Cold!!!!!!!!!!! November in Minnesota

Well as many of you know, my mom moved to Minnesota in the summer. The last time the kids and I had seen her was in July. So after watching the airline prices go up and down and back up and the down, we finally got tickets. The kids and I left on the 22nd and Maama was at the airport waiting for us with Lyle. Well guess what, it snowed that morning and at the airport there was still some left on the ground. We ended up stopping at the Mall of America, going only to one store, and riding rides. When we left there, the kids got to play in the snow a bit, throwing it at me. I snowed again on Sunday morning...and these are the pictures from that.

Spiderman, Tinkerbell, a Werewolf and a bee????

This is the newest member of our family. We would like to introduce Walker. We got him the day after Gustav hit. One and a half months later IKE hit. He did well. We are still getting used to Walker, he is still young and loves to chew on shoes. We don't like the chewing part, but love the barking when something doesn't seem right to him.

For Halloween this year, Emily was Tinkerbell, Ricky was Spiderman and Richard was a werewolf. Walker was a bee. The kids got a ton of candy, filling the black cauldron I emptied before they came back. This was the first year, that we handed candy out. Usually we leave the light off, because no one is home. I stayed home to hand out candy and Ricky took the kids.

Texas Ren Fest

Emily and Richard fighting as usual. just kidding!!!!! We went with Jaime, Keith and the girls and Bampa and Becca to the Renaissance festival. The kids had never been. They loved it. Emily got her face painted and her hair braided. They also did lots of the kid attractions. Jaime and I got Henna tattoos. Jaime got hers on her leg, I got mine on my back. We had a really good time hanging with the family.

Soccer and Volleyball

Emily played volleyball this fall. I was the coach of her team. I really enjoyed working with all the girls. We had a really good team...we were undefeated. Emily is great on the court, she really pays close attention and hustles to the ball.


Richard tried soccer and absolutely loved it. He was of course the smallest one on the team, but didn't let that stop him. He hustles up and down the field and gets right in the huddle to get the ball. He said he really liked playing and wants to play again.

We are going to take off for the winter season, but start back up in the spring. I think I will coach again. It was fun...I think Emily liked me coaching. Richard could care less I think...

Pictures of IKE

This is our neighbor's house...they had to move out in order to fix the house.

This is inside HEB...the local grocery store 3 days after the storm...the shelves were bare and all fruit rotted.

This picture is sideways, however, it is me standing in line outside of HEB to get in...they only let 10 people in at a time. When someone came out then you could go in. I waited for about 20 minutes outside and got only non-perishables.

This is Ricky's parent's house the day after the storm came through. They lost their fence and lots of trees. Thankfully the house was spared any major damage.

This is the generator (behind the tractor). We had to keep the blue barrel full of diesel gas in order to keep power going. We were so lucky that we were able to stay at Richard and Roberta's house for the Hurricane and for the two weeks afterward. The kids really enjoyed being with them all the time, I also enjoyed the time I spent with them.

Their First Business

Well my post is going to be out of order, but this is important. About two weeks before Ike hit, we had Hurricane Gustav that hit to the east of us. We stocked up on food and water for that one. When it didn't hit, the kids decided to sell the water we bought on the corner. Forget the lemonade, it is now bottles of water.

They sold a bottle for $.50. Both kids had about $15 by the end of the day. They had fun...and I enjoyed myself reading and sitting on the porch with the dog.