Whirlwind of a Month

Hurricane Ike strikes! View of our front yard from inside our house. We lost power for 11 days. We never thought we'd live to see the day that would actually occur here (Jeremy lived here during Hurricane Alicia in 1983 and they did lose power for 10 days, but we thought that was so long ago; surely the city was more prepared and ready now) ...anyway we survived with the help of a pricey generator purchase and amazingly cool weather the week following the storm so we didn't sweat to death. We only lost one side of our backyard fence and had lots of large downed branches, leaves and pine cones in our yard. We were very lucky. Many people had trees down on their homes and cars. It was all pretty exciting and we will have quite a few lasting memories from September of 2008.

View of our backyard fence that blew down during the wrath of the storm.

Other things happened this month too. The girls started school. What a glorious day! Avery started middle school this year (6th grade). Very big deal!! Nina's in 4th and Bryn started kindergarten. Annise enjoys being alone with mom, but does miss her sisters during the day.

Bryn and Annise got a new bunkbed. Only the highest quality for our daughters, 2 of the supporting slats underneath the top bunk mattress have split already and Jeremy's had to repair them so the girl on top doesn't crash thru to the bottom bunk. Oh well, it LOOKS cute!

Bryn finally celebrated her 6th birthday! The waiting has been torture (on the entire family...). It was so fun to see her so happy. She has the best smile and it is a real treat when she breaks into a great big one to show her pleasure.