The kin folk seemed to have escaped without too much damage from Hurricane Ike! I was a little worried about Dad, Sarah and Keith in the Houston area, and Mike and Laura up north in the hurricane’s path. We were in Ike’s weaker section so we didn’t get much more than wind and rain. Uncle John was in New York City so I guess he made out the best. Sarah and Keith ended up with a big tree across their driveway. And they lost power so Keith had to use Sarah’s A/C adapter to grind his coffee beans in her car. She calls it her second home, anyway. I guess Amy didn’t really get anything at all in the Austin area. What’s nice is that a lot of folks called to check up on us…Mrs. Cowan, Monica B. and Kathy G just to name a few! We are so loved!

Mom came over and we had a Hurricane Ike slumber party. We played with our bowling set of stuffed animals. We leaned a box against the sofa seats and had an indoor slide. Later Allen ran his dump truck down it as a ramp in true boy fashion. Peter had informed Katy a little TOO much about the possible destruction. She walked around sounding official as she told us about the winds and rain and falling trees. On Saturday Allen was getting into so much stuff that we started calling him Hurricane Allen, and Katy is still laughing about that because she now understands what it really means.

Once during a pretty gusty part of the day Peter went to check things out. The kids were watching him from the front door and Katy was very worried about him. She kept yelling to him not to blow away and to watch out for branches. Allen was just trying to sneak out the open door. He absolutely loves being outside. When they saw the way Peter prepped their swing set for the storm, they were not too happy about it.

A funny thing about sending Katy to a preschool for two days each week is that she’s coming home with stories and songs that I didn’t teach her. Today she has been telling me all about dinosaurs and skeletons. She actually brought me her rendition of a “ceratops.” She also is singing a song about “tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe” and it’s the cutest thing! A couple days ago she told me that when she grows up she wants to be a “dirt man” but I know where that reference came from. It’s from when we watched the “diggers” after her first official day of school. She was pretty impressed.

Allen has learned to say “thank you” and it’s so sweet. He’s picking up new ideas and showing off his smarts every day!