Fun at the Beach

The pictures say enough but I will add just a few notes. Scott was not the only one who pulled the girls on the jet ski float. He joined the fun after Ron and I were maxed out. Notice that Evelyn and Emelia do not both have on their matching dresses. Somehow when we got there, Emelia's dress had not gotten packed. Thanks to Adele, Emelia had a pretty white dress to wear. Again, we had great fun and look forward to future trips.

I remember so well our trips to "the gulf" when I was young. We are now making memories like those for our girls. Scott had become a non-beach person until he saw how much fun Evelyn had at the beach. After the last few days, Emelia now loves the beach as well. We have been able to take three beach getaways with our friends the Smiths and we look forward to this every year. As always I am late with things so I will have to share more about the trip and more photos later. I will post just a few for now. Evelyn cried several times today because she would miss her friend Mallory, because she was no longer at the beach, and because she had to go back to school tomorrow.

Another week has passed. The time does fly by. I intended to post early on but I'll just give a quick recap. We started with the kickoff of PRCC's Centennial Celebration with a parade through town and a picnic at the school following. It was a nice change of pace but quite a warm September day. Evie's school came out for the parade and were on the sunny side of the street for too long, poor babies. We were across from Evelyn on the shady side. Emelia entertained herself with Scott's lens cap during the wait. She also enjoyed her moon pie as we cooled off in the office building where I work. Evelyn is now taking dance and is excited about it. Monday was her first day but she has been looking forward her next dance class. She is quite creative with what she comes up with on her easel. I am very proud of both girls with some of their accomplishments this week. Emelia has only worn pull ups at night since Wednesday. I think we finally hit a milestone with the potty training. Emelia was napping yesterday and I decided to get out some Dick and Jane books we had for Evelyn. Those of you who are old enough know about Dick and Jane. Anyway, Evelyn has been doing well with her letter sounds and a few sight words. Dick and Jane are such a memory to me in those early days of reading. I had to help her just a bit but we were so pleased. Her face just lit up when she realized she was reading all by herself. Watching your little one learn is so much fun and truly amazing.

Well you notice I didn't come back with a post griping about the air conditioner. We used fans that night and fared really well. The next morning when Scott tried the unit, it worked. Some of you were definitely praying for us. Thanks! We enjoyed a visit from cousin Mason over the weekend and also enjoyed a visit from our friends in Houma. They only had minor damage to their home and also just got power back on Saturday, all great news. Evelyn made every minute count with Emma, Paige and Isaac. Don't fuss because I don't have photos to share. I was making every minute count in trying to catch up as well. I will try to add a couple of photos of the girls. Emelia is getting so cute with her language. I asked loudly the other day, "Where is your daddy?" The response kind of shocked me. She said, "He'll be right back." I suppose she has heard that from him quite a bit. :)

Notes on photos: Emelia likes to put her stickers on her own self; Evelyn looks a little rough at the end of a school day but she did have on her spirit shirt thanks to my friend, Angela; Evelyn has also become our monkey. She climbs the swing set and the tree in Papa's back yard; Emelia loves cereal and can make a sweet mess with it.

Well I will certainly not complain about what Gustav did in our area. I cannot tell you the amount of rain we have had and there are lots of small limbs in our yard but that is nothing compared to what could have been and what did happen for some. I sit in my air conditioned house that the electricity only flickered off in and appreciate it so much. We are very thankful. We have heard from my neice Shelby and are glad all is well for them. We have also talked to our friends in Houma. They do not know the condition of their home but they are safe. When we did have a short break from the rain today we were all ready to get out and pick up limbs just to get out of the house. The girls were very helpful at the onset but were quickly distracted. We also ventured to the mall this afternoon. : ) Tomorrow we are all back to a schedule.

P.S. - Within minutes of finishing this post I heard a weird sound coming from our central unit. The fan quit running. Oh my, can you believe that? I am still thankful to God that we were not in the direct path of Gustav. We will look at the brighter side, it has been cooler with all of the rain. One more important thing - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! It was yet another stormy one. : )

Just a quick little post. Things have been just a little questionable around here as we await the exact path of Gustav. We have decided to stay home as it appears the worst will be west of us. It just brought back weird emotions to go through our little town and see the gas stations with extremely long lines and traffic very steady along our highways. Most seem to be more prepared since we experienced Katrina. We saw 15 school buses traveling south to move folks out and there were vans at the nursing home near us that I suppose were there to transport patients. The girls are just enjoying us all being together even though this is not exactly what I call a holiday. Oh well, we can make the most of it. The house is still nice and cool but it is that sultry hot outside. We do have a generator, gas and a small air conditioner this time. I am posting just a couple of recent photos. It would not be a fun post without those. Notice my Wildcat cheerleader. We had to create an outfit for Emelia. She is still very pleased with make dos. :) The twinkle in her eye in the last photo is due to me catching her with the stool climbing onto my bed.

I will brag just a bit on both our girls. Evelyn has done so well with going to school over the last week. We are so proud of her. Emelia continues to make progress every day. She still lacks in the area of potty training but I know it will happen. She was so funny making sweet faces and hugging on me trying to get her way. It doesn't take long for kids to pick up on that one. The two girls have even made progress with each other. They both look out for the other and Evelyn is definitely the big sister making sure Emelia is included in everything. We had a long but good weekend. We survived a lock in with around 150 youth and adults at our church Friday night. The girls did great staying at my sister's. It was close enough for me to tuck them in and be there when they woke up. Saturday was Miss Ruth's (my mother in law) birthday so we had cake and ice cream, both favorites of Emelia's. The kid's enjoyed the cooler weather before the rain set in. I will include a few just fun photos.