Family Pictures

This past weekend we traveled to New Braunfels to have a photo session with the Oekerman side of the family. The last time we did this there were only four Oekerman family members and it was 10 years ago. Now there are 8 and a half including spouses, children and a kiddo on the way due in December. The photo session set was the beautiful backyard of my parents house. They have a huge, gorgeous huge tree and wonderful grass so it was the perfect backdrop. After we took the professional pictures we were able to get our own camera and take some pictures....hopefully one of these can be used for our Christmas cards this year.

Washable Markers?

Washable markers...let's hope so!! :)

2nd Annual Pumpkin Patch Trip

This weekend we all took the 2nd annual Crump family trip to the pumpkin patch. Last year Grant was only 6 months old so, needless to say, this year was a lot more exciting for all. (Not that last year wasn't precious and memorable...it certainly was!) When we got there Grant headed straight for one of the large piles of pumpkins and climbed right in.

He loved climbing all over the pumpkins! After the pumpkins we moved onto look at the mommy and baby goats. Grant was greatly upset that he could not get into the area with the goats. I know that he was thinking "but I do it at the petting zoo?".

We all had a great time and everyone was pretty worn out afterwards. Many fun things to explore and fun photo ops for mommy.....we can't wait until next pumpkin patch season!

Channeling our inner "wiseman"...

Yes, that is Grant and I and yes, we are riding a camel! At the Fall Festival that we went to this weekend they had "Larry the Camel" and he was giving rides to all! So Grant and I channeled our inner wise man and took a seat upon the camel's back. I was really nervous because the camel was really big and we were really high up on it's back. I only had one hand to hold onto Grant with and the other hand was holding us onto the camel. The ride went well though and the camel was nice and gentle (and the ride was short...thank goodness! :))

Grant seemed to enjoy it and waved to everyone that was watching. Now I can show Grant the pictures and tell him that when he was 16 months old him and mommy rode a camel.

This child LOVES animals!

We have always known the Grant loves animals! He likes to make the sounds" that they make, look at their pictures and even pet them, so today was such a joy for him! We went to a Fall Festival with Grant's Nanny and Pop and much to Grant's delight there was a petting zoo. He nearly jumped out of his stroller to see the animals.

At first he was very smitten with the calf or "baby moo cow" as we called it. He ran right up to her, gave her a nice pat and looked her straight in the eye and said "Moo!" Way to cute! He stood by her for several more minutes patting and mooing before moving onto the duck.

The duck was not so sure he liked the way Grant was running to see him so he took off, with Grant in hot pursuit. Grant never did catch that duck but laughed really hard while running after him.....good enough.

Next he moved onto the funny looking chicken with feathers on it's feet. It happened to be cornered by the water bowl so Grant got to sneak a quick pet before the chicken hopped off. Then in true boy fashion Grant stuck his hand in the water bowl. (Mommy though yuck - every animal drank out of that!)

The goats and sheep are always popular with the Little Mister too. They are have always been the nicest and the most tolerate of the many "loving child pats". This proved true today too. All the goats and sheep stood by patiently as Grant "patted" their fur and loved every minute of it!

What a time fun time we all had today. Thanks Nanny and Pop for going with us and for the tokens!

What do we do at Grammy's house....

Grant runs around the backyard naked, of course......

Boys will be boys! ( I will save these to show to his first girlfriend when he is 16 years old!)

Hurricane Ike

Ah where to start.....this past week has been quite exciting and very tiring for us. Hurricane Ike was set to make landfall on Galveston Island last Saturday which sent us scurrying for hurricane supplies and food. This was not the first hurricane to come our way and with the past couple we had walked away with no damage, even surprisingly little rain, so we weren't too concerned. We decided not to board up the windows on the house or buy a generator. So Friday night we put Grant to bed and parked ourselves in front of the local news channel to watch the hurricane come through. Everything was pretty uneventful early in the evening so we went to bed with little worries. About 2:00am we were awakened by the howling wind and things hitting the roof over and over again. We still had power at that point so we turned on the local news to see that the hurricane was starting to spin directly over the house. Looking out the window, we discovered that the shingles were beginning to be blown off the house and they were scattered all over the back and front yard. At that point all we could do is wait and listen. The power went out around 3:00am and the hurricane continued around us. Matt and I did not sleep much after that but Grant, being the great sleeper that he is, slept the whole night through and woke up refreshed at 7:30.

When the sun came up it was still raining but Matt went out to assess the damage to the house. The roof was completely torn up and the remaining shingles were flapping in the wind.

We had tons of shingles all over the yard and the front yard tree was uprooted but nothing major...or so we thought. As we were looking around the house for other damage we noticed that the ceiling of the guest bedroom was leaking and dripping down onto the carpet in numerous places...we decided that this was from the shingles getting torn off the roof and the rain water coming in. Nothing we could do about it now, so we pulled back the carpet where it was soaking wet to let it air dry a little. By this point we were both frustrated with everything and hot and sweaty with no power so we decided to pack it up and go to my parents house in New Braunfels.

Matt decided to come back home after a few days in New Braunfels to start the insurance process on the roof and other house damages. Well when he got home he found something we never expected......

That is, was, the ceiling in the guest bedroom where the ceiling was leaking. It completely collasped all over the place and the attic insulation was everywhere!! What a mess!

So that is what hurricane Ike left us with.....all the way in Tomball, Texas about 75 miles from the coast! A very scary storm but we are blessed that we only sustained minor damage. On a happier note we did have a wonderful time on our week long "vacation" in New Braunfels. (Post on that to follow!)