10 Things I LOVE......

about having ELECTRICITY!!! yup that's right it's one thing you take for granted until you are without it for 36 hours. Sunday at 4pm we went dark here in Ohio. Lucky for me Wyatt flew to Colorado (where they DO have power) first thing Monday morning. So that begins a period of what I am calling "Camping on Creekwood" by pioneer mom Jane Morris. Monday began as most do with feeding Maggie a bottle (still had some, not very, but hot enough) hot water to make her happy. Then in the car and to the nearest Starbuck's with power that I could find. Mama needs some caffeine to get through this one. Then we also found a breakfast place with power so we went and ate a longer then usual breakfast (to delay having to go home). Then we went to Target and then back home. Meanwhile mind you I am having to manually open and close my garage door every time I come and go. My 2 neighbors also have 2 small children each and their husbands were gone too. We were some serious desperate housewives for sure. We went to lunch at McDonald's and then home for naps. During my very very quiet time I decided to check the mail it was then that I remembered that I need to be checking my sump pump- a thing in a basement basically a hole in the ground with a pump in it that pumps out water to keep your basement from flooding and yup you guessed it runs on ELECTRICITY. Wyatt checked it before he left and we do have a battery back up but apparently it does not last very long. With flash light in tow I am off to the basement and the water is about 4 inches from the top of the hole. I get my bucket and my big cup and start baling water into the bucket and up the stairs and out the door and water the flowers. Repeat. repeat. repeat. At this point I am feeling like a pioneer woman for sure. I get the water down about 4 inches and then I take a cold shower. By this time my neighbors husband is home and comes down to help me and tries to hook the sump pump up to my car battery with some device and it does not work so I keep bailing 3-5 buckets every hour. Once the kids went to bed and it was pitch black in my house I boiled some water in a pot on my gas grill to sterilize Maggie's nipples for her bottles the next day and then I washed dishes by candle light in cold water. The power returned Tuesday morning at 5 am. Praise God!! Yesterday we hit the grocery and I washed laundry (anything i could find just to do it because i could), ran the dishwasher (rewashing hand washed dishes from the day before), baked cupcakes(just cause),took a HOT shower,gave Julia a much needed bath, and made coffee!!! SOOO 10 things I LOVE about electricity are:

10. a working garage door and sump pump
9. microwaving ANYTHING
8. ceiling fans
7. coffee pot
6. hot showers
5. drying my hair
4. using a fridge rather then a cooler on my deck
3. dishwashers
2. being able to cook something for my kids
1. going to the bathroom with out a flashlight

I did take some pics of the girls playing together that I will put up.




Then Julia took over:

She calls this one "Maggie with no face"

Smile Daddy!

Maggie has hit another milestone!!

No she is not walking or crawling yet BUT this is just as good. We have been doing patty cake for quite sometime now but I, of coarse, pat her hands together for her. On Wednesday I was burping her halfway through her bottle...(and if you have ever had the pleasure of feeding her you know she gets angry when you remove the bottle from her mouth you just don't mess with a girls food!!) so I was trying to entertain her so she would not cry and give me a good ole burp. So we were doing a little patty cake. I put her on my lap facing me and starting singing it and before I had a chance to grab her hands she started clapping!!! I was pumped! I am sure that she is a genius I mean seriously..... isn't it early for her to be this coordinated? I will have to do some Internet research on this to find out just how gifted she is. Letterman here we come. So I documented this momentous milestone for your enjoyment. Sorry about the ending -I guess she never did get a good burp :)

Happy Birthday Jana!!

Hope you have a great day! Wish we were there. We love you and miss you.

First Day of School.....

Well Julia had her first day of school today :) She was pumped and so was I. Drop off went very smooth with no tears or even hesitation for that matter. It was some one's birthday today and they had a celebration and that is all she has been talking about all day long. Here are some pics of the day and a sweet video of Mags (i could not resist) she is looking at the dogs in case you are wondering why she is squealing. Have a great weekend.

Video as promised.....round 2 at the SLIDE!

Maggie made it this time.



"Yeah!" "i wish i was big enough to silde"....maybe next year


Sweet sisters!!

Girl's night out and Waterslides for the end of Summer!!

Last night I went out for girl's night with my 2 neighbor friends Anna and Susie. Susie lives right next door and Anna is on the other side of her. They both found out the were expecting their 2nd babies soon after we moved here so we were all pregnant together. Susie also saved us when my water broke with Maggie, she took Julia for the whole night and next day. She is awesome! Well anyway her husband is going out of town for 2 weeks on Sunday so we got out for some adult time that was long overdue and we had a blast. Needless to say I am exhausted and need a nap. We discussed getting out Susie and Dan's GIANT water slide today to wear out the kids so we could also rest. Sure enough I looked out at 9 am and there it was larger than life in her backyard and ready to go.

So I quickly got Maggie down for a nap and got Julia into her suit and we took off. I am not kidding this thing is HUGE!!! I thought for sure that Julia would not climb up the ladder (which is just holes and handles in the side of it) much like a rock wall and if she did she would be too scared to slide (because it is SOO tall).



But up she went and down she flew FAST very FAST and slammed into the little wall at the bottom and loved every second of it.



And so this started the constant "Mama watch!!!" "Mama LOOK AT ME!!!" It was great! They had so much fun. Little Danny and Alex are still a little small to climb up but we would set them on the slide and let them go down. Then at the bottom is a baby pool area where they played with a bunch of toys.


Julia pouting because we have to leave. This is also the landing spot after you go down the slide.

If we go back over later I will try to get some video of her. If not I will update tomorrow after the first day of school!!!

Lobor Day Weekend......

Well this weekend started out on Friday with Miss Maggie having a photo shoot at Target so I could document her chubbiness to have it on record for the rest of her life. It went OK....she was not as smiley as I would have liked but isn't that always the case? As soon as it matters and you want them to they don't. But we got some good ones nevertheless. Saturday was work day around the Morris house. We were doing a little room swapping project to make a more spacious playroom for the girls. We (as in me and Wyatt) moved 2 bookshelves, 1 upright piano, and a very heavy buffet like piece of furniture from one room to another. I also assembled some new cubbies/shelves for the playroom so everything is not just in one stack along the wall. Then on Sunday after church we went to Lowes and got 2 new light fixtures to be installed by my man-be-handy husband. Who knew??? It was surprisingly easy and quick. All I had to do was assist in holding things and handing tools. And today we hung some things on the wall. So we have accomplished alot this Labor Day weekend. Below are some pictures to show off our hard work.

The new shelves....


More room to play!




They are going to LOVE it!!



Our new "sitting room", "reading room" ......(please excuse the black chair it is being replaced shortly just needed 2 chairs there).



The bookshelves. Please excuse the naked window and bad lighting curtains coming soon.



The piano.



The new bathroom light!! Wyatt also painted this room while I was in Memphis for 2 weeks.



New "sitting room" light. This replaced the ugly, gold, out of date but spray painted silver, chandelier left by the previous owners. The sitting room is what would be the formal dining room if we needed a dining room.

So we are getting ready for this week. Tomorrow Julia goes for meet the teacher day. Her class is bigger this year and she had 2 teachers instead of 1. She is really excited. The first class day is Thursday. Saying a prayer for our family down south. Stay safe and dry (if possible) while riding out Gustav. Have a great week!