Misc. photos

Fun times at Incredible Pizza.....

Ike....

My mom and great aunt are staying here until they are cleared to go home. My bro is in College Station and my dad is in Shreveport, La (our old stompin' grounds..well actually Bossier City..but still close). We had a great day here today. The weather was beautiful and sunny. My parents live in Anahuac and are waiting to here how their house made it in the winds and rain. Hopefully they were spared and the animals (donkeys and llamas) found shelter in the barns (if they are still standing). Best wishes to you and yours!

It is Tuesday and my mom left today for Houston. She has been on the road for nearly 3 hours and isn't even to Bucees yet (it is 45 miles from our house). She said that the traffic is traveling 30 miles per hour. SUCKS to be her! She has ice, groceries, gas, rakes, trash bags, gloves, masks, etc to help my dad with the clean up. Their house in Anahauc is pretty bad although still standing. The paint is peeling off of the walls, the carpet and flooring is soaking wet, the wood furniture is started to swell from the moisture in the house. The roof may collapse in one of the bedrooms. HHHHMMMMMMM so they have a lot of work ahead of them. They are going today to get the mattresses and clothes out of the house before they mold or mildew. I wish that I could help out but Madison and Kate don't need to be around that.

P.S. The animals are fine. They weathered the storm just fine. I can only imagine what they were thinking as they stood in the wind and rain!

The Artist

So Madison has a creative side to her...

This was her art from Thursday. They were talking about family and in the house, she got to paste cutouts of her family. When asked she says that the top one is Katelyn "how she is growing so big", the small pink cutout (where the date is) is Maddy, the blue one is mommy and the red one is daddy. The other two were painted with yellow and blue paint...and she learned that yellow and blue make green. Very cool!

Today, she brought this lovely self portrait home. The lace is her hair, 2 buttons for eyes and the pink with flower ribbon is her smile. The feathers and string are her clothes. Very cool! They also made PLAYDOH today with Koolaid (of all things...and some other ingredients)

We are in charge of snacks for Thursday. I had to get 14 bananas from H-E-B. I hope they are still good by then because there wasn't much to chose from.

First Day of Preschool and Aggie Fun

Today was the day. Madison was so excited and we were all happy for her to start her own, new adventure. While the cat is away, the mice will play. Gwen and I took the little kids to the gym and worked out.

We spent the weekend in College Station and had a blast. Madison asked to attend Midnight Yell so Eric, Mimi, Peepaw and Pops took her. I stayed at the hotel with Katelyn while she slept. On Saturday we tailgated all day and then spent some time chillin at the pool while Mimi, Peepaw and Eric went to the game.

Pick me pick me...

So Classy Chaos is giving away a fabulous pair of Crocs. Please visit her website because she is waaaaayyyyyy cool.


Oh Shucks! I didn't win! Maybe next time....

Welcome Kaylea

Kaylea Marie Michaelson
7 lbs. 20 inches
August 21, 2008

Congrats Clint, Angi and Big Brother Nicholas

playing the waiting game

I absolutely hate waiting for other people to do something. Our fab realtor said that our house would be on the market by lunch time today. In my book, lunch time is over....and we are not on the market yet. A house around the corner had 4 showings in 5 days, and one down the street (that is waaaayyyy over priced) hasn't had one scheduled showing. I am very optimistic since we are priced in between both homes. We had photos on Saturday and they looked good from what we could tell. I will post some here once we are active.

The happenings...

So we are selling our house to move on base. Wish us luck in the process! We will be able to save tons of money each month in with less bills, less house repairs, and less gas. They say that Less is More! We are willing to find out. After spending one week on the housing list, we were offered a 2 story, 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house that sits on a beautiful corner lot for a September 30 move. NO WAY! We really hated to turn it down but the timing is just too soon. So we will wait until another house is offered and hopefully have a contract on this one before we accept.

Maddy is getting ready for 3 year preschool. It starts on September 2nd. I can't believe it. I am super excited for her to meet new friends and grow as a little girl. But I will definitely miss her for 3 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She packs her school backpack every day in preparation!! It is so cute.

Katelyn has an ear infection. Not a huge deal but she was waking up in the middle of the night and not eating very well so I took her in to the doctor today. SURE ENOUGH--ear infection. I will be glad when she outgrows this stage. Madison went through the same thing at the age and one day I looked back and she hadn't had one in 6 months. WOW--time flies when you are having fun.

We were in College Station for my brother's graduation. WOW talk about feeling old when you little brother by 7 years in graduating college. And just before we left, my first roommate from college, Erin and her 2 little girls, were in San Antonio and we met for lunch. It had been eight years since we last saw each other in person. It was actually at her wedding to her college sweetheart. I was a cake cutter and Eric was my date. They got married in their hometown of Victoria and it was our first out of town weekend trip together. So needless to say, I am feeling old lately. My hair is looking frumpy and my skin is acting all crazy---I think I need a make-over. Wink WINK!

The lake...

The girls had matching jammas..... (Thanks Gwen:-))
And we had matching koozies on a string!!!
Check out Gwen's blog for more photos---I forgot to take my camera with us on the water. OOPPPPPSSSS!

Remember when...

You watched the news and it didn't affect you? You browsed the Internet for useless crap? Well those days are long gone. It seems like something is always affecting us...everywhere we go and everything we do. I have struggled all week about whether or not to post about the topic; and I can to the conclusion that life happens whether we like it or not. It isn't always princesses and rainbows. Life is hard and difficult and challenging. And I am learning more about that everyday.

Eric is at Barksdale AFB today for the memorial service for the guys that were on the B-52 crash earlier in the week. He has had a rough week trying to make sense of the tragedy. It hits very close to home for him. He knew 3 of the 6 on board the jet. One was our cul-de-sac neighbor in Bossier. One was a guy that Eric knew from High School. And the other was from the 96th BS that had just gotten back from Randolph as Eric was headed out. Nevertheless, it is very tragic and Eric felt his place was in Bossier today. I am thankful that he was able to go to reunite the spirit that lies deep in his blood---the spirit of the B-52.






It is an amazing jet, huge in size. We lived very close to the base and were accustomed to hearing them take off and land. It was routine! A sight that visitors always admired, one that we just expected.

Lately as I lay in bed, I find myself praying more than before. I pray that the families find strength in their time of weakness. I pray that God will take the crew into his arms and show them his undying love. I pray that the families receive closure in knowing that God is in control. I pray that time heals all wounds.

May your souls rise to the Heavens and may you rest in Peace forever.

Maj. Brent Williams

Maj. Christopher Cooper

Capt. Michael Dodson

1st Lt. Joshua Shepherd

1st. Lt. Robert Gerren

Col. George Martin