Soccer has begun....and Brad's the coach

Ray Ray made it to cheer Colt on and we just put her under a tree out of the sun, but he still found her.

Soccer has started for the year for Colton. We had a little delay because of Ike, but he played his first game on Sat. It's amazing what a difference there is from last year. This year he is running all over the place compared to last year standing and looking at the ball. : ) Brad has decided to take on the coaching experience for this year. I think he has as much fun as the kids. I'm glad he's so outgoing and good at this kind of stuff. I honestly could not ask for a better role model for Colton. Brad is everything anyone could want in a daddy and more. I feel very blessed!

Evacuation

And in all honesty...evacuation wasn't bad. We really did have it pretty nice. I would have been completely content for couple of days if my hubby had been with me. Colt went fishing with Bruno (Pa) and he had Kelsie and Haley to flirt with. We all just got a little cabin fever, but it really was a pretty place.

Reality on Monday

Well, I am suppose to have everything together by now and I don't. I feel like I am a mess. I am usually so organized and I can't get things together. I am trying to give it time and hopefully it will all be back to normal in the next couple of days. I had said I would post pics and I really wish I had taken one from the road because they don't do justice, but I am thankful and shocked at the same time that we had no damage. Thank you God! This is what I saw when I came home. Brad informed me later that he made a pathway to our door so I wouldn't freak out. I could tell when he called Saturday or Sunday (I can't even remember now) that he was shocked by the sound of his voice at how much we had in our yard.

Finally we have power!

Well, Ike came and left a mess, but we are all safe and sound. We lost 3 trees and a ton of limbs and part of trees. I'll post pictures later. We just got power back Friday night 9/26/08 and have been trying to get back to reality in our own house again. Dad and Sally let us stay their for 15 days and I am very grateful. It was hot and humid and the mosquitoes were horrible so windows open would not have been fun. We stayed here during the day and at their house at night. Needless to say, I never realized how nice it is to sleep in your own bed and have the finer things in life like a/c, running water (we have a well so we had no water or sewage), a refrigerator to keep your things cold and the simple pleasure of washing and drying your clothes. Brad stayed here when we evacuated so Colt and I were with Brad's parents from Wed before Ike landed until we came home on Monday. Phone lines were hard to come by and I was stressed to say the least. Both times we have evacuated for a storm, Brad has been on hurricane duty so I told him no more. Next time, he's going too! : ) I could go on, but for the most part we have everything picked up and back to normal. Thanks for your prayers and thank you Lord for keeping my family safe and sound and for giving us a place to come home to.

Ike needs to go

It's all part of living on the gulf coast I know, but this time of year stinks. A storm starts and you never know where it's going. Then it comes into the gulf and you are at it's beck and call until it makes up it's mind what it is going to do. That's where we are now. I have a wedding to shoot Saturday and am trying to figure out what to do. I pray and try to turn it over to God, which is something I struggle with daily, but I need to REALLY turn it over. This is something mom struggled with too and we talked about it several times. Brad is on hurricane duty so I am off with the in-laws and Colt if we do evacuate. I just pray that Ike decides to fizzle. Pray for me that I make the right decision and that I am able to control the anxiety of leaving my other half here and stay calm at the same time. I really need some calmness to come over me.....

I did it, but I can't believe what I did to do it.

Go ahead and tell me I am a horrible mom. I bribed my child so I could take some recent pictures of him. I promised him all the candy he wanted for the rest of the day if he would let me take just a couple of shots of him smiling. It took SEVERE convincing to do that and he loves candy. I won, is that bad to say, but I told him it's not my fault if he gets a tummy ache. This is pathetic I have to go to these extremes to get decent pictures of my child willingly. It took maybe 5 minutes of his time and now I have to sit back and not watch because it's killing me that all this candy is going into his body. One day won't hurt him right? Please tell me it won't.

Colt's first day of the last year of preschool.

Well, today Colton started his last year of preschool. He was so excited all week/weekend and then the day gets here and he kept telling me he was too tired to get out of bed. However, on the way to school he started talking about how much fun it would be to play in the new playground because they have a new gas station for your car. Then he proceeded to say, "but mom you know it's not real gas because that would not be very safe." I pray that he has a great day and great year. This is his last year to have fun and enjoy before the real world starts. He can't wait to get to "big" school, but I think he has a lot to take in before then. I pray that he enjoys playing with his new friends and just being a kid and that I will allow him to do that. The control freak in me wants him to know it all right now and I have to step back and realize he is 5 and needs to enjoy being 5. Here's to a great last year of preschool!

As you can tell, he was so excited to take these pictures. He wanted nothing to do with taking pictures so this is what I could come up with without a big fight on his first day. And by the way, he picked out his own clothes for the day and I let him. If you know me, that's a big step and I'm letting some of the control go. : )