Lots to report! So here goes... These are not in chronological order so bare with me!!!!
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| Visiting Mrs. Lisa up at the shop! |
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| Love their expressions! |
Visit from Auntie Jaklin.
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| Auntie Jakiln came down for Labor Day weekend to visit. Charly had a big time with Ash and Jaklin! |
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| Auntie Jaklin & Charly |
Charly. Dadda. Jack Jack
In Frederickburg for the 123rd Annual Gillespie County Fair. We went to the parade with Meemaw & Opa. This was Charly's 1st Parade! She had SO much fun! They block off Main St. and all the businesses shut down for the parade! Can you say small town USA! I LOVE IT!
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| Boy Scouts leading the parade carrying our Flags |
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| The Fredericksburg High School Marching Band |
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| The Fire Dog |
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| All the county Queens and Courts were there! |
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| Smoky the Bear & BIG equipment! |
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| Battlin' Billie Football & Cheerleader Float! Go Red! |
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| After the parade with Meemaw & Opa! |
Dadda made the news!
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| Picture of Paul on the front page of the Dripping Springs News Paper! |
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| Gage being cute! |
The Fires of Central Texas...
A few weeks ago, I'm sure as many of you heard, there were fires raging here in Central Texas. These are a few pics from our house of the 'Pedernales One' fire that we were in the path of. Thankful to the Lord, the wind died down before it made its way to us. They were able to contain the fire. It was about 4 miles away from the back of our property. This was SO scary and to say the least... a wake up call.
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| Smoke view from the front or our house |
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| Smoke view from the front of our house |
The kids, dogs and I actually packed up and left for Fredericksburg to stay with Meemaw & Opa. Imagine packing up your kids, the keepsakes that you can gather in about 30 minutes, clothes and necessities, and heading out not sure what you might come back to or what will be left. Now, I know this sounds dramatic but this is totally how I felt.
Paul (Our Hero) stayed at the house keeping an eye on the latest developments and coming up with a plan for the next day how to 'fireproof' our home. And he did just that! The next day at 8am there was a crew driving heavy machinery, cutting brush and clearing trees creating a fire barrier with a 3,000 gallon water truck making laps around the house. Thankfully, the wind died down and the fire depts were able to contain the fire back to the Hays County line. So we came home the following evening...
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| View coming back from Fredericksburg. This is smoke from all the fires including Bastrop, Steiner Ranch and Pedernales One. |
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| About 5 miles from McGregor Lane |
Thankfully and with answered Prayers, our family and home escaped the fires. The 'Pedernales One' fire burned a total of 6,400 acres, burned 65 structures including 34 homes. SO, with those numbers creating monsters in my head... I now have storage bins stacked in my hallway until we get numerous amounts of rain.
These are our Grab and Go boxes that will go into the car 1st in the case of an emergency. What's in these boxes????
Box 1 - I already had the 'Kids Medicine' box made in our cabinet. Simply all the kids medicine.
Box 2 - 'Wedding Box'. All of our wedding keepsakes/pictures/books.
Box 3 - 'Kids Photo Box'. All of the kids baby books/photo books/Pinkletoes Photography items/other keepsakes. AND The Baby Briefcase (pictured below) This includes... Birth certificates, Social Security Cards, Immunization Records, Cord Blood Info, Dr. Information and all other important information.
Box 4 - Get Ready... blankets, diapers, wipes, 3 changes of clothes for each kid, formula, some food, baby monitor, a bag of needs for Paul and I (deodorant, shampoo/conditioner, soap, razors, toothbrushes/toothpaste, hair brushes), flashlight, a few mini toys for the kids. Keep in mind if putting together a box that some of these items are perishable and clothes that will be out grown. So every 6 months or so reevaluate your box and change accordingly. Also, I left some room on top of this box to grab the camera, computer, flip cameras and chargers (things that are used daily).
In addition to these boxes, Paul and I have compiled a list of items to grab if safely possible (ie: sentimental paintings/ wall art etc.
If you had 30 minutes to grab what you needed/wanted from your home, what would you grab??? While most items in a home are replaceable, what items of yours are not and would you be devastated if lost. I urge you to make a list in priority order of what you would grab. This way when in a panic, you can calmly look at the list and start grabbing and putting into your car. Or if you are out of town you can tell family or neighbors what to get out.
Okay, so now that I have scared myself again thinking about this...the bottom line is that it's
nice awesome to be somewhat prepared for life's disasters, but ultimately God is in control and His will, will be. And while control freaks like me struggle with this, we can rest faithfully on Him.
If you had 30 minutes to grab what you needed/wanted from your home, what would you grab??? While most items in a home are replaceable, what items of yours are not and would you be devastated if lost. I urge you to make a list in priority order of what you would grab. This way when in a panic, you can calmly look at the list and start grabbing and putting into your car. Or if you are out of town you can tell family or neighbors what to get out.
