It's times like these that make you update your 72 hour kit!

This picture is not a lake...it is our street that leads to our house! It is a bad picture because it was taken from my phone so I don't think you can tell how deep that water is...it was up to one guy's knees! The water went across and covered the curb and sidewalk. There was a HUGE line of cars on the street and finally I got out to see what was going on. There were tons of cars stalled in the middle of the water that tried to make it through. After sitting there for about 35 minutes I got the kids out of the car (I parked on a nearby street) and we walked half the way home and then my friend saw us and picked us up in her big truck! Can you believe it rained AGAIN today, actually it POURED today and this is what happened. Our retention ponds are FULL and if we get more rain I am afraid to see what happens. Needless to say we will be checking on our flood insurance tomorrow. Let's pray the next tropical storm/hurricane Gustav stays AWAY!

Can you guess what we did for FHE tonight??? You guessed it we updated our 72 hour kits and came up with a plan if we have a flood...Tyler and Anna can we come stay with you?

What do you do on day 4 of rain...build a fort!

I was checking out my friends blog and she showed a picture of her kids blanket forts they had built...that was my favorite thing to do as a kid! So today the kids were getting a little stir crazy not being able to go out AGAIN because of rain...and school was cancelled AGAIN and so it was the perfect build a fort day! I got a little nostalgic :) Very impressive fort - they had the help of Nicholas and Brooke (our neighbors). Gavin was a terror and would come and jump on top of the blankets and destroy their fort and so I had to bring out the gate and keep him upstairs...(I've attached a picture of him too so you can see the torture)

Prayer works on shots too!

Emma had her 4 year old physical today...no it's not her 4th birthday, I'm just a lame mom and didn't get it done 8 months ago when it should have been done :) So today the doctor said since it was so close to her 5th birthday why don't we just give her the shots she will need before Kindergarten and then she won't have to do it then. The whole time leading up to this appointment Emma would ask me if she had to get shots and I was secretly hoping NOT because the last time we did shots Emma WIGGED OUT! I'm talking it took 3 nurses and myself to hold her down. They were shocked at how crazy she got, she was screaming and even starting to throw the chair in the room around. Soooooo needless to say both Emma and I were not looking forward to the next time the dreaded shots had to take place. I decided I should just get it over with today and so after the doctor left the room I started preparing Emma. And yes the tears started...I let her know she could have a reward for her bravery yada, yada, yada. Gavin was so concerned about her and was giving her hugs and kisses. Long story short, after the tears and drama of her kicking and screaming when we tried to lay her on the table, finally the nurse had me practically lay on the upper portion of her body and then the nurse had the legs. As I was laying on her and holding her hands I whispered in her ear that we should say a prayer together. So I started the prayer and she would repeat after me..."Heavenly Father, please help me to relax and feel calm and be brave..." As soon as we started the prayer Emma stopped her crying and relaxed under my hold. She was perfectly still as she concentrated on the prayer and as soon as we said amen the nurse said she was all done! I was expecting an increase in screaming when the shot actually went in but Emma didn't flinch!!!! I couldn't stop myself from tearing up on the car ride home when I thought about how a child's faith is so simple and strong...bribery with her favorite toys and all the calming things I could think to say didn't work but prayer did!

2nd Day of School - CANCELED!

Yes - just as I thought we were getting some order around here, getting back on schedule - they go and cancel the 2nd day of school because of dumb hurricane Fay!!!! Fay Fay Go Away! :) So instead Luke and Emma had friends over and they played all day. Then they got a little stir crazy from being cooped up inside. I think they would have been better off at school :) Yes it drizzled all day but tonight we are getting the winds and rain. Nothing like Charlie from 3 years ago.

First Day of School!!!!!

Today was the first day of school!!!!! Last night Matt gave each of the kids a blessing, it felt like the good old days when I was in school and my dad would give us a blessing. I love the calming feeling you have after the blessing and then the first day doesn't seem so scary. Even Luke and Emma at this young age felt that same peace. This morning went great...it was so weird to drop off 2 kids to school. Luke's starts at 8:45 a.m. (which is way nice because last year he started at 8:00 and so it felt like we had so much time this morning!). And then Emma's starts at 9:00 a.m. They were so excited and had no problems marching right in there. I was more worried about leaving Gavin at the Kids' Club at the gym today because usually he has Luke and Emma in there and if he is fussy they just have Emma come take care of him :) He did great too!

The kids with daddy anticipating their first day!

Um I don't think you'll get ANY sleep like this! :)

Emma after her blessing from dad!

Luke after his blessing!

FIRST DAY!!! Here we come...

Our neighbors little friend Hannah is the patrol for Luke's class. She stands with his class until the teacher opens the door. Luke thought he was so cool that he knew the big 5th grade patrol :) And it doesn't hurt that she is a really cute girl :)
Gavin was so funny while we were waiting for the teacher to open the door, he would walk over to Luke and bend down and say something like he was checking on him and giving him a pep talk. Then at one point he went and plopped himself into Luke's lap :)

Luke with Mrs. Lipsit
Emma in front of her school
Emma handing in her first homework assignment that they gave her at Meet the Teacher. She was so proud of her little paper person:)

Emma and Marin

Ms. Angie, Emma, and Ms. Nicole the triplets :)

Meet the teacher at Discovery Zone Preschool

Emma had her meet the teacher day today. She picked out the perfect outfit and I almost cried when I looked at her...she looks so big! I realized something so funny, we wear flip flops year round and so it was weird to pull out socks and I had to run to the store for some shoes because she had totally grown out of all of her shoes.

She has a very cute teacher named Ms. Nicole and another aid named Angie. When we walked into her classroom it was funny because there were a lot of people I knew either from teaching dance or from the gym where I work out. So I probably knew about 7 or 8 of the kids in her class (or at least their moms). Emma's best friend Marin is in her class and they are so excited to be together.

So Monday is the big day!!!! We'll report how it goes! I can't believe my baby girl is going to school!

It cracked me up because Emma and her two teachers look like little triplets with their similar hair dos! :)

Chapel (Emma's friend from her dance class), Emma, and Marin

Meet the teacher at Sunrise

Luke had meet the teacher today and he was relieved to find out he had Mrs. Lipsit and has a bunch of people that he knows in his class. After we left her room he said "Now I'm not nervous for first grade". He is so excited! He wouldn't let me take any pictures and asked if I would wait for the first day of school. I didn't want to embarrass him :) Guess you'll have to wait for the first day of school to see his teacher :)

What an example...

I put Gavin in his high chair tonight and gave him his bottle and a chip and then I turned around to get the rest of his dinner ready for him. When I glanced over at him he had his arms folded and was saying a prayer before eating his little meal! What a good little boy!

Blonde or Brunette....who has more fun...I'll let you know!

I decided my boring hair needed a change so I went from blonde highlights to dark chocolate brown with caramel highlights. Maybe I was having a sweets craving when I went in :)

I took this cute lady from our ward with me....I swear I felt like we were in one of those makeover shows because you wouldn't believe the difference. She wanted to go with me because she liked my cut, talk about pressure, I am always nervous to recommend hairdressers because what if they hate the outcome!!!!! But I took her with and she got her hair cut while I was under the hair dryers...when I turned the corner when she was finished (for the "reveal") I couldn't believe it was the same lady! She looks so cute! She was really excited about it to and for the rest of the day her face was beaming! Fun fun!

End of the summer SPLASH BASH

The Primary had an end of the summer party at the bishops house and the kids had so much fun going down the 2 bounce house water slides! The big deal for us was that Emma overcame her fear of dogs and actually petted their dog Katie. Now if any of you know of Emma's fear of dogs it is actually quite out of control and she starts screaming and climbing up you if dogs come near. So today I got down on the floor with her and showed her that even Gavin would pet the dog. She started to hesitantly pet the dog and before long she and her friend Marin were following the dog around. In fact she lost interest in the water slides and the dog was the highlight for her. Then there is Gavin which you can now call "the killer of fun". There was this cute little helpless lizard that would let all the kids hold him and he would run up their arm. Well this little girl Ashleigh let Gavin see and Gavin grabbed it and tore it apart!!!!! OOOOOPS! Sorry little lizard!

Last beach day before school starts

We were supposed to have one more R.S. beach day today but I really didn't get the word around very well and I think people were getting ready for school to start next week. So I didn't really know of anyone going but my kids still wanted to go. I was starting to not want to do it myself, but I'm glad I did. It was nice to get away from the messy house and piles of laundry and enjoy my kids. Luke was loving riding the waves...he was making me a little nervous because he was CLEAR out there with all the big kids. Emma made friends with the little kids around us and was busy catching crabs and snails (she brought home one of the sea snails as a pet) and Gavin had a good time chasing the seagulls! They were having fun digging in the sand too and were COVERED from head to toe! This week is full of fun things for the kids to end their summer on a good note! :)