Awesome video

It's Jared. It's 2 a.m. and I'm bored, so I thought I'd share this hilarious cat video with everyone that I found on Yahoo. I thought this may be the best way to get it out to everyone. It had me rolling.

http://video.yahoo.com/network/100000086?v=3510825

And yes, I know this post has nothing to do with our house on the prairie.

Cutest. Photos. Ever.

What? No air conditioning?!?!?

A little Paka and Leah cuddling session. This photo shows two things: (1.) How ridiculously small Leah is, and (2.) how freakin' big our cat is.

How cute is this?!?!?

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike made his way to Brazoria County last week and left behind quite the disaster. After much hemming and hawing, we decided to pack up the fam (cats, dogs and horses) late Thusday night and evacuate to San Antonio. Jared's work had set up a place for us to stay and a place for us to keep the horses. We are both extremely appreciative of Karen and her husband for letting us stay at her house (despite our screaming childand rambunctious dogs) and of Patrick for providing our horses with a wonderful 20 acre pasture for the weekend. We came home on Sunday and on our way back were surprised to see how far and wide the disastrous effects of the hurricane reached. Our house and yard had minimal damage-- most of the skirting was torn off and blown around the yard, some trees were knocked down, our a.c. unit was blown over and our yard was pretty flooded. We were lucky-- the front half of our street had a tornado go through it, and the trees in that area are completely twisted and torn up. It could've been a lot worse at our house, so we feel blessed. It was projected that we'd be out of power and water (our well is hooked up to our electric) for a few weeks. We took showers at and moved our valuable freezer items to a friends' house, and Jared's work again played the savior and brought us a generator, fuel, diapers, etc. The weather has been oddly fall-like and pleasant, making the lack of electricity much more bearable for all. Much to our surprise, the power came back on today and we are back in business. All that remains for us to do is pick up the branches and sticks along the ground and cut down a few of the broken trees. So we survived our first major hurricane. Now let's just hope we don't have to go through this every year.

The Preparations...
Jared was such a trooper this day because he had dropped plywood on his toe earlier in the day boarding up windows at work, and he pushed on through to put up the plywood at our house as well, despite a bunked up toe.

The Damage...

Our yard was a wee bit flooded.

Some of the knocked down trees in our backyard.

This poor little tree just couldn't stand up straight against those strong winds.

Some of the damage to our house. Easily fixed!

Leah and me (she's in the sling) cleaning up the yard. I'd say Heidi was helping, but she was just rolling around in the grass the whole time.

Quick Update

Just wanted to post an update regarding us and Ike... we evacuated, but are home now. Our house made it through just fine with only some minor (nothing structural) damage. We've got some trees down throughout the yard, and we're without power (for the most part) and water. Jared's work brought us a generator yesterday, so we've been able to hook up our refrigerator, cell phone chargers, and lap tops, which is helpful in keeping communication with everyone. For now we're cleaning up the yard and we'll be sure to give a full account of the "chaos" (with pictures) once we're more situated.

Backyard adventures

This is the first time Jared tested out the baby carrier we got from some of our friends. We had to wait a while because Leah was too small, but she's finally hit the 8 lb weight requirement (or at least is close enough to it). It's quite funny the way she just hangs in there, and it didn't take long until she zonked out and went to sleep.

Leah was finally introduced to the girls and they were both pretty interested in what Jared was carrying around in this bizarre little pouch. Cheyenne gave Leah a little sniff-skie...

...and Rosie was wondering what tasty treats could be in there. Once they discovered Leah was not a delicious apple, they quickly lost interest. This is Jared's "happy" face in regards to the horses. We've finally got the back pasture looking the way we want (for the most part), so he feels somewhat less irritated with the girls being around. Look how green and dry it is!

We have a persimmon tree in the pasture and Cheyenne likes to stretch her big ol' neck out and eat persimmons straight from the tree. We have yet to determine if persimmons are toxic to horses, but we're pretty sure they aren't. Let us know if you've heard otherwise.

Rowdy likes to show off his swimming skillz. That's right. I spelled it with a "z". I'm that cool.

Nice to meet you, Jack!

Our friends Susanna and Jeramy evacuated for Hurricane Gustav last week. On their return trip home, they decided to swing by our house for a quick visit so we could meet each other's new babies. There was a lot of squealing, crying, eating and spitting up (and sleeping, as demonstrated by Leah in the photo), so I guess their first introductions could be deemed a success! It was great to visit with our friends and meet their new little guy. He sure does have a lot of personality already, so I'm sure Susanna and Jeramy will have their hands full with this one! :)

Leah's Soothing Center

Everybody has a place they like to go to be by themselves, ponder deep thoughts, etc. For Leah (because she obviously has a lot of deep thoughts to ponder), this place is her "infant soothing center", a.k.a., a glorified swing. The video above is short because it was making me sorta sick to my stomach to watch her swinging on the little video screen, but you get the idea. :)