Nikki's Birthday

Poor Nik-Nak! This is her second Birthday now that has been postponed due to a hurricane. A couple years ago it was the exciting Rita evacuation. This year, Ike. BUT, she didn't complain and we celebrated at my place this year, which is a first!

Due to the storm, we stood in the line at the grocery store for 20-30 minutes just for cupcakes. Nikki and I enjoyed that the plastic character rings which topped these mini birthday cakes were woman of great statute like Tinkerbell, Cinderella and Barbie.

We did manage to find a Benihana's that was open and Amy joined us for the celebration. I learned how to master the chop sticks . . . . Nikki and Cody found another use for them.

I think Amy was impressed by the zucchini train the chef made.

Against Nikki's best efforts, we still managed to announce her birthday and d0 our part in embarrassing her on her very special day.

IKE!!!!

What a mess!! Around 2 a.m. Saturday, September 13th Dad and I woke up to what we thought was the Wizard of Oz movie. The house sounded like it was going to blow away at any minute. To my amazement, the kids slept through it!!

We "hunkered" (which I just learned means to crouch) down, made it through the night and literally, come 10 a.m., Ike was done with Houston.

Dad and Nikki made their way around the neighborhood to help in any way they could. Amazingly enough, the extent of our damage was no power, mangled trees, and a few missing roof tiles!

I was lucky enough to only loose power for a few hours during the blunt of the storm and my apartment complex was virtually untouched. Mom finally gave in and decided to save what she could from her fridge and move the family into my place. So, Mom, Dad, Nikki, Nate, Cody, I, Titus, and of course, My Grandmother from Colorado (this was her first hurricane) staid at my place till Tuesday.

We survived but not without finding a new appreciation for our loved ones. You can really get to know your family when they're crammed into a two bedroom apartment for three days;0)

There are still a lot of people without power and dead trees that line the streets waiting to be collected by the wood chipper but Ike has passed and we are surely counting our blessings!

TAGGED

OK . . . Andi is making me do this, apparently I HAVE to share six "random" things about myself and post it on my blog. BTW Sooooo love you Andi, thanks for thinking of me.

HMMMMM . . . .
1. Very few people have ever recognized that my left eye is mixed with brown and blue. The brown is becoming more predominate and will eventually take over my entire left eye, leaving me with one blue and one brown eye.

2. I absolutely can not stand for clothe to be in my mouth nor can I look at someone deciding to suck on their shirt color for some unknown reason. It activates my gag reflex, just thinking about it makes me green!

3. One day I pray to have a big beautiful garden. I love plants and flowers, particularly the unusual ones. Unfortunately I can't get most of them to survive the Houston, TX heat ;0)

4. My son most likely gets his OCD from me. Very few people realize how particular and orderly I am with my life. I have weekly calendars, behavior charts, cleaning schedules, and my budget is through the end of 2009 including everything from estimated rent & insurance increases to estimated prescriptions. I can walk into a room I've never been in before and with in just a few minutes, be able to tell you where any given object is. I also have to have things lined up symmetrically and I can't just eat one M&M at a time, it has to be in even numbers! Can we say FREAK???

5. I am not scared to die. I am at peace with my life and the wonderful gifts God has given me. I even find it hard to understand why others fear death. I feel a new journey for religious answers coming on . . .

6. OK, this is random but not unknown. I LOVE FROGS!!! When I was in elementary school there was a family of tree frogs that lived in our back yard and the baby was (don't laugh) named Fred. Some kids have imaginary friends, I have frogs! My mother even has a picture of me and my childhood friend, Fred.

So now that I've done this, it's your turn. And I do say that with all sincerity because I am supposed to tag six others with this task but I don't know anyone else with a blog (except the one who tagged me). So if you feel so compelled, here are the instructions:

1. Post the rules on your blog. 2. Write six random things about yourself. 3. Tag six people at the end of your post. 4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass it along.

Happy Birthday To ME!!

I celebrated my 27th Birthday on Friday the 29th. For some odd reason, I am getting the 30 jitters! I have never been scared of aging, in fact I respect it. I've always been intrigued by my elders and always though of aging as a wonderful gift given to us by God.

My mother thinks I'm just weirded out because when I was little, 30 was old ;0) Cody keeps telling me that I'm so old, hopefully he'll realize (sooner rather than latter) that I'm a young mother! I'm sure my mother mannerism makes me feel so much older too. I was talking with some friends the other day and called a 22 year old a "kid!" How odd is that!?!?

I must say that this was definitely a great Birthday! I received some wonderfully thoughtful presents and the family had a blast at Lupe Tortilla's for dinner!