Beware of the Bubble Monster!

A bubble bath in Mee-Maw and Pa-pooh's jacuzzi tub is one of Brendan's favorite things. I had to share.

watching the storm come in

As we were waiting for Ike, the sky put on an amazing show. The cloudscape was incredibly dramatic and changed quickly, with colors like I've never seen before. All in the same moment of the same sky we saw colors ranging from bright coral and gold to intense cerulean blue, menacing black clouds and some white puffs. The pictures I got don't begin to do it justice, but here are a few anyway.

The handy work of Ike

Our adventure with Ike

Whew! That was SOME storm! Well, we finally have our power back after 15 days without. We're very grateful to have made it through the hurricane as easily as we did, I know soooo many people are still without their basic utility services and some have had MAJOR loss.
We spent the night of the hurricane out in Hempstead, with Wes' parents. So, we were about an hour further inland, and Northwest than our house is. It was still incredibly intense in Hempstead, and they lost power for a day or 2 also.
Going back to town the next day was a challenge, as there were a lot of trees down, and some flooded roadways. My jaw hit the floor when we turned into our neighborhood. It looked like an absolute war zone! Nearly every home in the neighborhood had at least 1 tree down, and there was storm debris EVERYWHERE.
My mom and Heather met us at our house, and Jimmy, Virginia and Shawn came to help too.

We had one very big and tall pine tree, and the tops of 2 smaller trees fall down in the front yard, thankfully missing our house, and then lots of "tree trash". The Big tree had fallen across the road and out neighbor's driveway, so part of it had been cleared before we got home. Here are a few pictures of the yard mess and the clean-up crew. The only other damage we had was a flooded playroom, due to backyard drainage that just couldn't accomodate the enormous amount of water that got dumped here. Unfortunately, we didn't know about the flooded playroom for a day or so, as we had gotten to work on the tree mess right away, and didn't come into the house until after dark, and nobody went to the playroom. The next morning we woke up and went straight to church, so still didn't notice the playroom. Finally, the terrible odor screamed at us, and the boys went into the play room... squish, squish, squish. Ewwww!

Frolicking on the beach

Wes and I joined them for a little family beach time over the weekend. They had fun doing their stunts on the beach. Brendan likes to imitate Morgan Hamm and attempt the "airflare". It's pretty cute, and sometimes pretty funny to watch. It's Ryan doing the headstand, but everything else is Brendan.

Fun fishing

The boys went to Galveston with their grandparents last week. Here is picture of Them with Ryan's fish.

Flyin' Ryan

One of Ryan's favorite things to do at camp is to be launched across the pool by the counselors.

Camp Kichaca

This was Ryan's last year to go to Camp Kichaca. I went as well, as the lifeguard. It was a great time. the trees out there are spectacular!

Birthday dinner

Ryan and I just got back from camp, but before we went, we all went out to dinner at Saltgrass for my birthday. Here is a picture from that.

Total classroom transformation

One of the cool things, to me, about IMPACT, is that it is such a wonderful collaborative effort(remember my "teamwork" fettish). Christians from all over Houston, as well as all over the country come and work together. Last week the helpers on my team were from Oklahoma and Tennessee. This week they are from Huntsville Alabama and somewhere in North Texas. When a group leaves and a new group comes in, the room decorations all change, because each group brings and sets up the stuff and then take it all down when they leave. Some of the rooms are just amazing. The team that did my room for this week is from Huntsville Alabama, so they brought this whole Chinese scene, structure and all (in pieces) from Alabama, and then put it all together here.

I'm so grateful to be a part of this work and get to share it with my children. The children we're teaching are so precious, and every day brings new joys and excitement.

Another word about Impact

You may or may not be familiar with the work of IMPACT church of Christ in downtown Houston. It is a congregation/mission to serve and minister to the people who live in that area, most of whom are underpriviledged or homeless. With every experience I have with Impact, I am blessed, amazed and encouraged. The LORD is doing great things in so many ways I can't begin to explain. Currently, Ryan, Brendan and I are helping with the literacy program down there and enjoying it immensely. There are over 300 children in the program right now. Today, Ryan was just bursting with pride for the little 6 year old boy he has been a reading buddy with, as he gains confidence and succeeds at reading. If you live in the Houston area or ever have the opportunity to participate in the work at IMPACT, I strongly encourage you to do so. You'll be sooooooo glad you did!

Lovin' Impact literacy

The boys and I are working with the literacy program at "Impact" downtown, and lovin' it. The bee hive is the doorway to my classroom, and the Pooh scene is in the corner of my room.

Monumental haircut

Brendan lost his lovely locks yesterday. I only cried a little while I cut.

Happy Independence Day!

I hope you all had a nice 4th with loved ones. We had fun out in Hempstead. Here are a couple pictures of us out there, and one of my sister and me.

Back from vacation

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated this. Anyway, we just got back from our little vacation. We had a nice, low-key, relaxing family time. We went to the Dallas area for our friends' Juan and Becca's wedding, which was very sweet. Then we stayed in a hotel, in Dallas for a few days. We played a lot of cards, played and swam in the pool, and just enjoyed being together. Thankfully, we were able to visit some family while we were there and see all of the precious new babies in the family. I'm kicking myself for not getting pictures of them, because of course they are absolutely adorable. Anyway, we saw Jacob and Erica and their baby, Colton, and Shane and Hannah and their daughter Gracie and new baby Aubri, as well as Shanna and Jim, who are expecting twins. We also went to Medieval Times, and that was a total blast! When we left Dallas, we went on to Abilene, to visit Maw-Maw (Wes' grandma, Gladys Smith), Wes' aunt and uncle Tony and Edilyn Smith, and my aunt, Jo Ann Campbell. We had a great visit with all of them and wish we could see everybody more often.

Brendan with Nastia Liukin

Before the competition began on Saturday night, we got to meet Nastia Liukin, and get her autograph and a picture. She's one of the top gymnasts on the women's Senior National gymnastics team, and expected to compete well at the Beijing Olympics.

More gymnastics Nationals excitement

Well, aside from seeing one of my 2 favorite gymnasts break his hand, we had a great time at the VISA National Championships. Yes, Paul broke a bone in his hand. He should have surgery in a day or 2 and hopefully will be healthy in time for the Olympics in Beijing. It seems like a HUGE setback, but from what I've seen over the years, Paul is always at his SUPREME BEST when he's having to fight back from something, rather than just trying to protect a lead.

It was very exciting to watch Morgan Hamm win 3 medals in his first full competition since Athens.

I have been asked quite a lot how I got to be such a big Men's gymnastics and Hamm twins fan. I have been interested in gymnastics, particularly men's, all my life. My grandpa, John Campbell was a World-Class gymnast, and I remember him doing stunts on the high bar in the back yard even when he was an old man. My grandpa was a wonderful influence in my life, so the gymnastics is just a small way I carry along my memories of my grandpa.

I especially like Paul and Morgan Hamm, not only because they are amazing gymnasts, but because of their fine character. They tell a lot of family stories that I really enjoy and appreciate. In fact, because of their stories, I've developed great respect and admiration for their parents, Sandy and Cecily Hamm, and their family. I know nobody achieves great accomplishments in a vacuum, so I appreciate the guidance and support Sandy and Cecily provide for Paul and Morgan.

All that said, it was very exciting to me to get to meet Sandy and Cecily Hamm at the Nationals. They are so nice and genuine. It was great to get to chat with them. Sandy even scooped Brendan up in his lap for a picture. Morgan recently got engaged. We also got to meet his fiance, Megan. She was soooo sweet, and made a special point to chat with Brendan. I also enjoyed getting to visit with her after the competition, Saturday night.

Fun at the Gymnastics Nationals

Wes and I had a great time last night. We went to see the Men's competition at the VISA National Gymnastics Championships, at Reliant Arena. It was very exciting! It's so much more impressive LIVE. Most of you know that I'm a big Hamm twins fan. Both Paul and Morgan did great. Paul had the highest score on all of his events until he got to vault, and then Morgan got the highest score. On Paul's final event, parallel bars, he hurt his hand and fell, so that score wasn't so good. He did however maintain his substantial lead in the All-around standings. I'm really excited that they tied for 1st on floor X.

Sean Townsend is another olympic gymnast that was supposed to be competing last night, but he hurt his shoulder in practice, earlier this week and had to withdraw from this competition. Anyway, he sat right next to us during the competition, so we had like professional comentary right there in our seats. So cool. I forgot to take a picture though. I did get a picture with Carly Patterson, the women's Olympic All-Around Champion though. Here it is. She's a pop-singer now. Her new CD is out in August, but you can hear her single on i-tunes now. It's called "Temporary Life (ordinary girl)".

A great Day for Ryan

Ryan had a really exciting day yesterday. Please forgive me for being obnoxious. I'm very happy for Ryan. He received several awards yesterday. He won first place in the Word Masters challenge ( a vocabulary competition using analogies here is a link if you'd like to know more about it. http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com/elem.htm)

He also won first place in the Mathematics Olympiad. Having the highest individual score, he helped his team place 3rd in the Nation.

He also got 2nd place in the National online science League, and 3rd place in the National Language Arts League. Great job Ryan!

Inflatable day

Ryan's school had "Inflatable Day" on Monday. The PTO provided several inflatable activities, as well as 2 rock walls and extreme jumpers. I volunteered at the event and it was a lot of fun. Here are a couple of pictures or Ryan climbing the rock wall (yes, he made it to the top), and doing th extreme jumper.

We had a little more fun for Wes' birthday, on Saturday. A few friends came over to celebrate with us, at Jimmy and Virginia's house.

Ryan is having an exciting day today. He got something like 300 accelerated reader points, and so he gets to ride in a limo to lunch at Cici's pizza with the principal and vice principal. I didn't get to go, so I don't have pictures. Bummer. Here are a few pix from Wes' party on Saturday.

Happy 40th Birhtday Wes!

Today is Wes' 40th birthday. We went out for a lovely dinner at The Steamboat House. The food was delicious, but it is also an impressive museum of Texas History.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today we went out to Martha's Bloomers, in Navasota, TX, to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom. We really enjoyed lunch in the cafe, which was very delicious and elegant (girlie). The shops and gardens were very nice too. We took the opportunity to snap a few pictures.

Actually, the first picture is in Mom's front yard, but the rest are at Martha's Bloomers.