Y"Ike"s! - What a crazy storm!

So, Sunday started out like any other Sunday: kids got up ate breakfast, settled in to watch cartoons, Austin played with his toys, Randy called to say his flight would arrive at 12:30, and I was making delicious treats to take to our neighbors to watch the Bengals game. But, by the time Randy arrived home, the wind had already whipped itself into a frenzy! Unlike Randy, Dad and Mom did not make it home, they are still in New York. Hopefully, they will be home today around 4:30 p.m. We got to see less than a third of the Bengals game when our power went out...we had to switch to the radio to listen to the game. We were all looking out the windows at the craziness outside when we saw a car hit our kiddie pool! No joking! The wind blew the pool out from under the deck, through the gate, down the hill and into a car. So, Randy put the pool back under the deck and less than 20 mins. later it did the same thing and this time Randy had to chase it all the way down the street. We finally decided to put everything in the kitchen to prevent any further run aways. It was raining shingles from our roof, not just one or two, but whole sheets of shingles! Hopefully our insurance will be buying us a new roof. I know you can't really see how bad it is from the pics below, but I will post better ones once we get up on the roof to put tarps on it. Most of the day, we spent out on our porch watching the storm with our neighbors and Steph. The kids were inside the house watching a movie on Randy's laptop (thank goodness his battery was fully charged). We were all happy to see the power come back on. We watched a huge branch crack and fall out of a tree in our neighbor's backyard. At 5:30 a.m. this morning we got the call that school was closed for Lexus, not the way I want to wake up in the morning. They should of just canceled it the night before like everyone else. Kimberly is off school too - no power. I am still amazed at the shear force the wind had and that it all was a result of IKE. Texas is so far away and I thought all hurricanes lost most of their force once they hit land. Guess that shows you how powerful a hurricane cane be when it's 600 miles across! A few tree limbs fell on my brother-in-laws house, but Randy said they only suffered some gutter damage...so lucky!

On a lighter note, I created some more Halloween cards and just had to share this pic of Lexus helping Kimberly complete a pre-school workbook on the couch, aren't they the cutest! Plus, a video of Austin dancing in the kitchen last night. Hope everyone is safe and sound, we love you all!