This one missed us...

I figured I better blog since the last time I did we were anticipating the storm of the year. Maybe you would think we were blown to bits and no longer standing. Well the truth is...Saturday was another typical Texas day...97 degrees hot and humid!! We did not see ANY effects of the storm that ravaged Houston and Corpus only 200 miles away. Weird. No rain, no clouds, less wind than normal.

Today we have a gorgeous cold front that was a pleasant surprise. It was only 70 this morning and it has only gotten up to 83 today!! What a relief. Of course everything for Saturday had been cancelled, even school got out early on Friday for us to prepare for the end. But luckily for San Antonio it was not to be.

Now we find ourselves as host city to the thousands of evacuees from Houston and Galveston for who knows how long. They need your thoughts and prayers, because from what I've heard and seen it was really bad and will be for quite some time. As with Katrina there have been a lot of people here that are not going to go back. Their houses are gone, their neighborhoods are leveled, the schools are flooded, there is no power, there is no water, there is nothing for them. And so we welcome them with open arms to our city and help them in any way that we can. Chins up...we'll all get through it.

Hurricane Ike

I thought it best to post a little about Hurricane Ike. This storm is on every network all day long. It's going to be a whopper of a storm...for those near Houston and Galveston. But for us in San Antonio it's going to be one big thunderstorm. The hype has been huge, and granted they didn't know quite where it was going to go at first, so better to be prepared...but it's just not going to make it here. I am thankful for that. Even so, I have turned my trampoline over and put rocks on it, I have brought in our patio furniture, and pushed things up against the house. I have filled two of our 55 gallon water containers and charged the batteries on the portable DVD players. I am ready for a day or two without power...if I have to. So even if nothing happens...I've done some of the emergency preparedness I should have been doing anyways. Thank you Ike!!

Girly Stuff

Monday was McKinley's first ballet/tap/tumbling class. Surprisingly to me she jumped right into the class. She loves to dance and sing at home, but experience has taught me that she becomes an entirely different person around new people. But she was great. She did everything the cute teacher taught her to do and hasn't stopped "practicing" at home since. She thinks she should have the class more often, but alas, only on Mondays.

For tap class they learned toe taps and toe tips, and a cute little step that really makes a lot of noise in those tap shoes. For ballet they went through all the positions and I must say that McKinley is a natural. So delicate and petite and soft with her movements. She just looks like a pretty balerina girl. But she was also awesome at the tumbling. Watching her brought back memories of my years of gymnastics and how much I loved it. Maybe she'll find a passion for one or all of these fun things. Or it might be something completely different for her...whatever she decides to do is fine. But, after 12 years of fun, rough and tough "boy" things, it was cute to watch my little girl be girly!!

Here's a video of her split rolls for the first time. She has already perfected this one at home and no longer needs the "lift" from mom to get going. She's ready to show that one to her teacher next Monday...if only it would come sooner.

The Beast Is Back

I was able to sleep in today. Finally. And tomorrow I can do it again thanks to late church now. I even stayed in bed to read a book this morning...wow, that was heavenly. You see, there were no soccer games today, that starts next week. The morning progressed equally serene as I got up to my cherubic children doing their Saturday chores without even being asked. I know, something was going on. Is it my birthday? Mothers Day? Maybe I slept in longer than I thought and it's Christmas...'cause I'm having a great day. It just keeps going...David took me to lunch and to our hometeacher's wedding sealing at the temple. Then we got home...

Two words: BYU Football. Now I sit here with the person who claims to be my husband screaming at his football team. Like they can hear him. Now don't get me wrong, I love football. And I share an admiration for my alma mater team. But I don't have to scream at each and every missed tackle, mistouch, misstep, mis-anything. I just cheer them on, stay positive. Luckily most of the games aren't televised on Dish. So I'll have my husband back.

A Sign of the Times

So Ethan came home yesterday all excited about his social studies homework. He absolutely loves his teacher (he was able to "loop" up with all his 4th grade teachers from last year) and so he gladly took on another student's work from his group project. I thought, "Wow, what a nice guy." and also had thoughts of "Shouldn't this child benefit from doing his own research", but you can't kill your son's offer of a kind act of service too early on. As the afternoon progressed Ethan got a little frustrated. You see, he was trying to figure out the parts of government. Ok, I remember: Legislative, Judicial, Executive...we're on a roll. But what exactly can you say about local government? Are we talking Mayor or City Council? What about County Commissioner? I couldn't explain. So what do you do when you don't know....www.ask.com. One look at my middle child's face and the explanation that came next was so sureal: "That's why "Jimmy" couldn't do this assignment. He's ONE of the two kids in my class that doesn't EVEN HAVE a computer at home!!" Can you believe it...the horror, not a single computer? That's when I had my moment of nostalgia remembering when we got our first computer, when I was 8 or so. Nobody had them then and we were cutting edge. I guess times have really changed.

Blog Setting

I'm thinking about making my blog more secure...ie. keeping out the crazies (at least the ones I don't know). Has anyone done this with their blog? It says I can add the people I want to invite and they will have to log in...will that stop you from reading? I just don't want too much information out there about my family...for those weirdos to get to us somehow? Any comments/ideas/suggestions?

Dad's Death Drills

So David decided yesterday that he was going to help our kids be better soccer players. They are already having 2 practices a week, but the kids want to take their game to the next level. They didn't have to talk Dave into that...he's all about DRIVE!! So on Tuesdays and Thursdays we now have practice with Dad from 6-7 in the backyard. He's got drills and more drills to help them with ball control and power kicking. They love it!! It's going to be such a fun thing to watch...from inside on my computer!!