September 30

The electricity came back on Friday evening so Gregory and I moved back home on Saturday. Whew! We had a lot of unpacking (and playing!) to do.
Things are starting to resume to normal. Today is my first day with students and Gregory is back at the day care where he goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Gregory finally had his first full day of preschool at The Children of the Woodlands last Friday and seemed to enjoy it. His teacher's name is Miss Fran and I wish she could be his full time teacher for the next five years! Her classroom is full of wonderful toddler things like birds, playdough, an easel and slide. She is British and has a strict countenance but is very tender, soft, and structured...just what the G. needs. Hopefully Gregory will behave himself while he is there...he is, as people often remark, "all boy," throwing, running, squealing, wielding sticks, climbing up slides...

Ike Day 12

For years I have complained about the five days in '97 when a freak October ice storm knocked out our power in Kansas City. Well, here we are twelve days after Hurricane Ike and our lives are anything but normal. The electric company's website states, "The following zip codes have sustained extensive damage, and therefore have a restoration timeline that extends beyond Thursday, Sept. 25." Two of the twelve zip codes listed are the one where we live and the one where I work, so we will be hanging out with our cousin Addison and her parents, Sally and Tim, in Humble until their lives start up on Wednesday then we will be heading back to The Woodlands and camping out until the a/c starts running.
While I am growing weary of living out of the car (and thank goodness I bought this big car!), I really have few complaints about the past twelve days. Gregory, Poppy, Roy Rogers and I are very fortunate to have had this time to spend with the gracious family members who have opened their beds and breakfasts to us.
We have a lot of good memories from the past couple of weeks so I thought I would highlight what we have been up to since the lights went out in Texas.
1. G. learned to play ping pong with Matthew
2. G. learned to sleep in a big boy bed all by himself.
3. Daddy got to see Greggy pop out of bed in the morning talking with his hair sticking up like a cockatoo.
4. G. got to ride hot wheels with two of his peers and play in the street at a block party.
5. Cousin Addison taught "Baby Greg" how to sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm! Ei, Ei, Oooo...