Gustav

• Fill your car's gas tank
• Go grocery shopping for non-perishables
  
• Gather up any thing that is outside and not bolted down
• Fill bathtubs with water
• Buy lots of ice
  
• Sit and wait

This list is just to give you an idea of the things that my family is doing about now (or has done over the last few days).

Many of you have asked and so I will post some info here about the status of our families. Gustav is headed directly for our hometown even with the change in trajectory over night. Our home parish of Lafayette is under voluntary evacuation which really just means that schools and some county buildings will be set up as shelters for people who need a place to go. I have family that live south of Hwy 14 and they all received heavy damage to their homes from Hurricane Rita's storm surge. They have all been evacuated and we hope that Gustav's storm surge will not be as bad (the changed trajectory has seemed to help that prospect out).

Philip's parents, brother, and grandmother are driving to AK today to get out of the way of the storm. Please pray for safety during their travel. They obviously will not be the only ones headed north today. My parents who live in south Lafayette Parish are going to ride the storm out. They are probably one of the highest houses in their neighborhood and the water has never come close, so that is good. My sister lives in Baton Rouge and I believe she will be driving to Lafayette today to stay with my Mawmaw and Pawpaw who are also riding out the storm in Northern Lafayette. They have a generator and are well stocked with food items and such. Her boyfriend Paulo is going to be going through his first storm and I can imagine that must be nerve racking.

I'm glad to hear that Gustav has weakened to a Cat.3 and may stay there before making land fall. Just yesterday we had heard reports that it could make landfall as a four or five.

Mostly during this time I just hate not being there. It is hard to be 700 miles away and have nothing to do to help.

Videos and Pictures

Last weekend we "remodeled" our office/library into a study! Philip disassembled my desk and installed a new book shelf. We even painted the room green. Here is a picture of Ethan "helping " his Dada.

He really enjoyed all of the screwdrivers that dad had laying around.

I tried to get a video of him saying "Dada", but instead I got this video of him walking all around the newly painted study.

In this one he actually does say Dada and you get to see a panorama of the study!

What is really funny is that he wouldn't say Dada to the picture but while I was editing this post and he saw the picture above he couldn't stop saying Dada. Here is a short clip of that. I usually do not let my child run around naked, but I had to get the movie while I could.

In addition to these videos and photo I have added pictures to our flikr site. Enjoy!

Busy Fall and Week One of Preschool

This fall Ethan and I are really busy. On Mondays I am teaching a biology class at a local co-op (school for homeschoolers) called Master's Mondays. Class is from 8:00 - 10:20 and then I stick around and grade papers before I leave. During this time Ethan stays with some of the moms from the co-op. Master's takes place at our church so that is good. Ethan is at least familiar with the surroundings even if he is not familiar with the people.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays Ethan is attending Preschool Weekday at Central Baptist. This is the same school he went to last year and I really love the people and quality of care. He goes from 8:30-2:00 and while he is there I go to work for the county. This year I am working 1/2 time and so my schedule is really flexible and I set my own hours and such. I still love being a Science Coach and while we are still working to get out of debt I feel like it is worth it.

This week was Ethan's first at Preschool. He took a nap on a mat! Who knew he was such a big boy? A nap...on a mat! With this new found skill Philip and I are going to try out car camping this weekend. Hopefully he will sleep on a mat through the night as well. One of the other big changes at preschool this year is that I am packing a finger food lunch for Ethan everyday. My friend Betsy has really helped me out by listing a whole week's menu for her toddlers on her website. Here is what Ethan had for lunch during this two days at preschool:

Lunch Day One:

• Milk
• 1/4 cup of blueberries
• a couple of pieces of watermelon
• vegetable crackers
• Broken up noodles and pieces of cheddar
• Box of raisins (for good measure)
  

Lunch Day Two:

• Milk
• Cheddar Cheese Square
• Goolash (Daddy's recipe with hamburger, sausage, corn, beans, carrots, and celery) in a thermos
  
• 1/4 cup of watermelon
• goldfish crackers
• Box of raisins (leftover from yesterday)

A pretty nice selection if I do say so myself! I do have to give props to Philip that Ethan got a "ate well" check instead of the "ate some" check from day one.

Next Thursday I will begin a bible study at my church in the mornings. Once again Ethan will be in the nursery at our church. Then one Friday a month beginning in September we will go to MOPS. I know this sounds like a lot, but last year I was SO lonesome for all my friends that I used to see everyday. Now I have a co-worker at work so at least 3 out of 5 days during the week I will get to see my peers and not just my little one.

New pictures and videos to follow!

Lunch Ideas a Plenty!

So Ethan starts preschool next week and I am a little nervous about having to pack a lunch that contains all finger food! Parents magazine has had some great tips and suggestions about packing lunches and I wanted to list some of those here. For thermos ideas you can check out my other blog, My Favorite Things.

This month they had 25 easy ideas for are kidlets lunches (I might steal some of these ideas for myself). In the magazine the lunches were packed in a laptop lunch boxes with all the food groups represented in each example. I've listed below some items that I thought were inventive or particularly fun.

• bow-tie pasta salad
• watermelon (take seeds out for little ones)
• fig newtons
• shelled edamame
• ham, turkey, and cheese rolled up together sliced, and skewered with pretzels
• sliced hard boiled egg
• mini whole grain waffles
• bell-pepper strips
• sliced kiwi mixed with a few blackberries
• mini corn muffin
• slice of banana bread
• blueberries
• bean salad
• melon wedges
• PB&J on mini bagel
• mini oatmeal cookies
• pita pockets with grilled chicken and veggies
• yogurt with strawberry slices
  

They also had great sandwich ideas (for those who are tired of PB&J) and I'll list these here too:

• Veggie cream cheese and cucumbers
• Tuna salad with sliced tomatoes
• Almond butter with slivered almonds and dried cranberries
• Hummus and chopped peppers
• Apple butter and fresh apple slices
• Whipped cream cheese and fresh blueberries
• The Laughing Cow spreadable cheese with ham and grated carrot
• Blueberry cream cheese with strawberry slices
• Jam and cream cheese

Of course, if you still need more lunch ideas, check out Betsy's blog!

Outside!

Ethan with an apple.

I'm sure this will be Ethan's next word. He loves to go outside! If Philip is outside and he is not, he will stand at the back door and just cry. Yesterday while Philip mowed and did other yard work in the front yard, Ethan just went back and forth from one front window to the other. "Dada?" "Dada?" Over and over that is all I heard.

He is also such a little organizer! Last week with in fifteen minutes of being on the back deck he had collected a pine cone, dog bone, rock, and two apples in one of the dog bowls. It was too funny.

We do have an apple tree in the back yard and he loves to carry them around and hand then to each of the dogs. The dogs have been super sweet about letting him take them away from them and give them back again.

Speaking of going outside Ethan was out last night in the back yard and was crawling in the grass. Philip looked over and he was rubbing his face with his little hands while trying to crawl. He was COVERED in mosquito bites. This leads me to post on my new blog about a bug spray that I bought this weekend at Food City that worked great for all of his other outings.

Climbing on the steps.

Dada?

So for about a week Ethan has been walking around the house when Philip is not home asking, "Dada?" to which I reply, "He's at work." I've been able to prove to Philip that at least 80% of the time that he says Dada he is actually talking about him. Of course sometimes if you ask him, "Where's mommy?" he will reply "Dada?" In the upcoming weeks I will really work with him on learning the signs for Mommy and Daddy so that we can distinguish between idle chatter and actual person specific sounds. More is still his favorite sign and yesterday he discovered that it is not just for asking for food, he also can ask for more toys.

We are happy to announce now that Philip will start his new job in mid-August. We are really excited to get back to fixing up the house. Philip has lived without his housing envelope now for over a year and now we have a list of ideas and tasks we would like to get done. Watching too many house flipping shows has made me want to renovate the house and make the nursery in to a huge laundry room and add two more bedrooms above the garage. It might never happen but I can dream!

Because of the advice of a friend I let Ethan use a big boy cup today at lunch. Most of the water went down his bib and landed on the floor but he loved it! He even cried when he was done with lunch and it was time to go take a nap.

Lastly, we want to thank Mimi for the cute new Squeaker Sneakers that came in the mail on Friday. On my new blog there is even a video of Ethan walking around in them. When we go out in public it raises his cuteness level to infinity. I call them his motion detector shoes.