Saturday, You Know What that Means

The fire didn't want to start today. However, John was persistent, and he won. The boys did their job and helped gather wood for the burn pile. John got to play with the chainsaw. I guess that makes it a great Saturday.
I vacuumed the pool and tidied up around it. We are now ready for the next hurricane to come through and make another mess.

Today is also Oscar's birthday. He turned two today. He is such a brat, but we enjoy him. The boys are trying to teach him to play fetch, but he would rather play keep away. The first picture is within a few days of when we got him. The picture with the birthday hat is from his first birthday. We didn't do a party this year, but I think he had a good day. Happy Birthday Oscar.

We Have a Winner

I picked up the sample tile from the store today. I think it is a perfect match. I present to you Daltile Ridgeview 18X18 glazed ceramic tile in Rust (RD05). Now we just have to shop around for the best price, order 43 boxes and get to work. Right now we are planning to order the tile around the end of October so we can install it the week of Thanksgiving. The kids are out of school for the entire week, so it won't be such a big deal to camp out in the family room while the house is in disrepair.

Anyway, if you happen to be tile shopping and find an exceptional deal on this tile, let us know.

Is it Friday yet?

This has been a long week. I think the fact that it rained so much made the days seem to drag by. It was exciting to see the sun yesterday, and I think it may stick around for the weekend. We are supposed to get back up into the low nineties this weekend. Luckily my boys found something quiet to entertain themselves for a few minutes on the rainy days.

I am sure we will spend the weekend cleaning up. John and Joshua filled the wheelbarrow last night, but they didn't work long. It is still pretty muddy in a large part of the yard. Jacob isn't much for working. He tends to get distracted playing. He carried one limb to the burn pile last night, and then decided that was enough work for one day. Playing on the rope swing is much more fun. I think we are all glad it is Friday. The boys were all in good spirits this morning. John is of course wearing his Hawaiian shirt for "Hawaiian Shirt Friday". That makes more sense if you have seen the movie "Office Space". He worked late last night and it sounds like he may work late again tonight. All those restaurants and schools along the coast that were closed early in the week are starting to reopen and need deliveries. Hopefully, he won't work too late. We have a friend coming over for dinner and I am not much of a grill master. I can make the side dishes, but I leave the steaks to the pro.

In home improvement news, I have to go by the floor store today to pick up a tile sample. I went by yesterday to see if they could order a sample for me and she called last night to say she found one there. We are trying to match what is already in the kitchen. I am hoping we have found it. After a while, all brown tile starts to look the same.

Dental Education

Joshua pulled a tooth last night. I had no idea that he still had teeth to loose. It has been way too many years since I was a kid, I don't remember all these things. I thought once he lost the eight in the front we were done with that chapter of childhood. I was wrong.

He lost the first molar on his right side. He was eating an apple yesterday and told me that it nearly made his tooth fall out. I told him to quit wiggling it because molars are permanent teeth and they don't fall out. When he was brushing his teeth last night it was nearly out. John told me he thought it looked dead and asked if I was sure he wasn't supposed to loose it. I had no idea, so I said we would just make a trip to the dentist today. The kids both went to the dentist a few weeks ago. It seems like they would have given me a heads up that he was about to start loosing more teeth. They just told me that we would be needing an orthodontist soon.

My clever husband looked up the info on the American Dental Associations web sight. I now know that my kids both have many more teeth to shed. Apparently, they will each loose 20 baby teeth before they are done. Here I was thinking Joshua was done with this and Jacob only had 2 more to loose. I am glad John didn't let me take him to the dentist. I probably would have felt a bit silly when they told me it was just a baby tooth and they didn't need to try to save it.

More Rain

Not much to report today. We have a few small branches down, but no damage to anything. The tornado sirens have gone off a few times today, but nothing exciting is happening. It is just rain, rain, and more rain. John just called to say he is on his way home. He worked a little late since they are playing catch up after the hurricane. The kids returned to school today, and from all reports it was a good day. I made a trip to the grocery store and everything seems to be back to normal. Hopefully, the sun will shine again soon.

Fun in the Rain

Today when John got home he decided to clean the gutters. Never mind that it was raining, the wind was blowing, and we kept seeing small branches fall from the trees.

While cleaning out the gutters, John found a snake skin. He was quite relieved that it wasn't the actual snake. Jacob thought it was really cool.

The boys kept running up and down the drive. They were having a blast getting soaked.While we were outside a crawdad crawled up onto the driveway. Jacob was yelling, What is that? It looks like a scorpion. Luckily, Dad knew what it was. Oscar tried to sniff it, and it grabbed onto his nose. He flung it off and it hit me on the leg. Of course I screamed. It was quite a scene. Anyway, the poor guy landed upside down and it took him a minute to flip over.

Just a little Rain

So far all we are seeing of Gustav is rain. It is really hard to take a good picture of rain. Anyway, the first picture shows the rain rolling off the patio roof. The second picture is of the pool. The water is churning a little because of the rain.
Luckily, I don't have anywhere I need to go today, so we are staying put. John is at work, but the kids are home. They are getting a bit stir crazy. I may have to let them go play in the rain just to get some energy out. I need to just record myself saying, "Stop running in the house." They have already had their TV and video game time today, so now they are making up fun games to play. Most of their games involve some form of battle, so I am sure I will hear the real fight break out soon.

Since I posted the pictures of his brother on the mower, I should probably post a picture of Jacob. I know I have mentioned before that he loves the swing in the front tree. He really likes to go high. It makes me paranoid, because the swing doesn't always go straight and I am so afraid he is going to slam into the tree. I don't push him very high, but John pushes him really high. In this picture, I had just pushed him, so he isn't getting to be too dangerous.