Great Flood of 2012

Kids and I left the house to run a few errands before the big 4th of July holiday. We were only gone about 3 hours, when we got home Walker came in the house first as he typically does. He came running into the garage to tell me that there was water ( his voice was not panicky by any means) , I assumed one of the dogs had an accident. Lauren ran in after him to check it out, I was still getting bags out of the car. Lauren came flying out the back door with a look of PANIC on her face.  I knew something was BAD. I ran in after her to find WATER ALL OVER the place. Well let me clarify all over, 1/2 of the family room. 1/2 of the master , most of the front all, 1/3 of the dining room, all of the powder bath, all of the coat closet. So pretty much EVERYWHERE . Needless to say I lost it, several not very nice words came out of my mouth.  Walker said, " Sissy we better get out of her before Mommy's head blows off".  

The water was coming from the feeder connector tube on the toilet.  It some how burst and water was spewing everywhere. I have been married to Ken long enough to know that I needed to shut the water off from the toilet which I actually knew how to do. 

First try I was unable to get a hold of Ken. Lauren called him from her phone still no answer. I text-ed him 911 to which he called me back.  He of course was so calm and I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.  Literally I thought I was going to lose it.. Anyway we called Service Master and the insurance company. Service Master was great , they were at our house with an hour and a half.  They had to leave 8 very large fans, 4 De-humdifiers and some other fan looking thingy in the house for 5 days. It sounded like a tornado in here.  Insurance ... well they aren't so great. We are still haggling with them over what needs to be repaired and how much money they are willing to give us. ( Example, Mrs Wheeley,  we will only replace half of your base boards.) Such a HUGE PAIN IN THE BUTT.  Anyway its going to be a long process getting all of the repairs done. Silver lining it all of this .. we will get new carpet, flooring and paint.

Answers prayers

 Walker is more than ready for this school year to be over.   Tomorrow is field day but there is a 80% chance of rain. This is the conversation we had over dinner.

 Me- Walker it looks like rain tomorrow so you may not have field day.
Walker- Hmm... well Mommy I need to have a talk with God about holding off on the rain.
Me- Its always a good idea to pray but it could still rain.
Walker- Mommy he answers prayers ALL the time and this one a really important. I think God knows that my brain needs a break from learning.

For the sake of EVERYONE that has to deal with Walker tomorrow. Please let the rain not come till later. Please Lord, that is my prayer.. AMEN

Helping out...... NOT !!!

Walker has a binder that gets either a smiley face or a sad face daily. Actually he gets two faces a day. That way if he has a bad morning he can turn his day around and get a happy face in the afternoon. Last week while Mrs Montes was out for the day he had a substitute. One who he has had before and knows her rules. Anyway she asked him to come work on something. He has no desire and apparently made a fuss about it. She told him that if it didn't get done she would have to sign his binder so that I would know. Well he then took it upon himself to get his binder and but his own smiley face. If you look closely at the picture you can see that there is a smiley face with a frown drawn over it. Well that is the one he made and then his substitute changed it. When we asked him why he did it, " he said well, she was very busy with all the other children and needed some help. So Mommy, I was just helping her. Its good to help people." After I left the room to laugh and then came back. I let him know that this was not the appropriate kind of help.

My Mom reminded me that in 2nd grade I forged her name when I note came home from school. My Mom's name is Beverly.. I signed the note Beberly.. haha !! I guess that apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I do love that boy so much .. 

Afternoon at the park.....

These pictures are extremely deceiving.. They both argued the entire way to the park. On a good part of the walk thru the nature trail.. But as soon as I turned the camera towards them they turned the charm on. Making me look like a  liar.  I told them that its going to be along summer if the arguing keeps up.  Walker says well.. sometimes it more fun to argue with  Lauren. Lauren then says its a brother and sisters job to argue with each other.. Umm.. I don't think so you two.. Looks like we are going to have to have a long chat about the how they should be acting.. Thankfully I was able to get a few good pics of the 2 of them

Teenager in the making....

Dear Lord, PLEASE HELP ME with this child .. She is going to be the death of me.

 I found this pic on my phone and I am sure this is the face she wishes she could do to my face. I do love her dearly but we are going to go toe to toe for years to come. All I can say is my Mom survived my teenage years so there is some hope.

Easter with our " Adopted Family"

We were invited over to Marc and Shelly's for Easter lunch ( well actually I think I may have invited myself , that's how good of friends they are)  with the entire Haarala gang. Kids got to die eggs ( thankfully because I never did that with them), we hid candy eggs and we ate more food then we really needed to. It was a fabulous day.

You maybe wondering why we have 2 pics that look almost exactly the same. Well you know girls and we had to get the best pic possible ( I could of posted more but decided not to go over board).

Lauren absolutely LOVED getting to hang with her bestie Emma as well as the older girls. 

This is the entire gang of kiddos.  As well as the only pic of Walker and Hayden we could get. Even this one was so hard to get them in. They told us they had way more important things to do then take pictures.

No words for these 3 clowns. Just kidding !! This was the only pic we could get them to take.

All in all it was a wonderful day with our " Adopted Family".

Happy Easter 2012

Elijah

This sweet child has been in thoughts and prayers daily ever since I heard the news that he has "restrictive cardiomyopathy" . In non - doctor terms.. he needs a heart transplant. No words can even express my sadness. It has taken me days to process this. I have done more research on the internet and its a flipping scary diagnosis.

 For those of you that don't know, I was in the delivery room when this soul came into the world.  He will always hold a special place in my heart. As will the entire Auxier family. When we lived in Portland, we met the Auxiers at church and hit if off immediately. We spent holiday with them. Stayed with the all the kids when Jeff was lost in the woods of Oregon eating bugs ( just kidding, that story is a whole other post). Anyway I was pregnant with Lauren and Elijah was only like 3 weeks old.  I LOVE Jeff's wicked dry sense of humor ( made the man spit water across a table one time, I still laugh when I recall that dinner conversation). As you can tell I LOVE LOVE this amazing family. We may be in Texas but we still love them like family.

For some reason today , I have shed many a tear about Elijah. As well as what Kimmee and Jeff are going thru as parents.  This is my prayer today...

Tender and compassionate God, you are our steadfast companion in the joyous times of our lives. When we rejoice, you celebrate with us; when we are anxious and afraid, you offer us a relationship where we can find courage to face the unknown; when we weep with sadness, you are our comforter. Help us, O God, to believe that you receive us as we are, and help us to entrust ourselves, with all our many struggles and hopes, to your faithful and abiding care. Amen.
− Unknown

Please continue to pray for Elijah, Kimmee, Jeff, Ed, Mary and Luke.

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