I figured it out...

Thanks Natasha. It was so simple once I knew what to do :)

Help!

okay, I'm trying to change my background and it's not letting me. It's like the background I have now is stacked on top of another (if that makes sense) and I copied and pasted a new background in the right place but it won't change. I can't access the website (The cutest blog on the block) If someone knows what is going on and how to fix it I would appreciate your help!

And....we have light!

I cannot express how happy I was when I was sitting in my kitchen, the sun was going down and I was not really looking forward to the night ahead of me. I was debating on whether or not to try to bathe the kids in the dark when all of a sudden the microwave beeped, the kitchen light and ceiling fan started going and the fridge started running!! It was seriously one of the happiest moments of my life...LAME i know, but it's true! After two weeks of back and forth from our house to family homes, sharing a room with my children, I was so grateful to know that life would finally be back to normal! I do want to say thanks to Chad's parents and sister for letting us bombard their homes while our home was out of order! HOORAY for electricity!

Still no power...

The calm before the storm

Carly had fun playing in all the rain that fell while the storm was passing. It rained like crazy!!

Just another tree that fell on a car.

Sam was watching the rain fall.

It's been what, 11 days and still no power?? Luckily we have family here who either has a generator or was one of the lucky ones and already has their power restored. So, we have basically been living from a suitcase only we are not on a vacation!! It's amazing how much you depend on something so much, it's kinda sad. There are so many stupid little things I took for granted like....

a cold refrigerator with food in it,

an ice cold drink,

ICE,

turning a light on at night,

having cold cereal in the morning with milk from my refrigerator,

hearing the AC turn on in our house,

charging my phone in the house,

using the microwave,

using the disposal in the sink,

using the garage door opener,

the pump to our swimming pool so it doesn't look like a mosquito infested pond,

having Carly watch Elmo's World,

using a hair dryer,

turning a light on in my closet so I can see my clothes,

using a real stove and not a camping stove,

having meat in my freezer,

The list could go on...granted we have had other homes to stay in so we don't have to stay in our home and be miserable. They have now put our zip code and the "not sure" area of when power will be restored, they have said that it could be anytime after Thursday the 25th. The stupid part is that people in the subdivision next to us have power!! It is really messed up the way the power lines work. I just have to apologize ahead of time to my parents if the power isn't back on when they come. It's kind of out of my hands :)

Here are some pictures. I have more on my camera, these are from a cell phone so they aren't very big. The top picture is of our backyard. A lot of tree limbs fell but no real damage. The next picture is of our street. One of the many pine trees that fell across the road. Like I said, it's amazing what wind can do! THe last picture is of a house in our neighborhood. This poor car had no chance! I really can't explain what this place looks like. It still doesn't feel real. We are in the car right now. We had to drive an hour get groceries and gas!! Let me tell you...it's a scary feeling when all the groceries stores near you are running out of food! Let's hope they can stock their shelves soon! Even an hour away from our house the gas stations are running out of gas and the food on the shelves were emptying by the minute. It is a madhouse here! I don't ever want to go through this again!

We made it through! (this is a long one!)

Well, for those who are interested...we made it through Hurricane Ike. It wasn't fun or pretty but for my first Hurricane I must say that I did pretty well. I went to my BodyPump class at the YMCA and all everyone was talking about was how huge this storm was and that it was coming straight for Houston. Mind you, the previous day they were saying that Houston would probably dodge this one. Well, that's what I get for not watching the news every morning because overnight they predicted that it was headed straight to Houston so we needed to get prepared. Well, we were prepared, we had water, food, gas in our cars....all the necessities. After hearing everyone talking about it got me really nervous so I decided to take a trip to wal-mart for extra diapers and formula and water. I got to wal-mart, went inside and almost ran out! It was so packed! There were probably 6 people waiting in every line! I got formula and diapers but as for everything else wal-mart was pretty much empty! I have never seen so many empty shelves at wal-mart, gas stations were INSANE!! I never thought a whole city could run out of gas until I moved here. Anyway...Friday night we went to bed. I was nervous having my children in separate bedrooms as me but I figured they would sleep better...the winds started to pick up around mid-night and didn't stop! I have never heard wind so strong before in my life and I really don't ever want to again! I got out of bed around 2:30 and the eye of the storm had already passed Galveston, which meant we were still in for a long ride. I basically did not sleep Friday night. (luckily my kids slept through the whole thing) The wind got so strong our house actually shook. We kept hearing trees breaking and falling and I was just praying that our house wouldn't be crushed by a huge pine tree. Well, my nerves got the better of me so Carly ended up in our closet and Sam in his bouncy chair next to our bed. The power went out around 3:00 a.m. We got out of bed the next morning and the wind was still howling and it was pouring rain! The winds didn't die down till afternoon. We saw that our neighbors across the street had two huge pine trees fall in the yard barely missing their house. We were one of the few homes that didn't have trees fall (which I am still amazed) Our subdivision looks like it was in a war. It looked like a movie to me. We couldn't leave our house because there were numerous trees blocking all the roads out. Today (Sunday) church was cancelled (you can't have church in the dark with no AC in Houston weather) it stormed all night last night which flooded a lot of the roads. It is now 4:30, the sky is clear, there is a light breeze and a cool front is actually coming through. Which is definitely nice for the millions of people without power still (yes, we are one of those millions) They say on the news that it could be 4 weeks or more before power is restored to certain areas! 4 WEEKS!! I would take a vacation but there is a gas shortage and the airport is closed...what can you do! I'll post some pictures as soon as we get back to normal, which hopefully is no 4 weeks away!

4 Months old!

Before we loose power and Internet service I thought I should post today that Sam is 4 months old! Time flies! He is such a smiley baby! He loves to have attention on him and he'll reward you with a great big toothless smile! He laughs a ton! He'll even start to giggle when I'm changing his clothes. He must be very ticklish. It's so cute! He doesn't fuss much anymore except when he's hungry or really tired! He loves to be sitting up so he can watch his crazy sister run all over the house! We sure love him!

What we've been up to...

*Bought Sam a walker off craigs list for $15. Even better...it's a sesame street one so Carly loves it too!

* Drove a little over an hour North to visit my sis-in-law and her little girl for the day. We had a picnic at a park and met my friend and her daughter there, we did some shopping at hobby lobby, made a necklace and earrings and then headed home.

*Started back at the YMCA on tuesday and now I can barely walk up the stairs. It's the good kind of pain!

*Hoping we don't get blown away by Hurricane Ike.

That's pretty much what we've been up to.

ps. Take a look at my friend Natasha's jewelry website. She really does a great job with them!

www.jewelrymakingideas.blogspot.com

Sam's First Swim!

We decided to let Sam swim for the first time on Saturday. The pool was a little chilly so I put him in really quick. He squealed for a second and then loved every second after that!! He smiled so big. I know this top picture looks like he's a bout to cry but he really did enjoy it. Except for the times when Carly would splash water in his face!

This is just a picture of Carly loving her little brother. She is really starting to be sweet with him. She'll just randomly go up to him and kiss him on the head and start talking to him. It's really cute to watch, especially when Sam smiles back at her!

Really?!?

This is what I get for browsing hrough clearance items on babiesrus.com. It's called a Weeblock-Jock. It's suppose to catch the pee during diaper changes. Can I just say that I don't think i'd use this even if it was free.

Who agrees with me?

The Water Cube is the coolest building!! I don't know why but there is just something about it that fascinates me! I'm already feeling an empty void in my life now that the Olympics are over with. How sad is that?

Sambo Man

3 Months!!

Well...our little Sambo is three months old today!! It's amazing how time is going by! I thought time flew with Carly but it goes by so much quicker with multiple children! It's bitter sweet that my baby is growing up! I miss how tiny he used to be but I love the fact that he smiles and talks now. He still is a little stinker when it comes to napping during the day but he is getting better at it! and he is still sleeping through the night which I am so grateful for...this mama needs her sleep!! We sure love this little guy!

My two little rugrats! Carly loves to have Sam sit next to her. She thinks it is so funny! I just have to be careful because when she is done sitting next to him she'll just try to push him out of the way.

This is Carly's baby that she put a diaper on. She is OBSESSED with changing diaper! I think I've mentioned that before. She with put a diaper on anything! Just to name a few....an Elmo DVD case, an Elmo game, her bunny that she sleeps with every night, I think she even put a diaper on a block or rather put a block inside the diaper. Thanks again Mom for starting this obsession! :)

This is Carly feeding her baby. Ever since I had Sam she watched me and repeats it with her baby. She warp her dolls in blankets and bounce them and rock them. She "shhh" them and she say "it's okay baby" and my favorite..."hum ear, baiper change" It's amazing what her little brain soaks up everyday!

We went to Galveston on Monday. I always forget that we are a little over an hour away from a beach! It's kind of nice to be so close. Carly absolutely loved it!! She couldn't wait to get in the water! She loved to play in the waves! It was really windy there so Sam didn't like it very much. I made a make-shift wind blocker with his bouncy chair and it seemed to work okay.

Bugs and Poop

This 1 inch creature is known as the "cow killer." Actually, it is a member of the wasp family. They are known to have the most posionous sting of any North American bee/wasp.
We were swimming today and one was in our pool. We didn't know what it was, so we saved it's life. Then we found another just a few feet away. We should have killed them but didn't know that they were harmful. It is called a "Velvet Ant."

Just google it and you'll see some cool pictures.

Just one more thing to watch out for!

(Posted by: Chad McLane!! My first post. Aaahhhhh.)

Okay, now it's my (Danette) turn. I can't tell you how creepy it is to see an insect in your back yard and you have no idea what it is. It was pretty but creep looking. It is the darkest black color and the brightest red I have ever seen on a bug! Yuck!

Now...on a side note...Carly pooped in the potty for the very first time today! HOORAY! Although, I think I just ccaught her at the right time because I really don't think she has any clue what she is suppose to do in the potty. I had her sit on the potty after we went swimming today for 15 minutes (she always pees like crazy after we swim, so I thought this would be a good chance to catch her in the act) but...we waited and waited and no pee, so I put her diaper back on and she peed. Better luck tomorrow hopefully!

We made it home!

I am glad to say we made it home with no major tragedy. The flight went well. Sam slept the whole way and Carly managed to stay happy (most of the time) even though it was so late. I had a lot of people offer to help me which was a nice relief! We had so much fun in utah visiting family and friends but it is sure nice to be home!
This is a view from a park we went to. It can't get any prettier than that!

Here are some random pictures from the trip. We were able to to to Salt Lake and celebrate the 24th of July. We spent that afternoon at my grandparents and ate some good food and let the kids play in the water.

This was at the conference center in Salt Lake. I had never been inside there. It is really pretty inside and out!

These pictures were in Grandpa Holt's garden. It is amazing! Carly helped pick potatos from the garden.

These were taken at Main Street Park in St. George. (they started building all the cool parks after I moved!) Carly loved this place. It was so hot outside that I'm sure it felt good to get soaked! Sharise thought it would be fun to let Sam experience the water. I'm not quite sure what he was thinking!

These are pictures of Carly and Sam and my friends Natasha's kids. I thought it would be fun to get a picture that shows just how small they are! I thought Sam was small until I saw her cute little ones!

wish me luck!

Well, I've been in Utah since the 19th and today is the day I'm flying home. Sharise was with me flying up here but this time I will be flying home by myself with two little ones!! Wish me luck and lets hope it's not too much of a disaster!

This was a video I took of Carly today while we swam. She is fearless. She used the arm floaties for the first time on the 4th of July and now that is the only way she wants to swim!! She uses them rather well and she loves that she can be so independent! The other day while we swam I had her jump into the pool to me. The first couple times I would catch her but I decided to let her go underwater after that! She loved it! She would jump in and I would help pull her up out of the water. She was getting pretty good at swimming around the pool with just her floaties on (without my help) so I thought I'd let her jump in today without me being there to catch her. She obviously had no problem with it! She is such a little fish, I love it!

Summer time...

2 Months old!

Well, Sam hit two months old on the 12th! It's crazy how time is flying. I hardly even remember what it was like when he was a week old! It's kind of sad how fast he is growing up, but he sure is a cute little guy! We love him very much!
We went to the doctor today and he weighed in at 12 lbs and 23 inches long!