What Used To Be Our House

When we first moved to Rice two and a half year ago, here is where we lived.



This is what that house looks like today. Trees were snapped, the house was blown off its foundation, the roof is messed up, and windows were broken.


Our house was a "mother-in-law" house to a big two story house that sat about 30 yards to the north of it. It had a big detached three car garage between the big house and our little house. Here is what's left of that house today.


The lady that we rented from had just recently sold the property, moved out of the big house and into the little house where we used to live. The new owners had moved into the big house. The owner took shelter in a closet under the stairwell. That was all that was left standing of that whole house.

Tornado

Today we went to Wal-Mart and to the gas station before church. As we were pulling out of the gas station, I noticed a funnel cloud! This is what we saw.




We could tell the tornado was far to the north and headed northeast, away from us. But we were sitting in the parking lot of the gas station with our small children so I decided that we should probably head some place a little safer. We drove to church and parked and continued to watch the tornado as it got bigger. It looked like it was in the Rice area and near the house where we used to live. We found out later that Rice Intermediate School (brand new school) and the house where we used to live sustained severe damage. Luckily no one was hurt.





This is a picture that a friend sent me. It was taken from the Rice Bank.


We are very thankful that everyone is okay, but saddened by the damage done by this storm.

7 Months Old

Max is 7 months old! He is a very busy boy, scooting all over the place. His favorite toys aren't his toys, but anything that isn't a toy that's left on the floor. He LOVES Ava, and she loves him most of the time, but is starting to get annoyed by him getting her toys and other stuff. Max is at Mother's Day Out with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays and is finally starting to settle in to the routine. He loves to eat any veggie, but still does not like fruit. He's waking up at least once a night still and usually sleeps around 3-4 hours during the day. He laughs easily and in pretty happy as long as he is fed and well rested.

Ava and Max's Bathroom

Our master bathroom is done enough, so we have moved on to Ava and Max's bathroom. This is what the bathroom looked like when we bough it. Yes, it is hard to believe we paid money for a house that had a bathroom that looked like this.



Here is the bathroom after minor renovation. We had to make it more livable than what it was.




And here is the bathroom today. We have separated it into two rooms, that way one kid can be taking a bath or using the bathroom and the other can still use the sinks.



We have a new tub and subway tile surround that goes all the way to the ceiling. It makes it look so much bigger.


And pretty white floors. I'm sure they won't stay this clean and white for long.


Micah is painting and doing the lights today, grout goes in on Monday, then we will be ready for the sinks (2 pedestals), toilet, and fixtures to be installed hopefully Wednesday. Then we will once again have two functioning bathrooms in our house! We are still missing cabinets but will get those soon!

6 Months Old

Max is now 6 months old. Actually, he's almost 7 months old, I'm just really, really behind on my blogging for some reason! Oh well, I'll catch up someday. Here are Max's 6 month stats:

Length: 27 inches
Weight: 20 pounds
Talks: All the time, lots of babbling, squealing, and laughing. He LOVES to laugh!
Activities: Sits up by himself, loves to chew on things, loves his jumper and exersaucer
Eats: Veggies, especially green ones. He gags on any fruit I've given him. And for some reason there aren't alot of baby food green veggies. Guess I'll be making my own! He's also started taking some formula in a sippy cup.
Sleeps: From about 8 pm to 7 or 8 am, usually wakes up once a night for a snack. Naps are unpredictable. He gets them when he can!

Max is such a good, sweet baby. And he's also good looking. I am constantly gettting comments on how pretty he is. Even his doctor went on and on about what a pretty baby he is. Maybe people are just being nice, but I really do think he's pretty.

Master Bathroom

We have recently remodeled our master bathroom. It wasn't a major remodel, just ripping out the tub and changing it to a shower, new tile, new vanity, new shelves. It looks sooooo good, and is so much better than what it was! We are loving it. I don't even mind cleaning it because I feel it can actually get clean. Before it was just always dirty, so I didn't see much point in cleaning it. Gross, I know. There are still a few things left unfinished, just like all the other rooms in our house, but it will get done eventually. Until then, we are enjoying our nice, new, clean bathroom, and starting tomorrow on remodeling Ava and Max's bathroom. Sometimes I question our intelligence....

Before



After

5 Months Old

Max is five months old now. He is BIG! Micah and I both find it hard to carry him for too long because he's just so heavy! But he is a sweet baby and very very very cute. He's happy most of the time and loves to be played with, especially peek-a-boo. He loves to watch Ava and he likes TV, too. He rolls all over and has started rolling over to sleep on his belly or his side at night. We started rice cereal this month and he thinks it's great. Overall he's doing well and is a happy and healthy baby boy!

Oh, and he has two teeth now!