Attack of the Dishwasher

It turns out Grandma and Grandpa have a very dangerous dishwasher. I was licking dirty plates the other evening (which I'm not supposed to be doing) when my collar go caught on the bottom shelf. When I couldn't pull myself free I freaked out and tried to run out of the kitchen except I was still hooked. I ended up pulling the entire bottom shelf and the dirty dishes in it across the kitchen with me. It was loud and scary! I vaguely remember this happening once before, which is probably part of the reason why I'm not supposed to be over there when it's being loaded, but I forgot. I've learned my lesson...for now.

18 Month Check-Up and Other Updates

Sorry for my absence. Surely a tornado is a good enough excuse, no? Let's start with the fun stuff...

Henry is 18 months old! He went for his check-up yesterday and the doctor says everything is good. He's 27.9 lbs. and 33-1/2" long. That puts him in the 75th percentile for weight and 80th percentile for height. These numbers are foreign to all of us. Lily has never seen these percentiles before or anything close to them. Ha!

I had an extended stay at the kennel last week while the family went on vacation. They drove to Columbia, SC to visit Tim and Gretchen and the kiddos for a night and then continued on to Kiawah Island, SC to spend the week with Grandma, Grandpa, Eric, Melissa and their kiddos. Henry's not much of a traveler right now, so I hear the drive there and back was...interesting, BUT the kids had a blast in the pool and on the beach. They had a ton of fun seeing all of their cousins. The best part is that Henry wasn't left on the side of the highway during the long drive. :)

As far as the house goes, things are moving along. They started on the inside right before the South Carolina trip, so my people scrambled to get all of the non-furniture items packed up and moved out of the way. The new A/C and furnace have been put in, drywall has been installed on the walls and ceiling, the first coat of paint has been put on, the hardwood floors are scheduled to get started next Wednesday, new carpet for the basement has been chosen and replacement ceiling fans/light fixtures/etc. have been purchased. There's still a lot of work to be done, but is that a light at the end of this very long tunnel that we see? It's been 11+ weeks since the storm, but who's counting?

A Month Later

We've been out of the house for a month now. I haven't been back to see how things are going with the clean up. I've been too busy learning the new electric fence boundaries of my temporary yard and then busting through them anyway. It's great fun to see either Papa Jerry or Katie sprinting across the lawn yelling my name. Good times. I heard that one morning Lily was looking out the window and told Grandma Polly, "Papa Jerry's running across the yard!"

I've been told that all of the storm debris, tree and structural, has been cleaned up from my yard. It took almost 2 weeks longer than planned for the contractor to get a building permit from the city to start repairs, but he now has one and the roof was completed at the end of last week. No more tarps! I'm not sure which project will be tackled next, but my guess is the siding and gutters. There's still a lot to be done, but it's a relief to know that water can no longer get into the house.

We're all extra skiddish with severe storms now. Yesterday one blew up and I hid under a barstool. Lily crawled under with me and said "This is a good place to hide."

Meanwhile, Mr. Henry turned 17 months old the other day. Time is flying!

Easter 2011, The Not So Good Stuff

Here are a bunch of pictures of the tornado damage to our house and neighborhood. Click on the album to see them.

Easter 2011, The Not So Good Stuff (Tornado and Storm Damage)

Easter 2011, The Good Stuff

Before the chaos of the storms and tornado on Easter weekend, my people were able to do some fun things for the holiday. They had breakfast with the bunny at the Zoo and the kids had a blast. Well, Lily had a blast. Henry still wasn't so sure about the characters that were walking around. Lily and Baldy also dyed some eggs. Here's a picture Grandma and Grandpa took on Easter Sunday before church. Lily loves fancy dresses, even if you can't quite tell from looking at the picture.



Click on the album to see pictures from the other activities.

Easter 2011, The Good Stuff

Tornado

I got my paws on Katie's phone to give everyone an update on our situation. It's very hard to use this touchscreen with claws, so I apologize for any typos. I also have no idea how the formatting will work posting from the phone, so sorry if everything looks goofy.

Anyway, our house was in the path of the tornado that hit the area this past Friday. We're all ok. Lily was with Grandma Gail and Papa Dean at the time. Me, Greg, Katie, and Henry were in the basement. We felt the pressure change and heard a loud noise. When we looked out the basement window we saw drywall, our first clue things were not good. Greg went upstairs with a flashlight and yelled down "Katie, there are gumballs in the hallway.". Once we all got upstairs we saw that our neighbor's gum ball tree was in our bedroom.

We were able to get the outside debris and downed trees cleaned up yesterday. A company is at the house today to help us get started on the inside.

The neighborhood's a mess, but we're fortunate there were no injuries. The house is a wreck, but can be fixed and the majority of our things have been spared, though Greg and Katie will be doing a closer evaluation of the inside items in the coming days to know for sure. They're calling for more severe weather tonight, so hopefully the tarps on everyone's roofs will hold up. Fortunately, we have a place to stay in the coming days/weeks/however long it takes to make our house livable again.

Thank you for the prayers and offers of help. We'll keep you posted. My people have taken a ton of pictures and will hopefully be able to post them soon.

God is good and will be glorified through all of this.

I know they had to throw away my dog bed. Bummer.

Rude Wake-Up Call

Last night around 12:15, the carbon monoxide detector started beeping because the battery was dying. That is a nerve-wracking sound! I don't think Katie appreciated me shaking like a leaf while literally standing on her head in bed while Greg changed the batteries.