Hurricane Matthew

Fortunately, we made it through Hurricane Matthew with little damage.  Before the boys fell asleep on the couch beside me, we said our prayers and Jubal & I sent out a little video on Facebook wishing every one the best through the night.

 

Our little metal carport got the worst of it.  The 60-70 mph winds snatched a couple pieces of tin up and tore them back, but nothing a few screws and a power drill couldn't fix.

We lost a few shingles, but other than that we had no damages to our home or property.  There are no trees in our yard, thankfully, so we didn't have to worry about any falling on our home.  

The boys fell asleep around 9 when it was only raining and slightly windy, and the power was still on, so they never knew how scary it got at certain times throughout the night.

This mama bear walked the floors from one end of our house to the other until after 4 A.M. when the worst of it was mostly over.  When the boys woke up the next morning, we all went for a ride around our small town to check out the damage that was sustained.

It was pretty bad.  Trees down everywhere.  Power lines down.  Homes damaged.  We really realized then how fortunate we were.  Our only (selfish) problem was that we didn't have power.  It could have been so much worse.

Having pizza for supper by candle light on Saturday. :)

The days that followed the hurricane were absolutely beautiful.  Sunshine and cool breezes, and the temps only got up around 78 degrees.  Needless to say, we spent our hours with daylight outside.  It was nice, actually.  We kept our phones charged in the car so the boys could play or watch movies on them when they felt like taking breaks from running & playing.

Luckily, Darla's power came back on Sunday evening so we were able to go to her house for a hot shower. We ended up spending the night because it's easier to sleep with a little AC on.  Come to find out, we didn't need AC at all.  It got down to 56 degrees that night.  We were up and ready to go home before 8 A.M.

We were blessed with another beautiful day, so while the boys played outside, I took advantage of cleaning our house.  I opened up the windows and got everything done except for washing clothes and vacuuming.  I have never wanted to do those two things more in my life. Ha!

As the days were very easy to get through, the nights were a little rough for the boys.  They enjoy a little TV before going to bed, and we have night lights on in our house at night since Jubal hates the dark terribly.  None of these were attainable, so we were thrilled when my mama's power came back on Monday.  We packed a bag and went to stay with her.  It was glorious.

While we spent Tuesday outside at home once again with still no electricity, we had so much fun together as a family.  Larson grilled us some hotdogs, we rode the golf cart, listened to music, and just enjoyed being together.

Dancing for their hotdogs. Haha!

Lunch is served.

Brothers chatting it up.

We had actually packed us another light bag to go spend the night with my mama again on Tuesday.  While Larson & I rode back into town to go pick us up some take out for supper, I just wanted to ride by our house one more time to check to see if maybe, just maybe, our power had come back on. 

As we top the hill to our dirt road, you could see our front porch light on from the road we were on.  I had to turn down our road and ride in front of our house just to be sure.  Yay!!!  Our lights were back on.  We hurried to pick up our food, went back to mama's house to eat with her, grabbed our bags, and back to HOME we went.  

It was so refreshing to be in our home.  The boys were so happy.  Gentry exclaimed with his arms wide open reaching for the sky, "We have the power!!!".  Jubal did another little dance.  They were excited to bathe in their own tub, watch their own TV, and sleep in their own house.

I must say, so was this mama.  Thank God for Home.

Dynamos

Dynamos. That is the name of Jubal & Gentry's soccer team this year. As I was saying in my previous post, I wasn't ready for Gentry to start this year, but he was adamant, and he thinks he's as old/big as Jubal, so we decided to give it a go.

It would have been better if we had let him play in his own age league, but Larson insisted he be on Jubal's team.  I agreed because I thought it would make it easier for us to not have to be stretched out in two places at one time.  That was a very selfish thing for us to do.  You live & you learn, though.  We'll know better next time.

Anyway, they have had two games already.  I haven't been able to post because we've been without internet service since Hurricane Matthew came through.  I'll save that topic for my next post. ;)

Gentry gets bored and tired of playing very quickly.  He's smaller and not as quick on his feet as the bigger kids, so he kind of just gives up.  He would rather go over to the other field where his actual age group/friends are playing their game.

I've got a couple of videos from their first game to share.

This one is of Jubal.

Soccer is more competitive this year, but he loves it.

Jubal giving it his best.

This is what Gentry does on the field. HA!

He did try to get involved at one point in the game.

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Now, after that game, I suggested Larson get out on the field, not just to assist Stevie, our coach, but to help encourage Gentry a little.  Last night they had their second game, and with Larson out on the field, Gentry did so much better.  He was very involved, and had a lot of fun, too.  

Daddy will be out there with him from now on. :)

We're just getting started.  It's only going to get better from here.  I love watching my boys play ball & have fun. 

Gentry's Scarecrow

Just like when Jubal was in Pre-K, Gentry had a project to create a scarecrow for the hall his classroom is on.  We did Gentry's a little different since the teachers asked for them to be as weightless as possible since they hang them on the wall with putty or something like that.

When we did Jubal's, we did it on cardboard, and it turned out great, I think.  I do remember his teachers having a hard time keeping it up, but they managed.  Gentry's is not as embellished for this reason, but I did use the costume they both wore for Halloween when they were two.  I seriously got my money's worth out of it. ;)

Gentry was absolutely in love with his scarecrow, so that is all that matters to me.

School Pics~Fall 2016

Well, my boys had their fall pictures taken a few weeks ago. I order mine online, so I get them back pretty quickly. As proud as I am of how handsome my boys are, and that they each smiled (Gentry's was fake, but still good ha!) pretty for the camera, I was disappointed that Gentry's seemed to be out of focus a little.

The proof did not appear that way or I wouldn't have ordered them. I could have had his retaken, however the day they retook pictures at school has come & gone, and the pictures didn't come until after that date.  So, we're stuck with semi-blurry pics for his first "big school" pictures.

I guess we'll live since he's such a cutie and made the picture look good anyway. ;)

I sure do love these full of energy, cuddly, hardheaded, smart, hate me one second because I'm a "mean mom", but love me the next because I'm an "awesome mom" boys.  They keep me on my toes, and keep me young.  Even when they wear this old body out by keeping us on the go from the time they wake up until they close their precious eyes. :)