Well. . .

We just got back from trick-or-treating. There is a good assortment of candy on the floor, and just the proximity to that candy has made Addie pretty loopy. Right now, she's going after a purple sucker. Of course, about thirty-seven percent of that sucker is all over her face, neck and chest. April looks at Addie and laughs, "you're getting all purple."
To which Addie replies, "Well, it IS purple."

Happy Halloween!

Then and now

This basket is so much fun - at least the girls think so. A few nights ago Charlotte had a blast pushing this around and climbing in and out of it. I couldn't help but think about Addie when she was roughly the same age.

Charlotte, 11 months:


Adeline, 10 months:

Fall Fun

A few days ago the playgroup from our church took a trip up north to a place called the Oil Ranch. I was a little nervous because a lot of the activities at the ranch involve farm animals. The last time Addie was around animals like this was at the rodeo and she was terrified. But, we don't get many opportunites to get out in the country, so I decided to risk it.

First up was the hayride to feed the cows. Addie wasn't too thrilled, she wanted to sit on my lap the entire time, but it did go better than I was expecting. The cows put their heads right into the wagon and would eat out of your hand... we just threw our food onto the hay and let them eat it from there. Considering the cows got within two feet of Addie, I am very proud to say there was no screaming involved.


After the cows we went to a hay-maze. Much less frightening.

Next we had a picnic lunch. Charlotte was so tired from the cow excitement that she almost fell asleep on the grass.

After lunch we rode on the train. This was Addie's favorite part of the trip.


After the train ride we headed off to the petting zoo and pony rides. This was the only interesting picture I got at the petting zoo. Charlotte was zonked out in her stroller and Addie wanted nothing to do with the animals. But they did have this chicken which I thought was really funny looking.


Out of everything that day, I was most surprised by Adeline's reaction to the ponies. She doesn't even like the 25 cent mechanical horses in supermarkets, so I was completely shocked when she rode the horse! She was a little nervous at the beginning, I had to hold her hand the first time. But after she was done she actually wanted to go again! These pictures are from round #2 when she was comfortable enough to ride without me.

Then we tried to put Charlotte on a horse. Not to ride, just to get a picture. But she wanted nothing to do with it.

Here we are at the end of the day. Charlotte is half naked because we had snow-cones and she enjoyed hers a little too much.

6th Folder Tag

Okay, I am actually doing a tag! Only because it is super, super easy. If you get tagged, you have to go to your Pictures folder, open the 6th folder and post the 6th picture from that folder. Then you tag 6 people (well, it was originally supposed to be 5, but I thought 6 worked better with the 6 theme)... so I tag Scott, Susannah, Holly, Shannon, Lisa and Kelianne.

The important stuff

I've been trying to teach Addie her letters recently. It didn't seem like it was really sinking in, she could pick out O and B, but that is about it. Well, today I gave her some M&Ms. She was munching away when suddenly she looked at one and said, "Look, Mom, an M! M is for Mommy!" I guess it just takes the right motivation to get her to tell us what she knows.

Naptime at Wal-Mart

Charlotte got up really early today and shopping was just a little too much for her.

Cheeks!

I wanted to say thank you to my friend who showed me a great secret to taking cute pictures of kids. You say teach your kids to put their cheeks together anytime you say "cheeks." They think it is funny and you get a cute shot with their heads posed almost perfectly.

We tried this with Addie and she had a great time. Take a look at our results!


It doesn't work as well with Charlotte and Addie together, but I'm sure the kinks will work themselves out in a matter of time.

Dad has a lot of work to do

Yep, we survived the hurricane. We lost a good portion of our fence and we did lose electricity for a long time, but the house and everything inside (people included) faired very well. The girls actually slept through the entire storm. The wind was so loud and occasionally over the wind we could hear a large "thump" which was usually a branch being ripped off a tree. I must say, I am very impressed with trees. At the height of the storm you could even see the trunks of huge oak trees swaying. I don't even know how to describe what the branches were doing - it seriously looked like the whole tree was made of Jello! I kept waiting for our neighbor's tree to snap and takeout our garage. Thankfully it didn't.

The next morning, when we were finally able to get outside and assess the damage, we found that our front yard now looked like a jungle. The thing I was most surprized about were the pulverized leaves. I was expecting downed branches, but the porch, sidewalk and walls of our house were covered in little tiny leaf-shards. It looked like someone had stuck them in a blender and then glued them to any surface they could find.

And what work does Sean have to do?

Well, there are still branches all over the city. Everyone has cleared their lawns and put the debris into piles by the curb, now we are just patiently waiting for them to be cleared away. Occasionally Addie will notice one of these piles and say, "Oh, look at those branches! They fell out of the tree. Dada needs to put them back!"

So Sean, get to work...

The right hand lane is the line of cars waiting to get gas!

Beer and PopTarts

Last night we ventured out to Wal-Mart. Not because we really needed anything, we have plenty of food and water. I just thought it would be nice to have a few new games, books, and craft items to keep us entertained while we are cooped up in the house. We also got some unhealthy snacks.

Let me tell you, Wal-Mart is a very scary place to be the day before a hurricane. There were no parking spots available and no shopping carts. When we walked in the doors we almost turned back around because the lines at the checkout were at least 15 people long. Here is a little hint for the future: if you are preparing for a natural disaster and need to go to Wal-Mart, use the register back in electronics. We were in and out in under an hour.

After Hurricane Katrina I heard a statistic that the two most purchased items in preparation for a hurricane are PopTarts and beer. Sure enough, it seemed like everyone had a case or two of some sort of alcohol item in their cart. And when we went to the PopTart aisle the only thing left was a few boxes of blueberry. It is a good thing we went when we did, we almost missed out. So we got our version... PopTarts and sparkling cider.

Hurricane Ike is supposed to make landfall late tomorrow night. Thankfully we are pretty prepared. We are not in the evacuation area and after hearing horror stories about people being stuck in traffic for 14 hours trying to get to Austin (normally a 3 hour drive), we have decided to stay put. We have plenty of food and water to last about a week. The only thing we are worried about is losing electricity. Several days in Houston in an unairconditioned house could make for a very grumpy family. Later this afternoon I'm going to the store to pick up some fun games and activities to do while we are stuck inside. Hmmmm, I wonder what Sean would think about repainting the living room this weekend?

One of the things they advise you to do is fill up your gas tank. If you live in a hurricane prone area you are actually supposed to keep your tank at least half full. Even if you don't evacuate it will often take days before gas stations have any gas because the trucks can't get into town. I'm not very good at doing this. With gas prices being so high and having to deal with two kids in the car I try to put off this chore as long as possible... sometimes I wait a little too long.

Well, with the hurricane coming of course my tank is almost empty. So I ventured out this morning to fill the tank. I passed a station and the lines were HUGE. I found another station that was virtually empty, I was so excited and was feeling a big smug that I wasn't going to have to wait in line. Nope, no luck for me, they were out of gas already. So I waited in line for 30 minutes like everyone else. But now our tank is filled and we're ready.



On another note... Some of our family members have been complaining about cold weather and a few of them have even had their first snowfalls. Doesn't this look like it should be bringing some nice cold air and maybe some snow? Nope, the only thing it has for us is wind, rain, and probably more humidity.

Adeline Conaway Airport

If you ask Addie what her full name is she will tell you, "Adeline Conaway Airport!" You can argue with her all you want, but she will insist that it is Adeline Conaway Airport, not just Adeline Conaway.

On another airport note - we were driving yesterday and Adeline saw an airplane overhead. She got very excited and said, "See the airplane? It's going to Colorado. It's taking people to Grandma's house."

.... Grandma, I hope you are ready for lots of guests!