We Survived Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike made his debut last Friday and boy did he come full force! This was the first hurricane for all three of us - Marquis, myself, and Nolan. We stayed with some friends Mark and Alison and their baby who is Nolan's age, Brooklynn. We played ping pong most of the night and settled into bed around 11. The winds woke me up at 2 in the morning and it was like something out of a movie. Scattered throughout the neighborhood are massive trees. The way the wind was blowing them about you would have thought they were little baby trees. They were bending back and forth, ready to uproot at any minute. We went downstairs and Mark was already up out in the living room. Soon to follow was Alison's mom and dog, Hunter and Shi-Shi, a girl that is staying with them. We all gathered around the coffee table and listened to what the newscasters had to say on our battery-operated radio. Not good.

We awoke the next morning and discovered that many shingles were ripped off of their roof. Becuase of that, they had a major leak in their game room and would need some major work done. We went back home after the rain died down a bit around 11 am and found our apt. to be in wonderful condition. The power was on and our building didn't have any damage. Other buildings were not so lucky. We know of one couple who had to immediately move their things out because the water damage was so bad they were afraid their apartment would collapse to the second floor!

I know in Houston many people are still without power and gas, food, and water are precious commodities. Let's pray we make it through this hurricane season without another hurricane!

My Baby is Growing Up

Journaling by hand is non-existent these days. I am a full-time 2nd grade teacher, wife, and mother of an active and energetic 19-month old boy named Nolan Alexander. A word to describe current life would be B-U-S-Y. These moments with my son are so precious and I never want to forget them. I'm afraid I'll soon forget all the daily events that bring us so much joy.

These pictures are Nolan's 18-month shots. They depict his high level of energy and his current interest in playing with balls and dancing his little heart out. We've got some amusing footage of him dancing. The first time he bopped his head around was at 9-months and it was to the opening song on Marquis' Wii. It was a song by Ozzy Osborne. We cracked up! Now Nolan will dance to anything. He rocks out like he's playing a guitar to a rock song, he bounces his knees and throws his hands up to a hip-hop song, and best of all he raises his hands to God and scrunches his face up and closes his eyes when he hears a praise n' worship song. He started doing this at church when he saw how a lot of people praise Jesus.

These are just a few of the amusing and amazing things Nolan keeps us entertained with on a daily basis.