The rains came down and the floods came up . . .

. . . into our house! Tuesday night Scott and I had just finished up an hour long work session at each of our respective computers, and got up at 11:30 pm to head to bed. Scott stepped into a pool of water! It had been raining heavy off and on all day, and around 9:30 pm he had gone out to check all of the drains we had put in after the last flooding we had several months ago. Everything seemed to be working fine and there was no standing water. Well, two hours later I guess it was a different story. We think the water built up in one of the last downpours on our patio and rose high enough to go under our vinyl siding and into our floor in the living room, then spread across the whole back part of our house, with water in the kitchen and most of the toy room too. We were up until about 1:30 am moving everything out and sopping up water with towels. I just wanted to cry. The new wood floor that Scott put in only a month and a half ago is now warped in some places. I guess we'll have to figure out what to do next. We had someone come in and flatten the yard in the Spring of 2007 and so now when it rains that heavily, the water has no where to go except up against the house. We thought we had solved the problem with different drains we installed, but either more are needed or we need to redo the grading again! Money is tight though, as we already have put so much into these yard and flooring projects, so I just pray we'll figure out a way to solve this before the next torrential rains hit!

First Day of Preschool

Today was the first day of preschool for this year for Ethan and Caleb. Ethan started his 4K class with Mrs. Hodge and Caleb started his first ever preschool experience in the 2 year old class with Ms. Judy. The collage above are the before school pictures I got of the boys. It was a very early morning for us all, so we'll have to continue working on getting back into an earlier schedule! Ethan had a great day with his class and didn't even look back at me when I dropped him off. I had to remind him to give me a hug!! Caleb was a little whiny when I took him in his class, and cried a little when I left, but he had stopped before I even left the outside of the door. My mom picked them both up and Caleb got a good report. No bitings or screaming or time outs that we heard of. Although he did scream all the way home in the car for my mom unfortunately. He is just now waking up from a 3 1/2 hour nap though, so I think he was way overtired after his exciting morning!

Pajama Hugs

For the past couple weeks, Caleb has become increasingly affectionate. The little boy who it normally would take A LOT to get a hug out of him for even Scott and I, is now wanting to give "more huuu" . . . meaning more hugs and "more iss" . . . meaning more kisses every night. He is even using it to his advantage as a stalling technique when it's time for bed. Of course we are gladly letting him use this for now, because it's so nice to see him showing us his loving side. His big brother, Ethan, has been especially happy with this new character development in Caleb. Ethan, who has always been an affectionate child, would often get his feelings hurt when Caleb would refuse to hug him at bedtime. (I sometimes would too, as his mother :-) Now, the two brothers just hug and hug! I am thrilled to see this newfound love for love from Caleb as well!

More Wedding Pictures

I was able to get some more pictures from the wedding off my mother in law's camera . . . thanks Sharon! Here are some more of my favorites:







For more, go to the link below and see the album I made through facebook:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=67194&l=4b5ca&id=753870539

A Sampling of Wedding Pictures

These are just a sampling of wedding pictures that I got off my mom's camera. I was so busy being in the wedding as a matron of honor, singing a song, etc. that I didn't even take any pictures with my own camera over the whole weekend! I am hoping to get pictures from my mother in law as well, and will share a lot more once I get them all together!

Megan looking beautiful in her wedding dress before the ceremony

Megan's new second family - the Cox family
Charis, Victoria, Ilana, Chris, Mike, Megan, Cindy, Bill

Megan and Mike with the wedding party
I don't know all the guys names, but the girls from left to right are:
Cara, Lindsay, Me, (Mike & Megan), Stacy, Jaclyn, Jacqui

Wedding Rehearsal Cookout

We went to Baltimore, MD this past weekend for my sister, Megan's wedding. We had a fun rehearsal cookout lunch at Mike's family's house. Ethan enjoyed playing croquet a lot! Caleb tried playing too. It was such a nice day and we all enjoyed getting to relax and hang out the day before the wedding!

Scott and I

Ethan playing croquet

Caleb playing croquet

The cousins
Melissa, Stacy, Me, Megan, A.J.
We hadn't all been together in a LONG time, so it was nice to reunite!

Putting on my own shoes!

Caleb has been practicing putting on his own sandals lately, especially since we make Ethan do it himself most of the time. Caleb has done surprisingly well picking up this skill. Granted, both boys often put the wrong one on the wrong foot and have to be reminded to switch them around. At least they are trying though! They're getting more and more independent by the day! The next thing to tackle will be tying shoe laces on tennis shoes. We haven't really attempted to teach that yet, but I'm sure it will come soon enough!

Lego Star Wars Spaceships

Ethan especially has been enjoying everything Star Wars, much to his Daddy's delight! (Scott is a huge Star Wars fan for anyone that didn't know.) And of course Caleb likes to join in on whatever his big brother is doing. The other night Ethan had the idea of building Star Wars spaceships out of legos. Ethan made a big spaceship and then Caleb made a small spaceship. They were having fun flying them around the room!

Soccer Practicing at the Park

Ethan is going to be playing Upward Soccer for the first time this fall. So earlier this week, Scott and Papa Brisken went out to the park soccer fields to work on some drills. This was Ethan's first "official" practice, other than just kicking the ball around in the backyard with us. We confirmed that he is a left-footed kicker. He did very well in the practice, from what I understand from the guys (I spent the majority of my time occupying Caleb . . . we'll have to remember to bring another ball for Caleb next time to kick around.) Scott said he was good at trapping the ball and following the ball to kick it along down the field. There may be more technical terms for these skills, but the non-soccer player that I am don't know them. :-) Ethan was mostly interested in scoring goals . . . Scott says that is the main thing they are going to have to work on! I am hoping Upward Soccer will be a good first experience for Ethan on a team. It is a Christian based sports program, so winning is not the focus. We are excited to start attending games each Saturday starting soon! (Still waiting on calls from the coaches to get the exact schedule of practices and games.)

Ethan with a few of his favorite people

Ethan's Mama and Papa Brisken recently returned from a trip to Alaska and Ethan was sooooo excited to see them when they got back. He asked me to take a picture of him with them when they returned. You can see how happy he is in the picture to have them both sitting beside him! The other night we got out the tape measure and measured how tall Ethan and Caleb were. Ethan was 43 inches (3'7") and Caleb was 35 inches (2'11"). I included a few more pictures of Ethan with his Daddy, in which you can also see how much he loves his Daddy!

The Faces of Caleb

Caleb has so many expressions these days that are fun to capture on camera. In the top two pictures, he was enjoying some 100 calorie snack oreo cookies which created a nice chocolate beard for him! In the bottom two, he is looking nice and angelic after waking up from a nap and sitting peacefully on the couch with his "dog," as he calls his favorite stuffed animal.