Hard day at work

We went back to work today. It was tough being away from my sweet little Luke. I was like a depressed zombie all day. I'm really happy we have a weekend before we go back at it again. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. We went to El Paso, TX then on to Mayhill, NM and back to Houston in three days. I'm exhausted, but it was so nice to see family. TGIF!

Playing with Mommy's hair

Luke thinks my hair is hillarious!

David's Phone Pics

That's Mike's canoe

Mike and Janelle share a backyard with us now

This tree used to be arguably the tallest tree in our neighborhood, it's root ball is visible from our backyard (two houses away!)

I loved this topiary and now it makes my heart sad

David's phone takes pretty good pictures.

More Damage Pics

Wow! This is truly a time where a picture says 1000 words. A lady was walking down the street and told us that we had a "nice barrier going up". It looks kind of like a hedge I guess. I'm not sure why I didn't get pics of the backyard. David got some with his phone and I'll put them up tomorrow.

Arkansas and Louisiana

Yes, I took a picture of a sign.

Some beautiful lakeside homes.

Luke had fun playing with Daddy's hat

We left Clarksdale on Monday morning and headed to Ruston, Louisiana. We drove south and then west into Arkansas and then made our way down to Ruston. I'd never been through Arkansas, so I was a big dork and I took a picture of a rest stop sign.

Clarksdale

After a well deserved rest in Jackson, David, Luke and I made our way to Clarksdale on Friday. We basically stayed glued to the Weather Channel and Fox News for the next three days. Seeing everything on T.V. was surreal. We kept in touch with our neighbors and couldn't believe it when they said we never lost power! I wanted to rescue all my friends that were without power. Grandpa and Grandma Amelung were so sweet to us and they really enjoyed seeing Luke.

Jackson, MS

Luke had to get a nap before we started toward Clarksdale.

Watching Daddy take Arnold for a walk

We had a really nice room!

Starting at around Beaumont the traffic was horrible. At one point we moved 10mph for an entire hour! David drove and drove and drove until he looked back at Luke and I and said "I can't do this anymore, let's get a hotel tonight". We were going to stop in Baton Rouge, but we waited until Jackson. I used our Streets and Trips software to find the addresses and phone numbers for hotels in Jackson. I called the La Quinta and the lady said that all of the rooms were spoken for; thank God I found a room at the Residence Inn!!

Pictures before the storm

Luke entertained himself in his crib while David and I ran around packing up our valuables.

Kind of ironic how I was taking a picture of the t.v. for insurance purposes and the mandatory evacuation zip codes were displayed. (ours is 77062)

Luke is so excited; he thinks we're going on a vacation!

Our house pre-Ike

More to come...

At the Fairfield Inn in Ruston, LA

Hi Mommy!

The pile has grown since Tuesday; I'll take a picture today and post it.

Relaxing with Daddy after a day of hard work.

Hello all! I have a ton of pictures to post and so many interesting stories about our evacuation and all the places we went. It will probably take a few days but I'll get you caught up! Most of the pictures are on our PC and we haven't hooked it up yet (we've been a little distracted I guess). I'll hook it up and post pics in chronological order later today.

Luke and his first bear

Luke likes to bite, drag, and tackle his bear!

ALAYNA'S BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Luke and Heather

Luke with Sue and Kaitlyn

I took this picture!

WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!

Alayna was so sweet! She wanted to hold Luke's hand as they went down the slide! I took Luke down a couple times and Kaitlyn took him three times. He really enjoyed the bouncing slide/basketball fun room too! Thank you Heather and Alayna for inviting us, and happy 5th birthday Alayna!

Trip down memory lane...

I can't believe how tiny Luke was!

1 week old

3 weeks old

5 weeks old

At home yesterday and a video from tonight

Sue had jury duty, so Luke and I stayed home yesterday. It turned out to be a really great thing because we are both a little under the weather. I think it's just a case of allergies out of control, but it feels like a cold. Luke had fun eating lunch before we went out to run a few errands.

Check out Luke's bedhead after his nap!

Luke is learning to make some entertaining noises!