Treasures

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."
-Thomas Wilder

....when our hearts are conscious of our treasures..... and from where they come!

fun at willowbrook

Last Friday we had a little play day with Carin/Madison and Danelle/Evan at the mall. There was plenty of entertainment for the babies.

IKE

Photos from our neighborhood, Carin's neighborhood and surrounding area.

Ike has come and gone, but left too, too much evidence of it's passing. We are feeling really fortunate to all be safe and sound and only have a little damage to our roof (just a few shingles to replace). But it is hard to wrap my mind around the damage that is all around. Mostly the damage to cities along the coast like Galveston and then Houston, and I've only seen pictures and news coverage of that. We have seen the impact that Ike has had in our neighborhood, neighborhoods surrounding us, and on the roads. Luckily our neighborhood doesn't have any tall trees, so it wasn't too messy here other than shingles and other debris to pick up. But in many of the other surrounding areas where there are a lot of tall foresty trees, it's pretty messy. There are trees fallen on houses, cars, power lines, and the streets. Plus flooding on the roads and some neighborhoods, which has mostly gone away.

We had our power restored on Sunday afternoon, but there are still a lot of people (people the next block over from us, so we are lucky!) and businesses without power. Carin and Danelle's families are still waiting for power in their neighborhoods. One of the biggest blessings throughout these last few days is that the weather has been nice and cool. And since there are still many, many people without power, it's helping.

Gas and certain groceries are still hard to come by. We went to the grocery store (where we waited in line to get in because they are trying to keep it controlled) yesterday to try and get Trev some milk, but there is nothing in the refrigerated/frozen section at all. You can get bread and canned goods, but all the shelves are totally picked over. Although, I heard that Carin got some cheese and hot dogs today, so it sounds like things are getting better every day. Lines for gas stations are really long, I saw on the news today that some people were waiting for 5 hours. There have been fights breaking out and I heard this morning that there was a shooting at one.

So, it's still pretty crazy around here, even though we personally are doing just fine and have not been seriously impacted. So we're just hanging in there and feeling very blessed to be safe and sound and have our power back on.

Yum!

I have wanted to get my favorite recipes organized and typed up for a long time, with the hopes that I might get a little more inspiration for dinner and make more delicious meals. While my Mom was here she shared all the recipes that she had typed up, I then added some of my own, and now I finally have them all put together, organized and ready to go! This is the first project I have done in what seems like a long time, and I already have my next one planned out, so I'm gonna keep moving forward with this momentum! Thanks for your help, Mom, I would have never gotten it done with out you!

I heart you.....

Trevor missed his Daddy while he was in NYC. On the night that David came home - Carin got Trev a little hat that has a picture of Thomas - it's so cute! He was content to just lay on the couch and watch a little football on Saturday when we finally had Daddy home for the whole day.

Bafff time!

Trev loves his "baf" time!

 

 

 

 

David in NYC

We had a calm weekend with David back at home and not much going on, other than the football game, of course!

I'm really glad that David got to go to NYC and have some fun with his family and go to the US Open with his mom! What an amazing trip! Since David is pretty much anti-blogging, I will post a little slide show of the great pictures he took while he was in NYC and Philly. Some of the highlights for him on this trip - for starters, the Statue of Liberty. He said it was amazing to read/hear all the stories of people who made journeys full of hardship and in low circumstances to America in order to make a better life for themselves. He also loved going to the Delaware River where George Washington crossed. In Philly they ate cheese steak sandwiches, had a race up the "Rocky" stairs, and saw the Liberty Bell. Back in NYC he also saw Phantom of the Opera, the Met, and, of course, the US Open. So here's a little slide show of some of the stuff he did.

Ride!

Over the past few months that we have been living in Houston, one of the prime bonding activities for Trevor and Madison has been their love of the stroller. Carin and I took the babies on lots of walks. Trevor particularly likes riding in the stroller, while Madison sometimes enjoys riding but mostly prefers pushing.

A few weeks ago while I was hanging out with the Hae Hae kids, I came downstairs to discover that they had put their heads together and found an activity they could both enjoy. Madison pushed Trevor around and around the house while Trev sat back and enjoyed the ride. I tried to butt in and make Trevor push Madison, thinking that was only fair. But neither liked that arrangement as much as the one they had come up with on their own. There you go - a perfect match.