Gold Medal Big Brother

I went on and on about Piper yesterday on her birthday ... however, let me tell you about sweet, sweet little Avery. God bless his compassionate little soul. He's really an 80 year old man trapped in a 5 year old's body.

Here's his first little sweet statement of the night. We had just parked at Chuck E Cheese. I got Avery out, and my mom got Piper out. As Avery was getting out the car, he looked at me and said "Mom, tonight, let's only play the games that Piper likes, ok?" I could have just melted ... I almost cried on the spot.

Later, Uncle Cory and Riley called. Piper talked and then handed the phone to Avery. He talked for several minutes and then was winding the conversation up. He said "good-bye," but then I heard "WAIT WAIT WAIT ... one more thing! (pause) Thanks for calling my sister on her birthday." ..... Anything he could do to make her day more special, and to let other people know that THEY made her day special, he was right there to acknowledge.

I mean, really ... who wouldn't love to have a big brother like Avery? Piper is a lucky girl, and I am the luckiest mom in the world.

Happy Birthday, Piper

I can't believe my baby is four years old. I am really kind-of sad. I hate to see her grow up although I love each year with her more than the last. With both kids, I always catch myself saying "I love this age!" only to find out that I love the next age even more ... But something about three with Miss Piper has been special.

We have a bond that is really neat. She is very clingy to me and very much my shadow. Avery is very content to play on his own or sit and watch a movie ... not Piper. If I'm home, she's under my feet. She's really not a bother. She just needs to be doing what I'm doing. If I'm putting on make-up, she needs to have some to put on. If I'm putting away dishes, she needs some to put away. If I'm folding clothes, she needs some to fold. (She's excellent at folding dishtowels and washclothes!)

Piper talks 1,000 miles a minute. If she's not talking - she's singing. Either a song she's learned at church or school, or most likely, a song she's making up on the spot. She is the life of the party. When we walk into daycare, everyone knows her name. I'm not sure how they know her, but they do ... and they love her. Probably because she's the class clown. (See picture below)



Overall, she's a wee little girl. Very petite, although she's grown immensely over the past year. She's definitely getting taller, but not one bit wider!!! Her curly hair is down past the middle of her back when it's wet, but curls right up to above her shoulders when it is dry. She's our "Curly Girly"!!!



Here are the Top Five Reasons that I love this little girl:
(1) Because she can laugh at herself. I love that she is secure enough, at age 4, to know that sometimes you just have to laugh.

(2) Because she is loves to cuddle. She will always sit in your lap and let you love on her. If you ever want someone to cuddle up with, she's a willing partner.

(3) Because she is the most beautiful girl in the world. She has a definite outward beauty, but she is even more stunning on the inside. She has a heart for people that is 10 times her size.

(4) Because she is honest. She'll always tell the truth when asked and sometimes when she's not asked! It's encouraging to know that she understands that it's always better to tell the truth than to fib. However, she sometimes tells too much ... (i.e. standing the line at Target ... "I smell Dad's bottom!")

(5) Because she loves me as much as I love her. Piper is everything I ever prayed for in a little girl. She is so much fun to love and nurture. I am so blessed to wake up each day to not only one, but TWO answered prayers.

Happy Birthday, Piper. I hope you have an incredible year. I'm so glad that God chose me to be your Mommy.

Hurricane Survivor

Before & After picture of Crystal Beach, TX

We survived Hurricane Ike ... something that I hopefully won't have to say again. Since the last "big one" was in 1900, the chances that I'll endure another one are slim. I'm thankful.

I will admit, however, that it was a tad exciting - all the leading up to it. I love weather so I was a little anxious to see what it would be like. All of my work friends have made fun of me because I've known the exact track of the storm since before it hit Cuba.

Our home was not in a mandatory or even voluntary evacuation zone. No matter how curious I was, if I was in one of those zones, we would have left. Even as astute as I am with the weather, I still believe that there are people wiser than I... and had I seen "77494" scroll across the bottom of the TV, we'd have been to the car before you could blink!

The church shut down at 2PM on Thursday, Pro-Mark just before that ... which allowed us amble time to prepare. Don and I divided up duties for the way home. He stopped to get batteries. I stopped to get ice (dry and bagged). School didn't dismiss early, but I was able to meet Avery as he got off the bus at daycare and grab Piper to head home. Avery asked why I was there early and I told him that a hurricane was coming. He said, "Mom, hurricanes kill people." Good grief - who told him that? I told him about all the fun stuff we would get to do with this hurricane, like possibly sleep in the closet and eat fun food that we don't get to eat normally. That pacified him.

Piper's teacher had, evidentially, talked to them about the hurricane. Her teacher told them that there was "time to prepare and time to ask questions." That sounds good in theory. Heed my warning ... never tell a three year old girl that there is "time to ask questions" or if you do, please specify that it only applies to questions about the hurricane!!! Piper nearly drove us crazy with questions about everything in life. When we would ask her to please give us a little break Avery would respond "But it's hurricane day, she's allowed to ask questions."

We were told by all weather outlets that the rains would begin at noon on Friday and that the eye would make landfall in Galveston around midnight. Some of that was true. We spent Thursday evening and Friday morning preparing. We cleaned out a closet that leads under our staircase for our "safe closet" ... we dug out all the candles, matches, flashlights and batteries, we took baths and naps in case we were up all night, we moved patio furniture into the garage and tied the grill to a post on the back patio. We did, really, all we could think to do.

Both kids were totally put out that the hurricane took so long to get to us. They were ready by dinner on Thursday night. We were told, as I mentioned before, that we would begin receiving rain by noon on Friday. We got our first drop at about 1 AM. Granted, that helped with us not getting the flooding other places received, but I know two kids that thought this hurricane business was all hype!

One of the oddest things about the storm occurred at sunset. Our family room and kitchen windows face the back of our house. We had the shades open so that we could keep an eye on the weather from the two rooms that we are in the most. All of a sudden around 6:30, I looked outside to the brightest sky I have ever seen. No picture that we took has done justice to the pink that was in the sky. There was a line of the brightest fuchsia right at the horizon. Above it were rolling black clouds. It looked like something out of a movie. Words can't even describe how beautiful and scary it was all at the same time. I've never seen anything like it.

We finally put the kids down around 10 PM, they were so wired up and excited. We didn't have them sleep in the safe closet because there isn't an air vent in there. I'm sure it would have been stuffy even with the door open. Instead, they slept on the floor. Each wore a glow bracelet to (1) help us find them if the power went out and (2) help them be able to see something cool if the power went out.

Don and I had pillow and blanket and each grabbed a couch for the long haul. Here's my two-cents: If a hurricane is heading your way, don't rent the movie "The Perfect Storm" because it's nothing like that! There was no thunder, there was no lightning - just rain and the most stunning wind you've ever imagined. And, it wasn't like the wind just kicked up every now and then ... it roared continuously. Then, when you thought there was no possible way it could blow any harder - there was a gust 30 mph more than that. It was one of those things that you wanted to stand at the window and watch, but you were afraid of what might come blowing through it at any moment.

Around 2:45 AM, our cable went out. This was the biggest scare of the whole thing. It's one thing to know that a hurricane is right over your house, it's another to suddenly not be able to see what's next on a map. We knew that tornadoes were a possibility so that was an issue and with it being the middle of the night and pitch black - we were totally dependent upon seeing that weather map to know what was going on. We also lost all means to tell what was coming next - were we in a break, was the next band of wind 5 miles out from us, was it over??? The radio stations were only talking about Galveston. Hello! We know about Galveston ... total devastation, now on to the people sitting in their homes. Us, the non-evacuation zone people. The people you said didn't have to flee!!!

All in all, once morning broke and the sun began the rise, the worst of the storm was over. We have damage in our neighborhood, but nothing like the other areas of our little town. We are very lucky and very blessed that we were safe and sound through the night.

We have decided that Category 2 is our limit on hurricanes. (Actually, Ike lacked 1 mph being a Category 3. Ike had winds of 111 mph, and at 112 mph it would have up'd the class.) So, should a Category 3 or higher be headed our way - we are headed to Disney World. We almost went this time, but hated to leave the house not knowing how it would hold up.

We took a lot of video footage beginning Friday, so I'll post that soon! Thanks for the thoughts and prayers and messages! It meant a lot to us.

Ike

We are sheltering-in-place, although we are starting to second guess that choice. We definitely have enough food and water to last at least a week, but the lack of electricity seems to be a real threat. Should that happen, we will attempt to leave and go elsewhere.

We have an interior closet that we will be cleaning out completely tonight and using that as central base for the kids to sleep tomorrow night. The biggest thing for us is that the eye is due to come directly over our suburb which means that we could also have tornadoes.

I'm hoping that with it projected to come on land during the middle of the night, the kids (inside the closet) will be able to sleep through it. Hopefully, by daybreak, the worst will be gone and we can begin to access the damage.

The church and Pro-Mark have both shut down. Pro-Mark has planned to reopen on Monday; the church will be closed indefinitely. Our office building is glass covered on the front and back, so it will be very vulnerable to damage from the wind.

Since I have one of the glass offices, I had to take down all of my pictures of the kids and house them in the studio. It was weird to pack up my stuff - I felt like I was quitting or being fired!

I'll do another update tomorrow. We very well could decide to leave - we're at a real wishy-washy point.

The Other Woman

There's a new woman in Avery's life. According to him, she's the smartest person in the world. And, she's kind, considerate, and did I mention smart - she knows everything. To top it off, her name is "Katie" ... how cute is that?

Here's her picture ...





That's right ... it's his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Katie Gates. And, Avery's right - she is everything that he says and more.

I prayed all summer for this woman; a woman that I didn't even know at that point. I prayed for a teacher that would make learning fun, that would realize his potential, that would be compassionate to his sensitive nature, and most of all, for a Christian woman who would show respect and love to every child in her class.

I'll chalk this up as an answered prayer. Mrs. Gates is amazing. I can't imagine a better teacher if I had handpicked her myself.

My Little Clothes Horse

Everyone .... hear my words .... no more summer clothes for Miss Piper. I know that the little girl stuff is the cutest. I understand. Walk on by.

All of these items fit my child. This is after I cleaned her closet out.

57 pairs of shorts/skirts/capris. Our own little Lauren Conrad/Paris Hilton/Eva Longoria. She never repeats an outfit. Not a good habit to have when you are three.

My Future Olympic Gymnast

Avery has, for the past two years, taken gymnastics. He loves it and we love the exercise that he gets from it. Last year, his coach made a point to let us know that he felt like he was "gifted" in the sport. I really don't see any reason that the coach would have told us that if he didn't believe it - it wasn't an awkward moment of silence that he needed to fill and I had paid our tuition six months in advance, so we were a sure thing until the end of the semester.

Don and I decided to let him stay with the current program that he's in and then, when he started kindergarten, we would see if he wanted to continue and if he did, then we'd go to a "real" gym.

The kids were invited to a gymnastics party at a "real" gym earlier in the summer. I was blown away at what I saw. I picked up a registration packet and we were all but signed up. When I called the gym, they suggested that Avery take a class free-of-charge, then at the end I can enroll him.

At kindergarten age, the kids are split into boys and girls. Each gender begins work on the apparatus that are relational to their gender. I was super-stoked that he would be learning rings, parallel bars, vault, and everything else.

We've been so excited about the Olympics and curious to what Avery would think when he saw what gymnastics is really all about. So far, he's loved it. Don said that he's already trying to imitate all that he sees.

I knew that Bela Karolyi lived in Houston, so I began to research him. I was a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan of the 1996 Women's Olympic team. Come to find out ... Bela and his wife, Marta, still run a camp in north Houston every year. For a five day session, it's a little over $400. A bargain in my opinion to train with the couple that has trained all the best Olympians that US gymnastics has known.

Now, I'm noticing that two of my favorite male gymnasts, Raj Bhavsar and Jonathan Horton are both from Houston. Come to find out, both trained at a gym that is only about 20 minutes from our house. Guess who I'll be calling tomorrow morning to check for openings this fall?

I figure that regardless of whether he makes it to the Olympics or he's just flipping around in the back yard, we owe it to Avery to get him the best training possible. Because you never know what his future holds ...

Mary Lou Retton goes to the same church as us ... if I could just run into her in the ladies room to get her opinion :)