R.I.P Oak Tree

Here are little more details about the happenings of Hurricane Ike. Like I said it was quite scary for me. I think the worst part was that it hit at night... nothing is really fun in the dark... well you know what I mean! The noise was unreal... at any point it sounded like all of the windows in the house would break open and the furious winds would be in the house with us. I stayed up all night listening to the radio, just hoping for the best. I prayed all night. I take it back the worst part wasn't that it hit at night, the worst part was worrying about my sweet little innocent children. I could just envision all the horrible things that this storm would bring, and I couldn't bear the thought of them getting hurt... yes that was the hardest part. I am still pretty sad about my gorgeous oak tree blown over... it was the only shade we had in our HUGE backyard, but oh well we'll just plant a new one and wait another 15 years for it to grow as big as ours once was. Eghh... what's 15 years?? We are still waiting for our insurance adjuster to come and access the damage. Hopefully we don't have to pay too much out of pocket. On a crazy note.. the farmers almanac predicted Ike, and it also is predicting another one to hit Houston on October 10th. Oh man... are you kidding me?? This wasn't the best year to move to Houston apparently!

On a good note the weather here is fantabulous! (that's a word) The nights are especially gorgeous. We are still LOVING our new home, I acutally just redecorated our master bedroom, and we love it! Abby and Mac are wonderful. Abby has a lot of new adorable friends, and she can't wait to start preschool in two weeks! McConnell has been sick, but still just as cute. He gives me good little kisses...and if I can say this without being self-absorbed..I think he really loves me. Here's a cute Abby moment :

Abby wanted to put something into the microwave, so she pulled over a chair and tried to open the microwave.....here's her convo with the microwave. *she didn't know that I was watching her from the stairs*

"open saysme" (like sesame)

"open saysme"

"open saysme"

(The microwave magically opens!!)*I have no idea how this happened!!!*

" Hey it worked!!!!"

Oh she's too fun and cute for words. The pure joy on her face when it opened was too much! I love her!

We survived IKE

We safely survived Ike with just a few damages to the home. Currently we have no power, but our good neighbors brought over their generator for us to use and a small a/c unit. Our big georgous oak tree blew over and knocked down our other pine tree next to it taking the side fence out with it. We think we might have a crack in our foundation because water has been seeping up from the ground soaking/ruining our beautiful carpet in the formal dining room and living room so we just pull up 20 feet of the damaged carpet and padding. We lost some shingles on the roof but nothing major. As far as riding out the hurricane it was a horrible experience for Allison, she stayed up all night while Ben, Abby and Mac slept soundly. It sounded like a train was going to rip through our house at any mintue, but all and all we are safe, healthy, and just a little unconfortable due to Texas heat. We are thankful for wonderderful neighbors and friends.

Hunckerin' Down for Ike!

As most of you know Houston is preparing for Hurricane Ike. This is quite the deal! Being so new to all of this, I think that we are doing pretty well for ourselves. Right now we are just preparing the house as much as we can and I can safely say that we are prepared to our best abilities. Thank goodness I have my wonderful husband... he's so cool, calm, and collected about this whole thing, that it really helps out with my nerves. We also are blessed with good neighbors, friends, and wonderful ward members that are prepared to help us out. We are just hoping and praying that the windows don't bust out and that we aren't out of power for too long. But if we are out of power for a few weeks... I would happily eat a PB&J for every meal...and be perfectly content! Are diet still in effect when you don't have power? Oh yeah and if we ended up needing a new roof.. that would actually be really nice.

So if you wouldn't mind praying for us this night, we would really love that. The worst part of the hurricane will hit in the early morning... about 2am. We could always use prayers : ) We'll be fine... I have faith.

Happy 1st Birthday McConnell!

I can't believe you're one already.. I know everyone always says that.. but it's so true. This last year has really flown by. You are just the sweetest little boy. Some of our favorite things about you include:

-Your never ending smile
-Your silly little laugh (he laughs whenever he hears someone else laughs)
-The way you walk and talk
-How you worship your lovey
-How much you love to play by yourself
-How you love to throw yourself on top of pillows and blankets laying on the ground
-How you throw your balls all around the house
-How much you sleep at night!

His birthday celebration wasn't much. Actually it was pretty sad not having a party for him..but oh well it's not like he'll remember it! He loves to watch us vacuum, so we thought his own vacuum would be the perfect gift, and he thought the same. Ben made the gusty move to try to make his cake, and it didn't turn out so well. Ben was using Fondant (homemade) for the first time...and it turned out good at first, but then after sitting for a few hours the cake literally fell apart. Ben was clearly disappointed with himself, but he was clever enough to make Mac an extra cake just in case the cake was horrible. Thank goodness for that! All and all it was a fun birthday, Mac really enjoyed the rainbow chip frosting...Yep he's definitely my son!

Small but simple things....

can make a world full of difference.

My heart aches for this family. I recently fell upon this family's story while doing some blogging of my own, and now I'm hooked. Their story is one of tragedy and full of hope. Husband and Wife Christian and Stephanie Nielson and their flight instructor were in an airplane accident, and they are both badly burned and are currently in the hospital in critical care. Their flight instructor passed away shortly after in the hospital. Stephanie has burns over 80% of her body and her husband has burns over 30% of his body. Christain actually just started talking today..which is amazing. I am not doing their story justice so look it up and see for yourself.(look on my sidebar-Nie Recovery) They have four adorable children... too adorable for words. I don't know Stephanie, but through her blog.. I have come to love her. She is just the best person.. so fun and loving. I can't stop asking myself all throughout the day... "How can I help her family? Can I make a small difference..can I raise money for them somehow? What can I do?" I can't stop thinking about them, I need to help them.

So this is my call out to all of you amazing readers of the Wischmeier Words. Read their story and help make a difference. I am thinking about starting up my own Esty store and selling baby blankets and other crafts and donating all my profits to her family... that's my idea for now... We'll see if I can sell anything!!

I hope and pray that they can recover quickly so they can get back with their children and their beaufitul lives can continue on together. God Bless and keep them.