Tornadoes

We got a lot of rain from Tropical Storm Hermine. It had rained the past couple of days. Yesterday, we went to therapy in Dallas and when we left, they were telling us to be careful as a lot of roads were being closed due to all the flooding. It was raining when we left, so Andy told me to wait under the awning and he'd pull the van up for us. He came back and told us that there were tornadoes on the ground in Ellis County and some other areas. I asked where and he said he wasn't sure, but to listen to the radio. I got in the van and pulled over by his car so I could wait for him and Tracie to get in his car and told him that there was a tornado near Duncanville. We pulled out of the parking lot and they started talking about watching a storm near the hospital district and that a tornado warning could be called at any time. I freaked out a little, but tried to stay calm as we drive right through there to get on the highway to go home. We started driving and Andy called me and told me to stay on his tail as he was listening to the storm updates on the radio. So was I. I called my Dad to see if he was still in Dallas...he was already into New Mexico and so I told him that there were tornadoes popping up all over. I pulled up under a bridge at a red light and the tornado sirens went off and they started talking about how it was over the Trinity River and going over 35 and up into the hospital district. Andy decided that we weren't getting on the highway, he was going to take us East to try to go around it. I looked towards the highway and I called Andy and I told him that if he looked back behind where he works that I thought I could see the tornado, but the buildings were in the way. He looked and said that he could see something too, but we weren't sure what it was as the buildings were in the way. People started blowing the red lights and so we did too. Once we were able to head in the direction of the highway and headed south, the weather cleared. When we got home and saw the coverage of the tornadoes and they showed the Dallas tornado on the news where we were, Andy said "yup, that is what we saw." He looked on the map to see where they were showing damages reported and where we were in relation to it all...we were parallel to it about a mile away. Wow! I was trying to remain calm driving in it although the little ones really didn't have a clue as to what was going on, but I looked over at Deidra and tears were running down her face. I reached over and took her hand and just kept telling her that it was going to be ok.

It was just really odd. The weather really didn't seem that bad at all when we came out of therapy at all, it had been much worse in the morning. I told Andy that when the tornadoes hit a couple months back it was exactly like that too. No rain or anything and then the tornado sirens went off. Looked out the front door to see a sunny day...then I looked out the back door and it was a totally different picture that was approaching with scary green skies making it's way towards us. I really wasn't scared today, but when I was home by myself with the kids when the other ones hit, I was crying. I think it makes a difference having Andy with me. Anyway, I'm just glad that we all got home safely. Thank you, Abba, for watching over us.

Tornado too close to home...

I was sitting here this afternoon rocking Melina while Tracie and Josiah were napping and the tornado siren went off. I thought it was a drill at first, but it didn't shut off. I looked out the front door and didn't see anything alarming. Called Andy to have him check the radar and he said he'd have to call me back in a few minutes but when he looked a bit ago it didn't look bad. The dog started scratching at the back door and so I went to go see what was up and that's when I saw the clouds behind us and new that something was definitely up. Andy called me back and says "yes, it's not a drill. There's a warning." My cell phone went off and it was my Mom saying that they saw 2 funnel clouds at Carlisle Chevrolet but that they never touched down. There was also a tornado touchdown in Midlothian. Andy told me to go ahead and get the kids into the bathroom and not to come out until he told me too. A few minutes later the sirens quit and so I assumed that it was safe to go outside. It was almost time for me to go get Emily from school. I got the kids loaded up in the van and started driving when Andy texted me not to come out of the bathroom that there was another wall cloud forming. I called him and told him that he was a bit late as we were already out driving. The clouds continued to look very freaky. I got up to Emily's school and a guy stopped me in the street and told me that the school was on lockdown and the tornado was on it's way. Yeah, that's not going to freak me out with a newborn in the car along with 2 toddlers. He tells me that the school is letting parents with small children into the gym. I knew if I took Josiah in there with all the kids in the hallways and the gym and he ran off on me that I'd never get to him, so I took my chances with going home. I wound up getting onto 77 as Brown st was blocked off and the hail hit. I called my Mom in a panic as I really didn't know what to do. I wound up driving to Carlisle so that I wasn't alone with the kids and took cover with my Mom. After the worst of it had passed, we went to the break room to watch the news. Josiah started majorly acting up in there. I was so embarrassed. People were trying to call to warn their families and he wouldn't stop jumping up and down, being loud, and throwing tantrums. I finally wound up having to leave even though the schools were still on lockdown. He just couldn't pull it together and the more I asked him to be quiet, the louder he got and just thought it was funny. I kept trying to explain to him that the weather was bad and that people needed to get in touch with their families to make sure they were safe and that it was a bit scary and he just needed to be quiet. Yeah, no such luck. An hour after school was supposed to be out, the schools finally called and said that they would release the students. I went up to get Emily and they had a NEWS van in the parking lot. It was pouring down rain and they wanted me to go to the office to get Emily. I wound up having to ask them to go get her for me as I wasn't bringing all the other kids out in the pouring rain. I didn't need Melina getting soaked or sick. Thankfully, the principal went and got her for me. I had Andy come home shortly after that. I was never so relieved when Deidra got off the bus and came home and then Andy came home a little after that. I was so relieved to know that we were all safe and sound at home.

Record Snow Fall

It snowed all day yesterday. We wound up with 9-14 inches all around the metroplex. We had 8" in our backyard last night and it was still coming down while we slept. Red Oak wound up with 14" and my Mom lost her big tree in her backyard. It cracked in half and fell on her awning. This is the most wintery season TX has gotten in 32 years and the most snow we have ever gotten in a 24 hour period. The 2nd snowiest of all time, and the most 1-day snowfall at DFW airport recorded at 12.5 inches. The kids all had a blast playing in it and we made a snowman that Andy named, Clyde. :-)

Baby, it's COLD outside!

It was just 76 the other day (although with the wind it definitely felt a lot colder) and that night the winds picked up even more and the temps fell to 32. My Mom emailed me yesterday to ask if we were staying warm. She said that she could see me bundling all the kids up like we used to have to in MI. We were all at home yesterday due to being sick, but I did have to go run to the drugstore once and man was that cold enough.

Andy got up this morning and had to scrape the ice off of all of his windows before he could leave for work. Just as he went outside the phone rang...I thought it was going to be Andy telling me something. It was the school. They had an automated message telling us that "due to increment weather they had issued a 2-hour delay." I don't see anything on the roads at all. Granted, Texans WORRY about snow/ice badly and they are pro-active about their concerns. Sometimes I'd like to set them in the middle of a MI snowstorm just to see what they would do. Andy left for work and I guess Deidra will be going in 2 hours late today.

Our Weekend...

Friday, we had 2 caseworker visits in the afternoon. They both went fine. It was my first time meeting both of them so I was a bit nervous, but all went well. I spent some time talking to Andy about some things as he worked from home in the afternoon to be here for the home visits. Then, Deidra and I went and watched my brother's football game. I was so excited to watch the marching band. I really miss marching band days. Anyway, Red Oak was playing Lancaster and I have to say Lancaster's band was so obnoxious. They never quit playing and everytime I kept going "come on Red Oak, they're on your turf...play...play! My Mom said she had never not enjoyed a game so much because Lancaster's band just played and played and wouldn't give a break and they were LOUD. Sadly, my brother never got to play in the game and we went down afterwards and watched their band march off the field. I overheard 2 Mom's saying how Red Oak just wasn't a marching band and you didn't play on the field with instruments you couldn't march with (she was referring to their pit section). I couldn't help but say that Red Oak's band isn't bad...they had a better half time show than Lancaster, but they do lack sound. My Dad told her that I was in a very competitive marching band and she said that they used to be too and had about a 100 members in their band. I told her that any marching band I knew of had a pit section. My Dad told her that our band took up the whole football field. She still wanted to argue and said that Red Oak's band director literally came from Wal-mart and wouldn't let the kids have any fun. I decided at that point to quit arguing with her. As I was walking away she said that Red Oak needed to get a band director who was qualified. My argument had nothing to do with that as I don't know the situation, all I was trying to tell her that Red Oak wasn't a bad band, they just lack some sound and that any competitive band has a pit section. Oh well!

Saturday we got up and spent the day at the State Fair. We decided last year that we were going to start budgeting specifically for that event. It's huge and so much fun. We got there and there was so much we wanted to see and food that we wanted to try. We'd get the food and share so we could all taste it. We started out with chicken strips and curly fries for the kids, then Andy and I went and got fried grilled cheese and tomato soup dip. We tried fried banana splits, and fried cantaloupe pie and Deidra got frozen chocolate dipped cheesecake and chocolate covered strawberries. Everything was really good! We walked through the arts and crafts booths, the auto show, and took Deidra over to play some games where she got things for her and all the kids. We watched the irish school dancers for awhile and Baby T totally got into it and was clapping to the music and laughing. Little E wanted to sit by the fountain with Deidra, so Deidra walked her over there. Deidra is so good with her. Little E can get very apprehensive and fearful around new situations and people, but if Deidra takes her hand and talks to her she totally calms down. My brother, Jimmie, met up with us over by Big Tex and we walked around with him for awhile. We are trouble makers when we get together. I wanted to meet up with my parents for a bit, but they were on the complete opposite side of the grounds and my feet were hurting so badly by that point (my feet are covered in blisters from the new shoes that I just got) that I couldn't get up the gumption to walk over there. The kids were all really good while we were out and Little E walked everywhere. We asked her after we had been there for 6 hours if she was tired and wanted to rest and she didn't. I was so proud of her! We got ready to go and Jimmie asked if he could get a ride home with us. We called my Mom & Dad to let them know and as we were walking out I realized we never took the kids to the animal barn. Last year we went and got to pet a kangaroo and I'll admit that it's one of my favorite parts of the fair each year, so I can't believe that I totally forgot all about it. I didn't have the strength to walk all the way to the other side of the fair to bring them thougha nd then have to walk all the way back to leave. We were all hot and tired by that point. It is good to see my parents being friendly enough towards each other as well to enjoy each others company. Dad came in this week to help move him and Zach out of their apartment in Austin and it's just really nice to see them getting along. It was nice to sit in the stands and watch my brother's game with both of them and see them laughing and so forth. That's a totally answered prayer right there.

Sunday, we all got up and went to church and I took Deidra to catechism and I went and helped Mom teach her RCIA class. Well, I didn't really help...more like just sat in...and if she needs an errand ran or anything then she asks me to go do it for her. I like to sit in as God speaks to me in classes like that. I think next year I may really formally start helping her out. Deidra makes her first communion this year as well and I would like to help in her class as well. We came home and took a nap and then Andy and I had some stuff that we needed to get done. I worked on laundry for awhile, I re-organized Baby J's closet and took out everything that was too small for him, and Andy steam cleaned the carpets in our room and got rid of the totes that we were just working on unpacking and it looks so much better in there now. Then, I cleaned the downstairs up so he could spot clean the carpets in the living room and play room. I got some more laundry put away and I made dinner that for once everyone really liked (Amish casserole)... We got the kitchen cleaned up and I gave the kids their baths and got them ready for bed so I could enjoy some peace and quiet. Andy called his Dad to check his itinerary. He's flying in the week after next from Sunday-early Wed. morning. We were trying to get him to come in over the weekend so Andy had the time with him, but he's flying to Phoenix to see my BIL and SIL when he leaves here, so he wouldn't change it. Andy's taking his last sick day on Monday when he's here. Andy's Mom comes in this week while we're in San Antonio for our foster parent conference. We're going to pick her up from her sister's house on Sunday and she's staying until Tuesday morning when we have to bring her to the airport. Andy's taking the last of his vacation for our conference and his Mom's visit. It makes me a bit nervous that he's out of days when we still have a couple months' left of the year, but hopefully all will be ok.

Think I got myself another spider bite...

I went walking through some long grass the other day by a parking lot and when I went to bed that night my toe was hurting a bit, nothing major, I just figured I scratched it and never really looked. I woke up the next morning and my toe was really sore. I saw a couple red scratches when I looked down at my foot and thought "yup, I must have scratched it when I went walking through the long grass." I'm always in flip-flops. Anyway, we were laying on the couch watching the Olympics and I had my feet in Andy's lap. He did something and he just lightly touched that toe and I let out an "ouch." He looked at it and said "umm, that doesn't look like 2 scratches honey, that looks like you got bit by yet another spider." I went to bed last night and now they are full of puss. Ewww! It's not nearly as sore as it was yesterday though...it still hurts a bit when I walk. But, I think I'm going to keep a closer eye on them and clean my toe in some peroxide. Yuck!

I hate spiders!

We've really been having a tough time with wolf spiders in our house. It seems like we find 3-5 during a week lately. I hate them...they're huge and they run fast. I will not touch them at all to try and kill them. And you have to be careful because the mom spiders carry their babies on their backs...so you get one of those and you have little marbles rolling around your floor as well that are actually little baby spiderlings. What fun!

Anyway, I'm sitting on the living room floor today feeding Baby L and I notice something scurrying across the floor and I freak as I realize it's yet another wolf spider. I jump up and put the food on the counter and go to get the vacuum cleaner and the spider stops right in between me and the vacuum almost like he knew what I was going to do. We have a stare down and then he runs under my computer desk. I make my way to the vacuum and wait for him to come out. What does he do...he runs along the wall and into my guest bathroom (the most used bathroom as it's the only one downstairs). I shut the door to the bathroom and figure he can stay there and I'll make my way upstairs to go to the bathroom today until Andy gets home to take care of him. So, the phone rings and I tell Andy that I'm getting pest control out here. I can't handle these things anymore...they give me a heart attack everytime I see one and I've already been bitten once and with the kids around I don't want them getting bit, especially with the babies doing tummy time and such on the floor. He tells me to get a quote and we'd see about one coming out. Then, while I'm talking to him, I let out this huge screech. The spider has come out and is standing in the middle of the hallway to trap me in the kitchen. What do I do? I'm half-way panicking and Andy is laughing at me.

I climbed over the couch (something I'm always telling the kids not to do) to get the vacuum mcleaner and I let Baby J down to do spider patrol (he's alwyas telling us where the bugs are) in case he made a run for it. So, I ran and got the vacuum and spider tries to make it to the staircase, but when I bumped the wall it knocked him down to the floor again and I was able to suck him up. I put the vacuum back and I am half-way expecting him to come lunging out of there after me again. Man, these things really must know that I do not like them! And I really need to teach Baby J that not all bugs are spiders. He scares me half to death when he yells out "spider, Mommy, spider!" Half the time, it's an ant. I can deal with those...although they do bite down here as well...but I'll take an ant bite anytime over dealing with a spider.

I'm waiting for pest control to call me back to get them out today. Spiders be gone!

Aloe Vera is my best friend right now...

We went to the water park on Monday and I got a pretty bad sunburn on my shoulders and chest. It literally kills to put my arms over my head to get dressed and to do my hair. And forget a bra...I'm only wearing one when I have to go out somewhere or I have someone coming over. Andy's been coating me in aloe vera gel and when he's not here I do my best to do it myself. Today when I was doing it, I noticed that parts of it have blistered. I never had a sunburn blister before so it kind of freaked me out. I called the doctor just to make sure I didn't need to do anything special to it and she just told me to make sure to use aloe vera gel and to make sure I load up on sunscreen next time I'm out in the sun. That's what I get for letting the kids rush me to go swimming...I got them all loaded up on sunscreen and just did my arms and legs and called it good. I knew better, but I didn't listen to that little voice saying "wait a second and get Andy to do your shoulders really good." Now, I know that I better listen when that little voice talks to me....or maybe I'm just going cuckoo. I'm off to take some more tylenol now that I just coated in aloe vera gel again. Owwww! This Texas sun will get ya...that's for sure.

Spider Bite

I went to take a shower last night and took my sweet time in there. It felt nice not having to rush and letting the warm water just rain over me. The kids were all in bed and Andy was playing a game online. I was just enjoying not having to rush and I felt a burning sensation on my neck and went to reach for it. I brushed at something and when I looked down I discovered it was a spider. Not a particularly big one or anything and it didn't look like anything I needed to be afraid of (only 2 poisonous spiders to fear here). I finished up and got dressed and came downstairs to tell Andy. 2 little fang marks on the right side of my neck. Andy asked me if I was ok and I just said it burned a little bit. I hate spiders and am horribly afraid of them, but I was pretty mellow about what happened. I think I even surprised myself.

It's been in the high 90s and it just does NOT feel that hot!

We've been in Texas for 2 years now (May 1st marked our 2 year anniversary of being down here. It's been around 95 all week and I was just telling my Mom on Sunday when we were out and about is either we've really gotten used to living down here or the humidity is different than it was last year because it does not feel that hot to me at all. Last year, in the high 90s, I was in the a/c as much as possible and we didn't do much at all outside. This year, we've been out doing yardwork and taking walks and all sorts of stuff and it just doesn't feel that hot to me. I never said anything to Andy about it and we went out to run a few errands last night and Andy said "I must be used to Texas now and lost my MI blood because it's 98 outside and it just doesn't feel all that hot to me." I started laughing and said that I had just said something similar on Sunday to my Mom. Don't get me wrong, it's warm, but that weather in MI would have me feeling sick to my stomach...it gets hotter here than up there obviously and it just doesn't seem to be phasing me.

My Mom had dinner with a...

My Mom just called me from down in San Antonio. Her and my aunt went to dinner (my aunt flew in from MI to watch her take her vows tomorrow) and all of a sudden my aunt says "Oh my gosh..." My Mom turns around and there right behind her inside the window is a big brown hairy tarantula. They were freaking out. She went and got the waiter and the waiter came and scooped it up with his bare hands and put it in a jar. The spider climbed out and the guy picked it up and let it crawl up his arm before he took it outside to throw it into the yard. My aunt had the heebie jeebies. Mom had to call me right away and tell me. She's always saying spiders don't bother her and so I asked her if she at least got up when she saw it. She said "oh yeah, you should have seen how big he is. Wait until you see the picture Aunt Bettie took." They were laughing and Mom said "yeah, if you would have been here you would have been screaming." I told her "if I would have been with you, you wouldn't have gotten me to sit down and finish dinner." lol

Weekend Plans?

Anyone have any exciting weekend plans? I'm tired...TX got hit by some strong winds, rain, and hail last night and so we went to bed late. All I know is that by 9 pm last night it felt to me like it should have been midnight. I didn't want to get up this morning either.

I'm not sure what we're doing this weekend, I'd like to tackle the backyard landscaping and get that done. I need to totally clean the inside of my house. I need to catch up Baby D and Little J's scrapbooks. Heck, I'm behind on all of them, but since they're technically going home soon, I really need to make sure they're caught up. So prepare to see lots of pages from me this weekend. I know they're probably boring to everyone, but I enjoy sharing them. :-)

I'd like to go out thrift shopping for ebay this weekend too. It's supposed to be beautiful this weekend. I'm enjoying seeing all the green grass, the flowers blooming, and I really want to go take the kids pictures with the Texas Bluebonnets that are popping up all over the highways and stuff.

I love spring...to see everything popping up and blooming reminds me that we're always given a fresh start in life and in everything we do.

Tornadoes Up Our Alley...

It was a crazy night last night. I wish we would have thought to take a picture of the screenshot of the radar last night. I've never seen such a long line of storms and there were so many tornado warnings. Thankfully, we stayed in the watch zone, but we were right in the path of a couple tornado warnings that were issued...we just missed it. Anyway, here is a picture of the tornadoes paths and stuff that we found online this morning. If I do stumble across a radar image of the lines and the warnings all around us, I'll post it. It was crazy!

Andy woke up at 3 as he knew that was when the line of storms was due to hit again. He got up to watch the radar and he came to wake me up to let me know that we may be under a tornado warning soon and if we were he was going to come get us in a hurry. I got up with him to help keep watch and we were constantly looking at the radar. It was so nuts...tornado warnings popping up all over...it sure was crazy. When I saw that we were possibly going to be on target for a warning, I tried to call my Mom's house, but they must have had the ringer off. I tried her several times before the storms came in fast and it looked like we were going to lose power. What a crazy night. I think we headed back to bed around 4:30 after a lot of prayers for people that we knew that had warnings in their areas. I'm dragging this morning.

Mud Showers

We wondered what the heck was going on when this happened to us down in San Antonio. We couldn't figure out how the car was getting so dirty so fast. When we got out, we saw all the other cars in the same boat and we looked at each other and said "It's raining mud." Wow! We spent a little over an hour the next day in line to get a car wash.

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page2485.html?theme=light

It's early in the morning...

Wow...it's 7:30 in the morning and we've already been outside to build a snowman. lol. The girls had a 2-hour delay and all while we were outside that's all you can hear is sirens. I have our snowman in the freezer so he doesn't melt before Andy can see him.. I'll share pics later. :-) I gotta go get the girls in the bathtub and ready for school and then I'm taking Baby D into the doctor.

Texas Geckos

I used Creative Victorian's Arizona Fantasy kit for this one.

We saw one of these...

We ran out to do errands last night around 7 and as we were getting the kids in the car, Deidra says there's something crawling in the street. We turn and look and Andy said "I know what that is." I had no idea from where we were. We get closer and Andy says "yup, that's a big tarantula." It was just walking down the road. He went into the neighbor across the road's yard and then when we left, we saw it going across their driveway. We didn't get too close to it as it does walk quite fast.

I just thought it was funny that when I was talking to my Mom about moving down here I was worried about the spiders and the rattlesnakes and she had said that she had never seen any. Well, we've been here just over a year and we've seen 2 rattlesnakes (at the park of all places) and now as of yesterday, we've seen our first tarantula. I'm just hoping that he's not anywhere around our yard right now. Deidra and I were freaked last night about even getting out of the car in the dark.