Home Again

As of Tuesday morning, we are finally back in our house with power! Thanks to everyone who accomodated us over the last two and a half weeks. It was a fun adventure, but I'm glad it's over! Time to get back to my routine life.

Where am I?

Jacquie sent me this forward today...I thought it was blog worthy!

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude."

She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican."

"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct , but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Democrat."

"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, now somehow, it's my fault.

Fresh Blackberries

Mom found an abundance of wild blackberries ready for the picking just a few streets away from Amy's house. These pictures show all the jars of jam, a cobbler, and a pie she made with the berries. We also ate them on our cereal, yogurt, ice cream, and pancakes all week long! Amy and I picked another bunch of berries for a pie for Jeremy who just got home from a 2 week business trip.
So that's the end of my fun trip to Amy's house. Back to Houston tomorrow (still no power at our house).

Sleeping in Seattle

Finally some photos! Here is Lydia (and Fredrica the Firefly) at Amy's front door. She's waiting for the farmer to deliver fresh milk and eggs! We were so happy to take this last minute trip to see Amy in Seattle.
I loved seeing my sister as a new mom, and Lydia got to meet her newest cousin, Cole. What were we thinking trying to take posed pictures with babies? We gave it our best though. I do like that we captured Lydia grabbing Cole's foot. She just wanted to get his hands or feet in her mouth! That's love.
Lydia got to zoom around the house in Cole's brand new walker. She "talked" to the cat while the cat sat happily on Nana's shopping bags.
The weather was wonderful, fall arrived just in time! We enjoyed walking up and down the hills with a cool breeze. Yes, Amy was walking hills less than three weeks after a c-section. She's amazing. Mom pushed Lydia's stroller when I fell behind the group. We don't have hills in Houston.
Here I am with both babies. For those readers with twins...bless your heart.
More pictures of everyone playing. Amy is reading Cole and Lydia a book called "Eco Babies Wear Green." Everything is so "green" out here...I still don't understand the recycling/compost system. Amy has three cans in her garage. One for garbage, one for recycling, and one for compost. We weren't allowed to throw hardly anything in the garbage!

Y[IKE]S

My friends! I've not been able to blog for so long. You probably think I was swept away with Hurricane Ike. Not so! I have been a nomad, living from place to place though. On Friday before the hurricane, Dan, Lydia and I went to my parent's house in the Woodlands. I guess we thought the storm was less likely to knock out power up there...so we really thought we'd just get a nice family three day weekend away (my parent's were out of town). Not so. We lost power during the storm, one bedroom took in water (Dan had to rip out the carpet and padding to prevent some serious stink!), and one room had a leak from the rain. Several trees behind the house came down, but not towards the house. After the first night without AC, we were outta there! Since our Heights house did not have power, we went to College Station with our friends, David and Melissa Hollon, and stayed at Melissa's parent's house. Steve and Jana (Melissa's parents) took great care of us! We got to see Brent and Cate, go shopping, and play Wii. I also got Jana to start a blog! After a few nights in CS and still no power at our house, Dan booked a flight for Lydia and I to head to Seattle to see Amy, baby Cole, and my mom (who was taking care of Amy). Dan stayed in town to work, and I'm still in Seattle. Our power is supposed to be restored at the end of this week, hopefully before I get back home.

So why no pictures of this great adventure? I forgot my camera at play group last week. SO SAD!

Just some pictures

Lydia is getting stronger and more active all the time. She hates trying to sit up on her own though...we might be a little behind on that milestone. No worries though, she is devouring her cereal now! She still cries, but now it's because we apparently take too long to get the next spoonful to her mouth! Time to work on table manners.

First Cereal

My little Lydia is now 5 months old. She had mixed feelings about her first bites of cereal. She was more curious about the spoon than anything. I'm having fun feeding her though!