I know, I know...

I don't have time right now, but I want you all to know that I will be posting VERY SOON! I promise.

Whew, we made it!

Here is our brief rundown of Ike...our version.

Belinda and I made a "hurricane room" in our closet and we thought we were ready. After much convincing we got my sister to come over and stay with us to all be safe. So picture this...3 adults, Harrison, 4 dogs, and a cat! HA!

We made it through the storm and Harrison slept through the entire thing! Belinda and Angie boarded up all of our windows except our bedroom, which means only one thing...I was so terrified that the window was going to bust out that I couldn't sleep and didn't want to sleep in the hurricane room (1. because of the window 2. our air mattress already was 1/2 way deflated). So glad we had the hurricane room. :) We lost power at about 10:45pm and made it through the night with my sister texting my mom in California and occasionally turning on the radio to find out what was going on. THANKS MOM!

After making it through the next night with no air and constantly fearing that Harrison was overheating we packed up the next morning and went to Krista's house. They did not have power but they did have 2 refrigerators on generators...so at least we had food for the kids and cold beer for us! The cold front came in that night and it was great! THANKS BURLESON'S!

Our neighbors called us at 5:00am to let us know that we had power again. We got up, fed the kiddos and after waiting for 4 1/2 hours in line to get gas, we could finally had enough to make it home.

Luckily in the time that we were gone, our landlords had sent over a company to cut down all of the big trees that had fallen and got those out curbside. Thank God for that because Belinda and I had spent a great deal of time raking our yard and getting as much of the debris out as we could. It was nice to come home to more of it being out of our yard.

In the time that went by in our house without power was enough time to make our house STINK! With the disposal, dirty dishes, and dogs it was gross. We threw out everything and cleaned the house. Finally went grocery shopping today out in Katy and go figure...out of gas again. The lines are still so long!!

Hopefully our city gets back to normal soon and everyone will have plenty of power, food, and gas!

Obviously you have power to be reading this so that makes me happy! If any of you need anything, please let us know!

I hope that you were all safe!

Much love,
Casie

Harrison was more than excited to come out and help clean up!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...oh my!

Today we went to the zoo! Jennifer brought Colsen and Campbell and Krista brought Tate & Addie. Here are the pictures that I got before the camera pooped out. Hopefully the girls got some cute ones and will post them soon.

They had a great time. Harrison just loves being there. Who wouldn't like running around then getting to hop into a wagon and pull you around while you eat snacks and drink? I would! Harrison and Colsen had a great time together as usual and Harrison go SO EXCITED to see Tate & Addie. When they got there he went running to great them.

Here are the pictures...

More soon...Cas

Some updates...

This is Colsen's baby sister, Campbell. Belinda got some especially good lovin' on Sunday.

Secrets, secrets, are no fun...unless I am a part of one.

Actually this is Colsen giving Harrison a kiss. Then on the next attempt to get a picture, Colsen accidentally hugged Harrison a little too hard and you can imagine where all the dirt went. :) It was a good laugh.

This is Harrison's new favorite smile, we aren't really sure where it has come from. He likes it though. Whatever.

Belinda and Harrison at the top of the playground at Discovery Green.

Too cute.

Riley made a surprise visit to the park on Saturday.

Harrison & Colsen with remote control sailboats. This was too cute. They loved it even though they had NO idea what they were doing (I don't think we did either)!

We had some friends over on Sunday to play. Here is Harrison & Colsen in the pool.

Harrison, eating dinner. Yes, he likes to put his feet up while eating. Nice...

So, Colsen's mom, Jennifer, calls me this evening to tell me that they were saying their prayers before bedtime and as usual, they bless their friends. Colsen apparently has a new best friend because he blessed Harrison MANY times. :) He keeps asking if he can go to Harrison's house and play. It is so cute to think that they might be the best of friends.

We haven't seen Claire and her parents in a couple of weeks and when we got to the park on Saturday to catch up with them, Harrison went screaming onto the playground, "Claire is there, Claire is here." It was really cute. Amazing how we think that kids attention spans are so short and that there is not a long term memory developed yet, but there is (maybe that is just me not knowing). We didn't even tell him that Claire was going to be there. He gets really excited to go to Discovery Green every weekend to see his friends.

We went to gymnastics again this week and he is doing much better. His flexibility has increased and is a bit more daring. He LOVES the trampoline now. He likes to think that our couch is one too. Its not. Belinda came to class this week, it was a nice surprise and Harrison was excited to see her there. They did the balance beam together. He was excited to show her all of the things that he could do.

Spanish class started back up today. I got to go for the first time. He is still trying to figure it out, but loves it. You can see him mind working when he knows what is going on but doesn't quite get it yet. For example, when they sing Itsy Bitsy Spider in spanish he turns around to me and asks me if that is what they are singing. Then he just does the motions and hums along. As some of you know he loves the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? They read it in spanish class so he gets really excited to yell out the animal and color...in english. HA! We went to the library today to get it in spanish so we go over it before next week. By his demand, we read it about 10 times tonight.

It is amazing how fast he is growing and how much it is all coming together. He is such a big boy. He is retaining so much and when we make those promises right before sleep, he is now remembering them. So basically we have to stop telling him things just to pacify him. We'll see how that goes. :)

I have loved being home with him everyday, it is so much fun! He is SO energetic and funny. Even more than I thought before. It further validates my point of I don't know how she does it everyday. I have enjoyed it thoroughly. I wish I could do it all the time.

I think this catches me up on the update. More soon...

Much love,

Cas

"NASTICS"

Tonight was Harrison's first gymnastics class! It was fun. They started out with some stretches. Rolls were next and other floor activities. Next came the foam pit and slide. The beam and trampoline were next followed by the trapeze. It was all too cute and overall I think Harrison did a good job! His friend Colsen was in the class too and should go ahead and go pro. The boys had a good time and I look forward to going next week. If you are interested ...http://www.discovergymnastics.com/. (You can click on any of the pictures to see them bigger)

Discovery Green

So as some of you know, we LOVE Discovery Green Park. We have a blast! Here are some pics that I took today. Give me some time to figure this camera out. Bella (2) is the little girl in pink and her baby brother is Benito (5 weeks, I think). Claire(14 months) is the one in the black bikini. Put her in a pair of little bitty roller skates and she would be good to go! :) Next week I will add some more pics of the park...we are missing a couple of kiddos!

Harrison has had such a busy schedule the last 2 days its crazy. He has had such a great time. He went to Pump It Up with some friends Friday morning and then to a play date at another friends house Friday afternoon. He got to sleep over at Nee-Nee's house, so that we could go out, and as always we were at Discovery Green at 8:30 Saturday morning. http://www.discoverygreen.com/

Big thank you to Angie (nee-nee) for watching H-Man, we had a great time!!

More to come...

Cas

"My Space"

So in the last couple of weeks we have learned Harrison's new favorite thing to say (next to "no") is now "my space." Some of you may be thinking it could be the addicting website where you get to self indulge all about yourself and your friends...think again. He is telling us that wherever we are that it is his space. We are assuming that he has learned this at school. It is quite funny sometimes. He will just come right up to you not caring what you are doing or better yet, what you were doing...he just lets you know that it is his space and you need to move. Harrison got a new stuffed animal (thanks Avery) that looks just like our dog Red. He has also named his HUGE black dog Red. Creative. So last night, at the beginning of his usual going to bed mini-meltdown, he told his stuffed Red that he was in his space. He got a little perturbed at the fact that Red wasn't responding and threw him off the bed. I laughed so hard. Then he got mad at me. :)

The fabulous pictures that Tracy took have come in and will be posted soon! I recommend that all of you, if you haven't already, get all future pictures taken by her. She is great!

More soon...
Cas