Hello!!!!!

We are still alive!! I am going through some major internet - and BLOGGING - withdraw!! You never know how much you depend on the internet until you don't have it! I use it as a phone book, I get my news from it, my weather - which is kinda important right now - I also use it for pre-shopping for big ticket items, which unfortunately this week, we have made several of!!

I am at the corporate house cleaning it before we turn the key in. Internet, phone, cable, etc should be on tomorrow at the new house. I don't know how long we will have it, the way things are looking right now with weather though.

Yesterday they announced that Gustav was going to hit the Gulf as a pretty major hurricane (they are saying Cat. 3 or 4 hurricane). Looking at the projected tracks last night, it appears to be making a beeline for US! If it stays on the tracks they are predicting (with a LOT of uncertainity as normal with these things), Baton Rouge is likely to take a direct hit. There are watches from Destin, Florida to Houston, TX. If it makes it to the gulf, we are in for some nasty weather WHEREEVER it actually makes landfall.

We spend HOURS last night looking for a generator. We had to buy a lawnmower this week, plus the normal stuff you have to buy when you move (trashcans, cleaning supplies, etc), so I was not planning on buying one until next month. Mother nature changed our minds. We have heard through several people that if our electricity (through a coop) goes out, we should expect it to be out for at least days. The first three stores we went into last night, we watched as people (smartly) protected their generator as they stood in line to purchase the LAST one. That is right...every store we watched the last generator being purchased. It was to the point where Paul was letting me out, I was running in the store and he would get the kids and come. We were so close everytime. We had a Lowe's and a Sears left to go to. I went running into Lowe's and there was ONE generator sitting on the floor. My butt was GLUED to the sucker! Paul came in, looked at the generator displays and saw a cheaper one that was just like the one I was sitting on. An employee came over to get a fork lift and I asked if they had anymore of the cheaper one (while my butt is still glued to the one on the floor). He said he thought there was ONE left. Paul went with him, I stayed on the generator until I KNEW we had one! There were three left overhead, and there were already two people waiting. If we had been one minute later....

Paul texted me that we were safe when he was sure we had one. I saw a man looking for a rolling cart, and I graciously gave him the cart I was holding and told him I had been saving that generator (that my butt was glued too) just for him. He was VERY appreciative.

All of that to say, we have a generator. We have a window air conditioner. We have extension cords. We have a weather radio and we have laptops (as long as we have internet access!!). If we do NOT get hit by this storm, we are now prepared. This was all stuff we planned on getting soon, just not a week and a half after moving in!!

Oh, by the way, even though we are not in a flood area and were told we did not need flood insurance, we spent the less than $1 a day on the most coverage we could get. So we are even ready for that!

People here do not kid around with this stuff anymore. They heard "storm possibly heading our way" and generators were GONE! I am sure air conditioners will be gone early this morning (there were only a few left at 9 last night). Luckily, the Lowes we went to was by a mall and not by neighborhoods. I think that is why all the other stores were out so quick.

In other news, the house is "unpacked" but we still have a lot of settling to do. It helps to have all of the boxes gone. We have a "garage" but it does not have doors. It was a carport and the previous owners finsihed it out, except for the doors. He made a breeze-way through it though so we will have to get double garage doors for the front and a single door for the back. When we unloaded we loaded all of the boxes in the "garage". That would have been great, but Faye paid us a visit. Even though it did not rain IN the garage (it did a times but most of the boxes would have been fine) the humidity was so high that everything in the boxes was feeling wet. So, I had to move them all inside and unpack QUICKLY. Again, Mother Nature can be very encouraging!!

Caleb still hates school, although we are losing the "beginning-of-the-year" attitude that we have EVERY year. He has lots of homework every night (except Friday) and does not get to talk much at school.

Isaac LOVES school. He is doing great, although he too has homework everynight, so he is adjusting to that. He is actually enjoying homework though because he LOVES the one on one time with it.

Bryce still hates school in the morning and likes it in the afternoon (sound familiar). He is not a morning person (sound familiar) and does not do well with us making him get up. He has made several friends already. He has also gotten in trouble several times already. He has quite the "imagination" (HMMM, meaning he lies a lot and says he is "playing" or "forgot" when you catch him). He mentioned something yesterday night about visiting the principal (after coming home with frowny faces on his behaviour chart). I asked if he was sent to the principal and he said "Yes to see what she does. That is where bad kids go". Then when we pushed if he went because he was in trouble he said he had never been. Sounds fishy to me!!

This Monday I made them start riding the bus. I was really back and forth on whether or not to let them. Isaac and Bryce were excited, Caleb was really nervous. He says bullies ride buses. Because we have spent so much time in the car this summer (bi-weekly trips to Arkansas, looking at houses, back and forth to school, etc) Andrew has grown to HATE the car (boy, he is in the WRONG family). I was spending almost 2 hours a day SITTING in lines at schools to drop off/pick up kids. Andrew was spending those two hours a day SCREAMING!! Not crying, just top-of-his-lungs SCREAMING. This was not making for good evenings for ANYONE. So, after hearing that Isaac and Bryce's bus had an aide on it, so the bus driver was not the only adult, that the school's had a zero-tolerance with kids causing problems on the buses, and that the kids got picked up and dropped off at the end of our driveway, I decided we were giving buses a try. So far, no problems! Caleb is not loving it, but he said it was fine and he would ride it. The other two are enjoying it. They get water to drink on the way home and snacks (what more could a five and six year old ask for)! Andrew is much happier, which is making MAMA MUCH HAPPIER (amazing what a 1 year old squeal for hours a day can do to your sanity)!

Daddy is traveling in a couple of weeks for a week. This will be his second time gone in over three months! Not bad! And they are Monday-Thursday or Friday trips. It is so nice having him home helping with dinner and homework.

Well, I will try to catch up over the next few days. Internet should be on early tomorrow. I have pictures, videos, stories etc. to come.