Dodging a Bullet

My town is nicknamed "Hurricane Alley" and with good reason. Since 1995 I have been through at least TEN, yes TEN hurricanes. I say at least because after four I quit counting. And this year we got to know Hurricane Irene. Thankfully, we had minimal damage but she was 600 miles wide and lasted over 24 hours. The rain started at 9:30. The NATIONAL weatherman told me the first band would hit Wilmington around 2 but, as usual, they were wrong!! Jim Cantore DOES NOT know everything about hurricanes. He needs to take some lessons from George Elliot. He knows a lot more about them than anyone I know. Anyway, God blessed us. We did not lose power, we did not have damage, and we did not have flooding. Here are some photos from Hurricane Irene:

 This is leaving the doctor's office for the SECOND time. I had to go back for Robert's math book and then go back for my pocketbook. If you look on the sidewalk you can see Canadian geese walking along. I think they figured out the sky wasn't safe but can't find a safe haven.

 Dark and lowering skies!

Yep, Mr. Handsome in the hurricane!! He is such a nut! I love him!! :)

Hurricanes, unfortunately bring creepy creatures out of our little wooded area. They are looking for dry land. We were leaving for AWANA and Mr. Handsome noticed a wiggly THING about nine inches long trying to get in our garage, under the door! It was a copperhead snake. Mr. Handsome got out, opened the garage door, grabbed a shovel, and chopped its head off. The only good copperhead is a dead copperhead!! 

OK, enough of the hurricane. We had a rather busy week last week. Everyone is finally settling into school and they seem to be enjoying it. Beatrice is going to have a rough time - she is not a morning person. She takes after Mr. Handsome. He sets his alarm for 5:20 with a 10 minutes snooze and doesn't awaken until 6:45!!! Thankfully, I wake up at 6:00 so I don't have to hear it too long. We got the chance to go swimming last week and here are couple more photos:

it seems a little strange to be swimming and then stuck in the house from a hurricane, doesn't it? Well, that's how we roll down here on the coast. One day swimming, another day waiting for the storm to pass over! I attempted to use my laundry baskets and it turns out the girls had started a stuffed animal babysitting business. Maddie was the owner/proprietor. She also made cloth diapers for the animals - very green indeed!

And here is what happens when  you skip your son's underwear and sock drawer for four years!! Yes, it's true and I humbly admit that I have neglected to sort through his underwear and socks for that long!! Look what I found:

Needless to say, he won't need anymore socks for awhile!

We have been enjoying the original Dennis the Menace series on netflix for the past week or two. We went to my favorite fabric store - Mill Outlet Village - and Robert bought leather scraps. He asked my friend if he could make holsters (or horsters, as he calls them) and she showed me how to shape them. So, here are his "horsters" :

And today was a big day!! All the girls were promoted in Sunday School. AND it was a rather sentimental day for me because our last, we think, child is leaving the nursery. Beaker moved up to the 3-4's Sunday School class. Beatrice moved up to the K-1st grade class, Lindsay moved up to the 2nd-3rd grade class, and Maddie moved up to the 6th-8th grade class. Robert will move up next year. Since I'm a slacker and didn't get any back to school photos, here is our back to Sunday School photo:

Looking forward to a terrific week!! :)