Vacuuming

Abram's first chore.

He'd like to help with the carpets too, but the big vacuum is a bit harder to maneuver.

14 months!

 I've done one of these photo shoots once a month for the last 14 months. Sometimes I only take a few, because he won't stay in the chair, and sometimes I take a lot, but I just select a few for the blog.  This time I thought I'd pay homage to Aunt Krista, because I took a lot...why not post them all! So enjoy!

 

 Done!

 Hi, Mom...

 Here, try this, it's good!

 See?

Told ya'.

Aw, Mom!

He's getting so big. He's starting to express himself so much more, pleasantly and unpleasantly. Some foot stomping, collapsing, and screeching has occurred....and so has some discipline. *Note to self: Get to reading Dobson's "Bringing Up Boys" post haste!

Abram has:

• 12 teeth
• hazel eyes
• moved into his 18 month clothes (he's about 31" tall I think, not sure on weight...Dr. appt. next month)
• expressed distaste for all fruits except bananas and dates and LOVES bread
• been jabbering even more and will attempt to say "up-stairs", "dad", "dog", "hello", "kitty" or "cat", "harriet" and "di?" (this?) while pointing to various body parts on himself or me or pictures on his sippy cups. And quite clearly he will say "all done?" when he is finished eating...whether I want him to be or not!
• recognized pictures of balls and balloons in books and then reaches for his own ball/balloon in the room.
• used his potty 4 times this week! Twice before his baths and twice after naps when he woke up with a dry diaper! He loves to just sit on it while he brushes his teeth!
• learned how to open doors because all of our doors except the front door are latches...which means he has successfully let the dogs in the back door on his own and has escaped out of it once before I caught him!
• decided it's his job to let Harriet out of her crate when we return from any outing and to throw any piece of paper he finds on the floor into the trash can.
• begun to "dance" any time a phone rings.
• branched out from VanFleet's "Cat" and "Dog" to include the Katz' lift-a-flap books in his favorite reading material, along with "Brown Bear, Brown Bear.." and "Wheels on the Bus".
• decided that swings are scary but slides are fun.
• gone mushroom hunting with us twice, riding in his hiking carrier (none found....yet).
• enjoyed bubbles on the back deck and our makeshift sprinkler, consisting of the garden hose nozzle set to "mist" and laying face up in the grass...he's going to love the pool this summer!

March Madness

 Most of you know, this month has been a bit "mad"...other than the Hoosiers moving on in the tournament. A few days after the tornado, we had the most snow we've had all winter. About 4 inches fell, so Abram and I went out and played in it. Finally, I chance to wear the snow pants that match his coat! He had fun, but by the time I went in to grab the camera...

 ...he was DONE!

Joe and Jill came down to help with the relief effort. Jill "relieved" me of my childcare duties so that I could go with Joe and Curtis to volunteer for tornado clean up/delivering animal supplies. I finally got a good picture of Jill and BOTH of her babies!

 

Blueberry Pancakes! Wah?? You tricked me!!

(only way to get him to eat blueberries!)

 

I like my new chair, Mom! Pretty fun to sit on...

 ...is this what you do with it??

No joke, that night I sat him down on it before bath and he peed in it! A few days later, i did the same thing, before bath and he peed AND pood! He was dry after a nap yesterday so I took him in there and took off his diaper and he peed in it again!!! I know he's not quite old enough to really start potty training, but I think this is a REALLY good sign! Crazy!

 Cats reading the Bible!

 REALLY needed to mow already! And it will need it again this weekend. If we had the money, we'd totally till up the rest of our yard and plant this grass everywhere...it grew in GREAT!

 Abram and Daddy both got Spring haircuts. Abram's is wetted down because it was all sticking straight up when he woke up that morning! It looks a bit different dry. I think he has inherited his dad's "bionic hair" because it seems like I just cut it!

Everything has started to bloom so early! (please excuse all the weeds...my flowerbed has become "lawn". I barely got a picture of my weeping cherry in full bloom...the petals had started to drop already. The tulips, redbuds, forsythia, and plum tree are all looking beautiful! I'll be sure to post more pics of my flowers...can't wait for the azaleas and then the irises to bloom!

Told ya, crazy "mad" month so far!

Waterfront Park

 A few weeks ago we met Kristen and Lewis at the Waterfront Park in Louisville because the weather was feeling rather "Spring-y". They have a great series of playgrounds that are designed for different ages. Abram was a little unsure at first, but soon learned that he loved the slide. He did NOT like the swings! That surprised me because he LOVED swinging last summer...we'll work on that!

 Whoa! Pick a side!

 There you go! (see video in previous post)

 These tunnels were kinda fun too! I would reach through the holes and tickle him and he'd cackle.

Hi there, Lewis! (and Kristen)

We've gone back since then with Curtis...still not crazy about the swings. We have our porch swing down now so we'll practice at home!

Video Updates, a few new, a few late

 

Abram opening his (our) Valentine's packages from Aunt Krista and Grandma Cunningham

 

Playing at Waterfront Park with Kristen and Lewis

 

Using a spoon...ambidextrous?

Enjoying Jimmy Fallon (it was taped, we don't have him actually up that late)...technically he just liked the applause!

Henryville Tornado Aftermath

 As many of you already know, on Friday, March 2nd, an F4 tornado ripped through the center of Henryville, our hometown for the last 5 years. Curtis called me at about 2:30 on Friday afternoon while I was packing for a weekend camp retreat. He told me that there was a tornado in Evansville and the storms were coming our way. I needed to come to Louisville and get in the basement with him or go to our neighbors basement. I called the neighbors and went over there with Abram and my sister, Leslie, who was visiting for the weekend. Curtis called again saying that he was coming home and he joined us there in the basement, parking our car in the neighbors garage (his wife stayed at work so they had a bay available). The storm rolled in soon after he arrived and we lost power about 3:15 so we could no longer see any radar and we had no radio. We heard the hail start so Leslie and I retreated under the pool table with the 3 babies. After it stopped the guys went up to check out the scene, brought us a hail ball and we stayed downstairs for another 1/2 hour or so before we all went upstairs to the sounds of sirens.

All of our neighbors were emerging too. Several had had their car windshields shattered and there was visible damage to all our properties from the hail. One neighbor had been caught in the hailstorm in his truck while attempting to pick up his younger children from the school latchkey program. He'd had to turn back because of downed power lines but rushed out again when we told him that the school had been hit. Fortunately, their aunt had picked them up and she brought them home soon after he left the house. Curtis went around our house taking pictures for insurance purposes and I've posted a few of those below.  We were able to receive texts but not call out or send until Saturday and we did not have cable/internet until today (Monday) so we were unable to see the coverage on the news or know how we could help.

We were very fortunate but our hearts break for those north of 160 in Henryville, Marysville and Pekin who have lost everything. Curtis walked into Henryville on Saturday after I'd left for camp, took pictures of some of the wreckage and tried to speak with people on how we can help. He was already able to help The Shamrock Pet Foundation bring in supplies for the dogs and cats.  We will be helping as much as we can with the relief effort but as you can see, it's hard to know where to begin.

Many of our plastic fence caps were broken by the hail.

 There was mud on the ceiling of the porch from hailballs hitting the mud in the flowerbeds and splashing upwards.

Hail ball embedded in he mud.

Damage above garage door frame.

  Size of hail in Curtis' hand (yes, Dad, he saved one in the freezer)

 Damage to garage eaves.

 Nursery window broken, it cracked diagonally to the top.

 This is a view of the school from the south.  You can see the mini school bus in the middle of the picture.

St. Francis was one of the first relief sites set up.  It has some roof damage (looks like a piece of metal sheered through part of the roof in this picture) but is still standing which is amazing because everything around it is destroyed. 

There was a gas station.  It had a trucking company beside it and you can see that there is a semi that was lifted onto the building.  The only thing left of the home that was across the street is its foundation. 

 Goodfella's Restuarant (the local pizza parlor/amazing breakfast buffet) with apartments in the top levels.

 School bus that was lifted and crashed back down.  It was originally in the middle of 31 but they drug it back over to the parking lot.

 This scene is becoming the iconic image of the tornado. One of the school buses smashed into the little restaurant across the street from the school. If you look at the picture closely, you'll see that the frame of the bus is actually parallel with the restaurant (back wheels are under debris on left side of pic) and the body of the bus was sheered from the frame and pushed into the building.

 Curtis and I always said this was the prettiest house in Henryville. It was just south of the school.

This used car lot is just on the south side of 160 and now looks more like a junk car lot.