Hurricane Ike

Like many of you, Larry & I have spent much of our evening watching the news reports on Fox & CNN & all the local stations as well as the weather channel.  As you know, our eastern side of Texas is in trouble.  We've got Ike hurdling toward us & we're just hoping for the best.

Today we went to buy bottled water, lots of canned foods, some batteries, a little battery-powered weather band radio & a 12-pack of soda.  ha ha!

We went to the library this afternoon & got some books to power-outage entertainment.  We got the kids a few movies for stuck-inside-during-the-rain entertainment.

We're far enough north of the coast that people are coming HERE for shelter from the storm, so we're just hunkering down & riding it out now.

I am a little nervous for Andrew & Kourtney's family, though.  They live down in south Texas, near the area that was evacuated.  I'm not sure if they were evacuated or not, but when I called today to check on them, there was no answer at their house.  Please pray for their safety during this storm!

I've got my camera batteries all charged up & ready to go.  Hopefully there won't be much of anything for me to get pictures of....but in case there is, I'm ready!

And on a lighter, more fun note, today while we were in CVS picking up batteries, the kids & I were playing around in the Halloween aisle.  They had political masks.  I was Obama.  Savannah was Hillary.  Sarah was McCain & honestly, I don't know who Samuel was.  It was so funny to see the kids put on those masks, so I had to join in.  Larry snapped a picture w/ his phone.

And one last thing---pray that we all stay healthy!  It turns out that the tummy issues I had on Wednesday were part of a virus that is going around!  Another teacher at my school had it yesterday.  And tonight when I picked up Samuel from his friend's birthday party, the little sister went running to the bathroom to throw up before I got out the front door.  So...something's going around!  yuck, yuck, yuck!  Vomitting & diarrhea during a hurricane is NOT my idea of fun!

not the day I had planned....

Early this morning I woke up with some sort of lava-in-my-tummy feeling.  Oh great.  Really, stomach...I don't have TIME for this.  I've got kids to get up & ready for school, other kids waiting for me at work, stuff to do, people to see....can we just do this another day?

Apparently, my stomach wasn't listening to my little argument with it.  I will just say that I had some intestinal disturbances today.  By 7:00am, I knew it was time to call a sub for the day & call it quits.  I called (& probably woke up!) a substitute teacher who readily agreed to work for me & gave my husband the car keys (figuratively of course...he already has the keys) and crawled back under the covers.  Somewhere in there, I managed to take a dose of some tummy medicine & eat a plain piece of toast.

I tried to rest this morning, but ended up not feeling drowsy, so I just read & hung out at the house.  By around noon, I felt almost better.  I decided that it was time to feed the dog & figure out whether or not I could eat lunch.  A plain chicken sandwich sounded good, so I fed the dog & drove to Burger King & got one.  (I would've made my own but tomorrow is grocery day, so we're out of everything.)  And besides...BK's chicken sandwich is tasty.

I took a nap after I ate lunch & then went to pick up the kids.  I told them this afternoon that I feel like I'm up to being about 95.2% better.  ha ha!  My stomach is still the tiniest bit unsettled so tonight, while everyone else is in church, I'm hiding in Larry's office reading blogs & checking my facebook account so as to not breathe any of my germs on anyone else...just in case!  If I make it through the night without any further uh... episodes...then I'll consider myself healed.  :)  I don't think there are any stomach viruses going around the schools yet, so hopefully this was just some weird fluke.

Tuesday 9/9

First, before I go any further......tonight at 5:55pm, my girlfriend Alyssa's daughter (G) celebrated her 9th birthday.  Yep...she was born on 9/9/99 at 5:55pm.  How fun is that?!  I've never forgotten her birthday because of that little number trick.  (sometimes I forget to send an e-card, like today....so Alyssa, please show this picture to "G" & tell her it's just for her!!)

Second, an update on our little Tunnel Cat!  Remember my post on Friday night?  Well, after typing up that post, I sent a copy of it to Samuel's teacher.  She took pity on us & talked to the lady in charge of the program & worked it out so that Samuel will get to do it after all!!!  The fun part is--the game where he'll get to be a Tunnel Cat is the same game where Sarah will dance on the field with the High School drill team!  She's going to a little dance workshop this Saturday & will learn a simple pom pom routine which she'll perform with the "big girls" on the field!  Hooray!  We'll have 2 kids on the field that night!  (Plus my nephew who's in the HS band!)  Looks like that'll be a football night for us!!

Savannah learned a lesson the hard way today.  That lesson is--keep up with your stuff & be on time.  She was counted tardy because she had to go back to her locker for something & made it back just in time to be late.  AND that paper she went back for wasn't there.  She got a 0 for not turning in her work.  (NOTE:  Turns out, she had left the notebook in another classroom yesterday & found it later today.  And she was allowed to use a homework pass to bring her 0 up to a decent grade.  So it's not as bad as it seems, but she's now paranoid about being tardy to the same class ever again.  If she is, she'll get a detention!)

Samuel's been working on getting his room totally cleaned up for over a week now.  Of course, that's an ongoing project for my son, so it's not entirely shocking that it's taken him over a week to clean it.  But the funny thing is, each day for the last several days, he's come to me & asked a very poignant question (snicker, snicker).

On Sunday afternoon

Samuel- Mom, if I was blind would I still have to clean my room?

Me-  Yes, Samuel.

Samuel- But how would I find the stuff to put it up?

Me- You'd feel around with your hands til you found it.  Now hush & go work on your room.

 

On Monday

Samuel-  Mom, if I was blind & dead would I still have to clean my room?

Me-  Excuse me?

Samuel- You know, if I couldn't see or hear....??

Me-  Dear, that's deaFFF, not deaDDD.  There's a big difference. (giggles)

Samuel- Oops!  Yeah, that's what I meant.  So if I was blind & deaf, would I still have to clean my room?

Me-  Yes.  Get to work, Mister!

 

Today

Samuel- Mom, if I was blind, deaf, half dead & missing an arm, would I still have to clean my room?

Me- (busting out laughing, then calming down to answer the question)  Yes Samuel.  If you made the mess, no matter how your half dead, dangly armed self did it, it would be your responsibility to clean it up.  Get to work, goofball.

Samuel- (dragging his feet to his room)  Yes M'am.

 

LOL!   I swear.  He's a mess.  (both physically & figuratively!)

 

Sarah asks me every day how many more days it is til the "Little Ladies" dance class.  This is the class she'll attend Saturday to prepare for her football field debut next week.  She's really excited!  Crossing my fingers that she doesn't back out at the last minute!

my First Week of School

On Tuesday, September 2, my school opened the doors for the 2008-2009 school year.  The kids all arrived a little early, got their gear stowed on our peg shelf and we started the day.  That first day was hard.  Really hard.  The first month is usually the toughest as we work on everyone learning how to behave, how my clss works, what is expected of them, how to interact with their new friends and so on.  But add to that the first day jitters & tears and well, wow.  It was such a hard day.

The following day, I went back to work.  (& really...I should get some sort of award for that, shouldn't I?  ha ha)  The group of kids on that day was less teary-eyed that the day before and so the day went really smoothly.  I left school skipping & singing instead of dragging and feeling like I needed caffeine.  You see, my Monday/Wednesday/Friday group and my Tuesday/Thursday group are markedly different in so many ways.  As the week went on, each day got a little easier.  I could feel the prayers of so many people who I'd asked to join me in praying for a smooth week.

The highlight of my week was seeing "my" kids from last year.  Each one that I saw greeted me with giggles & laughter & hugs & kisses.  Several of them spotted me from down the hall & came running to the tune of "Mrs. Liz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".  It makes my heart swell every time one of them comes by to see me after school, just to say hello & check in with me for a little snuggle time.  I see them on the playground & they talk to me through the fence.  While my class was in music this week, I went to peek into their rooms & wave to them.  I even peeked out my classroom door & made silly faces at them while they were in music class.  I see them doing so well in a new class & see how often they want to come say Hello & give me a hug and I realize....wow, I did something right last year.  They all still remember me & love me.  Hooray!  Hopefully I'll leave the same impression on my new class this year!

My prayer for the year is that each one of 'my' kids spends enough one on one time with me every day that they feel like, at least for a couple of minutes, that they & I are the only 2 people in the room.  I want them to have my pure, undivided, full attention for a little time every day.  I want them to know that I love them & care for them.  I want them to feel safe with me and to learn lots of fun stuff!!  In the end, I want to see a new set of kids running to greet me & tell me hello for no special reason.  I want to make a difference in their lives.

a Tunnel Cat....or not

 

Tonight, Samuel was supposed to be a "Tunnel Cat".  This is a program our school district does to encourage positive behavior in the elementary kids.  They are awarded the great privelege of running onto the field through the tunnel with the football players & breaking through the big paper thing if they have good behavior, good citizenship, etc.  They get to run down the full length of the field with the "big guys", cheering & yelling.  Samuel got to do this once last year & he loved it, so when he was given the award to do it this week, he was SOOOO excited.

 

He almost lost the privelege at home because, for the past week, he's been grounded from TV for having a horribly messy room.  Every afternoon after doing homework, he's been in his room "cleaning" (which interprets to goofing off & playing with his toys).  Today we cracked down & said "get it done or we're not going to the football game".  Boy....the right motivation is all ya need.  In less than an hour's time, he did more toward cleaning that room than he's done all week long!!  ha ha!

 

We left the house about 6:40, thinking that 30 minutes was plenty of time to drive 2 miles to the stadium & get into the gates on time.  (He was supposed to be there at 7:10.)  Turns out, it wasn't early enough.  We didn't realize it, but tonight was the first home game of the season & apparently the people of Whitehouse were very excited about that.  The traffic was horrible.  At 7:10, we were still out in the road trying to get into the stadium gates.  It was 7:15 before we got into the parking lot driveway.  Larry let the kids & I out at the gates & we took off running to try to get Samuel to his spot.  We had to stand in a long line to buy tickets.  [NOTE:  Larry tried to buy them in advance at the high school today but they had sold out before he got there.]  While standing there, a friend of mine  who already had her tickets walked up & offered to take Samuel in for me while I stood in line.  Hooray!!  I sent them in, praying I'd get through the line in time to see him do his thing.  It was too late.  They went in & came back out moments later.  The Tunnel Cats were already running down the field when they walked into the gates.  We missed it becauseof the traffic. 

 

Talk about a let down for all of us.  Samuel was crying when we got there because he was worried about being late.  He was watching the clock in our van as we approached the field, saying "we may as well go home...we're going to be too late" but we kept encouraging him that we were doing our best & would get there as fast as we could.  Turns out, he was right.  We were too late.  We were all heartbroken.  Poor Samuel was sooooo upset, crying & disappointed.  Rather than sit through a game that we really didn't care anything about (we had planned to leave after Samuel ran the field anyway), we made a U-turn, went back to our car & left.  We tried to cheer him up by going to get icecream at Dairy Queen, but he held his milkshake & cried all the way home.  I hate to see my babies brokenhearted.

 

Ugh....poor kiddo.

Wed Sept 3

At church last night, Samuel & Sarah had an awards ceremony for their Royal Ranger & Missionettes classes.

Samuel's group came to the stage with a great noise.  ha ha!  Boys...

He & his buddy were excited & very "into" their new patches!

Samuel got a special award ($25 gift card to Toys R Us!!) for attendance & always wearing his uniform & bringing his Bible.  Way to go, little man!

This is Sarah's group.

My smiley little Prim!  The lights were in her eyes, so she's also a squinty little Prim!

Their group did a song with motions while they were on the stage, too.

Good job, guys!  I'm proud of you!!

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Labor Day

Like most of the rest of the country, we spent a good bit of time today in front of CNN watching the effects of Hurricane Gustav.  Watching in concern as the waves of the Industrial Canal lapped at the top of the walls that should contain it was a little nerve-wracking.  All the weather forecasts say that we should be seeing some rough weather (lots of rain, high winds, etc) by morning, so I am curious to see what happens.  Hopefully we won't see much damage or heavy enough rains to cause any flooding.  Join me in praying for all the areas struck by Gustav.

In an effort to keep my mind on other things today, I spent much of the day doing laundry & other housework.  When the kids had quiet time today, I watched another movie.  Today it was this one:

It was funny!  Certainly not a picture of a moral love story, so beware when you watch this one...but if you are looking for a funny movie with a love story on the side, this one fits the bill.  It was only rated PG-13, but it should've been R.

We've watched the sky all day for a sign of the storm, but as of right now (it's 10 minutes before 10:00 now), the most we've had all day was a light rain.  Light enough that I could walk across the yard without an umbrella.  We'll see how it is by this time tomorrow.