Wordless Wednesday

SLAM

Dylan has really started taking to sports lately. I think it may be the neighbor kids rubbing off on him as they are always outside playing ball. The other day he picked up the basketball and began dunking it. Now, I don't think I recall telling him to stick out his tongue (a la Michael Jordan) but he did, and because I laughed, he didn't it even more and more exaggerated. He is too cute dunking and I couldn't get enough of him doing this.

Happy 2nd Birthday Dylan

Today is Dylan's 2nd birthday. This time 2 years ago, at 7:14 am, we welcomed him to the world. I cannot believe how much he has grown in 2 years, not just physically but intellectually and emotionally. He's lack of fear sometimes scares me, but assures me that he is confident and secure in who he is. His stubbornness makes me mad, but am thankful that he's healthy enough to put up a fight. His smile and the cute things he says makes me smile....like, wait me (wait for me). He amazes me every day and I can't wait to see how much he grows over the next year.

This past Saturday, we planned a birthday party for him at the park. Since he loves Yo Gabba Gabba, that was the theme. He loves Muno, Plex, Brobee, Tootie and Foofa. There's not a lot of decroations out there, all have to be purchased online, so I had to get creative to incorporate the theme. We invited friends from the neighborhood and church and we couldn't have asked for a better day. Considering the flood that happened last week, we were thankful to see the sunshine and cool temps in the high 60s.

Dylan's cupcake tower

The family sporting our YGG shirts

I tell you this kid is fearless

Dylan with his girlfriend Eliza (you remember her from previous posts)

Singing happy birthday to Dylan

To Build or not to Build

That was the question this past weekend as we didn't know if we needed an ark or what. We had some friends come in to town from Memphis to visit and do some things around town. We knew it was suppose to rain so that was going to prevent us from cooking out on Saturday night, but the rain was going to prevent us from doing a lot more. I have never seen anything like the flash floods we received. Damien, Daniel and Dennis headed out for an early tee time as they thought they would beat the rain. However, 30 minutes after leaving, the rain started. They came home which allowed Rachel and me to head to Nolensville area to Babies R' Us to start a registry for her and Hannah Grace. We knew that it was raining hard, but like I said, we had no idea what that meant. We leisurely stopped by Chick fil a for lunch and was even debating to go to Kroger to pick up a few things for dinner. However, when we got off the interstate, I heard sirens. The sirens were tornado sirens from the school. I called my mom to see if she knew what the forecast was as I figured Damien would not be watching TV, but Damien ended up calling me to see where we were. He said we were in a tornado warning starting in 10 minutes. YIKES! We rushed home and waited things out, anxiously. That afternoon, we had a birthday party down the street. We made it, but we didn't stay completely dry. It was great to celebrate E's birthday and let the kids play as they wouldn't see outside for a day or two. This went on Saturday and Sunday. Two days of raining resulted in 12-13 inches of rainfall. For the month of May, average rain fall for the Nashville area is 5 inches.

this is a view from my backyard to a neighbor's back yard. you can see the playset is immersed and usually there's no water there besides a small little creek

This is our backyard. the creek was raging like a river.

The rain came down and while it let up every now and then. The creek behind our house continued to rise. Fortunately, we live on a hill far enough away from our small creek, but others weren't as fortunate. Many homes were completely destroyed. People lost everything they had and didn't have any flood insurance as they were told they didn't need it. The most devastating was to hear that 30 people lost their lives and many are still missing. While, I didn't see any of these flooded areas personally, the pictures that I have seen have been enough to break my heart. Cars stranded on the interstate covered to the roof, school portables floating down the interstate then shredded, people standing on their beds praying to be rescued before the water reaches their head and animals stranded. I don't wish this one anyone, yet I realize that it's a part of life. People blame God, blame global warming, yet I don't blame anything or anyone. This world is not our home. It's not permanent. We are to look forward to the home that will be eternally ours and if everything in this life was perfect, we wouldn't have that hope. We can live without a lot of things, but the one thing we can't live without is hope. I have hope in knowing that we, the surrounding communities, are pulling together and helping each other out, sending out teams every day, collecting items to help flood victims....that's the hope that I have. People helping others, encouraging their hearts and showing love. While the news media is just now starting to cover the flood of middle Tennessee and that it took 4 days before the president declared it a disaster, we are strong and united. I wish that I could be on the front lines helping out, but a 2 year old puts a little cramp on that, so while I am at home, I will pray and do what I can.

Choo Choo

Last week, Dylan and I met up with some friends and their boys (yes, every child that went was a boy, 8 in total) to go see the Midsouth Steamers at a park near by. They have these trains that are one eighth the size of rail trains that you can ride for these special events. The made the noise, had the steam and it was really cute. The best part was, it was totally free.

the boys patiently waiting in the line

Dylan and me riding on the train

After the train ride, we had lunch at the park then we played at the playground. It was a great day to play with friends, not to mention, a great day to celebrated Dylan's best bud Cole's 2nd birthday.