post Hurricane Ike update...

The past few weeks have been pretty crazy around here. I'll just start where Kaleb left off last time. On Thursday, September 11th, Mommy and Kaleb left for school as usual, but the day turned out to be anything but. I dropped Kaleb off at his school then went to work. As soon as I walked in the building, a mandatory evacuation was announced for our schools zip code. We began turning kids around and sending them home immediately. I was calling the parents of my students to come get them at the same time as Kaleb's school was calling me to come get him! Long story short, I picked up Kaleb, went back to school to make sure all my kids made it home safe, then went home to pack. Although there wasn't a mandatory evacuation for our area (they were actually asking us to "shelter in place") I was not sticking around. After Rita, everyone vowed to never leave again, but those people did not see the devestation it caused to those just east of us. If it had actually hit Houston I knew it would be bad, so off we went to Granbury. We actually got to relax over the weekend, which I really needed. Friday night we went out to eat at the Jalapeno Tree where Kaleb rode the mechanical horse. It was funny. When it stopped, he looked all around confused, then started rocking himself again trying to make it go.
Once Ike hit and the damage assessment was done, I was told school was closed indefinitely. We ended up staying in Granbury until Tuesday. (Kevin had tickets to the Dallas Cowboys game Monday night anyway! How convenient!) Our neighbor called us on Monday to let us know we had power and minimal damage. It turns out we lost power for less than two hours total! I still don't know how that happened, because across the street (and pretty much the rest of the neighborhood as well) were without power until last night! Our only inconvenience was a lack of cable and internet for two weeks. Hard to complain about when you see what others are going through. You can see the extent of our damage below. Half of one side of our fence. That's our neighbors garage behind that tree. The tree had uprooted, pulled up the fence and was leaning toward her garage. She had it cut down the day we came home.

I'm so thankful that our house stood strong. It was a very scary storm and truly devastating for many people around us. You can look at pictures all day long, but it doesn't do anything compared to seeing it first hand. Lakewood, in Baytown where my mom lives, had many houses completly wiped out. Pray for strength and peace for those families during this difficult time.

Now on to more uplifting news!!! Kaleb loves to play with his ball now. He likes to play catch (more like fetch)! He's got a good arm. As soon as you give him that ball, it's gone. Across the room a lot of times. If he's crawling around, he'll put it in his mouth, pull himself up to standing, then grab it and throw it. Daddy says he thinks his mouth is a third arm! Whatever gets the job done.

On Saturday, September 20 we took Kaleb to his first Aggie football game. He had a blast! We watched the first quarter, then walked around in the shade for awhile. Kaleb danced to the war hymn. We also watched the band march.

After half time Kaleb had had enough of the game (Kaleb was actually fine, the Aggies were losing!) so we decided to go to the MSC to watch it on tv and let Kaleb crawl around. Here are the boys on the way down!
We stopped by the bookstore and bought him a football then took him upstairs where it was pretty empty and daddy showed him a few football pointers. I'd say he's a true Aggie now!

If you couldn't already tell, Kaleb loves to eat! Only now if he sees us eating, he wants what we have. He doesn't want his baby food anymore. Who can blame him? So I cooked spaghetti the other night and here was the result of that! We went straight for the bathtub after that one!
I think this video is one of my favorites. This was after lunch one day. He was looking out the window into the backyard and just talking away. It's quiet for the first 30 seconds or so, but keep watching! It's funny!

To enjoy one of our last days off before we were back to the real world, Kaleb went to meet his friend Christian at the Children's Museum. They had a lot of fun in the "Tot Spot" crawling around, playing with the toys, and seeing the other kids. That's a little fan below. Kaleb pushed the white button and it would blow air on him.
Crawling through the wall to see Mommy!
Look at this one! They look like little boys. Very serious little boys who have got things under control!
Kaleb had this one down. He would put the car on the track up top and it would zig-zag all the way down.
We had a great time at the museum and can't wait to go back!

and last but definitely not least............

drumroll please........................

Kaleb took his first steps!

Kaleb and I were sitting outside waiting for Daddy to get home. When he saw Daddy drive up, he started waving and bouncing around like crazy. He was so excited. I had him by the hand and he just let go and started walking toward the grass! He took at least five or six steps by himself that first time! Here is a video of him that night!