Hurricane happenings...

Well, we survived Ike! I feel like I should make us all t-shirts proclaiming just that. Here's what went down at the Patterson house:

Thursday: Ok, this is real. We should possibly stock up on bread, canned goods, water and batteries. Wal-Mart is insane - made worse only by a hungry Julianne and a bored Jacob. Starting to panic. Justin comes home early and helps prepare. We go to Justin's parents house for dinner with the family since Jim is home from the hospital.

Friday: Watching news CONSTANTLY! Finish getting last-minute items together. Freak out a little bit (freaking out a lot is just not my nature). Turn down the AC just in case the power goes out. Sit outside in lawn chairs and watch Ike roll in. Participate in the Hurricane derby (details, later). Watch more news and go to bed listening to the wind howling outside our house.

Saturday: Power goes out about 2:45 am. We sit straight up in bed. Hard to go back to sleep, Justin doesn't. Kids sleep through it all. (Hallelujah!) Wake up to a horrible amount of rain, wind and bits of house/trees/fence flying around outside. Realize that our front oak tree has fallen over. Pray that family is ok, not able to reach anyone's cell or house phone. Shuffle around in the humid dark of our house trying to keep everything "normal" for the kids. Make biscuits and eggs on the stove - thankful for gas appliances. Sit in the garage after wind dies down just to get fresh air and watch the rain. Have a pow-wow in neighbors garage where they have hooked their cable/TV up to the generator and are watching "Hurricane Ike, The Devastation". Realize that we were really lucky. Decide that the house is too humid to sleep there and head to my mom's in Sugarland. Almost to my mom's and we get the word that our power is back on. Turn around and drive 40 miles back home.

Sunday: Clean, run dishwasher, do laundry and take FULL advantage of electricity. Justin cleans up the yard and helps a few neighbors by mending fences, helping set up trees, etc. Go over to Justin's parents to help clean up yard (they still do not have power). Head home about 8:30 or so. Mandatory curfew is in effect so they will not let us back into our neighborhood unless we show ID. Feel like a 16 year olds because we have a curfew in the first place.

It will be a long time until this city returns to normal. Weeks, possibly months until everyone has power. It's still kind of surreal as you drive around and see fifty year old pine trees twisted and knocked to the ground, telephone poles pulled up and hanging over the road. Fences blown down like they were made out of toothpicks. We have all been helping out where we can, trying to erase the damages from Ike. Please pray for those without power and running water, those with damage to their homes, and those that will never be able to go home again.

The weird, greenish sky right before it got super windy:
Hurricane Derby: Sitting in a light-weight wagon with a giant golf umbrella waiting on big gust of wind that can only be produced by a HURRICANE!
Jacob flew all the way to the end of the street!
The electrical cord running from our house to our neighbor's generator:
Justin making lunch with is headlight (which came in VERY handy!):
Headed out in the rain:

Julianne gets a haircut!

Well, I finally broke down and got Julianne's haircut (really, I was just waiting for Justin to give in...:) ). It was getting kind of scraggly and uneven on the sides, so we just went in for a trim. I was brave and put her in the little fire truck seat all by herself, turning down the offer for her to sit on my lap. She did GREAT!! There were a few tears, but she sat still for the most part. She was just unsure of everything that was going on and she watched the hairdresser like a hawk :). Most of the pictures that I took look pretty pitiful, but once she realized that she could drive the fire truck, I got a few good smiles.

Here is the before picture:

Julianne is sad to see her curly locks fall to the floor...
...and AFTER! (if you can't really tell, just humor me)

J and J check-ups

Today both kiddos had their well baby/child check-ups. Jacob's 4-yr and Julianne's 15 month.
So, we get there and Jacob walks over to the "Well" side and sits down at the table with his Mater lunchbox full of cars. He starts playing with one and then this sweet little boy (maybe 18 mo.) comes and sits down across from him. Jacob looks over at him and immediately reaches into his lunch box and grabs a car for the little boy (whose name we find out is Maddox). He tells Maddox's mom, "I'll share my cars with him. I brought plenty."
Now mind you I'm watching all of this from the front desk where I'm signing in with Julianne on my hip. So proud!
Eventually we end up with Jacob, Maddox, Julianne and a cute little girl named Maddy all sitting at the little table playing cars. Maddy was being a little rough with them and I know that Jacob recognized that there was something a little different about her (she had Down's Syndrome), but he just said "lets all play nice car friends...", and then looked over at me to make sure that I saw that all of this was going on. It was so sweet to watch them all play together! The other moms and I sat and chatted until we were all called back (which took FOREVER, as usual).
Julianne went first and she did great, very ticklish, but great! Still has a big 'ole head, but the Dr. said that she's thinning out and getting taller. Watch out! :)
Jacob acted like an old pro. He sat up there all by himself while I just sat in the chair and watched. When the nurse put the blood pressure cuff on his arm I tried to prepare him for how it would feel. He looked over at me and said, "Mom, I can handle it. I've done this before, you know." I just looked at the nurse and we both burst out laughing!! The four shots that had to go in his thigh hurt him a little more than he expected, though. Let's just say that I have some hearing loss in my right ear.
Busy morning, but now they are both napping, all hopped up on Motrin for the pain.
That's all until Julianne's 18 month appointment! And no more shots for Jacob until he's 10!!! Woo Hoo!!

The end of August...

We have had a roller coaster of a week. I'll just start at the beginning...
Jacob started his preschool back up last Wednesday. He did great! His teachers are just too precious and Jacob comes home with wonderful artwork and great stories to tell of his adventures on the playground, in music class and eating lunch with his friends. This is his last year of preschool and although we are holding him back from starting Kindergarten next year (because of his August birthday) he will go to some sort of bridge class for 5 year olds. Yikes! 5! Ok, let's just not go there yet...

Then Thursday came and thats when we got the news. Justin's dad, Jim, has renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer). This was obviously a shock to everyone. We don't know very much now, but he has an appointment at MD Anderson tomorrow at 2 (praise God that he got in that quickly!!!). I am thankful that we are all very close and can lean on each other to make it through all of this. We all went to church together on Sunday and it was wonderful to all be able to worship together. Every song seemed to take on another meaning. Every prayer seemed to hit home. Rebecca will be able to set up a website through MD Anderson soon and she has started a Facebook group for specific prayer requests and updates "Praying for Jim - the best husband, Daddy and Pops in the world". I will give updates as they come. Please pray for/with our family. I believe in miracles.

Ok, now it may seem weird that I'm putting other "normal" things in this post along with such sadness, but that is how our life has been in the last 7 days - normal and then earth-shattering. So, please bear with me...

Sunday afternoon, after visiting Champion Forest with the Pattersons, we came back home and had a cookout for Labor day. Justin smokes an AWESOME pork butt (I know, sounds gross...) and we had ribs, sausage, and everyone brought a side or two. I made Twice Baked Potatoes from The Pioneer Woman website on the left of this blog. They...were...delicous!! Try them!! I think I just munched and snacked for 2 hours. Ugh. I was SOOOO full! We stayed out late while all of the kids ran around in their swimsuits, I even pulled out Julianne's little pool! She was more interested in playing with baby Evan from down the street, though. He's her new toy :) He just turned 7 months and can sit really well and she will just plop herself down right beside him (sometimes ON him) and just giggle! He loves it!

Now, onto Monday...We didn't really have anything planned but Sunday afternoon Ryan and Laura (also, neighbors) invited us to her mom's 50th birthday/Labor Day party. They live up in Montgomery and have lots of land for the bigger kids to run around on, so we packed a little bag, threw Jacob's jeep in the back of the truck and headed out for the day! Sadly, it was so spur-of-the-moment that I forgot to grab my camera, so we don't have any pictures :(
Jacob had a ton of kids to play with and at one point there were at least 7 power wheels and 3 golf carts running around with various groups of kids/adults on them. It was madness! Both kids fell asleep on the way home so at least we were successful in wearing them out!
We had a great Labor Day weekend!!

Sorry again for the strange compilation of topics in this post, I'm sure the next few months will be filled with ups and downs. I'm just thankful for great friends and family that will be right beside us through it all.

Jacob was being too silly and this is the only picture I got of him on the first day of school:

Julianne and Even in his new wagon. She decided to help herself into it and play with his toys: