Refresh. Regrow. Renew.

There was nothing extraordinary about this storm, so when I was driving home from church today I was astounded and overwhelmed by the amount of water on the road produced by this storm. At one spot I had to turn around and try a different way only to be facing more water. I debated for a moment and then ahead thinking it can't be that bad the rest of the way. I was certainly wrong. I encountered so many flooded roads that I became concerned for the safety of my car but it got us home safe in the end. The roads in my neighborhood have never flooded so badly except perhaps for TS Allison but she had torrential rain for days. This storm didn't even last 24 hours. When we finally pulled into our driveway, the car brought with it a wave of water that poured into our garage. Thankfully, the only damage done was to the wood borders of our garden which I have actually wanted to toss for some time now. It took me a few minutes to realize that we made it and we were safe. We took stock of our street and our neighbors, then took to retrieving what had floated away. By this point, our long wooded borders had made it to the main road and its enormous nails were dangerously close to the cars driving by. I only managed to get them off the road, but at least they couldn't travel any farther. By this point, the kids realized the opportunity before them. Their own personal swimming hole. Benny wouldn't go to far but Tiffany jumped in and before I could protest she was covered to her neck in water. To make things more interesting, one of my neighbors took the kids for a ride in her canoe. That was truly a site to see. It was hard getting the kids inside after that but I finally got them inside and marched them straight to the shower with lots of soap. I am still amazed with the amount of flooding in our neighborhood and happily I can share it with you.

Here is the main street to our neighborhood . . . flooded.

Hummer on the main road. Yikes!

Tiffany and her friend swimming, Yuck!

Still amazed that they could canoe

This is the view of my car and driveway.

The water was up past the rear tires.

This is the end of our street

and the house in the back has water inside.

Neighbor braving the water.

Giant nails that were endangering cars.

My garden without borders.

This past Wednesday, my sweet boy and I were sitting on my bed being silly while Tiffany was at school. He would fall on my legs and I would tickle him. I layed back waiting for him to pounce again, which he did. This time though, it was on my lower abdomen. Yup, he got me good too. So we made an emergency visit to the doctor and had another ultrasound. The baby is fine and very active which makes me think its a boy but I still have two months to wait for that mystery to be solved. Thankfully, everything worked out well and I have another picture to share. Boys!

God granted me a reprieve from my morning sickness in order to give me a great day with my family at the county fair. It was wonderful and I only wish it could have lasted longer but at least I had one day. We were greeted with a surprise as we were walking toward the rides. A wonderful man gave us two free passes for wristbands which was a fifty dollar value so the kids could ride all the rides they wanted to. Benjamin was very apprehensive but did ride the train ride a few times. Tiffany, however, was so psyched to get to the rides and she rode the roller coaster over and over and over and well, you get the point. We had to tempt her with the tiger show that was about to start just to get her to slow down. The fair also has a wonderful petting zoo with the usual goats and sheep but they also have a deer, camel, antelope and a kangaroo. This was naturally my favorite part. Now onto the photos.

This was one pushy antelope, literally he pushed me and Tiffany with his head.

We got to see a chick hatch from its egg. Too Cool!

Tiger show!

Parrot

capuchin monkey

Bowing to Us

Mountain lion jumping

mountain lion landing

The mighty tiger

Arctic Fox

Serval Jumping

Today, while shopping for a friend's present, Tiffany found some toys she wanted to buy. A dolphin, a horse and her favorite, unicorn. She was busy rattling off what their names would be, dophie, brownie, and my favorite - Horny for the unicorn. We immediately left the store and I swore never to buy her another unicorn.

For Everyone
If you want to get one gift for them all to share, we all love doing crafts together, playing music and games so here is a list of things we could use. :)

Craft Supplies
glitter glue
glitter
chenille stems
pom poms
tissue paper squares
cardstock-any color
beads
popsicle sticks
yarn
tempera paint
watercolor paint
train/car kits
prepackaged craft kits (click here for ideas)

Musical Instruments
rainsticks
drums
unique wood instruments
shakers
Here are some more ideas from Lakeshore Learning

Board Games-All sorts

Play-doh

AquaSand

Tiffany
my little pony
strawberry shortcake
anything with horses
dresses size 8

Benjamin
superheroes esp. flash, spiderman and batman
trains
racecars
shirts size 5/6

Rebekah
musical instruments
clothes 18mths

One of my happy escapes from morning sickness is an afternoon nap. It helps to take off the edge. Today, I feel more nauseous than usual so I told the kids to watch the movie and let mommy sleep for a while. I lay down and felt my eyes droop and my body relax, soon I am asleep. "MOMMY!!!!" It sounded like someone was being murdered but it was only my sweet girl learning how to use her hula hoop and wanting to share. I try again. This time its my handsome boy who is frightened. He is laying in the hallway on his side screaming and I expect to find blood, instead an ant was biting him. I don't know why he is so fearful of ants but nothing is worse to him. So I abandon my nap and try to get something accomplished. I will probably go lay down again after this but at least I got to blog a little.