure hope this isn't the way things are going to work this year. I don't want to miss my 'Boys playing, as the saying goes, "Anything for the team."

Disturbing News

Yesterday, we had a little bit of disturbing news from San Antonio way. Some of you know that Dawna's Grandmother, Nanaw, has been fighting lung cancer for quite some time. She has been having intermittent dizzy spells, and in the past week, she has vomited because of these spells. After having quite a spell, they took her to the emergency room. They did a Cat Scan and found that the cancer has moved into her brain. Not good.

Her doctor is contemplating doing some radiation treatment on this tumor, but the prognosis does not look good. Needless to say, we will probably be heading into San Antonio pretty often in the next few months. Thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

On another note: yesterday afternoon the family went on a little expedition. My aunt Winnie, who lives an hour away in El Campo is recovering from a ruptured appendix. She is doing quite well, and my mother is staying with her nursing her back to health. We decided to head to El Campo to have supper with them. Little did we know what we were getting into.

We noticed that traffic on I-10 was pretty heavy both heading into and away from Houston. We got off in Columbus on HI 71 to head to El Campo, and to say the traffic was hellish is an understatement. The exit ramps and 71 were bumper to bumper with no place to go. Therefore, we went exploring. We took a couple of country roads down to El Campo, and the extra drive was worth it.

Mom and Winnie (and Uncle Laird too, if you must know) were very happy to see us. Winnie looked very good, but she gets tired pretty quickly. My mom was pretty tired too. Looks like she could use several good nights' sleep. But, being around all the kids was a great pick-me-up for everyone. Kiera marveled at my aunt and uncle's bathroom, especially the jacuzzi tub. She wanted to come back and go swimming as soon as possible. We told her she could do that later, much to her excitement.

The only hitch in the trip home was about 30 minutes from the house, Junior started screaming. Turned out his car seat was a little too tight around the waist (but we didn't find that out until we got home). So, what did we do? Well, rather than listen to a screaming kid all the way home, when we turned onto FM 949, away from all the traffic, Dawna took Junior out of the car seat and held him until we got home. Law breakers? Yep, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Surviving Ike

Don't know how many of you knew it or not, but Texas just got hit by a hurricane named Ike. (facetious grin inserted here) We battened down the hatches here in Cat Spring because we knew we'd get a little bit of the storm. Here's a pic of some of the clouds rolling in.



Anyone who is a parent knows that when the weather changes in such a drastic manner, kiddoes go nuts. It was no different in our house. Kiera and Kaylee were particularly atrocious, so even though the wind was blowing, we took the girls out and let them run while the weather held.



I took some video of the wind blowing through the trees. It was pretty strong, but nothing like they saw in Houston and Galveston.



We only got a half an inch of rain overnight, so we were also spared most of the heavy stuff. Don't know what we'll get the day after as the storm progresses north. We could have used a lot more rain, but not the nasty stuff. The only damage that I've seen so far is a couple of tree limbs down: one on the church playground and one in the backyard. The one in the backyard really doesn't count though, it's only about an inch in diameter. The one on the playground is pretty substantial. Here's the backyard tree:



And here's the playground:



Hope all in Ike's path stay safe, especially my Aunt Lucy and Aunt Becky in Dallas. Hope y'all are as lucky as we were.

Five Months Already! Are You Kidding?

Yes, Kevin, Jr. turned five months old on September 8th. It's almost hard to believe how the time has flown.



So, how did we celebrate this momentous occasion? Well, we introduced Kevin to a new food: peas. I actually took some video of his first taste of vegetables, hoping to get a nasty face or two, but he loved them! I'd post what I had of him trying the peas, but I had the camera rotated vertically, and I can't figure out how to post it without everyone turning their heads and getting a crick in their necks. Oh well, I guess the following video will have to suffice of mommy and Kevin playing a little bit.



Not to be out done, the girls yelled at mommy to turn the music on the t.v. so that they could jump around and dance. Yes, it is very loud at my house when the kids are awake. The only time it is quiet is when they lay down at night to sleep. It really is a blessing.

Puzzled

Today was a lazy Sunday afternoon, so what did we do to keep the girls occupied while Mom and Dad watched the Cowboys play? Puzzles.

Kiera started off putting her puzzles together, and Kaylee came along and tried to help. Well, there is a reason they put those age appropriate suggestions on toys. Kiera tried to put stuff together, and Kaylee promptly took things apart.

Therefore, we had to take preventative measures to ensure WWIII did not break out. We found all of the puzzles that Kaylee could use. Peace reigned!!



It was nice to get some unadulterated football time in while it lasted!

Growing Up

Kevin has hit a couple of developmental milestones in the past two days. Yesterday, he rolled over for the first time on his own. He hasn't done it again, and I think it's because he didn't like being on his belly.

He has also slept past 7 a.m. for the past couple of mornings. Dawna and I are holding our breath hoping that this is more than a short trend and is the start of his move toward a shift in schedule that will shortly lead to his dropping his late night bottle.

Kevin is gaining weight rapidly (thank God) and even has dimples on his knees. Sunday, a member of the congregation said that he's getting cuter and cuter. I quipped, "Yep. I know. He's starting to look more and more like me when I was that age." If indeed this is the case, and he follows in his father's footsteps in this regard, he's doomed. :-)