Next time you go to Disney World...

Yesterday, Peter, Olivia and me were sitting at the table talking and somehow the subject of Disney came up. Well, Olivia informed us that the next time we go to Disney we "can't" leave her here. I think she was a little upset that we went to Disney without her.

Happy Birthday Poppy!!

Happy Birthday Poppy!!

We hope you have a wonderful day!!

We love you!

Brooke, Peter and Olivia

Epcot International Food & Wine Festival

This past weekend we went to the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival with our friends Sherri and Will and we had a blast. I am ready to go next year. The past two years Sherri and Will have gone to the festival and had a great time so this year they decided to invite us and we were ever so thankful. It was Sherri's birthday weekend as well. When we got to the resort they gave a her a button that says "Happy Birthday" so every she went people were wishing her a Happy Birthday. We got there on Friday and left on Monday so she had a four day birthday.

Thanks Sherri and Will for a wonderful time. I look forward to the Sakson/Miller Disney Cruise in 2010. :-)

Brooke, Buzz and Peter at Downtown Disney.

A view of where we stayed, Saratoga Springs Resort, from Downtown Disney.

Sherri & Brooke in Bruce's mouth.

The boys being silly in front of a "fun" mirror.

In front of the entrance to the festival.
At the entrance of Epcot.

Brooke, Sherri & Will in front of the Canadian restaurant where we celebrated Sherri's birthday. Good Food!!!

Brooke & Peter in Morroco. Will & Sherri in Morroco.

Brooke, Beast, Belle and Peter. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie. We showed Olivia the picture and she didn't quite understand why Mommy and Daddy took a picture with Belle... and she didn't.

On our last day of vacation we went to breakfast at the Polynesian Resort at Magic Kingdom and we got to ride on the front of the monorail because of Sherri's birthday.

Tonga Toast

This was our last meal on our vacation. It was wonderful. It was french toast with bananas stuffed in the middle with a strawberry compote to put over the toast. YUMMMMY!!!

Momma can I be naked!

Olivia will get home from school and within about 10 to 20 minutes she has managed to take off shoes and socks and whatever she is wearing except her panties. She loves to run around like that. I normally don't mind it until we go to someone elses house and she starts to take her clothes off. She has done it a couple of times.

Hurricane Ike

The first thing we saw when we opened up the doors after Hurricane Ike.

Olivia looking out into the courtyard. I took the picture from the other side of the courtyard.
Peter sweeping water off of our flat roof.

Olivia assessing the damage.

Helping Daddy push the leaves off the driveway.

When we woke up Sunday morning after it rained through the night.Looks almost like after the hurricane.

Olivia watching Poppy peel shrimp.

Daddy cleaning up the patio

Olivia helping me dry dishes only minutes from getting our electricity back. I should have washed the dishes earlier and who knows we might have gotten electricity sooner.

Pump in Up Party!

A little boy in Olivia's class had a "Pump it Up" party this past Saturday. His mom called on Thursday letting me know that the party been changed. She told me she thought she should cancel it but her husband told her no because that would give the people without electricity something to do. I agreed with him. It was a fun party. Last December we went to another "Pump it Party" and Olivia would not do anything by herself. Well she had a blast doing everything by herself this time. I was so proud of her.

My big girl sliding down the slide all by herself.

Olivia putting "go..go" juice in her car.

We Have Electricity!!!

We got electricity about 10:00 this morning. Olivia and I were in the kitchen washing and drying dishes by hand and Peter was cleaning the floor and all of a sudden I hear 2 or 3 strange noises and the next thing I knew our lights were on. I jumped up and down screaming for joy, "We have electricity... we have electricity!!!" I almost started crying. We were very fortunate that the only thing wrong with the house was a few tiles by our door to the patio buckled while hundreds of people lost everything BUT I really didn't like not (definitely a double negative) having electricity for a week. I talked to my Mom yesterday and she asked how we were doing and I told her if we don't get electricity soon Peter and I will be divorcing. Not really... but we were getting on each other's nerves and Olivia was just a whole other matter. She really didn't understand what was going on but she reacted how Peter and I were behaving (badly). After 10:00 this morning we were a different family. I like Peter and Olivia again. :-) Please continue to keep southeast Texas in your prayers. There is still so much cleaning up to do; restoring power and re-building homes and even cities. I will post pictures tomorrow.

Take a hike Ike... part deaux!

It is around 8:45 on Friday evening and we are still waiting Ike's arrival. The wind is starting to pick up but so far no rain. Our front doors are around 11 ft tall and the only thing that is keeping the door closed is a deadbolt so we had to put my treadmill against the doors wouldn't fly open. I can hear the doors move back and forth. Olivia is sleeping on her little cot in our room and we brought down the top mattress out of the guest room so my parents can sleep down in the den. I think the majority of Houston besides the people in certain zip codes that had to evacuate are going to ride it out. Basically the city gov't told not to evacuate because they didn't want to have another Rita fiasco on their hands. Our county judge basically told us to "hunker down".

I went to the store this morning for a few last minute things and the majority of the people there had either beer or wine in their carts. I guess if you have to ride out a hurricane you mind as well have a few cocktails.

All we have done all day long is watch either the Weather Channel or our local news. I must admit that Ike is not here yet and I am already sick of him. We we watching the news and they were showing video of Galveston and there was a sign saying something like "Go away Ike... Tina is not here". I thought that was funny.

Take a hike Ike!!!

Mom and Dad's boarded up house.

Well we are riding out the storm after going to Mom and Dad's and coming back to Houston. Yesterday morning Peter, Olivia and me headed to Mom's house because we thought it would be worse in Houston than where she lives which is about 90 miles east of Houston. Well we were wrong!!! When we got there (Peter left to come back to Houston) the local news was saying that the storm surge would only be about 5 to 8 ft but during the day they kept reporting it higher and higher. By 9:00 last the storm surge was going to be around 20 ft and Nederland is only 15 ft above sea level so my Dad says we are leaving. So we start packing up around 9:00 and left around 11:30 and got back into Houston around 1:00 in the morning.

That is it for now. I am sure we will lose electricity sometime tomorrow so I will probably blog once everything is up and running again and who knows when that will happen.

Grapes

Yesterday, Olivia and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few groceries. She saw a package of grapes that were tri-colored and had to have them. So of course I bought them. We get home and she wants some so I get out the colander and put the grapes in and wash them. Olivia is sitting on the kitchen counter while I am washing them. I give her a few and I quote this is what she said, "Momma you buy the best grapes ever." My heart just melted.

Disciple Bible Study.

Tonight I will start Disciple I Bible Study. I took it several years ago but I never got to finish because I was working for a CPA firm at the time and once "tax season" started I was working 55 to 60 hours a week and was exhausted all of the time. So I am very excited to start it again and this time finish it.

Girls Night Out!

September 2008
October 2007

Last night me and 5 of my girlfriends from high school met at a restaurant in Beaumont and had our 3rd annual reunion. The first one was before our 20 year class reunion in 2005. We skipped 2006 but we met last October and then again yesterday. These are girls I have known since I was 12 years old. We have had our ups and downs but we have always managed to stay friends. It is amazing we can go years without seeing each other but when we do get together it's like we see each other every day. We had a lot of fun catching up. Three of my friends have stayed in in the area and they know everyone and all their business. I love hearing about people I haven't seen in years. Five of us are married and four of us have children. Of course I have the youngest child at 3 years old and one of my friends has a son that will graduate in 2009. I look at these "girls" and none of us has changed one bit. We are all fabulous in our forties. We managed to chat for nearly 5 1/2 hours. I didn't leave until midnight and 4 of them were still there when I left. I was exhausted by the time I left. Next year we are planning to have a girls weekend at the beach.

I want to be Sleeping Beauty.

The other day I was looking at Halloween costumes and wondering what Olivia would be this year. I knew if I asked her she would tell me a princess. We have several play princess dresses and I refuse to buy her another princess dress. You ask, "Why doesn't she wear one of her own princess dresses?" Because are all a size too big and she shows too much skin for Mommy's liking.

Mommy: "Olivia, what do you want to be for Halloween?"

Olivia: "A princess."

Mommy: "What kind of princess?"

Olivia: "Arial."

Mommy: "Duh"

So later that day we got on the internet at looked at the different costumes.

Mommy: "How about Wonder Women?"

Olivia: "She looks like Spiderman."

Mommy: "What about a witch?"

Olivia: "I don't like witches. I want to be Sleeping Beauty."

Mommy: "What about a fairy?"

Olivia: "I don't like fairies. I want to be Cinderella."

Mommy: "What about Abby Cadaby?"

Olivia: "She's a doll."

Mommy: "How about a ballerina?" Olivia thinks for a second and...

Olivia: "I want to be Sleeping Beauty."

My this time I have had enough of looking for costumes. We did find a cute Asian Princess costume that she liked and she even said something about being Mulan but I know she really wants to be Sleeping Beauty. We are going to Disney/Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival at the end of the month so maybe I will be able to find something there that isn't too expensive and not a princess.