Post Date: 2011-08-20

So I started this blog well over a week or two ago. Blogger and I had some issues and I am just now able to post... so pretend that when you read this it was two weeks ago. :)

Oklahoma finally got some rain...along with some extremely high winds! After 2 1/2 days without electricity, I was beginning to wonder if the rain was worth it. Monday when I was driving home from work I drove through straight line winds/rain. At times I could not see a thing! I crawled along 412 with my flashers on hoping some dumb dumb was speeding down the road behind me. The craziness stopped by the time I got to the 74 exit to Garber. Still raining, but the strong winds had moved on through. The poles all along 74 were leaning part way over and the firetrucks were beginning to arrive to access the situation. At home, there of course was no power.

Monday is one of our family dinner nights. Lisa had called me to see if we had electricity so Mom could cook the casserole... she was out of luck. So, we all still met over at Mom's and the casserole and bread was cooked on the grill! Very inventive, and a very good meal!

We did not have damage at our house, and Mom's house and yard seemed to fare the storm very well also. The boys' homes and the G's all fared well also... and they kept electricity. The boys lost part of their round top barn that is at Jake's house. All the equipment inside made it through the storm and destruction safe and sound.

Ryan and I weathered the loss of electricity at our house. The house got up to about 84 degrees and would cool off to about 80 degrees at night. I for one was very comfortable and adjusted well to the temperature. Ryan thought he was going to die...

This all reminded me of the ice storm in 2002ish. We were out of electricity for over 30 days. We cooked food on top of the kerosene heater. We snuggled under covers by the fireplace and did activities we had not done in a long time. With the current electricity outage, Ryan and I realized how distracting television, Internet, and telephones can be. It is a lot easier to pay attention to what you are reading or work you are working on without the TV in the background.

The biggest catastrophe is that our pool is now green. I am very meticulous about the pool and a green pool really stresses me out. We got it back up and running today, swept it, and added chemicals. Hopefully there will be noticeable progress when I check on it tomorrow.

(Update... pool is back to normal so I am no longer stressed about that)

Below: Time for Ava's dinner.
Below: Tad and I watching TV together... probably Barney.

Below: Addison having real broccoli for the first time. No gagging... she liked it!

Below: Bryan and Tad discussing his Father's Day cake.

Below: German Chocolate Cake. My Grandma Hazel made THE BEST homemade German Chocolate cake. Every time I eat this cake I think of her.

Below: Grandma "Ma" and Gigi hanging out with the girls!

Below: Ma and her girls!

Below: Bryan checking out his Father's Day gift. Tad and Ava's hand and footprints.

Below: Ben checking out one of his Father's Day gifts.

Below: Papa and Gigi checking out Papa's Father's Day gifts.

Below: We were taking 5 generation pictures and this is one of my favorites. Tad was being silly and every single person in the picture is looking at him.

Below: And the picture that is framed.

Below: Tad and Lisa posed for a picture. Tad started to pretend to be asleep and started snoring... and then we all cracked up. He is so funny!

Below: Still snoring... and still laughing!

Below: Reinschmiedt mayhem!

Below: 5 generations picture!

Below: Lisa with the girls!

Below: Papa loving on Addison.

Below: Ben and his Princess.

Below: Family picture on Father's Day.

Below: Yep... that is a good cupcake.

Below: Poppa Dale and Addison.

Below: Ava having a blast during dinner.

Below: Ma and Addison hanging out outside.

Below: Watching the kids play outside.

Below: Papa Dale and Ava.

Below: Tad had Poppa, Gigi, and myself all watching Barney with him.

Below: Tad and Ben were telling secrets.

Below: Tad and Jake working on his 4-wheeler.

Below: Tad driving his 4-wheeler up a ramp just like his Daddy and Uncles!

Below: Made it a little farther.

Below: Artists at work.

Below: Tad likes to use his body as a canvas.

Below: Ryan and Addison playing with his phone.

Below: Love that smile!

Below: Tad loves the bubble machine.

Below: I guess the bubbles taste good too!

Below: Driving through the bubbles.

Below: Jake, Tiff, and the girls enjoying the bubbles.

Below: Gigi feeding Ava. Ava just loves her.

Below: Tad and I building castles.

Below: Grandpa and Alyssa playing in the pool.

Below: Grandmama helping Alyssa float on her back.

Below: Erica and G-Baby having fun.

Below: Ava and I playing in the pool.

Below: Not sure what Alyssa is doing...

Below: G-Baby hanging out with Ryan in the pool.

Below: G-Baby taking a break on the beach ball.

Below: This picture did not show up on my editing page... hopefully it will when it is posted.

Below: Tad and Alyssa hiding from the water hose behind the hippos mouth.

Below: G-Baby playing in the bubbles.

Below: Alyssa and Mike reading a book together.

Below: Grandmama and Alyssa reading a book.

Below: Tad jumping in the pool to his Momma and Ma and Ava watching.

Below: Ava and her Momma hanging out in the pool.

Below: Tad showing Ma and I how he goes under water!

Below: Getting some love from Tad. He is a sweetie.

Below: Tad talked me into jumping in.

Below: Then he talked his Momma into jumping in.

Until Next Time:

Ju