Safe and Dry

Tropical Storm Erin just dumped on us yesterday. We had over 5 inches of rain fall in the afternoon. Aaron had a hard time getting home because all of the roads around home were closed. After a couple of hours driving around one road sort of opened. There was no barricade preventing the cars from going down the road and after watching a few cars make it through (and one being smaller than our car) Aaron followed and made it home. There was a high water rescue just up the road from us that prevented him from coming the normal way home. The kids and I just watched the rain and helicopters from inside; we are still fighting colds.

Aaron was able to go into work today because the water has cleared off most of the roads, though there is still a lot of debris. He did go in a few hours later though and will leave a little early. We are now watching Hurricane Dean's progress and keeping up to date on our emergency supplies.

With all this rain I'll need to put my gardening notions aside for a while which is fine because I had some problems with my Arthritis medicine and had to stop taking the new medicine as well as the Mega Motrin. So I'm not really feeling up to yard work and the poor weather is a good excuse to stay in the house and read books.

Oh, Talmage amazes me. Aaron started reading "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien to him at night instead of picture books. Talmage loves it and is attentive and tells me about what happened in the story the next morning. He has amazing attention span sometimes. I also started reading The Boxcar Children" to him yesterday. We got over half way through it and may finish it today. He loves listening and can retell details later. His vocabulary is growing because of these books and it's fun to here him use these new words as he plays with Anya.

Anya is making up for lost meal while her stomach was sick. She wants to eat all day and has learned to let herself into the pantry. Her favorite food to ask for is "Daddy Crackers" (wheat thins). She can't get enough of these. Yesterday I asked her if she wanted Pizza for dinner (a usual favorite) she told me no. When I asked her what she did want she got a smile on her face and said "Daddy Crackers!". I fed her pizza anyway. Aside from saying "Daddy Cracker" her other favorite phrases are "Where mama go?" or "Where Talby go?" Talby is her word for Talmage-- it is so cute when she says it. She is very concerned about knowing were everyone in the house is and what they are doing. She'll be a great mom someday!