Hurricane Harvey

Doug and I had finally made big plans to go and see Coldplay with some friends when Hurricane Harvey decided to make landfall. Initially we didn't think it would be bad. It was a Category 2 when it hit south Texas and we thought the weathermen were just excited about the storm. The concert was cancelled so we opted to take the families to eat sushi instead. After dinner we made a quick trip to the grocery store to stock up on some necessities "just in case". HEB had some basics but there wasn't much on the shelves.

Well, sure enough the storm got stronger but it was so big and moved so slow that it dropped almost 60 inches of rain on our city. We sat inside for several days watching the water level rise in the street. It rained hard for several days. I usually enjoy the sound of rain but after awhile it was unnerving.  We couldn't get out of our neighborhood but thankfully our home was safe. Sadly we had several friends in Kingwood that weren't so lucky. We sat and watched the news all day seeing all the people who had lost their homes. It was just devastating and at the same time so beautiful. We saw numerous stories of people from other cities gathering friends and coming to Houston to help. There was the Cajun Navy from Louisiana and a group of fishermen from Waco that came into this disaster zone to help save people. Businesses opened their doors to those who lost their homes and stores were giving away boats for rescue purposes.

After several days of being flooded in, the storm finally moved west and we had some reprieve. We needed to get to Kingwood to start helping people but the 2 bridges in our area were flooded so we had to detour around the city. We knew we needed to help the Hennings. They had recently moved into a 1 story house for Nicolas. I'm sure you've read about Nicolas in my posts. He is a freshman now at KPark High School and has cerebral palsy. An absolutely awesome kid. Well, they got a little over 3 feet of water in their home and with only a very small loft area upstairs, they lost almost everything. It was just heartbreaking. When we arrived at their home I think the Hennings were overwhelmed. We did our best to call for more help and the Eatons and Wellmanns joined. A few of the Hennings friends came too and it was time to work!

For as sad as the moment was I couldn't believe how the day went. The Hennings handled it beautifully. I was so proud of them. The kids worked just as hard as the adults. The adults worked like crazy for 2 days to clear the house, rip carpet out and remove baseboards and sheet rock.

Sadly all 250 of the homes in the Barrington neighborhood flooded. It was shocking to drive in and out of the neighborhood and see this on every front lawn. But this home caught me with a cross standing right near their pile of debris. These families have a long way to go before their homes are restored but we know they will be taken care of by so many who surround them and the big man upstairs too!

On a fun note, as of February 2018 the Hennings are back in their home. Still work to be done and furniture to purchase but Debbie loves it. She said 2.0 is better than the original and I agree, it looks beautiful!

Deer Valley, We're Back!

The kids and Doug really wanted to ski again over spring break so we decided to go back to Deer Valley! It's our favorite mountain with really long and fun greens, great restaurants and not-so-cold spring break weather!

We found a ski routine that works great for our family.  Doug and Matt ski together the first day while Marlie's in ski school, then Doug and I ski together while both kids are in ski school and then Marlie gets to ski with Dad while Matt's in ski school. It works perfect! The kids did great skiing again this year.  Matt wanted to ski all blacks and Marlie liked to take it a little easier and ski greens with me! Yea! Our hope is that the boys wear themselves the first day and then are ready to take it slower the next few days. They skied the first day so hard Matt was even exhausted!

 The weather was so perfect that Matt sometimes skied in a t-shirt! He had so much fun and loved skiing hard with Dad. They had some funny and scary stories!

We decided to surprise the kids one day and try something new. They were super excited when we came to a stop and there was a pack of dogs ready to take us sledding! I had read an article about how this place rescues dogs from all over the country and trains them. The owner was in love with all these creatures...they all had a name and a story. The kids asked 100 questions and Marlie was in heaven with all the dogs. This kid has been asking for a dog almost every day for a year. She was happiest when she was in the middle of as many as possible. Matt really enjoyed learning about the sport of sledding and asked how the dogs are ordered in line. It depended on their strength, speed, how smart they were, if they were leaders or followers. But they all had a place. It wasn't long before we all had our favorites. Mine were the blind dog and his best friend that helped guide him in the pack.

 As we were leaving Matt spotted a bald eagle in the tree. She was beautiful!

Last day - the boys were ready to ski hard one last time.  I was ready for a massage before coming home to reality! So Marlie had to decide who to go with and decided to come with me for her first spa day! We sat in the hot tub, had massages, got pedis and ate almost an entire jar of macaroons!

Fully rested and ready for our trip home! It was a great week. We'll be back!  

Merry Christmas

It's the most wonderful time of the year!! We started the Christmas season off going to the Christmas Show at Second Baptist. They put on an amazing production every year. My sweet friend Amanda and her family joined. It has been so neat to watch all these kids grow. Can't believe they started preschool together at St. Mary Magdalene 6 years ago! Marlie got to see her friends Tatum and Addie too!

Marlie is in the 4th grade choir this year and they performed their Christmas musical at 2 nursing homes in Kingwood and at school. I just love these girls and Mrs. Janes does a great job with their performances!

Marlie's friend Allaina always has the best Christmas party. The girls make their own aprons and make Christmas treats! Thank you to Momma Rita for always having this special event for the girls.

By far our favorite thing this Christmas was adopting a family. We got paired with this sweet family that we fell in love with. We were so happy we got to buy the kids desks for their rooms and buy each member of the family new and fun bedding! Thank you to Aldine Family Hope Center for allowing us to bless others.

Marlie and Khloe went painting for a little Christmas fun while they were out of school. They came back with a gingerbread woman and a gingerbread cat!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the usual at our house and I wouldn't want it any different. Christmas Eve mass followed by dinner, Christmas music, the gift card exchange and some gifts! We were excited about of our new pool gear for the pool that will be going in soon!

Christmas day is one of my favorite days of the year. After the excitement of the morning we have a relaxing day at home playing games and this year, making cookies! Marlie was most excited about getting a giant stuffed llama and a polaroid camera. Matt was excited about his first computer! Both also loved the unicorn farts that made it into their stockings!

We had some nice downtime between Christmas and New Years  so we decided to take the kids to Santa's Wonderland near College Station. They each brought a friend and Aunt Dani got to come too while her kids were visiting their Dad. It was fun and the lights were beautiful! We cheersed with smores and ate funnel cake!

 We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and may many blessings come our way in 2017!