Where do I begin?

It's almost been another two weeks since I last posted and I just don't know where to begin. Let's see. Should I start with the fact that I have my computer back and it still has some issues wrong with it. Or maybe start with the fact that I've received two replacement phones and both are broken. I finally received my third last night and let's hope it's the final replacement. No - those aren't good enough lead in stories. How about the birth of a new Wilcoxson? Or the story of how Carter locked himself in the master bathroom . Nah, here's the biggest news - Mom and Dad's house was flooded during Monday and Tuesday's storms. Yep. That's a good lead story. Let's start with that.

Every evening around 7 or so, we head outside and meet neighbors in the cul-de-sac so the kids can ride bikes. It's become a nice ritual. Carter burns some energy for an hour or so before bed time and I can relax in a lawn chair and visit with friends. Well on Monday it rained, and it rained alot. Brian and I decided to pull the cars out of the garage and let Carter play in there and we all watched the rain. We laughed at the rain and said "Ha, you can't damper our fun."

Our street on Monday night.

Well, the rain got the final word. We woke to a news report that said the Bear Creek area was under an evacuation or shelter in place order. We were shocked. Mom and Dad were in Austin so we headed over Tuesday morning and were stunned at what we saw. Their entire street was under water. We witnessed an actual boat rescue of a family with small children. There were news trucks, fire trucks and canoes not just in their neighborhood - but on their street. We were in disbelief. Most of the neighbors received 1-2 feet in their house. Mom and Dad got 3-4 inches, but did tons of damage. Basically everything that touched the flood waters is being replaced. Hopefully some furniture can be disinfected, but they are waiting on an adjuster to come out. They've had all the hardwood floors and carpet removed, and today they are having all the sheetrock up to 4 feet high removed. They are staying with us in the mean time. They think they are in the way, but we enjoyed going to bed last night without putting the boys to bed - Grandma did it.

The beginning of Mom's street, looking towards their house (which you can't see) the next morning.

The boys and I have some sort of cold we are suffering from. I got some antibiotics for the bronchitis, but the boys just have stuffy noses. Thankfully it isn't swine flu, though we have honestly put a damper on as many public playdates as we used too. I'm not going to freak about this "potential pandemic" but I have tried to be more aware of how often we wash our hands and how many germs we come in contact with each day. Thursday in the waiting room at the doctors office, some random little girl came up to me and was grabbing at Cole, wanting to touch him. I tried to remain calm, but I practically ran over a coffee table trying to get me and the stroller away from her potentially disease ridden hands :)

Yesterday, the boys and I decided not to go to our usual Friday playdate at K2 Academy. I just wasn't feeling up to it and really didn't want to expose them to anymore germs. So we just cleaned up the house and went to the grocery. While I was unloading the groceries, Carter got quiet, so I went to check on him. He had gone into our master bathroom and accidentally locked the door. I remained calm and looked for the little tool that is supposed to unlock doors from the outside in circumstances like this. But we don't have one. The builder never gave us one. So I started disassembling the door handle. I called my friend, Phoebe, across the street and she brought her tool and her two kids over to help. I am so thankful she was home. The tool didn't work so she showed me how to take the door off the hinges. Carter did surprisingly well and I did the best I could to stay calm. I won't lie, I really wanted to freak out. But it would have only freaked out Carter.

Okay, enough complaining. Let's talk about some amazing news that happened in the last week. Carter and Cole have another cousin. We aren't sure what his technical "relationship name" is, we just consider him a cousin. But my cousin Scottie and his wife Kate had their first child - Evan Lee Wilcoxson. He was born on Thursday, April 23rd and was 6 pounds 8 ounces and 19.5 inches long. Practically identical to my boys. He and Kate are doing well. Here's a picture of the little guy and his daddy. Scottie has set up a website if you want more pictures - http://evan.kateandscott.org/

When we don't have all the drama around here, we spend lots of time outside. The $15 plastic baby pool was our best investment yet. As is the $1 Walmart water guns. Carter LOVES to shoot at the birds that come to eat our bird food. He gets real close too. Click on the picture to enlarge it and you can see the bird flying away while Carter shoots.

Check out these two pictures. The one on the top was last week. The one on the bottom was almost a year ago to the date. He can still wear the same swimsuit, but it is a much bigger boy now. My goodness is he growing up!

Another addiction Carter has now is Dora the Explorer. I really don't want him watching alot of television, but when he is allowed - thats all he wants to watch. Here's a picture of the boys watching Dora.

And Cole is doing so well. I think he grew two inches over night. I tried to put a diaper on him yesterday and I think they're too small. Or getting there. We might need to pull out the 1/2 instead of just 1's. He has figured out that he has hands and he can use them. He's grabbing at toys and batting them around. Here he is with a rattle.

I do have some videos I need to post, but I need to work through my computer issues and then I'll get to that. Maybe this weekend I'll have some time to edit the video. Especially since I'll have a couple extra hands around to help entertain the boys!!